(no subject)

[solitary_summer]

Can I get any more lethargic? Words don't make sentences, much less sense. :: sigh :: What will go next, what will I allow to slip away?

A few day ago I started to do czaria's meme for lack of anything more interesting, but didn't get further than the second question: 9 things you look forward to ...and I couldn't think of any. at. all, except for the most prosaic, like having a whole weekend off. Now this can't be normal or healthy by any standards and put what apparently were my delusions about getting a grip on my life in perspective again.

I mean, what kind of life is this?

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Spent most of Sunday reading ajhalluk's 'Dissipation and Despair', much of which I really liked. Harry Potter meets Agatha Christie, amusing and very well written as always. If I found the resolution of the plot a little anti-climatic (?) and drawn out, that's most likely due to it being well after midnight by then and me being spoiled by all the BtVS-stake-a-vampire-in-less-than-a-minute watching which tends to make one think, how hard can it be for a couple of trained and war-experienced wizards to kill one vampire without needing to be saved by a Chinese dragon animaga great-great-something aunt magically emerging from a banner.

I like her Draco, though.

With most fan fiction I can't really see a connection between canon and fanon Draco even if I squint very hard. I don't mind, most of the time, but sometimes I can't help thinking that however tempting the romance & redemption scenario, some authors would be well advised to consider that quite a few of the nazi kids grew up without ever having a change of mind, and if they did finally have it, it was by forcibly having their world view rearranged in the wake of WWII. Now obviously people can, and do change, but abandoning, or even modifying such a deeply ingrained system of belief is never easy and should at least be written convincingly.

I also remember a discussion with a Jewish HP fan who asked how people (esp. German HP fans) felt about the Draco shipping considering his nazi-like, violently racist worldview. Now some people apparently think that equating the death eaters (or dark wizards generally) with the nazis is taking things too far, but given the temporal parallels JKR draws between WWII and the defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald i think this equation is perfectly justified and in keeping with her intentions. So, all in all, this subject shouldn't be treated too lightly...

Here, despite having changed sides in the war, and yes, fallen in love, Draco still not only has a dark and dangerous side, but also an internalised racist superiority towards Muggles, that still does come out occasionally, even if he finds himself almost subconsciously making more and more personal allowances.

The fantasy writing course is a stroke of genius, tongue in cheek humour. Loved that.

Caitlin's character sometimes grates with me a little, though I put this down to having read one too many of Sarah Dreher's Stoner McTavish Mysteries, which invariably feature a middle aged woman, strong-but-motherly, competent, sensible and tolerant of the heroine's alternative lifestyle, who keeps some sort of hotel / guest house. The similarities were just a little two much for my taste and quite spoiled the character for me, even though I doubt there's any direct connection. And while I consider myself feminist and am almost, if not quite, a vegetarian at least in practice, I still find an organic, vegetarian guest house called 'Gaia's Place' a little too cliché.

Hermione. I'd like to say I don't see her becoming like this, but rather I don't want to. Now I know 'deserves better' isn't exactly a valid category of literary criticism even in fan fiction, but still...


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You're Most Like The Season Winter ...

You're often depicted as the cold, distant season.
But you're incredibly intelligent, mature and
Independant. You have an air of power around
you - and that can sometimes scare people off.
You're complex, and get hurt easily - so you
rarely let people in if you can help it. You
can be somewhat of a loner, but just as easily
you could be the leader of many. You Tend to be
negative, and hard to relate to, but you give
off a relaxed image despite being insecure -
and secretly many people long to be like you,
not knowing how deep the Winter season really
is.

Well done... You're the most inspirational of
seasons :)


?? Which Season Are You ??
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