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Dec. 30th, 2019 09:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Watching Lost in Space S2 which apparently learned its lesson from S1 and is focusing on the survival tactics and not the relationship politics, which had bogged down S1. Also less characters -- there were too many in S1. And more focus on the family dynamic, which was what was working in S1. But the less characters really works. Also the innovative casting of Doctor Smith.
Four episodes in now. Netflix has this annoying habit of just jumping to the Next Episode at the end of the last one very quickly. If you aren't paying close attention, you're on the next one before you know it. Also, clearly gripping because I went through four episodes when I meant to watch only one tonight.
Also in other news, I've seen The Crown - six episodes in out of ten, and it's mainly character vignettes. You can watch it out of order without any problems. I did like the one's featuring Phillip and Margret though. But the Queen is not as appealing as she was in the first two seasons. It's very slow in places.
Mrs. Maizel - five episodes in, out of eight, and it's no where near as good as it was the first two seasons. My parents gave up after four episodes this year (actually my father gave up after two). The previous seasons the parents and Susie Myerson were appealing and interesting, now they've become cartoons or the brunt of an on-going joke. In other words, the writer is sacrificing character in favor of satire and humor and its not working. I now find everyone but the supporting cast, annoying. I may not make it past episode five.
Considering or flirting with:
* Watchmen (HBO)
* The Witcher (Netflix)
* The Marriage Story (Netflix)
* The Expanse (Amazon Prime)
* Abyss (Netflix)
* Accidentally in Love (Amazon)
* The Kominsky Method (Netflix)
Mvoies On Demand -
* Judy
* Hustlers
* Downtown Abbey
* Ad Astra
If you've rec's? Have at it.
2. The RWA Fight Over Racism Made The New York Times
A dispute over a racism accusation and how it was handled have upended the romance writers’ community, with best-selling novelists speaking out against the Romance Writers of America and most of the powerful, 9,000-member trade organization’s board resigning in the last days of the year.
The R.W.A. on Monday said it was hiring a law firm to “to conduct an audit of the process and these events to provide a clear report of the facts.” The dispute arose over the group’s treatment of Courtney Milan, a former board member and chair of its ethics committee who last summer criticized Kathryn Lynn Davis’s novel “Somewhere Lies the Moon” on Twitter as a “racist mess.”
Ms. Milan, who is Chinese-American, took issue with the depiction of 19th-century Chinese women in the book, including a description of “slanted almond eyes” and a quote from a character describing them as “demure and quiet, as our mothers have trained us to be.” “The notion of the submissive Chinese woman is a racist stereotype which fuels higher rates of violence against women,” Ms. Milan wrote on Twitter.
Ms. Davis, who is an honorary R.W.A. member, disagreed with Ms. Milan’s assessment, saying her book was historically accurate and based on years of research. She filed an ethics complaint with the R.W.A., saying that Ms. Milan’s comments were “cyberbullying” and cost her a publishing contract.
“I would not have filed a complaint if she had been more professional,” Ms. Davis said of Ms. Milan.
In her response to the complaint, Ms. Milan said that the R.W.A.’s ethics code does not cover discussions on social media accounts it doesn’t operate, and said of her criticism: “I am emotional about these issues. Negative stereotypes of Chinese women have impacted my life, the life of my mother, my sisters, and my friends.”
As a result of that complaint and one from another writer, Suzan Tisdale, who employs Ms. Davis at a publishing imprint and said she had lost potential authors as a result of the controversy, the R.W.A. told Ms. Milan earlier last week that her membership was suspended and she was banned for life from holding leadership positions within the organization.
Ms. Milan called the judgment “a form of betrayal” and shared the documents associated with the complaint with her friend and fellow romance writer Alyssa Cole, who posted them to Twitter.
“If it was now R.W.A.’s policy that talking about a book and specifically saying negative things about a book as a marginalized author was going to get you banned from the organization,” Ms. Milan said, “I felt that other marginalized people in the organization needed to know that.”
Once the documents were on social media, other writers, including best-selling romance novelists like Nora Roberts and Cynthia Eden, voiced their support for Ms. Milan. The R.W.A. quickly reversed course on its judgment, but eight board members resigned as well as the former president Carolyn Jewel, and a petition calling for the resignation of Damon Suede, the R.W.A.’s new president, began circulating online.
Some of the backlash was from writers and members who felt that the dispute wasn’t handled with enough transparency. The R.W.A. formed a separate group to address the complaints, for example, and didn’t inform the ethics committee, which Ms. Milan previously led, about them.
Houston Based Romance Writers of America Sees Mass Exodus of Board Members - (Ah, it's based in Houston, Texas? Well that explains alot. Texas sort of is well...)
