Rats!

I finally got batteries for my digital camera...

Here is a video of the rats dancing ^_^. It's not quite as good as the one time I got them to dance at the same time to the beat, but it gives a general idea.

( Pictures! )

Strange music associations

I found a Buffy soundtrack album in the store today (unfortunately, not OMWF), and ended up getting it because I liked the songs. The B/A theme song is on there, and to my amusement, after the first two phrases, I expect to hear the sound of glass breaking, followed by "A little sexual frustration" ala Strange Disease. I think this is probably going to be one of those connections wired in my brain that will make rewatching S2 very interesting.

I did the same thing to myself with No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom -- I think I had it in the computer on repeat perpetually for a long time when I was in my X-Files fanfiction craze. So now whenever I hear any song from that album, I immediately start thinking of dark paranoia and colonization and Scully and Mulder and Madeleine Partous' Shadow Puppets. It's very strange.

Meredith Brooks' Blurring the Edges is associated with surfing the internet looking for HTML tips.

Me First's Blow in the Wind is now associated with a rainy day in San Francisco and the sci-fi/fantasy bookstore there, because I think I had it on repeat in the car while we were driving there.

McKillip, Patricia A. - The Riddle-Master Trilogy

Like Stevermer's book, I feel like this one will improve vastly on rereading.

Hrm, that sounded very negative. It wasn't meant to be -- it's just I had the feel that there were many subtle things happening in the background, or with emotions, that I didn't quite catch onto during the first reading because I was still trying to figure out the plot. It wasn't a book that swept me off my feet and had me reading feverishly till four in the morning (like many romances), but it's probably going to stand up much, much better.

I adore Raederle, particularly when she brushes off Morgon's attempts to leave her behind. And she got triple bonus points when she wasn't like a romance heroine, who protests and forces the hero to bring her and then proves to be absolutely useless!

I very much liked how it was a big, epic conflict without the standard, Tolkien structure of big epic conflicts -- big army holds off despite having little to no chance while a small team of people fight through despair or whatnot to get to the mystical goal which will defeat the giant hordes of doom. Ok, maybe it's just Terry Brooks that does this. But I liked very much how small the world felt, how everyone seemed to know each other. The sense of intimacy was helped along by the land-rule, I think.

I also enjoyed the discussions of power in the book -- Morgon's resistance to becoming anything more than the Prince of Hed, Raederle's fear of her heritage. I don't quite know how McKillip did it, but she manages to have the reluctant hero from a rural area come across as non-stereotypical and non-whiny. I think much of that was helped along by the fact that Morgon didn't seem to be protesting change per se -- he truly loves the land he is from, he really desires peace, and he is truly afraid of his unknown power and destiny. Rand/the Ohmsfords/etc. tend to feel like they are more against the change itself, or against leaving what they know out of ignorance, not what the change means for them.

The plot wasn't that surprising, with the exception of the last part of the first book, but McKillip manages to make it seem natural and still not rote. That's one of the problems I tend to have with Meredith Ann Pierce -- I can see the "surprise" ending coming from a mile away. Maybe they aren't supposed to be surprises; maybe they're supposed to be like fairy tales, in which you already know how they end. Except it doesn't quite feel that way. Anyhow, I digress.

And, haha, I couldn't help but notice that Morgon and Deth are incredibly slashy. I've been in fandom too long ;).

And on a minor note, I want to know how to be a tree.

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ginmar's last few posts in general make me feel very queasy and very angry that I am female. I hate that I have to think about this, that I worry about walking outside when it's dark and I'm alone but my boyfriend doesn't. I hate that people I knew at college laughed at the Take Back the Night marches and thought they were unnecessary and quoted the same kinds of statistics on male rape or females lying about being raped (ala Disclosure, stupid ass book). I hate that I feel nidgy and frightened whenever a strange man talks to me, even if he's just being friendly. I hate that I feel almost physically threatened when men invade my personal space. I also hate that my mom tells stories of people being raped to make sure I am more careful, that my sister sometimes blames unwelcome attention from guys on herself being "too friendly." I hate that when she does that, my mom substantiates it and says my sister should be more careful who she smiles to, because people could get the wrong impression.

I hate that this fear has power over my life just because I am female.