My grandmother, the last of my grandparents, died early this morning. I don't know what was harder, to watch her suffer or to watch my mother watching her. In a sense, it is a relief.

---

Tango in translation

Wow, apparently some of my Xenaverse fics have been translated into Russian. I haven't read the translations yet, but it's a certainly a pleasant surprise!



Not Alone - Не одиноки (original here)



Into The Dawn - До Рассвета (original here)



The Beginning - Начало (original here)



Translations of "The Outsiders" and "A Good Turn" are apparently also in the works.

---

The problem with +10 degree C weather in winter is that it's also +10 indoors. My breath is fogging the computer screen...



My grandmother, mother's mother, is very ill.

@настроение: my God, I hate hospitals

---

British ban on Israeli universities

In oh-so-charming academic news: British academic associations have approved a boycott of Israeli universities in protest of the "apartheid policy" of the "Jewish occupation".



How incredibly ironic, considering that it was Britain who created this "apartheid" in the first place!



In 1917, the British government pledged to support the establishment of a Jewish "national home" in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire. But they also had a debt to pay to a certain tribal chieftain, Abdullah of the Hashemites, who sided with Britain against the Turks. When Britain was given mandate over the entire area in 1922, they lopped off 80% of the land, called it "Trans-Jordan", and gave it to Abdullah. The remaining land was then once again partitioned by the UN, once Britain gave up its mandate. The Jews accepted this partition, the Arabs did not, precipitating the war of 1948.



It was Britain, and Britain alone, who was responsible for giving Jordan to the Hashemites to rule, even though they did not represent the majority of the local population (and still do not).



Heaven forbid that knowledge of history should interfere with anyone's sense of self-righteousness! And how odd that Israel should be singled out, when there are so many more worthy candidates, from Turkey to Russia. And let's not forget Britain itself - Northern Ireland, anyone? And I don't see an Australian Aboriginal state being formed in this former British colony, either.



People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.



—————

P.S. I am not locking this thread, but this is my diary, and no arguments on the Mideast situation will be entered into.

---

Cloak

Thanks to the efforts of the very talented Madradish, I am now the proud owner of a hand-stitched purple cloak!



...Yes, a cloak. As in, a garment that drapes around me down to my ankles and has a hood. It is beautiful and incredibly warm, which was the main purpose of the exercise. Sydney winters may not be freezing, but in an uninsulated house, the temperature indoors equals the temperature outdoors. Right now, that means 15 degrees C. Brrr.



When I find a clasp for it, the effect will be complete.

@настроение: cape-swish!

---

Objectification of men

Reading Sara Douglass's latest Fantasy series made me remember a rant I had planned to write for some time: the male form and media.



These days, everyone is keenly aware of the objectification of the female form in visual media (think yoghurt ad with a bikini-clad woman), and to a lesser extent, in print media (think paperback thriller with the token gorgeous long-legged Bond girl whom the main character generally has to protect).



What nobody seems to pay much attention to is the corresponding situation in novels written by, and for, women. I don't mean high-quality literature, but your everyday sort of paperback that reflects the pulse of a society more than its literary endeavours. This includes the usual romance novels, a lot of Fantasy, as well as (sad to say) almost all fanfiction, including slash. We all smirk knowingly when we come across a novel by, say Guy Gavriel Kay, where a beautiful slave girl is forced to serve (or service) an evil king. Here are all the symptoms of female objectification: woman as an aesthetically and sexually pleasing thing whose feelings and character don't matter nearly as much as the response she gets from admiring males (and other sentient creatures).



But what about male objectification? What about those much-beloved cliches like "his strong arms wrapped around her" and "his well-muscled torso straining at the shirt" or "his narrow hips bound only by a loincloth"? Of course it's bad writing, but more importantly, it is objectification, pure and simple. The man, instead of being a living, breathing individual with his own history, ambitions, fears and desires becomes an object that exists in relation to the reader, who is invited to appreciate his oh-so-dreamy green/blue/purple/cerlulean eyes and oh-so-gorgeous defined musculature.



Whether het or slash or gen, these walking idols pervade low-brow (and a lot of high-brow) literature. Obviously, they are so common because for some people there is an erotic thrill in reading about "his strong arms" protecting them -- or, often, an even simpler, sensual delight in the male body. Men, just as women, can be idealised and eroticised and made desirable to the generic consumer. And therein lies the problem.



