don't be afraid of anything
I really need to stop looking at apartments on zillow *covets kitchens with counter space* and finish the last part of my remix. I changed a bunch of stuff and now there's no ending. Oops? I need to get on that ASAP.
Wednesday reading! I missed last week somehow, so I really wanted to do it this week!
What I've just finished
I finished my reread of Guards! Guards!, which I enjoyed a lot (♥SYBIL♥), and because everything always leads back to Steve Rogers, here is some meta about how Steve is Vimes, not Carrot.
I also read three of the DW books I hadn't read before: Sourcery, which I didn't much care for, Pyramids, which I actually liked a lot, though I felt it left some stuff on the table that would have made it an even stronger book, and Eric, which was either some unused snippets from Good Omens with the serial numbers barely filed off, or a cute idea that went on way longer than the execution could support. Either way, I did not find it a satisfying reading experience.
What I'm reading now
The First World War by John Keegan, which is pretty much a straight up military history - it doesn't get too much into the personalities of the key players or their politics, and it doesn't have a lot of quotes from primary sources, and yet, as I said yesterday, it still managed to make me tear up considerably on the subway, in the descriptions of Gallipoli and the Somme.
I also think the book is interestingly structured, because every time I find myself thinking, "but what about U-boats?" or "what about dogfights?" the next section tackles U-boats or aerial dogfights. And while it's pretty dispassionate, it does contain a few deadpan zingers about various plans that didn't work out.
I've just finished with Caporetto, the Americans are mobilizing, and now it's on to the third Battle of Ypres (aka, Passchendaele), where the Canadians eventually capture the town.
I'm not sure if it's that WWII is more familiar or if I've internalized that it was a just - and inevitable - war, but I can't help but be startled at how different WWI is, both because of the transition from 19c style warfare to the mass destruction of 20c style warfare, and how almost nobody involved was really prepared for what it actually turned out to be like, because while the weaponry had advanced quickly, communications and transportation technology hadn't really caught up, and it was a slaughterhouse, and also by how preventable it seems. The series of "if onlys" presented in each of the books I've read is staggering. I don't have any real insights. It's just not something I was very familiar with before and it seems like such a needlessly huge tragedy both in and of itself and also for how it ended up planting the seeds for WWII.
What I'm reading next
I might continue with my Discworld reread, though Pyramids + the WWI timeframe kind of put me in a mood for Amelia Peabody, so I might do a reread of those first. At least the ones before Nefret screws the pooch.
***
SHIELD
So I freely admit that I either zoned out or turned to the hockey game (PK SUBBAN! ♥) during the flashbacks, but I was under the impression that Ward couldn't shoot the dog in the face, so he was the one taking the shot from the sniper rifle. But it seems people think he *didn't* kill the dog, and moreover, some people think *Garrett* killed the dog, which ...on the one hand, makes sense in the "you think you can let your weaknesses get away, but I'm just going to kill them anyway" psycho training way, but on the other hand, you don't just kill a guy's dog and not sleep with one eye open, waiting for him to kill you when he gets the chance. Which also seems like it would be the result of Garrett's TRUST NO ONE/MAKE NO FRIENDS indoctrination, but apparently somehow Ward is loyal to him anyway. So I don't see how Ward could be loyal to a guy who shot his dog (or even who demanded that *he* shoot his dog, but clearly Ward is damaged and also has no sense of right and wrong, because he joins HYDRA. I mean, I get setting the house on fire with the abusive brother inside, but that's not a quality that should be celebrated, you know? And while it provides context, it certainly doesn't provide an excuse or justification. I just don't feel like Ward should be redeemed - it makes him and the show less interesting, and the last thing this show needs is to pull a punch like that.)
Raina is certainly playing some long con. I kept waiting for her to kill Garrett and possibly take Mike along with her. So she and Skye are sisters under the skin? Is that what she was saying in that torturous monologue to Ward? Other than that, I do like her and hope she doesn't die.
