Why a whelk...

From fandomsecrets:

( BIG PICSHUR with lolediting )

OVER 400? Really? Is that what that says? I find that hard to believe, secretmaker. I have no way of checking, but that sounds... excessive, even for the grudgewankers at who_anon. I don't post that much about me, and I find myself reasonably fascinating. So, yeah... if that's true, then, whoa. Weirdness. (Admission: I'm kind of obsessively trying to do the maths on this one, because I've tracked things in my inbox before, and I know that the email format mentions the previous comment in any comment reply, so if I were mentioned in one comment, any comment replying to that comment would have the original comment quoted in it, so the first reply, and second mention of my name, would bring the count to three, etc etc. Even so, I still think 400 is a lot. I should stop thinking about this, probably. BAWWWW MOAR, TENCRUSH! etc.)

Speaking of internet haters who should be doing better things with their time, i.e. me, a personal note to the person who made this:



(The one that says ILU) This picture inspired me to use an openface Cooper style font in my header image, because it reminded me how fond I actually am of that font, especially the openface variety. (Mine is Alfredo, but this is beside the point.) Of all the images and messages on the Ianto shrine, I actually quite like this one, because it's sweet, as, to be fair, are most of the others. That's why I mentioned it, albeit sarcastically. That's just an aside, oh maker-of-the-ILU-picture, I am sure your heart and your sentiments are in the right place, as is the heart of everyone else who put something up on that shrine in Cardiff Bay. I have nothing personal against anyone who has done so, I, myself would have LOVED to have put something up on that shrine to Ianto because I miss him LIKE BURNING, I am still angry, I am still sad, I am still frustrated. My problem with the shrine is the same problem I have with the SaveIanto pdf, and the Save Ianto campaign in general, and it's that you, people of the Save Ianto campaign, have hijacked my grief and my anger and my frustration and used it to support your Annie Wilkes-style campaign to pester and bully and spam the BBC and anyone else you can think of with the message that IANTO JONES MUST BE RETURNED TO TORCHWOOD OR ELSE. Just like all the quotes you ganked for your document, just like all the charitable donations made to Children in Need, again with the way you've claimed this shrine as your own you're twisting people's genuine, heartfelt expressions and using them to claim support for your cause. And still, I can see from my inbox, you genuinely don't understand why this upsets and angers people. (People like me, but not just me, I just happen to talk about it sometimes.) Duh, dudes. Double duh.

Speaking of moving on and getting over it, though, Lessons in Torchwood Irony, part one: letiantorest. Hur, hur. I know, let's Let Ianto Rest by starting a community about Letting Ianto Rest called letiantorest. Guys, protip: Letting Ianto Rest: UR DOIN IT WRONG. There is not a smidgeon of irony to be found in the posts and comments, which is funny enough, but the fact that it seems to centre around self-importantly declaring it a space where fans can be Better Than Other Fans, while at the same time expressing a wish to Bring The Fandom Back Together is just... oh, fuck, it's delicious. You never fail to bring the luls, TW fans. Don't ever change.

I am rewatching TW S2 for Ianto and his phone. He is not on the phone enough in S2, I'm five episodes in and already grasping at straws. I may well have to lump it in with CoE, which is full of phoney Iantoey goodness, apart from the part in which he becomes dead. But I don't have to watch that part, because I'm pretty certain he's not on the phone after that happens.

Yeah, that's it, I'm outta here.

( Big hotlinked picture, sue me. )

Comic Sans. I didn't take you guys very seriously, but NOW you've convinced me with your Comic Sans there.

BRB LOLLING FOREVER.

Actually, scratch that, that ENTIRE WALL is a like a SHRINE TO TASTELESS FONTS (and lovehearts!)

IANTO WOULD KILL YOU ALL for the fonts alone.

ETA: Also, that one in the left column, third down, that promo pic, anyone else ever thought GDL had weird feet in that picture? No? Just me, then?

Remind me never to start leaving comments at the sites of obscure Welsh newspapers. It never ends well, that sort of thing.

aviv_b sent me this link:

HERE IT IS

to an article about the Save Ianto Jones campaign, which is interesting, not for the logic fail of the "100,000 fans" claim, but mostly for the fact that in all of seven comments, already an in-fight has broken out between the various factions of Iantofen.

