Random Thoughts X: Impromptu Interpretations

[aimeeandbeatles]

I just skimmed over most of it tbh.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

You were warned. I hope it was well written and worth reading.

One person's definition of "implied" can be another's "explicit." Some people don't like any sex in their fanfic, just adventure. And then there's the flip side where the reader is left wondering if there's a plot in there someplace... I skip over those. I prefer a story to have a plot of some kind, regardless of what else may be there.

For instance, I've become hooked on Harry Potter fanfic, specifically Marauders stories (I tend to find Harry and the other kids boring). Some of them are Wolfstar-centric (Remus Lupin/Sirius Black), while others follow J.K. Rowling's canon and have both characters preferring women. As long as the stories are well-written and nobody is out of character, either way works for me.

 

[Synobun]

It turns out I do not like vanilla pudding.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

One person's definition of "implied" can be another's "explicit." Some people don't like any sex in their fanfic, just adventure. And then there's the flip side where the reader is left wondering if there's a plot in there someplace... I skip over those. I prefer a story to have a plot of some kind, regardless of what else may be there.

I read an fanfic where the author spent like three or four chapters making some characters have sex on a table. It went on so long I wondered if the author even had an idea for the rest of the plot. Apparently not because it was abandoned.

That was one of the few fanfics I deleted from my Calibre library. Out of disappointment mostly, because what plot they had was actually interesting. It was a waste.

 

[Birdjaguar]

One person's definition of "implied" can be another's "explicit." Some people don't like any sex in their fanfic, just adventure. And then there's the flip side where the reader is left wondering if there's a plot in there someplace... I skip over those. I prefer a story to have a plot of some kind, regardless of what else may be there.

I read an fanfic where the author spent like three or four chapters making some characters have sex on a table. It went on so long I wondered if the author even had an idea for the rest of the plot. Apparently not because it was abandoned.

That was one of the few fanfics I deleted from my Calibre library. Out of disappointment mostly, because what plot they had was actually interesting. It was a waste.

Sex scenes are no substitute for good story telling. Authors put them in or leave them out based on their preferences. For readers the choice is different; some will enjoy them (well written or not) and others skip over them or not read the story at all. The happy place is when what the author writes is enjoyed by a reader.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Sex scenes are no substitute for good story telling. Authors put them in or leave them out based on their preferences. For readers the choice is different; some will enjoy them (well written or not) and others skip over them or not read the story at all. The happy place is when when what the author writes is enjoyed by a reader.

Well, they're kinda essential to at least mention if you want to include the couple (assuming a heterosexual couple) having children. Modern audiences might wonder where and how Fred and Wilma Flintstone conceived Pebbles if they always slept in twin beds (yeah, I know the married couples in twin beds was a thing in older TV shows).

There's no explicit sex in the Wolfstar fanfic I was reading earlier today, just two guys having a quiet cuddle on the living room couch after a long day (this is post-Azkaban, and the author decided that Sirius didn't die after all, though it was a near-miss). It's made plain that they're still in love after 20 years, and that's a nice part of the story. Those two characters went through so much in canon, that it's nice to see fanfic writers treat them with more kindness. The canon version of their story has Sirius being murdered and Remus marrying and fathering a son, before being killed himself (along with his wife). I have no idea what the author intends to do about that part of the source material; she hasn't written that far yet. But at least this fic isn't depressing where my favorite characters keep getting killed off.

 

[The_J]

It turns out I do not like vanilla pudding.

You, sir, are a philistine!

You, sir, are also a barbarian!

 

[EgonSpengler]

I just noticed that, not only is there a full moon on Halloween, it's a Blue Moon. It's also a Saturday. I guess in another year, that'd be noteworthy. Back in the day, there was an episode of E.R. titled "Full Moon Saturday Night" - e.g. the peak of crazy for a big city hospital's emergency department. I suppose now it's just another Blursday night for doctors and nurses who can't remember what their partner looks like.

