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Fic: Whining will get you everywhere. <g> ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clanmalfoy is a total sweetheart who heard my pleading for fun D/G and wrote this fluffy ficlet. Plus it was inspired by the Sox win, so how can you baseball lovers resist?
Book: I finished Friday Night Lights tonight. It was an amazing book. I don't have a lot of nonfiction books on my shelves; I'm more of a fiction reader, but usually that means the nonfiction books I do read are cream of the crop. FNL continues that tradition, and I highly rec it. A couple of paragraphs from the author's Afterword (written 10 years after the book's publication) really nicely summed up the events detailed in the book. If you're intrigued by this brief snippet, really -- find the book somewhere and read it.
Over the years I have been accused of betrayal, and sensationalism, and taking information out of context, and mis-quoting. I am not surprised by these accusations, nor am I troubled by them. When I first arrived in Odessa, I anticipated a book very much in the tradition of the film Hoosiers, a portrait of the way in which high school sports can bring a community together. There were elements of that bond in Odessa, and they were reflected in the book. But along the way some other things happened -- the most ugly racism I have ever encountered, utterly misplaced educational priorities, a town that wasn't bad or evil but had lost any ability to judge itself. It would have been a journalistic disgrace to ignore these elements.
The book is fair and true. It was never intended as a diatribe or an exposé. It was written instead with enormous affection and empathy, because as deeply troubling as the overemphasis was on high school football, those games were, and always will be, the most exquisite sporting events that I have ever experienced.
I'm glad I saw the movie first, because I was able to enjoy it for what it was ... but I think I would have been disappointed with it if I'd read the book first. It didn't touch on the really important racial/social/economical motivators that made the book riveting. The movie was a great football movie, a great coming of age movie. The book was more than that.
CD: Good Charlotte's new CD, The Chronicles of Life and Death. I know people have issues w/ GC; I've seen some vilification here and there, and I don't really know why. As far as their music goes, I like that their messages are generally positive, not to mention blunt. I like them a lot -- just as I like Eminem and Green Day and Sarah McLachlan. Who can account for my musical tastes? I don't think TCoLaD is as strong as their album The Young and Hopeless, but I like it ... besides, I've only heard it a few times, so maybe it'll grow on me.
The only thing about artists like GC and Jewel and Eminem and blink-182 and probably most punk bands is that ... there's an inherent hypocrisy in their music/lyrics once they've made it big. You know? They're all raw and unfettered artistes right up until they become popular ... and then they turn into those they used to rage against -- perhaps not by attitude, not yet, but... Nothing can really change the fact that suddenly, they're the rich bastards who earn too much money and have too much clout. So even if it's not their fault that people like their music, making them successes, does that mean that their messages are now necessarily tainted and can't be authentic, because they're no longer the same people, regardless if they write about the same things? Hmmm.
Movie: Newsies. Watch it and love it. Christian Bale sings! And dances!! <333
Icons: Pretty fall icons in my collection are from_lore. Aren't they gorgeous?
Edited to add: Okay, my brother has made me vent how I feel about the whole AnnieSJ thing. It's here if you want to read it. I warn you that I'm not one of those hugely sympathetic people about it.
clanmalfoy is a total sweetheart who heard my pleading for fun D/G and wrote this fluffy ficlet. Plus it was inspired by the Sox win, so how can you baseball lovers resist?Book: I finished Friday Night Lights tonight. It was an amazing book. I don't have a lot of nonfiction books on my shelves; I'm more of a fiction reader, but usually that means the nonfiction books I do read are cream of the crop. FNL continues that tradition, and I highly rec it. A couple of paragraphs from the author's Afterword (written 10 years after the book's publication) really nicely summed up the events detailed in the book. If you're intrigued by this brief snippet, really -- find the book somewhere and read it.
Over the years I have been accused of betrayal, and sensationalism, and taking information out of context, and mis-quoting. I am not surprised by these accusations, nor am I troubled by them. When I first arrived in Odessa, I anticipated a book very much in the tradition of the film Hoosiers, a portrait of the way in which high school sports can bring a community together. There were elements of that bond in Odessa, and they were reflected in the book. But along the way some other things happened -- the most ugly racism I have ever encountered, utterly misplaced educational priorities, a town that wasn't bad or evil but had lost any ability to judge itself. It would have been a journalistic disgrace to ignore these elements.
The book is fair and true. It was never intended as a diatribe or an exposé. It was written instead with enormous affection and empathy, because as deeply troubling as the overemphasis was on high school football, those games were, and always will be, the most exquisite sporting events that I have ever experienced.
I'm glad I saw the movie first, because I was able to enjoy it for what it was ... but I think I would have been disappointed with it if I'd read the book first. It didn't touch on the really important racial/social/economical motivators that made the book riveting. The movie was a great football movie, a great coming of age movie. The book was more than that.
CD: Good Charlotte's new CD, The Chronicles of Life and Death. I know people have issues w/ GC; I've seen some vilification here and there, and I don't really know why. As far as their music goes, I like that their messages are generally positive, not to mention blunt. I like them a lot -- just as I like Eminem and Green Day and Sarah McLachlan. Who can account for my musical tastes? I don't think TCoLaD is as strong as their album The Young and Hopeless, but I like it ... besides, I've only heard it a few times, so maybe it'll grow on me.
The only thing about artists like GC and Jewel and Eminem and blink-182 and probably most punk bands is that ... there's an inherent hypocrisy in their music/lyrics once they've made it big. You know? They're all raw and unfettered artistes right up until they become popular ... and then they turn into those they used to rage against -- perhaps not by attitude, not yet, but... Nothing can really change the fact that suddenly, they're the rich bastards who earn too much money and have too much clout. So even if it's not their fault that people like their music, making them successes, does that mean that their messages are now necessarily tainted and can't be authentic, because they're no longer the same people, regardless if they write about the same things? Hmmm.
Movie: Newsies. Watch it and love it. Christian Bale sings! And dances!! <333
Icons: Pretty fall icons in my collection are from
_lore. Aren't they gorgeous?Edited to add: Okay, my brother has made me vent how I feel about the whole AnnieSJ thing. It's here if you want to read it. I warn you that I'm not one of those hugely sympathetic people about it.
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Hope you're feeling better!
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Just to be clear, it's not that I suddnely dislike these artists once they've made it (in fact, I love most of the ones I named) ... it's just interesting to think about the types of songs they write vs who they have become. In fact, you could even say that Jewel didn't do that; when she made it big, she started to sound more pop-like, too, and less like she was eking out a living from the back of her car. :))
I'm sorry I missed you last night; I was catching up on some much-desired sleep. *hugs*
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Of course, maybe that's just the Buffy fandom. *g*
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