rusty_halo

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Jeordie White is a total Star Wars nerd. This amuses me immensely.

Also amusing is the latest Meathead Perspective. I think most of the reason I keep up with NIN these days is to make sure I won’t miss any of Meathead’s jokes.

Veronica Mars last night was stunningly bad. ( not really spoilery, but just in case )

I want the organizers of New York Comic Con to die slow, painful deaths. Preferably after taking off work, waiting outside in freezing windy cold for two hours, being treated rudely at every turn, and not being able to get the autograph of the person they wasted a vacation day to meet.

Seriously, I’ve been to plenty of conventions, and I certainly never had to wait in line for hours to get in at DragonCon or San Diego ComiCon, especially in freezing weather. And I never had to arrive hours early to wait in line and get some kind of special ticket to get into an event at a convention I’d already paid for. The whole thing is a fucking mess.

I skipped Saturday and Sunday, regardless of George R.R. Martin and Stephen King. I don’t care who their guests are in the future; I am never going back.

Huh. I haven’t ranted about anything in a while. That felt good.

Back to happier things…

I watched the last half of the Oscars on Sunday night, because I was channel surfing and came across Robert Downey, Jr. I always thought of him as a really good actor who was also cute, but somehow he’s turned into a really good actor who is drop dead gorgeous. I also realized that he has a movie opening on Friday that is directed by David Fincher (Fight Club!) and is getting great reviews. I’m very excited.

It was also cool to see Ennio Morricone get an award, since those Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood Westerns are among my all-time favorite movies, in large part because of Morricone’s scores. Although, yeah, his acceptance speech was a little tedious. Whatever, he deserved the recognition.

And it was cool to see Lucas, Spielberg, and Coppola together. The Oscars are pretty interesting from the perspective of someone who is kind of fascinated by the film industry, although the movies it tends to honor are almost always the boring ones that I haven’t seen. I like fantasy and action, and “Lord of the Rings” was too pretentious for me, so, yeah. My favorite movies last year were “Pirates 2″ and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” which only got technical awards. I’m not really an Oscar person, but the ceremony itself was more interesting than I expected.

I’m re-reading A Game of Thrones. I really need to re-read the whole series and take detailed notes (there’s so many lovely bits of foreshadowing and characterization that I note in my head and then promptly forget!), but some of the thoughts that particularly stood out:

( thoughts on the Song of Ice and Fire series )

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Femslash wank. *OMG dies laughing*

Yeah. Not touching that debate with a ten foot pole.

So I went to see George R. R. Martin yesterday. (I think you disgruntled femslashers ought to read his books, actually. More on that later.) It was at the Astor Place Barnes & Noble, which is tiny, so naturally it was packed with hundreds of people, lined up through all three levels of the store. Luckily, I got there massively early and saved two seats in the second row for drujan and queenofthorns, who just barely got there in time to claim their seats before the ravening crowds snatched the seats away.

You can see my (red) hair in this photo, front left.

Martin gave a prepared talk, explained the five year gap for the billionth time, and answered a few questions. The only new one was "Is Syrio Forel really dead?" Martin told us to figure it out for ourselves (I'd always assumed he was dead, and I took from his answer that I was correct). Someone asked about errors, and Martin pointed out that he and his editor both missed the fact that his horses keep changing genders (that was pretty funny, the gender-bendng horses).

Someone also asked if he'd change his story if the audience figured out an important plot point (such as Rheager + Lyanna = Jon), and Martin said no, he wouldn't change his story, and he specifically avoids the discussion boards for that reason. Notably, he didn't repeat the Rheager/Lyanna bit when he repeated the question, which I took as a pretty good indication that the theory is correct. He also asked the audience to raise hands if they'd ever participated in the message board--there were quite a few, but certainly not the majority. Oh, and someone wasted a question asking if we'd ever have a Hodor point of view (Martin joked about a chapter that would be 27 pages of "Hodor, hodor, hodor, hodor").

