Racefail '09: Still failing, but also with not!fail

I keep thinking about posting on this and then not doing so, because there's so much I could say and at this point, trying to sum up the WTF? of the whole thing would take a book. I was thinking about bringing up the things that make me heartsick and furious, but I was also thinking about saying something about how I really do feel for people who are sitting this one out, especially at this point when the whole thing is getting so self-referential, despite the tireless efforts of some people to link and annotate and sum up. Because from the outside, it really does look like yet another Internet blogfight, and I can understand people dismissing it as such -- except, if you start following the links and reading the posts, it isn't really that at all. [ETA: I wanted to add that I wrote the above before reading this post. I do respect anyone's desire to remain impartial or to simply not engage with this. That, however? Is not remaining impartial.] [ETA 2: Avalon's Willow has a fantastic post refuting the insularity argument that is well worth reading.]

But I can't find the words, and also, my blog reading has been incredibly haphazard over the last week or so, and I haven't been saving or bookmarking anything; all I have now is a lot of vague recollections of posts that made me think or wonder or, in some cases, hit the ceiling with rage. livrelibre has an excellent post today with lots o'links, including a number of summaries of the whole thing at the very top of her post, and some thoughts on jumping into this ongoing conversation in the middle.

verb_noire is a new startup project aimed at increasing the representation of POC characters and underrepresented authors in scifi/fantasy/speculative fiction. I really think it's one of the best and most positive things that has come out of this sorry mess, and they're currently soliciting donations. I am a huge and ardent supporter of small press publishing, and I would love to see them prosper and thrive. (They're actually over their donation goals at this point, but as you can see when you click the link, the goal is very modest, and I know from my own experience in self-publishing that there are a massive whopping lot of unforeseen expenses in any venture of this sort.) Besides, as a reader, what does this mean for me? MORE BOOKS. More books are GOOD.

More fannish happymaking: umbo is seeking examples of characters of color done well in the media, nextian has an awesome meme (where I'm now being completely shameless about pushing Being Human, because more people should know of the awesomeness that is Annie/Lenora Crichlow!), and (more tangentially appropriate than directly related to Racefail) tealc_ficathon has signups until March 14th!

Racefail '09: Still failing, but also with not!fail

I keep thinking about posting on this and then not doing so, because there's so much I could say and at this point, trying to sum up the WTF? of the whole thing would take a book. I was thinking about bringing up the things that make me heartsick and furious, but I was also thinking about saying something about how I really do feel for people who are sitting this one out, especially at this point when the whole thing is getting so self-referential, despite the tireless efforts of some people to link and annotate and sum up. Because from the outside, it really does look like yet another Internet blogfight, and I can understand people dismissing it as such -- except, if you start following the links and reading the posts, it isn't really that at all. [ETA: I wanted to add that I wrote the above before reading this post. I do respect anyone's desire to remain impartial or to simply not engage with this. That, however? Is not remaining impartial.] [ETA 2: Avalon's Willow has a fantastic post refuting the insularity argument that is well worth reading.]

But I can't find the words, and also, my blog reading has been incredibly haphazard over the last week or so, and I haven't been saving or bookmarking anything; all I have now is a lot of vague recollections of posts that made me think or wonder or, in some cases, hit the ceiling with rage. livrelibre has an excellent post today with lots o'links, including a number of summaries of the whole thing at the very top of her post, and some thoughts on jumping into this ongoing conversation in the middle.

verb_noire is a new startup project aimed at increasing the representation of POC characters and underrepresented authors in scifi/fantasy/speculative fiction. I really think it's one of the best and most positive things that has come out of this sorry mess, and they're currently soliciting donations. I am a huge and ardent supporter of small press publishing, and I would love to see them prosper and thrive. (They're actually over their donation goals at this point, but as you can see when you click the link, the goal is very modest, and I know from my own experience in self-publishing that there are a massive whopping lot of unforeseen expenses in any venture of this sort.) Besides, as a reader, what does this mean for me? MORE BOOKS. More books are GOOD.

More fannish happymaking: umbo is seeking examples of characters of color done well in the media, nextian has an awesome meme (where I'm now being completely shameless about pushing Being Human, because more people should know of the awesomeness that is Annie/Lenora Crichlow!), and (more tangentially appropriate than directly related to Racefail) tealc_ficathon has signups until March 14th!

Being Human Series 1: the spoiler!squee post (part one)

Um, this was supposed to be a general post about all six episodes, but turned into mostly a squee-post for episode two. With visual aids. I have no idea how this happened. This post also contains very vaguely spoilery references to the other episodes through Ep. 6.

( Spoilers! Screencaps! Squee! )

(p.s. Let me know if you have any trouble seeing the screencaps? My laptop screen makes it tough to tell if pictures are too light or too dark or what...)

Being Human Series 1: the spoiler!squee post (part one)

Um, this was supposed to be a general post about all six episodes, but turned into mostly a squee-post for episode two. With visual aids. I have no idea how this happened. This post also contains very vaguely spoilery references to the other episodes through Ep. 6.

( Spoilers! Screencaps! Squee! )

(p.s. Let me know if you have any trouble seeing the screencaps? My laptop screen makes it tough to tell if pictures are too light or too dark or what...)