Ghosts in your blood

Finished A Dance with Dragons

angerfish — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 09:15:32 GMT

ETA: Unflocking for westerosorting-ers.

Stuff what I thought:

- On the whole it was honestly just such a relief to have new canon, and like I said a few posts back it suits the dark mood I've been in this week (except when it didn't. :P) Could've used some judicious editing. It was like... did you know Jon Connington is leal, Tyrion can barely think about whores over the sound of his hangover, Wyman Manderly is fat and errybody shitting? Cause they are.
ETA: A couple days later and I still basically like this book, even though it's not going to overcome my love to ACok, ASoS and AFfC (ya rly) any time soon. It might entirely be the NEW CANON!!1 thing, but it's probably just the fact that I'm simultaneously far too easygoing on books and nitpicky as all hell. And this book was a perfect storm of factors that lets me revel in both aspects of my personality. I like new canon, and I like new things to complain about/occasionally participate in debates over. XD ASoIaF is NOT the canon that makes me happiest, but it is one of the ones that gives me the most to think about, both based on strengths and weaknesses of the material.

- The Varamyr Sixskins intro was a smart choice, in terms of learning more about warging and also *~symbolically~* (oooh fancy :P) Thematically, the book is full of people trying to become other people. Taking on assumed identities, false names floating around... I really wish Sansa/Alayne had been in this book. Her struggles fit this theme so perfectly.

-Young Griff is probably a pretender, but I don't think he or Jon Connington know that he is.

-And honestly I just want to say that this was actually the biggest (one of the only, really) fuck yeahhhhhhh moments for me:

Holly laughed. “How could it be us? We’re women. Teats and cunnies. Here to be fucked, not feared."

And then Theon and servingwomen/wildlings (ETA: It took me so long to figure out that they were spearwives XD I sort of wish it had just been random servingwomen/camp followers. Still awesome though!) effing rescue Jeyne Poole and GTFOOOO. idk idk that whole sequence was just... mindbogglingly brave. One of the bravest things I've read in this series.
ETA: Also Theon's chapters continue to be some of the best-written in the series. In terms of writing and character arc. gogoratchet and I were talking about how the book let us down in the sense that there weren't clear endings for a lot of characters. It was just like "aaaaand now I've run out of page space, see you in book six!" Theon felt like one of the few characters with an actual arc within the book.

-Re why that line was SO cathartic; Tyrion and whores whores whores cunts whores bawwwwwww.

I feel like there are parallels between his downward spiral (at least in the first half of the book) and Cersei's downward spiral in AFfC but who knows if it's intentional.

-Gah Dornish stuff, Dornish stuff. I won't lie, this is one of the plots I'm most emotionally invested in and I'm simultaneously pleased and a bit heartbroken about what all went down. Pleased because Arianne and Doran are working together and I feel like he's actually being bolder with his plots because of her influence? And the Sand Snakes are still bland as hell, but I'm actually excited for Lady Nym on the Small Council PLEASE HAVE THAT ACTUALLY HAPPEN. Also Ellaria's mini-speech about how vengeance goes round and around until everyone's dead was pretty epic. GAH this chapter. <3

But, yeah, Quentyn. I liked him! I understand the desperation that led him to seek out the dragons if only because Meereen is really fucking far away from Dorne and it would suck to come that far for nothing. Quentyn made some dumb choices, but the people making the plans for him really let him down. As much as I stan for Doran I'm fine with the weaknesses in his strategies being revealed more thoroughly. AND YET I'M STILL REALLY SAD. D: D: D: D: Also I'm weirdly upset by the revelation that Doran/Mellario's marriage was super contentious. I'm choosing to go LA LA LA NOT HEARING YOU IT'S PROBABLY MORE COMPLEX THAN THAT about that

-Jon and Dany stuff was interesting because that seemed like another parallel. I was mildly on the "Dany for queen!!1" train prior to this book, but not really anymore. Not because she didn't go to Westeros, by the way. I would have been content with her being a badass Eastern queen, tbh, and never leaving. But her rule of Meereen was pretty WTF and that doesn't bode well for trying to hold a larger country. She wasn't able to rule a city-state with a fairly uniform culture, idk how would she make things anything better for seven kingdoms? And like I think the text wants us to go "but Meereen is so barbaric she should just abandon it!!!1" except- as this book amply demonstrates- Westeros also has rape, murder, rampant disease, factionalism, starvation, torture, assassins and virtual slavery. She'd still be an outsider- with a tiny bit more legitimacy, granted- and her problems would probably be very similar.
ETA: Forgot to mention when I was writing this that even though I'm kinda o_O about her leadership, I really liked her as a person in this book. idek she funny. and nice to women.

