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shadowkatHmm...it's back. Couldn't get on DW at all last night. Although only tried from roughly 6-10pm. After scrolling through flist today, I'm beginning to think I was the only one who couldn't access DW last night. No one else mentioned it -- and there were posts from yesterday.
1. My Happy Moment
I was in a grumpy mood when I arrived at work this morning. My commute through various human and motorized obstacles can do that. Missed the first G train, after running down half the station. It's a six car train and always stops halfway down the station. Had to wait 6-10 minutes for the next one. And two women for reasons I don't understand blocked my entrance and just stood there dumbly looking at the open door. Then, I got off and had to race around the kids to get ahead of them, in order to get up the six flights of steps to the street, then had to cross four streets to get to Altantic Avenue Terminal, then down another flight of steps, and almost missed the second train, it opened the doors, jumped inside and almost tripped over a young girl's legs in the aisle. She was sitting in a section that had three empty seats and had her legs hanging in the aisle, while she texted, and charged her phone. (I gave her the look of death, and pointedly looked at her legs until she moved them indicating if she didn't they'd get stepped on.) So grouchy.
Anyhow, I arrived, got to my desk and in my chair...what should I find?But a pink and white bag with a glittering unicorn on it. It said "Magical Christmas". I hung up my coat. Put away my lunch. Got out my oatmeal. Put up my bag. And then proceeded to open it -- inside was a tumbler glass in rainbow colors, deep blues and purples and grins. And my face lit up with a smile. I was ridiculously happy.
In that moment, my misanthropic mood disappeared. The sun came out. The birds sang. One of my co-workers, Gabe, named after the angel Gabriel, got it for me. I'd commented on how cool her's was, so she saw one for $3.99 and picked it up for me. She felt that everyone should have a cup to drink out of that makes them smile. It made my day. I have simple needs -- I really don't require all that much to make me happy. A $3 dollar rainbow glass in a bag with a pink unicorn will totally do it for me.
It's the little things that make life worthwhile. I was talking to another co-worker about this, and she told me how a memory of kicking a rock down a sidewalk with her Mom and her sisters as a child made her happy.
2. Got EW in the mail...and it mentioned a new book out, Slayer by Kiersten White -- and yes, it is exactly what you think it is.
From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes a brand-new series set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that introduces a new Slayer as she grapples with the responsibility of managing her incredible powers that she’s just beginning to understand.
Into every generation a Slayer is born…
Nina and her twin sister, Artemis, are far from normal. It’s hard to be when you grow up at the Watcher’s Academy, which is a bit different from your average boarding school. Here teens are trained as guides for Slayers—girls gifted with supernatural strength to fight the forces of darkness. But while Nina’s mother is a prominent member of the Watcher’s Council, Nina has never embraced the violent Watcher lifestyle. Instead she follows her instincts to heal, carving out a place for herself as the school medic.
Until the day Nina’s life changes forever.
And in reading this description, I realized something...that I'd always known but never quite admitted in the fandom until now. The only thing about Buffy that did NOT interest me was the world/mythos or world building. In fact, I often liked the series in spite of it -- and ignored the world building for the most part or I looked for interesting metaphorical critiques of our toxic society underneath it. I remember getting into weird fights with people online over canonical details regarding the world, and I had to restrain myself from telling them that I thought the whole vampires are obviously evil without a soul bit uninteresting and somewhat boilerplate, and I was hoping the writers would retcon it. (I really wanted Spike to become ambiguous or lean towards good without a soul, and have all the watcher lore regarding vampires and souls become null and void -- because that made the series a whole lot more interesting and less, well, boilerplate or black and white. People are never just one thing. It also would show that the Watchers were just as bad as the vampires, and the slayers could also be bad. One's job or role didn't define who they were. The show got more interesting the more it veered away from it's premise and the more it focused on the psychological and emotional arcs of it's characters.) The show's feminist message was often undercut by it's own mythology/world building.
In truth? If I were to be completely honest? I'm not much into world-building in general. It's rare that I will read or watch things in the same world or universe as the characters I adore, that do not focus primarily on those characters. Very rare.
The one's that I will and have?
* Harry Potter -- JK Rowling created a world that fascinated me, as much if not more than her characters. I think I shipped the world of Harry Potter more than Potter himself. I still want to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Crimes of Grinewold -- which I was unable to make it to this fall.
