“Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.” “No!” said Aragorn, taking his hand and kissing his brow. “You have conquered. Few have gained such a victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall!” Boromir smiled. “Which way did they go? Was Frodo there?” said Aragorn. But Boromir did not speak again.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers.

I went back to work yesterday and finished four books! (I’m a fast reader and they were middle grade books and a picture book, so not too hard to get through.) I’m going to put most of this under a cut, as it’s quite long.

In short, I gave Out of the Dust 3 stars, Sisters 5 stars, Matilda 5 stars, and Diary of a Wombat 5 stars.

There’s an example. It’s very interesting, and the story was definitely one that could spark discussion in a class.

There’s an example. It’s very interesting, and the story was definitely one that could spark discussion in a class.

The problem—and it’s a problem you run into with a lot of stories about that period—is that it is depressing! It is a very sad story about people struggling, both because of the situation they’re living in and because of their relationships with each other.

Honestly, if I had a choice to teach this book or another, I’d choose another. (If you’re looking for a good one, I suggest Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan.)

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Sisters by Raina Telgemeier is a graphic novel I’ve seen kids reading for years now. It’s autobiographical and is about Raina and her younger sister growing up and going on a road trip with their mom and their little brother. It was really cute, well told, and well drawn. There were a lot of parts that reminded me of myself and my siblings. I understand why it appeals to so many kids. I finished it wondering…is there a sequel? (I’ll have to find out!)

Here’s a couple of examples of pages from the book. It’s so cute! If you’ve ever been a big sister or a little sister, you’ll enjoy it.

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Matilda by Roald Dahl is a reread for me, but it’s been years since I read it. It was fun to read it during class (I picked it up while the kids were having independent reading; got to set a good example, you know) because several of the girls had seen Matilda the Musical on Netflix over winter break. One of them was also reading the book! We had a good time talking about the differences between the book and the movie. I had fun reading the book and seeing how much both the old Matilda movie and the new musical took directly from the book.

The only issue I had (and it was a small and insignificant one) was a small section where Matilda said that “Mister C.S. Lewis and Mister Tolkien didn’t put any funny parts in their books.” I’ll admit, it’s been a few years since I last read Tolkien, but I think there are some funny bits in LOTR and The Hobbit, and in Narnia. I think Matilda was smart enough to read those books but maybe needed somebody to read aloud to her to help her understand. I’m sure Miss Honey read to her once she adopted her, though.

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Diary of a Wombat was a last minute addition to my reading day. I picked it up out of a pile of picture books and read it in about five minutes. It is really cute. It’s about a wombat who gets new human “neighbors” and the chaos that ensues. It would be really fun to read when talking about point of view and I could see using it as part of a “personal narrative” unit. I could also see reading it to younger students when doing a unit on Australia or Australian animals, or just animals in general. You could even pair it with a nonfiction text about wombats and their behavior. The pictures are cute and, well, I admit that some of it made me want to be a wombat. (“Morning: slept. Afternoon: slept . Evening: demanded carrots. Slept.”. What a good life.)

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Have you guys read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Also, I’ve started thinking about this today—do you prefer physical books, audiobooks, or ebooks?

So I want to write this down now because I feel like this is going to be one of the anecdotes that I use to explain what I love about theater of the mind role playing.

So this is in the Matt World (it’s short for matter) setting, which was originally a one shot but we had a great time so now it’s a chill ongoing game.

Things to know are that this setting has more of an Adventure Time vibe than a LotR vibe, with Living Puopet as PC option, muppety kenku, evil spirits that need a cookie body- that sorta thing; my character is Relic, a mechanical cat bard- since he is more of an automata than puppet he’s a reskinned warforged- who of course I picked the Tocken for. He’s a lil clockwork guy! I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, from the description:

Tocken: A hanging set of carved oval bells, usually played with a pair of light wooden hammers (or open handed). They are most common in underground cultures, where the resonant tones can carry.

I tried looking it up, figuring it might be either an older instrument I just hadn’t heard of, like the shawm, or a more common instrument with a fanciful rename like

Yarting: A southern instrument from Amn and Calimshan that is a Faerûnian analog to the guitar. Numerous variations have spread across the continent.

And when I searched there clearly wasn’t a real instrument called a Tocken, so my brain retained “wood + mallets + real instrument” and I was like, ah, it’s a marimba but invented by Germanic analogue gnomes or something.

You know! Or like that worthikids short.

Just like, a little desktop size one because he’s a lil guy.

But this past couple of sessions have seen him nominated as the favorite of Princess Pastria (of the eleven Kingdom of Keeb) for the battle of the bards, which is a pretty big thumb on the scale because she/the king also announced that she will be stepping up as queen soon as she has come of age and he wants to retire, and by the way the grand prize is court bard, a job Relic was lowkey offered and he turned down. (He IS a cat.) So, you know, we got small problems commander. Theres a bunch of other intrigue going on and character growth- really good stuff- but we leave the end of the “prep for the show” session with Relic on stage about to play his first song. It is the first performance of the second day after he was allowed to skip the qualifying round as the favorite, it is the crack of dawn, there is a massive audience, most of whom clearly have been up all night enjoying the party vibe. Half the party didn’t even come back before he had to leave, so it’s just The Magnificent Mister Midnight, our rabbit wizard, backing him up in the wings.

And that’s where we wrapped so we could start the next session with my GM’s system for how audience hype will be impacted/measured. I realize something I missed on the downtime day was buying a second instrument, so asked him if I could retcon that, that’s cool, great.

So I am thinking that it should be something which would compliment the Tocken or make sense he would also play that, and I thought, I should see if I can find anything more about it, it probably is based on something I don’t know AND has a silly name. I also decide his second instrument is a hurdy-gurdy which for some reason isn’t a core instrument? Anyhow they are wrong and my clockwork boy will hurdy his gurdy if he wants to.

So I of course reread the description and realize this can’t be based on a marimba. First I look to see if someone else has already been like “this is basically a…” and while I do find other people asking what the heck a tocken is, and a few gorgeous fan created solutions, no dice on an absolute answer.

Special shout-out to this brilliant solution- it turns into a javelin!

I set about meticulously looking through Wikipedia’s incredible cataloguing of percussion instruments. I am learning about SE Asian percussion ensembles which are very cool and all sorts of marimba-adjacent instruments, it’s great. But none of it is even close to a hanging set of carved oval bells, until. I find it.

There is one melodic percussion instrument based on wooden open-ended bells, which are played on a rack. It actually seems like it is truly the only one of its kind; going down the list there are classification numbers for each instrument similar to the Arne-Thompson system for folktales, and nothing is under the same subdivision as this magnificent thing.

So I tell my GM that I have had my own instrument all wrong and what I think it was based on- it’s not an exact match- and he replies

GM: THATS WHAT YOUVE BEEN PLAYING??!?!?

GM: XXXX I HAVE BEEN PICTURING A DRUM

YC: I was picturing, like, a marimba??? (…)

GM: I am also realizing in this moment that, for the past 7 sessions of DnD, when you have said marimba I have been picturing a steelpan

And I want you all to picture that too now because that is even better than a mini marimba. Little clockwork cat busting out the tunes on one of these.

Honestly I love that image.

Anyhow we clowned on it for a bit longer and at the beginning of the next session as we moved from catch up chat into actual playing, I asked the other players what they had been picturing, because I had apparently been wrong this whole time about my instrument (I’m just going to identify them by their characters here for efficiency & privacy both). I had read off the description back in session zero and said that I thought it was like a marimba but otherwise it has mostly been “okay so Relic starts playing faster” not so much interactions which would remind anyone of the tocken’s form.

Our intrepid kenku investigative reporter rogue was also picturing a marimba… and also had thought the word “marimba” meant steel pan drum. Specifically, he pictured a couple of them on a harness like in marching band, which I love even more.

Mash those together mentally, basically.

The wizard, both most scholarly in-character and the one party member who isn’t USAmerican, was picturing a xylophone and submitted this photo to explain he meant specifically a toy xylophone.

And finally our sock puppet Paladin of The Hand Below, who is not so much with the wisdom, had been picturing basically a shamisen but with a diamond-shaped body.

And if you’re someone who doesn’t know me yet read this far, I hope you also have your own mental image and tell me about it.

The instrument I have actually been playing this whole time is a skrabalai.

Original photo by Wikipedia user Imodab, filter effect added by me because it looks cool. Call it faerie fire.

