![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
I hope all my fellow Americanos had a lovely 4th. I think it's my favorite holiday, because ... there's no pressure surrounding it. No presents to stress over (birthdays, Christmas), the weather is lovely, and there's barbecue. Nothing to do but relax, eat, drink, and hang out with people you want to be with; I love that. It's also one of those holidays that are very flexible; it can be a family event, or it can be one spent sinning with friends. Whereas I tend to feel that holidays like Thanksgiving are more family-oriented. *shrug*
After my foray into Hot Gimmick I checked out some other manga, but nothing really appealed to me. I think HG is one of a kind, for me. Even though we're only up to volume 8 in the US, I've gotten caught up on everything that's been released in Japan, through reading![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
oceansportrait's translations of the most recent chapters. Live Journal communities/people rock.
Also, I've read Julia Quinn's new Bridgerton novel, It's In His Kiss. I was pretty disappointed, to tell you the truth. It's not even that I had high expectations (other than that I generally enjoy the Bridgerton novels); Hyacinth has never really interested me as a heroine, but I would have said the same of Francesca, and I really liked her book. However, I did find Hyacinth amusing from the bits and pieces we've seen of her in other books. I just wasn't sure how she'd take to being a romantic heroine -- and ... the weird thing is, I don't think we really got to see her as such.
The Hyacinth of IHHK is really ... bland. She doesn't resemble the Hyacinth we've seen in the other books. We're supposed to think she's spunky because JQ tells us she is, but she wasn't, really. Maybe a bit headstrong, but she wasn't nearly as witty as she was in even When He Was Wicked (which I reread this weekend). The love story was trite and almost mind-numbingly dull. At every turn I felt like JQ was just writing a romance novel by rote. Gareth/Hyacinth was barely believable, much less compelling. Elements of Gareth as hero have already been seen in JQ's other novels: The father who hates him (Simon), the talent for drawing (Benedict). I mean, seriously, come up with something new. Give him something that's wholly his. Yeah, so neither Gareth or Hyacinth were particularly memorable.
The "mystery" subplot was rather asinine. I mean ... I was into it while reading (in fact, it was ever so slightly more interesting than the romance), but the way it 'resolved' itself was just blah. I'm okay with Hyacinth never finding out about the jewels. That's not what I took issue with. I don't necessarily need things to be tied up in a neat little bow, but after being lead on for the whole story (with really stupid 'clues,' I might add), when the mystery was basically the extremely transparent plot device for getting Hyacinth and Gareth together in the first place, I wanted a better payoff than I got. I wanted it to be more than a plot device, and be good in its own right. Hyacinth was absolutely certain that they'd find the jewels, for the entirety of the novel, and then in one page she gives up? WTF? So not satisfying. I'm fine with her not finding them, but the payoff had to be better. In fact, the whole book just had to be better. In any case, there was no payoff. You just got to the end, and were grateful for it. I haven't felt that way about a Bridgerton novel, ever, I don't think. In fact, it was a chore to pick it up and a chore to finish.
IHHK read like your typical romance novel (i.e., not a very good one). It wasn't really deserving of being part of the Bridgerton series. That's about the long and the short of it. (Shar, I'd wait to pick it up discount or at the library.)
So I got The Sims 2 on eBay for like $21, and started Draco and Ginny sims. I've given Draco the Fortune aspiration, and Ginny the Family aspiration. They now have two daughters and a son (the younger daughter/son are twins). You know how in Sims 2, they now have "Wants" and "Fears"? After the birth of the twins, one of Ginny's wants was to have ten kids. TEN KIDS! I was like, no WAY. Kids are a lot more work in Sims 2 (not to mention the pregnant mom -- Ginny died twice while pregnant and I had to exit without saving the game. I don't care if this is cheating; Ginny can't bloody die, that would be lame!). And Draco's fears were cracking me up: "See roaches." "The repo man." His wants: "Woohoo with Ginny." "Buy a computer costing at least $2,000." At first he was on the athletic career track, but then he lost his job. Seeing him all dejected in his mascot uniform was so very amusing. What wasn't so amusing was how, when he was unemployed, he'd just randomly go outside and panhandle for Simoleons. I'm sure Ginny was embarrassed as well. But ... Ginny's now a general practitioner (medical track), and Draco is a senior manager (business track), so all is well. My goal is now to get them into the house/plot of land that I have deemed "Malfoy Manor."
The only thing I'd improve about the Sims is being able to name/select the Simworld characters, like neighbors and such. I don't want to have to play them (the hardest part is making/maintaining friends, imho), but I'd like them to be "familiar." It'd be nice if I could make Jade the mail person, or Robbie the cleaning lady (because the irony would be irresistible!), for instance.
I think I want to get additional fans for my computer. But there's no room for any more fans, that I can see. Does that mean it's not possible, or is there some way to add fans anyway?
