I had to read the Iron Man wiki before seeing the movie and I've never read The Chronicles of Narnia. I'm a bad geek, I admit it. But before we make any decisions about revoking my membership card, let me at least tell you what I thought of Prince Caspian on its own merits as a movie.

For me, the mark of a good fantasy/sci-fi movie is that I go home wishing I was a part of that world, that I had super powers or mad sword skills. Okay, so I always wish those things, but a good movie makes me wish them extra hard. And this movie did just that. I left wishing I was as skilled with a bow as Susan or as formidable a swords(wo)man as Peter, Edmund or Caspian and as earnest and loving as Lucy.

There were some excellent action sequences, and a lot of emotion and drama, punctuated by moments of great comedy (thank you Reepicheep/Eddie Izzard).

I have two complaints, both of which are fairly minor. First, a few of the props, most especially the Telmarine crown were way too shiny and looked fake. Second... where was all the blood? I understand that this movie was geared toward families and for that reason can totally endorse things like a guard having his throat slit, and falling over on his face and a pool of blood NOT forming. Okay, fine. But when your hero runs a guy through and in the very next shot it looks like he just polished his sword, I have trouble suspending my disbelief. It's silly, but there it is.

( cut because it's a spoiler if you haven't read the book )

I don't know. True to the book or not, the whole epilogue felt a little too neatly packaged for my tastes.

[EDIT, 3:15p.m.: A string of comments here has made it clear to me that I need to clarify a couple of things about this review. 1. I do, in fact, understand the theme of this movie. DESPITE said intellectual understanding, I was bothered by how tidy everything was at the end. 2. I also understand why this was a virtually bloodless movie, and was, nonetheless taken out of the moment at certain times when, in a realistic setting, blood should have been present. This does not mean I think it was a bad decision on the part of the movie-makers. I am simply sharing my experience of viewing this movie.]

California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban.

Two states down (assuming bigots and idiots don't screw this up in November), forty-eight states to go.

I'm debuting my show, Poison Apples & Pretty Witches at The Totally Normal Event in just about a month and a half, and I'm still tightening a few things up.

To this end, I was wondering if you all could point me to a few stories that feature blood. I don't mean violence and gore necessarily, but things like the 3 drops of blood at the beginning of Snow White or on the handkerchief in The Goose Girl. Those two and Bluebeard (and variants thereof) are the only ones I can think of, but I'm sure there must be more.

I'm especially interested in folk tales and fairy tales where blood has some positive effect (like in Snow White and The Goose Girl). If you guys have any suggestions, I'd be extremely grateful!

x-posted to told_tales

This began as a reply to Tori's post about Iron Man (there are spoilers, just a heads up). However, it got a little too long to justify posting as a reply, and as a result, I changed venues.

Watching the drawn out, increasingly silly ways these brawls plays out tends to be something of a snooze fest for me.
Okay, you knew I'd have to weigh in here, right? I'd like to claim that my love of action sequences is born of my stage combat training and my resultant better-than-average understanding of what goes into a sequence like that... and when we're talking about Tony Ja kicking ass for ten minutes straight on an uninterrupted steady-cam shot, certainly my own difficulty learning three simple phrases makes me that much more impressed. But a) I've always enjoyed a good action film, and b) there's so much CGI in the average superhero action sequence, that it bears no resemblance to stage combat.

All that being said, my understanding of this Bored By Action phenomenon is strictly intellectual.

( spoilers below )

I realize I'm about a week late posting this review, and that most of the people who read this saw Iron Man opening weekend... but it ROCKED!!! Two weeks ago all I knew about Iron Man was that his real name is Tony Stark, he's a billionaire and he's friends with Spider-Man. After I made the decision to see the movie on Friday, I did some basic research so that I wouldn't totally fail at being a geek, and might manage to catch at least the basic references.

