alias_sqbr

Live Action TV:
Our Flag Means Death
Murderville
Inventing Anna

Western Animation:
Star Trek Prodigy
Turning Red
Encanto

Anime:
Life With an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into a Total Fantasy Knockout
Taisho Otome Fairy Tale

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All stuff I liked!

Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!, Star Trek Lower Decks, Case Files of Jeweller Richard, Adachi and Shimamura, Game Night, Booksmart, The Male Lead Is A Quilt
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Saw this yesterday, and I liked it! Unlike the previous two, it was a sincere and mostly successful attempt to make an actual Star Trek movie: There was a mildly interesting philosophical conflict, some attempt at diversity, and a LOT of bromancey interactions between Kirk, Spock, and Bones. Although most of the film was made up of fight scenes and explosions, which were pretty. It felt a bit like an original series Star Trek episode spliced with a Michael Bay film. Sometimes that fusion felt a little strained but it was enjoyable enough. It's not SUPER scary but some scary stuff does happen.

The diversity was very pasted on, it is at heart very much a story about White Dudes Saving The Day, and while the fact there's a teeny bit of lgbt representation is nice (and it was handled ok) it's just ambiguous enough that a determined homophobe could say they were just Very Close Friends, and homophobic censors can easily cut it entirely. On the plus side I thought they were going somewhere Very Racist with the villain and they weren't, though he's still a POC-in-latex villain (with an African accent I think? I am so bad at accents) being defeated by a white hero.

Also Uhura and her relationship with Spock is so quickly sidelined it felt like the start of a slash fic. If it had actually turned into Spock/Kirk/Bones it might almost have been worth it but no, it was no homo bromance all the way. Sulu could have had more to do as well. On the plus side, the "Strong Female Characters who are competent and not sexualised but ultimately secondary to men" approach to women in this film is still more feminist than "Into Darkness". And the new female character is conventionally attractive but noone seems to notice, it all feels like brotherly friendship (I don't think we ever see her talking to any women. In general this is not a Bechdel Test friendly movie)

As someone who used to be a HUGE fan of the original Star Trek movies I did enjoy the cuddly bromacey feels. Everyone felt more in character than in the previous two, and there was in general a cuddly, optimistic feel to the Enterprise and Federation as a whole. Also, since it would have been heartbreaking given that the actor died: nothing bad happens to Chekhov.

And it really is pretty. Lots of cool science fictiony special effects.

First, something NOT ABOUT HOMESTUCK OMG


Pride and Prejudice IN SPACE by ~sqbr on deviantART and Pride and Prejudice IN SPACE at Tumblr

And now a bunch of Homestuck art. Some of this came out quite pretty, imo, plus there's an Avatar the Last Airbender crossovery thing. Descriptions at each link.

I think one of the reason I keep creating so much Homestuck art is the active, friendly fanart community, even though any individual picture of mine rarely gets many comments it's nice being part of a bustling creative discussion.

Plus yuletart has started, I've started reccing Homestuck at fanart_recs and I have my white_lotus assignment. *is a happy little fanartist*

( A hundred million Homestuck pictures under the cut )

And now to try in vain to draw for a different fandom...

Artist matchups and thumbnail reveals (in a locked post) came out for trekreversebang today.

My writer (not sure if I'm allowed to say who publicly) seems really cool and enthusiastic. I decided to draw something I have never seen in fic but would really like to, and she seems to be as enthusiastic at the prospect as I am am ^_^

It's funny seeing the different levels of finishedness of the "draft" pictures (this is quite separate to the quality) Some look pretty much finished to me (including some incredibly detailed pictures that must have taken ages) others are still mostly scaffolding, or at least have lots of scaffolding visible. Mine was about in the middle, I think, which is a comfortable place to be.

Now those who read a locked post I made a few days ago about my overwhelming anxiety about feedback on unfinished pictures and deadlines etc might wonder at me signing up for such a thing, but I think I can cope as long as I know roughly what I'm supposed to be drawing well in advance, and my writer has agreed to try and give me rough details to work from as early as possible(*). I made sure my draft worked as a finished picture as is, even if it could do with a more detailed background and shading etc. Anyway, I really liked doing thelittlebang but felt paralysed by indecision and the enormity of the task faced with this giant story to illustrate, this way I have the idea and basic picture finished to start with and just need to finesse it a bit.

(*)I hope me saying this didn't make her anxious! But I can finish the picture even if the story still has a long way to go.

EDIT: Oops, this was supposed to go to fan_comics. Well, since they're here, enjoy the recs anyway :)
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The word "race" means many things in sff: real life ethnic groups (europeans, africans etc), fictional ethnic groups (Numenorans, Darthacans etc), and (possibly non-human) sentient species (vulcans, elves etc)

Often these fictional "races" are used as a metaphor for, or draw upon, real life ethnic or cultural issues. This can be done well, part of the long tradition of sff using metaphor to make broad and powerful statements about the human condition. But often these stories are warped by the authors unexamined prejudices, as well as the problems inherent in equating the arbitrary divisions of race and culture to the objective biological divisions between species.

In Part One of this essay I go through some of the issues involved with using non-human species as a metaphor for race. In Part Two (if I write it) I'll go through some of the issues with using made-up ethnic groups and cultures as a metaphor for real ones.

EDIT: I never wrote Part 2, but here are the notes for a panel I took part in on the subject.

Disclaimer: I'm feeling sleepy and stupid but need to get this out of my head (I've been putting off posting it for like a year while it gets longer and longer in my head) I know I'm prone to over-generalisations and am not all that good at expressing myself, but please don't point out my minor errors without also thinking about my actual point. Though really, if anyone read the whole thing at all I'll be grateful :)

I don't really have a point as such (beyond pointing out how dodgy it all can be), just disconnected thoughts. It's not something I've seen explored beyond discussions of individual stories, and I'd like to get the ideas out of my head and hear other people's POV. I'm considering a Swancon panel on a topic like this, and also may do a redraft and post to a relevant community, so any and all suggestions, corrections or thoughts would be VERY appreciated.

Oh, and if the length of the disclaimer didn't tip you off: it's LONG.
( Part One: Different Species )

Well, despite being very (ok, slightly) ill I have drawn...another comic. Not an entirely true and accurate account, we actually watched season 2 first but I felt that would be an unneccesary complication.

Cam's anti-spam measures seem to be working which is nice.

While I did enjoy some of the episodes I still don't think I'd watch it except over Cam's shoulder. I find myself increasingly put off dramas which use the reset switch every episode, probably because I've been spoiled by Buffy. Still, the fact that very few if any episodes ended with the moral "See, if only you silly aliens had been more like the crew of the enterprise (ie mildly liberal middleclass americans) none of this would have happened!" was a definite plus. And I now understand why the one black human character gets so little attention, it's not racism it's because the actor is really annoying.