Musings of the Obsessive Kind

I have been on a fantasy/scifi kick lately and read a number of fun things:

( Books that aren't Elantris )

I saved the best for last - by pure chance, I stumbled on Brandon Sanderson's Elantris, that rarity-of-rarities, a standalone 'traditional' fantasy novel. The city of Elantris used to house demigods - people who could perform amazing magic with a sweep of their fingers, who glowed and lived almost forever. It wasn't a hereditary thing, either - anyone could become Elantrian - a transformation would happen at night and the person, rich or poor, man or woman, would wake up transformed. However, all of this ended 10 years ago - after a great cataclysm, Elantris fell apart and all Elantrians turned from demigods into pitiful, disgusting, mindless creatures. After initial upheaval, the country transformed and continued on, and Elantris was locked up and abandoned. One problem - the transformation still takes place, still at night, and still taking anyone - only it now transforms them into hideous cursed beings and their fate is to be thrown into the ruins of Elantris, never to be seen again. When the novel starts, Raoden, the Crown Prince, wakes up to discover he has been transformed. His father, too ashamed to admit what has happened, proclaims him dead and has him thrown into Elantris.

The novel follows three people - Raoden, who tries not only to survive the hell of Elantris but both to make sense of what happened and to protect the fellow sufferers within, Sarene, Raoden's wife-by-arranged-marriage (the two had never met), who has been told her husband had died and who stays on to protect the kingdom and counteract the influence of the third protagonist - Hrothden, a highly-ranked functionary of a militant religion intent on taking over the world.

I loved this book! It's clever - with a good plot and solid world-building, but what really got me was the characters - even the tertiary characters come alive, but I fell madly for both Sarene and Raoden (and also Sarene/Raoden), who deal with some majorly heavy stuff while remaining true to themselves. SO VERY GOOD!!! Now I need to read more of his stuff.

I have been on a fantasy/scifi kick lately and read a number of fun things:

( Books that aren't Elantris )

I saved the best for last - by pure chance, I stumbled on Brandon Sanderson's Elantris, that rarity-of-rarities, a standalone 'traditional' fantasy novel. The city of Elantris used to house demigods - people who could perform amazing magic with a sweep of their fingers, who glowed and lived almost forever. It wasn't a hereditary thing, either - anyone could become Elantrian - a transformation would happen at night and the person, rich or poor, man or woman, would wake up transformed. However, all of this ended 10 years ago - after a great cataclysm, Elantris fell apart and all Elantrians turned from demigods into pitiful, disgusting, mindless creatures. After initial upheaval, the country transformed and continued on, and Elantris was locked up and abandoned. One problem - the transformation still takes place, still at night, and still taking anyone - only it now transforms them into hideous cursed beings and their fate is to be thrown into the ruins of Elantris, never to be seen again. When the novel starts, Raoden, the Crown Prince, wakes up to discover he has been transformed. His father, too ashamed to admit what has happened, proclaims him dead and has him thrown into Elantris.

The novel follows three people - Raoden, who tries not only to survive the hell of Elantris but both to make sense of what happened and to protect the fellow sufferers within, Sarene, Raoden's wife-by-arranged-marriage (the two had never met), who has been told her husband had died and who stays on to protect the kingdom and counteract the influence of the third protagonist - Hrothden, a highly-ranked functionary of a militant religion intent on taking over the world.

I loved this book! It's clever - with a good plot and solid world-building, but what really got me was the characters - even the tertiary characters come alive, but I fell madly for both Sarene and Raoden (and also Sarene/Raoden), who deal with some majorly heavy stuff while remaining true to themselves. SO VERY GOOD!!! Now I need to read more of his stuff.

Because Mr. Mousie is a Saint among Men, he babysat Baby Mousie while I went to see Avatar.

Wow.

The storyline itself was basically Scifi does Dances with Wolves but the visuals were amazing - the movie made me feel the way I felt reading scifi under covers when I was 12 - like this incredible new world, as alien as a dream and twice as vivid.

