Category: A Catch All

Supporting Stitch’s Media Mix in 2019

Stitch

how to support stitch's media mix 2019

WHO I AM AND WHAT I DO:

I’m Stitch and I’ve been running Stitch’s Media Mix since March 2015.

I created my site as a place for fandom and media criticism after being frustrated by my inability to find a safe, welcoming place where I could be a part of these conversations in the fandoms that I was trying to participate in.

I love being in fandom and I love the act of being a fan, but I feel as though there’s room for improvement that is always being overlooked. I’d love to be able to change certain things about the overarching institution of fandom, but for now, I’ll settle for educating and snarking my way along as I figure out how to bring change to and spark conversations in my main fandoms.

Using my academic background – a BA in History and have my MA in English/Literature – alongside my experiences as a queer Black person in fandom, I try to tackle the media I consume and the fandom spaces I inhabit from a critical and faintly snarky angle.

I use my website to host my writing: media critique, analysis of fandom tropes and trends, book reviews, and the occasional bit of original fiction.

My focus is on talking critically about the media folks create and consume in order to forge a path towards making fandom a more welcoming place for marginalized and underrepresented groups of people.

I want everyone to be able to have a seat at the proverbial table without it being pulled from underneath them.Read More »

Quick Rec: Horror Noire on Shudder

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If you’ve got an hour and a half to spare and an interest in learning about the role of Black people in front of and behind the camera when it comes to the horror genre, check out this brilliant documentary on Shudder’s streaming platform asap!

(Also, I need the book that this was inspired by asap. I’m putting it on my wishlist because it’s so amazing!)

 

Stitch Does Stuff in February 2019

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Stitch does stuff in february 2019.png

What am I going to do in February 2019?

Well, for the first two-weeks of the month… probably not that much.

I’ll be visiting my elderly father in the USVI for a multi-purpose visit (he hasn’t been well, I won’t be able to visit for his birthday in April, my brother is getting his babies christened while his family is there, and doing research for a couple of stories I have set on the island) between the 4th and the 13th.

While I’m in the USVI, I don’t have internet access unless I get a ride to the local library or hang out at an internet café downtown where the tourists hangout. (I could go to the university to use their wi-fi/computer labs since I already need to ask a question of the librarians for a project I’m doing, but it is weird to hang out at a school I haven’t attended in like eight years.)

Despite the fact that I’ll have my big laptop with me, I probably won’t have that much time to work so I’ll be using my time from today up until my flight leaves to write and schedule as much as possible for the time period. Some content is already scheduled on my website and Patreon as well as some tweets to make up for the fact that unless I borrow my bro’s phone, I won’t be able to communicate with y’all.

Therefore, everything on this list is tentative because it depends on how the trip goes and how much free-time and writing headspace I can grab during the trip so I’m not playing catch-up any more than usual following my trip.

Wish me luck, folks!

Website

The Great Big Anita Blake Reread: Obsidian Butterfly

Strap yourselves in for another ridiculously long installment of my Great Big Anita Blake ReRead. I’ve got stuff to say about everything the novel did really well, what it still sucks at, and the one thing I wish I could carve out of the book with my bare bloody hands.

The Cruel Prince review

I should finish up with Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince some time during my trip. As I love fucked up fae stories? I have to review it.

Spiderverse and Miles Morales: A Spider-Man Novel, When Authenticity Matters

I’ve talked a ton about a) why I think Brian Michael Bendis kind of sucks at writing Black characters and b) why representation of marginalized people matters. In this piece, I’m going to talk about what Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Jason Reynolds’ Miles Morales novel so different from what we’d gotten on Miles before and how, some level of authenticity is important when we’re dealing with representation.

Queer-Coding, Bad-Bat-Takes, And Why The Joker Isn’t That Important to Batman

Despite what many comic book writers, editors, and some comic historians currently, the idea that the Joker serves as Batman’s darker “other half” is one that hinges on incredibly modern interpretations on the character that go hand in hand with ham-fisted attempts to squash them into these roles.

It’s also, not very accurate.

In Retrospect: The Authority Volume 1 (Issues 1 -12)

In a new blog essay series, I look at media I loved in my nerdy past and talk about what I loved, what I wished it did differently, and how it needs to change/how it may have already been updated. In this inaugural installment, to celebrate the awesome updates made in The Wild Storm comics out now, I talk about the first twelve issues of Wildstorm’s The Authority before Mark Millar got his gross little hands on it.