Objectification is sexual appeal, generalised and made non-specific. All imperfections are removed, all individuality stripped away -- and with them, all humanity. The result is an abstraction, an idea. It is no different from the idea of Perfect Love in all those romantic comedies: it is a concept that cannot exist all by itself. Desirability, eroticism, allure have to come from the character's own combination of traits as perceived by another character. They can never exist all by themselves, in a generic world of "strong arms" and "dreamy eyes".



At least with films, a badly written female character can sometimes be brought to life by a thoughtful actress who endows her "Bond girl" with a sense of personality and history. In writing, there is no such luxury. The author's obligation is to write *people*, with their own thoughts and feelings -- not blow-up dolls for other characters (or the reader) to appreciate.



...And that was tonight's rant.

---

Your time starts...now!

A class I teach starts at 10 am. The tutors are getting the notes and answers at... 9:45 am.



My uni is sooooo organised.

---

"Ballets Russes" - new documentary

This film has only just opened in Sydney this week. It's a documenary with interviews and incredible archival footage of productions of the two heirs to Diaghilev's "Ballet Russe": the "Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the "Original Ballet Russe". It's a history of ballet in the 1930s and 40s, and a lot of it was totally new to me -- but it's also a remarkable look at the dancers of the era, and their lives. It's amazing to see 85-90 year old men and women who still go onstage as character actors, who teach ballet and write about it, and who have such an incredible passion for their art.



At the start of the film, Nathalie Krassovska, an 89 year old former prima ballerina, announces "I'm just going to do some barre. I haven't done barre in two days!" -- and proceeds to do just that. Barre. At 89 years of age! Alas, from what I understand, she and four of the others who were interviewed have since passed away (the film was made in 2004), but all the same: surely it's all right to die at 90-95 when you were still dancing! As another former ballerina, Tatiana Riabouchinskaya, laughingly says in answer to the question of why she still teaches -- "What else should I do? Sell fruit? This is my life."



The film chronicles the rise and fall of the two rival companies that succeeded Diaghilev's. It touches on some of the tensions between them, but avoids getting mired deep in the politics of clashing egos; it also explores how what was going on in the world affected the enclosed world of the ballet. The story of the African-American dancer, Raven Wilkinson, who was forced to quit the company after the Ku Klux Klan became too much of a threat during the ballet company's tours in the South was treated particularly well. There are plenty of other episodes, some poignant, some nasty, some hilarious -- and the dramatic larger-than-life personalities of these people reach out and grab you from the screen. I loved it.



On a POTO-related note, anyone who thought it was strange that Madame Giry looks so young in 1919 compared with Raoul: wonder no more. Almost all these former dancers looked at least 20 years younger than your average 90 year old.

---

You too can conquer semolina

A discussion I had ages ago with Dolly reminded me about the existence of the bane of my childhood: semolina porridge. Oh, how I used to hate it. I would only eat it with lots of strawberry preserves, and then unwillingly.



So, last week I decided it's time to put this behind me. It's ridiculous to go through life convinced I hate semolina when I haven't had it in 20 years, and besides, it was on sale at the local grocery store.



Conclusion: it's edible. I still haven't learned to love it, but I don't seem to hate it anymore. Adding a scoop of vanilla ice-cream makes it taste like ... vanilla ice-cream (oddly enough), which is actually quite nice. On the whole, it's just bland baby food that tastes like whatever you add to it.



Maybe one day I can conquer my distaste for noodles in milk... But I don't think it's going to be any time soon.

@настроение: sick

---

"Giselle" - Australian Ballet

A very brief review, not because there isn't enough to say, but because I'm tired and unwell, and hence not very eloquent.



This was easily the best production of "Giselle" I have ever seen in terms of staging, lighting and costumes. It was breathtaking: beautiful without being garish; classical but not old-fashioned; and the scene where the Wilis rise from their graves actually gave me chills. I can't imagine how it can possibly be staged better.



Lisa Bolte shone as Giselle, like something out of a picture-book. Watching her was a complete pleasure, both as an actress and as a dancer - she was just exquisite.



Pity about the rest of the cast - most notably Damien Welch as Albrecht (who can neither jump nor spin, and seems to do all in his power to make Lisa Bolte work twice as hard when he is partnering her). It's a real shame that the technical standards at AB have slipped even in the last 7-8 years that I've been following their shows, and "Giselle" absolutely pushed the limits of most of the dancers' capabilities. They no longer look like a world-class ballet company, and just a couple of years ago they certainly did (in the 70s, when this production originated, they were an excellent company; Nureyev recorded his "Don Quixote" with them). There is still a lot of extremely talented dancers, but they need more classical training, and because of the focus on modern dance collaborations, they no longer get much classical experience on stage. One classical ballet a year is all they are doing now, and they can barely cope with that. Sad but true.