Love.

1. Preview for ep 18 of IRIS:



I am getting really nervous - Hyun Joon seems to be suspecting Seung Hee - if she is a member of IRIS then I will positively die. NO, please please please.

2. I managed to watch more of Will It Snow for Christmas - so ridiculously good, and written in such a way that I can buy the childhood love foundation because (1) they were high-school age, so more likely to stick in mind and also interacted a lot; (2) both went on to be functional and not just fantasizing about the other every night; (3) most important - their relationship was literally life-changing for her, for spoilery reasons, so it would definitely stick in her memory and also - she's basically the one bright thing in a pretty soul-killing life, for him - no wonder he gloms.

Have a yummy yummy bit:



( Larger )

3. Apparently a new trailer for Slave Hunters/Chuno aired after IRIS which has Dae Gil/Hye Won bits - at last! (My shipping preferences for this drama change like the wind - if they show her with Tae Ha, I ship her with Tae Ha, if they show her with Dae Gil, I ship her with Dae Gil. Maybe they should all get together in one OT3 of angst and hotness. Though considering I am already shipping for a drama which won't air for a month, perhaps the less said about me, the better :P). There is...wait for it...piggybacking! Hopefully he left his sword at home at that time :)

ETA: Here it is. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG (((Hye Won)))



4. Because I couldn't get Snow Xmas to work last night, I ended up watching eps 4 and 5 of Innocent Love and much fun was had by all - girlfriend-in-a-coma Junya, beginning-to-remember-she-was-molested Kanon, homicidal-maniac Brother, serial-killer-eyes Choir Girl, euthanisia-happy Subaru, etc.



( Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiip - I defy you not to ship them )

5. And now for the ridiculous: apparently Lee Byung Hun is being slapped with a breach of promise lawsuit by a Canadian woman. Article on Dramabeans. Long story short: LBH dated some Canadian girl, and now she alleges he "lured" her to Korea by promises of marriage but once she moved, stuck her in a house in Seoul and didn't visit her much. I only have three thoughts on this (1) if this is true, all that makes him is a bad boyfriend and, arguably, a jerk (I wouldn't even go that far - people get bored in relationships all the time and walk out). If you could sue a guy for being a jerk, the judicial system would break from overload and die; (2) Bwaahahahahaha - that's subject to a lawsuit???? I thought breaches of promise actions died with Queen Victoria; and (3) Oh, LBH, why on earth do you even need to sweet-talk? I am pretty sure there are scores of attractive ladies who'd be happy to get together with you in exchange for a promise - a promise of a one-night stand :D

6. My Kindle seems to have died :( I need it! I don't post about books much on here because I talk about them elsewhere, but I've been powering through early P.G. Wodehouse (British humorist-novelist and my favorite writer) and I need my fix. I am in the minority where I prefer early Wodehouse to his 'mature' work - the style in his later work gets even more polished and perfect but his earlier books have emotion, and I like that. Can anyone imagine Bertie Wooster with a heart? I am especially in love with "Jill the Reckless" (Jill is awesome, and Wally = love, plus there is all that stuff about play-making and production which PGW knew intimately) but The Intrusion of Jimmy is also a ridiculous delight.

7. crumpeteer's picspam inspired me to check out SyFy's Alice. I liked Tin Man and I generally like riffs on classics. That reminds me, must give "The Looking Glass Wars" a look.

1. Preview for ep 18 of IRIS:



I am getting really nervous - Hyun Joon seems to be suspecting Seung Hee - if she is a member of IRIS then I will positively die. NO, please please please.

2. I managed to watch more of Will It Snow for Christmas - so ridiculously good, and written in such a way that I can buy the childhood love foundation because (1) they were high-school age, so more likely to stick in mind and also interacted a lot; (2) both went on to be functional and not just fantasizing about the other every night; (3) most important - their relationship was literally life-changing for her, for spoilery reasons, so it would definitely stick in her memory and also - she's basically the one bright thing in a pretty soul-killing life, for him - no wonder he gloms.

