Reality and Science Fantasy: How Our World Shapes Theirs

On Monday, during my Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature class, my professor was discussing the way that social context is important to understanding the context of a novel, particularly in science fiction and fantasy literature.  In particular, he was discussing the difference between the games in Ender’s Game and the games in the Harry Potter series.

Hot Girls and Not-Hot Guys

Strangely enough, today was my first encounter with the situation known as “Hot Girl Dating Fugly Guy.”

I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with this concept, but it occurs when an intensely beautiful or good-looking girl with pleasant facial features and a visually pleasing body shape is dating a guy who is not intensely handsome, good-looking, or possessive of pleasant facial features or a visually pleasing body shape.

My first awareness of this social conundrum was on Lovelyish, where Lovelyish blogger Iris asks why women are expected to be beautiful, but men don’t care if their significant other finds them attractive.

I thought it was just an urban myth. Honestly? In my social environment, it’s usually the other way around: highly attractive males who date girls that are not aesthetically pleasing. (In some cases, the girls don’t even have pleasant personalities, but that’s the topic of another blog post.)

So to actually experience this social myth was astounding!

It was during my Mass Communications class, just before it started. I was working on The Final Experiment, but these two people were distracting me because they were talking. The guy was seriously not attractive. You know the kind of guy who goes to class without shaving or washing his hair? The kind of guy that needs a really great personality just to have friends? That was what this guy reminded me of.

And you know the kind of girl who is totally hot? The kind who spends tons of time showering and getting herself clean and made up, the kind that spends hundreds of dollars on a nice wardrobe? That was his girlfriend.

Guess what? They cut out of class in order to go… ah… have recreational physical activities.

Have you ever seen a very attractive girl with an unattractive guy?

New Release Date?

Back again, perhaps.

Yes, I realize that it’s February and I’ve hardly posted recently – and not at all this year – but I hope I’ll be back and posting more often, the way I used to.

But I wanted to talk about the newer release date.  I’m negoatiating with a small press right now, and hopefully The TECH Project will be released in April or May.

Thoughts?  Comments?