As far as I can tell the tree stump mount isn’t required per se but it is both traditional and preferable.

It’s so much better than I had been imagining! Immediate retcon that this- or a travel size rack- has been the thing this whole time.

Relic as we left him at the end of last session, apparently.

We have had all these serious stakes because of Relic’s performances- he has a +10 afterall- including getting the crown-princess’ attention, for good or ill. And all this time people have been getting down not just to a little clockwork cat, but to a little clockwork cat who hauls out a birch stump, sets up what looks like a washing board with the middle replaced with dowels, carefully takes a series of carved wooden bells out of their pouch and arranged them carefully on this rack. Then he takes out little mallets and begins to play them. And you couldn’t get that wonderful juxtaposition if there had been a visual all along, so again I say, three cheers for the theater of the mind.

Also I am now interested in what people are doing with the skrabalai in modern music, but that’s a question to dig into another day.

For HNY I do put some blame on the marketing. When the spin-off was first announced plenty of people called it a cash grab. Then interviews came out with producers talking about how long they planned this and how much they wanted to please the fans, how involved RT and original VAs were, etc. I get it, producers and investors are there to get their money, it’s their job.

But then as the anime continues little comments are made by RT and the VAs about how they were surprised by certain plot points, how as you mentioned some of the staff probably or most likely didn’t have a lot of time planning on this show (kinda like Peter Jackson having little time to plan for Hobbit as opposed to how long he had with LOTR trilogy). Oh and the animation…

I personally would’ve felt a little better with transparency, but I guess that depends on the sincerity of the people involved. Like the anime Black Clover’s animation director personally apologized even before the season finale aired because his understaffed team worked really hard but they simply ran out of time. I guess this is just how work goes in some offices, from the typical micromanagers to cheap CEOs.

Yeah. I get that.

I think that it's important to remember that anything anyone says about a show/movie/book/album before it comes out is likely going to be positive. It's a product, and the people who made it need to generate enough money to turn a profit so they can make more product. One reason that sequels, remakes and adaptations have become so popular is because there's a better chance of turning a profit because the audience has already been baked in. Advertisement, any form of it, is meant to sell you something. Even after something comes out they will often talk positive about it, even if it's gotten backlash.

There's a book called Tinderbox, which is about HBOs rise to where it is today, by James Andrew Miller. It's very good if you're interested in TV history (really all of his works are). And in it, they interview Emilia Clarke and other GOT people about the show. Not a single one of them says much about the ending, and when they do it's a "it needed to happen that way". The most denouncement it got was "well, I understand why people don't like it." After all of that, all that backlash, there are people from HBO unwilling to face the facts that they screwed up.

Admitting that you did something wrong is very uncommon in any creative industry. Because so much of art is wrapped up in ego. I don't know much about Black Clover but that is extremely rare. Good on that guy.

I don't know what the solution to this is. I've been an extremely cynical consumer of any adaption or continuation of a finished work since the Percy Jackson and the ATLA movies came out like what, 10 years ago? I'm always going to be cynical of these things because the only reason they exist is that there's an established market in the first place. Even the new Percy Jackson show, I'm very "I don't need it to be good, because I'm satisfied with the books, and I won't keep watching it if I'm not enjoying it".

I do get that people are upset though, and I am sorry about that. I guess I just have a hard time understanding this constant need for more, more, more when there is so many freaking good shows, books, movies, and manga out there. Why waste all your time on one set of characters or one world when there are so many amazing ones out there? Everytime I start a new one I could find my next favourite. If I really want a continuation or more of it, fanfiction exists.

I do rewatch/reread a lot, but I don't need that story to continue necessarily, you know? I'm cool with a good ending. I actually love endings. I guess I just don't get it. I've had friends try to explain it to me and it's just not something that clicks for me.

But I am sorry for the people who were genuinely excited for Yashahime and are upset about how it went. My heart has absolutely been broken after different continuations of some of my favourite works.

Ok, honestly? The thing that makes me the most nervous about rings of power is not just the inaccuracies or whatever, it's that the music for the trailer is literally just Adventure Genre Trailer Music. Maybe they're gonna be doing some cool theme work with it throughout the show or something but as it stands, it sounds like you could put it over almost any other action/adventure trailer and have it be the same.

Which genuinely breaks my heart a little because music was so so important to Tolkien. I mean, the guy wrote literally dozens of songs in his works and even describes middle earth as being sung into creation. And the people who made the movies got that.

Howard Shore wrote three of the most beautiful, complex, and well crafted scores in movie history because he was writing them to fit the story and with a deep respect for how important the music would be. Every piece is full of motifs and themes and moods that he weaved not only through one movie but through them all, for places and characters and ideas. The scores are just suffused with the same love of music and storytelling that you find all throughout Tolkien's works. Even the Hobbit movies, while nowhere near as good overall, have pretty incredible scores.

And you can say it's because it's the trailer, that of course they're not breaking out the full weight of the score for just the trailer, but go back and watch the LotR trailers. Sure, the music is altered to fit an early 2000s vibe, but you can clearly hear the themes that are in the movie woven in. And, they picked music that fit what they were showing- when talking about the ring and the ring wraiths, the music is horror movie levels of creepy. When talking about Mordor and Sauron, the music is heavy and filled with dread. Even in the short time of a trailer, you can pick up on what's going on and what certain visuals are going to be associated with in the movie. The rings of power trailer music is just saying "something Epic(tm) is happening" without telling you anything more about it.

I don't know. Maybe it's just a bad trailer. Maybe, like I said, some of the music is going to fit into themes and motifs that will be in the show. But right now, it all just sounds pathetically average. And even though I know Howard Shore is composing for it, I'm not holding out a lot of hope that they're actually gonna let him go wild with the music. I suspect that in an effort to keep it """accessible to audiences""" they're gonna limit what he's allowed to do and limit the music as a whole, just like they have seemed to change many of the characters and designs to make them ""cooler"" or whatever.

Anyway. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Though I think I'm just gonna have to find out from someone who decides to watch it cause at this point I'm already ready to just write it all off and go reread the Silmarillion.

AO3 Ask Game

I was tagged by @themarshalstale which, thank you so much! I feel like I always get missed on these (I know why, it’s been 84 years since I published anything but still). 1. How many works do you have on ao3?

46 it seems. Which...look I’m slow man so that’s not surprising. lol Also crippling depression does not make for much production, at least for me.

2. What’s your current AO3 wordcount?

309662 according to the stats.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

So do I could only AO3 or in like life? lol I suppose it should only be on AO3 since this is an AO3 ask game. Hrm. Basically AO3 can be summed up as: Marvel (in several iterations - all Avengers related) Torchwood Highlander But isn’t it more fun to consider my entire fandom life, which, I’m sorry, I’m old so...yeah. Not all of this is was published and beyond that a lot is not available anymore...which is likely for the best. Highlander Star Wars Babylon 5 Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers Marvel (again, several iterations also of note Avengers and X-Men both count) Torchwood Star Trek LOTR Stargate (SG-1, SGA) Mortal Kombat I dabbled with the idea of Potter fic but never got past the ideas stage.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1: You rearrange me till I’m sane Clint finds himself spiraling into a deep depression after the Battle of New York...until the Winter Soldier ends up saving him and inadvertently giving him a new purpose – to save the man that the Soldier had once been – Bucky Barnes. Not one to be outdone, the Soldier decides that his new mission is to ensure that Clint remains alive himself. Protecting a blonde man with a self-destructive streak is somehow very familiar to him. Through the back and forth of who is saving whom they cross the country and learn more about themselves and each other – and perhaps find a reason for living. 2: Five Dates Bucky Didn’t Realize He Was on And the One He Planned Himself To say that Bucky was surprised when Clint kissed him was an understatement. But it was nothing compared to the shock he felt when he learned they'd been dating for months without him realizing it.Clint gets whisked away for a mission before they have time to talk and Bucky is left to figure things out on his own - hindsight being 20/20 he can't help but wonder how he missed things the first go around.

3: Puck Luck Bucky Barnes is used to the ups and downs of an NHL season. He's used to the unpredictability of the game, knows that bounces don't always go your way, but that doesn't make a broken hand in the final third of the season any easier to deal with. Especially not when he ends up with an impromptu roommate/personal assistant in the form of one Clint Barton - his agent, Natalia Romanova's (rather attractive) friend he hadn't known existed before his injury.

It's just for six to eight weeks - what could possibly happen in that span of time?