First, let me say that I was previously unaware of how hot Robert Downey Jr. is. Don't get me wrong, I've always known he was cute, but when he first heard that he'd be playing a super hero I was a little skeptical. "But he's so... cute," I thought, remembering his recurring role on Ally McBeal. But no, dear readers: Robert Downey Jr. is hot. And fantastic in this role! ( cut ) I've heard complaints that the movie was a little short on action, and while that may be true I certainly didn't notice while I was in the theater. Stark is such a funny and engaging character that I enjoyed watching him, even when he wasn't blowing things up.

The story was well paced, and subplots were kept to a minimum while still subtly lining things up for a sequel or ten.( more spoilers )

This movie also reminded me that Gwyneth Paltrow can, in fact, act on occasion. I'd seen her act before, but the last thing I saw her in was Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow. Her non-performance in that left such a bad taste in my mouth that I spent the first ten minutes of her screen time in Iron Man thinking, "Gee, she looks a lot like Gwyneth Paltrow. Is that Gwyneth Paltrow--is Gwyneth Paltrow in this movie?! ...but she's emoting... That can't be Gwyneth Paltrow. But she does look an awful lot like Gwyneth Paltrow..." I eventually gave up this line of thought as counter-productive and distracting. My point is that she was excellent in this movie. And kudos to the wardrobe department for making her look like a woman, and not a stick.

A note about the cuts/spoilers: With the possible exception of the footnote spoiler, everything under the cuts is what I would consider "minor" spoilers. No major plot points are revealed and if you're familiar with the comics and/or the movie industry, I expect they won't be spoilers at all.

*( this footnote? Also a spoiler. )

You should check out kung_fu_monkey7's documentary on stage combat. In addition to the director/producer himself, it features a lot of my friends, including the men who taught me how to fight and made Captain Killigrew look bad ass. (best fight directors/choreographers EVAR)



Best quote:
I somehow managed to clock myself with the sword--in the head with the sword--and give myself a concussion. Which I didn't know. Because I had a concussion. --triplehdm

--Darla / Julie Benz, Angel

Working on my show. Working on my webpage. Working on my number for White Elephant. Working on my costume for White Elephant. Working for Wicked Events, writing/editing copy. Working on my statue costume. Working on a thousand little sub-projects which will make the big projects stronger and grander and infinitely better... Working myself to the bone for the love of these things.

Working 9-5.

...Someday I'd like those two paragraphs to mean the same thing.

Well, in case you've some how forgotten (and I don't know how you could--it was extremely memorable), there's a whole post about it here.

Caught up? Good. Now, I was sort of cryptic in that post, because that day was part of someone else's art project, and I wasn't at liberty to discuss it too much until after the official release date. Well, ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you:

We Killed Amanda Palmer by Beth Hommel.

I am, I swear, in the final color photo and the absolute last photo on that page. I'm perfectly visible in the color photo, although, to be honest, I think I'm totally hidden behind other people in the black and white.

( WeKandids from Jamaica Plain )

And the one you must have known I wasn't going to leave behind a cut:

It's possible--nay, probable--that most of you don't care, since they're all from Creature Feature's Buried Alive video, and most of you reading this are not rabid fans like myself. Which is a shame. Because you should be.

In any case, do please check them out.

It's not, as music videos go, all that innovative. It's not bad, by any means; it's well done for what it is. It's just that what it is isn't terribly original, cinematography-wise. But that doesn't matter because I love their music. I stumbled across them on myspace and fell totally, madly in love with their sound.

Now, while it is entirely like me to fall completely in lust with musicians I enjoy listening to (Voltaire, Brian Viglione, Holly Brewer...) I had, until now, no particular physical attraction to either of the guys from Creature Feature. Oh, but the second that camera zeros in on the "I'm going to eat your face" look in Curtis's eyes...

It's disturbing, the things that turn me on.

As if MY appearance wasn't reason enough to make the trip to NJ (since most of my NJ peeps would be in attendance with or without me), let me point out a few additional attractions:

BRIAN VIGLIONE of The Dresden Dolls and sometimes drummer for HUMANWINE will be in attendance. I'm not entirely clear on what he'll be doing there, but I encourage everyone who is even a little bit of a fan to meet him and possibly see him play. I say "see" and not "hear" because while he is one of those rare and talented drummers who can actually make a ten minute solo interesting to listen to, he's amazing to watch. He gets so involved in his drumming, and so clearly loves what he's doing that it's impossible not to enjoy watching him.

