win or die
Feb. 10th, 2012 03:04 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
clonky.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
westerosortingName: Anna
How did you find out about the community? If it's through an LJ user, please tell us who it is (individual user if possible, not just a community name!): Through a user :D Smrtcock
Age: 19
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Occupation: College student
All About You
Describe your ideal house/home. Please go into as much detail as possible, and be sure to include your ideal geographical location in the description!.
My ideal home would probably be a house right outside a good sized city. Preferably it’d be near the coast so I would have easy access to the ocean. It doesn’t need to be super large or anything, I just need somewhere cozy and lived in that I can call my own. All I really require is a large comfy bed, a place to keep all my books (I always fantasize about having a personal library) and a decent kitchen. I do however need to be near a city as I require a lot of stimulation and activities to keep me happy. But when I do need my down time I like to have a place away from the hustle and bustle to relax in. When I think of a future home I think of hardwood floors, big comfy furniture and antiques.
Imagine you’re given the classic opportunity: a genie granting you three wishes. What would you wish for? Please be as elaborate as you can. Wishing for more wishes is not permitted! Hm this is a very difficult one for me. My first wish would probably would be to have the ability to travel where I through teleportation. I love love traveling and exploring new places but have the unfortunate luck to also be afraid of flying. So that would be a convenient way to sidestep that part of traveling hah.
My second wish would probably be wealth. I won’t lie, having a bunch of money is pretty great. I don’t know exactly how much I would ask for but it’d be enough for me to live in a simple but luxurious home and be able to pursue what I like while still leading a comfortable life.
My last wish would be to increase my intelligence. I’m often frustrated that I can’t learn as quickly as I’d like. While I don’t want it increased too much a little boost would be nice to help me learn new subjects.
3. In your life so far, what accomplishment are you the most proud of? Why? You can list more than one if you have trouble deciding. ;)
Probably doing trail work for four weeks at a national park a couple summers ago. I have a hard time sticking to something and completing it, and being able to finish an entire trail in four weeks and know that it will be there for quite some time was extremely rewarding and humbling. I have never been as strong or mentally sharp as when I was doing 8 hours of manual labor and eating lots of good food.
4. Which of the following is most important to you: Love, Money, Knowledge, Family, Friendship, Adventure, or Pleasure? Which is the least important to you? Please explain why for each choice.
Choosing between Adventure and Knowledge was pretty difficult, but ultimately I think I would consider Knowledge most important to me. Learning and processing information is pretty much what I do. I love college because all you do there is learn :P I greatly value my drive to learn and consider it one of my most important traits.
The least important to me is probably Pleasure I suppose. I could live without Pleasure even if it wouldn’t be the nicest thing, but I couldn’t live without any of the others.
What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.
“The quest for comfort murders the passion of the human soul/and then walks, grinning, from its funeral/but you, children of space/restless in rest/you shall not be trapped nor tamed” -The Prophet
I mentioned earlier I need constant stimulation. I really thrive in dynamic environments. While comfort is nice, I tend to get stagnant and depressed if I’m not constantly trying something new. I’d rather have a job that challenges me and lets me travel than have a stable home life.
6. How do you manage your money? On that note, how important is money/financial security to you? Go into as much detail as you can. I manage my money pretty poorly. Not super badly but I tend to indulge a little too much. I never spend it to the point where I can’t eat or anything but I also rarely have any wiggle room at the end of the month. Financial security and money are pretty important to me, like I said earlier life gets a whole lot easier when you have money.
Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office? Most of the time I’m reading or taking photos for class. I also really enjoy cooking, and often on the weekend plan and cook meals for my roommates and I. I also am into fitness and go to the gym often and do triathlon training.
Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
Being alone - This is a big one. I constantly am afraid of being alone with no friends or family. I really need a support system around me. This is also why I probably would have trouble living alone.
Planes: I hate flying. I hate the loss of control and I hate knowing that if anything happened or the pilot did something stupid I would be dead. I like my feet on the ground where they belong kthx.
Being boring - Probably ties into being alone. I’m afraid of people perceiving me as boring or me being boring. I’m a bit of an entertainer and like engaging people in interesting conversation, but I also can be a bit pedantic and am afraid people will get bored of me.
Name (and elaborate on) your top three BEST and top three WORST qualities (personality-related, not physical). Please answer as fully as you can, as this is an important question.
Best:
Knowledgable - I know a lot of things about a lot of stuff. People tend to remark on the sheer amount of information I collect and store. I consider this one of my best traits and highly value my intelligence.
