Writers and things written...
Oct. 18th, 2003 08:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAhem. What can I say? Belatedly, after posting yesterday's entry, I realized it could have started another kerfuffle. Instead, everyone was receptive and amused, which is all I hoped for. So let me get into my Norma Desmond mode - thank you, you wonderful people out there in the dark.
Yesterday was great otherwise, too.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
andrastewhite told me I was evil, which is all a girl can hope for, and promised Garak fanfic. Meanwhile, she wrote a fabulous Farscape story about Harvey and his feelings for John here. Go. Read. Admire! But don't assume this means I have forgotten she is still withholding the Andrew, Buffy and the unicorn saga from me.
ascian3 went and saw Neil Gaiman. Who talked about writing. I'm so not envious. Not me. If you want to be completely free of jealousy, too, read her fantastic report of the occasion here.
And while we talking about writers, it appears H. Bloom is miffed at the thought people read J.K.Rowling and Stephen King. He also threw in Aphra Behn for good measure. Aphra Behn, while not the first female writer of note in the English language, was the first to earn her living with her pen (not via patronage, inherited money or marriage), and as has been noted in these pages before was a highly successful Restoration-era playwright who also wrote good poetry and a novel. I'd say the JKR of her day but alas Aphra never made that much cash. Anyway, the disdain of Mr. Bloom for Behn, King and Rowling earned a great reply.
Moving on to two other writers I like, the biopic Sylvia about Sylvia Plath, or perhaps more accurately about SP and her marriage to Ted Hughes, got its first glowing review in the NY Times. It appears that they got around the prohibition of not being allowed to use either Plath's or Hughes' poetry by using disjointed quotes from Plath's not longer than a minute and thus not covered by copyright and letting Hughes recite Yeats. (The later I predicted, as Kate M. did it as well in her novel Wintering, so I feel somewhat smug.) Otherwise, the review makes it sound like they're really trying to be fair to both parties, but it amuses me that the reviewer only talks about Paltrow and director Christine Jeffs, and not at all about scriptwriter John Brownlow who after all started the project and wrote every single line. It seems Joe Gillis' observation about the audience's regard for screenwriters still holds true.
Lastly, it appears Ted Kennedy was in fine oratory form in the senate. The American people were told Saddam Hussein was building nuclear weapons. He was not. We were told he had stockpiles of other weapons of mass destruction. He did not. We were told he was involved in 9/11. He was not. We were told Iraq was attracting terrorists from Al Qaeda. It was not. We were told our soldiers would be viewed as liberators. They are not. We were told Iraq could pay for its own reconstruction. It cannot. We were told the war would make America safer. It has not. Before the war, week after week after week after week, we were told lie after lie after lie after lie. You can read the entire speech here.
Yesterday was great otherwise, too.
andrastewhite told me I was evil, which is all a girl can hope for, and promised Garak fanfic. Meanwhile, she wrote a fabulous Farscape story about Harvey and his feelings for John here. Go. Read. Admire! But don't assume this means I have forgotten she is still withholding the Andrew, Buffy and the unicorn saga from me. ascian3 went and saw Neil Gaiman. Who talked about writing. I'm so not envious. Not me. If you want to be completely free of jealousy, too, read her fantastic report of the occasion here.And while we talking about writers, it appears H. Bloom is miffed at the thought people read J.K.Rowling and Stephen King. He also threw in Aphra Behn for good measure. Aphra Behn, while not the first female writer of note in the English language, was the first to earn her living with her pen (not via patronage, inherited money or marriage), and as has been noted in these pages before was a highly successful Restoration-era playwright who also wrote good poetry and a novel. I'd say the JKR of her day but alas Aphra never made that much cash. Anyway, the disdain of Mr. Bloom for Behn, King and Rowling earned a great reply.
