pet peeve: I read out of preference, not desperation, thank you very much.

So, I'm one of those people who ALWAYS has a book on them, and pulls it out to read every chance they get.  Now, you'd think the fact that a person carries a book around in their bag and pulls it out to read for a five minute wait would be a good clue that they like to read, but apparently not.  I don't know how many times, at work(either on the phones or in my current job) or at the dentist or doctor's office or anywhere else, I've been sitting there reading a book and had something along the lines of this happen:

random person:  what are you doing?
me:  reading
RP: oh, is it good?
me:  yup(short exposition on book if asked)
RP: so, do you like to read?  
inner me: *well, I carry a book around with me at all times and I haven't closed the book to talk to you, just stuck my finger in it while I look up...*
outer me:  yes, I love to read
RP:  Oh.  *few moments silence, nose is reburied in book* So anyway blah blah blah blah...
IM: *nnnnnnoooooooooooooo*
RP: blah *nothing to do with me* blah blah *can't open book cuz it'd be rude even though this is so irrelevant to me that I can't even feign interest and they knew I had no interest when I started* blah blah...  *short silence*
IM: *thankyouthankyouthan-*
RP:  And you know blah blah...
IM:  *sob*

It's not that I DISLIKE talking to people(most people) It's just that I don't get the point of talking just to have noise, and I consider reading to most definately be "doing something" as opposed to the "not doing anything" people see when they see someone reading.  I get that not everyone looks at reading as something fun, much less as a preferred passtime, it's just that it's almost always something completely random, and usually something about their personal life(when I barely or don't even know them...that part is another thing altogether when I DO know them) or something that I can't even remotely imagine where the topic came from, and it almost always ends up being one sided because the "two way" part of the consersation only means "yes" and "no" type replies on my part...

(not caused by anything today, or even really recently or anything, just popped into my head today...I always sit by mostly the same people at work now, where it used to be the worst, so they know me and reading)

pet peeve: I read out of preference, not desperation, thank you very much.

So, I'm one of those people who ALWAYS has a book on them, and pulls it out to read every chance they get.  Now, you'd think the fact that a person carries a book around in their bag and pulls it out to read for a five minute wait would be a good clue that they like to read, but apparently not.  I don't know how many times, at work(either on the phones or in my current job) or at the dentist or doctor's office or anywhere else, I've been sitting there reading a book and had something along the lines of this happen:

random person:  what are you doing?
me:  reading
RP: oh, is it good?
me:  yup(short exposition on book if asked)
RP: so, do you like to read?  
inner me: *well, I carry a book around with me at all times and I haven't closed the book to talk to you, just stuck my finger in it while I look up...*
outer me:  yes, I love to read
RP:  Oh.  *few moments silence, nose is reburied in book* So anyway blah blah blah blah...
IM: *nnnnnnoooooooooooooo*
RP: blah *nothing to do with me* blah blah *can't open book cuz it'd be rude even though this is so irrelevant to me that I can't even feign interest and they knew I had no interest when I started* blah blah...  *short silence*
IM: *thankyouthankyouthan-*
RP:  And you know blah blah...
IM:  *sob*

It's not that I DISLIKE talking to people(most people) It's just that I don't get the point of talking just to have noise, and I consider reading to most definately be "doing something" as opposed to the "not doing anything" people see when they see someone reading.  I get that not everyone looks at reading as something fun, much less as a preferred passtime, it's just that it's almost always something completely random, and usually something about their personal life(when I barely or don't even know them...that part is another thing altogether when I DO know them) or something that I can't even remotely imagine where the topic came from, and it almost always ends up being one sided because the "two way" part of the consersation only means "yes" and "no" type replies on my part...

(not caused by anything today, or even really recently or anything, just popped into my head today...I always sit by mostly the same people at work now, where it used to be the worst, so they know me and reading)

anime: Gungrave: finished

So, I'm so glad I ignored the person a few years back who told me this sucked and decided to check it out(though, come to think of it, every anime he praised I only "liked well enough" but the other 2 anime I watched he hated I also loved...)

I covered most of the pertinent parts in my other post, so I think I'm just going to babble a bit about Brandon/Beyond the Grave(as he's called after being reborn)

( brandon )

And on the Harry front: were it not for the fact that he was doing it to scare a 13 year old, I'd say you have to admire a guy who, after the Damsel in Distress rattles off a list of his crimes against her, points out a major one she forgot.  Also, considering that she watched almost everyone she knows get killed off in front of her, I think we needed to see Mika a few years down the road, just to make sure she came through all that, you know, sane...

anime: Gungrave: finished

So, I'm so glad I ignored the person a few years back who told me this sucked and decided to check it out(though, come to think of it, every anime he praised I only "liked well enough" but the other 2 anime I watched he hated I also loved...)

I covered most of the pertinent parts in my other post, so I think I'm just going to babble a bit about Brandon/Beyond the Grave(as he's called after being reborn)

( brandon )

And on the Harry front: were it not for the fact that he was doing it to scare a 13 year old, I'd say you have to admire a guy who, after the Damsel in Distress rattles off a list of his crimes against her, points out a major one she forgot.  Also, considering that she watched almost everyone she knows get killed off in front of her, I think we needed to see Mika a few years down the road, just to make sure she came through all that, you know, sane...

Happily N'ever After

Happily N'ever After is the latest(to my knowledge) entry in the retelling Fairy Tales with attitude movie trend...you know, Shrek, Hoodwinked, Ella Enchanted, endless TV movies and minis, etc.  I loved the first Shrek, really liked the story but hated the animation on the second, I adore Hoodwinked, I liked Ella Enchanted, I love 10 Kingdoms and have found a variety of the other fairy tale TV movies and miniseries to be likable enough, but I have to say, much as I love the subgenre(and we aren't even  getting into Fables, Lullaby or Castle Waiting, as they're all comics, much less all the novels...) but it's entirely possible that the trend is starting to wear itself out.

