a fool's musings

Boreas by Waterhouse
Fool, said my muse to me,
look in thy heart and write...

Warning: Adult Content

achromatic

unfinished fic graveyard

recs journal

new stuff

recent stuff

my back pages
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001


the five Ws, or, all about me

profile

e-mail victoria

my livejournal

the original P&R

comments

current mood: current mood

"pathological and unbalanced"

Items of Interest

    Music
  • Walk On - U2
  • Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
  • If I Can't Change Your Mind - Sugar
  • Sick of Myself - Matthew Sweet
  • Town Called Malice - The Jam
  • One - U2
  • The Space Between - DMB
    Books
  • Lord of the Rings
  • Catch-22
  • The Neely Trilogy
  • Absalom! Absalom!
  • Possession: A Romance
  • Foucault's Pendulum
  • Dreamhouse
  • LA Confidential
  • I Capture the Castle
  • Sandman
  • Waking the Moon

    Shows
  • Angel

    •
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in reruns)

    •
  • Alias

    •
  • West Wing

    •
  • The Simpsons

    •

webrings
< ? fanfiction ! >
< ? writers ! >

diaryreviews.diaryland.com

NYC Bloggers

Comments by Haloscan.com

all links, if I haven't screwed up somehow, should open in a new browser window

2002-05-16 - 10:35 p.m.

your friendly, neighborhood spiderman

I liked it.

Tobey Maguire is a bit of a frog face, and I occasionally longed for the snarky goodness of Nick Brendon, but his sheer, goofy joy in learning how to *be* Spiderman was fun to watch. I had a smile on my face for a good portion of the movie.

I thought the casting was good - Willem Dafoe and James Franco do look like they could be father and son, and Dafoe always gives good psycho.

Rosemary Harris was excellent as Aunt May, though Kirsten Dunst... left something to be desired.

That upside down kiss is still highly meep-worthy, though.

J. Jonah Jameson was Skoda-riffic! Even though the hair was incredibly bad, the rest of it was dead on.

You know, I never read the comic, but I read the strip every day for years, and I always hated that JJ had it in for Spidey. Never understood that.

Spoiler space for the spoiler sensitive. Just scroll down some. Sorry if you've got a big monitor. I don't feel like bluing it all out.

spiderman




spiderman




does






whatever




a




spider




can




RIP Joey Ramone...


When the cage came down in the wrestling match, I was howling with laughter. All I could think of was when Frank taught the kids about the WWF Steel Cage match, and they all went around saying, "Two men enter. One man leaves."

And of course, we know Marvel loves its cage fighters. *snerk*

As soon as he let the thief go, I knew he would be the guy that killed Uncle Ben, and I knew that last conversation would forever haunt poor Petey.

I loved the people on the bridge throwing things at GG while he was trying to kill Spidey.

Minor NYC quibbles - did he say he was going to the "downtown library"? The library is practically dead fucking center midtown. And Spidey's from Queens? Woodside or Sunnyside would be my guess, or possibly Jackson Heights, with the 7 train running in the background, yet the schoolbus taking them down Woodhaven. I came down Woodhaven tonight to come home. It stops at Queens Blvd, so maybe I have the neighborhood wrong. Or they did. And why was Osborn's son going to public school in Queens? There are plenty of public schools in Manhattan, and some of 'em are damned good.

Also, no fancy buildings like that overlooking Times Square. Just office buildings.

Is it possible they reshot the finale on the bridge because they were going to do something with the WTC? Or was the film already finished by then and in post-production?

'Cause I'm told that it was originally (i.e., in the comics) Gwen Stacey, the first love of Peter's life, on the bridge, and he *can't* save her and *doesn't* save her.

So...

And the Dr. Connor [?] who fired Peter - is that another villain for a future movie? someone mentioned that somewhere. Dr. Octopus maybe? I always liked him as a villain.

And how much did I want to smack Peter around at the end? Kee-rist on a pogo stick! Tell the girl you love her and cut out the noble crap. Grab what you can while you can, for tomorrow you may die.

