(no subject)

[carmen_lj]

Have just been reminded about a thing in Babylon 5 that bugs me TREMENDOUSLY. Probably out of all proportion but still. In season one, there's The Parliament of Dreams and the Centauri are so freakin proud that they genocided the other sentient race on their planet centuries ago that they're having a rocking party about it where everyone gets pissed and makes jokes about the genocided species. And nobody says a thing about how maybe this is not A Lovely Plan Of Loveliness.

In season five, the Hyach are so utterly ashamed that they genocided the other sentient race on their planet centuries ago that they cannot bear to admit to anyone what they've done, even though their species is dying out because of said genocide. And Franklin is SO JUDGEY at the Hyach's genocide that he's totally not going to lift a finger to help them from dying out until they've confessed to what they've done.

To conclude, it is better to be proud of your evils than ashamed APPARENTLY.

In other news, I sort of accidently got my Mum's birthday wrong. But it was only one day out and the day before, and if you're going to get it wrong then that is like surely the best day to get it confused with. DATES ARE TRICKY THINGS.

I have not written fic for ages. It is very sad-making. I'm sure it used to be a lot easier to make one sentence go after another and make them all into a coherent-ish whole. It is extra annoying that there is nothing obvious for me to blame.

Hot chocolate is totally the best thing in the 'verse and there is sometimes Stormy Weather around to make it taste a zillion times better. NEVER LEAVE ME DELICIOUS HOT CHOCOLATEY DRINKIES.

And I'm v judgey at SFX which I thankfully stopped buying ages ago because in their Top Ten Superheroes EVER (tm) there are no women. Because women are rubbish and not properly heroic and could have to leave ANY MOMENT to pick up the kids from daycare so clearly aren't suited to saving the world OR SOMETHING.

Merlin is promised soon-ish. Yays.

Comments

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

RE:SFX, be judgey at the readers, not the magazine. It was an open readers poll, but the main news article I've seen about it on The Mirror's site neglects to mention that fact.

Buffy was at 13 and Wonder Woman was at 14.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

The readers are appalling then. Also because Wolverine is on that list. One of my most hated of all characters. Though not as much as Jack Bauer.

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

I don't hate Wolverine, but he is way, way, way overexposed and in too many comics. I seem to remember them making jokes in the comics themselves about it.

Only eight female characters in the top fifty though, with many of the best/more interesting ones nowhere to be seen. No Oracle, no Squirrel Girl? I'm very surprised to see Scarlet Witch in there as I mostly remember her being treated badly and written worse over the last decade.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I'm very surprised to see Scarlet Witch in there as I mostly remember her being treated badly and written worse over the last decade.

Protest vote against that?

[shobogan.livejournal.com]

I maintain that his best moment was getting punched through a wall by an eight year old.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

And I wasn't linked to the Mirror, I was linked to the Telegraph, which indicates it was at elast a top 33, though that hardly makes the absence of women in the top ten any less dodgy.

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

That article at least says it was a survey. And yeah, I'm not attempting to excuse the lack of women in the top ten at all, just yours was the second post in as many days I'd seen about it that seemed to be blaming the magazine for the results.

[pextheunalive.livejournal.com]

I love Top Ten lists, I swear I do, but I've yet to see one I've agreed with completely. This one is no exception.

The Invisible Woman should have been in the Top Fifty, if not the Top Ten itself. Yes, Wonder Woman should have been on the list, but other than being the "first" popular female hero, there's nothing to recommend her, IMHO. Buffy? I love her, but I never would have considered her a superhero. Still, at least she has supernatural strength. Batman only had his training, and let's face it, if Batman can get in for his "leet skillz" then Xena should have been on the list, because she has more of a crime-fighting outfit than Buffy does and she's just as capable as Bats.

ANYWAY, Invisible Woman should be on the list because she saves the world on a daily basis and raises her kids seemingly effortlessly while doing so. Reed's no bloody help at all, he's always fiddling with his gadgets. The Woman deserves a frelling medal, not to mention a high spot on that list.

Side Note: Was much amused to see Captain Britain on the list, particularly in the Top Ten, but then I remembered that SFX is published in Britain. Still think he ought to swap places with Captain America - look at the press surrounding Captain America's death, it was the next most-touted thing after the death of Superman, has Captain Britain ever been that popular over there? (I'm genuinely curious, I don't know) but I suppose it's understandable. Somewhat...

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I know v little about Actual Proper Comics, but I've enjoyed the recent Captain Britain stuff what's been written by Paul Cornell. Apparently he made Britain rather less...rubbish. Or something.

Also, there is no way we are going to be voting for anyone called Captain America. It is v nice you have a proper President now, but we're still European, yo.

Batman is a right miserable sod; Wonder Woman would probably not KILL YOU WITH EHR EMO before she rescues you, yes. Also she sparkles onna telly and sparkles are good.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

She might kill you (in comics) if she thinks you deserve it, tho. Which kinda makes me love her for being way more hardcore than Clark or Bruce.

[pextheunalive.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I've been meaning to pick up the Cornell stuff but haven't gotten around to it.

