Blue Jar Jar Cult, now with more cowbell! The Fan Fic Social Thread Shoots Lazers

I'm not really interested in who got it wrong first, I just want it fixed. If it's bugging me this much after a few days, imagine what it'll be like after a few week.

 

Hey, I laugh at Daleks too! I love them. (Mixed opinions on the New Who Daleks though).

Night, Jon.

 

What?! But...but EVERYTHING'S better with a 'z' in it!

 

Idrelle, that scene in "The Sound of Drums" was a reference to a bit from the 1972 story "The Sea Devils" in which the Master, then played by Roger Delgado, sees a bit of The Clangers.


EDIT: I stopped laughing at Daleks when they exterminated the woman I loved. We'd been walking along the seaside, hand in hand, when the Daleks rose up out of the water, blasting everything in sight. As I looked down at her hand, gasping in horror to realize it was no longer attached to anything, I fainted, which may have been the only thing that saved my life.

 

Oh, that's brilliant! Classic. I haven't gotten a chance to see The Sea Devil's yet, so when I saw The Sound of Drums, I didn't pick up on the reference.

 

Good day, everyone! How are you all doing?!

So, yesterday, I sat down and watched The Legend of Zorro. I'd heard good things about it, but I didn't personally like it. I then began to watch Schindler's List. I'm only thirty minutes into it, but I'm blown away already.

 

I know what you mean about hearing how great something is and then being disappointed.

I'm reading the Twilight series and... Well, I WANTED to like it. A lot. I really did. But it seems as if the writer is trying to encourage young girls to see college as a less attractive option than having a man. And who falls in love FOREVER at 17 now?? And trying to kill yourself because of a love affair gone bad while you're still in high school?? I just don't get it. I feel like the author has an agenda that I wouldn't care to pass on to my teenage daughter.

I have to say, I wouldn't encourage my daughter to read these books, especially as a young teen. They're not bad, they just don't put forth a set of values that I'd care to see her follow.

And I really like Vampire stories, so I was wondering how this one got all the sexy and cool sucked out of it.

 

People keep telling me how good those books are too- even girls who are like "I haven't read a book since high school- I've read a whole hundred pages of it over the past week!" I've heard that the dialogue and such isn't too good and such. I don't have much time to read books, so who knows when I'll get around to it.

I was one of those people who hadn't heard of the series until recently.


Edit: I agree with the whole love at age seventeen thing. Come on... when you're seventeen, you're still young and stupid. You are a whole different person then than you are at, say, age twenty-one. A person that young cannot possibly know what they want for a life partner. You have to live a little longer, learn more about people, and experience what DRL is like.

 

I really did like it when I first read it. But now, upon review (especially in light of the events portrayed in Breaking Dawn), a lot of it falls flat. To be honest, I'd be tremendously worried if I ever encountered someone who acts like Bella in real life. The vampires were cool, and the werewolves too, but certain things added into the romance element after the first book just... I don't know. Either fell flat or were a trifle hard to swallow, even for a fantasy book.

I can say one thing -- they turn pages. Well... the first three did, for me. My opinion of the fourth one is not very high. I got bored, then disgusted, then supremely irritated.

AF, I tried watching the Legend of Zorro once, but I got bored. Schindler's List is a totally amazing film, one of my all time favourites.

edit -- I agree with the whole love at age seventeen thing. Come on... when you're seventeen, you're still young and stupid. You are a whole different person then than you are at, say, age twenty-one. A person that young cannot possibly know what they want for a life partner. You have to live a little longer, learn more about people, and experience what DRL is like.

QFT.

I'm 18 and still young and stupid. My sister's 23 and she'd call herself young and stupid. BD spoilers: Bella gets married at 18 at the start of the book; that was the one thing I really did not want to happen because I really have some problems with that. Especially for her reasons.

 

I haven't read Twilight, and my friends told me not to waste my time. We're all literature geeks, and were corrupted by our creative/critical thinking class teacher to pick out every bit of symbolism. Usually, we're into deeper things.

At 16, I can't even imagine marriage in my future for at least ten years. I come from a family of people who marry later than the average person, anyway. My parents got married in their mid to late twenties, and it took my mom into her thirties before she realized that "Huh, babies ARE cute and not so disgusting!"

When I point out something terribly expensive, my mom tells me to get a job and become a self sufficient, independent woman. My dad? He openly contradicts her, laughing the entire time, and tells me to marry rich. Ohh, that makes her mad.

