Postcards from Oz - AU Edition

Two anonymous online support groups that should exist, but unfortunately don't. At least not to my knowledge...


1. Christmas Phobics Anonymous. Not that I dislike Christmas per se. Also, I actually look forward to many of the things that usually come with the event. Card writing,  buying and giving presents, Christmas fairs, watching Christmas-y movies on TV, making my annual donation to Doctors without Borders. But all the social obligations and general business preceding Christmas Eve? Tend to make me rather anxious every time.

2. Anonymous Fans of Käptn Peng und die Tentakel von Delphi  Older Than 30 (Vereinigung Anonymer Käptn Peng Anhänger Ü30) .Cavendish and I went to their concert in Bochum last Monday. A simply wonderful experience, which I enjoyed so much I would like to draw sparkling hearts around it. But being able to clearly identify Cavendish and me on a picture taken during the concert and posted at the band's facebook site? More than just slightly weird, though a great virtual souvenir to remember a fantastic evening.


As for somewhat more age-appropriate cultural pursuits *g*:

Bernard Schultze: Gegenwelten at the Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg, 19th October 2012 until 20th January 2013. I hadn't heard of the artist before we went there on Sunday, though Schultze apparently is being regarded as one of Germany's most important post WW II avantgardists. Very impressive exhibition, especially the sculptures, sometimes standing, sometimes dangling and mostly amorphous objects which Schultze named "migofs" and which possess an undeniably suggestive and nightmarish quality. Some of them reminded me of Hieronymus Bosch.

A rather normal Tuesday afternoon at Casa Bimo, roughly about 5 o'clock. BimoDad comes in, they both have coffee and apple pie, chatting about this and that. After a while BimoDad gets up from the coffee table, walks over to Bimo's TV set and grabs a S1 box set of Boston Legal lying on top of the DVD player. The following dialog ensues...

BimoDad: Oh, Boston Legal! Daughter, please don't tell me you actually bought this?
Bimo: Well, I didn't. Cavendish did.
BimoDad (frowning): Well...
Bimo: We've just watched the first bunch of episodes and to tell the truth, we rather like it so far. You think it's rubbish?
BimoDad: Not at all. Shatner's brilliant. And that guy who was Daniel Jackson in the original [Stargate] movie is great, too. [A small pause, more frowning, though BimoDad appears rather amused] You two really should have learned by now.
Bimo: What?
BimoDad: To come to me first. I've got all seasons on DVD. This is just like the Farscape incident...

During the minutes that followed I had trouble stopping my father, in his enthusiasm, from giving away some important S1 plot developments and thus spoiling me, as we really are just a bunch of episodes into the show.


Oh, and on matters completely unrelated to this: I just got a reply from the ZDF broadcasting station regarding my inquiry about the brief Robert Gwisdek feature I was interested in but cannot watch/record myself for technical reasons:


Sehr geehrte Frau Bimo RealName,

vielen Dank für Ihr Schreiben.

"Abgeschminkt - Robert Gwisdek" 22.03.2012

Leider können wir ihnen erst dann ein Angebot machen, wenn die Sendung ausgestrahlt wurde.
Wir bitten sie deshalb ihre Anfrage erst dann zu starten.

Thank you for that non-answer folks. (They basically said, they can't get back to me/make any offer before the feature's been broadcast.) All I wanted was to know in advance if I can simply obtain a copy via the ZDF of if I have to try finding someone in my circle of friends/relatives who can record the feature for me.

ETA: The ZDF people just got back to me. Yup, apparently it's possible to obtain a copy from them. Yeah! :-)

I'm usually rather skeptical about Web 2.0 type social media (hesitant to register, hesitant to use), and before I ever register on Face Book, hell will probably have frozen over about three different times in a row. However, a couple of days ago I succumbed to temptation and got myself a shiny new Pinterest account (Pinterest is a bit like a virtual scrapbook, a visual and less complex version of Delicio.us and will probably prove to be just the same type of "fun as long as it lasts" thing.)

Well, what do I say. I surf, I see and I like to impose some sort of order on my findings as much as the next internet user does. Also, I'm fascinated by the comparative speed, easiness and arbitrariness of the whole affair.

Heh, it's been nearly two weeks now, but I finally got around to resizing some of the pictures Cavendish took during the grand kitchen exchange...


( Quite a difference )

Back in 2003 I finally succumbed to the Dark Side started journaling just a couple of weeks after selenak had introduced me to Farscape. So out of sheer curiosity I went back to check my old journal entries for any Farscape-related thoughts I might have posted during that period, only to find that apparently I had never shared this poor little ficlet in my journal (which is kind of odd, because up to this very day it is one of my personal favourites)


Title: Floating
Author: Bimo
Setting: S1, right after the pilot episode
Summary: How do you cope with completely alien surroundings? As long as there are miracles, there's hope...
Notes: Thanks to Selena, for introducing me to the wonderful world of Farscape, and to Kathy, for beta-reading :-)


( Floating )

As now is as good a time as any to get back to a more regular mode of posting, here are some thoughts from a comment I originally left in selenak's journal this morning:

On Liz Taylor:

You know, for most of what I tend to call my "adult film watching life" (which must have started around the time I was thirteen) I have always struggled with that oddly janus-faced image I have of Elizabeth Taylor. One face being that of the heavily made-up matron appearing in all those horrible 1980s yellow press magazines lying around at my grandmother's home, and the other face that of the radiant, highly talented actress. The first movie I ever saw Taylor in was Giant, which of course features that immensely powerful scene when Taylor's character, a New England society girl, first lays eyes on the profitable but barren-looking ranch of her newly-made Texan husband.

