penfold_x: (district 3)
[livejournal.com profile] lorataprose sent me a link to a fan's sorting of the Hunger Games characters into the Hogwarts houses. She didn't like a lot of the author's picks, and I definitely agreed (Gale as a Slytherin? The man who turned down his One True Love's offer to run off into the woods in order to fight a seemingly hopeless battle for justice? Just because you don't like a character doesn't mean s/he is a Slytherin). That said, I tried to do better myself, but found to be challenging. What do you think?

Gryffindor
Katniss: Sometimes I have difficulty 'getting' Katniss (we meet her when she already has a mild case of PTSD, which only gets worse as the books go on, so she's unreliable, even about herself), but I think she's predominantly Gryffindor. She's very brave and daring (most people in Twelve don't dare to go beyond the fence, but she does it routinely from a young age, and if we trust her POV, she's the only or one of an extremely small number of non-Career volunteers). She's independent (doesn't need anyone to sit by her at school, is able to take on being head of her house at a very young age). She wears her heart on her sleeve ("Everyone knows my secrets before I do") and can get passionate when she feels something is the 'right' thing to do (eg, keeping Peeta out of/alive during the 75th). She's driven by her emotions a lot of the time, to the point she takes risks that others might think foolish (the shot at the Gamemakers, the play with the berries, walking out into the square in Two to try to make peace). Her protective nature (eg, toward Rue) could be interpreted as a chivalrous streak. She's loyal to her friends, expects loyalty in return from them, and heaven help you if you break faith with her, even for a good reason (eg, Mrs. Everdeen). And, well, she's not evinced any love of learning and she isn't terribly cunning.

Gale: I think this is really clear. Gale is brave, to the point of recklessness sometimes. Gale keenly feels the injustice of their world and has always wanted to do something about it, and is only held back by the need to take care of his immediate family. Like Katniss, he's brave enough to hunt in the woods when most of Twelve won't walk out past the meadow. When Gale shouts during the planning of the assault on the Nut that he'd gladly give his life if he were a spy, Katniss says she has no doubt he's being honest. But Gale probably couldn't be a spy because, like Katniss, everyone knows exactly what he's thinking all the time.

Cinna: Idealism. A seemingly inborn sense of justice. Courage to take certain stands, even though he knows he will likely die for them. He's clever about it, so he may have some snake or claw in him (especially given his creativity, which speaks to both those houses), but I think, overall, given his ability to tap into and bring out a sense of nobility, he's predominantly Gryffindor.

Johanna: I'm less sure about this sort. A girl who wins her games by pretending to be a frightened weakling sounds Slytherin-ish, but her cunning seems to have left her by the time we meet her in Catching Fire, where she's pretty blunt and brutal with everyone (her interview in the movie, in particular, is classic Gryffindor). It's implied that she's lost all of her family, probably as the result of resisting Snow on some point of principle. In Mockingjay, she's relentless (and very brave) about pushing herself to try to get over fears. Though she's burnt out and battered when we meet her, I think there's a hero under the damage.

Ravenclaw
Wiress: Almost stereotypically Raveclaw--the absent-minded professor, so lost in her own thoughts that she sometimes trails off in the middle of her sentences. Loves learning and is extremely creative.

Beetee: Very much like Wiress, but you could make an argument that there's a lot of cunning in a teenager who created what must have been a meticulous and deliberate trap that killed six tributes simultaneously. However, Beetee also seems to be perfectly happy to be off stage; he's got a central role in much of the work of the rebellion, but never evidences any desire to be the one calling the shots or to move himself into a political position in the new government. He may have a streak of Slytherin in his make-up (it's definitely part of my headcanon for him), but he seems to be mostly driven by his intellect and curiosity.

Plutarch: For all they're about a revolution, there isn't a lot of political theory in Collins' books. Plutarch comes closer than any other character to seeming to have some sense of the abstract concepts beyond 'I'm rebelling because the Capitol is starving/working me to death.' He also seems to be very cerebral (especially in the movie presentation), and for all his understanding of human emotion, can appear to not care as much as he should, or not have so much of a sense of the human cost of the rebellion.

Annie: This is something of a WAG, since we don't get to know Annie very well, but when [livejournal.com profile] lorataprose and I were talking about this many moons ago, we both had the sense that she belonged in Ravenclaw. It could be the way she seems to live primarily in her head, coupled with her quiet demeanor. I get the impression that, for all she's a career, Annie's reaction to her districtmate's beheading was partly due to her being less ready than a more practically oriented career would be for the reality of violence.

Hufflepuff
Prim: Animal-loving healer. Gentle, friendly, desiring to help others. Practical (e.g., in the Catching Fire film, takes over from Mrs. Everdeen when her hands are shaking too much to get the morphling into the syringe).

