Final Fantasy Fun

Bwahahahahahaha! *rolls on ground*

You do that too sometimes when responding to my comments on this journal. :p

From:

You and I are a little better acquainted; Zee doesn't know me in any way except as some random fanfic'er. I doubt she'd be that interested in all my personal whinging, angst, and day-to-day chatter.

Whereas you're stuck reading it. And my co-moderators (if they check my friends page) get to see your shiny Glorfindel icon with the gay subtext.

Bwah. *ebil grin*

I do a tiny bit of consciousness-raising, so there.

Lizard lady (points below) also posts things on her Lj that some of my more sheltered friends are probably alarmed and terrified by. But she's an old friend too. They'll just have to cope with that.

From:

Yes indeedy. I don't feel stuck, I enjoy the randomness!

Why is Glorfy scary with gay subtext? *confuzzled* Maybe it is late enough I can't think properly. Would they rather me have my cutesy wootsey yellow lab grinning in my icon? :D

As you mentioned below to dear Lizard Lady, I understand the boob-ness and how they seem to get talked to more often than my face. :p One of my good friends who wasn't able to make it to my wedding saw that picture of me that you've seen on my profile at the AFF Forum and commented "DAMN your boobs look HUGE!!!!" Of course he's a good enough friend that I wouldn't smack him for such a non-gentlemanly structured sentence.

From:

Glorfy is scary with gay subtext because, unfortunately, while the plaza is a wonderful, vibrant, varied community for Tolkien fans young and old, with places for people to geek about the films, books, games, canon or non-canon (avoid lore forums if you don't know canon), the languages, roleplay, fanfiction, etc, etc, etc --

they don't like slash. Erotica in general, but slash in particular.

On the one hand, I'm okay with the plaza avoiding adult material of all kinds. The goal is to create a place where fans of Tolkien may come together to share their love of LOTR. Younger people would be forbidden to participate in that community, were it open to erotica and all the stuff we find yummy. And that really [i]isn't[/i] the main point of Tolkien and LOTR, it's something we the fans have added/overlaid across the original bedrock.

So having a "family friendly" website which remains exactly as PG as poor Tolkien himself -- you saw how much sex is written into his stories -- is okay by me. The rules are nothing more explicit than the Beren/Lúthien stuff in Sil.

The problem is, there is also a strong undercurrent of homophobia among certain segments of the site. They leap on and remove "are Frodo and Sam GAY?!!!" questions from the lore forums with especial vehemence. I could never reveal the charming "you work too hard" picture with Elrond and Glorfindel smooching, the whole time I've played Elrond and had Glorfindel as my co-moderator. When Turner Broadcast Network ran a few silly ads for a rebroadcast of LOTR last week with the Frodo/Sam romance hinted at in one commercial, even though it was just innocent clips from the films of the two characters looking at each other dreamily, a person I love and respect dearly called it BLASPHEMY in 18 point type.

This makes me sad.

I have, in my very very quiet way, been trying to let them know that queers are not scary evil people who roast babies, by being out without being aggressive about it. I don't post anything with sexual content. I have posted the rare love poem. I do NOT keep separate friendslists on my personal LJ for my plaza friends, and my queer friends. If I feel the urge to say something loving to my old girlfriend, I do it.

So they see me being queer, without seeing anything about sex.

Much of which I think I've told you before in my ranting, but anyway. (And gosh, would their heads explode if they saw me writing het, after all that, but then I am only slowly coming to grips myself with the fact that it really is okay to be bi.)

And, to get back to your original question, your Glorfindel icon has one clip from the Theban Band which is very erotic-looking, and that would be enough for some of these people to label it a "dirty picture". I can't honestly remember right now whether you have it cropped to hide-- Haldir, I assume? -- the elf swooning in his arms.

My desktop is also from the Theban Band, although it's just an Elrond portrait, to try and help me stay in character.

Annyway. So that's the take of Auronlu and the Lord of the RIngs plaza, a perfect Tolkien online community in every way -- except for not having any erotica.

Which is why, in spite of the fact that I'm currently buried in FFX smut out the wazoo, I'm still using an Elvish pen-name. Someday I may revert back to my default state of LOTR. I have an Elrond/Gilraen lemon lurking somewhere on my hard drive. And even a Legolas/Aragorn one, except that as soon as I hit a surfeit of penises, I lost my ability to write anymore. Slash impotence, woohah!

I still don't understand why I never seem to write F/F. I think that's more mental and spiritual for me, less lemonlike, and also, possibly, it's just a little too self-revelatory: I can't write it without reference to experience that was formed between me and someone I loved very deeply. That experience doesn't get shared.

And wow, what a wandering and random LJ entry this has turned out to be! I only meant to let Zee know who the weirdo was that had friended her journal!

