Unapologetic to the last drop

[la_belle_laide]

Yare yare, sometimes I forget how crazy people can get over the internet. And then, sometimes, I remember.

Ahh, so, nothing to do with that, here's a little quandary of mine. I'm critiquing this story written by a man, and it's about a female-dominated/male-subjugated society. And you all know I'm a feminist. This is difficult for both of us, I think. I'm really trying to be super helpful, but I don't want to come across as a dick. I said, Be mindful also of how you portray a female-dominated society. You write—as we all do—from the perspective of a male dominated society. We can't know what it would be like if women had any true political and lawful power over men. We can only speculate, and it's a dangerous line to straddle. The truth is that men, and indeed women, need to be very sensitive when trying to write about women in power. It can easily come across as either patronizing ("See, girls can hold their own too!") or resentful ("A female-dominated society would be so destructive!") I'm not saying you're doing that, not at all. I'm just saying to be really mindful of those tropes, and don't fall into the trope-trap.

I kept tagging everything I said with apologies, originally. There was a part of me that kept saying, "Don't come across too strong; it's art, it's a story, it doesn't have to be PC, you can tone down your opinions." That voice whispering in the background, making me into an apologetic feminist. I told the voice to STFU. I can't go around apologizing for what I believe. I got mad at myself. It's complicated.

Today at work I sold a fair amount of stuffs, even though it was raining a huge bitch. Once I got home, this insane windstorm started to rage and is still raging. The yard is wrecked. The wind nearly blew my qi away.

Speaking of qi, I brought Samurai X (NOT A SAMURAI) to my Mom to watch tonight. It's the same exact movie it was a few days ago. (Kind of dull, animation too bright and pointy, still sort of worth it for about thirty seconds) and I ate another damn bowl of ice cream. Did I mention how the other night I ate about a half a gallon? With butterscotch sauce? Yeah. So, I really need to quit doing that or I won't be able to fit into my good clothes, pretty soon. And I can't afford to be buying new ones.

Oh, I remember what else. So, finally I'm reading the jinchu arc of Rurouni Kenshin. I'm so pleased with it. I especially enjoyed the bakumatsu re-telling and I am all in fannish delight over the differences between the book and the movie. I love them both, but for different reasons. Tsuiokuhen is obviously this tremendous tragedy played completely straight, and subtle. The book tells it a little differently, and weirdly enough, it's not played completely straight. And even stranger, the laughter works to give it actually even a bit more pathos.

But what I really mean to say is that Watsuki's art is breathtaking, and he was awesome enough to give Battousai a badass black kimono, with wide sleeves torn at the bottom to look like Satan-wings. Gratuitous? Perhaps, but not as gratuitous as having your hero cut off a guy's arms and then tell him, "You forgot these." I squeed, a little. Okay, a lot.

More work tomorrow, a touch of data entry, and maybe I'll even get real ambitious and clean the house and actually put my laundry away. Note to self: Putting the laundry away is not the torture you always make it out to be. (It does still suck, though.)

Hopefully I get to see Jo-chan and SB this week! And then, clinic entrance exam on Saturday. It's a two hour exam and, you know, I should really crack the damn book and study a little.

One of these days.

Also, I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE TO TURN MY STUPID CLOCKS FORWARD WTF. I hate daylight savings.