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Thu, May. 27th, 2004
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Thu, May. 27th, 2004 03:17 amNot sleeping because... er, I am stupid.
Sigh.
I really really really want to sign up for this -- it's a Tales of the Slayer ficathon in which you can request specific historical eras and stuff! But then, I would have to write something. And now I worry about getting the historical period wrong, and the fact that, well, I don't really write fiction much at all (few fanfic attempts here and there, mostly long buried).
But, oh, the shiny pretty concept!
Plus, then I would be "forced" to do historical research, which is always fun.
But the writing...
Sigh.
I really really really want to sign up for this -- it's a Tales of the Slayer ficathon in which you can request specific historical eras and stuff! But then, I would have to write something. And now I worry about getting the historical period wrong, and the fact that, well, I don't really write fiction much at all (few fanfic attempts here and there, mostly long buried).
But, oh, the shiny pretty concept!
Plus, then I would be "forced" to do historical research, which is always fun.
But the writing...
Karaoke-ing...
Thu, May. 27th, 2004 11:38 pmWent karaoke tonight! Except it was strange because I've never done it in America before... And I went with a bunch of people I didn't know (friends of someone I know from high school). I had fun, but it was still sort of awkward, and then I got incredibly homesick in the middle. *sniff* Well, Ning is coming over tomorrow, and then I am going to see my parents in Hawaii. Sigh. But no Taiwan this summer, it seems =(.
I bet all of you are laughing at me for liking karaoke ;). But that is ok! I used to be greatly embarrassed by it (to give you an idea, my parents would sing on the bus during family trips), and it was always this sort of guilty pleasure, you know? Then I went to Japan, and they had a place with an afternoon special, since no one karaokes in the afternoon -- 500 yen for three hours, plus a drink and ice cream. And this was Japan -- 500 yen is about the cost of a drink and ice cream alone! It was a good way to spend three hours of the afternoon without wasting too much money. Plus, it was fun trying to sing the ten Japanese songs I knew over and over to get the lyrics right! After that summer I made my parents take me karaokeing in Taiwan all the time, hee hee hee. That's how I finally learned Chinese music.
Anyhow, I think it's fun. But I think one of the main differences between this time and other times is that one has to be completely unironic when singing karaoke, or else everyone just gets self conscious of being mocked, etc. And yeah, I know, the videos to the English songs are all really strange and low budget, and it's strange and awkward, but still really really fun ^_^. Actually, I think that is a big difference between Chinese and American humor. There isn't much irony in Taiwan (that I have noticed)... love songs are incredibly popular without that sort of shameful top 40 feeling, and everything is quite in earnest. I think that's why a lot of people here find Iron Chef so funny, because everyone in the show is so serious about it. When my mom watches it, I get less a sense of "Look how weird and strange these people are!" and more a sense of "Wow, look at what they're cooking!"
That was what I liked about Lost in Translation. I think even though Sophia Coppola was pointing out the weird parts about Japan, there was a certain fondness about it. Or maybe I just made that up and it was mocking, but I liked it because of what I saw as its earnestness.
I bet all of you are laughing at me for liking karaoke ;). But that is ok! I used to be greatly embarrassed by it (to give you an idea, my parents would sing on the bus during family trips), and it was always this sort of guilty pleasure, you know? Then I went to Japan, and they had a place with an afternoon special, since no one karaokes in the afternoon -- 500 yen for three hours, plus a drink and ice cream. And this was Japan -- 500 yen is about the cost of a drink and ice cream alone! It was a good way to spend three hours of the afternoon without wasting too much money. Plus, it was fun trying to sing the ten Japanese songs I knew over and over to get the lyrics right! After that summer I made my parents take me karaokeing in Taiwan all the time, hee hee hee. That's how I finally learned Chinese music.
