featherxquill

( Already answered )

7. Someone funny

Judith Lucy

Australians are usually pretty good at being funny, but one thing we don't have a lot of is female comedians. Comedy seems to be a fairly male dominated business across the board, but Britain and the US, at least, seem to have fairly high-profile female comedians - French and Saunders in the UK, people like Ellen Degeneres and all the SNL girls in the US - but Australia not so much. And so today I want to tell you guys about Judith Lucy, who is one of the few well-known female comedians in Australia.

Bio from her website:

Judith Lucy is one of Australia’s most popular comedians.

Her work in radio, television, film and her sell out national tours have made Judith Lucy a household name.

She first hit the scene in 1989 as a stand-up but sprang to national prominence in 1993 as part of the cast of ABC TV’s, The Late Show. She did a tour of duty on Triple J and was a regular on Martin/Molloy. Her live stage shows have been what has set Judith apart. Since her 1996 hit, King of the Road Judith has been a regular fixture on the live scene, selling out big rooms with her sharply observed and honest personal monologues.

In 2004 Judith Lucy was announced as the host of the 2DAY-FM Breakfast Show in Sydney, and was famously demoted and sacked the following year, which became the subject of Judith’s biggest tours, I Failed, which toured Australia in 2006.

Judith has also spent time contributing features and columns for the likes of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Madison Magazine.

‘The Lucy Family Alphabet’ was Judith’s attempt at writing about her nutty Irish parents as three dimensional people while also touching upon the discovery, at age 25, that she was adopted. The book was a roaring success and garnered countless reviews, as well as topping bestseller lists in 2008.

2009 will see Judith back on the stage, with her new solo show “Judith Lucy’s Not Getting Any Younger” This will be Judith’s ninth solo show, her first live tour since 2006 and marks her twentieth anniversary as a stand up comedian.

Her particular brand of no-holds-barred, self depreciating and often intensely personal humour is what, I think, makes her stand out so much. I saw her live once and loved the show to bits.

( Two videos under the cut )

( Still to come )

( Already answered )

6. A goddess

~ Medusa ~

Although Medusa could arguably be called a monster rather than a goddess, I think the title fits well enough. I remember first reading the myth of Medusa when I was in primary school, and thinking she was awesome. Because she was a girl, and she was scary and powerful. Also, snakes for hair. Fuck yeah.

Some thoughts on the Deeper Meanings of the Medusa Myth from this website:

Many have connected Medusa with sexuality, men as well as women. Freud, as you might expect, was one such theorist, linking her to the male fear of castration. Earlier, Goethe and Dante both interpreted Medusa as a dangerous seductive force to be resisted. One feminist perspective is that Medusa represents the personification of rape. Another feminist perspective, put forth by Page DuBois in her 1988 book Sewing the Body: Psychoanalysis and Ancient Representations of Women, is that Medusa symbolizes women's subversive, self-sufficient sexuality.

But the most horrifying psychosexual explanation, detailed among other places by Ellen D. Reeder in her 1996 book Pandora: Women in Classical Greece, is that the fundamental meaning of Medusa is a symbol of male fear of devouring female sexual potency. Building upon Freud's earlier thinking, Reeder theorized that Medusa's snaky locks represent pubic hair, her face female genitalia. In the mythology, Reeder points out, only men are turned into stone by gazing at Medusa.

This has to do, according to Barbara G. Walker in her 1983 book The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, with what's been termed the "toothed vagina." This symbol of biting, devouring female sexuality is thought have originated with the primordial fear that a woman's privates might amputate a man's privates during sex. This superstition, according to Walker, has existed in many different cultures around the world throughout history, among other places in China, Polynesia, Persia, the Islamic world, and medieval Christianity. And perhaps, even if subliminally, it existed in ancient Greece and Rome as well.

The psychosexual explanation ties in with how the Medusa image was used in patriarchal Greece and Rome. It could well be, at least on some level, that it's behind the fright caused by looking at the Medusa image and why men placed it on their armor when fighting other men and on coins when trading with other men.

