Totally Worth It
Nov. 29th, 2003 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rsadelleWorth talking about.
I'm still in love with Joan of Arcadia. Many episodes ago, God told Joan to take AP Chemistry where she became lab partners, and later friends, with Grace and Adam. (My guess is that someday Adam will the first man she sleeps with, but that's a symbolism discussion for another time.) There's a lot of unresolved talk on the show about whether or not Grace is a lesbian--everyone assumes that she is, but she's never actually said one way or the other. What Grace definitely is, however, is transgendered. I love it that God led Joan to being friends with Grace. In another episode, God, in the guise of a substitute teacher who lays the smack down on a sorely deserving of it Mr. Price, calls Grace "young man." In yet another episode, Adam calls Grace "dude." Grace protests: "Does it amuse you to call me 'dude'?" Joan defends Adam: "He calls everyone 'dude'."
I'm not sure what I want them to do with Grace. I kind of want her to be a lesbian, but on the other hand, I kind of want her to be just transgendered and actually end up with Luke.
My point here is that what's most interesting about this is that it's apparently not interesting. I haven't seen anyone condemning it for being a show about God with a positive portrayal of a transgendered character. On the other side, I haven't seen anyone lauding it for being a show about God with a positive portrayal of a transgendered character. Shouldn't somebody be talking about it?
Worth reading.
Fun in and out of the classroom with Erin Ellis. Erin is an absolutely fantastic writer and very funny.
Worth listening to.
I saw Love Actually the first time two and a half weeks ago and loved it so much I had to immediately go out and buy the soundtrack. I've now been listening to it nearly nonstop since then. Also in heavy rotation on my CD player: DASA: The EP! aka Live Planet and Beyond! The EP and The Not-So Future Mrs. Affleck, both mixes by Molly.
Worth playing.
"I don't know who invented the Letter Game (which I have heard called Persona Letters, or even Ghost Letters) but Ellen Kushner introduced it to me. I believe it originated as an acting exercise, one character writing a letter 'in persona' to another.
"The game has no rules, except that the players must never reveal their idea of the plot to one another. It helps to imply in the first letter why the two characters must write to each other and not meet in person.
"The Letter Games I've played previously were usually a matter of two or three letters each, spaced about a month apart, during summer vacation. When it was time to return to school, we abandoned our characters in mid-intrigue, usually on the verge of a duel, a crime, or a coup d'état. Our letters were long on gossip and short on plot, but they provided good clean fun for the cost of a postage stamp."
--Caroline Stevermer, Afterword, Sorcery and Cecelia
One of the things I've never liked about the RPGs I've tried to follow is the way they always devolve into idiocy that has nothing to do with the actual characters and everything to do with how the people playing the characters relate to each other. While the Letter Game sounds a bit like an RPG, I think that because it's only two people depending on the postal service and because it can be abandoned altogether when school starts up again (or when other, more interesting pursuits come along), it may avoid the same kinds of silliness. Which is not to say it couldn't be silly, but I'm sure it would be a different kind of silly.
Anyway, I'm intrigued enough by the idea to want to play. I think it would be fun to do it with original characters, but I would also be willing to try it with fan fic characters, with the caveat that if I don't know enough about the universe, it won't work. If you're also intrigued enough to want to play, (a) leave a comment and let me know that you want to play, whether you want to use original characters or ficcish characters, and whether you want to start or you want me to start; (b) send me a letter as a start; or (c) leave a comment saying you want to play but not with me and I'll try to pair you up with anyone else who says the same thing. All of these should come with the agreement that if you or I decide at some point that it's no longer fun or that there are other things that need our time, we can abandon it at will, no harm, no foul.
I'm still in love with Joan of Arcadia. Many episodes ago, God told Joan to take AP Chemistry where she became lab partners, and later friends, with Grace and Adam. (My guess is that someday Adam will the first man she sleeps with, but that's a symbolism discussion for another time.) There's a lot of unresolved talk on the show about whether or not Grace is a lesbian--everyone assumes that she is, but she's never actually said one way or the other. What Grace definitely is, however, is transgendered. I love it that God led Joan to being friends with Grace. In another episode, God, in the guise of a substitute teacher who lays the smack down on a sorely deserving of it Mr. Price, calls Grace "young man." In yet another episode, Adam calls Grace "dude." Grace protests: "Does it amuse you to call me 'dude'?" Joan defends Adam: "He calls everyone 'dude'."
I'm not sure what I want them to do with Grace. I kind of want her to be a lesbian, but on the other hand, I kind of want her to be just transgendered and actually end up with Luke.
