mzminola_of_old

As my twelfth year drew to a close, my father introduced me to Girl Genius (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/). Back then it was still a print comic, with only the first issue available on the Studio Foglio website to entice new readers.

( the story continues... )

Wow.

Reading these amazingly detailed episode reviews: latest one

The note about Mercedes being the first person Kurt came out to popped at me, and I had some thoughts on it.

I for sure agree that it shows a level of trust Kurt has in Mercedes.
I'd like to add that I think it also shows a level of his care for her; he knows she was hurt by him leading her on, and arguably feels bad about that, especially since he let her think he liked Rachel over her (and at this point in the show, neither of them like Rachel).

So I'd say part of Kurt telling Mercedes he's gay is his trust, and part is him, as a friend, wanting to reassure her that him not wanting to date her? Isn't anything to do with her. Part guilt for lying to her / using her crush as a cover, part "please don't ever doubt that you are wonderful".

Edit: is this similar to in Grilled Cheesus when Kurt agrees to go to Mercedes church? A pattern where Kurt hurts Mercedes feelings, and then in an effort to make her feel better, makes himself vulnerable to her?

There's some really neat meta on the Glee posts I've been reading about "voice stealing". And I re-watched most of The Power of Madonna, and it definitely struck me in that episode.

( thoughts )

I mean, what would he have done if one of the girls said she hated Madonna?

Okay, this is my spoilery warnings for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. This thing is gonna be a quick go-over of the potentially quicky bits that people might want to duck for, that don't impact the plot. Well, the first one does, but not significantly

Shootings and stabbings are a given, so I'm not gonna address that.

( okay, so... )

Okay, I'm prefacing this with a mild disclaimer; this is a very personal look at several songs. It is heavily influenced by my life experiences and attitudes; I'm not saying "this song is inspirational" or "this song fails to inspire" flat-out: I am saying this song or that song inspires, or fails to inspire,me.

This is also just the songs/videos themselves, not anything the artists have said about them (I haven't looked, and frankly, I don't want to)

Lately, two "be proud of who you are" songs came out with much fanfare.

Born This Way by Lady Gaga, and Firework by Katy Perry. We'll discuss that second one in another post.

Sidenote: Perform This Way by Weird Al Yankovich amuses the hell out of me, and I agree with someone on fandomsecrets who said it feels more honest and real than Born This Way.
Also, I Am What I Am from La Cage Aux Folles, as performed by John Barrowman, is just...this song trope in a nutshell. "I am my own special creation" "And what I am needs no excuses".

I guess that difference is that those two I just aside'd to are "I'm okay" whereas the two I started with are more "You're okay".

Anyway. So. While I enjoy Born This Way musically, as I do most Lady Gaga songs, the lyrics fall absolutely flat. Firstly, her used of the word "orient" threw me right out. I can ignore one problem, right? But then I get thinking, like, how would people react if instead of "chola descent" and "orient", what if she'd been rhyming "dyke" and "kike"? I honestly am not sure how people would react, I'm really not.

Moving away from that can of worms, to another one; religion!

"cause He made you perfect babe" and "cause God makes no mistakes" were pretty much why Born This Way does not speak to me. It's danceable, I enjoy it for that, but the lyrics just...don't touch me.

I'm not religious. I neither believe nor disbelieve in God/gods/supernatural beings of any sort. I say "I'm agnostic because I'm too paranoid to be atheist".
So references to something making me don't mesh. I consider myself the result of evolution and upbringing. I have asthma because of genetic and environmental factors, not because some Power thought I'd learn life lessons from not being able to run.

I can learn life lessons from not being able to run, but I don't consider that the reason. Likewise, I'm female/feminine/bisexual/mathematically-inclined/short/brunette/hazel-eyed/drawn-to-bright-colors because...whatever.

I don't think we should accept eachother because "God doesn't make mistakes" I think we should accept eachother because it's the decent fucking thing to do. We ought to treat eachother well.

Born This Way makes me think somewhat of people who could have better social skills but don't because their parents considered them such a special fucking snowflake. No. Saying you can, say, invade personal space because "God made you to be close to people" is an excuse for me to say I was "made to be violent" and punch you in the mouth.

Versus La Cage Aux Folle song I Am What I Am. I don't know, somehow "I am what I am" and "I was born this way" strike me differently. They seem superficially similar, but...eh? I understand the positive sides of saying "I was born this way" but it feels more like an excuse, implying there's something problematic with how you are but the fact that you can't control how you're born makes it okay? Whereas I Am What I Am feels more in-control. I guess it's a more confident, mature attitude.

http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002730

JUST wanted to remember this page.

OMG GOOGLE MAINPAGE TODAY HIT THE "INSERT COIN" BUTTON.
OMG OMG OMG OMG.
It has sound too, by the way.
OMG OMG OMG.

Going off attitudes/personalities...

Sora -> Kamina
Riku -> Yoko
Kairi -> Simon

Dr. Horrible: Namine
Penny: Kairi
Captain Hammer: Marluxia
Bad Horse: Xemnas
Bad Horse Chorus: Xigbar, Xaldin, Saix
Hammer's fan-trio: Vexen, Lexeaus, Zexion
Newscasters: Luxord and Larxene
Pink Pummeler: Demyx
Moist: Riku
Conflict Diamond: Axel
Bait and Switch: Sora and Roxas

This started when I thought a Kingdom Hearts casting of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog should have Namine as Billy, because of the whole wears white, blonde, shy, symmetry.
I was debating whether Sora or Kairi should be Penny, since Kairi looks the part better, but the Sora/Namine relationship is closer to the Penny/Billy relationship.
Then wolfiso suggested Sora and Roxas as Bait and Switch, and things went from there.
Also had trouble decided between Larxene and Marluxia for Captain Hammer, but figured Marluxia has the bigger ego, and is better at pretending to be nice.

No, we don't know which one is which, either, when it comes to Bait+Switch. We're betting they don't have it finalized.

So I was reading one of my favourite webcomics, Vampirates, when I started to notice the first introduced characters (so the main character but it spends a good amount of time, probably even, with other characters as the focus) Clyde, was pretty dang girly. They way he acts reminds me of all the things I've noticed, and have been brought up in sociolinguistics, and what I hear from my brother and other guys, in the differences between the way feminine-coded and masculine-coded humans act, with Clyde leaning pretty heavily towards feminine.
And yes, there are always variations, definitelty variations within individuals themselves.
But I was thinking, Clyde would make more sense to me as a girl.
And then I realized, if he was a girl, and everything was exactly as it is now in the comics, s/he would get called a Mary Sue.
...FUCK.

So I have something to say about Mary Sues.

Nia from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann gets called a Mary Sue.
I love Nia. So I love Mary Sues.
Kairi from Kingdom Hearts gets called a Mary Sue.
I love Kairi. So I love Mary Sues.
Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender gets called a Mary Sue. So does Aang.
I love them. So I love Mary Sues.

If my life was fiction, it would be compared to cliche High School Alternate Universe fanfics.
And I would be called a Mary Sue.

You know what?
I'm awesome.
All these girls and women in stories I like?
They're awesome. Same with the girly guys, the androgynous ones, the Merciful Goddess from Saiyuki. All awesome.

So fuck you.
We're awesome.