All I'm going to say about the current fandom kerfluffle is:

I find it kind of (sadly) hilarious that just a week or two ago we were having a discussion about whether or not our corner of BtVS fandom was dying out, and now we have absolute proof that we still care. A lot. A lot a lot. It's just kind of heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time that it's something this ugly (and repetative OMG IS THIS 2001? TALK ABOUT A BEADED DEAD PONY WHEN WILL THE UNFUNNY BUSINESS REPORT BE UP?) that is the catalyst. People, friends of mine, I support you in your righteous indignation, but I'm annoyed that this is happening AGAIN.

And now I'm going back to kpop land, where the shipper wars are just as intense but involve significantly less Opression Olympics.

Title: they’re telling our story on the radio
Fandom: Buffyverse/kpop RPF (of sorts)
Written for: seasonal_spuffy
Rating: PG
Word count: 10,520(!!!)
Warning: Crack, silliness, and (fond) mocking of real people
Characters/pairings: Buffy/Spike, OC Slayers, OC witch, members of the Korean band Infinite
Setting: post-“Not Fade Away,” can possibly be set in my “Variations on Eternity”-verse if you like
Explanation: Um. So. My head’s been totally in kdrama land lately, but it’s my seasonal_spuffy day. So I decided to combine the two things. Because that is who I am now apparently. There are a couple of not-so-veiled references to various kdramas floating around in here as well as appearances by actual people, but no real knowledge of Korean pop culture are necessary to understanding the story. I’ll be honest with y’all: this is really just an excuse to cast Yoon Eun Hye as a Slayer and to make fun of Kim Myung Soo. I have no excuse for my ridiculousness. Just love me anyway.
A/N: The only thing you need to know to understand this story is that fangirls for the band Infinite call themselves “Inspirits.” There are links to songs and videos that might help you enjoy the fic more, but they're absolutely not necessary to understanding it (and I make no promises as to the quality of the music). Korean culture is not my own, so I apologize for any mistakes I may have made. The title comes from the song “Cuckoo” by Lissie. Thanks to angearia for absolutely invaluable feedback and to snickfic for saving me from ruining Spike’s voice completely. This hasn’t been fully betaed, though, so any and all mistakes and rough patches are my own.
Summary: “We have to save them. They have a comeback scheduled next week. And if it’s too hot where the demon is keeping them, Myung Soo might go crazy.” Wherein Buffy and Spike have to team up with Korean Slayers to save a kpop boy band from a demon. And there is crack and dancing demons and a discussion about how great Black Books is and torture-by-pop-music and unrequited love and harnessing the power of fangirls to take over the world. Of course.

Read it below or at seasonal_spuffy

( there's no turning back if you follow the cut )

+ Does anybody else think that the reason they kept Benedict Cumberbatch's role in the new Trek movie a secret is because they knew people would be incredibly pissed at this white guy taking Ricardo Montalban's place and they didn't want to deal with the fallout until they were able to say "Oh, it's too late, we already filmed it"? Because I hate to be that cynical about things, but I'm kind of that cynical about things. Needless to say, I'm pissed. I've been looking forward to this movie, itching for this movie since the last one came out, and now this. Also: if any character didn't need to be rebooted, it was definitely Khan. Ugh. I am distressed.

+ Well, Mark at Mark Watches pretty much had all the right reactions to Fool for Love, my favorite episode of TV ever. And I thought he was surprisingly subdued and thoughtful about it. I was pleased.

+ I have watched four episodes of Queen In-Hyun's Man AND IT IS THE MOST WONDERFUL THING. Kim Boong-Do is a wonderful little scholar-turned-resistance fighter (of sorts, it's complicated) in 1694 Joseon Korea, and through some plot machinations he ends up traveling to the future on several occasions and meeting up with this actress who is playing the queen he serves in a new drama. And what is delightful about this show, besides how brilliantly it's shot and styled (which is brilliant), is the character of Kim Boong-Do. I like Choi Hee-Jin, the heroine, quite a lot, too, but Kim Boong-Do is flawless.


source

He's adorable and precious for one thing. But he's also loyal, smart, and incredibly competent. I feel like most time-travel stories really go overboard with CULTURE SHOCK, but Boong-Do's reactions are very calm. He doesn't know things, but he learns very, very quickly, and he has a good enough mind that he can put two and two together and figure things out instead of acting like an idiot. He acts exactly like a smart guy would if he was suddenly time-travelling. He even figures out that he's time travelling all by himself. I can't get over how well the show is handling him and his jumping around through the centuries. It's brilliant.

There is nothing I love more than a show that lets its characters be smart instead of forcing them to be idiots for the sake of the plot. If your plot requires your characters to be idiots IT IS NOT A GOOD PLOT.

[Also, the kid playing Han Dong-Min is insanely cute. THOSE CHEEKBONES.]

+ I feel like King 2 Hearts is becoming kind of sloppy? But I'm still invested, mostly because of Eun Shi-Kyung and his earnestness and his face. Love of mine. Between Ji-Hyuk and Shi-Kyung and now Boong-Do, I am falling in love with kdrama guys right and left.

