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shadowkat1. So...Sleepy Hollow (which if you missed it, like my mother did, re-airs on Friday.)
Co-worker: Have you seen Sleepy Hollow yet?
Me: Eh, no, not yet.
Co-worker: It's horrible, bad dialogue, silly plot. Dumb. So disappointing.
Later...reading flist.
Flist: Sleepy Hollow is cracktastic fun! It's hilarious.
Okay, now I'm curious.
So.. I watch Sleepy Hollow. Agree with...flist. It is hilarious fun.
It's basically X-Files meets Supernatural (or at least it's weird-ass end of days mythology) with a touch of National Treasure's and a dabble of The Illuminati. Another way of looking at it is X-Files via the Left-Behind Series, by way of Washington Irving. (Except, how to put this? It's not racist in its casting choices. Or at least the pilot wasn't.) Oh and it tinkers just a tad with Washington Irving and American History (specifically the Revolutionary War, which no one under the age of 35 appears to have studied, so who cares?) Apparently this year's television serial theme is having fun with history - hey it's not like the kids are studying it anymore anyhow. Purists or people who are weirdly anal about this sort of stuff? You may want to do your blood-pressure a favor and just skip. Otherwise? It's a hoot. I mean come on, we have a hot Brit playing a hero named Icabode Crane and they are chasing the Headless Horseman, who in reality is The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse or Death. What's nice about the show is it doesn't appear to take itself all that seriously, and has a few genuinely spooky moments by way of Blair Witch Project.
Can see why my co-worker hated it though.
2. Finished Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner - which I rec'd to my mother, who finished it in 3 days and liked it enough to purchase Swordspoint. My mother took fencing in college and favorite movies as a kid were the Errol Flynn swashbucklers.
Our discussion:
Mom: Fascinating book, she goes against the romance novel stereotypes. Also many of the characters appear to be bisexual - which actually works, because throughout time many humans have always been this way, even historically. We are all types. Plus the male/male romance is less cliche and in some regards more interesting than the typical female/male romance.
Me: Ah, you hit the nail on the head. I've been trying to figure out why I prefer the male/male to either female/male or female/female in many of these romances. They skirt the cliche or subvert. With female - the woman always ends up the damsel, and that's so tired.
Mom: Except for Privilege of the Sword - she's not the damsel...
Me: But Artesmia is - although Artie appears to almost be a joke, or satirical take on the female damsel. The character annoyed me - but I could see-
Mom: That she fit the trope, except here she falls for another woman, and the woman defends her honor. Which is different. But getting back to the male romance - in some respects it is more interesting because the writer doesn't focus on the sex, but on other things - there's more to it. It's more on their friendship, their personalities...it's more developed. Less, on the romantic love.
Me: I read that one of the men, Alec, is the damsel.
Mom: He is, I'm halfway through Swordspoint, he's the damsel and an interesting one. Reckless. Not the typical kind. If he were female - it would be annoying and cliche, but since he's not - it's interesting, not cliche at all and more complex.
In short, if you haven't read Privilege of the Sword, and you like sword-play, comedy of manners a la Georgette Heyer (although Kushner is a lot better than Heyer, closer to Austen) and complex characters, plus non-traditional romance (although the emphasis isn't on romance) - I recommend.
The plot? The Mad Duke of Tremontaine agrees to release funds to his sister and no longer fight her regarding her land, if she sends her daughter to him and allows him to train her daughter to become a swordsman. The story is about how she becomes one, what that entails, why he does it, and what the consequences are. It's quite empowering and feminist, but also humanist. A breath of fresh air...am sorely tired of nihilism.
Next? Reading Swordspoint, then maybe Ready, Player One. I finally got burned out on the romance novels or my brain fog lifted.
3. Breaking Bad - Ozymandias.
This episode inspired GRR Martin to write a nastier villain. After he watched Breaking Bad, he decided that none of his sadistic characters in Game of Thrones came close and he had to up the stakes a bit.
Hmmm. Not sure I agree. While admittedly despicable, Walter White has nothing on the Bastard of Bolton, but that's just me. At any rate that statement above should tell you everything you want to know about the grueling episode, that I found close to impossible to watch at different points.
While admittedly well-written, acted, directed, produced, etc...it is by far too nihilistic, gut-wrenchingly violent, and hopeless for either my current frame of mind or sensibility. I wanted to wash my eyes, brain and soul out with spring water and lavender after watching it.
In short, it made me irritable and angry. Which, I so don't need help feeling at the moment.
So if you are a)perimenupausal like I am, b) hormones out of wack, or c) insanely frustrated? Skip this show. Go watch Once Upon a Time or Scandal instead, you can thank me later. If you aren't any of those things? And adored Breaking Bad? Check out MacBeth and Titus Adronicus, along with Rome, Deadwood, Rescue Me, Damages, The Shield, Sons of Anarchy, Walking Dead, and GRR Martin's fantasy series.
