Discourse and Desires

Finally! Since I started my semi-but-not-quite-a-marathon Battlestar Galactica marathon last Saturday, I have successfully watched all the episodes from Season 1 through 3.

~phew~

Altho' somehow, I got the discs mixed up and had watched the last disc of Season 3 in the about 3 discs too early. So when I got to the season finale, I kept thinking, "I already saw this." Now instead of believing I messed up, I thought maybe the story was about to do some cosmic loop-de-loop time thingy and waited with eager anticipation for the Big Bait-and-Switch™. Alas... that was not to be; I just messed up. :giggles:

Still, it was a good season, except for a few things that drove me crazy. ( Collapse )
I guess now I need to watch what I've missed of Season 4 somewhere online.

Now on to the disturbing...


They're making a sequel to Donnie Darko.


For reals, yaw'll.


There aren't words...


... well, there are words, but they're not very lady-like; so I shall refrain.


Moreover, the Richard Kelly, the original writer and director, has nothing -- absolutely nothing -- at all to do with the sequel. Smart move. I shall not be watching this. Nope. GUH! And that title! What the hell?!!


Anyway... back to playing fic-catch-up. I've loads of time today set aside for reading.

:Reminder: If you are receiving a double-post of this in your friends page, please let me know. It means that I've forgotten to unfriend you at house_illrepute when you friended gabe_speaks. Thanks! Now... on to the matter at hand.

Okay, I had posted earlier about books that have defeated me. By that, I mean that they had a great premise and had piqued my interest. But for some reason, I just... couldn't finish it. Something about it weighed me down to the point to where I just had to put it down.

The defeat part? Well, you keep trying to finish it, namely because you still want to finish it. So you try...


... and try ...


... and try ...


... and eventually, you just have to give up on it.


I've recently come across several books that have been like this. These are the two books that have defeated me, and I either truly gave up on it, or I downloaded the audio book in the hopes that someone reading it to me would help.

So let's start, shall we?

First up? The über-boring ( Collapse )

Larson has two other real-life type books out.

I'll pass, thank you very much.

The other book (series, really) is considered by most a classic. I read some of Orson Scott Card's ENDER series and while reading Ender's Shadow, he mentions Isaac Asimov—specifically, the Foundation Series. He went on and on about Asimov's Hemingway-like writing style, which made me wonder how one could build a rich world without a lot of flashy adjectives or adverbial phrases. So I considered it homework.

I trudged through Foundation at a snail's pace... ( Collapse )

By the time I checked out the sequel, Foundation and Empire, I had little patience for that style. Oh, and his crisp clear writing style apparently was thrown out the window for the sequel. Oh, ( Collapse ) And I hadn't even finished the book.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

So you can chalk up Asimov's Foundation and Empire as another book that has defeated me.

The final book was something that had interested me to no end. ( Collapse )

I finally downloaded the audio book, much like I had done with Larson's monstrosity, only to be doubly bored out of my fuckin' skull. Seriously. I've had the download for about two weeks—and it's not very long, either—and I still haven't finished it.

There are other such similar books like Kaku's. Physics of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Physics of Superheroes, Physics of Super Villains, Science of Dr. Who. But I've been turned off by Kaku's dry-as-burnt-toast delivery and doubt I'll pick up those titles any time soon. Pity, too.

So... those are the three books that I've been defeated by recently.

I know some of you have already answered the question already, but for those who haven't, do you have any such books that have defeated you in a similar fashion?


Addendum: Oh, speaking of downloading books. I've downloaded Cassandra Claire's City of Bones audio-book for shits and giggles. I never read anything but a few paragraphs whilst in bookstores, but I never bought the book. I just recog'd the name from H/D fanfiction. Will report.

 

I tried the whole 'looking-down angle' and eventually had to use a reference to help with perspective. But I still rather like it; I like his smirk.

Click the preview pic to be taken to my content journal, where you can see the drawing in its entirety.

Here's a little pre-slash Colin/Oliver that I've been working on to get back in the swing of writing.

