rusty_halo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rusty_halo) wrote2004-02-20 01:20 am
rusty_halo) wrote2004-02-20 01:20 am
Entry tags:
Babbling
Psst ...
Note to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
drujan: You must go read thedeadlyhook's LJ. You will love her perceptive commentary on the Buffyverse, particularly on Buffy. She's also the one who wrote those wonderful reviews at Just Stake Me.
Note tosoulmate815: The wonderful Spike & Joyce story I was telling you about is DeNile by indri. (If anyone else out there hasn't read this one yet, go read it! It's one of my favorite stories ever.)
Yesterday I bought 20 postcards at a gift shop near me ($.35 each) and spent two hours writing notes on all of them, to various people at Fox, ME, UPN, TNT, and certain media outlets. Just need to get postcard stamps tomorrow and I'm set. Now, c'mon everyone, you too. Just pick up some postcards; you'll find addresses here among many other places.
I bought my ticket to the Creation Buffy/Angel con in Jersey in March. Looking forward to seeingrockgoddes and redeem147 and others there. :)
To do:
Figure out if I'm going to Toronto Trek or not
(If so) figure out Toronto Trek hotel room/roommate situation
(If so) get Toronto Trek plane tickets
Figure out how long I want to stay in Vegas
Reserve WriterCon hotel room
Find WriterCon roommates
Get WriterCon plane tickets
I thinkjaydk is going to handle our DragonCon hotel and airfare, but I must check with her about it.
I spent four hours tonight in the most boring class ever. We watched this movie that was so boring I couldn't *stand* it. I started braiding strands of my hair into little braids, and then braiding the little braids into bigger braids, because I couldn't sit still.
I forget the name of the movie; it was from 1969 and was about a psychologist who talks crazy women into having sex with him (or not) and films it all with a hidden camera. All you see is clips from the hidden camera. Mostly it's these weird women jumping around naked and screeching, and lots of really irritating pretentious selfish people talking about nothing.
Sudden change of topic...
So, let's review:
Action: Giles and Jenny start to get back together after a period of separation
Result: Jenny dies horribly
Action: Angel gets his soul back, reunites with Buffy, she tells him she loves him
Result: Angel dies horribly
Action: Joyce's romantic life starts to pick up, she gets flowers from a suitor
Result: Joyce dies
Action: Tara and Willow have a happy reunion after months of separation
Result: Tara dies horribly
Action: Buffy finally admits to Spike that she loves him
Result: Spike dies horribly
Action: Angel and Cordelia rush to express their love for each other
Result: Cordelia ascends, setting in motion the events that lead to her death
Things aren't boding so well for Fred, are they?
As much as I admit that Joss Whedon's shows are some of the best on television, he's got his own formula and it's pretty damn predictable.
I also sort of wonder what this means. People start to get together romantically, and misery ensues. Is it a negative comment on romance? Sex = death?
Or is just a way to drive the knife in as deeply as possible, make it hurt extra when the person dies because we see how much promise their life had? Which is kind of disturbing on a couple of levels. First, the implication that a death isn't quite so meaningful if the person's life wasn't full of promise when the person died. Second that romantic love = your life's potential. Romance gives life meaning? Why does romance signify happiness/potential?
The only time I can remember significant death where this didn't happen was with Jonathan and Anya. (Though it's debatable whether the writers even considered Anya's death significant. And she does get back with Xander shortly before, but that's not her big poignant moment, which is her realization about humanity blah blah blah.) In their cases, we saw how much they'd grown as people, and that's what made their deaths hurt so much. I like that method better, though, because the poignance is emphasized by showing who they are and how they've grown as individuals, not just because they're romantically involved with someone.
Meh. I'm just babbling because I'm tired, and it's too much effort to go get ready for bed, and I really ought to update my website before I go to sleep ...
Speaking of which, visits to my site went *way* up this week. I guess it's the Angel cancellation publicity? *cries*
And speaking of that, there are big ads for "One Tree Hill" and "Smallville" all over my neighborhood, and all over the NYU area. No ads for "Angel," though. Gee, maybe the *lack of promotion* could have something to do with that show's comparitively smaller ratings?
And speaking of Smallville, could that show possibly be any more lame? I retract every nice thing I've said about it. The last few episodes have been like bad after school specials. I love Lex, and Lionel, but the minimal time they get is so not worth it.
Totally random topic change again...
Oh, hey, check it out. My dad sent me pictures of mybabies
We had a conversation at work the other day which reminded me what a freak I am. We're writing this book about our favorite vegan products (don't ask, it's not my idea) and we have to all write something about whatever products we like. I suggested that we all write down our ideas privately, in a database-like thing, and then we can reply to each other, sort of like LJ comments. Converse in writing. Everyone else said, no, let's just have a meeting, talk out loud, and someone can transcribe it.
That idea is horrible to me. I would do sooo much better writing on my own than talking in person. In person I'm quiet and inarticulate and totally unable to communicate well. In writing I'm so much more able to say what I mean. (Not that I'm great in writing, but much much better than in person.)
Which reminds me that my colloquium is coming up. Oh, god, panic. It's where I have to talk about 25 books with three professors for two hours and if I don't pass I fail college. Now, see, if this were in *writing* I would be fine. In person, I'm afraid I'm going to be unable to speak, and then say something that's totally wrong and not what I mean, and not be able to clarify it because I won't have the words, and they'll all go "Dear god, how did this idiot get through four years of college?"
Anyway. My dad asked to see these the other day, and I figured I'd share them here too in case anyone cares. Let me know if you have comments.
Booklist (Word doc, 1 page)
Rationale (Word doc, 3 pages)
(The pre-1600 stuff is in there by requirement. I know it doesn't make any sense. *panics more*)
Now. Must find something to archive before bed.... Oh, I know! Doyle said I could archive her secret slasha fic. Okay ... off to archive.
Note to
drujan: You must go read thedeadlyhook's LJ. You will love her perceptive commentary on the Buffyverse, particularly on Buffy. She's also the one who wrote those wonderful reviews at Just Stake Me.Note to
soulmate815: The wonderful Spike & Joyce story I was telling you about is DeNile by indri. (If anyone else out there hasn't read this one yet, go read it! It's one of my favorite stories ever.)Yesterday I bought 20 postcards at a gift shop near me ($.35 each) and spent two hours writing notes on all of them, to various people at Fox, ME, UPN, TNT, and certain media outlets. Just need to get postcard stamps tomorrow and I'm set. Now, c'mon everyone, you too. Just pick up some postcards; you'll find addresses here among many other places.
I bought my ticket to the Creation Buffy/Angel con in Jersey in March. Looking forward to seeing
rockgoddes and redeem147 and others there. :)To do:
Figure out if I'm going to Toronto Trek or not
(If so) figure out Toronto Trek hotel room/roommate situation
(If so) get Toronto Trek plane tickets
Figure out how long I want to stay in Vegas
Reserve WriterCon hotel room
Find WriterCon roommates
Get WriterCon plane tickets
I think
jaydk is going to handle our DragonCon hotel and airfare, but I must check with her about it.I spent four hours tonight in the most boring class ever. We watched this movie that was so boring I couldn't *stand* it. I started braiding strands of my hair into little braids, and then braiding the little braids into bigger braids, because I couldn't sit still.
I forget the name of the movie; it was from 1969 and was about a psychologist who talks crazy women into having sex with him (or not) and films it all with a hidden camera. All you see is clips from the hidden camera. Mostly it's these weird women jumping around naked and screeching, and lots of really irritating pretentious selfish people talking about nothing.
Sudden change of topic...
So, let's review:
Action: Giles and Jenny start to get back together after a period of separation
Result: Jenny dies horribly
Action: Angel gets his soul back, reunites with Buffy, she tells him she loves him
Result: Angel dies horribly
Action: Joyce's romantic life starts to pick up, she gets flowers from a suitor
Result: Joyce dies
Action: Tara and Willow have a happy reunion after months of separation
Result: Tara dies horribly
Action: Buffy finally admits to Spike that she loves him
Result: Spike dies horribly
Action: Angel and Cordelia rush to express their love for each other
Result: Cordelia ascends, setting in motion the events that lead to her death
Things aren't boding so well for Fred, are they?
As much as I admit that Joss Whedon's shows are some of the best on television, he's got his own formula and it's pretty damn predictable.
I also sort of wonder what this means. People start to get together romantically, and misery ensues. Is it a negative comment on romance? Sex = death?
Or is just a way to drive the knife in as deeply as possible, make it hurt extra when the person dies because we see how much promise their life had? Which is kind of disturbing on a couple of levels. First, the implication that a death isn't quite so meaningful if the person's life wasn't full of promise when the person died. Second that romantic love = your life's potential. Romance gives life meaning? Why does romance signify happiness/potential?
The only time I can remember significant death where this didn't happen was with Jonathan and Anya. (Though it's debatable whether the writers even considered Anya's death significant. And she does get back with Xander shortly before, but that's not her big poignant moment, which is her realization about humanity blah blah blah.) In their cases, we saw how much they'd grown as people, and that's what made their deaths hurt so much. I like that method better, though, because the poignance is emphasized by showing who they are and how they've grown as individuals, not just because they're romantically involved with someone.
Meh. I'm just babbling because I'm tired, and it's too much effort to go get ready for bed, and I really ought to update my website before I go to sleep ...
Speaking of which, visits to my site went *way* up this week. I guess it's the Angel cancellation publicity? *cries*
And speaking of that, there are big ads for "One Tree Hill" and "Smallville" all over my neighborhood, and all over the NYU area. No ads for "Angel," though. Gee, maybe the *lack of promotion* could have something to do with that show's comparitively smaller ratings?
And speaking of Smallville, could that show possibly be any more lame? I retract every nice thing I've said about it. The last few episodes have been like bad after school specials. I love Lex, and Lionel, but the minimal time they get is so not worth it.
Totally random topic change again...
Oh, hey, check it out. My dad sent me pictures of my
We had a conversation at work the other day which reminded me what a freak I am. We're writing this book about our favorite vegan products (don't ask, it's not my idea) and we have to all write something about whatever products we like. I suggested that we all write down our ideas privately, in a database-like thing, and then we can reply to each other, sort of like LJ comments. Converse in writing. Everyone else said, no, let's just have a meeting, talk out loud, and someone can transcribe it.
That idea is horrible to me. I would do sooo much better writing on my own than talking in person. In person I'm quiet and inarticulate and totally unable to communicate well. In writing I'm so much more able to say what I mean. (Not that I'm great in writing, but much much better than in person.)
Which reminds me that my colloquium is coming up. Oh, god, panic. It's where I have to talk about 25 books with three professors for two hours and if I don't pass I fail college. Now, see, if this were in *writing* I would be fine. In person, I'm afraid I'm going to be unable to speak, and then say something that's totally wrong and not what I mean, and not be able to clarify it because I won't have the words, and they'll all go "Dear god, how did this idiot get through four years of college?"
Anyway. My dad asked to see these the other day, and I figured I'd share them here too in case anyone cares. Let me know if you have comments.
Booklist (Word doc, 1 page)
Rationale (Word doc, 3 pages)
(The pre-1600 stuff is in there by requirement. I know it doesn't make any sense. *panics more*)
Now. Must find something to archive before bed.... Oh, I know! Doyle said I could archive her secret slasha fic. Okay ... off to archive.
no subject
I did find both your reading list and rationale interesting and I think you've got some solid material to work with. I would argue about the pre-1600 stuff not making sense. In many ways, the classics seem to codify our current world-view of gender roles and relations, much the way what we understand as modern marriage has its serious roots in medieval France. Manipulation of those roles is, of course, old as the hill, and Chaucer's Wife of Bath is clearly a parody of an existing and familiar phenomenon which we can still see today.
Okay, I could go on and on, because it is a subjec that interests me and one I've done some academic reading and discussion on, centered mostly on 16th Century England (hence my argument that pre-1600 does make sense becuase it makes sense to me).
I can understand the panic of having to discuss these with your professors; nerves have a way of reducing the most eriudite person to the level of babbling idiot. It looks like you do know you stuff, though. Maybe you can picture being on IM and the professors aren't the professors but their avatars? (Yeah, sounds crazy, but I'm hoping you can find a way to make the nerves work for you instead of against you.)
Re:
Oh, I didn't mean that the pre-1600 stuff was irrelevant, just that I don't know enough about it to use it sensibly. I'm really more interested in theory and popular culture, but the "seven books written pre-1600" is a requirement. So I had to include those even though I don't know them well enough to tie them in properly.
LOL about picturing the professors as IM avatars. Though I think IM would make me even more nervous--I get so terrified on there, worrying that I'm being rude by not replying right away, wondering what people really meant, etc. I like LJ comments because if I'm not sure what to say, I can spend an hour thinking about it and come back later. Thinking quickly is not my forte--I panic and say stupid things, or freeze.