Yack Yack Yack Yack

[athersgeo]

Good GOD why doesn't he shut up?! (The he in question being my father.) I've reached the point of going "yes," "no," and "that's nice," in the vague hope they're in the right place.

• Writing:
  
  
  
  • Mistletoe and Wine - There's just two or three installments left so the aim is to get them finished off this weekend - Final installment is finished. I now need to work backwards and link it to everything else!
  
  
  • Estranged - I want to get chapter 3 finished and, if possible chapter 4 well started
  
  
  • Soaring Eagle - I want to try and get an installment (or two) done so that I can get this wrapped up this side of the sun going supernova!
  
  
  • The Truth in the Lie - this is the first of my big HL rewrites so it would be nice to get it properly spec'd out if not actually started
  
  
  • Hide and Seek - the rewrite is about two chapters from being finished; I know what has to happen in those two chapters so...
  
  
  
  


• Editing:
  
  
  
  • Mike - Needs a heavy overhaul before I can post it to the ID'verse site - I've had one go through this, but it needs some more work [it was VERY episodic!]
  
  
  • A Thousand Years - Need to give it a once over before posting
  
  
  • Road to Uruk - Ditto
  
  
  • Mercy to Forgive - Ditto
  
  
  • Rocky's Bad Day - Ditto
  
  
  • Family - Ditto
  
  
  • A Wish For Death - Ditto
  
  
  • Freya's Daughter - I still need to finish editing this; I also want to write up a standard query letter and really put some effort into schlepping it around agents and publishers
  
  
  
  


• Arts:
  
  
  
  • Banner images for the Highlander, Other Fandoms and M.A.S.K. sections of the Id'verse website - I've made a start on one of the Highlander ones but I'm still seeking inspiration on it; the other one should be reasonably simple, though...
  
  
  • Format up the next batch of stories for the ID'verse site and post
  
  
  
  


• OU - Get stuck into the Poetry section - I've done an hour or so this morning; more tomorrow


• Cleaning & Tidying:
  
  
  
  • Gym stuff
  
  
  • Bedroom
  
  
  • Mind Body Spirit
  
  
  • Bathroom
  
  
  • Upstairs desk
  
  
  • Car [the annoying thing is, I only washed it last weekend; sadly, either I've been paint bombed or there's some VERY incontinent seagulls around here...]
  
  
  • CDs
  
  
  • Shoes
  
  
  
  


• Other:
  
  
  
  • Deal with the photographs stored on the camera - Liss, Xan, I haven't forgotten that I promised you copies of a couple from Hannah's dedication!
  
  
  • Deal with the duck and bank as appropriate - it's all counted up and bagged; just need to take it to the bank
  
  
  • Book the car in for a service
  
  
  • Find current car insurance certificate
  
  
  • Post book
  
  
  
  

So quite a successful morning, all told. I'm just taking a bit of stock now (and waiting for the windbag in the kitchen to shut up) before I start doing some writing. Need to get quite a bit of this done today as I'll be out most of tomorrow (since the Ford Dealer is on one of the main routes into town, I'm dropping the car off then going to spend the day in town).

And, while his nibbs is still yattering on (why the hell does he think I'm going to care what Alistair Campbell is or isn't putting in his memoirs - unless he's talking the ex-Zimbabwe cricket captain, and I don't think he is, somehow...), I did promise a few more coherent thoughts on Serenity. So...


Serenity. When it first came out, I pretty much couldn't move for people on my flist talking about it and gushing how great/fantastic/wonderful it was. [In fact, if you page back two years, you'll find an entry entitled "How 'Bout That Film" where I actually end up talking Tru Calling instead!] Having it thus hyped, it was pretty much never going to live up to it - and it doesn't.

I wanted to love it. I wanted to join in the gushing praise. I wanted to be moved by Joss' awsome writing and wonderful characters...and I just wasn't. It was just kinda...there. This is partly why I suspect I'll get more from it if/as/when I watch Firefly because just watching it without that, I got almost no connection to the characters. I also don't think it helped that I was constantly being distracted by the subtitles (which my el-cheapo DVD player decided not to let me turn off...)

That's not to say I hate it, or I think it's a bad movie or I couldn't watch it again (point of fact, I watched it twice, once through as it was and then once with Joss' thoughts playing over the top), just that it didn't - couldn't - live up to the hype.

That's also not to say I don't like the characters because I do - some of them, at least. I abso-posi-lutely loved Mal. Out of all of the characters, I thought he was the best drawn and he had the most interesting story and arc in the film and, yes, he is a character I'd love to explore for myself. I also really liked Book - or what I got to see of him, at any rate! In particular, the way he so firmly says "No" when Mal suggests Book ought to tell him about his past sometime (then again, that's a very Joss motife). Inara was also a really interesting character and the way she and Mal sparked off eachother was extremely entertaining. Lastly, The Operative. Second to Mal, I think he was probably my favourite character in the film, and he's another one that I'd like to try and explore sometime. Where did he come from? Where would he go?

Of the other characters, River was interesting in a Druscilla type of a trainwreck (which is not to say the two characters are remotely similar beyond being utterly scrambled in the thought processes) but I didn't really get to see enough of her to form any particular attachment to her. Ditto Kaylee. Ditto Zoe. Jayne kinda had his moments but mostly he just reminded me heavily of Caspian [Highlander] which is *NEVER* a good comparison. As for Wash and Simon...yeah. They were almost just there to make up the numbers.

Again, though, part of this is jumping into the cannon half way through. Maybe I'd have found Jayne/Wash/Simon more interesting if I'd seen Firefly and knew them a bit better. The one thing that surprised me about any of them was that Jayne was *more* intelligent than I'd seen him being written in fanfic - and also vastly more sadistic. I mean "C'mere crazy little person, we're going for a nice little shuttle ride"... Not a really endearing statement!

