expectations, disappointments, and media

[rivendellrose]

Blame the spring - I seem to be wandering in a mental forest of "stuff that's coming soon (...or not quite)." I didn't really notice this as a trend in my life at the moment until Monday morning, when The Boy and I were discussing the impending release of Final Fantasy XIII. He'd been debating for months over whether he wanted to buy it, reading reviews, griping about various features and other things he'd heard... and then, Monday morning, he said something about if he was going to take a day off this week, it'd be Tuesday. "Why?" I asked, perplexed. Funny day to take off from work, Tuesday. "Because that's when Final Fantasy comes out."

I admit it - I laughed at him. "So you're still getting it? Even though you don't think you'll like it that much?"

Well, of course he knows well enough to counter with my own obsessions. "You still buy the BPRD comics even though you don't like Guy Davis' art."

"That's different," I pointed out. "I know I'll like them even though they won't be pretty. You know FFXIII will be pretty. This is like... this is like if I was bouncing up and down to buy a comic that, yes, was back to being drawn by Mignola, but just happened to have been written by Frank Miller. Or RTD," I said, trying to ward off the mental image of the Hellboy universe as written by Frank Miller. Of course it failed, and now I'm stuck forever with the mental image of Liz and Kate in fishnets and short skirts. I suppose not that much else would change, but it's still a horrifying mental image. :P

And then it occurred to me. That is what I'm doing with a lot of things that I'm looking forward to right now. I keep shuffling back and forth between giddy and horrified about the upcoming season of Doctor Who ("Yay, Doctor Who! New season of Doctor Who! ...With Matt Smith, omg, and everything's different, I'm going to go crawl under a rock for a while..."), and my constant neurotic desire to find out exactly who they're casting for the upcoming Hobbit movie... so that I can spend the next year and a half panicking, most likely, because the chances of me approving of all the choices they make on this are pretty much just shy of nil. And then there's class, where I would probably be looking forward to next quarter if I could just get over the nagging, neurotic feeling that it's a total waste of time that's sucking up money, eating my weekends and driving me insane. It's part of looking forward to something, I guess - thinking of all the ways in which it could disappoint you, and then completely disregarding them in the thrill of getting something new. So I'll keep twitching and refreshing news sites and hoping for details on things... and all the while reminding myself that while it might not be exactly what I'm hoping for, I will most likely enjoy the hell out of it nonetheless. Case in point - The Boy is actually quite liking FFXIII so far, despite a character I have dubbed The Pink Thing who has the most obnoxious personality of any character I've ever seen anywhere, and some seriously dubious racial politics. At least it's pretty, and something new to distract him from work-angst.

Speaking of which, I'm reading my first-ever China Mieville book, and it turns out that I'm loving it. Straaaaaaange book, but wonderful. ♥

...Now if only I could get that horrible Frank Miller thought out of my head.

(Also: You know, I really need this season of Doctor Who not to suck so that my only active current fandom isn't a comic book that only two other people I know read. It's just plain boring and lonely.)

Comments

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

OMG China Mieville! ♥ Which one are you reading? Perdido Street Station? I leant my copy of that to my maths teacher 2 years ago and she still has it *anger* But I can see you loving his books, what with all teh strange and wonderful creatures and cultures.

(Also I know what you mean about Doctor Who, I get so excited about it even when I know that it's going to be a train wreak which I will hate.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I have The Scar. About halfway through it right now, and it's... seriously weird, but really awesome. That is one crowded little world, with everything they've got in it!

(I'm clinging to desperate hope, at least sometimes. But yeah, I'm also kind of dreading it.)

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

Ah I liked that one, I mean I always found it slightly removed from the universe and it's bobbing around the sea and I was so used to New Crobuzon being the hub of everything happening, so at the begining I was pretty non-plused but then I got reallyinto it, and there are loads of cool tiny references to Perdido Street Station, which you should definitly read next, and I would read it before Iron Council if you are doing all the mieville :)

But yeah there is just so much stuff in Bas-lag, it is so well thought out!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Hee. Honestly, I was really relieved when I read on Wiki that it's part of a larger series - there's no such indication anywhere on the cover or anything, so I'd thought maybe he was just one of those authors who really likes to just dump the reader in and have them figure out what they can as they go. I'll definitely want to go back and read more of the books in this world - it really is amazingly well thought out!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

If I ever wrote, I'd offer to write fanfic for you. But I'm not even writing smut any more.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

But I'm not even writing smut any more.

I was talking with The Boy about this, actually, because he'd picked up the impression somewhere that all fanfic is smut. And honestly? I can't remember the last time I wrote something actually smutty. For the most part, my fic is so totally gen. Whenever, you know, I actually get around to writing something. :P

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that most fanfic was unsmut, despite the lurid and saliva-inspiring image that's promoted. And mine only counts as fanfic in that it sometimes involves people I know.