Tuesday musings
Feb. 6th, 2007 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bop_radarI'm behind on my shows. :-( I only watched last week's Heroes last night, so I may as well save my thoughts for a joint post on both it and this week's ep. And I've got to catch up with Friday Night Lights as well. Five shows is TOO MANY! (Even though I never discuss it, I also watch House.)
I just finished reading A Feast for Crows and am reeling from the blows that fell in the final pages. I spent a lot of time in this book hating Cersei and I was delighted that she got trapped in the cage she built for Margaery (not that I care that much for Margaery either). But dammit, if that moment was not soured somewhat by Cersei's letter to Jaime! At one level, I'm really happy that Cersei has been reduced to begging Jaime for help. But she did so so presumptuously! And this terrible fear gripped me that Jaime might still do it. Please, please, please let his 'burn it' be an indication that he is going to ignore that little request. I doubt it though--all that practising with Ser Ilyn has got to be leading somewhere...
As is probably already apparent, I'm completely smitten with Jaime and no, I didn't find this book as boring as I'd been led to believe. I guess it depends which characters you are invested in--but Jaime and Brienne and Arya are my favourites, so I was invested in their journey in AFFC. It's the damn Wall that bores me--it and Samwell. But at least Sam crossed paths with Arya in this book. The dullest part of this book for me was all the wrangling and politics in the wake of Balon's death. That and the religious movement. But it wasn't unbearable--it just didn't engage me as much as the characters I love.
I do worry about the next book. Daenerys and Tyrion are the only other characters I really care for--the Wall makes me want ragey with boredom and I fear there is going to be an awful lot about it seeing as it was completely excised from this book.
But Brienne! Brienne and Lady Stoneheart! That was one of the most dramatic scenes written in any of the books so far--it terrified me because I could sense where it was heading but I couldn't bear it, and oh, it was, if anything, even worse than I'd expected with them using Pod as bait. And I loved the last line: 'She screamed a word.' WHAT WORD?! *flails* The suspense is going to kill me.
Having read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
queenofthorns's wonderful long posts on Jaime and Brienne, I reluctantly agree she is probably going to vow to kill Jaime, but if she DOES kill Jaime, I think I might die of pain. *frets* I loved the way we got to revisit so many of their previous interactions through Brienne's eyes in AFFC, and I loved Jaime's passionate defence of her, as well as his movement towards honour in these books. But oh, I worry! And now I've entered the long wait for the next book. I *knew* I had put of reading the rest of this series for a reason! ;-)
And now for something unexpected... Supernatural is a really big show in Australia, so consequently it's much discussed in my office. This is novel for me, since 'fannish' shows are hardly ever big here. For example, today we were having a coffee break and were told to keep it down by the Accounting department when the Dean versus Sam argument got too heated/loud. It's all a little odd to me, though: all these people watch it obsessively and DO NOT SEE THE SLASH. What are they watching for?! *boggles* This confuses me SO MUCH. There's not much to like about the show, imo, but what there IS is all Dean and Sam, right?! There ARE no other characters! And it's solely women watching it (in my office at least), and they talk about how hot the brothers are constantly and yet... no slash. Not even any emo-ing around about what a pity it is that they're brothers. Nada. What's with that?! I have to keep my mouth shut tight in all conversations about that show, not because I dislike it, but because I simply am not watching the same show as them. But what show are THEY watching? Clearly I have been in fandom TOO LONG.
My excuse for using this icon (completely unrelated to post) is that I am still happier than a very happy thing about this week's Smallville.
ETA: I have an excuse for the icon now! *makes big semaphore-like hand signals towards this post fromsupacat* Just when I thought she'd never write about SV again...
I just finished reading A Feast for Crows and am reeling from the blows that fell in the final pages. I spent a lot of time in this book hating Cersei and I was delighted that she got trapped in the cage she built for Margaery (not that I care that much for Margaery either). But dammit, if that moment was not soured somewhat by Cersei's letter to Jaime! At one level, I'm really happy that Cersei has been reduced to begging Jaime for help. But she did so so presumptuously! And this terrible fear gripped me that Jaime might still do it. Please, please, please let his 'burn it' be an indication that he is going to ignore that little request. I doubt it though--all that practising with Ser Ilyn has got to be leading somewhere...
As is probably already apparent, I'm completely smitten with Jaime and no, I didn't find this book as boring as I'd been led to believe. I guess it depends which characters you are invested in--but Jaime and Brienne and Arya are my favourites, so I was invested in their journey in AFFC. It's the damn Wall that bores me--it and Samwell. But at least Sam crossed paths with Arya in this book. The dullest part of this book for me was all the wrangling and politics in the wake of Balon's death. That and the religious movement. But it wasn't unbearable--it just didn't engage me as much as the characters I love.