 

I'm sorry, but if I'd married my first serious boyfriend... wow. That would have been the biggest mistake of my entire life. While it would have seemed great back then, I've changed as a person and grown up... and what I've needed and wanted along the way has changed significantly. I wanted a best friend who had a more laid back and fun lifestyle- I wanted something exciting. Heck, I found my list of What I Want in a Guy from high school... and the one I did up even a few months ago. I don't want any of that stuff any more. Life changes how we view things, and it makes us view people differently. Marrying someone at that age is hardly better than marrying your crush at age twelve. It's a stupid decision, and one that can't have been thought over differently.

I mean, everyone consider the first person you ever loved. What would your life be like now if you'd married them?

 

Berry, you're like me! My mom didn't get married until she was 28, and my dad was 38 at the time. My dad was in his forties by the time my eldest sister was born. I can't imagine getting married myself in less than 10 years. My sister keeps joking that I probably won't because "your career is going to get in the way if you go through with what you want."

Twilight is good if you're not looking to tear it apart. I'd read it for fun; I wouldn't classify it as great literature. IMO first book is the best, then the others kind of go downhill from there (though I'd rank 3 above 2, just because Bella is totally unbelievable in some parts of 2).

I mean, everyone consider the first person you ever loved. What would your life be like now if you'd married them?

Umm... no. Just... no. I don't even know the guy anymore, haven't talked to him in about three years. Good point, AF.

 

If I'd married my first love... I'd be a social drinking, compulsive gambling, drama mongering, sleep deprived, etc. housewife We would have made it about two years.

It had been true love, though, at the time

 

The pages turn and it is an entertaining read. But I would also be concerned if I encountered someone like Bella in real life. I just don't think it's a message we should be sending to young women...your life is only worth living if you can be with the man you want. I can't get past the overwhelming theme of the books - you can only find fulfillment if someone else wants you. I just have a big problem with that. Especially since these books are intended for young girls. Those are exactly the ones who should NOT be getting this message drilled into their heads! What kind of example does it set that Bella wants to DIE without Edward? How far a leap is it to say that a girl who breaks up with her boyfriend would try and kill herself? After all, life isn't anything without him...

A big step, yes. But the teenage years can be very impressionable and difficult.

 

I've never had any interest in checking them out, mainly because I'm way outside the target demo. Also, everything I read about them was either outright gushing -- including a lot in the last incarnation of this thread -- or ranting (about the romance, about the angsty, sparkly Sue-ish vampirism, about Sue-ishness in general, and most recently about something rather creepy one of the main characters does in the last book).

 

I think the main problem is that they simply take the 19th century clichés out of context and try to apply them in other environments because 'that's romantic'. In those times, committing suicide for love was considered the ultimate romantic fact maybe only second to dying of some uncurable disease or a broken heart. But even people of those times knew they were clichés and idealizations of the harsh reality. Girls married young and 'for life' because... they'd probably also die young because of pregnancy/postpartum problems. Abandoned girlfriends may commit suicided not because they missed their men but because of the social stigma placed upon them (or they died from home-made abortions trying to hide their situation). Etc, etc, etc...

How're you all doing?

 

I'm doing OK. Aside from a computer dying, things are OK. I'm copying everything off its hard drive using another (also broken) computer, so I'll still have all my fanfic and everything safe. The other hard drive I can just plug into my other computer without doing anything special. I'm still reading War and Peace, and then I'll start Twilight, probably. I have so many unread books it's hard to know where to start.

 

Start with the Doctor Who books.

 

Yay, DW! I've always wanted to read some of those, or listen to the radio plays. I've heard good things about the radio plays, but I've never managed to get my hands on them.

 

My leisure reading list is so long it's becoming a point of stress for me. I'm trying not to add to it, so I really haven't taken an interest in the Twilight series, and I've not even heard of the Doctor Who books.

 

Of the main Big Finish line, I have all the audios through #59; unfortunately, that's just about half of them, and I'm also way behind on many of the various spinoff audio series. [Back in March or April of '07, I also picked up #86, just so I could say I had "The Reaping" before that Hilary Swank movie came out.]

 

That's cool.

I'm only taking a few books with me because I doubt I'll have a lot of leisure time for reading while at university. My list of books to read is really long, but I don't think I'll be getting around to knocking a few off the list for a while.

 

I think your comments here are a bit condeming, don't you think? I married at 18. We had our first child at 20, our second at 22 and our third at 28. We had a lot of great years. Your needs and wants may change, but you grow with that person as their needs and wants change too. Of course, my wife left me for another woman, so maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about...

 

I got Force Unleashed today so I'm reading that as well. And I've got a few biographies I'm reading again that I know I enjoyed. So when I get tired of the whining in the Twilight books I turn to something else. I want to finish the series so I can judge for myself how it all wraps up.

 

There are no recipes. I married at 29 after being in a relationship for 9 years, and 2 kids and ten years later he left me for someone else. Age is no guarantee but I'd say that marrying while still in your teens adds an extra to the risk of failure.