HNA is set in a fairy tale world where, by keeping the scales of good and evil perfectly balanced, good always wins and all stories end happily.  Of course, this set off my trouble meter less than 5 minutes in, as, if the scales are perfectly balanced, how the heck does good manage to always and unconditionally win?  Moving on...the wizard in charge of keeping the scales balanced decides to go on vacation, leaving his two apprentices in charge just as the latest Cinderella's story is about to take place.  Ella, of course, is hopelessly in love with the local prince, a nice but utterly useless fellow, while RIck, a ckitchen boy, is hopelessly in love with Ella.  On the night of the ever so famous ball, the Wicked Stepmother(voiced by Sigourney Weaver and by far the best part about the movie) overhears the two apprentices bickering over the scales(one accidentally almost got the frog prince eaten by fooling around) in a tower and, when she investigates and finds out what's about to happen, kicks the apprentices out, steals the wizard's staff and tips the scales in the favor of evil.  Thinking that only a true hero(read: prince) can save them, Ella sets off to find the prince, who the stepmother sent away, and Rick sets out after Ella.

The movie is amusing enough, but is very much a "because these are popular these days" piece.  I doubt I'll remember much beyond the stepmother being kinda cool and the animation reminding me of the 7th King's Quest game(I think the 7th...the one where Rosella goes to the other world and gets turned into a troll and her mother follows her to save her) which is a point in it's favor.  Part of the problem is that Ella's supposed to be strong and sympathetic if all about the wrong guy and Rick is supposed to be brave, clever and snarky, but Rick has maybe 2 good lines and both characters really just seemed shallow and petty.  And the apprentices, while amusing, were pretty generic.  At only 80 minutes, it's no loss to watch it, and it's amusing and diverting enough, but, ehile not bad, there's nothing great or exceptionally stand out about it.

Oh, and Sarah Michelle Gellar is anorexic when animated, too.

In other news, it reminded me that I had started watching Shelley Duvall's Fairy Tale Theatre(mostly rewatching so far, actually) last year, but then I got sidetracked by dorama...I should get back to that.

ETA: In the alternate ending, the Prince's name is revealed to be Humperdink.  This raises the movie a notch or two.

Happily N'ever After

Happily N'ever After is the latest(to my knowledge) entry in the retelling Fairy Tales with attitude movie trend...you know, Shrek, Hoodwinked, Ella Enchanted, endless TV movies and minis, etc.  I loved the first Shrek, really liked the story but hated the animation on the second, I adore Hoodwinked, I liked Ella Enchanted, I love 10 Kingdoms and have found a variety of the other fairy tale TV movies and miniseries to be likable enough, but I have to say, much as I love the subgenre(and we aren't even  getting into Fables, Lullaby or Castle Waiting, as they're all comics, much less all the novels...) but it's entirely possible that the trend is starting to wear itself out.

HNA is set in a fairy tale world where, by keeping the scales of good and evil perfectly balanced, good always wins and all stories end happily.  Of course, this set off my trouble meter less than 5 minutes in, as, if the scales are perfectly balanced, how the heck does good manage to always and unconditionally win?  Moving on...the wizard in charge of keeping the scales balanced decides to go on vacation, leaving his two apprentices in charge just as the latest Cinderella's story is about to take place.  Ella, of course, is hopelessly in love with the local prince, a nice but utterly useless fellow, while RIck, a ckitchen boy, is hopelessly in love with Ella.  On the night of the ever so famous ball, the Wicked Stepmother(voiced by Sigourney Weaver and by far the best part about the movie) overhears the two apprentices bickering over the scales(one accidentally almost got the frog prince eaten by fooling around) in a tower and, when she investigates and finds out what's about to happen, kicks the apprentices out, steals the wizard's staff and tips the scales in the favor of evil.  Thinking that only a true hero(read: prince) can save them, Ella sets off to find the prince, who the stepmother sent away, and Rick sets out after Ella.

The movie is amusing enough, but is very much a "because these are popular these days" piece.  I doubt I'll remember much beyond the stepmother being kinda cool and the animation reminding me of the 7th King's Quest game(I think the 7th...the one where Rosella goes to the other world and gets turned into a troll and her mother follows her to save her) which is a point in it's favor.  Part of the problem is that Ella's supposed to be strong and sympathetic if all about the wrong guy and Rick is supposed to be brave, clever and snarky, but Rick has maybe 2 good lines and both characters really just seemed shallow and petty.  And the apprentices, while amusing, were pretty generic.  At only 80 minutes, it's no loss to watch it, and it's amusing and diverting enough, but, ehile not bad, there's nothing great or exceptionally stand out about it.

Oh, and Sarah Michelle Gellar is anorexic when animated, too.

In other news, it reminded me that I had started watching Shelley Duvall's Fairy Tale Theatre(mostly rewatching so far, actually) last year, but then I got sidetracked by dorama...I should get back to that.

ETA: In the alternate ending, the Prince's name is revealed to be Humperdink.  This raises the movie a notch or two.

A Song of Ice and Fire: random thought on a theme in the books

This is nothing in depth, really, just something I've noticed while reading A Storm of Swords.  I think everything that could actually be considered a direct spoiler was in the first book, but I'll use a cut anyway.

( babble )

A Song of Ice and Fire: random thought on a theme in the books

This is nothing in depth, really, just something I've noticed while reading A Storm of Swords.  I think everything that could actually be considered a direct spoiler was in the first book, but I'll use a cut anyway.

( babble )