Wednesday is for WIPs

The latest in my new-old ways to communicate.

My first webpage was a fansite for Key the Metal Idol, an anime OVA from 1994. It centers on Tokiko Mima, nicknamed ‘Key’, a seventeen-year-old girl who believes she is a robot created by her engineer/puppeteer grandfather. On his deathbed, Key’s grandfather says that she can become human with the help of 30,000 friends, so she sets out to become an idol singer.

The living doll narrative is one I’ve always been drawn to. My son says it’s indicative of my neurodivergence, and I think there is some truth to that. I struggle to coherently express myself sometimes. My feelings won’t make sense for the moment, my thoughts get ahead of me, or I lose track of words. I glitch out. So, I am attracted to the idea that I could be programmed. That my emotions could be regulated and my synapses could fire in the right order. When my anxiety spikes, Borg efficiency sounds relaxing. What is the Collective if not 30,000 friends?

Back then, in the mid-nineties, I started my little webpage on Geocities, and like Key, my goal was to make friends. And I did, I certainly found and continue to find community online. However, also like Key, the journey was actually about finding my voice and myself. In order to find and make friends, I wrote about my interests. I provided random life updates about what I was learning in class, the latest song I played on repeat, and the book I just finished. I published my poetry and made cutesy collages of my favorite characters. I wrote about my life. I also posted episode and character analyses of the anime, but it wasn’t an informative fansite with galleries, a database, or even reviews. Rather, I explained at length over and over again how Key’s story was my story. It was a site about me, and my point of view. It was a personal blog presented through the lens of Key the Metal Idol, which, if you know the story at all, is quite a clever tribute, I think.

And thirty years later, here I am doing it all over again. I moved from Geocities to Tripod to Livejournal to Dreamwidth to Tumblr to WordPress to Substack. I post about all the characters and all the media that matter to me. I study them with an artistic and academic eye, relate them to psychology, sociology, and philosophy. I babble on about all the invisible connections I see. I fall for the difficult characters and I defend them with my whole heart. I get on my soapboxes about the value of pop nonsense. I watch terrible television so you don’t have to. I write for myself, mostly, but I do it in front of whatever crowd I can find because I do want community and connection and 30,000 friends to make me real.

Now

What’s occupying my attention, and the latest places to find me.

Watching

TV doesn’t entirely follow seasons the way it used to, but mainstream broadcast television series are going on hiatus until Fall (see below for my Let’s Talk Television plans). This will free up some time, and I’m considering my options. But in the meantime, I fall back on habits and rewatches. This week, I’ve just entered the Miniature Killer arc in my latest random CSI rewatch, and as I mentioned in Notes, the music haunts me every time. Here’s a link so it can haunt you, too.

Reading

Know My Name, Chanel Miller’s memoir. I signed up for a book club discussion on it, which I unfortunately couldn’t attend, but I have the book, so I am reading it. And it’s a lot. Memoirs of sexual assault always are, obviously, but this one is also compounded by my memories of the case and the discourse around it. I’m debating doing a proper review if anyone’s interested.

Listening

This Friday, I will be in Boston for Bear McCreary’s Themes and Variations Tour! I’ve been listening to his works in the lead-up, and it has me very excited. The friend I’m attending with made Eras tour-inspired bracelets and everything!

Find Me

ICYMI my series on production design in Andor’s season two is complete: Part I | Part II | Part III.

I’m on two new Star Trek-related podcast episodes this week.

Trek Ranks Episode 209 Abstract Color Blasts

Trek Ranks is a uniquely fun podcast dedicated to celebrating Star Trek in every way possible through ‘ranking’ episodes, characters, moments, costumes, and any other topic the host can come up with. The latest topic is part of their abstract series and I had a blast (heh) being on it.

Antimatter Pod Episode 200. Performative Femininity

And my own podcast has reached its two hundredth episode, which is WILD, so co-host Liz and I celebrated with a discussion of Nana Visitor’s book Star Trek: Open a Channel: A Women’s Trek, a series of interviews and essays on women in Star Trek. The book was more than I expected it to be and if you just want to read the essays, the e-book is only $4.99.

Upcoming

What I’m working on and where to find me next.

I will be posing a Let’s Talk Television Season Scorecard once all the series included thus far have completed their seasons (the Organized Crime season finale airs June 12). After that I will pivot to Mental Health in the Movies and other projects until Fall. I am still working out my schedule but commit to continuing at pace and posting at least once post per week. On Wednesdays I will post these check-ins.

This weekend I am at the aforementioned concert, as well as at my university’s commencement, and meeting my new baby nephew in the flesh. June 13-14 I will be in NYC for My Mom Jayne with Mariska Hargitay and the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season three premiere, both part of the Tribeca Film Festival. And in July I’m on a panel at Connecticon.

Support

I’ve lowered the annual plan price to $30.

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