The limits of alternate universes

Song of the day: Nothing to Prove - Geek Girls & The Double Clicks

To distract myself from the amazing fact that I am going to my first con (AlCon, Leicester, England) in just a few days on top of seeing London for the first time (sweet jesus I can't breathe.) I have been thinking about alternate universes, particularly in fiction.

So in Terry Pratchett's Night Watch, there is a conversation between the History Monk Lu-Tze and Commander Sam Vimes on the subject of Alternate Universes. For plot-relevant and spoileriffic reasons, Lu-Tze indicates the possibility that that means there must be at least one universe where Vimes, for example, has killed his wife. Vimes, of course, doesn't buy this for a second; for him it's literally impossible. And Lu-Tze says that, yes, there is no universe where Sam Vimes, as he is now would ever do such a thing. This indicates that people's choices really do matter, something which has been a running theme throughout the whole of Discworld, and that's a pretty freeing thought. Something might not make a difference historically, but it will certainly matter personally.

That brings me to the potential of fiction AUs. It seems that there are some things so deeply ingrained in a story and the characters that make them (and are made by them) that some fundamental things would not change. For example, I' pretty sure there is no universe where Samwise Gamgee does not follow Frodo on his quest, or where Elizabeth Bennett does not reject Mister Collins, because it's such a big part of their character. It's probably even stronger when it comes to interpersonal relationships; there is no Holmes without Watson, there is no Kirk without Spock.

The subject of as he is now brings up that other space/time continuities where things do in fact not go that way. But there you have to interfere a lot earlier in the timeline and essentially make them into completely different people for them to do those things in the first place. And even then that gets Jossed sometimes, as exemplified by the Mirror Verse and the reboot in Star Trek, where Kirk and Spock are very different from who they are in the original series.

I find it fascinating to try to figure out what the set-in-stone part of a character is based on this observation. Of course this can be debated back and forth, but there are probably one or two things that most people can agree on. Back to the first point, everyone who has so much as sniffed a Watch book knows the idea that it would even occur to Sam Vimes to harm his family is ludicrous, just as he would never take a bribe or not uphold the law. That's what makes him Sam Vimes.

Of course that doesn't mean that AU fics aren't lovely and give us a whole lot of potential for awesome stories - go nuts, give us more great fics to read!

Back on the subject of my trip to England (ooh, boy) I shall be cosplaying as Zee Captain!

 Just another day after the end of the world

Yes, the insane maybe-protagonist of the equally insane webcomic Romantically Apocolyptic. I am quite apprehensive, and have been working on my bad German accent (which he (she?) might not even have, but is just something that sticks with me. It's something which I am really excited about both because this will be my first cosplay and because I feel like I've been pretty successful with it. I'll post some photos and stuff from the con some other day.

Love =/= Romance?

Song of the day: Do the Hippogriff - The Weird Sisters

So here's the thing. I hate romantic comedies. Always have, always will. Even Titanic, which is not exactly comedic, does not escape my wrath; while my cousin was watching it for the fifth time and still crying, I could barely last all the way through. That was the first and only time I watched it.

It's just the fact that there never seems to be any deviation from the formula: A man and a woman meet, instantly dislike each other (not always the case, but happens disturbingly often) and would rather eat a live snake than be in the same room as each other. Then something MAGICAL happens and suddenly they can't keep their hands off each other, no real explanation given aside from sexual tension. Which, you know, is far from impossible, but unlike what TV executives want us to think, wanting to have sex with someone and loving them isn't necessarily the same thing -_- It is what my friend refers to as the 'I hate you!' 'I hate you!' 'Love me.' pattern.

Theeeen something convoluted happens (it looks like one of them is cheating but they really aren't and the other doesn't give them a chance to explain/there is some stupid misunderstanding/one of them has to leave and doesn't want to 'hurt' the person by actually admitting that they, you know, love them/they get attacked by a rouge platypus and suffer extremely selective memory loss) and they want us to think oh no tragedy how will this ever be fixed aaaand then it's easily fixed in about the last ten minutes of the movie. Done.

At first, I wasn't quite sure why I disliked romantic comedies so much (a lot of genres are formulaic and that's often even a part of the charm). I thought that romance just couldn't carry a whole story by itself because it focused too hard on just those two (or more) people involved, but that couldn't be it because a lot of stories do that with no romantic intent involved. Then I thought it was just because I'm not a particularly romantic person (or so they tell me) or at least not traditionally so, and that's probably a part of it. That and western culture tends to... well, I don't want to say 'overvalue' romantic relationships, but that's essentially what I mean, at the cost of familial and platonic relationships (which are just as important as romantic ones.)

I was even under the impression that my aversion extended all over the romance genre, up until I read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. And that's when I realized that this story is essentially the formula of romantic comedies before it became a formula, only done right.

So let's do this as a case study:

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy meet, and their first impressions of each other are not very flattering (and for a good reason.) They assume that they know all there is to know about each other from those brief glimpses, and continue to happily despise each other for some time. Their Pride (Darcy) and Prejudice (Elizabeth) prevent them from realizing their mistakes.

