Review: Ace Date

Ace Date is a 12 minute short comedy film by Kali Thomas. I was provided with a review copy back in July 2022, and wrote this review at the time, but delayed publication because I wasn’t sure where it was available. Ace Date is now available in Roku OnWatch TV, and it’s also in Outfest’s OutMuseum Ace of Hearts short film collection. You can also watch the official trailer.

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Ace Date depicts Sydney, an ace woman, going on a blind date with Adam. Sydney is not enthusiastic about blind dates, or dating at all, for that matter, but she was pushed into it by her friend Rachel. The date is ambiguously bad, not because it’s bad bad, but because Sydney obviously doesn’t want to be there, so what did you expect?

Here are three things that were perfect about this film:

Journal Club: LDS Aces

This month, the ace journal club discussed

“Rhetorics of Allonormativity: The Case of Asexual Latter-day Saints” by b. Brandley & L. Spencer (2022). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1041794X.2022.2108891 (requires journal access)

The journal club meets once a month on Discord, using text or voice as club members prefer. We discuss a variety of academic works in ace studies, ranging from gender studies to psychology. Don’t worry about journal access, we can provide access. If you’re interested, please e-mail me at asexualagenda@gmail.com for an invite.

Our discussion notes are below the fold.

Linkspam: March 10th, 2023

On Fridays, we will share links to news, blogs, and anything else we find interesting.  We can’t catch everything, so you are invited to self-promote in the comments!

Writing

Sildarmillion discusses romance when it is transactional and non-transactional.

Joshua Littleford found aromanticism through Loveless by Alice Oseman.

Zaidi Rodriguez wrote an aromantic review of Loveless.

Atlas Changulani wrote about amatonormativity.

Videos

The streams from International Acecon 2023 are now available.

Aro Community Activity

The Carnival of Aros had a roundup for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week.  The carnival is currently accepting submissions on the theme “How do you view platonic attraction?”

Carnival of Aces: Representation in Fiction

The Carnival of Aces for February has been posted by Mia.  The theme was “Representation in Fiction“.  Please take a look!

There currently isn’t any host for the next Carnival of Aces.  If you would like to volunteer, please see the masterpost for instructions.

Linkspam: February 24th, 2023

On Fridays, we will share links to news, blogs, and anything else we find interesting.  We can’t catch everything, so you are invited to self-promote in the comments!

Writing

Tyler Stevenson talks about amatonormativity on Valentine’s Day in LGBTQ Nation.

Rebecca Silverman reviewed I Want to Be a Wall volume 2 (and had previously reviewed volume 1).

Community Activity
The Ace & Aro Collective AU released a report on the Asexual Lived Experiences Survey 2021.

Sennkestra has aro and ace workshop descriptions for the Creating Change conference last week.

News & Outreach

Book Riot shared a list of aromantic books, and so did Pink News.

Journal Club: It’s easier to just say I’m queer

This month, the ace journal club discussed

“‘It’s easier just to say I’m queer’: Asexual college students’ strategic identity management” by Mollet (2021).
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fdhe0000210 (requires journal access)

The journal club meets once a month on Discord, using text or voice as club members prefer. We discuss a variety of academic works in ace studies, ranging from gender studies to psychology. Don’t worry about journal access, we can provide access. If you’re interested, please e-mail me at asexualagenda@gmail.com for an invite.

Our discussion notes are below the fold.

Linkspam: February 17th, 2023

On Fridays, we will share links to news, blogs, and anything else we find interesting.  We can’t catch everything, so you are invited to self-promote in the comments!

Writing

Annie Deo reviewed the book Planning Perfect by Haley Neil.  Haley was also interviewed by Them.

Shane O’Niell explains how the creators of The Big Bang Theory made Sheldon asexual until he wasn’t.

Perfect Number found that Ella Enchanted made more sense as a movie about consent.

Blue Ice-Tea reviewed When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride.

sildarmillion explained why they don’t participate in dating apps, the Desi marriage market, or dating in general.

News & Outreach

Alice Oseman revealed that the second season of Heartstopper will explore asexuality and aromanticism.

Lilies and Voices Born Upon the Wind (Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi) is being released in English.

Washington Post has a (paywalled) article on how asexual and aromantic people deal with Valentines Day.

Carnival of Aces: The Advice You Wish You’d Had

The Carnival of Aces for January has been posted by Perfect Number.  The theme was “The Advice You Wish You’d Had“.  Please take a look!

The next Carnival of Aces is being hosted by Mia.  The theme for February is “Representation in Fiction”.  Get your submissions in before the end of the month!

The Carnival of Aces is hosted by volunteers each month.  If you would like to volunteer, please see the masterpost for instructions.  There currently isn’t any volunteer for next month.

Journal Club: The Labour of Love

This month, the ace journal club discussed

“Heterosexuality and ‘the Labour of Love’: A Contribution to Recent Debates on Female Sexual Dysfunction” by Thea Cacchioni (2007). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1363460707078320 (requires journal access)

The journal club meets once a month on Discord, using text or voice as club members prefer. We discuss a variety of academic works in ace studies, ranging from gender studies to psychology. Don’t worry about journal access, we can provide access. If you’re interested, please e-mail me at asexualagenda@gmail.com for an invite.

Our discussion notes are below the fold.

Linkspam: January 20th, 2023

On Fridays, we will share links to news, blogs, and anything else we find interesting.  We can’t catch everything, so you are invited to self-promote in the comments!

Writing

Dr. Chris Mowat finds asexual myths in the ancient Greek myth, Hippolytus.

Sherronda J. Brown wrote about an emerging transphobic acephobic conspiracy theory.

Tanya wrote about coming out as aro.

Sildarmillion found Hotel Transylvania surprisingly amatonormative.

Coyote asserts that queerplatonic ambiguity is a feature, not a bug.

News & Outreach

There is a Lithuanian film titled “Slow” about an ace/allo relationship debuting in Sundance soon.