Fic and other items of note.

[annakovsky]

Junior Year, Winter, part two (8,337 words) and Junior Year, Winter, part three (15,687 words)
easy_academy, Winters POV, NC-17 (underage, teacher/student, Nick Jonas/Dick Winters)

Here are two songs I have been obsessing over lately, because when it's been raining for weeks and you're writing depressing fic, things happen.

Rescued by Jack's Mannequin (because you might be too old for pop-punk piano ballads, but they're not too old for you)
My Backwards Walk, by Frightened Rabbit

Man, so on Friday night moireach and I had this incredibly bourgetarded evening, wherein we went and saw Brian Dennehy and Dame Eileen Atkins read a bunch of T.S. Eliot poems. And I thought, hey, this'll be pretty cool, I guess, and beforehand, M, as a T.S. Eliot EXPERT, was like, "They better not read it too fast. I have had to delete recordings where they read them too fast." So our expectations weren't too super high but oh my God, you guys, it was like, the best thing I have ever experienced. Like, I can't even describe how good they were, reading everything completely, mind-bogglingly perfectly, so that even though I've read The Wasteland a thousand times, they totally brought out new layers of meaning. They did the VOICES. AUGH I WANT TO GO SEE IT AGAIN. WHY CAN I NOT GO SEE IT AGAIN?

Haha, it was funny, though, because in the program it had a list of past actors who had done poetry readings put on by the same woman doing this one, and Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory were on the list, and I was like, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME IF THEY WERE HERE READING ELIOT WHILE I HAVE LIVED IN TOWN I WILL KILL SOMEONE." Haha, which is exactly how I feel about Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello doing a Wigfield performance in the Somerville Theatre while I totally lived two seconds away here. (God, I still get so mad at my past self when I think about that. WHY DIDN'T YOU CARE SOONER?) Um, but anyway, luckily it turned out DLew's reading was at the British Library, so I can rest easy.

Then we ran straight from that poetry reading to see Germaine Greer, who totally hilariously bitched out the Harvard professor we had just seen introducing the Eliot thing, so that was super weird and kind of awesome. Also she was v. funny and interesting and she called M "that stripey person in the back" during the Q&A which kind of made my life.

And finally, speaking of feminism, the weekend before that, me and M went and saw Sarah Haskins of "Target: Women" at MIT (AWESOME), and so that day we were talking about what shows currently airing on TV consistently pass the Bechdel test (which is, if you are unfamiliar, that there are two female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man). And we honestly came up with almost none.

The Office, while at least very sexism aware, almost never does, especially these days. 30 Rock doesn't very much either, because Liz Lemon's only female friend is Jenna, who is ridiculous. Big Bang Theory -- hahaha, oh God, no. (Penny doesn't even have a LAST NAME, you guys. They literally had a GIRL FIGHT last week when she was threatened by another woman moving into the building. Oh my GOD, I mean, I do enjoy that show, but COME ON, it's 2009.) How I Met Your Mother claims that Robin and Lily are best friends, but they actually interact the two of them, like, maybe twice a season. (I feel like claiming Lily and Robin are best friends is like claiming Robin and Marshall are. I mean, sure, you can say that, but if I don't see it, it doesn't really count, guys.) But HIMYM, while masquerading as a Friends-esque ensemble show, is actually a show about Ted, so. It's right there in the title.

Anyway, we actually got out a list of all the shows currently airing, but I really could not find very many that have actual female relationships consistently portrayed. But I don't watch that much TV these days, so does anyone know of any? Because it was SUPER DEPRESSING to actually tally it up, guys.

Comments

[mangojellytoast.livejournal.com]

I spend so much time thinking about the Bechdel test it's not even funny. I HATE when they play the Lily/Robin best friends card on HIMYM because there's absolutely nothing other than those random scenes to indicate that they're friends. It's so obnoxious.

The Middleman apparently passed the Bechdel test with flying colors, but it's cancelled and I never actually watched anything past the pilot. So, there goes that.

Actually, apart from the fact that the girls are all extremely shallow and bitchy, Gossip Girl DOES do a good job of female/female interaction that's not male-centered. It's at least better than Sex and the City which is the most disappointing show in the world Bechdel-wise.

There are some good West Wing episodes where CJ has to deal with the First Lady. When women do interact with women on that show it's very rarely about relationships with men. But then, women usually just interact with men. Donna only interacts with Josh. CJ only interacts with other senior staffers, and the First Lady only interacts with the President.

Battlestar Galactica kiiind of passes the test, but for some reason the human women don't interact with each other very much, only the Cylon women do.

Gilmore Girls passes the test. They talk about boys a lot, but they talk about a lot of other stuff too.

[annakovsky.livejournal.com]

I HATE when they play the Lily/Robin best friends card on HIMYM because there's absolutely nothing other than those random scenes to indicate that they're friends. It's so obnoxious.

Ugh, I know, right? YOU ARE TELLING AND NOT SHOWING, GUYS. ALL YOU DO IS MAKE ME THINK THAT YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW WOMEN ACT WITH EACH OTHER. (Haha, like every time Scully talked to a woman on XF, and how it made me terrified of what Chris Carter imagined women to be like behind his back. YIKES.)

God, the Middleman was super good and it SUPER passed the Bechdel test, probably representing my actual friendships better than almost anything else on TV. But ugh, of course it got canceled.

Also, UGH, SatC is so appalling. Haha, not to say that I totally didn't accidentally watch like 2 whole seasons of it this past summer, though -- I don't know how that show can make you totally hate it and yet unable to stop watching it, haha.

Gilmore Girls was super great for it -- and some other canceled shows. But with those gone it is kind of a wasteland out there right now.

[mangojellytoast.livejournal.com]

I only watched the earlier seasons of XF, and that was back in the day, but now that I'm thinking about it I don't even remember Scully EVER talking to a woman. WTF.

I've totally seen every episode of SatC, some multiple times. It's horrifying, but it's kind of like, candy. You eat a little bit and then next thing you know you've finished the entire bag. Which is really awful because the characters aren't even well developed, everyone is archetyped the hell out except Carrie who is still just kinda standard Crazy Emotional Woman, with few to no redeeming qualities.

Yeah thinking of all the shows I watch that are currently on the air, I'm really not coming up with anything. Ugh, DEPRESSING.

[annakovsky.livejournal.com]

Heee, yeah, and I'd get upset about how early seasons Scully virtually never talked to a woman (except, I guess, her mother), except that in later seasons when she DID it was such an incredibly hilariously appalling trainwreck that apparently the whole thing was for the best.

Haha, SatC is TOTALLY candy, including that sick feeling you get afterwards when you've watched too many episodes in a row.