Not Anonymous

Okay, so I now have friends on Pottermore.com, but I only know who two of you are (though I suspect I know the third ;))

So, peeps! As you should know I am SandCastle10906, but I would love to know who you are.

I'm screening comments here, so please, leave your user name in a comment so that I can friend you and give you an appropriate nickname :)

So far I've friended everyone who has sent me a request, because I suspect I know you all from here, but still, let me know who you are!

Thank you.

My eldest sister has just finished reading the seventh Harry Potter book and in firmly in the Epilogue? What Epilogue? camp.

Which makes me happy.

Due to her dissatisfaction she went online to find analyses of the books and from there the jump to fanfiction wasn't far.

She's been reading Snape/Hermione fics.

This makes me ecstatic!

We spent the whole evening discussing Dumbledore (is he good or is evil - we say very not good indeed), our hatred of Hermione/Ron, and why the epilogue was full of crap!

My *squeeee* will never be harshed!

Full disclosure: I am a reader of fan-fiction, an occasional writer and have aspirations to be a critical aca-fen.

Now, go forth and read what I have to say about All Of This.
(Screenshot of all three posts and the PS). h/t ciaan

The reason I went online all those years ago, more than a decade for sure, was because I was looking for people like me.

What do I mean, people like me?

Fans of the teevee show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What I found was a sapling of what would be a giant red-wood tree of creativity, community and fun.

I wrote Buffy fanfic before I knew what fanfic was. Blatant self-inserts that I and my BFF at the time, who is also a Buffy fan, put in so that we could talk directly to the characters.
Her character was a manifestation of Energy who became human in search for love (i.e. Dawn).
My character was a vampire woman who was seriously into S/M (something else I had no idea existed at the time, I was sure I was inventing something) and enjoyed tormenting the male vampires and seducing young high school girls (i.e. Vamp Willow, also Faith sans the Vampire part, of course).

When both these characters did in fact actually manifest on the screen all those years later, when we were already in our late teens and little bit more aware of the world and all it's multitudes, we *squeed*. ( Lengthy )

Bottom line. You can dislike Fan-Fiction as much as you want. You can call it lazy, unoriginal, illegal (which is not the same as unethical!) or any other pejorative you can think of. That is your right, it is so easy not to read it.

Through fan-fic I discovered so much and so many comic books and more original fiction that I would probably have a much smaller book collection than I do. Three book shelves, stacked baby.

Don't tell me that fan-fiction is less meaningful that original-fiction.

Because it's wrong.

*Get the pun? Get it? :P

I've just been told by the BFF who downloaded the 3ed Season of Torchwood for me that it is burned onto a DVD and I should be getting it today.

I'm so freakin' nervous.

Torchwood, the show and the fandom, take up about the same kind of emotional and cerebral space that I thought would never be able to be shared with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and to a certain extent Harry Potter.

I've been very good about avoiding spoilers, though I watch various communities and blogs who are TW fandomy, I only got tiny details by osmosis and one big something that I hope doesn't mean what I think it means but I'm keeping my mind open to whatever happens in these five episodes.

I'll talk more at length about "Children of Earth" after I've actually viewed them, I'll even write (a) reaction post(s) before I read any other Meta and/or Fic, though I'm really, really tempted.

I think it's fairly clear that when it comes to which show I prefer, it is Torchwood and not Doctor who that stole my heart - though I love the Doctor and his Companions and will regale to anyone who will (or won't) listen about how fucking awesome New!Who is.

Torchwood however, is something else.

( Spoilers for lots of stuff (not including season 3 of TW as I have not seen it yet) )

I'm really looking forward to "Children on Earth", though I am very scared of what may happen.

	I received 71 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Quiz by SheGoddess: quick weight loss

Well, now that that's established maybe we can go on to Meta?

On today's agenda, you ask.

A wee bit more on The Dark Knight, as I'm eagerly awaiting my Iron Man DVD Ultimate Edition to arrive and will probably watch it over and over for in order to write a more cohesive mini-thesis about Tony Stark's Gender Fluidity in the movie.
And as soon as I have the Nolanverse Batman DVD's I'll be able to write a more comprehensive comparative analysis of Iron Man and Batman.
Hopefully deeper than this Player vs Player strip: ( under the cut )

My brother however, sent me two interesting articles about the nature of Batman and the Joker as they've been presented in the Nolanverse which, as most comic books readers know, is quite different from the sequential art mythology.
The two articles, written by two of the members of the Vulpes Libris collective, one of whom (the one who wrote the Joker article) admits to being a newcomer to graphic literature, a "noob" in their words. Both have some very interesting insights on the Hero and the Nemesis.

Having read those two reviews I feel compelled to comment, not on the articles themselves (which are worth reading, hence them being linked above), but on the implication of Batman and the Joker being, oppositional forces, forced to do this danse macabre(1) until one of them dies, which is the comic book myth is unlikely.

I think it's very simplistic and reductive to say that Batman is a Hero in the archetype sense of the word. The articles details various incarnations of "Batman" in myths and stories - including Hercules, Odysseus and Harry Potter.
While modern day Super Heroes have certainly replaces the heroes of old mythology in their function of (re)telling the Way of the World, I don't feel it's right to compare them in their characters.
While Bruce and Odysseus certainly have the an ingenuity that gives them an edge on their enemies, they are two quite different personality types.
Also Bruce Wayne and Harry Potter *snort* and I like Harry Potter!
And yes, I know, niggling.
Functionally and archtypically they share characteristics and when it comes to myth that is probably the most important bit.

But then, why is Batman so popular? Ridiculously so.
I mean The Dark Knight went on to be the highest grossing movie of the summer, I mean hype dies down after the first two weeks and there's usually an sink after the first ebb.
But this was just a cinematic phenomena!
I went on to see it five times, which is a hell of a lot for me (and earning crazy looks from my family, films are not cheap, especially if you want to go to a good cinema).
This is not just movie wise, Batman is still DC's best seller in monthly issues and in trades and if I'm not mistaken, it's also the best seller in mainstream comics over-all.

There's something compelling about a man, who pretends to be a monster, in order to avoid becoming one.
In Arkham Asylum: A serious house on a serious earth, Grant Morrison and Dave McKean take this idea and expand it in a horrific (effing fantastic!) way.
The Joker isn't so much a Nemesis, but a guide; The Cheshire Cat to Batman's Alice.
Regardless, Batman is pinned against his greatest fear, becoming The Monster.

This is similarly done in the film, mainly through the Joker's own sense of grandeur. He truly believes that his "games" will free humans of their measly societal constraints.
Too bad he's a psychopath.

Do you like that?
There shall be more.
Alas, my train of thought has been slightly severed.
Worry not loyal readers, I shall write more on this oh so interminable subject.

Notes
(1)a musical piece I always associated with the Joker, and is especially apropos for Nolan's Joker.

It's just mene after meme with ain't it?
But how can I resist fandom memes, I ask? They're too much fun!

Found this one at harry_potter
1. Randomly list twelve of your favorite Harry Potter characters (any of them... could be the Muggle Prime Minister or the gerbil...)
2. Click on the cut below to read the questions and answers

#1 Hermione Granger
#2 Luna Lovegood
#3 Minerva McGonegal
#4 Tonks
#5 Neville Longbottom
#6 Remus Lupin
#7 Severus Snape
#8 Lucius Malfoy
#9 Eileen Prince
#10 Harry Potter
#11 Emmaline Vance
#12 Kingsly Shackelbolt
( Questions and Answers )

From a writer I lost a whole lot of respect for, to a writer I can only keep loving more and more.

Flowers of Romance

You always wind up knowing more about your characters than you can get onto the page. Pages are finite, and the story isn't about giving you all the information about everyone in it any more than life is. Things the author knows about characters (or at least, strongly suspects -- it's never really real until it hits the page, because the process of writing is also a process of discovery) that don't make it onto the page could include the characters' backstory, what they like to eat, the toothpaste they use, what happens to them after the story is over or before it began, and what they do in bed. That something didn't turn up in the books just means it didn't make it onto the page or wasn't relevant to the story.

This is of course out of context.
But I feel it reaffirms my disdain for JKR post-canon retcon, which is simply a marketing ploy, because the sales are dropping... I mean those who are fans bought the book the first day and week, those who aren't either don't read "Harry Potter" or will get it whenever.

I must say I'm interested what will be written in future editions of the books, or if JKR ever releases (Like Neil Gaiman has) her "preferred text" editions.

But Neil Gaiman is a better writer than JKR can ever hope to be, and knows how to pick and chose the information he puts in his stories and books without it seeming contrived or irrelevant.
A few years ago, JKR's statement wouldn't have made as many waves as it had, nor would it have been remembered, now it's on the Internet and is embedded in the meta-cannon of the books.

But still, it isn't really Cannon, it isn't written in the books and thus cannot be regarded as a Truth in the books. It's no better than fan-speculation, despite her being the Author and she may know better than us all. Her statement can be refuted by simply saying "It isn't in the book".
It's that simple.

ETA: And already people are saying Neil jumped the "Outing" bandwagon. May I just say o_O.

In addition, the genocide in Darfur must be stopped.

וכמו כן, צריך לעצור את רצח העם בדרפור.

About the whole "Dumbledore is Gay" thing.

It shouldn't matter that Dumbledore was Gay, it doesn't in fact, have any bearing on the Harry Potter plot, because the story isn't about Dumbldore.
What it does have bearing on, is JK Rowling's credibility and integrity as an Author.

For a woman who wrote a seven book story arc in which we encounter allegories and metaphors to real world prejudice, which she has said are "wrong", she doesn't seem to think that ones sexuality is as essential to ones identity as, say... being a Werewolf or a Metamorphmagus? And even is she is trying to say, in a very roundabout way, that ones sexuality has no bearing on who they are when they interact with other people, she makes certain that in the Wizarding world ones Blood Status (Pureblood, Mudblood, Blood Traitor) is very important. That ones Humanity makes them inherently superior to non-Humans (Goblins and House-Elves are inferior, and Werewolves are greatly discriminated against).

It really could be that JKR didn't think sexuality and Dumbeldore's relationships didn't have anything to do with his choices, except you know, she spent a great deal of the seventh book describing in excruciating detail, Dumbledore's childhood, adolescence and the fact that Dumbeldore and Grindlewald were "close friends". JKR, outside the plot and after the fact said in answering a question that Dumbledore was gay and that his love for Grindlewald blinded him and was "tragic" and "unrequited".
The only thing, and I mean it, the only thing JKR needed to do in order to prevent that question from being asked AND giving us the information would be this sentence, somewhere, somehow in Dumbledore's history - "Albus was in love with Gellert, but sadly it was not to be".

Would that have ruined her sales? Perhaps. But I would have appreciated a whole lot more an author.

And the biggest thing that ticks me off. Lupin was read as Gay, Tonks was read as Gay, JKR knew this... so what does she do? She pairs them up and kill them off.
Together!

Aaaargh, my fannish frustration known no bounds!

In addition, the genocide in Darfur must be stopped.

וכמו כן, צריך לעצור את רצח העם בדרפור.

So I finished the book.

It was a good read.

And that's all there is to say at this point.

In addition, the genocide in Darfur must be stopped.

וכמו כן, צריך לעצור את רצח העם בדרפור.