Any World (That I'm Welcome To)

I keep trying not to let my hopes about The Rings of Power get too high, and it keeps surprising me by being supremely good at most of the things I like about a show. Do I have nitpicks? Sure, but nothing critical yet. And it does some things so well. ( Minor spoilers. )

When The Rings of Power was announced, I was dubious, to say the least. But now that I’ve finally gotten a chance to watch the show, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. If nothing else, it is really pretty. Elven cities at their heights! Khazad-dum in its glory! A Dwarf woman who sings to the stone! Numenor! Amazing details everywhere! Color instead of that grayish filter so many modern movies use in a vain attempt to look serious! Everyone involved in the costuming and sets (real and virtual) ought to get awards.

I also found myself enjoying the characters and plot, though. I’m some things will bother me more on a rewatch, and of course it could fall apart in future seasons. I’m willing to wait to see if they handle the colonial occupation theme well, but I suspect they won’t, for example.

But this isn’t about the good, bad, or ugly of the show. ( Read more... )

Teen Barista sues Starbucks over boss's demands for sex Starbucks says she and the guy concealed the "relationship," so it's totally not their fault. Apparently even McDonald's handles this sort of thing better (not that that's saying much, mind... "But everyone knows he's a pervert, so don't be upset if he gropes you!" is not a good start).

Why you can't get Tobias Buckell's books on Amazon anymore Because Amazon is acting like it's still the only ebook vendor in town and can force publishing companies (in this case, Macmillan) to accept any pricing scheme Amazon wants. I think Macmillan's right about variable pricing being a better model... and if Apple, Sony, and Barnes & Noble cut into the Kindle market enough, Amazon won't have quite as much weight to throw around, which will be interesting.

I'd like to plug Buckell here while I'm at it. Aztecs and Caribbeans fight alien overlords and zombies IN SPAAAACE! With colonialism, religion, economic divides, bulimia, musings on violence, and cyborg identity issues. Crystal Rain (book 1) is good, but I liked Ragamuffin (the Caribbean cyborg woman one) and Sly Mongoose (floating city of economically depressed Aztecs who rely on teen labor) even better. You can read them as fun space opera if you want, or go deeper.

Project 880 So... James Cameron had a version of Avatar that had fewer cliches and explained certain aspects of the plot better, but he made Ferngully instead? Why? (Note: I haven't seen it yet, but "Jake is the awesomest Chosen One Na'vi warrior EVAR and the only one who can ride the pterodactyl dragon!" vs. "Josh is pretty darn good, but not the only one who can ride the thing"? Obvious choice is obvious.)

The Texas Textbook Conspiracy I wish I were kidding. They're proud to admit it. ACTUAL QUOTE FROM A GUY ON THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: "Instead of the American way they want multiculturalism. [Because it's not like American had multiple cultures interacting and influencing the direction of, oh, everything from the beginning...] We plan to fight back—and, when it comes to textbooks, we have the power to do it. Sometimes it boggles my mind the kind of power we have." Also, "I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say [...] Evolution is hooey [...] The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan—he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes." And I will cite this paragraph because it's just so... well:

Barton and Peter Marshall initially tried to purge the standards of key figures of the civil rights era, such as César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall, though they were forced to back down amid a deafening public uproar. They have since resorted to a more subtle tack; while they concede that people like Martin Luther King Jr. deserve a place in history, they argue that they shouldn’t be given credit for advancing the rights of minorities. As Barton put it, “Only majorities can expand political rights in America’s constitutional society.” Ergo, any rights people of color have were handed to them by whites—in his view, mostly white Republican men.

Note: this dude is supposed to evaulate history textbooks, yet "Barton’s only credential is a bachelor’s degree in religious education from Oral Roberts University." It would be funny if he didn't have so much power over textbook content.

In summary, it doesn't matter if you or your movement/law/whole freaking community of millions existed and caused a significant impact; what matters is whether the guys on the Board like what you did. Or even understand what you did before deciding you can't possibly have done it (either nothing happened or some white dude really did it) and cutting you out.

On a better note, Uhura > you is an awesome story about Captain John Christopher (that pilot they accidentally kidnapped from 1969) weirding out over Uhura being a senior officer. Also, gehayi's chromatic recasting of LotR (with genderswapped hobbits!) is beautiful. I love the original actors, but can we have this version too? I want to see the Morgan Freeman vs. Ron Glass wizards' battle! And Shemar Moore as Boromir, yes. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Gina Torres and... WANT.

I told my uncle about the future Hobbit movie, and we came around to the problem of The Hobbit's tra-la-la elves vs. LotR's noble, serious elves. Being in the middle of a party ourselves, the conversation went about like this:

UNCLE: Well... maybe they can write it off as the difference between the high elves and the silvan elves.
ME: Drunk silvan elves?
UNCLE: Yeah, drunk silvan elves.
ME: No wonder movie!Elrond is so grumpy. He's stuck in a house full of drunk silvan elves.

