On Manga, Fanfiction, and King critiques
HostileI'm just a regular jack of all trades, ain't I?
Ok, let's start off on a light note. First of all:
Latest chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist.
ALPHONSE. FUCK. YES.
-swoons-
I've always liked Al, but never before have I been squealing with insane delight over anything he ever did.
That was reserved for Envy, and later pride.
But 92.
Just... Shit. Damn.
The more Hiromu Arakawa writes FMA, the more I fall in love with her and her characters.
It's also the more that Envy's place as my favorite character begins to look as if it'll topple. XD
Seriously.
Speaking of manga, I don't know if any of you have ever read Skip Beat, but it's a fantastic and hilarious manga. It's a Shoujo, but it's filled with so much humor and drama and DAMN.
Get to One Manga right now and read it, because the latest chapter was all drama and it just sent shivers up my spine.
That's all the fangirling you'll get from me today.
Now, I've started to get into fanfiction again, well, writing in general. Anyway, I've gotten accounts started up on both fanfiction.net and livejournal.com.
Yes, I know that FF.Net is often referred to as "The Pit". (Honestly, it deserves the nickname at times. -le sigh!- ) However, my damn inner optimist is being oddly persistent again, so here we go!
I go by 'trilies' on both sites, so feel free to look me up! If you won't comment on here, at least swing me a hello over there!
Now, for the rant. I saved the worst for last.
In case you weren't aware, Stephen King, the "King of Horror" himself, was recently in an interview. He was asked about Stephenie Meyer. He said, quote, "Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good." Unquote.
Now, I could kiss King right there. The only way that could have been any better was if Neil Gaiman had said it. Excuse me while I squeal in delight over the mere mention of his name, I recently read The Graveyard Book. Damn. Anyway.
I first saw it on Yahoo and was delighted. After all, hardcore Twilight fans are always going on about how Antis such as myself can't say Twilight sucks (even though it does and we have plenty of arguments as to why it does) because WE have never written a book that's sold really well. Now, here we have some one who HAS sold millions and millions of best-selling books! Hallelujah! That ought to shut them up, right.
Wrong. At some point along the way, I see a news article that allows comments. ([link]
rofile_sodaFeed) I'm bored and really should be doing something like writing my multichapter fanfic that I've resolved to finish if it kills me, but hey! I look at the comments anyway. Sometimes, I really just want to smack humanity. I fear that if I quote any of the comments there, I will lose braincells, so go and take a gander yourself.
Anyway. Just somethings to get off my chest.
Directed towards some of the fantards on there, and those that aren't:
YOU DUMB FUCKS. ARGH. You are so lucky I do not know you in real life, or I doubt I would be able to restrain myself in smacking you upside the head.
If you cannot type correctly, then I doubt you even know what good writing is. You wouldn't recognize it if it bit you in the fucking face. Learn to type, and I will be willing to listen to you. You should've learned this in KINDERGARTEN, ARGH, FUCK.
You have also probably never read his books. DON'T TRY AND PULL THAT. I know, because I, to my great misfortune, have Twilight fans in my classes. Want to hear a quote? "Tee hee, I've never even picked up a book not for class besides Twilight and Harry Potter!" DUMB ARGH, HOLD ON. I need to hit something, I swear. I hate stupid people, and I hate stupid people who are CONTENT with being stupid.
KING IS NOT JEALOUS. THAT EXCUSE DIDN'T WORK THE FIRST TIME, IT SURE AS FUCK AIN'T GONNA WORK THE 354,643,987 TIMES YOU USE IT. ARGH. [/capsrage] No, seriously, why the hell would you think that!? Do you know how many books King has sold? Four times more then the population of Australia. Somewhere around that number, anyway. Guess how many of those got awards or were turned into movies? Guess how many of those movies got awards? A lot more then Twilight has or ever will get!
Face. The. Facts. Smeyer is not a good writer! People have their own opinions! THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY. WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH HERE. ARGH.
I swear, sometimes, my faith in humanity just plummets. I need a guy to randomly buy my sodas for me for no real reason other then the kindness in his heart so that'll come back. (True story. I had just biked up, like, five freakin' hills and was thirsty. Went into the local Quick Check to get some sodas. The guy in front of me knew the cashier and was joking with her. Somehow, by the time I got up, she had said that he should buy my drinks for me, and I joked that he could go right on ahead. I didn't think he would, but he did with a grin and the comment that he saw me biking up those damn hills. I made it the rest of the way home feeling considerably lighter. We need more random friendly guys who buy random drinks for poor tired teenagers. )
Devious Comments
Who, honest to god, heard about Meyer BEFORE Twilight was released? No one, because it was her first book released in 05. She's an amateur of the lowest order - her books are popular with young teenagers.
Now take a master like Stephen King - who has been around, at the very latest, since 1973 when 'Carrie' was published. He has experience and knowledge under his belt, not to mention the fact that his books are aimed at more mature readers.
Already we have a winner.
Put the bloody subject of English into context; It doesn't take a genius to write a book aimed at a 5 year old...
It is therefore deductable that to aim a book at a more mature audience, a higher knowledge and experience of writing are necessary in order to be successful. Stephen King's one such individual.