 

[Takhisis]

You, sir, are also a barbarian!

Technically, none of you three speak Greek, so the ambiguity in your post is resolved nicely.

 

[Synobun]

"You, sir, aren't Greek!" sounds to me as a compliment. Get with the program, Takh.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I love my dodgy memory. I got an email about a game on my Steam wishlist. I don't remember adding it to my wishlist.

Also I halfway feel like Epic Games is buying off my soul piece by piece with free games.

 

[Takhisis]

"You, sir, aren't Greek!" sounds to me as a compliment. Get with the program, Takh.

α) I've never said ‘you aren't Greek!’
β) ‘Programme’ is a Greek word.

 

[H4run]

One person's definition of "implied" can be another's "explicit." Some people don't like any sex in their fanfic, just adventure. And then there's the flip side where the reader is left wondering if there's a plot in there someplace... I skip over those. I prefer a story to have a plot of some kind, regardless of what else may be there.

For instance, I've become hooked on Harry Potter fanfic, specifically Marauders stories (I tend to find Harry and the other kids boring). Some of them are Wolfstar-centric (Remus Lupin/Sirius Black), while others follow J.K. Rowling's canon and have both characters preferring women. As long as the stories are well-written and nobody is out of character, either way works for me.

Actually I'm pretty tired watching recent series either HBO or Netflix where most of the series start with a very good and decent or even powerful beginning but in the middle it just turns out as erotic "sex and the city" with lots of affair, raw betrayal and lots of crankiness. Last Kingdom is a very good example of that, I just stop watching the series where the protagonist post as an ideal man where every female would drop their jaw to the concrete whenever interacting with him then everyone want to have some part of him, this kind of theme after-a-while becoming super repetitive and nauseating. So when I see Marcopolo on netflix, I really want to watch it because I like the Mongolian theme, but I just gave up because I know Marcopolo would be end up as a fudge boy just like the protagonist on Last Kingdom. Ugh.

But just yesterday I watch on Netflix "the ballad of buster scruggs", it's really a classy movie, and I like how sex-scenes implied in a very classy manner and also some of the violence implied artistically (don't get me wrong there is still a violent scene, but some that are implied have its own powerful effect).

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Actually I'm pretty tired watching recent series either HBO or Netflix where most of the series start with a very good and decent or even powerful beginning but in the middle it just turns out as erotic "sex and the city" with lots of affair, raw betrayal and lots of crankiness. Last Kingdom is a very good example of that, I just stop watching the series where the protagonist post as an ideal man where every female would drop their jaw to the concrete whenever interacting with him then everyone want to have some part of him, this kind of theme after-a-while becoming super repetitive and nauseating. So when I see Marcopolo on netflix, I really want to watch it because I like the Mongolian theme, but I just gave up because I know Marcopolo would be end up as a fudge boy just like the protagonist on Last Kingdom. Ugh.

But just yesterday I watch on Netflix "the ballad of buster scruggs", it's really a classy movie, and I like how sex-scenes implied in a very classy manner and also some of the violence implied artistically (don't get me wrong there is still a violent scene, but some that are implied have its own powerful effect).

I saw some of Marco Polo when I still had Netflix. It was... different. It was certainly not like the miniseries back in May 1982, when there was a glorious 4-night epic on TV, and my cat was mesmerized by all the horses galloping over the steppes in the battle scenes. Picture a small Siamese cat either watching intently from the back of the couch, or standing on her hind legs in front of the TV, paws on the cabinet, staring at the TV screen, ears twitching madly (a sign of extreme interest) as the horses thundered all over the place.

I still have the cassette of the soundtrack for that miniseries (it's sitting on my dresser, waiting to be packed). As for the sex... let me think... Marco had a passionate night with the daughter of a brothel owner in Venice, which is why he was allowed to accompany his father and uncle to China; he had to leave town thisfast lest the brothel owner have him killed. I have a vague recollection of a woman somewhere along the route; this was in the episode where they encountered an area that was plague-infested, and there were one or two women in China (one of whom was actually European and turned out to be some sort of rebel against the Khan; her life was saved by becoming a nun and essentially disappearing into anonymity in a cloistered abbey so she and Marco never saw each other again).

There was one scene between Leonard Nimoy (in a villain role that has been much criticized in later years as his having appeared in "yellow-face") and a young Chinese woman; rape was not explicitly shown since this was network TV, but was clear enough from the context.

I don't remember anything else, though to be fair it's been 38 years since I last saw it. It's a good miniseries, though. Ken Marshall played Marco, and Denholm Elliot played Niccolo Polo.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I am not a smart person.

While writing, I accidentally hit Ctrl+N instead of Shift+N, opening a new document. Somehow I completely failed to notice (despite looking directly at the screen) and just continued writing the rest of the paragraph. Then I noticed and went "WHERE DID THE REST OF MY WORDS GO???"

 

[The_J]

Always when I think nothing can surprise me... why this advertisement o_O? Why does a world expert need to comment on that o_O? What does a heart expert know about poop o_O? Who really cares o_O?

 

[amadeus]

Who really cares o_O?

Unfortunately, it’s probably bunk.

 

[Phrossack]

Actually I'm pretty tired watching recent series either HBO or Netflix where most of the series start with a very good and decent or even powerful beginning but in the middle it just turns out as erotic "sex and the city" with lots of affair, raw betrayal and lots of crankiness. Last Kingdom is a very good example of that, I just stop watching the series where the protagonist post as an ideal man where every female would drop their jaw to the concrete whenever interacting with him then everyone want to have some part of him, this kind of theme after-a-while becoming super repetitive and nauseating. So when I see Marcopolo on netflix, I really want to watch it because I like the Mongolian theme, but I just gave up because I know Marcopolo would be end up as a fudge boy just like the protagonist on Last Kingdom. Ugh.

But just yesterday I watch on Netflix "the ballad of buster scruggs", it's really a classy movie, and I like how sex-scenes implied in a very classy manner and also some of the violence implied artistically (don't get me wrong there is still a violent scene, but some that are implied have its own powerful effect).

I can't think of any fiction I've read or seen where sex scenes added anything of value. They seem added just to keep the attention of the inattentive, or because they're kind of expected by now.

 

[H4run]

I can't think of any fiction I've read or seen where sex scenes added anything of value. They seem added just to keep the attention of the inattentive, or because they're kind of expected by now.

It's about the sales, the extreme example would be like eating Sushi above a naked body, you basically selling food (a commodity) with sexual gimmick (a meta-commodity). The other example can be sales promotion girl with skimpy clothing selling a car to a dude.

Capitalism surely uses/exploits sex and our natural attraction to sex to promote and sells their commodity. I'm not happy with that but I can somewhat tolerate that.

But, but! When: Sex, a pretty fudge boy protag, an endless circle of affairs, and all of those "sexy" stuff becoming so dominant that its changed the tone color of the narration, that's when it start to bother me the most.

My feeling is like when you are going to a karaoke just to sing a song, but you realize this particular karaoke is not mainly about sing a song, but it also offer you a sex service along with the karaoke and you don't want that. If it's only happened to one or two karaoke pub, you may go to the 3rd or 4th karaoke pub instead, but if most karaoke are like that, then it's become very tiring.

And similar to you, I also think sex as a fact of life doesn't need to be stated LOUDLY in a movie, just like every people (fiction or not) are suppose to fart or defecate, but when such fact not necessary for the narration, me think better just silently implied it.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I can't think of any fiction I've read or seen where sex scenes added anything of value. They seem added just to keep the attention of the inattentive, or because they're kind of expected by now.

In the tv shows I've watched lately, there were scenes in Lovecraft Country, New Amsterdam, The Expanse and The Boys that I thought worked pretty well. I'm trying to think of one that was a clunker.