Overkill.
Haven't written since, when? Tuesday? Yeah, I think so... too much has happened since then to go into details, so I'll try and just fast-forward through the week.
FS 4.04, as seen by me and the Frankfurt section of the list was a weak offering, looking like a 1950s B-movie but not having the same charme. It relied too much on humour derived from farts and vomit (One good vomit-related line though: 'Go get your own vomit!'). Some nice moments in all the mess, as usual with Farscape, but I haven't felt compelled to watch it again since then.
We watched 'Fight Club' that evening, as well, but I don't feel like discussing that here and now, since I wouldn't get to bed then at all. ;-)
Wednesday: 'Star Wars - Attack of the Clones'.
Went to see this with a fellow German Tolkien Society member, had quite a bit of fun discussing things like handcrafting chainmail while waiting for the movie to start (I just love behaving like a weirdo in public...)
The movie has the lush, airbrushy visuals of fantasy book covers; kitsch as kitsch can, but it *does* make for a rather overwhelming viewing experience. So, definitely worth the money if just for the visuals. I had some nice 'I've been there!' moments, too - namely with a bridge that I remember walking across in Sevilla, and with the unmistakable Lago di Como (or whatever that's called in Italian). Weird to see them in a scifi movie.
As for the story and the actors, well, the actors are certainly not candidates for the next oscars, but then, one does not watch Star Wars for the acting talent of Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher, either... The plot is a lot better than that of 'The Phantom Menace'. I don't feel able to try and compare it to its predecessors, because the original three movies have gained a certain aura that makes it almost impossible to judge *them* fairly.
Thursday... can't remember Thursday. Don't want to remember Thursday. (Trouble on list.)
Friday to Sunday: The Bremen-Frankfurt Meeting.
Huge (well, semi-huge) meeting of FS mailing list members permanently or 'accidentally' in the Frankfurt area. AnduraNova had a list member from Bremen stay at her place Friday to Saturday; another list member, incidentally also from Bremen (Imke), came to visit me, and the two of us also stayed at AnduraNova's for the night. (We cannot thank AnduraNova's admirably patient husband too much for tolerating these almost weekly Farscape invasions!) Furthermore, there were the usual suspects from the Rhein-Main area, Dashan, Kai and Antje (no nicks available *g*), Thorsten... of course, not everybody stayed at AnduraNova's! ;-)
We made spaghetti, talked a lot, watched a bit of Farscape. At around midnight those who didn't stay over for the night left, and the rest of us continued watching and talking for pretty much the rest of the night. (Mostly talking, really.)
Next 'morning', we had a nice breakfast, then talked some more, then talked some more, then talked some more, then watched FS 4.01 - 4.03, which our two guests from Bremen hadn't seen yet. (They liked the eps, and couldn't understand the panic about changes in the Farscapeverse, either.)
Imke and I then left to spend the rest of the weekend at my place. We got 'invited' to dinner by one of my roommates and her boyfriend who had made a Chinese rice dish, then copied a truckload of CDs, watched 'Matrix' and 'Dark City', then spent the rest of the night talking. Watched 'The Truman Show' after breakfast.
Lots of interesting conversations this weekend, not all of them carried to conclusion. Writing, fandom, longterm effects of being an outsider, books, movies, Buffy, Farscape, mythology, postmodernism, politics, and frustration with German universities were among the subjects covered... We spent quite a bit of time confirming to each other that we thought each other to be quite bright. Very obviously we both have a little problem there... *g*
Most interesting to me were of course the writing discussions, and Imke did a lot there to give my self-confidence a boost. Told me she could picture me as a writer in about 15-20 years... a pro writer, that is. This may sound like a strange kind of praise, because of the long time-span involved, but it was just the right kind of praise for me -- showed me she understands the kind of slow growth thing I'm trying to do... the kind of stuff I would want to write, some day, stuff that *needs* slow growth. I'm still not considering 'going pro' as a serious option in the foreseeable future, although I've been sort of asked to thrice now in less than a year; but it really feels good to be told that people think one has a talent. (She told me that, quite plainly, too.)
As Peter Parker says: 'Nice to have a fan.' Maybe if people continue telling me I'm good, I'm going to start believing it. ;-)
Nah, I'm kidding. I do believe I'm good, to a certain degree. The fact that I am aware of my shortcomings does not mean that I am unaware of my strengths.
Well, Imke left late this afternoon, and I made a lasagna for my roommate and her boyfriend and myself - love lasagna! - and then started catching up on my various forums. (It seems all I ever do there is catching up.) Some pleasant and some unpleasant stuff has happened in Forumland this week -- Leah has left Holyground, which is sad, but some other 'old timers' whom I remember from the very beginning of my posting days have returned. (Come to think of it... might the one have something to do with the other? I hope not; I like Leah a lot, and I would feel sorry if those veteran posters stayed away because of her.) Ufthak is still doing his TORN-movie postings, which are hilarious; people are getting engaged and married at the BABE Camp; the UK FS board have met Paul Goddard with hair, who looks almost as strange as a bearded Ben. So many forums, so little time...
And, speaking of time, I notice it's half past two a.m. - time for bed! I have a lot to do for uni tomorrow, so I had better not spend half the day in bed. Also, I'm positively drained from a week of overkill of all kinds -- too many movies, too much internet, too many people... I love being with all those people I've spent time with this week, but I still am more of a hermit than a 'people person', and I've had about all the close personal contact this week that I can handle. But I'm happy. As I said yesterday to AnduraNova: this could easily be the best time of my life so far, in many respects. I've rarely felt so accepted, so at ease with a whole group of people. It's a beautiful thing, and I'm not complaining if it sometimes gets draining. I'd rather be drained by friendship than by loneliness.
