Links post

[brigdh]

The citynextdoor challenge for December is "Postcard to Myself": write a story, any fandom, set in a city you've never been to but have always loved. More details here. Since clearly a community all about the love for cities appeals to me, you might want to consider joining the community even if you don't write something this month.

Speaking of cities, the creators of Gankutsuou (that unbelievably gorgeous retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo) are producing a new retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and the trailer's up for viewing. There's swordfighting and girls dressed as boys, and kissing while falling, and the whole story of Romeo and Juliet- you know how I adore the play- but most of all, god, look at Verona! The crumbling buildings packed in and threaded past by narrow alleys, that juxtaposition of ruins and ancient carvings and shiny-new constructions...! I cannot wait until this comes out. I wonder what they've done with Mercutio; I use his icon in celebration, because I have to hope that my beloved crazy character gets a major part.

Stop over at fst and vote for your top 20 soundtracks of the last two years. Or make a soundtrack; December is amnesty month, so any challenge from the past year is fair game. I've got a few I'm considering myself, but I feel that I should point out that there is a request for a Richard/Alec soundtrack, and not even from me. Someone should do that. Nudge, nudge.

Speaking of Swordspoint, there's a line where Alec mocks a bookseller by saying he sells books by the foot for decorations. I thought this was a joke, but Yahoo news is here to dispell all of my illusions, as apparently books intended to look pretty and not be read is the hot gift this season. And they're actually sold by the foot. Yahoo: making you hate humanity, one day at a time.

Literate Heart by ranalore. PG, Hisoka/Tsuzuki, mmmmmmm. Lovely.

The Death of the Swordsman by rm. PG, character death, Richard/Alec. It will make you cry, but oh, it's wonderful anyway.

Comments

[kessie.livejournal.com]

kshdsjdh Romeo and Juliet looks awesome. I love Gonzo, even though they seem to delight in ripping out my heart and shredding it into tiny pieces. I got a few Utena flashbacks, actually, while watching it, but OMG so awesome and pretty and Verona is an island floating in midair. FLYING HORSES. *_*

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, doesn't it? I want this anime so badly, and I don't even know when it's supposed to come out, or how long it'll be before subbed copies show up. BUT I WANT IT. IT LOOKS SO AWESOME.

[kessie.livejournal.com]

It really, realy does. *_* I need to watch Gankutsuou again.

...on an entirely unrelated subject, I... uh, need help. I sort of ended up with a yuletide pinch-hit and I need a beta. I have no idea if you're familiar with the fandom (I may or may not have randomly mentioned the fandom to you once or twice, but my memory is shot to hell anyway), but it'll be short once it's finished and cleaned-up (3,000 words at the most). I want to have it in by the 19th simply because work is going to be insane for the rest of the week and all I'll be fit for is sleep.

...help? :(

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I can beta! I certainly feel your pain because I have not written my actual Yuletide story yet (Am doing it tomorrow! Swear to god! Oh man, it's going to be terrible). The only thing I'd have to warn you is that I'm driving home on Monday, and so will be in a car and thus away from internet access for essentially the entire day.

[kessie.livejournal.com]

I just napped. God. ¬_¬

...I can get it to you... in the next hour or so, then?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me! And man, you write fast.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

You know all those lovely old manors with the lovely old libraries featuring leatherbound volumes that all match each other and the original upholstery? It's a joke, all right, but it's only funny if you already have no faith in humankind.

Thanks for the rec, sweetie! And for the pointers to "The Death of the Swordsman" and citynextdoor. The challenge seems tailor-made for historical AUs, doesn't it? For those cities you can't visit, because they no longer exist except in dreams and histories and literature, the storied accounts of Paris in the Belle Epoque, Jane Austen's Bath, Kyoto when it was the capital.... Of course, in some cases you wouldn't even need to go AU. *G*

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Gah, you're ruining all my illusions. You can't waste books- and all that space for books- on things that aren't even meant to be read. It's like kicking puppies! Next you'll be telling me that there are people who don't like to read.

No worries!

They do have a "cities of the imagination" challenge too, just for those sorts of cities, which I think will probably be next month. Isn't it so tempting? There are so many cities that I'd love any excuse to set a story in. I haven't written anything for citynextdoor yet, but I don't think I'll hold out for much longer. If you want a rec, quixotic_sense's ode to Melbourne (http://qithathu.livejournal.com/21812.html) was gorgeous, even though I know absolutely nothing about the fandom.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Sorry, hon, but it's true. Of course, there were those who did have reading copies of the books, but you didn't spend that kind of money on a leather binding just to get it all worn out with reading. ;-)

The challenge post specifies you can run with impressions of the city you've picked up via poetry, TV, movies, etc. Maybe "cities of the imagination" is more for fictional cities like Newford and Mélusine and such?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Sure you did! Then you'd have the pretty leather to hold and feel while you were reading it. I suppose at least this is better than those shelves and boxes that look like books, but are really just a false front to make it look like you own a lot of books. At least this way someone someday might read them. As long as they're not "Pottery Sherds of the Archaic Period: Volume Five" under the leather, I suppose.

Hmmm. They mention several historical cities in the description for the imagination challenge, but since they're real, if not currently existing, they might well be open to both.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Oh, but you could hold and feel leather while hunting, and then you didn't have to worry about losing that lustre you paid so much for on the books. Also, there were false books, although they weren't the nutty little novelty boom they are these days. Actually, I kind of like them, as I do find wellbound books to be attractive decorating components, but I only like them if they contain items I need to have anyway, and might as well have in a case shaped like a book.

You're probably right, and they count for both. And you should know my brain has been running through possibilities since you pointed me at the comm. *G*

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Not me. I'm always fooled at first glance, and then I'm so disappointed to realize that it's not a real book. *laughs*

Eeeeeexcellent. My plan is working, then. I've been wanting to write one myself, but haven't been inspired. For whatever reason, I have no interest in Swordspoint AUs (yet! But that's probably just a result of time; I never start to look at AUs until after I've been in a fandom for a while), and I just wrote a Saiyuki AU that was all about the city it was set in a few months ago. I'll have to think about YnM possibilities, I suppose.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

*snicker* Well, I would prefer real books, but since you have to have certain other items around for living, they might as well look like books, you know?

Hee. Well, nothing's yet talked loud enough to get me to the writing of it, but I'm sure it'll come. Prague and my newest boys could be very fun. And Swordspoint's own setting is so intriguing and still so mysterious, I'm not looking for AUs either.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, do Prague! I know little enough about it that I'd have to do more research than I'd want, but I know enough to want to see someone else write it. And I'm sure your boys would fit it marvelously.

Yes, I'm sure the appeal of the original setting also has a great deal to do with my lack of interest in AUs. I mean, a city! With bridges and slums and hot chocolate shops and old houses converted to apartments and a university district and, and...! It is quite likely not possible to hit more of kinks with one place.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Prague is where they filmed parts of "O" and did the attendant photoshoots, and you should see those photos (collected as "The Prince in Prague" series, which should be "Princes," but oh well) and hear them talking about it in interviews. They loved it. Nobody knew who they were; their rather tyrannical management company was halfway around the world. They could explore without body guards, they could (and did) go where they wanted, when they wanted. They didn't have to worry surprise interviews or autograph sessions or fans or anti-fans. People just watched them, bemused and nonplussed at these pretty Korean boys playing in the old streets, singing and dancing and loving each other and the city.

They've all said they want to go back, but I suspect with their growing popularity, it won't be the same when they do.

I've done a bit of research on the city, thanks to interest in a certain well-known noble of the region and Senor's potential Bohemian blood, but I'd need to do more to really get the flavor of it.

The city of those books is marvelously rich with detail, but again there's still a lot of room to explore. Like you, I love its complexity and history. Which reminds me, have you read Mélusine? That city is another treat.

[rackhamrose.livejournal.com]

whd--

fluh.

Oh god damn it, that looks amazing. *_____* (Also, Tchaikovsky. EEEEEEE)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was kind of my reaction too. *laughs*

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

I'm with kessie on the flying horses, w00t! Actually Juliette looks pretty kickass with her sword so I'll probably watch this when it gets fansubbed.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It does look neat; I want to see how the flying horses work with the story.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Romeo and Juliet could only be improved by the addition of flying horses and floating cities and sword duels and falling while kissing. I'm sure Shakespeare is turning in his grave, cursing the lack of FX in the Elizabethan age to fulfill his visions of floating cities. ;)

I can understand the idea of spending extra on pretty packaging*, or even picking up books for the pretty pictures and a subject you always meant to learn more about anyway. But just for decorative purposes and to gain status points? That's alien to my worldview, and meeting such a person would be a true encounter with the Other.

