Beyond Selidor

I've been chatting to Raphael on Twitter about Buffy recently. He's currently rewatching the series, and has just finished Season Three, which raised a lot of questions for him. He pointed me in the direction of these two great links:

Love Saves the World
Female Heroines in the Whedonverse

I also came across this excellent analysis of Dollhouse, through Whedonesque. It's probably the best assessment of the series I've seen so far, aside from the one on Tiger Beatdown.

All three articles are well worth a read, if you're a Whedon fan.

I feel ashamed that I didn't realise it was International Women's Day. It took sibyllevance's Tumblr post, 'Why we still need feminism today' to remind me that yes, I am a proud feminist, and yes, there's lots still to be done.

I'd add to Sibylle's points by saying ( cut for potentially triggering subject matter )

Speaking of dodgy gender-related issues, I'm currently reading Pamela by Samuel Richardson. I really, really hope that the whole thing is an elaborate joke, because if Richardson was expecting readers to take this seriously (sample scenes include the main male character dressing up as a drunken serving maid in order to slip into bed with the main female character) then he was, as my sister would put it, 'on crack'. I'm reading Pamela because I'm trying to read a lot of early novels (next up, Tristram Shandy) because I'm interested in books written when people were still trying to figure out exactly what novels were, but the subject-matter is so cringe-worthy that I, well, cringe.

cleolinda liveblogged the Oscars, with much hilarity. This was the first year that I really, really couldn't care less. I would've liked District 9 to win, but I wasn't fussed. However, apparently The Hurt Locker is extremely inaccurate. This bothers me somewhat.

To move right along, have a look at some obsolete professions. And then check out this essay on the failings of Dollhouse. I pretty much agree, although my problem always was that I felt that once the show got cancelled, Whedon and co tried to squash a story arc that would've worked over three or four seasons into one season. I blame Fox.

I'm a Whedonista, what do you expect?

You will probably have heard by now that those morons at Fox have cancelled Dollhouse. I am, as you can imagine, quite annoyed about the whole thing. I've been gathering links ever since I heard the news.

Joss has responded on Whedonesque, saying that he's got other projects he will be working on. A Dr Horrible sequel, perhaps?

Almost as soon as the news was out, a couple of bloggers posted very pertinent articles about the changing media landscape, how Fox is useless in harnessing new media and how Joss would benefit from doing so. The first is about Fox's ineptitude with social media. The second is a call for Joss to change the world and help make good quality online content the norm.

Finally, just before all this happened, an excellent essay by Scott Westerfeld about the reasons behind the appeal of Buffy. It's well-written and well-reasoned, and definitely worth checking out.

Now, time for lunch!

I'm meant to be packing for my trip to Ireland, but, guess what, I'm online, flinging links at you.

First up, I've been blogging epically. The release of the new Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, sparked a bit of discussion on the 'Pub. I came to the conclusion that I read the books not for the magic, but for their theme of overcoming one's history. This caused me to blog at length on Geata Póeg na Déanainn.

Then I posted my weekly post on Longvision. It's about genre, and whether it's necessary.

A couple of things have caught my eye on the internet recently. The first is an absolutely excellent post by Justine Larbalestier. She is speaking out about her anger that although her latest book, Liar, has a black protagonist, her US publisher's marketing department insisted on a cover with a white girl on it. It's a particularly timely post, and shows that the publishing world, like society at large, still has far to go with issues of race.

This is a New York Times article about Pottermania and nostalgia among Gen Y. I've been talking about my generation's early-onset nostalgia for months now, but I disagree with the author of the article that this nostalgia was brought about by September 11. Real, ordinary mundane life is the culprit.

Speaking of Gen Y's nostalgia, ellevee has a great post of all the wonderful things that future generations will miss out on. Scroll down a bit to find this. I remember being aware of this when I took a photo of my (then) four-year-old cousin, and he turned over my camera to see the photo. My camera wasn't digital, and it was beyond his comprehension that it didn't have a little screen where he could check out all the photos I'd taken.

