hello

[kindkit]

Hello to everyone who's recently subscribed to this journal thanks to kouredios's friending meme! Welcome, and I hope you find some interesting discussions here (or recipes, or picspams of pretty actors, or whatever drew you). It's wonderful to have so many new people to talk to.

A quick note about access: most of my posts are public. All my fic is public, so are my reviews and general discussions. What's under lock is mostly either deeply personal or the kind of thoughts that you want to share with a few people but not necessarily with everyone. So I only grant access to people I feel I know pretty well. Please don't be hurt if I don't grant you access immediately. And I promise not to be offended/upset if you choose not to grant me access to your locked posts, either.

Now I feel like I ought to be interesting, so naturally I can't think of a thing. I'm a bit braindead at the moment. I work in retail (how I got from academia--I used to be an English professor--to retail is a long story that says a lot about the state of the US economy) and of course it's our busy season. I am also doing Yuletide, although my story has been stuck at 823 words for several weeks. *sigh*

The last movie I saw (in the cinema) was Skyfall, which I liked enormously; the next movie I plan to watch (rental) is The League of Gentlemen, which is about Second World War veterans who decide to rob a bank and which looks awesome. I'm currently reading A. Lee Martinez's The Automatic Detective (meh, I'm afraid) and watching series 7 of Foyle's War (also a bit meh, although I loved the first few series of it). I'm looking forward to the Doctor Who Christmas special, the return of Cabin Pressure, and The Hobbit (I'm not especially a Tolkien fan, but I love Martin Freeman).

Comments

[frayadjacent]

Hi there! About 85% of my excitement for The Hobbit is Martin Freeman love. I did enjoy LoTR, both books and movies, but yeah. Martin Freeman is fantastic.

[kindkit]

I've heard he was great in The Office, but I have too much of an embarrassment squick to watch it, alas. The Hobbit seems tailor-made for him, though; he's got that wonderful comedic "ordinary decent chap in waaaaaaay over his head" quality, but with real depth to it.

[frayadjacent]

I came to love his character in The Office, but it was Sherlock that totally sold me on the actor. You're absolutely right: he's fantastic at "ordinary decent chap in waaaaaay over his head" -- perfect for Bilbo!

[st_aurafina]

I am also doing Yuletide, although my story has been stuck at 823 words for several weeks

Jealous! I have sixty words. Only 940 to do, whee!

[kindkit]

lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem ipsum lorem ipsum . . .

[st_aurafina]

A vast improvement on what I have, to be honest.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Today I came up with a title for my Yuletide story. A WINNAR IS ME.

Skyfall was pretty awesome. Although I have thoughts about the ways in which it's a recursion to an older iteration of Bond, which the Judi Dench M years were very different from. But at the same time, there was a lot that was awesome in it--Moneypenny! The M-centric plot! da Silva's dramatics!

[kindkit]

My Yuletide experience has been frustrating this year--I got an idea (and even a title, which usually I struggle with) almost immediately, and then stalled on the actual, you know, writing.

I'll be interested to see where they take the Bond franchise post-Skyfall. I'm not a Bond aficionado, but I have enjoyed the darker, more vulnerable Bond of this iteration, and I'd hate to go back to a comparatively cartoonish version.

[wishfulaces]

Yeah, the early series of Foyle's War were so delightful that I was a bit disappointed in the last two series or so. I was rather especially disappointed in some of what happened with Milner's character--no internal continuity at all, it felt like.

[kindkit]

Last night I watched the first episode of series 7 and was dismayed, to say the least, at Milner's sudden transformation into complete!dickhead!Milner. I used to really like him. They're not doing Sam any favors either--her arc (I thought) was very much about her development from a rather gauche vicar's daughter into a competent, confident young woman, and now she's back to being awkward and a bit hopeless. It's like all the characters have hardened into stereotypes--even Foyle, whose integrity now comes off as rather smug.

[wishfulaces]

The characters all did become a bit rote near the end, didn't they? Which often happens with tv shows, but remains very disappointing.

[surexit]

I had no idea you used to be an English professor!

[kindkit]

Yup. I specialized in early modern (read: Renaissance) English literature, though I was very interested in medieval lit as well. But while I loved graduate school in many ways, I didn't have a good time of things post-grad school. There was a lot of "did I really get a Ph.D. in order to teach complacently ignorant freshmen majoring in fashion marketing how to write a thesis statement and use commas?" So, for that and many other reasons, I left, and then discovered that having a Ph.D. in English is not an asset for any other job on the planet. *laughs ruefully*

[surexit]

did I really get a Ph.D. in order to teach complacently ignorant freshmen majoring in fashion marketing how to write a thesis statement and use commas?

:( That's unfun.