Entry tags:
(no subject)
1. I've mixed feelings about A Letter on Justice and Open Debate in Harpers.
Which is also commented on in the NY Times - due to the pursuant debate : An open letter published by Harper’s, signed by luminaries including Margaret Atwood and Wynton Marsalis, argued for openness to “opposing views.” The debate began immediately.
Before I go any further? I don't know if you are familiar with Harper's? But it is a progressive liberal magazine composed mainly of short stories, essays, op-ed's, and lengthy op-eds. It's...very academic and intellectual. Kind of a sophisticated or Ivy League version of the New Yorker. My brother go it for a while - and gave me a subscription once as a present. I'm not crazy about it - but it does have some excellent articles and is an interesting discourse on ideas. Hard to get published in it however, you have to have some serious credentials or know someone.
Anyhow, the list of names on this letter is kind of interesting. Everyone on Twitter and online - went right for JK Rowling, but she's actually the least interesting name on the list. She may be the most well-known, but she's the least interesting.
It's suffice to say a diverse list including people like Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Wynton Marsalis, Gloria Steinman, various historians, academics, musicians, Salaman Rushdie, etc. (Salaman Rushdie received death threats when he wrote his books, and had to go into exile from his homeland, and many on the list have had similar fates.)
He said there wasn’t one particular incident that provoked the letter. But he did cite several recent ones, including the resignation of more than half the board of the National Book Critics Circle over its statement supporting Black Lives Matter, a similar blowup at the Poetry Foundation, and the case of David Shor, a data analyst at a consulting firm who was fired after he tweeted about academic research linking looting and vandalism by protesters to Richard Nixon’s 1968 electoral victory.
Such incidents, Mr. Williams said, both fueled and echoed what he called the far greater and more dangerous “illiberalism” of President Trump.
“Donald Trump is the Canceler in Chief,” he said. “But the correction of Trump’s abuses cannot become an overcorrection that stifles the principles we believe in.”
Mr. Williams said the letter was very much a crowdsourced effort, with about 20 people contributing language. Then it was circulated more broadly for signatures, in what he describes as a process that was both “organic” and aimed at getting a group that was maximally diverse politically, racially and otherwise.
“We’re not just a bunch of old white guys sitting around writing this letter,” Mr. Williams, who is African-American, said. “It includes plenty of Black thinkers, Muslim thinkers, Jewish thinkers, people who are trans and gay, old and young, right wing and left wing.”
“We believe these are values that are widespread and shared, and we wanted the list to reflect that,” he said.
Signatories include the leftist Noam Chomsky and the neoconservative Francis Fukuyama. There are also figures associated with the traditional defense of free speech, including Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as some outspoken critics of political correctness on campuses, including the linguist Steven Pinker and the psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
The signers also include some figures who have lost positions amid controversies, including Ian Buruma, the former editor of the New York Review of Books, and Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., a Harvard Law School professor who left his position as faculty dean of an undergraduate residence amid protests over his legal defense of Harvey Weinstein.
There are also some leading Black intellectuals, including the historian Nell Irvin Painter, the poets Reginald Dwayne Betts and Gregory Pardlo, and the linguist John McWhorter. And there are a number of journalists, including several opinion columnists for The New York Times.
Nicholas Lemann, a staff writer for The New Yorker and a former dean of Columbia Journalism School, said that he rarely signs letters, but thought this one was important.
“What concerns me is a sense that a lot of people out there seem to think open argument over everything is an unhealthy thing,” he said. “I’ve spent my whole life having vigorous arguments with people I disagree with, and don’t want to think we are moving out of this world.”
The principle of open argument, he added, becomes especially important outside liberal-leaning enclaves, “where people don’t have the option of shutting down these supposedly completely unacceptable views.”
Mr. Pardlo said that as somebody who has felt the “chilling effect” of being the only person of color in predominantly white institutions, he hoped the letter would spark conversation about those “chilling forces, no matter where they come from.”