Loyal - If you earn my loyalty I will stick with you. I like being there for friends and doing favors for them. I’ve been told I’m a good listener and good for problems and that’s something I value in both myself and others.
Passion - When I get into something I get into it fully. I like excelling and have a bit of a competitive streak. I love learning anything I can about a given subject before moving on to a new passion.
Worst:
Social Anxiety - I am pretty socially anxious in that I’m constantly analyzing my own conversations and worrying about peoples perception of me. I have a hard time relaxing around people and often get paranoid and feel people are getting tired of me or not longer want to associate with me, which usually manifests in antisocial or closed behavior around them.
Laziness- I am lazy. I like sleeping a lot and often spend too much time watching How I met your mother instead of cleaning my room like I really should. This also touches the fact that I can be a bit of a slob.
Emotionally Unstable - I struggle with depression and anxiety and have some pretty vicious mood swings sometimes. I consider this a negative trait because I value stoicism and emotional stability even though I have lacked both those things most of my life (slowly building it up now).
A Song of Ice and Fire Related
1.How many books from the series have you completed? All of them!
2.Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why? Brienne and Arya both because they exemplify strong badass women warriors. Both deviate from the standards of womanly beauty and strength, and both aren’t afraid to get dirty and wield and sword.
Jaime because I have a thing for dark knights, and because I can appreciate his unorthodox sense of morality. I really grew to love his character development and in particular his relationship with Brienne is great.
3.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why? I don’t like Catelyn or Lysa Tully both for their irrational and misguided actions. They both let emotions cloud their senses and both caused far too much trouble from it. I also really dislike Cersei for this reason as well. She acts too hastily and in an overly emotional fashion and is a horrible person to boot.
4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?
Oh man this is a hard one. Probably when Cersei had to walk naked through the town. I really, really enjoyed having her finally get consequences for her actions and I definitely hope this trend continues!
5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
Hm, to be honest I don’t really have a set way I’d like to see it end. There are so many possible ways the series could go. I would however like to see the Starks retake Winterfell and for all the Freys to die a horrible death :]
Sorry if this is too short, I have a hard time elaborating or talking a lot in general.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-15 07:11 pm (UTC)Not telling you how to vote, but there's female characters, and then there's strong female chars. I absolutely despise Catelyn, Cersei & Lysa, but then again they aren't strong female chars. Strong = Arianne, Arya, Brienne, Daenerys, Asha, the Sand Snakes, Ygritte.
....I must be secretly misogynistic since I dislike all the females Anna does. ;)
P.S. Seeing how Martells are towards revenge, why should you or anyone be put off by the Cersei comment? Anna isn't our first applicant to say that was one of their fave moments lol. I didn't say it in mine but I sure as hell enjoyed it. Karma's a /b/.
Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-16 07:13 am (UTC)Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why?
Brienne and Arya both because they exemplify strong badass women warriors. Both deviate from the standards of womanly beauty and strength, and both aren’t afraid to get dirty and wield and sword.
Not telling you how to vote, but there's female characters, and then there's strong female chars. I absolutely despise Catelyn, Cersei & Lysa, but then again they aren't strong female chars. Strong = Arianne, Arya, Brienne, Daenerys, Asha, the Sand Snakes, Ygritte.
I don’t have a problem with people listing Arya and Brienne as favourites, but I actually read the apps to see why people love them and I’m really concerned to see them listed for being essentially women who are able to be one of the boys, which is imo, entirely missing the point of the characters, which is in a large part the deconstruction of the woman warrior related tropes (Brienne especially).
Strong is far more than physical strength, and to limit an understanding of strength to that is cliché and completely invalidating of female characters. That conception of strength is incredibly loaded and very masculine, women can rarely even compete, and can certainly never win under that definition (see Brienne who illustrates that often), and there’s no real reason it should be validated above, or considered more important than other broader and more inclusive conceptions of strength.
Catelyn, Sansa, Cersei, and yes even Lysa, are strong women in their own ways (arguably Lysa was the best of the rulers of all 7 Kingdoms during the War of the Five Kings despite all her personal issues and unlikeableness). Certainly not all of them are strong all of the time, certainly all of them have some (or a lot) of personal issues, but everyone does – Arya and Brienne included, and there’s *nothing* wrong with that. I’m fairly sick of seeing many women in the series be written off or actively disliked because they don’t bash people’s heads in routinely. That isn’t to be dismissive of characters like Brienne and Arya, but I do feel those four are excessively neglected so I try to speak up about that.
