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shadowkatWell I downloaded Firefox and it still didn't block the pop-up ads. I also don't like how Firefox is setup. Too use to Windows Internet Explorer...evil, but comforting.
Curious about something - it's a general question, well sort of - to all who read this:
How much importance do you place on awards? By that I mean - not how much you place on getting them yourself, but how much you place on choosing to see a film, watching a tv show, or reading a story or book or something on the internet based on awards it has received?
For example:
Do you choose to watch a tv show because it won an Emmy? Or do you care?
How about a movie - would you go see a movie just because it won a bunch of awards? Would you decide to go see AVATAR if it won best picture?
What about books? Would you be more likely to read or buy a book if it won the Booker, Pulitzer, National, Hugo or Nebula book awards?
Do you choose fanfiction or metas based on the rewards they get? Or just recs?
How about music? If an album wins a Grammy - would you be more likely to listen to it?
Or does it matter? Really?
I'm curious. I know if a film, book, tv show, or piece of music wins an award it is more likely to get distributors and have a bigger marketing campaign, also the creator is more likely to get a second deal or get it extended in print or if a tv show, another season.Mad Men for example got reknewed based purely on it's critical acclaim and awards at the Emmy's and Golden Globes. It was not based on ratings, which are below most tv shows. Few people actually watch Mad Man. It has a nitch audience.
So, my question is - what is the importance to you, personally, regarding awards?
I have mixed feelings myself. I want them of course, only human. But time and experience have taught me that taste is subjective and often fickel. And most things put in competition against each other, are well, a bit like holding a competition with fruit - which is best: the apple, the grape, the orange, the banana, or the nectarine? Personally? I'd say the apple, but it depends on my mood. Can you really compare films like Avatar, Up in the Air,
Precious, Broken Embraces, Nine, Up, Inglorius Bastards, and Coraline? They are vastly different films. Or what about Lawrence of Arabia vs. To Kill a Mockingbird? In music - Taylor Swift vs. Lady Gaga??? I mean, come on, that's like comparing Kris Allen's folk/country to Adam Lambert Glam/Soul/Rock - waite they did that. Or how about Catherine Valente's Girl Who Circumvented Fairyland ( a web book) vs. Joss Whedon's video musical Doctor Horrible's Sing a Long Blog? (I can't imagine a contest that actually pitted those two vastly different creations against each other, but it happened.)
In sports - it makes more sense. We pit athelets of similar skills against each other. Skiers against Skiers, figure skaters against figure skaters. Even break it down into specific categories...so that downhill skiers aren't competing agains mogules. Or figure skaters aren't competing against speed skaters. But the arts for some reason...tends to be harder.
I don't know. I know that I will often pick a book or piece of writing that has won an award over one that hasn't. I read Bone People because it won the Booker Prize. And I've seen films that I knew were nominated for an Oscar, because they were nominated. (Since grown out of that practice, Titantic and Ghandi sort of killed it - both won, and both bored me.)
So, I guess in a way I do pay attention - out of curiousity. And like all creative people, all people, I like the recognition. Having won few awards in my lifetime - it does make me happy when I do. But I still wonder...how much importance do we place on it?
On an entirely different topic...rewatched last year's Lost season finale last night. Whoa.
That is one amazing episode. I may have to write a meta on it yet. I particularly love this exchange:
After much pain and suffering, and bad deeds, anti-hero and tragic figure, Bejamin Linus,
comes face to face with his maker or god, if you will, Jacob...who he's followed, been devoted to, and yet never seen or gotten an audience with until now...and Jacob is still more interested in someone else, or so he appears to be.
Ben to Jacob: What about me? What about me, Jacob!
Jacob: What about you?
It's so perfect. Man rails at the heavens in a narcissitic yell...and the heavens look down and wonder, seeing man as but one thread in an every expanding tapestry filled with many inter-connecting threads, all equally important, and all railing, and smiles...yes, I see you, but if you'd stop whining for a moment, you might see everyone and everything else, which lies around you.
Brilliant episode. Possibly helped by the fact that it focused primarily on Ben/Lock and Sawyer/Juliet - my two favorite pairings, and my four favorite characters on the series.
I adore those four.
This sync's nicely into a rather marvelous series of fanfiction I've been reading. Rarihah's (sp?) or the Barbverse series: Raising in the Sun, Necessary Evils, and Parilament of Monsters surprised me. I had avoided it, because I thought it was babyfic (which I can't abide - seems OOC to me in BTVS). But these three tales aren't. They aren't really Spuffy either, although Spuffy is definitely a component and if Spuffy squicks you like Bangle currently squicks me for some reason (didn't use to, does now - my rewatch last year, including I Will Always Remember You...and the Twilight series via Stephanie Meyer may have something to do with that), you probably want to avoid big time, but...if it doesn't and you are a Willow fan or a Willow/Tara or Willow/Kennedy fan - you want to read this. She explores Willow from just about every angle imaginable, and in a way I don't see very often. As well as the Willow/Tara relationship. Her other characters, with the possible exception of Angel, are handled quite well. She nails Xander and Xander is very likable and caring in this fic.
Not evil or romanticized. (a lot of Spike fic writers have grudges against Xander, she doesn't. I don't like grudge fic , it annoys me.) She also handles Giles well and allows Giles to be a scholar, with an academic interest in vampires. Each character is interesting.
The weakness so far is Angel - who I'm guessing the writer doesn't like and is struggling with. Angel is a hard character to write - because he is so dark and broody and angsty. People either write him like a straight-up hero with black cape billowing a la Edward in Twilight meets Nick Knight in Forever Knight (if those two had a kid and sigh, eww) or they write him as a whiny, egotistical, domineering, ass. Either makes me cringe. Here he falls more into the whiny side of the fence. Luckily he doesn't show up that much, so you can ignore it. That said, this fic is brilliant in how it discusses what vampires are, morality,
and the meaning of souls - I may not necessarily agree, but I am fascinated by the layers.
Highly recommend that you check this out, if you have not already.
As a caveat should state that while I have read quite a bit of fanfiction outside of Buffy and outside of Spuffy, stories that feature Spike and specifically Spuffy tend to be my preference. Mostly because the stupid series did not resolve the relationship in my opinion, or that character's arc to my satisfaction, so I'm still sort of hunting a resolution. See they resolved all her other ones, although they don't appear to think they did or that they audience thinks they did because they keep revisiting these relationships to the point in which I want to grab them and scream I get it! I get it! Now can you tell me what you meant at the end of Chosen, because I want to know if I interpreted that scene correctly and if the relationship is truly over because both characters have moved on, or Buffy didn't really love him in that way and just cared deeply for him as a friend and he's moved on to Illyria, or just over because Buffy thinks he's dead, but if he wasn't.... Thank you.
Curious about something - it's a general question, well sort of - to all who read this:
How much importance do you place on awards? By that I mean - not how much you place on getting them yourself, but how much you place on choosing to see a film, watching a tv show, or reading a story or book or something on the internet based on awards it has received?
For example:
Do you choose to watch a tv show because it won an Emmy? Or do you care?
How about a movie - would you go see a movie just because it won a bunch of awards? Would you decide to go see AVATAR if it won best picture?
What about books? Would you be more likely to read or buy a book if it won the Booker, Pulitzer, National, Hugo or Nebula book awards?
Do you choose fanfiction or metas based on the rewards they get? Or just recs?
How about music? If an album wins a Grammy - would you be more likely to listen to it?
Or does it matter? Really?
I'm curious. I know if a film, book, tv show, or piece of music wins an award it is more likely to get distributors and have a bigger marketing campaign, also the creator is more likely to get a second deal or get it extended in print or if a tv show, another season.Mad Men for example got reknewed based purely on it's critical acclaim and awards at the Emmy's and Golden Globes. It was not based on ratings, which are below most tv shows. Few people actually watch Mad Man. It has a nitch audience.
So, my question is - what is the importance to you, personally, regarding awards?
I have mixed feelings myself. I want them of course, only human. But time and experience have taught me that taste is subjective and often fickel. And most things put in competition against each other, are well, a bit like holding a competition with fruit - which is best: the apple, the grape, the orange, the banana, or the nectarine? Personally? I'd say the apple, but it depends on my mood. Can you really compare films like Avatar, Up in the Air,
Precious, Broken Embraces, Nine, Up, Inglorius Bastards, and Coraline? They are vastly different films. Or what about Lawrence of Arabia vs. To Kill a Mockingbird? In music - Taylor Swift vs. Lady Gaga??? I mean, come on, that's like comparing Kris Allen's folk/country to Adam Lambert Glam/Soul/Rock - waite they did that. Or how about Catherine Valente's Girl Who Circumvented Fairyland ( a web book) vs. Joss Whedon's video musical Doctor Horrible's Sing a Long Blog? (I can't imagine a contest that actually pitted those two vastly different creations against each other, but it happened.)
In sports - it makes more sense. We pit athelets of similar skills against each other. Skiers against Skiers, figure skaters against figure skaters. Even break it down into specific categories...so that downhill skiers aren't competing agains mogules. Or figure skaters aren't competing against speed skaters. But the arts for some reason...tends to be harder.
I don't know. I know that I will often pick a book or piece of writing that has won an award over one that hasn't. I read Bone People because it won the Booker Prize. And I've seen films that I knew were nominated for an Oscar, because they were nominated. (Since grown out of that practice, Titantic and Ghandi sort of killed it - both won, and both bored me.)
So, I guess in a way I do pay attention - out of curiousity. And like all creative people, all people, I like the recognition. Having won few awards in my lifetime - it does make me happy when I do. But I still wonder...how much importance do we place on it?
On an entirely different topic...rewatched last year's Lost season finale last night. Whoa.
That is one amazing episode. I may have to write a meta on it yet. I particularly love this exchange:
After much pain and suffering, and bad deeds, anti-hero and tragic figure, Bejamin Linus,
comes face to face with his maker or god, if you will, Jacob...who he's followed, been devoted to, and yet never seen or gotten an audience with until now...and Jacob is still more interested in someone else, or so he appears to be.
Ben to Jacob: What about me? What about me, Jacob!
Jacob: What about you?
It's so perfect. Man rails at the heavens in a narcissitic yell...and the heavens look down and wonder, seeing man as but one thread in an every expanding tapestry filled with many inter-connecting threads, all equally important, and all railing, and smiles...yes, I see you, but if you'd stop whining for a moment, you might see everyone and everything else, which lies around you.
Brilliant episode. Possibly helped by the fact that it focused primarily on Ben/Lock and Sawyer/Juliet - my two favorite pairings, and my four favorite characters on the series.
I adore those four.
This sync's nicely into a rather marvelous series of fanfiction I've been reading. Rarihah's (sp?) or the Barbverse series: Raising in the Sun, Necessary Evils, and Parilament of Monsters surprised me. I had avoided it, because I thought it was babyfic (which I can't abide - seems OOC to me in BTVS). But these three tales aren't. They aren't really Spuffy either, although Spuffy is definitely a component and if Spuffy squicks you like Bangle currently squicks me for some reason (didn't use to, does now - my rewatch last year, including I Will Always Remember You...and the Twilight series via Stephanie Meyer may have something to do with that), you probably want to avoid big time, but...if it doesn't and you are a Willow fan or a Willow/Tara or Willow/Kennedy fan - you want to read this. She explores Willow from just about every angle imaginable, and in a way I don't see very often. As well as the Willow/Tara relationship. Her other characters, with the possible exception of Angel, are handled quite well. She nails Xander and Xander is very likable and caring in this fic.
Not evil or romanticized. (a lot of Spike fic writers have grudges against Xander, she doesn't. I don't like grudge fic , it annoys me.) She also handles Giles well and allows Giles to be a scholar, with an academic interest in vampires. Each character is interesting.
The weakness so far is Angel - who I'm guessing the writer doesn't like and is struggling with. Angel is a hard character to write - because he is so dark and broody and angsty. People either write him like a straight-up hero with black cape billowing a la Edward in Twilight meets Nick Knight in Forever Knight (if those two had a kid and sigh, eww) or they write him as a whiny, egotistical, domineering, ass. Either makes me cringe. Here he falls more into the whiny side of the fence. Luckily he doesn't show up that much, so you can ignore it. That said, this fic is brilliant in how it discusses what vampires are, morality,
and the meaning of souls - I may not necessarily agree, but I am fascinated by the layers.
Highly recommend that you check this out, if you have not already.