What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Misogynoir – Black Women in the Way

Few things inspire more misogynoir than a Black female character that fandom thinks “gets in the way” of a ship involving two white characters.

Updates and Junk

  • PCA 2019 Planning Post
  • Updated Who I am/What I do Post

Patreon

Ships ‘n Shit: Team Kill Dracula

One of the best ships to come out of Netflix’s Castlevania series is the OT3 relationship between dhampir Alucard, occasionally tipsy supernatural expert Trevor Belmont, and snarky Speaker Sypha Belnades

Stitch Loves Villains: Mariah Dillard

I’ve been promising a piece on Luke Cage’s Mariah Dillard since season one of the show. Now, I think I’ve got my angle. Since she’s a villain I love, I’m going to focus on that aspect of her character under my Stitch Loves Villains umbrella.

The Great Big Anita Blake Reread: Narcissus In Chains

  • Snippet ($1 Tier)
  • Draft ($3 Tier)

In book #10, the Anitaverse gets really gross. This is the start of the badness. I recommend preparing yourself with a stiff drink because this book is bad.

Urban Fantasy 101: Magical Negros in the Genre

  • Snippet ($1 Tier)

I’m experimenting with topics for upcoming UF101 posts and I’m trying to see where I can go when talking about magical negro figures in the genre. I wind up scrapping a ton of UF101 pieces or putting them on the back burner/forgetting about them, but I think I’ve hit on something with this one.

Worldbuilding Wednesday: Nobles

A lot of the fantasy I’ve been reading (and some of what I’ve been reading) focuses on nobles in various groups. I want to talk about fixating on class and navigating writing wealth when you don’t have much/and keep tweeting #EatTheRich on a regular basis.

What Fandom Racism Looks Like: The Problem With Preference

  • Snippet ($1 Tier)
  • Full Draft ($3 Tier)

At some point this month, the draft of “What Fandom Racism Looks Like: The Problem With Preference” will be up. Before then, I’ll be putting up one last snippet!

Urban Fantasy 101 Notes

  • Vampires Are People Too – “Show, Don’t Tell” is good advice when it comes to making sure readers get what you’re trying to put across when it comes to talking about the humanity of supernatural beings. What happens when the author only tells us that these characters are supposed to be sympathetic but… don’t show them.
  • Hate Crimes – I keep coming across UF books with hate crimes/hate groups in them and I want to talk about what these crimes look like and why, if you’re going to use hate crimes and set up vampires and other supernatural beings as minorities, maybe… be more original? (I just have a bone to pick with how the allegories for race/disability/etc layered on these dangerous preternatural beings don’t even try to aim for originality when it comes to oppression.)

Women of Color in MCU Live Action Properties: Nakia

Am I going to write 2000 words about how Nakia was the best character in Black Panther and deserves to be loved? Yes, yes I am.

This month there won’t be an Audience Participation poll because I won’t have time to work on a piece and tweet reminders at the beginning of the month. Next month though, I’ll be back on track with it. I plan to have March’s post scheduled to go up on March 1st at midnight and I already know what I’m putting up for TWO poll options next month!

The Usual Support Links

Ko-fi:  ko-fi.com/A477I4N

PayPal: paypal.me/ZinaH

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StitchMediaMix/

CV: stitchmediamix.com/zina-h-cv/

Book Wishlist: link: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/UXW2K0AOL5YK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_RWWByb2JFWTRJ

I hope your February is awesome!

I’ll be posting pictures from my trip on twitter (@stichomancery) or instagram (@stitchmmix) whenever I get a chance/some service downtown or when we head to the island all the wannabe expats hang out on, but expect mostly radio silence for half of the momth! (I’ll share video and audio too, but that’ll probably go up when I’m in the airport on the way out.)

I appreciate y’all a ton and I can’t wait to get back and share my island with y’all as well as the stuff I do manage to get written this month!

(And then in March, it’s BLOG ANNIVERSARY AND GIVEAWAY TIME!

Stay sweet, pumpkins!

Stitch Does Stuff In January

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stitch does stuff in january 2019

I’m starting 2019 out right: by planning to write a bunch of stuff that I might not get to do because I always overshoot like it’s my job.

I’m aiming for big writing goals while learning how to use my time wisely and manage my writing time better.

Will this work? Who knows.

Will y’all get good content out of this no matter what happens? Definitely.

