~~ um.

[reenka]

-Good things about today:

+ Read Neil's `Coraline' at lunch and still not finished yet. Remembered why I adore him, and what superb writing is like. I think if I never read anything but Neil forever-and-ever-amen ever again, I would be content-- but I still balk at reading `American Gods'. Good times.
+ It's not windy at all. Winter is behaving.
+ I didn't get called on to do my presentation. Good thing, I would've been toasted and marshmallowed. And I don't lie well under pressure like I used to.
+ I'm not bad at figures, though drawing them in 15 minutes drives me batty. Batty, I tell you.
+ Stared at nekkid chick and drew her ass diligently. That always makes for a Good Bloody Day, man.
+ I adore Zahra's O.C. porn. Mmmmmmmmyeah.

-Not-So-Good Things About Today:

+ I really hate being timed while drawing pretty nekkid girls.
+ Why oh -why- do I think reading other people's huge flists is a Good Idea? I mean, also, why is lj sooooo very boring?? Why god, why?? I mean... what is it about people? What can they not entertain me?? Why are they so mundane and humorless and entirely uninteresting, at least in their lj's?? WHY??!
+ Contemplated mentally eliminating all boring people from the face of the planet in one fell swoop. Also, would possibly go with them since the load of work I have to do scares me like a scary thing.
+ Holy fuck, how is this a rec-worthy line (dunno about the fic)??
"Not usually. But you see, there was this fabulous creature decorating my living room, sneering and drawling in this beautiful cultured voice that made me hard as a rock. It was either her or you."
    That alone is enough to give me a stomach-ache. Is that not really-really-really-awful? Come on, agree with me, people!!1 >:O
    (And yes, okay, I'm being less than nice about it, but eh. I have no more pity for bad phrasing. Like... I'm too squeamish to kill roaches, but I could shoot down bad phrasings all day, for fun. Yes, it's a sad idea of fun. But still, it's just disturbing to me that this could be an example of a line to draw people in.)
+ Fact is, I hate adult!Draco. Any and all mature Draco's. I hate them all. Fierce burning H8!!1 I've also gotten to the point where I hate in-control-ice-prince!Draco. He used to just irritate me. Now I want to wring his neck. Notsogood. And then what's even more embarrassing is-- gimme some porny talk and I'm all, "what was I saying again? Because I want more. Now."
    Potter laughed, the asshole. And Draco almost ran to the toilet. Where he had to wank off. He didn't remember Potter being so articulate.
(Hello, beautiful!! ...And yes, same fic. Same chapter, even. *coughs*)
    The problem with HP fic is, most of it isn't nc17 like the majority of the longfic you see in Smallville & Highlander & so on. This is just... wrong.
+ Realized I hate recs. I hate reccing. Will never rec again. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. (And yes, I realize I'm overreacting, but. I'm sensitive. People... are largely incompatible with my tastes. What can I say, I'm a meanie.)
+ Made an lj post with absolutely no redeeming value. Spam, spam, spammity-spam. I'm just avoidant and bored and snappy, forgive me.

Comments

Spam away

[sadistnyx.livejournal.com]

Criticize that bad phrasing! We need someone to.

:>

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Heheh, does that mean you agree?
I think I was being over-wrought. There's too much badfic to encompass. And it's not like unpretty English is a crime against humanity. Even so, reccing it kind of offends me, but this is more my problem than anything else -.-

Re: :>

[sadistnyx.livejournal.com]

;) Much agreement. I tend to only go for recs of those whom I trust with my sanity.

[mark356.livejournal.com]

Mm, pretty nekkid girls. I'm glad you had fun!

I can't answer why you think reading other people's friends lists is a good idea, but I think so, and I do so occasionally, so here's my justification: When you read someone else's friends list, you get a better sense of the person than you get by just reading his or her journal. Even if you've seen some of the entries on it already, you're seeing them in very different colors and in the context of wildly different posts, so you can get a fresh view on some of the things you've already seen. And the most fabulous people often friend the most fabulous people; there are lots of people on my own flist who I wouldn't have found if I didn't like looking at other people's friends lists.