As a caveat should state that while I have read quite a bit of fanfiction outside of Buffy and outside of Spuffy, stories that feature Spike and specifically Spuffy tend to be my preference. Mostly because the stupid series did not resolve the relationship in my opinion, or that character's arc to my satisfaction, so I'm still sort of hunting a resolution. See they resolved all her other ones, although they don't appear to think they did or that they audience thinks they did because they keep revisiting these relationships to the point in which I want to grab them and scream I get it! I get it! Now can you tell me what you meant at the end of Chosen, because I want to know if I interpreted that scene correctly and if the relationship is truly over because both characters have moved on, or Buffy didn't really love him in that way and just cared deeply for him as a friend and he's moved on to Illyria, or just over because Buffy thinks he's dead, but if he wasn't.... Thank you.
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Date: 2010-01-29 04:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-01-29 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-29 08:24 am (UTC)I'm still at a loss about what I can give you in return, my artistic skills are somewhat lacking but I was wondering if you'd like a paid account, since you were struggling with the stupid adds?
On your question about awards, I don't put much on them, though Mad Men was brought to my attention through the positive buzz it got and I also tend to like the stuff they give the Hugo and Nebula awards to.
On POM and Barb's verse. It's amazing how much I love those stories though the whole family thing is something I never really thought possible. But she just makes it work. About Angel, hm, it's been a while for me and I didn't particularly like or get Angel on the series so I found his characterization quite ok, especially in one of the stories set after POM where and old Spike and Angel have some adventures together. These days I've read more fic that shows a different side of Angel and I like him a lot, but I still find, that one of the traits that sets him appart from Spike the most is the brooding ans yes, occasional whining.
Talking about good fic (though one that doesn't have Angel), did you try darkapples "Imitation of a man"?
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Date: 2010-01-29 09:26 am (UTC)None whatsoever, especially in regard to books. I've often found that the award winners are unreadable to the average reader and they would just sit on the shelves. And many of the "best selling" authors I find just plain dull.
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Date: 2010-01-29 10:13 am (UTC)With fanfic, I sometimes click on recced fics and am glad I've done so. On the other hand, sometimes I click away again immediately. Fanfic is so much a matter of personal taste (well, like everything, I suppose).
Agree with you 100% that Buffy's relationship with Spike is the only one that remains unresolved, and yet I have the sneaking feeling that Joss doesn't agree. I can't think otherwise why he would leave Spike out of the Buffy comic entirely, except for a possible appearance in the final arc while revisiting both B/A and B/R fairly extensively.
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Date: 2010-01-29 12:39 pm (UTC)And in the past I've watched movies just because they won (or were nominated for) Best Picture, but I ended up watching a lot of films I seriously hated... So I stopped doing that. Now I am more influenced by the recommendations of friends and family.
With TV, I've usually made up my own mind long before the Emmys are awarded. It makes me happy when a show I love gets an Emmy because I think that that will help keep it on the air, but a boat load of emmies won't get me to watch a show I've already rejected.
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Date: 2010-01-29 02:33 pm (UTC)Awards now, however prestigious, aren't by themselves, for me, sufficient incitation enough to go and make me watch a film, a series, or buy a book. Reviews and critics are more important in this regard that their analysis can wake in me a real interest for the work in question. But it's not foolproof either: some critics can be very elogious and they'll still be insufficient as a motivation because some subjects are just boring to me. In fanfic awards were never a guide for my reading, but knowing a fic or a meta I've appreciated has been awarded makes me happy for the author. It's an acknowledgement of her/his work.
"" :). See, my reaction to that is quite different. I don't mind the ambiguity mostly because IMO Spike gained much more important things (humanity, respect, coming into his own, one moment of real effulgence which is much more than the great majority of humans will ever have in this world...)in this relationship than just a lovestory (I know, I'm cynic)however passionnate and because I think Buffy's irresolution in regard to him is already some sort of answer (from a romantic POV). So in regard to Spike, not a problem. The situation in regard to Buffy is different though, I agree it's still an interrogation mark in her character, but not one that'll bother me : why not let some mystery in a character, after all?
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Date: 2010-01-29 03:35 pm (UTC)On the other hand I can't say that a Pulitzer Prize for literature would influence me much, because I'm not into that sort of fiction most of the time.
TV awards are just popularity contests and fluff in my opinion. By the time the Oscars roll around there are usually plenty of reports about the best movies are without worrying about who wins anything in the end.
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Date: 2010-01-30 01:34 pm (UTC)On awards. Yes, an award can push me to watch something or lead me to read something. For movies, reviews and "buzz" is more important.