A matter of proportion
Readers of this journal of mine may get the impression that my life revolves entirely around geeky stuff, since the amount of Real Life stuff I discuss here is low, compared to the amount of geeky stuff. There's something right and something wrong about that observation. What's right about it? My life *does* revolve to a large extent around my various obsessions, my favourite shows and books, my writing and my scifi-related social life. I invest a lot of emotion and a fair amount of time (probably too much time) into the pursuit of these interests. However, there *are* also other things in my life, things like uni and my work, writing papers and making jewellery, cooking and doing the dishes, and doing all the stuff everyone else does, too. I simply don't have as much emotional investment in these things, and I don't like to write about them as much as I like to write about the impact of FS ep 4.03 or the new LotR trailer. Firstly, because I really do care more about FS of LotR than about doing the dishes (which doesn't mean that I neglect doing the dishes, just that I don't like to discuss doing the dishes), and secondly, because the internet, and this *is* an online journal, is a place for me to live out my obsessions. It used to be the only place where I could do so; it isn't, anymore, but it's still an important link between me, Hmpf the scifi geek, and the world of fandom as a whole.
So, after this nice intro, what did I do in the last few days? I seem to remember there were a few things I wanted to discuss here...
Well. Friday evening I visited a friend, whom I will only identify as 'Nightsky' here. (I've decided to keep everyone in this diary anonymous from now on, after all, I don't want to hurt anyone's sense of privacy, and those of you who know the people in question usually know their nicks, anyway.)
We watched 'X-Men', because I had missed that movie when it was in the theatres, and had then become interested in it due to a) a developing interest in Marvel comics thanks to Spider-Man, b) Ian McKellen having a role in it, and c) Peter Wingfield probably having a small part in 'X-Men 2'. I felt a bit uncomfortable with the way Auschwitz was used as background story for the 'villain' (who isn't really that much of a villain) -- very American, this kind of innocent use of the holocaust in popular culture -- but on the whole I thought it an okay movie with some really nice moments.
Wolverine taking off his glove and touching Rogue until she returned to life moved me. Gotta love a romantic sacrifice like that. (Side note: one reason I *need* genre movies and genre shows is that I'm an absolute sucker for the kind of highly dramatic, slightly bizarre situations of crisis in which a sacrifice like Wolverine's can occur. You can have a man being willing to sacrifice his life for a woman he isn't even romantically involved with on any show or in any movie, but having a man touch a woman although he knows the touch alone may kill him has a special kind of creepy sweetness I just love. Or take Farscape: where else but in scifi can you have a man being left by the woman he loves because she's run away with another version of himself and has seen that version die subsequently?)
So... after X-Men we watched some eps of Andromeda, from the beginning of the second season, and I must admit it's a lot better than what I'd seen of the first season on TV before I gave up on it. Still, it doesn't grip me the way Farscape does, and it does not capture my imagination. I have no idea why that is, really. I'd like to believe that Farscape is just head and shoulders above Andromeda, and it probably is, but I suspect the true reason for my emotional detachment from Andromeda is a bit more complicated. Somehow I can't connect with the characters as well as I can on Farscape. On Farscape, nearly every character somehow 'speaks to me' (no, I'm *not* saying I'm hearing voices - I just mean these characters strike a chord with me) and somehow the characters on Andromeda don't, although one could argue that they come from a similar mold.
Soo... what else happened? Nightsky lent me a stack of Spider-Man comics, which I am already half-way through. Unfortunately the translation is god-awful (I *hope* it's the translation!), and I'm really not used to reading superhero comics, but it's an interesting experience, and I can see the appeal. In fact, despite the awful translation and my frequent bewilderment by the world of superheroes, I'm intrigued enough to want to read more about Peter Parker... it's curiously endearing to see him swing on a web around New York complaining about how his duties as a superhero are interfering with his studies... Poor guy. Well, at least he has a *good* reason for not getting anything done, unlike me! (I've given up on taking that Latin test, for the time being.)
On Saturday evening I met with two other friends, AnduraNova and Dashan, and we had a nicely obsessive Farscape evening, watching 4.02, 4.03, and Durka Returns and A Human Reaction from season one. It's always nice to watch FS with friends, and be able to talk about it in between eps. We all liked 4.03 quite a lot. It had its share of bad stuff happening, but it also had some very funny moments. I won't go into details here, 'cause someone who might be reading this might not want to get spoiled. ;-) Anyway, despite the usual start-of-season anxiety that's still running rampant in FS fandom on the net, I like the beginning of S4. I actually like it better than the beginning of S3 which was very uneven, IMO. None of the three S4 eps so far was an instant classic, but they all delivered on some level, and didn't leave me feeling unsatisfied like for example 'Suns and Lovers' did.
Allright, enough of that, or someone will get very angry at me. ;-) (ankae, you still reading this?)
Spent most of Sunday learning some Latin; went to the Farscape.de chat in the evening (or rather, around midnight, 'cause no one was there, earlier) and had a very nice chat session with the usual suspects, discussing John's sex life, and the possibilities of John/Chi shippiness. ;-)
Monday was mostly a uni day, reading Cassirer's 'Philosophie der symbolischen Formen' (or trying to -- kinda hard to understand). Was online for a long time in the evening/night again, making up for an extended absence at some of my regular haunts.
Tuesday... slept too long (as usual - my sleep rhythm is totally out of control again), went to uni, came home, had a nice talk with my roommates, ate cherries, wrote a really long mail, coded some pages for Clan MacSlow, which has gained a few new members recently... Arrrgh, and how could I forget: I downloaded the new LotR: The Two Towers trailer! It's quite good, but it didn't quite give me the 'geekgasm' the first trailer did, cause the scenes in it are mostly the same as in the first. ;-) Went to bed much too late, as usual.
And today I slept too long, again, and went to uni, and did all kinds of things at home, like beginning to work on a golden ring (I must so not screw up on that one... the material was much too expensive for me to screw up...), and cooking a bit, and learning some Latin, and reading some Cassirer, so I wasn't all that lazy. Had some nice conversation with my roommates again, too, and worked a little bit on my homepage (nothing ready to upload, yet, though.) And now I'm about to go to bed, a little bit earlier than last night, hopefully. 'nighty night!
So, after this nice intro, what did I do in the last few days? I seem to remember there were a few things I wanted to discuss here...
Well. Friday evening I visited a friend, whom I will only identify as 'Nightsky' here. (I've decided to keep everyone in this diary anonymous from now on, after all, I don't want to hurt anyone's sense of privacy, and those of you who know the people in question usually know their nicks, anyway.)
We watched 'X-Men', because I had missed that movie when it was in the theatres, and had then become interested in it due to a) a developing interest in Marvel comics thanks to Spider-Man, b) Ian McKellen having a role in it, and c) Peter Wingfield probably having a small part in 'X-Men 2'. I felt a bit uncomfortable with the way Auschwitz was used as background story for the 'villain' (who isn't really that much of a villain) -- very American, this kind of innocent use of the holocaust in popular culture -- but on the whole I thought it an okay movie with some really nice moments.
Wolverine taking off his glove and touching Rogue until she returned to life moved me. Gotta love a romantic sacrifice like that. (Side note: one reason I *need* genre movies and genre shows is that I'm an absolute sucker for the kind of highly dramatic, slightly bizarre situations of crisis in which a sacrifice like Wolverine's can occur. You can have a man being willing to sacrifice his life for a woman he isn't even romantically involved with on any show or in any movie, but having a man touch a woman although he knows the touch alone may kill him has a special kind of creepy sweetness I just love. Or take Farscape: where else but in scifi can you have a man being left by the woman he loves because she's run away with another version of himself and has seen that version die subsequently?)
So... after X-Men we watched some eps of Andromeda, from the beginning of the second season, and I must admit it's a lot better than what I'd seen of the first season on TV before I gave up on it. Still, it doesn't grip me the way Farscape does, and it does not capture my imagination. I have no idea why that is, really. I'd like to believe that Farscape is just head and shoulders above Andromeda, and it probably is, but I suspect the true reason for my emotional detachment from Andromeda is a bit more complicated. Somehow I can't connect with the characters as well as I can on Farscape. On Farscape, nearly every character somehow 'speaks to me' (no, I'm *not* saying I'm hearing voices - I just mean these characters strike a chord with me) and somehow the characters on Andromeda don't, although one could argue that they come from a similar mold.
Soo... what else happened? Nightsky lent me a stack of Spider-Man comics, which I am already half-way through. Unfortunately the translation is god-awful (I *hope* it's the translation!), and I'm really not used to reading superhero comics, but it's an interesting experience, and I can see the appeal. In fact, despite the awful translation and my frequent bewilderment by the world of superheroes, I'm intrigued enough to want to read more about Peter Parker... it's curiously endearing to see him swing on a web around New York complaining about how his duties as a superhero are interfering with his studies... Poor guy. Well, at least he has a *good* reason for not getting anything done, unlike me! (I've given up on taking that Latin test, for the time being.)
On Saturday evening I met with two other friends, AnduraNova and Dashan, and we had a nicely obsessive Farscape evening, watching 4.02, 4.03, and Durka Returns and A Human Reaction from season one. It's always nice to watch FS with friends, and be able to talk about it in between eps. We all liked 4.03 quite a lot. It had its share of bad stuff happening, but it also had some very funny moments. I won't go into details here, 'cause someone who might be reading this might not want to get spoiled. ;-) Anyway, despite the usual start-of-season anxiety that's still running rampant in FS fandom on the net, I like the beginning of S4. I actually like it better than the beginning of S3 which was very uneven, IMO. None of the three S4 eps so far was an instant classic, but they all delivered on some level, and didn't leave me feeling unsatisfied like for example 'Suns and Lovers' did.
Allright, enough of that, or someone will get very angry at me. ;-) (ankae, you still reading this?)
Spent most of Sunday learning some Latin; went to the Farscape.de chat in the evening (or rather, around midnight, 'cause no one was there, earlier) and had a very nice chat session with the usual suspects, discussing John's sex life, and the possibilities of John/Chi shippiness. ;-)
Monday was mostly a uni day, reading Cassirer's 'Philosophie der symbolischen Formen' (or trying to -- kinda hard to understand). Was online for a long time in the evening/night again, making up for an extended absence at some of my regular haunts.
Tuesday... slept too long (as usual - my sleep rhythm is totally out of control again), went to uni, came home, had a nice talk with my roommates, ate cherries, wrote a really long mail, coded some pages for Clan MacSlow, which has gained a few new members recently... Arrrgh, and how could I forget: I downloaded the new LotR: The Two Towers trailer! It's quite good, but it didn't quite give me the 'geekgasm' the first trailer did, cause the scenes in it are mostly the same as in the first. ;-) Went to bed much too late, as usual.
And today I slept too long, again, and went to uni, and did all kinds of things at home, like beginning to work on a golden ring (I must so not screw up on that one... the material was much too expensive for me to screw up...), and cooking a bit, and learning some Latin, and reading some Cassirer, so I wasn't all that lazy. Had some nice conversation with my roommates again, too, and worked a little bit on my homepage (nothing ready to upload, yet, though.) And now I'm about to go to bed, a little bit earlier than last night, hopefully. 'nighty night!