Nine board members of the Houston-based Romance Writers of America resigned this week in a startling exodus that took place during a holiday lull. The organization — which represents a billion-dollar industry and celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2020 — will enter the new year with decimated leadership and lingering questions about its focus and future after several romance authors questioned the association’s commitment to a diverse community.
“I knew this kind of thing could happen, but I certainly didn’t see it happening this way, over Christmas week,” said author Piper Huguley. “I knew there was a big push coming, a resistance against this. I believe we’re in a fight for the soul of this organization, which to a number of people who observe it is not unlike what’s going on in the country politically. Right now the big question is, ‘What’s going to happen?’”
The tempest started simply, as tempests often do these days, with a tweet. Author Courtney Milan over the summer tweeted about a romance novel titled "Somewhere Lies the Moon," calling it “a (expletive) racist mess,” Milan had previously expressed displeasure with the organization’s diversity. Her tweet fell a month after its annual RITA Awards. Although Milan won a RITA in 2017, the awards have been criticized for a lack of cultural variety.
Two other RWA members — identified in a statement as Suzan Tisdale and Kathryn Lynn Davis — filed complaints with the organization in August over Milan’s tweet.
A panel was formed by the RWA, and the complaints were heard, followed by two votes: one to affirm the findings regarding the complaint, the other to determine what steps would be taken to resolve the situation.
Milan, an RWA ethics committee member, was suspended, which caused an outcry.
On Dec. 24, she tweeted a screenshot of an email letting her know the vote had been rescinded. But the damage was already done.
The Romance Writers of America issued a statement about needing to fill “open leadership roles” including that of former president Carolyn Jewel, along with eight board members who walked out of this capacity at the RWA, while still maintaining their membership as writers.
Though the walkout was dramatic, Huguley insists the former board members would like to see a revised RWA born from this conflict rather than a new organization created to compete.
“Some of us who have been around have seen others try to go form their own thing,” she said. “But everybody is fully aware that formation of another entity would require a great deal of energy and money.”
She said also that leaving the RWA would require leaving one of the organization’s more than 100 regional chapters. “Being a member of a local chapter makes you more reluctant to walk away,” she said.
The RWA issued a lengthy statement about what it called “an upsetting and tumultuous time.”
“We are deeply sorry that we have caused you to lose your faith in us,” the statement read. The romance writers association also claimed it “is at a turning point.”
“We have lost the trust of our membership and the romance community and we must find a way to rebuild that,” RWA leaders said in a statment. “It’s going to be a hard road, maybe one of the most difficult we’ve traveled since our inception.”
That inception took place four decades ago. The Romance Writers of America started simply in Houston, where editor Vivian Stephens — an editor at Dell — appeared at the Southwest Writer’s Conference in 1979. There she advised a group of romance writers to form the Romance Writers of America. The organization officially began the following year, quickly growing to nearly 40 members. The organization’s first conference was held in 1981 in Houston and it became an annual event. Houston became the romance writers headquarters.
Stephens was also a rare person of color among editors in book publishing at the time. And at Dell, she quickly sought to diversify the publisher’s output, releasing “Entwined Destinies” by Rosalind Welles in 1980.
Meanwhile, the idea she seeded in Houston grew exponentially. Despite its popularity among readers, genre fiction at the time was ill-treated within the industry, and romance particularly so. The organization offered a comfortable space for writers, editors and readers of romance fiction, which flourished.
Membership today is at more than 9,000. And romance endures where some other fiction genres — like the western — have seen attrition.
The Mary Sue's article on it as well
NY Post Article
But the damage has been done. RWA already got a storm of negative press, several writers resigned from the organization — and as Milan pointed out, the message is not an apology.
Writer Hillary Monahan summed up the debacle: “Chinese American author critiques white woman’s portrayal of Chinese Americans, white woman calls her a neo-nazi for it, RWA backs white woman and censures author, -BACKLASH-, RWA rescinds censure, everyone eats a giant holiday meal, RWA roils in own vomit. Missing anything?”
I liked this comment from the Houston Chronicle, which explains why this is important regardless of whether or not you are a romance fan or reader:
“I knew this kind of thing could happen, but I certainly didn’t see it happening this way, over Christmas week,” said author Piper Huguley. “I knew there was a big push coming, a resistance against this. I believe we’re in a fight for the soul of this organization, which to a number of people who observe it is not unlike what’s going on in the country politically. Right now the big question is, ‘What’s going to happen?’”
