| The Last Shadow Puppets - My Mistakes Were Made For You |
[07 Sep 2008|12:51am] |
new.
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| The Meeting Place - The Last Shadow Puppets live in Paris |
[07 Sep 2008|12:43am] |
спасают.
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| Why Smart Bitches Rock |
[06 Sep 2008|04:28pm] |
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music |
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Beginning to See the Light - The Velvet Underground |
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 Smart Bitch Sarah of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is totally my heroine. (Not the Old Skool Romance Novel Too-Stupid-To-Live heroine, of course.) The fact that she and Candy are out there in the world being snarky, intelligent, and awesome makes my life so much happier. They're incredibly smart, but not in any way pretentious and are not above making fun of themselves, which makes their reviews and blog entries a joy to read. (Their cover snarks are my favourite, but I'm still waiting for the day we get another bit of LOLPorn.) Her essay on Edward's appeal from the Twilight saga is incredibly insightful.
The more I think about it, and look back on Edward’s appearances and interactions with Bella in Twilight, the more he reminds me of the same old-same old Alpha romance hero —specifically, the old-school Alpha hero recast in glittery YA paleness. The same Alpha hero characteristics that so many readers find either tiresome or downright terrific are present in Edward, and serve to make him addictive and alluring.
Smart Bitch Sarah, like me, is not a fan of the Old Skool Alpha Hero and her contemplation on Edward's popularity hit on so many of the points that made me recoil from Twilight (which I finally finished, by the way, during my most recent bout of manic crazy). Edward fulfills many of the criteria, including punishing kisses that cause Bella to faint, as well as possessing mystery, extraordinarily good looks, and wealth. However, this little tidbit made me drop my jaw in shock because it's quite true:
The biggest characteristic of an Old Skool Alpha Hero is The Rape of the Heroine, which doesn’t literally occur in Twilight, though one could argue that James’ biting Bella could be interpreted as rape, and Edward’s refusal to change her into a vampire as the refusal to do so. Edward does invade Bella’s privacy and home without her permission in order to watch her, and if his commentary is to be believed, to try to resist killing her. That leashed intention to kill, I think, can be interpreted the same as the leashed intent to rape. But in a strange turn, Bella begs for that violation: she wants to be the same as Edward, and she wants him to kill her and change her.
I have a few thoughts on the enduring success of the Alpha Hero trope. Women like a big strong man to take care of them, what can I say? Before the feminists come out of the woodwork and slaughter me, I will stand up and say that I too am a feminist and that I in no way condone that sort of generalisation. Yet. I am a firm believer of gender (not sex) being somewhere between nature and nurture and that these "retro-conservative sexual politics" appear over and over again in women's fiction because there is some biological remnant within us to long for it and find it appealing. There are many great things the feminist movement(s) have done for women everywhere and that is pushing on the edges of defined societal rules to give women a choice. Unfortunately, as philosophies branched off and evolved, it created a backlash against those women who specifically choose to return back to "retro-conservative" roles and instead of uniting women together, feminism seems to have divided us. My roommate, for instance, does not define herself as a feminist because she wants to get married and have a family one day, defining herself somewhat sheepishly as a "1950s housewife." But there is nothing wrong with her wanting to have a family. I asked her once, "Do you believe women are equal to men?"
"Yes," she said, "But--"
"But what?" I asked.
"But I hate this notion that we're the same."
The fact that she believes that we are equal to men, in my mind, defines her as a feminist. Like her, I don't believe that men and women are the same, but I believe we should be offered the same opportunities in life. "Different but equal" has always been my motto. And the fact that she is supportive of my own personal desire not to have a family and to live my life as independently (with Bear) as possible also marks her as a feminist. She has taken many opportunities and decided for herself.
I don't think young women who read Twilight will look to Bella as a role model, not with the glut of other fantastic heroines in literature. But this backlash against "conservative sexual politics" makes readers and lovers of Edward incredibly defensive. It's impossible to read books like Twilight without the lens of feminism anymore because we (or at least girls of my generation) have grown up believing that having a choice is par for the course.
My own reaction to the book? I didn't like it, of course. In fact, I found it inherently disgusting and reprehensible. However, I don't look down on people who did love it because in many ways it was engaging, but my reaction to Twilight is no different than my reaction to many other Old Skool romance novels. I'm just one of those women who don't find the Alpha Hero alluring and sparkly. When viewed from a craft perspective, Twilight is decent. The prose isn't horrible or florid or excessively purple, although it DRAGS ASS. It was readable, but my god, the pacing was strange. We have approximately 4,859,302 pages of Bella moaning and whining and then the sudden appearance of Action!Plot in the last quarter. I found most of it a crashing bore, with the exception of the famous meadow scene.
