Warning: Contents Under Pressure. You know what that means...

[ultranos]

Watching Avatar: The Last Airbender is making me want to attempt to read all of Romance of the Three Kingdoms again. Which really doesn't follow, but I stopped long ago trying to figure out how my brain works. Well, unless my brain is somehow matching the Fire Nation with the Kingdom of Wei, lead by Cao Cao, which makes no sense.

I tried to read the whole thing once before getting bogged down near the end of Book 1 of 4. It's dense and I lost track of characters. I want another go at it, but possibly during term is a less-than-ideal plan. (What does it say about me if I'll gladly attempt to read classical Chinese literature or Japanese battle strategies [hello, Book of the Five Rings], but won't touch English literature like Jane Eyre, even though the latter probably requires less brain-breaking and struggle?)

Although this does beg the question of who would be Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang. I love badass tacticians and strategists!

Speaking of strategies, someone tell me that using the Thirty-Six Stratagems as prompts is a Bad Idea? Please? (Worse Idea: ficathon based on the idea of using the Thirty-Six Stratagems. But I bet people could come up with some clever interpretations.)

You can totally tell I'm supposed to be writing a technical paper right now, can't you? I swear to god my brain overdoses on the crack when it's under pressure.

Comments

[beanpot.livejournal.com]

How are you liking it?

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

I am liking it. The world-building is really impressive, and I'm always a sucker for that.

I'm still in the very beginning (ep1x07 range, since I had a paper to write), and Aang is kinda irritating me with his refusal to take things seriously, but Havoc assures me he gets better. Being a kid is fine for a child-protagonist; treating a war like a field trip when party members clearly know it's a war is a little grating. Mostly because it makes him feel much younger than 12, and that's a weird dissonance for me.

[havocthecat]

Honestly, I've never read Jane Eyre either. I feel like it's kind of...ew. And it's a little brain-breaky anyway.

ANYWAY, I think the idea of people being assigned one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems to write a fic on would be awesome. Kind of like the alphabet soup?

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

I tried! I got the book (along with some other "classic" literature of the period) for a birthday. I read about 3 full pages before giving up and throwing the book across the room. Which was funny, because my mom had been telling me how much she enjoyed reading the book when I was her age, so I tried for her sake. And then her reaction was "...yeah, I should have expected that."

ANYWAY, I think the idea of people being assigned one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems to write a fic on would be awesome. Kind of like the alphabet soup?

Pretty much! I'm thinking any fandom. Get assigned or pick one from the list of the Thirty-Six Stratagems. Interpret it as you want. Write [n] words.

I'm sure people could come up with some awesome ideas.

[havocthecat]

I tried to read Jane Eyre twice! I couldn't get more than a couple chapters in, if that much. Then I forced myself to finish all of Wuthering Heights, mostly because I had it in ebook format and nothing else to read at the time. But. I believe that those two of the Bronte sisters are not for me, and I should probably try reading Anne's stuff to see if I should write off all three of the Bronte sisters.

My mom also loved Jane Eyre. Sometimes I don't understand her at all.

retty much! I'm thinking any fandom. Get assigned or pick one from the list of the Thirty-Six Stratagems. Interpret it as you want. Write [n] words.

You should do this! And make it multifandom! It would be fairly easy to run, I would think, if you either let people self-select, or if you assign it randomly.

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

I ran far, far away from any Bronte stuff. Just...no, can't do it.

At least, when my mom saw me floundering for things to read, threw me at the Hardy Boys. She just has moments of attempting to make me stereotypically female in some fashion, I think. This is rather endearing, since it's usually always met with failure, and yet she tries so hard anyway. :P

You should do this! And make it multifandom! It would be fairly easy to run, I would think, if you either let people self-select, or if you assign it randomly.

I'm very, very tempted. I wonder how many other people would be interested. So I can see if it's worthwhile.

[havocthecat]

Hee! Oh, God, you are really, really not stereotypically female, from the times I've met you, and our interactions online. (And this is in no way a bad thing, in case I wasn't clear! I was amused at your mom, but also not in a bad way.)

The Hardy Boys are awesome. I think they're some of the few kid detective books with boys that I really fell in love with (also Encyclopedia Brown and the Three Investigators series).

You can do a poll to gauge interest! I'll pimp it for you!

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

Have at you! (http://ultranos-fic.livejournal.com/78202.html) :P

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Aang does get much less annoyingly oblivious. He's still playful, but not... yeah. Just think of him as like Jack.

As far as Jane Eyre goes... I liked it, but wasn't blown away. But I do love Pride and Prejudice, so... I have no idea what that means. *g*

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

Just think of him as like Jack.

Actually, that might help a lot. I keep trying to read him like Simon from Gurran Lagann, which is really not working. Simon has a completely different personality than Aang.