FS 4.04, as seen by me and the Frankfurt section of the list was a weak offering, looking like a 1950s B-movie but not having the same charme. It relied too much on humour derived from farts and vomit (One good vomit-related line though: 'Go get your own vomit!'). Some nice moments in all the mess, as usual with Farscape, but I haven't felt compelled to watch it again since then.
We watched 'Fight Club' that evening, as well, but I don't feel like discussing that here and now, since I wouldn't get to bed then at all. ;-)
Wednesday: 'Star Wars - Attack of the Clones'.
Went to see this with a fellow German Tolkien Society member, had quite a bit of fun discussing things like handcrafting chainmail while waiting for the movie to start (I just love behaving like a weirdo in public...)
The movie has the lush, airbrushy visuals of fantasy book covers; kitsch as kitsch can, but it *does* make for a rather overwhelming viewing experience. So, definitely worth the money if just for the visuals. I had some nice 'I've been there!' moments, too - namely with a bridge that I remember walking across in Sevilla, and with the unmistakable Lago di Como (or whatever that's called in Italian). Weird to see them in a scifi movie.
As for the story and the actors, well, the actors are certainly not candidates for the next oscars, but then, one does not watch Star Wars for the acting talent of Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher, either... The plot is a lot better than that of 'The Phantom Menace'. I don't feel able to try and compare it to its predecessors, because the original three movies have gained a certain aura that makes it almost impossible to judge *them* fairly.
Thursday... can't remember Thursday. Don't want to remember Thursday. (Trouble on list.)
Friday to Sunday: The Bremen-Frankfurt Meeting.
Huge (well, semi-huge) meeting of FS mailing list members permanently or 'accidentally' in the Frankfurt area. AnduraNova had a list member from Bremen stay at her place Friday to Saturday; another list member, incidentally also from Bremen (Imke), came to visit me, and the two of us also stayed at AnduraNova's for the night. (We cannot thank AnduraNova's admirably patient husband too much for tolerating these almost weekly Farscape invasions!) Furthermore, there were the usual suspects from the Rhein-Main area, Dashan, Kai and Antje (no nicks available *g*), Thorsten... of course, not everybody stayed at AnduraNova's! ;-)
We made spaghetti, talked a lot, watched a bit of Farscape. At around midnight those who didn't stay over for the night left, and the rest of us continued watching and talking for pretty much the rest of the night. (Mostly talking, really.)
Next 'morning', we had a nice breakfast, then talked some more, then talked some more, then talked some more, then watched FS 4.01 - 4.03, which our two guests from Bremen hadn't seen yet. (They liked the eps, and couldn't understand the panic about changes in the Farscapeverse, either.)
Imke and I then left to spend the rest of the weekend at my place. We got 'invited' to dinner by one of my roommates and her boyfriend who had made a Chinese rice dish, then copied a truckload of CDs, watched 'Matrix' and 'Dark City', then spent the rest of the night talking. Watched 'The Truman Show' after breakfast.
Lots of interesting conversations this weekend, not all of them carried to conclusion. Writing, fandom, longterm effects of being an outsider, books, movies, Buffy, Farscape, mythology, postmodernism, politics, and frustration with German universities were among the subjects covered... We spent quite a bit of time confirming to each other that we thought each other to be quite bright. Very obviously we both have a little problem there... *g*
Most interesting to me were of course the writing discussions, and Imke did a lot there to give my self-confidence a boost. Told me she could picture me as a writer in about 15-20 years... a pro writer, that is. This may sound like a strange kind of praise, because of the long time-span involved, but it was just the right kind of praise for me -- showed me she understands the kind of slow growth thing I'm trying to do... the kind of stuff I would want to write, some day, stuff that *needs* slow growth. I'm still not considering 'going pro' as a serious option in the foreseeable future, although I've been sort of asked to thrice now in less than a year; but it really feels good to be told that people think one has a talent. (She told me that, quite plainly, too.)
As Peter Parker says: 'Nice to have a fan.' Maybe if people continue telling me I'm good, I'm going to start believing it. ;-)
Nah, I'm kidding. I do believe I'm good, to a certain degree. The fact that I am aware of my shortcomings does not mean that I am unaware of my strengths.
Well, Imke left late this afternoon, and I made a lasagna for my roommate and her boyfriend and myself - love lasagna! - and then started catching up on my various forums. (It seems all I ever do there is catching up.) Some pleasant and some unpleasant stuff has happened in Forumland this week -- Leah has left Holyground, which is sad, but some other 'old timers' whom I remember from the very beginning of my posting days have returned. (Come to think of it... might the one have something to do with the other? I hope not; I like Leah a lot, and I would feel sorry if those veteran posters stayed away because of her.) Ufthak is still doing his TORN-movie postings, which are hilarious; people are getting engaged and married at the BABE Camp; the UK FS board have met Paul Goddard with hair, who looks almost as strange as a bearded Ben. So many forums, so little time...
And, speaking of time, I notice it's half past two a.m. - time for bed! I have a lot to do for uni tomorrow, so I had better not spend half the day in bed. Also, I'm positively drained from a week of overkill of all kinds -- too many movies, too much internet, too many people... I love being with all those people I've spent time with this week, but I still am more of a hermit than a 'people person', and I've had about all the close personal contact this week that I can handle. But I'm happy. As I said yesterday to AnduraNova: this could easily be the best time of my life so far, in many respects. I've rarely felt so accepted, so at ease with a whole group of people. It's a beautiful thing, and I'm not complaining if it sometimes gets draining. I'd rather be drained by friendship than by loneliness.