Tumblr crosspost (16 November 2019)

I took a brief break from screaming about Noatak and Tarrlok on Twitter to scream about Denethor and Faramir, which feels right and proper.

(And also sort of the same! I mean, obviously they're very different people, but my Emotions are the same. Angsty families where they nevertheless do love each other powerfully are my kryptonite.)

[from 2021, in the midst of renewed Skywalker stanning: lol]

Tumblr crosspost (16 November 2019)

I reblogged another gifset of Noatak's waterspout, this one focusing on his reaction and escape. My comment:

Shocked horror -> angry disappointment is his best look, to be honest.

Tumblr crosspost (16 November 2019)

I reblogged a screenshot of Hiroshi Sato and Noatak as Amon, overlaid by textsfromrepubliccity with "(414): honestly if we didnt hate the same people we would have a friendship based on nothing"

me:

Tumblr crosspost (16 November 2019)

I love SW, but the time has come.



(I can click for people with trusted opinions, but otherwise it is ... probably better not to see things that are guaranteed to aggravate me. Because I do! All the time! I blocked every negativity tag but it never came close to getting rid of it tbh.)

Tumblr crosspost (16 November 2019)

Unrelated to anything I’ve posted about it in … uh, the last month or so, but I just discovered World Anvil and it looks deeply cool for world-building.

Tumblr crosspost (16 November 2019)

I reblogged a gifset of Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) in The Others, and added:

She was radiant in this. We had to watch it in my undergrad and I was glued to the screen the whole time.

Tumblr crosspost (16 November 2019)

scumtrout posted about how writing Noatak correctly = writing him as someone who fucks up everything he encounters.

I replied:

The great thing about Noatak is that there are so many different and unique ways in which he can spread total ruination in his path.

Tumblr crosspost (16 November 2019)

I reblogged an old plotbunny post (from May 2013).

Ideas I didn’t end up writing but really wanted to:

(1) The revolution is successful, and Hiroshi and Amon move Asami and Tarrlok to a gilded cage luxurious private rooms. Tarrlok and Asami are initially hostile but are driven to band together against their infinitely more objectionable relations and split ends; Hiroshi is as shitty a father as might be expected, which unsurprisingly alienates Noatak, who despite his many failings as a brother retains intense if twisted affection and absolutely zero inclination towards resolving Tarrlok’s recalcitrance with fratricide.

(2) Korra stays on the task force, is torn between “accomplishing things and beating people up” and “personal loyalty and ethics” as personified in Tarrlok and Tenzin.

( Read more... )

Tumblr crosspost (17 November 2019)

I reblogged my post about World Anvil, and added:

…I bought the journeyman guild membership (mostly for privacy settings) and regret nothing. It's already lots of fun and looks super helpful, because my notes are scattered across various word processing documents over the last ten years. Except when they're footnotes in family trees, obviously. And I get timeliiiines :D

Tumblr crosspost (17 November 2019)

bearie on Tumblr said: some of you guys are fucked up. not me though because im cool and hot

I simply reblogged with #kuvira.

Tumblr crosspost (17 November 2019)

Back in the later heyday of the B1 fandom, ikkinthekitsune posted partial transcripts of the commentaries on B1, which affirmed that "When Extremes Meet" was, in fact, supposed to be about extremes meeting in Tarrlok and Korra (certain contingents of fandom were very resistant to this), and that Korra preparing to burn Tarrlok was meant to be a big deal, as she (Ikkin) and I had argued for a long time. Bryke pointed out that it would take a drastic threat for Tarrlok to bloodbend and we're not clear where (if anywhere) Korra's going to stop in that scene.

I said:

Ah, the sweet sound of validation in the morning.

(I’m generally leaning strongly to the-author-is-dead, but hearing my own interpretations out of the mouths of the creators is nice, ngl.)

A lot of people were handwringing over the commentary and I was just :D :D

Tumblr crosspost (18 November 2019)

heckofabecca asked:

How would you classify Darcy and Elizabeth on the introvert/extrovert spectrum??? I just saw a meme that has them BOTH as introverts... which sounds fishy

I said:

Darcy’s definitely an introvert.

