blog: Fanish things and fireworks.
1. If you're trying to explain fan fiction and why it's awesome to some one, this article is a great place to start. I'll be holding onto it for reference in my next paper. What's interesting to me, though, is that it's written by Lev Grossman, who I saw on a panel at SDCC last year where he made some disparaging remarks about fan fiction. The good news is he seems to have changed his mind completely. Good for you, Mr Grossman, now I can read your books.
2. So I've been watching Smallville (I know. I know. Shut up.), because it's over now, and I want to see how it ends. There are a few things I want to say, very quickly.
2a. Though it continues to suffer from, y'know, the fact that it's Smallville, it seems like the episode directors really stepped up their game in season nine. The dialogue is still excruciating, but the over-arching stories and cinematography are really interesting and engaging. Also, they introduced Speedy II, who is love forever. <3
2b. I hate to be the one to say this, but I feel like it really needs saying: Michael Shanks cannot act. Don't get me wrong, I love Daniel Jackson just as much as the next SG-1 fangirl, and I dig that Shanks is making a career out of guest spots on genre shows. But he has exactly one speech pattern, which just sounds vaguely pissed off and condescending. Normally, I think, this is masked by the caliber of the actors around him, but on Smallville, where there's a sort of baseline mediocrity, it was just uncomfortably bad.
2c. Callum Blue, on the other hand, is way to good to have ever been on that show, and all I can think is that he must be a massive comics nerd because there's no other way they could have gotten him. Also, he looks like he's eye-fucking everything he looks at.
3. For the 4th of July, my new roommates took me to a friend's rooftop picnic/party, which was spectacular. When it got dark and the fireworks started, roommate A and I climbed up on top of a billboard, about 20 feet higher than the rest of the roof, to watch. The whole skyline, from one end to the other, was lit up with fireworks shows all over the city. I've seen some pretty impressive pyrotechnic displays, including entries in the international fireworks competition, but that? Watching 10 different shows exploding over the silhouette of a sprawling metropolis? That was so much cooler.
2. So I've been watching Smallville (I know. I know. Shut up.), because it's over now, and I want to see how it ends. There are a few things I want to say, very quickly.
2a. Though it continues to suffer from, y'know, the fact that it's Smallville, it seems like the episode directors really stepped up their game in season nine. The dialogue is still excruciating, but the over-arching stories and cinematography are really interesting and engaging. Also, they introduced Speedy II, who is love forever. <3
2b. I hate to be the one to say this, but I feel like it really needs saying: Michael Shanks cannot act. Don't get me wrong, I love Daniel Jackson just as much as the next SG-1 fangirl, and I dig that Shanks is making a career out of guest spots on genre shows. But he has exactly one speech pattern, which just sounds vaguely pissed off and condescending. Normally, I think, this is masked by the caliber of the actors around him, but on Smallville, where there's a sort of baseline mediocrity, it was just uncomfortably bad.
2c. Callum Blue, on the other hand, is way to good to have ever been on that show, and all I can think is that he must be a massive comics nerd because there's no other way they could have gotten him. Also, he looks like he's eye-fucking everything he looks at.
3. For the 4th of July, my new roommates took me to a friend's rooftop picnic/party, which was spectacular. When it got dark and the fireworks started, roommate A and I climbed up on top of a billboard, about 20 feet higher than the rest of the roof, to watch. The whole skyline, from one end to the other, was lit up with fireworks shows all over the city. I've seen some pretty impressive pyrotechnic displays, including entries in the international fireworks competition, but that? Watching 10 different shows exploding over the silhouette of a sprawling metropolis? That was so much cooler.