My apologies but my belief is that Stephanie Meyer, age 35, is no more experienced than Christopher Paolini, who began writing his book Eragon when he was fifteen. And I prefer his books (true the film was of no great success but you can't base the book on a film that was based on the book in the first place).
Stephen King, a master (and rightly so) of mature horror books is quite easily outmastering such an amature writer. He is not "jealous" of Meyer's One Hit Wonder, because frankly the audience worshipping it hasn't even passed through puberty. True the success of Twilight may be seen as a great start to a great carreer, but will it really be? I fear Meyer's minimal knowledge of how to write properly shall not let her so easily walk in the footsteps of J. K. Rowling, as Stephen King has rightly pointed out. Why would a master - someone who is going to be remembered throughout history for his vast collection of fantastic novels - be jealous because of one book's publicity (and by teenagers no less)? He quite frankly IS NOT.
Just because Twilight has become an amazing hit does not mean we see Meyer as the face of all fantasy. King could very well be seen as the face of all Horror - if you asked the majority of the public to name an author who wrote under the genre then of course King will most probably be their first response. (If not that, then probably H. P. Lovecraft.)
Another point of which I am heavily sardonic about is the followers of "The Twilight Movement" (I call it a movement because I frankly do not see it lasting) cannot, the majority of the time, iterate a response worthy of the english language. That is proof enough of the level of maturity that Stephanie Meyer's books prevoke.
A good anime I just got into is Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei where roughly its about the adventures of a teacher who see's everything in the worst possible light and is always in despair (in the first episode he has his students right down their dream that are hopeless to achieve and tells them they can never do it). To balance it out their is a rather thick-headed student who is the exact opposite and see's everything in the best possible way. It sounds dark but is absolutely hilarious (parodies lots of other anime's). The art style is absolutely amazing as well and the other characters are great and colorful. I've only seen 2 episodes and I want to see more (we watch one episode of it during anime club).
I'll check out Skip Beat because I really like well done Shoujo. In fact if it has a love story in it I will probably pay attention to it more (some guys focus on the action but I view the action just as a bonus and love the romantics that go on. Know any other good Shoujos?
As for Twilight I never read it but from what it sounds like it's basically romantic relationship with vampires thrown in as main character right? I personally love Stephan King so I can understand the weight behind his words XD.
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"OH GOD I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE THIS THING *swingswingswing*"
Skip Beat does have a love story, but it moves slow as hell compared to anything else. X) It mostly focuses on the drama. See, the main character, Kyoko, came to the city with her boyfriend Sho, who wanted to be a rockstar. When he became famous, however, he dumped her because he was just using her as a slave while she supported him that entire time. Kyoko gets pissed and decides she'll get revenge by joining showbiz as well. The love interest is, ironically enough, an older actor above her who is Sho's rival.
I can't think of any other shoujos at the minute, but I'll let you know when I do.
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"OH GOD I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE THIS THING *swingswingswing*"
I totally agree with you with the whole Sephanie Meyer thing. I'm so embarassed that she's mormon. The only reason her book did so well is because her books aim toward that girly fantasy of the "perfect guy". otherwise, her books would have failed miserably. She's not the firs to write a love story between a human and a vampire. Her writing itself sucks.
This is separate, but I found out where I'm moving. I'll tell you in an e-mail soon.
I'm the one who tried (and failed) at putting it in that one bday comic, remember?
You should catch up on FMA. It is turning twenty kinds of EPIC. Al is turning up like tens kinds of badass. Did I fangirl about this? I fangirled about this.
For some reason, the idea that you're embarrassed by Meyer and not a gay Mormon male flight attendant makes me grin like nobody's business.
Also, since I think I might have had ovaries at some point once upon a time, I don't remember ever having a girly fantasy about some one who sparkles.
....My girly fantasy was actually probably about Laura Croft. XD I guess I don't count.
None of the fanfiction yet is from anything you've ever heard of, I think. Mostly Kingdom Hearts oriented, for now. Still, take a look at Memories of the Broken. That doesn't need you to know either of the games it's based in, I plan on explaining everything myself in the story.
Speaking of emails, I need to send you my da's, so that your people can talk to my people.
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"OH GOD I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE THIS THING *swingswingswing*"
I know, I should catch up on FMA. I feel really horrible.
Ok, the gay mormon flight attendant was really wierd...but Stephanie Meyer is more famous.
That's true, the sparkling part is stupid. I was hoping that he would melt or burn in the sunlight. But sparkle?! That's retarded.
Yes, but the fantasy of Mr. Perfect. No one is so unrealistically perfect because everyone has faults.
You should write some FMA fan fic. You'd do really well on it.
Considering that two of your friends (Lauren and me) were once involved with something that sums up to publicly yelling "WE'RE ALL LESBIANS" in the middle of a school, you should have no problem with weird.
The second I even heard that Meyerpires sparkled, I could not take the series seriously. Kinda makes you wonder what kind of crystal meth Meyer was on when she thought that up.
Even if Mr. Perfect existed, wouldn't it be creepy as hell? And boring, too. But being boring would count as not being perfect, so in order to be perfect, then Mr. Perfect would have to stop being boring, which would mean getting flaws (by accident or not), which would mean he would not be perfect. HOSNAP, TEENAGE GIRLS OF THE WORLD. WHAT NOW?
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"OH GOD I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE THIS THING *swingswingswing*"
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