PLUS, THEY DON'T MENTION PONIES AND I HATE WHEN THEY DON'T MENTION PONIES, SOMEBODY GO OVER THERE AND MENTION PONIES FOR ME.

ETA: I don't know who you are, saucery, but thank you for mentioning ponies. You could have added a link. :P

I went to post a comment somewhere and found I'd been banned from someone's journal. I've never been banned from anyone's journal before, and I quite like the person in question and don't recall ever having had a disagreement with them of any kind. Random defriendings by people who I thought were my actual friends I can deal with, but banning? Wow. Ouch.

Speaking of which, this is kind of where I am at the moment:

• There's not a lot of joy for me left in Whovian fandom. I'll probably post something later about how much I hated Waters of Mars. I have no desire to watch anything RTD has produced or DT stars in, and I am only just managing to hold on to a scrap of enthusiasm for when Moffat and Smith come in. I hate Russell, I hate everything he's ever written, I think he's awful. His insistence on bringing all this emotional manpain and trauma into these shows that used to just be a joyful experience for me and, in the case of Who, for my kids, has ruined my fannish experience. I want the last three years of my life back, I wish I'd never started watching Torchwood, I wish I'd stopped watching Who. I don't need television that pisses me off and makes me sad, that's not what I watch television for. Fuck you Russell, I hope LA chews you up and spits you out and fucks you in the ass with a pointy stick.


• Ianto did make me happy for quite a few years, which is why I'm working on a last epic picspam of my favourite teaboy doing shit. I hope to have it done in a week or two.


• I'm also working on something of a personal project celebrating Torchwood Series One and Two, which I hope to tell you more about in the coming weeks. Or maybe I'll just abandon it.


• I was hoping to do a Christmas push on the Ianto Jones Wants a Pony campaign, but the Lluest Horse and Pony Trust's continued inability to update me is starting to annoy me a bit, so maybe I'll leave it. After Christmas, I'm done promoting it because I think I've done enough. I'll leave it up, of course.


• Any takers for ninja_teaboy may give me shout here or in PM. I'm putting it up for adoption per January 1st. If there's no-one interested, I'll close it down.


• Oh, in case you were wondering, no. If there is a new series of Torchwood, I won't be watching it, as I don't really like Gwen, or Jack. I liked Tosh and Ianto and I quite enjoyed disliking Owen. I liked Ianto, I liked Tosh, I liked the Hub, the embossed SUV, the pteranodon, the old ladies, the poodles, the victorian lesbianism, the cyberbikinis and that stupid fucking invisible lift. In fact, I loved all those things. Apparently I loved those things far too much. Those things are all gone, so there's nothing for me to come back to. Not that there will be a new series.


• It's been really fun, people, but if you've friended me for Torchwood content, please, feel free to defriend me in the coming weeks, I won't be offended. I am completely spent. Done. Thanks, Rusty.

It's weird how, now that the CoE wangst has died down, the anti-GDL vitriol is slowly seeping its way into TW fandom. I swear, all I've read lately is he's fat and shit and ugly and will never work again. Was there some sort of fannish peer-pressure induced embargo on these opinions? Are they new? Or is karaokegal just really bored recently? (*waves* You know I'm only joking, right?)

Hey, you know what? Yeah, he's a bit porky at the mo, I still reserve the right to say that, but at the end of the day that is just his business and nobody else's. And he's looking scruffy. Again, his choice. And he's choosing some iffy projects. Again, whatever pays the bills. I happen to think he's rather fetching from certain angles, but everyone's mileage may vary on that one. What I don't quite understand is people's fannish investment in his porky/scruffy/b-movie ways. Is it really that important? I get this feeling lately that some people out there are actually personally offended by his choice of wardrobe or indeed film, while others are absolutely relishing the fact that he's looking bloated or taking on a shit project. It's like there's some sort of war waging that I am completely unaware of between the haters who desperately want to see him fail and the uberfans who desperately want him to get his act together and can't stand the fact that he's choosing instead to doss around and do bugger all of value for a bit.

Is this true? Are we fighting? Should I be choosing a side? Can I be Swiss?

