Meta links 05/06/2015 - 05/142015
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Links
General Fandom
Why warn? Why criticize?: Alexandra Erin (blog) - "This is a post about trigger warnings and critical discourse in relationship to entertainment media. The intent here is to explain them to people who are under a mistaken impression about why people engage in these things."
topic:warnings, topic:criticism
Despoiled: Alexandra Erin (blog) - "While I didn’t share in the experience of the people who were surprised, knowing who those people were didn’t diminish my enjoyment. It just changed the nature of it."
topic:spoilers
How Censors Killed The Weird, Experimental, Progressive Golden Age of Comics: Saladin Ahmed (blog) - "For a weird, wild, 15-year span beginning in the late 1930s, the comic book racks of America’s newsstands were bursting with four-color contradictions. Images of half-naked, subjugated women appeared side by side with comics featuring independent heroines, like Women Outlaws."
topic:comics, fandom:comics, topic:history
Our Secret Identity Crisis: Phil Nobile Jr (blog) - "We’re more into alter egos than ever - just not, strangely enough, in our superhero stories."
topic:fiction, topic:identity
Perspectives IV: Death and Video Games: Brian and Dean (blog) - " Death is a nearly unavoidable aspect of video gaming, and yet exceptionally rarely given any weight. In this episode of PERSPECTIVES, the Nerd of a Feather, Flock Together respondents take a whack at it in response to "I'm afraid to die in games" by Gita Jackson."
fandom:gaming, topic:videogames, topic:death
Himalayan Quake: Chris Gavaler (blog) - "I showed image after racist image of European Americans visiting the magical realm, acquiring superhuman powers, and then returning home to battle evil."
topic:racism, topic:orientalism, topic:superheroes
The Paradox of the Comics Experience: Roy T. Cook (blog) - "In other words, we don’t first decode the content of some parts of the work via reading, and then decode the content of other parts of the work via looking, and then incorporate these two very different sorts of content into a unified whole in some sort of conscious three-step process. Instead, the process is seamless and smooth, with no apparent difference felt between what is read and what is looked at."
fandom:comics, topic:comics
Cosplaying While Black Is Actually a Far More Positive Experience Than You Might Think: Voodoo Howyacall (blog) - "So, I thought I’d share my experience as being a black cosplayer - because, as I’m writing this, I’ve yet to be called any sort of racial slur or really experience anything, well, bad."
topic:cosplay, topic:race
Gamer Equality: The Non-Existent Cognitive Disparity Between Genders in Gaming: Eugenia Hu (blog) - "Female gamers have been fielding such comments their entire lives. The worst of them is the idea that women can’t possibly be as good as men at gaming because of their poor visuospatial skills."
fandom:gaming, topic:sexism
Reading The Midwest: Space Aliens and Police States: Mark Athitakis (blog) - "But we’ve been projecting our complex feelings about God, conformity, and Middle America onto Iowa for a while now."
fandom:literature
The ‘Good Role Model For Girls’ Makes A Boring Superheroine: Juliet Kahn (blog) - "Which isn’t to say I don’t enjoy many of these books, or that I think they have no redeeming qualities. But these brave new heroines can, by and large, be summed up as "smart, nice, vaguely sassy.""
topic:comics, fandom:comics, topic:femalecharacter
Motherhood in Geekery: mikelywhiplash (blog) - "This post is quite obviously two days late; Mother’s Day has come and gone. I’m-a apologize for that, but it kind of goes to point I want to make: mothers and motherhood get remarkably short shrift in pop culture in general and geek culture in particular."
topic:motherhood, topic:fridging
Magical Mondays: Faerie Food and Sexual Assault: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "But then I started to realize there is a much more sinister connotation to faerie food: faerie food in a lot of ways seems to be very similar to date rape drugs, thus tying it to sexual assault."
topic:magic, topic:drugs, warning:sexualassault
Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Mary Sue Spirituality: stinekey (blog) - "In fact, Mary Sues have been encouraged for centuries. I’m talking about a spiritual practice called Ignatian contemplation or, Mary Sue Spirituality."
topic:religion, topic:marysue
Sexualized Saturdays: Childbearing and Womanhood: Lady Saika (blog) - "It also moralizes the existence of women without uteruses or without the ability to bear children, making sterility into an issue of good and bad rather than just an apolitical medical condition."
warning:spoilers, topic:motherhood, topic:femalecharacter
Specific Fandom
Agent Carter
Why History Supports the #DiversifyAgentCarter Campaign: Arturo R. Garcia (blog) - "It’s also telling that "fans" of Marvel Entertainment and/or the show quickly rolled out the same tired, insidious arguments against it becoming more diverse: that it would be "diversity for diversity’s sake;" or even worse, that it would be "historically inaccurate.""
fandom:agentcarter, topic:diversity, topic:history
Uburied but Forgotten: Asian Bodies in Agent Carter: Anna Cabe (blog) - "But "human" is a label rarely afforded those whose deaths are used to create a tragic backstory for more central, white characters."
fandom:agentcarter, topic:race
#DiversifyAgentCarter: More Than a Hashtag: Kate Tanski (blog) - "With a second season of Agent Carter announced earlier this week, the internet was filled with joy, but also with hope for the coming season. One of those hopes was crystallized on Twitter under the hashtag #DiversifyAgentCarter."
fandom:agentcarter, topic:diversity
Marvel Characters Who Could Help #DiversifyAgentCarter: Kat Overland (blog) - "As praised as the show is, it does have its blind spots: mainly, it’s very straight, white, and cis."
fandom:agentcarter, topic:diversity
Agents of SHIELD
I Finally Figured Out Why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Isn’t Engaging: Chris Lough (blog) - "By stepping back, I thought, I could better appreciate the show.
Instead, I just got bored."
fandom:agentsofshield, warning:spoilers
Angel
Illyria: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "Though she was only in seven full episodes, she had a massive impact both in terms of where she fit into the storyline and the impact of events surrounding her character for the audience."
fandom:angel
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Can we talk about Ultron?: Alexandra Erin (blog) - "Then we saw the movie yesterday, and I have to say that the interpretation of Ultron in it is probably the most brilliant thing in it."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (blog) - Discussion and analysis of the movie by all of the SBTB reviewers.
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Obligatory Age of Ultron Comments: Chad Orzel (blog) - "So, anyway, the actual movie was… fine. It’s a comic-book movie, and I don’t really expect more from those than expensive spectacle."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Vacuums of Ultron, and Commodity Fetishism too!: Max Gladstone (blog) - " Overall, though, AoU left me a little cold. Some of that cold-leaving was probably the fault of a not-great 3-D conversion that felt dim and flickery to this viewer. Some, though…"
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron All-Spoilers Edition: The Birth.Movies.Deathcast (podcast) - "This week is, of course, all about Avengers: Age of Ultron, which we have complicated feelings about since it’s a surprisingly complicated movie. We both really liked it, despite some bumps along the way to that opinion."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Why the Age of Ultron Mid-Credits Sequence Kind of Stinks: Devin Faraci (blog) - "It's the worst credits sequence in Marvel Studios history."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
R-oundtable: Avengers - Age of Ultron: Racialicious (blog) - Multi-participant discussion of various aspects of Age of Ultron.
