Further Ponderings
Sep. 30th, 2011 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chocolatepotHa, I knew Delicious would clean up its act. I exported my bookmarks just in case, but I wasn't going to actually set up shop somewhere else until it became obvious that they wouldn't restore important functionalities. And they are, because pagination is essential. I need to go through and do mass tag reform at some point - just make them manageable. Mainly they're usable if I'm looking for something costume-related or my daily webcomic page, but nothing else.
I did get a spinning wheel on eBay! It was $86, so I'm hoping it's not too much of a dud, but from the pictures it looks like it's unfinished/unvarnished/unstained and has no bobbins but is an actual, working starter wheel. If it is, maybe we can make it usable.
--
Okay, so while I was reading Storm of Swords by the light of the hurricane lamp last night (it was stormy and we lost power for about four hours), I had the presence of mind to take out a pad and write down notes as to what I wanted to bring up next time I wrote about it. Some of them are things that came up while I was reading, some just came to me out of context, so there's no particular order.
- I never got around to making a post-Clash of Kings post, so I never (I think) ended up saying what I had planned for it, which was: I love the way rumor and gossip are used in these books. That feels more realistic to me than the wounds that people usually bring up when it comes to realisticness. Sometimes the rumor's right, sometimes it's wrong. Every society has rumor, but you often don't see it in fantasy books, except to give the heroes correct information that they can't find out on their own. I love that the story of Joffrey's parentage is combated with another about Stannis's kid's, and both stories sound equally fake and mudslingy even though one is real. I especially love thinking about future history classes in which people debate whether or not Joffrey was really a child of incest, and some academic causes a sensation by "exploding the myth of the Imp" and posthumously repairing Tyrion's reputation.
- The more I read the more obvious the R'hllor/Other connection becomes, man. I thought I was being a little clever.
- Tyrion flat-out compared Joff to Aerys in his head again and that felt good, because I'd think people would be doing that.
- I think Jaime's story (btw, I did start liking him more when he started having a PoV, mainly because he has that kind of personality, although if he never uses the word "wench" again I will be happy) of why he betrayed Aerys is pretty awesome and explodey in and of itself, but it's just a leetle OTT in the same way that everything bad getting blamed on Tyrion is OTT. I mean, I had no problem with him putting Aerys down like a rabid dog just for Rickard and Brandon, I didn't need him to have also saved the entire city ~but no-one will ever know~.
- I find it interesting that Arya won't accept Sandor's trial by combat. In our context, yeah, she's right to say that's not justice, but I think it's significant that she's grown up in that culture and doesn't accept it. I could see her becoming a vigilante and punishing people she thinks haven't been punished by society. Of course, this being ASOIAF, that will involve her punishing someone who doesn't deserve it.
- I'd just like to say that I started considering that Lord Beric had made some kind of bargain with R'hllor when Arya noticed he'd taken a spear through the heart and was still alive - before that I thought it was just rumor that he'd died so many times. When that basically turned out to be the case (although it's apparently not a bargain) I felt a little good, I'll admit. Although I actually thought he was like an anti!Other and just couldn't die unless he was killed in the right way.
- Gendry and Arya being friends without knowing their fathers were friends has been making me quite happy. It's a good trope.
- The history being so certain has been annoying me again. THOUSANDS OF YEARS. I just don't buy it. It's like a Roman ca. 50 CE having accurate knowledge of the Neolithic Revolution. Most of the time I just try to divide every "X years ago" by ten and ignore it, but it's irritating.
- ... It's just occurred to me that I have no idea where Osha and Rickon are, and I'm not sure if it's because I was reading too fast or because I'm actually not supposed to know.
- Every time Jon thinks "my father blah blah," my brain plays some tinkly music and Jeffrey Tambour goes, "... your father."
- I loved the whole bit with Tywin and his Valyrian swords. Poor Tyrion! But there's something about it that's so interesting. Maybe it's the combination of making the Super Special Sword be a comparatively common phenomenon with a kind of realistic economic thing relating to that? If you know what I mean.
- Dany "buying" the Unsullied and then blasting everything with fire was badass. I like her commitment to freedom and how it comes without being soft and fluffy and just wanting everything to be nice.
