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I might be brave enough to give it a go... :o

2016- Phryne Ficathon!

Yes folks I’m going to do it again.

Calling all  established, interested and aspiring fanfic writers.

The second Phryne Ficathon is coming soon. 

Please like and reblog this post to spread the word. We want as many writers as possible.

Further information regarding timelines, guidelines and prompts etc will come soon but as a general idea for this ficathon we’re going with the theme below;

Phryne has taken off for London Jack is staring at a disappearing plane- What happens next?

It will hopefully turn out to be a very au series 4 of sorts while we await news about the future of this wonderful show.

Please let me know if you’re interested in signing up!

Lets do this!

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lol

apparently tumblr and its “recommended blogs” section thinks i’ve found all the miss fisher’s murder mysteries blogs, but i’m pretty sure it’s wrong…

so if you (re)blog miss fisher and you’re into people creeping on you and randomly reblogging things from last year or whatever, hit me up.* /attempt to sound like i know how kids talk on the interwebs

*by “hit me up” i mean like or reblog this post so i can find you, don’t actually hit me, please.

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@rithebard, I put that down to Phryne doing things a level or two above the rest of us - she couldn't just have a party, she would go all out and do things above & beyond, just because she can and she wants to have some fun. And I don't know how much the celebration has watered down over the last 90 years...

Still don’t understand Christmas in July???

This is to my fellow Miss Fisher Fans from Australia.  I am still confused by the Christmas in July.  I understand it is because its winter in July but his birthday is in Spring, the celebrated day was a Roman Holiday, so why not Christmas in Fall? Also the oldest reference I can find is an old American Movie in the 30′s did the celebrate it in 20′s?  The reason I am asking was spurred by Nathan and Sam’s Instagram posts. Help?

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Since our seasons are 6 months 'out of phase', a white Christmas on 25th December isn't possible, so we honour the holiday on 25th July with a party instead. We don't do the WHOLE Christmas thing - I've never seen anyone decorate a tree or exchange gifts etc. not the big family gathering; these days it's just a party with Santa hats. Obviously things have changed over the years...

Still don’t understand Christmas in July???

This is to my fellow Miss Fisher Fans from Australia.  I am still confused by the Christmas in July.  I understand it is because its winter in July but his birthday is in Spring, the celebrated day was a Roman Holiday, so why not Christmas in Fall? Also the oldest reference I can find is an old American Movie in the 30′s did the celebrate it in 20′s?  The reason I am asking was spurred by Nathan and Sam’s Instagram posts. Help?

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Well answered @aljwritesphryne! I am a Melbournian & very few people say 'hooroo' these days, although there was a very famous gardening show host who signed off with it for about 20 years. In July there's half a chance of finding snow up in the mountains if you're in southern New South Wales or Northern Victoria. Then if you're that way inclined, you can pretend you're in 'the old country' (Europe) and celebrate Christmas. Many of us do still cook the big roast lunch at Christmas in December in 30 degree heat, but for many people that's just not right. As less & less of us are European migrants (grandparents/parents maybe), there is no 'old country' - we've acclimatised & don't feel the need to celebrate pretend white Christmases... (Please note: just my personal opinion, I can't speak for everyone) These days though, Christmas in July is just another excuse for a party! Oh, and I can't explain Aussie Rules either! 😀 Please ask as many questions as you like!

Watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and the Australian stuff is confusing me. Can someone help me out? What does “hooroo” mean? Why do you celebrate Christmas in July? What is football…is it like soccer or US football? More questions will come soon

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It was interesting that ED & NP went to the Logies as 'a couple'. It fitted, since they are friends & they play it up so well. I'm guessing her hubby/family didn't make the trip. Usually shows will have a group of cast members, but maybe Ashleigh & Hugo et al weren't able to make it this time, so it was just the two cast members. Not sure how many seats get allocated when it's just one individual nominated rather than the show... And I will definitely watch anything they produce! They know their fan base & they wouldn't hint at things unless they were pretty sure it's going to happen. So many projects are kept secret until the last minute, I don't think they're allowed to speculate publicly, especially in interviews.