*I've got a (faux?) leatherbound volume of Shakespeare's tragedies, even though I already have a paperback copy. It was shiny! And a combination of the lure of books, the tourist inclination to buy mementos, and a bargain at $15 when cardboard hardcovers cost more. The paper is just so creamy, and the font is so crisp. Incidentally, it's stuffed into the farthest corner of my bookcase. I would so fail at appearing cerebral or whatever it is, because my paperback horror novels are more prominent.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm now entranced by the idea of Shakespeare using all our modern techniques- not just FX, but a soundtrack! Different shades of lighting, a color scheme, close-ups and editing and all those neat little details.

But just for decorative purposes and to gain status points?

Yeah, I think that's another part of what bugs me so much about the article. There's this idea that there is some sort of worth or prestige associated with owning old books, but apparently not enough to actually bothering reading them. Which is just so very stupid and lazy; you'd be exposed the first time anyone asked about the books on your shelves (which I think would happen. I certainly like to look at what books other people have, and ask them about their favorites, or what they thought about one I've read myself), and then you'd look utterly ridiculous.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Well, with all the modern remakes of Shakespeare, maybe we do know what he would have done with modern techniques: several Romeo and Juliets, and O (or whatever the high school basketball version of Othello was called), She's the Man is based on Twelfth Night, and others I can't think of. I have a fondness for Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet, because it moves like a music video, and kept the original language.

I'm not sure why owning old books nowadays would get you status points. (I could understand it if this was a century or two back, when only the affluent could afford to be literate or if we didn't have mass printing and public libraries). Hm, maybe the people who own the books just B.S. their answers, gambling that the questioner hasn't read the book(s).

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I adore Luhrman's 'Romeo and Juliet', because I really enjoy the new setting, and the way it both works with and contradicts the language (there's a scene, for instance, where someone shouts "hand me my longsword" while reaching for a rifle). And I'm crazy for the actor's interpretation of Mercutio. I much prefer it to the more famous 60s version, because the 60s one seems to focus on a "love story" interpretation of the play while Luhrman's goes more for "destructive passions", and I prefer the latter.

I can see how it would be a status symbol, though the pretentiousness of it still annoys me. It's less about being able to afford the books now than about being of the class or culture that would choose to do so; the same sort of thing that makes people claim "War and Peace" or "Moby Dick" as their favorite book, regardless of whether they've even read it.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I thought Luhrman was pretty creative with that: there's this scene where Juliet grabs a gun that has "Dagger" embossed on the side. I also loved how Mercutio's Queen Mab monologue became something about drugs, and how it felt like it was always about that.

The class thing makes sense. I suppose that also means that when I was 15 I had more class and culture, because I liked "Moby Dick" for being Deep and Profound, but currently I'm not sure I'd have the patience for long-winded rambling. ::amused::

[childofatlantis.livejournal.com]

OMG WOW to the Romeo and Juliet... it looks weird and crazy and awesome! (Mercutio is my favourite, too. ^__^)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I can't wait for it. (Mercutio is awesome!)

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

That Romeo and Juliet trailer uses the Russian Easter Overture at the beginning! If the practice with anime trailers is like the usual Western practice, the people who made the trailer aren't actually the ones who made the movie, and the music they've selected has nothing to do with the music that will be on the actual soundtrack. But I can't help hoping that anime practice is different, and that's really the music they're using.

Not that it doesn't look fabulous anyway, with or without grand and overblown Russian music. But I love grand and overblown Russian music! So perfect with swordfights and flying cities and falling from high towers! Why can't this be available right now?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

We can certainly hope the anime itself uses the same music. Gankutsuou, by these creators, had a gorgeous soundtrack (except for the ending theme, which was terrible and bizarelly out of place with the other music), but I can't remember what music they used in the trailer.

[weirdquark]

Ha. And my first thought re: books being sold by the foot was wondering whether there was anything that I would want where it would be cheaper to buy it by the foot... Not that I need a copy of, say, Diderot's Encyclopedia, especially since it would be in French, and I don't know French, but, dude.

And actually, now that I think of it, there's a used bookstore specializing in obscure academic books near me that sells books by the foot -- but people that shop there do intend to read what they buy. (I will admit to purchasing a foot of philosophers there which I haven't gotten around to reading, but I will eventually.)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

it would be cheaper to buy it by the foot...

Ha! That occurred to me too.

The Strand that they talk about in the article is near me, and I've been there several times, but I hadn't realized that they sold books by the foot, as I tended to stay in the areas of the store devoted to selling books people actually intended to read. Although, now that I think about it, I think I have wandered into the by-the-foot section. Or at least I remember wondering what was up with all these shelves of old-looking books in other languages, and was there really that much demand for French encyclopedias that were on the verge of falling apart?