He said he was surprised by some of the blowback to the letter.
“It seems some of the conversation has turned to who the signatories are more than the content of the letter,” he said.
There was particularly strong blowback over the inclusion of J.K. Rowling, who has come under fierce criticism over a series of comments widely seen as anti-transgender.
Emily VanDerWerff, a critic at large at Vox who is transgender, posted on Twitter a letter she said she had sent to her editors, criticizing the fact that the Vox writer Matthew Yglesias had signed the letter, which she said was also signed by “several prominent anti-trans voices” — but noted that she was not calling for Mr. Yglesias to be fired or reprimanded.
Doing so “would only solidify, in his own mind, the belief that he is being martyred,” she wrote.
Mr. Yglesias declined to comment except to say that he has long admired Ms. VanDerWerff’s work and continued to “respect her enormously.”
Amid the intense criticism, some signatories appeared to back away from the letter. On Tuesday evening, the historian Kerri K. Greenidge tweeted “I do not endorse this![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
harpers letter,” and said she was in touch with the magazine about a retraction. (Giulia Melucci, a spokeswoman for Harper’s, said the magazine had fact-checked all signatures and that Dr. Greenidge had signed off. But she said the magazine is “respectfully removing her name.”)
Another person who signed, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in an effort to stay out of the growing storm, said she did not know who all the other signatories were when she agreed to participate, and if she had, she may not have signed. She also said that the letter, which was about internet shaming, among other things, was now being used to shame people on the internet.
But Mr. Betts, the director of the Million Books Project, a new effort aimed at getting book collections to more than 1,000 prisons, was unfazed by the variety of signers.
“I’m rolling with people I wouldn’t normally be in a room with,” he said. “But you need to concede that what’s in the letter is worthy of some thought.”
He said that as someone who had spent more than eight years in prison for a carjacking committed when he was a teenager, he was given pause by what he called the unforgiving nature of the current moment. “It’s antithetical to my notion of how we need to deal with problems in society,” he said.
He cited in particular the case of James Bennet, who resigned as the editorial page editor of The New York Times following an outcry over an Op-Ed by Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, and cases of authors of young adult literature withdrawing books in the face of criticism over cultural appropriation.
“You can criticize what people say, you can argue about platforms,” Mr. Betts said. “But it seems like some of the excesses of the moment are leading people to be silenced in a new way.”
Eileen Murphy, a Times spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Mr. Williams said he was trying to think through how outrage over Mr. Floyd’s death had become so intertwined with calls for change “at organizations that don’t have much to do with the situation George Floyd found himself in.”
But to him, he said, the cause of the letter is clear: “It’s a defense of people being able to speak and think freely without fear of punishment or retribution, of the right to disagree and not fear for your employment.”
I like what the NY Times article states about this. I've noticed a lot of righteous folks online have forgotten how to be kind. More can be achieved with kindness than righteous indignation which like it or not can often take the guise of bullying, or so I've discovered. (I've been attacked and bullied by people whose politics and views I actually agree with because they either misread what I said, I made a typo and wasn't careful enough with my phrasing, or they couldn't handle any questions or criticism of their righteous views.) Righteousness tends to lead to damnation. Always. Always. We tend to demonize the other, as opposed to their actions and words - and the very act of demonizing is often utilized against us by someone else.
The Universe has a wicked sense of humor - it likes to thrust us on the opposite of every argument we've ever been on. I sometimes think the Universe thrives on dramatic and comedic irony.
2. 100 Most Popular Sci-Fi Books on Good Reads - keep in mind it is Good Reads, which has funky taste to begin with.
I've read roughly 40% of them. Mainly because I leap frog around genres, and there's more books out there than I have time to read, and I've been in a book reading slump since Feb. I have not finished one book since Feb. Or made much progress on the novel I'm writing. But I've written a lot of DW posts, and completed a lot of actual work. Plus taken a lot of photos of a cemetery.