A while ago, I planned to write a rantpost about how bad Season 3 of Robin Hood was. Now, I don't have to because ravenya03 has done it for me.

A lot of people are asking if I've had a chance to watch 'Epitaph One', the Dollhouse season finale, and the answer is, so far, no. I will eventually get around to it, but I'll be away from the internet all next week while I'm in Ireland, so I won't be able to see it for a little while.

I'm actually in a very good place, dissertation-wise. I've written the whole thing. All I need to do is add in a little bit about Purgatory and tighten up my arguments about Anselm's letters to Irish bishops, and it is fit for human consumption.

But until then, I'll continue to bring you your daily dose of linkage.

( Ronni gets wordy )

I can't stop listening to Nightwish.

I'm the lunatic in ur cafes, laughing crazily in the corner

Today I was sitting in My Favourite Cambridge Cafe Whose Name I Will Not Divulge Because Then It Would Always Be Too Crowded And I Would Never Get A Table. I had brought Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman with me to read. I got as far as the list of Dramatis Personae before I had to leave, as I was laughing so much I thought everyone in the cafe would think I was a nutcase. Here were some of the gems:
Crowley (An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards)
Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer (A Witchfinder)
Anathema Device (Practical Occultist and Professional Descendant)
Madame Tracy (Painted Jezebel [mornings only, Thursdays by arrangement] and Medium)
Full Chorus of Tibetans, Aliens, Americans, Atlanteans and other rare and strange Creatures of the Last Days.

I adore Pterry and Neil Gaiman.

Links
When I looked at yesterday's Irregular Webcomic it looked very familiar. Surely not, I thought. That looks exactly like the main quad at Sydney Uni. Then I scrolled down and read the commentary. Oddly enough, it was modelled on Sydney Uni, jacaranda tree and all! And Sydney Uni's modelled on Cambridge, which is even cooler.

Have some swing dancers dancing in front of Parliament House, thanks to the Riot Act. You've gotta love those Canberrans.

Raphael is going to be blogging about his trip to the UK here. (I suspect that everyone who knows him and reads my blog knows this already, but oh well.)

Life
Well, I suppose I should do something productive today. I'm meant to be writing an article for the newspaper, but I've been putting it off. Now my editor's written to me suggesting it be 'broader'. Any broader, and this article's going to wind up longer than my dissertation. *sigh*

Edited to add:
TV
I don't have anything much to say, except that Dollhouse keeps getting better and better. The new series of Robin Hood, on the other hand, is just getting worse and worse. The replacement Djaq new Girl Outlaw Kate (dubbed 'Blondie' by the good folks at Obernet) is exceptionally annoying. Gisbourne's mopey, Robin's angsty and the addition of Friar Tuck to the gang does little to cover the fact that this was one season too many.

So true.

*holds out until episode 6, when Joss's vision will be revealed*

I'm happy to say that I've revised my opinion of Dollhouse. My thoughts, as always, are over here on Wordpress. There are spoilers for Buffy, Angel and Firefly. There are no Dollhouse spoilers, as long as you're familiar with the general concept of the show.

I've also been nominated for a blogging award. Read all about it here.

I've got a whole bunch of links for you here tonight. First up is my reaction to the first episode of Dollhouse. The post is over here at Geata Póeg na Déanainn. For another couple of interesting perspectives, go here for the Deepgenre review (which has the splendid title of 'The Fox in the Dollhouse') or here for the wonderful wrong_questions's thoughts. There are Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles spoilers there too.

bloodyyank has posted a link to a rather disturbing article about self-selective censorship among school and children's librarians. I'd be interested to know if authors are aware of this and censor their own work accordingly (that is, if they write with the attitudes of librarians in mind).

I've also just discovered the wonderful irregular_comic, which is yet another fabulous webcomic. This one's done with Lego.
Here's a very good essay about women and writing, from the perspective of a publisher.

Enjoy!