The experience reminded me a bit of watching Julie Taymor's Titus Adronicus, which I admittedly liked but can't rewatch. If you liked it, you might want to check out her film. Also Roman Polanski's MacBeth. Breaking Bad is basically a modern take on Macbeth with more than a touch of Cormac McCarthy's In the Company of Old Men. Actually, think of Breaking Bad as the television version of Cormac McCarthy novels. If you like BB, you really should be reading Cormac McCarthy and possibly Larry McMurty.
Co-worker: Have you seen Sleepy Hollow yet?
Me: Eh, no, not yet.
Co-worker: It's horrible, bad dialogue, silly plot. Dumb. So disappointing.
Later...reading flist.
Flist: Sleepy Hollow is cracktastic fun! It's hilarious.
Okay, now I'm curious.
So.. I watch Sleepy Hollow. Agree with...flist. It is hilarious fun.
It's basically X-Files meets Supernatural (or at least it's weird-ass end of days mythology) with a touch of National Treasure's and a dabble of The Illuminati. Another way of looking at it is X-Files via the Left-Behind Series, by way of Washington Irving. (Except, how to put this? It's not racist in its casting choices. Or at least the pilot wasn't.) Oh and it tinkers just a tad with Washington Irving and American History (specifically the Revolutionary War, which no one under the age of 35 appears to have studied, so who cares?) Apparently this year's television serial theme is having fun with history - hey it's not like the kids are studying it anymore anyhow. Purists or people who are weirdly anal about this sort of stuff? You may want to do your blood-pressure a favor and just skip. Otherwise? It's a hoot. I mean come on, we have a hot Brit playing a hero named Icabode Crane and they are chasing the Headless Horseman, who in reality is The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse or Death. What's nice about the show is it doesn't appear to take itself all that seriously, and has a few genuinely spooky moments by way of Blair Witch Project.
Can see why my co-worker hated it though.
2. Finished Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner - which I rec'd to my mother, who finished it in 3 days and liked it enough to purchase Swordspoint. My mother took fencing in college and favorite movies as a kid were the Errol Flynn swashbucklers.
Our discussion:
Mom: Fascinating book, she goes against the romance novel stereotypes. Also many of the characters appear to be bisexual - which actually works, because throughout time many humans have always been this way, even historically. We are all types. Plus the male/male romance is less cliche and in some regards more interesting than the typical female/male romance.
Me: Ah, you hit the nail on the head. I've been trying to figure out why I prefer the male/male to either female/male or female/female in many of these romances. They skirt the cliche or subvert. With female - the woman always ends up the damsel, and that's so tired.
Mom: Except for Privilege of the Sword - she's not the damsel...
Me: But Artesmia is - although Artie appears to almost be a joke, or satirical take on the female damsel. The character annoyed me - but I could see-
Mom: That she fit the trope, except here she falls for another woman, and the woman defends her honor. Which is different. But getting back to the male romance - in some respects it is more interesting because the writer doesn't focus on the sex, but on other things - there's more to it. It's more on their friendship, their personalities...it's more developed. Less, on the romantic love.
Me: I read that one of the men, Alec, is the damsel.
Mom: He is, I'm halfway through Swordspoint, he's the damsel and an interesting one. Reckless. Not the typical kind. If he were female - it would be annoying and cliche, but since he's not - it's interesting, not cliche at all and more complex.
In short, if you haven't read Privilege of the Sword, and you like sword-play, comedy of manners a la Georgette Heyer (although Kushner is a lot better than Heyer, closer to Austen) and complex characters, plus non-traditional romance (although the emphasis isn't on romance) - I recommend.
The plot? The Mad Duke of Tremontaine agrees to release funds to his sister and no longer fight her regarding her land, if she sends her daughter to him and allows him to train her daughter to become a swordsman. The story is about how she becomes one, what that entails, why he does it, and what the consequences are. It's quite empowering and feminist, but also humanist. A breath of fresh air...am sorely tired of nihilism.
Next? Reading Swordspoint, then maybe Ready, Player One. I finally got burned out on the romance novels or my brain fog lifted.
3. Breaking Bad - Ozymandias.
This episode inspired GRR Martin to write a nastier villain. After he watched Breaking Bad, he decided that none of his sadistic characters in Game of Thrones came close and he had to up the stakes a bit.
Hmmm. Not sure I agree. While admittedly despicable, Walter White has nothing on the Bastard of Bolton, but that's just me. At any rate that statement above should tell you everything you want to know about the grueling episode, that I found close to impossible to watch at different points.
While admittedly well-written, acted, directed, produced, etc...it is by far too nihilistic, gut-wrenchingly violent, and hopeless for either my current frame of mind or sensibility. I wanted to wash my eyes, brain and soul out with spring water and lavender after watching it.
In short, it made me irritable and angry. Which, I so don't need help feeling at the moment.
So if you are a)perimenupausal like I am, b) hormones out of wack, or c) insanely frustrated? Skip this show. Go watch Once Upon a Time or Scandal instead, you can thank me later. If you aren't any of those things? And adored Breaking Bad? Check out MacBeth and Titus Adronicus, along with Rome, Deadwood, Rescue Me, Damages, The Shield, Sons of Anarchy, Walking Dead, and GRR Martin's fantasy series.
The experience reminded me a bit of watching Julie Taymor's Titus Adronicus, which I admittedly liked but can't rewatch. If you liked it, you might want to check out her film. Also Roman Polanski's MacBeth. Breaking Bad is basically a modern take on Macbeth with more than a touch of Cormac McCarthy's In the Company of Old Men. Actually, think of Breaking Bad as the television version of Cormac McCarthy novels. If you like BB, you really should be reading Cormac McCarthy and possibly Larry McMurty.
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no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 03:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 12:03 pm (UTC)I did not see George RR Martin's quote, but am confused as to why that particular episode made him write a nastier villain. WW shows many sides IMO in that episode.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 09:22 pm (UTC)(My sister has stage IV colon cancer, and I work for a major cancer non-profit, and I see people in Walt's situation all the time, and somehow most of them manage not to become murderous drug lords. It just offends me on a visceral level that I'm supposed to cheer this guy on.)
no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 01:42 am (UTC)http://grrm.livejournal.com/337511.html
Walter White is a bigger monster than anyone in Westeros.
(I need to do something about that).
I restrained myself from stating, "Not exactly. The difference is he's more layered and better written than anyone in Westeros." Roose Bolton is a sadistic monster, but impossible to take seriously because not layered.
And well, Walter White is a controversial character. You either like him and sympathize or despise him. (I hate the character at the moment, I was unfortunately rooting for Jesse and Hank to take him down.)
no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 04:45 am (UTC)I have to say that watching it, I never thought about it. Like Buffy it so quickly and totally jerks you out of reality that stuff like physics and history don't really matter.
Can see why my co-worker hated it though.
Yeah, obviously, if the viewer doesn't take the leap into the new world with the story, it's all going to turn into gibberish.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 07:22 am (UTC)Exactly!
Also Roman Polanski's MacBeth
Definitely worth watching.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 01:45 am (UTC)Definitely worth watching.
Albeit notoriously bloody. Rumor has it that MacBeth was Polanski way of handling the horrific death of Sharon Tate.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 08:44 am (UTC)Ahh! You finished Privilege! :)
I really love how the traditional tropes are played and subverted in so many different ways. And I loved how the romance novel about the swordsman is like a red ribbon that illustrates Katherine's development by the way she views it.
I think Artemisia is an over the top character, a caricature in some ways, but when she gets more serious, I started to see her as a teenager, someone who is over the top but has a full personality developing inside her.
Romance wise I also really adored Teresa Grey and Lucius Perry. They had such an interesting relationship. I found their love so believable and it did so well without those damsel/rescue tropes.
With Alec and Richard, Alec is the ultimate damsel, and a mean one on top of it, since he tries to stir trouble so Richard will kill someone again. But it really works with him being a man. I'll also be interested about your take of the short story in the end of Swordspoint, it is kind of a prelude to Privilege.
There is also a third novel (and some short stories) set in the same world that Ellen Kushner wrote with her wife. It's called "The Fall of the King" and is about Alec's son.
I though Ozymandias was a gut wrenching piece of television. I thought it was really good, but at the same time it was almost too much for me too.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 01:51 am (UTC)We aren't told why Richard St. Vier left Alec for Highcomb. Or how he became blind. Nor are we told how the Duchess died.
It's a problem I have with the romantic fantasy genre - the dang writers leave gaps in the plot and character development. Buffy had the same problem.
Science Fiction, horror, and mystery writers and literary writers don't do this that often. But romance and fantasy writers? Ugh.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 05:52 am (UTC)about the duchess: There is a short story about how Alec became the Duke in a collection called naked city. I don't remember it so clearly, but i think the duchess is also just very old and dies of natural causes, but i am not sure.
There is also a short story about richard's death that is set between PotS and FotK called the THe man with the knives.
She has a very detailed idea of the timeline but not everything is explained or told in the books. btw. she is also on LJ and a superlovely person to talk with.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 12:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 01:55 am (UTC)Also, it's a story about a man with cancer who decides to make meth to make money to provide for his family, but in reality is obsessed with power. And the lead character is...well not exactly likable but then neither was MacBeth.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 02:01 am (UTC)He found it to be silly and bad.
I admittedly don't like Revelations-style end of the world stories either - they are sort of silly. Also the metaphors taken too seriously. I was half-tempted to not watch it, but my flist loved the show to pieces. Which made me curious, but I admittedly went in with very low expectations.
I'll give it five episodes, enough time to see if the biblical stuff, demons vs. angels, and end of world mythos starts to grate on my nerves in the same way it began to on Supernatural.