4: Loose Lips Launch Ships

Based on the following prompt: “We go to school together and I think you’re cute and apparently you’re also the pizza delivery guy and my little sibling opened the door screaming hey sibling! you know that kid you’re in love with? you really weren’t kidding when you said his jawline could cut steel holy shit-” Bucky is the pizza delivery guy. Clint's younger (foster) brother has a big mouth.

5: Indelible Bucky Barnes has a pretty decent life – a good job, good friends, a cat that adores him - but something is missing. He’s always found body art to be beautiful and inspiring, and on a whim (and with the hope that maybe he can find what he’s missing) he decides to take the plunge and get a tattoo. That's how he meets Clint Barton. Clint's talented and compassionate and there is an instant spark between the two of them. It's not long before Bucky finds himself wondering and wanting more from the relationship despite the ghosts of the past that crop back up. Because Clint makes him feel normal in a way he truly hasn't for years...

(this was pre-Alpine so I was totally chuffed when canon confirmed Bucky’s status as a crazy cat lady (affectionate).

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not.

I really really really want to do it but I often times don’t end up doing it. There are a few reasons. First, I am akwward AF and bad at interaction adn I feel like just saying thank you would be...not enough? Second - I often times tend to like...turtle (aka retreat into myself) when life gets Too Hard/Busy which happens a lot to me (sigh) and then I miss the vague window in my mind in which it would be okay to respond and then it’s even more weird. I do love and cherish all of them. Like there was one months ago that made me go “hmm...I didn’t think I was going to do a sequel to that fic (You rearrange me till I’m sane), timestamp glimpses sure but a sequel hadn’t come to mind” but then the comment made me think! So...who knows? lol Anyway, I literally have been rereading some in an effort to try and get myself going again. Know that if you have commented, I love you.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

At the moment? Probably: Look at you look at me Bucky's in love with Clint - problem is he's really not supposed to be. For Winterhawk Week 2019 - Forbidden Love (I really don’t want to give away the spin in the fic but...if you’re familiar with the Secret Avengers Vol 2 run circa 2013ish (aka when SHIELD initially ‘took control of the team’) that’s a bit of a hint as to the spin). Were it done, Torch Song would be up there. ;) Torch Song Clint is sent back in time, via an alien device, to 1938. While he tries to figure out how to get back home, he takes up singing and entertaining to make ends meet and does his best to not disrupt the timeline.Then he meets a 21 year old Bucky Barnes. --- A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.

7. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Does *wanting* to write crossovers count? lol I want, so badly, to do more crossovers and fusions (which...are kinda deeper versions of crossovers in a way). The only one I do have posted is a crossover between Highlander and Torchwood -

The Immortal Mr. Jones A series of vignettes (some long, some short) in the life of the newly immortal Ianto Jones. My most ambitions project that I have been working on since late 2011/early 2012 is a fusion of the Avengers with Stephen King’s the Stand. I will get that done at some point *shakes fist*  The Stand, for those who don’t know it, is an epic 1000+ page novel about a flu epidemic (I know) that wipes out over 99% of the population and then two figures representing Good and Evil pull the survivors in two directions for a showdown. So basically it’s a non-powered modern AU set in that universe. It’s a passion and comfort project. lol

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. Well, minor bitching back when I was in a prior fandom because I tagged a pairing in a fic but it was pre-slash and not labeled as pre-slash. I got hate on...I think it was Torch Song? And I’ve gotten hate on tumblr re me and my fic in general as well. Fandom! *jazz hands* Oh! And I’ve also been hit by those reviewers within Winterhawk (among general Clint pairings actually) who like rate you on either number scales or the “meh” scale. Which isn’t hate exactly but...it’s passive aggressive bullshit because I can’t believe none of them realize at this point that the authors can see their bookmarks - you know?

9. Do you write smut?

Yes. Do I write it well? I have no idea. lol

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of. Well...there was, I think, one of those reposting sites that had a few fics on it but I don’t think it was being passed off as someone else’s? I can’t quite recall. It’s why I have a note on AO3 about reposting my work anyway.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not entirely, but sort of. Let me explain - I am part of a PBEM game; which for those unfamiliar since it’s a term that was most heavily in use 15-20 years ago, in which you basically do a round robin type writing thing but rather than everyone writing the same characters you write your own characters and you play off what other people have done. Another way of looking at it is  it’s basically DnD without dice and written down rather than done out loud. You also don’t have to all be around at the same time. It’s a lot of fun and yes I have been in it for 20 years even though there aren’t many of us left but they are some of my dearest friends and fabulous writers. Wins all around.  One of the other writers and I have actually toyed with the idea of doing a co-written fic actually, mostly because we work super well together and keep getting ideas for things but can’t really do them as rpgs since the pbem style isn’t used much anymore.

12. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Winterhawk probably. Though, let’s be real - Han & Leia are epic and amazing as are John & Delenn (from Babylon 5).

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Does wanting to expand The Black Stallion books as a wee child count? lol Not much of that was written save for world building ideas but there was a great oral tradition of telling stories to my friends. Otherwise...maybe a tie between Star Wars and Highlander. Star Wars was a love since I was super young but the writing bug didn’t hit me until around the same time Highlander was a thing as well.

14. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? You rearrange me till I’m sane for sure. Though Torch Song, if it were finished, would be tied I imagine (I suck at picking favorites). Honorable mention to Puck Luck and Indelible. Tagging: I have seen this like a million times (okay 5) so I feel like everyone has been tagged already that I know. But...I guess... @vexbatch @crazycatt71 @heartonfirewrites and @disruptedvice sorry if anyone has been tagged before.

8,18,21,40,41 for the LOTR & Hobbit asks?

Sofi! I hope you're ready! 🙌

Lett'ce do this! 💖

8. Character you cannot stand?

Goodness, I don't know! Saying that it's the bad guys would be easy, but even them I CAN stand. Okay, maybe movie!Azog, 'cause he's fugly and redundant.

18. Favorite soundtrack out of the series?

There're too many of those "little bits" in all Middle-earth soundtracks that I like a lot, but if I should choose one concrete spot in a track, out of all films, it'd be... the first 30 secs of 'Roots and Beginnings' from the 'Return of the King' soundtrack. What a peculiar motif to start 'Return of the King' with! I love it so much!

21. How old were you when you first read the books?

11, or 12? When they started shooting the 'Hobbit' films, I read all Tolkien books, so I could spoil the films... jk... 😅 Or?!

40. How many times have you watched the movies?

Too many times.

41. How many times have you read the books?

Oops. Well. I confess. I read both 'LOTR' and 'Hobbit' only once. 'Cause it was enough! Mutuals and other fans on Tumblr have been keeping me in-line with the entirety of the books' canon, so I haven't had any need of rereading them. Is there bias? Likely! Do I care? Not enough. It's more fun to listen to you, guys, rant about Gil-galad's hair color!

Tadaaa! Here you go!

Thanks for the ask, and take care as always! 🎉

lotr dynamics

Soo I’ve noted a few differences between the lotr books and the movie adaptations of course, and one of them is the relationship between Aragorn and Legolas, and somewhat the one between Legolas and Gimli.

I was surprised when I reread the books because I remembered from the movies that Aragorn and Legolas seemed like long term friends. In the book however, they seem more like companions who have deep respect for each other but idk if I could call it friendship. They barely interact in the first book for example. In the other ones, they mostly answer each other’s factual questions. At the end of the Return of the King, before the final hopeless battle, Legolas mentions how he will of course go, because of his love for the King of Gondor, but the word “love “ clearly means something akin to trust, respect and devotion.

The movie however, added or modified certain lines and added a lot of subtle touches which makes them seem way more like friends who are comfortable with each other. For example when Aragorn falls to his knees after thinking the army of the Dead won’t join them, and Legolas puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.  Or the desperation on Legolas’s face when he sees Aragorn fighting for his life in the final battle. Or when Legolas gives back the Evenstar necklace to Aragorn while saying “you’re late”. Or when Legolas immediatly shoots up against Boromir when he disrespects Aragorn in the beginning.

On the contrary, Gimli’s and Legolas’s friendship was both described in the books and illustrated in the movies BUT. It seems waaaaay stronger in the books, through conversations, through them both making plans to travel middle earth together etc... etc...really making them seem like best friends. Whereas in the movies, you can see their mutual respect and friendship developing, but even then they seem like good pals or friends but not like the bestest of best friends forever you know ?

