I live?

[domarzione]

 It has been a week, peeps. It's been a couple of weeks, but this week has been a week. A week of anger and frustration with the world at large and the way even in this we have to be absolutist and you must embrace everything one side or the other believes or you are The Enemy. A week of curfews and sirens and helicopters not because of righteous anger at a murder, but because of all of the opportunistic shit that comes with protest. A week my union decided to fuck me over gang-style because now is exactly the time to arbitrarily change standards and what was good enough before is no longer so and we're gonna belittle you in the process. A week I lost my volunteer position of a decade because I wouldn't sign a waiver exempting them from liability for anything (illness/injury/death) even through their own negligence. A week of emotional and physical exhaustion because it's been three months of quarantine lockdown and a week of a curfew that managed to stop no looting but did ensure that I had to cut my exercise walks short and couldn't treat myself to takeout (haven't since this started) because everyone's gotta be home by eight. A week when school started and I had to introductions and there's no way to say "I have many interests and also relevant work experience, but it's all been stripped away from me and so I go walk around the edges of cemeteries and pretend not to notice the open graves" and not sound like you're having a breakdown. A week I didn't have a single drop of alcohol because I want booze to remain a pleasure and not turn into a coping mechanism. I don't think I've been this close to the end of my cope in a while. 


I didn't get much writing done. I didn't get much work done, either, but I tried hard with both. 


I did start watching The Expanse, which has been a good distraction even if I have to avert my eyes during the protomolecule stuff. I'm somewhere in the middle of Season Two, after Eros has crashed into Venus and right after Bobbie Draper gets told to go to Earth. The worldbuilding and details and politics are fascinating to me, but the characters are so comparatively underdeveloped and I don't know if this is also true in the books. I don't know if I should stop watching and go read the books instead or if the show developed book ideas to the better. Anyone? 

(I'm kind of glad the Miller arc is resolved for now. I liked Miller as a character a lot, possibly because I share his cynical 'a pox on all houses' approach to politics but also because he was such a classic noir character in a space opera and Thomas Jane playing just slightly off-kilter is what he's best at. But I'm not a fan of the 'detective falling in love with the missing woman' trope in general and the tendency toward stripping the woman's agency. Julie herself was a fully-formed character, a girl with daddy issues who did much and endured much and in the end just wanted to go home where it was safe. Miller's Julie was a fantasy who rewarded his inexplicable love and that's the one we spent more time with. She was already objectified by her father after her infection, that is enough.) 


It's after five on a Friday, I can cocktail if I wanna... 

Comments

[sian1359]

I highly recommend that you do both. Watch the full series, but also pick up the books. Book three of the third trilogy is due out next year, I think.

There is so much more in the books, but I don't know that I would have appreciated all of it without having the imagery, and the faces for the characters first. There are also short stories to fill in even more, sometimes about secondary characters (The Butcher of Anderson Station for one). I've found that I appreciate both mediums and both stories being told. I have watched the series now twice, the first three seasons before I read the books, then all four season after I read the books the first eight books. (Spoilers don't spoil things for me, most of the time, as it enhances the anticipation.)

I've also been fascinated with the process of how they took the stories from the books to make a television show. They've been very open about how they moved timelines and characters (and plot) around for a television audience, while keeping to the spirit of the original work. Camina Drummer is probably my second or third favorite character in the show, but she's an amalgamation of a couple of characters from the books.

[blackrook]

*all the hugs*

With you on the Faramir issue! I remember that first viewing in the movies, and collective WTF?! from Tolkien fans present was felt if not heard:).

[thelostglove]

That's good to know about the series, it's been recommended a bunch, but I found the Miller/Julie stuff in the first book so off-putting I almost didn't finish it. I haven't watched the series to compare, but in the book Julie is joined by an ex-wife whose only job is to be imagined casting judgey frowns at Miller.

There were legit things I really liked about the book, but that part was, as they say, yikes.

[musesfool]

I watched the show before I read the books (I read them while waiting for season 3) and I think they’re both worth experiencing because the books do add nuance but being able to put faces with the characters made me a lot fonder of them, if you know what I mean. And I think for once there really aren’t any changes in the adaptation to TV that I’ve disliked and some have worked much better for me, e.g., Drummer.

[beatrice_otter]

I'm so sorry. this all sucks.

[alphaflyer]

I totally get your exhaustion at the current scenery (albeit without the extra personal garbage). I keep falling down rabbit holes of news readings, and come out depressed and furious. At the tail end of many weeks of near-total lockdown (I'm in Ireland right now) the cumulative burden of global stress is becoming crushing. At least here the shops are opening on Monday and we'll be allowed to travel "within our county" or up to 20km from home, whichever is more, so there's that to look forward to. Also, we'll be allowed to have dinners INSIDE with up to 6 people! Yay!

As for the Expanse, I echo all those who say "keep watching!" It keeps getting better. As an international relations geek I love the politics, and the characters get better rounded as it goes on and you learn more about them. It is so full of strong women as well, which is so enormously refreshing. My daughter gave me the first trilogy but I haven't started reading the books yet because like you, I find it difficult to get into a different version of characters - although I can switch from MCU Clint Barton to Fraction/Aja Hawkguy in a flash, so maybe I should just swallow that bullet. Wait till you meet Klaes Ashford in Season 3 - he and Drummer are amazing together. (Not together-together, just as foils for one another). David Strathairn is such a marvellous actor.

[persephone_kore]

I am coming in way late but also wish to offer a hug.