To be honest, I've read a heck of a lot more of Captain Britain than I have of Captain America, but that's mainly because I was in love with Kitty Pryde as a boy and he just happened to be in the same book as her at the time. Old-school Excalibur was full of loveliness. And they even had a Dalek in one issue. :)

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

I loved all the Who references in those Excalibur issues, from W.H.O. to Brigadier Stuart, to Dr. Alistair Stuart and the TARDIS appearing in a docking bay once.

Of course, UNIT actually made a cameo in an issue of X-Men where Juggernaut went on the rampage in Edinburgh. :)

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

Captain Britain was rubbish, then awesome while written by Alan Moore and Jamie Delano) then kind of got forgotten about, then was awesome again written by Chris Claremont and Alan Davies, then rubbish again, then great under Warren Ellis, then rubbish for ages until Paul Cornell got hold of him.

Brian's definitely a character that relies on a good writer in the driving seat.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I just went a reread the article: Captain America was at 33, yo.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

Well, he is dead. Mebbe that has an impact?

(Granetd, I only know he's dead cos Mike Perkins gave me the trade on account of her drew it. And it was v. v. pretty. but I had no idea who anyone was, or what was going on.)

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

I have not written fic for ages. It is very sad-making.

I AGREE.

Also, have you thought about the prompt table?

I HAVE A ONE-TRACK MIND, OKAY?

also... erm... would you be up for an Old Skool TOS Pike/Number One beta?

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Yes,a nd possibyl I shall steal it for OTHER PAIRINGS. Even though I've started finding Jeffrey Hunter all attractive and stuff. blame you, yo.

I see your fic in my inbox and will try and read and say things tonight assuming you have not posted it yet I should check my flist.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

I have not posted, tho I did make some tweaks based on beta feedbakc last night. I'll send you latest?

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'll read before bedtime. I may not get through it all but surely some of my Most Inciteful Notes are better than none. Or something.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

It was onyl meant to be, erm, 7000 words. And then suddenly there was a lot more of it. IDK. *flail* The universe decided there needed to be More Boyce & Barry Hijinks.

[biichan.livejournal.com]

And they're almost all fucking Marvel characters. BAH.

*is more of a DC girl, if only because of Vertigo*

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

*points at icon*

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

Don't know if that's to do with comics availability outside comic shops. In regular shops in the UK all you have is reprint compendiums, with three or four issies collected in one. Marvel has at least five of these, whereas DC seems to just have the two. I seem to remember back in the 70s/80s it was far easier to get MArvel comics than DC over here. Might be a factor, I dunno.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

To conclude, it is better to be proud of your evils than ashamed APPARENTLY.

That bugs me, too. (I always laugh at the joke, then facepalm a lot.)

Although, I just watched the scene again, this time not looking at Londo, and I note that Delenn is trying not to look too obviously appalled, and Franklin isn't even there. Also, there are times and places to be judgey, and diplomatic receptions (even really drunken ones) aren't the place. Still, Garibaldi and Sinclair have this totally blase "Can we kill him now?" reaction that doesn't sit quite right, although it's in character for both of them.

It also reflects the relative innocence of the characters. I don't think Vir would be laughing at the joke a few year later.

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

I almost always get my mum's birthday wrong, because the man she was married to while I was growing up had a birthday either the day before or the day after hers (I forget which) so I never bothered to learn which day was whose birthday and even though they've been divorced over 30 years now, I still don't remember which is which. Sad, I know.

[fizzixrat.livejournal.com]

Thing is, humans (and pretty much everyone else) are kind of used to this sort of thing from the Centauri by this point. I mean, everybody knows what they did to the Narn, right? From the Hyach, it came as a bit of surprise, 'cause they were supposed to be more morally upright or some such. I mean, with the Centauri, it's like finding out in 1975 that the Germans were also responsible for wiping out all the leprechauns in 1200 AD or something -- thirty years after the Holocaust. Doesn't make it right, it's not an excuse or anything, but it just doesn't come as much of a surprise after two World Wars. With the Hyach, it was like we just found out that Canada wiped out the Inuit four hundred years ago and have been going out of their way to cover it up all this time. And because we don't think of Canada as being capable of such a thing, it's a huge shocker.

Also, with the Centauri, I got the impression that it happened well back in their history, but with the Hyach much more recently. I got the sense that the Centauri wiped out the Xon during the early days of civilization -- like with swords and clubs, rather than with tanks or blasters or mass drivers. Like if the Neandertals had lasted until the time of Babylon or perhaps the early kingdoms of Egypt, and then humanity wiped them out...and proudly recorded it on a bit of stone somewhere. Yes, the Centauri are being a bit a**holic for still beating their chests proudly over this, but then Londo has never been known to be PC and he had had a fair amount to drink.

[shobogan.livejournal.com]

/sits in the Not Writing Fic Corner with you

I haven't written anything except for Who Remix in forever. It's depressing. (I can still RP, but it is not the same.)

Mmm, hot cocoa. People stare at me for drinking it when it's a hundred degrees out but they are clearly the odd ones in that situation.