Then we had to line up for the signing, and here's where we were *really* lucky to be up front, because we were the first ones to get our books signed. This thing must've gone for *hours* after we were done.

So I was all nervous, and I only had one question, but I wasn't planning to actually ask it. However, when I got up there and couldn't think of anything else to say, I suddenly went for it anyway. So I basically asked (but less coherently, because I was nervous): "You've had two lesbian sex scenes, so would you please balance it out by having a boy on boy sex scene?" And when he looked at me like "What?" I added "A Loras/Renly flashback would be really nice." (Those are his two hot gay male characters.) To which he responded "Loras/Renly, I'll keep that in mind" and laughed.

Erm, yeah. I don't know if it's *that* inappropriate a question, because he does have gay male characters, and he has written two explicit lesbian sex scenes but no explicit gay male sex scenes, so really, he's playing into the whole male gaze thing by showing us the girls hooking up but not the boys. Y'know? I love that he has gay characters and I always rec the series to people by pointing out how politically progressive it is, but you can definitely read it as playing into society's male biases by showing girlsex but not boysex.

Anyway, he seemed to think the question was amusing rather than offensive, so that was good.

By the way, here's a link to the Time Magazine article that calls Martin "The American Tolkien." If you haven't read the series yet, it's quite a good explanation of why you should.

This book has a completely awesome cover: 17-year-old Jaime Lannister seated on the iron throne after killing King Aerys. Definitely the coolest ASOIAF art I've seen.

I am so excited about the new book. Someone posted a list of chapters and, dude, look at all the Jaime! Plus the two new POVs are completely awesome. (Don't click that link if you're avoiding spoilers.)

( totally spoilery bit )

Martin is signing at the Astor Place B&N on November 15. I can't wait. :)


Oh yeah, the Raymond Watts thing. It's a remastered re-release of Pigmartyr with three new songs. Yay!!! New songs!!! And the album definitely needed to be remastered. And a proper U.S. release is a good thing, and Metropolis is supposed to be a decent label. So I'm happy. Now, who do I pray to for a Pig tour?


Tonight is the Neil Gaiman signing at the Union Square B&N. This will be my third day in a row seeing Neil Gaiman. Did I mention that I'm not actually a Neil Gaiman fan? He's interesting enough, though; I'm not bored. And it's kind of weird to watch the True Fans who care So Much about the experience. I've been there, so it's interesting to see that from the outside.

Last night I went with chenanceou, jaydk, and coraline to see Gaiman interview Susanna Clarke (who is apparently a famous author, but yeah, her book sounded pretty boring to me....) It was an interesting interview, though. And some semi-famous actress read part of the book aloud--an excellent reading, but the book seemed likely to bore me to tears. (I know, I have no taste, terribly proletariat, blah blah blah, I don't care. :P) Afterward we went to some dessert place that jaydk loves--the four of us plus this girl that we'd met the previous night. It was fun to hang out.

Apparently it's a thing now to get library books signed by the author, then to return the books to library circulation. Interesting.

Anyway. I'm going to get lunch now, and maybe to peek in over at the B&N to see if people are lining up already. (It's right by my office.)


Right now, there's people at the north side of Union Square waiting for Neil Gaiman, and people at the south waiting for Fiona Apple. This place is getting so trendy--I have to factor five extra minutes into my walk home to account for the Whole Foods block, between University and Broadway, which is now as congested as Times Square. Damn slow people, peering in shop windows or selling junk, never looking where they're going. One day I am going to snap and punch the guy who is always out there blowing bubbles into my face.

Common Rotation is playing the Bitter End on Friday night. You can get tickets from CommonRotation.com; the show is supposed to start at 8pm. Should be good; Common Rotation is smart, funny, talented, and always entertaining.