Have a yummy yummy bit:



( Larger )

3. Apparently a new trailer for Slave Hunters/Chuno aired after IRIS which has Dae Gil/Hye Won bits - at last! (My shipping preferences for this drama change like the wind - if they show her with Tae Ha, I ship her with Tae Ha, if they show her with Dae Gil, I ship her with Dae Gil. Maybe they should all get together in one OT3 of angst and hotness. Though considering I am already shipping for a drama which won't air for a month, perhaps the less said about me, the better :P). There is...wait for it...piggybacking! Hopefully he left his sword at home at that time :)

ETA: Here it is. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG (((Hye Won)))



4. Because I couldn't get Snow Xmas to work last night, I ended up watching eps 4 and 5 of Innocent Love and much fun was had by all - girlfriend-in-a-coma Junya, beginning-to-remember-she-was-molested Kanon, homicidal-maniac Brother, serial-killer-eyes Choir Girl, euthanisia-happy Subaru, etc.



( Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiip - I defy you not to ship them )

5. And now for the ridiculous: apparently Lee Byung Hun is being slapped with a breach of promise lawsuit by a Canadian woman. Article on Dramabeans. Long story short: LBH dated some Canadian girl, and now she alleges he "lured" her to Korea by promises of marriage but once she moved, stuck her in a house in Seoul and didn't visit her much. I only have three thoughts on this (1) if this is true, all that makes him is a bad boyfriend and, arguably, a jerk (I wouldn't even go that far - people get bored in relationships all the time and walk out). If you could sue a guy for being a jerk, the judicial system would break from overload and die; (2) Bwaahahahahaha - that's subject to a lawsuit???? I thought breaches of promise actions died with Queen Victoria; and (3) Oh, LBH, why on earth do you even need to sweet-talk? I am pretty sure there are scores of attractive ladies who'd be happy to get together with you in exchange for a promise - a promise of a one-night stand :D

6. My Kindle seems to have died :( I need it! I don't post about books much on here because I talk about them elsewhere, but I've been powering through early P.G. Wodehouse (British humorist-novelist and my favorite writer) and I need my fix. I am in the minority where I prefer early Wodehouse to his 'mature' work - the style in his later work gets even more polished and perfect but his earlier books have emotion, and I like that. Can anyone imagine Bertie Wooster with a heart? I am especially in love with "Jill the Reckless" (Jill is awesome, and Wally = love, plus there is all that stuff about play-making and production which PGW knew intimately) but The Intrusion of Jimmy is also a ridiculous delight.

7. crumpeteer's picspam inspired me to check out SyFy's Alice. I liked Tin Man and I generally like riffs on classics. That reminds me, must give "The Looking Glass Wars" a look.

(I apologize to those who have friended me for dramas, which is probably most of you at this point, but I am on a scifi kick for bit).

I have decided to resume my rewatch of Farscape, starting with the ep I stopped at last time - Season 3 finale, Dog With Two Bones. Oddly, this was the very first FS ep I saw and it hooked me. Five minutes and I am set to be a blubbery mess.



GUHGUHGUH. This is such an encapsulation of John's worst nightmare (that he will be responsible for the deaths of everyone he loves, and Aeryn above all) but also, I think, the guilt he does feel for what everyone already had to suffer because of him and Scorpius' fixation, above all his fear of causing Aeryn to die (such a mirror fear to Aeryn's fear of having him die - even if in her case she isn't afraid it will be her fault).

Ginormous picspam to come.

We also continued our Firefly rewatch with Our Mrs Reynolds, Jaynetown and Out of Gas (those last two eps are my number two and number one eps, respectively).

