~~art, death, philosophy. thank god my mom's here to make me think of all the basic things ^^;

[reenka]

first things first (hah, i wonder what this is saying about my priorities...).
marysiak has updated `circles of influence', vanityfair hath posted a luw13 cookie, and the loffly amalin hath gratified zillions of over-angstified fangirls (ie, me), by writing an alternate happy ending (exclusively for `armchair slash' mailing list angst month, but *cackles evilly* i have to spread the happy angst, don't i-- of course i do..! ha!) for `two lost souls'. hee~! *rejoices* i can read it now..!! *glomps amalin and professes undying (hee!) adoration (again!)* hee~! yeay! :D *goofy grin*
    you're the bestest :D

vain_glory drew beautacious fanart for ivyblossom's `blue vase'-- but-- but..! she also has a whole loffly amazing gallery with gorgeous multi-fandom manga-style watercolor & b&w fanart. her `let lazing dragons lie'!draco has always appealed to me (and actually is a print-out on my wall, hee). her style is beautiful and melancholy and delicate and her coloring is subtle and yet very expressive-- my favorite kind~:) i love this elf pic... and actually, all of her work. so like-- go appreciate her :D
    and, vignette00 has decided to grace us with a new ficlet, yeay :D *scurries off to read*
~~

i'm happy & bouncy now. *sigh* damn happy!art rush.
    was going to write about my mother's assertion that all good writers are philosophers, and that to write well you need to think and analyze the human condition (thus, psychology joins philosophy in `required aptitude' for good writing) and being "good at manipulating words" doesn't cut it, so to speak. i was trying to say she was underestimating the role of "pure art"-- or at least subconscious understanding-- in writing, but she said, subconscious or not, all that matters is that you understand.

i haven't noticed a majority of obvious philosophizing among the brilliant (fanfic) writers i read the journals of, -that- much, not equivalent to the brilliance of their fictional works. i mean, yes, i can tell thinking's going on, but-- if i didn't know they wrote, i wouldn't be able to predict. i don't know if that's required in the "you must be a philosopher" condition, but it's an interesting observation (to me) nonetheless. i've always wondered about it-- the interplay between your writer's self and your everyday self that people mostly display in their journal writing. a lot of journalists (historically) have been philosophical and deconstructive and as readable as fiction, but that seems a slightly separate gift, it seems.

i dunno. i think some of us are analytical, some of us aren't. and i guess the ones that aren't, you could cover under the "they just know" clause. do we (as writers, artists, etc.) know things "normal people" don't? it's nice to think we do. you could obviously make a case for say, shakespeare (who my mother kept bringing up) & tolstoy & keats & kafka & davinci so on, being philosophers, analysts of the human condition. i suppose i am. *sigh* i dunno if it's worth separating the two enough to make it a requirement. i mean, in a way-- whatever you write is automatically some sort of statement about the human condition, if you're not just plain dumb. "stringing words together"-- can good writing even do that? i mean, if you string words well, they automatically mean something. words are funny like that. that's the cute thing about language-- it can't help but imply things, even if you didn't -mean- to have it imply things. modern lit critics have a field-day with this, obviously. *sigh* oh well, no big revelations today, apparently.
~~

am disturbed by the death of richard harris (dumbledore), as much as anyone else, btw. but. am somewhat defensive about death. have had "bad experiences" with death, am likely to wax bitter and philosophical and existentially depressive about it. especially as with dancingrain's post....

``want death to be undoable-- who doesn't?
i've had it beaten and forced into my head at an early age that it isn't.
it can't be. things go away. i told my mother today that `i'm all about the memories' and she's like, `you're too young'.

and yeah, i guess i'm too young. and i guess i would be. i should be. but i'm not. it's not age after all. the minute you realize things go away, no matter how much you love them-- you can be seven-- or ten-- or eighteen-- that's it, there's no going back, there's no regaining that innocence. you realize memories are all you really have."