( Still to come )

Okay, so I haven't actually been posting an entry for this meme every day. That's because these entries are fa more time consuming than I expected them to be! But I will sure as hell get through all thirty :)

( Already answered )

5. A fighter

~ Olivia Benson ~

Olivia Benson is a wonderful character. She's the heart of Law and Order: SVU. She's compassionate ad understanding - her ability to empathise with the victims is what makes her such a brilliant SVU detective. She's tough and opinionated. She'll chase down a perp with every bit as much fervour as the boys on her team. She has rescued her partner and been rescued by him in equal measure. She's a beautiful woman - the show couldn't hide that Mariska Hargitay is gorgeous if it tried - and she is occasionally sexy, but it is never at the expense of her agency. Most of all, she's passionate about what she does, and she never, ever stops fighting for the victim, even if it gets her into hot water. She kicks some serious arse.

( Still to come )

( Already answered )

4. A mother

~ Empress Medeoan Of Isavalta ~

I wanted to pick someone for this prompt who is a mother, but isn't just 'the mother'. and possibly someone who wasn't the bad mother, or the nagging harpy mother, or the overbearing mother. But it it is surprisingly hard to think of a character who is a three-dimensional woman, carries her own story or sub-plot and is also a (good) mother.

So I chose Empress Medeoan of Isavalta, from Sarah Zettel's Isvalta trilogy, a fantasy series that weaves together Russian, Indian and Chinese folklore and mythology to create its world.

When we first meet Medeoan, in Book 1, A Sorcerer's Treason, she is the Dowager Empress of Isavalta, and the story's villain - clinging to power by enchanting her son's mid so that she may continue to rule. She is old before her time, and suspicious of everyone. She uses people and destroys lives. And she believes she is doing it all for the good of the Empire.

One of the main characters we learn about Medeoan from is Ananda, the Princess who is married to Medeoan's son, Mikkel, and who Medeoan publicly blames for the spell that has addled her son's mind.

( An excerpt )

So, although we learn more about her and her motivations from her own perspective, Medeoan is very much the villain of the piece. But - and this is one of the reasons I love this character and this series so much - in Book 2, The Usurper's Crown, we are taken back to a generation before the first book, and Medeoan is one of the main protagonists. In this story, we learn what made her who she became, and the decision to explore this character in such a way is what makes me love her so much. In the first book she is an ageing Empress, nearly mad, terrified of losing her power and clinging to it desperately, but in the second she is newly-minted as the head of her Empire, naive and in love with a husband who is carefully betraying her right under her nose. And the challenges she face as she deals with that show us how it is she became the character she was in the first novel.

I'll leave you with this:

"He would have understood." The dowager brushed a shaking hand across her forehead. "Mikkel always understood the needs of the throne come first."

"How could he have understood anything? You took his understanding away from him, as you meant to take his life!" She stabbed a finger at the dowager. "His life! Not yours. It was not yours to take!"

"All lives are mine!" screamed Medeoan. "I am the empress of Isavalta!"

"No." Bridget shook her head. "You are a sad old woman who has too long tormented herself for the sin of falling in love."

A Sorcerer's Treason on Amazon.

( Still to come )

( Already answered )

3. A leader

~ Alice Paul ~

This might be a name and a story that all the American members of my flist know from school, but this is a woman I only learned about when I watched the film linked at the end of this post. There are plenty of women in all countries who fought for the right to vote, but I find this story particularly affecting.

From Wikipedia:

Alice Paul received her undergraduate education from Swarthmore College, and then earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly after her graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, Paul joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and was appointed Chairwoman of their Congressional Committee in Washington, DC. After months of fundraising and raising awareness for the cause, membership numbers went up in 1913. Their focus was lobbying for a constitutional amendment to secure the right to vote for women. Such an amendment had originally been sought by suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton who tried securing the vote on a state-by-state basis.

When their lobbying efforts proved fruitless, Paul and her colleagues formed the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1916 and began introducing some of the methods used by the suffrage movement in Britain. Tactics included demonstrations, parades, mass meetings, picketing, suffrage watch fires, and hunger strikes. These actions were accompanied by press coverage and the publication of the weekly Suffragist.

