Occasionally Snarky and Meta

 In short, the prompt is to talk about things that need more love. I think love is so subjective, but there ARE a lot of things I think people would like, so I'm going to create ingredients instead. You'll see what I mean below.
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I could go on all day, so I'll stop there. :P 

 I was inspired by this post to book blog. I probably won't be doing it exactly the way they had in mind, but I probably will talk about books I'm currently reading. After all, the original point of this blog was  mostly to blog about a particular book series. I'll probably mix and mash topics - current reads, old reads, want-to-reads, how certain books have impacted me, and general thoughts about books.

Today I'm going to talk about Earth's Children by Jean Auel, in particular the sixth book, Land of the Painted Caves. I may or may not do a longer post on the clusterfuck that was the originally strong series. There will be spoilers for Land of the What Just Happened? Painted Caves, and this post assumes you have at least some familiarity with the books (although I do include a basic recap/explanation for anyone whose memory needs a quick jog.) I'm also making this post public so I can share with my ecfans friends. :)
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I got this from a fandomsecrets post, because yes, I sometimes go there despite the trolls. (I even met some of you there.) Although I go far less than I used to and don't comment much. 

Anyway, one of the secrets was about stupid/awkward questions at interviews and panels. I was going to write an entry on this anyway, so many as well roll with it.
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And behold, my childhood as told by the books I read.

Feel free to do something similar yourself! I'd love to see what other people come up with. Therefore, I'm making this public. :)

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Because why not?

Quotes of course will be taken out of context. And characters.

Granted, it's more Mad Men quotes than P&P quotes, because matching Mad Men characters with Jane Austen characters is considerably difficult. There's too much tact.. :P

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Teenagers.

Hear me out, okay?

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The other day I posted about morbid sequels to children's/YA works, OR the story getting more morbid as the characters aged, and how that can be annoying. So in honor of that, I bring you: The Morbid Games, which is sort of a parody.

Pick a series, and fill in the categories - all of them, some of them, and/or create your own - whatever you'd like. Bonus points if you create a fic out of it - if you do, let me know and I will link!  I'll leave this public so anyone can play. Make this as ridiculous as you'd like, that's the point. (Although if it's sadder than ridiculous, that's fine too. I'm really not a rules person, can you tell?) You can play more than once, but make a new comment.

And if you're still not sure what I mean, I'm referring not necessarily to adult versions of series or later books/episodes/movies where the characters are older and therefore face more mature situations (that's realistic), but where it's so contrived it's like the writers wanted to be sure you realized They Are Adults Now, or where it wasn't necessarily contrived, but a bit OOC. Of course, Your Mileage May Very here.

Have fun!


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Twilight fans:

So I'm researching teenager literature and culture due to wanting to try and write in that genre, and it is evident that Twilight is what piques the interest of many teen girls right now.

So whether you're a teen or not, I'm going to put my personal opinion of the books aside and ask - why do you like them?

If you don't like the books, why do you think others do?

ETA: I initially screened comments, but I decided against it. However, I do ask that everyone keep things civil - this is not the place to debate other people's opinions. I'm just curious about yours. 

As I have mentioned, I've been watching Buffy. I've seasons 1-2 countless times, and have managed to catch some of the other seasons. Once in a while I'll pop in on some discussion, if I'm bored/procrastinating/whatever else. I've also discussed the show with friends.

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of Buffy fans say that they liked the show - until a particular season. The consensus is usually season four, sometimes season five.

I don't know whether they're right or wrong - what I've seen seems just fine,  but hey, what do I know? 

I've noticed this in the Harry Potter fandom as well. Harry Potter is to me what I think Buffy was to a lot of people - I followed it for years, speculated on pairings, read every fic out there, etc. In short, I was a bit of a Potterhead. (Okay, maybe I  still am just a little.)

I loved all the books. Sure, there were things I might have done differently, but I loved the first book the moment I picked it up, and the seventh book the moment I put it down. However, I've noticed a lot of people really disliked the last two or three books. (I've even heard of some people who only liked the first three books, but not as many. Mostly the cut off seems to be OoTP/HBP.)

I've had this experience with other shows and books too, either in terms of seeing that reaction or even feeling it myself. The Earth's Children series... Ugly Betty... Boy Meets World...

In short, it seems that along the way, fans and fanbases may stay, but not for the same reasons they originally got into the series.

My question is... why is that?

I think that it's just really interesting to see, albeit definitely not a new phenomenon - I have been asking myself this question since I was fourteen and realized a show I used to love, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, made me want to poke my eyes out. Was it that I could no longer appreciate the fact that it was really for preteens and I was growing up, or had the plot really become just that horrible? I blamed the show, but part of me wasn't sure.

Sometimes I do think it's the creator(s). I think that some things should just stop before they get out of hand. (Especially "the college years" - I have never heard of that concept working.) And sometimes they decide to try "new things" that just don't... work.

There are also times, apparently, that the creator(s) will intentionally ruin something. I heard that the show Gilmore Girls got pretty stupid in one of the later seasons; after that, I heard that apparently one of the writers/directors (something like that) had intentionally butchered the show. (I could be completely wrong on one or both counts, of course - this is hearsay, if from a source whom I trust.)

Other times, I wonder if it's the fans, especially for long-running series. Do we expect too much? Do we want everything to stay too close to the original? Is it hard for us to accept when characters we love change too much - or at all?

I don't think there's really a universal answer for all of those - I think it depends on the show and even your own opinion. I'm just curious as to what everyone thinks.