OMG, Dawn. You want a really incredible movie? Rent Crash. Like, now. Leave work, abandon the warrents, and go watch that movie. (OK, I'm kidding! But rent it soon.) It's amazing. Words cannot describe.
but I've become a picky reader, and it is harder and harder to entertain me.
*sigh* I sympathize. I've become progressively more finicky. My current read-for-pleasure, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Firebrand, isn't satisfying me like The Mists of Avalon did.
And re: Harry Potter... Hm... Well, I'm a diehard fan (upon finishing HBP a couple weeks ago, I was in utter floods), and I love it, but I found myself incredulous at some scenes and words. And I'm no great writer by any stretch, so I have no right to criticize!
Do any of you find this, that the more you try to improve as a writer, the less you are entertained by the stories--books and movies--treasured by the general population?
Well, for me, it isn't improvement as a writer (since I don't write that much), but as a reader of various fanfictions that melt their way into my personal canon.
Hm... Well, let's give a sort-of example. Before seeing the Goblet of Fire movie, I was going to re-read the fourth book. It's what I always do before a movie, to give me a renewed acquaintance with the plot and details. But I didn't have time before this one, so a couple days before it, I decided I would forego my traditional re-read and go into the movie "blind", so to speak. I found that this lowered my expectations, I was more relaxed, and I wasn't hyper-critical of every change. Afterwards, my two friends and I went to Big Boy's to discuss it (another tradition: after every fannish movie, we must away to Big Boy's to pick it apart), and we were able to focus on what the movie did well, rather than what it did badly/didn't do at all.
So... I can relax my expectations for enjoyment. When I re-read HBP, I let go of all the uber-good fanfics I'd read recently and lost myself in the real tale.
When my sister hooked me on Gaelen Foley's romance novels, I was scornful. Cliches, smut, and badly contrived romances would, no doubt, ensue, I thought. Which was true enough, once I started reading...
...but I was able to let go of it, and enjoy the story for what it was. (Which was, so to say, smut and plot fairly equally present.)
Perhaps this is because I am not as serious a writer, or I haven't written as much, or something. Or maybe its just everyone's own opinion.
I've been really enjoying the Olympic skating that's always on TV.
*squees* I watched the ice dancing finals last night. Thoroughly enjoyable stuff (though I was pissed that I missed the French pair who skated to Les Mis). I can't wait for the ladies' short program (tonight, 8-11:30 PM Eastern) and ladies' free skate (Thursday, 8-12 PM Eastern). One of my guy friends came over around 10 last night, and he watched the finals with me. My roommate cracked up when she walked in on us arguing over who was the best so far.
To a person who doesn't know a lutz from a flip from a loop, it must be utterly inane to have to sit through this.
*grins* We of this ignorant class develop a finely-tuned hearing filter, which allows only the music and sounds of skates on ice in, and blocks out those pesky commentators.
Did I time-warp back to 1956? Or are we still in 2006? Last I heard, black and white folks are welcome to eat together in the same restaurants and places "belong" to neither race.
... *eyebrow twitch*
*mutters* Race is an entirely cultural construct, which shouldn't matter, but it does, and causes all these problems and confusions...
no subject
OMG, Dawn. You want a really incredible movie? Rent Crash. Like, now. Leave work, abandon the warrents, and go watch that movie. (OK, I'm kidding! But rent it soon.) It's amazing. Words cannot describe.
but I've become a picky reader, and it is harder and harder to entertain me.
*sigh* I sympathize. I've become progressively more finicky. My current read-for-pleasure, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Firebrand, isn't satisfying me like The Mists of Avalon did.
And re: Harry Potter... Hm... Well, I'm a diehard fan (upon finishing HBP a couple weeks ago, I was in utter floods), and I love it, but I found myself incredulous at some scenes and words. And I'm no great writer by any stretch, so I have no right to criticize!
Do any of you find this, that the more you try to improve as a writer, the less you are entertained by the stories--books and movies--treasured by the general population?
Well, for me, it isn't improvement as a writer (since I don't write that much), but as a reader of various fanfictions that melt their way into my personal canon.
Hm... Well, let's give a sort-of example. Before seeing the Goblet of Fire movie, I was going to re-read the fourth book. It's what I always do before a movie, to give me a renewed acquaintance with the plot and details. But I didn't have time before this one, so a couple days before it, I decided I would forego my traditional re-read and go into the movie "blind", so to speak. I found that this lowered my expectations, I was more relaxed, and I wasn't hyper-critical of every change. Afterwards, my two friends and I went to Big Boy's to discuss it (another tradition: after every fannish movie, we must away to Big Boy's to pick it apart), and we were able to focus on what the movie did well, rather than what it did badly/didn't do at all.
So... I can relax my expectations for enjoyment. When I re-read HBP, I let go of all the uber-good fanfics I'd read recently and lost myself in the real tale.
When my sister hooked me on Gaelen Foley's romance novels, I was scornful. Cliches, smut, and badly contrived romances would, no doubt, ensue, I thought. Which was true enough, once I started reading...
...but I was able to let go of it, and enjoy the story for what it was. (Which was, so to say, smut and plot fairly equally present.)
Perhaps this is because I am not as serious a writer, or I haven't written as much, or something. Or maybe its just everyone's own opinion.
I've been really enjoying the Olympic skating that's always on TV.
*squees* I watched the ice dancing finals last night. Thoroughly enjoyable stuff (though I was pissed that I missed the French pair who skated to Les Mis). I can't wait for the ladies' short program (tonight, 8-11:30 PM Eastern) and ladies' free skate (Thursday, 8-12 PM Eastern). One of my guy friends came over around 10 last night, and he watched the finals with me. My roommate cracked up when she walked in on us arguing over who was the best so far.
To a person who doesn't know a lutz from a flip from a loop, it must be utterly inane to have to sit through this.
*grins* We of this ignorant class develop a finely-tuned hearing filter, which allows only the music and sounds of skates on ice in, and blocks out those pesky commentators.
Did I time-warp back to 1956? Or are we still in 2006? Last I heard, black and white folks are welcome to eat together in the same restaurants and places "belong" to neither race.
... *eyebrow twitch*
*mutters* Race is an entirely cultural construct, which shouldn't matter, but it does, and causes all these problems and confusions...
Grrr...