Things, post, etc.

[lucymonster]

Fannish update: I am not doing Chocolate Box this year after all, because Chocolate Box mods are taking a (by the sound of it, badly needed) year off. Instead I'm doing candyheartsex! It's a one-off replacement exchange running on exactly the same schedule and I'm super excited for it.

I admit I'm also a little anxious about taking part in a gift exchange again, after having a go at writing the little ficlet I was talking about. It went really really badly. I'm so rusty: my prose felt sloppy, but worse than that, my thinking was all clouded. I couldn't seem to get the characters to do what I wanted, or even answer 'what the hell is this story about' to a satisfying extent, even though it felt so clear until I started trying to put it in words. Just, a mess. Fucking baby's first fanfic all over again. I don't want to ruin anyone's Valentine's Day by accidentally gifting them legolas by lucy, so I have to sort my shit out before signups, but right now I kind of feel like deleting gdocs and never looking at it again. Gah.

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Bret Devereaux, of in-depth military historian's analysis of LotR fame, is back again with a deeply satisfying breakdown of what made the worldbuilding in Rings of Power so broken. I have complicated feelings about RoP: it gave me a shiny new blorbo who I love to pieces (Adar, bby <33333) and I'm defensive of it thanks to all the ridiculous right-wing outrage about Black elves and female leads, but it was also just really bad, and not even in a fun trashy way, but in a borderline unwatchable way. I never put much thought into exactly what made it bad - the extent of my critical engagement was nodding along angrily with Erik Kain's coverage and ranting to my sister about how bugfuck crazy it was that Amazon put two guys with zero IMDB credits in charge of such a massive production - so I really enjoyed seeing all my vague 'something's off here' feelings laid out in Devereaux's trademark pedantic detail.

But I'm not just linking the article for RoP hatewatch reasons. It has interesting things to say about writing craft and the 'rules' of worldbuilding in general, and also some very interesting facts about volcanoes.

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Some great new metal finds this week!

All That Was Promised by Hath got recommended in a 2022 best-of that Bandcamp emailed me, and was good enough to make me forgive the fact that I've opted out of Bandcamp promo emails multiple times now so shouldn't have received it in the first place. It's blistering, richly emotive death metal with strong blackened and melodic elements. My days of being hopelessly weak for harsh vocals seasoned with just a tiny pinch of cleans are clearly coming to a middle.

Freedom of Fear win massive bonus points for being 1) Aussie and 2) female-fronted, but they honestly don't need the help. Per AMG: "influences including 90’s symphonic black metal, traces of the classic Gothenburg sound, and a heavy dose of blistering tech death". I hope they tour near me soon. I already know I won't go, but it would be nice to entertain the fantasy that I might.

Just Before Dawn fill a hole in my collection of bleak war-themed death metal that I didn't even know was there. Seriously, it feels like I should have been listening to these guys for years. They remind me a lot of Hail of Bullets, minus the really distinctive vocals but no weaker for it. Link goes to one of their newer songs about the Vietnam War. I've got WWI, WWII and plenty of War Not Otherwise Specified in rotation, but I don't think I've ever listened to metal about Vietnam.

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Edit, I almost forgot: new trailer for Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to Fallen Order! IT LOOKS AMAZING OMG.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[senmut]

I hope you have fun doing the exchange!

[lucymonster]

Thank you!

[liriaen]

Oh I had never met Mr Devereaux - thanks for the link! I haven’t watched any of RoP, but his arguments re: world building, narrative tools, and consistency are illuminating.

Say, that Hath drummer isn’t really breaking a sweat, is he? :) drumming along like a little old lady, going “humdidum”.

My fave of the batch would be Just Before Dawn, sounds like a slog through bloodied mire. (A good thing in my books.)

[lucymonster]

I’m glad you enjoyed Devereaux! His blog posts have an awful habit of piling up in my TBR, because they’re always so long and thorough that I like to wait until I have plenty of time to sit down and focus on them. But this one I couldn’t resist pouncing on immediately.

LOL he does look pretty chilled out in the video. 😂 I swear, some of those guys make it look so easy.

A slog through bloodied mire is the perfect description of Just Before Dawn (and yes, a good thing for me too!). Metal played right can be so good at capturing the messy horror of war, which is probably why all these war bands keep ending up among my favourites.