What is it with the anti-recness that's going around? Did Switchknife finally post five hundred recs too many? I suppose I'll find out when I finish reading my flist. Anyway, you've had very intelligent thoughts on recs in the past, so I hope the concept of them isn't completely dead for you!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was reading Ivy's flist-- and she friends everyone. I know all the cool people around here by now, and if I don't, I find them individually so I don't need to read another person's flist for that. Generally, I did it 'cause I was bored. Reallyreallyreally bored, painfully bored. And avoidant. Random flist reading? Not so much with the fun ^^;

I get depressed 'cause people have no taste, I guess. And also, the -way- the fics get described ("best thing since...") rubs me the wrong way. I'm very very sensitive about bland compliments. I dunno what it is. I hate them applied to myself, too. I think it's just that they seems like lies to me... like... they're supposed to feel good but they just make me ill, which in itself upsets me. I could go sentence-by-sentence and break it down to people, but it won't matter, they won't really understand.

See, it's just that... sharing my love of fiction is important to me. I want people to appreciate the gems and be able to see what's not-so-shiny, too. I want literature to be understood critically. I don't know why I'm so very invested in that. I just don't know! I was never meant to be an English major. Discussing specific works just... bugs me, if I disagree. For some reason, it upsets me much more than anything else I disagree with someone on.

Like, that quoted sentence in the rec. It's an awfully constructed sentence. Set within the larger chapter, it's less glaring, but all by itself it just sucks. How can someone not see that? How? I just don't understand. How could they rec it along with Aja's `Trade'? I don't understand that either. I mean, I -do- but I don't. I just don't have the stomach to truly withstand other people's lack of discrimination. I -know- I shouldn't take it personally, we're all different and it's okay. It shouldn't bug me! But... just... most people don't -think- about it, they just kind of say what they like.

And when I think about how people don't really have a critical eye towards stories, it bothers me. I usually can always say -why- I like something-- otherwise a rec seems pointless to me. I mean-- if someone said... "I like this-and-this-and-this and have slight issues with this-and-this but that's okay 'cause this fic hit this-and-this kink for me", that's FINE, I wouldn't feel upset. It's the sheer pimping of it that makes me go, OH YEAH? YOU THINK THAT FIC IS "JUST GOOD"? WELL LET ME USE MY HIGHEST STANDARDS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. And veryveryvery few fics can withstand my highest scrutiny. And I know I shouldn't even bother, but I'm just bitter in my anti-fangirlishness I guess. It's like the way people have knee-jerk anti-recs of IP, except I'm like that with -every- goddamn overly enthusiastic rec, man. It's scary!

It even annoyed me to read people saying that `Coraline' is better/as good as `Alice in Wonderland' & how it can displace it. FAT CHANCE!! Why does there have to be this goddamn hyperbole?? And why do I hate it so veryvery much? I don't know. I -loved- `Coraline', but no frikkin' -way- is it on the level of `Alice in Wonderland', simply because that was a groundbreaking work of fiction, so breathlessly inventing, so -nothing- like what had come before, so -new-. Nothing can be quite so new these days. It's near impossible to ever beat Carroll at his own game. The need for this sort of cheap sell makes me see RED. Which is -my- problem rather than anyone else's -.-

[jennifus.livejournal.com]

I prefer Draco is humor fics... I like people ripping on him. I do NOT know why. However, I also love Cassandra Claire's various versions of him, from the Draco series to A Season in Hell and After the Flood.
You would wipe me off of the earth because I'm boring? Pity, but I don't blame you.
:-)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I like a lot of Draco's, man. I really dislike some, if they're being too mature. I hate -anyone- who's too mature. Or at all mature. Unless they're Dumbledore-- but he's not that mature ^^;

