As I announced last week, I have changed primary journals. My new journal, redhillbones, will be open to all and incorporate the friendslists of saeva and derelictdesktop. Please friend redhillbones if you have not already. Saeva will remain available as an archive of work but it will no longer be updated and it's unlikely I will respond to comments left here. Thank you.

After five and a half years, the saeva journal is about to come to an end. I decided that I no longer fit with the part of my life that I created 'saeva' during and it is time for a change. This journal has now been completely unlocked, unapologetically, though I do apologize for the annoyance of musical usernames. It will remain as an archive so feel free to post thoughts on any of the entries but if you're looking to remind me of anything, like deadlines, or want to see my new posts, you should probably head on over to my new journal.

redhillbones

The name is from the Georgia O'Keefe 1941 painting Red Hills & Bones. I've loved O'Keefe's work since I was first exposed to them as a young girl and they [okay, and the surrealistic Absolut vodka ads] were some of the first visual media I was interested in. The works incorporating the New Mexico desert (a desert shared by Arizona, where I visited, and California, where I grew up) have special significance to me and, with skullwithbrownleaves being both too long and a little creepy, I went for redhillbones.

Please go over to redhillbones, check it out, etc.

[Me] I almost got sugar-free imitation honey, but then I decided that was probably against the laws of nature and god.
[Roommate] Yes! That is exactly what I would say! Don't do it, it was harvested from aliens!

A moment ago, she comes into the kitchen and continues the conversation:

[Roommate] Seriously. The bee population has been dropping. They have to get the honey from somewhere. It's alien bees!

&hearts is your cat unmaking your bed so that she can use the coverings to wrap herself in because she's cold. Poor, poor Californian kitty in the mid-west.

Is there anyone watching this journal who is either familar with the Pitch Black/Dark Fury/Chronicles of Riddick source or knows someone who is and would be willing to help me field my NaNoWriMo story for 2008?

It's set directly after the end of Chronicles of Riddick and is Kyra-centric. The Vaakos and the world of the Necromongers, along with the death of the Furyans, will also be explored. It's not a romance, primarily, but it does have a romance/sexual subplot (Riddick/Kyra) with dark themes and shades of "underage" and generational-difference sexuality (since Kyra is 16/17 in the story). The overall rating of the fic will either be heavy M(ature), mostly for violence, dark themes, and some sexuality or X(rated), for violence, dark themes, and explicit sexuality depending on which way I decide to go.

My Kyra (and Jack, for that matter) is a sociopath with violent and irrational/impulsive tendencies. She ended up in Crematoria not only because she killed the men who bought her as a slave but the mercs who slaved her, the mercs who happened to be around, and anyone else that got in her way or pissed her off. Her suspected kills reads like a laundry list of learning how to kill in interesting and inventive ways, along with a few escapes from single and double max slams, until she gets smarter and falls into a pattern in her killing (a serial pattern) but, eventually, is taken down by a merc team that bounties her to Crematoria. The total kill list is over one hundred, not counting the damage she did once inside Crematoria. Her only true emotional connection is to Riddick, who saved her and who she idolizes.

My Riddick is more mercenary. While he might enjoy a good hunt every once in awhile his killing is animalistic in the sense that it only occurs out of necessity for survival, not solely for enjoyment. He's killed many, some of which he didn't actually do but got blamed for, and he's been violent, cruel, and ruthless in a myriad of other ways but he was forced into being a killer and then forced into keeping it up. Regardless, he holds little to no interest in the human race and would happily see them all gone if it got him left alone. Kyra is the only living person he's affectionate about or interested in; everyone else is fodder.

If anyone would be willing, or knows someone willing, to be a sounding board I would be forever grateful. The hardest part about choosing a tiny fandom for NaNo is the feeling of being completely alone.

