27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by Spidrift »

brasca wrote:It makes sense to cast her net widely by seeking people with her interest online, but she could also be stepping out of her comfort zone and looking for like minded people in the Montreal area.
Ruby can take herself out of her comfort zone when she needs to, but she doesn't seem to do so for its own sake. I suspect that her main interest here would be what would turn the most profit.

Long term at least, that might even be a chain of franchised local meet-up groups, organised across the Web. But that might get a bit complicated for a one-woman operation.
brasca wrote:What would be really cool about finding people online is the potential for connecting with characters beyond the Pixie Trix universe.
I'm now imagining an online transdimensional meet-up featuring Charlotte Grote from Bad Machinery, Sydney Scoville from Grrl Power, Hazel Tellington from Girls With Slingshots, Joyce Brown from Dumbing of Age, and Gilly Woods from Dork Tower. Well, there's at least one confirmed yaoi fan on that list.
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brasca
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by brasca »

Good list although I do not think Joyce Brown is ready for yaoi... yet. I would give her a few months or years given how long time takes in that universe. I think Amber O'Malley would be far more likely to join and she can hail from both the Dumbing of Age and Shortpacked universe.

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by Spidrift »

Amber has other things on her mind just right now. Well, so does Joyce - but she clearly needs some kind of stress relief real bad, while Amber may not be getting on the Web in the immediate future. And I thought that pretty well every character in DoA has a doppelganger in Shortpacked, and vice-versa.

Anyway, it'd be Charlotte and Sydney I'd want to see interacting.
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brasca
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by brasca »

I am not aware of them having any interest in yaoi. Just because Charlotte is sexually repressed does not mean that yaoi would interest her. As for Cyndi she seems to get off on hurting people. Of course since these are dopplegangers they do not have to be the same as their Penny & Aggie counterparts. Menage a 3 Jack, Rich, and Stan certainly were not.

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

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Charlotte Grote is not, so far as one can tell, sexually repressed. Repression doesn't seem to be in her vocabulary, actually. She's mostly just very, very weird. Also rather too young for this to be a consideration as yet, but the Bad Machinery cast seem to be ageing in real time, so I'm sure that her hormones will kick in soon enough. At which point, I could just see her taking an interest in yaoi... But with a perspective so skewed that she could probably weird out Sydney Scoville (who was threatening to e-mail Arianna some links at some point, as I recall).

And none of the characters I mentioned were from Penny and Aggie, so I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about there.
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-- Motto of Hogshead Publishing of fond memory, and wise words to set your Foes List by.
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Cortez
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by Cortez »

themacnut wrote:Nah I'm sorry Cortez, but how can you compare the glowing compliment she gave Dillon with the "adequate" comment she gave Amber and not see at least a little meanness there?
Mean would implied she insulted her, she didn't. Adequate isn't an insult.

Plus this strip shows Ruby doing her job and keeping Amber's priority in order. Mean would be doing the opposite.

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brasca
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by brasca »

Spidrift wrote:Charlotte Grote is not, so far as one can tell, sexually repressed. Repression doesn't seem to be in her vocabulary, actually. She's mostly just very, very weird. Also rather too young for this to be a consideration as yet, but the Bad Machinery cast seem to be ageing in real time, so I'm sure that her hormones will kick in soon enough. At which point, I could just see her taking an interest in yaoi... But with a perspective so skewed that she could probably weird out Sydney Scoville (who was threatening to e-mail Arianna some links at some point, as I recall).

And none of the characters I mentioned were from Penny and Aggie, so I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about there.
Sorry I thought you were referring to Charlotte Simms and Cyndi Kristoffer from Penny & Aggie, but misspelled the names. Even though the series ended a few years ago the message board is currently running a reread of the old strips and the current group coincidentally involves those two.

I will have to look into the ones you listed. In just this year alone I have lost 4 that I followed regularly.

Adding to the potential crossover list would definitely be Questionable Content's Marigold Farmer as well as Hannelore Elicott-Chatham who was introduced to yaoi by Marigold. And Something Positive's PeeJee Shou would be another.

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Spidrift
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

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Cortez wrote:Mean would implied she insulted her, she didn't. Adequate isn't an insult.
Uh, really, honestly - in that sort of context, it is. I like Ruby, but that line was her damning with "praise" so faint that it's virtually invisible, in a way that was clearly deliberate. "Adequate" means "the absolute minimum that does the job"; after her comments to Dillon, it was a hard slap-down.

Plus, there was the snarky twist of her checking that Amber's cheque had cleared first. That (a) implies that Amber might pass dud cheques, a serious insult in itself, and (b) makes it clear that Ruby is only even saying "adequate" because Amber was paying her. Which was arguably a slap-down that Amber deserved after asking for praise and mentioning money, but was still quite mean. To be fair to Amber, I'd believe that she only mentioned the money because she was hurt that Ruby was ignoring her, but it was still a foolish thing for her to say - and her expression in the last panel shows that she took Ruby's line hard.

