| That's just great... |
[Jan. 8th, 2006|10:54 am]
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You're One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!
by Ken Kesey
You're crazy. This has led people to attempt to confine you to a safe
place so that you don't pose a danger to yourself or others. You feel like you pose a
great danger to the man (or maybe the woman) or whatever else is keeping you down. But
most of the time, you just end up being observed. Were you crazy before you were
confined?
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
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| In Two Acts |
[Oct. 22nd, 2005|07:48 pm]
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So. Brief two part note here. Um. Uh... I know I had something to say...
Ah! I have Woken Furies. Right here in my hand. And I know you all care so, so much. Yes. But I do!!! I'm excited. It cost me $26, which is obscene, but I *heart* Richard K. Morgan enough to blow... *winces* four and a half hours' pay on his book. Because he's cool like that. Um. *geeks out* Anyhow. Someone should write a slash fanfic involving Takeshi and Laurens Bancroft. Because that would be fucking hysterical.
...someone meaning "not me".
Anyhow. Um. I'm also, on behalf of darling Sofie (or is she Sophie right now???), pleased to announce that I am whoring out my characters as well, at least as far as the "embarrassing questions" thing goes. Ask them anything! Embarrass them to the point of dissolution! BE MERCILESS! (Especially to Aidan!)
...ready? Go! |
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| WRITERS WRITE |
[Aug. 27th, 2005|06:39 pm]
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| [ | Current Mood |
| |  aggravated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | NIN- Every Day is Exactly the Same | ] |
It amazes me how often the average wannabe (like me) forgets that. Even if it's shit or just a fragment, WRITERS WRITE. You can't get better if you don't. So. I need to stop worrying about ruining my novel. Because I can't ruin it if it isn't written yet. Right? If I kill it, I kill it. So there.
...I'm going to go write now.
My to-write list:
The Eternal Novel
Aidan's Killing People Story (hee!)
The House of Law
My finished-and-now-must-type list:
Untitled Sci-fi thingy
Aidan's outrealm story
To make me feel better, my have-finished-and-typed list:
Roses
Black Dresses
As a Son
The back-burnered stuff people keep asking about:
Medieval thingy
Aidan/Andre
Pink Trenchcoat
Gabrielle's novel |
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| Book Reviews |
[Aug. 5th, 2005|11:25 am]
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| [ | Current Mood |
| |  nerdy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | NIN- Head Like A Hole | ] |
I sat my ass down and did some reading over the past few days, resulting in my finishing 'Hannibal' and 'Red Dragon' in one sitting apiece. This proves two things- a) Thomas Harris did something right and b) I need more hours at work or possibly a life.
Warning, spoilers ahead.
First, let's take a look at Red Dragon. Overall a fun book, although I seem to have utterly missed the whole 'scary' bit. Perhaps my sense of yuppified paranoia ("someone is going to come into my fancy house and kill me") just isn't developed enough at this point. I can see how it would petrify the 30+ crowd, however.
The writing itself neither appalled nor overawed me- it was a second novel for the author, and in my opinion he didn't truly get his literary legs under him prose-wise until Hannibal. Still, I enjoyed his occasional and always spontaneously comic "Harris-isms", which kept things fresh. Character development clicked along smoothly, if predictably; I found I had already guessed at the Dragon's entire childhood before it actually came out on the page. And if Will Graham's personal and family issues felt contrived, I'll not waste cyberspace belaboring it.
My main issue with the book was the ending. Namely, there was way too much of it. The novel could have ended with more punch and a much more meaningful character in Francis Dolarhyde/The Dragon if the book had simply let well enough alone and let things end right after the housefire. The trick with the shotgun and the body felt cheap, tacked on, and gratuitous. Furthermore, it was out of character. The Dragon demonstrated throughout the book that he was a straightforward thinker, doing what he felt needed to be done and no more. He obsessed over his perceived power, but not necessarily his cleverness. As Francis Dolarhyde, he was a simple soul to the point of it almost being cute. In a... weird, twisted way.