And heading back to Jon, his chapters were fun for me for the first time. That whole plot was as equally weird for me as Dany's, in some ways. With Stannis's peeps there, it almost felt like King's Landing 2.0 (ETA: by which I mean it suddenly became this hotbed of political activity when that's the antithesis of the Wall, and I'm not surprised the Watch was frustrated with him!) I can't figure out if we were supposed to go "hellz yeah!" about his leadership abilities or feel ambivalence. I'd LIKE the latter, especially because it felt super paralleled with Dany like I said. And, like with Dany, I enjoyed him as a person but not really as a leader. But it's late and I don't know. And HOLY CRAP JON TRYING TO RIDE TO WINTERFELL??? His protective-ness of Arya is touching (I'm contrasting it to people being all "yeah it sucks, but we can leava Arya and Sansa back in KL because they're just girls" waaaaaay back in ACoK), and sometimes it's cathartic to see characters set aside the rules for once, but I can still understand how that would piss off his men. They swore vows to not get involved in politics even when their families are in danger. If the Lord Commander GTFO what's to keep the rest of the Watch staying? Kind of a cool callback to book one, though. Jon tries to leave the wall for a sibling and his friends bring him back. Several years later, Jon tries to leave the wall and his friends are scattered everywhere and his men stab him.

-Still meh about Barristan. Memories of the past were thought provoking but I don't like him. I get the impression that Ashara's daughter was fathered by Brandon Stark, not Ned. (lol at the revelation that Brandon was possibly kind of a manwhore??) Not too crazy about the assertion that everything would be better under Rhaegar, though.

-Okay, wow, I'm getting extremely tired while writing this. Bran's one of my favorite characters, but he's losing me with this warging into Hodor business. That was upsetting! He knows it's wrong because he's not telling Meera, and I got the persistent icky feeling Bran thinks it's slightly more okay to do this to Hodor than anyone else because Hodor is "simpleminded." And that's gross.

-Ummm hmm... Bloodraven being around was cool! First crackpot theory I've been right about in this series. As was the godswood memories. Kinda eye roll at how Lyanna apparently looked and talked exactly like Arya. Not sure why, it just seemed silly.

-Also gross was making Cersei walk naked back to the castle. No, narrative, I am not reveling in her downfall. Sorry. I am however resenting how the text lingered over it.

-GO AWAY VICTARION.

-Davos chapters = surprisingly fun! And Wyman Manderly is another member of the "nobleman pretends to be dumb, actually has plan up sleeve" trope that I apparently find so very interesting.
ETA: LOL AND APPARENTLY HE HAD FREYS BAKED INTO A PIE WTFFFFF? XD I'm not actually on the "kill all the Freys!" train (I like Roslin and Gatehouse Ami for example) but that was kinda lolwut????

-Another annoying thing; "THE NORTH REMEMBERS." (ETA: Because all the kingdoms remember shit, everyone's out for vengeance! Ellaria's right gdi! XD) I found all the regionalism and machismo and yammering on about birth right so fucking aggravating in this book, and yeah I'm reading the wrong series sometimes. XD

-I can be resistant to new characters, but I liked the ones in this book. Barbery Dustin was fun. Like, I don't think she's a great person but she's in the "I'm cringing a bit but you inexplicably make me ROFL" camp and that's always good. Also Penny <3 Ahahaha and Alys Karstark. She and Harrion are actually mentioned a fair amount in ACoK and ASoS and I've been moderately curious if that was going to mean anything. And apparently it did! I liked her. ETA: Oh and the whore/former consort of that one leader in Volantis? She was awesome too.
ETA2: Ohhhh man just read a rather convincing argument that Lady Dustin is a double agent and actually working with Wyman Manderly. PLEASE BE TRUE. I'd <3 her even more!