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
And On This Rock: Religion in the Age of Ultron: Emily Willis (blog) - "So why did I walk out of Age of Ultron feeling like I had just been preached at?"
fandom:mcu, topic:religion, warning:spoilers
Mighty Marvel Besties: Age of Ultron Reviewed: Annie Bulloch (blog) - "At this point, I can’t view an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe like I would most movies. Those characters are my friends. I like to hang out with them and see what they’re up to, even if said hangout isn’t the BEST PARTY EVAR."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Black Widow Wants To Bone Hulk (And That’s Okay): Megan Byrd (blog) - "Avengers: Age of Ultron may have set up the Infinity War, but it has also ignited a war of words amongst fandom: the shipping wars, an endless debate surrounding the love lives of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes™."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers, topic:relationships
[fandom] Age of Ultron is not my happy place: escritoireazul (DW) - Commentary on the movie with many links to and excerpts from other commentary.
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Barbarossa
Barbarossa: Braveheart in Italy: aelarsen (blog) - "The film focuses on one of the more confusing elements of medieval political history, the complex relationship between northern Italy and the Holy Roman Empire."
fandom:barbarossa, topic:history
Batman
Episode 54: "Paging the Crime Doctor": The Arkham Sessions (podcast) - "In this episode of The Arkham Sessions, we discuss the unique story of the Thorne brothers and their differences in ethics and morality. We also see how the Batman’s code of ethics stack up to the five major ethical principles psychologists follow: Justice, Integrity, Fidelity and Responsibility, Respect for Rights and Dignity, and Nonmaleficence."
fandom:dcanimated
Buffy
Untitled: demandingbillydolls (Tumblr) - "I see the Turok-Han in Buffy and have to ask "What even ARE you?""
fandom:btvs
Untitled: demandingbillydolls (Tumblr) - "Does it matter to anyone out there why Spike got a soul?"
fandom:btvs
MTVS Epic Rewatch #23: BTVS 2x04 Inca Mummy Girl: marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer (Tumblr) - "Let’s get this out of the way: Inca Mummy Girl is not a great episode. Scratch that: It’s not a good episode. But I can’t stress this enough: even in what most people consider the worst Buffy episodes, I still can find things that I endearingly love. And IMG is no exception in that respect."
fandom:btvs
Untitled: soulfulspikethekiller (Tumblr) - "How do you fell about season10 Spuffy being described as too on the nose, too fluffy, predictable, devoid of much of the complexity that made them so compelling in the first place etc."
fandom:btvs
Under Her Spell: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "I am of the opinion that Willow had the greatest character development in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and she is my favourite character, so I have got rather a lot to say!"
fandom:btvs
Responsibilities, Acceptance, and Wounds - S1/S2: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "This piece is going to focus on Buffy Summers herself, particularly her character in seasons one and two, in regards to her coming to terms with her duties as a Slayer and the emotional impact of it."
fandom:btvs
Angel and Riley: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "I’ve always had this very deeply rooted dislike for both Angel and Riley. And for someone who isn’t me, it’s easy to chalk it up to me being a Spuffy shipper. But that contradicts my Fuffy and Sprusilla ships."
fandom:btvs
Untitled: drusillathekiller (Tumblr) - "But congratulations on making me think long and hard about this, because the truth is for all my gushing over Spike and Dru, I’ve never really properly questioned why I love them so much."
fandom:btvs
Episode 30: The Hottest Watcher: Dusted (podcast) - "Five plots, no waiting: this week, we sort the good from the bad as Faith comes to town in Faith, Hope & Trick (3.03)!"
fandom:btvs
Season 7: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "So to tie in with those two pieces, I thought that I would write about why season seven is my personal favourite."
fandom:btvs
The Music - Main Theme: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "Over the course of the six years that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" graced our television screens, we were treated to a variety of music that was diagetic and non-diagetic."
fandom:btvs, topic:music
Buffy Reviewed: "The Wish": harsens_rob (LJ) - Scene by scene episode recap with interpolated commentary and analysis at the end.
fandom:btvs
Captain America
Steve Rogers vs. Pop Culture: Alexandra Erin (blog) - "It’s something interesting to think about. Did the U.S. government and/or the fictional counterpart of Marvel/Timely Comics ever revive the character in print?"
fandom:mcu
Cosmere
Words of Radiance Reread: Chapter 37: Alice Arneson (blog) - "This week, we take a little side-step to a time concurrent with those last few pages, looking through Adolin’s eyes within that chamber."
fandom:cosmere
DC Comics
Is Darkseid the DC Universe’s Ultimate Bad Guy: Chris Sims (blog) - "Do you think Darkseid deserves to be considered the ultimate bad guy of the DC Universe? What are his achievements?"
fandom:dccomics, topic:villains
Doctor Who
The Randomise: The Rescue: louisedennis (LJ) - "The Rescue is, sadly, a little underwhelming as a story."
fandom:doctorwho
Is the Doctor a Trickster?: betawho (LJ) - "But by actually listing out the attributes of a Trickster, it made me realize that it is when the Doctor is being a trickster that I love him so much, and when he deviates from those qualities of a Trickster that I don't like it as much."
fandom:doctorwho
The Three Doctors Commentary: Philip Sandifer and Jack Graham (podcast) - "Jack Graham and I have struck again, this time with The Three Doctors."
fandom:doctorwho
Dragon Ball
Take Your Dragon Balls And Go: Chi Chi’s Life was Hard and No One Respected Her: Claire Napier (blog) - "I think a lot of what I had a problem with is that as a child, I didn’t even notice how terribly Chi Chi was treated. Mainly because the narrative of the show-as weak as it was-enforced that she was a shrew."
fandom:dragonball, fandom:anime, topic:femalecharacter, topic:sexism
Dragon Prince
Rereading Melanie Rawn: Sunrunner’s Fire, Chapters 14 and 15: Judith Tarr (blog) - "This week Andry comes to Stronghold, and Chiana plots with evil glee."
fandom:dragonprince
Rereading Melanie Rawn: Sunrunner’s Fire, Chapters 16 and 17: Judith Tarr (blog) - "This week a trap is sprung, and another trap is detected (just in time, we hope)."
fandom:dragonprince
Dragonlance
The Dragonlance Chronicles Reread: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Chapters 15 and 16: Mavesh Murad and Jared Shurin (blog) - "But, all kidding aside, this week’s chapters are where things really kick off-join in, if you dare."
fandom:dragonlance
Empire Trilogy
Rereading the Empire Trilogy: Mistress of the Empire, Part 9: Tansy Raynor Roberts (blog) - "This week: everyone starts remembering that Mara is actually the protagonist, and Arakasi needs his own theme song for spy antics."
fandom:empiretrilogy
Evil Dead
Episode 26: Evil Dead II: The Canon (podcast) - "This week's episode of The Canon features guest Joe Lynch, director of Everly, nominating Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II."
fandom:evildead
Ex Machina
Ex Machina and The Art Of Character Identification: Film Crit Hulk (blog) - "Why you might be rooting for the wrong character in Alex Garland's brilliant sci-fi film."
fandom:exmachina
Far From The Madding Crowd
Review: Far From The Madding Crowd Is One Of The Best Lady-Led Films Of The Year: Lesley Coffin (blog) - " But the challenge is worth taking on, and this summer’s first refreshing alternative to the summer popcorn films is the refreshingly entertaining Far from the Madding Crowd, a movie of stunning beauty, surprising humor, and one of the best female leads of the year."
fandom:farfromthemaddingcrowd
First Law Trilogy
Rereading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy, Last Argument of Kings: "The Fourth Day" and "The Perfect Couple": Justin Landon (blog) - "Some long awaited events happen in today’s chapters. Well, one happens and the other almost happens, promising that it surely will in the coming days."