Moving on to two other writers I like, the biopic Sylvia about Sylvia Plath, or perhaps more accurately about SP and her marriage to Ted Hughes, got its first glowing review in the NY Times. It appears that they got around the prohibition of not being allowed to use either Plath's or Hughes' poetry by using disjointed quotes from Plath's not longer than a minute and thus not covered by copyright and letting Hughes recite Yeats. (The later I predicted, as Kate M. did it as well in her novel Wintering, so I feel somewhat smug.) Otherwise, the review makes it sound like they're really trying to be fair to both parties, but it amuses me that the reviewer only talks about Paltrow and director Christine Jeffs, and not at all about scriptwriter John Brownlow who after all started the project and wrote every single line. It seems Joe Gillis' observation about the audience's regard for screenwriters still holds true.
Lastly, it appears Ted Kennedy was in fine oratory form in the senate. The American people were told Saddam Hussein was building nuclear weapons. He was not. We were told he had stockpiles of other weapons of mass destruction. He did not. We were told he was involved in 9/11. He was not. We were told Iraq was attracting terrorists from Al Qaeda. It was not. We were told our soldiers would be viewed as liberators. They are not. We were told Iraq could pay for its own reconstruction. It cannot. We were told the war would make America safer. It has not. Before the war, week after week after week after week, we were told lie after lie after lie after lie. You can read the entire speech here.
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no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 03:48 am (UTC)I like this bit don't you?
We will achieve a greater measure of relevance not by tearing one another down, or making literature exclusive, but by working to promote our common goal, which is to get people reading, thinking, and feeling again. -SA
It seems Joe Gillis' observation about the audience's regard for screenwriters still holds true.
Sigh. Joss talked about this quite a bit in his early days, and also what can happen when the wrong people get a hold on a good screenplay.
Thanks for the links.
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 08:25 am (UTC)Sigh. Joss talked about this quite a bit in his early days, and also what can happen when the wrong people get a hold on a good screenplay.
Quite. Probably why he's taking no chances with the Firefly movie. I just think it's unfair. Of course directors are very important, too, but if you praise a movie because of its in-depth characterisation and ability to render a complex story, surely some words about the writer who made this possible aren't that difficult to think of? Especially in this case, when the scriptwriter was there all the time while Christine Jeffs as director was a last minute addition.
no subject
Date: 2003-10-18 05:08 am (UTC)Eventually. Obviously I need a more thorough grasp of canon before plunging into that *g*.
Meanwhile, she wrote a fabulous Farscape story about Harvey and his feelings for John here. Go. Read. Admire!
Thank you for the reccomendation - I'm delighted that you liked it.
But don't assume this means I have forgotten she is still withholding the Andrew, Buffy and the unicorn saga from me.
Not witholding just ... not posting yet. Due to it being in a very rough condition. Next time I'm on a BtVS kick, I promise I'll do something with it.
no subject
Date: 2003-10-20 01:33 am (UTC)Hey, can you rec a site with decent Garak fic? I've been out of the loop for a few years, and I accidentally deleted all my DS9 bookmarks. So, I pretty much know all the older stuff, but none of the more recent stories (provided there are any). Any tips?
Garak fanfic
Date: 2003-10-21 06:52 am (UTC)Re: Garak fanfic
Date: 2003-10-22 03:34 am (UTC)And - somehow it had completely slipped my mind - there're two Garak stories in the latest anthology. One's written by Una McCormack, so that's quite promising. :) The other's by Andy Robinson himself.
Funny, I'd bought the book, but over all the fanfic I've completely forgotten about it...
Re: Garak fanfic
Date: 2003-10-23 02:27 am (UTC)Re: Garak fanfic
Date: 2003-10-24 12:33 am (UTC)I can't really rec' it as I didn't get around to reading it yet. But the Star Trek tie-in books are usually well written - way better than the Buffy/Angel ones. Which might have something to do with the fact that Pocket Books give those jobs to writers who actually care about the show and know the characters, including fanfic writers.