How serious
is this? Though I will say that this sounds like a global version of the Australian plan. Is this rumor or potentiality?
There's a new
Dr. Who trailer up, and okay, I am getting more willing to try out
Doctor Who 90210. Because Matt Smith looks much less twelve when he's actually speaking and moving around.
"When the people that control the laws of physics and the land supply and so on also get to choose the aesthetic theme of various areas, that seems to me to unfairly advantage those Residents with similar tastes, at the expense of everyone else. Is Second Life really 'Your World, Your Imagination'? Or is it 'Our World, Our Imagination, You['re] Allowed To Participate If You Follow The Theme'?"Good points all that Dale makes; but more than that, it goes back to my main point--I'm all
for resident creativity, and I think Second Life functions best when the Lindens interfere least; but it
is their world, not ours. At the end of the day all the accusations of creepy paternalism and interference rest at the Labs; because it
isn't "Our World, Our Imagination".
And it hasn't been for a very long time.
And John Carter McKnight contemplates
gender in Gor, and social science on SL. I'd tag on one additional comment to this, other than saying it is an interesting question, always--how much of what we choose to reflect to the world is hardwired to our personality, and how much is reflective of gender choice in virtual worlds? But what I want to pair with this is Forceme Silverspar's
experience switching gender. I think it's relevant regardless of who's switching to what--though I'll agree more with Forceme that men becoming women is inherently easier, and on a certain level, more "accepted", than women becoming men. I've only personally known one female who chose to rp as a male, instead of the other way 'round; and he was ruthless, abusive, and aggressive beyond all reason. His portrayal of a male in SL would have been offensive even if the typist had matched the avatar's gender; somehow (at least to me) it was worse, knowing this was a female who should have
known better.
I have been thinking about this since I read McKnight's blog entry. Apparently I have been operating under slightly less accurate information than I knew. Prior to those words, I thought I was in the 'new crowd' of SL users; those who joined during 2006, in the last big wave of new residents. As he puts it, I'm actually lumped in with "everyone before 2007"; 2007 being the start of the big, foundation-shaking changes. Or to use his terms, the switch of SL culture from "frontier" (you are who you say you are; you are what your actions make you, honorable or not honorable) to "metropolis" (you have to back up who you say you are, and you will be harshly judged if you fail; you are what your credentials say you are, and you will be mocked if your credentials don't match your words).
Personally, at least regarding gender in SL, I'm definitely more comfortable assuming the gender in front of me is the gender I'm addressing; I don't tend to engage much in "she is SO a guy behind the screen" thinking: unless it's obviously someone fetished to the max with triple-J prim breasts, perky little kitten emotes, and a name that mentions either anatomy or level of sexiness.
I could be
wrong in this; I freely admit that. And that
is a judgmental line to hold; but I never claimed to be fair and unbiased. And I still think anyone changing gender to deal with SL residents needs to strongly consider either an alt, that is the gender portrayed and very little else, or make no mention of gender in the profile.
But I'm not a social researcher, so.
(Also, if you want to read the first bit of McKnight's series--"
The Closing of the Alt Frontier", well, there it is, you can now.)
In music...meet
Nervous Doll Dancing.
According to a
history page found elsewhere, Nervous Doll Dancing, otherwise known as Francesca Mountfort, is a cellist born in New Zealand who graduated from the Victoria University of Wellington in 2002, studied under two symphonies local to Wellington, before deciding to relocate to Melbourne, Australia. She has a wide and eclectic diversity of music she's interested in, and she's played everything from solo-music background gigs for poetry readings to full-on punk cabaret.
Did the
avant-garde wave of cellists just become co-opted into the steampunk music movement at large? Because I'm beginning to think that if a band has a cellist, and they have an interest in dark carnivals, retro-punk rhythms, and scattered Victoriana, they're in.
Nervous Doll Dancing
might be in. I haven't really listened to enough yet. I found some of her work with
Carousel on YouTube (she's the one with the cello on the right, natch). I also found a cover of Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love", by Noemi Liba, where the cello work is provided by Francesca Mountfort. But she's tipping me towards thinking overall, yes, she's steampunk--in tone and composition, if not in specific intent.
And briefly, finally, I want to touch on
Evelyn Evelyn. My original intent--and what I've been waiting with breathless anticipation
for--was to carry on the fiction of the twins in art and performance.
Even now, I feel that the pairing of
Jason Webley and
Amanda Palmer having to practice walking, playing instruments, and singing in concert--and having done this together, whenever they can find the time,
for the past three years--was
mind-blowing as a side project. They've even gotten
Cynthia von Buhler on board, who will be penning-and-inking the graphic novel forthcoming from hometown favorites,
Dark Horse Comics (and yay for them, they ROCK, and they always have).