* Star Wars -- I realized with Force Awakens and Rogue One...that yes, I'm interested in the mythos and world outside of Han, Leia, and Luke.
* Star Trek -- I actually ship the world more than I ever shipped the characters.
* Marvel Universe -- I will read and watch most anything in it. Same with DC Universe. Although I do have preference for certain characters, I enjoy the world.
But I can't really think of any others. It's like writers, often I will only like one series, but nothing else they write. Farscape? I'm only interested in the characters, the world didn't do too much for me -- nor did it seem to be built that well. Battle Star Galatica? Ditto -- I was watching for Starbuck and Apollo mainly. Doctor Who -- outside of Torchwood, no. Buffy and Angel -- if Spike, Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Faith, Illyria, Angel aren't in it, I probably won't watch, or read it. Sorry. I know, I tried -- and realized at this point I'm only interested in what's happening with those characters -- and well, mostly Spike. I still find Spike somewhat interesting. But the world I could care less about. And I've zero interest in some new writers take on that world and development of new characters in it. It's nice that people are continuing it though -- playing with the ideas in new ways.
3. I'm considering watching Brexit on Netflix. It's basically an UK miniseries about the 2016 campaign to uncouple the UK from the European Union. [The Brits are ahead of the US, we haven't come up with a movie about the campaign to make the Doofus President of the US yet...possibly because we're having enough controversy over VICE and that's about a presidency that happened over sixteen years ago. ]
Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Dominic Cummings...I sort of wish they'd picked a more understated actor such as Dominic West. So too does the reviewer apparently. Although the drama according to the review states that the thriller manages to capture the tragic complexity, techno-paranoia, and Orwellian absurdity of the Brexit vote.
Is it worth pain? Or should I skip? (I won't torture you with news of what's happening in the US, you can find out on your own.)
4. Enjoying The Essex Serpent -- even if literary novels are wickedly hard to read on my commute. (See #1 for details on commute. All I'd add is -- it's noisy. Often I'm sitting next to people chatting, women reading loudly to their kids, men playing loud video games...or listening to music turned so loud, you can hear the white noise. Also announcements. And beggars. Drummers. Musicians. Acrobats. Sometimes it's quiet, but not often. Hardly a conducive environment for reading literary fiction. I've no clue how I managed to read Proust on the subway, let alone Don Deillo's Underworld. But I was also fifteen years younger and had more stamina.)
But the characters in this novel are endearing and nice to be around. I enjoy their company and don't feel a pressing need to strangle them or the novelist for foisting them upon an unsuspecting readership, like I did at different points for the last six novels I read. I think I'm half in love with Cora and William Ransome. But they are all really cool and comforting characters, not to mention complex.
There's no real plot to speak of. (Hello, literary. Literary novels focus on characters and could care less about plots. (Note I can't figure out which to use any longer "could care less" or "couldn't care less" so are doing both interchangably and hoping no one notices. I really can't remember which is the UK or the American any longer or why you use one over the other.) ) It's set in the 1800s (someone reviewed it on Amazon and explained this, which is a good thing, because I was just guessing). And very Victorian (hence the guessing 1800s). I hate the Victorian period. The only historical periods that annoy me more are the Revolutionary War Period aka 1700s, the Medieval Age, and WWII. If I could just jump over the 1700s, 1800s, the Middle Ages, and 1935-1947, I'd be a happy camper. But alas no. And to be fair -- there's a lot of great movies that came out during WWII, and I'm somewhat partial to the fantasy epics that revolve around the Middle Ages. Can't really think of anything worthwhile about the Victorian period. I also hate the writing style of the Victorians -- it's stuffy. As if they have something up their nose and can't speak properly.
That said -- I love the characters. And really all I need are lovable characters to keep me entertained. I'm willing to hand-wave and look over a lot in return for lovable characters, and loving platonic frienships. This more of a friendship book than a romance, which I sort of crave at the moment.
1. My Happy Moment
I was in a grumpy mood when I arrived at work this morning. My commute through various human and motorized obstacles can do that. Missed the first G train, after running down half the station. It's a six car train and always stops halfway down the station. Had to wait 6-10 minutes for the next one. And two women for reasons I don't understand blocked my entrance and just stood there dumbly looking at the open door. Then, I got off and had to race around the kids to get ahead of them, in order to get up the six flights of steps to the street, then had to cross four streets to get to Altantic Avenue Terminal, then down another flight of steps, and almost missed the second train, it opened the doors, jumped inside and almost tripped over a young girl's legs in the aisle. She was sitting in a section that had three empty seats and had her legs hanging in the aisle, while she texted, and charged her phone. (I gave her the look of death, and pointedly looked at her legs until she moved them indicating if she didn't they'd get stepped on.) So grouchy.
