happyDave's Journal: July 4, 2003

Okay, so I'm starting the journal today because I saw a few comments that I wanted to reply to, but I didn't feel like replying to. I can honestly say that I doubt anyone will ever read this journal. We'll just start the experiment here.

First: The review of T3. I just wanted to say that for the last, what? 4 years or so, I have not once read a review on The Onion's AV Club that I have disagreed with. I depend on them for almost all of my movie review needs. Why do I like them? They don't use stars. They just spend about 200 words or so giving a cogent, well-thought, well-edited, intelligent analysis of the film. No stars, no tomatoes, no rating system. I don't think there's a better method for reviewing movies. Sure, it requires a bit of an investment--you actually have to read the fucking review instead of just counting the number of stars for it, but it has always paid off.

So I gave up on reading the T3 review today, or yesterday, or whenever it came out.

Second. A review of "Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1, A Game of Thrones." Not bad. I believe that book is now 5 years old, but I'm glad to see a review of it. I love that series. I hate Robert Jordan though. I kept on buying those books for I don't know how long. I guess I liked them in the beginning, but talk about static characters! Somebody had a great response, went something like "If I read about another pulled braid or smoothed dress..." No shit. Every character has a "tic" to him or herself, and it is used and abused throughout. And every female character has the same tic, almost. Weak, weak, weak characters. Fairly descriptive writing, but no phrases that give me chills. No great metaphors, similes. No foreshadowing--not really. There's a difference between prophecy and foreshadowing.

I actually wanted to write about George R. R. Martin. And the slashdot editors. How can they call themselves editors if they don't do any editing. Send back the corrections, ask for a resubmit, you aren't liable for the content still. Sure, it slows the process down a bit, but slashdot isn't about breaking news.

Back to Martin. Great characters. Mature themes. It's more of a history than anything else. As a reader, I obviously start identifying with, and "rooting" for certain characters, but the story itself feels so honest, so much like a presentation of "these are the characters, like them or not."

And in response to the whiner who worried about it using the "f-word." Big deal. People talk like that. Good artists are working with human themes. The way people are. We admire fantasy when human truths remain, unchanged by milieu or setting. People are people, with magic or not.

I remember how much I liked the Riftworld series as a kid. And I wondered why the 15-year-old Pug wasn't masturbating his head off.

One of the reasons I started putting all this stuff in a journal was that I thought I'd like to keep all my little thoughts together and not have them lost in the shuffle. But then I realized that's pretty dumb. Why not just post what I want to post and be damned with it? Well, 'cause I've always hated grading. I want to keep my posts together, which rules out being an AC, but I hate the whole moderation system. And I don't really want people replying. And I'm not sure that I mind if nobody reads my posts. There just little thoughts that occur to me. Looking at my post history, thouggh, that doesn't look true. I don't just post the little thoughts that occur to me. So I think I'll try to do that more often now. We'll see where it takes me.

And the date/subject is wrong because I haven't gone to sleep yet. So it's still the 4th to me, dammit