There's an Icon Crit Meme happening right now and I'd really appreciate it if I got some concrit on my icons. Anything you have to say; I can take it. I feel like I've been struggling pretty hard lately [lately being "the last three to six months"] on how my icons look and if I'm just doing the same thing over and over because I'm comfortable with it. This would be a great time to give me some concrit and, look, it's completely anonymous. Yay. There's no chance of me hunting you down and going "But. Why?" in a moment of weakness. : ) Plus, if there's something you've been thinking, would like to suggest, but didn't want to risk hurting my feelings, now's the perfect opportunity.



Please concrit me! [Also, yes, those are Torchwood icons in my samples. I've got another fandom!]

And I'm off! For those of you poked on IM, I'm leaving now. For those of you not, I'm going to be MIA-ish for the next four days as I drive across country. Not that I'm ever prompt, but please don't expect a prompt response if you contact me.

For my co-mods, I'll be settled in on Monday. If you're here about a LIMS deadline (though I *think* I have those all covered) then I'm using a skip this next week (LikeTheGun lims especially) or, oops, sorry!

I'll see everyone on the flip side, knock on wood.

RULES
1) List 5 6 celebrities you would have sex with without even asking questions.
2) Put them IN ORDER of your lust for them [6 - 1, 1 is the hottest].
3) Supply photos for said people.
4) Say which movie/show/thing it was that hooked you.
5) Tag five people: niqaeli, bantha_fodder, tielan, tripoli8, greensilver.

( ... I was always bad at following directions. )

[59] Doctor Who: 204 The Girl In The Fireplace



(This episode = awesome, y/y?)

So, my head seriously feels like someone took a sledge hammer to it which, ow. Serious, serious ow. But! BUT OMG. My heart rate is staying under 80 on its own (hell, under 90 on its own) for the first time, well, since I can remember. It's been awhile, last October at least. Ha! SCREW YOU UNIVERSE. TODAY I WIN. \o/

[12] Final Contract (Drew Fuller)
[12] Stargate: Atlantis (Teyla & John)
[24] Army Wives (Pilot; Mostly the LeBlancs)



48 Drew Fuller, Stargate: Atlantis, and Army Wives icons at my new post @ nihil_est.

48 Supernatural and Charmed icons at my new post.

Fandom: Chronicles of Riddick
Title: Resurrection
Song/Artist: It Evolves On Its Own by Lunatic Calm
Vidder: saeva
Specs: 6m28s, 30MB (wmv)
Summary: A CoR vid that focuses on Riddick and Kyra's conflict with the Necromongers and how the theme of resurrection is woven throughout.
Notes: Made for Directed Study project in Film (for minor). It's intended to be understandable, as a narrative, without having seen the film or having any familarity with the universe. Also, it was made in five hours and I will very likely go back and adjust some things so concrit is welcomed. My eighth vid and the only one over 3 minutes, this was a very new experience for me and I'm not entirely happy with the results -- Windows Movie Maker doesn't like weaving audio together nearly as much as I wanted it to.

Download: at MegaUpload
Stream: at Imeem

I am really proud of this vid and would appreciate comments very much.

This rant has been building for a long time. Months, if not years. It may offend people. It may upset people. And I'd say I'm sorry about that but I'm not -- people need to be offended and upset about this. They need to realize exactly how disturbing and creepy it is.

People, and fandom in particular, really, really need to stop using the word "pimp."

No, seriously. It's the misogynistic equivalent of telling someone they should "nigger" something (Yes, that word was used in that way in common parlance for far, far longer than current U.S. society likes to admit.) And, yes, I typed that word. If you did a mental or physical flinch at it, then you should not be using pimp unless you're talking about illegal sex trade.

Because that's what a pimp is -- someone who controls, manipulates, and abuses people (usually women) who have come into the sex trade, typically as runaways, kidnap victims, or victims of abject poverty, and now are at the whim and mercy of someone else. They pay someone else, their pimp, to offer "protection" and to work in the pimp's "territory" while they're selling their bodies, usually in unsafe and unhygenic situations that involve a lot of drugs, for money, drugs, food, shelter, or any and all of the above.