3. Flirting with television shows, so if you've seen any of the below and can offer thoughts or a synopsis or rec, appreciate it.
* Black Sails - about six episodes in, very compelling. But, I'm wondering if I'm loving the wrong characters? I adore the real life fictionalized pirates, Jack, Anne Bonny, and Vane. Also Max. Long John Silver gets on my nerves, I want to smack him. I do however like Flint. Also want to smack Billy Bones. And I like Mrs. Barrow. But Eleanor is also getting on my nerves.
Should I stick with it? Does it get better? Does it end on a cliff-hanger?
Is there a lot of sexual violence?
* The Mandalorian - is this more adult or kid fare? How would you describe it? I loved Star Wars, Empire, Return - was kind of silly, Force Awakens - I liked. My favorite - Rogue One and Empire, actually. They haunt me. Everything else...eh.
* Warrior Nun - what's this one about and is it any good? It looks like fun and I think it is off a book I was flirting with a while ago.
* The Order - on Netflix - anyone seen it?
Can anyone rec a good supernatural soap? (I've seen Vamp Diaries, Legacies, Supernatural, Angel, Buffy...)
* Avatar: the Last Airbender - is this really just for kids? Is it all coming of age? Any romance? Any older characters?
Thanks in advance.
4. John Scalzi writes about a friend who turned out to be a creep - Kind of depressing. The owner of the sci-fi book store Borderlands, which helped launch a lot of Sci-Fi writers, turns out to be a sexual predator who used the store and his position in the Sci-Fi community to prey on the vulnerable and weak within it. What's interesting about the article he links to - Alan Betts - Borderlands Books Owner Accused of Sexual Assault by Own Daughter - is that the daughter states " she did not want to “cancel” her father “who has done a lot of good in her life” and who was “her best friend” growing up. She told Keene that speaking out was not meant to ruin his life or get revenge. " (By the way, you may not want to read those articles - if you've suffered in this manner yourself - most likely will be very triggering. It bothered me, and I haven't experienced it.)
5. Good news...sort of..
* Supreme Court Says Eastern Half of Oklahoma is Native American Land.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a huge swath of Oklahoma is Native American land for certain purposes, siding with a Native American man who had challenged his rape conviction by state authorities in the territory.
The 5-4 decision, with an opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, endorsed the claim of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to the land, which encompasses 3 million acres in eastern Oklahoma, including most of the city of Tulsa.
The decision means that only federal authorities, no longer state prosecutors, can lodge charges against Native Americans who commit serious alleged crimes on that land, which is home to 1.8 million people. Of those people, 15% or fewer are Native Americans.
“Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law,” Gorsuch wrote.
“Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word,” he wrote.
Proof that you have no idea what these people will do.
* Trump isn't King and not above the Law - although COVID crisis has kind of shown the world the limits of the President of the US powers. He really has no control over what each individual state chooses to do within its own jurisdiction.
Voting 7-2, the high court rejected the president’s contention that he was immune from investigation simply because he lives in the White House. Writing for the court’s majority, Chief Justice John Roberts argued: “We cannot conclude that absolute immunity is necessary or appropriate under article II or the supremacy clause.”
Trump learned the hard way that the US constitution is neither invisibility cloak nor rag. It is also not whatever the president says it is.
As Roberts framed things, “No citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding.” Significantly, under the court’s ruling, the lower court will continue to exercise oversight of the proceedings.
In a separate ruling, issued minutes later and by a 7-2 margin, the court rejected the president’s contention that Congress had no right whatsoever to review his tax returns and financials. Roberts observed: “When Congress seeks information ‘needed for intelligent legislative action’, it ‘unquestionably’ remains ‘the duty of all citizens to cooperate’.”
The House of Representatives had cast a particular eye on Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank, his de facto lender of choice and last resort. On the other hand, the court denied Congress instant access to the records.
