Hi!  Long time no post!  Sorry about that, btw.  I've sorta migrated to tumblr.  But I'll try and come on here more often, because I really love this site and all of you.

ANYWAY I'm sorting out my journalism tag, so that I have an online archive of my articles, and I missed out my first 3 last year!  So I'll post them now.  I'll also post my highlights from this year (they haven't been very good though!) sometime soon.

Without further ado, here's the Wikileaks articles I had such a palava about (if you remember) and also one on Burma!  Bear in mind that these were written in November of 2010, so the info is very outdated!

Courage Is Contagious:
The Story Of Wikileaks

In the Western World we pride ourselves on having freedom of speech, on living in a society free of corruption and repression, a society where we can trust our governments to do what’s right.  WikiLeaks has almost singlehandedly shown this to be false.---

Fighting To Be Heard:
The Crisis In Burma

Ok so this is just gonna be me rambling about how much I love the Homestuck music.  Because it's seriously the cleverest music I've ever heard.  I studied music briefly (at GCSE level) which just makes me realise even more the different techniques used masterfully in the Homestuck soundtrack.

In the soundtrack, not only is there a range of genres (with club-like remixes rubbing shoulders with songs reminiscent of trad jazz), but the songs are perhaps the best example of programme music I've ever heard.  Let's have some examples.

At The Price Of Oblivion continues to be one of my favourite Homestuck songs.  It's great - all clashing guitars and epic chord patterns.  But if you consider where it comes in the story it's also very clever.  This song is the soundtrack to Grimdark!Rose and Vriska's separate showdowns with Bec Noir.  The melodies reflect this.  The tinkling and electric piano melodies represent Rose's fight (as every character has an instrument associated with them - like the harpsichord with Terezi - I've noticed this sort of melody in many of Rose's songs), while the guitar melody represent's Vriska's battle.  Or at least that's how I interpret it.  In any case, this is a great song that tells the story of these showdowns.

Hussie Hunt is another piece which plays with the programme genre, this time in a very amusing way.  If you listen to the song it follows Hussie as he explores Doc Scratch's house, complete with door creaking noises and a discordant trumpet climax as he encounters the wolf.  In this song, not only does it tell the story but it also manages to make music humourous.

And of course there's Rex Duodecim Angelus which the composer describes thoroughly in his amazing album notes.  This is probably the best example of programme music in the Homestuck soundtrack, as it goes through the battle with every character entering to a version of their theme.

But the Homestuck soundtrack isn't just clever because of the way it plays with programme music.  Of course I have to give a shout-out to the amazing foreshadowing and pre-emptive plot hints within the soundtrack itself.  From the beginnings of Sburban Jungle in Volume 4 to more recent tracks such as Ocean Stars Falling and The Thirteenth Hour, the music has always contained tantalising hints as to what's going to happen next in the story.  Hell, even the album artwork contains cryptic hints!

I could go on and on really.  I haven't even started on how much I love the fact that the soundtrack plays with so many genres.  But I've rambled too much (and I really should get back to work), so I'll leave it here.

Basically, the Homestuck soundtrack is the cleverest, most exciting and diverse I've ever encountered.  And if you don't truly appreciate how intelligent and wonderful it is, you haven't been listening hard enough.

or Lili is pedantic... again

Ok, so we all know what I'm talking about, right? At one point Azula talks about her Divine Right to rule.

Here's my problem: Divine Right requires a deity of some kind. That is literally what divine right MEANS. Wikipedia says it better than I could: "[Divine Right] asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God."

And yet as far as we know, the Fire Nation has no deity. The word "god" or "goddess" is never mentioned in Avatar.

To me, this is sloppy writing. It's Bryke not thinking of cultural relativism, and applying Westernised concepts from our reality onto a culture which would not have them. I highly doubt they intended the Fire Nation to have a deity - if they did we would have seen temples and it would have been part of the plot. Additionally, Bryke steer away from that form of religion, instead concentrating on Buddhist teachings and subtly working them into the show (through the Air Nomads).

I don't think there's anything more for me to say about this. If anyone can think of some point when it's confirmed that the Fire Nation have a deity or religion, please let me know.

~Lili

As I'm sure you know, especially if you remember my post dissecting the morality of Buffy's action in Chosen, I like to develop my philosophical reasoning by applying what I've learnt to TV shows.

And Azula is perfect for morality.  A lot of people would consider her an immoral or even a moral person.  I'm going to argue that this is not the case, by answering the question "is Azula a hedonistic egoist?".

OH WHAT FUN lol

Is Azula a Hedonistic Egoist?

Let's define the term first. A hedonist is someone who defines value through pleasure or pain: please = good, pain = bad. An egoist is someone who defines good as good that happens TO THEM. This is a branch of consequentialism, so for an egoist the best action would be that which brings about the greatest amount of pleasure for them (ignoring effect on others).

