I Am Geek Woman, Hear Me Quote Buffy!

A very, very, very full week of meetings, events, conference, networking is at its end. In brief, I had the full SIME experience and made new friends both personally and professionally.

I participated in the founding of Geek Women Unite! (Sweden), a network for people like me which is now gaining traction like crazy. Look us up on Facebook and join – or, if that feels inappropriate, join our sibling group I Support Geek Women instead.

Was on Kino i P1 discussing Glee; listen again here (in Swedish). I wrote about Glee in ETC magazine, also in Swedish. Then I reflected on Meg Cabot’s defense of romance literature in her YA novel The Princess Diaries – Ten Out Of Ten, which stars a geek girl, here (in Finnish).

Otherwise all prep work – for the Carolus Rex documentary, for my chapters in the Nordic Larp book, for my Buffy the Vampire Slayer paper at this conference in December. The busy continues. I’ll keep you posted!

Live In Stockholm. And Books.

Gotta keep this brief because I’m on my way to Stockholm for an intense week of meetings and work on the Nordic Larp Book, a possible new documentary, and to participate in a panel at SIME Stockholm. I read on the page that I’m a “thought leader”. I guess it’s true in the context in which it’s used, but it makes me a bit giggly nevertheless. Thought leader! Hihi. See you there. Not because of me, but because I’m in truly humbling, inspirational company.

I’m writing about new sequels to old children’s books here (in Swedish) and here (in Finnish). The Finnish blog is also updated with some Stieg Larsson stuff. And we have a publication date for Oblivion High 3 – it’ll be out in September, 2010. The title is Laulu.

Book Blog, LARP Talk and the Inside Track

Oh my, what an exciting weekend taping På spåret in Gothburg! I obviously can’t say anything about the result, but I will say this: in the first programme I’m in, the host mentions that I’m a role-player, and I totally own it (NERD PRIDE!) – and then go on to fail the one question that every fantasy larper in Sweden knows the answer to… Whoops.

I really can’t say whether Marcus Birro and I are satisfyingly televisual together, it’s too weirdly intense to sit inside that box. We had great  fun though (and a big part of that is that the hosts and all the other contestants were such hilarious people). But what I can say is that the new host and judge work really, really well both together and with the concept of the show, and that the new house band Augustifamiljen is brilliant. If there was a CD on sale with the musical questions, I would totally buy it. The På spåret season starts on December 4th, my episodes are on December 11th and January 22nd.

Meanwhile, in Finland, in Finnish, I have premiered a new blog under the auspices of City-lehti. I will be writing about books and book-related phenomena once or twice a week. Check it out!

Now, the most exciting event of last week was easily my visit to the Role-Playing Camp organised by Camelot, the Arthurian/RPG youth club of the Swedish Church. The camps are organized twice each year and one of the highlights is a short larp, this year an H.P. Lovecraft-themed one called Skuggor över Finnåker (Shadows over Finnåker). The Swedish Church is obviously pretty liberal; I would not expect to see an ordained minister of, say, the Anglican church participating in a fictional occult ritual. Skuggor was a pretty tight little game. I had the pleasure of playing it twice and immediately lobbied for it to be produced again in conjunction with the big conventions next year – here’s hopin’.

Now, the reason I made the trek to Arboga to begin with was that I had been invited to give a talk to the camp. I called it 12 Mind-Blowing LARP Experiences, and it was a short introduction to key games, ideas and methods in the Nordic Larp tradition (it was in English, since one of the campers was Hungarian). The talk can be viewed as a sort of very, very, distant first draft of the Nordic Larp book (edited by the brilliant Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola) that I have been asked to write the introduction of, and some super exciting  things are happening in this field next year. Watch this space!

(In the above picture I wait for the Lovecraft game to begin together with larpwright Teresa Axner, who also happens to be one of my Weird Science colleagues. We are already in costume as the misses Linder and Lampa, and would spend the next several hours being really scared of cultists in the forest. I had not planned on staying, so my costume is symbolic – the Hilfiger logo on my sweater is obscured by my ordinary winter coat. In the background, younger participants. Photo by Anna-Karin Linder).