On *cough, ahem* ST: Voyager I never thought I would openly admit my latest addiction

You guys wouldn't by any chance know where to start looking for read-worthy ST: Voyager fanfic? After finishing our DS9 marathon, Cavendish and I have moved straight on to Voyager (season 5, by now). And while I never thought I would say this, both the individual characters and the plot lines have grown on me. Altogether a much better show than I remembered it to be. Maybe I'm getting mellow with age. *g*

...but, um, yeah...

WHITE CHRISTMAS! Here in north-western Rhineland, a place where such a phenomenon is practically unheard of.

There are probably some unwritten laws of nature prohibiting such a thing and now we are all doomed. Not sure whether this is brilliant or scary.

I'll better go out and fetch the newspaper. As long as I can still get through to my mailbox, because, yes, it's still snowing.

Oh, wait! Cavendish is going out and he's taking pictures. He can fetch my newspaper, can't he?


A merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate! :-D

I don't know if anyone else on my f-list ever has ever experienced this, but sometimes, when watching classic movies, I catch myself thinking: "This so should have a fandom!"

The latest case in a long row is Gunfight at the OK Corral, US 1957, by John Sturges. Based on the legendary historical shoot out, it's got everything that it needs to capture one's imagination, starting with an intriguing plot, great visuals, fabulous direction, soundtrack and eye candy acting. Young Kirk Douglas. Burt Lancaster. Very young Dennis Hopper. Oh and did I mention DeForest Kelley as additional bonus for Trekkers?

The characters and the messed-up dynamics they have with each other are a real treat for the sophisticated angst fan. Just imagine a terminally ill gambler and occasional gun fighter, haunted by a tragic past, flying on auto-destruct, and, due to circumstances, befriended by an outwardly doubtless and pitch-perfect law man.

Amazing potential for shippers, regardless whether of the slash or het conviction, as central facets of both male protagonists are also reflected in relationships they have with women. In the case of the law man, Wyatt Earp, the film grants you a melancholic, little, never-quite fulfilled romance, a story of "If Not's" and "Could Have Been's." Doc Holliday and mistress Kitty Fisher, in contrast, are painted obsessive and dark, their screwed-up dynamics tragic and almost painful to watch.

As both Earp and Holliday, against all odds, actually do survive the great show-down, there's enormous potential for continuation, either backed up by historical canon, or as AU as one pleases, depending on taste.

Just imagine the possibilities for debate, alternate interpretations of characters and history. Or, on the not so nice side, the flame wars initiated in order to silence defenders of Kitty's actions…

This film so should have a fandom. And some of my favourite authors writing Holliday stories ;-)

This entry was originally begun and intended as a reply to a wonderful, read- and squee-worthy Doctor Who post by astrogirl2, but at one point I realized that my thoughts had run off into a more universal and somewhat off topic direction. Probably , because the following remark by Astrogirl really hit a sensitive spot:

"I'm developing this psychological block against admitting to the fact that I love the show, and I love this season, and I love it all with a deep and joyful love. Because that makes me feel like I must be stupid and politically suspect or something, in the eyes of fans I genuinely respect."

In situations like this I usually opt for a decidedly anti-social approach by trusting my own interpretation of the source material more than I trust the findings of others.

Of course I keep reading the ongoing discussions, apply my own brain to the presented arguments and am certainly not above re-evaluating if I find that somebody else's points are actually more valid than mine.

But that doesn't stop me from being a bloody cultural relativist at core.

Due to my own daily surroundings, age, education, ethnicity, philosophical, literary and aesthetic convictions, I will always read things differently, access and understand things differently than someone who was raised in another cocoon of socio-cultural surroundings and whose individual background and daily experiences do not match my own.

If interpretations of source material and canon do vary, this doesn't necessarily mean that one of us is wrong, ignorant and possibly evil, I think. Quite often it is merely a sign that we are reading stuff through different cultural lenses and with our own respective cognitive bias.

Is it important to not t hide one's head in the sand? To actively inform oneself about other people's findings, to acknowledge, respect and - where necessary – also to adopt or vehemently question, depending on case? Yes. (In fact, one could easily make a point that this is not only important, but rather a self-evident necessity and obligation as a decent, intelligent human being.)

However, I think that the very same degree of curiosity, respect and acceptance we hold for the opinions of others should also apply to our own subjective opinions and findings.

As much as I wish to understand the dynamics at work behind my own judgements (and this wish to understand also includes the detection of any potential blind spots) I refuse to feel guilty about not seeing what I cannot possibly see from my own subjective perspective.

Because the lenses are natural.

If we are being alert and smart enough, we can keep struggling to frequently sharpen and re-focus them. Attempt to paint them in different colours, so they might allow an alternate experience of the whole spectrum.

But one fact always remains. No matter how hard we try, in the end the frelling things are impossible to completely change or remove. This doesn't make anyone of us a better or lesser, more competent or incompetent fan person and reader.

There is no such thing as a privileged, universally true point of view. My own reading is counting as much as that of the person next door.

( Just picture spam, folks. Pictures taken for Joyful_Molly and dedicated to all anonymous and non-anonymous mug collectors out there *g* )



Disclaimer: No mug or animal was harmed during the making of this presentation.