ESSIE DAVIS on whether there will be more for Miss Fisher:

“We can say we’re working on a feature film draft that will be bigger, better and more amazing than the series. Like James Bond, ‘Never Say Never.’”

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Really well written & thought through. Thankyou for your insights; spot on! 😄👍🏼

A whole world out there...

(Series 3 spoilers and lots of opining ahead.) I apologize in advance for the length of this - the keep reading tab wouldn’t work for me today.

As we impatiently await news of any continuation, I keep revisiting the last moments we had on screen of Miss Fisher. 

Before our hero could depart Australia to escort her wayward father back home, the writers took pity on the desperate ‘shippers’ among us and gave us one more glorious Phryne and Jack moment. He came to see her off, she told him to come after her, and they finally kissed. The collective Phrack community lost their minds.

Jack breathlessly declares that he “always feared another man would sweep you away from me.” Then, being Jack, has to cheekily add: “I never thought it’d be your father.”

Phryne’s reply left some people cold.

Why would she say this to poor Jack right after making her romantic overture, and letting him know that she did indeed want him? Why, instead of leaving him feeling sure of her affections, would she so casually toss out this ambiguous line?

As with quite a lot of the writing for Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, this is open to interpretation. What follows is my interpretation. It’s certainly not the only, or necessarily, the correct one. In fact all of what follows is strictly my opinion!

Phryne’s parting line is very much in keeping with who Phryne is, but it also illustrates what I think has been a persistent difference in the way she and Jack view the romantic relationship between them.

The gulf in how they view their relationship results in large part from the difference in the way they view sex. Throughout the three series Phryne has multiple sexual partners, all casual, most of them one and done, so to speak. 

She approaches these dalliances in a straight forward manner. They are about enjoying sensual pleasures, or exploring the “energy that flares between two independent spirits —however briefly.”

Phryne likes men, and flirting. She enjoys sex. For her, a deep, emotional connection to her partner is not a requirement. The act is a physical pleasure, not a way of expressing love.

I think Jack understands that mindset. He knows that sex doesn’t always mean love, and perhaps, in his past there are encounters similar to the ones Phryne engages in, but we don’t really know, since the Jack we see exists only in relation to Phryne.

What we do know is that he’s been married. At some point, he chose to commit himself to one woman. He loved, and wanted to be loved. He wanted the assurance and permanency that comes with promising to spend your life with another person. 

He also knows that it doesn’t always work out that way. His divorce hit him hard and he feels a bit of a failure because of it, but I don’t think it’s soured him to the idea of commitment and marriage. Jack is a romantic. He believes in love.

For Jack, when love is present, sex is much more than a sensual pleasure. It represents a special connection between two people, and an expression of their love for each other. Jack loves Phryne and he wants her to love him. He cannot sleep with her casually. Sex with Phryne would be an expression of his love, and if it turned out to be just one night of sensual pleasure for her, he’d be crushed. He can’t be one of her “parade” of men.

This is where I think they see their relationship differently. 

Jack has never been one of the parade. From very early on, he held a different position in Phryne’s life. At first she may have contemplated a dalliance with him, but by the time he tells her that he’s married, she’s sized him up enough to know he’s not the type to have an extramarital affair. Even if he were, I don’t think she’d bite. That kind of encounter seems too messy for Phryne.

There is a definite attraction, and they enjoy each other’s company. He likes her flirting and openly flirts back. Somewhere along the line, he realizes he’s in love with her and that’s where things get complicated. He tries to leave, she won’t let him and they settle into a kind of detente.

That she works to re-establish their relationship says a lot. It’s not just about the professional part of it either. I think that is made clear in her conversation with Mac, during the estrangement in The Blood of Juana the Mad.

Phryne: “He had a nasty scare, thought I’d killed myself in a car accident and now he thinks I’m too much trouble.”

Mac: “You are.”

Phryne: “So he’s running scared.”

