and you'll spread your wings and you'll take to the sky
I forgot to do my Wednesday reading post on Wednesday, so I guess I'll do it now.
What I just finished
The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding, which was more interesting because of the history of maps than it was about the actual thefts. No nifty heist plans here. Just a pathetic, desperate man.
Rampant and Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund, which I enjoyed - kudos, Ms. Peterfreund, on coming up with TWO major plot twists I did not see coming - but which I never really connected with. These books are about killer unicorns and the virgin girls who hunt them (I had more trouble believing Alexander the Great spread it around enough to have so many lines of descendants, tbh, than I did with any of the unicorn stuff.) and I think maybe the author wanted a Buffy feel to it, except without any of the humor.
What I'm reading now
The Maker's Mask by Ankaret Wells, which I'm enjoying but oh man, the lists of names and who's married to whom and related to whom just made me glaze over. It's like sitting through the begats at Mass.
What I'm reading next
Probably the sequel to the thing I'm reading now!
***
I agree with the AV Club's review of this week's Elementary. It should have been a better episode than it was, and it easily could have been, with tighter writing, and I'm not even talking about the case. I'm as excited to explore Joan's character as anyone but focusing on her romantic life is not where I'd start, nor would I have had her react so calmly to Sherlock comparing her to a baboon with inflated genitals. She needed to tell him off a lot more strongly than she did there, and as much as I liked him characterizing her as much more interesting than she gives herself credit for, she needed to once again remind him about boundaries and not crossing them.
***
I also watched more Clone Wars. I enjoyed the ones where Obi-Wan was undercover as a bounty hunter, and how Anakin responded to being lied to, and learning that Obi-Wan was the one who suggested it in the first place. I mean, I get that "your real reaction convinced others our deception was true!" is a standard trope, but it's still a breach of trust and it sows seeds of doubt that Palpatine is going to carefully nourish, and ugh, if the movies had been this deliberate and careful in showing how Anakin fell, they would have been so much better.
Then I watched "Massacre." Oh my gosh, Ventress! I also accidentally spoiled myself for some later developments in her arc and now I want all the post-fight Ventress/Obi-Wan hatesex where she force-chokes him. Please someone tell me this exists so I don't have to write it myself. (I may end up writing it myself anyway.)
(I feel like most of the avenues to write fic I would normally take are cut off here because 1. Anakin is Darth Vader, and 2. Anakin is married. Let's be real, though, it's really only that second one that makes me not ship him with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, both of which are otherwise the types of partnerships I generally ship. You can't just handwave the marriage, because it's so much a part of why Anakin chooses the Dark Side; but I also can't really be enthusiastic about it - despite it producing Luke and Leia - because not only does it end horribly, but it's just so weird, given how young he was when they met. [otoh, I'm so glad it wasn't a love triangle.] Still, now that I've thought of it, Darth Vader: Romantic Failboat will be an idea I hold close to my heart.)
I have to say, even given the events of "Massacre," this show does pretty well with female characters - not just Ahsoka and Padme, but Ventress (and Mother Talzin), Satine, Luminara (and her padawan, Barriss), Aurra Sing, Mina Bonteri, plus an occasional Mon Mothma cameo (not to mention Sy Snootles' turn as a femme fatale). I like that they have relationships with each other, that there are times when neither Anakin nor Obi-Wan are involved and it's Padme and Ahsoka fending off Aurra Sing, or Ahsoka and Barriss working together, or Ventress and Mother Talzin plotting revenge, or Padme and Satine investigating corruption. I like that these characters recur and change and have adventures and that they didn't all have to be women but they are. I hope the new movies will do as well.
***
December posting meme time:
December 12:
norwich36 asked, If, for unspecified plot reasons, Wendy Watson had to temporarily team up with someone from another of your fandoms, who would she pick and why?
Wendy would choose Batman. I thought about saying someone else - Captain America or Buffy Summers, but I can't escape the idea that Wendy would choose Batman (and not just because she has imagined herself into Robin's scaly panties on occasion). Because he's BATMAN and he's always prepared and also if Wendy had a favorite superhero growing up, it was him. But I would make it Dick Grayson Batman (though she probably wouldn't request him specifically), so there could be some bantering and UST while punching out bad guys, not Bruce Wayne Batman, who might not unbend enough in their short time together to display a personality that wasn't completely dour and off-putting.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/712838.html.
people have commented there.
