Tuesday afternoon declarations

[bironic]

1. I don't care what anyone says; Luke Skywalker was hot.

2. Three words for you: multifandom kink_bingo.

3. Saw House. Don't know what to say about it yet. May rewatch some or all of the season first.

4. At a lunch meeting in the Bronx today -- hooray for field trips -- I tried a Snapple lemonade with my hot corned beef sandwich* and discovered that the aftertaste is like the smell in a public restroom. It is entirely possible that Snapple uses the same chemicals found in commercial toilet cleansers.

* because if you're going to be in NYC, you may as well do it right

5. This smart blog article about female sci fi fans links to a NYT article that provides yet more stupidity on the persistent belief that women don't like science fiction and the actions networks have taken to de-emphasize the traditional sci fi aspects of their shows (or ads for their shows) and play up romance and fantasy elements to attract a greater female viewership when they don't seem to realize they already have a substantial female viewership and don't understand what much of that viewership wants.

Look at the Sci Fi Channel's faulty logic, quoted in the Times:

"There were a lot of misperceptions that Sci Fi was for men, that it was for young men and that it was for geeky young men," said Bonnie Hammer, the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, which oversees Sci Fi. "We had to broaden the channel to change the misconceptions of the genre."

Ugh. (Found via this brief poll about female sci fi fans linked at fanthropology.)

6. It's raining. It makes me want to start drafting one of the Bingo stories (TENTACLES!) instead of doing my work.

Comments

[perspi.livejournal.com]

All the 'broadening of the Sci-Fi channel' has done for me is make me go, "WTF does that have to do with science fiction?" when I see a particular show or movie on Skiffy's lineup. Heh.

My little girl is going to grow up watching Firefly and she will be as kickass as all those women. *nods*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Zoe pwns. If I had a Zoe icon, I'd use it here.

All the 'broadening of the Sci-Fi channel' has done for me is make me go, "WTF does that have to do with science fiction?"

I would like to know where they're getting their demographic information from and whether their inference of viewers' tastes is based on anything other than biased assumptions. Because, yeah, a lot of the programming on that channel is a real stretch for the genre (not to mention crappy in the unfun way) -- I thought it was filler because they couldn't find enough sci fi to fill every day.

[theninth.livejournal.com]

I think I know more female sci-fi fans than I know male fans. And I mean hard science sci-fi and not the "soft" stuff. I mean politics and war and machines and... y'know... science. The "skip the relationship and show me the machines" types.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I would really like to know where the Sci Fi Channel is getting its viewership "data" even if we're not going to figure out why the assumptions/stereotypes persist anytime soon.

[theninth.livejournal.com]

Some guy somewhere went to a sci-fi con or maybe a comic book store and said "There are more men here than women. That must mean something!"

Possibly, they weren't looking in the right places.

All the women were probably off somewhere watching things blow up while the guys stood around and talked.

[celebriangel.livejournal.com]

*collapses*. So I should totally be busy, but a) I've done all the really important stuff for the week, and b) I'm fed up working and can't be sacked. Yeah. See if you can pick the more important reason.

1. Uh. Ew. But, I forgive you: I have totally weird taste, too, so I sympathise. It took me ages to appreciate that, actually, John Sheppard is *attractive*, and even now it's more of an appreciation of his various expressions and funny narrow shoulders.

2. *checks out*. Ooo. Though I will probably never write porn for fun, nor hugely crave PWP - Porn *with* plot is so much my kink. So much.

3. I need to catch up, now that I'm flailing over that SGA season 4 ending.

4. There's a drink called a "snapple lemonade"? In my head, that's something Snape drinks in crackfics.

5. Hah. Women don't like science fiction? Me, my mom and my best friend were a hugely obsessed Vogayer fan group back in the day when I was, like, 11.

And sometimes the romance sucks. Like, wtf Seven/Chakotay? Why? And the Rodney/Katie in sga was kindof meh. The only Sci-fi romance I have ever approved of was Tom/B'Elanna. Ever. And that's probably just nostalgia; I prefer my onscreen shippiness to be all cool and subtle, kthnx.

What the viewership wants is *cool plot that makes sense* and *Consequences* and *continuity* and *character revelations*. Please. (Yes, SGA, I'm looking at you - though, s4 was unexpectedly very awesome).

5. Hah. I totally know. *Tempts*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

1. I think we've gone over the Sheppard thing, yeah? I'm with you, anyway. But for the Luke bit, I'll overlook your fondness for Carson in exchange. *g*

2. Porn *with* plot is so much my kink. So much. I don't see why the bingo stories can't be porn with plot too, if people have the time to write it. Me, I love porn with characterization. Sex or kink as metaphor. Mmm.

3. You've got all summer now. I look forward to your reactions!

4. LOL. Sorry, Snapple is a drinks brand. Sugary-watery fruit drinks and teas, mostly, not carbonated. I've linked it up now.

5. Heh. Our family's Star Trekkishness goes back three generations. Tom/B'Elanna was cool. What I saw of it, anyway; my Voyager-watching got spotty after the first season or two. Now you've got me thinking about Trek relationships I liked. Kira/Odo was kind of adorable when it wasn't drowning in syrup. Picard/Vash sparked. Worf/Troi, no, Riker/Troi, big no, Sisko/Casidy, I didn't like Sisko, so no... Rom/Leeta was kind of hilarious... Bashir/Dax (Ezri) was fun before it was actually consummated... the O'Briens made me want to kill someone...

6. Alas, I had to write Mommy Makeover plastic surgery text instead.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

TENTACLES FTW!

Hee.

