I have no idea how I managed to make up my mind for a single Cher song. I love her work so much. I love the woman behind the music, and also the actress. As hard as it is, I think that I could say that Cher is my favorite singer. She still is one of my go-to musical artists when I don’t know what to listen to or when I need to feel lifted up.
Today’s pick is Strong Enough, which makes me feel fifteen again. I remember when the Believe album came out and when we had a party with friends, the one who played DJ always played a Cher tune for me. I still have a ton of Cher songs I plan to vid, no matter how many I already used for various fandom.
Tomorrow, I will be hosting a Feminist Friday Discussion, which will be about children and youth media, mostly television and movies, but also literature. I am looking forward the discussion especially after the past few weeks very interesting ones that were run at The Sourcerer.
As I prepared that post and the discussion for tomorrow earlier on, I was in a Cher musical mood and decided to share this very inspirational song from one of the artists I admire most. After all these years, I still find her so talented!
While I thought that my academic writing burnout was mild in comparison to last December, I’ve been proven wrong as I have been unable to put add a single word on my in progress article in a week. I guess that after having written over 116,000 words since last July, not including abstracts, guest lecture, blog posts or eBook editing work, my brain really needs a break. I still hope that I can complete my current paper by the deadline on May 1, but I understand that it might not happen. I don’t have to submit this paper for consideration but I would like to. Yet, I’m learning to understand that sometimes I need to accommodate my brain and body when there is just no muse. I’d also rather not submit something than writing something below my standards.
Recently, as I was looking at my YouTube channel, I observed which videos were the most viewed. I found it amusing that the ones doing best aren’t necessarily my favorite ones. I don’t post a video that I don’t consider good enough to be shared on what I consider a vidding portfolio. I decide to share the top five here.
#5.We Looked at The Skies – The X-Files: Fight The Future, Music by The Bee Gees.
#4. Time Will Not Erase – Prometheus, Music by Evanescence.
#3. The Bonds We Save – The Dark Knight Trilogy, Music by One Republic.
#2. Heroes – Star Wars, Music by Cher.
#1. Set Fire To The Rain – Game of Thrones, Music by Adele.
I’m very happy that there are both an X-Files and a Star Wars videos in this top five, as these are two core fandom for me and both franchises have shaped my research and my creativity to significant extents. The Prometheus video being present in this most viewed list also warms my heart, as this is the video I had made after my beloved cat’s passing in 2013. The two others don’t surprise me because of how big the fandom are. As much as I like Game of Thrones and felt the need to vid this favorite Adele song for Daenerys, I am not planning on vidding Game of Thrones again. As for The Bonds We Save, I know I will vid the trilogy again, but not before a while.
Today, I realized that I mentioned music a few times on my blog, and not just when talking about movies, TV and vidding. I had an idea of a music related post for a bit, but I never came around to do so. So today is the day! I even am working through older posts and still have more work to do, to add the new Music category and related tags.
The idea for this selection came from International Women’s Day. My post about Frozen yesterday, and mentioning Let it Go brought the idea back to mind. All the songs posted below are inspirations to me as a woman. I also stayed away from any songs that might have to do with romantic relationship for this specific post. There are only titles that clearly speak about women, and even like that I feel like I am forgetting others. There are many other songs that inspire me a lot of course, and you might see further posts about this.
There are songs in both English and French. Yes, there are more chances I bring up some French music than French movies or TV shows these days!
Ève, lève toi by Julie Pietri. This is one of my earliest memories of music, because my mother had taped a live version of it on TV for me when I was little. This is a beautiful song about Eve and feminism and how important women are and all the possibilities they can seize. It remains a powerful inspiration to me.
I walk alone by Cher. I wouldn’t say that Cher’s latest album is my favorite of hers, but there were still songs that captivated. This one went straight to my soul. I love the lyrics and Cher has been a huge inspiration for me since I was a teenager. In media figures, you could say that Cher and Gillian Anderson are both equally important to me. Just like Julie Pietri’s Ève, lève toi, there is something in the lyrics that remind me so much of Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D. which is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. This book and her ideas resonate in all my work about female characters.