Jack may have been hard to replace for her professionally. Not too many men of the day would have been as accepting and appreciative of her skills, but, I think Phryne would have felt confident she could operate without him, or operate with him, even if on a far less personal level.

With any other man, she’d have been alright with the “running scared” part. She may have even encouraged it, but Phryne lets into her life the people she wants in, and she’s already let Jack in. I don’t know that she’s intending a romantic relationship at this point, but she wants him in her life, and she’s willing to let him set some boundaries to keep him there.  

“What’s our safe distance?” she asks him. “Two steps behind, two steps in front?”

The Do-si-do is a square dance figure in which the woman circles first her partner and then the man on her right, before returning to her partner. The dancers move among multiple other dancers, but alway return to dance with the partner with whom they started.

Is she asking whether or not they have a chance at an ongoing partnership that might include intimacies without exclusivity? Friends with benefits?

In a waltz the dancers revolve in perpetual circles, but never change partners during the dance. The bodies are close, but not touching. It is intimate, but not necessarily sensual.

The circular nature of a waltz seems to imply that Jack thinks he and Phryne will continue to orbit each other, but not really get anywhere.

“Not a tango?” she says.

The tango is a very sensual dance marked by stylized body postures and abrupt pauses, coming together and then pulling apart. By eliminating the tango, she’s accepting that there will be no casual sex.

She doesn’t leave it there though - she adds: “A good waltz is slow, and close.”

She’ll go along with his idea of their partnership. They can be close, even emotionally connected, without sexual intimacies, but she’s not yet willing to rule out the possibility that things might evolve into something more. 

If they are a waltz, he’s forfeited his ‘safe distance.’  She’s not going to lay off the flirting and innuendo, and he can choose to take it or leave it. He chooses to take it, telling her: “I’ll try to stay in step, all the same.”

He won’t give her up, but the song that plays at the end tells me that Jack doesn’t believe she will ever care for him the way he cares for her.

“I found out that I love you And I thought you loved me too You were only passing time with me…”

By the end of the second series he’s ready for more with her. When he comes to her at the end of Unnatural Habits and tells her he doesn’t alway do the noble thing, he is  indicating a readiness for a physical relationship with her. We don’t get an outright declaration of intent, the writer’s still want to have their fun with us, but, along with moony smiles and sighs, we do get this:

We all know the Phracking frustration that was series 3, and this is where the different ways they see their relationship really comes to a head.

We begin with what are very obviously preparations for a big date, interrupted and postponed, until we wind up with a jealous, drunk Jack ranting about parades. (I already defended that rant, so I’ll only touch on it here). He rails about her other men, she asks “what other men?”

This is huge. Jack still doesn’t understand that he is not “other men.” A long time ago she set him in a different category. He’s already more than the other men she’s slept with, and he really should know this, but he’s hung up on the sex.

Intellectually, he knows that sex doesn’t equal love. Emotionally, he can’t make the separation. He gets jealous of other men that have been with her, and he fears that if she can casually throw them aside, she’ll do the same to him. Or, worse, that one day, one of those men will come to mean more to her, and he’ll lose her forever.

But, Phryne loves Jack, with or without sex. He is her friend and companion. The only intimate male constant in her life. She confides in him, relies on him and stands at his side. Even if he had decided to choose another woman, she’d still stand by him.

Jack finally gets the assurance he needs when she implies she’s not pleased with his attempted romantic overtures to date. 

Resulting in this…

It looks like we’re finally getting somewhere, but, alas, and we find ourselves standing in a field with a rusty old plane running in the background.

Before she leaves, she gives him her final and most resolute bit of communication so far. 

Phryne Fisher, the woman that lives life independently, on her own terms and who will never commit to any one man, has told Jack Robinson that she wants him with her on the journey. Phryne is straight forward with men. She doesn’t play games, and she doesn’t deceive. She tells Jack, ‘Come after me. Pursue me. I won’t turn you away and I won’t run from you.’

He can’t quite leave it at that and has to teasingly inquire about other men,

 and we get the line that started this lengthly dissertation.

She’s telling Jack that he needs to stop fretting about other men. It’s not about other men. It’s not about sex. It never has been.

