Am barely coherent, but...

[flyingskull]

So lots and lots and LOTS more work and lots and lots of physiotherapy for stressed knee and stressed fingers; the latter to explain absence from LJ.

Have been reading good books, la creme de la creme of which is Diana Wynne Jones: Children's Literature and the Fantastic Tradition by Farah Mendlesohn. Wonderful book, intelligent in-depth analysis of DWJ's opus and a lovely witty style that makes reading it a positive pleasure. Am actually re-reading it because it's such a lovely book to read. Also love DWJ, of course, but I think even those who have a superficial knoweledge of her should read it. It says a lot about Fantasy and Sci-Fi and makes one want to read the books, a far from mean feat in a lit crit book, BTW.

As for the rest: it's hot almost everywhere I was forced to go, humid torrid jungle hot, a thing I don't like at all. Why is it that travel agency disaster NEVER happen in Iceland? *sigh*

I onther news I got SO pissed off at LJ - wanted to remove a 'friend' (hate that name) and required button has mysteriously disappeared from 'manage friends' page, so I ask LJ admin and - after much faffing and fapping - they demand to know the username of the 'friend' I want to remove. I am forced to give it and get my instructions in the form of a 'go to' page in MY FUCKING LJ MANAGE ACCOUNTS IN MY FUCKING ACCOUNT. I want to kill 'em all. *deep breath* So I made two mirror blogs at JournalFen and GreatestJournal as a prequel to abandoning LJ altogether. baeraad, I think I may be able to get you a free LJ at JournalFen if you want to have one. The way I feel right now I may not be on LJ much longer.

HUGZ to all and sorry for absence. Unavoidable, I fear. I hope the worst is past, because I'm really tired.

P.S. Oh, apparently G. R. R. Martin forbids fanfic about his Earth-shaking saga. Who'd have thunk it? He didn't seem to be like Ann Rice and the other stupidies...

Comments

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

Besides he does stroll in other people sandboxes too, y'know?

Yes, but by the same token, anyone else is perfectly free to write something that is very obviously a ripoff, ahem, tribute to ASOIAF, as long as they at least pretend it's an original work. =]

Martin's as het as a very het thing, poor man. :P :P :P

(*laughs*) Not that I can argue with the observation, but how do you figure? =]

While you laze about resting from Academic Efforts, I jump all over the place rescuing stranded tourists. :-D

Heheheh, I understand. :) Maybe I should talk to you the next time I'm making plans to travel somewhere. I'm always nervous that some plane will have the nerve to take off without me, because I was delayed or I got lost wandering around the airport or some such. =]

Oh, and I have found that I like Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas. Thus, I'm one tiny, miniscule bit less of a barbarian when it comes to poetry. =]

I'm also reading The Heroine's Journey by Maureen Murdock. I don't suppose you're familiar with the lady? She sounds a little like you do sometimes, only more so. Ahem. A lot more so... a very great deal more so... scarily, disturbingly, extremly much more so...

Ms Murdock and I are not, so far, getting along, I must confess. ^_^;

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

Yes, but by the same token, anyone else is perfectly free to write something that is very obviously a ripoff, ahem, tribute to ASOIAF, as long as they at least pretend it's an original work. =]

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

I can't exactly read text on the first reading, I appear to read subtext directly, which is why I often misremember the text. That's how I get this kind of basic info about the author. Martin is quite het and a bit set in his ways. A bit of a patriarchalist, as well, but not hysterically so. It's hard to explain how I know... Lessee... Reading a book to me is like meeting a person for the first time and having a longish conversation about general topics. One gets impressions.

Dylan Thomas is not at the top of the list of my favourite poets if one considers his whole opus, but when he gets it right, boy does he get it right! I love to pieces that poem.

And now tell me about this Maureen Murdock person. *leans chin on hands and listens*

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

I can't exactly read text on the first reading, I appear to read subtext directly, which is why I often misremember the text.

I guess that's how I read too. :) It tends to cramp my style when discussing books.

OPPOSING PARTY: "So show me where it says so in the text!"

ME: "It doesn't say so in the text! It says so in the entire conceit of the novel!"

Or in other words - it's not written anywhere, it's written everywhere, yes? ;) People I discuss with tend not to be convinced by that, though. Hmpf. =]

Martin is quite het and a bit set in his ways.

Well, he's quite old... he and his ways have spent a lot of time together. =]

A bit of a patriarchalist, as well, but not hysterically so.

