Random randomness

[wiseheart]

Cos I'm on sick leave, although the sickness has passed, and feel like babbling a bit, yo!

The telly - or why I might end up spend my hard-earned cash on shows that I cannot watch, even though everyone says they're rubbish.

I heard really, really bad things about Starz' Camelot. So I googled a bit, and what I saw confirmed my worst fears. Come on, guys, WTF, Arthur a girl??? Okay, I know he technically isn't a girl, but he looks like one. Imagining him having sex with the actual girls on the show is... off-putting, to say the least. No offence against anyone, but if I wanna watch femslash, the least I could demand would be that both participants be real girls, right? At least Bradley James looks like a knight who would be capable of raising his sword without collapsing under its weight.

But... the show stars Eva Green as Morgan, and she looks absolutely stunning. I could never warm up to Katie McGrath's Morgana, so perhaps I should give "Camelot" a chance, after all. Plus, it has Sean Pertwee, with whom I've been in selfless love ever since I saw him as Hugh Beringar. And Clive Standen! *flails* Granted, I only saw him in Dr. Who, where he had a total of about three seconds of screen time, but I'm so totally fangirling him. Embarrassing, really, considering that I could be his mother. Ah, well. I might even buy some random Robin Hood episodes to watch him. I'm shallow that way. I like me some ruggedly handsome men from time to time.


Procrastinating - or the pain of too many choices after finishing a story.

Now that I've finally gotten "Eye Witness" out of my hair (not that anybody but artemis10002000 would give a rat's arse about my Torchwood fic), I've taken a good hard look of my unfinished WIPs - and blanched. There are too many, in too many different fandoms!

My best candidates to be finished in the foreseeable future would be "Vox Angelica" in the Cadfael fandom, "Brothers-in-Arms" (also in the Cadfael fandom) and "A Visitor from Avalon", my Merlin-Torchwood crossover. Consequently, what have I done all day? Background work on "Sea-Flower", a pre-Ring-War Tolkienfic taking place in Umbar.

Yeah, right. That's me, doing the least logical thing. But at least I've figured out how to include the bull games and cast some of the characters. Not surprisingly, Princess Ivriniel will be played by Eva Green and Lord Caliondo of Umbar will be played by Clive Standen. What? I told you I'm shallow! And I need my visuals. I'm seriously considering having Colin Morgan play the Dark Elf assassin, but I'm not sure I can pull that one out. Although he'd be creepy. Oh, and the malicious Haradric slave girl is played by Indira Varma.


Baking - yep, I did some of that, too!

Not much; we won't dare eating anything with cream in the next few days, so I made some Ischler and a small lamb out of almond biscuit. And I hung up the decorated eggshells in the living room. Mum is pleased with the results, so I'm pleased, too.


Other than that, I'm lazing around and wishing I had people I could discuss silly fannish things with. But you can't have everything.

Comments

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

There is a Norwegian tradition of reading/giving crime stories at Easter; you could make this your motivation for picking one of your Cadfael WIP to work on. The convoluted connections would entertain me. *giggle*

Your comment about the girlish looking Arthur-actor made me think of the time I went to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Twelfth Night: there was something strange about it and eventually I realized that one of the male roles was played by a woman. I never understood why. It was only one of the roles, and she was dressed as if she was a man, so it just didn't make sense to me. They were probably trying to be avant-garde and/or there might have been some deep reason for it, but I never got it. It just kept being slightly off, and it disturbed my enjoyment of the performance. I did see another Shakespeare play with women playing male roles (and vice versa). That was an amateur group performing Romeo and Juliet: all the Capulets were played by women and all the Montagues were played by men. That worked really well, and I thought it was a very clever way of making it instantly obvious which of the characters on the stage were part of which family with the small means available to the theatre group. Sometimes I just don't understand what the casting people are thinking, though. For example: Hugo Weaving as Elrond? Really? Yes, he is a great actor -- I have seen him in other things and he plays many different roles and does it well -- but he is not beautiful. And elves should be beautiful, even unearthly so, in Tolkien's Middle Earth. < /rant> Sorry, that is a pet peeve of mine.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I rather liked Weaving as Elrond once I got over the shock. It might have been trying to make the point that he's half elven and might age differently than pure elves?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I absolutely despised Weaving as Elrond. I still do. But again, there's precious little that I actually liked in the LOTR films.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I do remember that I have other, more substantial objections to the LOTR films: the Ents needing to be tricked into going to war and Faramir being changed beyond all recognition to name two. However, I have read the books so often -- and reread them every time after watching one of the films when they came out -- that in my head I just edit the films to match up with the book. The one thing that isn't so easy to fix in this way is who plays Elrond.

I did have a conversation with a colleague once where I said "That isn't how it really happened" about something in the films; my colleague made some comment about the books not being "real" either...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

People nearly beat me up during TTT. I watched it with Mum and a friend, and at every five minutes, my friend and I were moaning: "That isn't how it should be! What are these freaks doing?"