 It’s about throwing herself recklessly into dangerous situations. It’s about driving fast. It’s about being able to pick up and fly off somewhere at a moments notice. It’s about living freely and independently. It’s about ‘a whole world’ out there to explore.

The only worry Jack has is that her adventures might take Phryne away from him. She’s not going to be the kind of woman to ever settle down and live quietly and conventionally, but she’s willing to make compromises to find room for him in her life. She’s telling him that where ever life leads, she wants him at her side, she wants them to be together.

Asking him to come after her is as hopeful a declaration of her love as she could give him, but telling him that there’s a whole world out there, is not thoughtless, teasing or cruel.

 It’s honest and it’s Phryne.

You didn’t think I’d end without showing this again, did you?

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I'm embarrassed to be an Aussie

I know they are in different categories etc, but I'm so embarrassed that 'Gogglebox' won a Logie while classy shows (& actors) missed out :-o

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A fantastic summary - I love statistics too! I'm glad you're giving yourself a break of sorts; you definitely deserve it. Thankyou for all your efforts, a job very well done! 😀

Miss Fisher Murders and Murderers (Epilogue)

The Miss Fisher Murders and Murderers series has finally come to its conclusion. To be honest, I didn’t expect how daunting this task would be. The amount of research and effort going into the process was probably the most among all my series so far. In order to present the facts as accurately as possible, I re-watched each episode multiple times while trying my best not to be side tracked by Phrack, Hottie, or the rest of the lovely characters.

As I pointed out in the Overture, “There is nothing sexy about murders (even though the two detectives most certainly are), so this series is not going to be romantic like Miss Fisher Alternative Phrack Titles. Nevertheless, I hope you will still enjoy it.” Looking back, I think that I had done a pretty decent job, and I am proud of what I had accomplished.

Anyway, since I am a data analyst by trade and simply cannot resist analyzing and summarizing statistics, I am going to present a few findings that I found interesting.

1) @haegtesse raised a question about the number of female murderers featured in the three seasons. She felt that some crime dramas tended to overemphasize female murderers because it was more shocking and unexpected. According to my tally, about 30% of the murderers were female in the three seasons. It may be higher than the statistics in real life (“Males were convicted of the vast majority of homicides in the United States, representing 90.5% of the total number of offenders”, per United States Department of Justice, 2011), but I think that it enhanced the dramatic effects without being totally unrealistic.

In terms of victims, roughly 35% of the murder victims were female in the three seasons. The percentage was skewed by the fact that in Murder Under the Mistletoe, 22 male miners were blown up by Nicholas Mortimer. If we exclude them, the female and male victim percentage would become more even (46% vs. 54%).

2) @whilenotwritingmyphd wondered how many episodes had murder scenes before the theme music. I believe the answer is 30 (out of 34). The only ones that didn’t have it are: Murder on the Ballarat Train (S1E2), The Green Mill Murder (S1E3), Death at Victoria Dock (S1E4), and Ruddy Gore (S1E6). Interestingly, they are all from S1.

3) In terms of methods of killing, the number one is explosion. Again, it is skewed by the miners in Murder Under the Mistletoe. If we exclude them, poison takes the biscuit, followed by strangulation/suffocation, stabbing/slashing, gunshot, and drowning.

4) As I mentioned earlier, family killing was rare in the three seasons. There are 4 spousal murders: Lydia Andrews (husband John), Maurice Sheffield (wife Dorothea), Jimmy Creswick (wife Guinevere), and Nicholas Mortimer (wife Vera). The 4 non-spousal family murders include Murdock Foyle (foster mother Gertrude), Eva Callahan (sister Millie), Marianna Carbone (Nonna Louisa), and Eric Edwards (sister Harriet). Among the total of 95 murder victims, it’s less than 10%. (Note: I didn’t count Eunice as a murderer since Alastair was the one who actually committed the murder.)