And it's not as if there haven't been performing
real conjoined twins in the past
to the present day. The most famous case, I think, is the Hilton Sisters,
Daisy and Violet, who were performers throughout much of their lives, in good fortune and bad.
(Daisy and Violet Hilton, in addition to singing, starred in two films: Tod Browning's Freaks, shown above, and Chained for Life.)(There are also notable additional cases, like
Millie and Christine McCoy,
Ronnie and Donnie Galyon, now retired, and
Lori and George Schappell, where George has a singing career, and her twin does not.)
But on the heels of all the enthusiasm--and still a day or two before the official record release notification--came this:
Evelyn Evelyn: Ableism Ableism?The hell. Now, Amanda in turn responded with not
one but
two blog entries on the topic, but in essence, what it boils down to is this:
* Artists decide they want to collaborate in a very new way;
* Word leaks out;
* Oversensitive people get
oversensitive.
I mean, seriously, that's it--and as Amanda points out, she is very glad her fans are literate and thoughtful, but at the end of the day, it's all bitching about exploitation, which isn't the case, and blogging about how insensitive it is to create a back story for the two girls that features circus oppression and a lack of socialization (and frankly, I'm still trying to figure out why people are so incensed about the child porn angle, which I can't find a direct reference of from either
Webley or Palmer).
So, fine. I'm no one as far as the big blogging world goes, but damn it, I can't sit back and say
nothing about this, for two very good reasons:
1. (Which I think is most important) I think the music they're doing, the dancehall-oddity performance of it, and the clever witty lyrics of the songs I've heard fits
very well into what I'm developing as recognizable steampunk music.
2. How. Is this. Hurting.
ANY OF YOU?!?I'm dead serious. Anyone who's offended, who
isn't:* a conjoined twin who's feeling personally attacked;
* a disabled woman who's experienced sexual abuse and/or emotional abuse at the hands of parental figures who put you on display;
* someone who's been personally turned down for employment for
more than a year because of
how they look;
SHUT. THE HELL. UP.What is
wrong with you people? It's
art. It's MUSIC. Debate the issues it raises, fine. Debate the ethical angle, sure. Debate what circuses and sideshows were like, whatever. Debate the writing and the back story itself, you have that right.
Just as
I have the right to say you don't have a dog in this fight if you don't fit one of the categories--or
all of the categories--above.
Amanda Palmer has gotten a lot of heat for this one line sent out on Twitter:
setting aside 846 emails and removing the disabled feminists from her mental periphery, @ sat down to plan her next record.In case any of the gerbils in the audience missed the meaning behind that? She sent out another tweet clearing it up:
for those who didn't understand that one: i will re-translate: "time to make art. not time to argue points with people."She was
NEVER SAYING she hated feminists; she was
NEVER SAYING she hated the disabled; she never said at all that she was mocking anyone. CHILL THE HELL OUT, PEOPLE.I have to register support for the project; not because I'm resigned to people doing stupid things to wake up callous minds, but precisely because I think the time for slamming Evelyn Evelyn was
three frigging years ago. More than that, they have both worked
hard on this, and it's innovative, damn it. As
well as being an
homage to conjoined performers in the past.
America, far more than the rest of the world, is a country where we work to erase our past
as we embrace it. We are a culture where "old" is "anything made before 1977". Moreover, we are a culture where children are routinely modified to pass parental, and doctoral approval.
When was the last time you saw anyone with a
cleft palate? Or
three eyes? Some of the war wounds that people returned home from in World War I were nothing short of horrific; to the point of
masks being created to cover the most obvious, socially jarring disfigurements.
Remember, that's clear back in 1920; but now? Cosmetic surgery is
routine. Extra fingers? We'll trim that one off. Not enough fingers? We'll replace one with a toe. Child not the right gender? No problem, we'll just nip that off, invert that other thing, and your child is
perfect.
We are not perfect. We are a country and a planet that has genetic flaws. We cannot
hide this fact in make-believe and cosmetic surgery. And the incredible
arrogance in it is galling, and worse, more appalling than the actual conditions in the
first place.
The
real tragedy in all this controversy? Is that people are arguing the wrong damned points. You all should be up in arms and screaming about how often the choice is made to save
one conjoined twin by letting the other
die--where is the concept of 'sanctity of life' there? Oh, but a shared, paired life of everyday inconveniences, why, that's
far worse than picking which twin
lives, you're so
right.
You can hear snips of the first, Webley-produced effort
here, tossed up on the web, I surmise, because it was such a limited edition vinyl press. You can also see an animated video Alex de Campi made in support of
Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn? Which manages to be both completely charming
and scathingly adult at the same time; I'm amused. And you can see the very beginnings of the project
here, where Amanda and Jason are seen playing an accordion together, standing on stage.
Support it or not, it's your choice. They'll sell records or they won't, with or without the controversy. Just stop
screaming at the woman, it's undignified. And beneath all of you.
