So, a while back I was taking a trip through my local used book store, and I came across a reasonably priced copy of His Dark Materials. For those of you who don't know, this is a fantasy trilogy by Phillip Pullman which begins with The Golden Compass, which was recently made into a movie. This particular edition had all three books in one volume, so I figured, why not? I'd heard the series compared favorably to Harry Potter, and I'm a big fan of that series, so I decided I'd give it a try.

I have now finished The Golden Compass and gotten a little ways into the second book. I have a couple of things to say. First, this is not nearly as good as Harry Potter. I mean, I wasn't really expecting it to be, but I can definitely see why Harry Potter was such a huge hit and this series wasn't. So far, it's been much harder to get into, and I haven't found myself nearly as interested or absorbed in this series.

The second thing is sort of related to that, as it has to do with the writing. Specifically, the characterization. ( I suppose I should cut for spoilers? )

So, I guess all this is by way of saying, authors, pay attention to characterization! When your characters completely change personality for no reason at all, this is bad writing. Please, avoid this.

Current Mood: cynical

The next time you decide that you want to write some porn, it's probably best if you don't come up with a story idea that results in a story that's nearing the fifty-page mark without any sex.

Sincerely,
Me

Tags: i fail at pwp
Current Mood: bemused

I just discovered Pixdaus, a website where people post and rate photographs (mostly nature photographs). I haven't gotten very deep into it, but I can already see that there are some truly spectacular photos there.

Here
are
just
a
few
favorites.

And there are lots more great pictures there, too.

Tags: links
Current Mood: enthralled

For those of you who might be interested, the Onion AV Club is recapping Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The West Wing, both with reviewers who have never seen the shows before. The Buffy recaps are up to season 3, and the West Wing recaps just started. It'll be interesting to see how these shows are received ten years or so after their time (and, god, has it really been that long? I'm old).

Tags: links
Current Mood: awake

When you see this on your reading list, post a list of five awesome female characters that you love. Optionally, also post a quote from each character.

It's hard to pick just five, and as is typical with these kinds of lists, the answers may be different if you ask me tomorrow, but here are five of my favorite fictional female characters:

1. Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"You've been fighting evil here for three years, and I've helped some, and now we're supposed to decide what we want to do with our lives. And I just realized that that's what I want to do. Fight evil, help people. I mean, I think it's worth doing. And I don't think you do it because you have to. It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."

2. Eowyn (Lord of the Rings)

"But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund's daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."

3. Death (Neil Gaiman's Sandman)

"I'm not blessed, or merciful. I'm just me. I've got a job to do, and I do it. Listen: Even as we're talking, I'm there for old and young, innocent and guilty, those who die together and those who die alone. I'm in cars and boats and planes; in hospitals and forests and abattoirs. For some folks death is a release, and for others death is an abomination, a terrible thing. But in the end, I'm there for all of them."

4. CJ Cregg (The West Wing)

"We have, at our disposal, a captive audience of schoolchildren. Some of them don't go to the blackboard or raise their hand 'cause they're think they're gonna be wrong. I think you should say to these kids, 'You think you get it wrong sometimes? You should come down here and see how the big boys do it.' I think you should tell them you haven't given up hope and that it may turn up, but in the meantime, you want NASA to put its best people in a room and start building Galileo VI. Some of them will laugh, and most of them won't care, but for some, they might honestly see that it's about going to the blackboard and raising your hand. And that's the broader theme."

5. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)

"You said to us once before that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we?"

***

How about you, flist?

Tags: memes
Current Mood: chipper

Thanks to bellatemple, I now have a Dreamwidth account. However, I was quite unhappy to find that someone over there had already taken my username (it looks like one of the DW admins). So, for those of you over at Dreamwidth, the "invisionary" there is not me. This is me.

For that reason, I probably won't be bothering to post over at Dreamwidth. I just wanted to let you all know that if you see an "invisionary" over at Dreamwidth, it's not me.

Last night's Office = WIN.

Sure, there wasn't much of a plot, but the dancing was so much fun I didn't care. Especially Andy and Kelly's dance-off.

And speaking of Kelly, Mindy Kaling is getting her own show. I think this is really cool, not only because Mindy Kaling is really talented, but also because it's nice to see more women and people of color running shows in Hollywood. In fact... has a non-white woman ever helmed a show on a major network before? It has to be pretty rare at the least, so this move by NBC is especially nice to see.

Tags: tv: the office
Current Mood: chipper

Sorry I haven't been around much lately; I've just been really busy. And that is probably going to continue for at least the next few weeks.

However, I thought I'd stop by and throw out a Shakespeare question. This subject came up recently, and I was wondering what those of you who have read this particular play think. I know this question has been hotly debated by scholars over the years, but I'm just looking for your personal opinion, here.

Poll #1382872
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

The Merchant of Venice is a play that is...

Two very different things, obviously.

Tags: polls
Current Mood: rushed

I don't usually like to get political here, but I thought I should pass along a link to an op-ed piece in the Washington Post by David Simon (creator of Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire) about the demise of newspapers across the country and one very disturbing consequence of this: There is no longer any check on police power.

In Baltimore, No One Left to Press the Police

There are all kinds of media organizations covering the national government, but as far as local governments go, there was often just one newspaper reporting on their actions. With these newspapers going out of business across the country, many local governments now have no one watching over them. This does not portend good things for our society.

Tags: links
Current Mood: nervous

Why the bleep was How I Met Your Mother on half an hour early tonight?

I guess that means I won't be catching this week's episode until tomorrow when it goes up on the website. Dammit.

Tags: tv: how i met your mother
Current Mood: annoyed

If you need a good laugh, have a look at what's quite possibly some of the worst writing ever to make it into print.

I'm not sure who to be more afraid of - the author, or the person who greenlighted it for publication.

(Thanks to raedbard for the link).

Tags: links
Current Mood: amused

Very unimpressed by the pilot. It was nice to see Fred and Kellerman again, but I was expecting something at least halfway interesting, and all I got was a mediocre crime procedural.

But then, I was unimpressed by The Train Job, and I ended up loving Firefly, so I think I'll stick with it for now. Hopefully it'll get better.

Tags: tv: dollhouse
Current Mood: blah

I don't care if this destroys my carefully built cred as a connoisseur of great music. But I really love this song.

If you want to share some of your embarrassing musical confessions, feel free!

Tags: random
Current Mood: chipper

Here's a meme, from bellatemple:

When you see this post, post your favorite poem.

( Ulysses, by Tennyson )

Tags: memes
Current Mood: drained

I fail at going to bed.

Have a poem:

Ballad of the Orioles in the Fields

The tall trees are full of sad wind;
The sea water rises in billows.
Without a keen sword in hand,
What's the use of plentiful ties of friendship?
Don't you see the oriole in the hedge?
Seeing a hawk, he tunbles into the net.
The fowler is glad to get the oriole.
A young man is sad to see the bird caught;
He grasps his sword and cuts the net away.
The oriole gets free, he flies and flies;
He flies and flies, upward, touching the blue sky
And down again, to thank the young man.

--Ts'ao Chih (c.a. 192-232)

Tags: random
Current Mood: tired

parcae_lj writes about why he hates the Fluke. I don't have the time or the brainpower to properly respond right now, but I thought I'd pass this along in case anyone was interested. He makes some good points.

---

On a completely unrelated note, pretty much every bit of tonight's How I Met Your Mother was win on just about every level. The relationships and the friendships (I'm really glad to see them doing more with the Marshall & Robin friendship especially) were all given excellent treatment tonight. The only down side was that it was a little weak in the humor department (it was still funny, just not hilariously so), but the rest of it was done so well that I didn't care. Two thumbs up, and here's hoping for more like it.

Tags: links, tv: how i met your mother
Current Mood: tired

Poll #1327249
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

In your stories, how often do you describe the clothes that characters are wearing?

I'm curious about this, because I think it's something I rarely notice when I read a story. And I think clothes are probably something that don't get described as often in fanfic as they do in original fiction, because we have a source to work from, and so we (especially those of us in media fandoms) already have an idea of the kind of clothes a character might be wearing.

It always feels weird when I devote words of a story to describing what someone is wearing, but then again, it feels kinda weird to leave that out, too. I feel like it could be an important part of setting the scene, but mostly I just don't bother with it. Anyway, I'm curious as to what the rest of you writers do. Let me know!

Tags: polls
Current Mood: curious

Meme, from calliopes_pen:

Ask me one fandom-related question in the comments. This can be fandom specific, general, or about fandom/lj stuff/fic writing/etc. in general.

Just one question, please, but it can (and perhaps should) have sub-parts.

Question can be as wacky as you want. Ask me about tv shows, characters, fanfic in general, fandom issues/meta, anything about any of my stories specifically. Whatever you want.

Tags: memes
Current Mood: bored

Happy 2009, friends!

To start it off with something absolutely surreal, here's the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performing "Shaft."

ETA: And here they are performing Smells Like Teen Spirit. You have to admire their sense of humor, at least!

Tags: links, random
Current Mood: amused

I just had a thought - Andy Bernard totally reads Barney Stinson's blog.

Tags: tv: how i met your mother, tv: the office
Current Mood: amused