It seems pretty obvious that this is what Azula is: she constantly thinks of what's best for herself, both acting accordingly and manipulating others to achieve the best outcome for her. I could cite examples, but I'm sure you can think of them yourself and also I've just realised I'm writing an essay when I don't have to omg whut.

( and yet i continue to write the essay!Collapse )

---

Up next: is Azula a sociopath? Stay tuned!  And at some point I'm going to argue that it makes no sense for Sokka to be sexist, contintuity-wise.

~Lili

...and while I'm liking it so far, all this Guy Fawkes propoganda is annoy

V just said that he stood for "fairness, justice, and freedom".

UM NO

I mean, it's been a while since I studied Stuart history, but I know that Guy Fawkes was an avid Catholic who wanted to put a Catholic monarch, in close association with Papacy, on the throne.

And assassinate King James I, Elizabeth's chosen successor.

Basically, Guy Fawkes wanted to put in place a regime similar to Mary I's (otherwise known as Bloody Mary for her mass murder of protestants), only more controlling and rigid (Mary actually did a lot of good for England's domestic policy and brought in some helpful reforms that Elizabeth subsequently took credit for but whatever I'm not here to rehash my sixth form history lessons).

So yeah. This is pretty much the opposite Guy Fawkes wanted.

I'm not saying that the monarchy he was opposing was all good either.

I'm just saying spin your dystopian tales all you want, in fact I love them and think they serve well as a cautionary tale, but DON'T FALSIFY HISTORY TO DO IT.

And this concludes my rant for the day.

I’ll definitely incorporate this into the fic.

After chosing Mai over Azula, Ty Lee had a pretty hard time of it in prison. She kept resolutely cheerful during the day, but every night she sobbed herself to sleep in her cell. Plus, being so attractive, she got a lot of unwanted attention from the guards and other prisoners.

When she was released, she couldn’t deal with the trauma of Azula’s breakdown, or her bad experiences in prison. So she retreated into her happy-go-lucky facade. And she ran away from her problems by going back to the comfort of just being part of a “match-set” (the Kyoshi Warriors). Amongst them, she didn’t need to have her own identity. She didn’t need to accept what had happened to her since she left her first “match-set” (her family). Subconciously she was steeped in deep denial - hiding from her life, and trying to erase what had happened by going back to what she knew.

( MOAR ANALYSISCollapse )

Godammit this fic is going to be HUGE. There’s no way I can do this in a oneshot. It’s gonna be a multi-chaptered filling-in-the-gaps/what-happened-next fic.

If only I had tiiiiiiiiiiiiime.

Generally, I think it’s best to watch the film first, because that way there’s less chance of disappointment.

My philosophy is that nothing will ever live up to your imagination. (Homestuck pretty much proves this, especially with so much disappointment about Lord English.)

And I’ve been disappointed by so many bad adaptations in the past. I learnt from watching Lord Of The Rings then reading the books that it’s best to do it that way around - the film will intrigue you and suck you in, and the books will only add to the experience as if they’re good enough to be made into a film there’s no way they’ll disappoint you.

But I’m so ridiculously pedantic I don’t there exists a film adaptation that I like if I read the book first.

BUT I’ve heard The Hunger Games is amazing, so I’m wondering what your opinion on the situation is.

ALSO

For those of you that don't follow me on Tumblr, I feel I should let you know I'm writing an article about the PROTECT IP/SOPA Act. I was planning on writing the article today, but seeing as the hearing in Congress is today I'm gonna leave it until tomorrow so I know what happens and can write my article accordingly.

Yeah, so stay tuned! I'll post it on here once I'm done.

~Lili

One of my favourite parts of this show is the characte concept r of the Avatar.  Specifically, how the Avatar can be male or female.

I just love this so much for what it says about gender. This is one person reincarnated, but their gender switches over and over again. This way, the writers highlight what’s important about a person is who they are, not what gender they are.

Plus, it’s totally equal to both sexes. I love that we’ve gone from a time when the Slayer (from Buffy The Vampire Slayer) being a female hero was revolutionary, to a time when we can have a hero that switches gender. It’s such a clever idea and Bryke got around the issue of gender so well.

Also I love how, even though the Avatars are technically the same person, they can be very different to each other. Kyoshi and Aang, for example, are very different. I love what this says about how the era we’re brought up in, how we’re taught as kids, our experiences in life, shapes the person we become.

In short, the Avatar is a great tool in both a canon and meta sense. While plot-wise this type of hero is obviously a font of ideas, in a meta way the writers can convey so many great messages about gender, identity, philosophy of self, and more.

In even shorter….



~ Lili