In the US presidential election of 1916, Paul and the NWP campaigned against the continuing refusal of President Woodrow Wilson and other incumbent Democrats to support the Suffrage Amendment actively. In January 1917, the NWP staged the first political protest to picket the White House. The picketers, known as "Silent Sentinels," held banners demanding the right to vote. This was an example of a non-violent civil disobedience campaign. In July 1917, picketers were arrested on charges of "obstructing traffic." Many, including Paul, were convicted and incarcerated at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia (later the Lorton Correctional Complex) and the District of Columbia Jail. In a protest of the conditions in Occoquan, Paul commenced a hunger strike, which led to her being moved to the prison’s psychiatric ward and force-fed raw eggs through a plastic tube. This, combined with the continuing demonstrations and attendant press coverage, kept pressure on the Wilson administration. In January, 1918, Wilson announced that women's suffrage was urgently needed as a "war measure", and strongly urged Congress to pass the legislation. In 1920, after coming down to one vote in the state of Tennessee, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution secured the vote for women.

See also: Iron Jawed Angels

If you enjoy the trailer, click through to Youtube and the 'related videos' should link you to the full film uploaded there.

( Still to come )

Dear Photobucket,

I do not want to tag my photos. I do not want to add descriptions. I do not want to FOLLOW anyone, for fuck's sake. Nor do I want to POST COMMENTS ON PICTURES AND HAVE THEM SHOW UP ON FACEBOOK. HOW ARE YOU CONNECTED WITH FACEBOOK. IF PEOPLE WANTED TO SHARE THEIR IMAGES ON FACEBOOK, THEY WOULD PUT THEM ON FACEBOOK. FACEBOOK IS A COMPETITOR. I don't even. Why are you doing this?

I DO NOT WANT ALL THIS BULLSHIT. Does ANYBODY want this bullshit? You are not a social network, photobucket. You are not flickr. You are not tumblr. You are just a fucking website that people go to in order to upload their goddamn pictures for free.

ITS OKAY TO BE MEDIOCRE. Really. It's okay to JUST BE FUNCTIONAL. We LIKED you that way.

Sincerely,

Me

Seriously, though, if anyone does actually use all the bells and whistles on photobucket, I'd be really curious to know. They've put all this work into it. Does it do anything but piss people off?

( Already answered )

2. Someone you discovered recently

The Aes Sedai of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time

And more specifically, my favourite, Siuan Sanche.

The world of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is one in which men have destroyed the world with magic over and over again, as the wheel of time turns and ages come and go. As such, the world we enter at the start of the series is one in which men, when they show signs of Power, are captured and stilled (cut off from the Source of Power). The magical caretakers of this world and the guardians against darkness are women, called Aes Sedai. They live in the White Tower, which is at the heart of the city of Tar Valon, and from there, they influence everything from politics and battle to scholarship, trade, healing.

The leader of the Aes Sedai is the Amyrlin Seat, which is both the woman's title and the name of the chair she sits in. At the beginning of the series, the Amyrlin we are introduced to is Siuan Sanche.

The Amyrlin had been born in Tear, of a simple fisherman's family, not a noble House, and her nasme was Siuan Sanche, though very few had used that name, or even thought of it, in the ten years since she had been raised from the Hall of the Tower. She was the Amyrlin Seat; that was the whole of it. The broad stole on her shoulders was striped in the colours of the seven Ajahs; the Amyrlin was of all Ajahs and none. She was only of medium height, and handsome rather than beautiful, but her face held a strength that had been there before her elevation, the strength of the girl who had survived the streets of the Maule, Tear's port district, and her clear blue gaze had made kings and queens and even the Captain Commander of the Children of the Light, drop their eyes

Siuan Sanche is powerful, commanding, and human at once. This is the first scene in which we meet her properly, and it helps that the narrator of it is Moiraine, a fellow Aes Sedai who has been friends with Siuan since they were novices. We see her immediately as a woman of authority, but we also quite clearly see the challenges she faces.

Siuan has a sharp mind and a sharper tongue. She is a brilliant conniver and manipulator. She talks in fishing metaphors, and her infinite variety of them is kind of hilarious. She swears like a sailor. She never gives up. We see her endure the thing that Aes Sedai fear worse than death, and she picks herself up and keeps going. She loves boats but can never get the hang of riding. She is stubborn and obstinate, but also subtle, and at any given moment you can be sure she has so many plots going on that play on Aes Sedai politics that you could never keep track of them.

And this series is full of women like this. And not like this at all. And everything in between. The entire series is full of them, and that is what has me so hooked on it. Book 13 comes out in November. I cannot wait.