Elizabeth … I could probably go either way? It’s possible for outgoing, charming people to be actually introverted—they like people, they’re just drained by them. So, potentially, you could see Elizabeth as that sort of stealth introvert, retreating into solitude or near-solitude(with Jane) to recuperate all that energy she expends.

Buuuut you could just as easily see her “spirits” (to use her word) as pretty typical extraversion, energized by the people and world around her, and turning broody and discontented when she’s isolated with her thoughts for any serious length of time. You could even see her tendency to “side” with definite extraverts like Bingley and Wickham (despite ultimately connecting more to introverts like Jane, Charlotte, and Darcy) as a byproduct of an immature extraversion where she can’t quite grasp that some people are operating off a very different system.

These days, I do tend to see her as a pretty standard extravert, but there’s a fair argument for both IMO (or something in between). Also, I think adaptations tend to lean pretty hard on the introvert side, which can be a factor in how she’s categorized.

Tumblr crosspost (18 November 2019)

greenrainbownerd replied to this update of the Amon-centric f!Tarrlok fic:

Thank you. I love your fic. It’s so interesting.

I replied:

Oh, thank you very much! I’m so glad to hear when people like it :)

[2021: this is pretty much what I always say, but I am particularly gratified to hear it with genderbent fic, and especially this one.]

Tumblr crosspost (18 November 2019)

I’m trying to vary my feedback on student papers, but right now it’s pretty much all like…

*Dalek voice*: PAR-A-PHRASE! PAR-A-PHRASE!

Tumblr crosspost (19 November 2019)

An anon said:

AU where Mako and Bolin completely fuck up Amon and Tarrlok's plans before the escalations (they see Noatak practicing his waterbending one day, and Bolin recognizes his voice from "The Revelation;" they notice he looks like Tarrlok; Bolin blurts out "Councilman! Amon is your brother!" at a press meeting; they describe Noatak's appearance and voice; Tarrlok puts two and two together). How different would everything be?

I replied:

Hmm, it’s pretty hard for me to see Mako and Bolin putting the pieces together on that alone, or probably having that much access to Tarrlok. Even if they did, I think Tarrlok would be mind-meltingly enraged (on both the ‘dead brother’ and ‘nuclear hatred of Amon’ fronts) and instantly have them thrown out without actually being able to accept the conclusion himself. It probably wouldn’t change a whole lot in the long run.

Buuuut.

I could envision some scenario where Bolin associates Amon and Tarrlok (“they’re practically brothers if you think about it…”) and Aang sends his loudest YES! THEY’RE BROTHERS! SOMEONE LISTEN vibes to Korra, who’s like … yeah, Bolin, you’re right, lol, imagine if they were (Aang: AGHHHHH). But she has a ‘weird feeling’ about the whole idea, and she and Mako start to suspect that there’s some connection between Amon and Tarrlok that Aang is trying to communicate, even though of course they’re not literal brothers.

( Read more... )

Tumblr crosspost (22 November 2019)

An anon said:

Your mention of how P&P adaptations tend to lean toward making Elizabeth an introvert makes me curious. What do you think of the various adaptations' portrayals of Elizabeth? I remember you've said your favorite is Elizabeth Garvie in the 1980 BBC version, but what are your opinions on Jennifer Ehle, Kiera Knightley, Greer Garson and others? And what do you think tends to be most "off" about screen portrayals of Elizabeth compared to Austen's version?

I replied:

Hmm. At this point, it’s been a pretty long while since I watched any of them (thanks, grad school), but my overall impressions:

( Read more... )

Tumblr crosspost (22 November 2019)

I reblogged a post by veliseraptor on Tumblr about how Death of the Author is neither the only way to approach texts nor the same thing as simply ignoring parts of the text you don't like.

My addition:

THANK YOU. Death of the Author is not actually the one theory to rule them all! It certainly is a valid interpretative lens, though it doesn't equate to ignoring what's in the text—it is in fact diametrically opposed to doing that. But it is not the only theory and nobody is obligated to adhere to it. I certainly don't appreciate being dictated to by the Voice of Authority, but that doesn't mean I won't consider authorial intent at all.