---

Character cross-over meme

Saw it somewhere on LJ. I like these what-ifs.



Choose twelve characters from your fandoms, then answer the questions under the cut. Do not look at the questions beforehand.



1. Xena (XWP)

2. Ares (XWP)

3. Erik (PotO)

4. Gabrielle (XWP)

5. The Stranger (Dear Frankie)

6. Christine (PotO)

7. Mme Giry (PotO)

8. Livia (XWP)

9. Lizzie (Dear Frankie)

10. Raoul (XWP)

11. Lao Ma (XWP)

12. Athena (XWP)

Click for questions and answers

1. Who would make a better college professor, 6 [Christine] or 11 [Lao Ma]? What subjects would they teach?

Oh, Lao Ma. Absolutely. She would teach Oriental Philosophy and ... physiotherapy.



2. Do you think 4 [Gabrielle] is hot? How hot?

Not at all.



3. 12 [Athena] sends 8 [Livia] on a mission. What is it, and does it succeed?

Now that's actually an interesting thought. Perhaps it's like this: Livia, having seen Ares with Xena, wants nothing more to do with him. Athena, making use of this rift, takes Livia on as her champion. She sends her to entrap Xena to force her to reveal the location of her daughter Eve, the bringer of Twilight. Livia succeeds in trapping Xena, but once she finds out she herself is Eve, Xena's daughter, things go pear-shaped.



4. What is or would be 9 [Lizzie]'s favorite book?

If she could read Russian - Alexander Grin's "Crimson Sails". If not, then maybe "Jane Eyre", or rather some sort of paperback equivalent.



5. Would it make more sense for 2 [Ares] to swear fealty to 6 [Christine], or the other way around?

Christine swearing fealty to Ares? Now that would be the cross-over from hell! But certainly not the other way around.



6. For some reason, 5 [the Stranger] is looking for a roommate. Should s/he share a studio apartment with 9 [Lizzie] or with 10 [Raoul]?

Lizzie, of course.



7. 2 [Ares], 7 [Mme Giry] and 12 [Athena] have dinner together. Where do they go, and what do they discuss?

Since Ares and Athena are more likely to be time-travelling than Mme Giry, I guess they go to a cafe in Paris. Mme Giry and Athena can commiserate about immature irresponsible people who interfere with the smooth running of things. Mme Giry and Ares can bond over a mutual interest in people who kill other people.



8. 3 [Erik] challenges 10 [Raoul] to a duel. What happens?

See "Phantom of the Opera" movie. They are evenly matched; it's 50/50 who prevails in the end.



9. If 1 [Xena] stole 8 [Livia]'s most precious possession, how would s/he get it back?

By emotional blackmail, likely involving the crucifixion of lots of helpless villagers. Bwahaha!



10. Suggest a title for a story in which 7 [Mme Giry] and 12 [Athena] both attain what they most desire.

"The Day Everyone Did What They're Supposed To" (Can't you see this being the next bit hit...)



11. What kind of plot device would you use if you wanted 4 [Gabrielle] and 1 [Xena] to work together?

Any Xena episode will do.



12. If 7 [Mme Giry] visited you for the weekend, how would you get along?

If we didn't disagree on anything major, probably very well. But if we did, then - two stubborn opinionated people together equals disaster.



13. If you could command 3 [Erik] to perform any one task or service for you, what would it be?

Let's see. Any people I need conveniently... liquidated? Faililng that, I'll settle for a musical recital.



14. Does anyone on your friends list write or draw 11 [Lao Ma]?

Not that I know of.



15. If 2 [Ares] had to choose sides between 4 [Gabrielle] and 5 [The Stranger], which would it be?

Eep. Gabrielle, I guess!



16. What might 10 [Raoul] shout while charging into battle?

Nnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!



17. If you chose a song to represent 8 [Livia] which song would you choose?

"Jaded" by Aerosmith



18. 1 [Xena] 6 [Christine], and 12 [Athena] are having dim sum at a Chinese restaurant. There is only one scallion pancake left, and they all reach for it at the same time. Who gets to eat it?

It's a close one between Xena and Athena, but I'd say Xena - as long as Athena doesn't use her powers.



19. What might be a good pick-up line for 2 [Ares] to use on 10 [Raoul]?

*laughing* Um... Okay. After the duel with Erik: "Not bad - if you're fighting a lunatic with a decorative foil. How would you like to learn some real skills with a sword?"



20. What would 5 [The Stranger] most likely be arrested for?

In the past - maybe drink driving.