Four episodes in now. Netflix has this annoying habit of just jumping to the Next Episode at the end of the last one very quickly. If you aren't paying close attention, you're on the next one before you know it. Also, clearly gripping because I went through four episodes when I meant to watch only one tonight.
Also in other news, I've seen The Crown - six episodes in out of ten, and it's mainly character vignettes. You can watch it out of order without any problems. I did like the one's featuring Phillip and Margret though. But the Queen is not as appealing as she was in the first two seasons. It's very slow in places.
Mrs. Maizel - five episodes in, out of eight, and it's no where near as good as it was the first two seasons. My parents gave up after four episodes this year (actually my father gave up after two). The previous seasons the parents and Susie Myerson were appealing and interesting, now they've become cartoons or the brunt of an on-going joke. In other words, the writer is sacrificing character in favor of satire and humor and its not working. I now find everyone but the supporting cast, annoying. I may not make it past episode five.
Considering or flirting with:
* Watchmen (HBO)
* The Witcher (Netflix)
* The Marriage Story (Netflix)
* The Expanse (Amazon Prime)
* Abyss (Netflix)
* Accidentally in Love (Amazon)
* The Kominsky Method (Netflix)
Mvoies On Demand -
* Judy
* Hustlers
* Downtown Abbey
* Ad Astra
If you've rec's? Have at it.
2. The RWA Fight Over Racism Made The New York Times
A dispute over a racism accusation and how it was handled have upended the romance writers’ community, with best-selling novelists speaking out against the Romance Writers of America and most of the powerful, 9,000-member trade organization’s board resigning in the last days of the year.
The R.W.A. on Monday said it was hiring a law firm to “to conduct an audit of the process and these events to provide a clear report of the facts.” The dispute arose over the group’s treatment of Courtney Milan, a former board member and chair of its ethics committee who last summer criticized Kathryn Lynn Davis’s novel “Somewhere Lies the Moon” on Twitter as a “racist mess.”
Ms. Milan, who is Chinese-American, took issue with the depiction of 19th-century Chinese women in the book, including a description of “slanted almond eyes” and a quote from a character describing them as “demure and quiet, as our mothers have trained us to be.” “The notion of the submissive Chinese woman is a racist stereotype which fuels higher rates of violence against women,” Ms. Milan wrote on Twitter.
Ms. Davis, who is an honorary R.W.A. member, disagreed with Ms. Milan’s assessment, saying her book was historically accurate and based on years of research. She filed an ethics complaint with the R.W.A., saying that Ms. Milan’s comments were “cyberbullying” and cost her a publishing contract.
“I would not have filed a complaint if she had been more professional,” Ms. Davis said of Ms. Milan.
In her response to the complaint, Ms. Milan said that the R.W.A.’s ethics code does not cover discussions on social media accounts it doesn’t operate, and said of her criticism: “I am emotional about these issues. Negative stereotypes of Chinese women have impacted my life, the life of my mother, my sisters, and my friends.”
As a result of that complaint and one from another writer, Suzan Tisdale, who employs Ms. Davis at a publishing imprint and said she had lost potential authors as a result of the controversy, the R.W.A. told Ms. Milan earlier last week that her membership was suspended and she was banned for life from holding leadership positions within the organization.
Ms. Milan called the judgment “a form of betrayal” and shared the documents associated with the complaint with her friend and fellow romance writer Alyssa Cole, who posted them to Twitter.
“If it was now R.W.A.’s policy that talking about a book and specifically saying negative things about a book as a marginalized author was going to get you banned from the organization,” Ms. Milan said, “I felt that other marginalized people in the organization needed to know that.”
Once the documents were on social media, other writers, including best-selling romance novelists like Nora Roberts and Cynthia Eden, voiced their support for Ms. Milan. The R.W.A. quickly reversed course on its judgment, but eight board members resigned as well as the former president Carolyn Jewel, and a petition calling for the resignation of Damon Suede, the R.W.A.’s new president, began circulating online.
Some of the backlash was from writers and members who felt that the dispute wasn’t handled with enough transparency. The R.W.A. formed a separate group to address the complaints, for example, and didn’t inform the ethics committee, which Ms. Milan previously led, about them.
Houston Based Romance Writers of America Sees Mass Exodus of Board Members - (Ah, it's based in Houston, Texas? Well that explains alot. Texas sort of is well...)
Nine board members of the Houston-based Romance Writers of America resigned this week in a startling exodus that took place during a holiday lull. The organization — which represents a billion-dollar industry and celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2020 — will enter the new year with decimated leadership and lingering questions about its focus and future after several romance authors questioned the association’s commitment to a diverse community.