From:

Ah yes, totally understandable. :) I hardly think there are people of other persuasions really want to go roasting babies. :D That's the thing... I'm pretty accomodating and open minded about stuff from the gay/lesbian lifestyles but for some reason people assume I hate them just because I tend to be a little more conservative on some political issues. I guess it is the whole pigeonhole sort of thing and that's where I take issue at times with politics or social issues because they try to stick you in certain categories or be blind followers no matter what someone might say or do at the head of the party. I think for myself on my own free will and will make my own decisions/opinions about things. Like one of my husband's law school buddies... freaking hilarious and we both are into German culture and language... he just also so happens to be gay. He knows hubby is pretty conservative but assumed I hated gays for some reason simply because I was president of my college republicans club. *scratches head in confusion* Assuming is not always the greatest thing... so I demanded hubby tell his friend I don't despise his guts. If he gets to buy jeans to tease and mess with my hubby's head about how cute his ass is in non-baggy pants then I can demand that he know I think he's cool! Oops, heh where did that come from? *scooches away from the jeans topic*

ANYWAY! Yes actually three of the four pictures in the Glorfy icon are from the Theban Band. I only cropped them that way because I needed to make the face visible enough but also fit it into 100x100. :D Ok I lost my train of thought... had a coworker come by to answer a question. I'll come back when I get it back. :)

From:

Ok I remembered what I wanted to say... yea I saw those commercials for the showing of LOTR on TBS or TNT ... whatever it was. I first saw the one where they were talking about how handsome and yummy Aragorn and Legolas are (especially their pretty hair). I was rolling on the ground with that... I never expected that. I saw the Frodo Sam one later and was giggling up a storm.

From:

I still don't know who the hell you are and I happen to adore... Gandalf rides the White Horse...

From:

wired-lizard.livejournal.com

Ahahahahahah, best het-versus-slash response evah!

(Not to mention two or more boobs. ^^)

From:

I get cranky when people go for the boobs before they notice the rest of the person. I have the same frontispieces as Lulu, attached to a far less attractive figure, and occasionally get the urge to say, "hello, my face is UP HERE!"

From:

What archive???

And as for Slash vs Het... There is just SO much oil and spit in Arda! I'd rather see the WOMAN get plugged!

Oh and what is it about guys and 'headlights'. Even thin, I had an amazing.., uhm... 'rack'... *40 - 24 - 36*. I had been f-buddies with a guy for quite some time (met him at church)and I finally asked him once - What color are my eyes!? And closed them.

He couldn't tell me.

I'll get you friended. Why do you want to read my wank anyhoo???

From:

Don't friend my poor prudish alter-ego, just this lj, thank you very much! This is where I indulge in fanfic, smut, and sex. My brain is split right down the middle; it's a good thing I started writing lemons before I exploded from the straight-and-narrow-jacket I was jamming myself into on the LOTRplaza.

This is Helluin on Ficwad and AFF. I posted a useless but happy review and contacted you on the ficwad archive a few days ago when you started posting the Gamling story there. I have enjoyed your fic for a year or so on Of Elves and Men.

I friended you after TrekQueen pointed me towards your rant about AFF being frustrating as hell. I am a brand-new writer on AFF, but have also gotten quickly and violently discouraged there by the whole name-calling finger-pointing mess. You made good sense, and I thought, "hey, this is Zee, one of my favorite smut writers, and she talks good sense, and she writes good rants."

Finally, I was encouraged by your comments on the AFF yahoohgroups list (before it got nasty) about how even you were unsure and a little self-conscious when you first started writing.

From:

Ah. Okay.

Just a warning. My LJ is mostly where I rant and have at. I do it behind the lock and right now, I'm wanking gloriously. I'm slightly... disturbed, y'know...

From:

Posting for the first time.

My first ficlet was "use me once' - totally useless piece of work, but it was a challenge piece for a pairing that one doens't see often and not being really up on my canon, I butchered that thing in about 35 minutes. I had already written the first 3 chapters of Empty Vessel, but I hadn't posted it yet.

I was really lucky - I got a wonderful response to EV and some REALLY good, constructive advice from several published authors and editors. I'm glad it was finished and done when GAFF and Deleterius flamed it. I'm redoing it right now, between chappies of Rider and Tel' Lindar so hopefully some of the holes and canon errors will be fixed, but the canon whores will still hate it as it's STILL going to end the same.

Either way, I strongly feel that writers should be nurtured, not made fun of. it's important to remember that for the most part, fanfic writers AREN"T professionals. We write to please ourselves, to release creativity, to manipulate what we want to see happen. I make no bones. The "Gamling" I write, is the man I'm looking for in real life. Tough when he is supposed to be and gentle when he needs to be. Flawed, sometimes quirky, but honest and noble. You know, the NICEST feedback I got for that fic was about 7 chapters into it. A woman wrote me that she was divorced, had been for several years. Her husband left her with two pre-teen-aged children for someone 'younger, tighter, and no stretch marks' and hse was needless to say, not fond of the opposite sex becuase of it. When she read Rider, she began to have faith in the opposite sex again, becuase she knew 'her Gamling was waiting somewhere for her'. And yes, I cried over that one.

So yes, there are teenagers who are in the 'lurve-legolas' stage and they are just in it for the attention. What's the point of making fun of their OFC's unbelievable pet purple dragon?

Either way, hitting the 'post' button that first time is QUITE frightening and everyone who does it, deserves a round of applause.

From: