And I'm back!

So, my eye problem has not quite resolved itself, but I think I can get by and type something up. So...yay!

Finishing my review on Middlemarch... (Yeah, I realize I'm a couple centuries late.)

Read it. Yeah. That's my review. I think a lot of people in this day and age believe that reading for pleasure is meant to be easy. They believe, for some weird reason, that reading should be a passive activity; it shouldn't be taxing, or require any sort of cognitive recognition. I know people who put down a book if they find themselves looking words up in the Dictionary. Someone I know said this: It is good to increase your knowledge, but reading for pleasure should be just that--pleasure.

Frankly put, that is bullshit. And anyone who thinks this is wrong. Sorry, but you are. And it's attitudes like that that lead to novels like Fifty Shades of Grey or all of these insipid Jane Austen knock-offs. Or full grown adults reading young adult novels without any sense of, well, slumming it. If the words "Oh my God, Hunger Games is the best book I've read in ages," come out of the mouth of anyone over the age of perhaps sixteen, you might want to scale it up a bit.

Seriously. Adults have great literature. Try it some time.

The Hunger Games is very entertaining. But it's fluff. Sheer, cotton candy fluff. And I think it's totally OK to read like that sometimes. But to say that reading for pleasure should be a thing of intellectual passivity is, in my opinion, completely irresponsible. Reading shouldn't always be easy, and the idea that learning takes the pleasure out of something is just nonsensical.

Middlemarch is not really a novel full of words you won't understand. English hasn't changed that much in the last couple of hundred years, so unless your vocabulary is particularly poor the problem with reading this novel won't be with the language. It is, rather, written in a grammatical style largely unfamiliar to us (well, not unfamiliar as we've all read novels from that period, even if only for school) and perhaps a verbose for our tastes. It seems almost dispassionate to us because of different ideas of propriety; even sex scenes (which exist...see Fanny Hill for an example) were, in our estimation, not particularly titillating. For the time, of course...well, that's a different thing entirely.

In the future, we'll be thought of as prudes. I can almost guarantee it. Especially Americans.

But Middlemarch is, despite the general differences in sensibility, a very easy novel to understand and empathize with. It's a novel of characters instead of plot, and the town of Middlemarch is as much a character as anyone else. People's pasts come to haunt them, people make bad marriages, prove themselves worthy of the person they love, and discuss the politics of the day. In fact, you can learn a very nice history lesson if you look up the Reform Act or the Catholic Question. Looking up Wellington and Peel and Grey will provide you not only with an education, but give you a historical and political foundation absolutely necessary to understanding this novel.

You can ignore it, of course, but I don't recommend that. I recommend getting an idea of the politics because it'll make reading the book that much easier for you.

Dorothea starts out as a character you almost want to shake, but she ends up being a character you root for in every way. She makes the romantic choice and you cheer for her because we are a romantic people. And perhaps you don't understand why making that decision is so difficult, or why so many people would have a problem with it (or you understand, but cannot sympathize with because of our modern sensibilities), but you understand her decision and that's what matters. She is kind and giving and thinks only of the betterment of others, and you want her to be happy. And ultimately, George Eliot (a woman, remember, and not a dude and yes it matters) gives the reader what they want.

It is a novel of characters, as I said, and all of the characters evoke feelings. You hate the ones you're meant to hate, like the ones you're meant to like, and feel a strange sympathy for the characters for whom you are meant to feel a strange sympathy. Eliot makes the reader feel what she wants them to feel, and that is the hallmark of a wonderful writer. This is a true slice of life novel. You really come to understand what life in a small English village in the early 19th century is actually like. There are no murders or explosions or alien invasions or destructive wars or explosions (it had to be said again). It isn't Hollywood fodder, unless you're a big fan of Austen or Bronte movies (forgive the lack of umlaut, please, my laptop doesn't let me type it) already.

If you are...read it. READ IT.

READ THE DAMN NOVEL!

(You might need a Dictionary. Sorry if that means it's not a fun read.)

I have a lot of opinions. Sorry. (No, I'm not.)

Next time, a review of Abigail Gibbs' The Dark Heroine, which I picked up upon hearing the story of its publication and don't like perhaps as much as I was told I should...

Apologies

Sorry for the absence. This is the first time in a few days that I can stand to look at the bright screen of a computer. I seem to have damaged my right eye and computers make it worse...so I've abstained from the internet for a time.

I'll be back with a real post soon. Probably a review of a movie or of a book.

Actually, I'll put my feelings on Middlemarch into words and type it up. For now, however, I will leave you with a teaser of my opinion....

Rosamond Vincy sucks.

That is all.

Beautiful Words Everyone Should Read

I came across this article just now and the thoughts it contains are absolutely some of the best insights on the BBC's Sherlock and strong female characters, and strong females in general. It actually moved me to tears for a moment, and I just wanted to share with with the universe.

PLEASE GO READ THIS ARTICLE!

Why Molly Hooper is the One Who Counts

It is beautiful.

Blog Time!

So, on a brief note, I saw Man of Steel again because my friends wanted to...and it actually improves a bit on a second watching. The tornado scene still seems pretty dumb, but knowing it was coming allowed me to look for any thematic continuity to that moment, and there is definitely more there than I originally thought. Not much, but more than my original assessment. So...good job, Man of Steel. Also, I saw the Wayne Enterprises Easter egg this time! So...yay me!

Anyway, on to the details of today.

Honestly, my life is boring. I wish I were interesting enough to write a blog about cool people in history or stuff. Oh well. I haven't seen a movie recently and I'm still reading Middlemarch...

Actually, I've been looking for my next book. I have a queue about ten books long, but I tend to add to that list more than I shorten it...so...I am always on the lookout for new books.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PRIDE AND PREJUDICE STORIES?! And why are so many of them craptascular fantasy fulfillment? It's stuff like this that makes me hate fan-fiction. Yes, I am one of those writers who hates fan-fiction. When someone writes something, they are creating a product. It's intellectual property: that world, those characters, and that story all belong to that writer. In essence, a writer is an inventor. Like all inventors, they are inspired by earlier inventions (obviously, Harry Potter has links to Lord of the Rings), but this is a product all their own.

When someone writes fan-fiction, that person is stealing someone's property. It is no different than stealing the design for the television and writing it off as your own. It is not making improvements, it is not designing a similar piece of technology but using something different to power it...it's stealing something and presenting it as your own.

Paraphrasing is still plagiarism. Changing a few words and passing it off as your own is still plagiarism. Even attributing a quote to its original creator is plagiarism if you don't properly site the work. Writing a little "World and characters are a product of 'Author's Name'" doesn't make up for the fact that you are essentially committing a form of concept plagiarism. You are not creating anything; you are stealing it from someone else and presenting it as your own.

I get the idea that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. By all means, take what you love about the stories you've read and make it your own. You love Harry Potter? What about it do you love? Take those things and work them into a world and characters of your own. Be a real writer! If you can write fan-fiction, you can write your own stuff. Don't ride the coattails of someone else's greatness; be great on your own!

But please, for the love of God, don't write 50 Shades of Grey (or is it Gray)! Even if EL James did exactly that when she wrote it, that shit is just nasty. And poorly written. Actually, it's nasty BECAUSE it's poorly written...not because of the BDSM. I don't judge my friends based on their kink level.

I admit...I am guilty of having written fan-fiction in my day. But I moved passed it. I became better than some cheap knock-off of my favorite stuff; I wrote my own favorite stuff. OK, so I am a self-deprecating author and my stuff is definitely not my favorite, but you know what I mean. If you write fan-fiction just for the enjoyment of it...won't you enjoy writing your own stuff even more? Wouldn't that feel better than working with someone else's toys?

I don't judge people who write fan-fiction. In fact, I try not to judge anyone who writes at all. The more writers in the world, the better. But people who only write fan-fiction...please stretch your writing muscles and write your own stuff! Nothing will help you grow as a writer more than creating your own world with your own characters and your own stories.

 I promise you that.

Happy Tesla Day!

I wanted to write a whole big thing about Nikola Tesla and that douchebag Edison, but the Oatmeal beat me to it and did it much better, so...

Nikola Tesla is Better than Us!

Let us celebrate how much this man gave to the world, and how much we owe to him. It's a shame that he will never know how much he means to us, as he died fucking penniless! Nikola Tesla was a visionary (albeit a crazy one), and the American people spat on him in their ignorance. I wish I could say we would treat him better now, but the CEOs of the world are still stomping all over the greatest minds of our era...so perhaps not.

Nikola Tesla...I wish we had treated you with the respect you deserve! Happy Birthday, you wonderful, wonderful man!

A weekend of kids movies

So...

The shortest review in the history of reviews...

Monsters University is exactly what you would expect it to be. In fact, if you haven't seen it, you could probably guess what is going to happen just by the name and what happened in Monsters Inc....

But that doesn't mean it isn't good. It just isn't as good as the original. There's a lot of laughs, a few tears, the requisite 'oh GODS, will everything be OK' moment and then the 'OK, not perfect...but at least they're friends' ending. Nathan Fillion is himself, and it's definitely worth a few giggles to picture him doing the voice acting for this. And if you went to college...well, you'll see what I mean.

Should you see it? Yeah, but only if you're a real Disney/Pixar fan and seeing Sully and Mike on the screen is enough for you.

AND ONE MORE.

I much preferred Despicable Me 2. This might be because I love the minions far too much to be healthy, and they seemed to realize that everyone else did, too. DM2 is a far more minion-heavy story, so...yay! Also, though I've heard the complaint that this was far too kiddy to be enjoyable, I must say that this was such an adorably cute movie. There were quite a few jokes that only adults would get (a chicken popping out of Gru's shirt Alien-style and the minions singing 'I'll Be There' by Boyz 2 Men being a couple of examples), and all the things that made the first movie so endearing are there in spades.

Is this a kids' movie? Oh hell yes. But it's cute, funny, and silly, and it doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is. And that makes is fine by me. 

Honestly? See this movie if you are a fan of kids stuff. If you aren't...don't see it.

And Stuart going "bee-doh bee-doh bee-doh" is one of the cutest things ever. So there. 

Happy Fourth of July!

So...I was going to write another whole thing about a great American hero...but then the fireworks gave me a ferocious headache and I just don't have the energy to write up a whole thing, so...

Happy Birfmas, America!

Actually, as a brief factoid, the Declaration of Independence was actually voted into reality on July 2nd, after what I can only imagine was a booze-filled night of bargaining, debating, and outright threats. It was ANNOUNCED on the 4th of July and, for some reason, that's the day we chose to celebrate our independence. And, truth be told, it wasn't signed all at once, either. The delegates trickled in for the next few months and signed it as they could.

What? You think the British just let a room full of traitors sit around and sign shit? That was the entirety of America's leadership, for God's sake.

Anyway, John Adams actually believed we would celebrate on the 2nd. But John Adams wasn't exactly known for being a people person...

Truthfully, we should probably celebrate the 19th of October a bit more. 'Cause if the British hadn't surrendered at Yorktown, the Declaration wouldn't have meant shit. You know...I think I'm going to throw a Surrender Party every Oct. 19th to celebrate Lord Cornwallis waving the white flag at Yorktown. I think it should be a thing.

But I did it first. So...keep that in mind.

Happy 4th, everyone!