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amatara ([personal profile] amatara) wrote2009-10-11 10:31 pm
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Fannish UP!date

Busy, busy first half of the week-end, but a lovely relaxing Sunday to even the score. Husband and I got married exactly one year ago today, which is a peculiar sensation, to say the least; receiving cards from parents and family members saying "happy anniversary" invariably invokes thoughts of ancient married couples, and is making me feel suddenly older than I am...

Speaking of old married couples: we went to see Pixar's new one, "Up!", today. Well, yes, I realize in the rest of the civilized world it's not all that new anymore, but Belgium is often a bit behind on the movie front, especially when it comes to kids' movies. Maybe the fact that those have to be dubbed and subtitled in Dutch and French has something to do with it, or else we're just a bit backward, I don't know. In any case, the movie (pun intended) simply blew me away; if I had any doubt that Disney's taking over Pixar would affect the quality of their productions, that doubt has now vanished completely. As with their previous films, I was very much impressed by how they manage to infuse their stories with a quite deep message - deep for a children's movie, at least - without being at all preachy about it, and without making their endings so "Disney-ishly" happy it stops being realistic. Comparing it to my other favorites 'The Incredibles' ("It's okay to be ordinary, but it's just as okay to be special") and 'Ratatouille' ("Criticizing is easy, it's doing something that's hard, and even if the result is not great, the attempt in itself is always worthwhile"), I'd say I'm finding 'Up!' the best one yet. Testimony to that is the fact it made me - me, the person who never sheds a tear over anything on the screen, who is physically incapable of crying in a theatre! - blubber like a baby during the entire first twenty minutes and most of the last ten of the film. Which was, actually, somewhat embarrassing, given that there was a ten-year old girl next to me who didn't bat an eyelash the entire time. *g* I don't know why, but it seems that the older I'm getting, the more themes like aging and losing a partner and so on are affecting me - which is a bit scary, knowing that I haven't even reached thirty yet...

On the fannish front: I actually wanted to start up some kind of meta-ish meme thing about relationships and intimacy in fanfic, but alas, it's late and my brain is pretty much fried due to the wine I had during our anniversary dinner... So the meme will have to wait until later this week or next week-end. The reason I'd like to do it, is, that my attempt to experiment with various genres of fic has now taken me to the stage where I'm trying to write a story with explicit sex. That's to say, the story features the act of sex, but not an explicit description of the sex itself, which makes it less than pr0n but probably more than PG-13. *g* And it's hard - unexpectedly so - but also a lovely thing to be writing, and it made me start asking myself all kinds of questions about writing and reading fics involving relationships, which I'd love to discuss with y'all. So - stay tuned for that meme! 

As a small prelude to it - I've been wanting for ages to do that other meme that's been doing the rounds on and off around here, being the "shag, marry, cliff" one. In case there's still anyone who doesn't know it: the bottom line is you get three fictional characters, and you have to choose which of the three you want to marry, shag, or chuck off a cliff. So, here goes:

  • Name 3 or more  - male - fictional characters from any of my fandoms (Babylon 5, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, New Who, Star Wars, Harry Potter, LOTR, ... all qualify). If you list more than 3 names, add a fourth, fifth, etc. option next to the marry/shag/cliff ones. I'll then discuss my choices in a next post. 
  • If you wanna join in the silliness, leave a comment telling me your fandoms (and, if relevant, whether you want male and/or female characters listed) and I'll give you characters to choose from!

[identity profile] vjs2259.livejournal.com 2009-10-11 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Aargh. Explicit s*x. Never ever did manage it. It's hard. Look forward to the discussion/meme thing.

Ok, do B5: John Sheridan, Vir Cotto, G'Kar.

And I'm looking for a meme, so forward! You can do B5, Trek TOS, LOTR, Eureka, New Who. Any or all of the above. Male, female, or mixed is fine.

[identity profile] mithen.livejournal.com 2009-10-12 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
Which was, actually, somewhat embarrassing, given that there was a ten-year old girl next to me who didn't bat an eyelash the entire time.

That's definitely to be expected...the young are relatively immune to the fear of the loss of love. Losing parents is one thing, but it's hard to imagine being with someone for longer than you've been alive, and how it would feel to lose them...

Sex writing! It's difficult but fun for me. Like you, I've tried to write the whole range from fade to black to non-explicit descriptions right up to the full monty--the last is hardest because I loathe using the rauchy terms, and yet sometimes there's no way around it.

Hmmm, shag, marry cliff! Usually I can kind of already guess, but since I don't know your takes on some of these fandoms, I shall pick three more or less at fandom and see!

How about...Obi-Wan, Snape, and Faramir? :)

If you want to ask me, my current fandoms of choice are...let's see...Merlin BBC, DC comics, TOS, TNG, DS9, B5, Avatar, Boston Legal, Pretender...that should be enough to come up with three somewhere. :)

[identity profile] thebunnybag.livejournal.com 2009-10-12 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
I love UP! though Ratatouille I'm fairly certain is my favorite Pixar movie to date, with Incredibles coming a close second. Pixar is pretty much amazing.

Ok, mixed fandom: Dukhat, Sirius Black, McCoy.

My current fandoms I'd have to say are B5, Doctor Who (new Who), Star Trek: Voyager, Sector General, Animorphs, Narnia...I think that's all I can think of.

[identity profile] selenak.livejournal.com 2009-10-12 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
Up swept me away for all those reasons. (And I had an eleven-years-old next to me.)

Writing sex: good luck. I'm embarassingly Victorian about it for the most part, in that I either go for the fade away as soon as it becomes explicit or go for hints and reactions. I guess what I'm afraid of is the involuntary comedy effect (some sex scenes in fanfic read like gymnastics descriptions to me). I think the most explicit thing I've ever written was Mariel performing oral sex on G'Kar in "Diplomatic Relations", and there the fact she does is mentioned in half a sentence and otherwise the emphasis is on G'Kar's serious revenge issues and how these tie into his sexual fantasies, i.e. it's not meant to be erotic for the reader.

Shag, cliff, marry: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Severus Snape. :)

[identity profile] maspalio.livejournal.com 2009-10-12 08:37 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe the fact that those have to be dubbed and subtitled in Dutch and French has something to do with it, or else we're just a bit backward, I don't know.
Don't know either but here in Switzerland, movies have to be subtitled in French and German and we still got "Up" in July. But who cares for the wait if the movie is worth it?

Meme time: The Doctor (Nine), Luke Skywalker, Gimli (book or movie version).