The warrior women trope, which appears to be what the app is celebrating, is often criticised for being misogynistic as it appears to present empowerment but actually in practice keeps women oppressed by reinforcing some fairly problematic conceptions of gender. The trope’s subversion is clever and well done in asoiaf, but played straight, as it’s taken by this app I think, it’s problematic.
Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-16 07:44 am (UTC)P.S. Seeing how Martells are towards revenge, why should you or anyone be put off by the Cersei comment? Anna isn't our first applicant to say that was one of their face moments lol. I didn't say it in mine but I sure as hell enjoyed it. Karma's a /b/.
Cersei was given a highly sexualised, gender specific punishment, by a religion, for her sexual behaviour. I am not ever going to condone a woman being punished for choices she makes about her body, especially not in such an extraordinarily misogynistic way as occurred with Cersei. It is absolutely nobody’s business what a woman chooses to do with her own body, not the state, the church or the public.
I loathe hearing praise of that scene because;
- It victim blames. Nobody is talking about the fact that this is a society where even as privileged woman as Cersei has to rely to such an extent on their sexuality to effect their goals, nor is anybody talking about the men who took advantage of that to sleep with her. Instead it’s all Cersei’s fault etc etc.
- It slut shames. Back to my original point that as a consenting adult Cersei has every right to sleep with whoever she wants, as many men in the books choose to do. Publicly shaming and woman for their sexual choices is flat out appalling, not to mention an outrageous double standard.
- I see it as reflective of the extent to which controls on women and female sexuality are institutionalised and normalised within our own society and culture, and I’m a big fan of not just accepting that.
I don’t see the ops views on women fitting in at Sunspear because Martells are very open minded sexually (as opposed to judgmental in the app), very pro all women and women’s choice (as opposed to the app), and are comfortable with women taking and using forms of power that aren’t merely physical (as opposed to the app), and I expect to see that in an app before I’ll comfortably put someone in Martell.
And as for karma being a bitch could you tell me what other people who are sexually active in the books are shaved and walked naked through the streets of King’s Landing as punishment? Oh right, there are none, so it isn’t karma, or fair, it’s just Cersei being singled out for her use of her sexuality. She certainly isn’t the only person who does so in the books, will Arianne be marched naked through Planky Town in book 6? I highly doubt it (thankfully).
I have personally no voted everyone who has listed that as a favourite moment because it makes me very uncomfortable that a person can’t see why there’s a big issue there. I love this community because it is apart from the appalling and frankly often incredibly misogynistic behaviour that is common over at Westeros or ToH and can’t say I’m overjoyed seeing that brought there, and a no vote is my way of expressing my discomfort with that and hopefully encouraging people to be more critical in their reading.
Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-16 09:07 am (UTC)Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-16 04:24 pm (UTC)Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-16 05:50 pm (UTC)When writing of my favorite scene I did not mean to make anyone uncomfortable. I can see why there is some heavy misogyny in that scene and I did not realize the full extent of how that would be perceived in writing (something I have trouble with). I don't hate Cersei because she has sex. I don't hate her because she uses her body how she wants. I dislike Cersei because of her manipulation and the ways in which she controls and destroys people. She reminds me of a family member I have that had done the same to me, so the association I have with her personality traits are already unpleasant. It's not he promiscuity I have issue with, and I suppose I should have been more careful to make that clear when writing the app, and I apologize for that. I listed that as a favorite scene because of Cersei facing consequences for her actions, and I had forgotten that those consequences were mainly for her sexual indiscretions (besides the fact that yes it is a gender specific punishment).
As for Catelyn and Lysa while I can agree they have traits which make them strong women, I stand by my dislike of them in regards to their actions. I don't see how disliking them constitutes me "dismissing female characters" because I dislike their personality. -shrug-
I never said strength was just physical strength. Both Brienne and Arya have been through many emotional hardships that have shaped them as people. If I had had more than three to list I would also have listed Sansa for this reason, because I consider her a strong character as well. I don't see Brienne and Arya as just "one of the boys", I see them as women who are attempting to break out of traditional gender roles and who face a lot of consequences and hardship for doing so. I admit I love women warriors, which is why I loved the Tamora Pierce books as a child, and as someone who wants to get into sparring and sword fighting I gravitate towards characters I can identify with in that regard.
Anyways I'm sorry for any discomfort I caused. I certainly did not mean to.
Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-17 04:55 am (UTC)Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-16 06:43 pm (UTC)(1) I find it hard to accept that anyone thinks that people loving that Cersei scene equals misogyny. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fact that Cersei's a nasty piece of work, not with the fact that she's a woman. Was that kind of punishment in itself misogynistic? Well, yes, since, you know, most of Westeros is highly sexist and definitely misogynystic. But hey, to each their own (talking about your view here, not Westeros' misogyny; I'm not okay with it at all).
(2) I realize people cannot magically know this about me, but I find it absolutely laughable how many people take me for a misogynist (well, IDK that you did, but this has certainly been the case in other comms). As if I had a problem with women. As if most of my best friends weren't women. As if some of the most important people and role models in my life weren't women. As if in most movies, shows, etc. I watch my favourite characters weren't women.
(3) The total number of fcks that I give about Cersei's sexual rendez-vous is exactly zero. In fact, if she wasn't such a manipulative /b/, I might have enjoyed it. I certainly delighted myself reading the scenes of Arianne with that knight whose name I can't remember right now. And I was all for Dany and Daario because sex out of wedlock is so not a problem in my book. I am, and have always been, more open-minded in the gender and sex department than most people I know. I also have more friends whose gender or sexuality deviate from the norm, more so than most other folk I know. So trust me when I say that I don't have a problem with her sexual activities. If I were her I'd have fucked a knight or three, maybe even at the same time. Why the hell not? Robert did it with at least thrice as many, and no-one bat an eyelid. It goes without saying that I think that at least in this regard most of us (including you and I) have huge problems with this double-standards that isn't as back-in-the-days as we'd like to think.
(4) I am not adverse to revenge, and I enjoy (in fiction more than in real life) seeing people get what, in my opinion, they deserve. Naturally the way in which Cersei was punished was sexist, but she brought it on herself for letting those religious idiots set up camp in the first place (amongst other things). Needless to say I'd have enjoyed any other kind of punishment directed towards her, because I don't like her character. It's ree-dee-kyu-los to think that it has anything to do with being a woman; that, to me, makes about as much sense as me liking what happened to Theon because he was a man. Logic fail much? Yes, I think so.
(5) I disagree about those 3 being strong women, and it doesn't have to do with them not being warriors. I also disagree with Anna that Sansa is a strong woman. LOLNO. I have Olenna Tyrell, Genna Lannister (Jaime's aunt), and Margaery Tyrell in my Strong Women list as well, if you must know, and Melisandre, though I dislike her greatly. Maybe I am wrong in my assessment of Catelyn, Cersei, Lysa and Sansa as weak, but hey, I don't wanna be right. I don't like their personalities at all, period, so whatever the hell kind of strength they possess is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, as I dislike them too much to see any redeeming factors in them. I am the same towards many of the male characters (including, but not limited to) pretty much every male Greyjoy (all of whom I obviously hate because they're men, hurr durr), both Clegane brothers, that Illyrio Myopatis imbecile and way more. If you think I equate strength with physical strength and battle prowess, you're just plain wrong, chérie, as most of the chars I hate are male and do well in the battlefield (while some of my faves, including Peter and Varys, aren't warriors).
Re: Lannister
Date: 2012-02-16 06:52 pm (UTC)trigger warning: discussion of sexual violence
Date: 2012-02-17 04:58 am (UTC)Ok I don’t want to have a big argument or make this a personal thing. For the most part I’m going to let this go and chalk it up to personal differences, I suspect we could argue about Catelyn or Lysa forever and not agree anyway. But the one thing I just can’t not comment on is this;
Naturally the way in which Cersei was punished was sexist, but she brought it on herself
It wasn't just sexist it was sexualised, what Cersei experienced was absolutely a form of sexual violence.
So please. Just no. No woman (or any person) ever deserves sexual violence or brings sexual violence on themselves. That’s called victim blaming, and it’s a problematic thing to do, and despite that it’s something very entrenched in our culture, which is why I feel I have to say this.
Plain and simple freedom from sexual violence is a human right. It’s not a right you can waive, or something a person can ask for or ever deserve.
Despite that we live in a society where survivors of sexual violence, women in particular, are often blamed for the violence that was done to them (i.e. told they were asking for it because of something they did, or didn’t do, or wore or whatever else), which is just garbage. So I really have to object to hearing that any woman deserved sexual violence, because no, she didn’t, and it doesn’t matter what she did that doesn’t change. Did Cersei do shitty things and deserve some form of punishment? Yes, but sexual violence isn’t any way appropriate for that.
And before you tell me it’s just a book, it, and opinions about it, don't exist in isolation from the rest of society and social norms, and comments like these reflect some really problematic real world mentalities that should be challenged when they come up.