What I just finished
The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding, which was more interesting because of the history of maps than it was about the actual thefts. No nifty heist plans here. Just a pathetic, desperate man.
Rampant and Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund, which I enjoyed - kudos, Ms. Peterfreund, on coming up with TWO major plot twists I did not see coming - but which I never really connected with. These books are about killer unicorns and the virgin girls who hunt them (I had more trouble believing Alexander the Great spread it around enough to have so many lines of descendants, tbh, than I did with any of the unicorn stuff.) and I think maybe the author wanted a Buffy feel to it, except without any of the humor.
What I'm reading now
The Maker's Mask by Ankaret Wells, which I'm enjoying but oh man, the lists of names and who's married to whom and related to whom just made me glaze over. It's like sitting through the begats at Mass.
What I'm reading next
Probably the sequel to the thing I'm reading now!
***
I agree with the AV Club's review of this week's Elementary. It should have been a better episode than it was, and it easily could have been, with tighter writing, and I'm not even talking about the case. I'm as excited to explore Joan's character as anyone but focusing on her romantic life is not where I'd start, nor would I have had her react so calmly to Sherlock comparing her to a baboon with inflated genitals. She needed to tell him off a lot more strongly than she did there, and as much as I liked him characterizing her as much more interesting than she gives herself credit for, she needed to once again remind him about boundaries and not crossing them.
***
I also watched more Clone Wars. I enjoyed the ones where Obi-Wan was undercover as a bounty hunter, and how Anakin responded to being lied to, and learning that Obi-Wan was the one who suggested it in the first place. I mean, I get that "your real reaction convinced others our deception was true!" is a standard trope, but it's still a breach of trust and it sows seeds of doubt that Palpatine is going to carefully nourish, and ugh, if the movies had been this deliberate and careful in showing how Anakin fell, they would have been so much better.
Then I watched "Massacre." Oh my gosh, Ventress! I also accidentally spoiled myself for some later developments in her arc and now I want all the post-fight Ventress/Obi-Wan hatesex where she force-chokes him. Please someone tell me this exists so I don't have to write it myself. (I may end up writing it myself anyway.)
(I feel like most of the avenues to write fic I would normally take are cut off here because 1. Anakin is Darth Vader, and 2. Anakin is married. Let's be real, though, it's really only that second one that makes me not ship him with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, both of which are otherwise the types of partnerships I generally ship. You can't just handwave the marriage, because it's so much a part of why Anakin chooses the Dark Side; but I also can't really be enthusiastic about it - despite it producing Luke and Leia - because not only does it end horribly, but it's just so weird, given how young he was when they met. [otoh, I'm so glad it wasn't a love triangle.] Still, now that I've thought of it, Darth Vader: Romantic Failboat will be an idea I hold close to my heart.)
I have to say, even given the events of "Massacre," this show does pretty well with female characters - not just Ahsoka and Padme, but Ventress (and Mother Talzin), Satine, Luminara (and her padawan, Barriss), Aurra Sing, Mina Bonteri, plus an occasional Mon Mothma cameo (not to mention Sy Snootles' turn as a femme fatale). I like that they have relationships with each other, that there are times when neither Anakin nor Obi-Wan are involved and it's Padme and Ahsoka fending off Aurra Sing, or Ahsoka and Barriss working together, or Ventress and Mother Talzin plotting revenge, or Padme and Satine investigating corruption. I like that these characters recur and change and have adventures and that they didn't all have to be women but they are. I hope the new movies will do as well.
***
December posting meme time:
December 12:
norwich36 asked, If, for unspecified plot reasons, Wendy Watson had to temporarily team up with someone from another of your fandoms, who would she pick and why?
Wendy would choose Batman. I thought about saying someone else - Captain America or Buffy Summers, but I can't escape the idea that Wendy would choose Batman (and not just because she has imagined herself into Robin's scaly panties on occasion). Because he's BATMAN and he's always prepared and also if Wendy had a favorite superhero growing up, it was him. But I would make it Dick Grayson Batman (though she probably wouldn't request him specifically), so there could be some bantering and UST while punching out bad guys, not Bruce Wayne Batman, who might not unbend enough in their short time together to display a personality that wasn't completely dour and off-putting.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/712838.html.
people have commented there.