+ NEW EPISODE OF LOVE RAIN WAITING FOR ME TONIGHT. I DIE OF LOVE.

+ I've watched the first five or so episodes of Young Justice. I like it, but I don't have loads of feels yet. Hopefully those will come.

+ It seems like Vampire Diaries' goal in life right now is to remind me of why I hate love triangles. IT IS WORKING.

+ I am having Bonnie/Jeremy feels again. I know it's insanely underdeveloped, but THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL TOGETHER. I'm rarely struck by how a couple looks aesthetically because I'm so busy being obsessed with their characters, but these two are so beautiful individually and when they're together they become even more beautiful and speaking of beautiful if you aren't on tumblr you missed this, which just reminded me of how aesthetically pleasing Buffy and Spike are. Seriously one of my favorite tumblr posts ever. I look at it, and I think, "This is why tumblr exists."

+ I went to see Avengers on Sunday by myself, because that's what I do when I want to see a movie and no one else will go see it with me. I think it's strange that this is considered strange, considering that you're SITTING IN THE DARK and that common courtesy demands you not talk during the show. And yet you're supposed to feel like a loser if you go by yourself? I do not. My mama said that the reason you go with people is so that you have someone to talk to about it afterwards. I said, "That's what I have the internet for." She said, "Oh, yeah. I forgot." TROLOLOLOL.

( Avengers feelings be here )

All in all, it was just a popcorn movie, but it was a good popcorn movie because it cared about its characters. And I love a good popcorn movie.

+ I am now dreading Anne Hathaway as Catwoman even more than before. DO NOT WANT.

+ Lil Sis graduated on Saturday. Which makes me feel old. Lots of family times, and though it was great seeing everybody, it was overwhelming to have everyone together in my parents' house like that--so many people in such a small space! I loved them but was glad when they were gone and I could breathe again.

+ I have discovered the best barbeque place in town. If you're ever in the area ASK ME WHAT IT IS so that I can tell you and you can get some of the best barbeque I've ever had. Everyone in the family agrees that it's so good that you don't even need sauce.

+ I just finished The Man without a Face about Vladimir Putin, and now I am depressed about the world. It was an excellently written book, fascinating and insightful, but being reminded that there are people with so little regard for human life, who will sacrifice anyone and everyone to get what they want...it just reminds me of how broken the world is.

+ I have hit the climax for my novel. And...I have no idea of how to make my hero end up in the vicinity of my villain for a show-down. It would frankly be stupid for her to go into it on purpose, because she is so outmatched, and yet I can't have the villain go to her because of reasons. I think I have written myself into a corner and am not sure what to do. This is the first time since I started the book 65K words ago that I don't have any idea of what to write next. UGH. I really don't know what to do. I didn't write yesterday and I probably won't today, and I do not like what this is doing to my momentum.

So Mark, he of the Mark Watches blog, is now watching Buffy straight through and posting his thoughts as he goes. This has stirred up a lot of feelings in the remnants of BtVS fandom, and we’ve already talked at length about the depth of his analysis (or, more accurately, the lack thereof) and whether or not we think it’s weird that he’s making money off of basically just posting his emotional responses to a show (for the record, my thoughts are: yes, it’s weird, but I’d probably do the same thing if I had the option, so I can’t really blame him). But I wanted to talk about something I’ve seen mentioned a couple of times in passing in discussions about other aspects of his analysis, because it’s been on my mind a lot.

I can’t remember which post it was (please feel free to link me to it if you remember what I’m talking about), but someone mentioned that you almost have to watch the show in its historical context the way you would read a book written three centuries ago or something like that. Because social justice-y ways of watching the shows were not at all prominent ways of approaching these texts back then (15 years ago, more or less, which: crazy).

For instance. ( Read more... )

And I am sure I’m leaving out something I meant to say, so don’t be surprised if this post is edited to add stuff in the future. My mind does not at all work in a linear fashion, so I usually end up leaving things out.

So Mark's review of Innocence is up, and he mentioned that Angel deserves to lose his soul, and everyone in the comments are like NUH-UH ANGEL WITH A SOUL IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON THAN ANGEL WITHOUT A SOUL. Which, a lot of these people are watching the show with Mark, so it makes sense that they think that at this point and it's impossible to argue without spoiling them (not that I'd get into that argument anyway). But there are others who I'm pretty sure have seen the whole show(s), and I kind of want to pat them on the head for still thinking that. "That's...not how it works." /Rory-voice

Also, he made a request for Spike/Angel fic. HEE!

So everyone's freaking out abou the latest reveal in the Buffy comics, and I understand. I really do. Everyone has good reason to be upset and/or excited. Big news! Drama! Etc.!

But. I have come up with a solution to the whole comics situation that I think that we all (at least, almost everyone on my flist who cares about such things) can agree on.

gryfndor_godess and coalitiongirl take over the writing of the comics.