There is yet another Children of Earth denialist Torchwood fan community out there and it is here:

tw_hysterical9

I am pimping it here on this journal for a few reasons. The first being that they've kindly linked to my PONY APPEAL, which is very nice of them. Secondly because they sort of asked me to a little bit because of my status as Torchwood BMF (that's not BNF, but BMF, which stands for BAMF!, otherwise known as BIGMOTHERFUCKINGFAN, and as such carries no implications of status or fame or indeed likeability.) And lastly because it finally seems like a place that doesn't take itself TOO seriously. I know there's lots of post-CoE-save-Ianto-hate-Russell-won't-watch-again type communities out there, but to be totally honest, we could do with one that isn't quite such serious business.

I never joined savecoffeeboy. I can understand why LOADS of people did join Save Coffee Boy, but I personally never got the point. I started the pony appeal because I wanted to show appreciation for what Ianto was without actually pushing a bring-Ianto-back agenda into anybody's face. I fully appreciate that lots of people want Ianto back, but I'm also a realist. I didn't like Children of Earth, but Ianto's death only played a very small part in the reasons why I didn't like Children of Earth. I won't be watching Torchwood again, but not just because Ianto's not in it, thought that's a big part of it. The thing is, though, I understand that in the scheme of things, nobody in any position to give a shit gives a shit that I didn't like CoE, that I want Ianto back, or that I won't be watching Torchwood again. Torchwood, as a franchise, doesn't NEED ME, any more than it needs you, dear reader, to approve of its direction. It got the viewing figures it wanted, and that, quite simply, is the end of the story. I LOVE the fact that there's so many people out there campaigning for Ianto's return, that they're raising money, sending coffee and making shrines, but I just don't have the optimism required to actually join them. Ianto's not coming back. Myfanwy's not coming back because ha, she must have asploded or something. They killed Torchwood, and that is the state of things. The state of things is not going to change. Now don't get me wrong, I am INCREDIBLY UPSET about the state of things. But what are you going to do?

So anyway, yes, the hysterical 9 community. I've already been reading a few things on there, and it makes me happy that people are now, calmly and rationally, talking about what happened. I'm seeing more and more of that around, actual meta and thoughts about why we're so upset, why we can't just get over it, why we're hurt and grieving, and I'm enjoying reading it.

Speaking of which, solitary_summer wrote some long but very interesting meta here about CoE and what it was about. I wish I could subscribe to this point of view, but the fact of the matter is that I feel that if this was how we were meant to view Jack's arc over the three series, I think it was executed badly. Jack's characterisation is, for me, quite simply too inconsistent to see him as having this progression and development. I'd love to just take this as read and ignore any bits of Jack that contradict it, but I'm terrible at ignoring bits I've seen. Damn. Having said that, remember back when I said I thought I'd found some beauty in CoE and something to like, but then I lost it? The things written in this essay, that's the thing I was grasping at but couldn't see anymore for all the ugliness. I can sort of see it now, but not clearly enough to change my opinion on the series. But I'm happy I read this.

Okay, this is probably going to be a long one. I've decided to write two posts about the allegations of homophobia people have been throwing at the BBC and RTD in light of Children of Earth. This is the first.

( Somewhat tealdeerish, talk of RTD, slash, homophobia and misogyny )

Man, this post is long enough already, I'll talk about what those iffy signals were in a later post. I felt I needed to get over my upset about Ianto before being able to talk about those things succinctly, but I'm over it now, and I feel they need to be discussed.

John Barrowman on season 4: "We gotta get Jack a new piece of ass."

Quite.


Link to interview, courtesy of forgiveninasong, here.

I don't really have any words left about the way what we were watching has been twisted beyond all recognition by those involved in making it. I really, honestly, just have no words left for this. I am completely talked out about my rage and my incredulity and my whatever else it is I've got that I can't find the words for anymore. I was watching a different show, dudes, a show with respect for the characters and the relationships and the world that was created and the messages that were sent. How did I let that happen? When did that happen? What a fucking joke that was. Ha ha.

It's no wonder I want to buy the man a pony, really. For fuck's sake, he's been through enough shit.

I said yesterday how much this guy has ruined Who for me, and now Torchwood as well, and the thing is, I'm sure he didn't MEAN TO. But he did. How did he do that, though? Well, I've been thinking about that, and the thing is, that Russell and I just don't see eye to eye on relationships, and here's why.

