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lunasarielThis weekend was very much needed - I did nothing all day Saturday except nap and read; I didn't even leave my dorm! I polished off The Vor Game (write-up below) and made some decent inroads on The Phoenix Guards (of which I'm now over two-thirds done, yay!) and Babylon 5 (of which I'm now working on disc 4 of 6). It was the kind of productive that I haven't been able to be in a long time, so it was really, really nice to read something that I chose to (not that I don't enjoy a lot of the class reading; it's just that I'm always A) under the gun and B) having one eye towards the eventual paper, which don't always lend themselves to purely reading for enjoyment).
I had originally planned to do more of the same on Sunday, but it turned out that my mom and A were heading over to Davis to visit P, who is now going there, and I went along, because I hadn't seen P in quite a while. The best part of it was definitely seeing P so On - an old nickname of his that I'm thinking of bringing back is Fizz or Fizzy, because he always seems happiest when he has six thousand things going on at once, which always makes him seem more alive, for lack of a less clichéd word. But he's living in a co-op (for which he cooks, making his own teriyaki sauce, at least once a week), taking three crazy-hard math classes, working as a tutor and in the co-op's gardens, playing with the co-op's cats, starting work on a research paper about the mathematics of gerrymandering, competing in Magic: The Gathering tournaments, apparently helping referee parties, building a motorized bike that will generate the equivalent of all the energy he consumes in a day, helping Food Not Bombs to cook for homeless people, and, of course, making friends with everyone - when he squired us around town, he would stop to say hi to random people he apparently knew on an average of about every five or ten minutes. Wow, I got tired just typing that.
He showed us around his co-op, which is exactly what you would think: murals on the wall, minor explosion in the kitchen, big comfy easy chair taking up the entire landing of the stairs (not explained), spiders to handle the flies and wasps, compost bins, chicken coop, gardens, bicycle up a tree (again, not explained), rope swing, and massive climbable fig tree. After that, he showed us around Davis a bit (I've actually never been there; at least not since I was about six months old and my dad was finishing up his doctoral degree there). He took us to lunch at an excellent sandwich shop called Pluto, where the portions were *enormous*, but that suited me fine, as I'd neglected to eat since Friday. After that, we found a combination cupcake/ice cream place, where I had the most goddamn delicious raspberry fudge cupcake I've ever had, and I love me some raspberries, some fudge, and some cupcakes. This was, in turn, followed by a visit to his local nerd shop - he picked up a deck of M:TG cards, A got a couple volumes of a manga of some kind, and I only barely stopped myself from picking up the complete Runaways/Young Avengers Civil War crossover, because it was in its individual issues, and I prefer to wait for the trade (also because the art, while suited to the story's dark tone, was never exactly to my taste, which I gather is something of an unpopular opinion, hence the parentheses). I gather that P wanted us to stay longer (he was going to do his chores and/or homework after we left), but our driver was getting a wee bit tired (she's still not letting me drive the Prius, which, after the Dentpocalypse, I guess I understand a little better), so we left. We stopped by Target on our way back down to Cal, where my mom and A listened to showtunes in the car while I picked up some hand towels - I haven't been experimenting with makeup until I could get something to wash the previous day's gunk off, as past experience reveals that neglecting this results in massive breaking-out.
This wasn't too late, so I had some time to do a little more reading, but I also had a short paper to write for Monday. It was only three pages, but was a formal paper nonetheless, and so required quote-hunting, textual analysis, and editing, which took up most of my evening.
Sunday was also apparently the World Series. Despite living fairly close to what seemed to be the epicenter (although LR, my stepsister, who recently moved to San Francisco and was apparently out in the thick of it, which I'm sure gave Stepmom a conniption, as she was against the idea of the move in the first place, and is convinced that LR will be mugged, raped, and murdered within the first month, even though Stepmom herself lived in San Francisco for, like, 20 years and evidently survived), my first reaction to the big Giants win was to post something snarky, along the usual lines of "Congratulations, the arbitrary group of transient overpaid athletes who don't know you exist have proven themselves physically superior to and/or luckier than the opposing arbitrary group of transient overpaid athletes who don't know you exist," but this got me a-thinkin'. I mean, my life is focused around people who don't even exist and the people who, while real, died respectively 17 or 195 years ago, created them, so who am I to judge? So congratulations on your win, Giants fans! It doesn't mean an awful lot to me, but then I'm sure that Frodo's quest to destroy the Ring is equally blah-worthy to some of you, so live and let live.
This morning, I woke up to the weirdest thing: there are two small but *very* painful sores/cuts (I can't tell which) on the left side of my body. One is on the back of my left thigh, just below my butt, and the other is just inside my hipbone, a little above where my leg meets my torso. As Mal Reynolds would say: huh. I sleep in pajama pants and a big shirt that reaches mid-thigh, and there's nothing sharp in my bed. I assume I must have scratched myself in my sleep, but A) how (I generally sleep on my left side or back, with my hands up near my face or chest, often under the pillow), and B) there's no blood under my nails or anything. 'Course, as mentioned above, these could just be sores, but I really don't know of anything aside from, like, leprosy that makes sores randomly appear on one's butt and hip, they weren't there yesterday, and today they're all red and weepy and hurt like a sonofabitch (sitting down is especially fun). So that was my daily dose of weirdness.
My daily dose of cool, though, was this afternoon, when my Chernin group got a tour of Bancroft Library, where all of Cal's special collections live. And holy geekgasm, Batman, but they have some cool stuff. Like, a first edition of the Canterbury Tales with the only contemporary portrait of Chaucer, a First Folio Shakespeare (chock-full of errors, of course, but all the more interesting for it), a first *quarto* Shakespeare (if that's the proper way to describe it; a first-edition quarto Shakespeare, anyway), more first folios and first quartos for Paradise Lost (which have acquired some pretty amusing doodles as they passed from hand to hand), first edition David Copperfields, (one bound in a book, the other, and much more rare, still in the original series of booklets, complete with hilarious Victorian ads, my favorite of which was for a "female pill," where they went through contortions you would not believe to avoid the word "vagina"), a first-edition Howl, a first-edition Gulliver's Travels (fun fact: Brobdignag is the Bay Area! There was a map that included Monterey and a couple of other places), a Gutenberg bible (still looking better than some of my books, despite being over five hundred years old), a Brute Manuscript (not Shakespeare's personal copy, but he definitely owned one just like it, and lifted the material for almost all of his histories and a couple of his tragedies from it), a painting/engraving of the Canterbury Tales that William Blake made himself...there were actually a couple of other things that passed under my greedy lil' hands (yes, we got to touch everything except for Blake's painting/engraving), but there was such a surfeit of English Lit nerd awesomeness that I actually don't remember it all. I was amazed that they let us breathe on all this stuff, let alone touch it, as they were all kept in special foam cradles, and the covers on a couple of them were falling off, or near to. So, yeah, that was kinda neat.
The Vor Game was exactly what I needed after the nearly-unbroken string of glorious victories snatched from the very jaws of defeat. Miles screws up, and screws up big time. This is probably very meta of me, but I do like to see him flub things once in a while; it keeps him from straying into Gary Stu territory. A discussion over on Mary Sue Problems pointed out that one of the hallmarks of a Mary Sue/Gary Stu is that they never suffer any consequences. A lot of writers are familiar with the old "perfect flawless character that everyone falls over themselves to worship = Mary Sue/Gary Stu," trope, which I guess is true, but then they try to get around this by giving their character "flaws" ("flaws" differ from flaws in that flaws have an actual negative impact on the character's life and relationships, whereas "flaws" just save the character from being an astoundingly obvious Sue/Stu and provide other characters with something to wag their fingers about, while secretly applauding the Sue/Stu) that never have any actual impact on anything. I was a little afraid of that in The Warrior's Apprentice, where Miles' insecurities only drive him to try harder, to succeed more brilliantly, and his smart mouth and brazenness get him out of trouble twice as often as they get him into it.