So all in all, I liked it. Didn't see any slashiness, nor any need to fic anything.

Which is a relief. *g*

Don't need another fandom.

Night, John-Boy.

~victoria

link



[current mood: pleased]
[current music: Alabama Song - The Doors]
[random quote: what a long strange trip it's been]

~*~

2002-05-16 - 2:35 p.m.

stupid network executives

Grrr...

Just learned that they're moving Angel to Sundays at 9pm next season, so I guess I won't be watching it. Not unless Alias moves to another time slot.

I suppose... hmm... that might work. If I'm at the 'rents', I can watch Alias there and tape Angel at home and watch it in its old time slot.

Now, if they'd only move Gilmore Girls, or make me totally not want to watch Buffy anymore, I'd be really happy, 'cause I want to watch GG, but I can't completely separate myself from BtVS yet, much as I kinda want to. I'm still emotionally attached to Xander and Buffy.

[current mood: annoyed]
[current music: Promised Land - Bruce]
[random quote: blow away the dreams that tear you apart, blow away the dreams that break your heart...]

~*~

2002-05-16 - 12:36 p.m.

certain things are likely

Welcome back from your honeymoon, Claritylit. Congratulations on the wedding.

~*~

Had to go to a stupid meeting this morning. I thought this job meant I didn't have to go to meetings anymore, but apparently, I was wrong.

Sigh.

I hate meetings.

Why do you think I got out of meeting planning?

~*~

Survey time, this time seen in Maren's LJ:

1. What are you reading that isn't fanfiction?

Cuba Libre Elmore Leonard [I keep putting it aside to read other things. I'm bad.]

Sandman: Book of Dreams anthology edited by Neil Gaiman

American Gods Neil Gaiman

Yeah, when I fall in love with an author, I fall hard.

2. What music are you listening to that isn't the soundtrack of your favorite movie?

I rarely listen to soundtracks.

Right now, it's Beatles hour on Q-104, so the Beatles.

3. What creative person or people do you admire who aren't involved in the film or television industry?

Musicians. Songwriters.

Elvis Costello. Paul Westerberg. Bruce Springsteen. Bob Mould. Great songwriters all.

4. What's your favorite play that you've seen live, on stage?

Straight play? A View from the Bridge was awesome.

Musicals? I'd have to go with Cabaret with Natasha Richardson.

5. What's the best live concert you've ever been to?

Oh god, ask the hard questions, why don't you?

Uh, can't pick just one, so:

1. U2 - ZooTV - 5th row from the top of Giants stadium in the summer rain and just transcendent; Joshua Tree at Brendan Byrne arena, 1987. A religious experience.

2. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - uh, all three times. Can't choose just one, though I *loved* the last show, in June of 2000, I guess it was.

3. Pearl Jam - No Code - I *finally* got to see them. Again, in the pouring rain, but damn it was good. I have an especially strong memory of the first encore, and dancing like madwomen to "Daughter"

4. Bob Mould - Irving Plaza - thisclose to Bob. Squee! (though he was great the other times I saw him, too)

5. Matthew Sweet - the Academy - he just totally rocked out. It was fabulous (he was good the second time around, as well. I guess for Altered Beast and then for 100% Fun)

6. Lollapalooza #1 - 1991 - hot sun, calippos and funnel cakes, and in the pit for NIN. Fucking *awesome*

7. Counting Crows/Live at Jones Beach - last summer? The summer before? It's all so hazy now. Who knew Ed Kowalczyk [sp?] was so sexy? And Adam was *happy*! And they did "Thunder Road" in the middle of "Rain King". Beautiful, even if they didn't do "Anna Begins." It was okay 'cause they did it the first time I saw 'em, at the Beacon, when Adam had a broken leg and was grouchy as hell.

8. Violent Femmes at the Beacon Theatre. 8th row, baby. Gordon can actually sing. I remember standing on my seat while he held the note for*ever* on that last "day" in "Add It Up". John Wesley Harding opened and was damn fine, too.

9. Metallica (with G'N'R - who didn't hold a candle to them at Giants Stadium, 1991, and at MSG, March 10, 1997 - the day Victor was diagnosed). Metallica kicks ass. Nothing like 20,000 people singing "Seek and Destroy"

10. Sinéad O'Connor at the Beacon - she has a fabulous voice - sounds exactly like she does on record.

6. What do you do when you're not online?

Read, write, watch television, play with the nieces and nephews, listen to music, go drinking with friends

7. What do you do for fun with your real life, offline family and friends?

See above.

8. If you could produce your own television series or make your own movie, what would it be about and who would you like to cast in it?

I want to make a movie of "Absalom! Absalom!" It's only the greatest novel ever written.

I'd cast Willem Dafoe as Thomas Sutpen, Maggie Smith as Rosa Coldhue [with someone else playing the young Rosa, of course], maybe Elijah Wood or Tobey Maguire as Quentin *and* Henry ( I like the idea of the same actor playing both roles, obviously, and Quentin has to be strong yet delicate), Jack Black looks exactly like I'd always pictured Shreve, but I don't know if he could do serious, and someone elegant and Continental as Charles Bon... If Remy LeBeau were a real person, he's what I picture as Charles Bon [except without the freaky eyes and the mutant powers. *g*]. So if they found someone appropriate to play Remy in an X-Men movie, *he'd* be the guy I'd cast as Charles Bon.

Judith, of course, would have to be Natalie Portman.

Jason Compson Sr. - John Spencer.

I actually started writing a screenplay for it, but sort of lost track and forgot. Hmm... I'll have to find that.

9. What's the plot of that novel you've been putting off writing while you chat online or surf the Net?

Heh.

Serial killer story. Actually, the fic I'm working on now, if it works, could with altering Rogue into an OFC, be the novel I'd thought of.

10. What would you do with all your free time if you didn't spend so much time on the Net?

Sleep. Write.

***

I had a great idea for a little drabble set in the Sandman universe last night as I was falling asleep. Something with Lucifer welcoming new souls to hell. I remember the last line, and sort of what happens, but I can't remember how it begins.

Grr...

That time between sleeping and waking is so productive, but if you don't get up and write it down right away, you lose it. Grrr...

I also have a new story percolating. I think it's just going to be a series of loosely connected vignettes more than a full-on story. I mean, it'll tell a story, but as a series of snapshots, not a threaded narrative.

We'll see.

Anyone wanna drop me some info on Silver Fox?

I think that's it.

Was up late last night on AIM and also writing the beginning of this story. It's sort of a melancholy piece. I'm calling it Sunshine and Rain, right now. Sort of goes with Joy and Pain, you know? I mean, the stories don't go together, but I just love that song.

Speaking of songs, you know what was in my head this morning?

Two songs - one from a cartoon special from oh, the late '70s/early '80s - little bug-sized construction workers singing "You gotta build it up. Build it up!"

Anyone remember that?

Or am I on crack again, like the other specials I remember from childhood that I must have dreamt up, 'cause no on else seems to recall them?

And the other song, which I have on tape, so I know it's real, but I don't know who sings it... It's called "Certain Things Are Likely" and the chorus goes something like, "Up straight / Body break / body made of steel / push it up / drive it hard / drive it like a wheel / certain things are likely / they hypnotize me / hypnotize me"

Would be early/mid '80s modern rock.

And also, "Absolute Perfection" [in the funky reggae style]? Ring any bells?

~victoria

link



[current mood: nostalgic and frustrated at my inability to remember]
[current music: Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles]
[random quote: you gotta build it up... build it up...]

~*~

2002-05-15 - 11:05 p.m.

amor vincit omnia

Happy fic.

Sad fic.

Smallville.

Wendi and Hope each wrote a defense of sadfic and Te (of all people!) refutes them with an interesting defense of happy fic.

Now, I think you all know where I stand on this (if you don't, go read: angst v. foof, round 1 and It's Aristotle's fault), but well, Smallville is different.

For me anyway.

As you maybe can tell.