-Oh and this is also the book of secret Targs and fake out deaths. I don't think Stannis and Mance are dead. Jon's body is probably dead, but I think he'll live on in Ghost for a while. This series, man. XD

ETA: OH AND I LOVED MELISDANDRE KTHNX HAVE A NICE DAY

Christ, this is long. I think I'll leave it here.

angerfish — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:41:30 GMT

Yep, so I'm back in Virginia. :D

Friday was my last day of moving out. After throwing out the last of the stuff I wasn't taking home and seeing my rented furniture returned, my completely empty apartment was freaking me out. I crashed in my landlord's office until thedaytheystop came and rescued me. :D We went and got an excellent lunch and then went ice skating. I'm really glad I got to spend my last day in Phoenix with her.

To get to my train I had to go up to Flagstaff; That particular route starts out in Los Angelos, passes through Flagstaff, and then heads up north-east to Chicago (where I had to catch another train to take me back down South-East. More on that later.) After breakfast, Anna drove me to the airport so I could catch what turned out to be a hilarious tourist bus out to to Ye Olde Flagstaff. That was actually a really beautiful journey. Driving up the mountains to Flagstaff is always fun.

Iiiii... had intended to do epic shit in Flagstaff, as I whined a few entries back, but despite getting a fair amount of sleep I was still recovering from three days of almost NO sleep. (Moving is stressful!) I immediately passed out in my hotel, woke up to get dinner, and then came back and passed out again this time until the next morning. But then I was much more energetic. It was also raining a bit and I was like a babby with a new toy about that because I haven't seen rain in months and months. Flagstaff was really funny and overrun with fourth of July related tourists. I really didn't mind it; I mean I was a tourist too XD. Oh, and I bought some pretty new clothes! And found all these linguistics books in a used bookstore and thought of haremstress

I didn't bother sleeping at all. My train was due to leave at 4:45 am, and we had to be there at 4:15, so I didn't see the point. Checked the worst of my luggage (was four pounds under the 50 pound limit HAH despite having to throw a lot of moving related odds and ends into that suitcase) and then got on the train. :DDDD

I had a sleeper car for this portion on the trip and even though it was tiny, I was actually very fond of my room. For the next hour and a half I watched the sun rise over Arizona:

Lack of sleep caught up with me, so I intended to nap for a bit. (Hey, so, if someone asks you "is it easy to take contacts out while on a moving train?" and you say "oh yeah, totally" you're really really wrong.) But then around 8 a.m. the cabinet attendant started announcing the breakfast hours every 30 minutes. After a while I peered out the window, went O_O and took some more pictures:

Ni hao ma, New Mexico?

Brief interlude to the pictures to say that in between all this I was doing all the book reading, 1776 watching and beer drinking I mentioned earlier on this lj, carry on. XDD

Gonna quote my facebook caption for this: Still New Mexico. idk New Mexico went on for like 6-7 hours. It was pretty ginormous and a lot of my pictures are from it. I wikipedia'd this when I was on the train and apparently New Mexico is the fifth largest state in terms of land mass? The More You Know.gif.

Pretty sure this is from Colorado because I took this picture in the dining car. The food was overpriced (lol captive audience) and yet surprisingly okay.

Sunset in Colorado. Colorado and New Mexico were both friggin' gorgeous. Hahaha the next day gogoratchet asked me what the prettiest state was and I almost couldn't decide because they were ALL pretty. (But I think I decided on Colorado.)

Last picture from that day. I wanted pictures of Kansas so bad because I wanted to get images from all the states we passed through, but it was too dark and nothing developed right. Eventually I gave up and listened to my iPod and watched the fireworks and later the stars for hours. This was very very peaceful. <3

Barely slept that night because of aforementioned sirens. Train was also going really really fast. Although my "this will help you sleep good!" music did help eventually. In retrospect I wish I had gone "fuck it!" and taken pictures of another sunrise. :(

Woke up to Iowa and TREES. :D

An hour or two before arriving in Chicago. And for some reason it was more surreal to get on the train in Flagstaff and wind up in Chicago than it ever is going cross country by plane. Not sure why.