fandom:firstlawtrilogy
The Flash
The Flash Review 1.21 "Grodd Lives": Meredith Borders (blog) - "After the non-stop momentum of the past few episodes, "Grodd Lives" could feel like a roadblock on the path toward resolution of the Harrison Wells (I can't yet bring myself to call him Eobard Thawne) storyline, particularly since Wells and Eddie were relegated to only a few minutes of screentime this week. But Grodd is such a monstrously compelling villain - with ties to Wells that could come into play in the larger arc in upcoming episodes - that his introduction can be nothing but a boon to this show."
fandom:theflash, warning:spoilers
Forever
Forever, Season 1, Episode 22: The Last Death of Henry Morgan: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:forever, warning:spoilers
Frozen
Why Frozen’s Blockbuster Success Is Still So Important: Britt Hayes (blog) - "Reflecting on the meaningful success of Disney's empowering and subversive Princess film."
fandom:frozen, fandom:disney
Fullmetal Alchemist
Alphonse Elric: Character Analysis: Uve (blog) - "That’s why I decided to analyse and talk a bit about Alphonse Elric, the younger brother, who I believe is sadly underrated."
fandom:fullmetalalchemist
Game of Thrones
Why Sansa will win the game of thrones: GoT Academy (video and essay) - "And if you take history as a guide, mix in some common sense regarding character arcs and spice it up with good old-fashioned A Song of Ice and Fire prophecies - the most logical winner of the game of thrones is none other than the former Stark whipping-girl."
fandom:gameofthrones
Deconstructed: Kill the Boy: Stefan (blog) - "This week, the producers change gears entirely and somewhat unexpectedly."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Kill the Boy Open Thread: Johnny (blog) - Open discussion of the episode by all comers.
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Tailgate, Bloody Mary: Johnny (blog) - Collection of links to articles about the show.
fandom:gameofthrones
"Game of Thrones" politics: The perils of cultural assimilation during war: Steven Attewell (blog) - "Jon Snow and Daenerys try to maintain their identities while adopting other cultures into their folds"
fandom:gameofthrones
Game of Thrones Season 5, Episode 5: "Kill the Boy": Theresa Delucci (blog) - "There was a lot of talk of fathers on last night’s Mothers’ Day episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Review: Kill the Boy: ghostlovesinger (blog) - "We're halfway through the fifth season, and despite losing its footing at times before falling off a small cliff (see last week's review) Game of Thrones is still standing."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Kill the Boy: Philip Sandifer (blog) - "We are, at last, to the part of the season where Game of Thrones is finally freed up to do things that are interesting as opposed to necessary."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Game of Thrones, Season 5, Episode 5: Kill the Boy: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Return to Westeros: "Kill the Boy" Review: MadameAce (blog) - "Well, Game of Thrones is really heading into darker territory this week."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Gotham
The Well Written Female Characters of Gotham: Lindsey Loree (blog) - "I continue to be a fan in no small part because I can trust Gotham to depict women and girls fairly, honestly, and sans gratuitous gender-based violence or sexual objectification."
fandom:gotham, topic:femalecharacter
If It Can Go Wrong, It Certainly Will in Gotham’s First Season: MadameAce (blog) - "Gotham’s first season was too long, tiring, and boring, and by the time the last episode came out it was a chore to watch."
fandom:gotham
Grimm
Grimm, Season 4, Episode 21: Headache: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:grimm, warning:spoilers
H.P. Lovecraft
The Horror in Your Own Back Yard: "The Picture in the House": Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth (blog) - "Today we’re looking at "The Picture in the House," written on December 12, 1920 and first published in the July 1919 issue of The National Amateur (published in 1921, just to make things complicated)."
fandom:lovecraft
Harry Potter
The Harry Potter Reread: The Order of the Phoenix, Chapters 7 and 8: Emily Asher-Perrin (blog) - "This week we’re going to view a creepy statue in a government building and get defended by Albus Dumbledore in court. It’s chapters 7 and 8 of The Order of the Phoenix-The Ministry of Magic and The Hearing."
fandom:harrypotter
Heartbreaker
’Heartbreaker’ is NBC’s not-at-all-copyright-infringing answer to ‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Aja Romano (blog) - "Its new series Heartbreaker is being billed as a "unique character-driven medical drama," but it is, in fact, a by-the-numbers ripoff of ABC's Grey's Anatomy that is so over-the-top and weird that it's breaking our brains a little bit."
fandom:heartbreaker
Hot Pursuit
Hot Pursuit Review: One Hot Mess: Jenni Miller (blog) - "Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon seem to be having a grand time promoting Hot Pursuit, but their on-screen chemistry is nil in this extraordinarily tedious comedy."
fandom:hotpursuit
iZombie
iZombie, Season 1, Episode 8: Dead Air: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:izombie, warning:spoilers
My Current Choice for Stimulating Brain Food: The Television Series iZombie: MarchHareMoe (blog) - "iZombie may not be the most intense show, but it’s clever, civil, and it covers modern problems in an entertaining way."
fandom:izombie
James Bond
Bond Girl: Re-Watching and Re-Evaluating You Only Live Twice: Zina Hutton (blog) - "You Only Live Twice is one of those Bond movies that I wound up liking more that I felt like I should."
fandom:jamesbond
Joss Whedon
Untitled: downtoolong (Tumblr) - "You know, I really wish people would stop implying Joss is above criticism or should be given the benefit of the doubt because he created BTVS."
fandom:josswhedon
The Glorious Rise and Inevitable Slightly Downward Slide (We’re Talking Like 100 Yards Max) Of Joss Whedon: Ashly Nagrant (blog) - "Joss Whedon is going to be okay.
Joss Whedon’s fans, current and former, well - We are a different story."
fandom:josswhedon
Does Biology Need to Be Destiny in the Work of Joss Whedon: Leah Schnelbach (blog) - "Simply put: let’s look at how often Whedon has relied on this trope of a woman’s power or uniqueness or, yes, monstrosity, being inseparable from her gender and sexuality-why, in Whedon’s stories of women’s power, does their strength and talent always need to be bound to their bodies and biology?"
fandom:josswhedon, warning:spoilers, topic:femalecharacter
No Strings, But Plenty of Switches in the Whedonverse: Natalie Zutter (blog) - "In fact, for the past ten years and more, in almost all of his properties, Joss Whedon has placed entire dramatic arcs around a switch being thrown. Sometimes it serves simply as a deus ex machina, but on other occasions, Whedon has used the trope to explore issues of control and ownership, over both men and women."
fandom:josswhedon, warning:spoilers
Kingsman
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014): marina (DW) - "I watched this movie in lieu of doing anything actually useful with my life for those 1.5 hours, so I guess I can at least make a short post about what I found interesting in this generally not at all recommended movie."
fandom:kingsman
The Last Herald Mage
The Last Herald Mage: The End: Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer (blog) - "We read about Vanyel’s death for the first time in the opening pages of Arrows of the Queen."
fandom:valdemar
Legend of Zelda
Piece of Heart: ...So Does Season: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "Similar to geography, the season during which a game takes place has a profound affect on the overall theme of the adventure."
fandom:legendofzelda
Mad Max
Mad Max: Fury Road Review - A Modern Action Masterpiece: Devin Faraci (blog) - "George Miller returns to Mad Max with a masterclass in action filmmaking."
fandom:madmax, warning:spoilers
Should You Watch the Original Mad Max Trilogy?: Leah Schnelbach (blog) - "But I’m here to show you that the original Mad Max trilogy holds many wonders!"
fandom:madmax
’Mad Max: Fury Road’ draws the ire of men’s rights activists: Aja Romano (blog) - "But there's one group of critics who are frothing with rage over the film because-wait for it-it's about women."
