ideal_insomnia

We cannot understand the present without a knowledge of the past, our native land without having spent some time in a foreign country, our mother-tongue without a working knowledge of at least two other languages. Without such knowledge, our love of ourselves at the present moment, of our country, of our language, remains an ignorant idolatry, exemplified by the Frenchman who said: "The great advantage of the French language is that in it the words occur in the order in which one thinks them."

- W. H. Auden, preface to O. Barfield's History in English Words

...I just found out about that upcoming Anna Karenina movie, and it has Keira Knightley and Jude Law, and I still think the sexiest guy there is Tom Stoppard who wrote the screenplay? Because oh-my-goodness, Tom Stoppard! Have I ever told you I adore his plays?
Funny thing is, I don't think I have a single favourite living writer (of novels or short-stories or prose of any other kind), but I have two favourite playwrites and both of them are very much alive: Tom Stoppard and Martin McDonagh.

Um. I'm sorry I'm not writing or commenting very much. Strangely enough, lots of stuff to do in real world, no time to post (or, sometimes, nothing to write about)

Heeeeey! I've tried macaroons for the first time in my life! Ridiculously tasty! I need to buy some more. Soon!

Here's some of my most recent thoughts on TV and computer games. Seems like I just can't stop analysing stuff (and trying to tie it with my research). That's probably a bad sign :D

It's just that I've been thinking about the nature of a series. It shouldn't be news to anyone that various serial productions dominate entertainment media. Games, being a relatively new field, are only beginning to use the 'serial' feature at its most.
Take Mass Effect. It's an ultimate example. Everything is exportable from the previous part, every decision you've made, your cahracter's looks, even resources and money to some extent.
Take Game of Thrones. More and more people talk about high-quality TV-series as a future of cinema. Like, recent Marvel movies - it is almost a series (with every episode taking several years in production).
Speaking about books, fantasy has long been mostly about series, but it's not only about fantasy - detective and adventure stories are also ultimately of a serial kind. See the connection? It's all entertainment.

One of the most notable features of a series is an emphasised role of character development. Most serials are ultimately about characters and good characters can save almost any series. (By the way, it has been noted already that relying on interesting characters rather than an intricate plot has always been the "manga" way exactly because of it being periodic).
Investing in character-creation is also the best way to ensure profits as people WILL buy the new episode even is only to find out what happened to their favourite guy (unless the series has deteriorated beyond any hope).

Mass Effect, for instance, is mostly an interactive story. The gameplay itself is hardly changing at all and nobody gives a damn! Magic!

No harm in that, actually. A series provides goods entertainment but is rarely more than that. Making a stand-alone movie, game or book provides it's creator with a unique possibility to create one of a kind thing, to experiment and, ultimately, come up with something new that will lead all the field out of stagnation (and will later be used in mainstream).

By the way, this is exactly why I'm always so irritated by notions like "Tolkien is so much warse than Martin because he can't create realistic characters!". Tolkien was never about realistic characters. Both writers are good at what they're doing but they are doing different things. Creating a story as a whole from the beginning to the end makes it possible to create the most intricate architectonics, to intertwine different levels and to control the overall pattern at all times.
That's also why I refuse to answer questions like "What's The Lord of the Rings about?". It's about what is written in the book. No more, no less.

Yes, I've spent several hours trying to make Normandy SR2 from Lego bricks. Yes, I am quite aware this isn't exactly what I should be doing right now :D Hmm, it doesn't even look like Normandy...

Whoa! I finished ME3! I did ME, ME2 and ME3 almost in the single run! Anyway. I've seen the ending with my own eyes and I hereby proclaim that I support the Indoctrination Theory.
I must say, I don't actually believe this is what the ending really intended. I don't believe BioWare is THAT good. C'mon, how can anyone who created Miranda Lawson come up with something THAT brilliant? However, this theory is great and I would choose it rather than the real ending.

24? No way! Can't be! You've got to be kidding me!



P.S.
If you've already seen this picture then... well, I don't have any more pictures of myself of recent date, so don't complain!

Had a cup of delightfully wonderful Zhu Ye Qing tea this morning. Cotsly one, but 100% worth it. A bit like Longjing but not that sweet and the aftertaste is somehow different.
You know the tea is good when you pour yourself a cup with some sandwiches and eggs and in the end finish the tea forgetting about the food entirely. One more reason why expensive tea shouldn't be served with food. Any food.

Oh, by the way: Tea Encyclopedia!

Aka: What the hell is she doing?

Several weeks ago we had an awesome seminar on crafting hand-made books with kit_bobr as our mentor. Exciting! Two days, several hours of work and something magnificent as a result.
I personally made two books - a normal one and a small one for a very special occasion.


Yes, that's one of them!

( Interested? )

Dat voice! I mean Morrigan's voice! I just KNEW it sounded way too familiar! That's Cloudia Black - Aeryn Sun from FarScape! I KNEW I had heard it somewhere.



By the way, voice acting is really good in DAII. I mean really. I can't even name a single character voiced badly. Though Adam Howden and Brian Bloom probably did the best job. Adam gets the prize for being dramatic and emotional and Brian pretty much created Varric using his voice only (and a very memorable character it is).
Awesome stuff.