On fic writing, Spider-Man, and IKEA
Thanks to all of you who voted in the fic poll! After the first five had voted, there were nine different opinions. :-) As it currently stands, with 17 voters, some fic ideas are more popular than others, though there are votes for most of them. Especially the long ones that'll be hard to write. *grin/sigh*
Apparently, a lot of you want me to write original fic. That's kind of scary to me, because I pretty much haven't finished an original fic since high school, and I'm not even used to writing in my own language anymore. But it's also a vote of confidence, so what the heck, maybe I should try! I checked out the fantasy world one, and I think the beginning may be salvageable, so that I don't have to restart the whole thing.
Also, I started writing the Amy/Leslie story, because it seems like it could be a lot easier than trying to write a whole novel. (duh) I wrote 1,300 words and then went to the movies. So far, it looks like it will be pretty graphic, but in a highly clinical way. :-)
***
As for going to the movies, I lamented the limitations of cinema in my town. (There are currently eight movies showing. Eight. In a town with 104,000 people - 147,000 if you count the nearby villages.) Then I went to see The Amazing Spider-Man, and I liked it just fine, so I guess sometimes eight is enough. And I still haven't seen Prometheus or Snow White and the Huntsman, so I suppose I could do that some day.
Anyway. Spidey. It's very clearly a post-Nolan comic book movie, in that it's pretty down-to-earth and tries to make sense of the Spider-Man story in a realistic world. At the same time, it's lighter and funnier than the Batman films. The humour that arises, though, never sells out the premise of the film. There's one scene where Peter almost accidentally fights a whole lot of people in the subway. It's very slapstick, physical humour. But at the same time, he plays it absolutely straight the whole time. If you don't find it funny, you can still enjoy it as drama, Peter being shocked and confused as he discovers the new things he can do.
And kudos to Andrew Garfield. I've never seen him before in anything, but he sold me on his character, even the cocky, reckless teen things. One funny thing is that the girls sitting next to me kept going "He's so cuuute!" and I thought, "But he's a BABY!" and then I felt old. But looking him up now, I see that he's pushing 30. I would never have thought! Characterization-wise, he was a teenager, through and through (though come to think of it, a lot less annoying than teen idols tend to be).
Emma Stone was delightful as usual as Gwen Stacy, and given quite a lot of proactive things to do. It's quite refreshing that they didn't end up fridging the girl who's most known for being fridged. (Take notes, Nolan!) Thor's Jane Foster still has her beat as "superhero girlfriend who does the most stuff outside of being a girlfriend," but not by a whole lot. I mean, Spider-Man only manages to save the day because of her. Yay Gwen!
The moment I saw that Martin Sheen and Sally Field was going to play Uncle Ben and Aunt May, I knew that I was in for a treat, as indeed I was. They were everything you'd expect them to be, Field wrapping the film in heart and strength while Sheen was basically an adorable blue-collar Jed Bartlet. I love that they didn't shy away from what a sodden mess Uncle Ben's death was, and that Peter's way of handling it wasn't entirely healthy.
Now, it's hard to use words like realistic or understated about a giant lizard monster, but... yeah. Apart from the fact that it's impossible not to look at a giant CGI lizard and go "yup, that's a giant CGI lizard all right," The Lizard/Curt Connors worked very well as a villain. I mean, the guy imagined a world without weakness (never a good sign), and he experimented on himself (when did that ever work out for anyone?) but he was a pretty reasonable person right up to the point where he became a giant lizard monster. I like that self-experimentation wasn't his first choice, but rather something that happened when he felt backed into a corner.
Admittedly, the character motivation of "I'd rather be a giant lizard monster than have one arm" is problematic, but then, he's a comic book movie villain. When were they not problematic? At least he's problematic in a way that I can believe. Memo to Dr. Connors: Next time, just try an advanced prosthetic. They have great ones nowadays. No need to be a giant lizard monster or, you know, make everyone else into giant lizard monsters.
On a sidenote, I absolutely in no way recognized Rhys Ifans. Then again, I tend to still think of him as a 30-something Welsh slob. When he's neither of those things, I get confused. :-)
And while we're on the topic of villains, I liked that Flash, even in his very brief screentime, came off as a whole person. A horrible bully, yes, but also someone who has a personality outside of that.
Who else? Denis Leary as Gwen's dad, I suppose. He was fine, though I didn't get the same pleasure of watching him as I did everyone else.
It's very much a character film, for me. The plot was fine - nothing unexpected, but nothing that stood out as spectacularly stupid, either. While this is a 3D film (I watched it in 2D), it didn't go merely for spectacle, and there was only one shot (the final one) where I felt they were pandering to the 3D audience.
It's not perfect, or even unmissable, but it's a very sweet, likeable film. Personally, I vastly preferred it to The Avengers (though I doubt I'll seek out as much fanfic), but that's a personal preference and may not be your reaction at all.
***
Speaking of The Avengers, I read a fic where the names of IKEA furniture were called "gibberish", and I mentioned in my comment that most of them do have meanings. The author then proceeded to find this IKEA dictionary, which I'm very much enjoying reading. I quickly discovered that most of the question-marked entries were place names (-by and -sta are as much of a giveaway as -ton or -chester is in English), so I proceeded to seek out the meanings and/or locations of all the unknown names. So far, I've made it down to the letter K and I still have heaps and heaps of entries to look up.
