Getting to Know You & Me

[kmo]

A questions meme!

-Comment with "What is a week-end?"
-I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
-Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
-Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions. (If you want. Totally optional.)

Questions provided by netgirl_y2k


1) If you could pick one ASOIAF character to make it to the end of the series unscathed who would you choose to protect?

As much as Arya is my favorite and the only character who hasn't made me shake my fists in frustration at this point, I'm not sure my little assassin deserves to make it through unscathed. Plus, she's a wily little thing and can probably take care of herself. So, I would choose to protect Brienne at this point, because girlfriend is too effing noble for her own good (still) and has been through enough shit already. And as much as Westeros is a crapsack amoral place, I do feel her constant choice to try to do the right thing should be rewarded somehow. Even if it just means she goes back to Tarth and becomes some kind of sword-slinging cat lady.

2. What's the fandom, trope, or pairing that you least understand the appeal of?

I really don't understand a/b/o, where it came from, and why it's so popular right now. Which is not to knock any of my friends who like a/b/o- to borrow a page from Dan Savage, "Your Kink Is Not My Kink But Your Kink Is Okay." I think part of my reaction is that it also involves mpreg, which is another trope that i just don't get. And possibly the boundary blurring between human and animal characteristics is just not for me. But to each their own.

I wish we could make the sort of genderqueer opposite of mpreg happen- growing a kid in a vat. I am totally okay with separating sexuality and reproduction. I like children (still undecided if i want them...) but am very ambivalent about the whole messy biological pregnancy stuff. Just goes to show that one person's Orwellian dystopia is this woman's fantasy.

3. If you could only have five books to read over and over again for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

Oooh this is tough. But I will go with:

1) Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey- to get my porn/awesome female characters/adventure fix

2) Catch-22, Joseph Heller- my favorite work of "serious" literary fiction. it's pretty complex and has a lot of layers- it would be fun to re-read

3) The Unredeemed Captive, John Demos- i'm a historian and this is my favorite history book. it's kind of cliche in academic circles to say you like this book but haters gonna hate. It's about a young girl living in frontier Massachusetts in the mid 18th century who gets abducted during an Indian raid and spends the rest of her life as a Mohawk, despite her Puritan family trying to ransom her. it's fascinating and very well written. Actually very accessible to non-historians- it won a National Book Award.

4) Wise Child, Monica Furlong- this is a childhood fave. Orphaned girl gets adopted by the local witch in medieval Scotland. feminist pagany goodness! I still want Juniper to adopt me. If I ever become a parent, I also want to be as awesome as Juniper.

5) Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman- something i haven't read all of! because at least one thing on this list should be something kinda new. and if i'm stuck with only 5 books, i want something- like poetry- that i might not get the meaning of right away.

4. Do you have any interesting or unusual phobias?

I really, really hate roller coasters. Just the sight of one makes me feel panicky. Whenever I go on one, I close my eyes and wait for it to be over....which is kind of like lying back and thinking of England. Yeah. Combines my fear of heights with issues about control. I don't find them fun at all. My partner loves them- this is not one of those things we share as a couple.

5. What's your ideal fic, the one you wish you could bring into being just with the power of your mind?


I keep hoping someone someday (maybe me) is going to write that fic where Carmen Sandiego is a fobwatched Time Lady and goes off to drive the Doctor nuts/inflame him with lust.

I also really want a fic where Sarah O'Brien inherits a ton of money and gets elevated to the aristocracy and...it's actually really hard and confusing for her. She's spent her entire life scheming and plotting and feeling resentful about her lot in life- who does she become when that identity is taken away? And everyone at Downton is all resentful and flabbergasted because "Oh noes, how could something so wonderful happen to someone so mean?"

Comments

[kmo]

that's a great idea. and i loved the episode where Betty & Don went to Rome and you saw how glamorous and mysterious Betty could be outside of the house in Ossining and why Don might have fallen in love with her in the first place. and yeah, it would teach Don that of course it's so much easier to be Dad when you get to do it on your own terms. so yes, Betty goes to Europe and parties Italian gigolos is a great fic idea.

having recently rewatched s4 of the Wire, I am really hankering for a Game of Thrones/Wire cracky crossover. i think it would really work- Baltimore and Westeros have a lot in common! "There you go again, Brienne, givin' a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck."

Your Questions:

1) What fictional character do you most identify with?

2) What is your favorite place you have ever visited or lived?

3) What is the trope/pairing/character you love but everyone else hates?

4) What is your usual Starbucks/coffeshop order?

5) If you could change anything about a favorite canon, what would you change?

[likeadeuce]

:) I should also finish 'Sally, Don and Peggy go to see 'the Wrath of Khan' b/c I do love that bunny.

And I love the 'Wire' comparison to GoT -- I don't think we've talked about this. -- I don't know when we would have -- but 'giving a fuck when it's not your turn to give a fuck' is one of my FAVORITE fictional (and real life) tropes and the way the Wire articulates that is why I think it's a more optimistic show than it generally gets credit for. Granted, that is NOT saying much, it is by no means an optimistic show, but it does leave open the possibility of small individual victories. Which I'm not sure whether ASOIAF will do or not -- are we headed for PURE rocks fall everyone dies or is some one going to escape?

Will ponder and get on the questions :)

[kmo]

i think there are some optimistic notes to The Wire for sure. and i totally agree- institutions might fail people but individual choices still matter, and perhaps matter even more in this context. there are some characters like Bubbles or Namond who are able to escape the cycle, even as others get dragged in. The last book is supposed to be called A Dream of Spring- so perhaps asoiaf will also end on a quasi hopeful note.

i think it was the fact that Aiden Gillen plays a scheming politico on both shows. though I think Littlefinger would be a much more effective mayor of Baltimore- not that he'd ever WANT to be. There's some interesting parallels in terms of characters. Can't you see Arya, child soldier, out bangin' on them corners? Omar and Jaqen H'ghar- "a man got to have a code."

[likeadeuce]

That is a super great idea, you are on to something.

I do love it when people call Gillen "Mayor Littlefinger."

Also, I spend a lot of time swearing at Tommy Carcetti, whereas Gillen actually makes it plausible that people get taken in by Littlefinger (which never really happens for me in the novel.) Both of which I think speak to Gillen's acting -- he is great to hate.

[kmo]

seriously i can't imagine Gillen playing a non-sleazeball character at this point. i'm really interested to see what he does in s3.

[chaila]

"There you go again, Brienne, givin' a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck."

Ha, that made me laugh out loud!

Does that make Stringer and Avon Jaime and Cersei? Because...I kind of think it does.

[kmo]

can't you see The Bunk and Brienne as partners? they would be *so* awesome. and yes, Jaime=Stringer and Avon=Cersei in those totally co-dependent relationships.

you should check out this tumblr- it's not really that active anymore, but it's pretty funny!
http://asongoficeandwire.tumblr.com/