Plus! He is seriously the sweetest, kindest, most-down-to-Earth guy imaginable. If I ever have the misfortune of being famous (I want to be successful, not famous--there's a huge difference), Brian will be my role model for remaining gracious and human, especially when it comes to fans.

VOLTAIRE. Voltaire! Do I really need to say more? Okay, admittedly, a little more fringe than The Dresden Dolls, so if you don't know who I'm talking about, please check out this series of youtube videos from NYAF07 (check out that and "Cannibal Buffet" if nothing else). Okay, now that you have a feel for his awesome gypsy-goth music (it's more gypsy when he has his band, I'll admit) and a bit of his personality, check out his site. You'll note that "Gothic Renaissance Man" is not a misnomer.

In addition to his music, he's writes/draws comics, works in stop-motion animation, designs toys (largely based on his Deady comic series), and is dead sexy. That last bit may not have been entirely relevant.

Prominent Pagan figure, ISAAC BONEWITS will also be there. I'm talking about the man who founded Ar nDraiocht Fein ("Our Own Druidry" or ADF Druidry). I'd argue that this man has had more of an impact on Neo-Paganism than any other living person--possibly more than any person besides Gerald Gardner. (Do you believe that mostlybent and liquiddatura asked me last weekend "Do you know who Isaac Bonewits is?"!?!?) Any Neo-Pagan reading this does themselves a disservice by not attending TNE and meeting this man.

The White Elephant Burlesque Society will be debuting "WEBS In Wonderland" at The Totally Normal Event. Yes, okay, technically this overlaps with my own self-promotion, but I feel it's merited, since WEBS is one of the headliners and since, even if I weren't performing a role in this production, I'd still be urging you to catch them in action. Their shows (clips of which are available on youtube) are sexy and funny and really bring burlesque and vaudeville back to the modern stage.

And have I mentioned that Freezepop will be there?! ...I really only know one song by them, but it's excellent, and I know more than a few of you on my friends list are fans, so it seemed worth mentioning.

On empheliath's suggestion, I've been reading all the Wapsi Square archives. It's brilliant. It's like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and American Gods had some sort of web-comic love-child. This isn't immediately apparent if you start at the beginning (which you should), but trust me.

I just read this strip which is, actually, a guest strip. Normally I just skip over guest strips, but this one clearly starred Selenium, who, from his first appearance made me think of Algernon... and, well... having read it, I had to go hug Algy.

In case you can't figure out why...

[edit 8:33 p.m.: Seriously? That second panel breaks my freaking heart.]

--First of May, Jonathan Coulton

At this time of year the MBTA can't get me anywhere before dawn, so I didn't get to see any Morris dancers, and I don't have any plans to attend ritual any time soon. I have gaming tonight, otherwise I'd plan on taking a walk down by the beach after work. That's not such a loss, though, as I can always take that walk this weekend.

I made a point of wearing a skirt today, and wearing my hair down. Mostly this is a means of reminding myself that this is a special day. I rarely wear skirts and almost never wear my hair down at work (it gets in the way).

I'm also wearing one of those tinkly-bell anklets. It makes me extraordinarily self conscious every time I walk across the room, but given my lack of celebratory plans, it seems important that I wear it.

To make a long story short, I hope you all have a wonderful Beltaine!

...what with how a whole three people follow my twitter account (spookyhandle, btw).


02:28 PM April 29, 2008: Listening to and transcribing 911 tapes. It's no nearly as interesting as it sounds.

02:36 PM April 29, 2008: There is a REASON people don't use audio cassettes anymore. Really, there is.

02:39 PM April 29, 2008: Also, audio tape makes me think of typwriter ribbon, which, in turn, makes me think of Cookie Monster.

