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You've made some changes since the virus caught you sleeping
Okay. Things I have done in the last couple of weeks that have not stressed out my life.
In my latest quest for fanfiction of quality, read the first volume of Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and rented Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly (1996). The first of these I liked immensely, such that I am now looking for the next volume; the second didn't quite focus as I think it was intended to, but at least I have now seen John Malkovich and his Jekyll and Hyde were quite acceptable to me.
Also rented Jim Henson's The Storyteller (1987), about which only good things can be said. I'd seen two or three episodes before with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spectre_general and his wife, but I sort of went on a bender and watched all nine episodes in a night: fortunately, it is impossible to overdose on John Hurt. The number of random character actors who populated that series impresses me. I even spotted Jason Carter—I frankly hadn't thought he'd ever been anyone other than Marcus Cole.
Met some friends in the Yale Bookstore for a few minutes of random browsing, only to discover a five-actor reading of a local playwright's retelling of A Christmas Carol was in progress near the magazine racks; I came in around the Ghost of Christmas Present and stayed to the end, and had a very nice conversation with the actor who had played Scrooge (and who looks like a character actor from the 1930's) afterward.hans_the_bold more or less had to drag me out, because the bookstore was closing, but we repaired to HGS and watched The Hunter (1980), which features Steve McQueen in his last role and a very young LeVar Burton as a supporting character. Yes, of course I watched Reading Rainbow religiously as a child.
Rented The Corpse Bride (2005), because I am under the general impression that I need more Tim Burton in my life, and loved it. I have now had "The Remains of the Day" stuck in my head for over forty-eight hours.
Caught the last third of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) on television, which reminded me again that quite possibly the character for whom I feel the most sympathy in the entire trilogy is Admiral Piett. I had not realized, however, that he has such a fanbase. This is actually kind of awesome.
Had sushi tonight with a friend who is a divinity student, and conducted a conversation about trinitarianism, grace, and salvation without exploding. Also, tempura-fried ice cream.
The story I'm writing forgreygirlbeast's Sirenia Digest has mutated: I thought it was first-person futuristic, but it seems in fact to be third-person steampunk. Yeah. No recent influences there. Excuse me while I blame Nikola Tesla.
In my latest quest for fanfiction of quality, read the first volume of Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and rented Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly (1996). The first of these I liked immensely, such that I am now looking for the next volume; the second didn't quite focus as I think it was intended to, but at least I have now seen John Malkovich and his Jekyll and Hyde were quite acceptable to me.
Also rented Jim Henson's The Storyteller (1987), about which only good things can be said. I'd seen two or three episodes before with
spectre_general and his wife, but I sort of went on a bender and watched all nine episodes in a night: fortunately, it is impossible to overdose on John Hurt. The number of random character actors who populated that series impresses me. I even spotted Jason Carter—I frankly hadn't thought he'd ever been anyone other than Marcus Cole.Met some friends in the Yale Bookstore for a few minutes of random browsing, only to discover a five-actor reading of a local playwright's retelling of A Christmas Carol was in progress near the magazine racks; I came in around the Ghost of Christmas Present and stayed to the end, and had a very nice conversation with the actor who had played Scrooge (and who looks like a character actor from the 1930's) afterward.
hans_the_bold more or less had to drag me out, because the bookstore was closing, but we repaired to HGS and watched The Hunter (1980), which features Steve McQueen in his last role and a very young LeVar Burton as a supporting character. Yes, of course I watched Reading Rainbow religiously as a child.Rented The Corpse Bride (2005), because I am under the general impression that I need more Tim Burton in my life, and loved it. I have now had "The Remains of the Day" stuck in my head for over forty-eight hours.
Caught the last third of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) on television, which reminded me again that quite possibly the character for whom I feel the most sympathy in the entire trilogy is Admiral Piett. I had not realized, however, that he has such a fanbase. This is actually kind of awesome.
Had sushi tonight with a friend who is a divinity student, and conducted a conversation about trinitarianism, grace, and salvation without exploding. Also, tempura-fried ice cream.
The story I'm writing for
greygirlbeast's Sirenia Digest has mutated: I thought it was first-person futuristic, but it seems in fact to be third-person steampunk. Yeah. No recent influences there. Excuse me while I blame Nikola Tesla.
no subject
I think it certainly tips the audience's sympathies: when the rebels die, we know they have faces. But the stormtroopers might as well be robots, or pieces of scenery, so to kill them carries no charge of murder. It's not so much that the emotional impact is blunted as that it falls only on one side.
The more human black-helmeted troops in Brazil were something of a reaction to that, apparently.
I still need to see Brazil . . .
no subject
I guess Lucas tries to rationalise it by making them clones in Episode II. It provides for a creepy bit in Episode III, but I'm still not sure it was worth it.
I still need to see Brazil . . .
I think it's a brilliant movie, although there is a lot of contention on the subject.
no subject
They're not still all supposed to be clones by A New Hope, right? Because that utterly doesn't work.
(So what was the creepy bit?)
no subject
I'm not sure. The movies kind of avoid answering that question.
In the "Extended Universe"--or stuff writers came up with for Star Wars things other than the films that are still licensed by LucasFilm, and which I know a bit about because I'm that much of a nerd--I seem to remember that clones were gradually phased out. I also remember one of the books describing a psychic connexion between all the stormtroopers and the Emperor which made them a sort of like zombies. It's all a little up in the air. The fact that, in the newest special editions of the original trilogy, Lucas dubbed in the Jango Fett actor's voice for Boba Fett but not the troopers seems to support the idea that they're not clones.
The starwars.com stormtrooper profile (http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/stormtroopers/) also doesn't describe them as clones. While the clone trooper entry (http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/clonetroopers/index.html) seems to suggest that stormtroopers are clones. The Expanded Universe section is somewhat helpful by implying that the original troopers are a mix of clones and "birth-borns".
(So what was the creepy bit?)
Aw, I don't wanna ruin it for you.