Anyhow, I arrived, got to my desk and in my chair...what should I find?But a pink and white bag with a glittering unicorn on it. It said "Magical Christmas". I hung up my coat. Put away my lunch. Got out my oatmeal. Put up my bag. And then proceeded to open it -- inside was a tumbler glass in rainbow colors, deep blues and purples and grins. And my face lit up with a smile. I was ridiculously happy.
In that moment, my misanthropic mood disappeared. The sun came out. The birds sang. One of my co-workers, Gabe, named after the angel Gabriel, got it for me. I'd commented on how cool her's was, so she saw one for $3.99 and picked it up for me. She felt that everyone should have a cup to drink out of that makes them smile. It made my day. I have simple needs -- I really don't require all that much to make me happy. A $3 dollar rainbow glass in a bag with a pink unicorn will totally do it for me.
It's the little things that make life worthwhile. I was talking to another co-worker about this, and she told me how a memory of kicking a rock down a sidewalk with her Mom and her sisters as a child made her happy.
2. Got EW in the mail...and it mentioned a new book out, Slayer by Kiersten White -- and yes, it is exactly what you think it is.
From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes a brand-new series set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that introduces a new Slayer as she grapples with the responsibility of managing her incredible powers that she’s just beginning to understand.
Into every generation a Slayer is born…
Nina and her twin sister, Artemis, are far from normal. It’s hard to be when you grow up at the Watcher’s Academy, which is a bit different from your average boarding school. Here teens are trained as guides for Slayers—girls gifted with supernatural strength to fight the forces of darkness. But while Nina’s mother is a prominent member of the Watcher’s Council, Nina has never embraced the violent Watcher lifestyle. Instead she follows her instincts to heal, carving out a place for herself as the school medic.
Until the day Nina’s life changes forever.
And in reading this description, I realized something...that I'd always known but never quite admitted in the fandom until now. The only thing about Buffy that did NOT interest me was the world/mythos or world building. In fact, I often liked the series in spite of it -- and ignored the world building for the most part or I looked for interesting metaphorical critiques of our toxic society underneath it. I remember getting into weird fights with people online over canonical details regarding the world, and I had to restrain myself from telling them that I thought the whole vampires are obviously evil without a soul bit uninteresting and somewhat boilerplate, and I was hoping the writers would retcon it. (I really wanted Spike to become ambiguous or lean towards good without a soul, and have all the watcher lore regarding vampires and souls become null and void -- because that made the series a whole lot more interesting and less, well, boilerplate or black and white. People are never just one thing. It also would show that the Watchers were just as bad as the vampires, and the slayers could also be bad. One's job or role didn't define who they were. The show got more interesting the more it veered away from it's premise and the more it focused on the psychological and emotional arcs of it's characters.) The show's feminist message was often undercut by it's own mythology/world building.
In truth? If I were to be completely honest? I'm not much into world-building in general. It's rare that I will read or watch things in the same world or universe as the characters I adore, that do not focus primarily on those characters. Very rare.
The one's that I will and have?
* Harry Potter -- JK Rowling created a world that fascinated me, as much if not more than her characters. I think I shipped the world of Harry Potter more than Potter himself. I still want to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Crimes of Grinewold -- which I was unable to make it to this fall.
* Star Wars -- I realized with Force Awakens and Rogue One...that yes, I'm interested in the mythos and world outside of Han, Leia, and Luke.
* Star Trek -- I actually ship the world more than I ever shipped the characters.
* Marvel Universe -- I will read and watch most anything in it. Same with DC Universe. Although I do have preference for certain characters, I enjoy the world.