( Still to come )

1. Someone you've loved since you were little

~ Endora ~

Endora is one of the characters I have loved since I was a little girl. Along with The Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, I credit her as my 'first favourite witch'. I used to dress up as her and pretend to cast spells on my brother. I used to tell anyone who would listen that I was a witch. My mother has a letter I wrote to her when I was about seven in which I claim that I will die because she took away my 'magic hat' that gave me my 'life force' (she took away the hat because I trashed my bedroom and wouldn't clean it up). So that obsession with witches? I guess you could say it never went away.

Endora is awesome. She's powerful, and formidable, and also cheeky, with a impeccable sense of mischief. The thing I loved most about her as a child was how bright and bold she was, I suppose, and how much fun it would be to be a witch (especially one who was always playing tricks on people). As an adult, I love her attitude. I love her feminism in a time that hadn't quite made it to feminism yet. I love that her problem with Darrin isn't so much that he is mortal, but that he wants her daughter to give up her magic. I love how protective she is of her daughter's heritage and culture, and how she absolutely never gives up the fight. I love that she is certainly a flawed character - petty and selfish and sometimes downright cruel - but that we always get the sense of how much she loves her daughter, and later grandchildren (with the exception of one episode which I absolutely hate and think was totally OOC for her). I love that she is separated from/has an open relationship with her husband. They weren't allowed to say 'divorce' on American television in the 1960s, but it is quite clear from both direct speech and innuendo that Endora and Maurice did not live together and had no desire to, although they occasionally flirted or became jealous of each other's lovers. And it's clear they both had lovers. A powerful, multi-layered older woman who obviously has an active sex life? What is not to love about this character?

Add to it that both the character and the actress have become an icon for the queer community (fabulous and proud of what she is! yeah!), and that just makes her legacy even more wonderful.

Extra tidbit: a fabulous interview with agnes on the Bewitched set. Seriously, I'm petty sure I want to be just like this when I grow up. She's so blunt and opinionated ~~no wonder I picked her for Muriel's PB, hm?~~

( Coming up )

So a bunch of you have linked to this bullshit flowchart, and are pissed off by the way it reduces all female characters and some real women wtf to nothing but stereotypes. Which I completely agree with. Seriously, WTF?

So I decided that now would be a good time to complete the questions on that 30 Day Awesome Women Meme that I started writing a while ago.

Starting tomorrow, I will be posting about an awesome woman, real or fictional, every day for thirty days. The questions/prompts are under the cut, in case anyone wants to jump on the bandwagon.

( 30 Days of Awesome Women under here )

You guys! Yuletide fandom nominations are open! Even if you're only thinking about participating, I urge you to go and nominate the fandoms you would be interested in requesting if you do sign up, because if you don't, you may not be able to choose them.

My nominations this year are (at the moment, at least, I may change at least one before nominations close):
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Downton Abbey
James Bond: Casino Royale Universe (2006-)
Painted Lady
RPF - 20th-21st c Politics
Shrek

And speaking of exciting fic-y things, you all need to go and read this:

The Thermodynamics of the Moka Pot | Part I and Part II | Minerva McGonagall, Rolanda Hooch, Amelia Bones | R | Minerva McGonagall may be able to bend the laws of physics, but where there is steam, there will always be pressure. The question is what to do about it

This story is such a joy to read. The author captures the voices of all three characters in a way that shows their attitudes, similarities and differences beautifully. The dialogue between all of them just crackles, and the scenery is gorgeous - from the sensory beauty of summers in Europe to the tense political atmosphere of the story's setting - the summer between GoF and OotP. It is also a fascinating exploration of love, gender and sexuality - a real treat. Go and read it now.

And for something completely different, also take a look at this hilarious art:

A is for Awkward by someoldcat | Poppy/Severus | NC-17 | While taking care of Severus during his long convalescence after surviving Nagini's attack, Madam Pomfrey decides he's in need of a thorough examination. Things go pear shaped from there.

So do you guys ever google yourselves? I was just doing so now because I'm working on job apps again and although I don't hide the fact that I am fannish, I don't want a potential employer's first impression of me to be formed by googling my real name and finding a whole lot of old lady porn.