To sum up, in the books Aragorn and Legolas seem like travel companions who trust each other, whereas Legolas and Gimli become best friends. In the movies, Aragorn and Legolas seem like long term friends, and Legolas and Gimli seem like people who become good pals or long term friends, but not like best friends.

So idk if I missed something in the books or in the movies or anything, but this was the impression I got of these dynamics. Now I love both takes on these  but I was wondering because I couldn’t really tell if it was because of acting choices, or directing choices or something else, especially since the movie really tried to stay close to the books. I couldn’t find any info on why that choice was made, or even if it was intentional.

It didn’t seem to me like the actors of Legolas and Gimli had a very close friendship, so that could be one reason why it didn’t come across like that on screen ? I don’t really know though, and I would be very interested in you guys’ take on these dynamics and the possible reasons behind these differences.

I reread your bit about rin in the last chapter and oh my god im crying. You did my girl justice. I'm so proud of her and i'm glad she had fun. I love the thought that she's helping him in little ways. ;') and oh my god. i love the myers siblings. Do you mind if I ask for hcs? because oooohhhmygod. need more

Awww thank you so much! I really liked the Adam-Rin segment too. I wanted to talk about Rin, but being an Onryo made it so I just couldn’t feasibly in the bulk of the story. Really glad I still got to give her her moment in the sun. : ) Adam’s such a great dude too, and I’m so happy he found meaning the way he did and keeps up such an active and deep relationship with someone who’s passed on. It’s not an easy thing to do, but I think it’s kind, and meaningful. And sure! I’m not sure if you mean Laurie and Mikey or Judith too since I got a few Judith asks yesterday, but ima assume this is ILM related and you’re looking for post-fic Laurie & Michael (sorry if that’s not the intended ask TuT). I did more but this is already a lot so I didn’t post them all haha. Here you go!

Laurie would be very unlikely to make the first move in a romantic relationship. She’s so used to prioritising survival, even when she’s okay again her brain is always, “keep homeostasis” as her directive, and adding a relationship does not fall under that listing. That said, she definitely still develops feelings, and would want things to happen. But I think it would be slow. I think with Laurie, she’d be going to lunches and having long talks and drinks and staying up and falling asleep on the couch together, in and out like each others’ presence belongs in their respective homes, come to each other for support and with hard days and for life advice, go to the theatre together and let them buy her a drink like they always do without being asked, brought back a nice gift from a trip, she waits up for them to get home to greet them, for like 1-3 years solid before one day they just take her hand and kind of smile and she realises she’s been in a relationship for two years and they just never said it, and maybe they won’t now, maybe not for another two years, but they know it, and she’s so happy.

Michael never cuts his hair short, but does not mind Laurie making him let her give him ponytails when they’re working on something, because it does get in his face.

Laurie softballs Michael for a while, since, well, she’s trying to help him reintegrate into society as a human being after having had a childhood that was basically just a 15 year stretch of psychological trauma, and being kind and supportive is a must. But after a few years, she’s gotten much more comfortable and sibling-ish in her interactions. She’ll definitely still be serious and supportive if anything happens and he needs it, but she’ll also give him shit for eating her food or not getting up off the bed she’s trying to make. He enjoys annoying her and does it for fun. Will hold eye contact and eat the cupcake she was saving just to watch her flip, like a cat batting an orange off a counter (or, you know, a sibling who’s feeling /that/ vibe rn.)

Laurie is 99% of Michael’s impulse control. If he and Quentin do something together without her, it /will/ be a disaster, because where Laurie inflicts neutral levels of chaos on the group w her lawful, Michael will almost instantaneously get Quentin to swap from lawful to chaos if she’s not there. They will both be fine, but there /will/ be something on fire when she gets back.

Laurie, walking into the house and seeing then throwing objects into a burning wastebasket in the living room: I don’t like what I’m seeing. Bring me up to speed.

Quentin: So, we maybe have illegally destroyed a car—but it’s okay! We had a good reason! Plus, we destroyed the evidence. Let me explain. So, this guy-

Laurie: :/

Michael: *gives her a ‘what’s your problem?’ gesture*

Michael and Laurie physically fight for nostalgia’s sake sometimes (for fun-get exasperated and performatively MMA. They would not actually injure each other).

One time, Laurie and Michael were walking home together from a movie and a guy drove by and whistled at Laurie and said something vulgar, and Michael stepped into the road and smashed the front of his car with his foot. It was beautiful. They did have to flee the scene but Laurie was /gleeful/. The dude in the car saw his gd life flash before his eyes and rethought some life choices.

It is a long time before Michael is willing to take any kind of meds for his psychosis (very understandably), but when Quentin eventually graduates Med school, six or so years later (bless u Jake for forging him some credits), he is willing to try a few given by him. It is not a good or easy couple of months, but he does it.

Michael gets along surprisingly well with the survivors. Most of them are pretty intimidated, but he’s genuinely chill, and they’ve been through weirder shit so 🤷🏻‍♀️ it’s like “Welp. This might as well happen.” and accept him in. Meg is a big thot. She’s into Susie and would never cheat and Susie knows this, but Meg will still flirt like crazy with Michael bc it’s her personality, and Michael, who’s never had this ever happen, is /beyond/ confused. Every time she says something stupid like, “Damn you’re tall. If I wasn’t a married woman, I’d climb you like a jungle gym.” He gives her the exact look Sam gives Gollum when he’s dissing potatoes in lotr.

Since she knew his and his family’s whole names and his wife’s face, Laurie tracks down Sujan’s family and tells them everything she can about what happened and how good he was, and what a difference the first person in the realm who was kind to her made.

Michael really enjoys traveling. He’s been cooped up his whole life. Spent 15 years in one little white room, and then 40 in reproductions of Haddonfield in the realm. Really, except for his solo journey from Wisconsin to home, he’s never left the state of Illinois. He goes with the survivor squad on their group trips, once he’s comfortable enough, and is consistently amazed. He’s not a very visibly emotive person, and can’t physically be bc of his psychosis symptoms, but his eyes will get big seeing the northern lights from a platform, and he’ll grab Laurie or Quentin’s wrist & point to make sure they’re seeing it too, and Laurie has never been so happy. After his first trip, he very much looks forward to the annual event.

Dr. Loomis is the only thing Michael as an adult has ever feared. (Obviously all humans feel temporary fear, like if a car comes at you or someone with a gun. But past instantaneous shock-fear, I don’t think Michael has ever been afraid of anyone else). This is based off of canon, because to me Michael reads as scared of him, especially in Halloween 2. He pauses and then retreats from Loomis in the first film, and when he sees Loomis running down streets looking for him in 2, he hides (I actually really love the Michael pov in Halloween 2 in the open. It was very humanising). Then, at the end of 2, when he’s blind and Laurie and Loomis have filled the room with ether, and Loomis tells him it’s over, he stops trying to find and kill Loomis and freezes. I genuinely think because he was scared of Loomis and has been for years (after that treatment constantly in isolation as a child, how could he not be?) and has known since he was 6 Loomis wants to kill him, so when he basically says “I’m about to kill you,” he believes him and it scares him. It’s the axe that’s been waiting to drop since he was a kid.

Laurie goes to cons with Nea, Quentin, & Min occasionally, and has dressed up as all three OG Star Wars protagonists like the lovely huge nerd she is. Has also made Michael sit down and watch all the movies w her.

Michael and Laurie go visit Judith a lot. They’ll pack a picnic lunch and talk with her and about her at her grave. It was very hard the first time they went there, especially for Michael, but after a while, it helps. It’s a way to deal with what was done in the past that makes it seem surmountable. It also helps to deal with the loss of someone they both cared for. When they go, Laurie always gets Michael to tell her something about her older sister she hast heard yet. David tracks down an old high school album from 1963, and is able to get three pictures of Judith colorised and they’re able to have a nice full-color photo of her to hang up in the house.

I'm suddenly in a LOTR mood so I'm wondering, do you have any LOTR opinions? I'm pretty sure it falls under "grossly Anglo" for you but any thoughts, favorite dude, etc.

It is of course grossly Anglo. I’ve always found it rather hilarious that Tolkien once said that he wrote what he had because England has no true mythology and he was seeking to rectify that. That’s absolutely true what with so much of classic English literature being liberally appropriated from other sources (a fair number of them French), but I can’t imagine he could have foreseen that his work would become the bedrock on which most of modern Western fantasy and even some non-Western fantasy media rests - and that in the process it’s become not very English after all.