Oh, how good it is. And I am not just referring to the kissing in OMR, either :)



In OoG, when Inara doesn't want Mal to die alone - eeeee. But the thing that gets me the most is his asking whether everyone will still be there when he wakes up, at the end. That is the most vulnerable we've seen him.



I kinda wince through the whole ep, at the h/c. (They are good at foreshadowing too - the compression coil that went bust is something Kaylee mentioned as a problem as early as the Pilot).

ETA: And now we finished Ariel and Out of Gas. So much love!

Btw, did I mention my mad love for Simon/Kaylee?

Oh God, I knew it.

I knew it.

Watched Serenity last night and now am busy rabidly reading Mal/Inara fic and plan to spend the evening rewatching the show.

Heh. Firefly is like Farscape for me: I can never have just a little bit, I always fall off the ledge.

Oh God, I knew it.

I knew it.

Watched Serenity last night and now am busy rabidly reading Mal/Inara fic and plan to spend the evening rewatching the show.

Heh. Firefly is like Farscape for me: I can never have just a little bit, I always fall off the ledge.

Mr. Mousie and I had a scifi night tonight. First we (re)watched Serenity for the umpteenth time - God, how I love this movie! The only downside is that watching it makes me so blindingly angry that 15 eps and a movie is all we got and instead we got the patheticness of Dollhouse (Dollhouse renewed, even, when Firefly wasn't. UGH).

Every time I watch it, I also remember going to a midnight screening with a very enthusiastic audience. They reacted throughout but the thing that sticks in my memory the most is the whole theater literally gasping when Simon went down. I remember watching that movie for the first time and thinking Joss was going to kill them all. I know how Wash-lovers felt because at that point I thought if Joss killed Simon, I was going to burn my DVDs. :)

Anyway, the movie is just as awesome as ever, and I must do a rewatch of the show, it's been a couple of years. Interestingly, my favorite characters stayed the same - Mal, then Simon, then Kaylee, then Jayne, then Zoe, then Inara, then Wash, then Book, then River.

Anyhoo, since I posted ton of Mal/Inara stuff every other time I blabbed about Firefly/Serenity (I shipped the two so hard I even wrote fic) this time I bring you a Kaylee/Simon vid instead. The two of them are just such caring unselfish people I am glad they got a happy ending. Or a happy beginning hopefully, which is even better :)



And then we rewatched Galaxy Quest, one of my fave movies as well. Myself and fire_snake saw it in a theater with a geeky audience when it first came out and everyone (us included) laughed so hard I thought someone was going to rupture something.

ETA: I lied. I can't have a Firefly post without mentioning Mal/Inara. One of few fannish things I love more than a good ship is an 80s pop song. So a ship vid set to an 80s song? Score!

Mr. Mousie and I just finished watching The Right Stuff, a 1980s movie adaptation of one of my favorite books, Tom Wolfe's non-fiction account of the first Americans in space and the start of the space program.

I loved the movie, but I think it was more, much more, than because it was a well-made movie. It just touched so many very personal things for me: my love of science fiction and the way I believed when I was a kid in the 80s that when I was grown-up there would be people living in space and space travel. My childhood, childish dream to be a cosmonaut (if Valentina Tereshkova could do it, why not me?), even my near-certainty, when a child, that I would be a sicentist, or lead a life full of hair-raising adventure. But above all, of all these enormous spaceman-type possibilities out there, entirely within reach. The movie made me feel a wide-eyed kid again - it had that sense of excitement. It brought my childhood back to me.

I have no idea how well the movie would work for other people. As I said, its effect on me was tied with so many personal things. But I did love it and recommend it.

Oh, and on a more shallow note, I have such a crush on Sam Shepard's Chuck Yeager - who the movie (and the book) portrayed as the truest test pilot of them all, in a sense - someone who did not go for the space program which did not involve much test piloting even if it involved a lot of glamor, but who stuck to doing what he loved and did best - flying.

And now I need to go read some scifi. Probably Stanislaw Lem.