[dr_zook]

I'm such a snob, I didn't even click on the video, only the audio, haha, but thank you for pointing out the little old lady-drummer. You're so right! 🤣

[dr_zook]

Thank you so much for the metal recs!! (I swear I'm living under a stone, and when I'm not I'm just EXHAUSTED, ugh.) Just Before Dawn deffo have this Hail of Bullets vibe, I love it. :D

Freedom of Fear is waaay to techy for me, haha, I'm more 4-to-the-floor. XD Hath is probably my favourite of that bunch, very tasty. :3

Good luck with getting back to writing AND having fun during it! I know it can be hard sometimes. I hear it can be helpful to just write anything everyday, don't delete it, don't look at it too hard, but write to remind your brain and body about their job in this. ;)

[lucymonster]

I kinda know what you mean about under a stone! I’m back on the wagon now but I’ve missed pretty much an entire year of new releases. I’m relying on everyone’s end of year lists to clue me in on anything unmissable.

Freedom of Fear is definitely a lot techier than I usually go for, but the melodic elements make up for it. I’m sure I’ve missed lots of important clever things about their song structure, lol.

I probably should try something like that for my writing. I’ve always tended to edit as I go, which works well for me when I’m on form but - I’m learning - really stifles any kind of progress when I’m not.

[caudipteryx]

I have complicated feelings about RoP: it gave me a shiny new blorbo who I love to pieces (Adar, bby <33333) and I'm defensive of it thanks to all the ridiculous right-wing outrage about Black elves and female leads, but it was also just really bad, and not even in a fun trashy way, but in a borderline unwatchable way

Galadriel/Sauron feels very similiar to Reylo to me, though--and I certainly like the both pairings for the same reasons! But maybe you feel differently since, goodness knows, you're far more of a Reylo expert than I am! :-D

Thank you very much for the links, BTW! Must read. Military historian's breakdown sounds fuuuuun~

[lucymonster]

Lol, Kylo Ren would be so flattered to be compared to Sauron! A dark and irresistibly sexy manipulator, making amends (horrible amends) for the weakness of his evil predecessor. I didn’t dislike Sauron/Galadriel, but I didn’t really go for it the way a lot of Reylo shippers apparently did - I’m less interested in the temptation aspect than in the redemption arc potential, and Sauron is … well, he’s Sauron. 😂

I hope you enjoy the series! It’s SO much fun, very rigorous.

[caudipteryx]

Lol, Kylo Ren would be so flattered to be compared to Sauron! A dark and irresistibly sexy manipulator, making amends (horrible amends) for the weakness of his evil predecessor.

Ha, true! Through through much of Season 1, he was the slacker kinda getting dragged along in Galadriel's wake, so questionable how much Kylo would be into that aspect of things.

I didn’t dislike Sauron/Galadriel, but I didn’t really go for it the way a lot of Reylo shippers apparently did - I’m less interested in the temptation aspect than in the redemption arc potential, and Sauron is … well, he’s Sauron.

Ooohhh I seeee. Yeah... I guess for me the appeal isn't in the either temptation or redemption aspects. Most of my favorite pairings try to kill each other in canon (check!) and for f/m I really, really don't want to feel like the woman should be overly submissive to the man in any hypothetical relationship (check!).

[osprey_archer]

Thank you for linking the Rings of Power article! I don't have time to read it right now (houseguests on the way) but I've tucked it away for a slow day at work.

[lucymonster]

Good luck with your houseguests, and I hope you enjoy the article!

[pauraque]

I'm defensive of it thanks to all the ridiculous right-wing outrage about Black elves and female leads, but it was also just really bad

I haven't watched RoP, but I can totally relate to this. Like, no, you are WRONG about the badness of this show! It's actually bad for completely unrelated reasons!!!

[lucymonster]

Right? Not by far the biggest reason conservative reactionaries suck, but it’s on the list somewhere. Galadriel doesn’t suck because she’s a woman, you fuckers, she sucks because she’s a badly executed example of a generic YA heroine who has absolutely nothing to do with the Tolkien character she’s supposed to represent. >:(

[theskywasblue]

I had great fun with Jedi Fallen Order, so I was pretty excited to see the sequel's coming out so soon!

(Plus, Cal Kestis looking fiiiiine)

[lucymonster]

That facial hair looks GOOD on him, damn.

[delphi]

I'd read that Chocolate Box was taking a year off - very glad to know there's another exchange subbing in! And oof, I hear you about feeling rusty. Best of luck with whatever you end up writing. One of my resolutions for 2023 is to beta read more often, so if you're ever looking for a fresh set of eyes, feel free to hit me up.