I am re-reading A Storm of Swords, the third book in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. I love this book. I adore Jaime Lannister. *sigh* ( asoiaf spoilers )

And I really like the series as a whole, too. I love the grey areas and moral ambiguity and complex characters. I like Tyrion nearly as much as Jaime; Sandor Clegane fascinates me; Arya and Brienne are pretty cool; and I'm dying to know whatever happened between Rheagar and Lyanna. I love that the world of the series is so intricately and interestingly constructed.

Anyway. So there's that.

I'm bored, can you tell?

I just handed in my last academic paper (ever?).

Assuming all goes well (which it should *knock on wood*), this is it. All classes are over, this was the last bit of academic work required to graduate.

This feels so weird. Like, my entire life has been leading up to this moment. I didn't exactly choose it, I didn't exactly want it (though I also couldn't think of any more preferable option), but here I am, I've achieved it. College graduation. What an incredible relief that this is over.

I'm a bit sad, which surprises me. I felt nothing but a sort of bitter joy at having escaped high school alive; I still feel no nostalgia for that nightmarish hell. But I actually started to appreciate college a bit near the end, maybe about 2/3 of the way through. I'll never like homework or papers or grades, but once I found the kinds of classes that suited my personality--cultural studies, gender studies--I saw the point. I appreciated the insights and the need for them and I felt like I grew as a person because of those classes.

I sort of wish I could've done it over again knowing what I know now; I spent at least the first half of college floating around totally lost, without a clue what I wanted to study or where I fit in. By the time I finally found it, it seems like I barely had time to skim the surface.

But anyway. It's over and done with now and man, am I relieved!

I spent the weekend in something of a daze: all my finals this year were papers, all were long, and all were due within the same period of time. So this weekend I wrote:

- 12 pages on the construction of masculinity in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy and its relationship to the cultural changes of the 1960s in America (due Monday 5/3)
- 6 pages on the theme of objectification in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and its relation to the academic study of history (due Monday 5/3)
- 12 pages on the relationships between dominant culture, subculture, and family in Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys (due Wednesday 5/5)

I just returned from handing the last paper in. That's 30 pages in about four days. It was all done very last minute because I had other work to finish up the week before. That also means I've barely slept in the past four days: I was up 36 hours, from Sunday morning to Monday night, slept for about eight hours, then got up again Tuesday morning and have been awake until now (Wednesday afternoon). And now I'm at work trying to catch up because I missed Monday. Man, I can't wait to go home and sleep.

This is a babbling, nonsensical post; I offer exhaustion as an excuse.

I wish I had something related to the Spike-verse to say. Unfortunately it has utterly failed to hold my attention; the little time I've had to devote to fandom lately has been toward Methos. I really wish I could keep my attention on Spike; I love the community that surrounds this fandom. I want to continue to be a part of it. But, well, there's just nothing that Mutant Enemy could do that would make me want to watch--or even think about--their product. I'll spare you the anti-ME rant; if you read my journal you know how I feel about their ideology. I know now that there's nothing there for me and never will be. Thinking about it just makes me angry and sad.

I'd much prefer to think about Methos and Jaime Lannister, whose creators appreciated the value of an ambiguous character and the value of free will, the ability of the individual to change. drujan and I went to see Hellboy the other weekend and though I didn't particularly enjoy the film, we both loved the theme that it doesn't matter how you start out, you don't have some essential essence; you have choice, you decide who you are, no one else does. Methos and Jaime both embody that; anything that ME creates embodies the opposite: the triumph of fate, inability to escape destiny, essentialism, ultimate lack of choice. (Don't argue; if you feel differently, good, enjoy yourself, you're not going to convince me.)

I bought the DVDs for Highlander seasons four and five (graduation gift to self, shut up frugal conscience) and I love them. ( am I still talking about Highlander??? Okay, I think the thesis here is something like 'Kronos is an essentialist and Methos is a social constructionist'.... oh, shut up. Long Highlander mini-essay. )

I have no internet access at home. It's so depressing. Stupid Time Warner Cable. Someone is coming to fix it on Tuesday, but until then I can only get online from work. (During which time I should really be, y'know, working.) So no fic reading and no website updates until next week. (It's sort of like being in solitary confinement, cut off from the world...) I'm very pissed off, but there's nothing I can do about it.