Title: The Return
Pairing: Colin/Oliver (Eventually); Implied Oliver/Marcus
Prompt: Inadvertent Investment
Rating: PG
Word Count: Approx 1275
Summary: Four months after the Final Battle, Oliver resumes visiting a bed-ridden Colin, who has been comatose since nearly dying while defending Hogwarts from Voldemort. One Creevey is glad to see him; another Creevey is most certainly not.
Author's Notes: Pre-slash for now, but this sets up the post-war lives of both Colin and Dennis Creevey, as well as the growing affections of one Oliver Wood. Unbeta'd -- forgive (and point out) any mistakes, including Welsh geography. Written for rarepair_shorts
Link to Prompt Table: Link

Preview: There was a fair bit of irony found in Oliver’s coming to Flintshire on such a regular basis, considering whom he had been ignoring for the six months. But with each visit to his former lover’s namesake, the sting of that nasty break-up had dulled, until he could barely remember the many sleepless, rejected nights. Was that why he continued his periodic visits to the Creeveys? Was there something else that motivated him? Or had Colin simply become an inadvertent investment?

[ More At My Content Journal ]

Okay, well... not so much madness, but...

Let it be known that I'm double-posting this to both house_illrepute and gabe_speaks. You may have received a de-friending message by me. Don't be alarmed; I don't hate you. I'm defriending people that have already friended the new account (gabe_speaks) so that you don't receive double postings when I update. I'll be double-posting for about the next 3 weeks or so and then I'll be dropping house_illrepute for good. So if you haven't already friended gabe_speaks -- and you still want to be privy to my nonsensery, and me yours -- then waddyawaitin'fer?? ;-)

Similarly, if you're already friended the new journal and are receiving double posts, let me know and I'll correct the issue.

Now, on to other things...

There's some music videos I want to share with you; namely, some acts that you may or may not have heard that have really moved me for one reason or the other.

The first is Clueso. He's German and sings in German... and he's gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous -- tho' he could stand to eat more. I first got turned on to him by another friend who asked me to interpret his lyrics for the song Keinen Zentimeter. And since he -- Clueso -- was cute, of course I searched for other stuff. So, there are two videos of his under the jump at the bottom of the entry. The great thing is: he writes and composes most of his music. So he's not just a pretty face. Mmmmh, but that face...

Next up is Lightspeed Champion. First off, how could you not like someone with that name??? He's British, he was a drummer for another relatively popular band -- tho' not over here -- and he's of the stock that writes catchy, cute music... but with disturbing lyrics. "Guzzle it down/My neck with burn/As we kiss and I'm sick/In your mouth/Lick my open wounds/and add some ice/then choke on my sick vice/"... Wow. Seriously.

If you have any music recommendations along the lines of what you hear under the jump -- or even if they're nothing like what I'm presenting here -- please don't be shy. Rec away! I've a 4GB iPod Touch that is filled to the brim with Beck, Prince, Police, Tori, Nikka Costa, and other stuff... and I'm already sick of 'em... ;-)

Need. More. Music. I'm particularly into the nu-folk and folktronica stuff, at the moment.

Seriously. I downloaded the album (I know, I know -- shame), but loved it so much I ordered it from this local store that can get imports. An amazing album, if you can get your hands on it. There are two videos (the one quoted and another) also posted under the jump.

Finally, I've gotten back into Djing. That whole scene -- the former rave scene -- is addictive. It's hard to pull away completely, especially when club music is at a point where it's evolving into new, fresh sounds. I'll be up in Detroit at the MOVEMENT festival, formerly Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF). Any one on my flist in the Detroit area? The fest used to be free so I used to tell people just to meet me there and hang, but now it's $40 for a weekend pass. Not bad if you're down for that music -- the talent there is AMAZING -- but too much to just casually show up. Plus... I'll admit it... I'll probably be well-gutted... and I'd hate for anyone's first Gabe sighting to be me drunk as a skunk, tho' it would be bang funny. I expect lots of shens. Lots. Of. Shens.

Oh, and I have homework for you lot: I want you to think of novels that have defeated you. And by that, I mean novels that had a wonderful premise, novels that you wanted desperately to finish reading, but simply couldn't move past a snail's pace until you finally just... gave up. Well... I've stumbled on to three books that have done that to me recently, and I want to talk about them next time.