“I knew this kind of thing could happen, but I certainly didn’t see it happening this way, over Christmas week,” said author Piper Huguley. “I knew there was a big push coming, a resistance against this. I believe we’re in a fight for the soul of this organization, which to a number of people who observe it is not unlike what’s going on in the country politically. Right now the big question is, ‘What’s going to happen?’”
The tempest started simply, as tempests often do these days, with a tweet. Author Courtney Milan over the summer tweeted about a romance novel titled "Somewhere Lies the Moon," calling it “a (expletive) racist mess,” Milan had previously expressed displeasure with the organization’s diversity. Her tweet fell a month after its annual RITA Awards. Although Milan won a RITA in 2017, the awards have been criticized for a lack of cultural variety.
Two other RWA members — identified in a statement as Suzan Tisdale and Kathryn Lynn Davis — filed complaints with the organization in August over Milan’s tweet.
A panel was formed by the RWA, and the complaints were heard, followed by two votes: one to affirm the findings regarding the complaint, the other to determine what steps would be taken to resolve the situation.
Milan, an RWA ethics committee member, was suspended, which caused an outcry.
On Dec. 24, she tweeted a screenshot of an email letting her know the vote had been rescinded. But the damage was already done.
The Romance Writers of America issued a statement about needing to fill “open leadership roles” including that of former president Carolyn Jewel, along with eight board members who walked out of this capacity at the RWA, while still maintaining their membership as writers.
Though the walkout was dramatic, Huguley insists the former board members would like to see a revised RWA born from this conflict rather than a new organization created to compete.
“Some of us who have been around have seen others try to go form their own thing,” she said. “But everybody is fully aware that formation of another entity would require a great deal of energy and money.”
She said also that leaving the RWA would require leaving one of the organization’s more than 100 regional chapters. “Being a member of a local chapter makes you more reluctant to walk away,” she said.
The RWA issued a lengthy statement about what it called “an upsetting and tumultuous time.”
“We are deeply sorry that we have caused you to lose your faith in us,” the statement read. The romance writers association also claimed it “is at a turning point.”
“We have lost the trust of our membership and the romance community and we must find a way to rebuild that,” RWA leaders said in a statment. “It’s going to be a hard road, maybe one of the most difficult we’ve traveled since our inception.”
That inception took place four decades ago. The Romance Writers of America started simply in Houston, where editor Vivian Stephens — an editor at Dell — appeared at the Southwest Writer’s Conference in 1979. There she advised a group of romance writers to form the Romance Writers of America. The organization officially began the following year, quickly growing to nearly 40 members. The organization’s first conference was held in 1981 in Houston and it became an annual event. Houston became the romance writers headquarters.
Stephens was also a rare person of color among editors in book publishing at the time. And at Dell, she quickly sought to diversify the publisher’s output, releasing “Entwined Destinies” by Rosalind Welles in 1980.
Meanwhile, the idea she seeded in Houston grew exponentially. Despite its popularity among readers, genre fiction at the time was ill-treated within the industry, and romance particularly so. The organization offered a comfortable space for writers, editors and readers of romance fiction, which flourished.
Membership today is at more than 9,000. And romance endures where some other fiction genres — like the western — have seen attrition.
The Mary Sue's article on it as well
NY Post Article
But the damage has been done. RWA already got a storm of negative press, several writers resigned from the organization — and as Milan pointed out, the message is not an apology.
Writer Hillary Monahan summed up the debacle: “Chinese American author critiques white woman’s portrayal of Chinese Americans, white woman calls her a neo-nazi for it, RWA backs white woman and censures author, -BACKLASH-, RWA rescinds censure, everyone eats a giant holiday meal, RWA roils in own vomit. Missing anything?”
I liked this comment from the Houston Chronicle, which explains why this is important regardless of whether or not you are a romance fan or reader:
“I knew this kind of thing could happen, but I certainly didn’t see it happening this way, over Christmas week,” said author Piper Huguley. “I knew there was a big push coming, a resistance against this. I believe we’re in a fight for the soul of this organization, which to a number of people who observe it is not unlike what’s going on in the country politically. Right now the big question is, ‘What’s going to happen?’”
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 11:26 am (UTC)I really loved THE RED SEA RESORT and I want to see STILL CRAZY.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 02:00 pm (UTC)I'm enjoying Lost in Space. I don't know about The Witcher -- it looks dark, grim, and violent -- also a bit too much like Game of Thrones (which I grew weary of). But I may try it at some point.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 10:54 pm (UTC)Still Crazy is British with Bill Nighy, and it's been highly recommended to me.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-01 12:10 am (UTC)There's so much content out there. Right now, I want romance and escapism. No realism, please. ;-)