fandom:madmax, topic:sexism
Maggie
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Maggie: Siddhant Adlakha (blog) - "I’m sure you’ve all heard the spiel about how zombies work best as social or political analogues (Communism! Consumerism!), and while that’s most certainly true, Maggie takes it a couple of steps further, colouring within the lines of the genre but changing the specifics at every turn to make it matter on a micro level, even though it kind of flubs it at the very end."
fandom:maggie
Malazan
Malazan Reread of the Fallen: Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter Twenty: Amanda Rutter and Bill Capossere (blog) - "In this article, we’ll cover chapter twenty of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Orb Sceptre Throne."
fandom:malazan
Malazan Reread of the Fallen: Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter Twenty-One: Amanda Rutter and Bill Capossere (blog) - "In this article, we’ll cover chapter twent-one of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Orb Sceptre Throne."
fandom:malazan
Malazan Reread of the Fallen: Orb Sceptre Throne, Epilogue: Amanda Rutter and Bill Capossere (blog) - "In this article, we’ll cover the epilogue of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Orb Sceptre Throne."
fandom:malazan
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Age of Robots: How Marvel Is Killing the Popcorn Movie: Sady Doyle (blog) - "What I really dislike about Marvel is what they’re doing to stupid popcorn movies. This is a genre I care about, and they’re fucking it up."
fandom:mcu
Mary of Scotland
Mary of Scotland: Katharine Hepburn in Tudor romance with inaccurate kilts: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - "Hepburn’s real-life affair with director John Ford adds extra spice to this tale of a fiery proto-feminist queen’s love for the Earl of Bothwell"
fandom:maryofscotland, topic:history
The Messengers
The Messengers, Season 1, Episode 4: Drums: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:themessengers, warning:spoilers
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Midsummer’s Music and Magic: Alex Bledsoe (blog) - "None of the instrumental music used in Shakespeare’s original productions has survived, either, so we really have no idea what tunes his fairies might have danced to. But the importance of music to them is right there in the text."
fandom:shakespeare
Mission Impossible II
When Doves Cry: John Woo’s Mission Impossible II: Jacob Knight (blog) - "Does the second film in the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE franchise earn its dreadful reputation?"
fandom:missionimpossible
The Multiversity
They Make Us Like Them: On Identity and Gentrification: Kelly Kanayama (blog) - "What makes this hero-corruption stick in my mind is the fact that Uotan is black and the Gentry are white by proxy."
fandom:dccomics, topic:race, topic:identity
Naruto
Ninja, Smooches, and Jumping the Shark: All Your Questions About Naruto Answered!: Vernieda Vergara (blog) - Q&A about Naruto. Intended more for newbies than for long standing fans.
fandom:naruto
Olympus
Olympus, Season 1, Episode 6: The Lexicon: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:olympus, warning:spoilers
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time, Season 4, Episode 22 & 23: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:onceuponatime, warning:spoilers
Orphan Black
Orphan Black Science Recap: "Formalized, Complex, and Costly": Casey Griffin and Nina Nesseth (blog) - "Welcome to our Orphan Black science recaps, where Casey, a graduate student in genetics and developmental biology, and Nina, a professional science communicator, examine the science in each episode of OB and talk you through it in (mostly) easy-to-digest terms."
fandom:orphanblack, warning:spoilers, topic:science
Orphan Black, Season 3, Episode 4: Newer Elements in Our Defence: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:orphanblack, warning:spoilers
Orphan Black: "Newer Elements of Our Defense" Review: porluciernagas (blog) - "I was a little concerned after the last episode, but "Newer Elements of Our Defense" managed to introduce some, well, newer elements of the show, while still keeping things heart-poundingly suspenseful."
fandom:orphanblack, warning:spoilers
Othello
What the F*ck, Iago?: Max Gladstone (blog) - "No unanswered question in all Shakespeare beats that one."
fandom:shakespeare
Playing It Cool
Review: Playing It Cool Will Actually Make You Dislike Chris Evans: Lesley Coffin (blog) - "Despite marketing this movie as a smart anti-rom-com, the truth is that this is just a cynical rom-com (like That Awkward Moment) written by people who clearly know the genre, but think the genre is beneath them."
fandom:playingitcool
The Returned
The Returned, Season 1, Episode 9: Helen: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
fandom:thereturned, warning:spoilers
The Returned, Season 1, Episode 10: Peter: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
fandom:thereturned, warning:spoilers
Salem
Salem, Season 2, Episode 5: The Wine Dark Sea: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:salem, warning:spoilers
Salem, Season 2, Episode 6: Ill Met by Moonlight: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:salem, warning:spoilers
A Song of Ice and Fire
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Catelyn IV, ACOK: Steven Attewell (blog) - "I think Catelyn IV is the major shock of A Clash of Kings. It’s a completely unexpected turning point, altering the entire course of the War of Five Kings (a subject I’ll be addressing in detail in Davos II), made more unexpected by the fact that GRRM carefully avoids all forms of foreshadowing."
fandom:asoiaf
Top Characters #14 Brienne of Tarth: Arya Forever (blog) - "Brienne is the only living child and heir of Lord Selwyn of Tarth, who rules from Evenfall Hall on a small island northeast of Storm's End."
fandom:asoiaf
A Read of Ice and Fire: A Dance with Dragons, Part 19: Leigh Butler (blog) - "Today’s entry is Part 19 of A Dance With Dragons, in which we cover Chapter 32 ("Reek")."
fandom:asoiaf
Star Wars
Nerd Lunch Discusses A New Hope with Kay: Nerd Lunch (podcast) - "Now the group has reconvened to start drilling into the original trilogy. This episode of the podcast covers Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, or as CT would probably call it "just Star Wars"."
fandom:starwars
Stranded in Canton
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Stranded in Canton: Siddhant Adlakha (blog) - "A film that misses the mark in five different languages."
fandom:strandedincanton
Supernatural
Supernatural: ‘Dark Dynasty’ Review and Thoughts: Uve (blog) - "I’m gonna be honest here. I couldn’t concentrate on most part of the episode because I had already been spoiled big time before having the time to watch it."
fandom:supernatural, warning:spoilers
Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 21: Dark Dynasty: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:supernatural, warning:spoilers
Teen Wolf
60 Teen Wolfs in 60 Days: hth (DW) - Episode by episode analysis of the show. So far, the author has gotten to s301 ep12: Lunar Ellipse. The link goes to the tag for the series of entries.
fandom:teenwolf
Terminator
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Jacob Knight (blog) - "James Cameron is a master at remolding movies in his current image."
fandom:terminator
Thor
Marvel finally reveals female Thor’s identity - but there’s a huge catch: Aja Romano (blog) - "And now, thanks to the latest issue in Marvel's latest Thor series, we finally know what kind of character has that sort of commitment."
fandom:marvelcomics, warning:spoilers
The Vampire Diaries
Vampire Diaries, Season 6, Episode 21: I’ll Wed You In the Golden Summertime: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:thevampirediaries, warning:spoilers
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
Sex Is Not a Dirty Word: or, Why The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is a Great Feminist Anime: Vrai Kaiser (blog) - "The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is both the most nudity-heavy and one of the most thoughtfully feminist anime I have ever seen."
fandom:anime
Yu Yu Hakusho
Throwback Thursdays: DBZ, Imma Let You Finish, but Yu Yu Hakusho Was the Best Shonen Anime of the 90’s: pantydragon (blog) - "Yu Yu Hakusho was a stellar fighting anime, following juvenile delinquent Yusuke Urameshi, who gains supernatural powers after being killed and resurrected."