The majority held that the lower courts had paid insufficient attention to the issue of separation of powers and the potential for encroachment upon the executive branch. In other words, this battle will continue beyond Trump’s tenure unless a Biden administration weighs in. And even then.
Which is also commented on in the NY Times - due to the pursuant debate : An open letter published by Harper’s, signed by luminaries including Margaret Atwood and Wynton Marsalis, argued for openness to “opposing views.” The debate began immediately.
Before I go any further? I don't know if you are familiar with Harper's? But it is a progressive liberal magazine composed mainly of short stories, essays, op-ed's, and lengthy op-eds. It's...very academic and intellectual. Kind of a sophisticated or Ivy League version of the New Yorker. My brother go it for a while - and gave me a subscription once as a present. I'm not crazy about it - but it does have some excellent articles and is an interesting discourse on ideas. Hard to get published in it however, you have to have some serious credentials or know someone.
Anyhow, the list of names on this letter is kind of interesting. Everyone on Twitter and online - went right for JK Rowling, but she's actually the least interesting name on the list. She may be the most well-known, but she's the least interesting.
It's suffice to say a diverse list including people like Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Wynton Marsalis, Gloria Steinman, various historians, academics, musicians, Salaman Rushdie, etc. (Salaman Rushdie received death threats when he wrote his books, and had to go into exile from his homeland, and many on the list have had similar fates.)
He said there wasn’t one particular incident that provoked the letter. But he did cite several recent ones, including the resignation of more than half the board of the National Book Critics Circle over its statement supporting Black Lives Matter, a similar blowup at the Poetry Foundation, and the case of David Shor, a data analyst at a consulting firm who was fired after he tweeted about academic research linking looting and vandalism by protesters to Richard Nixon’s 1968 electoral victory.
Such incidents, Mr. Williams said, both fueled and echoed what he called the far greater and more dangerous “illiberalism” of President Trump.
“Donald Trump is the Canceler in Chief,” he said. “But the correction of Trump’s abuses cannot become an overcorrection that stifles the principles we believe in.”
Mr. Williams said the letter was very much a crowdsourced effort, with about 20 people contributing language. Then it was circulated more broadly for signatures, in what he describes as a process that was both “organic” and aimed at getting a group that was maximally diverse politically, racially and otherwise.
“We’re not just a bunch of old white guys sitting around writing this letter,” Mr. Williams, who is African-American, said. “It includes plenty of Black thinkers, Muslim thinkers, Jewish thinkers, people who are trans and gay, old and young, right wing and left wing.”
“We believe these are values that are widespread and shared, and we wanted the list to reflect that,” he said.
Signatories include the leftist Noam Chomsky and the neoconservative Francis Fukuyama. There are also figures associated with the traditional defense of free speech, including Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as some outspoken critics of political correctness on campuses, including the linguist Steven Pinker and the psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
The signers also include some figures who have lost positions amid controversies, including Ian Buruma, the former editor of the New York Review of Books, and Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., a Harvard Law School professor who left his position as faculty dean of an undergraduate residence amid protests over his legal defense of Harvey Weinstein.
There are also some leading Black intellectuals, including the historian Nell Irvin Painter, the poets Reginald Dwayne Betts and Gregory Pardlo, and the linguist John McWhorter. And there are a number of journalists, including several opinion columnists for The New York Times.
Nicholas Lemann, a staff writer for The New Yorker and a former dean of Columbia Journalism School, said that he rarely signs letters, but thought this one was important.
“What concerns me is a sense that a lot of people out there seem to think open argument over everything is an unhealthy thing,” he said. “I’ve spent my whole life having vigorous arguments with people I disagree with, and don’t want to think we are moving out of this world.”
The principle of open argument, he added, becomes especially important outside liberal-leaning enclaves, “where people don’t have the option of shutting down these supposedly completely unacceptable views.”
Mr. Pardlo said that as somebody who has felt the “chilling effect” of being the only person of color in predominantly white institutions, he hoped the letter would spark conversation about those “chilling forces, no matter where they come from.”
He said he was surprised by some of the blowback to the letter.
“It seems some of the conversation has turned to who the signatories are more than the content of the letter,” he said.
There was particularly strong blowback over the inclusion of J.K. Rowling, who has come under fierce criticism over a series of comments widely seen as anti-transgender.
Emily VanDerWerff, a critic at large at Vox who is transgender, posted on Twitter a letter she said she had sent to her editors, criticizing the fact that the Vox writer Matthew Yglesias had signed the letter, which she said was also signed by “several prominent anti-trans voices” — but noted that she was not calling for Mr. Yglesias to be fired or reprimanded.
Doing so “would only solidify, in his own mind, the belief that he is being martyred,” she wrote.
Mr. Yglesias declined to comment except to say that he has long admired Ms. VanDerWerff’s work and continued to “respect her enormously.”
Amid the intense criticism, some signatories appeared to back away from the letter. On Tuesday evening, the historian Kerri K. Greenidge tweeted “I do not endorse this
harpers letter,” and said she was in touch with the magazine about a retraction. (Giulia Melucci, a spokeswoman for Harper’s, said the magazine had fact-checked all signatures and that Dr. Greenidge had signed off. But she said the magazine is “respectfully removing her name.”)Another person who signed, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in an effort to stay out of the growing storm, said she did not know who all the other signatories were when she agreed to participate, and if she had, she may not have signed. She also said that the letter, which was about internet shaming, among other things, was now being used to shame people on the internet.
But Mr. Betts, the director of the Million Books Project, a new effort aimed at getting book collections to more than 1,000 prisons, was unfazed by the variety of signers.
“I’m rolling with people I wouldn’t normally be in a room with,” he said. “But you need to concede that what’s in the letter is worthy of some thought.”
He said that as someone who had spent more than eight years in prison for a carjacking committed when he was a teenager, he was given pause by what he called the unforgiving nature of the current moment. “It’s antithetical to my notion of how we need to deal with problems in society,” he said.
He cited in particular the case of James Bennet, who resigned as the editorial page editor of The New York Times following an outcry over an Op-Ed by Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, and cases of authors of young adult literature withdrawing books in the face of criticism over cultural appropriation.
“You can criticize what people say, you can argue about platforms,” Mr. Betts said. “But it seems like some of the excesses of the moment are leading people to be silenced in a new way.”
Eileen Murphy, a Times spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Mr. Williams said he was trying to think through how outrage over Mr. Floyd’s death had become so intertwined with calls for change “at organizations that don’t have much to do with the situation George Floyd found himself in.”
But to him, he said, the cause of the letter is clear: “It’s a defense of people being able to speak and think freely without fear of punishment or retribution, of the right to disagree and not fear for your employment.”
I like what the NY Times article states about this. I've noticed a lot of righteous folks online have forgotten how to be kind. More can be achieved with kindness than righteous indignation which like it or not can often take the guise of bullying, or so I've discovered. (I've been attacked and bullied by people whose politics and views I actually agree with because they either misread what I said, I made a typo and wasn't careful enough with my phrasing, or they couldn't handle any questions or criticism of their righteous views.) Righteousness tends to lead to damnation. Always. Always. We tend to demonize the other, as opposed to their actions and words - and the very act of demonizing is often utilized against us by someone else.
The Universe has a wicked sense of humor - it likes to thrust us on the opposite of every argument we've ever been on. I sometimes think the Universe thrives on dramatic and comedic irony.
2. 100 Most Popular Sci-Fi Books on Good Reads - keep in mind it is Good Reads, which has funky taste to begin with.
I've read roughly 40% of them. Mainly because I leap frog around genres, and there's more books out there than I have time to read, and I've been in a book reading slump since Feb. I have not finished one book since Feb. Or made much progress on the novel I'm writing. But I've written a lot of DW posts, and completed a lot of actual work. Plus taken a lot of photos of a cemetery.