I haven't written a happy ending yet, except for Different Paths/Crossing Paths [which isn't finished, and I don't count it 'cause it's more of an adventure thingy than a real romantic story].

I can't *see* a happy ending that works in canon for me, and I'm too caught up in the Superman mythos to buy for more than the length of *someone else's* tale the idea of a happy ending.

I'll go for the ride, but I can't write it myself. Not yet, at any rate.

Because I know the ending.

The sad ending, the fact that Clark and Lex become mortal enemies, this haunts every single thing they do now, and that fascinates me.

I love the idea of them still loving each other and yet *hating* each other. Of them standing across the divide, staring each other down, each allegedly willing to do whatever it takes to stop the other, except. They don't.

Superman never eliminates Lex Luthor. He simply neutralizes him. He always leaves him around to fight another day.

And by that point, Lex must know all of Superman's weaknesses.

And yet...

And yet...

they continue, locked in this dance of hate-in-love, or love-in-hate.

It's a thing of beauty. It's almost Greek in its symmetry.

So yeah, I like a happy ending as much as the next person, and I'm far more appreciative of happy fic than most ficsters I know.

But in Smallville, I think you need that aura of lost love, or love that *cannot* conquer all, because too many other things have gotten in the way, most of all Lex and Clark themselves.

Admittedly, I'm not a One True Pairing shipper in Smallville. I'm fiddling with the ChLark and the ChLex as well as the CLex, but...

I think I've found the one pairing that I can get behind the tragic with. *g*

~*~

West Wing thoughts over in the LJ

~victoria

link

[current mood: lovesick *g*]
[current music: Milk - Garbage]
[random quote: since there's no help, come let us kiss and part...]

~*~

2002-05-15 - 12:00 pm

The Shiny

Been thinking about Merry's entry on status and also LaT's contribution to the discussion.

Merry wrote:
Here's the thing: Writers in fandom have status. There's not a lot that can be done about that. Writers are the source of the bulk of non-televised fannish product in fandom, and this gives us a certain level of prestige, whether we're any good at it or not. (Of course, being good is better than the alternative, you get more status from being good, but fannish perceptions of quality being what they are -- probably not all that much more.)

This is true.

Writers are at the top of the fannish food chain in the fic world.

Being held up as a good writer, and having the Big Names pimp for you increases your status. You know, guilt by association, only this time it's The Shiny by association. And the more they rub [i.e., pimp for you and send public, gushing LoCs], the shinier you get. (This ties in with the whole clique thing, as well. But let me rehash that another time. *g*)

(Edited for clarification at 3:37 pm EDT, since I was obviously not clear enough that I was using the muse hoohah as an example of how one's perceived status affects how others treat one, and that this is NOT my own attitude, even though I specifically *said* this wasn't how I was thinking when I disagreed with the original post that started this whole thing, and it's not how I'm thinking now.)

This whole thing with Jemima and the Muse -- she's not a BNF. At least, not that I know of (I'm fairly out of the fannish loop in any fandoms but my own, but through zendom and GO I've seen and heard the big names in other fandoms). So some people think it's okay to take her down a peg and not feel like you're going to be attacked by her minions. People who would probably never get involved in such a discussion were the assertions made by someone before whom they bow down in worship are jumping into it with both feet.

I mean, I don't care either way [hey, I think I made my name in SV not with any stories but with my rebuttal to Te when she called all of us fuckwits. Which is all over and done with and I'm just using as an example], but I can see people who wouldn't normally get involved in something that potentially could be nasty, getting involved in this, because, who the hell is this Jemima chick that she should tell us that our way of creating is lesser than hers?

(And I'm not saying that *I'm* saying that about Jemima. I'm not.)

But writers *do* have the most status in a fandom, and they *can* use it to do all sorts of things, including making people on the second tier [not the badfic writers, but the decent-to-good-with-the-occasionally-great in them writers. Writers like me.] feel unwelcome or unsung.

