one is still writing and in fandom
Sorry for the radio silence, guys, but I'm still around, sort of. Like, I've been beta'ing stories for various big bangs, so that's something, hey?
X-men:First Class
I find myself strangely at odds with this fandom.
It's big, it's dynamic, it's the first movie in the X-men franchise that feels so emotionally true to my experience of reading the comics as a wee one, I could burst. There are Things I Want To Say, about Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier and why in the movie it's a good thing that Erik breaks away from Charles to find his own way, and as such, forces the shared thoughts of mutants and their place in the world to an actual dialogue, so there's a space (physically and metaphorically) for mutants to argue and choose a side (or sit it out).
Also, that the whole thing about Raven leaving Charles for Erik shouldn't be reduced to snide remarks about her needing a man to show her how great she was. Erik and Charles are not only people, but they are the representations/avatars of singular and dissimilar ideas, and after being told that you have to hide and hold back for all of your life, to then be given not permission as much as agreement that you can and you should would be liberating and intoxicating. After a lifetime of 'nos' and caveats, you meet someone who finally says, yes to all of you? To agree that you should just be? That's everything.
Staying with X-men First Class, but on a different tack: I'm surprised that more writers don't really give more of a nod to Erik's religious background, even if its offhand. In the sense that, even if you're not a practising anything any more, these things do stick with you, and come out at the oddest moments. Stop me if I'm projecting my experiences like woah, but still, bear with my musings for a bit.
I was raised Catholic (although my Mum is C of E, my dad became Catholic in his later years), and went to Catholic schools (and Sunday schools as well) from K-18. Even now, years after I've left my parents' house, whenever I enter a church, I automatically cross myself and genuflect for a few moments. I have been known to use biblical metaphors in conversation that cause people to pause - and I travel in secular circles- (e.g. the Widow's Mite). Whenever I'm travelling I do carry a shawl to hand so if I have to go into a church, I can cover my hair and shoulders - and I stopped being a practising whatever at seventeen. I still pause at the fact that when I took my mum to St Paul's cathedral when she visited me years ago, the sweet, cloying smells of beeswax and incense made me look down at my feet to see if I were wearing white lace socks with black patent shoes, and blinked and stomped my feet to make sure I hadn't, not really.
So, no, I don't really expect Magneto to be celebrating Passover with all the bells and whistles, but does he probably give up unleavened bread for that length of time? Or does he remember the cadence of the old prayers like how I'd remember the rhythm of catechism? No matter how distant, no matter how painful? Would it stay with him, stamped on his consciousness like the permanence of his first language on his tongue, despite how many others he's acquired along the way?
The First Avenger: Captain America
I was surprised to find that I actually liked this movie. Despite the director's clunkiness, it worked for the movie, giving it that sort of earnest, vintage sort of charm. Like, Jimmy Stewart and Yankee Doodle Dandy - like it's hokey, but the main character's innate decency shines through. Like, you can't help but to cheer for him and fear for him, that the movie won me over. In addition, I preferred the Buck and Steve dynamic in this than in the comic. They were more equals (despite Steve's frail statue, his heart made him big), than the whiff of child soldier that you get with Buck from the comics before he became the Winter Soldier.
Commendations to Marvel on finding directors and their styles that compliment the movies though. For Thor and gods, you reach for Kenneth Branagh, the man who cut his teeth on Shakespeare's histories. For Iron Man, you go for the shit hot, indie kid, boy with toy fetish of Jon Favreau, and for Captain America and its clunkiness, not really there in terms of modern pastiche, the second string stylings of Joe Johnson. No, he won't set the directing world on fire, his narrative won't have you consumed with lust for the rest of the evening, but sometimes, all you need is a steady pair of hands.
For Captain America, the romantic subplot of the movie didn't really work for me, but I enjoyed the actress (Hailey Atwell, I think? She classes up every movie she's in) very much. She was all competence and smoulder.
So far the only 'romantic' subplot of any movie that worked for me was Thor. In the sense that on Jane's part, you got the feeling that she was in lust with Thor, and that she had work and friends to steady and complete her, so if he didn't come back, no worries, she'd go and find another star, work out some physics plans or something. Thor seemed like a fratboy who'd fall in love with every pretty face he came across. He'd be charmed, only momentarily before moving on, and no hard feelings all around, and Jane was up for all of that. If all movie romances were like that, I could deal.
I digress.
Having watched The First Avenger, I think I get why people actually dig 616 Steve now. Because of that, I can now go back to my Civil War AU, and probably make a decent fist of it this time around. It must get done. It must.