That's librarians for you. We can't resist a reference question. :-)
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/582271.html and has
comments there.
Apparently, a lot of you want me to write original fic. That's kind of scary to me, because I pretty much haven't finished an original fic since high school, and I'm not even used to writing in my own language anymore. But it's also a vote of confidence, so what the heck, maybe I should try! I checked out the fantasy world one, and I think the beginning may be salvageable, so that I don't have to restart the whole thing.
Also, I started writing the Amy/Leslie story, because it seems like it could be a lot easier than trying to write a whole novel. (duh) I wrote 1,300 words and then went to the movies. So far, it looks like it will be pretty graphic, but in a highly clinical way. :-)
***
As for going to the movies, I lamented the limitations of cinema in my town. (There are currently eight movies showing. Eight. In a town with 104,000 people - 147,000 if you count the nearby villages.) Then I went to see The Amazing Spider-Man, and I liked it just fine, so I guess sometimes eight is enough. And I still haven't seen Prometheus or Snow White and the Huntsman, so I suppose I could do that some day.
Anyway. Spidey. It's very clearly a post-Nolan comic book movie, in that it's pretty down-to-earth and tries to make sense of the Spider-Man story in a realistic world. At the same time, it's lighter and funnier than the Batman films. The humour that arises, though, never sells out the premise of the film. There's one scene where Peter almost accidentally fights a whole lot of people in the subway. It's very slapstick, physical humour. But at the same time, he plays it absolutely straight the whole time. If you don't find it funny, you can still enjoy it as drama, Peter being shocked and confused as he discovers the new things he can do.
And kudos to Andrew Garfield. I've never seen him before in anything, but he sold me on his character, even the cocky, reckless teen things. One funny thing is that the girls sitting next to me kept going "He's so cuuute!" and I thought, "But he's a BABY!" and then I felt old. But looking him up now, I see that he's pushing 30. I would never have thought! Characterization-wise, he was a teenager, through and through (though come to think of it, a lot less annoying than teen idols tend to be).
Emma Stone was delightful as usual as Gwen Stacy, and given quite a lot of proactive things to do. It's quite refreshing that they didn't end up fridging the girl who's most known for being fridged. (Take notes, Nolan!) Thor's Jane Foster still has her beat as "superhero girlfriend who does the most stuff outside of being a girlfriend," but not by a whole lot. I mean, Spider-Man only manages to save the day because of her. Yay Gwen!
The moment I saw that Martin Sheen and Sally Field was going to play Uncle Ben and Aunt May, I knew that I was in for a treat, as indeed I was. They were everything you'd expect them to be, Field wrapping the film in heart and strength while Sheen was basically an adorable blue-collar Jed Bartlet. I love that they didn't shy away from what a sodden mess Uncle Ben's death was, and that Peter's way of handling it wasn't entirely healthy.
Now, it's hard to use words like realistic or understated about a giant lizard monster, but... yeah. Apart from the fact that it's impossible not to look at a giant CGI lizard and go "yup, that's a giant CGI lizard all right," The Lizard/Curt Connors worked very well as a villain. I mean, the guy imagined a world without weakness (never a good sign), and he experimented on himself (when did that ever work out for anyone?) but he was a pretty reasonable person right up to the point where he became a giant lizard monster. I like that self-experimentation wasn't his first choice, but rather something that happened when he felt backed into a corner.
Admittedly, the character motivation of "I'd rather be a giant lizard monster than have one arm" is problematic, but then, he's a comic book movie villain. When were they not problematic? At least he's problematic in a way that I can believe. Memo to Dr. Connors: Next time, just try an advanced prosthetic. They have great ones nowadays. No need to be a giant lizard monster or, you know, make everyone else into giant lizard monsters.
On a sidenote, I absolutely in no way recognized Rhys Ifans. Then again, I tend to still think of him as a 30-something Welsh slob. When he's neither of those things, I get confused. :-)
And while we're on the topic of villains, I liked that Flash, even in his very brief screentime, came off as a whole person. A horrible bully, yes, but also someone who has a personality outside of that.
Who else? Denis Leary as Gwen's dad, I suppose. He was fine, though I didn't get the same pleasure of watching him as I did everyone else.
It's very much a character film, for me. The plot was fine - nothing unexpected, but nothing that stood out as spectacularly stupid, either. While this is a 3D film (I watched it in 2D), it didn't go merely for spectacle, and there was only one shot (the final one) where I felt they were pandering to the 3D audience.
It's not perfect, or even unmissable, but it's a very sweet, likeable film. Personally, I vastly preferred it to The Avengers (though I doubt I'll seek out as much fanfic), but that's a personal preference and may not be your reaction at all.
***
Speaking of The Avengers, I read a fic where the names of IKEA furniture were called "gibberish", and I mentioned in my comment that most of them do have meanings. The author then proceeded to find this IKEA dictionary, which I'm very much enjoying reading. I quickly discovered that most of the question-marked entries were place names (-by and -sta are as much of a giveaway as -ton or -chester is in English), so I proceeded to seek out the meanings and/or locations of all the unknown names. So far, I've made it down to the letter K and I still have heaps and heaps of entries to look up.
That's librarians for you. We can't resist a reference question. :-)
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/582271.html and has
comments there.