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Jun. 8th, 2006 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenI don't know how I found it, or who recc'd it to me (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
linaerys I am looking in your direction, though) but, having finally finished Sex in History, I picked up His Majesty's Dragon this morning for the commute read.
Cue ::giggling madly to self::
It's Hornblower. With dragons. SQUEEEE.
Ahem. Of course, this could change when the action moves off the water and into the dragon-rearing, but but but still! What an opening!
I need this book to have an addendum. I don't care if the author has to like come back from the grave to write one, this book cannot end. It begins to speed up as she gets through the twentieth century, with 1990 being the latest date mentioned and the AIDS crisis as the emerging problem for societal views on sexuality. Her point of view has been remarkably professional and untainted by sexism or bias (as in she neither blames nor commends either sex for the shockingly inequal sexual balance of power in the past millenia) while remaining invariably snarky.
She speaks quite frankly about her skepticism that radical feminism worked/will work (time has proven that the backlash against it has nullified many of the positive steps it took). She puts in this bit at the end where psychics said the future would be free from sexualized advertising (Hello, pyschics, I'm Dr. Who's assistant, and I'd like to take you forward in time to a magical place called "Times Square NYC"), where "conventional" morality would once again reign. I wish she could form a response to these now that twenty-odd years have passed and AIDS is still with us, people still think sexuality used to be less abusively in their faces, and pornography has entered the mainstream. Hell, I want to know what she thinks of the new techonology to distribute porn or of the chat rooms that specifically hook up people looking for nothing more than sex or the fact that more kids are performing oral and anal sex acts to avoid losing "real" virginities because those kinds of sex are not "really sex."
In short, it's a wonderful, illustrative book, which makes some profound assumptions about the evolution of attitudes towards sex and that makes an argument so cogent for why men assumed dominancy in sexual politics (as opposed to, say, the Bible-beaters' belief that men were given the right to dominate women by God) that it made clearer a lot of things that came later (obsessions over lineage, "my" child versus "yours" phenom, essentially). I highly recommend it. I might go grab her Food in History, too, just to see her address the other strong drive in our lives.
And, lastly, I watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children last night. Bzzu-wha? Maybe it would have helped to have played the game to understand stuff, but I doubt it. Most of the plot of VII I've gotten by video gamer osmosis by now, thank you Kingdom Hearts, so I know the relative relationships of Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Aerith, et al. I can figure out a lot by just watching, too, no problem.
Still, monkey says what? Buh-uh? I mean, very pretty, whoop-di-doo, but it's not even that pretty. For certain, I don't think it was as pretty as the animated, pre-rendered scenes from Final Fantasy X, so maybe there's something to be said for indulging in Square-Enix animation in small doses--the longer it's onscreen, the more flaws you see with it. For one--a major one--the lighting. It's dreadful. It's washed out and too bright almost everywhere. They're not obeying rules of shading except for where it's convenient or "dramatic" (as if one more character with only half his face visible through his hair is "dramatic" at this point in anime). There are remarkably real-looking shots of some of the characters when in close up--when the camera backs off to take in scenery, it looks flat because the proportion is off and the even shading makes that worse.
I could harp on about the animation more--when are they going to soften their edges on fingers so they look less like shrink-wrapped appendages?--but it's not worth it. Square's done some great work. Final Fantasy X stands out in my mind as some of the best because of the opening with Tidus and the Blitzball game. It had a million complications in one shot: Tidus with his crazy mop of blonde hair, him also having water spritz rolling down his cheeks, the little lake he was sitting in, the shadows cast by the track lighting, his breathing (Square needs to have its characters breathe more when they're not otherwise active, that might make them a little less stiff). It's by far and away their most impressive shot, and I wish them better luck with FF13 and any future direct-to-DVD videos.
And then there's the plot--that I am allowed to harp on. God, I thought Cloud was annoying emo in Kingdom Hearts. Here, he's worse, and he's doing that silent-struggling loner hero act to the nth degree while also trying to affect a noble-sacrifice-apathetic-tool attitude. Just ain't cutting it. Plus, what're his motives? More stuff I'd understand better if I played, I suspect, but even the summary in the beginning couldn't explain why either he or the three silver-haired freaks were doing what they were doing. It's great that all his friends (how he has any, I do not know) show up to save the day, but why is Bahamut evil? ::wibble:: I wuv Bahamut. Don't make him evil. And, uh, why is he supposed to be evil if he eats the evil guys' creatures? Muh? Does or does not gravity have any place in this world? AH, sooooo stupid.
