(no subject)

[rusty_halo]

Hey look, I'm back. Thank god. *gives NYC a big hug and promises never to leave again*

I may write about my vacation later, or maybe not; I'm trying to be less whiny, and I have very little to say that is positive. One good thing: there is an amazing new vegan restaurant in Fort Lauderdale called Sublime, which just opened, and which I encourage anyone in that area to try. Even my dad, who has never once liked vegan food in his life, enjoyed it. We went there the evening of my birthday, and had a very nice dinner.

Unfortunately that's just about the only positive.

I've not yet caught up with my friends list, and I'm loath to start posting without doing so (I have this compulsive need to be thorough, and it feels wrong to post without first catching up with my friends list). Is there a way to display posts in chronological order? That would make it a lot easier ...

However, I'm not going to catch up with LJ until I finish the book I'm currently reading, which is the third in George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series. I finished the first two on vacation, and got this one yesterday. I'm greatly enjoying the series, and like I said, I'm obsessively thorough; I'm not going to be able to do much of anything until I finish this book. (I'm the type of person who reads all night and into the next day, because once I'm into a book I cannot stop until it's finished).

I also re-read Stephen King's "The Gunslinger," which is the first book in his "Dark Tower" series; he re-wrote bits of it, and it has improved quite a bit (I always thought that "The Gunslinger" was the weakest in the series, but I found it immensely engaging this time around). If you have a chance, I strongly recommend the series. I'm not a big King fan at all, but I love this particular series; it's very different from most of his other work. I'll probably be re-reading it as well, as soon as I get a chance.

And I will of course be catching up with my website; I had only about 30 minutes of internet access for the entire vacation (and was getting yelled at by all the people in line behind me), so I managed only minimal updates over the week. (And they were cheats, actually; I'd archived those stories before I left, but hidden them; I just put them on the home page and sent updates while I was gone. So it looked like I'd done some archiving, even though I actually hadn't).

Anyway, must go work now, and I'll catch up with LJ and fanfic and websites and all that as soon as I finish this book. (Everyone tells me I'm going to love Jaime Lannister, but right now I'm finding Tyrion the most engaging; he's an outcast and a freak, and just about everyone hates him, yet he's smarter and better-hearted than anyone in his family. Jaime is very Spikish though ... I've been having all these thoughts about different ethical systems, one based on rigid principles and the other based on love and personal connections, and how they connect, and how they are gendered, and how they relate to the Buffyverse ... so if I get more free time I'll type that up into an unpolished mini-essay as well.)

Comments

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I can just imagine. I'm sure they get up on their self-righteous moral high horses and call us "baby killer lovers" or whatever. That's kind of what I'm thinking of writing an essay about ... In a women's studies class last year, we discussed this study that some sexist guy had done that "proved" that woman have lesser morals than men. But if you looked at his study, what it actually showed is that men were more likely to follow rigid ethical standards, regardless of circumstance, while women were more likely to consider circumstances, personalities, motivations, etc. The guy doing the study obviously thought the rigid, unwavering ethical standards, regardless of circumstance, was Right, and that women were "weak" for caring about circumstances and reasons.

It seems like the struggle between these two ethical views is central to the Ice and Fire series; almost all of them are struggling between love/family and duty (Jon choosing between helping his family or staying on the Night Watch, Catelyn letting Jaime go to get her daughters back, etc). As far as characters, Ned Stark believes in rigid ethical standards no matter what (though in his final confession, he betrays this to try to save his daughter). Jaime Lannister is the opposite; he couldn't care less about honor and duty, but he'll do just about anything for love. Spike's like Jaime, and Buffy's like Ned Stark. And I think that the Spike and Jaime type is more likely to appeal to those who value love more than duty, while the Buffy or Ned type appeals to those who believe in duty no matter what. For all our squabbling about meaning and motivation, it seems to me that these disagreements ("serial killer lovers!" and all that) come from a fundamentally different way of viewing morality itself (although I doubt most of us fall fully into one side or the other). And it also seems (because of the way our culture is constructed, NOT because of anything inherent) that women are more likely to value the love side, while men are more likely to value the rigid ethics and honor side.

Well, that was long. Sorry for babbling so much. I'm still in the middle of the book ... bear-pit means nothing to me yet. If only I could quit working and not need to sleep, then I could just sit down and finish it! (I keep wanting to skip ahead to the Jaime parts ... I don't care about boring Bran or whiny Sansa!)

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

The guy doing the study obviously thought the rigid, unwavering ethical standards, regardless of circumstance, was Right, and that women were "weak" for caring about circumstances and reasons.

I think Martin is making a very strong case FOR caring about circumstances, to be honest. The people who blindly follow their vows are not necessarily the ones we are supposed to root for - I think it's in the confrontation with Catelyn in the dungeons that Jaime tells her that he has made so many vows and he *can't* follow all of them - because his vow to protect the weak came into direct conflict with his vow to serve Aerys without question...

If only I could quit working and not need to sleep, then I could just sit down and finish it! (I keep wanting to skip ahead to the Jaime parts ... I don't care about boring Bran or whiny Sansa!)

Heh! Well, Sansa may surprise you a little, but she's one of my least favorite characters. I find the Bran chapters interesting because they are beginning to give us some hints about events in the past that have had a direct impact on the present. But like you, I did want to skip to the Jaime sections :)

Please, please post as soon as you finish A Storm of Swords - I like your description of being motivated by love or duty, but I think it’s harder to pin Jaime down in that regard, only I can’t say why because I don’t want to spoil you. To some extent, yes, much of his relationship with Cersei has been about being love’s bitch, but he is not only driven by love, the way that you so rightly point out that Spike is… Again, though, I don’t want to spoil you ;)

I fell in love with Jaime in the scene in the dungeons of Riverrun with Catelyn towards the end of A Clash of Kings - and the reasons were twofold: First, his sheer arrogance and “fuck you” attitude were completely captivating to me, given that he had none of the power in that scene (and he reminded me very much of Snarky Spike there); and secondly, for the first time, we got a chance to see that maybe there was a different side to the Kingslaying – or at least, we saw how Jaime had been revolted by what Aerys did to Ned Stark’s father and brother and that he was not as blindly obedient to his vows as some of the other Kingsguard were…