Talking Finnish and Marketing

There is a relaxed and sweet interview with me in the current issue of Ruotsin Suomalainen magazine – holy crap, as I checked to link just now, I also saw there is a massive picture of me on the cover, too. Ahm, thank you! RS is a small newspaper, but it is very important to the Finnish-speaking minority here in Sweden, and I am really flattered. When I first moved to Sweden ten years ago, I actually worked at RS for about a month between terms; they have probably forgotten this entirely, but I certainly think of them with fondness.

And for Finnish readers out there, I think I’ve forgotten to mention a piece I wrote for Sarjainfo magazine 1/09, stil available in their web shop. It’s on how to market your comic book if you have no money at all. Of course, if you’re a real starving comic book artist, you can’t afford the magazine either. In that case I would guide to this blogpost and your local library – in Stockholm, Sarjainfo is available at Serieteket.

Here And There, En Route All Over

Yes, it’s shocking: I am a contestant on SVT:s På spåret. There’s a video clip here with my talented teammate Marcus Birro and me about four minutes in.

Last Wednesday, I sat on the panel that P3 Populär call The Board of Directors (Styrelsen) with Shire Raghe of MTV fame – he is now a climate ambassador, part of the green carpet jet set – and wonderful host Hanna Fahl. We talked, among many things, about poisonous jeans and having sex with comic book characters, so it’s good to know I’m doing my bit for the world. The picture is from their web site, with thanks.

On Monday, I appeared briefly as an expert judge on Annika Lantz’s show, evaluating pitches by female theologians for movies about Biblical women. Both pitches seemed both intelligent and funny to me. (All of these in Swedish)

This Wednesday, I was interviewed in Helsingin Sanomat about cosplay culture and how grownups struggle to correctly decode very young girls dressed as maids and Lolitas. I advised common sense and called for a more open discussion about the sexuality of teenagers; if talking about it is taboo, there can be no safe environments for kids to explore the limits of and master the uses of the languages of friendship, romance and sexuality. The text is not online, but the conversation continues on the Ms Mandu  blog (Finnish), where we also have a fan art competition on!

I’m in Oxford, again. Tomorrow is my graduation. Next time I blog, I will do so with the legal right to wear a mortar board.

Free Love and a Regrettable Death

In Friday’s issue of Fokus (Swedish), I write about the increasing visibility of relationship anarchy – and its increasing validity as a lifestyle choice in educated urban communities. Since the conversation described in the text I have found that two of the couple-constellations I refer to, one in Finland and one in Denmark, are having documentary movies made about their lives. We may be living in neo-conservative times, but there is clearly a massive market in an exploration of alternative lifestyles.

If you would like to learn more, the internet is the first place to start. For printed information in Swedish, Andie Nordgren wrote intelligently about relationship anarchy in the anthology Könskrig (buy it here). In the same volume is an essay of mine about Valley Girl culture – on how the teenage blondes hanging at the Sherman Oaks Galleria became global icons of successful femininity. I looked at it recently and feel quite good about it still, so well worth a gander.

In rather sadder news, Roolipelaaja magazine has folded. 23 issues is an admirable run admirable for a small cultural publication in this economy, but it does leave a massive gap in the market and should have fared better. To my knowledge there are currently a grand total of zero lifestyle magazines aimed at the role-playing community, let alone one that also has place for reportage and intelligent criticism. This would be a worldwide statistic. Roolipelaaja will be sorely missed and I am very proud to have been part of it for a while.

Opinions Are Like… Free. Plus: Round-Up

I think perhaps I am too easily quotable. I think I put too much effort into pith. It is also possible that I am what could be called an Opinion Whore. Whatever the reason, I get a lot of calls and emails from people who would really, really like me to weigh in on this or that, typically for free. And I, the sucker, oblige. Making way too much of an effort to be lucid and quotable. Pretending that it is what you have to do if you aspire to acting responsibly as a public intellectual; pretending that this is, in fact, excellent exposure of my professional persona. Pretending that I’m not actually just flattered to be asked. Overcompensating by taking it all very seriously. Spending the time. Most importantly – spending time avoiding my own deadlines. Sigh. Look out for <sarcasm> wit, pith and wisdom </sarcasm> from yours truly in upcoming incarnations of Bon, Svensk Bokhandel, Ruotsinsuomalainen and P3 Populär. And in the premier issue of Sheriffi, out now, which I think contains a short interview with me. But don’t expect any of my own writing any time soon, since I clearly have no sense of priorities.

