I learned how to say spoiler warning in Japanese today! (ネタバレ注意, if you're curious) It was in the context of rakugo, which made it both a digression and very much the best part of the class, because I don't like rakugo and I don't like the position it holds in discourse about Japanese pop culture (proof that you need to grow up in a culture for humor to have meaning! with nasty undertones of Japanese exceptionalism), but it's a nice phrase to have at the end of the day.

I am now wincing in sympathetic pain while watching Merlin, because I do not like thinking about how horribly fucked up I would be if I were Arthur. Literally every person in his life who is supposed to help him figure out the difference between right and wrong is lying to him. Except Gwen, but her loyalty is still to Morgana at this point, so Arthur has no real reason to trust her when Morgana lies to him. Plus, Uther actively harms/threatens to harm other people to teach Arthur lessons. I just...how does Arthur stay sane?

( ネタバレ注意, otherwise know as specific episode spoilers, first series )

tldr; I am newly reminded every time I try another iteration of Arthurian legend that I read/watch/listen to the stories for Arthur first and foremost, and I'm finding it hard to care if that makes me a bad feminist. Also, I am once again resentful that everyone thinks the new! and edgy! thing to do is make Arthur a bad person, because S2/4 spoilers don't particularly make me trust Merlin's Arthur characterization, but I want to watch until people stop lying to him.

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/18899.html.

I fucking hate Rahula + Buddha theology. Even more than I hate Isaac + Abraham theology, oddly enough.

In both cases, the father is the only one who's "real" to the storyteller: the child is an object to be sacrificed, rather than a victim, and it pisses me off. And even though I know intellectually that there are complicated ramifications that have a great impact on society and literature and religion, sometimes I can't get past my instant fuck you reaction.

Which is a problem when I need to read seven pages of Japanese discussing various manifestations of the Rahula story throughout Heian/Kamakura literature and its impact on the idea of filial piety.

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/18445.html.

*grouch* I really don't like being stuck in a classroom with an inadequately prepared and arrogant jerk. Very nice, simple grammar terminology that three different teachers (and at least as many students, though he doesn't bother to listen to any female students) explain to him, and he's still sidetracking the class to ask about it. And he's not very gracious about it.

( Have a sample of class: )

And in terms of fannish dislike, is it just me or is Uther Pendragon on Merlin actually the embodiment of every David Weber description of a bad leader ever? (Seriously. Giving orders he knows won't be obeyed; giving orders he knows are wrong; going on witch-hunts, quite literally; lack of reciprocal loyalty to those who owe loyalty to him and trying to impose the same values on his son...) Yes, yes, I'm appallingly behind times to only be watching the first series now, but to be fair, it embarrassment squicks the heck out of me, and I'm only getting through by giving myself permission to skip bits, which I didn't do before.

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/18231.html.

Pop culture analysis class is going pretty well. My professors seem good, the reading materials are challenging, which is helping my Japanese skills, and my classmates are not dumb (nor have I been dumb yet, which is always a plus).

Of course, it's a pop culture class, not a gender analysis one (though an encouraging number of people have some background in gender studies), which meant that when the following ads popped up in class, we didn't talk about it nearly as much as I wanted to, and I swallowed half of what I wanted to say anyway because it was more rant than reasoned analysis. So instead you guys get it!

( Not worksafe. Parco uses a lot of half-naked women in its ads. )

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/17945.html.

Someone restore my faith in my reading materials. Does Weber ever give us a character who is confirmed as not-straight, willing to act upon it, and not morally bankrupt? (e.g., Emily Alexander does not count because she says she would be attracted to Honor if not for her paralysis, which is its own whole other grab bag of issues. Nor do Grayson wives in general count unless a specific woman has expressed attraction to other women.)

One of the things that I like about Weber books is that he generally doesn't go out of his way to pair up every character, which is helpful when leaving things to my imagination. (See: asexual!Prescott and gay!Theisman in my headcanon) Unfortunately, at this point the only confirmed non-straight characters I can think of are a bullying attempted-deserter in Honor Among Enemies (gay) and a Mesan customs agent in Torch of Freedom (man who isn't interested in women). I would be much happier to be proven wrong...

This complaint brought to you by attempting to avoid the thought of JLPT tomorrow. Which I will now return to studying for.

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/17821.html.

I love my recipient's prompt, which is exciting, and I'm immediately hearing bits of characters talking. This lack of a panic reaction is quite refreshing! *grin*

On a non-Yuletidey note, I find the assumptions embedded in language fascinating, and one of the best things about studying Japanese is that people in the community recognize how extensive the assumptions surrounding word usage are and go out of their way to explain them.