21. What is 6 [Christine]'s secret?

That she takes vocal lessons from the Angel of Music...



22. If 11 [Lao Ma] and 9 [Lizzie] were racing to a destination, who would get there first?

Are you kidding? Lao Ma would get there before Lizzie started out.



23. 1 [Xena] and 9 [Lizzie] reluctantly team up to save the world from the threat posed by 4's [Gabrielle's] sinister secret organization. 11 [Lao Ma] volunteers to help them, but it is later discovered that 11 [Lao Ma] is actually a spy for 4 [Gabrielle]. Meanwhile, 4 [Gabrielle] has kidnapped 12 [Athena] in an attempt to force their surrender. Following the wise advice of 5 [The Stranger], they seek out 3 [Erik], who gives them what they need to complete their quest. What title would you give this fic? Name three people on your friends list who might read it. Name one person who should write it.



Tim Burton's "Attack Of The Evil Blonde". Written and read by Gabrielle-haters the world over.



24. If you had to walk home through a bad neighbourhood late at night, would you feel safer in the company of 7 [Mme Giry] or 8 [Livia]?

The greatest danger with Livia would be Livia herself. So on that basis, I'll take Mme Giry and her trusty cane. *thwhack!*

---

A Solo For The Living - Chapter 28

A Solo For The Living has been updated.



Chapter 28 - To The Death

---

So much for avatar monogamy

While adding the recent new avatar, I discovered that I actually have room for another one - and worse, lots of ideas on how to use it. Perhaps that will be the slot for my temporary "fling of the week".



Here is the latest addition: Marguerite Bellanger. Napoleon's mistress, photographed in men's clothes in 1863 -- see a few posts below.

---

TV shows

Pointless housekeeping post, for self-reference.



Current TV habits:



1. House - Cranky lone crusading genius doctor who actually cares about his patients. What's not to like?

2. Desperate Housewives - Got hooked on it during Season 1, now watching on momentum. Occasionally very funny.

3. Boston Legal - One of the best-written shows on TV. Quirky and fun.

4. Mythbusters - Two guys and a support team put various myths and urban legends to the test by applying a bit of science and a lot of explosives. Entertaining, if not compulsive.

5. Thank God You're Here - Aussie improvisation comedy show. Comedians get sent into play-acting situations, and have to play along (all the other actors know the sсriрt). Occasionally brilliant, depending on the guests.

@настроение: tired

---

Associations

Since Elena tagged me for the associations meme, I'm going jump on the bandwagon.



Rules:

1) Choose 13 people from your readers list.

2) Say what you associate them with (objects, actions, etc).

3) The named readers do the same thing in their diaries.

I'm making rule 3 optional, so no need to feel obligated.



I don't know all that many of my readers, so I'm going to do only 6. In alphabetical order so as not to offend anyone.



1. CryBaby - a purring kitten, "yellow is a happy colour", silver skirt with Doc Martens boots, the aroma of fresh coffee, photographs awash in golden light.



2. Долли Обломская - witty dialogue, a secret grin, Nabokov, good-naturedly rolling one's eyes, Snape who doesn't look a thing like Alan Rickman.



3. Елена - 19th century ball gown, long opera gloves, Greece, a crackling fireplace, barely audible Mozart aria in the distance.



4. Lyndal - orbital sander , quirky email headings, red hair, the colour white, a sparkling-clean house.



5. Tenar - open book of illustrated stories, subtitles, an airy room with tatami mats, willows leaves just touching water, delicate calligraphy.



6. XenaAmber - Shakira, Anna Karenina, soft green grass, British accent, red dress.





For explanations and other association requests, feel free to comment.

---

The most optimistic thing I can say about the noise levels from the party across the road is that at least they are not playing Wagner. Or country and western. Or hip-hop.



What they are playing is a mix of 80s synth chords and electric guitar riffs reminiscent of the noises made by medical equipment, as heard by a patient slipping in and out of a drug-induced coma. This drone of a super-low bass interrupted at random by pauses and "boing boing QUACK!" sounds, played at 100+ decibels for 5 hours now, must have been designed as a test for psychological stability. I think I'm failing.



Addendum to shopping list: ear plugs.

---

Women, trousers, and the 19th century

A quiz I just saw blatantly informed me that "the first woman to wear pants" was Sandra Bernhardt in the 1870s in Paris. I wonder how many people know that's not true? Leaving aside the issue of non-European women wearing trousers, and focusing on the 19th century in general and Paris in particular -- there were quite a few other women who chose, for whatever reason, to adopt male dress. It was apparently quite chic in some circles, and was often done to allow greater freedom in accessing places that were not normally open to women, presumably because it attracted less attention.



