My latte sister, the distressingly multi-talented Kalima, has started to write up the Buffy fiction we outlined back in the summer of 2002. It's a WIP, which I don't normally rec, but on the other hand it's lovely and funny and she's taken the snippet I wrote and turned it into something with much more depth and wit. So go read Time Travel for Pedestrians and give her warm fluffy strokes of feedback.
At one point this was called Hot Kinky Vamp Action despite the fact it was a proposal we were working on for 'proper' publication. On account of us being 'proper' writers by day. Well, by night on account of writing not paying enough to buy pins and us therefore having the equivilent of DMP day jobs to pay the actual bills. Maybe that's why we both love season 6? We can relate to Buffy's realisation that her calling is never going to get her a bank loan but she just can't give it up. Plus, obviously, all that hot sex with Spike. HKVA did not have any actual HKVA due to the restrictions of the Buffy books' range. When we discussed reviving the project as fanfic, the first thing to be brought back was the sex. My calling means my nights are being spent patrolling the graveyards of prose, slaying bad grammar and trying to avert the apocalypse (i.e. get a novel in by the deadline) so Kelly is writing this herself. Please read - it's going to be a beauty.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
You are an Elementalist. Your magic stems from the
forces of nature. You might be a forest
nuturing Druid, a storm-creating Weather-Wizard
or any of the many Elementals, but one thing is
sure-- your bond with nature is strong. You can
rely heavily on nature to support yourself
aesthetically or physically for it lends you
both comfort and strength. Your instincts
rarely fail you. You are vibrantly passionate
but are sometimes carried away by your own
emotions.
Which Magical Order Are You In?
brought to you by Quizilla
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Monday, May 10, 2004
I've just organised an LJ syn feed for this blog. Simply click here and then click on add to friends to get my blog pumped straight to your friends list.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
New fanfic uploaded: Kali Dances
This was started back in December 2003 and was then called Pure Shores, based solely on the opening scene. It's only just been finished off, with all this Kali business popping up. I mention some songs in the author's note, although none are actually quoted in the text. Here are some extracts of the lyrics which I hope reveal where this fiction came from.
I also have someone say "Instant karma's gonna get you" which is from, erm, Instant Karma by John Lennon.
This was started back in December 2003 and was then called Pure Shores, based solely on the opening scene. It's only just been finished off, with all this Kali business popping up. I mention some songs in the author's note, although none are actually quoted in the text. Here are some extracts of the lyrics which I hope reveal where this fiction came from.
- Madonna Ray of Light
Zephyr in the sky at night I wonder
Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun
She's got herself a universe gone quickly
For the call of thunder threatens everyone
...
Faster than the speeding light she's flying
Trying to remember where it all began
She's got herself a little piece of heaven
Waiting for the time when Earth shall be as one
This was one of those 'ooh' moments when I heard the song just after watching Chosen. - All Saints Pure Shores
Many faces I have seen
Many places I have been
Walked the deserts, swam the shores
(Coming closer to you)
Many faces I have know
Many way in which I've grown
Moving closer on my own
(Coming closer to you)
full lyrics here - PJ Harvey Down by the Water
That blue eyed girl, she said "No more"
That blue eyed girl, became blue eyed whore
Down by the water, I took her hand
Just like my daughter, I'll see her again
less pleasant, and probably tied to the whole Angel/Dru/Spike stuff. - Moloko The Time is Now
You're the first thing
And the last thing on my mind
In your arms I feel
Sunshine
...
On a promise
A day dream yet to come
Time is upon us
Oh but the night is young
...
And the atmosphere is charged.
In you I trust.
And I feel no fear as I
Do as I must.
There is no good reason to include this, I just did - Kula Shaker Temple of Everlasting Light
Will I ever see the pleasure that will never end
Hidden in the misty forest that desire send
Mesmerised like fireflys falling through a flame
If I wait I'll be too late to holler out your name
If I wait another day to travel to the east
Time may prey on me, dance upon me with it's feet
Hidden in the temple they are building to the sun
pretty obvious in terms of influence on the story.
I also have someone say "Instant karma's gonna get you" which is from, erm, Instant Karma by John Lennon.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
"It's an ancient sacred text, not a magic 8 ball."
(Wes, To Shanshu in L.A.)
Back in December 2002, I used the public 8 ball to predict the end of Buffy with startling correctness. Buffy did get better, the outlook for Spike was not good and it was too soon to tell if Spike would Shanshu.