Actually, the best thing about that strip may have been Ruby developing a really effective snarky side, which suits her. She turned Amber's complaint back on Amber with a certain ruthless efficiency, but also, her line to Dillon looked like justified teasing about his sexual vanity, albeit teasing that he wouldn't recognise as such. She's developing a certain pawky wit against which others will have to guard themselves.
Cortez wrote:Plus this strip shows Ruby doing her job and keeping Amber's priority in order. Mean would be doing the opposite.
That efficiency is interesting, but actually, it confirms something we'd already seen about Ruby; that she takes a lot of pride in being good at her job. She needs that even more than she needs to hurt Amber. She can insult her sister on her own time.

Which ties up with her fetish for "respectability". Ruby has had trouble making friends, she's sublimated her sex drive for years, she fears that her parents don't love her - but the one thing she can control is how seriously she's taken. Dignity, respectability, doing a good job, being able to afford smart clothes - they're all parts of the same thing. If she can't be loved, she can at least be respected. The worst danger is that she'll eventually go full Tatiana and decide that she wants to be feared.
brasca wrote:Sorry I thought you were referring to Charlotte Simms and Cyndi Kristoffer from Penny & Aggie, but misspelled the names.
Because "Grote" looks just like "Simms", and I'm the sort of person who spells "Cyndi" as "Sydney"...
brasca wrote:And Something Positive's PeeJee Shou would be another.
I'd rather keep things less misanthropic and sour than that.
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by Don Alexander »

Cortez wrote:Mean would implied she insulted her, she didn't. Adequate isn't an insult.
I'll acknowledge you do an adequate job breathing through your mouth. :P
Spidrift wrote:The worst danger is that she'll eventually go full Tatiana and decide that she wants to be feared.
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by Spidrift »

I'd think that Ruby and Tatiana would read Machiavelli rather than Caligula. "It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." But Tatiana didn't get to the next paragraph; "a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred".
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brasca
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Re: 27-10-15 You are just on top of everything

Post by brasca »

Spidrift wrote:
Cortez wrote:Mean would implied she insulted her, she didn't. Adequate isn't an insult.
Uh, really, honestly - in that sort of context, it is. I like Ruby, but that line was her damning with "praise" so faint that it's virtually invisible, in a way that was clearly deliberate. "Adequate" means "the absolute minimum that does the job"; after her comments to Dillon, it was a hard slap-down.

Plus, there was the snarky twist of her checking that Amber's cheque had cleared first. That (a) implies that Amber might pass dud cheques, a serious insult in itself, and (b) makes it clear that Ruby is only even saying "adequate" because Amber was paying her. Which was arguably a slap-down that Amber deserved after asking for praise and mentioning money, but was still quite mean. To be fair to Amber, I'd believe that she only mentioned the money because she was hurt that Ruby was ignoring her, but it was still a foolish thing for her to say - and her expression in the last panel shows that she took Ruby's line hard.

Actually, the best thing about that strip may have been Ruby developing a really effective snarky side, which suits her. She turned Amber's complaint back on Amber with a certain ruthless efficiency, but also, her line to Dillon looked like justified teasing about his sexual vanity, albeit teasing that he wouldn't recognise as such. She's developing a certain pawky wit against which others will have to guard themselves.
Cortez wrote:Plus this strip shows Ruby doing her job and keeping Amber's priority in order. Mean would be doing the opposite.
That efficiency is interesting, but actually, it confirms something we'd already seen about Ruby; that she takes a lot of pride in being good at her job. She needs that even more than she needs to hurt Amber. She can insult her sister on her own time.

Which ties up with her fetish for "respectability". Ruby has had trouble making friends, she's sublimated her sex drive for years, she fears that her parents don't love her - but the one thing she can control is how seriously she's taken. Dignity, respectability, doing a good job, being able to afford smart clothes - they're all parts of the same thing. If she can't be loved, she can at least be respected. The worst danger is that she'll eventually go full Tatiana and decide that she wants to be feared.
Here is a thought. Perhaps Ruby at first was completely professional about handling her duties as a personal assistant for Amber, but then she told her not to think of her as a boss, but a sister. Once Amber gave her permission to act like a sister Ruby acted like a sister, but not the kind she had in mind.
Spidrift wrote:
brasca wrote:Sorry I thought you were referring to Charlotte Simms and Cyndi Kristoffer from Penny & Aggie, but misspelled the names.
Because "Grote" looks just like "Simms", and I'm the sort of person who spells "Cyndi" as "Sydney"...
I only read the most recent post where you did not include surnames, but I should know better since you are a stickler for spelling and would not make such a mistake.
Spidrift wrote:
brasca wrote:And Something Positive's PeeJee Shou would be another.
I'd rather keep things less misanthropic and sour than that.
Misanthropes need yaoi too and seeing as how PeeJee is originally from Canada she might actually show up on the way for a family visit. Moreover, PeeJee knows Aubrey Chorde who created her own successful tech support and sex hotline business. That is some good networking right there.

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