If someone is "pimping" something -- or, more likely, someone -- they are attempting to sell it by showing off its best features. Usually this "it" is a young woman or girl. Usually the best features are "its" tits and ass, and how willing "it" is to do whatever "its" told.

Do you really want to be using a word with that connotation? Are you using a word with that connotation with the purpose of reclaiming it, the way second wave feminism reclaimed "bitch," gay pride culture in the U.S. has reclaimed "queer" and "fag," and some black urban cultures reclaimed "nigger"? Or are you using it because it's 'just the word everyone uses'? If you're trying to reclaim it, how are you trying to reclaim it and what is the purpose of reclaiming the word of the aggressor? A pimp is an aggressor, someone who pimps is an aggressor, they victimize others for their living and they dispose of other human lives without concern. How can that word have positive meaning? How does using it give you power over the people who have used it against you? Has anyone used it against you so that you have a need to reclaim it?

Please, PLEASE think about these questions the next time you decide to "pimp" a community or post. Please think about these questions the next time you ask someone to "pimp" a community or post. Why use that word and not "promote," which is the word with the actual meaning you're using "pimp" for? What's so great about "pimp" that its advantages outweigh the history and current atrocities of the word and justify the use of it?

And how do you think it feels to girls or women (or boys or men) who have been pimped out, by their fathers, by abusive boyfriends, by men they've met on the street, and who've managed -- despite overwhelming odds -- to get their lives together and join fandom as a community to hear the casual, callous use of the word "pimp" to mean something so entirely different from the experience of being pimped?

If you think about it and you're still okay with using that word then, obviously, no one can stop you. But I hope that when the readers of this post do think about it they realize how harmful a word like that, being used the way it's used, can be.

Okay, so tielan is hosting a Stargate: Atlantis John Sheppard/Teyla Emmagan relationship or friendship THING-a-thon over here. Comments are now unscreened so you can see what other people are requesting and offering. I know at least some of the people that watch this journal are into Stargate: Atlantis and if you can't manage ten icons of the absolutely gorgeous Joe Flanigan (John Sheppard) and Rachel Luttrell (Teyla Emmagan) then, really, what sort of artist are you? *grins*



If you're afraid that you're just not that into John/Teyla, don't be: the thing-a-thon accepts friendships and doesn't allow character bashing of ANY character. So, if you're an artist who doesn't write and you'd like a fic exploring John & Teyla's friendship without bashing, say, Rodney or Ronon out of the picture, this is the place to be. The deadlines are more than generous too! The fics aren't due until July 4th at the latest.

Go check it out and if you have any questions you can direct them to tielan or to this post and I'll pass them on.

----

For my flist, if you have any time for any old school Stargate love, the J/D Ficathon [Jack O'Neill/Daniel Jackson Ficathon] is under new management but up and running again. Check it out.

So, for my Film In American Society term paper I wrote on the subject of race in the Buffyverse. It's long, topping out at just over 7,000 words, and contains spoilers for the entirity of Buffy, Angel, and some of the supplemental canon material from the post-series comics. It's also, as of yet, un-betaed so any typos, misplaced words, or factual errors are mine. Note for MetaFandom people: Please keep in mind this was written for an audience that has not seen Buffy or Angel. Therefore, I was unable to include some of the more complicated plot issues, such as Jasmine, due to page limitation and difficulty conveying the storyline to those who are not familar with the canon.

Author: saeva
Subject: Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel the Series
Premise: An examination of race portrayal and relations on Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel the Series.
Warnings: Spoilers for all seasons, racial language, non-generous interpretations of the text.
Author's Notes: This essay entirely owes its existence to Gianduja Kiss's vid Origin Stories. I only regret that, due to page limitation in the assignment, I was unable to include discussion of her vid within the essay itself. Even if you do not read the quite possibly teel dear essay, please go and watch the video. A picture sometimes is worth a thousand words and in this case a four minute video is worth seven thousand.