LotR canon intimidates me with its hugeness, but there's nothing like practice to get more comfortable with it. I have tried to look up enough chronology and character backstory not to screw up too badly.

On the bright side, I have the perfect icon for this drabble.

Title: Saruman the Wise
Fandom: Lord of the Rings (Disclaimer)
Categories: Gen, PG
Word Count: 100
Summary: Shortly after the White Council's banishment of the Necromancer, Saruman decides that he must handle matters his own way from now on.

( Secure within his black fortress, Saruman paced. )

Recently, one of my friends mentioned that while watching The Two Towers movie, she noticed that Gandalf and Gollum had similar lines in similar situations: Gandalf remembered that they once called him Gandalf the Grey, and Gollum remembered that Smeagol was once his name. I don't remember whether the wording was as close in the book as in the movie, but they are interestingly parallel situations, with both characters remembering a nearly-forgotten old name and identity. Gandalf, returned as a shiny white wizard with extra wisdom and other-wordliness, remembers his "grey" past as a more earthy wizard who shot off fireworks to amuse hobbits. Gollum, slowly transformed into a sneaky, murderous thing with lamplike eyes, remembers his past as a hobbit-like being in a comfy life of fishing and family. Both have gone from something relatively ordinary to something more extreme and extraordinary, both being almost unrecognizable as their old selves at first.

It isn't just them, either - when the Fellowship passes through the Argonath is when Aragorn first looks extremely kingly, almost unrecognizable as the Strider who was worn out from tramping through the wild and sleeping in ditches. Faithful servant Gríma becomes evil counselor Wormtongue and finally just "Worm." Elrond's father got elevated to a star. You can spend ages listing these characters. Kings of men to Ringwraiths. Maia to disembodied eye. The theme of a person transforming from an old, more everyday identity to something extraordinary (whether very good/wise/etc. or very evil/deformed/etc.) touches nearly all the characters in some way, even those who only have one name.

What really got me thinking about my friend's observation and this theme was Teasel's post about the struggle between the ordinary and the elevated in Tolkien. Some of the characters, like Aragorn and Sam, manage to reconcile their opposite sides: Aragorn is King Elessar and Strider, the hero and the guy who marries his sweetheart; Sam is the heroic companion to the Ringbearer and a gardener who carries a box of dirt to Mordor and back, the guy who longs for elves and the Shire and gets both in a way with the mallyrn tree and Elanor. Some - like Gollum and the Ents - don't manage it, to their disaster (whether quick like Gollum's end or slow and lingering like the Ents).

I'm still mulling over this theme of duality - there are so many ways to look at it! - so I'll just point you over to Teasel's post again so you can read more about Rosie and the Ents, because it's brilliant stuff.

I just finished four papers for school. They were relatively short - six to eight pages each - for which I am thankful. Nevertheless, I am not much in the writing zone right now. I think I blew a fuse or something.

So instead, let there be icons. They're doing nothing but sitting in my PhotoBucket account right now and should make themselves useful.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter. This is just for fun.

Note: Take them, alter them, whatever you like.

First Batch: Han plays James Bond in an old RotJ poster! I haven't seen Casino Royale yet, but it seemed an appropriate time to post these. Same image, different text.

Preview: (  'I prefer a straight-up with a twist vodka martini to all this sneaking around.'  )


Second Batch: Miscellaneous Star Wars. Some are (or could be) shippy, others are not. I just like pretty pictures.

Preview: ( Most from poster art, but a few from photos. )

Third Batch: Miscellaneous HP and LotR.

Preview: ( Accio icons! )

Remember Clarissa Explains It All? Blast from the past. I only remembered this because of a link in jedi_news to a comic in Kenobi Explains It All. It doesn't really have anything to do with the show, but who cares?

I loved Words of Wisdom. Yoda is not like Gandalf and Dumbledore in this crucial aspect, is he?

Just as good as crossover mentor comics are crossover villain comics: Creepy-Looking Villains Anonymous and Creepy-Looking Villains Anonymous II. I got even more of a kick out of this one because I had already envisioned three dark lords hanging out in a bar. Cards and a day spa make it even better, though, don't you think?

So, very glad I know about that comic now :D

Blech. Just got wisdom teeth out and am wishing for some of Madame Pomfrey's medimagic...

Title: Jedi, Istari, and Wizards: A Secret History (7/7)
Fandom: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Men (Disclaimer)
Categories: Gen, PG, and... what would you call it - Metafiction?
Summary: An over-eager pop historian draws some interesting conclusions. The final section of the "history."

( Part VII: The Road Goes Ever On and On )

Now please, somebody stop me! Seriously, I could go on like this for dozens more pages, given the time. You may judge from that what sort of obsessive personality I have.

Title: Jedi, Istari, and Wizards: A Secret History (5/7)
Fandom: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Men (Disclaimer)
Categories: Gen, PG, Crossover, Metafiction
Summary: An over-eager pop historian draws some interesting conclusions. Part V of the "history," in which we find out that yes, the Dementors are descended from the Nazgûl.

( Part V: Assimilation )