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[jade_sabre]

1) AH I'M A WEEK BEHIND IN KORRA I need to fix that tomorrow morning before the next episode airs. SO, A WEEK BEHIND.

But shipping-wise I'm pretty neutral (I don't mind the apparent endgame ship but I'm not rabid about it) and so I'm able to just sit back and enjoy EVERYTHING, and EVERYTHING is so freaking awesome. Uh I haven't watched it in three weeks so I don't have anything specific in mind to talk about, but, you know! Korra! WATCH IT.

2) I finally read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which led to a conversation between beth_shulman and myself that led to my realizing this:

So is it sad? Yes. Did it make me cry? Oh yes, though I mostly managed to keep it to sniffles. Did it occasionally frustrate me or seem a bit impossible? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes. In the end, I really like his books--they deeply connect with me on an intellectual level, so while I'm not always emotionally invested as deeply as I might be, I'm definitely challenged and entertained. And this one slipped through and hit some emotional spots too.

If, uh. Any of that made sense. IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU INTERACT WITH JOHN GREEN? It was definitely better than Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I need to reread Paper Towns. I want him to write more kickass female characters. I think that bit above about me saying that I connect intellectually if not emotionally actually is an epiphany for me re: John Green's books. (Like, I didn't really like the main character of Paper Towns all that much, but I LOVE what [John] [Green] [what do I even call him] did with the deconstruction of the woman-on-a-pedestal trope.)

and Beth said I wouldn't say I have very specific taste, but I do tend to like books if they're strong in writing and in characterization, and to me, he isn't strong in characterization. So maybe that's why I keep reading him.

and I thought these were good points. Granted, it's been a very long time since I read a book for fun, and I'm just dipping my toes in the water here, but, yeah, those were my thoughts.

Also reading it I couldn't help thinking about philia_fan especially because Hazel has to drain her lungs and yeah.

3) So I just remembered that finishing TFIOS is why I started watching Big, which is in the process of airing, and despite the fact that it seems to be heading into student/teacher relationship land, she was really only his teacher for like two days, and ANYWAY the student is trapped in the body of Gong Yoo of Coffee Prince fame, and they are not only showcasing his marvelous acting skills but also his post-mandatory-military-service physique. So. You know.

Anyway it's adorable so far and I hope to keep watching it.

4) I STARTED VIRMIRE LAST NIGHT. Yes I am very slowly playing my way through Mass Effect 1. I am enjoying it immensely and I am afraid to see what they change between 1 an 2 but oh well.

Anyway I'm a femShep, although this is the first Bioware game where I have actually wanted to go through the trouble of trying to play a male character for the sake of romancing one of the het female characters. Most of them (Bastila, Dawn Star, Morrigan) I haven't wanted to romance (didn't like, didn't care about, found the female friendship to be so satisfying that a romance couldn't possibly complete), but omg I am in love with Ashley Williams I love her so much. I love her family and her belief system and her tactical analysis and she's a badass and I love her. She is my femShep's BESTFRIEND, although obviously they both understand rank and regulation and all that jazz.

And then there's Kaidan.

For those of you who are skipping this section anyway, here's a comparison of Ashley and Kaidan:
[SCENE: Inside a very fancy tower with lots of decorative water features and plants and impressive staircases leading up to the Galactic Council's meeting chamber.]
Ashley: THOSE STAIRCASES AREN'T JUST DECORATIVE, THEY'RE HIGHLY DEFENSIBLE. THIS WOULD BE A HARD PLACE TO LAUNCH AN ASSAULT ON.
Kaidan: I like the fountain. It's very soothing.

basically I am romancing him because he is SpaceCarth and his voice is so soothing and I love it. I tentatively know why femShep is interested in him (i.e. why it's not one-sided because it is obviously that he just thinks she hung the moon and would do anything she asked), but she's having serious issues with the whole rank regulation no-fraternizing thing. Which is also part of why he's opened up so much to her but she hasn't felt she can reciprocate; all she can do is be quietly attracted. Anyway, at the moment he doesn't seem as damaged as Alistair or even Carth was--I mean, yeah, sad backstory, but it was fifteen years ago--Alistair is young, and Carth's tragedy was fresh. (Other Bioware romances to compare to include Sky--who was just a wimpier version of Carth I thought--and Anders--who doesn't count because it felt less like romancing him and more like manipulating him just for the sake of controlling him did I mention what a horrible person Thistle Hawke really was.)