Triplett's grandad's suitcase o'spy toys! Oh my god, that was the best thing this show has ever done! WHERE WAS THIS VERSION OF THE SHOW FOR 16 WEEKS? We didn't need CA:TWS for the show to be FUN. It gives me hope for Agent Carter, to be honest, because that was some hilariously Maxwell Smart by way of Howard Stark spy tech. Plus we got Coulson and May playing Fitz and Simmons, and May and Skye's heart-to-heart. May is the frigging best. I won't hear any arguments to the contrary. (I still think the show could successfully reboot with May, her mom, Hill, Simmons, and Skye, with Triplett along for eye candy.)
Also, LARGE FILE TRANSFER VIA WINDOW(S). *dies and is dead*
Lastly, oh my god, you'd think the US govt would be like, "Nope! No more super soldier stuff for us! Followups have not gone well and it just leads to Nazis in Congress!" but I get the feeling that that is not the answer those guys are going to give.
In other news, I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I did on tumblr, and someone else (independently of me) did a photoset, but there really should be a Steve/Bucky vid to "God Only Knows."
Right now, iTunes is playing "Homewrecked" by Empires, which should be a Bucky vid. Most Empires songs should be Steve/Bucky vids. Except "Keep It Steady" - that's Steve/Darcy to me - and "Surrenderer," which is clearly Natasha domming one or both of them. (Though I am still sad fandom never produced an Inception vid to "Bang." I CAN SEE IT IN MY HEAD: Arthur in the revolving hallway for "THIS...IS...LOVE!" IT SHOULD EXIST.)
I also feel fandom has fallen down by not making a Steve/Bucky vid to "No Surrender" ("we swore blood brothers against the wind / I'm ready to grow young again") and a Steve vid to "Badlands" ("I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me") but what do I know? I also feel like you could make an awesome Steve vid to "Level Up."
Of course, right now, 98.5% of songs I hear are Steve/Bucky or Steve/Bucky/Natasha songs. *hands*
And of course, going back to the Beach Boys, you could make a supercute Iron Man vid to "Little Deuce Coupe." I am just saying.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/660628.html.
people have commented there.
Wednesday reading! I missed last week somehow, so I really wanted to do it this week!
What I've just finished
I finished my reread of Guards! Guards!, which I enjoyed a lot (♥SYBIL♥), and because everything always leads back to Steve Rogers, here is some meta about how Steve is Vimes, not Carrot.
I also read three of the DW books I hadn't read before: Sourcery, which I didn't much care for, Pyramids, which I actually liked a lot, though I felt it left some stuff on the table that would have made it an even stronger book, and Eric, which was either some unused snippets from Good Omens with the serial numbers barely filed off, or a cute idea that went on way longer than the execution could support. Either way, I did not find it a satisfying reading experience.
What I'm reading now
The First World War by John Keegan, which is pretty much a straight up military history - it doesn't get too much into the personalities of the key players or their politics, and it doesn't have a lot of quotes from primary sources, and yet, as I said yesterday, it still managed to make me tear up considerably on the subway, in the descriptions of Gallipoli and the Somme.
I also think the book is interestingly structured, because every time I find myself thinking, "but what about U-boats?" or "what about dogfights?" the next section tackles U-boats or aerial dogfights. And while it's pretty dispassionate, it does contain a few deadpan zingers about various plans that didn't work out.
I've just finished with Caporetto, the Americans are mobilizing, and now it's on to the third Battle of Ypres (aka, Passchendaele), where the Canadians eventually capture the town.
I'm not sure if it's that WWII is more familiar or if I've internalized that it was a just - and inevitable - war, but I can't help but be startled at how different WWI is, both because of the transition from 19c style warfare to the mass destruction of 20c style warfare, and how almost nobody involved was really prepared for what it actually turned out to be like, because while the weaponry had advanced quickly, communications and transportation technology hadn't really caught up, and it was a slaughterhouse, and also by how preventable it seems. The series of "if onlys" presented in each of the books I've read is staggering. I don't have any real insights. It's just not something I was very familiar with before and it seems like such a needlessly huge tragedy both in and of itself and also for how it ended up planting the seeds for WWII.
