shadowenangel, posts by tag: joss - LiveJournal

At last! In spite of a severe viral infection and a hacking cough, The Paper That Would Not Die is finished! I've never had that much trouble turning out four pages. Now, I'm going to close a bunch of tabs. Mostly good stuff today.

1. The Twilight movies have absolutely no excuse to be as laughable as they are, and this casting run down is just further evidence. Lee Pace, y'all. Lee effing pace.

2. Also in casting news, it looks like Tom Hardy will be in Batman 3, possibly (speculation. Everyone have your grains of salt ready.) as Killer Croc. Yay?

3. Maurissa Tancheron and Jed Whedon (two of the brains behind Joss Whedon's Dollhouse) made a music video, featuring Dollhouse allum Fran Kranz (who I love). In addition to being a great video for a really pretty song, the video makes an interesting point about women as disposable objects and finding acceptance.

4. Finally, a quote that kind of sums up why I like popular media:

"I am a very big believer in the power of trash: trash pop culture, trash literature. I really have a lot of affection and belief in that stuff, because art scares people. Trash, pop culture doesn't. You can put in all the subversive crazy stuff you want in trash culture that will change people's perceptions of the world, and they will read it and they will take it in. Whereas in art they are going to run from it. So subvert the world through trash." — Kill The Dead author Richard Kadrey

I don't know who this guy is, but I dig him.

Links! Mostly so that I can close tabs. My web browser's starting to look like some kind of demented filing cabinet.

1. First of all, I'm going to get this out of the way. In case you haven't heard, Diana Gabaldon (author of the Outlander series) made known her feelings about fan fiction, and some of the things she says are... unflattering and, in my opinion, rather unbecoming of a popular author. I'll have a more comprehensive response to this later (after I finish my last assignment for the semester), but, for now, read and fume.

2. Immediately after reading that, I read Henry Jenkins' latest blog entry about a fan-produced commercial paying tribute to one of the characters on Smallville. And not just one fan with way too much time on their hands. This was a massive, international group effort that, Jenkins suggests, demonstrates the untapped potential of fan action.

3. On the Torchwood: USA front, even though Fox turned the series down, the BBC is still shopping for an American network. As far as show content, the article doesn't say much we didn't already know, but the author makes some interesting remarks about UK and US networks possibly sharing production costs on future programming, which, I think, would be pretty damn cool.

4. In lighter news (If I was doing a news broadcast, this would be my fluff piece), remember the ever-hilarious gag reel from Serenity? Well, this video has all the familiar goofs plus added hijinks, including a closer look at why every mistake is Summer Glau's fault.

5. Also Whedon-related, though considerably less laugh-inducing, Bright Lights Film Journal posts "A Thousand Blooms: Inside Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, an interesting, insightful essay on the uses of the female body in Dollhouse. The essay's not very well structured and, consequently, a little hard to follow, and I think the author, in focusing exclusively on femininity, misses the chance to make some important points about the show's use and construction of gender in general. Still, she raises some terrific questions about feminism and female empowerment, and I really like her observations about archetypes and the pastiche of personality (which, though she probably doesn't know it, ties directly into post-modern subjectivity theory).

5a. Incidentally, I'm planning on writing about gender in Dollhouse for Ladies Big Bang. So, if anyone else has seen the show and has any comments, I'd really like to hear them.

6. In RL news, I'm going to be writing a thesis, after all. Still going to Australia, just not doing the project I'd planned on. What's my thesis topic, you ask? Well, you know that Supernatural/misogyny/female audience project I've been squeeing about all semester? Yeah. That. I'm so excited about this that I'm kind of embarrassed for myself (and I totally just got my geeky joy all over my grad advisor. I think he was a little horrified).

1. First up, the super exciting news of the week: Joss Whedon is set to direct The Avengers and will be polishing the script for that, as well as Captain America. I'll just let that awesomeness stand on its own.

2. io9 asks Do You have an Abusive Relationship with Pop Culture?, recounting the cycle of anticipation, fascination, dissapointment, and cynicism we go through with media texts. I know I can relate.

3. John Barrowman is going to be (has already been?) on a few episodes of Desperate Housewives, and ohnotheydidnt has pictures. The real reason I point you to this post, however, is a comment near the top entitled "Why don't I take you home and eat your pussy?" and the accompanying video. What's funny about this is that the movie they're referring to came up in conversation, like, the day before.

3a. In, weirdly enough, related news, I used The Heterosexual Questionnaire in class yesterday. Check it out, it's pretty hilarious.

4. Does anyone know how to make the plugin on the CW site work? Because the Ghostfacers! episodes are up and... I'm a nerd. (Oh, and last night's SPN? Anybody?)

5. Moving away from media, the wisdom of YouTube tells us that a well-stocked refrigerator will get you women. This is worth watching for the chrome trashcan, if nothing else.

6. The Single Mother's Manifesto discusses issues faced by single mothers living in poverty in England and what the government is and isn't doing about it. Written by one of our favorite ladies, J.K. Rowling.

7. Finally, this made me laugh, and I'm sure you will, too.

I have to agree with imnotsatan's contention that this is, in fact, the best interview ever. If only because it's Joss Whedon talking to, wait for it, CrochetMe.com. Seriously.

In other completely awesome news, the new FMA series will begin airing in Japan in April, and the official website is live with a teaser trailer that, once again tells us nothing about the plot. (Although, based on the images, I'm thinking its set during the series? Which... well, we'll see.)

And, as far as this goes, all I can really say is that they asked too many sex questions.

Which Torchwood Character Are You? Your Result: Captain Jack Harkness   You most resemble the team's outrageous, mysterious leader. Cheeky, sexy, and charming, people are drawn to your charisma, but at the same time you tend to keep your relationships superficial. You aren't afraid of your emotions and tend to just let them out, but you are afraid of truly connecting with those around you.
Ianto Jones
Toshiko Sato
Owen Harper
Gwen Cooper
Which Torchwood Character Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz