get_together | Volunteers wanted for Ladies of Awesome. Also POCs of awesome.

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Volunteers wanted for Ladies of Awesome. Also POCs of awesome.

A formal call for volunteers/pimps/presentations etc will go out in the not-distant future, but since THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN has closed the school I'm seizing the moment to kick off an idea I've been mulling over.

Inspired in part by the success of these two categories in the Vid Oscars last year, and in part by

morebliss's and my Epic Rewatches of Doom of the X-Files and SG-1, I want to see if we can put together a themed tag-team presentation in an area(s) that typically are under-represented. To be blunt, g/t is a sausage fest, and a pretty white one at that. And that's fine, because we're there to celebrate what we love, when we love it most. No harm, no foul, no criticism, no pressure.

BUT.

Watching 200 hours of X-Files in a fortnight reminded me intensely of how very, very much I was in love with Dana Scully when I was nineteen/twenty, lo these many years ago. And how sad I was that she'd never get her day in the sun/on the projector. And then I thought about my other big girl-crush, Lois Lane, and how outrageous it is that that big dumb alien Clark Kent gets all the airtime (not least from me) and so on.

SO.

I would LOVE to see a loosely connected set of segments on awesome women of fandom who otherwise never get their day. Is there someone that YOU love?

alasen, what about Xena?

vaudevilles, still feeling the Starbuck?

labellementeuse, did Nikita live up to expectation? Or tell us why Batgirl was the best comic of 2011 (and Dan Didio should DIAF). Anyone and everyone else??? Just five or so minutes each, to encapsulate the Awesome, be it a couple of clips of key moments, or a songvid that sums her up, and/or a tiny summary of why you love her.

I see a secondary opportunity here too, in that it might coax those of you who are traditionally too reticent to present, or too busy to put together a whole Thing, into playing. Join me!

And then I thought, huh, we should also do non-white characters who never get their moment either. So if there's a character of colour who you love, please wow us with a tiny tribute to them.

Who's with me? Comment here to either volunteer or suggest characters. (But seriously, volunteer! Five minutes!)

Volunteers So Far:

Lois Lane -

arysteia
Dana Scully -

arysteia
Parker (Leverage) -

morebliss
Hardison (Leverage) -

morebliss
Elizabeth, Diana and June (White Collar) -

china_shop
Aeryn Sun (Farscape) -

china_shop
Loretta West (Outrageous Fortune) -

blademistress
Cass Cain (Batgirl II) -

stickmarionette
Steph Brown (Batgirl III) -

labellementeuse
Renee Montoya (DC) -

labellementeuse
Kono (Hawaii 5-0) -

cross_stitchery
Kenzi (Lost Girl) -

alasen
Olivia (Fringe) -

the_antichris

[Alicia/Kalinda (The Good Wife) and Troy/Abed (Community) covered elsewhere by

blademistress]
[Rizzoli and Isles and Suits covered elsewhere by

cross_stitchery]

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I'll do Parker from Leverage! (And will bring Hardison along for the ride.) :D

And I volunteer China to talk about all the awesome women in White Collar.

Edited 2011-08-16 03:23 (UTC)

Wootzors!

Olivia from Fringe! I'm sure either Blade or I could fettle something up.

Ha ha, I'm guessing she might do that woman she loves from the Good Wife. You're it. ;-p

It's like you know me or something.... Kalinda will pimp herself in my Good Wife Alicia/Kalinda thing :D and my other thing was going to be Troy/Abed from community, who are both POC.

So in other words: no tiny snippets needed because you have this area entirely covered in your main presentations? It *is* like I know you. :D

Yup, exactly :D Though I make no out and out promises on Troy/Abed because I might get distracted by tormenting L when she's home.

You're a machine. I have perfect confidence you can do both.

ETA: pimping and tormenting, that is, not the other thing. ;-p

Edited 2011-08-16 05:14 (UTC)

OMG SO MUCH YAY FOR TROY AND ABED!!!!!! :D Your pimp is going to be streets ahead.

Ha! I'm glad I don't have to choose between incredibly badass montage vids, self rescuing princess or that time where everyone had a family moment except for Olivia, who armed herself.

You could save me some trouble and send me the badass montage vids. :D?

Seconding Chris.

OLIVIA'S SO AMAZING WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME HOW AMAZING SHE IS

*_*

Aeryn Sun from Farscape (someone has to!)
Mary Shannon from In Plain Sight
Emily Lehman from Standoff
Cheryl and Loretta West from Outrageous Fortune
Kima from The Wire
Jane from Deadwood
Zoe from Firefly
Buffy
Britta and Shirley from Community
Kate Beckett from Castle

I'm happy to do some of these, but White Collar's my first priority and I get sick of the sound of my own voice very quickly. :-)

I could put together little clip shows for some of them, maybe?

Wow, that *is* an awesome rec list!

I'm thinking we want eight or ten max, though if we cheat and move Zoe etc to POCs rather than Ladies that frees up some space there. Or if we don't get a lot of POCs we could just do Neglected Awesome Characters and do an installment each day. Goal: get people to do the person(s) they really feel strongly about, rather than meet a quota, *g*.

What's your WC character name(s)?

There's Elizabeth and there's Diana (who is black and a lesbian, for the trifecta). I could probably cover them both in 5 minutes.

Aeryn Sun is fantastic, and if no one else will do her, I'll put something short together. I feel less strongly about the others. :-)

Ha ha, see, my litmus test works! Passion! Do you want to squeeze them together, or do you want to give Diana her own slot in POCs? I feel this one is less likely to fill up...

Well, I'm passionate about some of the others, but I was trying to prioritise, per your instructions. :-)

ETA: Are you set on keeping the women and POC parts separate? We could just mix 'em up, especially given there's overlap.

(Are you managing to stay warm?)

Edited 2011-08-16 07:26 (UTC)

Yeah, nah, totally mix and match, whatever we wind up with. And of course you can do more if you want, I just thought it'd be cool to get trad non-presenters to chip in a teeny bit. Then the usual suspects can pick up the slack.

I am... not actually being terribly successful in the keeping warm stakes... Have just had a hot shower and jumped into bed, dressing gown on. D:

I just thought it'd be cool to get trad non-presenters to chip in a teeny bit.

You're quite right. I'll sit on my hands for a while and see what happens. It's not like I don't have plenty else to be doing.

Have just had a hot shower and jumped into bed, dressing gown on. D:

:-( Do you have a hot water bottle?

It's not like I don't have plenty else to be doing.

What's your main thing gonna be? I see L1 has staked her claims early. ;-p

(Me, I'm leaning towards Marvel Comics to partner up L2's phenomenal DC one of two years back. And capitalise on the new movie hype.)

[No, I got rid of it years ago. But I'm thawing out slowly under every blanket I own. We still on for tomorrow?]

What's your main thing gonna be? I see L1 has staked her claims early. ;-p

I actually don't know yet. I'll get back to you.

No, I got rid of it years ago. But I'm thawing out slowly under every blanket I own.

Meep. Heater, at least?

We still on for tomorrow?

If my road is passable. I managed to leave the house for a few hours this afternoon, so I'm reasonably optimistic, but there've been some road-blocking accidents caused by ice, so I'll have to confirm closer to the time.

I have *two* little heaters plugged in, valiantly fighting the good fight. Don't worry if it's going to be difficult/dangerous. You're lucky you don't have to go to work. [/jealous]

I know! I'm very grateful for it.

Will let you know about tomorrow, probably around lunchtime.

ETA: Can you make the White Collar one Elizabeth, Diana and June, please?

Edited 2011-08-16 08:45 (UTC)

I was just telling someone yesterday I didn't think I could do a whole presentation on Why I Love Loretta West. I'm working on a side non G/T thing about OF anyway so if you don't get around to it I'm sure I can keep five minutes of badassery aside from her.

Fantastic! I'm incredibly unlikely to get around to it, and eagerly anticipating your version, yay! \o/

I'd love to talk about Cassandra Cain, my favourite Batgirl. Does anybody else want to cover the other Batgirls? (I ask because I anticipate doing multiple other pimps, and you know how I ramble on. You're gonna hate the sound of my voice by the end.)

Also tossing up the idea of doing something about the awesome ladies of Fullmetal Alchemist, since we don't usually have much anime content. Would that work?

Superb! (I want to talk labellementeuse into doing Steph, at least...)

And anime ladies would be great. It's always really good when we get to peer a wee way down the lesser travelled paths. I don't know if L told you, but there were quite a few manga/anime/doujinshi artists at sinpoz, which was interesting.

I'm going to do Marvel for my main presentation, I think. X-Men obviously, this year's fandom that ate fandom, but a primer on the Avengers too so people know who's who for next year. I hope I can live up to your DC ppt of great fame... ;-p

And we will not get sick of your voice! It was sorely missed last year. What's on your list to wow us this year?

That would be awesome. :D

Yeah, she did mention that. And it would be kind of a fun thing for me, since I did that Fullmetal Alchemist pimp for the first g_t (which I still have around here somewhere, miraculously).

OMG you're doing Marvel? That's awesome! I'll be looking forward to that. Your presentations are always epic. And like you said, it's a good time for ~~Steve/Tony~~ Marvel fandom.

It depends on what my schedule is like when I get back (less than a month now!) but I'm planning to do a very concentrated football pimp (just on a couple of players, instead of the more general ones I've done before) and maybe a Phoenix Wright pimp, if I can figure out how to do a presentation about a plot-based Nintendo DS game. *g*

I will do Steph! Because I love her so! And because apparently it is my destiny. Anyway I can do her. (ha ha, do her. um, shut up, Tui. I would though.)

I might do Oracle as well and we can have a Batgirl trifecta? There's quite a lot to talk about w/Babs because of Recent Events. But I don't know I might get a little mad and overly um. well anyone who's been in a room with me talking about comics knows how I get.

VERY EXCITED FOR THIS. I could do these like it was my full-time job tbh.

OH SHIT, I really wanna do Renee actually. Can I please with a cherry on top? and I won't do Babs even though she's amazing but no-one needs to hear me complain THAT much about comics. But I can actually say NICE things about Renee!

PS Nikita did not continue grabbing me, sob.

Yeah, this is a celebratory venue, let's keep it squeeful. I'll put you down for Steph and Renee. I'm really pleased at the range of characters we've gotten so far. Not really the usual suspects, which is cool. And yeah, totally your destiny, I thought of you immediately. ;-p

On a side note, I find it -- lolworthy is definitely the wrong word; eyebrow raising??? -- that all the suggested POCs bar one are women too. Is it easier for TPTB to jam in the twofer? Are women inherently less threatening than black men? Discuss.

Save up your DC related rants (we'll have had a chance to read all the number 1s and possibly 2s -- obvious joke is obvious -- by then) and hash them out with stickmarionette, blademistress and me. Between the four of us we should be able to summon enough rage to cut a bitch or two.

Yeah, I was trying to think of people I'd do if not comics characters and came up with a few but it is nice to avoid the usual, for sure, as well as the threshed-over ground - e.g. I could easily do Jo from SPN or Cordelia (Chase or Vorkosigan, actually!) or Starbuck but, I mean, we already know how awesome they are (right?) Keeping it current means keeping it more surprising, I think, and it's also good from a pimping standpoint.

(Still super excited for your Lois squee though, did you know that yesterday was Lois Lane's birthday? #thingsilearnedfromtumblr)

Well, Hardison, Troy, Abed is three. I can come up with a few more POCs who are men who I'd do - Gunn, Charlie from TWW, Damian Wayne, Nightrunner, and possibly I could read up on Batwing - but I think you're not wrong that the Woman of Colour Who Doesn't Represent a Real Romantic Threat Because People Are Gross and She Gives Two Diversity Points, Checkit Out, We're So Diverse is a trope or could become one. (Hm, I wonder what TV tropes has to say about that?)

I look forward to a really savage DC-bashing lunch!

I wouldn't count Damian, but that's a cultural relativism thing -- because I'm from the Med myself he's not other to me. Levantines and Semites are my people. I'd forgotten Nightrunner though, shame on me. I also thought of Chin, who was pretty damn cool in Hawaii 5-0, ridiculous as the show was.

You're on!

Well, he's part-Chinese as well as Arabic, but I take your point.

He was pretty fabulous! Why the past tense? Did H50 get cancelled? I didn't notice any screams of agony from fandom!

I... am not sure if I forgot that, or if I didn't know that. What era canon is that from?

Nope, not cancelled, but it was a one weekend fandom for me, ie I read all the good fic in a single weekend, and there's been nothing to interest me since. Like Sherlock. ;-p I've never burnt out of a fandom faster than those two.

Current, AFAIK - it's based on Talia's descent. Ra's is Arabic and whoever Talia's mama was was European-Chinese - I think, anyway. & hence Damian.

Haha, I know exactly what you mean, although sometimes those fandoms just make me crazy e.g. a couple weeks ago

shihadchick recced this amazing fic and I just wanted it to have a HUGE fandom ALL for that pairing and it did not, and instead of being burnt out I've been tantalised. But I do know what you mean wrt: Sherlock, at least. Very repetitive.

So it's Morrison then? Maybe Batman and Son era? It's certainly not Son of the Demon, but we all know how well Morrison remembered that... I'm intrigued and want to go find it, not interrogating you, btw, *g*. Damn, I should just go wiki it... *grumble*

As for tantalising... A month or so ago I was talking to Meelie and she mentioned Thor/Loki and I was all pshaw, and then last week I read that one perfect fic, and now I DO want more, and there really isn't any. If only Shalott wasn't otherwise occupied, I'm sure she could have singlehandedly made it a big fandom... Babies, dagnabbit.

Heya dude. Can I confirm that Steph and Renee are both going ahead? 5 mins each? Or 15 all together, *g*?

i'm not 100% sure i can come, but if i do, i'll put my hand up for Rizzoli @ Isles (not showing here yet) with 2 (count 'em!) female leads. and maybe Jessica from Suits (also not showing here yet) because Gina Torres is awesome with a capital O. and Kono from Hawai'i Five-O, also capital O awesome. and both PoC as well... if i can squeeze it in, i'll also add Shawn and Gus from Psych, because they're so slashable and yet somehow not the main slash pairing in the fandom. </unrealistic expectations>

Yay! It feels like forever since I've seen you. I really hope you can make it. (Check out the booking thread in the accommodation post if you haven't already.)

I'm going to have to say no to Shawn and Gus, just because they've been done twice already, which flies in the face of the Unsung part of Unsung Heroes. (There was much outrage that Lassiter of all people gets the fic.) But. What a superb offering this is! I'll be delighted to see any/all of these. Actually, might you want to do a show pimp for Rizzoli and Isles instead? That way you could take the full 15 or 20 rather than being restricted to 5. :D

i didn't realise Psych had already been done. must have missed that year. and, yeah, i share your outrage - it just makes no sense to me at all.

i can pimp Rizolli and Isles, and if i have time Suits as well - nice slashy vibe going in that show.

If I can get organised, I'd like to do something for Kenzi from Lost Girl. So awesome I named my cat after her halfway through the season.

I have... never even heard of that. Would I be hideously wrong in guessing it's an anime?

Hideously! It's a canadian show that had its first season last year, about a succubus and her flatmate (Kenzi) who fight crime! It's a pretty terrible show but Kenzi is the awesomest.

Ha ha ha. EPIC FAIL.

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Volunteers wanted for Ladies of Awesome. Also POCs of awesome.

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