Catching up with DW Correspondence List..
Mar. 18th, 2022 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1, Not doing the daily Corona Virus/Pandemic posting/blogging - has allowed me time to catch up with my DW correspondence and correspondence list - finally. And I'm beginning to wonder if I should kick John Scalzi's blog, Smart Bitches blog, and scans daily to the curb? I just can't though. I keep getting cheap book recs off of Smart Bitches. I've bought a lot of books for less than 2.99 because of Smart Bitches, and gotten several for free - off of Amazon. They keep track of the daily deals. And they rec literally everything. I got The Vine Witch for about a $1.99 plus the free audiobook because of Smart Bitches. Now both Smart Bitches and John Scalzi want me to buy his latest book, but I'm on the fence. I liked Red Shirts well enough, and his writing style works for me. So...but on the other hand I kind of need to read the 760 some books that I've already got. (Those are the ones on the Kindle, I'm not counting the ones on the book shelves, stored in a credenza, and in my nightstand.
2. They finally decided to do a television series about the creation of Playgirl magazine. [Okay it's loosely based on creation of an erotic heterosexual female magazine.]
Minx Series on HBO Max
“Minx,” a cheeky comedy set in 1970s Southern California, swaggers onto HBO Max on Thursday. It stars Ophelia Lovibond as Joyce, a hard-line feminist who becomes enmeshed with Doug (Jake Johnson), a publisher of soft-core magazines like Secretary Secrets and Feet Feet Feet. Doug convinces Joyce that they should collaborate on a new one, Minx, an erotic magazine for women modeled on real ’70s titles like Viva and Playgirl.
An erotic magazine needs a centerfold, of course. “Not like a schvantz right in the face,” Doug says. “Classy.” So the pilot includes a minute-long scene in which about 18 men audition, bottomless, for the privilege. As Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff” plays, the men strip off. They strut. They dance. They karate chop.
The montage is charming. It’s funny. It’s as sophisticated as any sequence that includes what Luke Persiani, a participating actor, called “helicopter tricks” can be. But even at a moment in which male genitals have become more commonplace on prestige television, the scene stands out for the variety of the display, as well as the unusual degree of realism.
“If anyone needs me I will be recovering from the 18 penises I met this week,” Rapoport wrote on Instagram once the shoot had finished.
While network television has strict rules about what it can and can’t show, breasts and bare bottoms have long been staples of premium cable. But until recently, full-frontal male nudity remained rare enough, especially compared to the preponderance of breasts on shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Boardwalk Empire,” to inspire a 2013 College Humor sketch called “HBO Should Show Dongs.”
HBO obliged, as did other services and channels. “I thought that peak penis was 2014, because I had just seen so many instances,” said Maria San Filippo, the author of “Provocateurs and Provocations: Screening Sex in 21st Century Media.” “It’s just kept accelerating and ascending in amount and sheer variety.”
Tanya Horeck, a professor who studies gender and sexuality in contemporary media, briskly listed recent series that have shown full-frontal male nudity: “Sens8,” “Euphoria,” “Scenes From a Marriage,” “Sex/Life,” “Succession,” “Pam & Tommy,” “The White Lotus.” (She could have added “The Leftovers,” “Looking,” “Outlander,” “Shameless,” “Togetherness,” “Easy” and “The Affair,” too.)
How to explain the onslaught? In interviews, academics and intimacy coordinators listed reasons including the ubiquity of pornography; the uptick in queer, female and nonbinary showrunners; the impact of the #MeToo movement; the presence of intimacy coordinators; and the need for attention grabs in a saturated media landscape.
While several people I spoke with unthinkingly used the term “tit-for-tat” in describing this proliferation, all nudity is not created equal. While breasts are a common locus of desire, a flaccid penis often has a more comic or pathetic aspect. (“They’re kind of funny,” Rapoport said.) And current standards permit that only flaccid penises can be shown in any sexual situation. Which means that while naked women have largely been used for decoration or titillation, naked men generally deepen character and drive story. Or at least help to land a punchline.
Asking an actress to go topless may seem like a milder demand than asking an actor to go bottomless. But while nearly all of those breasts are real — if artificially enhanced, in some cases — those penises are not. Most of the ones that appear in mainstream TV or film are silicon prosthetics, and they are often oddly large.
“It’s very rare to just see a normal penis,” Horeck said.
Enter “Minx.”
Minx reveals that not all nudity is created equal
3. Vampire Diaries Paul Westley (aka Stefan) is nabbed to play James T Kirk in the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Outside of a passing resemblance to Chris Pine and Shatner...I don't know.
He is more understated than Shatner - but Shatner's over-the-top theaterical antics, were entertaining.
Paul Wesley to Play Captain Kirk
I still need to finish watching Discovery, and try out Picard. I'm admittedly more of a Star Wars, Farscape, The Expanse, Bab 5, BSG fan than a Trek or Doctor Who fan. What can I say? I like space opera. Episodic problem or case or monster of the week tends to bore me.
4. American Song Contest Airs Monday March 22
I knew it was only a matter of time before the US decided they had to do a version of the Eurovision Song competition. After I watched it on Peacock, which carried it, I thought okay why hasn't NBC or another network done their own version except in the US?
Eurovision Song has fifty-two countries competing. The US can beat that - we have 50 states plus territories.
On March 3, NBC released the competitors from each U.S. state, each U.S. territory, and Washington D.C., for a total of 56 acts competing for the prize of Best Original Song. As promised, it's a combination of well-known acts, like Jewel (Alaska), Michael Bolton (Connecticut), and Macy Gray (Ohio), and others you've probably never heard of.
See? The US is a diva. I'm sorry we are. We like to prance about and talk about how great we are. (No one is truly great. Egotistical yes, great no.)
US has a big ego. And love competitions, and awards.
So, I figured it was only a matter of time. But it did take a heck of a lot longer than it should have. I mean Eurovisions Song Contest has been around since...1956. The US is kind of behind the times.
What it has in common with Eurvision is outside of maybe five acts? I've not heard of any of the people or acts. I'm guessing the big name ones aren't that interested?
5. Dolly Parton tried to remove herself from the nominations for this year's Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame (to ensure they didn't split the vote) but alas they ignored her.
Rock Roll Hall of Fame Rejects Dolly Partons Request to Remove her Nomination
Apparently my definition of rock and roll, Dolly's definition, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's aren't in sync?
6. I am amused by this...So, the Whedon Studies Association finally got around to changing their name, and their group's name to The Association for the Study of Buffy +. Which isn't really all that interesting in of itself. What is amusing and interesting is that it controversial.
A few, ahem, academics, one a psychologist, are a bit put out over it.
Psychiatrist: "Did I miss something? Was there a formal discussion and decision about a name change? I recall the (unfortunately flawed) polls, but that was very much framed as not being a vote. When asked about that, we were even specifically told to not worry, there would be a formal process to be implemented after the new leadership was elected and they would let us know. So, when and in what forum did the decision get made? (Was this somehow integrated into the leadership recruitment itself?) Are there minutes?"
Annoyed Group Administrator: " a reorganization committee was formed after the membership agreed to that next step, and that group met and made recommendations to the board, changes (including a new name for the association) that the board accepted. Nominations were solicited from the membership for new officers. A slate was created based on those nominations. Last week, members were asked to vote on new officers; all of them ran unchallenged and were confirmed. Those have now been announced via email to all members. Changes will be implemented over the coming weeks and months as new officers take on their roles. Can I answer any further questions?"
Psychologist number #2: "Please don't rush implementing the changes. Having been through a renaming, everything needs to be planned out and done at the same time."
[They had been discussing this for the last two years. Ever since CC posted on Twitter. It was hardly rushed. They had meetings, polls, discussions on FB. It was kind of discussed to death. I feel sorry for the board administrators - actually, I always feel sorry for fandom board administrators.]
As an aside? Whedon doesn't own any of the television series that appeared on WB or Fox. Fox owned them - and sold them to Disney. Kuzei's owned Buffy the Movie. Fox owns the Television Series. Whedon owns nothing. He sold the rights to the Kuzi's outright and was too dumb to hold onto the residuals. When Fox hired him to show-run Buffy - it was your typical television writer/director/show-runner contract - in that he was given creative control and paid to write and show-run it, but given no shares in residuals or anything else. It was a straight work for hire.
Television writers and comic book writers and screen writers are not the same as novelists, song writers and play writers, they do not get royalties from their works. They are straight work for hire - which means they are paid to write on demand, but get nothing more than that.
Don't feel too sorry for them - they get paid very very well. In the 7 figure range.
Also yet another person has written a book about their love for Buffy, and the whole back stage scandal - but they aren't a cast member, just a self-important fan with a podcast. So according to the negative review on Good Reads - it's more memoir than expose.