I see it especially in Smallville, which has a large population of BNFs from various other fandoms [XF, BtVS/Angel, XMM, Star Wars, Trek, etc.], many of whom know each other from those prior fandoms.

It's interesting to watch, if you're interested in how life is just like high school, and more so online, how things shake out, and how status is awarded.

I, highly not-prolific in Smallville, seem to have some sort of reputation, because I've sent feedback a couple of times and gotten a "Oh, wow, coming from *you* that means a lot", which is nice, but also makes me laugh, because what the hell do these people know about me as a writer? As far as I'm concerned, in Smallville, I've got one really good story, two decent-to-good stories, two mediocre ones, and one jokey story under my belt.

But maybe because I'm visible in the blog/diary/LJ scene, and linked everywhere there [and it amazes me, 'cause I see people I don't even know have my name on their lists! It's a wonderful ego-boost - don't stop! *g*], I somehow have a status in SV I never achieved visibly in XMM, which I consider my main fandom. (I don't count my former status on atbvs because that's not for writing, but it is in essence the same thing. Those who post the most interesting things or get the discussions going gain more status than those who post stupid things or "Me, too" or what have you, right?)

I mean, okay, yeah, voted into Hall of Fame, whatever that means (and well, I have a feeling I was sort of a compromise for some people, but I don't question), but I don't get the most visible forms of support like gushy feedback and shrines being erected and stalkers and recs all over the place, you know?

And that's okay. I'm still writing and still in love with L/R and most other things movieverse [and that one spoiler - you know the one - for the sequel just geeks me tremendously, because it has serious implications, if I'm reading it right. It means that Mystique (and, if it's true, the screenwriters) sees what we all see. And there's always the third movie.] and even when feedback is thin on the ground, I'm still getting one or two or three emails that make me happy.

(And obviously I'm not necessarily high enough status that people feel the need to acknowledge that I'm the one who started discussing a topic [yeah, that rankles my ego whenever I think about it, as last night's whinge will attest].)

Status is a funny thing.

Merry writes:
Of course writers who believe their writing is the only thing that makes them special are going to be upset if you criticise their writing. You're telling them they're not special, you're telling them they don't deserve their status. [...]This inability of fans to separate the value of the writing from the value of the fan is the very thing that makes so many writers viciously resentful of public discussion of their work.

You know, I never made this connection, or I never made it consciously and directly, between the abhorrence of criticism and the writer's own feelings of worth/inadequacy.

But it *is* borne out by my experience. I look at the writers who encourage criticism of their work, who *ask* for it and live for it, and *take* it, and those are usually the best writers to begin with.

Because they don't see their work as intrinsic to their self-worth. Or rather, they don't see actual honest and *helpful* criticism as a personal attack.

I know it's not, even when it stings like tongues of flame against my skin and my ego. I *know* that it's my ego, and not the critiquer/reviewer attacking me as a person; they're simply pointing out wrongs that need righting [in their opinion], and ways for me to improve.

And none of us is so good that we couldn't improve.

More Merry:
As long as writers are willing and eager to perpetuate the myth that their fannish worth is linked to the worthiness of their writing, we'll have to listen to the argument that criticising fan fiction is mean. And we'll have to know that even though they're wrong, they have every reason to believe that they're right -- because for every reader who stands up and says that literary criticism is not a personal attack, there's a writer on some list somewhere telling everyone how writing the right way makes her special.

Hmm...

There's that, and there's also the other big undermining factor in fanfic: the "it's just a hobby" line of thought. The line of thought that leads to (and god help me for saying this), "I'm just doing this for fun, I'm just blowing off steam. I *don't care* how good it is by any literary standards. It's just fanfic."

This is an argument that makes me splutter in rage when I think about it too much. So I try not to anymore.

Because *I* do it for fun* [I'm not getting paid, am I? So in the end, yeah, it's simply for my own enjoyment and, with luck and skill and the grace of tapping into a zeitgeist among the audience, the enjoyment of others. Even if they enjoy simply making fun of me, as long as they don't do it to my face, it's all good], and I've taken the time and the trouble to steep myself in canon and also the tools of writing, just as, when I became obsessed with hockey, I learned the rules and the players and the stories that went along with my chosen team.

When you learn to play a game or take up an avocation like crochet or woodworking or skydiving, don't you learn the rules and try to get better at it? (Especially the skydiving one, where the difference between knowing how to do it right can be the difference between a good dive and going splat. With crochet, not so much at stake, except the pointing and laughing of your older female relatives.)

Actually, I think the being steeped in canon and the knowledge of good writing were what led me to fanfic in the first place, because I thought, "Hey, I can do that, and better than the actual creators!"

But it may not work that way for everyone. Certainly, with X-Men, I had to learn way more stuff than I did with Buffy, since with Buffy I was watching intensely for four seasons, and had dissected each and every episode in minute detail before I ever started writing fanfic for the show.

As Jenn puts it:
Most badfic, in my opinion, comes from an utter disregard for the story's integrity; pure, unadulterated laziness; or, in very rare cases, simple youth and inexperience. It's pretty simple.

Pure unadulterated laziness, combined with this idea that the Writer is some sort of Voice of God [and I don't dispute that. The writer *should be* god in her own stories. But that's not the same thing.], and is handing down the One Truth that cannot and shall not be criticized.

Well, you know what? That's bullshit.

"Is there only 'ONE WAY POSSIBLE OF SPEAKING TRUTH-'?"**

Uh. No.

And even if there were, 'cause you know, I suppose anything is possible, if it's not grammatically correct or the prose is clunky, it should be critiqued and corrected.

Truth doesn't get a free pass just because it's true. In fact, if you want people to believe in your truth, you'd best present it in the most error-free, best way you can. Or people are going to dismiss you.

You can have the best damn idea in the world [and let's face it, all you really need in life is one good idea and you can milk it forever, if you get published and make money for a big publishing house and the book chains], but if you can't execute it, it doesn't do you a damn bit of good.

Merry again:
Being a writer, even a really good one, doesn't make you a worthwhile person -- and there are consequences to implying that it does.

This is true, and really, look at history. Many of our most famous writers were/are assholes. They got away with it because people let them, based on their talent.

And again, none of us are in Hemingway's or Byron's or Colette's class. So we shouldn't demand, and we certainly shouldn't be *given*, the leeway that these literary giants didn't get from professional critics, no matter how much their friends and families allowed them free rein to be bastiches.

Look, to use an example that everyone will understand, because who hasn't checked the movie reviews before shelling out their hard-earned cash?

Everyone from Fellini to Spielberg to Kurosawa to Steven Soderbergh got bad reviews for something or other. You think they didn't read them? You think they didn't hurt? But you didn't see them saying that criticism was *wrong* [okay, maybe they did, I don't know, but nobody *listened* to them about it!]. They might have taken issue with particular bits of crit, but not with the validity of criticism or review in and of itself.

Even *good* reviews usually contain commentary on what could have been better.

There's a reason not many films get 5 stars [or 4 stars or whatever scale the critic is using]. Because there's usually room for improvement.

In film, in art, in fanfic.

Here endeth the lesson.

tell me what you think.

~victoria

*fun being for me, enjoyment, sheer pleasure, for the joy of writing, etc. and not simply "not taking it seriously," because I take the art and craft of writing very seriously. I just try to have a good time while I'm doing it.

**Art of the World: Muriel Rukeyser's Poetry of Witness

link

[current mood: PMSing and achy]
[current music: Angie - The Rolling Stones]
[random quote: do not go gently into the good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light.]

~*~

previous - next

DiaryLand

Disclaimer: Reading this diary is not required by law. If you do not like or agree with the contents herein, or find them to be offensive on more than one occasion, please go elsewhere and don't come back. Management is not responsible for any adverse reactions to content within.

The painting is "Boreas" by John William Waterhouse. Again, not a muse, but I like her. She suits the color scheme.

The quote is from Sir Philip Sidney.

This site is best viewed with IE4+ | 1024x768 | true color | verdana | tables