This time, though, hoo boy, does he get into trouble! There are several fairly classic examples of him just being too smart for his own good: all his elaborate plans to smuggle Gregor around half the galaxy, as it turns out, would have been entirely unnecessary if he'd just stayed put, and his usual "I know what's best!" cockiness almost ends up getting Tung killed and the whole Dendarii plan going belly-up. The ASOIAF parallels continue, as I found his arc over these two books to parallel Robb Stark's: he starts out with a combination of charisma, blind beginner's luck, and a complete lack of knowledge of failure (Tywin Lannister has a very good quote about him not knowing enough to be scared or something, but I can't be arsed to look it up right now), but as soon as he starts cashing the checks his mouth writes, then things start to get troublesome. He hasn't promised to marry anybody yet, though, so he should still be okay. :P Oh, and the crazy humorless dispossessed authority figure is called Stanis, which is only one letter away from a certain crazy humorless dispossessed authority figure Stannis Baratheon. They both even have similarly rigid standards (although Stanis Metzov's are certainly a lot looser with regards to atrocities - they both do what they do because they think it's the right thing to do, but Metzov takes far more pleasure in doing it, whereas with Stannis Baratheon, it's just a duty to be performed) and, er, signature inventive ways of killing people.
The Vor Game felt very much like two separate novels - I've commented before on how the whole Kyril Island episode felt very much like an isolated short story or novella (and I turned out to be right, squee!), as isolated and different in tone than the rest of the novel. Most of it feels very much like a good old-fashioned Star Wars-esque space opera, but Kyril Island felt more like a Scooby-Doo murder mystery (I don't have much experience with mysteries of any kind, okay?), which morphs into a 30 Days of Night-esque horror story, and Miles' detention period at ImpSec serves to divide the two quite neatly.
Moving on to the villain; or rather, the villains. Colonel Metzov was a perfect one-off villain: eminently enjoyable in his frothing, berserker-like, over-the-top insanity, complete with misogyny, racism, and some pretty clear schizophrenic paranoia. Villains like him always raise the question of whether or not the Barrayaran military does any kind of psychological or background checks on their officers before giving them any kind of serious power, but then again, without him, space operas just wouldn't be any fun. And damn, is he fun! I remember I once wrote something along the lines of, "I love writing psychos, nothing is OOC for them!" The same goes for reading or watching: I can't subsist on a diet purely made up of Metzovs, Gregor Cleganes, and Bellatrix Lestranges; they always self-destruct even if the much smarter hero/ine doesn't get to them first. Clearly, these types always need a brain to their brawn: Gregor needed Tywin, Bellatrix needed Voldemort (in more ways than one, horrifyingly enough), and Metzov needed Cavilo/Cavie/Livia Nu, the YoSaffBridge of this series. And I *liked* her. I really, really liked her. I liked that Miles was fighting someone of his own caliber, and not just going up against numerical superiority, I liked that she was able to flummox even his twisty genius plans so easily, and I liked her and Miles' banter, especially when he has an allergic reaction to her perfume (I initially thought he was having an allergic reaction to some sort of subliminal sext mind-control pheromone thingy in her perfume, but nope, it was just the perfume itself XD). I didn't fully buy her "arrr, I'm angry at a world that underestimates me and considers me a lesser citizen for the way I was born!" motivation, at least not without some more backstory. With Miles, we can clearly see why he's so defensive, why he's so desperate to be that much smarter than everyone else, why he keeps having to prove his mental superiority. But comparatively feudalistic Barrayar aside, women seem to be on pretty equal terms with men: Cordelia, herself fairly cosmopolitan, is first confused then just annoyed at Barrayar's enforced gender roles, which, to me, indicates that sexism/misogyny, while maybe not entirely a thing of the past, is hardly institutionalized, or even all that prevalent, everywhere else. I mean, I can think of reasons why she *could* be so defensive - she comes from a backwater world where things are still pretty sexist, abusive father and/or lover, that kind of thing. Other than this, though, she struck me as rather Lien-like: she's the hero's evil counterpart, the Moriarty to his Sherlock Holmes; she's clearly just as smart as, if not smarter than, the hero and foils his plans at every turn; her coloring is even Lien-like! I do like Lien more, though, as her backstory makes her simultaneously sympathetic and terrifying, whereas Cavilo's lack of backstory just leaves a gap.