And that's all she wrote (for now). Wish I had something for writing group.
linaerys I am looking in your direction, though) but, having finally finished Sex in History, I picked up His Majesty's Dragon this morning for the commute read.Cue ::giggling madly to self::
It's Hornblower. With dragons. SQUEEEE.
Ahem. Of course, this could change when the action moves off the water and into the dragon-rearing, but but but still! What an opening!
I need this book to have an addendum. I don't care if the author has to like come back from the grave to write one, this book cannot end. It begins to speed up as she gets through the twentieth century, with 1990 being the latest date mentioned and the AIDS crisis as the emerging problem for societal views on sexuality. Her point of view has been remarkably professional and untainted by sexism or bias (as in she neither blames nor commends either sex for the shockingly inequal sexual balance of power in the past millenia) while remaining invariably snarky.
She speaks quite frankly about her skepticism that radical feminism worked/will work (time has proven that the backlash against it has nullified many of the positive steps it took). She puts in this bit at the end where psychics said the future would be free from sexualized advertising (Hello, pyschics, I'm Dr. Who's assistant, and I'd like to take you forward in time to a magical place called "Times Square NYC"), where "conventional" morality would once again reign. I wish she could form a response to these now that twenty-odd years have passed and AIDS is still with us, people still think sexuality used to be less abusively in their faces, and pornography has entered the mainstream. Hell, I want to know what she thinks of the new techonology to distribute porn or of the chat rooms that specifically hook up people looking for nothing more than sex or the fact that more kids are performing oral and anal sex acts to avoid losing "real" virginities because those kinds of sex are not "really sex."
In short, it's a wonderful, illustrative book, which makes some profound assumptions about the evolution of attitudes towards sex and that makes an argument so cogent for why men assumed dominancy in sexual politics (as opposed to, say, the Bible-beaters' belief that men were given the right to dominate women by God) that it made clearer a lot of things that came later (obsessions over lineage, "my" child versus "yours" phenom, essentially). I highly recommend it. I might go grab her Food in History, too, just to see her address the other strong drive in our lives.
And, lastly, I watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children last night. Bzzu-wha? Maybe it would have helped to have played the game to understand stuff, but I doubt it. Most of the plot of VII I've gotten by video gamer osmosis by now, thank you Kingdom Hearts, so I know the relative relationships of Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Aerith, et al. I can figure out a lot by just watching, too, no problem.
Still, monkey says what? Buh-uh? I mean, very pretty, whoop-di-doo, but it's not even that pretty. For certain, I don't think it was as pretty as the animated, pre-rendered scenes from Final Fantasy X, so maybe there's something to be said for indulging in Square-Enix animation in small doses--the longer it's onscreen, the more flaws you see with it. For one--a major one--the lighting. It's dreadful. It's washed out and too bright almost everywhere. They're not obeying rules of shading except for where it's convenient or "dramatic" (as if one more character with only half his face visible through his hair is "dramatic" at this point in anime). There are remarkably real-looking shots of some of the characters when in close up--when the camera backs off to take in scenery, it looks flat because the proportion is off and the even shading makes that worse.
I could harp on about the animation more--when are they going to soften their edges on fingers so they look less like shrink-wrapped appendages?--but it's not worth it. Square's done some great work. Final Fantasy X stands out in my mind as some of the best because of the opening with Tidus and the Blitzball game. It had a million complications in one shot: Tidus with his crazy mop of blonde hair, him also having water spritz rolling down his cheeks, the little lake he was sitting in, the shadows cast by the track lighting, his breathing (Square needs to have its characters breathe more when they're not otherwise active, that might make them a little less stiff). It's by far and away their most impressive shot, and I wish them better luck with FF13 and any future direct-to-DVD videos.
And then there's the plot--that I am allowed to harp on. God, I thought Cloud was annoying emo in Kingdom Hearts. Here, he's worse, and he's doing that silent-struggling loner hero act to the nth degree while also trying to affect a noble-sacrifice-apathetic-tool attitude. Just ain't cutting it. Plus, what're his motives? More stuff I'd understand better if I played, I suspect, but even the summary in the beginning couldn't explain why either he or the three silver-haired freaks were doing what they were doing. It's great that all his friends (how he has any, I do not know) show up to save the day, but why is Bahamut evil? ::wibble:: I wuv Bahamut. Don't make him evil. And, uh, why is he supposed to be evil if he eats the evil guys' creatures? Muh? Does or does not gravity have any place in this world? AH, sooooo stupid.
