just babbling

Met up last night with soundingsea for dinner. That was quite fun--we had a long and interesting conversation, mostly about fandom type stuff. She's really sweet. Plus, I've found someone else who has read George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series! So that was cool.

I also got the final book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and am about 1/3 of the way into it. (DON'T SPOIL ME.) I'm reading slowly, not rushing; I've been waiting half my life for this book, so I figure I ought to savor it. Especially because, if the end sucks, I'll probably never touch it again, so I'm going to enjoy as best I can this first unspoiled time. So far, so good.

Apparently TV shows are premiering now. Is there anything I should watch? I'm pretty much lacking any motivation to bother with television. I haven't turned it on in months; the remote's even all dusty. (Well, except I watched the Stuart Townsend/Marilyn Manson lovefest on Carson Daly last week; anyone else see that?) It seems that pretty much every TV show sucks, and the ones that don't suck get cancelled. I'd rather just wait until a series is finished and then get it on DVD if it still seems worthwhile. It's like not wanting to start reading a WIP until it's done, in case the author doesn't finish. Of course, that makes it really hard to participate in a fandom....

I saw Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow last weekend. It was visually beautiful, but the story dragged, and the leads were boring. This was especially frustrating because I adore Jude Law, and I know he can do better. He's not cut out to play the bland hero-type, though; he was boring in Cold Mountain, too. OTOH, I also watched Gattaca last weekend, in which he has a snarky outsider type supporting role, and he kicked so much ass. By far, he was the best actor in that movie--probably because the writing was nuanced enough to give him something interesting to do.

( brief thoughts on 'Gattaca' )

Jude Law was also good in Enemy at the Gates; I watched that twice last weekend. It's another movie with a stupid phony pasted-on romance distracting from the real story (between Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes, this time). And Jude Law's character isn't that interesting. BUT he spends most of the movie looking gorgeous and desperate and suffering and dirty and vulnerable ... y'know, it's just entertaining. >:)

In short, Jude: less with the bland hero types, more with the fucked up vulnerable outsiders, k? :)

And in other news, after my insane rambling whatever-that-was the other day, a couple of people told me that they HADN'T HEARD Alice in Chains before. (!!!) So if you're interested, here are a few song recommendations. You can get them from iTunes, or from pretty much any other online music sharing program. I'll even be nice and post lyrics.

My explanation of why I like this music is here.

This is in reverse chronicological order (newest first, oldest last) so you can kind of backwards-follow the development of their writing.

From Jar of Flies (buy it):

Nutshell (a soft, pretty, sad song) ( lyrics )

Whale & Wasp (beautiful instrumental, by Jerry Cantrell)
Don't Follow (sort of country) ( lyrics )

From Dirt (buy it):

Down in a Hole (a lovely "metal ballad") ( lyrics )

Angry Chair (heavy and dark and creepy, my favorite song ever) ( lyrics )

Would? (dark and heavy) ( lyrics )

From Sap (buy it):

Got Me Wrong (lighter, sort of upbeat, great harmonies) ( lyrics )

From Facelift (buy it):

Love, Hate, Love (dark, slow, heavy, riveting vocals) ( lyrics )