Juanita by Shania Twain. I have vidded it twice already, for Chiana in Farscape and the women in Star Wars. I also like Twain’s She’s not just a pretty face song, from the same album, but Juanita always resonates more in me.
Stand in the rain by Superchick. (Yes I am thinking about One Path and even Vala right now, Rose.)
Let It Go by Demi Lovato. Since I posted Idina Menzel’s version yesterday, I’m sharing Lovato’s today. After having seen the movie, I have a softer spot for Menzel’s though. This song has become extremely inspirational for me, and along with the Throne Room score from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope by John Williams and Let Your Light Shine by Bethany Dillon, it might be the song I can listen on repeat for the longest time while writing.
Sa raison d’être by Ensemble. In 1999, many French artists collaborated for this song speaking of a nurse dedicating her life to help patients suffering from H.I.V. It was released on the national H.I.V. awareness day. It speaks of dedication, compassion and celebrating all the little things that can make things progress.
This one’s for the girls by Martina McBride. I always connect this song with Rose’s video for the Stargate SG-1 ladies. (Thank you for finding it again, sweetie!!) Just like Stand in the Rain, I think of Evil Genius conversations when listening to it.
Avalon by Lunatica. Since I first watched The Clone Wars movie in 2008, I always associated the song with Ahsoka, and Star Wars in general. I’m thinking about maybe redoing the song for a second Ahsoka video once I have all the show on DVDs, and not just the movie and the first season. I love the determination and hope that can be felt in this song.
Sisters are doin’ it for themselves by Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox. I love this song and I remember the official video clip (which I couldn’t find for this post) being as amazing as the two legendary singers. This song also inspired my book’s introduction and afterword titles. I thought that this is a perfect way to close this selection.
Links: Movies, Female characters and Religious Purity
Today was a day for catching up and discussing/brainstorming with friends. In between my other tasks, a recent post from my friend Rose prompted a lengthy conversation with her and also Hannah about topics ranging from reading to remakes, including Terminator and Batman. That reminded me how much I had two projects related to Batman movies, a paper about the Dark Knight Trilogy and an eBook about female characters in all Batman movies. I don’t have time to work on that now, but it gave me a lot of good food for thought. And with all the exchange I had with Rose and Hannah, I have enough material for an actual post some time this month, I think!
I also had the lovely surprise of seeing Helka stopping by to say hello on my blog tonight and I am thrilled to be back in touch with her. I am looking forward to more discussions about research work and lots of Yoko Tsuno ramblings (and fangirling as well). I mentioned it before but I really enjoy how WordPress has become one of my favorite social platforms (along with Twitter as ironic as it might sound). I find it practical to stay in touch and get to discover new people’s work as well.
In between wrapping Christmas presents and other things today, I wrote the introduction for my fifth book chapter, and things are clearer in my mind about how to approach this piece about Cameron in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, with comparison points with Blade Runner and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. I’m going to start the first section of the chapter after I finish this post.
Oh and December 18, 2013 means that we have exactly two years to go before seeing Star Wars Episode VII; and it made me giddy! I am pretty optimistic about it, because having had serious issues with some of the Expanded Universe a few years ago, my politic is that what I don’t like in the Star Wars universe get ignored by my mind. So, I might or might not like the new movies, but more Star Wars is always the opportunity to hope for more goodness!
And just for that, I’m sharing my Star Wars video Heroes again:
Yes, I have totally found inspiration for this blog post because of Cher’s Woman’s World single. While I don’t think this is the best song from her new album Closer to the Truth (though I love the lyrics), Cher is still one of my favorite music artists ever. I have vidded many of her songs, and have more I want to vid still. Her songs also tend to be great inspirational music when I write. And blog post titles are often a challenge. So I went for a technique I normally use for thread titles when I write Star Wars roleplay: go through my music collection to find a fitting song title or lyric line!