I do worry about the next book. Daenerys and Tyrion are the only other characters I really care for--the Wall makes me want ragey with boredom and I fear there is going to be an awful lot about it seeing as it was completely excised from this book.
But Brienne! Brienne and Lady Stoneheart! That was one of the most dramatic scenes written in any of the books so far--it terrified me because I could sense where it was heading but I couldn't bear it, and oh, it was, if anything, even worse than I'd expected with them using Pod as bait. And I loved the last line: 'She screamed a word.' WHAT WORD?! *flails* The suspense is going to kill me.
Having read
queenofthorns's wonderful long posts on Jaime and Brienne, I reluctantly agree she is probably going to vow to kill Jaime, but if she DOES kill Jaime, I think I might die of pain. *frets* I loved the way we got to revisit so many of their previous interactions through Brienne's eyes in AFFC, and I loved Jaime's passionate defence of her, as well as his movement towards honour in these books. But oh, I worry! And now I've entered the long wait for the next book. I *knew* I had put of reading the rest of this series for a reason! ;-)And now for something unexpected... Supernatural is a really big show in Australia, so consequently it's much discussed in my office. This is novel for me, since 'fannish' shows are hardly ever big here. For example, today we were having a coffee break and were told to keep it down by the Accounting department when the Dean versus Sam argument got too heated/loud. It's all a little odd to me, though: all these people watch it obsessively and DO NOT SEE THE SLASH. What are they watching for?! *boggles* This confuses me SO MUCH. There's not much to like about the show, imo, but what there IS is all Dean and Sam, right?! There ARE no other characters! And it's solely women watching it (in my office at least), and they talk about how hot the brothers are constantly and yet... no slash. Not even any emo-ing around about what a pity it is that they're brothers. Nada. What's with that?! I have to keep my mouth shut tight in all conversations about that show, not because I dislike it, but because I simply am not watching the same show as them. But what show are THEY watching? Clearly I have been in fandom TOO LONG.
My excuse for using this icon (completely unrelated to post) is that I am still happier than a very happy thing about this week's Smallville.
ETA: I have an excuse for the icon now! *makes big semaphore-like hand signals towards this post from
supacat* Just when I thought she'd never write about SV again...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2007-02-06 05:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 05:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 05:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 05:39 am (UTC)Are you watching this season? Cause this season is made of epic amounts of awesome, imo;) My hubby adores the show and sees zero slash. Hell, they could stick their tongues down each other's throats and hubby would say it was brotherly! LOL I have no problem admitting that I see tons of slash on SV, but I'd feel bad pointing out to co-workers that I ship the Wincest.
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Date: 2007-02-06 05:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 05:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 05:42 am (UTC)That being the crucial point, I fear. And here in Australia people really don't get Superman. He just seems crazily American, so it would seem like I was coming out as a Republican or something.
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Date: 2007-02-06 05:46 am (UTC)I'm going to have a REALLY hard time when Heroes gets popular here. *headdesk* It's getting pimped all over town at the moment...
And yes, I have seen bits of this season... I just can't take more than small doses of this show and the dialogue still makes me *lol* and not in a good way. I wish I liked it better, really I do. And also, why don't more people like Sam?!!!! Everyone in my office bar one prefers Dean! WHY?!
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Date: 2007-02-06 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 05:51 am (UTC)My closest coworker buddies know about my SV obsession (to a certain extent) and they also know I dig the slash. They call it my "hot on hot" thing.
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Date: 2007-02-06 05:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 05:56 am (UTC)I think the issue at my workplace is partly a hierarchy thing. As Senior Ed, I sometimes hang with the chatty, giggly, tv-watching junior eds--that's all well and good, but I'm not sure I'm quite ready to admit my slashy fannish side to them--probably too much pride on my part, but I don't want to lose ALL dignity in their eyes! And my other closest work colleague is my boss and he's, well, a straight guy. Y'know?
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Date: 2007-02-06 05:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 06:00 am (UTC)I had that problem with SV. Very popular here, but no one saw the slash. *frowns*
I love spn just for the show, the pretty, obviously meant to fuck, brothers are just an nice extra :-)
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Date: 2007-02-06 06:01 am (UTC)Really? Dean's snarky comments always crack me up. He's such a smartass, and I guess I love smartasses. I do think the show is better this season than ever before. At least, I'm enjoying it more.
