In celebration of Women’s History Month, I have joined up with some other amazing bloggers to celebrate! This is the fifth year that I have participated in this series with Michael of My Comic Relief, Kalie of Just Dread-full, and Jeff of The Imperial Talker and this year I choose FBI Special Agent Dana Scully, MD, of The X-Files fame. This iconic role began in 1993 and spanned eleven seasons and two movies over the course of twenty-five years before ending (for good?) in 2018.
By Kalie Zamierowski of Just Dread-full
Dear readers, gather around the campfire—okay, or the computer screen—as I regale you with a story. Throughout time, we’ve been entertained with tales of heroes—the Mighty Achilles, Sir Gawain, Beowulf…Spider-Man, Superman, Ant-Man, Xena the Warrior Princess…and the list goes on. I’m here today, however, to discuss a different hero—a single woman who, at a young age, was relegated to a cold, imprisoning underground lair not by any evil villain, but by her own image, staring back at her in a funhouse mirror. For years, the subterranean woman lived among her subterranean people, a group of have-nots who were tethered to those in the world above, who “lived the lives” of those above ground, albeit without all the artifacts and accoutrements associated with living. Angry at her fate, this young woman grew up and devised a plan, inspired by the image on a t-shirt, that could be executed with a mere lighter and a few pairs of scissors. The woman planned not just to take over a city, a state, or a nation, but, with the help of the others who lived with her underground, to take over the world, to re-populate the world above ground with her enslaved, tethered people. She did not want fame, power, or fortune—merely justice and the warm light of the sun, for herself and those she lived among. Thus, with nothing but cunning brilliance, a few dull sheers, an eccentric family, and some kickass dance moves, a young woman and her family entered the “ordinary world,” intent on inhabiting it by dominating it.
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Yesterday was National Cinema Day. In honor of this, my local movie theatre set every ticket for every seat for every show for every movie – regular seats, the D-Box seats, or 3-D shows – at only $3!!! As a result, I embarked upon something I’ve only dreamt of. I spent the entire day at the movies. It wasn’t a double feature (which I’ve enjoyed for years whenever time allows) nor a triple feature (more rare but a I’ve done them all the same). No, today I attempted the QUADRUPLE FEATURE. I arrived at Tinseltown, our local Cinemark theatre, a little after noon and I got in my car to head home right before midnight. This is the story of a dream that turned into a journey. A journey that became a quest. A quest which will live on in legend.
This is a piece I wrote awhile back but never posted. I’d planned to use it to help fill the quiet on the blog as I was writing my book (yay!) but, well, I just kinda forgot. What can I say? Life was busy. But with Westworld Season Four arriving this weekend, I figured it was the perfect time to share it! Enjoy!
This last HBO show I became completely obsessed with was Westworld. As I started it just months after I watched (and raved incessantly about) The Leftovers,[1] my brother was worried I’d fall into the “HBO Cult” and become one of those people who ONLY talks about HBO shows. Granted, this fear was more prevalent and the reality more pervasive in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s before the rise of streaming services changed our experience of TV. But David’s fear/warning was valid all the same and I agree; “those HBO people” can be SO ANNOYING. Thankfully, while I spent a lot of time thinking and talking about Westworld, HBO never fully consumed me. There are still plenty of things I like to think and talk about. So, let’s think and talk about HBO’s Westworld, shall we?
As Women’s History Month draws to a close, I am concluding our Fiction’s Fearless Females series with two Star Trek friends, Doctor Beverly Crusher and Counselor Deanna Troi. This is the fourth year that Kathleen and I have participated in this series and joining us is Michael of My Comic Relief, Kalie of Just Dread-full, and Jeff of The Imperial Talker. What is wonderful about this series, is there are no winners, as each woman featured is fabulous and ALL are deserving of praise!
I just finished the third episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and I’ve had a question bouncing around in my head since the first episode. It never once occurred to me reading about these characters in comic books but it rises when you place them within the nature and structure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The piece will have light plot spoilers for the first three episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Solider so if you’ve not seen any of it and you don’t want anything spoiled, feel free to click away now. I enjoyed your visit! If you don’t mind light spoilers, then by all means read on. You do you :D. With that being said, this piece will consider the question of the emotional and moral weight of trying to carry Captain America’s shield once Steve Rogers himself is gone.
By Kalie Zamierowski of Just Dread-full
One thing worth noting about the horror genre is that it produces images that resist quick mental erasure. From the statuesque model who turns into a decrepit, decaying old woman in the infamous shower scene of The Shining to the bloody womb hanging limply outside the skin of Nola Carveth in The Brood, horror does nothing if not supply us with grotesque images of often monstrous women. Psycho’s Norma Bates, then, is no exception. In Hitchcock’s original film, Psycho, we see Norma not as a mommy so much as a stereotypical mummy; all that is left of her is a skeletal, eyeless frame and some tousled hair pulled back in a bun. We hear her character, and therefore understand her character, only through Marion Crane’s ears as the delusional Norman voices her from afar in the antiquated Victorian house on the hill outside Bates Motel. But Norma is a famous mummy, and a famous mommy, to be sure, one who lingers in the mind of the viewer long after the theater lights go on, and one who has lingered in the cultural imagination now for sixty-one years and counting. Significantly, Norma Bates didn’t get to speak for herself until 2013, when the hit TV show Bates Motel rescued and re-invented her character through Vera Farmiga’s portrayal of her as Norman’s mildly cooky but vivacious and loving mom. As a woman who navigates an excruciating past, a corrupt, drug-infested city, and a psychotic son with surprising sangfroid, Norma Bates in Bates Motel is who I choose to feature this year for the annual Fiction’s Fearless Females blogathon.
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In celebration of Women’s History Month and for my entry in this year’s Fiction’s Fearless Females series, I am choosing Star Trek’s original fearless female – the one and only Lieutenant Nyota Uhura! This is the third year that Kathleen and I have participated in this series and joining us is Michael of My Comic Relief, Jesse of the newly revived Green Onion, Kalie of Just Dread-full, and Jeff of The Imperial Talker. Please give them a follow to catch their posts (all have great content outside of #FFF), or look out for them here, throughout the month. Continue reading
By Green Onion of Green Onion Revival Project
Oh, it is good to be back in the blogging ring. Specifically, when it comes to collaborating with all the other amazing bloggers. And once more I am grateful to throw my words into the Fiction’s Fearless Females series.
Fiction’s Fearless Females (#FFF) is a cross-blog event that has been going strong for years now. Each year a collection of my favourite friends and bloggers come together to celebrate women in fiction.
By Kathleen of Graphic Novelty2
Guess who’s back, back again?! #FFF is back, tell a friend! This time, I’m kicking off our annual series about your favorite fictional ladies of the fearless variety 😉 Joining Nancy and I are Michael of My Comic Relief, Jesse of the newly revived Green Onion, Kalie of Just Dread-full, and Jeff of The Imperial Talker. Please give them a follow to catch their posts (all have great content outside of #FFF), or look out for them here, throughout the month. Continue reading
My Comic Relief 