Saturn nominations

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Saturn nominations are listed here. It's nice to see some of my favorite shows. Brilliant Husband and I have been arguing Kevin McKidd versus Lee Pace. BH said, "Why isn't John Barrowman here?", but I think the acting noms are for North American shows only. If John Barrowman was on that list, we wouldn't be arguing anything. (I saw John Barrowman

Comments

[or_mabinogi]

I had absolutely no desire to see that Beowulf. But The Thirteenth Warrior I liked. I was impressed with Antonio Banderas' performance in that role, but still not really a fan of his. And the book (Eaters of the Dead, not the rewrite for the movie release -- and just why do they do that anyway?) was oh so much kick ass better.

[redbyrd_sgfic]

This is something I have absolutely no understanding of. A person writes something good. People become fans. Then they completely lose any fracking sense of proportion or critical judgment and indiscriminately love absolutely everything that person ever does for the rest of time. Makes no sense to me. If I thought a prior book was good, it makes it more likely that I'll read a subsequent work, but if I think the new thing is crap, I'll call it like I see it.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I don't know who does the Saturn nominations; one would hope they're not mindless fans! I thought Beowulf was bloody awful, and I've only seen one good review of it in the press (Anglo-Saxonists were circulating lots of reviews). Ebert mocked it (his review was way funnier than the movie). Reviewers who knew little about the poem were highly critical.

Gaiman has said he's proud of it, which makes me sad. Now Roger Avary, the co-writer, stands charged with vehicular manslaughter. I probably shouldn't confess this out loud, but my first thought--and yes, I do feel guilty, but apparently not guilty enough not to post it--was, "Anyone who could justify that Beowulf script might truly be capable of crime."

[redbyrd_sgfic]

I don't know who does the Saturn nominations

According to their website the awards were started by a group of fans at a college who formed the Count Dracula Society, and grew into a slightly higher profile organization over time. (Helped by the success of Star Wars.) But they're not especially high profile. I'd guess there's a lot of fannishness still there.

And the reason I suggested it in the first place is that Neil Gaiman does have a lot of rabid fans who love everything he does. I liked Sandman and Stardust, and enjoyed some of his other work (most notably Good Omens, cowritten with Terry Pratchett), but for the most part I've kind of wondered what the fuss was about.

And I think you're maligning drunk drivers. They're guilty of poor judgement more than anything else. Avery's work on Beowulf was done deliberately.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Ah, so you cleverly actually looked carefully at their website! I suppose I should do things like that more often and mouth off less.

I thought American Gods was really good; I knew Coraline was supposed to be a children's book, but I didn't think it a particularly good one; I'm still wondering what all the fuss was about there. I love Good Omens and must read more Pratchett, but I have enormous piles of books (now including one novel sitting in my gmail inbox that I really do want to read soon!); I think Pratchett will have to wait a little longer.

Did you see my most recent post on Beowulf? It's here, linking to yet another review of the movie apparently timed to coincide with the DVD release.