fandom:anime
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Links
General Fandom
Why warn? Why criticize?: Alexandra Erin (blog) - "This is a post about trigger warnings and critical discourse in relationship to entertainment media. The intent here is to explain them to people who are under a mistaken impression about why people engage in these things."
topic:warnings, topic:criticism
Despoiled: Alexandra Erin (blog) - "While I didn’t share in the experience of the people who were surprised, knowing who those people were didn’t diminish my enjoyment. It just changed the nature of it."
topic:spoilers
How Censors Killed The Weird, Experimental, Progressive Golden Age of Comics: Saladin Ahmed (blog) - "For a weird, wild, 15-year span beginning in the late 1930s, the comic book racks of America’s newsstands were bursting with four-color contradictions. Images of half-naked, subjugated women appeared side by side with comics featuring independent heroines, like Women Outlaws."
topic:comics, fandom:comics, topic:history
Our Secret Identity Crisis: Phil Nobile Jr (blog) - "We’re more into alter egos than ever - just not, strangely enough, in our superhero stories."
topic:fiction, topic:identity
Perspectives IV: Death and Video Games: Brian and Dean (blog) - " Death is a nearly unavoidable aspect of video gaming, and yet exceptionally rarely given any weight. In this episode of PERSPECTIVES, the Nerd of a Feather, Flock Together respondents take a whack at it in response to "I'm afraid to die in games" by Gita Jackson."
fandom:gaming, topic:videogames, topic:death
Himalayan Quake: Chris Gavaler (blog) - "I showed image after racist image of European Americans visiting the magical realm, acquiring superhuman powers, and then returning home to battle evil."
topic:racism, topic:orientalism, topic:superheroes
The Paradox of the Comics Experience: Roy T. Cook (blog) - "In other words, we don’t first decode the content of some parts of the work via reading, and then decode the content of other parts of the work via looking, and then incorporate these two very different sorts of content into a unified whole in some sort of conscious three-step process. Instead, the process is seamless and smooth, with no apparent difference felt between what is read and what is looked at."
fandom:comics, topic:comics
Cosplaying While Black Is Actually a Far More Positive Experience Than You Might Think: Voodoo Howyacall (blog) - "So, I thought I’d share my experience as being a black cosplayer - because, as I’m writing this, I’ve yet to be called any sort of racial slur or really experience anything, well, bad."
topic:cosplay, topic:race
Gamer Equality: The Non-Existent Cognitive Disparity Between Genders in Gaming: Eugenia Hu (blog) - "Female gamers have been fielding such comments their entire lives. The worst of them is the idea that women can’t possibly be as good as men at gaming because of their poor visuospatial skills."
fandom:gaming, topic:sexism
Reading The Midwest: Space Aliens and Police States: Mark Athitakis (blog) - "But we’ve been projecting our complex feelings about God, conformity, and Middle America onto Iowa for a while now."
fandom:literature
The ‘Good Role Model For Girls’ Makes A Boring Superheroine: Juliet Kahn (blog) - "Which isn’t to say I don’t enjoy many of these books, or that I think they have no redeeming qualities. But these brave new heroines can, by and large, be summed up as "smart, nice, vaguely sassy.""
topic:comics, fandom:comics, topic:femalecharacter
Motherhood in Geekery: mikelywhiplash (blog) - "This post is quite obviously two days late; Mother’s Day has come and gone. I’m-a apologize for that, but it kind of goes to point I want to make: mothers and motherhood get remarkably short shrift in pop culture in general and geek culture in particular."
topic:motherhood, topic:fridging
Magical Mondays: Faerie Food and Sexual Assault: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "But then I started to realize there is a much more sinister connotation to faerie food: faerie food in a lot of ways seems to be very similar to date rape drugs, thus tying it to sexual assault."
topic:magic, topic:drugs, warning:sexualassault
Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Mary Sue Spirituality: stinekey (blog) - "In fact, Mary Sues have been encouraged for centuries. I’m talking about a spiritual practice called Ignatian contemplation or, Mary Sue Spirituality."
topic:religion, topic:marysue
Sexualized Saturdays: Childbearing and Womanhood: Lady Saika (blog) - "It also moralizes the existence of women without uteruses or without the ability to bear children, making sterility into an issue of good and bad rather than just an apolitical medical condition."
warning:spoilers, topic:motherhood, topic:femalecharacter
Specific Fandom
Agent Carter
Why History Supports the #DiversifyAgentCarter Campaign: Arturo R. Garcia (blog) - "It’s also telling that "fans" of Marvel Entertainment and/or the show quickly rolled out the same tired, insidious arguments against it becoming more diverse: that it would be "diversity for diversity’s sake;" or even worse, that it would be "historically inaccurate.""
fandom:agentcarter, topic:diversity, topic:history
Uburied but Forgotten: Asian Bodies in Agent Carter: Anna Cabe (blog) - "But "human" is a label rarely afforded those whose deaths are used to create a tragic backstory for more central, white characters."
fandom:agentcarter, topic:race
#DiversifyAgentCarter: More Than a Hashtag: Kate Tanski (blog) - "With a second season of Agent Carter announced earlier this week, the internet was filled with joy, but also with hope for the coming season. One of those hopes was crystallized on Twitter under the hashtag #DiversifyAgentCarter."
fandom:agentcarter, topic:diversity
Marvel Characters Who Could Help #DiversifyAgentCarter: Kat Overland (blog) - "As praised as the show is, it does have its blind spots: mainly, it’s very straight, white, and cis."
fandom:agentcarter, topic:diversity
Agents of SHIELD
I Finally Figured Out Why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Isn’t Engaging: Chris Lough (blog) - "By stepping back, I thought, I could better appreciate the show.
Instead, I just got bored."
fandom:agentsofshield, warning:spoilers
Angel
Illyria: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "Though she was only in seven full episodes, she had a massive impact both in terms of where she fit into the storyline and the impact of events surrounding her character for the audience."
fandom:angel
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Can we talk about Ultron?: Alexandra Erin (blog) - "Then we saw the movie yesterday, and I have to say that the interpretation of Ultron in it is probably the most brilliant thing in it."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (blog) - Discussion and analysis of the movie by all of the SBTB reviewers.
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Obligatory Age of Ultron Comments: Chad Orzel (blog) - "So, anyway, the actual movie was… fine. It’s a comic-book movie, and I don’t really expect more from those than expensive spectacle."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Vacuums of Ultron, and Commodity Fetishism too!: Max Gladstone (blog) - " Overall, though, AoU left me a little cold. Some of that cold-leaving was probably the fault of a not-great 3-D conversion that felt dim and flickery to this viewer. Some, though…"
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron All-Spoilers Edition: The Birth.Movies.Deathcast (podcast) - "This week is, of course, all about Avengers: Age of Ultron, which we have complicated feelings about since it’s a surprisingly complicated movie. We both really liked it, despite some bumps along the way to that opinion."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Why the Age of Ultron Mid-Credits Sequence Kind of Stinks: Devin Faraci (blog) - "It's the worst credits sequence in Marvel Studios history."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
R-oundtable: Avengers - Age of Ultron: Racialicious (blog) - Multi-participant discussion of various aspects of Age of Ultron.