Hehehe, um. I don't....um. When I'm irritated I'd do a lot of things I'd later regret, let's just put it that way. I find most people frustrating and boring and ...sad. But generally I'm pretty tolerant, eheheh. Not one knows my sekrit rage :D :D

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

+ Why oh -why- do I think reading other people's huge flists is a Good Idea? I mean, also, why is lj sooooo very boring?? Why god, why?? I mean... what is it about people? What can they not entertain me?? Why are they so mundane and humorless and entirely uninteresting, at least in their lj's?? WHY??!

:P Hey, that is totally rude, you know. I guess that you're defining 'boring' as stuff that you're not interested in, or something. If everyone's flist was arguing about complicated calculus, then I would be inclined to declare LJ boring too, but you can always skip over the bits that seem like they won't interest you. There's plenty of interesting stuff out there, though, I find, usually.

+ I've also gotten to the point where I hate in-control-ice-prince!Draco. He used to just irritate me. Now I want to wring his neck. Notsogood. And then what's even more embarrassing is-- gimme some porny talk and I'm all, "what was I saying again? Because I want more. Now."
(Hello, beautiful!! ...And yes, same fic. Same chapter, even. *coughs*)

Now you see, in my opinion, the second snippet would make a much less rec-worthy line than the first.

+ Realized I hate recs. I hate reccing. Will never rec again. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. (And yes, I realize I'm overreacting, but. I'm sensitive. People... are largely incompatible with my tastes. What can I say, I'm a meanie.)

Forgive me, but it just seems weird to slam other people's recs when your own recs could easily be questioned by someone else. And then get angry because the recs won't fit up to your highest standards, when many of your recs would not fit up to my highest standards. Like so:
The problem with HP fic is, most of it isn't nc17 like the majority of the longfic you see in Smallville & Highlander & so on. This is just... wrong.

I think that far too much HPfic is NC-17 as it is. Gen, gen, more gen!

Anyway, I know what you mean, because a lot of recs I just can't understand, I read them and I'm really confused as to what the reccer saw in them. But due to recent experience I have discovered that you can usually count on a recced fic to be half-decently written, as opposed to launching yourself randomly into an archiving site (oh the pain).

And then you hate the squeeing recs, but your recs sight doesn't even have anything on it besides the links themselves! Or take this (http://www.livejournal.com/users/reenka/150142.html), which is rather squee-like and in no way inspires me to read the fic in question. I'm sure I could get frustrated at what I saw as your lack of discrimination, too, without the reasons why you liked what you rec. *shrug*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

You know... I think the thing is, you take me too seriously. I just kind of blow off steam and rant on and blather a lot. If you haven't noticed :> Like, I think a certain amount of reading between the lines and/or knowing me is necessary, 'cause I make sweeping statements and overstate things and overreact and am generally an emotional basketcase a lot of the time. I think sometimes I do make sense, but that is not to say "most of the time". Heh.

So yeah, I think most people are boring (especially their personal writings) but I also am interested in most people. Er. While still thinking (sometimes) that they're painfully dumb. Just because I think that 90% of people are dumb (for example, say) doesn't mean I'm denying that -anyone- is interesting, which would be plainly ridiculous. Of -course- some people aren't boring-- even so, it's hard to read ivyblossom's flist with any amount of patience (and I almost never do). She friends everyone back, so it's just a random selection of "people who read ivyblossom-- and that's mostly your average fangirl rambling about nothing I can pinpoint. With no reference as to who these people actually -are-, it is -painfully- boring, trust me. No offense towards you or anyone I know or you know. People in general though? Are boring :> And interesting! But most of the time? Mundane, which equals boring to me. Did I feel I have to qualify that and explain in a spammy post like this? Nah :>