( Cut for length. Oh, dear god, the length. )

Comments, thoughts, questions, and corrections are welcome, as always. I will somewhat that my essay's conclusion was not condemning enough but in the face of the examples what could be more condemning than the patterns that come to screen over and over themselves? What can I add to the text, or Origin Stories, that would say it any better than the visual facts do?

P.S. I know that I did not include every character of color in the Buffyverse. Specifically, I ignored Kennedy (Mexican-American), Rona (black-American), Chao-Ahn (Chinese), and Chloe (Filipina-American). All of them are potentials and, with the exception of Kennedy, have no significant arcs. Chloe is the first Potential victim of The First Evil from Buffy's "protected" group and Rona's survival at the end of "Chosen" is questionable. Chao-Ahn, before she dies, provides primarily comedic relief. Though I could have briefly mentioned each girl to support my point I felt the additional support within the size constraints was unnecessary and not mentioning them would not leave my argument open to a great deal of critique.

Additionally, I intentionally left out Jasmine from S4 of Angel because, honestly, it would have taken another five pages to detail the exact skeeviness of a black woman born from a disapproved of white union, a woman who though she appears beautiful has the true appearance of a corpse-like monster and who is brought to her literal knees by a white champion and her (equally white) own father punching in her face in. There, in fact, might not be enough skeevy in the world to explain that.

Edit: This has apparently now hit MetaFandom. Please read before you comment. For those who question my inclusion of Faith Lehane, my reasoning was three fold: one, the fact that all her relationships with white men are shown as perversions of what relationships "should be", two, in all other situations "urban" is associated with "non-white" and, three, a particular section of Origin Stories where Faith, having just returned to Sunnydale, sees Spike sulking about a graveyard and assumes -- not knowing differently -- he's up to no good. She attacks him, he fights back, goes down, and then Buffy hits her from off-screen. The shot pans from Faith staggering to Buffy standing there tall, her blonde hair and light features shining in the low light as she smiles.

Additionally, When you compare shots of Navi Rawat (who is undeniably of color, being biracial with a first generation Indian-American -- as in, from India -- mother) to shots of Eliza Dushku, I find the objection honestly questionable.

First, Rawat:
http://niralimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/navi-rawat-2.jpg
http://niralimagazine.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-upload/prepic/navi-rawat-head.jpg
Second, Dushku:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Eliza_Dushku_May_2004_holding_coffee.jpg/411px-Eliza_Dushku_May_2004_holding_coffee.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y172/lightsoutprints/8_X_10_LV/E_LV/Eliza_Dushku_10LV.jpg

Because the fact that Dushku is not white in the sense that Gellar, Hannigan, Brendan, Marsters, Stewart Head, OR Green are white AND she's coded as urban street rather than the upper, privileged class of Cordelia, I don't question my inclusion of Dushku's character Faith in this discussion. The fact that Faith is not black is undebatable -- the fact that she is not representing minority in the Buffyverse is debatable.

I think I made a good argument here that between the coding's involved and how those coding's relate to Wood and Gunn (who are both urban and black), Faith's identification as not white is fairly firmly entrenched in the Buffy mythos. I also agree with another commenter that if they had cast Faith as of a dark color, rather than a borderline one, the outrage would have been there.

Also, the notes about Drusilla being Cockney rather than Spike has been noted, thank you. It's not changed in the post so that there's an understandability to the comments but the change has been noted on my offline draft.

Joy is being contacted by your best friend from high school after three years of lost contact due to a garbled voice mail. I am so happy right now.

[08] Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
[20] The 4400
[40] Angel the Series [Almost all women only.]



(68 Icons at my Icon Journal)

[07] Roswell
[11] Stargate: Atlantis
[19] Veronica Mars
[20] Skins



(57 Icons at my Icon Journal)

Grab Bag Explosion: This is what happens when you participate in too many random contests. Firefly, Dark Angel, NCIS, Supernatural, Roswell, Queer As Folk, Medium, Lost, Charmed, Numb3rs, Stargate: Atlantis, Chuck, Moonlight, West Wing, and yet still others. 61 icons of utter randomness.



(Click here to see the craziness)