DISQUS

If I let myself get started, I'll go on for ages, so aside from agreeing with Kelly that Breaking Dawn read like horrid fanfic, all I can say is that I hated it. I don't hate the series because of it, but I am also on my way towards forgetting that Breaking Dawn exists. I'm going to drown my sorrows over character betrayals and hideous plot points in something I'm sure I'll like. I'm thinking either a Kelly Link short story collection or The Perks of Being a Wallflower. But from here on out for me, the Twilight series ends at Eclipse.

Horrid fanfic, yes!

You know, I had an awesome conversation on presidential politics with a friend last night and he pointed out the one thing I always tend to forget when big elections come around: who are the undecided? He grew up in a conservative farm community and I spent many summers in Mormon country, so we can see the division on issues and we can respect while disagreeing (not necessarily understanding), but I realized last night that how people remain undecided seems to be more of an issue. We keep hearing about how polarized the country is politically, but if this election will rest on the shoulders of the undecided, what issue will make them decide? Or are they looking for the man or woman most likely to be their friend? Or are they looking for the right charm or smile? I just desperately want to know who these people are so I can understand how their decisions will be made.

But I guess, as a Californian, there's a part of me that has given up on the presidential worry, and I've hunkered down with the worry about equal rights. Californians decided against same-sex marriage before, and now I just worry that we haven't changed enough in the eight years since Proposition 22. I remember being in college at the time and ashamed of my state, and I hate being ashamed of my state.

For all of my bitterness on various weird science and health and safety issues, I am sticking with Fringe because all frustration vanishes when Mr. Jackson appears. It's his voice, I don't know why, but I love his voice. Although, Fringe does tend to just remind me that I miss X-Files.

I am finally here. And my conclusion is that one's opinion on New Moon likely depends on what one sees in it. For instance, I discovered that Edward actually irritates me to no end. And I loved that we got Jacob, I'm thrilled that we got Jacob. Although, after thinking it over more than once, I'm guessing my affection is because he is the good guy who gets ignored, he's just a friend who won't compare to the romantic pretty boy, and as someone who has been the "just a good friend" in a few situations, I get him and love him for it.

However, Bella Swan is almost too irritating for me to continue. I get the pain of a broken heart, I get the emptiness, but the girl is suicidal. Maybe she wasn't intending to die when she jumped off a cliff, but she gave up in the water. And it's that lack of caring for everyone else that makes me slam the book shut. I knew girls and know women who were(are) so invested in the romance in their lives that they forget everyone else, but a third of the time, Bella claims not to be that person, but then Edward is mentioned and she's the same whiny girl that makes me want to scream. She's two people and they don't fit together, and for that the first-person narrative gets to me, because she's lying to us. I could try to claim that she's an unreliable narrator, but she's been presented to us as the opposite. And this is what I would discuss with Meyer at the moment because I know that if we were reading a third-person narrative, we'd have the same conflicting versions of Bella. In many ways, I think Meyer likes Bella too much to be honest in her treatment. There's the Bella who has the sincere exploration of Jacob's role in her life, but then there's the Bella who forgets him the moment she hears Edward's name, and those two don't mix, which makes the "treaty" just false. She misses the boy she's sucking the life out of, but not enough to give up the boy who she'd have to give up everyone else to be with. And I've hijacked your blog and I'm sorry and will disappear now because, well, I could go on for ages about my issues with Bella. But, Yay! Jacob!

I'm going to confess without shame (because I used to feel shame at this confession) that I was thoroughly uninterested in books when I was between the picture book stage and the age of 12 (when I discovered the new Nancy Drew books, and every attempt at the old Nancy Drews was pathetic). I think nine-year-old me was enthralled with My Little Ponies and the Barbie motorhome we got at a garage sale. Plus, my research reveals that I was also likely about to watch The Princess Bride, Harry and the Hendersons, Mannequin, and Labyrinth on video, and Babette's Feast was about to win an Academy Award for best foreign film, so my movie obsession and moderate Danish pride was about to emerge. Aside from Mannequin, I'm not ashamed of that movie obsession.

Wait, that's how LYSes get trunk shows? They just ask? Hot damn. Now, does one ask all of one's LYSes or just the one most likely to take one's request into account?

Oh, and I swear to god, the Fall issue looks like perfection. I looked at it and had to tell everyone who knows I crochet, including those (my sister) who don't care about crocheting except to say that my yarn takes up too much space already.