And then the Elves arrived at Helm's Deep, Haldir made his grand entrance, and Mum asked in the innocence of her old heart: "Tell me, is that bloke actually gay?" Loudly. It was an epic moment.

Yeah, Faramir was my pet hate, too, aside from Denethor and his absolutely undignified death, and the horrid exorcism scene at Meduseld, and Saruman being a silly old hippie with a bad manicure, the Wargs that didn't look a bit like wolves, Pippin, who did look like an ugly old woman, Éowyn who was such an anorexic wallflower that by rights she should have collapsed under the weight of her mail shirt, the Barbie Elves in Lórien, Gimli cheapened to comic relief, and... and... and...

And don't even let me start on Frodo. Whenever he rolled his eyes back and fainted, Mum commented scathingly: "Did that little idiot keel over again?"

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

There were a lot of things I found very hard to take about the films, but Faramir & Denethor were the things I absolutely couldn't tolerate. Two of my very favourite characters, completely trashed.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Watching the LOTR films with you sounds like great fun! My family went to see them in the cinema and when we came out of TTT both my sister and I had identical reactions along the lines of "How could they do that to Faramir?". For reasons that aren't important the two of us ended up going to see it again with my aunt and her family; before going we warned my aunt that there were changes in the film that we found upsetting, without giving details. Her first comment when we got out was "They wrecked Faramir!"

I was never particularly fond of Denethor, so his death scene didn't affect me as much. The exorcism scene at Meduseld was horrid though and I will never forgive them for using Gimli for comic relief. However, as I mentioned above I only notice these things as I am actually watching the films, because as soon as it is not right in front of me my brain edits them to show the events as they appear in the book. Therefore the actual look of the actors playing the characters are more important to me than how they portray the character and what random completely pointless plot changes the film makers have implemented. Having said that though, I didn't much care for how Elrond was played in the film. I attributed this to them changing his character and making him more snobbish and superior than I think he comes off in the book. He does for example acknowledge that even if he sent one of the Elf warriors of old to go with Frodo this Elf would not be able to get him into Mordor by force.

I thought one of the best casting choices was Samwise. He looked like a proper hobbit in my mind. Boromir was good too, but he was never a favourite of mine.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

It might have been trying to make the point that he's half elven and might age differently than pure elves?

I am afraid I don't feel charitable enough to entertain that theory, though it is a good one I suppose. Except then how does one explain Arwen? She is definitely described as the most beautiful female Éomer has ever seen, and Gimli lets him make that claim even against his candidate of Galadriel.

On the other hand it always irks me when a woman gets a role simply for being beautiful; I think actors/actresses should be able to act. Possibly the main reason I can't reconcile myself with Weaver as Elrond is that I watched the Matrix films concurrently with The Lord of the Rings. Weaver was just so marvellously good a playing the thoroughly and unapologetically evil Mr Smith.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Weaving wasn't only ugly as Elrond, he was also horrible as Elrond: stilted and unnatural and a poseur. Not half as bad as Arwen, of course. She with that overbite and the strangely jerking corner of her mouth, whenever she attempted to speak Elvish. IMO, Liv Tyler not only can't act to save her life, she isn't really beautiful, either. No matter how thick the make up has been splattered all over her stupid face.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

The only Elf I really liked was Blanchett as Galadriel (when they didn't go the cgi stuff on her).

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yep, the moment she went radioactive was really creepy. But I didn't like her to begin with, either. And I absolutely hated Celeborn. No offence against Márton Csókás (I ought to support him, he's a fellow Hungarian, after all), but he's the last person I'd cast for the role of an Elf. A Haradric chieftain, yes, but not an Elf.

I cast him as Isabeau's OC, Andrahar, IMO he would be wonderful for the part, but he was a horrible Celeborn. And as Mum has very succintly realized, Haldir was a pouf.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I don't particularly care for the look of Liv Tyler either, but I have learnt that my opinion of beauty in women does not generally coincide with the mainstream.

It may indeed be the case that part of what I don't like about Weaving-as-Elrond is how different he was in the film compared to the book, not just in looks but in deeds and words. He really came off as a stuck-up besser-wisser in the film, with none or little of the grace, wisdom, and deep compassion for all living things that I felt he had in the books.

Hmm, all this discussion of LOTR is making me want to re-read the book. Damn it, I have far too many books to read for the first time on my list! *points to icon*

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Glad you're feeling so much better :) I think often the best bit with stories is the earliest planning stages before the plot is fixed or the words start to go down on the page. The least fun bit for me is the end. Often it just feels like hard slog when all the magic of the story has already gone.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's true. Starting a story is magic. Finishing it is slave labour. ;)

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it feels like pinning an insect to the page. (Thought experiment only.) It struggles & wiggles & flutters but as you put the final words down it dies.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

True again. And what a delight that final moment is!

