Spider-Man 3, books, etc.

[oyceter]

Yay! My nearby Borders moved their manga section to a larger space! Finally!

Maybe they will also start getting stuff early so I don't have to jealously read coffeeandink's manga loot posts. Also, the new space consists of wall shelves in a bit of an alcove, which means no more tripping over tachiyomi-ing people in the aisles! And there is a bench.

Also! minnow1212 and other people who like Ibbotson! Speak seems to be reprinting her romances and targeting them to the teen audience. Um, ok, people maybe already know this, but I was happy to see it! Also, it makes me want to pet all the YA imprints and hug them and go "Yay!"

And now:

Spoilers for Spider-Man 3

I wasn't very invested in this, as I saw the first and second and was underwhelmed. But we got free movie afternoon at work, and Hot Fuzz was playing at the wrong time. I ended up being fairly touched, but this is possibly because I was ignoring the ten million ways Raimi could have shortened the plot and the eighteenth hundred "Will they or won't they?" between MJ and Peter.

Um, also, I don't think I actually like Peter. I get that the entire thing is about him learning and being fallible and all, but I think he too often gets wrapped up in the "Me! Me! Me!" It was there in the other two movies as well, but this one just reminded me of it more. First of all, stop talking over your girlfriend!

I will not even bother mentioning the lack of women with power and agency or the lack of POC as main characters, though I suppose I should be happy that they remembered to put lots of POC in the extras, as it is NYC. I'm not really, though; I'm more annoyed that even that tiny thing feels like so much to ask for.

I giggled at the Bruce Campbell cameo, and then I nearly threw sporks at the screen as they went into my least favorite thing ever, the love polygon. Thankfully, there wasn't too much of the stupid "I hate you! I will now spite you!" and I really, really liked that the film took the time to have Gwen apologize to MJ. It was a nice change from the usual cattiness attributed to women, particularly after the MJ-Peter-Gwen scene at the restaurant. And it was just nice having the film acknowledging that the two women were put in that situation and weren't at fault; it was Peter being a jerk. I also really liked that his increased macho-ness was played for laughs and for ickiness and the acknowledgement that his appeal doesn't lie in his angsty manliness or flirtiness, but rather in his decency.

Things also got much more interesting when I started yelling, "Kiss him!" or "OT3!" during all the Peter-Harry(-occasionally MJ) confrontations/fights/apologizing. Oh, fandom, what have you done to me? ;)

And I genuinely felt bad when Harry died.

So all in all, not bad, and I had more fun than expected.

ETA: Oh! Also, I had tons of fun pretending that Peter was Naruto, Harry was Sasuke, and Sand-Guy was Gaara! (if you want to comment on Naruto with spoilers, please put it in <span style="color:#666666;background:#666666">Spoiler code</span>

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

(1) I did not know that about Ibbotson, and I've been wanting to try her romances. Exciting!

(2) My comics shop says Oyayubehime Infinity 5 is out this Wednesday.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Yay! I am also excited about the Ibbotson.

(Though, Mely, I feel I should warn--there really is some problematic cultural stereotyping going on in some of these, quaint Jewish characters and so forth, plus some gender stuff that's a little problematic too. I've loved the books since I was an imprintable and impressionable teen, but...hrm.)

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I saw that one of them had a girl rebelling against the doctrinaire feminism of her foster-mothers. I will perhaps not start with that one.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I love A Countess Below Stairs, but you have to put up with a supporting character who is smart and lovable but ugly because she is a Jew with frizzy hair and a big nose.

Hmmm. I think maybe Magic Flutes, which is about love in all flavors: for one's friends, for one's job, for music, and, oh, yes, erotic.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten about that one, probably because the book contained another element that made me want to throw it against the wall and so I never reread it.

Magic Flutes, like Jonquil said, might work better.

[oyceter]

O_o. Hrm, I missed that one while looking at back covers. I will probably skip that too.

[oyceter]

2) Wah! Both the Borders I usually go to don't even have Oyayubihime Infinity 4 out yet. Sigh. And I have a love-hate relationship with my local comic store, as they did not seem to care when manga came or, nor did they bother looking anything up the last time I asked. Grrr.

1) I've only read one Ibbotson romance, and while I didn't notice any horrific anti-Semitism, I read it back when I wasn't very aware of such things. So ... YMMV. I did get a little bugged by some gender stuff, but not as flagrantly as most romances bug me.