The most famous of these that I know of was the author George Sand, who regularly dressed in male clothing for most of her life after the divorce from her husband in 1830 or thereabouts. (She also smoked a pipe, although I'm not sure that's something to celebrate. )



A slightly less well-known but even more interesting example was Marguerite Bellanger, mistress of Napoleon III. She was granted a permit by the police to wear male dress around 1861, and a couple of years later had calling cards printed with her picture.



Here she is. Not bad, for 1863!

Click for another picture of Marguerite in male dress, and one in regular women's clothing.

~





The pics and information come from here.

---

Master and Margarita

My parents finally got a copy of the "Master and Margarita" mini-series on DVD, and over the last couple of weeks I've been trying to sit through it. I think I've now seen most of the first half. I can't be bothered with a proper review, but I have one rhetorical question:



How is it possible that this brilliant, witty, sparkling, scary book has been turned into something so boring?



Not only does everyone sound like their day job is in the mafia, but it's incredibly badly directed and edited -- scenes start too early and end too late (in other words, uncinematic editing), poor lighting, bad camerawork... For example, the facade of the Varietes is obviously "cardboard" -- nothing wrong with that, but why film it from an angle and make it so obvious? Not that this is important, but these things contribute to the sense of watching a very poor production.



But perhaps the thing that irritated me most of all was the use of sepia/black-and-white for the regular Moscow scenes. I realise there is a theory that the "real" story is the book-within-the-book, but must it be forced on the viewer through such crude means? The book relies on the Moscow scenes for most of the dynamism and humour, and it is those scenes that are supposed to hit us hard. They are not supposed to look outdated. When we see black-and-white, we think "this is in the past, it does not apply to me". And that defeats the entire point.

---

An editor's view of fanfic

An interesting blogpost by Teresa Nielsen Hayden, who is apparently an editor at Tor (a major Fantasy publisher in the US), about fanfic. The original is here; I'm reposting the text under the cut. The lines at the end refer to a controversy where a Star Wars fanfic writer tried to sell her (apparently awful) novel on Amazon.

Fanfic means someone cares about what you wrote

Storytelling is basic to our species. It's one of the ways we parse our experience of the universe. Whatever moves us or matters to us will show up in the stories we tell, whether or not we have a socially approved outlet for those stories. It might surprise you to find out how many writers have works of personal erotica tucked away in their unpublished-or-unpublishable manusсriрt trunks. There's no good way to get those published, but they write them anyway, because they're writers, and eroticism is an important part of our lives.



Good fiction gets under our skin. It can change the way we see the world. But whatever its effect, it's a significant experience. It would be a bizarre thing -- unnatural, even -- for writers to not engage with that experience. They always have. I could show you stuff centuries old -- heck, some of it's millennias old -- that's fanfic by any modern definition.



Of course, it would have to be a modern definition. In a purely literary sense, fanfic doesn't exist. There is only fiction. Fanfic is a legal category created by the modern system of trademarks and copyrights. Putting that label on a work of fiction says nothing about its quality, its creativity, or the intent of the writer who created it.



The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year went to March, a novel by Geraldine Brooks, published by Viking. It's a re-imagining of the life of the father of the four March girls in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Can you see a particle of difference between that and a work of declared fanfiction? I can't. I can only see two differences: first, Louisa May Alcott is out of copyright; and second, Louisa May Alcott, Geraldine Brooks, and Viking are dreadfully respectable.



I'm just a tad cynical about authors who rage against fanfic. Their own work may be original to them, but even if their writing is so outre that it's barely readable, they'll still be using tropes and techniques and conventions they picked up from other writers. We have a system that counts some borrowings as legitimate, others as illegitimate. They stick with the legit sort, but they're still writing out of and into the shared web of literature. They're not so different as all that.



Fanfic means someone cares about what you wrote.



Personally, I'm convinced that the legends of the Holy Grail are fanfic about the Eucharist.



This really is a basic impulse.



I've never heard that George Lucas had a mad on for fanfic. I hope that's true, because he's probably the most successful bricoleur in late 20th Century narrative art.



Lori Jareo is stupid because she put her fanfic into print and put it up for sale on Amazon. I still can't quite believe that a working editor with a degree in Journalism could pull a stunt like that. That's as far as my condemnation goes. My only problem with her writing fanfic per se is that she's so bad at it.

---

Generate your own fanfic

Pretty nifty way to waste 10 minutes.



Instant drabbles!