once upon a time I wrote long posts about single subjects.

[eruthros]

1. Oh my god, they got Jewel Staite too?

For those keeping track, they also snagged Torri Higginson. And David Hewlett. Again.

2. Does anybody know why Icerocket doesn't index dreamwidth? And whether there's any way to get them to? I like to use icerocket as a casual search tool, but I want it to find DW posts too!

3. thingswithwings and I started to watch Fringe. We quite liked the pilot, with a few reservations, but then the second episode was all guess-what-the-camera-finds-women-being-killed-erotic. And I just can't take that anymore, no matter how interesting the characters or plots or whatever. So, friends who watch Fringe, does the show change? Was that a moment of complete screw-up that they backed off from? Or is it a show that I can't watch?

4. I find this Gloria Brame post about bondage as performance art really intriguing! It's just a little snippet, though.

5. Don't you hate it when you see an image on someone's blog without citation, and then you've got no idea when or where it's from? Well, I found one of those images, and I'd love to see the context of it.

So! Long shot and all, but can anybody tell me where this is from, or maybe a better way to google for it, or a reference book that might help me out?



6. Today I am using my Mythbusters icon because Mythbusters is back! Hurrah hurrah hurrah! thingswithwings and I ran out of Mythbusters a month ago, and since then we've only been able to rewatch things. But now! New Mythbusters! It is like an early birthday present for ME.

Comments

[rheanna]

I personally enjoy Fringe, and don't find it to be a show that systematically eroticizes violence against women. Which is not to say it's perfect, but it has several points in its favour, most notably the way Olivia is treated. Olivia is the lead; she drives the plots and the show doesn't give in to the temptation to put her in danger so a male character can rescue her (on the one big occasion in season one she is at risk and vulnerable, she pretty much rescues herself). Olivia gets what would traditionally be the 'male' heroic role and personality traits: she is very focused on her work, she doesn't open up emotionally easily to others (although she's not cold: we see evidence of a strong, close relationship with her sister and niece in season 1, and she definitely comes to care about Peter and Walter). Peter, meanwhile, is presented as more empathetic and he's the character whose key role is being carer to a relative, ie, a more stereotypically 'female' role. And even when the show starts to give Peter a more physical, action-y role in plots, it doesn't start prioritising him over Olivia.

Fringe is by no means perfect, but it gets better as it goes along and the second season has been consistently fairly strong -- for eg, season 2 makes far better use of Astrid than season 1.

YMMV, of course. I was a big X Files fan back in the day, and part of the reason I rather like Fringe is that it gives me a nice sense of nostalgia for the things I liked about XF when I was first into it -- creepy goings on and nicely understated UST between the leads.

[eruthros]

I love creepy goings-on, and UST, and I loved the X-Files -- though I bet if I went back and watched it now I would find the eroticized violence creepy. Basically, I'm pretty good at dealing with abduction and gore and whatever, but I just can't deal with "When Men Kill Women It's HOT!"

Also I am glad to hear that about Astrid, because in the first couple episodes she was mostly in the background!