I had been planning to finish to catch up with Continuum season 2, but I still have most of the season to watch, since I was busy with other things for the past week or so. Those days I try to stick to one TV show at a time, instead of watching multiple at once. It is different from what I used to do, but my busy brain feels better that way. The only way I watch other TV shows on the side is when I check pilots. I still have an extended list of shows (old and ongoing ones) I want to catch up with, but I recently scratched two shows from my “maybe” list. I tried both Reign and Nashville, but I couldn’t sit through the full pilots before needing to stop. Reign just looks like a very pale thing when you have watched the Tudors (which is still my favorite period TV series, despite the five horrible episodes with the fifth queen in late season 3 / early season 4). As for Nashville, I wanted to like it, because I love country music and the argument seemed great, but not only didn’t I like the characters, but the music made me want to bleach my ears. The good thing is that it is two less titles to add to my to watch list!
I am still planning to tackle another series of blog post in the near future here, hopefully in November, but I realized something. I would really like to have vids about the female characters I am going to write about. For a couple from the list, I already have fitting videos, but for others I don’t. I am aware that a couple of characters aren’t from screen productions, thus preventing me from vidding them, but for the rest, I’d like to have something to add to the post besides my rambling. Of course, that means I first need to tackle my 300th video, because I have this very specific idea in mind. I need to book an appointment with my vidding software for sure. And most importantly, I need to book one with the muse!
The book project is going well, as the chapter I worked on this month is now off to be proofread, all end notes included. I am so happy with that chapter. Now I need to make sure that all the other ones are of the same quality as I feel like I placed the bar really high with this one. It is an inspiring challenge though. I was even able to start working on another chapter (after #7, I’m writing #3) a couple days ago, which is good because I’m thus a little bit early in my planning. It is always enjoyable and makes me feel productive. I am really hoping that I have three chapters completed by the end of the year. After three chapters, I will take a short break from this book project, to work on a paper about the old Star Wars video game Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, to submit it for publication next spring.
Catching up with movies and TV shows is a great summer pleasure those days. I finally caught up with the rest of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and now I am part of the large group who is waiting for the extra episodes, no matter which shape they take. I loved the story until the end, and I enjoy how they made it such great Star Wars. I didn’t expect to have what I consider a rather ‘adult’ show in the themes it develops, given it was a cartoon (maybe call it an European deformation). The fact that it tackles political implications in times of wars, engineered humanity, and other ones, really won me over as well, and there is a lot to re-watch for the time I have them all on Blu-Ray. I also know that the next time I will re-watch Revenge of the Sith, it will be even more of a bitter pill, with all those little moments, those years of war, shown in The Clone Wars. On a side note, I also remarked that the finale of the last season ends without the main theme being heard as the end credits begin. I don’t remember it happening in any other Star Wars installation.
Right now, I am reading the Attack of the Clones prequel novel, The Approaching Storm, by Alan Dean Foster (I had it sitting on my shelf for like ten years!) and it seems like good timing the characters featured, after watching The Clone Wars. It seems that Star Wars is never really far from what I watch/read/play/work on. Thanks to talks with my fellow One Path (Obidala Alternate Universe series) creator, Lionchilde, I even felt like making a general Star Wars video for the six movies, which I hadn’t done in a few years. The result was Heroes – famous and less known ones – on Alive Again by Cher.
To finish on the Star Wars topic, I am playing The Old Republic again, gaining more data for the eBook I’m working on, about female characters (playable and non playable) for this Fall. I always enjoy writing about media female characters, and it is one of my favorite subject to research. I’m already caught up with the two other articles I have to do for this Fall (Supernatural and Farscape papers). Right now, I am playing the expansion planet on the Imperial side (with my Operative, who was my first level 50 in the game since I started it in early access end of 2011) before tackling it on the Republic side.
Natacha Guyot 