(no subject)
I'm sickly. Raspy sore throat, earache, runny nose, sensation that the world is spinning every time I move due to the infection being in my ears, sensitivity to loud noises, all that fun stuff. TL;DR, I am not at all well.
I have, lately, been reading the Harry Potter series over again. This is due to Jim because the kind of git that likes to get me joining in. I've also been reading a review blog of the Harry Potter books chapter by chapter.
For the most part, the reviews are a bit of entertaining fun. There's just one thing that consistently gets my goat, and that is the guys view on what constitutes a spoiler.
He doesn't want to be spoiled, which is, y'know... fair enough. The whole idea of the reviews is that he's doing them as someone who has never read the books before and doesn't know what's going to happen. But some of the things he considers to be spoiler material are a bit... extreme.
Like his latest complaint. Apparently, the fact that Blaise Zabini is a black guy is a spoiler. A throwaway side character's race and gender are a spoiler to this guy. Better yet, ANY character's race and gender, no matter who they are or what role they may play, is a spoiler? Seriously?
Fuck off.
I had this issue earlier as well when he gave a list of all the things he considers to be spoilers. Some of them, I can sympathise with. Plot points, for example, and having people go "Pay attention to this bit; it's important later" or "Wait until you get to this bit; your mind will be blown" if you're not wanting to be spoiled can be sort of annoying.
I don't find them so because I'm a spoiler whore. I fucking love spoilers. As soon as they are available for something I'm interested in, I'll track them down. More often than not, spoiling me for a series is how you get me into it in the first place. I'm not swayed by "Watch this, it's really good", but I can be swayed by examples of clever writing or details about interesting characters. You want me to watch, read, or play something, the two easiest ways are to either tell me that Kirk Thornton does a main character's voice in it, or spoil me for it.
But other people don't like spoilers, and that's fine. But there does come a point at which I'm just going to write you off as some paranoid control freak.
Like this guy doing these reviews, when he told commenters not to discuss their favourite characters in the series because that too was a spoiler. Because clearly if you like someone then they do something to deserve being liked and are thus a good guy.
So the fact that I liked Snape would be a spoiler, apparently, even though I prefer him before he became an utter woobie.
I don't have any issue with people who don't want to be spoiled, and I try my best not to spoil those people. But I do take issue when someone is so hypersensitive about spoilers as to consider mention of other people's favourite characters to be one, or the race and gender of a character to be one when said character's race and gender have absolutely no plot relevance at all.
It's enough to make me want to stop reading the reviews.
Myself, I'm all the way up to Deathly Hallows, which I haven't read in quite a while. The books have been less tedious than I remember, and the characters less annoying, but most of what I recall of this book is characters I liked being twatty, Hallows Out Of Nowhere, and lots of tedious camping.
Hopefully, it will be better than I remember.
I have, lately, been reading the Harry Potter series over again. This is due to Jim because the kind of git that likes to get me joining in. I've also been reading a review blog of the Harry Potter books chapter by chapter.
For the most part, the reviews are a bit of entertaining fun. There's just one thing that consistently gets my goat, and that is the guys view on what constitutes a spoiler.
He doesn't want to be spoiled, which is, y'know... fair enough. The whole idea of the reviews is that he's doing them as someone who has never read the books before and doesn't know what's going to happen. But some of the things he considers to be spoiler material are a bit... extreme.
Like his latest complaint. Apparently, the fact that Blaise Zabini is a black guy is a spoiler. A throwaway side character's race and gender are a spoiler to this guy. Better yet, ANY character's race and gender, no matter who they are or what role they may play, is a spoiler? Seriously?
Fuck off.
I had this issue earlier as well when he gave a list of all the things he considers to be spoilers. Some of them, I can sympathise with. Plot points, for example, and having people go "Pay attention to this bit; it's important later" or "Wait until you get to this bit; your mind will be blown" if you're not wanting to be spoiled can be sort of annoying.
I don't find them so because I'm a spoiler whore. I fucking love spoilers. As soon as they are available for something I'm interested in, I'll track them down. More often than not, spoiling me for a series is how you get me into it in the first place. I'm not swayed by "Watch this, it's really good", but I can be swayed by examples of clever writing or details about interesting characters. You want me to watch, read, or play something, the two easiest ways are to either tell me that Kirk Thornton does a main character's voice in it, or spoil me for it.
But other people don't like spoilers, and that's fine. But there does come a point at which I'm just going to write you off as some paranoid control freak.
Like this guy doing these reviews, when he told commenters not to discuss their favourite characters in the series because that too was a spoiler. Because clearly if you like someone then they do something to deserve being liked and are thus a good guy.
So the fact that I liked Snape would be a spoiler, apparently, even though I prefer him before he became an utter woobie.
I don't have any issue with people who don't want to be spoiled, and I try my best not to spoil those people. But I do take issue when someone is so hypersensitive about spoilers as to consider mention of other people's favourite characters to be one, or the race and gender of a character to be one when said character's race and gender have absolutely no plot relevance at all.
It's enough to make me want to stop reading the reviews.
Myself, I'm all the way up to Deathly Hallows, which I haven't read in quite a while. The books have been less tedious than I remember, and the characters less annoying, but most of what I recall of this book is characters I liked being twatty, Hallows Out Of Nowhere, and lots of tedious camping.
Hopefully, it will be better than I remember.