And that's all she wrote (for now). Wish I had something for writing group.
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 03:02 pm (UTC)I'm glad you've enjoyed both. Sex in History was fascinating--especially in regards to the rise of the patriarchy.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 03:15 pm (UTC)A number of months ago, when World Community Grid was wrapping up their Human Proteome Folding project and announced their new endeavor, "Fight AIDS @Home" (in-silico testing of how well different compounds bind to HIV protease), there were posts on their message boards asking whether one could opt out of specific projects, because AIDS is just punishment for an immoral lifestyle, blah, blah, blah. The consensus roundly thrashed these posters, but they were there.
That's the sort of attitude that really turns my stomach...
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 03:26 pm (UTC)On the flip side, we should pray for forgiveness for every person we've ever said or thought "deserved" AIDS. No one deserves to die that way. I support the death penalty, and I would not wish AIDS on the worst criminal on death row (and yet, with the rampant unprotected sex taking place in prisons, there are many inmates who already have HIV). We ought to be ashamed that our cultural imperialism condemns people who don't share our good fortune to not be born into a plagued country. We need to find a way to forgive ourselves for not safe-guarding the future generations by teaching them effective means of disease prevention and leaving them in ignorance of what to do when hormones trump sermons (God created the former, too, people).
We have so far to go. I would just love to see that addressed in terms of how AIDS has created new sexual politics (beyond the "stone the carriers of the gay disease" mentality where this book left off). If you're interested, you can check out a recent Newsweek feature on AIDS at 25. It will break your heart.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 03:45 pm (UTC)You do know the author is a rabid fanfic writer, right? She writes fantastic stuff. Much of which is Master and Commander. Which explains a few things. I can give you all the dish this evening.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 04:45 pm (UTC)Anyway. I absolutely adore Temeraire. He has so much personality - something that kind of caught me off-guard, for some reason. I guess I wasn't expecting the main dragon character to be... endearing, of all things? The dialogue Novik gives him is just perfect. "He was very happy to have the cow." *dies*
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 05:51 pm (UTC)Temeraire is a cute name, too :)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 06:58 pm (UTC)It didn't seem to me like they had a whole lot of plot going on there. They just wanted to have pretty computer models do cool things.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 07:16 pm (UTC)And the prettiest things were the glowy trees and Vincent's coat. Other than that, meh.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-08 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-09 05:37 am (UTC)And Hunny...get the game. Seriously...keep in mind its age when you play it, its hands down the best game i have ever played and i am a total geek.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-09 02:13 pm (UTC)I'm sure the story is good, I just never got into FF games before VIII, and, even though everyone RAVES about VII, the graphics are too old looking for me to really get into it. Maybe some time (Carrie has the discs, so I can play whenever) when I am not in the middle of, let's see, four, five? games at once.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 01:19 am (UTC)thats like saying you dont like classic rock because its not as good as the new stuff
or that movies like Casablanca are outdated
*sigh*
no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 05:44 am (UTC)And Cloud is emo in Kingdom Hearts, I almost don't want to know why.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-10 10:32 pm (UTC)Cloud was pretty emo in FFVII but it makes alot of sense, actually i think alot of KH makes more sense for having played FFVII. I tried the other ones but just never got that addicted, perhaps its because i have the attention span of a fruit fly? Who knows?
Well sorry to ba another to jump on the band wagon of OMG you have to play this game...but if you think about it i dont think i have ever said that to you before. I am uber picky about what games I play. I can see where going back and looking at the old graphics would be a let down compared to whats out now. I am willing to bet that all of us who are its personal cheerleading team, are the ones who sat there slack jawed at the graphics when it first came out, and have played it again recentlly for the nostolgic value (except me who cant find it here, but i have hope...)
Besides you will have your hands full next month, Legos Star Wars II comes out. Episodes 4,5,6. That i will nag you to play because its YOUR FAULT we got so addicted to the first one we have this on preorder.
PS> Darryl and I have been waiting for you to go on a tangent about how they made Blade into a TV show...did we miss this? Or did you?