I have read all of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, though it was years ago and I find Tolkien’s writing style too generally dry and rambling to ever bother with rereads. Even with the abundance of male characters with close bonds and intimate moments I’ve never been able to bring myself to ship anything from them seriously, because his writing is so appallingly sexless that even his canon romances have nothing resembling chemistry. The movie adaptations try to improve this a bit; I have written before how Legolas’s queer characteristics (not homoerotic subtext as such, more positive gender nonconformity) in the LoTR movies were a bit of a watershed for me in regarding queerness in media, and the Hobbit movies tried something with Bilbo’s status as a confirmed bachelor re: his relationship with Thorin though even that was more just two male leads with a relationship arc in a movie trilogy with like three female characters and the narrative space to shove only one of them into an awkward love triangle. I don’t even know if I have a favorite guy then; no matter how popular Frodo/Sam may be it’s sure as hell not any of them hobbits (how are they meant to be relatable to anyone who’s not an upper middle class man in rural/suburban Britain again?), the humans are for the most part too northern European for my tastes, dwarves are masses of unflattering prosthetics, and elves...well....

I’m pretty sure elves are meant to be the French of Tolkien’s world. I don’t know if that was deliberate on his part, but it’s a general feeling I get not just from these books and movies but from most Western fantasy in English that if there are elves and they’re culturally advanced but haughty and condescending that it’s an instance of how Anglos write French-coded characters, with the same mix of derision and envy with which they regard us in real life. As such it’s hard for me to get invested in Tolkien’s narratives either, as it’s very much not my mythology he’s writing. Again, hobbits make for overly specific everymen.

Fanfiction writer asks

@criminal-minds-fanfiction​ sent out an epic set of 50 questions under this title. (Thank you!) It took awhile, but these were excellent questions, and I enjoyed answering them. (I just reblogged them without answers, in case any of you want to have a go.)

I don’t expect many will want to read all 50 answers, but people who have recently started following me might be interested in the fics I write in the Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell fandom (and even those I used to write in the Lord of the Rings fandom).

Fanfiction Writer Asks

Most of the writer ask posts I come across are only like ten or so questions long so I thought I’d try to make a longer one because we like talking about our writing! Feel free to reblog!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction?

52, still going at 68

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

Started out in The Lord of the Rings, writing Gandalf slash. (My fics are available on my old website, “Meddling in the Affairs of Wizards.” Haven’t had time to add them to AO3 yet.) After a seven-year pause, got started again by the Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell tv series, after having been a fan of the book for seven years. (Those fics are all on AO3.)

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I have written OCs, but only if they fit into canon, which I try to stick to as much as possible in most cases. (I had to look up “reader inserts.” Never done one.)

4) What is your favourite genre to write for?

Given my two fandoms, it must be fantasy.

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why?

I suppose it would be “From the Ashes a Fire,” a Gandalf/Aragorn romance. I tried to pair Gandalf with as many different guys from the novel as possible, but Aragorn always seemed to most logical lover for the wizard. I think most of my fics up to that point had been practice for that one.

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

“Service at the Prancing Pony,” which pairs Gandalf and Bob. (Yes, there is a Bob in LOTR.) It was only my second fic, and it’s pretty trivial.

7) When is your preferred time to write?

Evening.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

The challenge of figuring out a fic with explicit content (usually) and keep it true to the original source novel.

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

“Thrice Returned” is a multi-chapter novel pairing Gandalf and Frodo. My favorite scene is when Frodo wakes up in Ithilien after the Ring is destroyed and discovers that Gandalf is alive. I always felt that Tolkien should have shown that scene, but he skips over it. Of course, my version is more romantic, which is partly why I like it.

10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternative ending in mind?

I don’t recall ever having an alternative ending for a fic in mind. My funniest ending, I think, is in “Mr Norrell’s Breeches.” I had no idea how I was going to end it, and inspiration struck just as I got to the ending. (Usually I know how the story will end, sometimes down to the last exchange of dialogue.)

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Yes. In Chapter 8 of “Two Masters in the Darkness” Norrell and Strange summon the new King of Lost-hope (to call it by its old name). I referred to the King as King Stephen, but as one reader pointed out, he wasn’t using that name after the death of the gentleman with the thistle-down hair. I amended the story to be more consistent with that premise.

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

It was Gandalf for six years, until I ran out of inspiration. (I just COULD NOT find a way to pair him with Sam.) Since I started writing JS&MN, it has been Mr Norrell. Although I write book-canon, I imagine my Mr Norrell as he is played by Eddie Marsan, who brings such warmth and empathy (and cuteness!) to the role, despite the fact that the screenwriter made him such an inconsistent character. (If he can do the fantastic York Minster magic, why can he not do sea beacons? And so on and on.)

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?

Generally I don’t write for characters I don’t enjoy. Lady Pole was the hardest; I only did her once.

14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx? - You can ask about multiple stories.

Often I do variations on quotations from the book. My favorite title of my own is “One Spell not to discover what My Friend Is doing Presently,” where Mr Strange speaks harshly to Mr Norrell, who casts a spell to make them invisible to each other. I loved writing the farce that resulted.

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?

I generally do a search for Regency-era names, as with the Misses Whitworth and Bastable in “Mr Norrell, ladies’ man.”

16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx?

Often I rely on prompts, but I came up with the idea for “Stark Staring” on my own. It started with a simple premise, that Mr Norrell would get a little tipsy and cast a spell that would allow him (but no one else) to see Mr Strange unclothed. I thought it a pretty feeble idea, but it worked out very well.

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.

From a fic with the premise that Mr Norrell is (of course) secretly in love with Mr Strange and highly distracted by his pupil’s habit of pursing his lips when he is concentrating on his work. He inadvertently lets slip some indications of his desire when the two are close together looking for a book in the library: “Mr Strange had not failed to notice the man’s gaze directed at his mouth and the faint whimper and the subsequent slight confusion and the heavy breathing and the mere pretense of examining the books when instead Mr Norrell was staring into space and blushing furiously.”

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Nothing that I carried on beyond a few paragraphs. Just couldn’t find the inspiration to go on.

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I would love to continue my “Jonathan Strange ♥ Mr Norrell” series by taking the two magicians on one of the adventures that are only hinted at at the very end of the novel. I’ve gone so far as to set them up as planning to go to Egypt, but I have not had the time to do the necessary research to figure out a plausible evil spell for them to save someone from. Maybe someday, but I doubt it.

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

No.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

I am very fond of the JS&MN fics by Predatrix. She also writes Norrell, pairing him with Childermass most often but also with Strange. She sticks less to book-canon than I do, but she has a great imagination when it comes to thinking up magic for the characters to do. I have not got that talent and usually derive the magic, when necessary, from Clarke’s book.

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Not really.

23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

Either way. As long as I’m not listening to vocal music with English lyrics, I don’t get distracted.

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

Love ‘em, though I have written so many by now, and for the same characters, that I kind of dread them.

25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Yes. At the parting (inevitable) of Gandalf and Aragorn at the end of “From the Ashes a Fire” and at the letter Childermass writes to Norrell in Chapter 9, the end of “Two Masters in the Darkness,” after he has been separated from Norrel by the Darkness. Even though my main pairing if Norrell/Strange, I loved writing the relationship between Childermass and Norrell in “Master and Man” and its consequences in “Two Master in the Darkness.”

26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write?

I did an AU version of “Thrice Returned” (the Gandalf/Frodo epic) where instead of being killed by the Balrog, Gandalf survived and went with Frodo and Sam (and Gollum) to Mordor. Figuring out what effects that would have on the rest of the book’s plot was a killer, but I struggled through it and came up with something that someone manages to be sort of book-canon and yet AU at the same time.

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

Sometimes I do an outline for the multi-chapter fics. Not for the one-offs. In doing “Jonathan Strange ♥ Mr Norrell,” I had to do an elaborate chart with a chronology of all the things that happened to the two in the Darkness, since I wanted it to be absolute book-canon despite involving events in the final chapter that Clarke barely hints at. The chronology (when was Norrell born? 1765 in my head-canon) is the hardest part, since Clarke is so clear about hers.

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?

More of the conventions. I just saw a prompt on Library of Moria requesting a Gandalf/Pippin fic, as if it would be something hard! I saw how to do it right away and just launched in.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I think “The Toasts of Venice,” a sequel to “Jonathan Strange ♥ Mr Norrell” that takes the two magicians to Venice immediately after the last scene in the book, is pretty darn good, but for some reason it got far fewer hits (averaging by chapter) than the original. It has an amusing scene of Strange trying to get Norrell to be a bit less shy about going out of Hurtfew by taking him to a sweets shop.