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
And On This Rock: Religion in the Age of Ultron: Emily Willis (blog) - "So why did I walk out of Age of Ultron feeling like I had just been preached at?"
fandom:mcu, topic:religion, warning:spoilers
Mighty Marvel Besties: Age of Ultron Reviewed: Annie Bulloch (blog) - "At this point, I can’t view an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe like I would most movies. Those characters are my friends. I like to hang out with them and see what they’re up to, even if said hangout isn’t the BEST PARTY EVAR."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Black Widow Wants To Bone Hulk (And That’s Okay): Megan Byrd (blog) - "Avengers: Age of Ultron may have set up the Infinity War, but it has also ignited a war of words amongst fandom: the shipping wars, an endless debate surrounding the love lives of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes™."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers, topic:relationships
[fandom] Age of Ultron is not my happy place: escritoireazul (DW) - Commentary on the movie with many links to and excerpts from other commentary.
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Barbarossa
Barbarossa: Braveheart in Italy: aelarsen (blog) - "The film focuses on one of the more confusing elements of medieval political history, the complex relationship between northern Italy and the Holy Roman Empire."
fandom:barbarossa, topic:history
Batman
Episode 54: "Paging the Crime Doctor": The Arkham Sessions (podcast) - "In this episode of The Arkham Sessions, we discuss the unique story of the Thorne brothers and their differences in ethics and morality. We also see how the Batman’s code of ethics stack up to the five major ethical principles psychologists follow: Justice, Integrity, Fidelity and Responsibility, Respect for Rights and Dignity, and Nonmaleficence."
fandom:dcanimated
Buffy
Untitled: demandingbillydolls (Tumblr) - "I see the Turok-Han in Buffy and have to ask "What even ARE you?""
fandom:btvs
Untitled: demandingbillydolls (Tumblr) - "Does it matter to anyone out there why Spike got a soul?"
fandom:btvs
MTVS Epic Rewatch #23: BTVS 2x04 Inca Mummy Girl: marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer (Tumblr) - "Let’s get this out of the way: Inca Mummy Girl is not a great episode. Scratch that: It’s not a good episode. But I can’t stress this enough: even in what most people consider the worst Buffy episodes, I still can find things that I endearingly love. And IMG is no exception in that respect."
fandom:btvs
Untitled: soulfulspikethekiller (Tumblr) - "How do you fell about season10 Spuffy being described as too on the nose, too fluffy, predictable, devoid of much of the complexity that made them so compelling in the first place etc."
fandom:btvs
Under Her Spell: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "I am of the opinion that Willow had the greatest character development in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and she is my favourite character, so I have got rather a lot to say!"
fandom:btvs
Responsibilities, Acceptance, and Wounds - S1/S2: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "This piece is going to focus on Buffy Summers herself, particularly her character in seasons one and two, in regards to her coming to terms with her duties as a Slayer and the emotional impact of it."
fandom:btvs
Angel and Riley: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "I’ve always had this very deeply rooted dislike for both Angel and Riley. And for someone who isn’t me, it’s easy to chalk it up to me being a Spuffy shipper. But that contradicts my Fuffy and Sprusilla ships."
fandom:btvs
Untitled: drusillathekiller (Tumblr) - "But congratulations on making me think long and hard about this, because the truth is for all my gushing over Spike and Dru, I’ve never really properly questioned why I love them so much."
fandom:btvs
Episode 30: The Hottest Watcher: Dusted (podcast) - "Five plots, no waiting: this week, we sort the good from the bad as Faith comes to town in Faith, Hope & Trick (3.03)!"
fandom:btvs
Season 7: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "So to tie in with those two pieces, I thought that I would write about why season seven is my personal favourite."
fandom:btvs
The Music - Main Theme: Ms Buffy Buff (blog) - "Over the course of the six years that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" graced our television screens, we were treated to a variety of music that was diagetic and non-diagetic."
fandom:btvs, topic:music
Buffy Reviewed: "The Wish": harsens_rob (LJ) - Scene by scene episode recap with interpolated commentary and analysis at the end.
fandom:btvs
Captain America
Steve Rogers vs. Pop Culture: Alexandra Erin (blog) - "It’s something interesting to think about. Did the U.S. government and/or the fictional counterpart of Marvel/Timely Comics ever revive the character in print?"
fandom:mcu
Cosmere
Words of Radiance Reread: Chapter 37: Alice Arneson (blog) - "This week, we take a little side-step to a time concurrent with those last few pages, looking through Adolin’s eyes within that chamber."
fandom:cosmere
DC Comics
Is Darkseid the DC Universe’s Ultimate Bad Guy: Chris Sims (blog) - "Do you think Darkseid deserves to be considered the ultimate bad guy of the DC Universe? What are his achievements?"
fandom:dccomics, topic:villains
Doctor Who
The Randomise: The Rescue: louisedennis (LJ) - "The Rescue is, sadly, a little underwhelming as a story."
fandom:doctorwho
Is the Doctor a Trickster?: betawho (LJ) - "But by actually listing out the attributes of a Trickster, it made me realize that it is when the Doctor is being a trickster that I love him so much, and when he deviates from those qualities of a Trickster that I don't like it as much."
fandom:doctorwho
The Three Doctors Commentary: Philip Sandifer and Jack Graham (podcast) - "Jack Graham and I have struck again, this time with The Three Doctors."
fandom:doctorwho
Dragon Ball
Take Your Dragon Balls And Go: Chi Chi’s Life was Hard and No One Respected Her: Claire Napier (blog) - "I think a lot of what I had a problem with is that as a child, I didn’t even notice how terribly Chi Chi was treated. Mainly because the narrative of the show-as weak as it was-enforced that she was a shrew."
fandom:dragonball, fandom:anime, topic:femalecharacter, topic:sexism
Dragon Prince
Rereading Melanie Rawn: Sunrunner’s Fire, Chapters 14 and 15: Judith Tarr (blog) - "This week Andry comes to Stronghold, and Chiana plots with evil glee."
fandom:dragonprince
Rereading Melanie Rawn: Sunrunner’s Fire, Chapters 16 and 17: Judith Tarr (blog) - "This week a trap is sprung, and another trap is detected (just in time, we hope)."
fandom:dragonprince
Dragonlance
The Dragonlance Chronicles Reread: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Chapters 15 and 16: Mavesh Murad and Jared Shurin (blog) - "But, all kidding aside, this week’s chapters are where things really kick off-join in, if you dare."
fandom:dragonlance
Empire Trilogy
Rereading the Empire Trilogy: Mistress of the Empire, Part 9: Tansy Raynor Roberts (blog) - "This week: everyone starts remembering that Mara is actually the protagonist, and Arakasi needs his own theme song for spy antics."
fandom:empiretrilogy
Evil Dead
Episode 26: Evil Dead II: The Canon (podcast) - "This week's episode of The Canon features guest Joe Lynch, director of Everly, nominating Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II."
fandom:evildead
Ex Machina
Ex Machina and The Art Of Character Identification: Film Crit Hulk (blog) - "Why you might be rooting for the wrong character in Alex Garland's brilliant sci-fi film."
fandom:exmachina
Far From The Madding Crowd
Review: Far From The Madding Crowd Is One Of The Best Lady-Led Films Of The Year: Lesley Coffin (blog) - " But the challenge is worth taking on, and this summer’s first refreshing alternative to the summer popcorn films is the refreshingly entertaining Far from the Madding Crowd, a movie of stunning beauty, surprising humor, and one of the best female leads of the year."
fandom:farfromthemaddingcrowd
First Law Trilogy
Rereading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy, Last Argument of Kings: "The Fourth Day" and "The Perfect Couple": Justin Landon (blog) - "Some long awaited events happen in today’s chapters. Well, one happens and the other almost happens, promising that it surely will in the coming days."
