More Things I've Read
Apr. 8th, 2014 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chocolatepotAustenland
- Normally I try not to be the kind of fannish-identity policing person who calls "not a real fan", but Jane's slavish (to the point of delusion/insanity) adoration of the P&P miniseries, plus the way she tosses off (roughly) "she read them all twice a year (except Northanger Abbey, of course)" made me want to slap a "not a Janeite" label on her forehead.
1) Northanger Abbey is awesome, eff off (but I guess it makes Feild's casting more funny?)
2) You have issues with NA but not Mansfield Park?
3) If your main - practically only - point of context with the canon is a single miniseries, can you really be considered a fan of the canon?
Colin Firth and P&P95 are well-beloved and for good reason, but neither is absolutely perfect.
- And I couldn't help but think that her P&P95-above-all-else mentality led to her not realizing that Darcy is a dick, because he's not enough of a dick in that one. It was played for knowing comedy, I get that, but Lost in Austen did it so much better. Every time she thought about how Nobley wasn't as good as Darcy because he's so blunt and unsociable I wanted to shake her. And it never really got the payoff.
- I can't decide if book!Jane or movie!Jane was crazier. Movie!Jane didn't let you know about how she numbers "boyfriends" (I would have four by her count), but I don't think book!Jane's apartment was as horrifying.
- "(note: she used the British word for "vacation" in her thoughts, an early sign that she'd already decided to go)" NO. NO. I know my embarrassing-Anglophile issues stem from insecurity that I come off that way, but EMBARRASSING.
- "Marriage cap" is not, I believe, an accepted term for "cap that a matron wears". /nitpick
- I prefer book!Wattlesbrook's attitude of "you pay, you're here" to the movie's packages. Can't explain exactly why, I just thought it was not a great addition.
- I was set to be really picky about historical inaccuracies, but then (where did all of my highlights go?) there was a line about how it wasn't accurate, it was a veneer, and that was deliberate, so I rolled.
- The thing is, I'm just not sure I'm the right audience for it. On the one hand, yes, I would love to have a two-week Regency vacation; on the other, I have given serious thought to running a place like that, minus the romance, and I've worn the clothes, so I had Opinions on how Mrs. Wattlesbrook did things and the whole premise isn't as wacky to me as I think it's supposed to be. I wasn't quite insulted, but it was a bit annoying when she thought about how stupid playing dress-up is. Plus, knowing Regency House Party as well as I do, I couldn't help but notice how many missed opportunities for activities there were.
- Also, I want Wentworth or Tilney or maybe Ferrars, YES THAT'S RIGHT. You heard me.
- It made more sense to me to have Mrs. Wattlesbrook off campus as in the book, to me. Because she is very controlling, and even if someone's got your least-expensive package and won't be back, treating them like dirt is poor business practice.
- The movie's slapstick was hilarious, but in the end I think I like the subtler comedy (and more frequent Austen parallels) of the book a bit better, and Amelia Heartwright being a perfect Jane Fairfax rather than an OTT tryhard. But I did laugh quite a lot.
Just a Geek, Wil Wheaton
It's an interesting read for someone who's not familiar at all with ST:TNG, but he's a good writer. I felt a lot of empathy for him - I obviously know what it's like to work at your vocation but never be able to get a foothold. (I am sometimes convinced that I'm not going to ever be employed by another museum after this one.)
Bleeding Violet, Dia Reeves
LOVED IT. I haven't read much YA lately that I've appreciated, but this was fresh and different. For one thing, the heroine is mentally ill and at times has strange reactions and hallucinations - even apart from that, she doesn't mope or angst or dwell on how bad her situation is. She's always moving forward, and takes the lead in romantic/sexual matters. The setting (a truly bizarre Texas town) manages to be terrifying without being a future dystopia, unlike the usual. And it's one of the most ethnically diverse casts.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
Arcanum 101: Welcome, New Students, Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
Ummmm. I think this is set in a universe that's been going on, and that's part of why it seemed flat (if you assume your readers already understand your rules of magic and world, you don't need to explain them), although the concept of mixing fantasy - magic- and science fiction - psi - is interesting.
But here's the thing. The main character, Tomas, is so inconsistent. First he's just a good boy, street smart enough to know that he has to work for the mob boss who recruits him but naive enough to believe that he's only burning down empty buildings that won't hurt anyone. Then he gets arrested and sent to the School for Gifted Youngsters and is tough and cagey and really seems like a different character, because now they want to write a different story.
And his Latino-ness is really clumsily handled. Especially after coming off Bleeding Violet.
Zombies & Unicorns, Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
I got like a page into the intro, then turned it off.
1) UGH it was all dialogue with that Sarah Reese Brennan-style cutesy phrasing, where every single person has the same quirky voice. "Zombies shamble. I disapprove of shambling. And they have bits that fall off." Now apparently they are all writing this way now? Gag me.
2) It features Cassandra Clare. I am very glad that I had all profits go to charity. Still cannot believe she dared to write about how she was cyberbullied, still annoyed that she also defends Sansa even though I theoretically want everyone to defend her.
I have officially run out of stuff to do at work. This afternoon I phone-photographed all the fashion from two bound years of magazines (1851 and 1857). Which did give me an idea for a blog post! The 1850s - largely ignored in favor of the 1860s, let's discuss the progression of styles, etc.
- Normally I try not to be the kind of fannish-identity policing person who calls "not a real fan", but Jane's slavish (to the point of delusion/insanity) adoration of the P&P miniseries, plus the way she tosses off (roughly) "she read them all twice a year (except Northanger Abbey, of course)" made me want to slap a "not a Janeite" label on her forehead.
1) Northanger Abbey is awesome, eff off (but I guess it makes Feild's casting more funny?)
2) You have issues with NA but not Mansfield Park?
3) If your main - practically only - point of context with the canon is a single miniseries, can you really be considered a fan of the canon?
Colin Firth and P&P95 are well-beloved and for good reason, but neither is absolutely perfect.
- And I couldn't help but think that her P&P95-above-all-else mentality led to her not realizing that Darcy is a dick, because he's not enough of a dick in that one. It was played for knowing comedy, I get that, but Lost in Austen did it so much better. Every time she thought about how Nobley wasn't as good as Darcy because he's so blunt and unsociable I wanted to shake her. And it never really got the payoff.
- I can't decide if book!Jane or movie!Jane was crazier. Movie!Jane didn't let you know about how she numbers "boyfriends" (I would have four by her count), but I don't think book!Jane's apartment was as horrifying.
- "(note: she used the British word for "vacation" in her thoughts, an early sign that she'd already decided to go)" NO. NO. I know my embarrassing-Anglophile issues stem from insecurity that I come off that way, but EMBARRASSING.
- "Marriage cap" is not, I believe, an accepted term for "cap that a matron wears". /nitpick
- I prefer book!Wattlesbrook's attitude of "you pay, you're here" to the movie's packages. Can't explain exactly why, I just thought it was not a great addition.
- I was set to be really picky about historical inaccuracies, but then (where did all of my highlights go?) there was a line about how it wasn't accurate, it was a veneer, and that was deliberate, so I rolled.
- The thing is, I'm just not sure I'm the right audience for it. On the one hand, yes, I would love to have a two-week Regency vacation; on the other, I have given serious thought to running a place like that, minus the romance, and I've worn the clothes, so I had Opinions on how Mrs. Wattlesbrook did things and the whole premise isn't as wacky to me as I think it's supposed to be. I wasn't quite insulted, but it was a bit annoying when she thought about how stupid playing dress-up is. Plus, knowing Regency House Party as well as I do, I couldn't help but notice how many missed opportunities for activities there were.
- Also, I want Wentworth or Tilney or maybe Ferrars, YES THAT'S RIGHT. You heard me.
- It made more sense to me to have Mrs. Wattlesbrook off campus as in the book, to me. Because she is very controlling, and even if someone's got your least-expensive package and won't be back, treating them like dirt is poor business practice.
- The movie's slapstick was hilarious, but in the end I think I like the subtler comedy (and more frequent Austen parallels) of the book a bit better, and Amelia Heartwright being a perfect Jane Fairfax rather than an OTT tryhard. But I did laugh quite a lot.
Just a Geek, Wil Wheaton
It's an interesting read for someone who's not familiar at all with ST:TNG, but he's a good writer. I felt a lot of empathy for him - I obviously know what it's like to work at your vocation but never be able to get a foothold. (I am sometimes convinced that I'm not going to ever be employed by another museum after this one.)
Bleeding Violet, Dia Reeves
LOVED IT. I haven't read much YA lately that I've appreciated, but this was fresh and different. For one thing, the heroine is mentally ill and at times has strange reactions and hallucinations - even apart from that, she doesn't mope or angst or dwell on how bad her situation is. She's always moving forward, and takes the lead in romantic/sexual matters. The setting (a truly bizarre Texas town) manages to be terrifying without being a future dystopia, unlike the usual. And it's one of the most ethnically diverse casts.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
Arcanum 101: Welcome, New Students, Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
Ummmm. I think this is set in a universe that's been going on, and that's part of why it seemed flat (if you assume your readers already understand your rules of magic and world, you don't need to explain them), although the concept of mixing fantasy - magic- and science fiction - psi - is interesting.
But here's the thing. The main character, Tomas, is so inconsistent. First he's just a good boy, street smart enough to know that he has to work for the mob boss who recruits him but naive enough to believe that he's only burning down empty buildings that won't hurt anyone. Then he gets arrested and sent to the School for Gifted Youngsters and is tough and cagey and really seems like a different character, because now they want to write a different story.
And his Latino-ness is really clumsily handled. Especially after coming off Bleeding Violet.
Zombies & Unicorns, Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
I got like a page into the intro, then turned it off.
1) UGH it was all dialogue with that Sarah Reese Brennan-style cutesy phrasing, where every single person has the same quirky voice. "Zombies shamble. I disapprove of shambling. And they have bits that fall off." Now apparently they are all writing this way now? Gag me.
2) It features Cassandra Clare. I am very glad that I had all profits go to charity. Still cannot believe she dared to write about how she was cyberbullied, still annoyed that she also defends Sansa even though I theoretically want everyone to defend her.
I have officially run out of stuff to do at work. This afternoon I phone-photographed all the fashion from two bound years of magazines (1851 and 1857). Which did give me an idea for a blog post! The 1850s - largely ignored in favor of the 1860s, let's discuss the progression of styles, etc.
