Tooting No Award's horn

[lizbee]

The proper grown-up blog I share with yiduiqie has been linked from some amazing places in the last month, and I just want to document it for posterity and ego boosting:

• The New Yorker linked to our 2015 post about the sinister subtext of Thomas the Tank Engine. Yes, that New Yorker. Ain't no thang. *hairflip*
• (That article was then shared at BoingBoing, where the comments were filled with nerds taking our silly post very seriously indeed.)
• BookRiot's crime fiction podcast discussed our post on why we're not supporting the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries film Kickstarter, and our earlier post (linked in our recent one) about the racism in the books and TV series, and how it's something that non-Australians seem to overlook.
• The podcast included a wonderful bit where the hosts were like, "Well, these Australian ladies say the books are problematic, but we wanted to make up our own mind, so we read one each." But they chose the books at random, and had the misfortune to end up with Blood and Circuses, The One With The Infamous Clown Sex. (If you watched the series -- which I really love, when it's not being incredibly racist -- you should take a moment to appreciate the lack of clown sex. Really.) Anyway, they concluded that, yes, the books are very bad in terms of exotifying and othering people of non-Anglo backgrounds, but they're also just not well-written and ... bad. Which is fair. 
• And The Monthly, an Australian publication whose essays and articles appeal to flat white-sipping inner-city lefties (so, me), linked to our first Discovery post in an article about angry, racist nerds complaining that Trek is "suddenly" appealing to an "SJW" agenda.
• (I am extremely proud to get the word "feelpinions" into The Monthly, BUT I also wonder if my use isn't a bit defensive, ie, no one can accuse me of being emotional, irrational or otherwise a silly lady fan if I say it first. Am I putting myself at a disadvantage by emphasising that my posts are reactions, not reviews, and that my opinions derive from my emotions? On the other hand, what is television for but to elicit an emotional reaction?)

Finally, here is this week's Discovery post, which I almost didn't share because it wasn't wholly positive and ... IDK, I guess I've become protective of this ridiculous show, and don't want to play into the narrative of it being The Worst. On the other hand, it made some Bad Choices this week, along with some better ones. (And I note that the dude reviewers who have decried it as being The Worst really liked this episode, which only reassures me that I'm on the right track.)

Star Trek Discovery 1.04 - “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not For The Lamb’s Cry”

Comments

[hannah]

The way the Miss Fisher series seemed to be deliberately overlooking the racism of the time period and avoiding addressing it put me off. Then, I found out it had an "autism episode" and I'll see the vids screened at shows but I'm not going to watch it. Very much not for me on so many levels.

Also, yes, kudos and high praise for The New Yorker I'd have given right away if I wasn't working through drinking some wine.

[archangelbeth]

...Thomas the Tank Engine sounds like a horrible creepy dystopia! D:O

(I am SO going to be glad when CBS gets a clue and puts Discovery out on iTunes and the like. Probably after the run of the show, but it will be nice to be able to watch it. Thank you for being easy to avoid spoilers with!)

[sabotabby]

I'm really enjoying your Discovery reviews, as much as the show itself tbh.