1:14

For additional information, check out:

Phillips, Jerry. "The Mem Sahib, the Worthy, the Rajah and His Minions: Some Reflections on the Class Politics of The Secret Garden."

by Arlene Mosel 

Publisher: "Arlene Mosel retells an old Chinese folktale about how the people of China came to give their children short names after traditionally giving their "first and honored" sons grand, long names... "

"What's in a name? A great deal, according to the Chinese of long ago, who honored their "first and honored" son with a grand long name but gave their second sons, of little importance, hardly any name at all! This special treatment of heirs is delightfully put down by Arlene Mosel in her humorous retelling of a favorite folktale of how the Chinese came to give ALL their children short names..."
Debate on Cultural accuracy

"...The [fairy] court was not in its usual good temper at present, the cause being the tantalising heart of the Duke of Christmas Daisies. He was an Oriental fairy, very poorly of a dreadful complaint, namely, inability to love, and though he had tried many ladies in many lands he could not fall in love with one of them.

Queen Mab, who rules in the Gardens, had been confident that her girls would bewitch him, but alas, his heart, the doctor said, remained cold. This rather irritating doctor, who was his private physician, felt the Duke's heart immediately after any lady was presented, and then always shook his bald head and murmured, "Cold, quite cold!"

-- J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan and the Little House.

In true ironic fashion, I've spent the last five days of my Spring Break with the flu. No fun trip to Disneyland, no outside whatsoever. Just me, my pillow, and a box of tissues.

Fortunately, before getting sick I picked up the first season of Veronica Mars at the library. It's one of those series I always wanted to watch, but never got around to. I am now completely addicted, and have since spread this new kick to: five of my friends and my mother. I know, I know, staying up 'til three every night watching dvds is a very bad plan to recover from the flu. But I couldn't resist. Logan/Veronica feeds my LoVe of reformed badboys. 

Once I'm feeling better I plan to upgrade this page again. There's a beautiful new mood theme I want to use, and apparently basic accounts won't support anything but te standard themes.

I'm left feeling pretty sad about the whole thing, for a number of reasons. Though there were certainly a number of well executed features.

Please, read my ramblings below. Note: SPOILERS for the finale, if you haven't seen it.



So, yeah, console me if you're up to it.

I think Michael has become my favorite character in Atlantis. And not just because of Connor Trinneer (though that's a pretty big part of it).

I should probably offer an explanation for my very, very long absence. In all honesty, though, I can't say it was anything beyond the normal laziness and lack of time. 

Lately I've been thinking that I'd like to have a place to chronicle my two cents, and this seems as good a place as any. On a side note, I was sick of the ads so I changed to a rather plain layout. I should create a header, but saying I'll do it seems a bit ambitious for me at the moment. 

I still enjoy Stargate: Atlantis (for all my complaints, it's still the best sci-fi out there); I still love The Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner; I'll probably always be a Star Trek fan. My interests have changed only in the sense that they've expanded. I'm halfway through Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series and I love it. It's cheezy, I'll admit (but when you're dealing with spy stories it's inevitable). I'm kind of on audio-book kick. Maybe I should review start reviewing them here...

Anyway, hi all. I'm glad to be back.

TITLE: Flashback
AUTHOR: cherryblosomjen
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: It was Kansas they were talking about. What could go wrong?
SPOILERS: Minor details of Season 10.5's 'Bounty'
NOTES: Written for evesharmony
 
 

Fic: Hemingway
Rating: PG
Pairing: Cam/Vala
Teaser: Completely AU. Cam is partnered with Vala on a school project. 

It may be because I haven't been in the best of moods as of late -- but I was not thrilled with the episode.

There were moments I enjoyed -- a bit of the banter between Mckay and his sis (""), the team bonding at the end, Teyla teasing by Shep and Ronon, replaying Rodney's Letters from Pegasus comments. But yeah -- I think that's about it.

I'm not one to review episodes, at least not on livejournal. I'm usually content to scan through other users posts, commenting when I agree or disagree. But, alas, after constant refreshing tielan, allisnow, and seldear's pages for their comments on Sateda and finding none, I've resorted to posting my thoughts, disorganized as they may be.

Sateda was simply brilliant. 

The promo had me a little concerned. I couldn't figure out how the team would leave Ronon behind, but of course my fear was unwarranted. We got to see how self-sacrificing spirit from each of the characters in a way that was unique to their own personailtys.

I'm a J/T shipper, so their moments together were lovely (especially the conversation on the ship) but, ultimately, only icing on the cake. The emotional complexity of the episode, which if done wrong could've been completely sidestepped for the sake of bam-bam action, was raw, real and touching. TEAM Power resonated from the episode more so than in any other I've seen.