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Date: 2007-02-06 06:04 am (UTC)Yes, yes, some of the dialogue is hideous on SPN, but OMG we've survived six seasons of groan worthy platitudes and anvils on SV! LOL If you can survive that, you can survive anything!!! I get why SPN doesn't appeal to everyone though. Just like SGA will never appeal to me no matter how awesome everyone around me thinks it is.
Are you watching Hereos now? Downloading I mean? It's a fantastic show. Not one that I can see myself being fannish about, but one that I enjoy immensely.
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Date: 2007-02-06 06:15 am (UTC)Umm...maybe you're just a big comic book geek? Is that any better?
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Date: 2007-02-06 06:40 am (UTC)I'm glad to hear people are warming up to Sam--he always seemed to me to be the character with more potential. *sigh* I should give it more of a go... it's been a while since I tuned in.
Yes, I've been dl-ing Heroes and I love it! It's not my most fannish of shows, but it's creeping up there. It's another which has some hideous dialogue, but it's so pretty and the overall plotting is for the win! Plus I've always liked shows with ensemble casts--perhaps that's why I find SPN a bit oppressive.
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Date: 2007-02-06 06:42 am (UTC)But the pretty! I do enjoy the pretty on occasion!
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Date: 2007-02-06 06:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 07:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 10:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 11:45 am (UTC)i'm also surprised that you think ackles's acting as dean isn't good. i'd never seen him in anything before, and i bought him immediately as dean and find him very involving. it's the darkness behind the snark that i like, actually, and the twisty psychology. maybe i was right that there's something wrong with me -- i haven't noticed the clunky writing you mentioned above! oh, woe.
nah, it's ok. i still don't like it as much as i like SV, so there's not much of my ego invested in it here. ha.
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Date: 2007-02-06 12:17 pm (UTC)I should give it more of a go... it's been a while since I tuned in.
OMG! May I suggest you download the SPN episode Nightshifter 2x12? By far the best episode ever in the history of all things! So so good. The world exploded with yay after this one! Ignore the fact that I head up the
And I enjoy the ensemble cast of Hereos, but sometimes it feels like there are just too many to keep up with. I think that's why I lost interest in Lost so early on. I prefer a show like SV where there are several characters to choose from, but not too many that it loses focus.
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Date: 2007-02-06 12:59 pm (UTC)(I love the symmetry SO MUCH - Brienne makes a vow to the living Catelyn to protect a man she hates and bring him alive to King's Landing to save Catelyn's children; Brienne makes a vow to the dead, and evil, Catelyn to kill a man she loves in order to save a child Catelyn hates - so this is also why I think the word must be "sword" or "Jaime.")
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Date: 2007-02-06 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 09:53 pm (UTC)*soothes you* No, no, I LIKE the Ackles! I just think he struggles with the craptastic writing--and I can't blame him for that! I'd have trouble saying those lines without laughing.
May I suggest you download the SPN episode Nightshifter 2x12? By far the best episode ever in the history of all things! So so good. The world exploded with yay after this one!
OK, you're on! We're not nearly up to that on TV in Aus but I've jumped ahead before, so I will do so. *commits* Your duties have been discharged!
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Date: 2007-02-06 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 09:58 pm (UTC)Maybe it helps not to have seen Ackles in anything else? I find him highly mannerised as Dean--it's very different from his other roles--but unlike his other roles I'm always conscious of the acting. It's hard to explain but I don't blame Ackles for that really--I blame the writing. The lines are just so clunky that I don't feel the characters are really saying them. They're just reading a script. A bad script! But maybe the writing improved in Season 2? *clutches at straws*
The SPN fandom looks like fun, and, you know, hot brothers--how can that go wrong?!!! But I fear it's just not for me.
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Date: 2007-02-06 10:04 pm (UTC)I think part of her journey involves learning and making the same choice that Jaime did, which is that vows are not always the same thing as honor. It was honorable to kill Aerys, even if Jaime broke his vow; it's dishonorable to kill Jaime, even if Brienne vowed to do so.
*clings* I hope so, I hope so, and I think you've got a really really strong case there. But I have this image of Martin as someone who does Very Cruel Things to his characters (and readers) and cutting someone off before they complete their journey seems within his range of cruelty. Although deep down, I agree with you. But I will still fret until I read the official outcome! ;-) At least it keeps the suspense up for me!
Brienne makes a vow to the dead, and evil, Catelyn to kill a man she loves in order to save a child Catelyn hates - so this is also why I think the word must be "sword" or "Jaime
Mmmm, yes that makes sense. Dead, evil Catelyn was so chilling so Brienne making her 'dark' vow here works perfectly for the symmetry, as you say.
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Date: 2007-02-06 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-07 04:33 pm (UTC)