The magic 8-ball site is not behaving this year, so instead I took my test to Bob.
I asked "will Spike become a real boy?"
Bob said "as I see it, yes"
(see screen grab)
"will Angel season 5 get any better?"
"Most likely"
(see screen grab)
"will Spike die?"
"better not tell you now"
(see screen grab)
"will Angel be the vampire to shanshu?"
"my reply is no"
(see screen grab)
"is it the end of the world as we know it?"
"you may rely on it"
(see screen grab)
Now to wait to compare Bob's accuracy against the 8-ball's...
(Wes, To Shanshu in L.A.)
Back in December 2002, I used the public 8 ball to predict the end of Buffy with startling correctness. Buffy did get better, the outlook for Spike was not good and it was too soon to tell if Spike would Shanshu.
The magic 8-ball site is not behaving this year, so instead I took my test to Bob.
I asked "will Spike become a real boy?"
Bob said "as I see it, yes"
(see screen grab)
"will Angel season 5 get any better?"
"Most likely"
(see screen grab)
"will Spike die?"
"better not tell you now"
(see screen grab)
"will Angel be the vampire to shanshu?"
"my reply is no"
(see screen grab)
"is it the end of the world as we know it?"
"you may rely on it"
(see screen grab)
Now to wait to compare Bob's accuracy against the 8-ball's...
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Friday, April 09, 2004
It's my boys. I haven't had this many big, strapping men at my bedside since that night with the varsity lacrosse team.
Fred, Hole in the World
I mentioned before that Angel is a boyz show to Buffy’s grrls. When I was writing that I couldn't immediately find any good articles delineating what I meant.
It’s relatively easy to suggest Buffy is a result of the riotgrrl movements of the early 90s. The series depicts female characters who transcend the cultural gender roles imposed upon them. Each stereotype is shaded with unexpected subtleties and nuances. The popular cheerleader admits that she is lonely in her airbrushed, shallow bubble. The petite blonde girl slays monsters. The geeky girl smashes a demon in the face with a fire extinguisher. The last image seems obvious now, having seen Willow’s multiple transmogrifications, but the first time I saw it, back in 1998, I yelled with delight. The outcast girl wasn’t going to be victimised and rescued by heroes: she was going to fight. There’s no question that all the female characters are punished at some point for their refusal to conform to cliché, and that sometimes the show itself tries a little too hard (I still have issues with Beauty and the Beasts all this time later). It’s also quite easy to google up a lot of stuff about Buffy and feminism.
So why is there relatively little on Angel and constructions of masculinity? Why do I refer to it as a boyz show?
It’s not just that it is named after the male lead, just as Buffy was named after the female lead, although that does play into the notion of male/female series. It’s not even that there are always more male regulars than there are women (again, the opposite of the XX-heavy Buffy). It’s that the series toys with male gender definition. Angel himself is always seeking a role, a title through which he can define himself. It almost doesn’t matter what that role is, so long as it’s clearcut. He doesn’t care if he’s a hero, a villain, a father, a human or a champion, just so long as he can have definition. The male characters start off with clearly defined roles. Wesley was a Watcher: stripped of that he loses his way and tries to be something else (Rogue Demon Hunter). Joining forces with Angel enables him to have a position, a definition. Likewise Gunn knew what he was, until Alanna destroyed his security. He currently admits that he loves being a suit because it gives him an identity – it makes him someone, a person with a role and function in life.
In contrast to the Buffy women, the boyz of Angel struggle when their function is made fluid. Cordelia, a character whose role underwent radical overhauls whilst she was at Sunnydale, accepts the shifting pattern of her identity and moves onwards, secure in herself. Spike likewise accepts that he is both William and Spike, champion and villain. Angel doesn’t. Each time he encounters someone with a similar role as his own, he feels diminished, threatened. It’s there in his dislike of Groo (the stereotype of a hero) and his problem with Spike as illustrated in Soul Purpose (although obviously they have a much deeper problem of just disliking each other intensely). It's with his issues with Holtz and Connor's relationship. It’s in his “I did it first. The whole ‘having a soul thing',” whine at Buffy.
