I haven't posted in ages and I'll apologise for that. I start a month-long course tomorrow, learning how to teach English so I've been prepping for that over the last week.
Geeky loveliness has had to take a bit of back seat over the last few weeks unfortunately. I managed to watch Prometheus and I've watched the entirety of Avatar: The Last Airbender which was fun. But more on that in a bit. The time travel fic is not going so well. There is a definite sense of writer's block when it comes to that fic and I'm not sure if it's to do with the time travel bit or whether it's a general inability to write with everything that's going on IRL at the moment. I posted another fic that I wrote in the space of a couple of days and has been floating around on my computer with nowhere to go. Here's a link if you fancy a read. It's SG-1 S/J of course.
In other news, all I seem to have heard about over the last couple of weeks is 50 Shades of Grey. Now this is an interesting story (not the book but the story behind the book). As you may know, this started off as Twilight (bleurgh) fan fiction and then got picked up by a publisher and with a few changes to the names of characters it was turned into a book - nay a TRILOGY. I have what can only be described as mixed feelings about the whole thing. After reading a synopsis of the book I decided that it would most definitely not be my kind of thing. I really don't mind a bit of smut but this just sounded horrifying to me. I'm all for expressing sexuality etc. but that amount of it and the story between the two main characters just didn't appeal to me. My flatmate read a sample of it and also mentioned that it was about the most badly written thing she'd ever read. This is unfortunate because I feel it's going to reflect badly on fanfic writers. Not only is the book mostly sex, feeding into the myth that all fanfic is sexualised slash!fic, it is terribly written, also feeding into the idea that all fanfic is badly written tripe. Neither of these things are remotely true about fanfic. A huge amount of fanfic is beautifully written and wonderfully creative, allowing people (as I have said before) to explore a universe and set of characters in a way that is very personal and expansive. We are the ones who are lucky enough to be allowed a glimpse into that person's view of a universe we all love. I think I may be a little spoiled by the Stargate fic universe because it does seem to be populated by a very high proportion of very good writers. Why aren't these people being published? Why is it the rubbish ones that are? I have read a couple of snippets from some interesting articles about the book and people seem to think that it could be good for feminism. Having been brandished as "mummy-porn", it seems to have opened a world of sexuality to some women so that they are far more comfortable talking about their own sexuality with other people. Nothing seems to be taboo after this book. Which is great. The more open people can be about that kind of stuff the better, I think. Although, I still have serious concerns about the level of writing and also what it means for the fanfic universe.
Moving on from that, I started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender last week and I've finished it already and moved on to The Legend of Korra! I have enjoyed both series enormously, particularly Avatar. As I wrote on my Twitter feed, I immediately became a Aang and Katara shipper (SPOILER) and thank goodness there was confirmation at the end of the series because I might have cried if I'd found another series sans-confirmation. I even went so far as reading some Kataang (as it's called I think) fanfic this morning and was surprised to find some rather touching little stories. Obviously with the continuity of their story in Korra, I am even happier. I did feel slightly sorry for my friend, who was watching some of Avatar with me, as he bore the full brunt of a fangirl attack at various points (SPOILER ENDS). I would recommend both series to people whole-heartedly; they are thoughtful, clever and - as all good entertainment should - deal with some of life's big issues. Even though they are aimed at children, the series don't talk down to their audiences - the issues are dealt with in a mature manner. Korra deals with issues as modern as terrorism as well, something I found very interesting.
I'm not sure when I will get to post next. I'm sure something will spark off some ideas and I'll find time to rant about something else. Hopefully the time travel fic will have progressed. I really really hope it does. Anyway, leave a comment if you have an opinion about 50 Shades, it's nothing if not provocative.