fandom:firstlawtrilogy
The Flash
The Flash Review 1.21 "Grodd Lives": Meredith Borders (blog) - "After the non-stop momentum of the past few episodes, "Grodd Lives" could feel like a roadblock on the path toward resolution of the Harrison Wells (I can't yet bring myself to call him Eobard Thawne) storyline, particularly since Wells and Eddie were relegated to only a few minutes of screentime this week. But Grodd is such a monstrously compelling villain - with ties to Wells that could come into play in the larger arc in upcoming episodes - that his introduction can be nothing but a boon to this show."
fandom:theflash, warning:spoilers
Forever
Forever, Season 1, Episode 22: The Last Death of Henry Morgan: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:forever, warning:spoilers
Frozen
Why Frozen’s Blockbuster Success Is Still So Important: Britt Hayes (blog) - "Reflecting on the meaningful success of Disney's empowering and subversive Princess film."
fandom:frozen, fandom:disney
Fullmetal Alchemist
Alphonse Elric: Character Analysis: Uve (blog) - "That’s why I decided to analyse and talk a bit about Alphonse Elric, the younger brother, who I believe is sadly underrated."
fandom:fullmetalalchemist
Game of Thrones
Why Sansa will win the game of thrones: GoT Academy (video and essay) - "And if you take history as a guide, mix in some common sense regarding character arcs and spice it up with good old-fashioned A Song of Ice and Fire prophecies - the most logical winner of the game of thrones is none other than the former Stark whipping-girl."
fandom:gameofthrones
Deconstructed: Kill the Boy: Stefan (blog) - "This week, the producers change gears entirely and somewhat unexpectedly."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Kill the Boy Open Thread: Johnny (blog) - Open discussion of the episode by all comers.
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Tailgate, Bloody Mary: Johnny (blog) - Collection of links to articles about the show.
fandom:gameofthrones
"Game of Thrones" politics: The perils of cultural assimilation during war: Steven Attewell (blog) - "Jon Snow and Daenerys try to maintain their identities while adopting other cultures into their folds"
fandom:gameofthrones
Game of Thrones Season 5, Episode 5: "Kill the Boy": Theresa Delucci (blog) - "There was a lot of talk of fathers on last night’s Mothers’ Day episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Review: Kill the Boy: ghostlovesinger (blog) - "We're halfway through the fifth season, and despite losing its footing at times before falling off a small cliff (see last week's review) Game of Thrones is still standing."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Kill the Boy: Philip Sandifer (blog) - "We are, at last, to the part of the season where Game of Thrones is finally freed up to do things that are interesting as opposed to necessary."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Game of Thrones, Season 5, Episode 5: Kill the Boy: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Return to Westeros: "Kill the Boy" Review: MadameAce (blog) - "Well, Game of Thrones is really heading into darker territory this week."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Gotham
The Well Written Female Characters of Gotham: Lindsey Loree (blog) - "I continue to be a fan in no small part because I can trust Gotham to depict women and girls fairly, honestly, and sans gratuitous gender-based violence or sexual objectification."
fandom:gotham, topic:femalecharacter
If It Can Go Wrong, It Certainly Will in Gotham’s First Season: MadameAce (blog) - "Gotham’s first season was too long, tiring, and boring, and by the time the last episode came out it was a chore to watch."
fandom:gotham
Grimm
Grimm, Season 4, Episode 21: Headache: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:grimm, warning:spoilers
H.P. Lovecraft
The Horror in Your Own Back Yard: "The Picture in the House": Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth (blog) - "Today we’re looking at "The Picture in the House," written on December 12, 1920 and first published in the July 1919 issue of The National Amateur (published in 1921, just to make things complicated)."
fandom:lovecraft
Harry Potter
The Harry Potter Reread: The Order of the Phoenix, Chapters 7 and 8: Emily Asher-Perrin (blog) - "This week we’re going to view a creepy statue in a government building and get defended by Albus Dumbledore in court. It’s chapters 7 and 8 of The Order of the Phoenix-The Ministry of Magic and The Hearing."
fandom:harrypotter
Heartbreaker
’Heartbreaker’ is NBC’s not-at-all-copyright-infringing answer to ‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Aja Romano (blog) - "Its new series Heartbreaker is being billed as a "unique character-driven medical drama," but it is, in fact, a by-the-numbers ripoff of ABC's Grey's Anatomy that is so over-the-top and weird that it's breaking our brains a little bit."
fandom:heartbreaker
Hot Pursuit
Hot Pursuit Review: One Hot Mess: Jenni Miller (blog) - "Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon seem to be having a grand time promoting Hot Pursuit, but their on-screen chemistry is nil in this extraordinarily tedious comedy."
fandom:hotpursuit
iZombie
iZombie, Season 1, Episode 8: Dead Air: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:izombie, warning:spoilers
My Current Choice for Stimulating Brain Food: The Television Series iZombie: MarchHareMoe (blog) - "iZombie may not be the most intense show, but it’s clever, civil, and it covers modern problems in an entertaining way."
fandom:izombie
James Bond
Bond Girl: Re-Watching and Re-Evaluating You Only Live Twice: Zina Hutton (blog) - "You Only Live Twice is one of those Bond movies that I wound up liking more that I felt like I should."
fandom:jamesbond
Joss Whedon
Untitled: downtoolong (Tumblr) - "You know, I really wish people would stop implying Joss is above criticism or should be given the benefit of the doubt because he created BTVS."
fandom:josswhedon
The Glorious Rise and Inevitable Slightly Downward Slide (We’re Talking Like 100 Yards Max) Of Joss Whedon: Ashly Nagrant (blog) - "Joss Whedon is going to be okay.
Joss Whedon’s fans, current and former, well - We are a different story."
fandom:josswhedon
Does Biology Need to Be Destiny in the Work of Joss Whedon: Leah Schnelbach (blog) - "Simply put: let’s look at how often Whedon has relied on this trope of a woman’s power or uniqueness or, yes, monstrosity, being inseparable from her gender and sexuality-why, in Whedon’s stories of women’s power, does their strength and talent always need to be bound to their bodies and biology?"
fandom:josswhedon, warning:spoilers, topic:femalecharacter
No Strings, But Plenty of Switches in the Whedonverse: Natalie Zutter (blog) - "In fact, for the past ten years and more, in almost all of his properties, Joss Whedon has placed entire dramatic arcs around a switch being thrown. Sometimes it serves simply as a deus ex machina, but on other occasions, Whedon has used the trope to explore issues of control and ownership, over both men and women."
fandom:josswhedon, warning:spoilers
Kingsman
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014): marina (DW) - "I watched this movie in lieu of doing anything actually useful with my life for those 1.5 hours, so I guess I can at least make a short post about what I found interesting in this generally not at all recommended movie."
fandom:kingsman
The Last Herald Mage
The Last Herald Mage: The End: Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer (blog) - "We read about Vanyel’s death for the first time in the opening pages of Arrows of the Queen."
fandom:valdemar
Legend of Zelda
Piece of Heart: ...So Does Season: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "Similar to geography, the season during which a game takes place has a profound affect on the overall theme of the adventure."
fandom:legendofzelda
Mad Max
Mad Max: Fury Road Review - A Modern Action Masterpiece: Devin Faraci (blog) - "George Miller returns to Mad Max with a masterclass in action filmmaking."
fandom:madmax, warning:spoilers
Should You Watch the Original Mad Max Trilogy?: Leah Schnelbach (blog) - "But I’m here to show you that the original Mad Max trilogy holds many wonders!"
fandom:madmax
’Mad Max: Fury Road’ draws the ire of men’s rights activists: Aja Romano (blog) - "But there's one group of critics who are frothing with rage over the film because-wait for it-it's about women."