What I'm reading next
I might continue with my Discworld reread, though Pyramids + the WWI timeframe kind of put me in a mood for Amelia Peabody, so I might do a reread of those first. At least the ones before Nefret screws the pooch.
***
SHIELD
So I freely admit that I either zoned out or turned to the hockey game (PK SUBBAN! ♥) during the flashbacks, but I was under the impression that Ward couldn't shoot the dog in the face, so he was the one taking the shot from the sniper rifle. But it seems people think he *didn't* kill the dog, and moreover, some people think *Garrett* killed the dog, which ...on the one hand, makes sense in the "you think you can let your weaknesses get away, but I'm just going to kill them anyway" psycho training way, but on the other hand, you don't just kill a guy's dog and not sleep with one eye open, waiting for him to kill you when he gets the chance. Which also seems like it would be the result of Garrett's TRUST NO ONE/MAKE NO FRIENDS indoctrination, but apparently somehow Ward is loyal to him anyway. So I don't see how Ward could be loyal to a guy who shot his dog (or even who demanded that *he* shoot his dog, but clearly Ward is damaged and also has no sense of right and wrong, because he joins HYDRA. I mean, I get setting the house on fire with the abusive brother inside, but that's not a quality that should be celebrated, you know? And while it provides context, it certainly doesn't provide an excuse or justification. I just don't feel like Ward should be redeemed - it makes him and the show less interesting, and the last thing this show needs is to pull a punch like that.)
Raina is certainly playing some long con. I kept waiting for her to kill Garrett and possibly take Mike along with her. So she and Skye are sisters under the skin? Is that what she was saying in that torturous monologue to Ward? Other than that, I do like her and hope she doesn't die.
Triplett's grandad's suitcase o'spy toys! Oh my god, that was the best thing this show has ever done! WHERE WAS THIS VERSION OF THE SHOW FOR 16 WEEKS? We didn't need CA:TWS for the show to be FUN. It gives me hope for Agent Carter, to be honest, because that was some hilariously Maxwell Smart by way of Howard Stark spy tech. Plus we got Coulson and May playing Fitz and Simmons, and May and Skye's heart-to-heart. May is the frigging best. I won't hear any arguments to the contrary. (I still think the show could successfully reboot with May, her mom, Hill, Simmons, and Skye, with Triplett along for eye candy.)
Also, LARGE FILE TRANSFER VIA WINDOW(S). *dies and is dead*
Lastly, oh my god, you'd think the US govt would be like, "Nope! No more super soldier stuff for us! Followups have not gone well and it just leads to Nazis in Congress!" but I get the feeling that that is not the answer those guys are going to give.
In other news, I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I did on tumblr, and someone else (independently of me) did a photoset, but there really should be a Steve/Bucky vid to "God Only Knows."
Right now, iTunes is playing "Homewrecked" by Empires, which should be a Bucky vid. Most Empires songs should be Steve/Bucky vids. Except "Keep It Steady" - that's Steve/Darcy to me - and "Surrenderer," which is clearly Natasha domming one or both of them. (Though I am still sad fandom never produced an Inception vid to "Bang." I CAN SEE IT IN MY HEAD: Arthur in the revolving hallway for "THIS...IS...LOVE!" IT SHOULD EXIST.)
I also feel fandom has fallen down by not making a Steve/Bucky vid to "No Surrender" ("we swore blood brothers against the wind / I'm ready to grow young again") and a Steve vid to "Badlands" ("I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me") but what do I know? I also feel like you could make an awesome Steve vid to "Level Up."
Of course, right now, 98.5% of songs I hear are Steve/Bucky or Steve/Bucky/Natasha songs. *hands*
And of course, going back to the Beach Boys, you could make a supercute Iron Man vid to "Little Deuce Coupe." I am just saying.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/660628.html.
people have commented there.