Bright Blessed Day

'progressive' gay characters in genre tv

briargate — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:14:43 GMT

My tumblr dash keeps throwing up these lists (or graphics, in a series of lists) about 'progressive LGBT+ characters on TV'. All of them are generally made up of predominantly homosexual white men, and Jack Harkness, a pansexual white man. Occasionally one of the Glee girls slip in, but that's about it.

The reason they tend to turn up on my dash so frequently is they always include either one or both of Crowley from Supernatural and Canton Everett Delaware III from Doctor Who, and it bugs me because I do not feel these are genuinely progressive depictions of alternate sexuality.

Canton as written barely even qualifies as a three dimensional character to start with, and his sexuality is essentially little more than a punch line. Crowley's (undefined and I suspect largely projected) sexuality is always displayed as either predatory or, again, as a punch line and only ever reacted to negatively on screen.

I know there's the fact that Mark Sheppard breaks many of the usual physical stereotypes, but is that really enough to be considered progressive? Still? Over a decade after Queer as Folk and the L-Word, are small snatches of (secondary character) visibility the most we can ask for?

But then I wonder - Sci-fi and genre TV in general still tends to lag behind in terms of diversity, and I guess anything is better than nothing. Maybe I'm just spoiled by a wider range of shows and movies. But it still rubs me the wrong way to see it applauded so vigorously when better efforts go by unnoticed or forgotten.

I just watched episode 7 of Game of Thrones

briargate — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:10:33 GMT

I wish I hadn't. I feel drained and utterly broken.

Winter is coming.

briargate — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:52:26 GMT

I'm so excited for Game of Thrones tonight I actually can't sit still. I'm just sort of bouncing aimlessly around the flat.

I haven't felt this giddy about anything fandom-y since 2006 when Sharpe's Challenge aired. <3

briargate — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 03:01:01 GMT

I'd forgotten how quickly rum went to my head. o.O

ignore the fact I haven't posted for over a year

briargate — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:00:57 GMT

Planned on being in bed about two hours ago. Instead I'm currently reading review threads for the latest Supernatural eps, despite refusing to watch anything past Caged Heat cos OMG still sulking.

I realise this is the fandom equivalent of dumping a guy and then going through every single one of his friends facebook pictures for an entire month afterwards. Do not care.

Confession:

briargate — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:47:02 GMT

I finally caved and got World of Warcraft.

.....help?

dreamwidth.

briargate — Sun, 03 May 2009 21:43:00 GMT

Have hopped over to dreamwidth. I'll still be reading lj daily, and hopefully I'll figure out how to cross post on here. Adding a few you that I'm aware of myself, but anyone else, please feel free to add me as hyzenthlay over there. I'll actually be posting semi-regularly, for a start.

I also have two invite codes, for them what wants them.

briargate — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:08:19 GMT

As a general rule, I don't mind early mornings, as long as I've had an early night the night before. I really don't like early mornings when my body decides "oh hai, we only need 6 hours, rite?" and wakes me up for no goddamn reason at half six in the morning. Half six is bed time!

The problem being that in a few hours my body will realise it's fucked up and I'll be too tired to do all the productive shit I need to do. I'm thinking of getting dressed and going for a walk in the brisk morning air to perk myself up again - coding the search tags for the SO gallery is doing nothing to keep me awake.

Which reminds me that at some point I wanted to write up a big post for the forum about The Bill moving to it's post-watershed and how any attempts to move into darker and 'grittier' territory will be severely hampered by the somewhat puritanical streak that's been evident throughout the later JY era.

But for now, more search tag coding and an episode of Green Wing, methinks.

RIP Andy Hallett x

briargate — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:39:51 GMT

After weeks of fretting over where it had disappeared to, I finally found my Angel boxset while on a brief return to Grantham last week. I'd been thinking about when might be a good time to sit and watch a few eps.

Today seems as good a day as any.

really rather tired

briargate — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:33:33 GMT

Have given up on housework now since I've got the start of a cold coming and the chemicals and dust bunnies were on the verge of giving me a sound beating. I really need to pick up some vitamin C tablets when I get the chance. On the plus side, I've managed to get some more site work done, so yay.

Currently waiting to hear back from last night's job interview. Just part-time barwork, but better than nothing. Unfortunately there were at least five others applying and I just don't feel optimistic about this particular job, even though the interview seemed to go well. I can't say I'm stressing out over that particular job though, since I still only come out with the same income per week as on jobseekers, but there was possible overtime and it'd keep me occupied while leaving me time to look for a proper full-time job. That said, even the lady in the recruitment agency said the chances of finding full-time work that starts before January are minimal given the current economic situation. Ho hum.

Still. I'm going to get a nice hot cup of chai, watch The Bill and get an early night so tomorrow I can sort out Christmas cards and the like.

Dear Yuletide Writer...

briargate — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:48:40 GMT

First off, sorry this is late. House moving is harder work than I was expecting...

Well, you're writing in one of my fandoms, which is automatic points in the awesome column. I also hope you were as excited to receive your assignment as I was mine and will have just as much fun with it.

So, stuff I like....