I found it the most intriguing because it's the only instance in which Bella fears Edward. Most of the time she has a blasé Oh vampires, meh attitude, but in that section, she is terrified and it was absolutely compelling. Alpha Heroes are dangerous (see aforementioned analysis on The Rape of the Heroine) but fear never seems to play a factor. The meadow scene is the only instance in which Bella seemed like an actual person to me, but unfortunately once Edward reassures her his control of his baser urges is absolute, she goes back to being complacent about her safety, even if she's completely insecure about his love. As a result, the entire book was dull to me.
No flames please. I don't judge if you liked the book. I mean, I adored Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews, okay? But this is not "my brand of heroin," so to speak.
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| Дальнобойщик-пидарас |
[06 Sep 2008|10:42pm] |
Сегодня повстречал на своем жизенном пути реального дальнобойщика-пидараса. По-другому не могу назвать человека, который ускоряется, когда его кто-то обгоняет. При этом он видит, что по встречке на меня несется что-то черное и быстрое. Короче, пиздить надо таких. А лучше - убивать, пока не выросли. А еще лучше - стерелизовать родителей. И вырезать всю родняю до 7-го колена.
А так-то, дальнобойщики люди адекватные. Не раз меня подвозили. Но мудаки есть есть везде.
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[07 Sep 2008|02:14am] |
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Nadal vs Murray |
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YAY ROGER!!!
:D:D:D:D:D:D
Right I should go to bed now!
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| nme-meme! |
[06 Sep 2008|06:00pm] |
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mood |
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 calm |
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music |
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the fratellis - here we stand. |
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Idea robada de la revista NME que compré estando en Londres (en este número, el meme lo hace Luke Dametuteléfono Pritchard (ains)).
( Did you see the way she looked at me? )
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| UHHHHHHHHHHH |
[06 Sep 2008|11:08am] |
http://men.style.com/details/blogs/thegadabout/2008/09/daniel-radcliff.html#more
Britain's richest teenager, who will turn 19 in a few weeks, sure does look like a star: knockabout-natty with a choppy brown coif, olive designer tee, navy blazer, and dark skinny jeans—these last are made by Absolut Joy, he says, looking down to check the button on his fly. "And I would like to say that that's what lurks beneath."
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| Agglutinating parley... |
[06 Sep 2008|12:05pm] |
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| #050 |
[06 Sep 2008|11:36am] |
Certas palavras fazem um dia valer a pena. São 12:03 e eu já tive as minhas 
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[06 Sep 2008|11:19pm] |
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Roger is playing Nole soooon.
Come on Roger!!
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| mostly for Alex P. |
[06 Sep 2008|10:45am] |
The title of this panel is "Build a Bear"
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| exxxperience this |
[06 Sep 2008|07:57pm] |
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mood |
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 busy |
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death cab for cutie - we looked like giants |
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( Read more... )
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| felicidades hsanders |
[06 Sep 2008|01:45pm] |
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Pues eso, que felicidades a ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) hsanders porque hoy es su cumpleaños. No tengo nada con lo que obsequiarte por ahora porque bueno, estoy trabajando en ellou (con acento del interior de Texas). Pero por si no lo tengo finalmente para hoy y se me acaba pasando, te felicito ya. Que yo para los cumpleaños no tengo memoria.
Oh, gente. Robert Pattinson me quiere. Le encanta filtrar cosillas y se ha apiadado de mi. Ha visto que todo el mundo tenía alguna serie que ver esta semana (Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill...) y pensó "joer, pobrecita mía, no tiene nada que ver." Así que tenía por casualidad el primer capítulo de la tercera temporada de Dexter y decidió que era buena idea ponerlo a descargar. Pero como él no sabe mucho de zips, descargas y cortar videos para que luego se acaben uniendo por arte de magia (Cedric tampoco sabía mucho de esto), pues pagó al mismo que hizo las fotocopias de Midnight Sun. ¡Ta da! Our Father aparece en internete para mi disfrute personal y como soy buena, para el del resto.
¿Alguien sabe donde puedo encontrar el piloto de True Blood? Después de ver el trailer con la música de Atonement y de ser del creado de Six Feet Under pues que quereis que os diga. Me apetece verla. Se estrena mañana, pero sé que ronda por ahí y que hay gente que ya lo ha visto y me apetece verlo esta noche.
Han salido las bloopers de la cuarta temporada. Unos veinte minutos nada más y nada menos. Lo que dura un capítulo. He visto que sois pocos en mi flist las que la seguis y no sé, no puedo permitir esta afrenta a mi persona y al resto del mundo inteligente y con sentido del humor. Así que mi propósito durante este mes o el tiempo que sea necesario es spamearos tanto que no os quedará otro remedio que verla y entonces vendréis a darme la razón y deréis "oh Dios, ¿cómo he estado tanto tiempo sin verla? Eres la más lista y genial de todas nosotras." Well, yeah. I know.
