dabbling in half-truths and white lies

six television gingers

aelysian — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 20:31:03 GMT

Because procrastinating on everything I have to do for next week is fun. And also to prove to myself that I could talk about awesome women (and pictures of them) without mentioning Summer Glau or Claudia Black. Totes.

Six Fantastic Gingers of Sci-fi Television
(in random order because ranking is for losers and people with decision making skills)

Willow Rosenberg

Smart, geeky, awkward, adorable, dangerous. Baker of guilt cookies. Flayer of skin. Crayon breaker. Brilliant.

"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right?"
"Bored now."

Dana Scully

Medical doctor. Five feet of badass skepticism in bad suits. Could probably compete with Aeryn Sun in the "my significant other ruined my life" stakes.
*
"I want you to do me a favor. It's not negotiable. Either you do it or I kill you. You understand?"
"Mulder, it's me."

Donna Noble

The most important woman in the whole of creation. Takes no shit from anyone, ever. Cares about everyone and everything. Waves at fat. Loud. Will save (but not mate with) you. Can out "what?" the Doctor. Chiswick's Super Temp. The Doctor Donna. The best mate ever.

"D'you wanna bet, time boy?"
"Ah, the universe has been waiting for me!"

Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu

The ultimate superiority complex. Will fry you like a bug. Speaks in tongues. Devious, manipulative, arrogant. Could give Cameron a run for her money in the self-repair department. Will survive anything.

"Weak species."
"Now, what are you going to do for me?"

Amelia Pond

The girl who waited. Not actually a cop. Very aware of her legs. Tall Scot, will fry. Demanding flirt, doesn't understand what "no" means or how to follow instructions. Sets her own terms. Has made Eleven one of her boys. Might very well be indestructible.

"I'm Amelia, and you're late."
You have a wooden time machine. Do you feel stupid?

Catherine Weaver

Scottish killer machine. Can kill you with her finger. And her tongue. Cold lap, cold heart, calls Sarah Connor a bitch. Poised, controlled and thinks you're expendable. Cyborg HBIC.

"Humans will disappoint you."
"Do you know what's extremely rare in the world of computers? Finding one that'll cross against the light."

a 5AM nutshell.

aelysian — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:16:10 GMT

It's Blog Day over at savethescc.com, which explains why this post is public but not why I'm trying to write it at 5AM...

Often enough, I get asked why I'm doing this by people that apparently expect an answer besides "Because I fucking love it, you dumbass." Seems obvious enough, doesn't it? I love The Sarah Connor Chronicles and I think just about everyone who knows me is (painfully) well-aware of that fact. And if they didn't catch it the first time, my incessant discussion of it will drive the point home.

So I love it. A lot. Enough to realize one night, in the middle of yet another long (the kind of long that means breaking the livejournal comment character limit over and over...and over) post-episode discussion, sitting in the sidelines, crossing all my fingers and toes and hoping that May would bring a miracle - deserved, but a small miracle nonetheless - in the form of a renewal from FOX simply wasn't going to cut it. I'd seen shows be cancelled in the past but had never been an active participant, until that moment when I finally found that moment countless fans had reached before me: the realization that you'd rather do anything - and everything - to save a show, than know that it was cancelled and you stood by and did nothing. Does that mean our efforts starting that night in March have been successful? That all of our conviction and hope will bring us somehow closer to something more than we have now? I don't know. But I do know that I couldn't then and I still can't bring myself to give it up without a fight. And I know that there are fans everywhere who feel the same way.

And so we fight. We might not have the numbers of the Jericho fans or the Browncoats and Kevin Reilly might be more scared of the Jossverse than he is of us, but we're not giving up. One foot in front of the other. Remember the mission.

We do. We will.

• • •
The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a story. It's a novel. It's an epic. It isn't a weekly medical mystery, no one can fly, and if there are dead bodies, it's usually because our beloved protagonists have made them so. Stuff blows up...but usually only because...well, it makes sense for it to blow up (or because Derek Reese got his way.) There are guns because swords require proximity and getting up close and personal with terminators usually doesn't end so well. There's heart...and sometimes it's made of coltan. It takes thirty one episodes to work its way to saying the word "terminator".

Okay, joking aside.

It's a story about mother and son. It deepens and examines the relationship between Sarah Connor and her son in a way that began and ended in T2: Judgment Day. It takes a warrior and reminds us that she's a woman. She's a mother but not motherly, she's feral and a bitch and hard as nuclear nails. She'll die and kill for her son. A son that reaches for her even as he struggles to become the become the man everyone's watching and waiting for, the leader whose destiny it seems is to be alone.

It's survival, fighting to live not only in a world where artificial intelligences build scary as fuck robots to kill you, but to survive when no one believes or trusts you, to love it enough to save a world you cannot live in. To keep sane through the horrifying and incredible, to keep in you the humanity you're fighting to save.