There's two relationships that Russell has touted or described using the words "love" and/or "romance" and they are Doctor/Rose and Jack/Ianto. The thing about Jack/Ianto is that Russell didn't really have a very firm hand in the development and depiction of that relationship in Series One and Two of Torchwood, which makes it very interesting to see what happens to that relationship the moment that Russell DOES start to stir that particular pot in Series Three, and it's a very telling thing that happens. The relationship that we so desperately tried to fanwank away as having something of an equal footing about it, as being something of a partnership in S1 and 2 immediately, in Day One of S3, is very clearly depicted as a relationship between a STRONG and a WEAK partner. Ianto suddenly becomes Rose in S2 of Who, unsure of their position in the affections of the other, not even sure enough and confident enough to OUTRIGHT ASK what their position is, and reduced to slightly underhanded nagging about mortgages or the word "couple" in order to try and gauge what the other partner is thinking and how the other partner sees them. The dominant partner is dismissive, cold even, and the questioning party is left to shrug off that coldness and accept what's on offer because this is pretty much it, so take it or leave it. And they take it. Like a bitch.

We know how both of those relationships ended because they ended in exactly the same way, with tears and an unrequited "I love you" on the side of the weaker party. Now the thing about both of these relationships is, and I think that's what many people fail to understand, that Russell really - genuinely - finds this type of interaction romantic. This interaction between the doting, devoted (we as an audience might say "foolish") underdog and an uncommunicative, closed off stronger half, Russell really digs that shit. And when we, as an audience, say to Russell that we find what we see on screen unsatisfying, maybe because we like our romances to be between equals and not so weirdly skewed, Russell really doesn't get why. And so when we say we were missing something in Jack/Ianto, Russell assumes, because he thinks it was fucking romantic, that we think they didn't have enough sex, when that's precisely the opposite of what we were missing. He's not being dismissive, he just doesn't understand our point of view. At all. And he never will. This is IT for him, this is the epitome of romance. Look at Doctor/Jack, the exact mirror of Jack/Ianto, the relationship where Jack is the foolish devoted one and the Doctor is the one being cold and unappreciative and closed. We feel for Jack in that relationship and we hate the Doctor in that moment for brushing his devotion off so casually. (Not as much as I hate Jack for brushing off Ianto, but that's only because the Doctor at least has the decency not to fuck those he keeps at arm's length.) Hell, look at Gwen/Rhys even, again, a relationship where we side with the underdog Rhys and really, when we look at the relationship objectively, think Rhys deserves better than what Gwen gives him (her superhuman rewrite in S3 notwithstanding). I won't go so far as to psychoanalyse RTD, dudes, but let's face it, the lovestruck puppy and the strong silent type, that really is Rusty's bag, baby. It ain't mine. Unfortunately.

Yes, I am angry at RTD for what he gave us in S3 of Torchwood, but mostly, I'm angry at myself for getting my hopes up that Russell would ever be able to step away from this default relationship template and give me something that would satisfy me. He can't. This is the formula that Russell writes to and it's a formula that I, personally, don't like, because I like my romance with a smidgeon of equality. And so, inevitably, I will never like anything that Russell writes. It's never going to work between me and Russell and I've now resigned myself to that. So, yeah. That's me and Russell done. Forever.

On a side note, I believe the reason RTD is so adamant that Ianto is DEAD DEAD DEAD NEVER COMING BACK NO WAY NO HOW, and not toeing the standard keep-em-hooked sci-fi line of "anything can happen, folks!" is twofold. First, I think these are the protests of a man who has been defending this decision for a while now. This isn't the first time it's been questioned, I reckon it's been questioned internally, probably reasonably vehemently, because these are the words of a man who has been digging his big gay heels in for quite some time now, shouting his way out of a corner he's been pushed into once too often. And secondly, he's so adamant about this BECAUSE JACK IS NOT COMING BACK. Jack will exit the narrative in Who, and John's not telling us this because he's still contractually obligated to toe a party line, but mark my words, Jack will leave the story or turn into the face of Boe in Who, leaving us with ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to bring Ianto back. Because Ianto's function in the narrative has only ever been to be Jack's lover and tell us as an audience more about Jack as a person. Ianto's never really been upgraded to his-own-man status in Rusty's eyes, and with the exit of Jack, Ianto will cease to have a purpose in the story, whatever it may be. Those are my thoughts on that Ianto is dead as a doornail thing. Yeah, of course, Rusty's also saying it because he loves to piss off the fanbase, that's like a masochistic thing he's really into, but apart from that, those are my reasonings as to why he's saying that.

I wish I could stop thinking about fucking Torchwood already.