3. Flirting with television shows, so if you've seen any of the below and can offer thoughts or a synopsis or rec, appreciate it.
* Black Sails - about six episodes in, very compelling. But, I'm wondering if I'm loving the wrong characters? I adore the real life fictionalized pirates, Jack, Anne Bonny, and Vane. Also Max. Long John Silver gets on my nerves, I want to smack him. I do however like Flint. Also want to smack Billy Bones. And I like Mrs. Barrow. But Eleanor is also getting on my nerves.
Should I stick with it? Does it get better? Does it end on a cliff-hanger?
Is there a lot of sexual violence?
* The Mandalorian - is this more adult or kid fare? How would you describe it? I loved Star Wars, Empire, Return - was kind of silly, Force Awakens - I liked. My favorite - Rogue One and Empire, actually. They haunt me. Everything else...eh.
* Warrior Nun - what's this one about and is it any good? It looks like fun and I think it is off a book I was flirting with a while ago.
* The Order - on Netflix - anyone seen it?
Can anyone rec a good supernatural soap? (I've seen Vamp Diaries, Legacies, Supernatural, Angel, Buffy...)
* Avatar: the Last Airbender - is this really just for kids? Is it all coming of age? Any romance? Any older characters?
Thanks in advance.
4. John Scalzi writes about a friend who turned out to be a creep - Kind of depressing. The owner of the sci-fi book store Borderlands, which helped launch a lot of Sci-Fi writers, turns out to be a sexual predator who used the store and his position in the Sci-Fi community to prey on the vulnerable and weak within it. What's interesting about the article he links to - Alan Betts - Borderlands Books Owner Accused of Sexual Assault by Own Daughter - is that the daughter states " she did not want to “cancel” her father “who has done a lot of good in her life” and who was “her best friend” growing up. She told Keene that speaking out was not meant to ruin his life or get revenge. " (By the way, you may not want to read those articles - if you've suffered in this manner yourself - most likely will be very triggering. It bothered me, and I haven't experienced it.)
5. Good news...sort of..
* Supreme Court Says Eastern Half of Oklahoma is Native American Land.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a huge swath of Oklahoma is Native American land for certain purposes, siding with a Native American man who had challenged his rape conviction by state authorities in the territory.
The 5-4 decision, with an opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, endorsed the claim of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to the land, which encompasses 3 million acres in eastern Oklahoma, including most of the city of Tulsa.
The decision means that only federal authorities, no longer state prosecutors, can lodge charges against Native Americans who commit serious alleged crimes on that land, which is home to 1.8 million people. Of those people, 15% or fewer are Native Americans.
“Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law,” Gorsuch wrote.
“Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word,” he wrote.
Proof that you have no idea what these people will do.
* Trump isn't King and not above the Law - although COVID crisis has kind of shown the world the limits of the President of the US powers. He really has no control over what each individual state chooses to do within its own jurisdiction.
Voting 7-2, the high court rejected the president’s contention that he was immune from investigation simply because he lives in the White House. Writing for the court’s majority, Chief Justice John Roberts argued: “We cannot conclude that absolute immunity is necessary or appropriate under article II or the supremacy clause.”
Trump learned the hard way that the US constitution is neither invisibility cloak nor rag. It is also not whatever the president says it is.
As Roberts framed things, “No citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding.” Significantly, under the court’s ruling, the lower court will continue to exercise oversight of the proceedings.
In a separate ruling, issued minutes later and by a 7-2 margin, the court rejected the president’s contention that Congress had no right whatsoever to review his tax returns and financials. Roberts observed: “When Congress seeks information ‘needed for intelligent legislative action’, it ‘unquestionably’ remains ‘the duty of all citizens to cooperate’.”