Then, starting first and foremost with Darcy, they began to understand that their first impressions were erroneous, limited and incomplete (as most first impressions are). As he has, in the words of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries all 'the social skills of an agoraphobic lobster,' he is able to see her as she really is, but she is unable to see him, due to the aforementioned lack of social skills and also her prevailing prejudice.

It is only after he confesses her love to her (a scene which I love not just because of the excellent writing but also because of how she rejects him, which of course made perfect sense given what she knows of him so far) that she later gets the opportunity to see him as anything else but prideful, snobbish and lacking in empathy. This is primarily through his actions towards others, unrelated to her. She now knows that he is in fact a good man, if an awkward and slightly bad-tempered one. Then she begins to love him, as he loves her, and by acknowledging their mistakes and learning from them, they both become better people.

On top of that, a huge part of the charm is that it's not just a love story in the romantic sense of the word, but a love story about the whole of the Bennett family (in a familial way - not the creepy incestuous kind of way). You get invested not just in the leads, but also in the other characters and their trials and tribulations.

(And I will always love Jane Austen for writing Darcy as a genuinely good man that respects Lizzie's boundaries. Even after he confesses his love to her and she almost cruelly rejects him he doesn't bring it up again, up until the moment when he has reason to believe he does have a chance with her. And even then he promises never to bring it up again if her feelings towards him remain unchanged. And this is in 18t/19th century England, people! Contemporary so-called 'friendzoned' men could learn from this.)

And that brings me to the conclusion that romantic comedies are in fact not about love. They are about what society wants love to be - a whole lot less complicated and much more dramatic than real life tends to be. But think of the stories that could be made (that are being and have been made) if romantic comedies contained anything close to resembling real people.

Well, that's my two cents on the subject. Now excuse me while I go and explode from feels at all the new Spirk fic materializing on the internet.

P.s. Jane Austen will make it to the UK 10 pound note! Huzzah!

Nerdy love affairs: Or, the liking of stuff and why it's not a bad thing.

Song of the day: The Shire Theme by Howard Shore

When I was six years old, I fell in love with the first time. Actual, deep, long lasting love, too, not just a passing crush.

Not with an actual living human person, of course, oh no.

With a book.

Specifically, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

And, believe it or not, that affair hasn't ended yet, nor does it seem particularly likely to do so in the future.

That is, more often maybe than people let themselves admit, probably the basis for being a fan or a nerd or a geek about something. I mean, sure, there are varying levels, but I know an amazing amount of people that just have this one thing that introduced them to maybe a certain medium (books, movies, video games, anime) that they just never get tired of even years later. Both because of nostalgia being what it is, and that if it was good enough to make them fall in love with it in the first place, it probably really is pretty damn good.

And that's a strange thing, isn't it? I mean, it's perfectly socially acceptable to despise something or be seriously annoyed by it, or, more frequently, be apathetic to things in general (I suspect it being an offspring of the parasitic entity of ''cool''), but seriously being into something and being able to talk about the various factors of it for ages and people just go okay, that's freaky, what's wrong with you
Even if they have a Thing themselves, whether they admit to it or not. It's like getting passionate about something is breaking some generally perceived rule of 'don't try too hard' that no-one really knows the origins of.

And that's really what nerding out over and being a nerd for something really mean, don't they? That you have something that you really love and get very passionate about. And that tends to be a lot more fulfilling than hating something or, gods forbid, being apathetic in almost every regard. 

That one Thing a lot of people have can be an anchor for them in its nostalgia in strange times, be they difficult or wonderful. Occasionally the love for the Thing is rekindled, if we are lucky enough, by some talented and wonderful people who love it as much as we do and wish to see it back in the world again.

So when I went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, I wasn't cautiously optimistic. I greatly respect the work of Peter Jackson and the amazing people he works with beforehand, and I had no worries what-so-ever that he would fail.

And I've got to tell you

It was like coming home.

My ultimate rec list: In which I nerd out.

Song of the day: 'Death Eater Tango' by the Butterbeer Experience.

So I read fanfic. A lot.

And that means that I also see Sturgeon's law in action. A lot.

And it is true. About 90% of fanfic is... Not very good, or at least not fantastic, to say the least.

But, and bear with me, this also means that the remaining 10%... Are worth dying for.

So, those of you that have grown cynical by endless reading of substandard fanfiction I say to you, do not lose hope. For these fics are not only one of the few best fics I have ever read, but also among the best pieces of fiction, period, that I have ever read.