So I deleted my twitter account, which I never use, because even though I removed my surname from my twitter profile MONTHS AGO, it's still the top result I find when I google my name, which wouldn't be a problem except that it links the featherxquill username to my real name, so no, thank you.

And then I googled featherxquill, just for the hell of it, and I found that my Blackadder fic, The Birthday Party, has a page in fan history wiki. It's just a summary and a link, but huh, kinda cool. At first I thought it must be because it was a Yuletide story, but if that's the case, I'd think my fic from last year would be listed too, and it doesn't seem to be. So apparently someone took the time to make a wiki entry for my story, or maybe Blackadder stories, which is kinda cool.

*is a bit chuffed* :)

I've been meaning to do this for a while. I have the following DreamWidth codes for anyone who wants them:

3S7NHWZVDSQ25AAACSNF

HP9WK2JEH59E7AAAD7US

SRYA7EZM8XCV3AAAK78Y

G7VKQPR22DD6DAAAK78Z

KJMJDTBRVN4A6AAAK782

Let me know if you're taking one, so I can cross it off.

I also have an Archive of Our Own invite, if anyone would like that (first come best dressed, on that one, but do know that they'll give you one if you're participating in Yuletide this year). Comment and I'll PM it to you :)

(supermarket shifts the last two nights. omg, I'm so out of practice my feet are so sore. ow ow ow. if i needed motivation to find another full-time, sit-down job, i think I just found it)

I think they're low on unique views.

( look at my awesum photoshop skillz!!11eleventy )

Oh, Downton Abbey.

OMG, this episode was gold.

Also, peeps need to femslash the shit out of these two.

Yes? *puppy dog eyes*

minerva_fan, I know that you admire both of these actresses. You need to watch this show omg (not necessarily so you can femslash the shit out of these characters, really and truly. Just sayin', because I think you would enjoy it).

RUFUS IS IN THE TRAILERRRRR EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

In case anyone hasn't seen it yet, Multiple vid formats here

NOVEMBERRRRRRRRRRRRRR HURRY UP

(no, I have no idea why there are so many r's. Must be a hangover from Talk Like a Pirate Day)

( And another, and one from fashion week )

Another contribution:
Harry Potter: Rita/Hermione, 'Torch' It galls that she has to lay the biggest success of her career at the feet of that little bitch who outsmarted her

OMG Go Read These Now:
RPF(?) - Lady Gaga/Alejandro - THE MASQUE OF RED DEATH | You build the fortress, but if you later let the disease inside there's nothing left to guard against.

Harry Potter, Sirius/Remus/Tonks, Never Enough (R) | war is a small child that doesn't like to share, and once it grabs a thing, you never get it back

The Mummy, Imhotep/Anck-Sun-Amun, Grains of Golden Absence, R | Imhotep was not a man used to feeling powerless, but his own flesh hurt him for her lack

My Prompts, in case they inspire anyone:

Harry Potter | Snape/Rita | I took off my glasses while you were yelling at me once, more than once

Blackadder | Edmund/Queenie | too bad the burial was premature, she said, and smiled

Law and Order SVU, Olivia/John, you kiss like an old man

And someone, please write this one!

Hamlet, Hamlet/Gertrude, he that hath kill'd my king and whored my mother

ASGSHGSHJ I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE. My acquaintance with Hamlet goes no further than reading it in high school and watching the Mel Gibson version of the film, but I swear to god that scene (starts about three minutes in). If that doesn't scream for fic, I don't know what does.

I have been flailing around in this thread all day. It has been quite an enjoyable Sunday. Something for everyone, here.

Contributions so far:

Harry Potter: Minerva/Albus, 'Burning', R | he's an infuriating, manipulative bastard, but she likes the sounds he makes when he's on his knees

POST HAS BEEN EDITED FOR PIRATE-TALKING DAY, YARRR

While I was playing with photoshop the other night, scrolling through literally hundreds of Agnes pics that are stored on my hard drive, I came across this one.

She looks kind of Wilhelmina-y in this one, doesn't she?

While I were searchin' me hoardes o' digital treasure two nights past, I came across yon image of this fair lass lookin' rather like the wench we all know as 'Wilhelmina'.

Yarr? (and a bottle o'rum)

( Beneath the cut, me hearties )

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