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

I’m rather surprised that “A Book with a Strange Spell upon It” gets more hits than most of my other one-offs, some of which I think are better. But it’s a good story, so the disparity if not odd enough to make me roll my eyes, even a little.

31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer)

Having plugged Predatrix’s work already, I’ll say “The Perils of Being a Virgin in Faerie (Together with a Solution Thereto)” by Nothingshire. An excellent premise—that Mr Norrell’s virginity makes him an attractive kidnapping target for Fairies—with delightful humor and genuine affection between the two magicians.

32) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Not apart from the ones in JS&MN that Clarke based on real people.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

So hard to pick, but I really appreciated one I got for my series “Jonathan Stolen & Mr Norrell.” The premise is that after a few years in the Darkness, Jonathan attracts the attention of a beautiful lady fairy who kidnaps him, and Mr Norrell has to get up the courage to rescue him. I was a bit trepidatious about writing a Fairy character, especially given my lack of imagination when it comes to writing magic. But I gave it a try, and one reader made me confident that I had succeeded: “I love Lady Turn-of-Tide! You've pinned down the character of Clarke's fairies exactly: capricious, self-centred, vain, generous and cruel all at once, and utterly incapable of seeing humans as anything but cute playthings. As Strange says, she's a good sort (for a fairy), but I know I wouldn't want to meet her! She was a lot of fun to read about, though.” Yay!

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

There was a troll on tumblr who was lambasting those of us who write really explicit stuff about JS&MN characters. She or he was denouncing a group of us (specifically by our pseudonyms) for ruining Mr Norrell and the others. As if anyone was forcing her/him to read the stuff! Fortunately the fandom sprang to our defense, and I actually got more hits than usual on my latest Norrell fic, “Stark Staring.”

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

I’ve run some stories past Predatrix and even collaborated with her, and I’ve done that with past betas.

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?

I only have one, which I quoted above. It is based on a prompt that requests that Norrell be the top in the sex scene, for a change. That goes against my head-canon, but I shall do my best.

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written?

Hard to choose, but I guess I would say “The Epic Battle over Mr Norrell,” where Childermass and Lascelles both want Norrell sexually, for different reasons, and they decide to have a contest demonstrating their various skills for a delighted but increasingly frustrated Mr Norrell (since of course they have to start over at each stage of the contest without him coming). Guess who wins!

38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it.

I’ve collaborated with Predatrix, but the sort of stuff we write requires very similar tastes, and I doubt I would find anyone else.

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?

Definitely third, though I have done some first person in letters within the fics.

40) Do people know you write fanfiction?

Only people online.

41) What’s your favourite minor character you’ve written?

I don’t know whether he counts as minor, but I have built up Mr Norrell’s servant Lucas into a fairly major figure in my “Jonathan Strange ♥ Mr Norrell” fics. He agrees to return to Hurtfew, even in the Darkness (as do some other servants), and he works his way up to essentially replacing Childermass as Norrell and Strange’s Man of Business. I quite like him as a character.

42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx.

I’ve never done one.

43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?

Not that I know of.

44) What is the last line you wrote?

I added this to the WIP quoted above, in 17: “The exchange of Jeremy’s Tott’s little monograph, ENGLISH MAGIC, for its mirror had been a thrilling revelation that there was a second genuine practical magician in England.”

45) What spurs you on during the writing process?

Like Tolkien, I write what I would like to read. I am a professional writer and love dealing with the English language. It’s fun, and I love reading the results.

46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it?

See number 19.

47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made up title. What would this story be about?

I fear I cannot come up with a title before starting to write the fic.

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

Basically my Norrell/Strange fics are based around the idea that Norrell, who in the book is so boring and dry and selfish, becomes a different person when he’s with Strange. More lively, talkative, and even passionate. That makes writing about these two when they’re finally reunited in the Darkness is such fun. Norrell is transformed into a fascinating character.

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

It was called “No Windows,” and it was a LOTR AU in which Gandalf seizes the Ring because he loves Frodo and wants to spare him the agony of carrying the Ring—and naturally he’s corrupted by it. It was a terrific story, but unfortunately the author apparently withdrew from the fandom and deleted the fic. I was lucky to have started with such an excellent fic, since it made me go on and read more and then start writing.

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

I would say smut, since virtually all of what I’ve written has included very explicit scenes. But I’ve also enjoyed working out the other scenes and making them book-canon. I think I would choose fluff if I could only do one, since I enjoy writing comedy and farce.

ccc.

1. Favorite childhood book? >> (Three hundred surveys posted to this blog, wow. --I mean, over the course of nearly a decade I’ve probably filled out at least ten thousand, but.) I think that distinction would have to go to The Phantom Tollbooth. It’s one of the only books I remember owning, probably because I’d paged through it so many times. I also modified all the illustrations with pen so that Milo looked like a woman. 2. What are you reading right now? >> Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine -- more like limping through it, because I stopped setting aside time specifically for reading so I just end up grabbing a half a chapter here and there. I’ll have to do something about that. I’d started The Poisonwood Bible a while ago, too, but I keep forgetting to continue it. 3. What books do you have on request at the library? >> I rarely borrow books from the library unless they’re e-books because of my tendency to have to repeatedly renew and eventually take it back before I’m finished because I ran out of renews. 4. Bad book habit? >> Not reading. 5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? >> I don’t, for the reasons stated above. But for all the shit I talk about Grand Rapids, it has a lovely main branch, so I’ll probably end up stopping in again soon, maybe spending a few hours there for a change of scenery.

6. Do you have an e-reader? >> I have a phone, which functions as my e-reader. I also have a Kindle, but between its wack amount of storage space and its quick-draining battery, it’s been relegated to the position of glorified mousepad at this point. (It’s too bad, because I like the screen size.) 7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? >> Two or three at once. I think it’s interesting to see if/how they subconsciously weave themselves together in my imagination, even if -- especially if -- they’re about completely unrelated things. 8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? >> It’s the internet in general that interferes with my reading habits, not just tumblr, but tumblr obviously plays a part. 9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?) >> I quit on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road like 10 pages in, and I don’t usually do that but for some reason I got bored really quickly and couldn’t see the point in pushing through. That’s not a total vote in its disfavour because I didn’t actually form a full opinion. Sometimes I just pick up a book at the wrong time and have to wait until I reach the point in my life when I’ll need it. I’ll probably try again in a couple of years. 10. Favorite book you’ve read this year? >> I really enjoyed Reincarnation Blues, I thought it was an amazing story. I also got a lot out of M. K. Asante Jr’s It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop. When the Stars Are Right by Scott R Jones was fascinating as hell, and then of course there was my long-overdue (or maybe right-on-time, considering...) American Gods reread... 11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? >> Occasionally. The thing is, there are so many books in my comfort zone that I want to read... 12. What is your reading comfort zone? >> I don’t know if it’s quantifiable. I like a lot of different kinds of books. I usually know within 10-15 pages of a book if I’m going to like it or not -- I try not to judge books by their covers, but I definitely judge them by their first chapter. 13. Can you read on the bus? >> Sometimes, but I generally prefer to listen to music and look out the window.

14. Favorite place to read? >> In bed. 15. What is your policy on book lending? >> I’ll give books away. Just take it, read it. Pay it forward. I don’t like to hoard books. 16. Do you ever dog-ear books? >> Hell yes, I do. They’re not a sacred object to me; their contents may well be sacred, but their contents already exist in me because I ate them.  17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? >> Nah. 18. Not even with text books? >> I don’t use textbooks. 19. What is your favorite language to read in? >> I can only read in English. 20. What makes you love a book? >> It’s a very visceral and subconscious thing, and it’s not dependent on genre or the politics of the author or any of that as much as it’s dependent on who I am at that moment in time, what story I need to hear, and how lovingly the author told it. That sounds like it only applies to fiction books, but it really doesn’t.  21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? >> Some level of understanding of the person I’m recommending it to. 22. Favorite genre? >> I don’t know, honestly. 23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?) >> I wish I read more science fiction. The thing is, most of the scifi stories I love I kind of stumbled into accidentally. Whenever I go looking for scifi specifically, I run into a lot of duds (not that they’re badly written or anything, just that they’re bad for me). I’m going to try Philip K Dick soon and I hope that works out okay. 24. Favorite biography? >> I don’t have one. 25. Have you ever read a self-help book? >> Sure, but I don’t make a habit of it.