Anyhow, I think it's fun. But I think one of the main differences between this time and other times is that one has to be completely unironic when singing karaoke, or else everyone just gets self conscious of being mocked, etc. And yeah, I know, the videos to the English songs are all really strange and low budget, and it's strange and awkward, but still really really fun ^_^. Actually, I think that is a big difference between Chinese and American humor. There isn't much irony in Taiwan (that I have noticed)... love songs are incredibly popular without that sort of shameful top 40 feeling, and everything is quite in earnest. I think that's why a lot of people here find Iron Chef so funny, because everyone in the show is so serious about it. When my mom watches it, I get less a sense of "Look how weird and strange these people are!" and more a sense of "Wow, look at what they're cooking!"
That was what I liked about Lost in Translation. I think even though Sophia Coppola was pointing out the weird parts about Japan, there was a certain fondness about it. Or maybe I just made that up and it was mocking, but I liked it because of what I saw as its earnestness.
LeGuin, Ursula K. - Dancing at the Edge of the World
Thu, May. 27th, 2004 11:47 pmCollection of LeGuin's essays and speeches and reviews over the late seventies and eighties, I think. The ones I found most interesting were (unsurprisingly) on gender and feminism and on reading. I am rather embarrassed, but I skipped over a lot of the travel ones or the ones with poetry or too much scholarship. I find that while I appreciate poetry, I do not always enjoy it. It's not a fast read for me (ironic, considering the general length) because I feel I have to concentrate on all of it, to figure it out. Too much lit class. Fiction I just devour.
I found some of the earlier ones in particular to subscribe to closely to some sort of gender essentialism, almost, in which the female somehow has some sort of mysterious, earthy connection to the unknown world, in direct contrast to the structured, logical world of the male. I did, however, like her post on gender and lack thereof ("Is Gender Necessary? Redux") in her The Left Hand of Darkness. The first one I pretty much disagreed with (although I haven't read the novel). Well, not most of it, but there was this one point in the essay in which she comments that using "he" as the default for the non-gendered alien beings was gender-neutral. I disagreed with that. Luckily, LeGuin also changed her mind -- the best part was reading the italicized comments, which were added later on, as a sort of commentary on beliefs she no longer believed in (ergo, the redux).
I was also particularly fond of "The Carrier Bag of Fiction." Is that where![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
melymbrosia got the carrier bag theory of blogging? Or is there some original carrier bag theory that both are taking off on? I liked it because it talked about fiction not having to be about action, about fiction that could be about everyday things and such. There are many more thoughts I could be having, but my brain is on a bit of a hiatus right now.
You know, while I liked the original Earthsea trilogy, I was always resentful from the start that only guys could practice magic. Then I was even more resentful when the wise, male Ged gets to rescue Arha/Tenar from darkness... and despite Tenar's coolness as a character, Ged gets to go off and have more grand adventures because he's a mage, while Tenar stays behind and gets married. This is why I liked Tehanu so much, the overturning of the entire male hierarchy of Earthsea, etc.
I found some of the earlier ones in particular to subscribe to closely to some sort of gender essentialism, almost, in which the female somehow has some sort of mysterious, earthy connection to the unknown world, in direct contrast to the structured, logical world of the male. I did, however, like her post on gender and lack thereof ("Is Gender Necessary? Redux") in her The Left Hand of Darkness. The first one I pretty much disagreed with (although I haven't read the novel). Well, not most of it, but there was this one point in the essay in which she comments that using "he" as the default for the non-gendered alien beings was gender-neutral. I disagreed with that. Luckily, LeGuin also changed her mind -- the best part was reading the italicized comments, which were added later on, as a sort of commentary on beliefs she no longer believed in (ergo, the redux).
I was also particularly fond of "The Carrier Bag of Fiction." Is that where
melymbrosia got the carrier bag theory of blogging? Or is there some original carrier bag theory that both are taking off on? I liked it because it talked about fiction not having to be about action, about fiction that could be about everyday things and such. There are many more thoughts I could be having, but my brain is on a bit of a hiatus right now.You know, while I liked the original Earthsea trilogy, I was always resentful from the start that only guys could practice magic. Then I was even more resentful when the wise, male Ged gets to rescue Arha/Tenar from darkness... and despite Tenar's coolness as a character, Ged gets to go off and have more grand adventures because he's a mage, while Tenar stays behind and gets married. This is why I liked Tehanu so much, the overturning of the entire male hierarchy of Earthsea, etc.