It's a love story and it isn't an easy one. (Because being in love with your cyborg protector/fake sister is never easy. And hallucinating dead lovers is only slightly less messy.) It's complicated and painful and different and beautifully, wretchedly, strangely perfect. It's familial and unrequited and doomed and the foundation of everything that happens. It's the driving force, it empowers and protects, damns and destroys. "It's not love until you wind up half naked in a different timeline."

It's growth. A boy becoming a man. A mother struggling to let go. A machine that learns to cross against the light. It's 'different'. They lie and hurt and hate and love in their own ways. They change and evolve. They take the concept of 'hurting the ones you love' to a whole new level but it's always believable. They have serious trust issues.

There are no certainties because everyone lies and the future is always changing.

It's time travel and cyborgs, bitches. (Cameron Phillips, I love you.)

It's the thin line between man and machine and what it means to be either...or maybe both. It's quietly emotional and heavy and never stops asking questions. It makes me cry and it makes me long for answers that we may never get. It's inspired a thousand discussions I'm grateful to have had, and maybe a few I wish I hadn't. It has, I'm pretty sure, driven us all a little mad and made us love it every step of the way.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles is an enthralling, emotional journey about hope, perseverance and the will to survive. It is a story about mother and son, man and machine, questioning fate and fighting the future. It is a love story, an adventure, a sci-fi exploration of artificial intelligence and human passion, an epic tale of humanity and a mother's love.

It breaks my heart. And my brain.

And that, in a 5AM nutshell, is why I love The Sarah Connor Chronicles. You know. More or less.

a reviewer's rights and freedoms

aelysian — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 06:34:57 GMT

Okay, I'd like to make something clear to the entire world. Yes, that's right, the entire freaking world.

You are not entitled to reviews. And yes, that includes me. I realize that if I wrote something and got no reviews, no comments, no feedback for it, that would be perfectly justified. So please, please, do not bother me with the fact that I haven't reviewed your fic in a while. Seriously.

I guess you might be wondering where this sudden rant is coming from. Well, I'll tell you. I received an email tonight. From whom, it doesn't matter. That's entirely irrelevant. The point is, the email was from the author of a fic that I had been enjoying, along with many other readers. I had, on occasion, reviewed in the past, when I felt the chapter moved me enough to do so. I, quite honestly, am a rare reviewer. Does that make me a hypocrite because of all the kind and lovely people who review my stuff, because of all the fic I read? Possibly.

But the point I am trying to make here, is that when a reader who reviews often suddenly stops, who am I to question it? I did have a reviewer, a lovely, lovely person, who stopped reviewing for a few chapters. Did I wonder where she'd gone? Yes. Did I try to track her down and ask her why she'd stopped? No. If, by some randomness, you know her, then you know that she was always an anonymous reviewer. I did, in time and by chance, come back into contact with her, and she's one of my favourite reviewers yet. But there have been others, who reviewed a few times, I got to recognize their usernames, and sometimes, they would stop reviewing. Did I try to track them down? No. Because I write for me, and for the people that choose to read, regardless of whether they review or not.

In this particular case, fanfiction.net's email system was down again, resulting in the email I received, explaining that a similar, if not identical email was also being sent out to other "MIA reviewers". Okay, so I reviewed once or twice. Does that mean I'm 'missing in action' just because I stopped? I don't think so. As I replied, " I do make it a point to not question a reader if they choose not to review for a period of time, and would appreciate the same consideration extended to myself."

I realize that sounds bitchy. Sounds unappreciative of the writer's efforts to inform me of an update on a fic that I had clearly expressed interest for in the past. In fact, I had read the latest chapter. It was, uniform with the rest of the fic, good. However, one thing bothered me. This personal email was sent because fanfiction.net's email system was down. But I was not on the email alert list for this fic - in fact, I chose long ago to not subscribe to email alerts for any fic. Sending personal notifications to those on the list, I get. But me? I don't think so.

What I'm getting at here, is that I perceived this email as interrogatory. Why aren't you reviewing? The latest chapter is up. Why haven't you read and reviewed it? You've done so in the past, so why not now?

As I responded, "I would like it to be understood that I will review when I choose to, and not otherwise."

Every reader has the right to either review or to abstain from reviewing. I, as a writer and a reader, like to think I respect this right. I would appreciate it if others would do the same.

Now, I have, in fact, received an apology for what I perceived as an overly intrusive email. And while I needed no apology, it was greatly appreciated.

But the point is, everything I have said is not directed to a particular individual. It's to writers as a whole. We tend to get greedy, spoilt by kind reviewers. Some have gone so far as to demand a certain number of reviews before continuing. There is nothing that bothers me more than that.

In short. Write because you love it. Write for yourself, write for the readers, for the fandom, for the fan in you. Reviews are just the icing on the cake.

End unusually calm and profanity-free rant.