Nothing turns me on like a good bit of moral ambiguity, and anything dealing with 'shades of grey' is marvellous, especially since it's good or angst without too much melodrama. I tend to be on the two ends of the action spectrum - I love either explosive, dizzying directed-by-John-Woo drama or cute little domestic everyday scenes. I also like fics that focus on aspects not really explored in canon, or more established things but in different situations - minor characters, original characters, characters on holiday etc.

Pairing-wise, I'm not at all fussed. Slash, het and gen are all good, and overt or pre-ship is fine, though I loves me some UST and tense or awkward undercurrents whether it be sexual, or rivals forced to work together or anything. I love characters bickering.

Tone & genre wise, again, not fussed. I do prefer my humour darker and more satirical and I'm not hugely fond of slapstick-esque 4am sugar high style comedy. Dark and bleak is good, but so is light and fluffy. I'm really not that difficult to please. :P

The Bill
Callum Stone/Leon Taylor/Nate Roberts/Zain Nadir - Slash or gen for preference, with any combo of the above our characters or even just one of them and someone else. Banter and violence definitely preferred to fluff. :)

I say slash and gen here partly because most of the female characters they're paired with are some of my least favourite in the series, but also because there's so little decent slash fic out there. Cop shows go well towards darker themes as well, especially with at least three of those characters, so violence, anger, jealousy, betrayal... all the good stuff! It'd also be nice to see some decent OCs as well - the show itself has so many well written guest characters drifting in and out it'd be great to see that reflected in the fic.

Footballers' Wives
Bruno Milligan/Tanya Turner - Anything involving one or both would be fantastic.

I'll admit I chose these two mostly for shallow reasons, but also because despite having such a lot in common, (Conrad, crazy!Amber, the club), they barely interact at all in the series. And they're both gorgeous, ambitious and manipulative, so some kind of sexually-charged power play would be awesome.

Rocky Horror Picture Show (musical or movie)
Columbia/Frank N. Furter/Magenta - Mostly I just want to see Magenta playing with someone other than Riff-Raff or a bit! A threesome would be perfectly acceptable.

I have to admit I've only seen the movie and none o the stage adaptations, so based off of that would be preferable. Other than that, just as the request says - there's a hint of Magenta's friendship with Colombia and even less about her and Frank, and I'd love to see either/or explored.

Lucifer (comic)
Lucifer Morningstar - I'd love to see Lucifer interacting with people who didn't play an especially big part in the comics, especially anyone from the wider Sandman universe or even OCs!

I'd love to see Lucifer and the Endless interacting in a less apocalyptic context, or even stretching the early DC connection and having some o the JLA or John Constantine appear! XD I you could incorporate bits o religious mythology that would be EPIC.

Thank you in advance for what I'm sure will be an amazing story <3

we embark upon adventure!

briargate — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:40:41 GMT

I really should have gotten my packing done sooner in the week rather than waiting until tonight and pulling an all-nighter. I now have the EPIC FUN task of helping load everything and the hour and a half drive to Leeds, followed by unloading and unpacking before I get to sleep.

Sharpe's Peril.

briargate — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:58:02 GMT

Oh Richard.

15 years and you still break my heart in the very best of ways. <3

effort - do not want

briargate — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:25:13 GMT

I'm feeling horrifically lazy today. The fact that it's freezing and that time of the month means I really want to do nothing more than lay here with the duvet and my big fluffy dressing gown.

There's lots I should be doing. I've already decided that going out the house is already a lost cause, but the charity shops can wait another day for the three quarters of my wardrobe that is now far too big for me. There's email and lj comments to reply to. Work for SO has the self-imposed deadline of Samhain so it's out the way before Nanowrimo starts, but I'm feeling pretty burnt out on that front at the moment.

I should be working on sorting and packing for the move to Leeds next week, but to be honest it's really not going to take that long anyway. I should also make an lj entry about that whole moving to Leeds thing as well, really.

Even going into the kitchen to get a cup of tea seems too much like hard work. But I will persevere! Because I really do need to do more today than take screen caps of Charlie out of Coronation Street.

this is what boredom does

briargate — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:23:18 GMT

There's nothing quite like walking past three lads sat at a computer, saying 'google 2 girls 1 cup' and going into the next room to calmly sip tea, check email and listen to the resulting freak out.

What? Sunday afternoons aren't meant to be productive.

"Stephen, while you're here, is there a god?" "No, darling."

briargate — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:42:39 GMT

Watching Simon Amstell go all fanboy over Stephen Fry is one of the cutest things I've seen in ages, and completely makes up for the rather tragic new hair-do. <3

Jobs I am not quite qualified for...

briargate — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:29:10 GMT

Occasionally the task of job hunting takes a break from soul shattering drudgery to branch out into full blown wtf-ness:

Companion required 6 hours per week split over two afternoons of 3 hours at £8.00 per hour. You will be required to sit and talk to the wife Take the wife out while the husband does day to day tasks Take the wife out for walks There will be some light housework like hovering and dusting.

one day I'll learn....

briargate — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:02:39 GMT

Why is it, everytime I'm ill, I tap my symptoms into google? Why?! It's only going to tell me I have cancer! This is in no way helpful or productive! And only mildly better than "potential alien parasite"!