Tumblr crosspost (22 November 2019)

I reblogged a quote from Rian Johnson about fandom:

You always have to contextualize how small a part of the fandom that section is. I’m not talking about people who like or dislike a particular movie. I’m talking about the people who have dedicated themselves to abusing people who are involved in the films. It’s so small, but it gets blown up. Having been in the hurricane for the last two years, I can tell you that 95% of what I get even on Twitter is lovely and thoughtful and engaged, even when people don’t like my movie. Having said that, it’s a problem that every type of fandom is dealing with. It’s almost a byproduct of this system that is the internet.

I still think it's pretty spot-on.

Tumblr crosspost (22 November 2019)

An anon said:

Got another AU for you! Yakone actually does turn over a new leaf. He genuinely loves his wife and sons. When Noatak and Tarrlok discover that they're waterbenders, he doesn't go for revenge, train them vigorously, or teach them bloodbending. They're one big happy family. How much changes because of this?

I replied:

It’s a little difficult to envision, given that almost everything we see of Yakone is either a) evil crime boss or b) abusive father who warps his originally sweet-natured sons into proto-villains by the respective ages of 14 and 11. But accepting that he did … well, it’d change a whole lot, of course, to such an extent that it’s hard to even say. But here are some ideas.

Okay—I see that final interchange between young Noatak and Tarrlok as a defining moment for both of them, where Noatak finally rejects his role as Tarrlok’s protector and Tarrlok is abandoned over his supposed weakness. Noatak reinvents himself as protector of the vulnerable; Tarrlok reinvents himself as a figure of power and strength. If that moment alone had gone differently, even if it still resulted in Noatak fleeing, I think they would have taken very different paths than in canon. And that’s just one moment among many that shaped them. They’d just be radically different people, and they play such important roles in what’s happening in B1 that it would also be radically different.

We really have to backtrack to little Noatak and Tarrlok, who are adorably sweet kids. We can see that Noatak is already protective and concerned, and we hear that even as a small child, he wanted everyone to be treated fairly. So there’s that. Little Tarrlok is a more ambiguous figure, but under pressure his most noticeable quality is his distaste for causing pain. Without bloodbending driving a wedge between them, I tend to think their most distinctive qualities would influence each other more—Tarrlok would be more egalitarian and Noatak would be more soft-hearted.

( Read more... )

Tumblr crosspost (23 November 2019)

An anon said:

Yakone literally stopping in his tracks and staring at his future wife, who smiles and blushes at him, and Yakone having the ONE genuine, non-malicious, honest to the spirits smile on his face, out of all the times we see him, followed by "Those were the good years" and kellyykao's family portrait of them before everything went south is just... *hand over heart while screaming and crying* YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!

I said:

He sure did! All he had to do was not be a shitheel for a few more years, but no.

The meet cute thing with his wife was an interesting choice—this moment of ordinary humanity in him. Still, I do kind of wonder about just how easily he swerved from this affectionate father to having no value for his sons except as tools of his revenge. I mean, he could have still plotted to use them to get revenge on the Avatar without completely reducing them to that.

It’s like … he tips so easily into this remorselessly abusive parent that it’s hard for me to imagine that he’d have made a good father indefinitely. It’s one thing when they’re tiny and adorable, but once they got older? I feel like something would probably have gone wrong anyway—not anywhere near as bad as in canon, but something.

Tumblr crosspost (23 November 2019)

elliebeanz on Tumblr asked LGBT+ people for our first major gay ships.

I said:

Consciously, Aragorn/Faramir, but in my heart, it was original flavour Adora/Catra.

Tumblr crosspost (23 November 2019)

I reblogged excellent cosplay of f!Kylo, and added:

I'd give a lot for f!Kylo. This is amazing in its own right, though!

(Yes, I know f!Kylo would also be problematic, blah blah blah.)

Tumblr crosspost (24 November 2019)

Ugh, I can’t even watch individual LOK fight scenes on YT at this point. I just wanted to watch Korra trashing Zaheer! I'm a simple creature with simple needs. :\

[2021: it's now available via the official Avatar account on YouTube, but just about everything was being taken off for awhile.]

