![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Memes...Merlin and other stuff
1. Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer
Again don't really have a favorite writer. There's writers I've read a lot of stuff from but not quite the same thing.
So...Jane Austen? Pride and Prejudice (I'd say Sandition but only the first five chapters were written by Austen.), James Joyce? Ulyssess, I love the Molly Bloom chapter and the chapter about the guy trying to piss with the Clap. Joyce was a master stylist, he could jump from clear precise narrative (Dubliners) to stream of consciousness.
Sort of the Irish equivalent of Proust, except more happens and he's less snooty. I appreciate a good stylist - since I jump writing styles on a daily basis. This is not the writing style I use at work. (I've admittedly never read Proust in original French and you sort of have to - to appreciate it. But I suck at languages. I had enough troubles understanding Georges Simenon in French.)
For Minette Walters? The Ice House - which also had a BBC tv movie made from. For Arturo Perez Reverte? I'm going with The Flanders Panel (I know, I know, everyone loves The Seville Communion, but I can't remember it. The Flanders Panel was great - it was a chess match combined with painting forgeries. I tried to write something similar and failed miserably.)
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favorite romance book
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favorite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people have read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time
2. Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Let's face it - people don't really do them any more. I was going to go with Lonesome Dove based on Larry McMurty's incredibly long novel of the same name, which was televised in the late 1980s. But who am I kidding? I own only one miniseries and that is A&E's/BBC's 1990s adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennett. That is definitely my favorite and it's flawless. Adds to the book, without detracting from it.
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death.
3. About 4% of the way into Dance of Dragons...or four chapters in. And it's already confusing. The White Wolf or Snow's wolf counts five wolves still alive, out of six. And I'm thinking wait...I know two are dead. Did Martin lose count? Or am I confused?
Also Martin takes far too long to get to the point - the last five pages of each chapter is the most interesting. Far too much time is spent on describing everything people are eating, what they are wearing, and their residence. Martin? I do not need to know what the table looks like. Or the difference between wines in Myrh, Lyrh, Pentos and Westeros. Still better than the other books I've read this year so far, but considering what I've read, that's admittedly not saying all that much.
There's a review of Storm of Swords on Amazon, where the reviewer comments that Martin takes too long to get to the point. It's not the number of pages or words, but the fact that he wastes time building and building and building for about 3000 pages. And he's talking about Storm of Swords. The writer is insanely obsessed with the small details of his world. The reviewer also states that the good characters are portrayed as somewhat dumb, or too willing to be nice to the villians...and as a result enable the villains to succeed. This is not completely wrong. Although I see the characters as far more complex than the reviewer did and more interesting. I think he did a lot of skimming? I'd hunt the review down for you, but don't feel like it. It's not really worth it.
4. Merlin - Season 5 - The Hollow Queen
Weirdly there are good bits in this episode. The good bits have to do with Merlin and to a degree Morgana/Gwen - the episode goes a long way to explaining why Morgana did what she's done and how she convinced Gwen to side with her.
* We find out that a ruler in a neighboring land, who hates socerery and is just as ruthless and bloodthirsty as Uther was in that regard, captured Morgana. He explains in detail what he did to both Arthur and Gwen, and only Gwen looks like she's about to throw-up. He tortured the dragon, who is Morgana's weakness. He put them both in a well, while the dragon was still growning, with Morgana, and as a result the dragon grew twisted and unable to speak. I cringed. And for a bit routed for Morgana to take out both Arthur and the evil ally that Arthur was attempting to ally with in order to kill Morgana.
*Gwen's reaction to this horrible story - made me like her. She plots with Morgana to trick the guy into assassinating Arthur, so that Gwen can take over the throne and then kill the evil guy herself or with Morgana's aid.
I found all this rather interesting. It provided a few shades of grey to the proceedings.
* Arthur appears to be being played for comedy at the moment. Seriously, the dude can't dress himself? That's just sad. And he's so dense he can't figure out that Merlin is really missing and could be in danger, or that Gwen might not quite be herself, or that the guy he's trying to ally with is bad news? Arthur, I'm beginning to wonder if Merlin's faith in you is a tad misplaced? And of course he remains dense at the end - with no idea what happened or why. (I found that out via a recap. Stupid Syfy cut off the last five minutes because Wrestling went late. I don't understand the appeal of Wrestling. I have cousins who are into it. But they are also into Twilight..I don't get the appeal of either.)
* Guise, Merlin and Gwen appear to be the smartest people in Camelot. They are all plotting against each other at the moment. Gwen smartly gets rid of Merlin, prior to trying to take out Arthur. I think Morgana finally caught on to the fact that Merlin is her problem. Unfortunately she didn't just kill him, she poisoned him - too slow, Morgana, he can come back from that. (OF course if she killed him, we wouldn't have a show. Granted it ends this season...but we have four episodes left. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she didn't. But this is beginning to feel a bit like Wile E Coyote or Elmer Fudd hunting the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny.)
