Return of the Memetic Engineer

[alixtii]

If you happen to be working on some creative writing project, fanfiction or NaNoWriMo or what have you, post exactly one sentence (or more) from each of your current work(s) in progress in your journal. It should probably be your favourite or most intriguing sentence so far, but what you choose is entirely your discretion. Mention the title (and genre) if you like, but don't mention anything else -- this is merelyto whet the general appetite for your forthcoming work(s).

"This is Captain Kaywinnit Lee Frye of the transport Serenity requesting to dock."



Willow Rosenberg was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.



Wait, why am I telling you this? What happened next was none of your damned business. I will say this much, though: she was great.



They met again on Londinium, each on the arm of an M.P., and they saw each other at the same time. They both turned away at the same time, as if reaching for a weapon, then turned back, suddenly remembering where they were. No weapons were on hand, which meant pre-emptive offense was not a necessary defense. They pretended to not notice each other for two dances, then each excused themselves from their dates and made their way to the punch bowl.



William knows that Anna is not like other girls. He thinks this without the least hint of sentiment or romance. That Anna is not like other girls is an objective fact. She can beat him every time at arm wrestling, and what girl could do that? And once, when she had fallen asleep between takes during a hard day on the set, she began muttering in what he suspects was Latin. Anna does not, as far as he knows, speak Latin.



Gakked from likeadeuce (who actually dreamt it up, if I'm not mistaken, because she felt evil and wanted to mislead) and then from buffyannotater (whose poll this one resembles more), see if you can guess the following.

1) Shakespeare Play
2) Non-Shakespeare Play
3) Playwright
4) TV show
5) Novel
6) Musical
7) Movie
8) Screenwriter
9) Actress
10) Season of Angel

Also, ask me for top five lists, and I will provide you with the top things in the category you requested. Gakked from inlovewithnight.

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Hee, you're writing Narnia RPF??

1) cymbeline
2) pygmalion (? -- I'm sure it's Shaw, just no idea which)
3) Shaw
4) Buffy
5) 1984
6) Cabaret
7) Cabaret
8) Mamet
9) Michelle Trachtenberg
10) Four

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Hee, you're writing Narnia RPF??

I am. I've been wanting to write this ever since the movie came out, at which point there was a lot of wonderful Narnia RPF coming out, that really explored what it would be like for these children actors to inhabit in a certain way a magical land, all in the context of teen relationships (young love is one of my kinks) that were forbidden and quasi-incestuous. The fandom has since been overridden by Mary Sue fantasies, but that's the position from which I still imagine this story coming. I have my movie companion and my special edition DVD and I will finish that story. Eventually.

I considered offering to write Wesley/Anna Popplewell for the crossover ficathon but decided that was a bit too squicky.

1) I really enjoyed Cymbeline. It stirred up some strong feelings; I was really teared up at the end as I read. (I think it hit an emotional kink or two, which admittedly does not require a lot of skill to do--I was balling at the end of Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights.) I didn't find myself all that intellectually stimulated by it, but it didn't create any false expectations, wheareas for me AYLI made promises and failed to deliver--e.g. the metatheatricality which is ultimately used as a cheap joke. (There are plenty of Shakespeare's comedies which I like perfectly well; I despise AYLI not because it is frivolous, but because it could have done so much more.) Whereas in my actual favorite Shakespeare play, the metatheatricality is used to actually probe humanity's existential condition of living a tale told by an idiot. Not to mention including a meaty look at the nature of evil.

I've never seen AYLI or Cymbeline performed; the Scottish play I've seen performed only by the Royal Shakespeare Company, plus the Roman Polanski movie and the hilariously-low-budget Nichol Williams BBC production.

2) Pygmalion is probably Shaw's least didactic play (at least that I've read) which is why it has so much popular appeal, probably. I do love it for how emotionallly real it is (an emotional realism completely wrecked by the nonsensical My Fair Lady ending--luckily when I listen to the soundtrack to the musical I can just imagine the original Shavian ending), but for me it sort of lacks the je ne sais quoi which is quintessentially Shavian; its intense focus on characters makes its ideas move into the background a little (although he seemed to think it was a play about phonetics and of course there are a lot of good class issues going on). I've never seen my favorite play performed, but then the only Shaw play I've ever seen performed (not counting My Fair Lady which I saw as a high school production) was Androcles and the Lion. Plus the movie versions of The Devil's Disciple and Caesar and Cleopatra. It's amazing how well things in Shaw that shouldn't transfer well from the page to the stage/screen, do.

3) But of course.

4) What was the question? *goes to look* But of course.

5) Nineteen Eighty-Four was my favorite novel all through junior high. I've sort of come back to it a bit lately, of course, and there are facets to it that I see now that I didn't see then. But the "official" answer is still no. (I should reread my offically favorite book and see if my reaction to it has changed--I've done a lot of changing since high school, after all. Not to mention I have no doubts I will enjoy it.)

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

6&7) I've never seen the movie version. I've seen it on stage twice--once in Philadelphia and once as a college production--and enjoyed it very much, but no, not my favorite. I'm sort of curious why you thought of that one.

8) A quick glance at his filmography reveals that I've never seen a Mamet movie, although I did see a college production of "Bobby Gould in Hell." So he couldn't be my favorite screenwriter. Again, anything specific that made you think of him? And anything by him that I just have to see?

9) Ah, Michelle Trachtenberg, the girl whom I've never met but was always a part of my childhood, whether as Nona or Harriet or {we'll forget Penny because it wasn't Trachtenberg's fault that her character wasn't as kick-ass as in the cartoon} or Dawn. She's certainly played some really amazing characters with great competence. It's been an impressive run so far, no doubt, and I'll always have the utmost affection for Michelle, but I feel that still just isn't enough to earn the title of "favorite actress." Maybe when she's played a few more roles and earned an Academy Award nomination or two (hint).

10) Erm, no. I'm one of those who put down Angel season four as their least favorite season, actually.

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[(Anonymous)]

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