02:40 PM April 29, 2008: You're only looking at me like that because you haven't seen Christmas Eve On Sesame Street every 12/24 for as long as you can remember.

02:50 PM April 29, 2008: I don't think this cassette is going to play any more. That is bad.

02:52 PM April 29, 2008: Why would anyone use such an obsolete recording method?!

03:06 PM April 29, 2008: I have now manually advanced the tape past the trouble spot. I'll lose part of the transcription, but maybe it will play now.

03:06 PM April 29, 2008: Overly optimistic girl is overly optimistic.

03:27 PM April 29, 2008: Success! I replacement player has been located, and the tape plays again.

03:29 PM April 29, 2008: But seriously, who uses cassettes these days?

Numbers 12 and 13: To Sail Beyond The Sunset and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress both by Robert A. Heinlein.

To Sail Beyond The Sunset encapsulated everything I dislike about Heinlein's books. It was obsessed with (all too often incestuous) sex and the lead character--like almost all the women in his books--was strong-willed and independent when she had to be, but vastly preferred cooking, cleaning and having eighteen bajillion babies.

Now, this attitude is totally justified in this particular character who was, after all, born in 1882. But it doesn't make sense for all the many female characters born hundreds of years in the future. Everyone always has a very liberal view of sex, but even those female characters who have careers outside the home consistently believe that their highest calling is to make babies.

Conversely, I can intellectually accept some (maybe even all) of the incest that takes place in the far-future setting where all the characters seem to live in a closed community where everyone is married to everyone, all the children of all the various pairings are raised as siblings (and are probably half-siblings with most of the other children), and they have the medical technology to determine how one set of genes is likely to mesh with another set of genes. I can believe, in a society structured like that, that the taboo against incest would fall away. I do not believe that characters born/raised between 1882 and the 1970s would shamelessly participate in father/daughter or brother/sister incest, nor that the other characters around them would condone it.

But hey, it's Heinlein. I knew going in (or should have) that it was likely to be all about sex, that incest was probable and that the female characters would be strong and fully capable of working/living in "a man's world," but that they'd rather focus all their energies on making their husbands happy. I can't pretend to like any of these things, but I won't harp on them anymore either. What really, really bothered me about this book was the way it retconned and ruined the single redeeming event of Time Enough For Love:( cut for spoilers of both books )

I am full of hate.

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress on the other hand, was a good read, and made me less angry at the community of geeks and sci-fi fans who made this man and his works so popular. As in nearly all his books, most of the characters are poly. However, unlike most of his books, it's justified by the social structure and gender ratios on the moon.* There are really only two major female characters, and while one of them is a home-maker, she's a matron, head of the family, takes no shit from anybody type, and the other female character is a revolutionary who's had her tubes tied. Okay, yes, she ends up having it reversed and she (and one of the other main characters) ends up marrying into the narrator's family... but it feels somehow more natural than most of his "everybody loves everybody" stories.

Plus, while all that is going on, it is in no way the thrust of the story. The story is about revolution and liberty and how easily and frequently human beings fuck it up.

The "loonie" speak was a little hard to get into (they cut out "null sounds" like "a" and "the" a lot), as well as a little inconsistent. But the story itself was compelling and interesting and I legitimately enjoyed this book.

*I've got nothing against polyamory, but statistically speaking serial monogamy is the most popular human relationship model across time and space. For an entire culture to prefer such a statistically unpopular model, I'd like for there to be a reason.

Is anyone else irritated by the most recent comedity? First, none of the holds seem to be labeled in any way, whatsoever. Not to mention that the implication of the previous strip was that it would be just the two of them--in which case, who's belaying?!

On the plus side, I finally have source material for a geeky rock-climbing icon!

[cross posted to friendsofjt as always]

# 10 The Annotated Brothers Grimm, edited by Maria Tatar. Yes, I finally finished this! In most fairy tale collections, I'd have no problem bouncing around, picking out stories that appeal to you, but if you're going to read this, I'd suggest reading it cover to cover. The annotations build on each other a little, insofar as Tatar often fails to point things out in story D if she's already pointed it out in story A.

