Friday Memeage!

[dawn_felagund]

Firstly, the fannish5 is a goody!

Name five fanfic cliches you hate.

In order to avoid hurting feelings and causing drama (both of which y'all know that I despise), I would like to ask my that my replies be taken more as "Name five fanfic cliches that I generally find overdone and not particularly written to my tastes." I am sure--in fact I know--that there are excellent representations of all of these things but, most often, I find that they do not particularly suit me.

1. Evil!Feanor. Well, considering that I got so angry one day upon reading in a ff.net story that "Maedhros is the true villain in The Silmarillion" that I wrote a 350K-word novel trying to redeem him and his father...yeah, I feel pretty strongly that stories portraying Feanor as unequivocally evil are not generally to my liking. Yes, he can have negative traits--I think it's undeniable that he does--but his character is far more complicated than that, and I tend to feel that it's a rather shallow reading to dismiss his actions as caused simply by his inherent evil.



2. Pansy!Maglor. I think that there is significant evidence that Maglor is one of the gentler of the brothers. But all of these stories that picture him as a doe-eyed pacifist who would sooner wield a harp than a sword...well, I think that this is a selective reading of the text. Very selective. Because he is the same character who participated in three Kinslayings, did not stand aside at Losgar, ruled perhaps the most dangerous realm in Beleriand, and saved Maedhros by slaying Uldor. He is also the only one who--according to the text--strongly considered damning himself to the Everlasting Darkness in order to stop the evil of the oath. That's no pansy, folks; that is shows courage and fortitude that even my precious Maedhros does not seem to possess. And he is the only Feanorian to survive, and he did not do so by singing his way out of trouble. He bore his guilt and the pain of the Silmaril where even Maedhros committed suicide to escape.



3. Feanor Hates His Half-Brothers. Yes, it may have ended up this way, but I don't always think that there was such bitter hatred between them. In talking to someone on Pit of Voles once, she mentioned that her friend thought my Feanor OOC because in "Return to Me," Finarfin mentions that Feanor once jumped in the water to save a young Finarfin from drowning. So this person thought that Feanor would stand and let his baby brother die? I don't think so.
   
   I like nicely developed tension between the brothers even in the early years, but to say that there was unequivocal hatred...ehhhh, not so sure about that. It's not based in canon and seems (to me) more a cheap ploy to create angst.



4. Fading. Not the canon idea of fading--that Elven spirits overwhelm their bodies as they age until they become invisible to mortal eyes--but the popular fanon-based plot of So-and-so "fading" from grief and having to be "saved" by the love of someone else. I've never found canon evidence to support this idea of "fading," and the prevalence of accepting this fanon is irksome to me.



5. The Halls of Mandos = Elven Hell. I've done a good bit of writing ("Return to Me" and an unpublished novella "The Tapestries") on the Halls of Mandos, and I find them a fun place to play that often beg for the introduction of horror elements. However, too many stories put them as some form of Elven Hell or punishment, and I don't necessarily agree with this. And again, it seems a shallow reading designed to manufacture the chance for shameless angst.
   

Next, initially seen at juno_magic and since copied elsewhere: the stupid things meme!

My comments are in orange!

Level 1
( ) Smoked A Cigarette (not after watching my Uncle Wodie die of brain hemorrhages caused in part by smoking)
( ) Smoked A Cigar
( ) Done Weed
(X) Kissed A Member Of The Same Sex (platonically)
(X) Drank Alcohol

SO FAR: 2

Level 2
(X) Are / Been In Love
(X) Been Dumped
( ) Shoplifted
( ) Been Fired
( ) Been In A Fist Fight (no, but my sister has scars from a fight we had when I was 12! :( )

SO FAR: 4

Level 3
( ) Snuck Out Of A Parent's House
(X) Had Feelings For Someone Who Didn't Have Them Back
( ) Been Arrested (I wouldn't have my job if I had!)
( ) Made Out With A Stranger
( ) Gone Out On A Blind Date

SO FAR: 5

Level 4
(X) Had A Crush On An Older Person
(X) Skipped School
(X) Slept With A Co-worker (I married him!)
(X) Seen Someone / Something Die

SO FAR: 9

Level 5
( ) Had / Have A Crush On One Of Your LiveJournal Friends
( ) Been To Paris
( ) Been To Spain
(X) Been On A Plane
( ) Thrown Up From Drinking

SO FAR: 10

Level 6
(X) Eaten Sushi (vegetarian, though....)
( ) Been Snowboarding
( ) Met Someone BECAUSE Of Myspace
(X) Been Mosh Pitting (I've never been moshing or crowd surfing myself but I've been in general admission at concerts where it was the norm!)