Although some seem to disagree -- I found the few lighthearted moments to be refreshing and a perfect go-between for the other intense dramatic scenes. I love the fact that Rodney had lemons on his boxers (tielan, are you sure Rob isn't reading your fanfiction?), the Mckay/Beckett banter, and John's version of how many Wraith he shot.

The first  Wraith to land on Sateda seemed a little too Matrixy to me -- and his weird little glasses were disturbing. But that is my only complaint.

Ronan was amazing -- utterly amazing -- but each character had a moment to shine. There was more character development in this one episode than in many others combined. And the end with all its mushiness left me with a feeling of pure contentment.

So basically, I liked it. Can you tell? The one thing I am craving to see now is fanfiction exploring John's past and what lead him to seek such solitude. Of course, I also want happy references to his new family... etc. Anyone up to writing about some of the team going back to Earth and confronting people from John's past (who nothing of where he's been, or his connection to Stargate program)?

leave a comment?

Well, the other day I randonly got the urge to sketch. I started by tring to draw the de-wraithed Michael. It ended up looking nothing like him, big surprise.  If you really want to see it, I'll post it though.

Tonight I thought I'd try my hand at Teyla. It too, is far from fabulous but I'm posting it anyway...

Title: Mixing Things Up
Author: cherryblosomjen
Rating: PG
Summary: A new teacher fills in for Ms. Darbus and cancels the our favorite musical. Drama ensues. Features entire cast, slight Troypay. 

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything. Shocking, I know. ;)

The layout needs some serious revamping but, knowing me, its unlikely to happen any time soon. I barely have the energy to add icons, although I do need/want some new ones.

Alas, on to important matters. Michael. Bad guy? Definitely. Intriguing? Completely. He better be back and soon. I find the relationship, for lack of a better word, that he has with Teyla fascinating with all its mix of angst, compassion and anger.

I've yet to write any Stargate fanfiction but am tempted to for lack of any Michael related stories out there. One exception is tielan's fabulous Man and Wraith.

Well, sorry to have dissapeared for so many months. As you know, it's fairly typical of me.

I made this after reading Megan WHalen Turner's 'The King of Attolia.' It's a fan art cored pencil piece based entirely on the beautiful book cover. I made it for a friend who I've started on the first book in the series, 'The Thief.'

All I can see about BSG Friday is that I'm thankful for spoilers. I never saw the advisory warning so the scene with Sharon and evil-freakazoid-rapist-punk nearly killed me. I was shocked, distraught and angry beyond belief. I can't really formulate the words to express how much I hate most of the Pegasus crew that we've seen.

I'm glad that a large number of mboarders (even at sciffy) felt similarly -- even if there are still some idiots that feel that "it's fine because cylons are machines and she deserves such treatment."

Atlantis was great. The episode made me realize how much I miss Ford (although Ronon grows more and more lovable with each episode). I hope he doesn't become an eternal enemy or gets killed off...

The sciffy boards can really be a breeding ground for anger sometimes.

I had commented that I didn't get the impression that Teyla was afraid in her scene with Sheppard -- flustered and confused but not afraid. I didn't feel the kiss was an act of violence so much as spontaneity. To which I received the response:

And when did you become a therapist? Any woman who has experienced date rape, or abuse of any sort, will tell you that the "kiss" scene, as well as Weir's throat scene, were BOTH acts of male domination over a female. There was no love involved in EITHER act.

I don't mind that she (or he) has a different opinion. I just don't like the implication that I don't have a right to one or that I somehow don't sympathize with victims of abuse. I never said that Teyla "loved" what happened -- I think she was too shocked and confused to know exactly what she was feeling.

I truly enjoy hearing other people's opinion (it's why I like message boards) but I don't appreciate being belittled for my own, which was not stated in a disrespectful fashion. [sigh] I think I just need to rant.

Although it's not linked to directly on Sci-Fi's site, the episode summary and podcast are already up here. Beware of major spoilers.

Lately I've been reading every Boomer/Helo fic I can get my hands on. What's great is that they've been so >i>good</i>! I discovered the memories at Hidden Elysium had scores of stories, which was very exciting. I've been enjoying the angsty tone in a lot of the recent additions.

I haven't downloaded the mood theme yet but I will soon. I'm currently sipping a cup of hot tea, relaxing before I have to leave in an hour.

p.s. You can blame koalathebear and shadowserenity for introducing me to a new secret ship. ;)