The only thing that concerns me- well, in so far that movies of this sort can concern me- is this: I can understand why they'd want to make the Captain America and Thor movies first, in that, since Steve Rogers, Tony Stark and Thor are the 'Trinity' of the Avengers, Marvel's A-list super group, the individual movies are the way to introduce the characters to the audience, so when the Avengers movie comes out, it's assumed that the viewer is well acquainted with the characters at this time, and you can dive into the story as it were. But... why then would they make a Captain America part 2 and 3 as well as a Thor part 2 or 3?
Also, what is this about a Hawkeye movie? In addition to that, why use Jeremy Renner - the guy who's going to the face of Bourne Ultimatum and supposedly the new face of the franchise Mission Impossible (as soon as they bump Tom Cruise off to wherever) for Hawkeye? In addition, he's... not really like Clint Barton at all, not physically, and not speech wise, either. This is a guy who was supposed to replace Captain America (Tony Stark and his crazy idea in Marvel's Civil War), and sorry to say, Renner ain't it. I wish they'd have tapped Jensen Ackles instead.
Fiction writing
For all of 2010, I've been writing prompts over there in comment_fic on LJ as well as fic_promptly in DW. It's been fun, truly, but because of writing cookie bites of fic, where the focus is on getting everything to fit into eight hundred words or less, I think I've lost the ability to plot long fic. Or, if not lost the ability, have completely trained myself out of it, and woe, I need to get it back.
I'd like to say though, people who leave prompts, if someone answers one of your prompts, especially if they are over say, six months old, please leave feedback. Right now, I'd take anything, even if it's, "I don't like your writing style at all, please don't answer any more of my prompts going forward." No harm, no foul in that getting done, truly. You will save me some time, and energy in not answering prompts, that I could be doing some fandom thing somewhere else.
Like, it's not as if I'm hanging around my gmail waiting for an acknowledgement of answer to your prompt (I really don't), but it's gotten to the point that over in comment_fic, I've decided to lay off the comm for a while. I'm getting there for fic_promptly myself, and for the first time in a while, I'm actually looking to see if I can get into a good, long plotty fic again. Of course, this new job I have, I'm not allowed pen and paper at my desk, nor can I email (the internal email is strictly checked), so I just wait for breaks and jot down stuff with pen and paper.
First gdocs, now this. It's as if I'm going backwards.
I find myself strangely at odds with this fandom.
It's big, it's dynamic, it's the first movie in the X-men franchise that feels so emotionally true to my experience of reading the comics as a wee one, I could burst. There are Things I Want To Say, about Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier and why in the movie it's a good thing that Erik breaks away from Charles to find his own way, and as such, forces the shared thoughts of mutants and their place in the world to an actual dialogue, so there's a space (physically and metaphorically) for mutants to argue and choose a side (or sit it out).
Also, that the whole thing about Raven leaving Charles for Erik shouldn't be reduced to snide remarks about her needing a man to show her how great she was. Erik and Charles are not only people, but they are the representations/avatars of singular and dissimilar ideas, and after being told that you have to hide and hold back for all of your life, to then be given not permission as much as agreement that you can and you should would be liberating and intoxicating. After a lifetime of 'nos' and caveats, you meet someone who finally says, yes to all of you? To agree that you should just be? That's everything.
Staying with X-men First Class, but on a different tack: I'm surprised that more writers don't really give more of a nod to Erik's religious background, even if its offhand. In the sense that, even if you're not a practising anything any more, these things do stick with you, and come out at the oddest moments. Stop me if I'm projecting my experiences like woah, but still, bear with my musings for a bit.
I was raised Catholic (although my Mum is C of E, my dad became Catholic in his later years), and went to Catholic schools (and Sunday schools as well) from K-18. Even now, years after I've left my parents' house, whenever I enter a church, I automatically cross myself and genuflect for a few moments. I have been known to use biblical metaphors in conversation that cause people to pause - and I travel in secular circles- (e.g. the Widow's Mite). Whenever I'm travelling I do carry a shawl to hand so if I have to go into a church, I can cover my hair and shoulders - and I stopped being a practising whatever at seventeen. I still pause at the fact that when I took my mum to St Paul's cathedral when she visited me years ago, the sweet, cloying smells of beeswax and incense made me look down at my feet to see if I were wearing white lace socks with black patent shoes, and blinked and stomped my feet to make sure I hadn't, not really.