5) Who were the deadliest killers in the three seasons? Number one was Nicholas Mortimer from Murder Under the Mistletoe, who killed 27 in total, including the 22 miners. Number two was Murdock Foyle with a body count of 10 across 3 episodes (Blood and Circuses, Murder in the Dark, and King Memses’ Curse). Eugene Fisher had 5 people’s blood on his hand between Death at the Grand and Death Do Us Part. Jimmy Creswick from Dead Air was also responsible for 5 deaths, including the two Oswalds.

Among the female killers, most of them only committed one count of murder, but there were 4 who killed twice: Hety (Death by Miss Adventures), Genevieve Lamaire (Murder a la Mode), Lily Luscombe (Framed for Murder), and Eva Callahan (Death Defying Feats).

6) Last but not least, the crime solving rate of the two detectives and their associates were impressive. Not only did they catch all the killers of the current cases they investigated, but they also solved a number of cold cases along the way (e.g. Dorothea Curtis, Pierre Sarcelle, Guinevere Redpath, Fabrizzi, etc.). If we count those in, their crime solving rate was actually over 100%. Kudos, everyone!

As always, your feedback and corrections are welcomed and much appreciated. Also, thank you for hanging in there with me till the end. My next series is in the works; please stay tuned to find out what’s coming up.

(Posted 28-Apr-2016)

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Fanfic report card

To all the lovely MFMM fanfic authors out there…. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou for taking over my life the past month or three… 😊 I’ve finally finished reading all 800 & something stories and am now resurfacing into the real world… I don’t know if you get ‘unsubscribe’ messages, but if you do, please don’t take it personally - I’m going back through my subscriptions list to find any unfinished (or finished) works & 'spring cleaning’ the list (even though it’s autumn). If you do have an unfinished work, please do try to post another chapter or three - I’ll be starving for content soon… (lol) and if you need help with proofing your story, let me know! I will get round to finishing off my own & posting it & I hope you’ll be as kind to me as you are with each other… Looking forward to catching up with the fandom again (does this count as resurfacing into the 'real’ world?)…

@aljwritesphryne @phrynesboudoir

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>hugs< to you both @arrissat & @lunalove-blr hope you're feeling better...

Any lovely members of the MFMM fandom awake and want to hear about my train wreck of a night (or few weeks, I really should say)? Should be asleep as it’s 3AM here but that’s not happening so if anyone is free and wants to chat then please do

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So, if I've got my time zones right (not really knowing where you are), I think that would be 8am in Melbourne, Australia on 24th..? Mind if I try to join you? Never group watched anything before... Do you discuss the Ep somewhere else while you watch? Hopefully the kids will sleep in...

Christmas special rewatch

So on slack we’re thinking rewatching on the 23rd starting at 4pm EST, doing Murder Under the Mistletoe followed by Dead Man’s Chest (cause why not). How does that work for you all?

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I too am a teacher & my advice is not to go in expecting to get what you want - I hate the entitled attitude a lot of students have these days. But if you go in there and state that you just wanted to explain the reasons behind your absences, you might get a better reception... - don't suppose you have doctors certificates? We have an 80% attendance rule, but sometimes magic can happen if you have medical certificates... Even a diagnosis/dr appointment dates? But at the very least explain that you weren't just skiving off down the pub or watching telly with friends; you were actually dealing with stuff during class time. :-)

Trying not to swirl into a pit of fucking despair after getting an email from my teacher telling me she’s taking my B down to a D for going over the absence limit. 

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No. It does not snow in Melbourne! There is skiing in the mountains, but that's a 3+ hour drive away - not exactly just down the road... There may be a freak event where we get snow, but it would melt before you got to play in it (or even before it hit the ground). I grew up in Melbourne & now live an hour away. Here everyone gets excited because 5 yrs ago, there was snow on the streets & the mount (big hill, not mountain) nearby, but i think it was a rare event... But again, just enough to make the car park slushy, not ski worthy! (Hope that helps!) Also, our (Australian) snow tends to be icy, we don't get the true powder snow everyone gets overseas...

Does it snow in Melbourne in the winter? Just wondering. The pictures of the beautiful houses got me thinking.