I handed in my last midterm yesterday. Six pages on the construction of gender in Dr. No (the first James Bond movie).

I realized that this could very well be the last midterm that I take in my life, ever. This is my last semester as an undergraduate, so if I don't continue school, this is it. Woo hoo!

It's also spring break. I have to work all week, but it's still nice to have a break from school. :)

With no internet I found myself re-reading George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Actually, I just re-read the Jaime Lannister chapters of A Storm of Swords a couple of times. I love, love, love Jaime Lannister. (And without fic, I need *something* to fill up my brain.) So for the two people who might care, look for a long post about that later. (Probably much later, since I'll have to write it at home and don't know when I'm getting the internet back.)

If you need to get in touch about anything, write to me before 6PM ET today--after that I'll be cut off for at least the weekend. :(

rabid1st wrote Spike/Captain Jack Sparrow slash. Hehehe. Go read, if you haven't already.

I just started reading the slashficathon stories; my favorite so far is wiseacress's schmoop written for eliade. Read it here. Some silly people I know don't like to read wiseacress's fic because it's too dark, so if you're one of those people, try this anyway. It's sweet and in-character and fun and entertaining; not too angsty at all.

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean Friday night with jaydk, soulmate815, and drujan. (Isn't it cool how I met these people through online Buffy fandom, and now we hang out and do stuff together? I can't get over how neat that is.) I loved the movie, which surprises me, since it's based on a Disney ride and all that. But Johnny Depp gave an amazing performance, Orlando Blood was very pretty, and the plot and characters were all quite entertaining.

I finished the George R. R. Martin "Song of Ice and Fire" books (well, the three that are out; I'm looking forward to the release of the fourth). I liked them a lot, and as expected, I did end up loving Jaime Lannister in the third book. He's a very Spike-like character. ( spoilers for all three books )

So, now I'm re-reading A Game of Thrones, the first book, because it makes so much more sense now that I know who all the characters are. The first time I read it, it felt like I was just having hundreds of names thrown at me without reason; it was terribly frustrating and made it take forever for me to get into the book. But now that I know who they are and what most of them want, it's so much more interesting. (Is there SoIaF fic? There's got to be Renly/Loras slash, right?)

I spent so much time this weekend reading (books) that I still haven't caught up with LJ for the week that I was away. I'm not sure if I ever will, so I'll just ask: If you posted fic, or you read a fic that you really liked, and you think it would fit AllAboutSpike, can you let me know? I'm sure I must have missed quite a bit, so I'd appreciate any help. Also, sometimes I find out months later that authors were mad at me for "snubbing" them (even though it's usually just that I haven't had time to read their work yet, or to contact them yet), so if you're an author wondering why I haven't contacted you, please feel free to contact me first.

I'm facing another busy week this week. Tuesday (dear god, that's tomorrow!) my former favorite band, Uranium 235, is playing a reunion show at Don Hills in NYC. I'm going with my old friend dizenchanted and hopefully I will get to meet up with many of my other old friends at the show. For those who don't know, U235 was my pre-Buffy obsession; they were a very talented electronic/industrial/goth type band who mostly played along the East Coast. I'm rather nervous about seeing ... some people ... but I will go anyway because I want to see friends that I haven't seen in ages. (And man, I so miss getting all gothed out and going to a show!)

Then Wednesday jaydk, queenofthorns and I are going to see Pirates of the Caribbean again, because queenofthorns missed it the first time. And I'm happy to see it again (Johnny Depp! Orlando Bloom!).

And then of course, this weekend is the Tampa con! jaydk and I are flying together, and we're staying with some people I know and some people I don't know, and I'm finally going to get to meet so many people that I currently only know online. I'm so excited. And I'm making a promise to myself to ignore anything stupid that JM says, forgive him because he's pretty, and focus my attention on the friends that I'm going to be hanging out with.