So, no, I don't really expect Magneto to be celebrating Passover with all the bells and whistles, but does he probably give up unleavened bread for that length of time? Or does he remember the cadence of the old prayers like how I'd remember the rhythm of catechism? No matter how distant, no matter how painful? Would it stay with him, stamped on his consciousness like the permanence of his first language on his tongue, despite how many others he's acquired along the way?
I was surprised to find that I actually liked this movie. Despite the director's clunkiness, it worked for the movie, giving it that sort of earnest, vintage sort of charm. Like, Jimmy Stewart and Yankee Doodle Dandy - like it's hokey, but the main character's innate decency shines through. Like, you can't help but to cheer for him and fear for him, that the movie won me over. In addition, I preferred the Buck and Steve dynamic in this than in the comic. They were more equals (despite Steve's frail statue, his heart made him big), than the whiff of child soldier that you get with Buck from the comics before he became the Winter Soldier.
Commendations to Marvel on finding directors and their styles that compliment the movies though. For Thor and gods, you reach for Kenneth Branagh, the man who cut his teeth on Shakespeare's histories. For Iron Man, you go for the shit hot, indie kid, boy with toy fetish of Jon Favreau, and for Captain America and its clunkiness, not really there in terms of modern pastiche, the second string stylings of Joe Johnson. No, he won't set the directing world on fire, his narrative won't have you consumed with lust for the rest of the evening, but sometimes, all you need is a steady pair of hands.
For Captain America, the romantic subplot of the movie didn't really work for me, but I enjoyed the actress (Hailey Atwell, I think? She classes up every movie she's in) very much. She was all competence and smoulder.
So far the only 'romantic' subplot of any movie that worked for me was Thor. In the sense that on Jane's part, you got the feeling that she was in lust with Thor, and that she had work and friends to steady and complete her, so if he didn't come back, no worries, she'd go and find another star, work out some physics plans or something. Thor seemed like a fratboy who'd fall in love with every pretty face he came across. He'd be charmed, only momentarily before moving on, and no hard feelings all around, and Jane was up for all of that. If all movie romances were like that, I could deal.
I digress.
Having watched The First Avenger, I think I get why people actually dig 616 Steve now. Because of that, I can now go back to my Civil War AU, and probably make a decent fist of it this time around. It must get done. It must.
The only thing that concerns me- well, in so far that movies of this sort can concern me- is this: I can understand why they'd want to make the Captain America and Thor movies first, in that, since Steve Rogers, Tony Stark and Thor are the 'Trinity' of the Avengers, Marvel's A-list super group, the individual movies are the way to introduce the characters to the audience, so when the Avengers movie comes out, it's assumed that the viewer is well acquainted with the characters at this time, and you can dive into the story as it were. But... why then would they make a Captain America part 2 and 3 as well as a Thor part 2 or 3?
Also, what is this about a Hawkeye movie? In addition to that, why use Jeremy Renner - the guy who's going to the face of Bourne Ultimatum and supposedly the new face of the franchise Mission Impossible (as soon as they bump Tom Cruise off to wherever) for Hawkeye? In addition, he's... not really like Clint Barton at all, not physically, and not speech wise, either. This is a guy who was supposed to replace Captain America (Tony Stark and his crazy idea in Marvel's Civil War), and sorry to say, Renner ain't it. I wish they'd have tapped Jensen Ackles instead.
For all of 2010, I've been writing prompts over there in comment_fic on LJ as well as fic_promptly in DW. It's been fun, truly, but because of writing cookie bites of fic, where the focus is on getting everything to fit into eight hundred words or less, I think I've lost the ability to plot long fic. Or, if not lost the ability, have completely trained myself out of it, and woe, I need to get it back.
I'd like to say though, people who leave prompts, if someone answers one of your prompts, especially if they are over say, six months old, please leave feedback. Right now, I'd take anything, even if it's, "I don't like your writing style at all, please don't answer any more of my prompts going forward." No harm, no foul in that getting done, truly. You will save me some time, and energy in not answering prompts, that I could be doing some fandom thing somewhere else.
Like, it's not as if I'm hanging around my gmail waiting for an acknowledgement of answer to your prompt (I really don't), but it's gotten to the point that over in comment_fic, I've decided to lay off the comm for a while. I'm getting there for fic_promptly myself, and for the first time in a while, I'm actually looking to see if I can get into a good, long plotty fic again. Of course, this new job I have, I'm not allowed pen and paper at my desk, nor can I email (the internal email is strictly checked), so I just wait for breaks and jot down stuff with pen and paper.
First gdocs, now this. It's as if I'm going backwards.