SO FAR: 12

Level 7
(X) Been In An Abusive Relationship
( ) Taken Pain Killers
(X) Love(d) Someone Who You Can't Have
(X) Laidn On Your Back And Watched Cloud Shapes Go By

SO FAR: 15

Level 8
( ) Had A Tea Party
(X) Flown A Kite
(X) Built A Sand Castle
(X) Gone Puddle Jumping
(X) Played Dress Up

SO FAR: 19

Level 9
(X) Jumped Into A Pile Of Leaves
(X) Gone Sledding
( ) Cheated While Playing A Game
(X) Been Lonely
(X) Fallen Asleep At Work / School (my five-minute nap in my chair has become part of my routine at work!)

SO FAR: 23

Level 10
( ) Used A Fake / Someone Else's ID
(X) Watched The Sun Set
(X) Felt An Earthquake
( ) Killed A Snake

SO FAR: 25

Level 11
(X) Been Tickled
( ) Been Robbed / Vandalized
( ) Robbed Someone
(X) Been Misunderstood
( ) Pet A Deer

SO FAR: 27

Level 12
(X) Won A Contest
( ) Been Suspended From School
(X) Had Detention (I was given detention in freshman homeroom for saying "word association" during announcements)
(X) Been In A Car / Motorcycle Accident

SO FAR: 30

Level 13
(X) Have / Had Braces (not by choice)
(X) eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(X) had deja vu
(X) danced in the moonlight

SO FAR: 34

Level 14
(X) Hated The Way You Look
( ) Witnessed A Crime
( ) Pole Danced
(X) Questioned Your Heart
( ) Been Obsessed With Post-It Notes (I wouldn't say obsessed, but they do help keep my sanity at the WAU)

SO FAR: 36

Level 15
(X) Squished Barefoot Through The Mud (yesterday...and not by choice!)
(X) Been Lost
( ) Been To The Opposite Side Of The World
(X) Swam In The Ocean / Gulf
(X) Felt Like You Were Dying

SO FAR: 40

level 16
(X) Cried Yourself To Sleep
(X) Played Cops And Robbers
(X) Recently Colored With Crayons / Colored Pencils / Markers (whenever we go to Rocky Run Grill and Tap, I decorate the paper on the tables with Stars of Feanor and Tengwar!)
(X) Sang Karaoke
( ) Paid For A Meal With Only Coins

SO FAR: 44

Level 17
(X) Done Something You Told Yourself You Wouldn't
( ) Made Prank Phone Calls
(X) Laughed Until Some Kind Of Beverage Came Out Of Your Nose
(X) Kissed In The Rain

SO FAR: 47

Level 18
(X) Written A Letter To Santa Claus
(X) Been Kissed Under A Mistletoe
(X) Watched The Sun Set With Someone You Care / Cared About
(X) Blown Bubbles
( ) Made A Bonfire On The Beach

SO FAR: 51

Level 19
( ) Crashed A Party
( ) Have Traveled More Than 5 Days With A Car Full Of People (no...two days down and two days back in a van with my inlaws to Florida)
(X) Gone Rollerskating / Blading (you might say I've rollerskated a few times)
(X) Had A Wish Come True (many!)
( ) Been Humped By A Monkey?

SO FAR: 53

Level 20
(X) Worn Pearls (fake ones, when I was a kid...I've always been obsessed with jewelry!)
( ) Jumped Off A Bridge
(X) Screamed "Penis" (I've screamed most every naughty word. Yep, I'm a bad girl.)
( ) Swam With Dolphins (not yet...but soon!)

SO FAR: 55

Level 22
(X) Got Your Tongue Stuck To A Pole / Freezer/ice Cube
( ) Kissed A Fish
(X) Worn The Opposite Sex's Clothes
( ) Sat On A Roof Top

SO FAR: 57

Level 23
(X) Screamed At The Top Of Your Lungs
(X) Done / Attempted A One-Handed Cartwheel
( ) Talked On The Phone For More Than 6 Hours (nah...I maxed out at four!)
(X) Stayed Up All Night

SO FAR: 60

Level 24
( ) Picked And Ate An Apple Right Off The Tree
(X) Climbed A Tree
(X) Had / Been In A Tree House
( ) Scared To Watch Scary Movies Alone

SO FAR: 62

Level 25
(X) Believe In Ghosts
(X) Have/Had More Than 30 Pairs of Shoes
(X) Gone Streaking
( ) Jail / Visited (does working in a prison community count?)

