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Aug. 9th, 2005 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teddog'Kay, finished Artemis Fowl. I much perfer the mix of fantasy and espionage to outright action of Sliverwing, but I still didn't like it.
On one hand, I'm glad that some authors do go the complex route like this; It's easier to blow up a safe than crack it, but cracking it has a lot more class. This is why modern terrorism sucks compared to Cold War terrorism: there's no finesse anymore. Sure the Cold War could have ended with the US and Russia blowing the shit out of each other and, in fact, almost did. When in comes to the lower end work, however, entering a country, stealing that country's secrets and making it back in one piece is a lot more interesting than entering that country and blowing yourself up. It's almost like the state of the human race is degrading.
On the other hand, the espionage here isn't really top of the line; I was able to make logical guesses at the plot early on. Sure, this is a children's book, but do we really have to dumb down a storyline that much? And fart jokes wear thin very quickly.
To make matters worse, the movie rights for the novel were bought up before the book was published. Does this seem like a warning sign to anyone else? Are companies looking for easy cash-ins to chase Potter? Thank you media companies! You've managed to corrupt what I saw as the last slightly-free form of media. Now, if you kindly please, GET OUT OF IT!
My attitude is really worrying me. It started in... hmm... the middle of high school. Before, I was a total media whore, taking in as much as I could; reading anything I could grab, watching tons of TV and movies, etc. The first thing I lost interest in was modern mainstream music; never liked it, never will. Then came video games and television. There was hardly anything I could stand watching or playing. Movies fell shortly later. Before, I could watch pointless dribble and it wouldn't affect me. I used to go with Chris on the cheap nights and watch anything stupid. Now? Can't stand them. Literature is starting to go the same way. I wanted fluff and now I can't stand it. Yes, this is coming from a person who loves her cheese too.
I tried explaining this to my mother. She said my standards are too high and I'm expecting too much from the media. But, what I can't understand is that there's still a handful of media works I enjoy. Funny, but most of them are older. Now, why can't many newer works "connect" with me? It's not that I have an inborn hate of newer series; I love the Fullmetal Alchemist manga and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends... err... the latter one if manages to recover from the crap pile that was season two. So it's not the case of I hate everything that comes out, just most of it.
And it's not a case of I don't like fandoms getting crowded with "average" people liking what I do. I could care less; if people dropped 99% of media in favor of finding something superior, I'd be so happy. I love seeing people saying "I just found this awesome series!" and it turns out to be MST3K or something.
What I want to know is why I can rarely find anything in my 500-channel universe that's interesting enough to follow. o__O
On one hand, I'm glad that some authors do go the complex route like this; It's easier to blow up a safe than crack it, but cracking it has a lot more class. This is why modern terrorism sucks compared to Cold War terrorism: there's no finesse anymore. Sure the Cold War could have ended with the US and Russia blowing the shit out of each other and, in fact, almost did. When in comes to the lower end work, however, entering a country, stealing that country's secrets and making it back in one piece is a lot more interesting than entering that country and blowing yourself up. It's almost like the state of the human race is degrading.
On the other hand, the espionage here isn't really top of the line; I was able to make logical guesses at the plot early on. Sure, this is a children's book, but do we really have to dumb down a storyline that much? And fart jokes wear thin very quickly.
To make matters worse, the movie rights for the novel were bought up before the book was published. Does this seem like a warning sign to anyone else? Are companies looking for easy cash-ins to chase Potter? Thank you media companies! You've managed to corrupt what I saw as the last slightly-free form of media. Now, if you kindly please, GET OUT OF IT!
My attitude is really worrying me. It started in... hmm... the middle of high school. Before, I was a total media whore, taking in as much as I could; reading anything I could grab, watching tons of TV and movies, etc. The first thing I lost interest in was modern mainstream music; never liked it, never will. Then came video games and television. There was hardly anything I could stand watching or playing. Movies fell shortly later. Before, I could watch pointless dribble and it wouldn't affect me. I used to go with Chris on the cheap nights and watch anything stupid. Now? Can't stand them. Literature is starting to go the same way. I wanted fluff and now I can't stand it. Yes, this is coming from a person who loves her cheese too.
I tried explaining this to my mother. She said my standards are too high and I'm expecting too much from the media. But, what I can't understand is that there's still a handful of media works I enjoy. Funny, but most of them are older. Now, why can't many newer works "connect" with me? It's not that I have an inborn hate of newer series; I love the Fullmetal Alchemist manga and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends... err... the latter one if manages to recover from the crap pile that was season two. So it's not the case of I hate everything that comes out, just most of it.
And it's not a case of I don't like fandoms getting crowded with "average" people liking what I do. I could care less; if people dropped 99% of media in favor of finding something superior, I'd be so happy. I love seeing people saying "I just found this awesome series!" and it turns out to be MST3K or something.
What I want to know is why I can rarely find anything in my 500-channel universe that's interesting enough to follow. o__O