The House of Representatives had cast a particular eye on Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank, his de facto lender of choice and last resort. On the other hand, the court denied Congress instant access to the records.
The majority held that the lower courts had paid insufficient attention to the issue of separation of powers and the potential for encroachment upon the executive branch. In other words, this battle will continue beyond Trump’s tenure unless a Biden administration weighs in. And even then.
no subject
The Mandalorian: I liked it quite a bit. It's a space western, with a very good lead, some great supporting characters, and an impressive mythos. It felt like a Star Wars side story, in a good way. Definitely not kid stuff despite Baby Yoda.
Avatar: I really, really like Avatar. It is aimed at kids: Aang is canonically eight years old, and the other mains are young teenagers at the most. Romance: Aang and Katara are clearly Destined To Be Together, which is honestly annoying; there are two other relationships depicted (Zuko/Mei and Sokka/Suki) and both of those are pretty decent. The thing about Avatar is that the first season is a) deeply episodic and b) "good for a kid's show", until the season finale which is really good. Then the first half-dozen episodes of S2 are back to episodic and "good for a kid's show", and then it gets really good. The first season isn't bad by any means, but what people are raving about is mostly S2/S3, so, be aware of that.
no subject
https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Aang
no subject
no subject
And fictional children often act older than actual children do, so "normal 12 year old" comes across like "little kid".
no subject
no subject
I vaguely remember Earth: Final Conflict - yes, that had very bad dialogue. LOL! So too did the mini-series V. And...Earth 2. Oh, being a genre fan can be a painful thing.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Yes, there are older characters... primarily family and/or mentors of the main cast, which are aged around 12 or 13 years with the notable exception of Zuko (~16).
And yes, there's some romance of the tween-appropriate version - blushing and a few kisses.
It's definitely more in-depth than most children's cartoons, especially of that time period, but it's still a kid's show. I don't think anything is "really just for kids" - if you want to rock out to freaking Teletubbies, have at it! - but this show is definitely aimed at the tween/young teen age group.
no subject
Oh by the way? Fanfic.net used to have NR-17-rated Teletubby fic - and well, words fail. (No, I didn't read it - I accidentally stumbled upon it looking for something else at the time.)
no subject
no subject
I'm not really that adverse to kids stuff - I was watching The Steven Universe for a bit. And also a lot of Disney animated films.
Just trying to get a sense for whether it will fit my mood. I may just try a few episodes and see.
no subject
no subject
no subject
And let's be realistic: Rowling is a billionaire who still gets to freely tweet. I'm not sure how she's been cancelled, other than people having an angry response to what she has freely said.
And before social media, plenty of cancellations happened. Terrible ones, like the McCarthy hearings, our own government driving out people like Eartha Kitt for having the audacity of a vocalized opinion... churches cancelled people for millennia...
None of this is new. It's just a lot more openly debated.
The people I worry about the most are those who truly got caught up in things they don't understand. Like the utility crew worker who was recorded flashing an okay sign when provoked to do so, not knowing that it is now an alt-right sign.
I thought Avatar: The Last Airbender (often referred to as ATLA) was a delight. I did use someone's episode guide to skip a few episodes... not sure if I can find it anymore, given that this was on livejournal. But even though I started watching while visiting nephews and nieces, I finished watching on my own because I liked it. It was perfect "watch while eating dinner" fare--not gruesome, short enough to stop at one episode if needed, but still entertaining.
You already know my positive opinion about Warrior Nun. (It fits into the "supernatural soap" genre--but with way more women than those shows usually have.)
no subject
This is encouraging to hear. I saw the title and my heart made a leap followed immediately by a feeling that it was probably crap. I'll just slink over to your journal and snoop on your opinions, if that's alright with you!
no subject
Edited to add: use this tag to find my Netflix-related posts. Faster that way.
no subject
no subject
On the other hand...we have "celebrity" writers whose egos have been bolstered by the internet. And they've acquired "groupies". People who are "fans" of the writer. I was never really a fan of JK Rowling. And I honestly think she's the least interesting writer on that list - if the most well-known. (I'm thinking they may regret bringing her on board at the moment.) I don't feel sorry for Rowlings. I don't care about Rowlings. If it weren't for folks on DW and FB, I'd be oblivious to Rowlings views.
