Annoying!

[handful_ofdust]

I have this great new pic of Cal I wanted to cross-post, but Flickr doesn't seem to be allowing that right now. Oh well. If you're interested, it's the first/last one in the current set, the one titled: "Are You Hugging the Tree?" You'll find them all here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/49573188@N07/?saved=1).

Otherwise--still moving molasses/treacle-slow through Chapter Eight, and since all the cool kids are doing it, I should really coallate/post my Readercon schedule sometime soon. But at the moment, the most important thing in life is that I finally started watching the original Avatar: The Last Airbender, mainlining the first three ep.s of "Book One: Water" on Youtube, and it is indeed quite the ride. I love that it has the true HK quality of not just martial bad-assery and great design/character interaction/supernatural spectacle, but also a consistent streak of goofiness: Appa refusing to fly and sticking his tongue out at everything, Uncle Iroh and his tea/food fetish, Sokka's constant hunger, Aang just generally being a twelve-year-old monk with magical powers who's as likely to throw pies at you as he is to hulk out and drop an avalanche on your head. "You're only a child!" Prince Zuko tells him, to which Aang replies: "Well...you're only a teenager," and neatly hands him his own firey ass.

(Which isn't to say I don't like Zuko, because I do; indeed, I've yet to find a character I dislike thus far, aside from the Commander who tried to flame Zuko in the back, who we're obviously supposed to think is a douche. Zuko's hilariously emo, stupidly honorable, and I foresee redemption in his future; his sister Azula is the real villain in that bunch, right? Or so I've heard.)

Anyhow, back to the wedding-party maelstrom. I need to get this fucking part of the book done before I leave, or I might as well hang up my writer hat entirely...psych!

Comments

[sovay]

Uncle Iroh and his tea/food fetish

I love Uncle Iroh.

aside from the Commander who tried to flame Zuko in the back, who we're obviously supposed to think is a douche.

I became weirdly fond of him as the season went on (even before I knew he was voiced by Jason Isaacs), but he is a douche.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Seriously? Ha!

[sovay]

Seriously?

Which bit? The Jason Isaacs, or the fact that my character tastes are fucked?

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

No, basically I was just surprised Jason Isaacs was doing vocals for Nicolodeon. Commander Zhao strikes me as a fairly classic magnificient bastard, and you know I can get behind that sort of action.;)

[sovay]

No, basically I was just surprised Jason Isaacs was doing vocals for Nicolodeon.

Dude, they got Mako for Uncle Iroh. The show is a miracle.

Commander Zhao strikes me as a fairly classic magnificient bastard, and you know I can get behind that sort of action.

Just checking . . .

[sandwichboy.livejournal.com]

And let's not forget Mark Hamill and George Takei as evil Fire Nation dudes.

All this talk about the show is making me want to sit down and watch it all yet again.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

That was Mako? Geez!

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but then Mako was also not only doing the voice for Aku on Samurai Jack, but for the parody version they did on that duck dodgers series.

Plus, if Freakazoid could get, say, David Warner (to be the Lobe), nothing surprises me about animation casting.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

That's funny, because I've been watching the original Airbender too (because I saw the horrible horrible movie). I don't think I am as enthusiastic as you are as of yet (although the world and the martial arts are cool - I just don't like most of the tone/good guys...).

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

It's very much grown on me. I sort of like the swiftness of it, which grantedly was literally accelerated for me by watching the first two ep.s with sound that had been ever-so-slightly sped up, like:

Sokka: Hey. Didyouknowyoujustjumpedliketenfeetintheair?
Aang: Oh? Huh. Feltmoreliketwenty.

Or later, ice-surfing on the backs of double-winged penguins:

Katara: Ihaven'tdonethissinceIwasakid!
Aang: You'restillakid!

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

LOL! Yeah, that indeed would be amusing. I think I enjoyed it more as the episodes went on and problems became more evident, because I am clearly heartless and do not enjoy watching little kids scamper around having fun - which is interesting because I like almost all anime I watch, incl. those with young protagonists.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well--knowing as I did going in that Big-Ass Destiny was probablu going to suck Aang's joy out soon enough, I suppose I was a bit more saddened in tragic anticipation by those sequences than amused and/or bored by them. And hey now: Varying mileage, rather than heartlessness! Don't run yourself down.;)

[sovay]

knowing as I did going in that Big-Ass Destiny was probablu going to suck Aang's joy out soon enough, I suppose I was a bit more saddened in tragic anticipation by those sequences than amused and/or bored by them.

I do not think it is a spoiler to reveal that the goof-offery of the series does not in fact diminish as the character work intensifies and destiny starts coming up fast on the horizon, which really impressed me. "Pants are an illusion."

[sandwichboy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the wonderful mix of serious and goofy and the actual character growth (both of which stay true all through the series) are what instantly endeared me to the show.

Also, I want an Appa.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

I think everybody probably wants an Appa, though where the hell would any of us put it?

[sandwichboy.livejournal.com]

on the roof, DUH! :D

[jplangan.livejournal.com]

I've just gotten into it, too, and it's rapidly become one of my favorite shows, hands down. The writing's great.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

I'm consistently amazed by how right it all seems. This after a late adolescence spent watching HK films, and really coming to enjoy those moments where the whole audience would laugh except for me and me friends, and we'd try to figure out why afterwards.

[starvinbohemian.livejournal.com]

Avatar is such a good show. How it manages to be so adorkable and yet gorgeously dramatic at the same time-- I'll never know.

Iroh owns my heart forever. And so does angsty, teenagery Zuko.