fannish rambling stuff
Don't expect an incredibly lot of cohesion or coherency, here, as I'm largely babbling.
Haven't been updating as much as usual lately, which seems to be going around. People who usually post 4 or so long posts a day have been posting one. I think it's a combination of finals, holiday stress, and blahs from the weather. In my case, I've been in more of a viewing mode than a reading one lately(my not being in a reading mode is what most would call bingeing) but most of the viewing has been doramas, and as far as I know, everyone on my flist who cares about doramas is on
dorama_chat anyway, so I haven't been crossposting.
I've got a lot of manga, comics and trades read, but little to say about them that I haven't said about other volumes and issues of the comics and manga series, and most of the trades didn't stick with me. I think, though, that I'm going to try to do some random series posts over the next few weeks.
Speaking somewhat of doramas, though(because they're what got me thinking about this), I realized recently that I put up with a lot more angst and stuff in fantasy, scifi and historicals than I do in contemporary things, which is probably why I migrate mostly towards historicals and fantasy, and a little bit of scifi. For example, I have almost no tolerance at all for angst in contemporary stories, but am willing to almost wallow in it in fantasy and historical. This, I think, is because most angst tends to come from asocial problems, mistreatment, and "we can't be together/our love is doomed" stuff. Historicals, as well as fantasy and scifi, where the society is based on a version of one or more historical societies, have class systems and laws that justify those things that, in a contemporary, would drive me crazy. In general, three out of four(or roughly that) contemporary things I read or watch(including novels, comics, manga, TV, movies, anime and doramas) make me want to scream and shake the characters and remind them of what decade they live in, but the same things in a historical make me giggy and captivate me.
For example, "Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon" is my one of my favorite movies ever, and a large part of what makes is the fact that it's about women who seem to have everything being hopelessly restricted by the rules they must live by. Transfer almost anything from it to a contemporary setting,though, and I would hate it, because while those problems are pertinent and compelling in their historical context, they only work in that context, but so much fiction tries to apply problems best suited for one time period to another, and instead of rooting for the characters and wanting them to overcome obstacles, I end up wanting to shakethe living daylights out of them(living daylights...hmm...I think I'm still wanting to go seethe new Bond in theaters, even though I've already decided to wait for video)
Following them same line of thought, my angst viewer/tolerance level also gets automatically adjusted. For example, if someone were to ask me about the chinese dorama, "Lost in the Chamber of Love," I'd say it was a light and fluffy romantic comedy. On the one hand, it is. On the other, it has more angst in it because of the main characters' social statuses(a lantern aker and scholar, a servant girl, the emperor, and the prime minister's daughter, and to a slightly lesser degree, the lantern maker's sister and a bandit trying to reform but realizing the sword is all he knows) and the political climate, the series has more angst in it than I'd ever tolerate in a contemporary series. Similarly, I think the korean series, Damo, is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, but even half that angst in a contemporary would have had me giving up in the first episode(incidentally, it seems to be a big thing in Korean historicals to use counterfeiting to overthrow the government...)
Next up is a couple random thoughts on coming of age fantasy. After I finished Paolini's "Eragon"(which I babbled about a bit while I was reading it) I started another coming of age fantasy, "Academ's Fury," the second book in Jim Butcher's high fantasy series, "Codex Alera" It's possible that I'm biased(as, with the exception of Simon R. Green, Butcher is pretty much my favorite fantasy author, and their status tends to switch depending on which I read more recently and how much I liked that particular book) but there's a world of difference between a 18 year old writing a coming of age fantasy, and a thirty-something guy writing a coming of age fantasy. Don't get me wrong, I loved Eragon, and it's an amazing accomplishment for a 18 year old, but if you remove the fact that the writer was 18, one of it's biggest selling points, you're left with an above average fantasy with an annoying hero and a very interesting world, but not the huge hit it is.
But, the chief thing about coming of age fantasy is that you're almost always going to have a whiny kid who needs to grow up as the main character. In "Eragon," this is more so the case than usual, which is made more obvious as not only is the character treated more and more as special and perfect because he prtty much lucked out on many accounts, but also because a much more interesting character, Murtagh, is brought into the mix. Murtagh is angry and violent, but he's also smart and loyal, even though Eragon never really does anything to earn it. Murtagh doen't always do the right or merciful thing, but he always does the thing that will keep himself and Eragon alive, for which Eragon berates him as he walks through life with his rose colored glasses on. If it weren't for Murtagh, Eragon himself would probably come across a lot better, but bringing in a more interesting and sympathetic character just makes Eragon's faults stand out more. Unfortunately, Paolini doesn't seem to realize that, as I get the feeling that we're supposed to be agreeing with Eragon, not Murtagh. In contrast, there's Tavi in "Academ's Fury."