In point of fact, I was waiting for someone to say Lecter had thought up that trick somehow. It was the sort of thing he'd do. Having the Dragon come after Graham on Lecter's suggestion seemed almost an afterthought, and a little random after Lecter just dropped out of the plot halfway through.
In my humble, ant's-eye view, possibly influenced by youthful romanticism, it seemed like having Francis Dolarhyde overcome the Dragon in himself to save Reba's life, killing himself in the process, held more of an emotional impact than having him play a silly trick and die on some beach with fishhooks stuck in his face.
But again, maybe that's just me.
Right, well, moving on. 'Hannibal'.
Can we say character-driven? Oh, my. And a fabulous character he is. Harris' prose has improved considerably here, giving Dr. Lecter some real scope for his... oddities. The supporting cast, particularly the siblings Verger, bring out all sorts of things in him, granting a deeper appreciation for the Lecter paradox; is this man insane or is he, somehow, quite the opposite?
Again, I didn't see scary, but by the usual definitions that probably makes _me_ insane, so we'll not dwell on it.
I loved the ending. I confess I was slightly surprised that someone as grounded and centered as Clarice Starling surrendered so completely to Lecter's mind games... but I think part of her wanted to all along. Just rather a larger part than I realized.
Very interesting. Melikes. |
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| Stuff I Shouldn't Be Doing Right Now |
[Apr. 19th, 2005|12:07 pm]
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| [ | Current Mood |
| |  apathetic | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Tai Babbling | ] |
Soooo... updating from the school IMC. In English. When I should be working on, you know, that thing called school. But hey, I feel accomplished anyway, because I scored a 1300 on my SAT. W00t. But anyhow, on to stuff that pertains to y'all.
All detailed character descriptions and any and all writing on this journal will be friends only from now on. I haven't had any problems where theft is concerned, and I want to keep it that way. This shouldn't affect most of you anyway, so... yeah. It's all good.
In other news, here's all the stuff I should be working on instead of doing relevant homework:
The Novel (as always)
The Sci-fi thing (finish)
Damien's story (type)
Aidan's Outrealm thing (type)
Aidan's mini-noir-type-thing (finish)
Split (finish)
The Hitchhiker Story (finish)
Gabrielle's book (finish)
The Aidan/Andre thing (finish)
...is it just me, or am I deeper in the hole than when I started? *sigh* |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 3rd, 2005|03:51 pm]
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Two words, baby: Woken Furies
Oh yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Hmm... new Takeshi Kovacs novel. My day is made. |
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| 落とされた天使 |
[Apr. 1st, 2005|10:25 pm]
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| [ | Current Mood |
| | sadistic | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | KMFDM- Revenge | ] |
...yay for procrastination. Um... worked a bit on the book, no, Marlo, you don't get to see it yet... Lucifer amuses me. Things are beginning to get fun now. That is, now that both of the major information dumps are out of the way. Let the plot begin... ish. Anyway, people are about to die... |
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| Yeah, baby! |
[Mar. 31st, 2005|01:56 pm]
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50 pages.
13,000 words.
Oh, yeah...
The novel progresses. |
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| ...oww. |
[Feb. 14th, 2005|06:50 pm]
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Sofie: You LAZY LAZY LAZY LAZY wench!!! *beats*
...ow...
...I'm working on it, I'm working on it... |
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| Stuff I have to do |
[Feb. 13th, 2005|02:48 pm]
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| [ | Current Mood |
| |  stressed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Bright Eyes- The Calendar Hung Itself | ] |
So... here's all the stuff I should be working on instead of typing this:
The Novel
Aidan's outrealm thing
The Shadha story
Typing the sci-fi thing
Typing the Damien thing
Finishing Lianne's "graduation" story
Finishing Rolande's school story
...just in case anyone was even remotely in doubt of how lazy I am. |
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___sombra___