tv and books

[erastes]

Well I’ve finished watching Moonlight. Was very impressed with the female lead (can’t be arsed to look up her name, but she played Madame de Pompadour in Doctor Who) – she really can act. I also fell in love with Josef the older vampire, who looked about 22. He had the most delicious smile. Shame it fizzled out, it was all a bit daft, but watchable.

What made me laugh though in the penultimate episode, they were discussing old houses in the LA area and called houses built around 1911 “Victorians”

Hmm…. no……!

I also watched Bridge to Terabithia and found it all a bit too allegorical (and bloody sad) I wish I’d read the book first now.  Never heard of it before today, to be honest. Must have been an American phenomenon? Vastly amused that it’s regularly a “challenged” book because of the religious aspects and the death and the bad language. Some Americans are very peculiar people.

I’ve done the synopsis for Mere Mortals, so I’m popping that and the first 40 pages off to Running Press, and see what they say.  They have 30 days to decide, and I can work on the re-write. If they say no, then at least i know where i stand and I can start to think about where I go after that.

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Comments

[joannesopercook.livejournal.com]

Sophia Myles - a.k.a. David Tennant's ladylove in RL. :)

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

It was Lady Penelope!

[aigooism.livejournal.com]

Bridge to Terabithia is a popular children's/young adult's book for us Americans. :D I remember my teacher reading it to us in third grade, so to see that it's a challenged book when I grew older, it boggled my mind. ~__~:;;

[erastes.livejournal.com]

She's very good in Moonlight, I have to say.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Baffling to me!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Ah - thank you!

[aigooism.livejournal.com]

Oh it baffles me, too! Here's something even more baffling: Why the HELL is "WHERE'S WALDO" on the frequently banned/challenged book lists?!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Because it's idiocy, and doesn't actually teach anyone anything?

[aigooism.livejournal.com]

True, LOL.

. . . Someone once told me that they thought it was banned because there were pictures of witches in the Waldo's books.

[beckyblack]

According to Wikipedia:
"Where's Waldo is listed by the American Library Association on the List of most commonly challenged books in the U.S. The most common reason for banning is that, in one picture, located on a beach, a topless female sunbather is seen with a partially exposed breast."

Oh noes, a tiny, partially exposed, cartoon boob! We can't allow unsuspecting members of the public to be forced to see that! World goes to hell in a handbasket, human sacrafice, cats and dogs living together. Won't somebody think of the children?! etc.

Which raises the question, if that's the most common reason, what the the less common ones? ::mind boggles::

[aigooism.livejournal.com]

~___~ *mind boggles along with yours*

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I also fell in love with Josef the older vampire, who looked about 22. He had the most delicious smile.

I don't know if you're at all interested, but the same actor--Jason Dohring--played one of the male leads on Veronica Mars a few years ago. With that same delicious smile and a healthy helping of angst to go with it. ;)

I meant to read Bridge to Terabithia years ago, when all my friends read it, but never got round to it. I did read Tuck Everlasting, the other Book That Made Everyone Cry, though, and it was quite heartbreaking.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Ooo - I've been looking for something else to watch - thank you, he really is CUTE, i had to look him up, because he looked a bit like John out of ER, but not related, i think.

Oh - I read Tuck too. Bawled my eyes out.

:(

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I never heard of Bridge to Terabithia before the 2007 movie, either. I found the story frustrating; it felt like the author was saying, "Life sucks and then you die, and the only way you can cope with the sucktasticness is to make up a kingdom that is, let me stress this, IMAGINARY."

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

And "if your parents ignore you and all your siblings are slobs and you get bullied at school, make up some friends!"

This would just lead to worse bullying, as you know!

Perhaps the book is more in depth, I might give it a go to see.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

he really is CUTE, i had to look him up, because he looked a bit like John out of ER, but not related, i think.

Not that I'm aware of. I hadn't seen him before VMars, and he gives some real standout performances there. Plus, it's a phenomenally well-written show (the first series, especially).

[chris-smith-atr.livejournal.com]

What made me laugh though in the penultimate episode, they were discussing old houses in the LA area and called houses built around 1911 “Victorians”

Hmm…. no……!

1911. Victorian. 1911. Victorian?

*eyes stabbed out*

[diannefox.livejournal.com]

In the US (this may not be true elsewhere), houses are described in terms of style, not year-of-manufacture. So a "Victorian" would be a house in the Victorian style, not a house built during the Victorian period. Much like a "Colonial" is a style of house, and not from the colonial period -- unless you're in certain parts of the East Coast, where those houses are still around.

Victorian style houses were very popular in the US in the early 1900s, and have gone in and out of fashion since then. It's not really incorrect; it's just a different source for the term "Victorian."

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Very, very incorrect! :)

[chris-smith-atr.livejournal.com]

I would call a house built outside of the time period but in that style "Neo Vctorian", "Neo Gothic" etc. Or maybe "Revival". I have to say that I'd not come across your method of classification even in my American architectural books - maybe it is a standard laymans way of defining it? Or maybe I have the wrong books. :)

[diannefox.livejournal.com]

It would be the standard layman's term, yes, and -- as far as I can tell -- the term used by construction and renovation professionals who do not specialize in a particular time period.

The "neo" prefix isn't used much in general conversation, unless we're talking politics, pagan religions, or The Matrix. :)

[chris-smith-atr.livejournal.com]

Ah well, I'm an architect. Which probably explains that then.

I practise in the UK - where the definition between Classical, and NeoClassical means the difference between living in a Roman fort and a townhouse in Knightsbridge or Bath. It is a distinction I rather prefer to make ;)

[diannefox.livejournal.com]

I'd definitely prefer the townhouse! :)

Because houses are much 'younger' in the US, I think the terms we use in common conversation have grown much more lax. It wouldn't make sense for a Roman fort to be here -- or for most traditional house styles to be in many parts of the country, from their appropriate time period -- so the distinction is sort of moot.

On the East Coast, there are a lot of places where houses are still around from the Revolutionary War period -- hence my mention in a previous comment that 'colonial' is a term that has both style and date meaning in some parts of the US. Beyond that, though, we'd say, for example, "a Dutch Colonial built in the 1970s" with no irony.

[spindriftdancer.livejournal.com]

Crack. Srsly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-commonly_challenged_books_in_the_United_States

It's all books that make you think, or are bizarrely silly. We can't have that. Goodness.