And I saw that article about the SciFi channel the other day and was all "WTF?" Obviously these guys never realized their sisters were growing up reading Ursula Le Guin and Lloyd Alexander and Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg and about a hundred others any decent fan could name. Duh.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I'd venture that any female science fiction fan knows a number of other female science fiction fans. Is it that guys aren't seeing the women around them? Is it that the sexes stick together in their fannish circles? I can't imagine that any explanation is still true today other than that the SFC network execs, headed by a woman, are working off outdated (if they were *ever* accurate) assumptions about their audience.

[bell]

1. ...That sounds random, but I'm a fan of Luke, too. If I rewatched now, I might find him hot, as that's rather my type, but he wasn't hot to my five-year-old self. XD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

1. Heh. I was a pre-teen when I first saw the Star Wars movies, and if I hadn't liked Luke already, the scene with the Emperor torturing him totally sealed the deal. Since then, I've liked him more with each viewing, both as a character and as someone to gaze at.

This has been a long-running debate with my best friend and I consider saying something about it whenever more Han-worship shows up in SGA fic, but what brought it up at this particular point was that they've been showing SW on TV a lot (probably because of the new Indiana Jones release) and I caught a scene with Luke the other night and was admiring his fluffy '70s haircut.

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

1. Yes. Yes, he is.

Luke Skywalker was one of my earliest hard-core crushes. My mother always fancied Han Solo. Go figure. :)

5. I agree that there seems to be a disconnect somewhere in the SciFi Channel's information. Perhaps they're looking at a particular kind of convention/event/show? Or it might be that there are *slightly* more male than female scifi fans, so the SciFi Channel, with the kind of blunted logic that characterises market research, has decided that there must be more women out there if they can poach them away from genres that ARE mostly read/watched by women, like romance. (Which doesn't work - people aren't simply transferrable like that - and is kind of insulting to the decent science fiction they're supposed to be showing.)

Or maybe it is sheer bias. I've run into quite a few women as well as men who consider scifi a "boy thing" (the FIGHT to get my book club to consider reading a scifi book was epic)... and several women who are closet scifi fans for the same reason.

Either way, maybe someone should consider taking a look at the fans they DO have - not just the gender breakdown, but what they appreciate and how they participate in fan culture.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

1. No. XD

3. Yes.

5. Boy, is this ever the wrong part of the net in which to attempt to demonstrate that women don't like science fiction. I've never really been aware of this - I know many PEOPLE find SF uninteresting, but I personally have never really experienced it as a m/f thing. And of course LJ is so full of female genre fans it feels like the norm rather than anything else.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

1. Wrong, wrong, wrong. :D

5. The argument came from the Times, or people quoted in the Times, anyway. The blog post refuted it all quite well. The weird thing -- well, one of the weird things -- is that network execs still aren't getting it when female fans are more visible and vocal than ever.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

You always did like the boyish ones. Now Han was an actual *guy*. Not that I've... actually managed to stay awake through Star Wars, but he was nice in Return of the Jedi XD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Not to turn it into a Luke vs. Han thing, but Han was always a little too smarmy for me. Which I suppose is ironic, or something, since Sheppard on SGA is very like him. And you're all too right on your first point there. Even if it's got me thinking up counterexamples. Like... Giles, and McCoy, and... um, Sheppard?

In other Trek news: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/news/celebrity/ny-ettake215695940may21,0,4149630.story?track=rss

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Awww, that's lovely news. And do you like Sheppard now, because as I recall you are/were a McKay person? Hee, to be honest, I don't really care that much for Luke OR Han, or indeed, Star Wars as a general rule. Although I did love all the angst of the Luke vs Darth fight scene. Just been watching Charlie X - oh, so much love, even if shirtless!Kirk is a trifle scary XD

BTW, have you seen the brilliant Luke fanvid to 'Teenage Dirtbag'? I'm afraid I can't provide a link even if you haven't, but I've emailed the vidder asking for one, because now I want to see it again...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

What are you still doing up?

My like of Star Wars doesn't compare at all to my lifelong love of Trek. *hugs it happily* Aw, "Charlie X" is one of the episodes I can remember watching for the first time when I was little. Poor misbehaving, mischievous, obnoxious kid, Charlie was. And Kirk wouldn't be Kirk without at least a bloody lip and torn shirt. :D

Have not seen that fanvid or in fact any Star Wars fanvids, except the ones up on AtomFilms.com, which are more new compositions than cut-ups of original footage. Anyway. That is not to say that I would be averse to seeing what you've mentioned, with a song title like that.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm sometimes up late-ish, but not usually on the net because my brain is fried. But I had coffee to go with the Trek. That, and I think you guys had some daylight savings change recently as I've been getting my programs an hour earlier, which is all very nice *g*.

I wasn't actually looking forward to Charlie X, but was all 'hey, this is better than I remembered!', LOL. No news on the vid yet - I haven't seen many SW vids, only that one and the Brokeback thing with C3PO/R2D2 which is rather cute. Also been meaning to say I watched the SG:A credits in the style of House thing. LOL, cute!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Mm, fried brains with coffee.

Our daylight savings was ... March? Yeah, when I was in Atlanta, so if this thing happened more recently, I'm not sure what it was. Maybe UK's time shift?

the Brokeback thing with C3PO/R2D2

O RLY? Robot/robot: the love that... cannot speak its name.

Your posts reawakened my desire to watch TOS, you realize, and now that I'm not at my friend's place with all the DVDs, I'm stuck without anything but ancient VHS tapes that barely play, the tracking's so bad. WOE. Maybe I can convince our library to add them to their collection. Right now they only have the animated series, wtf.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hee, I did mean the US... but it probably took me a while to notice XD

Awww, but YES WATCH MORE TOS NOW LOL. I've only watched a few eps of the animated series; not quite the same, but still enjoyable in its own way...