I had two hours to kill in Chicago so after being followed around by a frat boy trying to get a dollar from me (ya rly XD) this happened:

Yep, an early dinner with gogoratchet, Atti, and Dan's shoulder! The food and coffee were both really really good. This whole thing was so :DDDD making.

I had to catch a train from Chicago to West Virginia. (It was actually easier for my family to come get me in WV than at any of the VA stops.) I wish I had gotten to leave Arizona slightly later than I did- okay, let's be real, I still think reading ADwD on the train would have been super entertaining- but circumstances at home now being what they are I'm glad I left when I did.

Anyway, I didn't have a sleeper car in this train. Everything was laid out much like a plane, but there was faaaar more legroom and pretty much everyone got a row to themselves. Seeing as this leg of the trip was 16 hours both things made all the difference.

Sunset in Indiana. Most of this portion of the trip was at night so I have very few pictures.

West Virginia (mountain mamaaaaa.)

And then suddenly we were in White Sulphur Springs. I gathered all my stuff, left the train, and met up with my mother and younger-but-not-youngest brother. :D Hahah and then we had a 1.5 hour drive back home, but mom and I talked about everything ever and that was pretty fun.

To conclude: Traveling cross country by train is definitely a worthwhile experience. It takes forever, and if you're like me you're going to really feel it in the last hours of such a trip. It's still really fun and relaxing if you want to take the time. After spending two years in Arizona, and not having to be anywhere at any particular date, I was glad to have those 50 hours to reflect. Likewise, I can't emphasize enough how gorgeous American landscapes can be. My pictures do not do them justice. I freaking loved watching the deserts and flat areas I've becomes accustomed to shifting to mountains, rivers and forests. I'm glad I went with my impulses in this case!

Yuletide 2009

angerfish — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:04:45 GMT

A Song of Ice and Fire
-Strange Language: Takes Missandei, one of my favorite minor characters from the series, and vividly brings her story to life.

-Of Tywin's Many Follies: Spot on pre-series fic exploring how Tywin Lannister relates to each of his children.

-I'm a Killer, Cold and Wrathful: Arya and Sandor interaction that seems right out of canon.

Assassination of Jesse James by that Coward Robert Ford
-When we were strangers to the sea: Zee James fic. Haunting, captures the feel of the movie perfectly.

Circle of Magic
-In High Spirits: ~~Even accredited mages get crunk sometimes.~~ Way cute fic for a hilarious sounding incident mentioned in passing in canon.

Dhoom 2
-Encounter Specialists: ~~BOLLYWOOD AUs I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.~~ Awesome, amazing, inventive take on canon.

Greek Mythology
-Five Times Maia's Life Was Changed Forever: Brings to life a character that drifts in and out of Greek myth.

Kaminey
-Pinjre Mein Chand: Stream of consciousness, highly convincing backstory for Mikhail.

The Mummy
-Something in the Shadows: Thoughtful Evie!fic post The Mummy Returns.

The Oresteia
-Last Days: Fantastically creepy (yet compassionate!) depiction of Clytaemnestra's life after killing Agamemnon.

Song of the Lioness
-nuns fret not at their convent walls: An immensely creative twist on "Alanna goes to the convent!" AUs, where she winds up as a priestess for the Goddess.

The Tudors
-The Rabbit and the Hare: Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell gen. These two characters had such memorable tenuous ally!chemistry and later rival!chemistry, and this fic explores the latter wonderfully.

-:The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell, God's Most Obedient Servant: Written for me! :D Insightful look into Cromwell's thoughts throughout the series.

Witch Week
-Brush Contact One of my favorite fics ever at all for this Yuletide. This is another that's absolutely perfect at depicting the tone of the canon material. Add excellent dialogue, my two favorite characters (Estelle and Nirupam) and backstory exploration and I'm a happy happy person.

angerfish — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 20:05:49 GMT

Something I wrote today...