26. Favorite cookbook? >> I don’t have one. Well, okay, Feeding Hannibal is pretty cool, ngl, but mostly for the information rather than the actual recipes. We can’t afford to (or don’t have the room/appliances to) make most of that stuff. 27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? >> Definitely American Gods, but that’s a hard-to-explain thing, lol. The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are is a good runner-up, because as far as inspiration is concerned, Alan Watts probably had more than his fair share of it. (Do comic books count, because if so I’d like to also add in Promethea.) 28. Favorite reading snack? >> Alcohol. (But also anything I can eat with one hand, or doesn’t require a lot of, like, attention.) 29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. >> I don’t think that’s ever happened. 30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? >> I don’t read critic reviews often enough to know what the ratio of agreement to disagreement would even be like. 31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? >> A negative review is just as valuable as a positive review. I’d prefer people not be nasty in their negative reviews, but like... I also don’t have to read their review if I don’t like it. It’s not that big of a deal to me. 32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose? >> Russian, probably. I imagine untranslated Russian lit would be amazing to read. 33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? >> And actually finished? Ha! Let’s see... as far as length, I’d probably pick whatever the longest Stephen King book that I’ve read is. (He meanders, man. He fucking meanders. It’s great, but dear god.) As far as content, I’m probably gonna go with Atlas Shrugged. For, I mean, obvious reasons, really. 34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin? >> That doesn’t really happen to me. If I want to read something, I’ll start reading it. If it proves prohibitive to my limited ability to understand shit, then I’ll put it down and move on. 35. Favorite poet? >> I don’t have one. 36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? >> Zero. When I do check out from the library, I stick to three books max. 37. How often have you returned book to the library unread? >> Quite often. Usually because I ran out of time. 38. Favorite fictional character? >> YEAH, OKAY. 39. Favorite fictional villain? >> Actually that is almost impossible for me to determine because I don’t even put the “villain” flag on characters unless it’s super fucking obvious (like in a comic book) that they’re supposed to be the Token Bad Guy. I just don’t even think in those terms. -- Now that I say that, though, I remembered that Stephen King characters are written very polarised despite my personal interpretations of them, so I suppose my favourite villain is Walter O’Dim. 40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation? >> I don’t know, I don’t usually have time to read on vacation. Unless it’s on the plane or something, in which case I just bring whatever I happen to be reading at the time. It’s usually on my phone, anyway. 41. The longest I’ve gone without reading. >> I mean, I don’t go a day without reading something, even if it’s just articles I saw on my facebook feed. 42. Name a book that you could/would not finish. >> Fifty Shades of Grey. (I did try. I wrote detailed posts about my thoughts during my attempt to read it. They’re still on my old blog.) 43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? >> Everything. It’s just hard for me to turn the “noise” (literal and figurative noise) of the world off in general, which is why I like it quiet when I’m trying to focus. 44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel? >> Well, LOTR. I was going to say Predestination but All You Zombies isn’t a novel. Uhh.... :/ 45. Most disappointing film adaptation? >> Good god, so many. 46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time? >> Around $100, I guess. I don’t have much money in general so I try to just... avoid bookstores. 47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? >> I don’t. The first-chapter test usually works just fine. 48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? >> Boredom. 49. Do you like to keep your books organized? >> Well, we don’t own enough for a complex system to be required. 50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them? >> I really prefer to give them away. It’s just... I’m not a hoarder (I don’t even mean that in the negative sense, I just mean I don’t like hanging onto stuff I’m not actively using). I spent just about all of my adult life up until 2 years ago homeless or some version of transient and having to be ruthlessly exacting about how many belongings I had at any given time really changed the way my brain works regarding material items. I love being able to own things now, but it’s... hard to enjoy having too many objects. I get tetchy. It feels inorganic. Maybe that’ll change in the future (these things often do), but for now owning more than 20 or so books feels like an overindulgence. 51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding? >> I don’t think so. 52. Name a book that made you angry. >> I can’t think of one right now. 53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did? >> The Fountainhead. Any Rand book, actually, because Vlad couldn’t stand her and we had such similar tastes in media that I figured I wouldn’t either. But the immense amount of annoying peer pressure from Sigma eventually got me to pick it up just to get them off my back, and..... well, the rest is hilarious “I’m in love with a crazy Russian woman who makes me want to yell at her constantly” history. 54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t? >> I don’t know. That doesn’t happen very often. 55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? >> All of it? I don’t feel guilty about anything I read.

I was tagged by @samspurpletoothbrush, thank you so much, I had never done this one before!

Rules: Answer 20 questions and tag 10 followers you want to know better.

Name: Elisa Chinese Zodiac Sign: I have no idea and I’m going to look this up right now. *three minutes later* It’s a tiger. Cool, I like tigers. Also my lucky numbers apparently are 1, 3 and 4, my lucky colors are blue, gray and orange (which is unfortunate because I can’t stand orange), my lucky flowers are yellow lily and cineraria (there were pictures and they are so pretty) and my lucky directions (???) are East, North and South, while I should stay away from 6, 7, 8, brown and Southwest. Height: 160 cm / 5′2 feet Ethnicity: Italian Hogwarts House: Slytherin. Myers-Briggs (MBTI) Personality Result: INTJ. Sometimes I find stuff about this personality on Pinterest and it’s... shokingly accurate. Favorite Season(s): Winter, or maybe fall. I like cold. Probably winter. Favorite Book(s):  ...And this question makes me sad because it’s been ages since I’ve had the time to read something for pleasure instead of studying. Sigh. Well, there are many books that I love but I have to say that most of them come from my years of obsession over the fantasy genre and I don’t feel them as much as I used to, you know? So I’m gonna go with Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, because I am dying to reread it. Favorite Flower(s): I don’t really have a good answer for this, I’ve never been big on flowers. Except for that period of time in my childhood when I had a thing for sunflowers. Favorite Color(s):  Black, plus blue and green. But mostly black. Favorite Animal(s) & Why:  I’ll say horses, but I don’t really have a good reason, I’ve just always had a thing for horses: I used to ride them a little years ago, like half of my toys were horses, I bought books about how to take care of them, the different breeds and their anatomy... It was more of an obsession than a “thing”, tbh. Guess how many times I’ve seen Spirit? Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:  Hazelnut! Which is great because my sister doesn’t like it, so when we buy ice-cream the hazelnut is mine. Average Hours of Sleep: Around 6. SamGirl/DeanGirl/CasGirl/CrowleyGirl/Other/None?: Dean!girl, even if there are many characters I stan passionately. Favorite SPN Character & Why: Dean. And now I need to come up with a satisfying “why”. A big part of it is surely that he is the character I identify with the most in this show. Aside from this, he is a really well done character, who starts off as a stereotypical guy but is soon revealed to be much more. We’ve seen him growing so much during these years and I love that now he ended up defying stereotypes: he is a straight guy who loves to cook and keep his kitchen clean, he has a panties kink, he’s kind of a neat-freak and he can be disarmingly sweet. I just love him so much, my little son is so soft but he is also a great killing machine when he needs to be??? Second Favorite SPN Character & Why: Oh God. Alright, I’m gonna go with Sam because he is the one, besides Dean, I know the most, so there’s kind of a deeper connection here. But I also stan John, Mary and Gadreel with the passion of a thousand suns. Favorite Fictional Characters Other Than SPN:  ...How much time do you have? Alright, I’ll make myself stop at five. Harvey Specter from Suits, Wes Mitchell from Common Law, Shane Walsh from The Walking Dead, Lincoln Burrows from Prison Break and Scottie from Suits. These are just the first five that popped into my head, I love all my other babes so much too, don’t be offended my little preciouses, plz ;_; Favorite Superheroes: Thor, Jessica Jones and... Does Mick Rory count? I think he does. Favorite Movies: End of Watch (2012) was a really, really good cop movie. And also all the LOTR movies, because I still love that book. What Would Your Personal SPN Heaven Look Like:  Mmh. Probably me. In the middle of a Samn’Dean sandwich hug. Or even better, in the middle of this. Plus, if you could add John to the mix it’d be great. Just a Winchesters group hug. Other than that, I just want happy and domestic Winchesters forever. Give these four a break and let them be happy.