What else. I like the battle mechanics I think. I LOVE the space travel and I love the Mako the way everyone loves the Mako and I'm SO CLOSE to finishing all the survey quests (side note: Goose finished ALL THE SIDEQUESTS. She only looked at the internet for help ONCE. My sister, ladies and gentlemen, has beaten the game before me).

PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL ME FOR ANYTHING. ANYTHING. I LITERALLY AM JUST BLOWING UP GETH OUTSIDE THE VIRMIRE OUTPOST THINGIE. I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING YET.

5) You know this is my LJ and so I'm going to babble about twinfic for a moment. See, back when I was playing Dragon Age, I had an impossible headcanon character, because I enjoy coming up with that sort of thing, and anyway it was an AU thing where Elissa Cousland was a mage, and so at age five she got sent to the Circle, but since her father is, I dunno, the Teyrn of Highever, her family did come to visit her occasionally and she was allowed to be in contact with them, the idea being that once she passed her Harrowing she would become Mage in Residence at Highever under the watchful eye of several templars, etc. etc. etc. AS IF THIS WAS NOT AU-Y ENOUGH Elissa also had a twin brother named Aidan who grows up normally at Highever. When the Blight started, Elissa got recruited into the Grey Wardens and Aidan escaped Highever by the skin of his teeth, went to Redcliffe, and proceeded to get roaringly drunk and occasionally help fight zombies. Shenanigans ensue in which each sibling thinks the other one is dead, eventually Aidan gets found and recruited to help join the team, Elissa falls for Alistair much to everyone's chagrin, etc. etc. etc.

The point of all that is that I have a history of this sort of thinking, so the fact that while I was figuring out my femShep's name I realized she has a twin sister should not be surprising. The difference here is that I never actually did an Elissa/Aidan playthrough, whereas Emma Jane Shepard totally has a twin sister named Catherine Elizabeth. (Their dad was deployed and their mom named them after Jane Austen heroines.) Both girls are biotics (Emma's a Vanguard), and they both enlisted (or whatever it is you have to do in order to become an officer in the Alliance) and went through training together and all that jazz, and then Emma went off to become a Marine and Catie went into Naval Intelligence, and while Emma went off and became a galactic star, Catie got buried so deep in Intelligence that they ended up wiping her from all official records. Basically, they've got a perfect Shepard analogue that they can send off if they want to and no one would know it's a twin and not the original because even those who know that two of them exist can't tell the difference.

And of course Emma is the ~*~serious~*~ one and Catie is an expert mimic/the outgoing popular one and yes they're almost thirty but WHO CARES, I JUST WANT TO WRITE MISTAKEN IDENTITY FIC ALL OVER EVERYTHING.

NOT EVEN BOTHERING TO CUT, OFF TO SAVE THE GALAXY.

Comments

re: ME1

[clafount.livejournal.com]

So you're completely unspoiled for ME1? I'm kind of jealous actually. I love going into stuff completely blind, but I could never get into ME 1 until I played ME 2 and realized how much I loved the universe.

Personally I think the mechanics improve dramatically in the second and third installments, so I think you'll like it.

Part of the reason I loved the Kaidan romance in ME1 is how understated and subdued it is. There's just something oddly compelling about the restrained emotions going on between them.

also zomg sweet valley high in space! ;)

Re: ME1

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

well i just finished virmire

that was poopy.

poop poop poop.

poop.

Re: ME1

[clafount.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. It's a rough one isn't it? I felt the same way about Ashley. I saved Kaidan but it was so hard.

What did you decide?

Re: ME1

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

i saved kaidan and now i hate myself. but if i were to save ashley i would hate myself.

nothing is beautiful and everything hurts.

/still in mourning

AND HOW IRONIC THAT THEY WERE THE ONLY TWO COMPANIONS I FELT LIKE TALKING ABOUT IN THIS POST

AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH

i want to write fluffy friendship fic to make it all okay but she still dies in the end so it's not okay.

/mourning

Re: ME1

[clafount.livejournal.com]

I know! When you begun by saying "I started Virmire" I was like...oh no.