Rhetorical questions, for example. The usual answer to a rhetorical question in English is "yes", right? The usual answer to a rhetorical question in Japanese is "no". Of course, it then winds up getting a lot more muddled in the details, so there are ways you can form an English question that inspire a rhetorical no and forms of Japanese rhetorical questions that imply yes. This leads to me being extraordinarily confused by things like Vienna Teng's "Enough to Go By," which is phrased in just the right way to make me assumed that the rhetorical answer is no:

Would it be enough to go by,
If we could sail on the wind in the dark
Cut those chains in the middle of the night
That had you pulled apart
Would it be enough to go by,
If there's moonlight pulling the tide
Would it be enough to live on,
If my love could keep you alive

But then I start second-guessing myself. It is written in English, after all... And I think it's a love song. So maybe the answer is yes? Or maybe it's being deliberately written to inspire both answers? But when I've asked other US English speakers they've immediately said that they assume the answer is yes (granted, I've only asked two, so small sample size; it doesn't come up a lot, really). So the whole thing ends with a very confused Maat, but I think it also makes me like the song even more.

And then sometimes the language stuff is a slap in the face. We also discussed 折り合い, which is a term used in Japanese for the relationship between two people who are supposed to be close. The example used, of course, was spouses. (Spouses who got divorced, actually.) There's also another term that can be used for any relationship, to talk about whether people are close or not getting along (仲がいい、仲が悪い), that doesn't depend on the expectation of closeness. So, guess which one gets used for friendship? If you guessed 仲, twenty points! 折り合い can't be used for friendship because friends can just stop being friends if they stop getting along. *sigh* Gotta love the assumptions embedded in language.

On the bright side, the next few weeks are slated for discussion of what "discrimination" means in Japanese, and while the materials we're reading/critiquing fall short of full-swing modern feminism and anti-racism scholarship, they're all from relatively popular magazines and television shows and are well ahead of general US-based discussion. I'm tempted to use them as examples the next time someone blithely declares Japan an exceptionally sexist society.

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/17271.html.

Hi Author!

You're writing a story about characters whom I love, in a tiny little fandom that I adore. This means, of course, that I love you. Everything that I've asked for is exceedingly rare, so I'm excited that you're writing it at all. I'm going to be gleeful about seeing your story! :D

On that note, please believe me when I say my prompts are just to get you thinking. I'm the kind of person who loves to read other people's ideas, so I babble at you a lot, but if you have a plot bunny you'd love to write, I'll love to read it.

If you still feel like reading...

( General About Me )

And now, on to fandom-specific babble.
( Starfire Series - Various Authors, plus even more meta than usual. )
( Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu | Legend of Galactic Heroes )
( Gangjeok-deul | Powerful Opponents )
( Chì Bì | Red Cliff )

Wow. This "all the thoughts!" thing that keeps sneaking in and making my Dear Author letters longer and longer and longer is getting dangerous. Um, final repeat? My prompts were long enough. If you don't want to read/use this, you really don't need to. I really, really want to see a story that you enjoyed writing!

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/16742.html.

While I let my Dear Author letter for Yuletide stew in hopes of finding more of the typos that are inevitably there and developing enough perspective to avoid terrifying my assigned author, have some meta for the Belisarius Saga, by Eric Flint and David Drake (available from the Baltic War Baen CD, on the right).

I spent entirely too much time rereading the series recently. And, okay, I devoured it back in middle school because I adored Shakuntala (the teenage empress of Andhra who leads a rebellion in Southern India against the evil Malwa regime). Then I reread it in high school and fell in love with Rana Sanga (the deeply honorable Rajput king trapped by his oath of allegiance to the Malwa). Then, finally, the sixth and last book of the series came out. I read it and enjoyed having endings and answers, but didn't feel any need to reread the whole thing. So this go-through was the first time that I read Oblique Approach and Dance of Time anywhere close to back-to-back, and I finally figured out what twigged me wrong with that last book. Rana Sanga and Shakuntala are shadows of themselves.

( Spoilers for the entire series, particularly the India and Ethiopia plotlines. )

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/16928.html.

Gekiranger made me want to meta. Boukenger is making me want to throw gleeful screencaps at everyone ever. So, have some more delightfully bisexual Boukenger moments.

( 4 Caps )

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/16457.html.

So, how obvious is it that I'm having a great deal of fun?

Screencap out of Boukenger, from an episode where the entire point of the episode was that Sakura (the one in pink) is an excellent fighter because she doesn't let herself freak out about teammates in danger in the middle of a fight. She sees a group of kids getting kidnapped with a scary mystical artifact, and she has the presence of mind to wait until she has enough information before trying to rescue them, and the episode presents her as right, not heartless.



Super Sentai, right about now, I love you.

Original post: http://maat-seshat.dreamwidth.org/15911.html.