Brad Simkulet's Blog, page 8
September 25, 2017
"If I get stuck haunting the same place for 1,000 years then I’m gonna be livid."
- Justin McElroy (via mbmbam-ooc)
September 24, 2017
whenwhen does this begin?when does this end?it can’t be with birth.it can’t be with...
when does this begin?
when does this end?
it can’t be with birth.
it can’t be with death.
so when?
rc.i
we were old friends, you and i.
we danced under that umbrella,
the one with the broken spoke,
and were soaked during that storm.
but wetness meant nothing to us.
we were there, by the lakeside,
together with our chill and gooseflesh
while the others hid, warm, inside.
your pinky finger wrapped itself
deliberately around my index
along the pole, and my brain was struck
with electric bolts of exaltation.
but you didn’t give a fuck then,
and you’ve never
given one since.
September 23, 2017
sighinastorm:
yellowjuice:
The next time someone tries to argue...
The next time someone tries to argue with you about “disrespecting the flag/troops by kneeling” show them this.
Good post.
qb.ii
last night’s dream brought me to you, david. not the
you you were when i knew you and loved you, but the you you are now in the
photos i see of you in the aether. i dreamt of you and found myself
disappointed immediately that we weren’t making love, and that instead we were sitting
in big, ratty, stuffing-expelling leather furniture, drinking beers and
talking. i wanted your cock in my mouth, but you wanted to talk. if we had to
talk i wanted to talk about something worth talking about – politics, our
beliefs, our past, you fucking my wife and four of my girlfriends, you never
fucking me, my love for you, the death of our loved ones, the things we (or maybe
just i) never got to say – but all you wanted to talk about was that game we
used to play on that shitty old computer system that sat under your window.
and you talked at me for the rest of the dream. not
with me. at me. you talked at me and expected me to listen, and when i got a
chance to speak you barely paid any attention, and i thought, “well, that is
about right,” because that it was probably how it had always been between us.
it was a sad meeting, really. not one full of pity, nor one full of regret for
imagined things that could have been, but a meeting sad because of the understanding
that our hours together in this life were probably wasted by us both. there
were others we should have spent our time on and with. and our time together was
wasted time because even when we were together we were apart. every trip you
took me on was a trip where you did your thing, and even if i did what your
money paid for, i did it alone. so a sad meeting.
September 21, 2017
I feel the need to talk about the women of Firefly
Because my brother recently insulted Joss Whedon’s ability to write anything other than “action woman” for female characters (ie: Buffy), and my first reaction was “But have you seen Firefly?”
First, there’s Kaylee:
Kaylee is a genius mechanic. If she was written according to tropes, she’d be this tough tomboy grease monkey. But she’s not. She’s a mechanic, she’s smart, and she also likes to wear pretty dresses and let Inara braid her hair and go to dances. She’s not an “action woman” either: she’ll try to be brave in a fight if she has to, but guns and fists are not Kaylee’s forte, and she’d rather hide or do something else while the rest of the crew handles the violent stuff. Kaylee is also the ship’s “little sister” character, but defies that trope to an extent as well, because characters with her childlike wonder are often portrayed as virginal and innocent, but it’s made clear that Kaylee is anything but.
Then there’s Inara:
Inara represents something wonderful about the Firefly universe- the open and free sexuality of women. Inara is a “bona fide Companion” meaning that she is a sex worker for all intents and purposes. But this isn’t something to be ashamed of. In fact, her presence lends the ship credibility! She’s the most respectable out of the lot of them in the eyes of the denizens of the Firefly universe. She’s never portrayed as loose or easy- she is a smart, well rounded character with a buttload of self respect who is skilled in her profession. She’s proud of being a Companion, and puts Mal in his place whenever he tries to shame her for it. Inara is awesome.
Next, we have Zoe:
Zoe is amazing and unique for a lot of reasons, but what always stood out to me was how her relationships with Mal and her husband Wash were handled. Zoe is Mal’s second in command and close friend. They share a long history, having fought in the war together. It would have been very easy to make a love triangle here; in fact, Wash even suspects Zoe has feelings for Mal in one episode and becomes jealous. But here’s the wonderful thing: Wash was completely wrong, and the handled it with no miscommunication or tears. In the hands of any other writer, Zoe would have been torn between the two, Mal would have been competing for her attentions, something would have happened. But no- Zoe and Mal both make it clear to Wash that there is nothing between them, and the three even joke about it. A man and a woman can, in fact, be friends in this universe and not deal with any sexual tension.
Lastly, we have River Tam:
River can kill people with her brain. River can take on 20 crazed cannibals in hand to hand combat and come out of it with barely a scratch. River can read minds. No power in the verse can stop her. And yet, I wouldn’t define River as “action woman” because there is is more to her than that. She is intelligent. She is bratty as any 17 year old sister would be. She likes to dance. She is broken, but its not romanticized. She is nuanced- and would have been more so, if Fox had not gone and cancelled one of the best shows it ever had on air (damn them.) River Tam is awesome.
Now look at these women. Watch the show, watch Serenity. My brother challenged me to think of a line one Whedon character said, and then think of another character that would never say it. I directed him to Firefly- I can’t imagine Zoe complaining about having “nothing twixt my nethers that weren’t run on batteries.” I can’t imagine Inara dryly reminding someone that they live on a space ship when something too science-fictiony happens. What about you?
September 18, 2017
deluision:George Orwell's vision of the future in 1984 compared...
George Orwell's vision of the future in 1984 compared to Aldous Huxley’s vision of the future in Brave New World.
