author_by_night | (no subject)

Things I don't like that most people do:

1. Games. Well, I don't mind them; I'll play one or two. But for some reason, the only non-brain involved game I like is Uno, and maybe because even that involves some form of intellect. (Not a lot, but you have to be strategic). And I'll play a game or two for a bit of a laugh. But not four, and not when there's more fun or challenging things I could be playing. And there's games you can play that are challenging without being a brainiac (which I'm not) - like Charades. Or Scrabble.

2. TV shows. I'll watch some occasionally, but not all the time. American Idol annoys me, I didn't like those teen shows even when I was one ("sweet girl cheats on guys, since she's too sweet to only choose one" - wth?), Survivor irritates me, and at any rate, most of the shows are actually the commercials. I'll sit in for a few - I have a guilty pleasure for Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond, and Gilmore Girls is cute, but otherwise? No. (And Buffy isn't anything like HP. Its like some HP fics, but not like HP).

3. Historical Fiction. (Well, okay, most history nuts like it). I used to love it, when I was ten. Because they made historical fiction good when you were at ten. The novels for people my age are mostly "Preferred Sexual Methods of the Late 19th Century", or just filled with dumb cliches. (Gotta love Bess, the wonderful Patriot who is unfortunate enough to have a scummy Loyalist boyfriend, William. Luckily, he comes around at the end. In the books for ten year olds, William is replaced with Bess's best friend. Oh, and then we have the happy slave, who goes around giving people African wisdom, and has nothing against the fact that even the author treats her horribly. Or we have the evil slave). Some novels have been salvaged from the clichedom and annoyances, like To Kill A Mockingbird, but for the most part... urgh.

5. Romantic advice columns. I especially love the encouraging "if you don't have a lover, make a life all by yourself" stuff. Because nobody wants to bother with the single sod, right? You'll never have a life if you don't have a boyfriend, because only boyfriends truly care about you. So, suck it up and learn how to play Solitaire, or curl up and die.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1: I'm very choosy about what games I'll play, whether it be board games, card games, video games or RPG's. I can be talked into playing a game I don't like, and I might even have fun at it for one go, but I'll never seek it out on my own.

3: With you for the most part, but have you ever read any of the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon? Definitely a cut above your average HR. The heroine isn't a Patriot especially, the boyfriend (husband) is anything but a Loyalist and only comes around on those occasions when he damn well feels like it, and the slaves are neither unbelievably happy, evil, nor universally ill-treated. Highly recommended! :)

4: There is no #4!

5. Personally, I prefer Jeff Foxworthy's "Single life is just too hard" routine...

I love historical fiction. I can see you're thinking about the trashy romances. Try something by Ann Rinaldi. True, the age set is probably like 13-16, but they are very well-written and I still enjoy them at 18. She's one of my favorite authors, actually.

I love To Kill a Mockingbird. Have you read...oh, crap, what's it called...I wrote an essay on it for my AP exam...um, its characters include Tea Cake and a beautiful black woman who goes through three husbands, Halle Barry did a movie version, wow, I can't recall the title for the life of me. It was good though.

Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Thank you! I have the worst time remembering titles. Great book though.

Oh, I loved that one! It's called Their Eyes Were Watching God, as Auvernge already said. I didn't see the movie though.

And I like Ann Rinaldi - she wrote Wolf by the Ears, a *great* novel about the theory that Jefferson had a sexual relationship with a slave and bore children with her.

Yeah, I've read that one. All of them are good, of course, but as far as recalling titles, which I'm not good at *sheepish grin* there's In My Father's House (Civil War), An Aquaintance with Darkness (post-Civil War), A Break with Charity (Salem Witch Trials), and a bunch others, of course. Oh, yeah, she has a Quilt Trilogy that's really awesome too.

1. I'm all for Scrabble. I was at some humongous resort with a friend recently, and in lieu of parousing the chateau, we played Scrabble. Option is another game I like. It's like Scrabble, but better, because each piece has two letters, so you have more options.

2. I love Law and Order, Queer As Folk, The L Word (hmm... theme?), Gilmore Girls, and random reality. I'm not dedicated to any show, though. If I miss a few episodes, big deal.

3. I think you should look for stuff not written for "young people". Try Jean Plaidy.

4. Yeah, where's 4?

5. Single is best!

Oh, wow, I can't believe I forgot to rec Jean Plaidy. I have the Tudor Queens trilogy, with Elizabeth, Bloody Mary, and I want to say Mary Queen of Scots (I haven't started this one yet). But yeah, she's an awesome writer.

2. The O.C. and Summerland make me want to scream. They're just so... mindless. Gilmore Girls is rather cute, I'll agree, but 99.9% of the time teen dramas are so unintellectual, oh I'll just say it, DUMB, that I want to throw the television out the window and watch it shatter into a million pieces.

All in reasonable amounts are fine, IMO.
And the odd night spent playing Scotland Yard, Ligretto and the likes can be quite enjoyable.

Telly: I hardly watch it anymore, I spend a lot of that time surfing the internet (and spamming my flist with posts).
There are some series that I loved/still love, and we sometimes spend long evenings watching taped episodes. You can even find me watching brainless MTV shows sometimes, just to..y'know...give my brain a break (aha, because it's SO overworked).

Historical fiction...yes, if I'm in the mood. As for "Preferred Sexual Methods" thing... I prefer vintage erotic photography (or art in general).

Four... "mmh, did anyone say my name? I agree with Sirius!" (am doing a last minute reread of OotP).

And five... something that's really pissing me off. All this Your-life-will-never-be-happy-without-a-partner and Oh-poor-single-but-look-there-are-a-few-advantages-too ...GAH!!!!

You know what's the best game in the history of ever?!

Cranium

You've got to move your piece from start to finish obviously, but it requires all different kinds of talents. There are four piles of cards you have to choose from Words, Facts, Performance, and Art. In Word you get things like "Spell hippopotamus backwards with out a pencil and paper". Facts it well facts, true or false, multiple choice etc. Performance will give you just about anything like "Hum this song" and your partner has to guess what it is in a given time frame. Finally Art will get you things like "Draw a pineapple with your eyes closed" and again people have to guess.

It is super ultra crazy fun...which is probably why I've just rambled about it in your comments. :D

It sounds really neat!