As for the other characters: I missed the old Dendarii crew. Tung being a total Aral fanboy was just adorable and hilarious (oh, how I wish we could have actually seen the conversation, which would have totally gone something like Tung sitting very rigidly and mentally freaking out because omg he's sitting right next to me what do I do if he talks to me can I ask him about Komarr he's so smart I bet he planned the whole battle himself eeeeeeeee while outwardly trying to maintain at least a modicum of composure, but when Aral asks him to pass the salt or something, this results in either word vomit of the "I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN I'VE READ ALL YOUR BOOKS IS IT TRUE YOU WERE THE YOUNGEST BARRAYARAN ADMIRAL EVER
We also got a much, much closer look at Gregor, and I liked what I saw! It was interesting seeing him find out about the huge elephant in the room, i.e. the fact that his father was a certifiable sadistic psychopath, and even people like the Vorkosigans, who genuinely love him, have been half-waiting to see if he's going to turn out the same for all these years. Funnily enough, he seemed much more competent than even hyper-genius Miles this time around: he only *really* got into trouble once Miles started scheming (well, ignoring the fact that him running away started the whole mess in the first place), and the way he played Vamp!Cavilo was one of my favorite parts of the book. I also really liked how he stepped up to the plate at the end: he didn't insist on putting himself in the line of fire by taking part in the battle (which could potentially do inestimably more harm than good), but he went back to Vervain to do his Imperial duty, and you know what? He kicked ass at it. Poor guy still seems kinda melancholy, though. I've picked up that he marries sometime in the next decade or so; I hope that he picks someone who can be the Cordelia to his Aral and snap him out of his woe-is-meeeeee funks while supporting him through his legitimate depressive phases, who doesn't think he's crazy or likely to become so, and generally be an effective co-ruler, not just a decoration.
Oh, and finally, there were a couple of PC-related things that I'm sure flew way under the radar back when it was first published, but now might raise a few eyebrows. LMB still seems pretty uncomfortable with how to refer to Bel Thorne - as I commented in my write-up of TWA, I don't blame her, as I'm fairly sure gender-neutral pronouns other than "it" weren't at all widely known back in the late 80s. To her credit, though, she does refer to Bel as "it" a lot less here, choosing instead to forego pronouns entirely, which is kind of awkward, but, hey, at least it's a step in the right direction. Also, it's kind of hilarious how far the covers go to avoid showing Miles' physical deformities - on the cover of Young Miles (the omnibus that I just finished) he's seated at what I assume is a comconsole with his back to the audience, and there are a couple of faces that I assume are his floating around in there; Miles, Murder and Mayhem (the omnibus I'm about to start) shows a close-up of a series of glass or crystal containers holding what I think is supposed to be wine, some flowers, and a blaster on a silver tray (there's a picture of a man in a frame off to one side, but he looks both too old and too regally dressed to be Miles - Gregor or Ivan, maybe?); and then there's Miles Errant (the third omnibus), that has a half-shaved, possibly female Beast from Beauty and the Beast, some sort of Elf in a spacesuit, and an older military-looking dude with a widow's peak (Aral?) playing with some sort of abstract Cubist thing hanging in the air. Chalk another one (or three) up to Cover Illustrators Who Haven't Read the Book!
For this week's meme, I was going to post a fun-looking pairing one that
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hamsterwoman did a little while ago, but it's almost Halloween (if anybody's wondering, my Halloween plans consist of a bag of candy corn and either The Nightmare Before Christmas or The Corpse Bride. I hate most of Tim Burton's live-action movies, but the guy is a master of stop-motion, can't argue with that!), so I'm postponing that in favor of this one:In honor of All Hallow's Eve, I'm inviting trick-or-treaters to my 'door.' Comment "trick-or-treat" to this post and...well, you know the drill. Treats can be anything that strikes my fancy (pics of fave actors or pairings, one sentence fics, graphics, a few words why I'm glad to have you on my flist, etc. etc.). The more "houses" to visit the more fun it'll be, so go ahead, open your journal and help spread the fun!
'Fraid I won't be able to do anything too creative - art and graphics are both far beyond me, but I'll try to dig up something I think y'all will like!