Boom.

We're all happy.

Because we can trust them to love the characters and write them as themselves and also not offend any of our feminist sensibilities and provide us with a satisfying story.

Go ahead, agree with me.

Some of you who have been on my flist a while might remember that I always try to celebrate my birthday Hobbit-style by posting a fic on that day. Well, today I do have something for you, but it's kind of strange? It's almost as much meta as it is fic, exploring how I think Buffy might think about Spike in canon (S6 and before), and it was definitely inspired by these thoughts by pocochina about masculinity and bad boys (and subsequent discussion in the comments), because I happen to believe that Buffy would have been very socially conditioned in her thoughts about guys and attractiveness and depictions of masculinity. You should read the post because it is the BEST and also because it might help you understand why I ended up writing this? This may not be to everyone's taste, but I hope at least a few of you enjoy it.

Also (and I don't think I should have to say this, but I will just in case), Buffy may express some particular thoughts in here that I don't hold--that aren't my opinions of the characters or my interpretation of canon. This is Buffy's head, and it's significantly different than mine.

And now: a fic.

Title: the heart in reverse
Fandom: Buffyverse
Characters/Pairing: Buffy/Spike with some exploration of Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Riley
Rating: PG-13 for sexy times
Spoilers through: mid-Season 6
Thanks to: angearia for telling me that yes, I can post this
A/N: This is unbetaed, so my apologies for any problems arising from that.
Summary: Buffy has never found Spike attractive. Which is weird, seeing as how she's sleeping with him now.


( the heart in reverse )

Someone on tumblr asked this question:

Which arcs, episodes, moments, etc. do you think are misunderstood in the Buffyverse?

and while I have about forty-five answers to that, I didn't voice them because it really just inspired one rant:

People thinking Buffy needs to get over being the Slayer and just be fine with it and stop complaining, WOMAN! So what that you’re bearing this unbelievable burden of protecting the entire world while still trying to have some sort of life (and raising your teenage sister despite the fact that you’re barely in your twenties) and that when it comes down to it you’re always going to be alone, the only one standing there staring down evil, and SO WHAT that you DIED MULTIPLE TIMES—literally giving your life for the world—AND YOU DON’T EVEN GET PAID OR THANKED FOR IT you’re just expected to do it and to take care of everyone around you all of the time (women’sworkwomen’sworkwomen’swork)? And so what that this setup is obviously designed and maintained by The Patriarchy (in the heavy-handed metaphor form of the Shadow Men + the Watcher’s Council) and that your constant kicking back against that could more generously be read as heroic and feminist, especially in the context of your obvious PTSD/clinical depression? SO WHAT? You just really need to get over that, shut up and quit complaining, go back to the kitchengraveyard, and just be grateful for your lot in life. Other ladies do it, why can’t you?

And then when you ultimately decide to tear down the entire patriarchal structure by rejecting the kyriarchically-enforced (is that a word? whatever) rule of a single woman standing alone and instead embracing the idea of women sharing power and saving the whole damn world together, you’ll be attacked for that, too. Even though you saved the lives of all the girls you shared that power with. Because you’ll never be good enough. Not ever.

Apparently I had a lot of feelings about this.

But seriously, the more I think about the show, the more obvious the metaphor of Slaying = women's work appears to me. Unpaid, unasked for, unappreciated. Done only by women. The concept that Buffy just needs to make peace with being the Slayer in her pre-"Chosen" world just kills me, because if she did that, she'd be buckling under and agreeing to live the life that The Patriarchy has forced on her even though she doesn't want it. How can that choice possibly be construed as feminist? To be, the feminism of her actions comes in fighting back. If she had ever accepted it totally, I think that would have been a betrayal of who she is as a person and also of the show's attempts at feminism, clumsy though they may be at times.

There are lots of reasons why the solution she comes up with in "Chosen" works for me. Not only is she saving all of the rest of the potential Slayers in the world from being ruthlessly slaughtered by the Harbingers, but she's also making a statement and dealing a blow to The Patriarchy. She's saying, "This isn't right. This power should be shared with other women. We should stand together. We don't have to be alone anymore." Because I think that if you pay attention to the show and specifically to Buffy's complaints about the Slayer, it's clear that it isn't the physical power that she hates--she learns just how much she appreciates it in "Helpless," and we see her relish it often. What weighs her down is the burden of being The Only One, The One Girl, She Alone. Standing by herself and staring down evil and knowing that she'll sacrifice her life as often as she's brought back to save the world and that she won't be paid or thanked for it. That she just has to do it, by herself, on top of everything else she has to do in life. That's what's so awful about being the Slayer, and that is precisely what she defeats in "Chosen." That doesn't meant that it's a perfect solution--we see the fact that potential problems accompany the benefits of this solution in Dana in "Damages," and that's important to remember. But I think that overall it's a beautiful if clumsy metaphor, and it totally works for me. I can't bring myself to hate anything that tells us that it's a powerful and beautiful thing when women share their power with each other.