Yeah, well, I didn't move on to New Moon. I already have a difficult time with teens (although I love the Buffy teens), so a break was needed. But it's sort of like a festering scab right now. I so desperately want to dive back into the addiction, because of the high I remember, but I'm worried that I'll stumble out scathed because of how I felt by the end of Twilight. But I'm not reading your review, I want to, but I'm being good until I finish or give up.

And the chocolate festival was highly overrated. Although, San Francisco was oddly sunny, and therefore stunning if not in the Tenderloin.

A couple days late, but that's your fault because while at an airport far too late in my work day on Tuesday, I bought Twilight and can barely get myself together enough to make tea in the morning (or get to work for that matter). (It's your fault because I had been staring at the book with what little hipster contempt I can muster, and one more reference to it being addictive did me in, because I'm not a reader of vampire stuff, for whatever reason. And of course with leaning on Vampire Weekend for music, I feel like a bigger traitor to my non-vampire stance. [By listening to Vampire Weekend I am also proving that I am latecomer, and no longer anything like a hipster, I am the 30-year-old in a club full of drunk 21-year-olds.])

Non-jargon phrases I love to use at work because they get reactions: "hunker down" (I think it's the way it sounds) and "diddle fart" (my dad's phrase and completely inappropriate, and perfect for the latter reason).

It's Always Sunny... is wildly inappropriate and utterly brilliant. I loved the first season (it was a bit toned down back then), and in the second season they just dared people to look away. In fact, while sitting here trying to ignore my need to finish Twilight, and wanting to finish knitting a hat (to finish making something, anything), I've realized that the only thing that could pull me from Twilight would be It's Always Sunny... God I love those folks.

At least it's Friday and I'm going to the Chocolate Festival on Sunday. Although, by that time I will have finished Twilight, bought the next book, decided that none of my friends deserve baby or wedding blanket gifts and I should spend all of my time reading, and will become that sad girl who can only talk about Twilight while surrounded by luxurious chocolates. It's all your fault.

On the topic of post-apocalyptic fiction: I once had a thorough discussion with a friend on why post-apocalyptic writing is actually rather hopeful. Or maybe it was dystopian literature being hopeful, I can't remember now. Either way, if one ignores the issue of the grand theme that life sucks in those particular genres, the fact that they are written almost implies a warning, which in turn implies hope that perhaps something can be done, and furthermore a hope that people can be better. Or maybe that's how I choose to see it, being an optimist trying to explain why I'd rather read Brave New World than the contemporary (non-genre) novels available.

I need to read The Road desperately, but I'm shockingly behind on all of my reading. It's second in line at this very moment.

Well said.

Another similar experiment that I just discovered is The Guild, which although done on a much more outsider track, I would bet that Season 2 will be a tad more insider what with Felicia Day probably getting recognized for being more than a maybe-slayer.

As a whole, I love the idea behind something where one's support actually means something as opposed to being dwarfed by a $155 million take at the box office (although, I do wish that "Serenity" had been able to do that, and I did love "The Dark Knight"). Where the change from lunch could actually help create something you love and want to be a part of.

But maybe I have soft spots for the Whedons (aside from Charlie Kaufman, who else would create characters with names like Dead Bowie and Fake Thomas Jefferson?), Mr. Fillion, Mr. Harris, and newly Ms. Day.

I love Diamond Age, although, I will admit that it takes a bit more patience than the average SF and a lot of trust. It's the trust issue that seems to stop a lot of people, because you have to trust that the author is going to explain that you don't get in that initial chapter. And if you haven't been initiated in that sort of trust, it's hard to give in.

Apparently, I'll have to try out Dan Simmons if he uses poetry as a basis for a book.

I'd recommend SF that no one wants to think of as SF: The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (this one inspires a tremedous sense of love whenever I think about it, but I think Ishiguro is sublime).

And on the more traditional front:

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (although the subsequent Ender books are a bit preachy, but my dad loves the subsequent Bean books)

Anything by Octavia Butler because she was super cool.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm...Kate Wilhelm remains super cool.

And my favorite dystopian novel ever: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. (I liked 1984 well enough, but I fell head over heels in love with Brave New World, a love that has survived fourteen years now.)

I've been slogging through a lot of mediocre SF lately, which has depressed me, but since everyone else loves it, I'm wondering if maybe I just don't connect with SF anymore.

And although I am reluctant to mention that Harlan Ellison got me back into SF in college, I will say that he did, even though his recent behavior makes me want to hang my head in shame after admitting as much. But his Alone Against Tomorrow story collection makes me want to forget his recent indiscretions.

Then, if you are willing to jump ship and venture towards the reason why some folks refer to science fiction and fantasy as speculative fiction, the short story collections by Kelly Link.