Logic tells me I should be recalling the night of the last election and the many days that followed before it was certain who would become the next president. But let's face it. I was thirteen years old and, while I'm certain there are many extraordinary thirteen year olds who care deeply about politics, and while I had had a political awakening of sorts, and while I was in the most contested swing state at the time, there was no changing the fact that I was an ordinary thirteen year old who happened to be in Disney World. Yes, Disney World. It's almost comical that the frenzied, disorganized, news coverage of that election night is overshadowed by memories such as Epcot, over priced food, nightly fireworks and "that one cool water fountain." Now, I wanted Gore to be president. This decision was not the result of nuanced political analyzation, but partly from a general intuition that made me glare at the pictures in Newsweek of the then Governor of Texas, one George W. Bush. And I simply liked the Democrats better, based on the vague knowledge I had on what the party stood for.

The real memory comes from Bush's inauguration speech, one cold winter day. Dad and I were in the car, listening to the speech on the radio. We were mostly silent, driving past the empty trees above us and the snow blanketed ground to the right and left of us. As I listened, I knew I still did not trust Bush, and couldn't bring myself to feel any excitement that he'd been handed the country. I missed Clinton, amazed that he was no longer in charge, reflecting on the fact that he'd been president since I was in kindergarten. From the look on Dad's face, I could tell he was similiarly unimpressed.

I am seventeen now and much more politically aware. The 2004 election is over and done with and Bush is still inexplicably the president. My "redefeat Bush!" pin still sits on my bookshelf, admonishing the electorate. I am sure there's a Howard Dean button or two or five lost in a forgotten corner of my desk. I'm wondering what to do with them.

I have been interested in the results of this election since I was at least fifteen. I have been invested in its outcome from the moment the war in Iraq became inevitable. Since then I have followed Howard Dean, followed Kerry, downloaded speeches from the DNC, screamed with thousands at a rally for Kerry in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, analyzed the debates in my AP Government class, refreshed the yahoo.com homepage for election results and went to bed defeated when Florida appeared on my screen in unapologetic red. It didn't become real until the I saw the headline on the TV in my Gov class. Though here my memories fail again. Did it say "Bush re-elected" or "Kerry to concede"? Somehow I don't remember, but the message was the same. It was real and I was angry. As an editorial in the New York Times said recently, it's unsettling to realize that more than half of the country probably views America in a completely different way than you do. It's unsettling to wonder why people in areas devastated by the economy vote for Bush. It's unsettling to have the red states try to save the blue states from themselves, as The Daily Show put it.

So now here I am. I am angry. I keep thinking "angry angry angry angry!" I can understand the impulse to yell "Yeeeeeeeeargh!" even more. But like Caroline I feel a sense of pride. I admire the voters, the 48% who saw through the flag draping, the "you're with us or you're with the terrorists," and the use of faith as a wedge to divide. I am proud of the voters who are willing to compromise and pay attention. Yes, I am proud of the people who voted for Kerry. I am proud of my 18 year old friends who did vote and pushed Pennylvania into the "cool swing state" category. I am also proud of my 18 year old friends who voted, even if their state went to Bush.

I am not going to immigrate to Canada or Australia or anything like that. Well... I can't promise that I'll live in the United States for all of my life, but I will never give away my U.S.A citizenship too. If all of us crazy commie liberals leave, then who will give the radical right opposition? Who? This is my country too, I care what happens to it, and when I am 18 I will try my hardest to vote every damn time I can.

Yes, I am angry. There is hope, too. I feel like someone is screaming in my ear, telling me I can be doing something, change, screaming that I'm standing at a crossroads of my life. Either way, this is not a concession speech.

There are many sides to this difficult problem. And people persist in discussing soil-erosion and tribal decay, and lack of schools and crime as though they were all part of the matter. If you think long enough about it, you will be brought to consider republics, and bilingualism, and immigration, and Palesttine, and God knows what. So in a way it is best not to think about it at all.
In the meant time, the strike is over, with a remarkably low loss of life. All is quiet, they report, all is quiet.

In the deserted harbour there is yet water that laps against the quays. In the dark and slient forest there is a leaf that falls. Behind the polished panelling the white ant eats away the wood. Nothing is ever quiet, except for fools
*

A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief--I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper--that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.