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Enjoy!

Hey everyone!



Just letting everyone know, I guess. I've missed you all. The times that I was able to log on and lurk made things worse, really. So many stories updated that I couldn't really read, so many things I wanted to say on yaw'll's journals... it was damn near torture! A lot of you would randomly send me messages via email, even knowing that I may not read it for awhile and may not be able to respond to them. I don't want to name names, in case I forget someone, but you know who you are! And just know that the notes of comfort and well-wishes and I-miss-yous really did help. I love you all utterly!

Also, I'm open for Beta Business! If you have something, especially (but not limited to) if I've beta'd for you in the past, then send it on over. Don't expect miracles; I'm a bit rusty. Any pairing will do, really, as will any fandom from Buffy to Harry Potter to Torchwood. If you've a 21-chapter story that's due tomorrow, yeah... no. But you know... (relatively) short chappies, one-shot drabbles, things like that.

Also (part deux), I'm closing this journal, I think. I really hate that underscore. Well, I don't really hate the underscore; I'm just bitter that I had to use it in lieu of the word 'of' because houseofillrepute is too long for LJ to accept. Moreover, I don't want to give LJ any more money than I already have, so instead of changing the name, I just set up a new account. gabe_speaks.

I'll keep this journal going for awhile, to make sure all my friends know about the transition. But I'd like to close this by mid-May. If you're a friend now, I'd really like for you to remain one. So... you know the deal. Friend me!!! I'll make brownies. ;-P I don't know if I'll create a new fiction account... maybe I'll make an all-purpose creation journal, because I'm wanting to get back into icon making and drawing (and maybe delve into coloring and inking what I draw, too) -- I really enjoyed those drawing stints that I did.

I'll be re-tooling the AS/S fic that I'm doing, because I daresay I wrote myself into a corner with it. But I'm not gonna start posting it until it's done... or damn-near. In fact, that's going to be a new resolution, if you will.

Okay, so ... that's it, I guess! I hope everyone is doing well. I'll be perusing my f'list later tonight, I think. I have more to talk about, including school life and my semi-professional life, so be on the look-out for that.



Addendum: Man, it felt good -- really good -- deleting that "On Hiatus" post!

Firstly, hello all! ~waves~

Secondly...

Taken from MSNBC

"If RDR's position is accepted, it will undoubtedly have a significant, negative impact on the freedoms enjoyed by genuine fans on the Internet," she said. "Authors everywhere will be forced to protect their creations much more rigorously, which could mean denying well-meaning fans permission to pursue legitimate creative activities."

We thought FANLIB would be the test by which fanfiction would face its greatest challenge.

Apparently it's from Rowling, herself -- and a source we've all used with much vigor.

Now, obviously, I don't want to be the Harbinger of Dooooooom(!!!) here, but it does look (according to some IP lawyers I know), that the Lexicon is more than likely to win... and that probably means that fanfiction will be looked at next. That last part is not their professional assessment, just my own paranoia. But what the fuck else could "denying well-meaning fans permission to pursue legitimate creative activities" mean?


Original source: MSNBC.COM


On a personal note: I've a feeling it's not much longer now. She doesn't talk any more; her eyes are rarely open.

See you lot, soon.

... is that the price of oil is so high nowadays.

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Everyone is doing these wonderful "how I write" entries lately, and really, when you're in such wonderful hands as furiosity, pushdragon, pir8fancier, minisinoo, calanthe and others, you can rest assured that you're in good hands. There's is little to nothing li'l ole Gabe can add to the mix that wouldn't simply be recapitulation of their ideas, only stated much less eloquently.

But Gabe must talk about something, right? Heaven forbid he just keeps his mouth shut and... oh, I dunno — WRITE SOMETHING FOR GOD'S SAKE?

So I decided to write about my beta'ing process, in case any one was interested.

Might as well, right? I mean, you have people talking about how they get their ideas, organize their ideas, present their ideas... but there's that missing process between creation and presentation that I think deserves a little bit of mention, no?

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That's it, in a nutshell — albeit a rather long-winded nutshell. Good God, man! Where's my beta!!?!?!?!

!!abusing_sarcasm!!