Tumblr crosspost (24 November 2019)

An anon said:

Hi, I hope you're doing well! I'm so sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you saw the new trailer for the upcoming adaptation of Emma and if you had any thoughts on it. Granted it's not very long, but I love seeing what people do with Austen adaptations. Thanks!

I replied:

Thank you! I’m grading, so I appreciate distractions :)

I did see the trailer. On the one hand, I agree that it’s always interesting to see what people do with Austen! And it’s easier when I have less emotional investment, which tbh is the case with Emma (I love Emma herself, but I’m not as engaged with the novel as a whole).

For me, the trailer was so short and fast that it’s hard to get a real sense of things. I have the feeling that it’s going to be ~unconventional~ in some way or another, though it’s hard to pin down why, and something … idk, grates a little. But I’m not sure what it is! I hope it’s a solid, creative adaptation, though.

Tumblr crosspost (25 November 2019)

An anon said:

Do you want your students to be paraphrasing more or less?

I replied:

More, definitely.

The thing about direct quotation is this: it’s supposed to be used when there’s something crucial about the exact wording that needs to be preserved. But much of the time, the exact words aren’t what’s important—it’s the ideas and information. If that’s what you need, it’s usually much less disruptive to paraphrase.

And many of my students (not just this semester) tend to drop in long direct quotations without really connecting the information to the broader discussion or explaining why the quote is even there. They do both much more often when they paraphrase.

Qualifier: this is much more of an issue in composition than literature papers.

Tumblr crosspost (25 November 2019)

I’m passing the time productively between leaving feedback on essays:

Amon took a deep breath.

“My followers and I will not rest until the entire city achieves equality, and once that goal is achieved, we will equalize the rest of the world.” It might well take the rest of his life, but so be it. Yakone had been wrong, so incredibly wrong; this was the purpose to his existence.

He clenched his fist, then raised it into the air.

“The revolution has begun!”

(I love him so much. Top-tier problematic fave tbh!)

Tumblr crosspost (27 November 2019)

I posted the next chapter of one more tomorrow!

“Should we take her out now, sir?” the Lieutenant asked.

“No.” The answer came without thought.

He’d given it before, though always accompanied by some excuse or another. She was so well-guarded that capturing her would entail the sacrifice of good men and women; it wasn’t worth it, not yet. Or it was too early to attack such a public figure. Or—well, there was always something.

But as her measures had become more and more aggressive, he knew he’d only delayed the inevitable. And however he justified himself, he understood what must happen. He had no business delaying it out of nothing more than a boy’s sentimentality. He knew that. Knew that anyone else’s sister would already have paid for her actions.

And so must Taraka.

Tumblr crosspost (27 November 2019)

professional-superhero replied to this post:

„Top-tier“ problematic fave indeed. Man good stuff! I love reading his pov

I said:

Oh, thanks! It’s a blast to write :D

Tumblr crosspost (28 November 2019)

I did the top nine original Tumblr posts thing, and … I am both surprised and delighted that my Water Tribe post made the cut.

On the 29th, gritsinmisery replied:

How do you do that thing?

I said:

It’s here!

Mine are 1) a Yoda comic I thought was funny in 2012, 2) midnight grumping about Harry Potter, 3) a collection of outdated links to sf/f publishers, 4) my ??? at the idea that fandom is for kids, 5) a link to a girl dressed as Jyn Erso, 6) a “reblog if you were born in 1985 or earlier” from 2013, 7) a collection of Water Tribe characters looking gorgeous, 8) a bell hooks quote, and 9) grumping about Austen.

Tumblr crosspost (30 November 2019)

I had another burst of inspiration (aka I was taking breaks between grading exams), so here’s the next chapter:

“You led the fight against the Equalists. You know benders’ tactics, their hiding places. Any information you have could make your stay here more comfortable.”

Taraka’s eyes narrowed. She closed her hands around the bars of her cell.

“I’m not giving you anything, you monster!”

“You bloodbent the Avatar and kept her in a box,” he said. “You might not be the best judge of what’s generally considered monstrous.”