Neo-Trek: The Brick Wall
May 12
Neo-Star Trek has been consuming my brain all goddamn week. The build-up was amazing, the onslaught of rapturous Twitter-reviews stoking my skiffy-lust as I made my way to the Cinerama dome on Saturday. I’ve loved this franchise since I was a wee one. The idea that it’s suddenly relevant again, that it’s back in all its live long and prosperish glory, is a potent thing. It reminds me of the way I felt when I found that battered copy of The Lost Years at my local library, or the way my heart just fucking stopped the first time Major Kira Nerys stomped her combat booted way through ops. Star Trek — like Buffy, like various incarnations of the X-Men — is one of those icons of geekiana that just does it for me.
So I suppose I went in with reservations, too. Nail-biting excitement mixed with a weird kind of fear.
I wish I could follow that sentence up with some kind of definitive statement. Like, “but guess what? My ass was kicked” or “and then it was stupid so I cried into my gagh and went home.” My reaction, however, was one of those frustrating, complicated things that I’m having a hard time fitting into a zippy one-liner.
SPOILERS behind the cut.
Stuff We Like This Week: May 8 Edition
May 08
In an effort to combat our occasional…okay, okay, near-constant negativity, we give you a regular feature full of nothing but love — Stuff We Like This Week. Appearing every Friday, SWLTW will recap the things that have set our little nerdly hearts aflame within the past seven days.
The Unbearable Suckiness of Being Gambit
Apr 30
A lot of folks are still skeptical about Twitter. I mean, there’s the recent Oprahcization, and then suddenly there are all these megacompanies and entire cities trying to “follow” you, and oh, yeah, the glut of “social media and branding experts” spammin’ it up, and I suppose I can see how, to a non-Twitterer, it might all seem like some sort of minutiae overload, wherein everyone can’t stop talking about their stupid boss and the snack they just got from the vending machine. #bbqruffles
But, look. Without Twitter, I would not have engaged in one of the most IMMENSELY SATISFYING nerd arguments I’ve had in forever.
Divas Live
Apr 20
Trying to parse my feelings on the recently-announced Marvel Divas is about as simple as, say, untangling and comprehensively analyzing Alias’ infamous Rambaldi mythology. And then, for good measure, trying to explain it to a newbie who has never watched the show. Or, you know, television.
I mean, look: there’s crabbiness provoked by the expected source. The pitch is worded about as insultingly as possible (“hot fun!” Also, “sudsy!”). The characters, as rendered in the promo art, look weirdly similar (deflating balloon boobs gooooo!). And, you know, if we’re doing a series about “what it…truly means…to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns,” it might be nice to see it written by a lady.
But here’s what throws a big, fat wrench in the seemingly clear trajectory of my fanrage — I find myself provoked to further crabbiness by a completely unexpected source: my fellow fans. These two strains of crabby meet and mate and produce a gigantic, tentacled beast of MEGAFANRAGE that wants to direct itself not just at Marvel, but EVERYWHERE, all at once, until I flounce away from fandom in a mighty huff, disconnect from the internet forever, and move into a cave in the most remote of wilderness locales, all “Han shot first! BlerggityblagblahFUCK!”
Where The Girls Are
Apr 10
Had a total moment while watching Monsters vs. Aliens. As gentle giantess Ginormica shoved her size-SUV feet into car rollerskates and prepared to zip through the streets of San Francisco, the thoughts, they started to pile up, falling like anvils.