Tagging: (a couple of these are people that I’ve seen popping up in my activity who have particularly interesting URLs XD) @bipolarbearcain @cinnamonsiren @sassspn @cascancook @winchdean @spn-idjits-guide-to-hunting @johnnwinchester @buttheyrebrothers @babybrotherdean @jensenacklespl

so this thought just came into my head and i want to explore it.

in my life i’ve only seen 3 films so far that i read as books before they became movies. im not counting comic books/graphic novels that became movies bcs thats a little different, books that became tv shows, or plays that became movies. but its interesting to think about that.

i didnt read harry potter until well after the films (all of them lmao) were released, i’ve never read how to train your dragon, i’ve never read the hobbit/lotr, the animated alice in wonderland came out in the 50s, i have only recently read the last unicorn, i read World War Z after the movie came out (and ive never seen all of the movie), and i read the neverending story when i was cast in the play.

the books that i read before they came out in film are; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Warm Bodies, and Goosebumps.

Goosebumps kind of fits but it was made into a tv series first, and im not sure if i read the books or saw the shows first. i did both, i know that much.

I read Warm Bodies only bcs I wanted to see the movie but thought the book would be cool to read (its amazing and has a completely different feel from the movie), and Lion Witch Wardrobe was bcs my dad read it to me when I was younger. That and The Magician’s Nephew are the only Narnia books ive ever read.

I was going to try and read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children before the movie came out, but that work out for me.

if you want to count comics and graphic novels, then the list gets bigger. but comics already have the characters drawn out, so unlike books, you dont have an idea in your head on what the character looks like. that is so often changed in film, plus you loose so much detail and nuance when you go book to screenplay to film (this is also true with comics, but its still different)

However, and the biggest reason as to why I’m thinking about this, two movies will be coming out in the next few years, and both of them are based on my favorite books of all time (aside from the alice books of course). 

The first is Captain Underpants! I know that this is a book series with words and pictures, so technically its a graphic novel series, but they’re kids books! and those tend to have an awful lot of pictures. This series was my FAVORITE (other than the alice books) as a kid!! they were fun, hilarious, relatable, and just all around super great. So when i saw the trailer for the animated film that’s coming out this year based on the series i was ECSTATIC!! Were it live-action i would be bummed out since kids picture books usually fair better when animated (im not a fan of the diary of a wimpy kid movies....) but this animation is handled a lot like The Peanuts movie. The animation look like a color and 3D version of the exact art style!! its wonderful and im SO EXCITED

The other one, and this i am VERY VERY nervous about, is Ready Player One. that is my favorite sci-fi novel ever. i often say its my favorite book ever bc it deserves more love! and i do so much love it. ive reread it i dont even know how many times. and what do you know, they’re making it into a movie!! when i heard about this i had so many mixed feelings, and most of it has to do with the style of the book and the characters.

-Ready Player One Spoilers-

In Ready Player One the protagonist starts out as a dirt poor, fat, unattractive teen boy, and later he gets more physically fit/healthy and rich. he claims to still be unattractive at this point (mostly bcs he jues doesnt like how he looks and he looses all his body hair). this is very important to the character! i’m afraid that in this movie hollywood will do as they always do and make him a skinny conventionally attractive teen from the get-go. people will probably pull the Holes excuse of “the filmmakers didnt want to make the actor gain a bunch of weight and then loose it all” BULLSHIT they can cast a fat actor! and through his training and as they film the movie he can loose some weight or they can use movie magic (like when they made chris evans a scrawny little thing). its not that hard, people.

Another character, and this was super important to me and was a big subplot, is that Wade best friend, Aech, whom he only knows through the game (OASIS) plays as a white, straight, guy avatar, but they’re actually a black lesbian named Helen. And she plays this avatar to protect herself and to get a job and be taken seriously within OASIS. is super sad she has to do this, but its a big part of her character. she’s also fat as well, and im REALLY worried that in the movie she’s going to be a skinny straight white girl.

Two other characters who have important characteristics are Art3mis (Samantha) and the creator of OASIS James Halliday. Art3mis is Wade later love interest and GF. She is notable bcs her avatar is just like her, a chubby girl with black hair, but sans her port-wine birthmark. I know they’ll keep her birthmark, since its an intimate reveal, but they’ll probably make her skinny and i hate it. Now it’s only half canon in the books, but i’ve chosen to go with it, but at one point Wade talks about James Halliday’s childhood and his personality and all that, and mentions that he might have been autistic. Now, since it’s only he “might have been” in the books, the filmmakers will probably not make him autistic. That’s fucking sad to me, I mean, it would be amazing!! This character is one of the smartest, most famous, most prolific video game programmers/designers in history!! And he’s autistic! That is some wonderful representation and the filmmakers should jump on that opportunity. It’ll inspire so many autistic people who have a passion for video games to pursue their dreams. But, i have a hunch they wont go with it.

Two other characters, Daito and Shoto, are Japanese young guys who claim to be brothers (and their characters are) but are just friends in the real world. My initial hunch was that the filmmakers would keep them Japanese, but given the recent whitewashing of important Japanese characters, I have my doubts.

My few other concerns are that this movie won’t have 80s pop culture as the main style and focus of the era they book is set in, not to mention OASIS and most of people’s interests. It’s incredibly important to the novel, but so many dystopian movies choose to go with gritty, futuristic, edgy stuff. The other concern is how they will handle the real life vs OASIS look, since over half of the book takes place inside a VR video game. I’ve seen news that they are utilizing VR technology, but i havent read too much. I’m wondering if they’ll animate all of OASIS and the avatars and action and anything in the video game! That would be awesome.

So these are all my thoughts. I havent looks at who they’ve cast yet, so I’m going to do that right now. I do know that Steven Spielberg is directing it, which could be fantastic or terrible. Okay, cast time.

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So the IMDB doesnt say who is cast as Daito and Shoto, but Wikipedia says that Win Morisaki of PrizmaX will play him, which is great! I hope that’s what happens.

Art3mis/Samantha will be played by Olivia Cooke, who in my opinion is way too old. She’s older than me! The character’s age (i think) isnt mentioned in the book, but she’s got to be 17-20, and Olivia Cooke looks older than that. She’s also not chubby, but hey, maybe they’ll fit that. She also doesnt have the birthmark, but that’s gonna be makeup. (wouldve been cool if they found an actress with a port-wine stain on her face...)

Parzival/Wade will be played by Ty Sheridan. He was Cyclops in X-Men Apocalypse. He’s the right age, but way too fit and attractive. DAMN IT Well, I guess there’s always makeup and special effects, but i’m 80% sure now they wont make Wade fat.....

Aech/Helen will be played by Lena Waithe who is almost PERFECT. She’s much older than Aech, who is around 18, but like Samantha i imagine they’ll have make up and acting to cover it. My biggest concern is that she’s not fat like Aech, which means they’ll use a body suit or effects or Lena will gain weight, or they wont do anything.....

T.J. Miller will be playing I-r0k, who is another OASIS player and a bigtime douchebag jerk. This is perfect. We don’t know his age, or really anything other than his personality and avatar, and T.J. Miller is hilarious so this/ll be great.

Mark Rylance will be playing James Halliday, witch is fine by me. He’s not quite what I imagined, but thats what makeup and wigs are for. He’s worked a lot with Steven Spielberg, so that makes sense as to why he’s cast here. I just hope he can portray an autistic character well and with respect.... (would be better if he IS autistic but ya know.....)

Simon Pegg will be playing Ogden Morrow, the co-creator of OASIS, and thats perfect. No complaints.

Nolan Sorrento (the antagonist of the book and head of operations at Innovative Online Industries) will be played by Ben Mendelsohn, who was Director Krennic in Rouge One. He is much older and not quite and slimy as I imagined him, but this can totally work. I pictured Nolan Sorrento as Andrew Scott in my head, since he seems like the perfect evil, charismatic, slimy, attractive but ugly inside business man.

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So, after looking at the current casting choices im a little let down, but still excited! I’ll have to wait patienly for the trailer, since this thing is coming out in 2018. Dang, this turned into a Ready Player One post, but its been on my mind recently.

If you read through all of this, good job! let me know what you think! i probably dont talk about Ready Player One very often but thats bcs i dont know anyone in real life (other than my dad) who has read this book, and the online fandom seems nonexistent. Who knows?

But yeah, I guess I made this post bcs I wasn’t able to share the collective nervousness, complaints, and excitement of Harry Potter or LotR or Percy Jackson fans when their fav books became movies.