# 11 Tommy's Tale by Alan Cumming. This is actually a reread for me but after getting it signed a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I didn't really remember much about it beyond a lot of drugs and sex in the disabled loo. Turns out I wasn't really forgetting terribly much.

It's a simple, fast read which, to be honest, I don't know that I'd keep around if it weren't by
Alan Cumming. It's well written enough and entertaining, but the title character spends the majority of his time a) going home with total strangers and/or fucking them in public restrooms and b) in a drug induced haze--both of which are things I just can't relate to.

Tommy's major dilemma centers on his recent realization that he wants a family (including children of his own), which is, quite frankly, also something I can't relate to. I like kids, but I can't say I particularly want any of my own, and family (chosen or given) has never been something that's been lacking in my life. Still, I did like that the book does not, in the end, conclude that you have to be heterosexual, vanilla monogamists to have a family and/or children.

On the whole, I'd say it was a good book, but that perhaps I was not its target audience.

Currently reading: The Classic Fairy Tales, edited by Maria Tatar, which is taking a while because reading the same tale type ten times in a row can get kind of dull. So much so, that I started zoning out on my commute, rather than reading. That's when I picked up Tommy's Tale, and following that To Sail Beyond The Sunset by Robert A. Heinlein. So far it's exactly what I've come to expect from Heinlein: an obsession with (often incestuous) sex and the over-arching theme that a woman's primary goal in life should be to pop out a thousand and one babies. This morning's commute even revealed a gem about how twisted and messed up people who mix sex and whips are. I sometimes wonder why I continue to read his stuff, but maybe he'll surprise me.

The World's First Alternative Reality Faire

Shannon, as her alternate ego, Lilith Lore, will be weaving torrid tales of love and lust at this unique event on June 28, 2008 at the Hanover Marriot in Whippany, New Jersey.

Poison Apples & Pretty Witches

Gather 'round for Lilith's wickedly salacious retelling of classic stories from the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault. Be prepared to see your favorite fairy tale heroes and heroines in a whole new light once you've heard her take on wolves, witches and, of course, poison apples.

Shannon will also be performing a number with her friends and family from the The White Elephant Burlesque Society Please see their site for more details regarding their plans for this event.

Also performing at this event is one of Shannon's favorite artists, animators, authors and musicians, gothic renaissance man, Voltaire.

Event proceeds go to SPARC, a non-profit summer program for gifted and artistic kids.

For additional information please visit the event site.

Please link to me using these banners (no hot-linking, please!):




Many thanks to Veronica Bailey of Storied Threads for costuming and photographing Lilith.

It turns out both pieces of garb are mine, or will be once I meet up with my friend and exchange money for goods. I may even purchase a third. We'll see. Either way I'm pleased as pie.

I may also be meeting up with transversecity some time this week, which will be nice because A) I haven't seen more than a glimpse of him (usually at Wicked Faire when he's justifiably a little too busy to sit and chat) since Meet The Basterellis two or three years ago and B) it'll be good to discuss Totally Normal Event stuff in person.

Things are coming together on that front. With the pieces I'm buying from eimiayumi, and my trip to visit empheliath this weekend, I should be in good shape for costuming Lilith. The show itself is also coming along; I've finished rough drafts of three stories, and am about 75% done with a fourth. I have two more stories flagged for preparation, which will actually put me over my original 5-story plan, but that's a good thing. Poison Apples & Pretty Witches won't change as much from event to event as its (as yet unnamed) sister show, but it'll be nice to have a "spare" story or two so that I can change things up a little. It's also nice to have a little extra material in my back pocket since I've yet to time the stories, and for all I know they may run shorter than I thought they would.

BONUS: The White Elephant Burlesque Society has asked me to do a number with them at TNE! There doesn't appear to be any information up on their site yet regarding their TNE plans, and I don't want to spoil the surprise here. Suffice it to say that I'm very excited.