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Date: 2012-10-30 06:05 am (UTC)Re:makeup. It's very, very important to take off all traces of makeup before you go to sleep, love. Rashes, itches and skin exhaustion (for the lack of better wording) are much easier to avoid than to deal with. And my suggestion would be to buy a separate eye makeup remover (if you like eye-makeup) to wipe off mascara and other 'heavyweight' products, and a facewash (which could serve both as a makeup remover for the rest of the face and just a hygenic facewash). Um I hope that wasn't unwelcome.
My parents are hockey (and generally sports) fans, so this 'yeah, congratz, I guess' attitute is v.familiar:D
The library trip sounds insanely cool! I'd have been delighted, too - I end up ogling old books regardless of what museum I'm at (last time in happened in Planetarium,lol). Victorian ads sound hilarious:D
I'm skipping all the Miles meta, though, until the time I get to them.
I agree with you on Burton's TNBC or TCB love (the latter especially - might rewatch that for Halloween too!), but have you seen his Big Fish? It's one of my favourite movies ever, and not your typical Johny Depp Burton flick (in fact, it has Ewan McGregor instead).
Also, trick or treat!:3
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Date: 2012-10-30 06:20 am (UTC)It lures you. Luuuuures you. (IDK, I'm on a life mission to get everyone I know to read these books or something. It keeps me off the streets... >.>)
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Date: 2012-10-30 06:27 am (UTC)You are really good at that, Anna! I somehow end up reading whatever is in your fandom pretty quickly, if you noticed:D
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Date: 2012-10-31 06:49 am (UTC)I promise to use this talent of mine only for good. (And by "good", I mean my good, obviously, because Tyrell/Petyr.)
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Date: 2012-10-31 06:58 am (UTC)Sorry, Rose! I just had to quote it:) It can be translated like "A pro bono work, especially in my interests, does wonders for your temper"
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-31 06:24 am (UTC)I have a feeling you and he would get along just fine - he's exactly the same sort of people-collecting extrovert as you!
It's very, very important to take off all traces of makeup before you go to sleep, love.
Yup. My only experiences so far are increased instances of breaking-out, goop on my pillow, and generally feeling gross, but I didn't know about the rashes, skin exhaustion, etc., so thanks for that! :) And also thanks for the heads-up re: facewash and special remover for eye makeup; I thought that just water and some scrubbing would do the trick, but much better to know that more heavy-duty methods are required now than when one's makeup is stubbornly refusing to come off at the end of the day. XD
not your typical Johny Depp Burton flick (in fact, it has Ewan McGregor instead).
Yup, that's what I like about it! My problem with Tim Burton is just when he gets stuck in his "Johnny Depp is a pale-faced loveable-but-creepy outsider with daddy issues and Helena Bonham Carter tilts her head a lot" rut. I've only seen Big Fish once or twice, but a cousin of mine, who's a film major and has excellent taste in movies, says it's one of the best movies she's ever seen. I remember rather liking it, and, yes, Mr. McGregor was definitely one of the best parts. ;)
For the trick-or-treat thingamajig, one question: how far have you gotten in Temeraire? >:D
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Date: 2012-10-31 06:32 am (UTC)Makeup remover is a must, so I hope you get to buy it before water-and-scrubbing methods completely put you off the whole girlification business:)
LOL Helena does tilt her head a lot! But I think she was moderately doing the trick in BF (but might be mistaken, idk)
I'm mid-way though Book 3 (and Tharkay is that mystery T-character y/y? Also I want Granby to have the fire dragon and elope with me!)
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Date: 2012-10-31 06:48 am (UTC)Also, heh.
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Date: 2012-10-31 06:55 am (UTC)Agree on Roland ladies love! Granby, Rolands and Tharkay do it for me:)
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:00 am (UTC)I do think the characterization tends to be pretty broad (though this doesn't interfere with my enjoyment) but I think the later books (past the first three) add some subtlety. We're not talking ASOIAF-level shades of gray by any means, but I felt that book 5, my favorite, had some very nice complex bits conducive to thinky-thoughts. Looking forward to your entry, complaints and all :)
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:13 am (UTC)I sure hope for some complexity and subtlety! It's really rubbing me the wrong way:( And I wonder if my complaints will end up sounding like I didn't enjoy the books at all - I did, but I still complain >_
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:25 am (UTC)Your taste pleases me, jsyk. ;) The Roland ladies prove that awesomeness is hereditary, Granby is forever and always my favorite dummy, and I think I can promise that Tharkay does indeed get much more interesting.
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:32 am (UTC)GRANBY ICON CAN I HUG YOU. Ahem:) I'll be looking forward to Tharkay development, because if I'd read the books in middle school, he'd be totally by Haggard-style crush (like a prince in Haggard's The Brethren was)
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:50 am (UTC)Yes, and yes! #3 is tied with #5 for my favorite - 5 is just EPIC, but 3 is just the kind of swashbuckling globe-trotting bromance/adventure that I love. I'll consent to share Granby and Iskierka with you -
And for your treat, allow me to share with you a few pieces of Temeraire fanart, because I couldn't pick just one (sorry it's all linktastic; my poor computer is rejecting my attempts to include actual images):
http://agivega.deviantart.com/gallery/9770680#/d2x6bjk (I highly recommend all of her stuff)
http://demonbunny.deviantart.com/gallery/5201113#/d1kptfv (ditto, but beware of spoilers!)
http://canadian-rainwater.deviantart.com/art/Would-You-Sit-Still-78769653
http://artfromspace.tumblr.com/image/20739902404
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:57 am (UTC)*goes to flail*
Thank you! Let's totally found that fanclub:D
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Date: 2012-10-30 06:12 am (UTC)So congratulations on your win, Giants fans! It doesn't mean an awful lot to me, but then I'm sure that Frodo's quest to destroy the Ring is equally blah-worthy to some of you, so live and let live
Heh, very true. I ended up following the Giants thing more than I expected because O got all excited for it, and also it was easier to be positively inclined once they buggered off to play... wherever; Detroit, I guess? -- so they were no longer impacting my commute.
Ouch and "huh" to the weird scratches... I not infrequently wake up to weird bruises I don't remember inflicting on myself, but it's a lot easier to get bruises and not notice than open scratches. Could you have barked yourself on a piece of furniture and not noticed the pain till later?
I don't think I ever got a full tour of Bancroft, although we did end up there with one of my classes, but we got a lecture and much less of a show-and-tell, sounds like.
fun fact: Brobdignag is the Bay Area! There was a map that included Monterey and a couple of other places
I did NOT know that! And we read Gulliver's Travels with my Renaissance Lit class in Berkeley, so the professor's failure to mention this is especially disappointing to me :/
Glad you enjoyed the Vor Game! It's one of my favorites, and the book that reminds me how much I love Gregor -- that quiet uber-competence of his, and the dynamic between him and Miles.
He hasn't promised to marry anybody yet, though, so he should still be okay. :P
Heh, well. Let's just say the apple doesn't fall all that far from the tree in this case ;)
Oh, and the crazy humorless dispossessed authority figure is called Stanis
Haha, I never noticed that, because I just think of him as Metzov, but you're right! XD
Villains like him always raise the question of whether or not the Barrayaran military does any kind of psychological or background checks on their officers before giving them any kind of serious power
I suspect there's a subset of Barrayaran military that actually finds guys like that useful. And, you know, when you're fighting Cetas as a vastly outgunned guerilla force, maybe it helps to have psychos on your side because sane men might want to surrender. But I do think Aral and his progressives are probably slowly trying to change that now that Barrayar has joined civilization again.
she struck me as rather Lien-like: she's the hero's evil counterpart, the Moriarty to his Sherlock Holmes
Yep! The thing I really like about Cavilo is that she is so very clearly Miles's foil -- all that intelligence and cleverness and need to prove himself... without the morality and empathy he got from his particular upbringing. (I don't remember her motivation bothering me, but I don't remember why not. You're right about some words being plenty egalitarian -- Beta, certainly, and also Komarr -- but I don't know how broadly that applies...)
It was also because of Cavilo so clearly being Miles's foil -- and Gregor lampshading it -- that I started shipping Miles/Gregor. Well, that and the scene where Miles manipulates Gregor into (or out of? I forget...) his pants >.>
Tung being a total Aral fanboy was just adorable and hilarious
Haha, I love this little detail. Fanboy!Tung is the best Tung!
Also:
Trick or treat!
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:20 am (UTC)Ah, I hadn't thought of that! It's a definite possibility, as there are a couple of appropriately-situated bits of furniture around here (not to mention the desks in most of my classrooms), but one of them has been bleeding quite a bit, which is kind of the thing one notices. Knowing me, though, it wouldn't at all surprise me if I had managed to lose a fight with the corner of a desk and then not notice it until the next day. XD
And we read Gulliver's Travels with my Renaissance Lit class in Berkeley, so the professor's failure to mention this is especially disappointing to me :/
The docent-type person who gave us our show-and-tell did say that most editions of Gulliver's Travels leave out the maps, which is the only place the Bay Area connection can be seen, so maybe that was it? I didn't know it either until yesterday, but it's definitely a fun bit of trivia!
that quiet uber-competence of his, and the dynamic between him and Miles.
YES! Quiet uber-competence is one of my all-time top character kinks, as is woobieishness, so it's no wonder I liked him so much. He's one of those characters where he's initially overshadowed by the attention-grabbing genius main character, but the more I think about him the more I come to adore him him. Like, it's surprising enough that, his parents being who they are and his upbringing being what it was, that he's not already frothingly insane, but he actually seems like a really decent guy, and one who I would love to hang out with. He's clearly benefited from basically being raised by the Vorkosigans - I detect an awful lot of Aral in his complex mix of Vorish pride and duty that can be either a burden or a source of pride (or, quite often, both), and plenty of Cordelia in his wry good humor and pragmatism.
And his relationship with Miles is indeed very interesting - I can see how Miles/Gregor is A Thing (heh, pantslessness is definitely a point in its favor ;) ), but I get a more brotherly vibe from them. Although no arguing with the fact that they're close - I hope we get to find out more about their childhoods, because it sounds like they both grew up very isolated, Gregor with being the Emperor and all that entails and Miles with his medical problems, and didn't really have any other friends their own age (aside from Ivan, of course, but he goes out of his way to present himself as a feckless layabout, and I don't get the impression that Miles feels all that connected to him).
...So apparently I have more Gregor
flailingsthoughts than I thought I did.Let's just say the apple doesn't fall all that far from the tree in this case ;)
O.o..."the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" in the sense that he actually *does* carry the crazy gene, or he marries unwisely and then gets offed for it? I guess I could kinda see the crazy thing, in a "beware the nice ones" kind of way, but, wow, that's a lot darker than I was expecting these books to go. :_( Thanks for the heads-up, anyway; good to know that I shouldn't work too hard on that character crush.
And, you know, when you're fighting Cetas as a vastly outgunned guerilla force, maybe it helps to have psychos on your side because sane men might want to surrender.
Haha, good point! Upon reflection, I can definitely see the usefulness of a certain percentage of psychos in circumstances like these. XD
I don't remember her motivation bothering me, but I don't remember why not.
Yup, this was definitely a Fridge Logic thing for me; it didn't start to bother me until I was doing the write-up and comparing her to Lien. It was very neat to see how easily he could have become her, though: I really liked how unsettled he started to get when he realized that all he had to do to get inside her head is to completely abandon every shred of morality and decency he possesses, which he's occasionally tempted to do in order to get a leg up anyway. Creepy, but very cool!
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Date: 2012-10-31 07:20 am (UTC)There one was a woman named Anna,
Who lifted a brow to assumed 'mericana.
Cult'ral imperialist Matt said,
"Guess this tune or you're dead!"
She riposted with Soviet propeganda.
...okay, not propeganda per se, but this story always made me laugh
and I needed it for the rhyme.no subject
Date: 2012-10-31 07:36 am (UTC)*resists urge to show it to Matt*
O.o..."the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" in the sense that he actually *does* carry the crazy gene, or he marries unwisely and then gets offed for it?
Sorry to unnecessarily alarm you! I was talking about Miles and Aral and promising to marry people -- nothing very dark at all :)
I have lots of Gregor feelings myself, although I must say that another stoic, quietly hyper-competent woobie kind of eclipses him for me when he shows up a few books later. Gregor used to be in my top 3, now he's merely in my top 5, but considering how much I love a lot of the cast, that is saying quite a bit.