OK, I did do one thing – I reviewed Frederik Strage’s Strage text in Dagens Nyheter on Tuesday (Swedish). This was an interesting challenge, since I realized as I was reading that Strage is one of the people who inspired me to choose this profession to begin with. The review garnered feedback from friends and acquaintances that may, or may not, result in a new blog.

Oh, also – I have a short story in the Finnish children’s literature magazine Vinski, out now.

I like Vinslöv

Niklas Eriksson wrote a piece on the slightly controversial Swedish documentary Plötsligt i Vinslöv and its new sequel. He asked me whether I like it. My tiny little answer in the article is basically yes, I love it. The slightly longer answer which I submitted to him sounded like this:

Jag har några nära vänner som intresserar sig mycket för svenskiana – eller det kanske ska heta sveciana? Plötsligt i Vinslöv är en helt central text i deras uppfattning om det “verkliga” Sverige. Sverige som en nostalgisk plats, ett autentiskt tillstånd som dessa urbana IT-killar bara kan närma sig genom symboliska handlingar som att bära gubbkeps, gå på Statt eller orera om rostad lök med pilsnerfilmsröst. Själv älskar jag filmen för att den illustrerar skillnaden mellan människor som är ängsliga och förställda och dem som vågar bara knalla på, trygga i sig själva. Ibland skäms man när man ser den men mest över sig själv.

He didn’t quote me out of context or anything, he’s a lovely pro! I just wanted to share this.

Otherwise I’m currently in Oxford sitting the Prize Fellowship Exam at All Souls College. I’ve done pretty well but I have displayed zero knowledge of English literature, so my chance at getting the Fellowship are close to zero. Still, what fun! I’d love to sit an exam like this every six months or so just to stay sharp!

Motivational Speaking and Facebook Oblivion

Spent an exciting and exhausting day in Katrineholm doing motivational speaking to high school kids. Six municipalities in Sörmland are running a joint EU project on gender and identity called 6H – Hur han blev han och hur hon blev hon (Official Web Page). Katrineholm is one of these and offers, among other things, film screenings (Boys Don’t Cry, Entre Les Murs and suprisingly Ken Loach’s Ae Fond Kiss), a youth cabaret, a mini Pride festival on St. Lucia Day and inspirational lectures. Which is what brought me to town.

Today I shared the stage with the extremely talented Oskar Hanska, 2009 Swedish Poetry Slam champion in the individual and impro categories and a stand-up guy. Catch him at the book fair in Gothenburg this week! Since it’s already started and Oskar was needed on the west coast, tomorrow the man parts go to Carl-Martin “Sture” Vikingsson of Svenska Akademien and Stures Dansorkester. Snaps to Sörmland on this whole thing!

Also: Since Oblivion High’s web page is only in Finnish, we now have a Facebook presence. Should you care to become a fan, it’s here.

Short Story For Children And A Year To Remember

Just delivered a short story loosely related to Oblivion High to the children’s literature magazine Vinski. Nina von Rüdiger made the above illustration and we’re quite pleased – might the make it bonus material at the end of the third installment of the comic book. I’ll get back to you about the publication date.

Today marks the bicentenary of Sweden losing Finland to Russia; I was interviewed in Sydsvenskan. The picture of me is a snapshot from a wedding and taken by Henri Block. I did tell the editor they’ve got my work description wrong but I guess they forgot to fix it, but I’m totally flattered that people could think I’m a filmmaker…

Some of my most talented Oxford classmates are running a very interesting online magazine called Murdofleur. Yesterday, my mate Rob Gallagher Skyped me for a conversation that will be the girl issue podcast! Great fun, and you should totally read the whole issue, and listen to the talk once it’s up.