Courtney Milan is beginning to piss me off too along with Stephen King. Joss Whedon finally shut up and retreated (wise move). The Celebrity Writer Tweeters are kind of annoying. It's why I jumped off twitter. Ugh.
And before social media, plenty of cancellations happened. Terrible ones, like the McCarthy hearings, our own government driving out people like Eartha Kitt for having the audacity of a vocalized opinion... churches cancelled people for millennia...
None of this is new. It's just a lot more openly debated.
The people I worry about the most are those who truly got caught up in things they don't understand. Like the utility crew worker who was recorded flashing an okay sign when provoked to do so, not knowing that it is now an alt-right sign.
This is what is concerning me. I'm worried about the slippery slope. There's such a fine line. And I don't think the righteous see it.
no subject
Personally I much prefer its under-appreciated sequel, The Legend of Korra, which is basically to the original Avatar as AtS is to Buffy: messier, more adult, more complicated, less beloved, and (for my money) more compelling. I mean more complicated in the sense that . . . in Buffy the world is oriented around Buffy and works by the rules of hero-centric shows. We know the particular story alchemy by which evils can be defeated, even if getting there is messy and hard on the characters. Korra and AtS are both deconstructions of hero stories.
And, actually, I think Korra would fit pretty well your request for recommendations for supernatural soaps. It is animated, admittedly, but the characters are older than the Avatar ones and it really shifts the genre. (Just . . . get through the first six episodes. It gets better.)
Unfortunately I don't believe Korra is streaming anywhere at the moment (Why, Netflix??!? Why?). Also you probably could watch it without having watched Avatar first, but having the background enriches it a lot.
My other recommendation for genre soaps is a little Canadian show called Sanctuary in which Amanda Tapping plays an immortal woman who runs a sanctuary for supernatural beings. Jack the Ripper was her baby daddy. Nikola Tesla is a vampire with a massive crush on her. Her tech guy is a warewolf. Etc, etc. The biggest thing to recommend it is that if you like meaty roles for middle aged women it is just . . . *chef's kiss* Amanda Tapping is one of the producers and as far as I can tell she basically made the show she wanted to act in. The budget was about $10 (Canadian), but it's the kind of role that so rarely happens without this kind of radical intervention, and I basically want to go up to people on the street and shake them to make them watch it.
Now, there are two major caveats:
1) It is nowhere streaming. Which is a crime. But I live in hope. Maybe tuck this recommendation in your back pocket.
2) I have never seen a show with such a stark disparity in quality between its mytharc and its standalone episodes. It's just staggering. Some of the mytharc is among the best television I've watched. Most of the standalones are so generic-ly awful it's painful. But, the good news is, anyone who's watched even one genre show in their life will be able to tell which kind of episode they've got immediately and pitch their attention accordlingly. Get some dishes done, that kind of thing.
no subject
Not sure about Sanctuary though, but will keep it in mind, since I like Amanda Tapping and Nikola Tesla.
(Huge fan of animation - so not a problem. I'm kind of an anime junkie.)
no subject
no subject
Drive-by-rec: Watch it. Starts off simplistic, adds layers, an endless list of great characters (including lots of adults, yes), brilliant plot, exquisite character arcs - basically a perfect show.
no subject
Warrior Nun is fun, touches same questions as other "chosen one" stories, but gives its own answers, I guess. Not very well structured, ends on a cliffhanger, but still rather entertaining to watch. Solid character relationships, beautiful Spanish locales and well-set action scenes.
no subject
Flint was my favorite though. I love competency and good planners.