Re: ME1

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

ALSO after some time spent wrestling with my headcanon about why she picked Kaidan over Ashley I went ahead and completed the romance JUST TO SEE IF IT ACTUALLY DID WHAT I NEEDED IT TO, and it's fantastic--what you said about it being understated and subdued was what attracted me to it in the first place. And like I said, Kaidan's actually pretty stable--traumatic experiences in his past, yeah, but he's grown and accepted them and works as a human being, and he relies on Shepard and she can rely on him regardless of whether or not they can fully express it and that has basically got me hook line and sinker.

(on a side note, my seventeen-year-old has-just-started-playing-M-rated-games sister Goose and I were discussing the romance this morning and MAN it is weird to think of my baby sister playing a character doing the sexytimes. Although to her credit she TRIED TO GET OUT OF IT and then TURNED OFF THE MONITOR WHEN SHE REALIZED IT WAS UNAVOIDABLE. My sister is the sweetest.)

Re: ME1

[clafount.livejournal.com]

Ah haha that's adorable!

In my head canon, Shep chooses Kaidan b/c she can't be sure the bomb would go off otherwise (b/c if she left to rescue Ashley maybe Saren would get to the bomb and disarm it). I didn't think of it myself, but read it from someone else, but I think it works.

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

Granted, it's been a very long time since I read a book for fun, and I'm just dipping my toes in the water here

HAVE SADDER WORDS EVER BEEN WRITTEN?

(Well, yes. But still.)

♥

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Re: Korra
I do have one complaint with the series: Its just going way too fast. Of course I understand why (Its a shorter season, they didn't know if there would be any later seasons, yadda yadda) but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Beside that yes, it is awesome :D.

Yay for pleasure reading! I can do that soon.... finals are almost over.... so close...

[loquaciousquark.livejournal.com]

i am legitimately saddened that nobody else apparently saved Ashley D:

seriously, ANY OTHER ASHLEY-SAVERS 'ROUND THESE PARTS. I mean, Kaidan's great and all, but....Ashley.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

My problem with John Green is that he seems to be doing the same thing. Always asking the same questions like that is the point of it all and not really caring about the search for answers. And that drives me nuts. He is a good writer and I think he did an okay job with a female protag (though the book to me was more about Gus), but I feel like he is caught in this arrested development.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT POINT. My dad and I were discussing this point of yours, and he suggested that perhaps he limits himself to asking questions because he wants his readers to search for the answers themselves? I don't know if I'm fully satisfied with this answer--on the one hand, he is most definitely writing for young adults (e.g. bothering to explain Zeno's paradoxes/introduce the concept of Zeno's paradoxes at all), and so he wants to encourage them to think about these questions because that's not something widely encouraged IN TODAY'S SOCIETY, as they say, but he doesn't want to force them to an answer. And in Hazel's case I could feel him wanting to give Hazel the right not to come to any answers that involve belief.

(because let's be honest the search for answers he's avoiding is the search for God come on people.) (the question is, why is he afraid to approach the God conclusion?) (another question: is this characteristic of his less frustrating to non-theists? if non-theists is too broad, non-religious, then?)

But on the other hand, it is all about questions and people meandering to half-answers that sort of fit what's going on and he doesn't make any progress and that is frustrating.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

I think it probably is less frustrating to non-theists. It is what keeps me from fully loving his books though. I agree that he is probably get kids to ask the questions but I don't feel he is encouraging them to find answers. Just to ask them. I give him credit for at least helping them get half of the way there.

And his lack of progress IS frustrating. Maybe it is all a facade to continue to reach new young people BUT if I take him for his word and it isn't a facade I can only shake my head in wonder sometimes. We are around the same age and I feel he exhibits a kind of arrested development. It is fine for HS students to identify with and find Holden Caufield admirable. There comes a time when you should outgrow him and move on.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

I also wanted to say the first time and forgot that, while I found TFIOS to be better than most cancer books I still felt like emotional manipulation was taking place on a grand scale. I may have thought differently if it had not been released just months after A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. THAT is a book that confronted cancer head on in some different and amazing ways.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

I don't remember if I ever said anything about it on my journal or not, but I tried reading TFIOS and just couldn't do it. The dialogue is, iirc, what finally sent me over the edge. There was just too much hyper-stylized ideal teenager talk for me. And I like John Green. I think I do. I enjoy his videos when I watch. I liked LFA (though I know there are flaws in that book as well) and I plan to read his others.

I wish I could have liked TFIOS, but it was just not my cup of tea, you know?