So here’s my January 2019 to-do list.

One thing I’m doing that’s new is posting my fiction goals (original and fan fiction) which aren’t set in stone and are moving from month to month because they’re primarily me adding words or doing revisions on existing work. Usually I keep it private because of how often i miss my goals or write unrelated things…

But I’ve realized that y’all might not know I’m always working on some kind of fiction and I’m trying to change that because my fiction writing is important to me and I want it to be important to y’all as well on some level.

Let’s get started.Read More »

[Stitch Likes Villains] Thrawn

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Stitch Likes Villains - Thrawn

If left unchecked, there’s no limit to how many times I’ll bring up Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn (the 2016 novel and its titular character) in a conversation about Star Wars.

Thrawn is hands down my favorite villain in the Star Wars universe and I think he’s an incredibly well-written villain that’s the straight up star of his own set of books. Like I literally wish I could write a villain as good as Thrawn, a character who is interesting and compelling while also frustrating enough to make you want to beat the holy heck out of him.

I’d like to blame my friend Justen for my whole Thrawn… thing. He’s encouraged my Thrawn obsession for the longest time now and he’d be the easiest person to pin my Thrawn-obsession on. Except, that wouldn’t be fair or entirely true. Read More »

Stitch Does Stuff in December

Stitch

It’s the end of 2018 and I am so ready for this year to be over. While I’ve had incredible personal, creative, and academic successes this year, it’s also been the longest year I’ve ever lived in my life so far andfull to the brim with stress. But I’m not done just yet.

I’m wrapping up 2018 with a full slate of projects and pieces (in-progress and completed) for my website, Patreon, and maybe a couple of other outlets. This includes my end of the year wrap up post, “Best Books of 2018” lists, and a ton of book reviews for your reading pleasure.

So, let’s get started with my list of things that will be going up on my website and Patreon this final month of 2018!

Read More »

Stitch Does Stuff in November

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Stitch does stuff in November.png

This month, I’ll be doing a ton of writing.

Not only am I continuing to play catch up on a deadline I’m still chugging past (I’ve got 2.5 chapters on my outline left to actually finish), but I’m also doing NaNoWriMo  (at my own, slightly smaller goal of 30k words) and I’m doing K. Tempest Bradford’s course with daily writing exercises for NaNoWriMo (thanks to the magic of scholarships).

So I’m busy as hell and writing every day for  like… hours.

It’s scary, but I’ve got goals to hit and content to produce.

On top of that, I’ll also be doing my regular blog and patreon posts (on a smaller, more responsible scale to take all the other writing I’m doing into account).

So here’s what’s coming up this month!

Website

What Fandom Racism Looks Like: #NotAllFans

The final draft of the piece I’d originally written and posted on Patreon. Now with additional solutions for what to do instead of derailing criticism and commentary with that “not all x fans” nonsense.

Read More »

Stitch Does Stuff in October

Stitch

Stitch does stuff in October

September was another notably busy month, but I got a huge chunk of work done and a majority of what I wanted to write in September done and posted. Here’s hoping October will be as successful as I try to find a balance between my critical writing and just… having fun and sharing my favorite pieces of media with y’all.

It’s also my birthmonth so I’m trying to return to my tradition of giving gifts to y’all in the form of writing and a wee giveaway (but I won’t say no to gifts anyone wants to buy me off of my book wishlist!)

Now, on to what’s on the menu for October:

My Website

Stitch Reads Stuff – October TBR List

#IKnowWhatIReadLastSummer Book Reviews

  • Taste of Wrath (Sin du Jour #7) – Matt Wallace (Plus an audio send-off for my favorite series.)
  • Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) – Rebecca Roanhoarse
  • Borderline (The Arcadia Project #1) – Mishell Baker

Fleeting Frustrations #2 – Miss Me With Non-Intersectional Fandom Analysis

Regular Reviews

  • Rebekah Weatherspoon’s Rafe
  • Talia Hibbert’s Untouchable
  • Craig Schaefer’s The Neon Boulevard
  • (More to be added as I read more things)

Gratuitous Birthday Story

Gratuitous Birthday Giveaway

Urban Fantasy 101: A Quick Guide to Dastardly Demons

Patreon

Audience Participation: Choose Your Own Essay

Patrons at the $5 and $10 Tier get a week to choose an article they’d like to read from a list of three different options. The next week, it goes live for them. By the end of the month, all Patrons will have access to it! There’ll also be a 2-month delay between when my Patrons get it and when it goes up here. (More details will be posted on the Audience Participation intro post!)

Read More »

[Stitch Likes Stuff] Shipping, Fandom Racism, and Reylo

Stitch

I came across this video thanks to one of my old mutuals on tumblr and I think it’s a pretty great overview of the way that shipping trends and fandom racism are often one in the same.

The video’s narrator, Moth, starts with a “Shipping 101” introduction for the uninitiated and then jumps right in. They focus on a couple of specific areas that I feel are important to take into consideration in fandom/as a fan:

  • The popularity of “unhealthy” non-canon ships with two white characters over “healthy” canon ships with one character of color being shipped with a white character (Moth uses “unhealthy” to refer to ships involving minors in sexual/romantic relationships with adults, incest, one character being a noted abuser in canon, that sort of thing.)
  • The excuses fans in fandom give for why they’re not racist for being almost solely invested in ships between white characters — especially white villains and the white characters fighting against them.
  • And the Star Wars’ fandom’s Rey/Kylo shippers and several of the racist excuses that some of the fans of the ship use to explain why they can’t find Finn a “worthy” partner for Rey (but insist on shipping her with someone who she calls a monster and can’t stand).

Obviously, this sort of video hits a lot of my buttons because these are things I talk about on my website. I think it’s a really insightful video that clearly lays out what fandom does, what characters are impacted the most, and why it’s a set of trends that is racist. Much of the video focuses primarily on the Star Wars fandom, but as I think that’s one of the most racist fandoms active right now… Obviously, I think that’s a great thing to zero in on.

So please, go to Moth’s video and let them know how much you appreciate their work and upvote the video (because folks that talk about race and racism in media or fandom definitely get the short end of the stick and tons of abuse from assholes who don’t seem to get that they’re just… proving that fandom is racist).

Today In “Things I Knew I Never Needed”: HP Lovecraft in an Anime

Stitch

I was minding my business, looking at Funimation’s website to find out what upcoming anime series I can watch a single episode of and then never finish when I clicked on their link for folks to “Meet The New Faces Of Bungo Stray Dogs, Season 2” and saw none other than …

Howard Philips “So Racist I Named My Cat A Racial Slur and So Bad At Writing That I Only Achieved Serious Fame Posthumously and Had To Eat Beans” Lovecraft.

He — or a character representing him in some wildly inaccurate capacity in the context of this weird show I only watched two episodes of — is a new face in Bungo Stray Dogs’ second season and I am AMUSED.

Homeboy’s out here looking like a rather cadaverous bishonen.

I hate Lovecraft like I’ve hated few others (and one day will travel back in time to beat his pasty ass) but… I almost want to watch this series to see how ridiculous this is going to be.

If you want to see Lovecraft as a zombie bishonen (basically). check under the cut!Read More »

Stitch Does Stuff in September

Stitch

 

Stitch does stuff in September (1)

So we’re eleven days into September and I’ve had one heck of a busy month already!

If you missed it, I attended BookNet Fest 2018 this past weekend and had a BLAST. I also didn’t get much work done because I am…mediocre at multitasking. So, once again I’m playing catch-up and blowing past deadlines while screaming.

Here’s what’s going to be (hopefully) up on my website and Patreon this coming month!

Website

“Sacrifice, Heroics, and Dead Characters of Color” – September 14th

“Dear Comic Fans, It’s Been Four Years And Y’all Are Still So Darn Angry About Brown Folks In Your Nerdy Media IN GENERAL” – End of September

#IKnowWhatIReadLastSummer Reviews for:

  • Deadline (Harietta Lee #1) – Stephanie Ahn
  • Borderline (The Arcadia Project #1) – Mishell Baker
  • Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) – Rebecca Roanhoarse
  • Shadow’s Bane (Dorina Basarab #4 – Karen Chance

Review for Soulless (Awakening of the Spirit #3) – Montiese McKenzie

Review for Undertow (Port Lewis Witches #2) – Brooklyn Ray

Fleeting Frustrations #2 – Miss Me With Non-Intersectional Fandom Analysis

Patreon

[Finished Draft] Queer-Coding, Bad-Bat-Takes, And Why The Joker Isn’t That Important to Batman – $3 Tier

Snippets and reading list for Urban Fantasy 101: Vampire Supremacy – $1 Tier

The next installment in The Great Big Anita Blake Reread – $3 Tier

Test snippets at the $1 Tier for:

  • What Fandom Racism Looks Like – Beige Blank Slates
  • Little Wolf, Big Red (Fiction)
  • Urban Fantasy 101 – White Saviors
  • Evil in My Heart: Thrawn (a new mini-article series analyzing the villains I love, because yes… I’ve been listening to that one Thrawn audiobook for a month straight and he’s one of a ton of villains who deserve some of my intense interest)

A Spooky Surprise (with Demons!)- $3 or $5 Tier

(Possibly) Writing Files: Demons – $5 Tier

I know It looks like a lot, but I am determined to get this all done and posted! Wish me luck and feel free to subscribe to my Patreon!

#IKnowWhatIReadLastSummer

Stitch

#IKnowWhatIReadLastSummer

Howdy folks and friends!

For the next couple of weeks, expect to see a lot more reviews of urban fantasy novels or series (with the occasional paranormal romance thrown in because that’s how I roll). Following my graduation, I had the chance to read a lot of urban fantasy that I’d missed over the hellish thesis semester and I want to give back to the brilliant authors who made my day by doing reviews of their wonderful work!

You’ll be able to tell by the tag (“I Know What I Read Last Summer”) when a review is part of this little attempt at getting my reviewing game back on track and there’ll be an accompanying hashtag on twitter so that I can stay organized! This is also tied into my Urban Fantasy 101 work because I get so critical about the genre that sometimes, i forget to hype up the books and authors I love!

I hope that I can help y’all find some fun and fantastic new reads in my favorite genre!

Stitch

Stitch Does Stuff In August

Stitch

Stitch does stuff in August.png

July was hecking busy and I didn’t get a ton of work done.

What sucks is that August is going to be intense and busy because I’m increasing the intensity of my job hunt and the moment I get hired, my writing output will shrink drastically. So, I’m going to try to make a manageable schedule with two main pieces for Patreon and two for my website that I will aim to get done and posted by the end of August with a couple smaller things for both platforms.

My goal from here on in is to make more of an active effort doing freelance and working on sending pitches to outlets that pay. I also have some fiction and non-fiction I’d like to work on and sell, but I’m pacing myself so that I can see if I can get some serious work done by the end of the year – work that folks would be interested in paying me directly for. (Which is another thing I need to figure out: how to use gumroad or some other storefront service to sell digital content directly to interested consumers!)

I’ll keep y’all posted on that front, but in the meanwhile, let’s look at what’s coming up in August:

 

Patreon

  • “Dear Comic Fans, It’s Been Four Years And Y’all Are Still So Darn Angry About Not Just Racebending But Brown Folks In Your Nerdy Media In General” – Snippets at the $1 Tier and the finished draft at the $3 and $5 tiers
  • “Urban Fantasy 101: Vampire Supremacy” – snippets at the $1 Tier and the finished draft at the $3 and 5 tiers.
  • A currently untitled piece on heroic deaths, characters of color, and who fandom never fights to bring back – definitely snippets at the $1 Tier, possibly the draft at the upper tiers if I don’t sell the article based on the pitch I’m planning to send
  • Slavefic Thoughts Revisited, a sort of coda to the “What Fandom Racism Looks Like” piece on slavefic that covers some things I think I needed to get into a bit more/that I glossed over – $5 Tier
  • “Talking Tropes – Episode 2: Secret Royalty – $5 Tier
  • Snippets for uh… basically everything – $1 Tier
  • Image posts + longform captions/mini-essays for a handful of previous posts – $1 Tier

 

Website

  • “Too White Bread for This Shit: Race and Racism in Laurell K Hamilton’s Urban Fantasy Series”
  • “Urban Fantasy 101: What I Read Last Summer”
  • “Who the heck is Ben Solo?”
  • “What Fandom Racism Looks Like: White Prioritization”
  • A currently untitled Urban Fantasy 101 Piece
  • Some short book reviews!

Thank you for supporting me for another month!

❤

Signal boosting an emergency fundraiser

Stitch

A very dear friend of the family – she’s my mom’s best friend and her daughter and I grew up together – is trying to raise funds so that get to New York by the sixth of June in order to attend the funeral of her sister, who recently passed away.

I know money’s tight all over, but if donations aren’t a possibility (and even if they are), can y’all share this so that she can see her sister off?

Please.

FACEBOOK DONATION LINK