cherries, stress, conspiracy theory, evolution, nostalgia, wave theory, soccer, geoffrey of monmouth
The weekend of restful cherry-eating was a great success. Mm, cherries. Am home now, and have potted two baby geraniums that I hope will eventually do me proud.
I have large-fandom stress. This is a very BNL malaise, with a pervasive refrain of it's all been done; why post a story when someone else is bound to have done the same clever plot twist, the same keen psychological insight, probably enough times to turn it into a subgenre? Which is to say that I have a bunch of stories that are probably ready to go, and I'm putting off posting by claiming delays in the editing process when really it's just that if I play the same three chords will you just yawn...?
The funniest thing I've read all weekend was that post by, erm, whatever her name was about how Friends Don't Let Friends Write Fanfic; I felt moved almost to tears by the thought that someone out there cares so deeply. But the post is flocked now and I can't link to it. Alas. The second funniest thing I read all weekend was The Da Vinci Code. At least to start with. It was so delightfully silly, like something out of a Gothic romance. It had an evil albino Catholic monk - how can you hate on that? Mrs Radcliffe would have loved him. And the charmingly rugged but intellectual hero, who looks nothing like Indiana Jones, and the heroine who, with burgundy hair and olive eyes, seems to embody France, or at least some aspects of French cuisine, in an unexpected but endearing way.
I could have coped with the godawful writing for that, honestly. But unfortunately, these supposedly intelligent people, specialists in their field, were so blindingly stupid that the silliness lost its charm. "But my grandfather didn't leave me any ten-digit numbers when he wrote down that strange ten-digit code in order to get me to come to the place of the crime!" "Wow, although I have been going on about da Vinci for the whole book, I think this mysterious text on an invention by da Vinci doesn't look like any language I've ever seen and I don't know where to start!" "There's a round object famously associated with Newton that also has strong associations with Woman and the sudden acquisition of knowledge? Five letters? I wonder what that might be."
I'm still left wondering why people are discussing this book on subway trains with perfect strangers and keep saying that there "must be something in it." Unless it confirms their theories that so-called experts aren't very bright.
But the bit about The Little Mermaid was hysterically funny.
I also read Pinker's The Language Instinct, which was a lot more interesting. I really don't read enough non-fiction. *makes note to self* I do wish, though, that people would stop attributing reverse causality to natural selection. sloppy writing, that is.
I spent a lot of time over the weekend walking around the area where I grew up, which will always be the most beautiful place in the world to me. No, I'm not sure I mean beautiful. The most right place. I'd missed the sights and sounds, but most of all the smells. Heather and gorse under a hot sun, a coarse salty breeze, seaweed and wet sand at the low tide. Met a couple of women out walking who were wearing a bucketful of perfume each. It must be very strange to walk through the world and smell nothing but CK1 or whatever. Also, it made the cows nervous.
Placeholder: I had some vague thoughts about the wave theory and how pairings and themes are contextualized against both the source material and all other versions that a reader has seen and how that affects potential criticism, but I think I lost it among the strawberries. Something about a wave theory of fanfic crit? no, that wasn't it.
Also, so impressed by Greece and their win. I do feel a little for Portugal, especially Figo, because he always looks like a sad little Basset hound even when his team hasn't just lost the final match of a championship, but. Greece! Amazing defence - meaning the whole team, really. Special love for Seitaridis who outruns everyone, Dellas who is just where he should be, and Charisteas who is so cute and bug-eyed. er, and a good player. :)
Oh, and about Mempricius: he "abandoned himself to the vice of sodomy" and was eventually eaten by wolves. I'm sure that would work for a scion of the noble and most ancient house of Black, too.
Nick!
He's just. ooh. Really pretty for one thing, and an AU waiting to happen, for another.
I'm not allowed to put anything more in the subject line. Censorship! My creativity is being stifled! I think I'll go to bed.
ETA:
So many subjects -
I cannot put them into
so few syllables!
I have large-fandom stress. This is a very BNL malaise, with a pervasive refrain of it's all been done; why post a story when someone else is bound to have done the same clever plot twist, the same keen psychological insight, probably enough times to turn it into a subgenre? Which is to say that I have a bunch of stories that are probably ready to go, and I'm putting off posting by claiming delays in the editing process when really it's just that if I play the same three chords will you just yawn...?
The funniest thing I've read all weekend was that post by, erm, whatever her name was about how Friends Don't Let Friends Write Fanfic; I felt moved almost to tears by the thought that someone out there cares so deeply. But the post is flocked now and I can't link to it. Alas. The second funniest thing I read all weekend was The Da Vinci Code. At least to start with. It was so delightfully silly, like something out of a Gothic romance. It had an evil albino Catholic monk - how can you hate on that? Mrs Radcliffe would have loved him. And the charmingly rugged but intellectual hero, who looks nothing like Indiana Jones, and the heroine who, with burgundy hair and olive eyes, seems to embody France, or at least some aspects of French cuisine, in an unexpected but endearing way.
I could have coped with the godawful writing for that, honestly. But unfortunately, these supposedly intelligent people, specialists in their field, were so blindingly stupid that the silliness lost its charm. "But my grandfather didn't leave me any ten-digit numbers when he wrote down that strange ten-digit code in order to get me to come to the place of the crime!" "Wow, although I have been going on about da Vinci for the whole book, I think this mysterious text on an invention by da Vinci doesn't look like any language I've ever seen and I don't know where to start!" "There's a round object famously associated with Newton that also has strong associations with Woman and the sudden acquisition of knowledge? Five letters? I wonder what that might be."
I'm still left wondering why people are discussing this book on subway trains with perfect strangers and keep saying that there "must be something in it." Unless it confirms their theories that so-called experts aren't very bright.
But the bit about The Little Mermaid was hysterically funny.
I also read Pinker's The Language Instinct, which was a lot more interesting. I really don't read enough non-fiction. *makes note to self* I do wish, though, that people would stop attributing reverse causality to natural selection. sloppy writing, that is.
I spent a lot of time over the weekend walking around the area where I grew up, which will always be the most beautiful place in the world to me. No, I'm not sure I mean beautiful. The most right place. I'd missed the sights and sounds, but most of all the smells. Heather and gorse under a hot sun, a coarse salty breeze, seaweed and wet sand at the low tide. Met a couple of women out walking who were wearing a bucketful of perfume each. It must be very strange to walk through the world and smell nothing but CK1 or whatever. Also, it made the cows nervous.
Placeholder: I had some vague thoughts about the wave theory and how pairings and themes are contextualized against both the source material and all other versions that a reader has seen and how that affects potential criticism, but I think I lost it among the strawberries. Something about a wave theory of fanfic crit? no, that wasn't it.
Also, so impressed by Greece and their win. I do feel a little for Portugal, especially Figo, because he always looks like a sad little Basset hound even when his team hasn't just lost the final match of a championship, but. Greece! Amazing defence - meaning the whole team, really. Special love for Seitaridis who outruns everyone, Dellas who is just where he should be, and Charisteas who is so cute and bug-eyed. er, and a good player. :)
Oh, and about Mempricius: he "abandoned himself to the vice of sodomy" and was eventually eaten by wolves. I'm sure that would work for a scion of the noble and most ancient house of Black, too.
Nick!
He's just. ooh. Really pretty for one thing, and an AU waiting to happen, for another.
I'm not allowed to put anything more in the subject line. Censorship! My creativity is being stifled! I think I'll go to bed.
ETA:
So many subjects -
I cannot put them into
so few syllables!