Brutus: There isn't a lot to work with in canon, but I think there are two types of kids who go into a career program: reckless daredevils (Clove) and true believers (Cato). If Enobaria is the daredevil of the 75th pairing, Brutus is the true-believing workhorse. Brutus isn't flamboyant (especially in the movie presentation). He's there to do the job that needs doing.

Mags: We don't get an awful lot about Mags in canon, so I may be overly influenced by fanon here, but I get the sense she's very community-oriented (she volunteers for Annie, probably thinking that it's worth sacrificing herself for someone who still has her whole life ahead of her) and practical (she does what she can in the arena to help out, plugging away steadily at what she can do instead of getting frustrated/emotional).

Peeta: I'm not 100% sold on any house for Peeta. As a sixteen year old, he decided that he loved a girl he almost never spoke to so much he was willing to die for her. I'm not sure if that's anything other than crazy, but maybe it's Hufflepuff? He's also warm, friendly, and likable. He seems to have a good sense of what works with a group. He's comfortable being the supporting player; he doesn't seem to have any desire to be the star.

Slytherin
Haymitch: It takes a lot of skill to be as impaired as Haymitch is (no doubt he's a genuine alcoholic) and still plot a revolution. He's great at determining what arena strategies are best for Katniss and Peeta, and even talks Seneca Crane into bending the rules to allow for a dual-victor scenario. Haymitch is more loyal to the plan/system then to individuals, but he does know how to strike alliances to protect himself and those he's taken on as his.

Finnick: A 14-year-old Career tribute? Ambitious. Certainly thought he was destined for greatness. More than his clever, showy arena strategy (where the others didn't realize 'he was the one to beat until it was too late'), I think his successful career as a spy points to Finnick as a snake. He's the anti-Katniss, able to conceal his true motives and use his beguiling charm to get Capitol citizens to reveal to him the dirtiest of laundry.

Rue: "Where's Peeta?" "Oh, he's down by the river..." Rue is one clever girl, using her size and her abilities well to her advantage in the arena. But her biggest triumph is making her alliance with Katniss, which might well have saved her (she could probably guess that Katniss would think of her as a substitute Prim and have a great deal of difficulty killing her, if it came down to it). She makes it oblivious to Katniss that she'd be a valuable teammate (with the trackerjackers and the leaves), and is cunning enough to neglect to mention to Katniss the one fact that might have caused her to pull away from Rue to go be with Peeta (who's down by the river alright, bleeding to death). And, if you take the movies for canon, during training, she stole a favorite knife from the biggest threat in the tribute pool, just to watch what he'd do (and enjoy how it played out).
penfold_x: (reading (five))
My friend [livejournal.com profile] b7kerravon made the mistake of asking "If I was marooned on a desert island, what ten fanfics would I want with me?" Of course, being the geeks we are, if we knew we were going to be marooned on a desert isle, we'd have a laptop and a external drive packed with fic with handy solar power converters. Even if I'm only flying to Cleveland, I make sure to have more than ten fics with me because the last thing I want is to be trapped on a mystical, time-traveling island with nothing but Watership Down to read.

But just contemplating being limited to ten stories, even favorites, is enough to bring on fangirl angst. Some of my favorite fandoms, such as Supernatural and Stargate SG-1 are so rich in well-plotted, beautifully written gen H/C stories it is difficult for me to compose even a 'favorite ten authors' list without leaving out a lot of extremely worthy stories. Yet, if I did have to choose, I think I would want: longer stories, to prolong the joy; stories across the fandoms I enjoy, to give me a multitude of mental starting off places (isn't the epilogue or missing scene you write in your head a part of what you love about a favorite story?); and stories that epitomize my favorite aspects of the characters' relationship. With those characteristics in mind, I have selected a favorite from each of my fandoms:

I. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Observare by Jeanne DeVore
BTVS fandom was dominated by ship and slash parings, but there were some gems of friendship-focused stories among them. Observare, originally published as a print zine lovingly illustrated by Linda Fairbanks, is a wonderful example of the Buffy/Giles mentoring genre. Giles receives word that the father from whom he is somewhat estranged is dying, and asks Buffy to accompany him to England. It's the perfect set-up for Buffy to learn more about who her Watcher is, to explore the Watcher/Slayer relationship, and for Giles to open up to his charge.

I lost most of my BTVS fics in a harddrive crash a few years ago, and many of the sites that I used to enjoy have decayed or disappeared, but a few stories are still available. I really enjoyed Gail Christison's episode tags; fortunately her Once More With Feeling site is still up and running. I also adore, adore, adore ELG's Wesley de-aging story, Childish Things, which is everything I've ever loved about that genre of fic.