Angel is about the quest for a male identity in a feminine world. The most disruptive and chaotic influences to enter their worlds are women. It is a woman that made Angel, even down to renaming Liam Angelus. It is the same woman who makes him a father, forcing him into a definition connected with another instead of a solo one. It is another woman, Faith, who was responsible for Wesley’s expulsion from the Watcher’s Council and who eventually restores his belief in himself as a Watcher in deed if not in official title. It is a woman who plots Angel Investigations' downfall and turns Wesley into Wes. It is apparently Cordelia who births Jasmine, causing the final collapse of Connor. There are male antagonists, Lindsey and Holtz, but these help provide definition through adversary not destroy it through complicity.
I used to see all this as a parallel and complementary aspect between Buffy and Angel, hence my use of ‘boyz’ to suggest something of modern male identity formation (i.e. taking something from gay notions of gender identity and sexuality). It is only with the destruction of yet another grrl who was one of the boyz that I am starting to wonder if there is something more reactionary at work.
Fred, Hole in the World
I mentioned before that Angel is a boyz show to Buffy’s grrls. When I was writing that I couldn't immediately find any good articles delineating what I meant.
It’s relatively easy to suggest Buffy is a result of the riotgrrl movements of the early 90s. The series depicts female characters who transcend the cultural gender roles imposed upon them. Each stereotype is shaded with unexpected subtleties and nuances. The popular cheerleader admits that she is lonely in her airbrushed, shallow bubble. The petite blonde girl slays monsters. The geeky girl smashes a demon in the face with a fire extinguisher. The last image seems obvious now, having seen Willow’s multiple transmogrifications, but the first time I saw it, back in 1998, I yelled with delight. The outcast girl wasn’t going to be victimised and rescued by heroes: she was going to fight. There’s no question that all the female characters are punished at some point for their refusal to conform to cliché, and that sometimes the show itself tries a little too hard (I still have issues with Beauty and the Beasts all this time later). It’s also quite easy to google up a lot of stuff about Buffy and feminism.
So why is there relatively little on Angel and constructions of masculinity? Why do I refer to it as a boyz show?
It’s not just that it is named after the male lead, just as Buffy was named after the female lead, although that does play into the notion of male/female series. It’s not even that there are always more male regulars than there are women (again, the opposite of the XX-heavy Buffy). It’s that the series toys with male gender definition. Angel himself is always seeking a role, a title through which he can define himself. It almost doesn’t matter what that role is, so long as it’s clearcut. He doesn’t care if he’s a hero, a villain, a father, a human or a champion, just so long as he can have definition. The male characters start off with clearly defined roles. Wesley was a Watcher: stripped of that he loses his way and tries to be something else (Rogue Demon Hunter). Joining forces with Angel enables him to have a position, a definition. Likewise Gunn knew what he was, until Alanna destroyed his security. He currently admits that he loves being a suit because it gives him an identity – it makes him someone, a person with a role and function in life.
In contrast to the Buffy women, the boyz of Angel struggle when their function is made fluid. Cordelia, a character whose role underwent radical overhauls whilst she was at Sunnydale, accepts the shifting pattern of her identity and moves onwards, secure in herself. Spike likewise accepts that he is both William and Spike, champion and villain. Angel doesn’t. Each time he encounters someone with a similar role as his own, he feels diminished, threatened. It’s there in his dislike of Groo (the stereotype of a hero) and his problem with Spike as illustrated in Soul Purpose (although obviously they have a much deeper problem of just disliking each other intensely). It's with his issues with Holtz and Connor's relationship. It’s in his “I did it first. The whole ‘having a soul thing',” whine at Buffy.
Angel is about the quest for a male identity in a feminine world. The most disruptive and chaotic influences to enter their worlds are women. It is a woman that made Angel, even down to renaming Liam Angelus. It is the same woman who makes him a father, forcing him into a definition connected with another instead of a solo one. It is another woman, Faith, who was responsible for Wesley’s expulsion from the Watcher’s Council and who eventually restores his belief in himself as a Watcher in deed if not in official title. It is a woman who plots Angel Investigations' downfall and turns Wesley into Wes. It is apparently Cordelia who births Jasmine, causing the final collapse of Connor. There are male antagonists, Lindsey and Holtz, but these help provide definition through adversary not destroy it through complicity.
I used to see all this as a parallel and complementary aspect between Buffy and Angel, hence my use of ‘boyz’ to suggest something of modern male identity formation (i.e. taking something from gay notions of gender identity and sexuality). It is only with the destruction of yet another grrl who was one of the boyz that I am starting to wonder if there is something more reactionary at work.
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