My point here is that what's most interesting about this is that it's apparently not interesting. I haven't seen anyone condemning it for being a show about God with a positive portrayal of a transgendered character. On the other side, I haven't seen anyone lauding it for being a show about God with a positive portrayal of a transgendered character. Shouldn't somebody be talking about it?
Worth reading.
Fun in and out of the classroom with Erin Ellis. Erin is an absolutely fantastic writer and very funny.
Worth listening to.
I saw Love Actually the first time two and a half weeks ago and loved it so much I had to immediately go out and buy the soundtrack. I've now been listening to it nearly nonstop since then. Also in heavy rotation on my CD player: DASA: The EP! aka Live Planet and Beyond! The EP and The Not-So Future Mrs. Affleck, both mixes by Molly.
Worth playing.
"I don't know who invented the Letter Game (which I have heard called Persona Letters, or even Ghost Letters) but Ellen Kushner introduced it to me. I believe it originated as an acting exercise, one character writing a letter 'in persona' to another.
"The game has no rules, except that the players must never reveal their idea of the plot to one another. It helps to imply in the first letter why the two characters must write to each other and not meet in person.
"The Letter Games I've played previously were usually a matter of two or three letters each, spaced about a month apart, during summer vacation. When it was time to return to school, we abandoned our characters in mid-intrigue, usually on the verge of a duel, a crime, or a coup d'état. Our letters were long on gossip and short on plot, but they provided good clean fun for the cost of a postage stamp."
--Caroline Stevermer, Afterword, Sorcery and Cecelia
One of the things I've never liked about the RPGs I've tried to follow is the way they always devolve into idiocy that has nothing to do with the actual characters and everything to do with how the people playing the characters relate to each other. While the Letter Game sounds a bit like an RPG, I think that because it's only two people depending on the postal service and because it can be abandoned altogether when school starts up again (or when other, more interesting pursuits come along), it may avoid the same kinds of silliness. Which is not to say it couldn't be silly, but I'm sure it would be a different kind of silly.
Anyway, I'm intrigued enough by the idea to want to play. I think it would be fun to do it with original characters, but I would also be willing to try it with fan fic characters, with the caveat that if I don't know enough about the universe, it won't work. If you're also intrigued enough to want to play, (a) leave a comment and let me know that you want to play, whether you want to use original characters or ficcish characters, and whether you want to start or you want me to start; (b) send me a letter as a start; or (c) leave a comment saying you want to play but not with me and I'll try to pair you up with anyone else who says the same thing. All of these should come with the agreement that if you or I decide at some point that it's no longer fun or that there are other things that need our time, we can abandon it at will, no harm, no foul.
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Date: 2003-11-29 09:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-29 11:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-29 11:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-30 01:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-30 04:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-30 08:20 pm (UTC)I fully intend to play by paper mail. I think the time it takes for mail to travel is part of what will keep it from being about the players instead of the characters.
I love your icon.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-30 08:36 pm (UTC)Icon by
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-06 08:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-06 09:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-07 12:30 am (UTC)ooh, paper mail! paper mail!
Date: 2003-11-30 07:52 pm (UTC)besides, maybe with all this not being able to write, I would write better when I wasn't writing as myself...
Re: ooh, paper mail! paper mail!
Date: 2003-11-30 08:23 pm (UTC)Does this mean you want to play? I'm guessing original characters. Do you want to start or do you want me to start?
Re: ooh, paper mail! paper mail!
Date: 2003-12-02 08:31 pm (UTC)Re: ooh, paper mail! paper mail!
Date: 2003-12-06 09:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-07 03:06 am (UTC)What is this 'Joan of Arcadia' you speak of? Sounds interesting... is this more stuff I'm missing out on by being in the wrong country? (augh, there is so much..)
Oh, and very belated, but thank you for the birthday card! It was actually the only one I got... (well, to be perfectly honest I eventually got a letter from my high school friend, which I never got around to writing a response to. And on that note, could I do the letter game too? I don't quite fully understand it, and I completely understand if you're busy/don't want to use the extra stamp, but...
Okay, let's close the parenthesis.)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-09 10:44 pm (UTC)Joan of Arcadia is a very, very good TV show. But don't be too sad; other than that, which will eventually be on DVD, and The O.C., which will also end up on DVD, this is pretty much the television season that Jumped the Shark.
You're welcome, but I think you need better friends if no one else sent you a birthday card.
The Letter Game is just letters back and forth, but written as a character instead of as yourself. Kind of like a two-person, two-character mail-based RPG. Do you want to play with original characters or some fandom characters? Do you want to start or do you want me to start? I don't think I have your snail mail address. Could you e-mail (rsadelle[at]graphousa[dot]net) it to me?