tag:dreamwidth.org,2017-01-02:2705209Freckles & DoubtWith my mastery of narrative structure I should be ruling the cosmos by now.Freckles & Doubt2020-10-12T10:21:24Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2017-01-02:2705209:986456just another brick in the wall2020-10-12T10:21:24Z2020-10-12T10:21:24Zpublic5I woke up spontaneously at a quarter to five this morning, which means it must be a random day ending in "Y", and bugger insomnia, anyway. Since I am functionally incapable of getting back to sleep once I've woken up, I did the usual, which entails stealth!tea (the plumbing in this house makes loud, weird noises in the neighbour's roof if you don't switch on taps strategically and in carefully-observed patterns, so obscenely early tea-drinking requires care) and climbing back into bed with two cats, a mug of Earl Grey and the Ipad, whereon I am currently reading Kindle books because the screen is larger. And I had just randomly bought the new Naomi Novik, which is called <b>A Deadly Education</b>, and which I thereafter read cover to cover in a giant, ravenous gollup between 5am and 8am, at which point I exhaled, muttered "She's so good! she's so fucking brilliant" in slightly resentful tones, and staggered off to work.<br /><br /> (Parenthesis: staggering off to work is so much better when it's literally staggering into the study to switch on the computer, and does not require dressing, driving, brushing one's hair or actual coherence).<br /><br />I completely adored Naomi Novik's fairy tales, <b>Spinning Silver</b> (Jewish take on Rumplestiltskin; brilliant) and <b>Uprooted</b> (really dangerous darkly magical forests, also wizard's towers; brilliant). I also completely adored <b>A Deadly Education</b>, which is what you'd get if you crossed Lord of the Flies and the Hunger Games with A Wizard of Earthsea and executed the result with considerable verve in the mode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer while flipping a giant Up Yours over your shoulder in the general direction of J K Rowling. Which is to say, it's a very dark magical school story about what happens when both magic and magical education are carnivorous and predatory. <br /><br />It's also about power and privilege. Everything Naomi Novik writes is about power and privilege, she's actually an extremely and deceptively political writer. She also did Napoleonic wars with dragons, remember? You are so busy being charmed by her tough, pragmatic protagonists that you don't notice the politics until it's socked you between the eyes with a brick. (She also severely does crossovers, apparently, which I suppose is logical enough given the fan fiction.) I was not so half-asleep this morning that I could not detect that this dark magic school story is also a more than somewhat searing critique of capitalism.<br /><br />Anyway, I recommend <b>Deadly Education</b>,if you don't mind your school stories with a side order of death and really nasty politics. In addition to the politics, it has really interesting people. I am now more than somewhat slavering for the sequel. Sigh.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=freckles_and_doubt&ditemid=986456" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2017-01-02:2705209:975717Day 2: a meditation on contemporary narrative rot2020-03-28T16:10:32Z2020-03-28T16:10:32Zpublic2A morning's spirited house-clean has revealed the nasty little collection of reproachful half-watched DVDs littering the TV cabinet, all of which I have abandoned between half an hour and an hour in. A brief rundown: <br /><br /><b>Solo: A Star Wars Story</b>. I am unable to get past my profound lack of interest in the incurably bland protagonist. Also, this appears to be following the <b>Jumper</b> principle of simulating a plot with a random mix of disconnected elements rather than actually writing one.<br /><br /><b>Aquaman</b>. I think this particular superhero may actually be as cursed as popular comics-geek contempt holds it to be. The considerable charisma of its lead actor is not sufficient to overcome the rote and plastic construction of its narrative, or to make me actually care about his fate or that of his frequently beautiful underwater city. Some striking visuals, though. <br /><br /><b>Prometheus</b>. The dull, heavy plod of this gradually pressed me further and further into the sofa by some kind of lead weight infusion, I'm just lucky the last flicker of life leaving my failing form was sufficient to spasm my hand on the "stop" button on the remote. <br /><br /><b>Annihilation</b>. I darkly suspect this is a very good movie, it certainly has a phenomenal cast and is beautifully shot, but in retrospect starting this on the first night of lockdown was injudicious, isolation is not a good context for its particular mix of tension and gore. I may need to temporarily shelve this until we're not all plague pits and I can rustle up some consenting adult to hold my hand through it. Although there is a non-zero chance that you'd look down at the hand you're holding and realise it's mutated into something revolting, so maybe not.<br /><br />I am preventing myself from abandoning <b>The Witcher 2</b> a couple of hours in, its combat system and generous sprinkling with really horrible people is rendering me depressed and homicidal. Also, its punch-up minigame is an abomination unto Nuggan, I hope the neighbours didn't misinterpret my screams of rage. It's a pity, I hear good things of the third game in the series and am becoming attached to Geralt, grumpy thing that he is. I may persevere, it'll probably be good for the soul.<br /><br />The Cabinet of Half-Watched Reproach also includes Vi's copy of <b>Home</b>, which in sharp contradistinction to the above was an unalloyed delight that I watched right through to the end without pause, cheering. Wonderful little movie, beautifully written and animated, intelligently critical of fairly specific current cultural paradigms, and incidentally also makes a bunch of Tumblr memes suddenly comprehensible. Contemporary narrative rot is not, after all, at 100%. Thank the gods.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=freckles_and_doubt&ditemid=975717" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments