This week in The Slacktiverse, December 31 2011 / January 1 2012 (updated)

The Blogaround

This week Ana Mardoll posted:
Twilight: When Fantasies Reinforce Toxic Societies
There’s a tension in my mind with Twilight. On the one hand, I don’t want to criticize fantasies. Fantasies are private, fantasies are helpful, fantasies are healthy. On the other hand, when a fantasy becomes saturated in the mainstream, do we have an echo-chamber where society can become worse as a result of people modeling the fantasy? And how does this translate into the process of writing? Come share in Ana’s existential confusion in a Very Special Twilight post.

This week Ana Mardoll posted:
Deconstruction: The Fantasy of Being Beautiful
I wonder if the fantasy of Twilight isn’t one of becoming beautiful so much as it is about becoming a completely different person – in the same way that Kate Harding’s Fantasy of Being Thin is not about weight loss but about personality transformation.

This week Ana Mardoll posted:
Open Thread: Characters You'd Like To See In Fiction
Open threads aren’t usually meant to be reblogged, but here’s one I’d love to see a variety of opinions on. What are you missing in your fiction lately? Reading suggestions also welcome!

Chris the cynic writes: I was messing around with images of the Mona Lisa most of yesterday. This week I wrote about why I support Elizabeth Warren, returned to a photo I took a while back to do some fun stuff with it, and wrote about depression. Surprisingly enough, given the topic, I'm pretty sure that last one doesn't need a trigger warning. It's mostly about how many depressed people there are and how that means that we're not all alike.

In terms of stuff I'd like to point people to again, I've written multiple times about depression, and I think that my first attempt (Trigger warning: depression, in a fair amount of detail at that) is something that I'd like others to see in hopes it can help people understand.

There are also two bits of fiction I'd like to point back to, both Twilight related. The first is a silly version of the van scene from Twilight that plays at least as loose with the laws of physics as the original but has, in my opinion, a lot more fun doing it. The second is an ongoing alternate version of Twilight in which, for the most part, the characters are not jerks. They also happen to have the opposite genders as their Twilight counterparts.

spinetingler reports: I've been posting (mostly old dusty) Christmas music (The 25 Days of Blogmass) and will finish up this years series this week at audioarchives.blogspot.com

Ruby writes: My Wintermas review of Jerry Jenkins' 'Twas the Night Before is almost done. This will mark the second book I've completed over at Heathen Critique. I recently tweaked my blog a bit to have some easy links to my completed critiques (both books and movies) right at the top where people can find them. My full critique of Babylon Rising by Tim LaHaye and Greg Dinallo can be found here. The new TV Tropes page for the Babylon Rising series is here. As the new year begins, I will continue with Jerry Jenkins' Atheistopian novel, Soon.

Jarred got personal this week by talking about how Christmas doesn't always seem like Christmas and reviewing his year of discovering and recovering from his codependency. He also discussed being an ally to marginalized people and how important it is to actually keep those who are marginalized in the center of the discussion. He continued the them of supporting others by discussing one of the reasons it's important for men to support feminism.

Coleslaw writes: What with my son visiting and other things, I only have two posts this week. Loot is about Christmas gifts given and received, and I'm Not Tebowing; My Shoelace is Untied. (Warning: NSFW language from quoting some of It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp.)

Since we were invited to send in items that were missed earlier in the year, I have a few. I have an unfinished fictionalized account of my 1986 trip to Africa in Alien Landscapes, Part One and Part Two, and the non-fiction version (with pictures), My Real African Adventure. Also, I have my own views about the Proverbs 31 woman.

Laiima reports: This week I wrote about some health challenges explained and I'm pretty happy about how that's working out.

MercuryBlue writes: Literata's right that New Year's Resolutions don't often work. But that doesn't mean they're not worth a try. I'd like it if everyone at The Slacktiverse tried to make a habit of getting up from the computer every fifteen to twenty minutes to do an assortment of exercises found at http://www.rsiwarrior.com/stretches.html or anything else findable by Googling 'RSI exercises'. Repetitive stress injuries are Not Fun, and now's as good a time as any to start work on preventing them.

Michael Mock writes: This week in Mock Ramblings, I talked about my experiences as a parent in No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service - No Pants? I proposed another project for the Mad Science Lab in For Flavor, and started a Right Behind story called They Are Legion (Part One, Part Two). Finally, Diana of the Squirrels tells her story in Curse You, Mowgli!

This week, Storiteller reflected upon what she's accomplished and learned in one year of writing her blog, including what's she's gained from participating in The Slacktiverse community in A Year in Review. She also considers her New Year's Resolution from last year and sets a rather more metaphysical one this year in Big Cats, Fruit and New Year's Resolutions.

This week Kit Whitfield continued her deconstruction of famous first sentences with The Trial by Franz Kafka.

Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
Twilight: The Problem of Mike
There’s a tendency for Mike to seem good compared to Edward, simply because he is less bad than Edward. This tendency comes from the same place as “Nice Guys” and is a dangerous fallacy. Mike may not be stalking Bella, but that doesn’t make him less aggressive, or automatically more caring for her safety and feelings – because he’s not.

Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
Deconstruction: Manic Pixie Dream People
Musings on the movie “Bridesmaids” and how the defining trait of Manic Pixie Dream People is a disturbing tendency to not recognize the word “no”. Good when used in small quantities; disturbingly bad when mixed with privilege and served as the main course.