7. New Amsterdam is ending with Season 5 - which I'm kind of relieved about since I'm 8 episodes behind and having troubles staying on top of, but refuse to stop watching or delete.
New Amsterdam to end with Season 5
Also, no television show should go beyond five seasons or very few should.
It stretches out the content.
The only one's that can are things like Doctor Who, long running serials or soaps, and Law & Order franchises - which are basically police and legal procedurals where the characters don't really matter that much.
2. They finally decided to do a television series about the creation of Playgirl magazine. [Okay it's loosely based on creation of an erotic heterosexual female magazine.]
Minx Series on HBO Max
“Minx,” a cheeky comedy set in 1970s Southern California, swaggers onto HBO Max on Thursday. It stars Ophelia Lovibond as Joyce, a hard-line feminist who becomes enmeshed with Doug (Jake Johnson), a publisher of soft-core magazines like Secretary Secrets and Feet Feet Feet. Doug convinces Joyce that they should collaborate on a new one, Minx, an erotic magazine for women modeled on real ’70s titles like Viva and Playgirl.
An erotic magazine needs a centerfold, of course. “Not like a schvantz right in the face,” Doug says. “Classy.” So the pilot includes a minute-long scene in which about 18 men audition, bottomless, for the privilege. As Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff” plays, the men strip off. They strut. They dance. They karate chop.
The montage is charming. It’s funny. It’s as sophisticated as any sequence that includes what Luke Persiani, a participating actor, called “helicopter tricks” can be. But even at a moment in which male genitals have become more commonplace on prestige television, the scene stands out for the variety of the display, as well as the unusual degree of realism.
“If anyone needs me I will be recovering from the 18 penises I met this week,” Rapoport wrote on Instagram once the shoot had finished.
While network television has strict rules about what it can and can’t show, breasts and bare bottoms have long been staples of premium cable. But until recently, full-frontal male nudity remained rare enough, especially compared to the preponderance of breasts on shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Boardwalk Empire,” to inspire a 2013 College Humor sketch called “HBO Should Show Dongs.”
HBO obliged, as did other services and channels. “I thought that peak penis was 2014, because I had just seen so many instances,” said Maria San Filippo, the author of “Provocateurs and Provocations: Screening Sex in 21st Century Media.” “It’s just kept accelerating and ascending in amount and sheer variety.”
Tanya Horeck, a professor who studies gender and sexuality in contemporary media, briskly listed recent series that have shown full-frontal male nudity: “Sens8,” “Euphoria,” “Scenes From a Marriage,” “Sex/Life,” “Succession,” “Pam & Tommy,” “The White Lotus.” (She could have added “The Leftovers,” “Looking,” “Outlander,” “Shameless,” “Togetherness,” “Easy” and “The Affair,” too.)
How to explain the onslaught? In interviews, academics and intimacy coordinators listed reasons including the ubiquity of pornography; the uptick in queer, female and nonbinary showrunners; the impact of the #MeToo movement; the presence of intimacy coordinators; and the need for attention grabs in a saturated media landscape.
While several people I spoke with unthinkingly used the term “tit-for-tat” in describing this proliferation, all nudity is not created equal. While breasts are a common locus of desire, a flaccid penis often has a more comic or pathetic aspect. (“They’re kind of funny,” Rapoport said.) And current standards permit that only flaccid penises can be shown in any sexual situation. Which means that while naked women have largely been used for decoration or titillation, naked men generally deepen character and drive story. Or at least help to land a punchline.
Asking an actress to go topless may seem like a milder demand than asking an actor to go bottomless. But while nearly all of those breasts are real — if artificially enhanced, in some cases — those penises are not. Most of the ones that appear in mainstream TV or film are silicon prosthetics, and they are often oddly large.
“It’s very rare to just see a normal penis,” Horeck said.
Enter “Minx.”
Minx reveals that not all nudity is created equal
3. Vampire Diaries Paul Westley (aka Stefan) is nabbed to play James T Kirk in the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Outside of a passing resemblance to Chris Pine and Shatner...I don't know.
He is more understated than Shatner - but Shatner's over-the-top theaterical antics, were entertaining.
Paul Wesley to Play Captain Kirk
I still need to finish watching Discovery, and try out Picard. I'm admittedly more of a Star Wars, Farscape, The Expanse, Bab 5, BSG fan than a Trek or Doctor Who fan. What can I say? I like space opera. Episodic problem or case or monster of the week tends to bore me.