[sbs-01.livejournal.com]

Though I may not comment often enough, I just want you to know that I adore your Torchwood fictions. I hope we will get to see some more of them in the future.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

No worries, there will be three more chapters (plus an epilogue) of "Everything Changes", plus the six parts of "Eye Witness" that will be posted one chapter a week to otherworlds_lib before I'd run out of already finished stuff. :)

And then I can turn back to "Atlantis Café" and the Merlin/Torchwood Crossover, which also ought to be finished within reasonable time. *sighs*

[artemis10002000]

Mwahahaha, I knew that the Sea Flower prep work wouldn't leave you alone *grins* I'm so glad I'm not the only one so easily distracted World building is just too addicting! (I oftentimes find it more fun than the actual writing, which involves a lot of work and being disciplined, but that's just me I guess!) And how does that go, every person is capable of doing every job as long as it isn't the job you're supposed to be doing...

As for deciding which WIP to work on next, do you have a personal preference? One which you really feel like working on? I think working on something which you feel passionate about would be the better choice than working on something just because you feel it should/would be quickly finished.

You can be proud of yourself for having done so much despite being sick!

Tell me a bit more about that Camelot? Is it a movie, a TV series? Effeminate Arthur doesn't put me off at all - I'm an otaku, after all, so effeminate male characters are completely normal for me XD

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

This is Camelot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot_(TV_series)). According to one of my fellow Antigwennites, "Camelot sucks big time: lots of gratuitous naked bodies, lots of violence". I can't comment on it, as I haven't seen anything else but the trailer and some screencaps, indeed with naked bodies.

What Wikipedia writes makes be believe that it is somewhat closer to the Arthurian legends than "Merlin" - but I think it would lack "Merlin"s unique charme. I'd give it a chance if I could, but it's highly unlikely.

What's an otaku, BTW? Me, I absolutely hate effiminate male charactes (that's why I was so disgusted by the Lórien Elves in the LOTR films), although I'm not into muscle-bound idiots, either. I guess a rejection of extremes comes with my venerable age, eh? To be honest, though, any young actor would have a damn hard time to sell me a young Arthur after Bradley James.

Yep, world-building is the best part of the whole creative process. It allows you to play. Actual writing is hard work. I'm about to update the "Sea-Flower" spoilers of edhellondawards and will type up a short scene from a later chapter that I wrote yesterday. Hope you'll enjoy it.

As for which WIP to pick up next - to be perfectly honest, I don't feel like working on any of them at the moment. So I may just waste a few days with letting my mind wander. Perhaps the muses will figure out between themselves (via arm-wrestling or whatever) which one ought to be continued next. Even if I'll have to work like a slave afterwards. *sighs*

[artemis10002000]

Ah, I see, looks like it's done in the style that is so popular with historical TV series currently, with lots of sex and gore. See Rome, Tudors, etc. Apparently, no one can enjoy history anymore without the history being interrupted for an explicit sex scene every five minutes *sigh* If I can get my hands on it, I reckon I'll give it a chance. Thanks to these aforementioned shows, I've become used to ignoring the gratuitous sex and gore, so it shouldn't bother me anymore.

Otaku is a term for fans of anime and manga (which can be insulting or neutral, actually, it depends.) Many anime and manga, though not all, have a large number of effeminate male characters. It's one of the staples of the genre.

*nods* Taking a little break from writing until you actually feel excited about one of your projects sounds like a good idea. If you force yourself to write only because you feel you should be writing, you'll end up with crappy work anyway and then spend twice as much time whipping it into shape.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, apparently "adult" means gratutious sex and violence - not the expectation that viewers would be able to follow an intricate storyline or enjoy characterization or a good plot. Gah.

Anyway, new Sea-Flower stuff + updates are posted to edhellondawards for your viewing pleasure. I'll post an update alert here later, but now I have to go and watch "Richterin Barbara Salesh" *ducks from flying rotten tomatoes.

[artemis10002000]

Cool! What with my father arriving tomorrow, I don't know if I'll get around to commenting on Sea Flower stuff and Everything Changes 09 before the middle of next week, but rest assured I have it bookmarked and won't forget about it.

Haha, there will be no flying rotten tomatoes from me - considering my own cracky fandom obsessions, I'm in no position to point fingers ;)

*nodnod* Yeah, it is very frustrating with the sex and violence. I mean, they're welcome to put all the sex and violence in there they want, whatever helps with the ratings and thus keeps my shows alive, I just wish it wouldn't eat up so much valuable screen time. Especially when there are plenty of interesting plots which they don't get around to exploring because there is no time left.

[jsks.livejournal.com]

glad you are feeling better.
agree about camelot not very impressed by arthur. being a cadfael fan i am happy to see sean again.
love your torchwood and as i have a night off after the new who i will be checking out your other works.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I was very impressed by Sean Pertwee, even though he didn't actually have the looks of Hugh Beringar. At least he was closest to the right attitude, IMO.

The Cadfael series, having read the books cover-to-cover several times, was quite the disappointment for me. I think Sir Derek Jacobi was not the right choice: he did a good job, but he's simply too refined for an ex-crusader who makes a living of growing herbs in a cloister garden. And some of the plot choices were outrageous, especially what they did to "The Sanctuary Sparrow". All in all, the first season was the best.