Monday, August 25, 2014

A time you thought about ending your own life

My apologies, this isn't going to be a deep, meaningful post. This is a writing prompt I found on Pinterest.
Also, this is the third time I rant about something I deeply dislike. What can I say. I write about what makes me mad. If I am really happy about it, I tell the world in real life. If I'm really unhappy, I put it here where no one I know finds it. If you don't know me, for the love of a donkey, please tell me why you are reading this?!?!!
So, a time I thought about ending my own life. Or, 'my life' as it should be put since who else's could it be?
The first thing that springs to mine is during part two of The Hobbit movie.

Ooooh, Peter Jackson, I lied when I said I thought about ending my life while I watched it (even though the world is so much worse now that you've visited that atrocity on it). I only thought about ending yours.
Forgive the foulness in the picture. Courtesy of 9gag. Ahem. It's how I feel, alright?
I don't go to the cinema very often so it's always a special occasion for me. On top of it, this was my long awaited Christmas present to myself and I truly wanted to enjoy it. I very, very nearly walked out. Over and over again my legs tried to override my manners (I was there with friends) and save me from the heart-wrenching, puke-inducing horror that was before my eyes but I kept telling myself that it had to end, that I owed it to my fangirl inside to find out what else had been done - and oh-so-bloody-conspicuously not done so I merely clapped a hand to my forehead in an effort to assuage the grief and shock and prayed it wouldn't get any worse.
I've been a major fan of Tolkien since I devoured his books at age 14. I memorized the poems and my favorite passages. How many people do you know who could quote Quickbeam's lament? See, I bet you don't even remember who Quickbeam is! I learned phrases in Elvish and Dwarvish (I still know what to yell in case I ever charge into battle with an double-bladed axe). I spent hours reading up on the making of the movies, LOTR trivia, quizzes, and all sorts of things Middle-Earth. The Yahoo! email that I still use to this day is the names of two flowers that feature in some of my favorite scenes.
Enough of those fascinating and unique details though. What I wanted to say was that I loved the LOTR movies. Yes, they deviated from the books plenty, they cut out heaps, added tons, blah blah blah...I still think they were close enough. Say what you like, at least they did not make a mockery of the book as The Hobbit does.
Peter Jackson? What the hell happened?

Sunday, August 24, 2014

The four-chord song...but with books (and yes, it's eight points)

Book rant. Beware.

Oh, also spoilers.

Just stayed up till 3:10 am to finish reading Me Before You. That's less impressive when you know that I do that any time I have a gripping book that's under 400 pages, but still. I certainly liked it, but honestly, I feel a bit jaded from reading/watching all these mushy love stories where
1. financially challenged, plain and/or clumsy, not-good-at-anything girl with likable qualities and one thing or other and that makes her stand out meets
2. insanely rich, incredibly good looking, standoffish (frequently arsehole) of a boy with mega personality issues
3. they don't get along
4. some event (usually involving her standing up to him and asserting herself in some way) breaks the ice
5. they slowly evolve into friends - he puts his arseholery in check, she learns all sorts of things about herself (usually at his insistence)
6. they find themselves at some special (usually romantically themed) event/location, get intimate
7. have a falling out of some sort, are all depressed without each other
8. get together and live happily ever after OR have a "tragic" ending

The earliest story with almost exactly these plot points that I can think of is Jane Eyre (although Pride and Prejudice fits the bill pretty closely too) and the most recent one I've read is Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.
Twilight
About a Boy/Hugh Grant movies. Ahem.
Nearly-Weds
I did enjoy reading the book, but I just knew he was going to do the deed in the end even though I clung to the hope that the author might decide to suddenly spin things around. It was just one of those books where touching as it all was, the author was trying to make a statement about what she believes and it came through pretty clearly. 
I'm so sorry, you're not going to want to discuss books with me any more if I'm just going to lay into them and be so terrible but ever since the fateful week when I read all five of John Green's novels (starting with the Fault in Our Stars which I HIGHLY recommend in both book and movie form - although book first - you'll thank me), The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (movie STRONGLY recommended, book was kind of a dark, troubled, confusing teenager's mind) I've looked at YA literature and these "deep" romancey novels in a different way. Btw, free life tip: don't ever overdose on YA lit. You come out thinking something is wrong with you for not having had all the same feelings and friends and experiences as the protagonists and hating everyone in the demographic the books were targeted to.
I watched an old Sean Connery action movie with a friend earlier this evening. He couldn't believe the way I picked every point of the movie apart, from nobody thinking of easier ways to get the guards out of the way while they robbed the safe, why did that hardened criminal panic and flee blindly instead of using his practically legendary skills to escape, to how unrealistic it was for someone to strangle another guy with one hand from an awkward angle, etc etc.
I've done the same with books for quite a while now. I pick apart the way the choice of words and how predictable the plot is. I hate, hate, hate the bland, weak, 'every man' characters that one is meant to relate to and the 'dreamy, perfect' ones you are meant to aspire to be in a relationship with.
Expect more, people! Your brain deserves better. You need better!
If an author can't do better than that, read someone else until they can.
I could rant forever but enough said.