* What I loved? The interaction between Merlin and the boy - that was brilliant. And how the boy slowly began to respect and trust and help Merlin. We learned more about Merlin here and how he relates to people. He truly puts on an act with Arthur. Arthur rarely sees the real Merlin. That's what I want more than anything - for Arthur to finally see who Merlin truly is. If that never happens, I will be pissed.
Overall? Better episode than the last two episodes, which admittedly is not hard, but still.
I tried Zero Hour - gave up fifteen minutes into it, just didn't hold my attention.
Right now TV has an uphill battle to grab my attention - there's too much of it. I'm not sure I want to add more.
Again don't really have a favorite writer. There's writers I've read a lot of stuff from but not quite the same thing.
So...Jane Austen? Pride and Prejudice (I'd say Sandition but only the first five chapters were written by Austen.), James Joyce? Ulyssess, I love the Molly Bloom chapter and the chapter about the guy trying to piss with the Clap. Joyce was a master stylist, he could jump from clear precise narrative (Dubliners) to stream of consciousness.
Sort of the Irish equivalent of Proust, except more happens and he's less snooty. I appreciate a good stylist - since I jump writing styles on a daily basis. This is not the writing style I use at work. (I've admittedly never read Proust in original French and you sort of have to - to appreciate it. But I suck at languages. I had enough troubles understanding Georges Simenon in French.)
For Minette Walters? The Ice House - which also had a BBC tv movie made from. For Arturo Perez Reverte? I'm going with The Flanders Panel (I know, I know, everyone loves The Seville Communion, but I can't remember it. The Flanders Panel was great - it was a chess match combined with painting forgeries. I tried to write something similar and failed miserably.)
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favorite romance book
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favorite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people have read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time
2. Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Let's face it - people don't really do them any more. I was going to go with Lonesome Dove based on Larry McMurty's incredibly long novel of the same name, which was televised in the late 1980s. But who am I kidding? I own only one miniseries and that is A&E's/BBC's 1990s adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennett. That is definitely my favorite and it's flawless. Adds to the book, without detracting from it.
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death.
3. About 4% of the way into Dance of Dragons...or four chapters in. And it's already confusing. The White Wolf or Snow's wolf counts five wolves still alive, out of six. And I'm thinking wait...I know two are dead. Did Martin lose count? Or am I confused?
Also Martin takes far too long to get to the point - the last five pages of each chapter is the most interesting. Far too much time is spent on describing everything people are eating, what they are wearing, and their residence. Martin? I do not need to know what the table looks like. Or the difference between wines in Myrh, Lyrh, Pentos and Westeros. Still better than the other books I've read this year so far, but considering what I've read, that's admittedly not saying all that much.
There's a review of Storm of Swords on Amazon, where the reviewer comments that Martin takes too long to get to the point. It's not the number of pages or words, but the fact that he wastes time building and building and building for about 3000 pages. And he's talking about Storm of Swords. The writer is insanely obsessed with the small details of his world. The reviewer also states that the good characters are portrayed as somewhat dumb, or too willing to be nice to the villians...and as a result enable the villains to succeed. This is not completely wrong. Although I see the characters as far more complex than the reviewer did and more interesting. I think he did a lot of skimming? I'd hunt the review down for you, but don't feel like it. It's not really worth it.
4. Merlin - Season 5 - The Hollow Queen
Weirdly there are good bits in this episode. The good bits have to do with Merlin and to a degree Morgana/Gwen - the episode goes a long way to explaining why Morgana did what she's done and how she convinced Gwen to side with her.
* We find out that a ruler in a neighboring land, who hates socerery and is just as ruthless and bloodthirsty as Uther was in that regard, captured Morgana. He explains in detail what he did to both Arthur and Gwen, and only Gwen looks like she's about to throw-up. He tortured the dragon, who is Morgana's weakness. He put them both in a well, while the dragon was still growning, with Morgana, and as a result the dragon grew twisted and unable to speak. I cringed. And for a bit routed for Morgana to take out both Arthur and the evil ally that Arthur was attempting to ally with in order to kill Morgana.
*Gwen's reaction to this horrible story - made me like her. She plots with Morgana to trick the guy into assassinating Arthur, so that Gwen can take over the throne and then kill the evil guy herself or with Morgana's aid.
I found all this rather interesting. It provided a few shades of grey to the proceedings.
* Arthur appears to be being played for comedy at the moment. Seriously, the dude can't dress himself? That's just sad. And he's so dense he can't figure out that Merlin is really missing and could be in danger, or that Gwen might not quite be herself, or that the guy he's trying to ally with is bad news? Arthur, I'm beginning to wonder if Merlin's faith in you is a tad misplaced? And of course he remains dense at the end - with no idea what happened or why. (I found that out via a recap. Stupid Syfy cut off the last five minutes because Wrestling went late. I don't understand the appeal of Wrestling. I have cousins who are into it. But they are also into Twilight..I don't get the appeal of either.)
* Guise, Merlin and Gwen appear to be the smartest people in Camelot. They are all plotting against each other at the moment. Gwen smartly gets rid of Merlin, prior to trying to take out Arthur. I think Morgana finally caught on to the fact that Merlin is her problem. Unfortunately she didn't just kill him, she poisoned him - too slow, Morgana, he can come back from that. (OF course if she killed him, we wouldn't have a show. Granted it ends this season...but we have four episodes left. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she didn't. But this is beginning to feel a bit like Wile E Coyote or Elmer Fudd hunting the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny.)
* What I loved? The interaction between Merlin and the boy - that was brilliant. And how the boy slowly began to respect and trust and help Merlin. We learned more about Merlin here and how he relates to people. He truly puts on an act with Arthur. Arthur rarely sees the real Merlin. That's what I want more than anything - for Arthur to finally see who Merlin truly is. If that never happens, I will be pissed.
Overall? Better episode than the last two episodes, which admittedly is not hard, but still.
I tried Zero Hour - gave up fifteen minutes into it, just didn't hold my attention.
Right now TV has an uphill battle to grab my attention - there's too much of it. I'm not sure I want to add more.
no subject
Speaking of GRRM, besides the fact that you're right, I finished the S2 DVDs today. I was kind of disappointed, especially after they did such a good job on S1. In rough order:
1. How they handled Arya. Not only is she much less badass than in the books, the names she gives to Jaqen make no sense when she's the cupbearer to Tywin. Also, they've likely ruined the scene at the inn with the Tickler.
2. The HotU scenes were weak. In fact, the whole Qarth episode was weak. The only real point to Qarth is to get Dany to the HotU, so get her there, get the whole set of prophecies, and move on. Oh, and have Emilia Clarke wear the actual Qarth dresses. :)
3. They are making Tyrion too nice. I like the character, but there's a much harder and more ambiguous edge to him in the books.
4. They don't make clear the reason for Jon Snow killing Qhorin. Also, having Grenn find the dragonglass was silly.
4. They're spending too much time on Robb's love affair. Changing the woman to a random Volantene is probably not that big a deal, but it does seem to ruin some of the issues involved in the build up to the Red Wedding and the siege of Riverrun. Also, the fact that she wasn't pregnant detracts from the obvious comparison to Ned.
5. A whole episode on the Battle was probably too much. And having Stannis get inside the walls was implausible. I'm not sure people who've never read the books would have understood the Hound's fear of fire as the defining moment for him.
no subject
And the second season of the series...reminded me of why that was.
Only parts I did pick up on that were slightly off...Tyrion doesn't lose his nose - so he's not gravely scarred. Apparently they didn't want to do the makeup?
Rather liked the addition of the Tywin scenes with Ayra, which aren't in the books. The Ayra bit in the books drug. You are right she's darker in the book, in the tv show they've avoided going quite as dark.
Rather appreciated the Rob/Jamie scene - even if it wasn't in the books. But was annoyed by the abbreviated Catelynn/Jamie scene in the series - they sort of took half of it and gave it to Rob/Jamie. And they completely cut the whole bit about the attempt on Bran's life - which is sort of important to unraveling that mystery - if you don't have that bit in there, there's no way you're going to figure out or Jamie will - that Joffrey tried to kill Bran. That's sort of important for Jamie figuring it out.
Agree - Rob's love affair doesn't quite work...and it ruins the issues later. The woman Rob marries is part of Tywin Lannister's scheme to take down the Starks. He set Rob up - this is revealed in Feast of Crows, which I just read. Jamie has a lengthy discussion with Rob's bride's mother about it, with the Frey's nearby. Here, it's not clear that Tywin planted her or that the family was involved, although I guess they could plant that later? The pregnancy bit is sort of important since Jamie states that may be a problem, and they may want her dead - so no heir. (If I remember that right.)
The tv series skips over some key plot points that are important later, making me wonder if they will come up with a different resolution? Or just have them play out somewhat differently?
Ah...but the Battle episode won the Hugo and the emmy for GRR Martin. LOL! Personally it bored me in both the book and the series - not a fan of battles, similar to watching football...lots of people fighting each other.
Agreed on the Qhorin bit - it's not made clear at all. He's supposed to use it to go undercover with the wildlings...but that's not expressed.
The books are admittedly hard to film...too many tiny plot details that are hard to keep track of. In order to figure out the whole Joffrey trying to kill Bran bit - I had to go back and hunt through Clash. And to figure out what was going on with the Red Wedding - had to do the same thing. I probably shouldn't wait a year between books.
no subject
Arthur is really oddly written in this episode. I'm not sure what they thought they were doing with him. I can't say any more without spoiling you but let's just say things do get better for him.
The issues with Morgana that were raised in this episode were actually interesting but dealing with it was all just too rushed. This whole evil!Gwen arc could have been done so much better.