wOct 29, 2007


My cell phone now has Black Stones and Trapnest charms!

Stephen Colbert's first campaign speech. Say what you want about his "fake" campaign, but how refreshing is it to watch a presidential campaign speech in which the yelling and jovial crowd hasn't been brainwashed or isn't laughing to be polite?

Not much to say about tonight's episode of Heroes, except: Yay for speaking Ukranian! Yay Caitlin for saying, "I'm gonna kill the bitch," and boo Claire.

Not a whole lot happened this weekend, which is when Madison college students celebrate Halloween. On Saturday, Anime Club had its annual Costume Contest. It was a good time. Anime Club seems kind of bittersweet. None of my close friends go any more, and the total population is less than it used to be. Still, I don't know what else I could do to make it better by myself, so I'll try not to compare this year to others too much, in terms of attendance. The Club itself actually feels like a club, though. Socializing is occurring on a much better basis than it ever did before, so I'm proud of that. Anyway, so we had our annual costume contest. I didn't take many pictures, but what few I did are here. I think a few other people got some better pictures of Antoine and I, along with two other people who cosplayed Mayama and Yamada, from the same series.
Also! Two really good series won the vote, Lovely Complex and Black Lagoon. I had seen about 7 episodes of Lovely Complex, and am excited to see more, and have heard a lot about Black Lagoon. Anime Club is better when we watch good anime, for obvious reasons.

After Club, Antoine and I walked around State Street (but not actually on it: Boo to $5 to walk on a public street!). There were some interesting costumes, but overall there are much fewer people than there were my freshman/sophomore years here (35,000, and it used to be 80-100,000). I always thought that the rioting that occurred was lame. Not on the part of the students, but on the part of the police, who would arbitrarily start walking down the street around 1:30 or 2am and telling students to leave. Students, mostly drunk and not from Wisconsin, would say, "No," and then get tear-gassed. Useless, lame, etc. And now there are just tons of cops everywhere, and kind of a lame atmosphere. We heard an announcement through speakers asking people not to have open bottles, and to please enjoy their time on State Street, and also spotted a group of 15-20 cops standing on the same street corner, with blue/red blinking lights on their shoulders. It sort of felt like we were in a sci-fi movie.

I raked the yard and then mowed the lawn yesterday, and I think I'm still exhausted from it. Also, it's kind of freezing in my room. :(

Mostly, I'm just really damn tired. Going home this weekend. Lots of stuff to do before then. Still wishing I could cuddle in bed all day and read stacks of books and manga.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:44 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:

Y'know, at the end of the day, Claire is still just a cheerleader. And not even just a cheerleader--but a character designed to represent a cheerleader. So how much can we really expect?

By Blogger Gordon, at 9:07 PM, October 30, 2007  

I can't believe you just said that, Gordon! First of all, are you still in middle school? One extra-curricular activity cannot define a person. I myself was band kid, ultra-religious kid, bookworm kid, outspoken kid, theater kid, etc. Claire is also intelligent - we've seen her in class, knowing answers. She also longs to be independent, and also longs to use her ability to help other people.

Why do you think Claire was designed to represent just "a cheerleader?" What does that even mean? Claire was given lots of agency last year - remember how she punished the would-be rapist classmate? Would "just a cheerleader" do that? Claire is a teenage girl with powers. The fact that she happens to be a cheerleader certainly does not define her character, nor should it shape my expectations of how her character should be used in the show. I think it's natural for me to be upset that she's dating a really creepy guy (who has asked her to harm herself to prove her trust in him, WTF?!), has let him entice her into doing horrifically stupid things that could blow her cover, and ruin her and her family's lives.

By Blogger mystickeeper, at 9:41 PM, October 30, 2007  

Calm down; we're talking about a fictional character here. I'm just saying that like it or not, the stereotypes of how the writers think a cheerleader should act will have an impact on who she is. Because she's not actually real, you know.

By Blogger Gordon, at 10:57 AM, October 31, 2007  

Gordon, I think it's legitimate to get upset about it. I understand that Claire is not real, but media representations of women, minorities, lower class, and non-heterosexual people matter. How exactly do you think stereotypes get reinforced on society as a whole?
It is especially worth noting in a show that has such a bad track record when it comes to its portrayal of women, and people of color (although POC aren't applicable in this case - I'm just saying that the show has issues).

And I still disagree with you that the writers think Claire is "just" a cheerleader. She's been shown being disgusted by two head cheerleaders now, and intelligent in class, and caring for her classmates, even if they're not "popular" (ie, Zach, of last season). I find your statement that it's okay for her to act like an idiot just because she's a cheerleader kind of disturbing. Because she's just a kid, yeah; because the entire episode was about characters "crossing the line," yeah; but I'm not really finding a lot of merit in your suggesting that I lower my expectations because of the character's extra-curriculars, which I don't think define her as a person.

By Blogger mystickeeper, at 1:37 PM, October 31, 2007  

You're right.

By Blogger Gordon, at 1:57 PM, October 31, 2007  

It's kind of weird that you post a comment disagreeing with me, but then when I try to engage with you on it by having a conversation, you refuse to have any sort of discourse on it.

By Blogger mystickeeper, at 11:25 PM, October 31, 2007  

I know when to admit defeat. My argument really wasn't going anywhere from there and you made a lot of good points.

By Blogger Gordon, at 9:04 AM, November 01, 2007  

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