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Racialicious has an article on how Astrid Farnsworth (and Jasika Nicole) is AMAZECAKES. And it's not wrong, although I think it's a bit dewy-eyed about some of the bits I find problematic, like Walter never calling her by her proper name.
Anyway, it has this bit:
Astrid is a lifelong computer geek with a B.A. in Music who speaks five languages and bakes up a storm when she’s stressed out. ...Her sparkling emotional intelligence is a welcome change from Magical Negresses who solve white people’s problems with folksy wisdom and a hug to the bosom. It is rare for the Math/Science Nerd trope to be deployed subtly and it is almost never embodied by a women of color. Astrid is essentially a unicorn. A really, really good-looking unicorn.
And now I'm really nostalgic for Martha Jones. Who was vastly more of an everygirl than ... anyone on Fringe, but she was also an emotionally intelligent nerd, and I loved her.
Anyway, it has this bit:
Astrid is a lifelong computer geek with a B.A. in Music who speaks five languages and bakes up a storm when she’s stressed out. ...Her sparkling emotional intelligence is a welcome change from Magical Negresses who solve white people’s problems with folksy wisdom and a hug to the bosom. It is rare for the Math/Science Nerd trope to be deployed subtly and it is almost never embodied by a women of color. Astrid is essentially a unicorn. A really, really good-looking unicorn.
And now I'm really nostalgic for Martha Jones. Who was vastly more of an everygirl than ... anyone on Fringe, but she was also an emotionally intelligent nerd, and I loved her.
Okay, so we wound up being out for most of the day, instead of just a couple of hours. But that's okay, because in the course of our adventures, I did something I've never done before: I walked into a salon, pulled out a photo (okay, on my phone) of a TV character and said, "Like this, please."
Fauxlivia:
Me:
I mean, okay, I've got some length to go. And it took forever to straighten my hair. But the point is, I have a Fauxlivia fringe. Now all I need is a stylin' jacket, and I can go infiltrate an alternate universe.
(Oh, Anna Torv, you are the prettiest stealth!Australian! I was obscurely pleased to realise that Fauxlivia's hair is real, and it's the blond Olivia hair that's a wig.)
(I like to think that John Noble and Anna Torv hang out on set and talk about cricket and working for really terrible Australian dramas.)
(Also, I think that Jennifer Garner is maybe a fraction too old to play Chapel/Number One in the Star Trek rebootverse, so I'd like to thank JJ Abrams for finding Anna Torv. Who looks like Garner's younger sister anyway.)
Fauxlivia:
Me:
I mean, okay, I've got some length to go. And it took forever to straighten my hair. But the point is, I have a Fauxlivia fringe. Now all I need is a stylin' jacket, and I can go infiltrate an alternate universe.
(Oh, Anna Torv, you are the prettiest stealth!Australian! I was obscurely pleased to realise that Fauxlivia's hair is real, and it's the blond Olivia hair that's a wig.)
(I like to think that John Noble and Anna Torv hang out on set and talk about cricket and working for really terrible Australian dramas.)
(Also, I think that Jennifer Garner is maybe a fraction too old to play Chapel/Number One in the Star Trek rebootverse, so I'd like to thank JJ Abrams for finding Anna Torv. Who looks like Garner's younger sister anyway.)
AU Big Bang progress:
14455 / 50000 words. 29% done!
As you can see, I've stopped pretending that I'm aiming for a 15,000 word limit.
Equally obviously, I decided in the end to keep going with the story I've got, rather than switching to something that would be less wordy. I spent a lot of last week getting a feel for where it was going and how I wanted it to end, then read through the draft, tightening it up here and there and adding some scenes that would give it a bit of momentum. I'm pretty happy with where it's going right now, but I've also come down with one of those horrible colds that leave me feeling much too lethargic to write much.
Anyway, here are three snippets, one from each of the first person narrators.
( Azula )
( Mai )
( Aang )
In between inflicing unspeakable tortures on fictional characters, I've been watching Fringe. I finished the first season this week, and I just want to throw my arms around it and go, "SHOW, ASIDE FROM THE EXPOSITION AND THE BIT WHERE ASTRID DOESN'T ACTUALLY GET TO DO ANYTHING MUCH, I APPROVE OF EVERYTHING YOU CHOOSE TO BE. ESPECIALLY WITH THE UNEXPECTED LEONARD NIMOY."
Seriously, I just want to draw little hearts around it. Especially Olivia, because emotionally reserved women with wry humour and secrets hidden in their own subconsciousnesses are my kind of fictional character. And I have a massive weakness for alternate universes, and parents who maybe weren't all that good at parenting working with their now-adult children, and UNEXPECTED LEONARD NIMOY, and morally ambiguous older women with more-than-professional-interests in the young women they're trying to groom as proteges, and angsty spy shenanigans.
The whole fringe-science-mystery-of-the-week format leaves me a little eh, but I love the overarching mythology. It's like season 2 of Alias, only with more icky squishy bits, and obviously it would benefit a hell of a lot from an injection of SpyParents. But it makes me very happy as it is. UNEXPECTED LEONARD NIMOY! Am I the last person on the internet to know about this? Probably? Do I care? NO!
As you can see, I've stopped pretending that I'm aiming for a 15,000 word limit.
Equally obviously, I decided in the end to keep going with the story I've got, rather than switching to something that would be less wordy. I spent a lot of last week getting a feel for where it was going and how I wanted it to end, then read through the draft, tightening it up here and there and adding some scenes that would give it a bit of momentum. I'm pretty happy with where it's going right now, but I've also come down with one of those horrible colds that leave me feeling much too lethargic to write much.
Anyway, here are three snippets, one from each of the first person narrators.
( Azula )
( Mai )
( Aang )
In between inflicing unspeakable tortures on fictional characters, I've been watching Fringe. I finished the first season this week, and I just want to throw my arms around it and go, "SHOW, ASIDE FROM THE EXPOSITION AND THE BIT WHERE ASTRID DOESN'T ACTUALLY GET TO DO ANYTHING MUCH, I APPROVE OF EVERYTHING YOU CHOOSE TO BE. ESPECIALLY WITH THE UNEXPECTED LEONARD NIMOY."
Seriously, I just want to draw little hearts around it. Especially Olivia, because emotionally reserved women with wry humour and secrets hidden in their own subconsciousnesses are my kind of fictional character. And I have a massive weakness for alternate universes, and parents who maybe weren't all that good at parenting working with their now-adult children, and UNEXPECTED LEONARD NIMOY, and morally ambiguous older women with more-than-professional-interests in the young women they're trying to groom as proteges, and angsty spy shenanigans.
The whole fringe-science-mystery-of-the-week format leaves me a little eh, but I love the overarching mythology. It's like season 2 of Alias, only with more icky squishy bits, and obviously it would benefit a hell of a lot from an injection of SpyParents. But it makes me very happy as it is. UNEXPECTED LEONARD NIMOY! Am I the last person on the internet to know about this? Probably? Do I care? NO!