Overall, it was a decent ride. There are some neat little touches - it wouldn't be Joss if there weren't a few of those - and it's an interesting object lesson on just why a Nanny State is *NOT* a good idea. I enjoyed it - I just wish I could have enjoyed it more.


Knowing how many Firefly fans there are on my flist, I'm sure I'll now get an inbox full of people telling me where I'm wrong!

Comments

[baronessekat.livejournal.com]

I think your summary of the movie is a good one. And yes, I think you would get more out of it had you seen the Firefly episodes.

I'd also recommend getting the novelization of Serenity and reading it. The novelization does a lot to help fill in some gaps and explain things more.

I think Serenity is a good stand alone movie but to really understand the characters you do need to have seen the series.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

Genius icon!

The novelisation as canon is a matter of discussion - I haven't read it myself, but apparently it takes some liberties according to a podcast review (I get not one but two Firefly/Serenity podcasts. I am a geek) and some of the plotlines in the book weren't approved by Joss Whedon.

I adore Firefly and Serenity, and think that you should definitly see Firefly to get a fuller view of the characters.

[baronessekat.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree that the Novelization should not be held as Cannon. But for someone who is not familiar with all the character aspects that comes from watching the Series, it does give a good basic synopsis of the characters and their motivations.

There is nothing like watching the series (I myself have seen each episode at least 40 times) to learn the motivations and backgrounds and quirks of each of the crew members, but for something like Athersgeo is experiencing, it would help a little.

But Rach... get the DVD's and watch them! Ekat says so!

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I'm going to borrow them from a friend (who's offered to loan them to me). If I end up enjoying them, they'll go onto my Christmas list.

I will, though, see if I can track down the novelisation while I'm out and about tomorrow. It sounds interesting - and it certainly can't be as 'bad' as the Star Wars film novelisations (which are so full of purple prose it's laughable!).

Thanks :)

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Vikki's said I can borrow her Firefly DVDs, so I'll see how it changes my outlook :)

[carolynp.livejournal.com]

I make those kind of comments when talking to my mum, or rather when my mum is talking to me about people I never knew and haven't even lived near in 20 odd years as 'you know her, she used to...'

[antigone-ks.livejournal.com]

*infuriated sputtering*

Oh, wait. You've never seen Firefly? Yeah, then the movie probably wouldn't do much for you.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* The thing is, back when it was out in the cinema, pretty much EVERYONE was telling me "Oh you don't need to see the series to get the film" and I thought it was bollocks at the time. Now I know for sure it was. Sure; you can understand and follow the basic plot, but... :) As I've said above, I'm going to remedy the situation.

[euphrosyna]

I haven't seen the series and loved the movie. But I can't remember it at all now. Maybe it would have stuck in my mind more if I had.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

See, for me to love a film, I have to love and care about the characters. I have to think "Oh my God, you can't kill X!" I have to be invested enough to actually forget it's just a movie. And, for me at least, there just wasn't enough of the characters to reach that point.

Maybe I'm just *reeeeeeeeally* picky :)

[euphrosyna]

I invest far too easily. I'm so unbelievably soft that I will care deeply about any character in anything unless something happens to makes me dislike them intensely. It's rather pathetic, actually. I cry at films a lot.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's pathetic at all. In some ways, I wish I could do that because I'm sure I'd enjoy far more films and enjoy them *more*!

[antigone-ks.livejournal.com]

I was probably one of those people. And, well, you did get the film; you just didn't care overmuch about the characters *sheepish*

Watch the series!

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Will do, probably at the end of this week (depending on Royal Mail) :)

And yeah, in terms of plot understanding I was actually quite surprised by how much I *did* get - and to be honest, that *was* what I expected NOT to get while getting the characters.

Heh...

[angel-negra.livejournal.com]

My mother has a bad habit of only thinking of things to tell me when I'm trying to read/write.

As for Serenity. For one thing, nothing ever lives up to the internet hype. Mainly because people love to over dramatize because it's LJ/Net/etc. For another thing, a lot of the fans who were squeeing where most likely part of the big fandom movement to actually get that movie.

I don't know how well you paid attention to the fandom, but after Fox first screwed over the show, then cancelled it, the fanbase really got behind Joss in terms of support. He's said himself that the movie would not have happened without the fans. So it's almost like a big fandom fanfic, except good.

Though the fans are right, you can see the movie without seeing the show first. Because as much as it ties into the show and takes the characters that much farther, it is effectively a stand alone plot. Though if you've gone to see it before the show, don't except the same 'OMG! Awesome!!11' reaction that the show fans have.

I think that if you watch the show, you'll certainly get a few of the other layers of the movie. Especially for the characters you didn't really get into.

Re: Heh...

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

And this is why I didn't buy the DVD full price (it was nearly a third of the regular price when I picked it up!) and why, particularly, I was so adament about not seeing it in the cinema because I knew it *couldn't* live up to the hype, no matter how much I wanted it to. I'm also well aware of the fan movement to get the film made so I do get why everyone was so keen to gush.

I think I was just, mostly, frustrated that Joss had put so much effort into making a plot someone like me could follow but that it didn't match up to the characters and the way they were sold. I mean, he said on commentary that part of the reason to kill Wash was so as to create a sense of jepardy for the other characters in the climax. Trouble is, Wash's fate just made me giggle and my only feeling on seeing Simon get shot was "Oh; didn't see that coming - never mind" (more or less) [Zoe being struck down was just inevitable].

And, btw, as and when I do get to see the series, I have to admit to looking forward to the explanation for your icon...Mal does *not* make a particularly good looking woman...!