II. Doctor Who: Susurration by Patrice
I'm new to OldSchool!Who fic, so I count myself fortunate to have found Patrice, who has written eleven full-length novels, most set in the Fifth Doctor era. Truly, I recommend all of her novels; her work is consistently excellent and she has a wonderful command of Five's companions, who can be irritating (Adric/Tegan), boring (Nyssa) or unsympathetic (Turlough) in the wrong hands. Her plots generally feature some element of H/C, and her Five is a gentle if imperfect mentor as well as loyal and caring friend. In Susurration, Five brings Tegan and Turlough to a planet with a location renowned for its healing powers, in an attempt to comfort his companions after Nyssa's decision to stay behind at the end of Terminus. Unfortunately, they stumble into a bloody civil war that threatens Turlough's life and Tegan's sanity.

Unfortunately, I haven't found very many longer gen OldSchool!Who stories, but another I would strongly recommend is Lost Luggage and Lost Souls by Nemo the Everbeing. Seven and Ace are an odd pair, especially if all you've seen is the outside; it's not immediately obvious why a slightly bumbly-looking middle-aged Scotsman might be traveling with a streetwise teenage English girl. Lost Luggage and Lost Souls is a beautifully rendered outsider perspective on Seven and Ace's relationship, chock full of my favorite things: witty banter, mortal peril, compelling original characters, and happy endings.

III. Harry Potter: Resonance by Greengecko
Snape/Harry mentorship stories are my drug of choice in Harry Potter. My favorite of these is Resonance by Greengecko, in which the author builds a believable set of circumstances in which Snape and Harry would begin to overcome their enmity and eventually heal each others' figurative (and literal) scars. Resonance has many classic H/C moments, wherein the author provides fully satisfying peril and recovery while maintaining the characters' distinct, often difficult personalities. She's also adept at world-building, going beyond Rowling's original setting to provide us with a fascinating set of spells and magical laws, the exploration of which bring us insight into the characters.

Of course, if I could sneak them onto the island, I'd have the other classics of this genre, A Year Like None Other by Aspen in the Sunlight and Blood Magic by GatewayGirl*.

IV. Lord of the Rings: Fate and the High King's Falcon, by Baylor
Set immediately after the final battle in Return of the King, Fate is the story of Pippin's recovery from near fatal troll-squashing. Baylor has a talent for capturing the voice and manners of Tolkien's characters, and her comfort is among the gentlest and sweetest I've ever read. For me, her take on the hobbits is definitive, and if I had room, I'd be chucking in I Always Know You (pre-LOTR, Merry caring for a frequently ill Pippin) and The Care and Feeding of Hobbits ("Ruminations on the Little People by Boromir, Man of Gondor").

V. Real Ghostbusters: Highway to Hell, by Kitty Woldow
The story that sets the standard for smarm in RGB fandom, from the woman who invented the term. The noble sacrifice of a friend for the lives of his companions is a well-worn path in traditional media and fanworks, but I haven’t read any story that so unflinchingly examines the way such a sacrifice can shatter its survivors. Of course, our fallen teammate is only mostly dead, and after several clever plot developments and acts of heroism, is reunited with his fellows, but not before a lot of teamwork, daring-do and bonding.

RGB is a small fandom but punches well above its weight in fan fiction, especially if you love H/C, smarm or friendship-focused fic. It is difficult to pick a favorite out of all of the quality stories published over the past twenty years; there are plenty of stories I would love to sneak into my desert island collection, including just about anything written by Brenda (start with Christmas at Columbia). Sheila Paulson has an unbelievably enormous back catalogue of RGB fic with a heavy friendship focus. Her novel Paths of the Dead is my favorite but doesn’t appear to be online (or was lost in the move when AOL shutdown Hometown), but The Night Between the Stars and Buster and the Beast are close seconds.

It is difficult to even select among authors in RGB; the entire fandom is a smorgasbord for friendship-focused fans. Just click over to Sheila’s site and have a blast. Don’t be put off by the fact that the source material is a cartoon; the episodes made for syndication were much more mature and sophisticated than what passes for kids’ shows these days, due in part to its story editor, a young J. Michael Straczynski.

VI. Stargate SG-1: Fate's Reflection, by Yum@
Epic. Stunning. Brilliant. Yum@ uses SG-1’s mirror device to produce a deeply engaging post-apocalyptic vision of the Stargate universe. The best part of this device is that we get to see the ‘mirror’ characters contrasted with their ‘real’ counterparts, a wonderful method of illuminating aspects of those characters, as well as forcing them to face intriguing or painful might-have-beens. Yum@ kills on every metric: an intricate, intriguing plot with fascinating and unpredictable development, a keen grasp on the motivation of her characters, and an incredible depth of emotion, artfully expressed. I couldn’t put it down which, at over 350 pages of very small font, posed a problem for little things like eating, sleeping and keeping my job.