So, in no particular order, we have:


-The epic masterpiece (this being the original definition of 'masterpiece') that is Observations.
It takes place in the Star Trek 2009 reboot verse and gives a detailed account of life aboard the Enterprise from the point of view of First Officer Spock, and eventually becomes Kirk/Spock (the best I've ever read.)
It, for some considerable time after reading, left me disappointed in the general quality of fanfiction everywhere. That is, that I would have to lower my standards waaaaay down if I was to enjoy fanfiction again, because other fics just didn't measure up to this one. It gives such a deep and detailed analysis and observation (see what I did thar) of not just Spock but every single other character through his interaction and growth through knowing them, and vice versa. It may, literally, change your perception of fiction.


-The second one would be the magnum opus Truthfully.
Takes place in the the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and shares most continua except for Avengers). Long story short, Loki ends up on Earth after the events of Thor, and gets a therapist. Hilarity ensues.
Except, no. That doesn't cover it at all. This fic succeeds where so many have failed before; to take a broken character that could have been turned away from darkness if it had been tried in time, and develop him from that point on while staying faithful to his ground-work personality all the way through. No I haven't been reading too much purple prose. Why do you ask?

It is completely gen and no shipping involved whatsoever. However, it contains bucketloads of ho-yay and a reader would feel justified in shipping just about anything they felt like. Also contains one of the few amazing OC's I have had the pleasure to meet. Oh, and it is absolutely rib-crackingly hilarious. Like, seriously, I could only lie on my back when I slept for days after reading this fic in almost one sitting.


-Which would make the third one my great friend, Diplomacy.
This fic takes place in the Warcraft verse, somewhere around the beginning (end?) of Cataclysm, if I remember correctly. It can be considered a 'what if' story. Leaders from the two factions, Thrall an Jaina Proudmoore decide that war happening again between their people is out of the question, and go for the age-old trick of marriage between two mayor political figures. Namely, themselves. It also helps that they are most certainly in love with each other. Also contains some masterful usage of lore knowledge and associated tacklements. And knowledge of human (and other humanoid) nature.

This fics deals with the political and social and ramifications and advantages (and such interesting politics! Who knew such a thing existed?) of such an act and realistically portrays how everything would play out. It also has a sneaky sense of humor and theatrics. T-rated at most. There is also the incredible portrayal of interaction between characters (and some lovely OC's that have their own backgrounds and backstories in the author's other works). It is also notable as a story with love as a major sub-plot, that no-one ever actually uses the words 'I love you,' and yet it is abundantly clear that they very much do.


-And then there is Memoirs of a Master.
While this fic can no longer be considered cannon after Kung Fu Panda 2, that absolutely does not mean it has been made redundant. It follows the supposed backstory of Master Shifu from the beginning of his training at the Jade Palace at age four right up to and after the events of Kung Fu Panda. It has a whole gallery of amazing, incredible OCs that I could in no way do justice. There is a bit of m/m OC character shipping, but even if you don't slash, with a story this good, missing out on reading it for something like that would be a great loss. The author's use of Chinese cultural knowledge, lore and myths is beautiful and a delight for anyone who loves a good story.

It does get pretty dark at several points, so I'm not sure if the rating can be consistently any one thing, since it seems to range all the way from K up to M (not for naughty stuff, just lots of bloody fight scenes and a few deaths.) 

Oh, and just a fair warning; it's going to make you cry. Hard. I didn't expect it when I read it first, but OH MAN, it just rips your heart out and stomps all over it. But it's worth it in the end. Trust me on this.


-And at last there is The Toymaker and the Widow.
This is a love story, in the best sense of the word. Please note that I tend to shy away from stories that have romance as a main plot since I tend to think that is a very difficult thing to hinge a whole plot on successfully on top of not being what you would call a traditionally romantic person.

That said, this isn't a story about romance, since love and romance are, remarkably, not the same thing.
It is set in the Hobbit verse, and I know what some of you (including myself) would think. There is no romance whatsoever in the original novel and therefore I always have a hard time shipping anything because I tend to be a dreadful stickler for cannon. That said it is between Bofur and an OC - please don't run away! Come back, it's actually amazingly good!

Thank you. Now, the OFC is just so amazingly human - er, dwarf, every facet of her character making her a real person and not just some front for a self insert or suedom. She is flawed, stubborn, strong, knows her own mind... There really isn't much I can say to do her justice, except I almost wish she existed just so that I could shake her by the hand. Her daughter is also wonderful and so much like an actual kid in a way that kids often aren't in fiction. 

Bofur also gets so much more characterization that could ever be possible in either the novel or the film(s). So much in fact that this fic has quite by accident become my official headcannon for him. It establishes these characters before the quest for Erebor and then may possibly (it's a work in progress) delve into if the existence of these OCs may affect how the story turns out. All said and done, this fic just makes me want to huggle the characters for being so incredibly... Human. While being, you know, dwarves. And now I feel like a specist.  Just... Go read it. Read all of them, if you can. I may actually make your life just a touch more fantastic.

One day I may actually give these fics the pages-long posts they deserve, but that's for another day.

And, yes, I am aware that as I am sporfling over other people's wonderful and amazing works of art, I should be working on making a dent in my word count, since I am unfortunately behind because of a brief bout of nasty sickness. Wish me luck.