The first like was flowery and no badly constructed and no one talks like that, especially not teenagers (do they?? omg, where, on Dawson's Creek?)-- but mostly, it's laughably painful to imagine Harry saying that to Draco. Ever. Also, it's just bad-- I mean-- "fabulous creature"??-- what kind of crack is he -on-?? Please! The second line is dorky and bad also, but! Ahahah it's cute, if you're reading an H/D semi-plebey romance which bases itself on UST, like this one does. Also, wanking references get brownie points-- and! Most importantly, I can picture Draco actually thinking this, which means big thumbs up from me. :>

I almost never seriously rec fics I couldn't defend-- not if I say "this is a good fic", rather than "this made me squee". All I want is that qualification of -why- the fic appeals so I can judge whether I"m into whatever the reccer's describing. I almost -never- seriously rec anymore, and I haven't for -ages-. If I mention a fic, it's for my own reference or for people whose tastes have been proven similar to mine. It's too much trouble to seriously rec anymore. That thing you linked to wasn't meant to inspire anyone to read-- that was me posting because I was happy, because -the- longfic that got me into Sirius/Remus got updated after a -year-. I was like, OMGDEAD, etc. If I link to a fic, that isn't a rec.

Also, my recs site isn't done by a long-shot. Right now it's a list of bookmarks. I know I link to it off my lj page, but that's just if anyone's curious-- it's a project-in-progress. Like I said, I don't seriously rec-- the same way I don't seriously do a lot of things. I'm just a bumbling unrepentant amateur, I guess :>

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know, I think. I wasn't mad or anything, I just thought that you were getting aggravated over things that weren't really worth it. I think the best way to fight slopping reccing is to rec responsibly yourself in reply! And even though your squeeing link wasn't really a rec, and meant to be for you and people with similar tastes - couldn't other squeeing links be intended in the same way, and be misinterpreted in the same way I could misunderstand yours? Maybe? Also I would like to see you seriously rec, I think it would be interesting to read why you like what you like, in detail. :)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I totally get aggravated over things that aren't worth it. I think I've been more stressed the closer the end of the semester approached ^^;
I could see how I've been more and more "grr & argh" in my journal lately than anything else, mostly because I've been supressing my angst in real life, heh. I do kind of think that the things I squee about are likely to at least not suck. Or be porny. 'Cause I'm all about the sucking if it's porny :>

Generally, anything I like on any level is going to be either snarky and cute or porny and cute or romantic & poetic. It's not likely to ever be earnest or plotty or whatever. I like gen and complex plots, but not at the expense of my kink-- which is pretty writing and H/D, heh. I just don't care enough about HP to read anything but H/D or! Harry gen without any Harry pairing and possibly some serious Draco bits but almost -no one- ever writes that (I'm in progress with one fic, though), so I'm unlikely to rec it.

In that particular case I was particularly boggled 'cause they recced Aja's `Trade' along with this fic I've never heard of with that awful line quoted. I'm extra-sensitive to awkward phrasing. I don't know what it is with me. It's like a red flag to the bull :>

I'm completely in love with elegant writing and would forgive almost -anything- for it. I have these hot-buttons (most people do), but I know what they are and am very biased about them. I don't actually like most porn, btw-- just passionate romance. Intensity. Sparkling dialogue. Something to catch my attention. Some people like plot and complexity of world-building, but I don't go for that in fanfic most of the time unless the characterization is one I can get behind. It's easier to ignore unsightly characterization in a stylistic, shorter fic. But in a longer gennish fic, it's just awful.

I dunno where I get off, being so obsessed with certain characterizations-- I just think certain characters have become a certain way in my head by now, and I want to read about -them- or someone a lot like them, and nobody else. My issues entirely :>

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

I have a style thing too. But I think it is a different kind of style thing. It's more, bad style will put me off something more quickly than anything, but good style won't necessarily sell it to me.

Thanks for the 'splaining, and I hope you don't get too stressed out by the end of term. Holidays are soon, I think. :D