Various Stuff

[shipperx]

Self Important Nitwit

Joel Stein: The only thing more embarrassing than catching a guy on the plane looking at pornography on his computer is seeing a guy on the plane reading “The Hunger Games.” {...} Or Harry Potter. The only time I’m O.K. with an adult holding a children’s book is if he’s moving his mouth as he reads.

I’m sure all those books are well written. So is “Horton Hatches the Egg.” But Horton doesn’t have the depth of language and character as literature written for people who have stopped physically growing.

I appreciate that adults occasionally watch Pixar movies or play video games. That’s fine. Those media don’t require much of your brains. Books are one of our few chances to learn. There’s a reason my teachers didn’t assign me to go home and play three hours of Donkey Kong.

I have no idea what “The Hunger Games” is like. Maybe there are complicated shades of good and evil in each character. Maybe there are Pynchonesque turns of phrase. Maybe it delves into issues of identity, self-justification and anomie that would make David Foster Wallace proud. I don’t know because it’s a book for kids. I’ll read “The Hunger Games” when I finish the previous 3,000 years of fiction written for adults.

Star Trek 2

Co-writer Alex Kurtzman has some high praise for Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch — who we're about 99.9999% sure is playing the main villain, even if that hasn't been officially confirmed — as well as director J.J. Abrams:

"[Benedict Cumberbatch is] incredible. What he does with language is incredible. His training is amazing and he's so magnetic, he holds the screen in any size frame, he really is a joy to watch. The movie is going unbelievably well," he added. "J.J. as usual is crushing it, he's doing an amazing amazing job. I think as much as we put all of our love and effort into the first one, there's even more in this one and he is really, he's such an exacting and beautiful director. What I watch him do, it's so amazing, he inspires everybody around him and he's been so utterly true to everything that we all have honored and loved about Trek so that's kind of where we're at right now. The finish line is in sight."

He also suggests the crew is still going through some growing pains in the sequel:

Without spoiling anything, the challenge is that you don't want to jump too far ahead and assume that just because they got together they're all comfortable with each other. They're still all working out their kinks and still becoming the bridge crew that we remember from the series. That's still very much alive and look, any good sequel is about the challenge that the group faces in order to become the unified team and I think that that challenge in this movie is going to be hopefully amazing."

Dr Who

New companion Jenna-Louise Colman drops some more cryptic hints about what to expect from her character:

"I know what my introduction is. and I have a general idea of where we're going to go. There's definitely a story arc. It sounds really interesting, really exciting. I don't think anything's been done like it before, but there are lots of secrets and intrigue, and I think it's going to throw and confuse a lot of people, and surprise a lot of people..."

True Blood

HBO has set an official season five premiere date for June 10


Game of Thrones:
Cersei:

Lena Headey discusses what's ahead for Cersei:

"You get a real glimpse into her guilt as a mother and her fear of what she's created [in Joffrey]. She's just starting to slightly crumble and feel the reality of her world. There's a lot of drinking... also massive denial about her son's behavior. There's a moment where she absolutely shows Tyrion her true self. He becomes like a sort of confidante - almost - because she has nobody else. She can't help but torture [Sansa]. I think that's driven by her envy. She's just fucking mean all season."

Sansa:

Speaking of Sansa Stark, actress Sophie Turner reveals, "Sansa's kind of suffering at the hands of Joffrey and she literally has no one this season, so you're gonna see her grow a lot." Finally, here's some more from Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, in which he tries to dig deep to the core of Jaime:

"I think the core of Jaime Lannister is actually that final line in the pilot when he says, ‘the things I do for love.' He might do horrible things - and they are truly, some of them, horrific. There's no excuses. But he does it out of what he sees as a necessity, out of love. If this kid tells the world what he's seen, the woman I love will be killed, and the children we have will be killed. That was kind of my hook to this guy. Also, the thing that defines him, in public, is that he's the kingslayer and has done this horrible deed. Now, again, the way he sees it, he knows things others don't know because he was so close to the Mad King. He sees it is his proudest moment. The rest of the world doesn't share that view. But I like that whole theme of how people perceive us vs. how we perceive ourselves and how those things aren't necessarily the same. I think we can all relate to that."

Comments

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Is Joel Stein related to Ben Stein? Because that would explain his asshattery. :D

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Hee! It totally would. :)

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

OHHH he's the jerkface who wrote this piece of racist, xenophobic trash: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999416,00.html

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

"...In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if "dot heads" was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose. ..."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1999416,00.html#ixzz1rBo7hmcf

---

So what have we learned here? That douchenozzle isn't just skin deep. It cuts all the way to the bone.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

He's a really special guy. who should be shunned by all publishing outlets.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Joel Stein is a well-known unapologetic d-bag. No one pays one whit of attention to the drivel he writes. Personally, I think he's secretly ashamed that Horton Hears A Who is the limit of his reading comprehension.

I dunno; Headey still really annoys me with all this "actorly" talk about Cersei. She's managed to convince the producers to let her "temper" the character, which still pisses me off. Cersei is one of the great female villains in popular literature, and all this revisionist crap (about how she "loved" Robert, how loves her children, how she's afraid of Joffrey, Tyrion, etc., none of which I remember from the books) is maddening. I've said it before, I'll say it until the series finally gets it: SHE CRAZY. SHOW IT.

Love Coster-Waldau to death, though.

And Benedict Cumberbatch: OMG. This ST is so going to rule, even if it sucks. Simon Pegg has been screaming joyfully (and frustratingly obliquely) on Twitter about certain ST scenes he's either just filmed or seen filmed, and I take that as proof positive that they're really getting it right this time. Can't wait.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

In the books Cersei is the pinnacle of "mean girl". Seriously, when reading her POV in "A Feast For Crows" she appears to have the limited intellectual and emotional capacity of a really, really, heartless and bitchy sixteen year old 'mean girl'... and absolutely nothing above that.

In the book she's afraid of no one (except possibly her father). That's one of her problems!

[usedtobeljs]

I can't wait for Star Trek 2! (And, er, I didn't ever see ST 1, which probably tells you what the selling point of 2 is....)

[sp23.livejournal.com]

IDK, but I think it must be very hard for Joel Stein to walk around with his head planted so firmly up his own ass.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I googled Stien, I keep getting him confused with the guy who wrote that book about the Clinton Campaign that was made into the film with John Travolta and Emma Thompson - ah, Primary Colors (which was by Joe Klein).

Apparently he's a failed television sitcom writer with a chip on his shoulder and very dark sense of humor. Note to Stein? Sarcasm sometimes requires an icon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Stein

He did get a lot of reactions regarding his view on the Hunger Games.
I saw five posts on my flist, two from professional writers, kicking him for it. Surprised Neil Gaiman and George RR Martin didn't go after him...although Neil has been quite lately.

I rather like what the series is doing with the Lannisters, and the other characters. It's tempting to give up on the books entirely and just watch the tv series at this point.