4. American Song Contest Airs Monday March 22
I knew it was only a matter of time before the US decided they had to do a version of the Eurovision Song competition. After I watched it on Peacock, which carried it, I thought okay why hasn't NBC or another network done their own version except in the US?
Eurovision Song has fifty-two countries competing. The US can beat that - we have 50 states plus territories.
On March 3, NBC released the competitors from each U.S. state, each U.S. territory, and Washington D.C., for a total of 56 acts competing for the prize of Best Original Song. As promised, it's a combination of well-known acts, like Jewel (Alaska), Michael Bolton (Connecticut), and Macy Gray (Ohio), and others you've probably never heard of.
See? The US is a diva. I'm sorry we are. We like to prance about and talk about how great we are. (No one is truly great. Egotistical yes, great no.)
US has a big ego. And love competitions, and awards.
So, I figured it was only a matter of time. But it did take a heck of a lot longer than it should have. I mean Eurovisions Song Contest has been around since...1956. The US is kind of behind the times.
What it has in common with Eurvision is outside of maybe five acts? I've not heard of any of the people or acts. I'm guessing the big name ones aren't that interested?
5. Dolly Parton tried to remove herself from the nominations for this year's Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame (to ensure they didn't split the vote) but alas they ignored her.
Rock Roll Hall of Fame Rejects Dolly Partons Request to Remove her Nomination
Apparently my definition of rock and roll, Dolly's definition, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's aren't in sync?
6. I am amused by this...So, the Whedon Studies Association finally got around to changing their name, and their group's name to The Association for the Study of Buffy +. Which isn't really all that interesting in of itself. What is amusing and interesting is that it controversial.
A few, ahem, academics, one a psychologist, are a bit put out over it.
Psychiatrist: "Did I miss something? Was there a formal discussion and decision about a name change? I recall the (unfortunately flawed) polls, but that was very much framed as not being a vote. When asked about that, we were even specifically told to not worry, there would be a formal process to be implemented after the new leadership was elected and they would let us know. So, when and in what forum did the decision get made? (Was this somehow integrated into the leadership recruitment itself?) Are there minutes?"
Annoyed Group Administrator: " a reorganization committee was formed after the membership agreed to that next step, and that group met and made recommendations to the board, changes (including a new name for the association) that the board accepted. Nominations were solicited from the membership for new officers. A slate was created based on those nominations. Last week, members were asked to vote on new officers; all of them ran unchallenged and were confirmed. Those have now been announced via email to all members. Changes will be implemented over the coming weeks and months as new officers take on their roles. Can I answer any further questions?"
Psychologist number #2: "Please don't rush implementing the changes. Having been through a renaming, everything needs to be planned out and done at the same time."
[They had been discussing this for the last two years. Ever since CC posted on Twitter. It was hardly rushed. They had meetings, polls, discussions on FB. It was kind of discussed to death. I feel sorry for the board administrators - actually, I always feel sorry for fandom board administrators.]
As an aside? Whedon doesn't own any of the television series that appeared on WB or Fox. Fox owned them - and sold them to Disney. Kuzei's owned Buffy the Movie. Fox owns the Television Series. Whedon owns nothing. He sold the rights to the Kuzi's outright and was too dumb to hold onto the residuals. When Fox hired him to show-run Buffy - it was your typical television writer/director/show-runner contract - in that he was given creative control and paid to write and show-run it, but given no shares in residuals or anything else. It was a straight work for hire.
Television writers and comic book writers and screen writers are not the same as novelists, song writers and play writers, they do not get royalties from their works. They are straight work for hire - which means they are paid to write on demand, but get nothing more than that.
Don't feel too sorry for them - they get paid very very well. In the 7 figure range.
Also yet another person has written a book about their love for Buffy, and the whole back stage scandal - but they aren't a cast member, just a self-important fan with a podcast. So according to the negative review on Good Reads - it's more memoir than expose.
7. New Amsterdam is ending with Season 5 - which I'm kind of relieved about since I'm 8 episodes behind and having troubles staying on top of, but refuse to stop watching or delete.
New Amsterdam to end with Season 5
Also, no television show should go beyond five seasons or very few should.
It stretches out the content.
The only one's that can are things like Doctor Who, long running serials or soaps, and Law & Order franchises - which are basically police and legal procedurals where the characters don't really matter that much.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-22 05:21 am (UTC)I have never watched Eurovision but I heard rumors that the US was going to have their own version. Guess the time is now. Interesting.