Por cierto. ¿Aún no os habeis unido a ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) freakerouter? Muy mal me parece.
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[06 Sep 2008|06:09pm] |
exams are starting soon! i'm hoping to be totally absent from the internet for another two-three weeks.
thursday english, math ext1
friday chemistry
monday physics, economics
wednesday biology
need to learn polynomials and trigonometry quick! i don't even know why i'm wasting my time on livejournal. or why i decided to join a multi-fandom roleplay? i obviously don't know what's good for me, but if you're up for it too: greatoverlord. apply with me!
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| Yeehaw! |
[06 Sep 2008|01:28am] |
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mood |
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 jubilant |
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Marx and Engels - Belle & Sebastian |
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I am on a roll.
47,333 / 100,000 words. 47% done!
The words may be crap, but I don't care; they're still words on the page. I think I may actually be able to bring it back down to the original projected 80,000 words, although this is pre-edit. Every time I go back to finetune emotional interaction and style and tone and voice, the document seems to grow larger. But I don't need to worry about that now. I am off to bed, but tomorrow (or rather...in a few hours later today) I will write, write, write until I finish the second act.
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[06 Sep 2008|04:19am] |
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I love that the Australian accent makes "beard off" sound like "beat off". I love that this amuses Brendon as much as it amuses me. We can all be in 11 together.
I love that Jon left home for a month and didn't take shoes with him, only really tiny flip flops. I love that he then complains about it.
I love that Panic cut there own hair so badly that they then have to go to a salon to fix it anyways.
I love these interviews
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| I <3 cello |
[06 Sep 2008|12:37am] |
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Rod y Gab |
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OMCG. So we had the first rehearsal with Valerie (the actual Cellist) and we got to have it in the Duke's Hall (the actual performance space). Jesus-titty-fucking-christ she is awesome. And the pieces she plays are so beautiful, I'm still amazed that we have a world premiere piece. So who knows how the play part will go, but at least the music truly will be divine, so those of you that can make it will at least have something good to watch :) The space itself is quite incredible, proper concert hall. It seats about 250 which is kinda daunting, we will lose 40-50 of those seats by having the piano on an island but it's still daunting. Don't want the place empty so please come and fill it up with positive vibes! Remember 27th Sep. Play your cards right and i may even let you come to the after shew par-tey ;)
Must learn lines must learn lines must learn lines.
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| wow, i'm behind |
[05 Sep 2008|05:07pm] |
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SOIL & "PIMP" SESSIONS; LOW LIFE |
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Gah, school is so busy! It sucks having night classes. Oh, it also sucks that now my livejournal has ads if you aren't signed in. LJ, I hate you.
Oh, I forgot that I uploaded my video for Intermedia class last semester. I uploaded it & never did anything with it. Didn't pimp it anywhere. So, I'll pimp it now! Please enjoy my video: Homemade Lunch!
Maybe next week I'll take some pictures of campus & such.
That's all for now.
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| Pregunta de ordenadores |
[05 Sep 2008|11:03pm] |
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A ver, alguien sabe porque cada vez que cierro una web cuando la vuelvo a abrir me pide otra vez que ingrese? No tengo puesto que me borre las cuentas, pero a cada rato me pide de nuevo las contraseñas y es un coñazo.
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| Por qué Alex Turner es todo un dios (y mi marido). |
[05 Sep 2008|07:57pm] |
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mood |
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 (ains) |
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Canta. Compone. Toca la guitarra. Viste bien. Es inglés. Es guapo (para mí lo es, así que no quiero comentarios a esto). Tiene una sonrisa que es amor. Es bueno. Tiene estilo. Trabaja que te cagas. Sigue visitando a su madre aún, a pesar de que ahora es famoso. Es guapo (ya lo he dicho, pero es que es irremediable). LE AMO.
Y ahora, además, escribe cuentos.
Según la nme.com y mi amado arctic_daily, Alex ha escrito un relato corto llamado The Choice of Three", el cual aparecerá en un álbum que está grabando Mattie (Helders, el batería de los Arctic) que se llama Late Night Tales.
Sobra decir que me compraré ese álbum cueste lo que cueste con tal de escucharle leer, ¿no? Gracias.
Y como soy así de fantástica, os dejo aquí el principio del cuento:
"In the tunnel I noticed I had a choice of three. While I thought it very kind of them to offer me this I do wonder if they realised what a dilemma they were sending to face me.
The trouble was if I looked at your reflection in the left window I missed the actual image of you and your reflection in the right, and if I looked at the right I had the same problem the other way around."
*Suspirito de amor*
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