Hmmm... couldn't that be due to the story, not due to the author? Every single character in A Game of Thrones has been told from childhood that men are supposed to rule the world. Westerosi men do tend to congratulate themselves on their manliness a lot. =] Strong women do keep turning up in the books, though - in fact, by book four they're almost a majority.

And now tell me about this Maureen Murdock person.

(*groans*) She's some woman who's written a book on the subject of how unsatisfying it is for women to "try to be men" by seeking achievement. Real womanhood is about caring and self-sacrifice, she says. That idea that women should have careers and education is a Patriarchy plot to destroy womanhood, she says - because as we all know, the Patriarchy just hates it when women stay in the kitchen.

She annoys me something fierce, especially with her eternal prattling about mother goddesses and oneness with nature and holy fertile menstrual power and augh augh augh augh! >_< Lord save me from wiccans who fancy themselves feminists!

It was unfair of me to compare you to her, I admit (especially since you're an accomplished, unmarried woman - how that bitch Murdock would hate you! =]). You're nothing like that, you're just sort of... pro-menstruation. =]

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

you're just sort of... pro-menstruation. =]

HMPH! I resent that. I'm not 'sort of pro-menstruation', I'm ALL for menstruation and will be said to see it go. That's because I'm the female of the species and have absolutely NO quarrel with my body. :P :P :P

You're forgiven for comparing me to that woman, though she's got one thing right (prolly by sheer chance and for all the wrong reasons) and this connects to the Martin thing.

He doesn't write 'strong women' exactly, he rather writes 'men with tits' more or less in the way that most slash writers write 'women with penii'. The hardest thing for a writer is to write aliens, easy to warble about green skin and tentacles and/or antennae, VERY hard to convey a different way of feeling and thinking. Men and women are the same species, of course what we have in common is more than what we don't have, but there are some differences and those are all in the 'feeling and thinking' area; moreover culture assigns each gender a role and that colours thing as well.

So, I was exaggerating a little when I said 'men with tits', but, basically he gives his strong women manly virtues.

*sigh* Alas, I'm resting today but my brain is still exhausted, I can't find the words. Hope you can muddle through my badly-expressed argument.

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

That's because I'm the female of the species and have absolutely NO quarrel with my body. :P :P :P

I am very happy for you. I'm the male of the species, and I have LOTS of quarrels with my body! Does that mean that I hate myself, or that I wish I was female? No, it just means that I acknowledge the drawbacks of my situation along with the benefits.

That said, of course you are entitled to feel the way you do. But so is everyone else. Women who hate their periods are not traitors to womanhood. :P

Men and women are the same species, of course what we have in common is more than what we don't have, but there are some differences and those are all in the 'feeling and thinking' area

And this is the part where I must strongly disagree. What are these supposed differences? I can't say I've ever found any, not of any importance. For every attribute I could find in one gender, I always realised that there was an equivalent attribute in the other.

Yes, yes, there are some statistical differences, caused by different hormones. But that's a difference of degree, not of kind. Women get angry and aggressive even without testosterone, men have tender feelings even with low estrogen. And for every tendency you might note, there's a million exceptions. Between you and me, who would you say is the more feminine and the more masculine one? ;)

And manly virtues? What on earth is that? If you mean that solving problems by beating people over the head is not traditionally a female habit, then I'd agree - if only because women are usually less physically able to beat people over the head, and so will be more efficient if they employ more cerebral methods. =] But there's plenty of women in ASOIAF who are strong but peaceful (in the first book, Catelyn comes to mind, and Dany near the end), or who are willing to fight but whose foremost strengths are practicality and people skills (I'm thinking of Asha Greyjoy here, but you haven't met her yet).

Perhaps I should ask, just what would a strong, feminine woman be like, in your opinion?

moreover culture assigns each gender a role and that colours thing as well.

Well, yes, and this is constantly discussed in these books. In the first book there would be, as far as warlike women goes... Osha, and that Moon Clan woman, whatever her name was. They're both from cultures where killing things is considered very much a possible role for women. Who else? Arya. She's a tomboy - those aren't exactly rare. She's supposed to have "manly virtues" and feel lost in her culture because of it. Samwell, by comparison, is a man with "womanly virtues," and he's no better off. Those two are examples of, ahem, what happens when you live in a culture that insists that you should want and like things that you just can't find it in you to want and like. :P

*sigh* Alas, I'm resting today but my brain is still exhausted, I can't find the words. Hope you can muddle through my badly-expressed argument.

I think I understand, yes, and it's not the first time I've heard arguments of this sort. I think I'd understand better with some examples, though, and with an answer to my "what would a strong womanly woman look like, then?" question. =]