- I kind of want Dany and Sansa and Margaery to hang out sometime.
- Catelyn's chapters are depressing. This rebellion/war is pretty, uh, muddled.
I did get a spinning wheel on eBay! It was $86, so I'm hoping it's not too much of a dud, but from the pictures it looks like it's unfinished/unvarnished/unstained and has no bobbins but is an actual, working starter wheel. If it is, maybe we can make it usable.
--
Okay, so while I was reading Storm of Swords by the light of the hurricane lamp last night (it was stormy and we lost power for about four hours), I had the presence of mind to take out a pad and write down notes as to what I wanted to bring up next time I wrote about it. Some of them are things that came up while I was reading, some just came to me out of context, so there's no particular order.
- I never got around to making a post-Clash of Kings post, so I never (I think) ended up saying what I had planned for it, which was: I love the way rumor and gossip are used in these books. That feels more realistic to me than the wounds that people usually bring up when it comes to realisticness. Sometimes the rumor's right, sometimes it's wrong. Every society has rumor, but you often don't see it in fantasy books, except to give the heroes correct information that they can't find out on their own. I love that the story of Joffrey's parentage is combated with another about Stannis's kid's, and both stories sound equally fake and mudslingy even though one is real. I especially love thinking about future history classes in which people debate whether or not Joffrey was really a child of incest, and some academic causes a sensation by "exploding the myth of the Imp" and posthumously repairing Tyrion's reputation.
- The more I read the more obvious the R'hllor/Other connection becomes, man. I thought I was being a little clever.
- Tyrion flat-out compared Joff to Aerys in his head again and that felt good, because I'd think people would be doing that.
- I think Jaime's story (btw, I did start liking him more when he started having a PoV, mainly because he has that kind of personality, although if he never uses the word "wench" again I will be happy) of why he betrayed Aerys is pretty awesome and explodey in and of itself, but it's just a leetle OTT in the same way that everything bad getting blamed on Tyrion is OTT. I mean, I had no problem with him putting Aerys down like a rabid dog just for Rickard and Brandon, I didn't need him to have also saved the entire city ~but no-one will ever know~.
- I find it interesting that Arya won't accept Sandor's trial by combat. In our context, yeah, she's right to say that's not justice, but I think it's significant that she's grown up in that culture and doesn't accept it. I could see her becoming a vigilante and punishing people she thinks haven't been punished by society. Of course, this being ASOIAF, that will involve her punishing someone who doesn't deserve it.
- I'd just like to say that I started considering that Lord Beric had made some kind of bargain with R'hllor when Arya noticed he'd taken a spear through the heart and was still alive - before that I thought it was just rumor that he'd died so many times. When that basically turned out to be the case (although it's apparently not a bargain) I felt a little good, I'll admit. Although I actually thought he was like an anti!Other and just couldn't die unless he was killed in the right way.
- Gendry and Arya being friends without knowing their fathers were friends has been making me quite happy. It's a good trope.
- The history being so certain has been annoying me again. THOUSANDS OF YEARS. I just don't buy it. It's like a Roman ca. 50 CE having accurate knowledge of the Neolithic Revolution. Most of the time I just try to divide every "X years ago" by ten and ignore it, but it's irritating.
- ... It's just occurred to me that I have no idea where Osha and Rickon are, and I'm not sure if it's because I was reading too fast or because I'm actually not supposed to know.
- Every time Jon thinks "my father blah blah," my brain plays some tinkly music and Jeffrey Tambour goes, "... your father."
- I loved the whole bit with Tywin and his Valyrian swords. Poor Tyrion! But there's something about it that's so interesting. Maybe it's the combination of making the Super Special Sword be a comparatively common phenomenon with a kind of realistic economic thing relating to that? If you know what I mean.
- Dany "buying" the Unsullied and then blasting everything with fire was badass. I like her commitment to freedom and how it comes without being soft and fluffy and just wanting everything to be nice.
- I kind of want Dany and Sansa and Margaery to hang out sometime.
- Catelyn's chapters are depressing. This rebellion/war is pretty, uh, muddled.