Comments

[holographis.livejournal.com]

I take philosophy, psychology and english literature at school (as well as theatre studies), so technically I should be some perfect writer, right? *g* I dunno...I think it makes me explore character motivations more closely, even if those motivations don't always come across in the writing. *shrug*

As for Richard HArris' death. I feel I ought to be bothered by it because the majority of the fandom appear to be affected in some way but hey. I didn't know the man. And death happens to everyone. He had a long life, he obviously had a lot of fun, his time had come. People die every day; I don't see his death as anything more or less special than those who weren't famous.

Anyhow, more than you wanted to hear from me, I'm sure. :)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

well, taking classes and actual in-depth understanding of the subject don't always go together, gahd knows~:) it takes something of a talent, a singular insight, to coalesce all the facts into some sort of whole, rather than just knowledge of said facts.
that said, i consider you a really good writer who does, in fact, show understanding of her characters :> hee

and it's not that i was thinking the actor's death was particularly tragic or special, i was just surprised (you never -expect- anyone to die, well, if you don't know anything about them, anyway), and also it's easy to get me to rant about death and memories and entropy and so on :>
and of course, i love people talking back & responding to my ramblings. heh. this is probably why most of us have an lj, other than to read other people's stuff and lurk.

i'm one of those "i'd lurk but then, i can't seem to shut up" people, and anytime that makes anyone say anything back is a pleasant surprise.
and anyway, being a lurker encourages paranoia ^^;; hee~:)

~reena

[ex-amalin225.livejournal.com]

*just...loves you*

And I do not have zillions of over-angstified fangirls. But I am very grateful for you.

*feels a great deal better after six hours of Chem homework*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

*huggles* i'm happy my squeeing was good for something. am guilty i haven't actually -read- the story (didn't want to read the ending first, after all) before i squeed~:)
i was just happy you gave us (ok, me) a cookie~:)

but then, you know, thinking about it, reading ishuca's response, i realize it was almost like i wasn't respecting your authorial integrity by being so glad you drastically altered a fic you felt ended correctly in the first place.
i mean, that really made me think, when someone posted on cassie claire's list asking if there's going to be a "slash version" of an ending to the trilogy, and cassie said that no, it's not like a choose-your-own-adventure novel, and however it ends, would be the way she felt it was right that it ended.
and i was like-- yes. i trust she wouldn't end it in any particular way because of an agenda-- i'm pretty sure she could do justice to her own characters, and so on.
and so i extend the same faith to you, of course. i was never really wanting it to -not- be a deathfic, i was just wibbly and skittish about reading it, sort of how i haven't actually read the Trilogy, either. ack, het, het, must-- get-- away-- etc~:)

i have lots of Issues with a lot of deathfics-- with death for the sake of death-- with harry being a killer-- with harry being a soldier-- with harry turning towards the dark side, by the act of killing for any reason whatsoever.
it's not so much that i feel draco can't die, it's that i feel it's a huge blow to harry to be the cause of his death, even if there were no positive feelings between them. to remain harry-- to remain in character as he now stands, to remain even remotely a hero, harry must not kill, and possibly not even in self-defense, because there are other options-- stupefy, crucio, etc.

but of course you can have a fic -about- death and -about- what happens to harry who loses his way, and that's fine, i just grind my teeth a little :>
and yes, it's very important to me to achieve "eucatastrophe", that concept of tolkien's-- as in the lord of the rings, as in fairy tales. where as much death and angst and suffering occurs, the end tells you that redemption is possible, that the light inside us will prevail.
according to tolkien, who was obviously biased, the new testament story is the ultimate eucatastrophe, the ultimate climactic victory of good over evil. sure, the protagonist died. but it was a glorious death, it had the seeds of rebirth within it, which is really the point and a common one in a lot of stories about the Hero's Journey-- rebirth-- renewal, and so on.
and yes, angst -can- come to fruition, can be useful, a learning experience and not a defeat. staying alive helps in that, since no one learns anything after they're dead, and once harry has killed, like i said, a lot of his redemption died stillborn right then and there.

i don't feel `the perfect imperfection' succeeded at showing how angst can resolve itself believably. but i think -you- can do it.
death by itself means nothing, no more than birth-- it's just a fact of life. it is by fighting death, by being affected by death, by overcoming certain aspects of death and achieving some trace of eternity, that we can attain meaning within it.

blah~:) rambling. will read tls anyway, of course, and will read the original ending first~:)

~reena~~