"Do you know who you are? Do you laugh, just to think what I lack?"
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A quick reminder: This evening at 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. PST), Steve and I will be answering questions about Alabaster: Wolves via Twitter (#AlabasterComics). Also, we'll be giving away 10 FREE Digital copies of Alabaster: Wolves to participants that will be distributed when it becomes available on April 11th. Be there, kittens.
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Want to know what's even more insanely, stomach-churningly moronic than...whatever I last asked that question about? Well, I'll tell you: "tweet seats" at opera and live theatre (via Ars Technica). I shit you not. Follow the link, read the article, because it's well-written and important and deserves to be read. This line should be seared into the brain of every human: "Social media is the cure for exactly nothing. It's a tool and, like a screwdriver, it can be used to access that which is hidden and it can be used to gouge someone's eye out."
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A short quote from The Two Towers, a bit that Treebeard says ~ "But there, my friends, songs like trees bear fruit only in their own time and their own way: and sometimes they are withered untimely."
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If you've not yet ordered The Drowning Girl: A Memoir or Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart, please do so soon. This is how we stay in print and keep making more books, by selling the books that are new. It's...book math. And, remember, if you don't have a local comic shop, Albaster: Wolves will be available via Dark Horse Digital Comics. It is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT that you support the Dancy comic!
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Yesterday, Spooky and I saw Gary Ross' adaptation of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, and we were both very, very pleased. This isn't going to be an actual review, just some quick observations and ruminations. For example, getting out of the van I noticed a girl - sixteen or seventeen - with a mocking jay pin, and it was just sort of...it was cool.
As for all the casting-related falderal that has attended the making and release of this film, seeing it yesterday confirmed my suspicions. Jennifer Lawrence was excellent as Katniss, and almost exactly as I saw her when I read the book, right down to the "olive" complexion. By the way, all those people who think Katniss was supposed to be of a darker skinned ethnicity, how do you explain her fair-skinned, blonde-haired mother and sister? As for the girl who played Rue - Amandla Stenberg - she was spot-on perfect. I don't know what version of the book people read that led them to mistake her for white, or Hispanic, or whatever, but it's not the one I read. By the way, how many African-Americans do you know who have "black" skin? Brown skin. Dark skin. Degrees of dark and brown, so if a character is described as "dark-skinned," that leaves a fucking lot of latitude, doesn't it? And have you stopped to wonder why we "default to white" when reading, unless the author specifies otherwise? Not that Caucasians are "white." In short, fuck your silly claims about "racefail" [sic].
My only real quibble with the casting was with Liam Hemsworth, the actor who played Gale. I have no idea what was up, but he looked like someone who'd fallen out of another movie altogether, one about pretty men who never get dirty and are excessively fond of hair gel. Otherwise, the casting and performances were close to flawless, stem to stern.
The film itself, amazing. Possibly better than the novel, if only in its immediacy. Rather like being struck in the chest repeatedly. It doesn't pull its punches. Powerful and beautiful and heartrending, and I highly recommend it.
A last thought on The Hunger Games, though. The uproar surrounding the casting of this film (and we're going to ignore the racist dirtbags' comments about Miss Stenberg) has been one of the most absurd spectacles since Peter Jackson cast The Lord of the Rings a decade ago. Only...this was much, much more ridiculous, and it seems to be part of a trend, largely facilitated by the internet and that nasty sense of entitlement that people (especially younger people) are, increasingly, displaying. All this whining (and absurd politicizing) - look, guys. This is simple. A director doesn't necessarily cast a film version of some beloved novel or another as would you, the solution is right there in front of you, and it's been with us for a long, long time: DO NOT SEE THE FILM. I actually believe there are readers who believe they ought to have a say, and that if they whine loudly enough the producers and director will fall in line with their wishes. Ah, but would that be a consensus of popular opinion, or would that be your opinion, that would be favored? Interesting question, that.
Regardless, see the film, or don't see the film. It's that easy. I may say I think Liam Hemsworth was an absurd pick, but that's me, myself, and I. No one on high is going to bless my opinion and revise anything based upon it. Art is not (thank fuck) a democracy, and readers do not create the books, and movie goers do not make movies. Their power lies in reception, which determines success and failure - which is quite a lot of power, indeed.
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Please have a look at the goodies in Spooky's Dreaming Squid Dollworks and Sundries Etsy shop. She has new stuff up. You should see!
One Day Off Her Feed,
Aunt Beast
A quick reminder: This evening at 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. PST), Steve and I will be answering questions about Alabaster: Wolves via Twitter (#AlabasterComics). Also, we'll be giving away 10 FREE Digital copies of Alabaster: Wolves to participants that will be distributed when it becomes available on April 11th. Be there, kittens.
---
Want to know what's even more insanely, stomach-churningly moronic than...whatever I last asked that question about? Well, I'll tell you: "tweet seats" at opera and live theatre (via Ars Technica). I shit you not. Follow the link, read the article, because it's well-written and important and deserves to be read. This line should be seared into the brain of every human: "Social media is the cure for exactly nothing. It's a tool and, like a screwdriver, it can be used to access that which is hidden and it can be used to gouge someone's eye out."
---
A short quote from The Two Towers, a bit that Treebeard says ~ "But there, my friends, songs like trees bear fruit only in their own time and their own way: and sometimes they are withered untimely."
---
If you've not yet ordered The Drowning Girl: A Memoir or Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart, please do so soon. This is how we stay in print and keep making more books, by selling the books that are new. It's...book math. And, remember, if you don't have a local comic shop, Albaster: Wolves will be available via Dark Horse Digital Comics. It is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT that you support the Dancy comic!
---
Yesterday, Spooky and I saw Gary Ross' adaptation of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, and we were both very, very pleased. This isn't going to be an actual review, just some quick observations and ruminations. For example, getting out of the van I noticed a girl - sixteen or seventeen - with a mocking jay pin, and it was just sort of...it was cool.
As for all the casting-related falderal that has attended the making and release of this film, seeing it yesterday confirmed my suspicions. Jennifer Lawrence was excellent as Katniss, and almost exactly as I saw her when I read the book, right down to the "olive" complexion. By the way, all those people who think Katniss was supposed to be of a darker skinned ethnicity, how do you explain her fair-skinned, blonde-haired mother and sister? As for the girl who played Rue - Amandla Stenberg - she was spot-on perfect. I don't know what version of the book people read that led them to mistake her for white, or Hispanic, or whatever, but it's not the one I read. By the way, how many African-Americans do you know who have "black" skin? Brown skin. Dark skin. Degrees of dark and brown, so if a character is described as "dark-skinned," that leaves a fucking lot of latitude, doesn't it? And have you stopped to wonder why we "default to white" when reading, unless the author specifies otherwise? Not that Caucasians are "white." In short, fuck your silly claims about "racefail" [sic].
My only real quibble with the casting was with Liam Hemsworth, the actor who played Gale. I have no idea what was up, but he looked like someone who'd fallen out of another movie altogether, one about pretty men who never get dirty and are excessively fond of hair gel. Otherwise, the casting and performances were close to flawless, stem to stern.
The film itself, amazing. Possibly better than the novel, if only in its immediacy. Rather like being struck in the chest repeatedly. It doesn't pull its punches. Powerful and beautiful and heartrending, and I highly recommend it.
A last thought on The Hunger Games, though. The uproar surrounding the casting of this film (and we're going to ignore the racist dirtbags' comments about Miss Stenberg) has been one of the most absurd spectacles since Peter Jackson cast The Lord of the Rings a decade ago. Only...this was much, much more ridiculous, and it seems to be part of a trend, largely facilitated by the internet and that nasty sense of entitlement that people (especially younger people) are, increasingly, displaying. All this whining (and absurd politicizing) - look, guys. This is simple. A director doesn't necessarily cast a film version of some beloved novel or another as would you, the solution is right there in front of you, and it's been with us for a long, long time: DO NOT SEE THE FILM. I actually believe there are readers who believe they ought to have a say, and that if they whine loudly enough the producers and director will fall in line with their wishes. Ah, but would that be a consensus of popular opinion, or would that be your opinion, that would be favored? Interesting question, that.
Regardless, see the film, or don't see the film. It's that easy. I may say I think Liam Hemsworth was an absurd pick, but that's me, myself, and I. No one on high is going to bless my opinion and revise anything based upon it. Art is not (thank fuck) a democracy, and readers do not create the books, and movie goers do not make movies. Their power lies in reception, which determines success and failure - which is quite a lot of power, indeed.
---
Please have a look at the goodies in Spooky's Dreaming Squid Dollworks and Sundries Etsy shop. She has new stuff up. You should see!
One Day Off Her Feed,
Aunt Beast