It's Sunday, Breaking Borders, Jill Pole, and things that go boom

[rthstewart]

Thanks so very, very much to everyone who commented on the latest. I am so grateful and the reason I've not responded is that I've been trying to finish up the next chapter. It's not been a good week for writing, so I'll just keep pushing. It's a good thing I'm not doing NaNo, because I'd be so far behind it's ridiculous. So, let's talk about

Comments

[h_dash_h]

If people can't handle things that aren't specifically in canon, then why are they reading fanfic? Also, aren't they outraged that the movie swapped hair colors around? I mean, really! That's not how it was written! (there's some sarcasm here...)

[rthstewart]

If we get AsCast on smooth schedule again, I really want to talk about this -- whether and why canon adherence is so very important in some fandoms, fans, age groups, and communities, but not in others and the value judgments attached to it. The story that caught my eye, and I did not click, was the summary: "Know this well, O my child: I have made careful search of the records and found nothing which indicates that any of the four sovereigns ever wed, nor did the famed Kings sire sons, nor the beautiful Queens bear daughters." Mostly a rant."

Yeah, I guess it is a rant, you know? Never mind the sexism.

[elouise82]

Oh, but did the not-so-beautiful queen bear daughters? Or the kings have daughters? Or the queens have sons? Or a king have a child back when he was only slightly famed?

Ahem. Sorry for thread-jacking. I'll go be quiet now and fume over sexism and badly-constructed sentences and unclear thinking to myself.

[rthstewart]

Meh. It's not fair for me to pick on someone who can't defend herself, and now I should probably leave a review to the effect that I really disagree with the premise -- it's the old bathroom thing -- just because no one writes of them, doesn't mean they aren't there. I certainly have used fic to advance agendas -- Princess Even More Dim, all of TSG, etc. etc. though I've never put in a summary: "and now a rant against bigotry and silly reasons to come to Narnia." The progeny thing is a trigger issue for me too. I wonder if a lot of the complaint is not that there were no children or spouses, but that a lot of the stories that do provide these things aren't as strong as they might be. They are lightning rods for the cause against exploring these issues in a meaningful way, maybe?

And, I keep tweaking my original post and actually thought of just taking it down because I was victim of my own unclear thinking. Meh.

[metonomia]

FOREHEAD KISS FOREHEAD KISS

<333333333333

THEY ARE PERFECT, SCREW THE AGES, I AM SO EXCITED.

[rthstewart]

Heh. We'll see if I ever get there. God I hope so. FAIL otherwise. FAIL FAIL FAIL

[anastigmatfic]

Susan's an old soul and an adult mind in a young body. All the physical benefits of youth, the bouncing back quickly, needing less sleep, not nearly so much wear and tear, and none of the mental drawbacks. Lucky wench -- my busted knee and wonky spine make me very jealous of her!

Regarding Jill and Lewis' take on her, the only mention I recall of any physical description is a sort of side-note in TLB, where it's mentioned that she, along with Scrubb and Tirian, rub oil on themselves in order to darken their skin and 'look Calormene.' But I think we can gently ignore this misstep Lewis took, and enjoy your characterization for the many awesome ideas she has to offer.

(And I know you loathe visuals, but now I'm sort of imagining Freema Agyeman as Grownup Jill in the Everybody Lives! AU. It's the pragmatic-doctor thing she did to such great effect on Who.)

Thank you for the review, and the interview (which went like this: blah blah blah imagery whoogle garble cosmology blerg blah mythological HEY LOUD AIRPLANES stutter where was I

[metonomia]

FREEMA AS JILL I VOTE YEA! I had been thinking about Angel Coulby, but Freema's perfect.

[rthstewart]

Between your airplanes and my dog and chicken in the oven, it's a very odd podcast. You know, I'd forgotten about that part in TLB. No wonder, since I dislike so much of it. There's also something where Tirian has them remove it so that they are fair again because they don't want to die looking like Calormenes are something. Hmmm. Well, I can figure out all sorts of complex ways to explain that away but I'm not going to worry about it. Well, I am, but won't inflict it any further.

Love Freema Ageyman. She's on Law and Order UK now.

[anastigmatfic]

I'm just gonna come out and say it: BLACKFACE? CLIVE STAPLES LEWIS, YOU COME OVER HERE AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF.

Ehm. There are so many reasons TLB just collects dust on the shelf... that's one of them.

[adaese]

Not strictly relevant, just wanted to alert people to lions running loose on the moors: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-15614294

[rthstewart]

This is so awesome. There was also this yesterday, about fossil remains of a 50 or 60 foot "shield croc" skull found in Madagascar. A really annoying and incomplete link is here

And, oh my gosh, the article states:
Other specimens of species closely related to shieldcroc have been described, but not since the 1920s, Holliday said. And because those specimens were found by German archaeologists, they ended up getting blown up in the bombings of World War II.

I had completely forgotten about this. It was something I was going to include in AW!

[anastigmatfic]

That annoying and incomplete link led to this lovely gallery of croodilians, mostly alligators.

Eustace, put that tentpole down.

[rthstewart]

OMG LOVE the one with the gator eating the python. I know that there's this video of some Wisconsin tourists who witnessed one of those encounters in the Everglades a few years ago. My son and I went driving the Everglades highway at dusk a few years ago hoping to see one.

What I'm looking for and just remembered is that in 1938 the Germans mounted a brachiosaurus at the Humboldt Museum in Berlin and may be the largest dinosaur ever mounted. Not sure. But when they unveiled it, they covered the display with swastikas. I would really like a picture of that -- I think Mary has one pinned up in her ballroom/laboratory. She's never seen the skeleton and feels the loss keenly and the perversion of science it represents even more.

[rthstewart]

Get Polly Plummer on that!