He's clearly benefited from basically being raised by the Vorkosigans
Yep! I think LMB shows quite well what he's learned from Aral and Cordelia, and how it supplements his inborn personality.
I can see how Miles/Gregor is A Thing (heh, pantslessness is definitely a point in its favor ;) ), but I get a more brotherly vibe from them
Unlike, say, Vlad/Morrolan, the relationship between Miles and Gregor is not one I have trouble seeing platonically. There are some scenes and lines that hit a number of my kinks -- Miles is so very devoted to him in a way that isn't quite fraternal to me -- I mean, it's his deeply felt true Vor devotion to the Imperium and Gregor as the personification of it, layered with the closeness of growing up together, but the alloy feels a bit too intense for brotherly love. But the platonic canonical explanation for it is totally natural, of course. And eventually they both sort of grow up and I can no longer find Miles/Gregor as a ship interesting at that point. But until then, Miles/Gregor is the only Miles relationship I really had any feeling for (until the realization of the perfection of Miles/River came along ;)
most editions of Gulliver's Travels leave out the maps, which is the only place the Bay Area connection can be seen
Ah, that's probably it. OK, I will forgive the prof for now.
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Date: 2012-11-01 12:33 am (UTC)Whew; I was worried for a minute there. Looking forward to it, then!
I think LMB shows quite well what he's learned from Aral and Cordelia, and how it supplements his inborn personality.
Very much so! One can really see how Cordelia has managed to smack a good deal of Vor stupid out of him, while Aral (who is pretty much the personification of everything good about the Vor ideal, aside from his Betan wife and cleverboots son) has taught him to retain the Vor honor.
it's his deeply felt true Vor devotion to the Imperium and Gregor as the personification of it, layered with the closeness of growing up together, but the alloy feels a bit too intense for brotherly love.
Hmm, I can see that.... This is the kind of ship I love *sideyes Renly/Loras*, so I guess I'm open to persuasion. ;) I definitely agree that Miles' devotion goes way beyond "my life for my Emperor!" and is much more intimate (in either the romantic king-that-should-have-been way or the platonic we-grew-up-together-and-he-doesn't-call-me-mutie way), anyway.
And the more I read of Miles, the more I want to see Miles/River! It would drastically exacerbate any uclers they've already caused in Simon (either Simon, come to think of it), Mal, Aral, etc., but brains(foresight + tactical genius) = AWESOME, and thus very much worth it.
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Date: 2012-11-02 07:10 am (UTC)Good point! ;)
IIRC, it was actually after reading The Vor Game (which was one of the last Vorkosigan books I read, it just so happened) that I really started shipping Miles/River rather than just being sort of intrigued by the idea. Because I think that's the book where Miles reflects how the best thing is to marry someone smarter and more capable than you, and River would thus be one of the very, very few ideal candidates for him :)
I'm not really out to sell you on Miles/Gregor or anything :P (although there's epic, epic fic for it, fyi, and also fun little capers that I really enjoy). It's one of those ships that I really feel when I read certain scenes. Like, there's a point in a later book where Miles says, "I think I could do almost anything I had to do, if you ordered it, Gregor", which is one of those lines that really remind me whi I (occasionally) ship Miles/Gregor :)
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Date: 2012-11-04 09:52 pm (UTC)The co op sounds like fun except for the part about the spiders...
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Date: 2012-11-05 01:39 am (UTC)Hmm, that's another option that I hadn't considered! The one on my hip didn't itch until it was getting better, which was how I knew to take the band-aid off, and the one on the back of my leg doesn't itch at all. But I guess it is possible, since both of them did start out with reddish bumps shortly before going all nuclear. IDK, I guess my body is just out to confuse me sometimes. XP
I completely agree with you about the co-op: I loved the kitchen and the cozy rooms and the old-fashioned slider windows and all the cool random art and the house itself (it's one of those lovely old-fashioned ones, porch and all), but the spiders are pretty much a deal-breaker. My brother says he likes to keep them around because they eat the wasps that occasionally get in, but...yerugh. *shudder*