Tavi is also immature, but he also has had to fight hard and has suffered a lot. Yeah, he's also having some things handed to him, but Butcher is letting us in on some reasons why. Also unlike Eragon, Tavi is treated like a kid. when he does well he's praised, when he does something stupid he's treated like he's done something stupid, and when he does something stupid that has good results(the most common case) he's berated for it or gets beat up or whatnot. His supporting cast is also just that-supporting, and they treat him like what he is...a kid from the farm who helped out the First Lord and got rewarded for it. Because he's one of the few people in Alera who can't control an elemental(called furies) he's bullied a lot by the kids in school. He has a scholarly little friend named Ehren who alwso gets bullied a lot, and a big lovable friend named Max, who hates bullies and knows the value of smart friends. He also has the attention of his teachers, good or bad, because of his status.
As a result of all this, like Tavi considerably more than I do Eragon. I do, though, find myself more interested in the subplots, and that's another difference...in Eragon, while the history and world are interesting, all we actually see is what's going on with Eragon himself, andwe don't know any more than he does(though that could change with subsequent books.) In "Academ's Fury," though, Tavi is the main character and his storyline has the most focus, but there are other plotlines going on, making for a much more compelling story. None of this, incidentally, is meant to downplay Paolini...like I said, Eragon is a good book, period, and better than what a lot of more experienced writers can put out, it's just that all this jumped out at me while reading.
smaller musings on a couple of spoilers/theories
So, as most of you know, I'm pretty much a DVDs only person, for various reasons. As a result, I haven't seen any of this season's VM, though I've heard about it. So it confuses me a bit about the hate I've seen spewed at Veronica over some spoilers for ep 10, which are basically that Logan and Veronica broke up in ep 9(or was it 8?) but get back together in ep 10, but she finds out he slept with Madison while they were broken up, and leaves him grovelling and begging. Now that's cold, but lets consider. Forget that Madison was Neptune's biggest tramp, snob, cheater and troublemaker and stole Mac's life(ok, I can't hold that as a fault against her, as she was an infant...)
Madison is also the one who gave Veronica the date rape drug, resulting in her being raped twice in one night and contracting a STD, as well as the one whp painted Veronica as a slut to the entire school. Now, broken up or not, ifsomeone did that to me, and I found ut that someone who supposedly cared about me who knew about that took up with that person? "Unreasonable" would likely be my best reaction.
And for that matter...I adore Logan, and if he's not with Veronica, I don't expect him to be chastely pining away, but lets face it...he seems to be extremely loyal while he's with someone, but if he's not, he'll pretty much stick it anywhere with little discrimination whenever he feels like it. Yeah, it's how he copes, but it's a serious flaw, just like Veronica's perpetual anger and unforgivingness is the very flawed way she copes with things. However, that doesn't seem to ever be considered when right/wrong with the two of them comes up with the fans
So, the newest Civil War rumor that's going around these days is that Cap. is going to die and Bucky/Winter Soldier will be the new Captain America. Now, if you've read my posts involving Cap. or anything, you know that Bucky accounts for probably about half of my current love for the book. That said, I HATE this rumor...I like Bucky for what he is...a seriously screwed up guy who's only ever been an assassin for one government or another, who's currently trying to get his life in order by, guess what? Doing secret missions for the presumed-dead ousted ex-head of SHIELD, Nick Fury. Like Nomad(who's role and origin Bucky basically stole, which amuses me to no end as Jack was retconned into existance after Stan Lee retconned Bucky into dying years before he did...but moving on...) what makes him good is that he's NOT a "living legend" kind of guy...he's the seriously screwed up good guy who can't function in the limelight, so instead of living legend guy, he's covert ops guy. Mind you, if Brubaker is the one handling it, and it does happen, it'll probably be a good read, it's just not something I WANT to read(even though I will)
And lastly, I just really hope that the parents took the hint at lunch today and get me Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest for my birthday. I also really, really hope the third movie doesn't go in the Elizabeth/Jack direction hinted at in the second, as part of why I love the movies is Elizabeth and Wills near blind obsession with each other's safety.anyway, so I haven't been crossposting.