My doctors appointment isn't until Monday. Silly weekends.

not a sports girl, really

briargate — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:03:30 GMT

My interest in the Olympics is minimal at best, but I would like to catch a few of the hockey games (thank you for that residual interest, all-girls grammar school education...)

Unfortunately the TV listings are proving less than useful in saying what time things actually start airing. Either that or my google-fu is weak. Typing "When the fuck is the hockey on?!" has failed to provide enlightenment on the subject, at least. I think it's just a case of going by the official starting time, counting back eight hours and praying the alcohol hasn't completely destroyed my ability to work with such complex mathematical equations involving numbers under ten.

context is for the weak

briargate — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:41:43 GMT

"*knock*"
"Hold on! Arh!"
"What are you 'arh'in at?"
"I've got no clothes on. Can't be arsed to find any. What's up?"
"Ummm... I've forgotten what I was gonna say now... oh yeah! Do you need anything burning?"
"Apart from the sofa?"
"Apart from that."
"Err, no. You can have the sofa if you want."
"Maybe later."
"'k."
"'k."

I've not updated recently because it's been... a very difficult few weeks. Everything is starting to settle down again now, thank god, but July was definitely upholding itself as the annual Month Of Suck. I'll go into more detail when I recover from the weekend long drinking binge I had to celebrate the fact the worst is over.

pre-surgery babbling

briargate — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:04:08 GMT

God, I've been bad at updating. And just... everything. My motivation, she ist kaput. Pretty much the only thing I've put any effort to recently is the website, and even that I feel I'm falling short on.

But I'm determined to spend the rest of today being productive, since tomorrow I'm going into surgery to have all four wisdom teeth taken out under general anesthetic so the chances of getting anything productive done this weekend are... minimal at best. Productivity requires being on the same planet, for a start, not doped up on painkillers and McDonalds chocolate milkshake.

(There's also the potential OMGDEATH!!! listed as a side-effect, but I'm assured that even at Grantham Hospital this is veryvery unlikely, and possibly still preferable to having to go under a local twice.)

My main concern is that a) Dad will forget to pick me up and b) the brother will forget he's meant to be coming round to play the x-box and pretend to make sure I don't fall over or attempt to operate heavy machinery. If I am forgotten, I fully intend to sulk about it and call every single contact on my phone until I find someone ~~within reach of a McDonalds~~ who can come and look after me.

Do I blame FFVIII or google image search?

briargate — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:23:43 GMT

So it turns out that finding a clear and decent sized picture for the Balamb Garden insignia as a reference for a tattoo artist is not as easy as one might think. I've found the whole of one clear pic, which is 110 by 116 pixels. I can't even find the black & white image that plays at the start of the game along with the grainy monochrome shots of Squall/Seifer/Edea etc.

Why do you deny me?! WHY?!?! I just want to pretend I'm a SeeD. Is that so much to ask? ;_;

Man flu

briargate — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:35:23 GMT

The boything and I were discussing this a few weeks back, and it's just re-entered my head thanks to seeing a mate's status on facebook...

Does it make you doubletake when men refer to themselves as having 'man flu'?

Y'see, I've always felt is just a way of saying, at best gently mockingly and at worst derisively, that you aren't actually that ill. That you've just got a cold and are just making up a load of fuss for sympathy and free nursing from your poor SO. In fact, I know that's how the word originated. Yes, it stems from a rather sterotypical view that men are convinced that they will bleed to death from a papercut and yet need whacking over the head and dragging down the doctors when there is anything actually wrong with them, but that doesn't change the fact that 'man flu' roughly translates to "I've got the sniffles and a lot of free time to whine about it".

But J and I have both heard, in recent weeks, blokes begging off sick from engagements because they've got man flu, without the slightest hint of irony whatsoever. From the way they'd been talking, you'd think man flu was an actual medical condition only slightly less lethal than the bubonic plague. And yet you just knew that, on the other side of the phone, their girlfriends were stood behind them rolling their eyes and contemplating smothering them with the last of the kleenex.

briargate — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:52:02 GMT

So I haven't updated in, like, ages. Not having the laptop connected and being stuck on the 'family' PC and public computers for internet use isn't conducive to blogging. And the problem with large gaps between posts is that there's both too much to post and nothing at all.

Today I got out a library book called 'Memoirs of A Gnostic Dwarf' and now my foot's gone numb. Not that I'm implying the two things are related, just... they are two things that happened to me today.

Admit it, you envy my hardcore lifestyle.

I'm now going to go youtube Sailor Moon clips, because stereohog is a bad, bad influence.

Oooh yes.

briargate — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:22:35 GMT

Was very much feeling sorry for myself earlier. Mum bought me wine to cheer me up. Then Sean pointed out that my Birthday (23rd March) sees the release of...

Christopher Lee as the voice of Death in The Colour Of Magic.

How have I not heard of this?! Is it rumours and lies?! Because.... squee! Yay! Squee!