After my foray into Hot Gimmick I checked out some other manga, but nothing really appealed to me. I think HG is one of a kind, for me. Even though we're only up to volume 8 in the US, I've gotten caught up on everything that's been released in Japan, through reading
oceansportrait's translations of the most recent chapters. Live Journal communities/people rock.Also, I've read Julia Quinn's new Bridgerton novel, It's In His Kiss. I was pretty disappointed, to tell you the truth. It's not even that I had high expectations (other than that I generally enjoy the Bridgerton novels); Hyacinth has never really interested me as a heroine, but I would have said the same of Francesca, and I really liked her book. However, I did find Hyacinth amusing from the bits and pieces we've seen of her in other books. I just wasn't sure how she'd take to being a romantic heroine -- and ... the weird thing is, I don't think we really got to see her as such.
The Hyacinth of IHHK is really ... bland. She doesn't resemble the Hyacinth we've seen in the other books. We're supposed to think she's spunky because JQ tells us she is, but she wasn't, really. Maybe a bit headstrong, but she wasn't nearly as witty as she was in even When He Was Wicked (which I reread this weekend). The love story was trite and almost mind-numbingly dull. At every turn I felt like JQ was just writing a romance novel by rote. Gareth/Hyacinth was barely believable, much less compelling. Elements of Gareth as hero have already been seen in JQ's other novels: The father who hates him (Simon), the talent for drawing (Benedict). I mean, seriously, come up with something new. Give him something that's wholly his. Yeah, so neither Gareth or Hyacinth were particularly memorable.
The "mystery" subplot was rather asinine. I mean ... I was into it while reading (in fact, it was ever so slightly more interesting than the romance), but the way it 'resolved' itself was just blah. I'm okay with Hyacinth never finding out about the jewels. That's not what I took issue with. I don't necessarily need things to be tied up in a neat little bow, but after being lead on for the whole story (with really stupid 'clues,' I might add), when the mystery was basically the extremely transparent plot device for getting Hyacinth and Gareth together in the first place, I wanted a better payoff than I got. I wanted it to be more than a plot device, and be good in its own right. Hyacinth was absolutely certain that they'd find the jewels, for the entirety of the novel, and then in one page she gives up? WTF? So not satisfying. I'm fine with her not finding them, but the payoff had to be better. In fact, the whole book just had to be better. In any case, there was no payoff. You just got to the end, and were grateful for it. I haven't felt that way about a Bridgerton novel, ever, I don't think. In fact, it was a chore to pick it up and a chore to finish.
IHHK read like your typical romance novel (i.e., not a very good one). It wasn't really deserving of being part of the Bridgerton series. That's about the long and the short of it. (Shar, I'd wait to pick it up discount or at the library.)
So I got The Sims 2 on eBay for like $21, and started Draco and Ginny sims. I've given Draco the Fortune aspiration, and Ginny the Family aspiration. They now have two daughters and a son (the younger daughter/son are twins). You know how in Sims 2, they now have "Wants" and "Fears"? After the birth of the twins, one of Ginny's wants was to have ten kids. TEN KIDS! I was like, no WAY. Kids are a lot more work in Sims 2 (not to mention the pregnant mom -- Ginny died twice while pregnant and I had to exit without saving the game. I don't care if this is cheating; Ginny can't bloody die, that would be lame!). And Draco's fears were cracking me up: "See roaches." "The repo man." His wants: "Woohoo with Ginny." "Buy a computer costing at least $2,000." At first he was on the athletic career track, but then he lost his job. Seeing him all dejected in his mascot uniform was so very amusing. What wasn't so amusing was how, when he was unemployed, he'd just randomly go outside and panhandle for Simoleons. I'm sure Ginny was embarrassed as well. But ... Ginny's now a general practitioner (medical track), and Draco is a senior manager (business track), so all is well. My goal is now to get them into the house/plot of land that I have deemed "Malfoy Manor."
The only thing I'd improve about the Sims is being able to name/select the Simworld characters, like neighbors and such. I don't want to have to play them (the hardest part is making/maintaining friends, imho), but I'd like them to be "familiar." It'd be nice if I could make Jade the mail person, or Robbie the cleaning lady (because the irony would be irresistible!), for instance.
I think I want to get additional fans for my computer. But there's no room for any more fans, that I can see. Does that mean it's not possible, or is there some way to add fans anyway?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-06 04:45 pm (UTC)There aren't that many bits where the whole clan is there, actually. In fact, they're never all there all at once, that I can remember. We never even see Colin, Benedict, Sophie, Simon, Francesca, Kate, Eloise, Phillip, or Michael. (I could be remembering wrong, but for sure you only get bits of the Bridgertons at a time.)
Anyway, I'm holding out great hope for Gregory, because it's the last of the series, and because I've tended to enjoy the male Bridgerton novels very much. It's also interesting because we don't know much about Gregory at all; which means his book could be a pleasant surprise like Francesca's (because I would say we didn't know much about her either), or it could be romance-by-numbers written, like Hyacinth's.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-08 10:39 am (UTC)