SO FAR: 65

Level 26
( ) Played Chicken
( ) Been Pushed Into A Pool With All Your Clothes On
(X) Been Told You're Hot By A Complete Stranger
( ) Broken A Bone
(X) Been Easily Amused

SO FAR: 67

Level 27
( ) Caught A Fish Then Ate It
( ) Made A Porn Video
(X) Caught A Butterfly
(X) Laughed So Hard You Cried
(X) Cried So Hard You Laughed

SO FAR: 70

Level 28
(X) Mooned / Flashed Someone
(X) Had Someone Moon / Flash You
(X) Cheated On A Test
(X) Forgotten Someone's Name
(X) Slept Naked
(X) French Braided Someones Hair
( ) Been Kicked Out Of Your House

SO FAR: 76

Level 29
(X) Rode A Roller Coaster
(X) Went Scuba-Diving / Snorkeling (both!)
( ) Black-Mailed Someone
( ) Been Black Mailed

SO FAR: 78

Level 31
(X) Been Used
(X) Fell Going Up The Stairs
(X) Licked A Cat/Dog
(X) Bitten Someone
(X) Licked Someone

SO FAR: 83

Level 32
( ) been shot at
(X) had sex in the rain/ rainy night
( ) flattened someones tires (no, but I watched a friend do it when we were in elementary school)
( ) rode your car until the gas light came on
(X) got five dollars or less worth of gas

So Far: 85

I've Done 85 Out Of 143 Stupid Things

What does it say that two of my favorite activities--rollerskating and scuba--are on the list of stupid things? *sigh* Personally, I find living with an apartment full of Elven muses far more hazardous!

---

Seen at rhapsody11 and pulsarkat: My life soundtrack.

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...

This could be embarassing, but here goes!

Opening Credits: Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata

Waking Up: Ivy, "Edge of the Ocean"

First Day At School: Pat Benetar, "Love Is a Battlefield"

Falling In Love:  Heart, "Alone"

Fight Song: P.M. Dawn, "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss"

Breaking Up:  Bon Jovi, "Born to Be My Baby"

Prom: Dave Matthew's Band, "Rhyme and Reason"

Life: Jack Johnson, "Sexy Plexi"

Mental Breakdown: Enigma, "Sadeness (Part 1)"

Driving: Goo Goo Dolls, "Dizzy"

Flashback: Fleetwood Mac, "Little Lies"

Getting Back Together: U2, "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"

Wedding: Toto, "Africa"

Birth of Child: Goo Goo Dolls, "Long Way Down"

Final Battle: Shakira, "Illegal"

Death Scene: Howard Shore, "The Ride of the Rohirrim"

Funeral Song: Duran Duran, "Come Undone"

End Credits: Madonna, "Take a Bow"

Hardly any of those make sense, and I don't even know one of the songs. Heh. That's what you get when you let your husband make your play list!

Comments

[dawn_felagund]

Heehee--your life's soundtrack has the same opening credits as mine did. ;)

Yeah, that was a boo-boo caused by forgetting to change your answer with my own!

I could die happily right after doing that... assuming the dolphins are in the wild, of course. ^_^ (I think dolphin "swim with" parks are pretty shady. :\)

I agree because I don't think that it's in the nature of any wild animal just to allow all and sundry people mess with it.

I expect that mine will occur either scuba-diving or at the aquarium. When I eventually start diving there, one of the duties of their divers is to clean the dolphin pool, so I'll swim with them then for sure!

With Feanor, I wonder if The Silmarillion's narrator might have (consciously or subconsiously) influenced feelings in "history" about him because a) he personally disapproved of Finwe's second marriage and was dropping hints of "Look what happens when you don't accept things the way they are and seek a second wife!" and/or b) he was shocked and/or embarrassed by the Noldors' actions and reacted by trying to make certain powerful people look worse than they really were?

Oh, I totally agree, and I bring this up all the time when arguing *ahem* discussing with canatics why a literal interpretation of the book isn't always the best way to go. If you consider the loremasters who wrote the Sil--Rumil and Pengolodh--they both have reasons to portray the Feanorians negatively, especially Pengolodh. I've no doubt that the same story written by a Feanorian loremaster would read completely differenly.

Which may or may not be part of my reason in writing the AMC series of stories. :^P

"Fading"--you said it better than I could! I think I remember a line here or there saying Elves could "waste away from grief"

Yes, it's always been my understanding that "fading" and "death of grief" are two completely different things. Elves can be either slain with weapons or die from grief; that's in the Sil and also an idea that Tolkien seems to have from the very beginning of creating his mythology. I've only read through HoMe 2 for specific information on fading, but it seems that it underwent a slight evolution over time, concluding with the idea that fading is when the Elven spirit became too strong for the body and the Elf ceased to be visible to mortal eyes. However, the Elf was still alive and present in the world. I've yet to find a definitive link in the texts that show "death of grief" and "fading" to be the same thing, though I have a lot of research left to go.

(Can you tell that I'm working on an essay about this subject? :^D)