Sickened and Sickening
Blargh...summer sickness is the worst. I'm coming out of a week-plus stint of muscle aches, sore throats, coughing fits, and general crappiness, and what does the world have for me in return? Not much, as always. I've been relegated to the couch, imbibing Excedrin, cough drops, and a plethora of non-ASOIF related media to keep me distracted. Thus far, the past ten days have involved:
Movies (Shitty): Avatar, 1408, Beverly Hills Ninja, Get Over It
Movies (Decent): The Crazies, American Flyers, Moon, Funny Games
Books: Michael Ruhlman, The Making of a Chef; David Gilmour, The Film Club
Games: Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake
And that's it for my life, thrilling as it is. Meanwhile, in the world of George, we have little going on, except for a nice mention we got from the Christian Science Monitor, an echoing of the Toronto Star article pairing us up with our ol' buddy Slynt. While we don't always get the most positive attention, I like to think that at least a couple people out there understand our point.
Meanwhile, George recently announced a rearranging of chapters between ADWD and the next book. You know what that means of course: more delays, and a higher chance of ADWD being crappy! What's worse is, the chapters in question deal with Arianne, which means that we are going to be subjected to further painful adventures with the busty Arab princess and her fiery demeanor. Or should I say demeaning, at this point? Either way, I was hoping she would be thrown away after AFFC, but now it seems she will continue to play a role in future events, which makes me sad. As a fantasy reader, I'm used to the archetypes and the typical masturbation-inspired caricatures that female characters tend to follow, but George never seems to waver. (All women are very attractive or very unattractive. Attractive women are sexually aggressive and controlling! Ugly women are really just male characters with vaginas, or completely demure!)
Some people think I'm too picky or hard to please, but really, it's just about well-rounded characters. We all know I've never been a huge fan of Catelyn, but at least her character wasn't stuck on one side of the ASOIAF spectrum. (Well, except for the extraordinary +2 Cloak of Eternal Whining that she constantly wore before she lost her ability to speak.) And I love Arya, but I'm not going to pretend that she isn't just a younger, skinnier form of Brienne. Plus, the paintings, miniatures, and HBO casting of Arya continually prove that Arya's unattractiveness is really a throwaway characteristic, since no one seems to make her as ugly as she's supposed to be. God forbid Catelyn and Ned would have a truly ugly kid. Or a fat one. Dicky Stark, he might be called. Remind me to write that sample chapter...
So it seems that I have another stereotype to look forward to, *Sigh* Sadly, I guess I have to hold out hope for Sansa to become a better character. That, or maybe Septa Mordane will come back. Now that chick could party.
Movies (Shitty): Avatar, 1408, Beverly Hills Ninja, Get Over It
Movies (Decent): The Crazies, American Flyers, Moon, Funny Games
Books: Michael Ruhlman, The Making of a Chef; David Gilmour, The Film Club
Games: Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake
And that's it for my life, thrilling as it is. Meanwhile, in the world of George, we have little going on, except for a nice mention we got from the Christian Science Monitor, an echoing of the Toronto Star article pairing us up with our ol' buddy Slynt. While we don't always get the most positive attention, I like to think that at least a couple people out there understand our point.
Meanwhile, George recently announced a rearranging of chapters between ADWD and the next book. You know what that means of course: more delays, and a higher chance of ADWD being crappy! What's worse is, the chapters in question deal with Arianne, which means that we are going to be subjected to further painful adventures with the busty Arab princess and her fiery demeanor. Or should I say demeaning, at this point? Either way, I was hoping she would be thrown away after AFFC, but now it seems she will continue to play a role in future events, which makes me sad. As a fantasy reader, I'm used to the archetypes and the typical masturbation-inspired caricatures that female characters tend to follow, but George never seems to waver. (All women are very attractive or very unattractive. Attractive women are sexually aggressive and controlling! Ugly women are really just male characters with vaginas, or completely demure!)
Some people think I'm too picky or hard to please, but really, it's just about well-rounded characters. We all know I've never been a huge fan of Catelyn, but at least her character wasn't stuck on one side of the ASOIAF spectrum. (Well, except for the extraordinary +2 Cloak of Eternal Whining that she constantly wore before she lost her ability to speak.) And I love Arya, but I'm not going to pretend that she isn't just a younger, skinnier form of Brienne. Plus, the paintings, miniatures, and HBO casting of Arya continually prove that Arya's unattractiveness is really a throwaway characteristic, since no one seems to make her as ugly as she's supposed to be. God forbid Catelyn and Ned would have a truly ugly kid. Or a fat one. Dicky Stark, he might be called. Remind me to write that sample chapter...
So it seems that I have another stereotype to look forward to, *Sigh* Sadly, I guess I have to hold out hope for Sansa to become a better character. That, or maybe Septa Mordane will come back. Now that chick could party.