Comments | parma_violets: A Fare-Thee-Well

parma_violets

A Fare-Thee-Well

Feb 04, 2007 15:50

I'm going to be at my grandparents' for the next week. I know they've got a computer, but I don't know what their internet connection is like, or whether you can stay on it for any length of time. This will, of course, have an impact on the amount of time I can spend on LJs, blogs or forums - though I've been slacking with my responsibilities as ( Read more... )

the princess diaries, gigantic days, futurama, stuart maconie, notes on a scandal, tilda swinton, cate blanchett, lj, kaiser chiefs, radio 2, philip glass, ashley jensen, tom ripley, arctic monkeys, mum, mikhail bulgakov, jean-luc godard, beatles, daniel craig, documentaries, ugly betty, ashley, potentially explosive house, kaayva viswanathan, hester, felicity huffman, rolling stones, grandparents, david koresh, stanley kubrick, short stories, jarvis cocker, russell t davies, cambridge, apichatpong weerasethakul, bbc, mexico, lewis brothers, channel four, umberto eco

Comments 8

baron_scarpia February 4 2007, 17:20:37 UTC

I could nip up to Cambridge practically any weekend.

On another note, I must apologise for not getting back to you about your scripts. I'm slightly hampered by the fact that I don't know much of the music referenced in The Peel Sessions. As for what I've read of your un-named script, I don't feel safe about saying anything about it until I've finished it.

parma_violets February 4 2007, 17:46:34 UTC

I was wondering about that, actually. I don't mind if you can't comment on the music; comments on characterisation, narrative, dialogue, etc. are more than welcome. Obviously there is a problem that the characterisation is so heavily tied into the music here. I'll have to see if there's anything on YouTube that might help you.

As for the other script, I think you've taken the right stance; I'm willing to bet that it won't end in the way you expect. It's an absolute mess, vacillating wildly from scenes I'm really proud of to scenes that just don't do anything or go anywhere, but this is all the more reason to solicit people's opinions on it.

For me, this script is actually quite cohesive when compared to the mountain of research, ideas and false starts I had on it. If my second draft can make an equivalent jump of cohesiveness and quality, it might be as good all the way through as its current highlights.

demona_hw February 4 2007, 17:51:02 UTC

Now I feel feminist guilt for having half-written a post about how unfamiliar my body feels at the moment due to weight loss. I'm pretty sure I'm still the same fabulous person I always was, though, just less able to apply to words busty, buxom or bosomy to myself.

5. Tilda Swinton (not, as Giles suggested, David Icke, nor, as Hester suggested "some kind of rodent-dog")

Whoops.

parma_violets February 4 2007, 18:06:51 UTC

I'm not sure that's worth feeling guilty about - everyone has, at some point or other, undergone some kind of fitness/dieting regime that's made them feel like a new person. It's the detail and fanaticism of those extracts that unsettle me, as well as the implicit message that if you're being bullied at school because of your looks, then it's your own fault for not erasing every sign of your identity and appearance.

Besides, it's fun to bash Kaavya Viswanathan a bit more. She's a plagarist, a makeover-genre writer and a racial sellout, making her triply objectionable. If anything, I'd be feeling guilty about your comments about Miss Swinton, madam... ;)

pink_sweater_uk February 5 2007, 13:15:09 UTC

Re plastic surgery/Stepford Wives-type feelings: have you seen the musical "A Chorus Line"? One production number of which, titled Tits 'N' Ass, plays perfectly striaght and seemingly approvingly the story point that one would-be chorister has expensive cosmetic surgery to get her place in the line-up. A nciely responsible approach to the whole matter.

parma_violets February 18 2007, 18:47:26 UTC

Heh, I haven't seen that. I really must get more into Sondheim; unfortunately, there's just so much of his work.

londonkds February 5 2007, 17:58:51 UTC

how he hated it when people were asked this question and they cited a really obscure, arty film, as they were clearly only doing it to look clever

At the other extreme, however, you have Beth Ditto banging on about inclusivity and how she's been discriminated against for her sexuality and her figure, and then going off and abusing the Scissor Sisters' audience as "mums" who clearly have never heard of John Waters or the Ramones. I applaud anyone who turns their fans on to new stuff, it's when you treat people as beneath contempt because they don't like Work or Artist X that I have problems. Plus (a) I'd be very surprised if all of a Scissor Sisters audience were unaware of John Waters, no matter how pop they are now and (b) you practically have to be a "mum" or "granny" nowadays to actually give a shit about the Ramones, surely? If you want to demonstrate how superiorly indie you are nowadays you really should be declaring your contempt for people who aren't aware of the Dardenne brothers or the Boredoms?

parma_violets February 18 2007, 18:46:36 UTC

Gah, I knew there was a reason I disliked Beth Ditto, other than her everyone-else-is-doing-it-so-why-can't-I muzak, and the fact that she uses words like "genderqueer", which translates to "I want to say bisexual, but people know what that means and might be prejudiced towards my partner as a result, so I'll fog the issue like a loathsome coward".

Isn't there a really nasty undertone to that Scissor sisters criticism? A real only-gay-in-the-village thing, accusing people who court a mainstream, largely heterosexual audience of "being gay wrongly". I don't even like the Scissor Sisters much, but they've done far more to promote gay rights simply by existing and being popular and likeable than Ditto's done by topping the NME's List Of People You Won't Give Two Fucks About In Three Years' Time ( ... )