And Sundry
1. Barbara Mertz, AKA Elizabeth Peters, AKA Barbara Michaels, has passed away at the age of 85. She published 38 books under the name of Elizabeth Peters, 29 books under the name of Barbara Michaels, and 3 non-fiction books on Egyptology under her real name. While I haven't read many of her Barbara Michaels books and none of her non-fiction (I intend to change both, but keep getting distracted) and the attitudes of when the earlier Peters books were written tend to be obvious in the most cringeworthy way at times, her mysteries were a big part of my life in terms to fictional consumption and expectations for female leads in mysteries in my late teens, and Amelia Peabody is and always will be one of my favorite literary characters.
2. Male comic creators are being douches about women in comics (and POC, because representation is just tokenism*, but this article focuses on their comments about women). News at 11. I read a longer article yesterday about Mark Millar's dismissing the use of rape in fiction as being problematic by claiming it's just a good way to show villainy, but the comments were pretty much defending rape culture and shaming the objection to the casual use of rape in fiction, and I just never want to see the panels used for examples again.
3. Related, it is explained how Jerry Conway is Very Very Wrong On The Internet (and at life) by claiming that Joan of Arc is the only female knight in history. I do wish she'd also taken Eastern history and literature into account, though, because there's a whole lot more there.
4. I'm finishing up a rewatch of The 10th Kingdom, and 13 years later, it's as delightful as ever, despite the fact that the trolls get even more annoying every time I watch it. The opening credits are also still pretty impressive, despite how far CGI has come.
5. I've tracked down a 1986 Finnish adaptation of The Snow Queen and a 1966 Russian one (both movies.) Has anyone seen these?
*And it pains me so much that a panelist at WisCon said this in response to an audience member rattling off a list of shows with major female characters-mostly lead characters-between the ages of 35-50~, in response to claims that they didn't exist.
2. Male comic creators are being douches about women in comics (and POC, because representation is just tokenism*, but this article focuses on their comments about women). News at 11. I read a longer article yesterday about Mark Millar's dismissing the use of rape in fiction as being problematic by claiming it's just a good way to show villainy, but the comments were pretty much defending rape culture and shaming the objection to the casual use of rape in fiction, and I just never want to see the panels used for examples again.
3. Related, it is explained how Jerry Conway is Very Very Wrong On The Internet (and at life) by claiming that Joan of Arc is the only female knight in history. I do wish she'd also taken Eastern history and literature into account, though, because there's a whole lot more there.
4. I'm finishing up a rewatch of The 10th Kingdom, and 13 years later, it's as delightful as ever, despite the fact that the trolls get even more annoying every time I watch it. The opening credits are also still pretty impressive, despite how far CGI has come.
5. I've tracked down a 1986 Finnish adaptation of The Snow Queen and a 1966 Russian one (both movies.) Has anyone seen these?
*And it pains me so much that a panelist at WisCon said this in response to an audience member rattling off a list of shows with major female characters-mostly lead characters-between the ages of 35-50~, in response to claims that they didn't exist.