P.S. It’s warmer here in Canada today than in parts of Texas. Not much hope for snow for Christmas.

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Apparently I'm Hugh?! Pretty true to the description, although I never identified with him in the show... And yes, I hate calling the pizza guy! Ha ha

Miss Fisher Quiz Result: Hugh Collins You are Hugh Collins. Dependable, kind and hardworking, you’re the sort of person that everyone wants to hire, or hopes will move in to the house next door. You take your job and your relationships seriously, and you prioritize them over anything else in your life. But you can be a bit shy in social situations, and you tend to be especially awkward around people you don’t know well. You value your privacy, and detest confrontation of any sort. (Heck, you probably don’t even like calling the pizza guy.)

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Personality Quiz

My local PBS station, WETA, offers a Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries personality quiz at http://www.weta.org/tv/program/miss-fishers-murder-mysteries/personalityquiz  where you can see which character you most resemble. I turned out to be Jack Robinson. Is that good or bad, I wonder?

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I can't help but think that if they lean any closer, they'll head-butt each other with their hats... I do agree though, she's dressed down to go to the footy - Phryne always dresses to the occasion & a footy match is no place for gowns, jewels & fancy headwear.

Miss Fisher Random Thoughts (183)

I have a confession to make, and I hope that after this post, I don’t get banished from the MFMM fandom forever. Here it goes.

There is no argument that the scarf scene in Marked for Murder is one of the top 5 Phrack moments. However, I always secretly wished that Miss Fisher didn’t have her sleuthing hat on. Many of you already knew that I am not a big fan of this hat, and I felt that it was a bit of shame that she didn’t look more like her glamorous self in this romantic moment.

Before you fire up a rebuttal or send me a hate mail, please know that I had a change of heart thanks to suzilynn. Her comments on my Instagram post made me reconsider my perspective. She said:

“I like this hat not because it is attractive, but because it isn’t. It shows even Phryne is willing to ‘dress down’. And of course, underneath she’s as glamorous as always.”

It dawned on me that perhaps that is exactly the point. At that moment, when Jack roped her in with his scarf, she was not the rich and glamorous socialite. She was the ordinary girl from Collingwood and the clever detective partner to the policeman from Richmond. Just like the song at the end:

My baby don’t care for shows My baby don’t care for clothes My baby just cares for me My baby don’t care for cars and races My baby don’t care for high-tone places … My baby don’t care who knows it My baby just cares for me

Thank you suzilynn for the comments. I will never look at this scene the same way again, and that is a wonderful thing!

(Posted 30-Oct-2015)

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My (boy/girl) twins have just turned 5 and I agree with what's already been stated. My boy still struggles with the 'r' sound, pronouncing 'w' instead (wobbers = robbers etc), but then the girl did (almost) all the talking for him til the age of 3, so she's always been better with speech. Sometimes, they also stumble a bit - they'll get 3 words into the sentence & then forget what they're saying or forget the next word & start the sentence again - especially if they are remembering something/retelling what they saw... Eg "He was on the trampoline and he... And he... He was on the trampoline and he, he went like this... Went like this... And, and he bumped me..." Or "We were down... We were down the back yard... The back yard and there was... There was .. We were down the back yard and there was a a a rabbit!" This probably goes with the 5 word sentence thing mentioned by @firesign23 because to get what they need to say out, they're effectively putting 2-3 'sentences' together. Also, there could be excitement or tears getting in the way as well. Sometimes it can take a looong time to find out what they saw/found/did... They'll also put accents in the wrong spots (hard to show in writing) so instead of saying BACKyard (one word), they'll say "in the back YARD" with very raised eyebrows like it was amazing to see that rabbit there (btw can't go a day without seeing at least 5 feral rabbits around the place). Hope this helps :-)

Fic help?

Does anyone have recent/extensive experience with 3.5-4 year-olds? I’m looking for some advice on likely speech patterns and diction…I feel like I’ve known some pretty articulate kiddos of that age, but not recently enough to have a sense of how much is too much, you know? Can anyone help me out? Thanks! :-)