fandom:madmax, topic:sexism
Maggie
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Maggie: Siddhant Adlakha (blog) - "I’m sure you’ve all heard the spiel about how zombies work best as social or political analogues (Communism! Consumerism!), and while that’s most certainly true, Maggie takes it a couple of steps further, colouring within the lines of the genre but changing the specifics at every turn to make it matter on a micro level, even though it kind of flubs it at the very end."
fandom:maggie
Malazan
Malazan Reread of the Fallen: Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter Twenty: Amanda Rutter and Bill Capossere (blog) - "In this article, we’ll cover chapter twenty of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Orb Sceptre Throne."
fandom:malazan
Malazan Reread of the Fallen: Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter Twenty-One: Amanda Rutter and Bill Capossere (blog) - "In this article, we’ll cover chapter twent-one of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Orb Sceptre Throne."
fandom:malazan
Malazan Reread of the Fallen: Orb Sceptre Throne, Epilogue: Amanda Rutter and Bill Capossere (blog) - "In this article, we’ll cover the epilogue of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Orb Sceptre Throne."
fandom:malazan
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Age of Robots: How Marvel Is Killing the Popcorn Movie: Sady Doyle (blog) - "What I really dislike about Marvel is what they’re doing to stupid popcorn movies. This is a genre I care about, and they’re fucking it up."
fandom:mcu
Mary of Scotland
Mary of Scotland: Katharine Hepburn in Tudor romance with inaccurate kilts: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - "Hepburn’s real-life affair with director John Ford adds extra spice to this tale of a fiery proto-feminist queen’s love for the Earl of Bothwell"
fandom:maryofscotland, topic:history
The Messengers
The Messengers, Season 1, Episode 4: Drums: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:themessengers, warning:spoilers
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Midsummer’s Music and Magic: Alex Bledsoe (blog) - "None of the instrumental music used in Shakespeare’s original productions has survived, either, so we really have no idea what tunes his fairies might have danced to. But the importance of music to them is right there in the text."
fandom:shakespeare
Mission Impossible II
When Doves Cry: John Woo’s Mission Impossible II: Jacob Knight (blog) - "Does the second film in the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE franchise earn its dreadful reputation?"
fandom:missionimpossible
The Multiversity
They Make Us Like Them: On Identity and Gentrification: Kelly Kanayama (blog) - "What makes this hero-corruption stick in my mind is the fact that Uotan is black and the Gentry are white by proxy."
fandom:dccomics, topic:race, topic:identity
Naruto
Ninja, Smooches, and Jumping the Shark: All Your Questions About Naruto Answered!: Vernieda Vergara (blog) - Q&A about Naruto. Intended more for newbies than for long standing fans.
fandom:naruto
Olympus
Olympus, Season 1, Episode 6: The Lexicon: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:olympus, warning:spoilers
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time, Season 4, Episode 22 & 23: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:onceuponatime, warning:spoilers
Orphan Black
Orphan Black Science Recap: "Formalized, Complex, and Costly": Casey Griffin and Nina Nesseth (blog) - "Welcome to our Orphan Black science recaps, where Casey, a graduate student in genetics and developmental biology, and Nina, a professional science communicator, examine the science in each episode of OB and talk you through it in (mostly) easy-to-digest terms."
fandom:orphanblack, warning:spoilers, topic:science
Orphan Black, Season 3, Episode 4: Newer Elements in Our Defence: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:orphanblack, warning:spoilers
Orphan Black: "Newer Elements of Our Defense" Review: porluciernagas (blog) - "I was a little concerned after the last episode, but "Newer Elements of Our Defense" managed to introduce some, well, newer elements of the show, while still keeping things heart-poundingly suspenseful."
fandom:orphanblack, warning:spoilers
Othello
What the F*ck, Iago?: Max Gladstone (blog) - "No unanswered question in all Shakespeare beats that one."
fandom:shakespeare
Playing It Cool
Review: Playing It Cool Will Actually Make You Dislike Chris Evans: Lesley Coffin (blog) - "Despite marketing this movie as a smart anti-rom-com, the truth is that this is just a cynical rom-com (like That Awkward Moment) written by people who clearly know the genre, but think the genre is beneath them."
fandom:playingitcool
The Returned
The Returned, Season 1, Episode 9: Helen: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
fandom:thereturned, warning:spoilers
The Returned, Season 1, Episode 10: Peter: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
fandom:thereturned, warning:spoilers
Salem
Salem, Season 2, Episode 5: The Wine Dark Sea: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:salem, warning:spoilers
Salem, Season 2, Episode 6: Ill Met by Moonlight: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:salem, warning:spoilers
A Song of Ice and Fire
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Catelyn IV, ACOK: Steven Attewell (blog) - "I think Catelyn IV is the major shock of A Clash of Kings. It’s a completely unexpected turning point, altering the entire course of the War of Five Kings (a subject I’ll be addressing in detail in Davos II), made more unexpected by the fact that GRRM carefully avoids all forms of foreshadowing."
fandom:asoiaf
Top Characters #14 Brienne of Tarth: Arya Forever (blog) - "Brienne is the only living child and heir of Lord Selwyn of Tarth, who rules from Evenfall Hall on a small island northeast of Storm's End."
fandom:asoiaf
A Read of Ice and Fire: A Dance with Dragons, Part 19: Leigh Butler (blog) - "Today’s entry is Part 19 of A Dance With Dragons, in which we cover Chapter 32 ("Reek")."
fandom:asoiaf
Star Wars
Nerd Lunch Discusses A New Hope with Kay: Nerd Lunch (podcast) - "Now the group has reconvened to start drilling into the original trilogy. This episode of the podcast covers Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, or as CT would probably call it "just Star Wars"."
fandom:starwars
Stranded in Canton
Tribeca Film Festival Review: Stranded in Canton: Siddhant Adlakha (blog) - "A film that misses the mark in five different languages."
fandom:strandedincanton
Supernatural
Supernatural: ‘Dark Dynasty’ Review and Thoughts: Uve (blog) - "I’m gonna be honest here. I couldn’t concentrate on most part of the episode because I had already been spoiled big time before having the time to watch it."
fandom:supernatural, warning:spoilers
Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 21: Dark Dynasty: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:supernatural, warning:spoilers
Teen Wolf
60 Teen Wolfs in 60 Days: hth (DW) - Episode by episode analysis of the show. So far, the author has gotten to s301 ep12: Lunar Ellipse. The link goes to the tag for the series of entries.
fandom:teenwolf
Terminator
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Jacob Knight (blog) - "James Cameron is a master at remolding movies in his current image."
fandom:terminator
Thor
Marvel finally reveals female Thor’s identity - but there’s a huge catch: Aja Romano (blog) - "And now, thanks to the latest issue in Marvel's latest Thor series, we finally know what kind of character has that sort of commitment."
fandom:marvelcomics, warning:spoilers
The Vampire Diaries
Vampire Diaries, Season 6, Episode 21: I’ll Wed You In the Golden Summertime: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:thevampirediaries, warning:spoilers
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
Sex Is Not a Dirty Word: or, Why The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is a Great Feminist Anime: Vrai Kaiser (blog) - "The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is both the most nudity-heavy and one of the most thoughtfully feminist anime I have ever seen."
fandom:anime
Yu Yu Hakusho
Throwback Thursdays: DBZ, Imma Let You Finish, but Yu Yu Hakusho Was the Best Shonen Anime of the 90’s: pantydragon (blog) - "Yu Yu Hakusho was a stellar fighting anime, following juvenile delinquent Yusuke Urameshi, who gains supernatural powers after being killed and resurrected."
fandom:anime