But I can't really think of any others. It's like writers, often I will only like one series, but nothing else they write. Farscape? I'm only interested in the characters, the world didn't do too much for me -- nor did it seem to be built that well. Battle Star Galatica? Ditto -- I was watching for Starbuck and Apollo mainly. Doctor Who -- outside of Torchwood, no. Buffy and Angel -- if Spike, Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Faith, Illyria, Angel aren't in it, I probably won't watch, or read it. Sorry. I know, I tried -- and realized at this point I'm only interested in what's happening with those characters -- and well, mostly Spike. I still find Spike somewhat interesting. But the world I could care less about. And I've zero interest in some new writers take on that world and development of new characters in it. It's nice that people are continuing it though -- playing with the ideas in new ways.
3. I'm considering watching Brexit on Netflix. It's basically an UK miniseries about the 2016 campaign to uncouple the UK from the European Union. [The Brits are ahead of the US, we haven't come up with a movie about the campaign to make the Doofus President of the US yet...possibly because we're having enough controversy over VICE and that's about a presidency that happened over sixteen years ago. ]
Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Dominic Cummings...I sort of wish they'd picked a more understated actor such as Dominic West. So too does the reviewer apparently. Although the drama according to the review states that the thriller manages to capture the tragic complexity, techno-paranoia, and Orwellian absurdity of the Brexit vote.
Is it worth pain? Or should I skip? (I won't torture you with news of what's happening in the US, you can find out on your own.)
4. Enjoying The Essex Serpent -- even if literary novels are wickedly hard to read on my commute. (See #1 for details on commute. All I'd add is -- it's noisy. Often I'm sitting next to people chatting, women reading loudly to their kids, men playing loud video games...or listening to music turned so loud, you can hear the white noise. Also announcements. And beggars. Drummers. Musicians. Acrobats. Sometimes it's quiet, but not often. Hardly a conducive environment for reading literary fiction. I've no clue how I managed to read Proust on the subway, let alone Don Deillo's Underworld. But I was also fifteen years younger and had more stamina.)
But the characters in this novel are endearing and nice to be around. I enjoy their company and don't feel a pressing need to strangle them or the novelist for foisting them upon an unsuspecting readership, like I did at different points for the last six novels I read. I think I'm half in love with Cora and William Ransome. But they are all really cool and comforting characters, not to mention complex.
There's no real plot to speak of. (Hello, literary. Literary novels focus on characters and could care less about plots. (Note I can't figure out which to use any longer "could care less" or "couldn't care less" so are doing both interchangably and hoping no one notices. I really can't remember which is the UK or the American any longer or why you use one over the other.) ) It's set in the 1800s (someone reviewed it on Amazon and explained this, which is a good thing, because I was just guessing). And very Victorian (hence the guessing 1800s). I hate the Victorian period. The only historical periods that annoy me more are the Revolutionary War Period aka 1700s, the Medieval Age, and WWII. If I could just jump over the 1700s, 1800s, the Middle Ages, and 1935-1947, I'd be a happy camper. But alas no. And to be fair -- there's a lot of great movies that came out during WWII, and I'm somewhat partial to the fantasy epics that revolve around the Middle Ages. Can't really think of anything worthwhile about the Victorian period. I also hate the writing style of the Victorians -- it's stuffy. As if they have something up their nose and can't speak properly.
That said -- I love the characters. And really all I need are lovable characters to keep me entertained. I'm willing to hand-wave and look over a lot in return for lovable characters, and loving platonic frienships. This more of a friendship book than a romance, which I sort of crave at the moment.
no subject
Date: 2019-01-16 11:35 pm (UTC)Yeah, it really depends on the verse and/or series. JK Rowling was very good at world-building. I actually found her world more interesting than her characters.
George Lucas? Also very good at world-building, not so great at character or dialogue. Joss Whedon? Very good at creating interesting characters and snappy dialogue, horrible at world building. He just can't do it -- that was the problem with Firefly and Dollhouse. All you have to do is look at fanfic -- a lot of fanfic writers basically rewrote his world and fixed it, some of the best Buffyverse fanfic is the AU fic, mainly because fixed all the issues.
That said I have read very good fanfic about other slayers and original characters set in the verse, but these were shorter pieces and not novel length.
I have as well -- although those, for the most part, fell into AU fic. They basically fixed the mistakes. The problem with published fiction that has been authorized by the copyright holder -- is there's less likely hood of that. Also they aren't going to take any risks. So often the fic is a bit like Marvel Agents of Shield...with the writer playing it safe with the world. Fanfic tends to be less worried about pleasing a publisher or copyright holder. With Buffy -- it just doesn't have the world-building of Star Wars or Trek. (Or even Supernatural for that matter.)