Last week Ana Mardoll posted:
Narnia: The Passion of Aslan
The biggest problem with the execution of Aslan, if indeed it is meant to be seen as analogous to Christ’s crucifixion, is that while Jesus’ sacrifice was an act of peace that anyone could partake in, Aslan’s sacrifice is an act of war that only Edmund can benefit from. Something crucial has been lost in the translation.

In case you missed this

The U.S. Department of Justice will block the voter ID provisions of an election law passed in South Carolina earlier this year because the state’s own statistics demonstrated that the photo identification requirement would have a much greater impact on non-white residents, DOJ said in a letter to the state on Friday. (TPM Muckraker "Justice Department Blocks South Carolina’s Voter ID Law")

Authorities in Iran said Sunday they are again moving ahead with plans to execute a woman sentenced to death by stoning on an adultery conviction in a case that sparked an international outcry, but are considering whether to carry out the punishment by hanging instead. (The Globe and Mail, December 25 2011 "Iran considers hanging or stoning to execute woman convicted of adultery")

Things you can do

Foodbanks are facing particularly difficult times as more people need help at the very moment when many supporters are less able to give. Community members are encouraged in email in additional Foodbank contacts:

Australia
Canada
America
United Kingdom

--Co-authored by the Slacktiverse Community

---

The Board Administration Team
(hapax, Kit Whitfield and mmy)

Comments

[chris the cynic]

I didn't get around to writing something up last year. I was messing around with images of the Mona Lisa most of yesterday and sort of lost track of the fact that time passes. So I guess I'll write here.

This week I wrote about why I support Elizabeth Warren, returned to a photo I took a while back to do some fun stuff with it, and wrote about depression. Surprisingly enough, given the topic, I'm pretty sure that last one doesn't need a trigger warning. (Though I could be wrong, and if I am by all means edit this post.) It's mostly about how many depressed people there are and how that means that we're not all alike.

This year I don't think there's anything in particular that got missed, I certainly haven't been announcing every scrap of fiction that I've made, but that's why I've put up irregularly updated indexes, and I do announce Left Behind related things in Left Behind posts.

In terms of stuff I'd like to point people to again, I've written multiple times about depression, and I think that my first attempt (Trigger warning: depression, in a fair amount of detail at that) is something that I'd like others to see in hopes it can help people understand.

There are also two bits of fiction I'd like to point back to, both Twilight related. The first is a silly version of the van scene from Twilight that plays at least as loose with the laws of physics as the original but has, in my opinion, a lot more fun doing it. The second is an ongoing alternate version of Twilight in which, for the most part, the characters are not jerks. They also happen to have the opposite genders as their Twilight counterparts.

[The Board Administration Team]

Since so many things are going on at this time of year to distract and delay -- TBAT will update "This Week" late in the afternoon Eastern Time (in about 4 hours). Anyone who sends their submission into the slackmods or adds them as comments to this post will have their submissions added to the "This Week" posting at that time.

[Raj]

Happy Doomsday Year, everybody!

Teh Pockle-Lips we haz it:

[Lonespark]

Such excellent doom-bringing kittehs. They look like my dear deaprted Beastie.

[Sixwing]

Ohnoez! They all look like Basement Cats, too.

... I miss my very own Basement Cat. When let inside, the first thing she'd do was shoot for the basement like a black-and-white four-footed blur.

Once retrieved, she would generally behave herself, but there was always the initial Basement Dash.

[Timothy (TRiG)]

I've only ever seen a basement once or twice. They are not exactly common over here.

TRiG.

[sarah]

Pretty kitties. May I have War?

[Lonespark]

I wish there was an open thread, because I want to talk about how we all have a right to our rituals of love and grief (even Rick Santorum) and about the Pandagon review of Sybil Exposed and how it's so incredibly Complicated, but I don't want to muck up hapax's lovely post.

[The Board Administration Team]

I wish there was an open thread

Done. :)

[Ross]

I wish there was an open thread

Done. :)

That works?

*I wish I had a pony and that my son would sleep through the night*

[chris the cynic]

Do you have any idea how much work is involved in keeping a pony?

(For the record, I don't.)

[Brin]

Quite a lot. I don't remember the specifics, but the warnings about how unrealistic wanting a pony is tend to be given out to all girls on the assumption they probably need to see it, so I've seen a few.

I was never really into ponies myself. The one time I went horseback riding a couple years ago left me feeling grateful for the mindless obedience of cars: I had scraped hands from when the horse I was riding yanked the reins down so he could eat some grass by the side of the path*, my thighs were bruised, and the following morning our assistant instructor got kicked in the head by her horse and died.

*He was also afraid of running water, even when it barely reached his ankles, and liked to run ahead of the group fast enough I felt like I was going to fall off.

[Jarred]

While there is a good bit of work in keeping a pony -- especially since most people want a pony in order to ride it -- the real difficulty isn't so much in the amount of work as it is in the amount of space you need for a pony. You can't just leave them cooped up in a stable. I used to know the exact figure. Part of me wants to say half an acre of pasture per horse or pony, but that actually sounds low.)

[Raj]

I had a pony! My sister had a pony! My cousin had a pony! I loved my pony!