I am fortunate that SG-1 was my introduction to fan fiction; there was so much quality H/C fic and the fandom was populated with especially generous and welcoming folks willing to take a newbie under their wings. My best memories of fandom are from Stargate, so it’s particularly difficult to choose among these stories. I would certainly want to take along as many as I could fit in my grass hut. All of ELG’s novels are excellent; The Quality of Mercy was the first ‘net story I enjoyed so much I had a copy formatted and bound. Scribe’s True Foundations and Jmas’s Walls are also well executed stories that have a particular resonance for me.

VII. Supernatural: Strangers and Angels by Reading
Wet, tired, caked in mud, and still reeling from the events of Faith, Sam and Dean pull into the only roadside motel in the middle of nowhere and find an unexpected respite from a world intent on wearing them down. Not a hurt/comfort story so much as a comfort story, this fic is a sweet cup of hot cocoa enjoyed under a warm fleece in front of a crackling fire. Reading has created a set of realistic, three-dimensional original characters that compliment and illuminate our boys. I would use some creative accounting to include the entire Strangers and Angels AU, which continues in several sequels, in my ten desert island fics.

Supernatural has given friendship fic fans a golden age I haven’t seen the like of since the hayday of Stargate, so it’s extraordinarily difficult to choose among my favorite stories. Gekizetsu’s Month of Open Doors series is one of the first things I read in this fandom; she keeps the tension at a fever pitch and makes perfect use of the ‘supernatural’ elements of this universe to peel back the boys well-constructed defenses. Payment Plan by Minkmix is my favorite third party POV story; her narrator’s callous practicality is more chilling than a thousand moustache-twirling villains. Dodger Winslow consistently blows my mind with her use of perspective, rich characterization, and unique style. All of her Wee!chester is amazing, but I come back to The Constancy of Pain again and again. There’s really too much to choose from—early in the fandom I bound one anthology of favorite stories but there are so many excellent fics I’m switching to full ‘complete works of’ collections.

* Warning: unlike my other recs, this story contains some mild ship and slash; I'm not sure why, but this author was set on making every character in HP bisexual. Still, the romantic pairings are not the main thrust of the story, so I would still consider this gen, and I don't recall sexual content to be explicit.

WTF?

Oct. 2nd, 2005 01:16 pm
penfold_x: (ate clay aiken)
I think I'd remember the line from GOF that read "...and then Snape rubbed Harry and Ron's hair."

So, what's going on in this photo? I'm guessing that someone flubbed their line, and Rickman is fooling around with Grint and Radcliff while the shot is reset.

Revolution

Sep. 7th, 2005 08:15 am
penfold_x: (Default)
[livejournal.com profile] darkirony has posted the first chapter of her sequel to Resonance, Revolution! *squee*

Just yesterday, I finished my first re-read of Resonance after Marie finished the re-writes, which is no mean feat as the novel clocks in at over 500 pages (10 point font, .5 inch margins). Marie is usually very good at updating, so I think I can expect regular posting as I tackle the Herculean task of formatting Resonance for binding.
penfold_x: (Default)
This will only make sense to Americans, but I found this disproportionately funny.
penfold_x: (Default)
Reflections on discussing HBP with non-fannish readers: When does the spoiler moritorium end, anyhow? )

HBP Icons

Jul. 17th, 2005 05:52 pm
penfold_x: (Default)
I don't consider the icons themselves to be spoilery, but my discussion of them is, so I'll put them behind the cut. Comments are nice, credit is unnecessary.

Not So Black and White )

24

Jul. 15th, 2005 12:00 am
penfold_x: (ate clay aiken)
I'm logging off of LJ until I finish HBP. Through sheer willpower (and a lot of sudokus) I've managed to avoid reading the spoiler sites.

Now to the battle of keeping myself from skipping ahead in the text.

Enjoy your reading!
penfold_x: (ate clay aiken)
This isn't a post of HBP spoilers; it's just a post about my HBP spoiler angst:

Up to now, I've been very good about remaining spoiler-free for HBP. I used to actively pursue spoilers in other fandoms, especially SG-1. Frankly, I would have been a wibbly mess had I not been entirely spoiled for Meridian (not that it would have been possible to have remained unspoiled, given that I was present at Gatecon when the announcement was made). But after SG-1 started feeling somewhat tired, I went spoiler-free and found it did make the show more enjoyable (to the degree that one can enjoy SG-1 post-season four).

A month or so ago, it was easy to remain spoiler-free, given that there weren't many spoilers out there that JKR didn't drop herself. Now it's come to my attention that there are sites that reveal virtually everything you want to know about the book, so there's genuine temptation: do I want to know? Will my enjoyment be lessened? Or would it be better to prepare myself for a painful development (fortunately, I am one of the sane minority who thought Sirius was a boorish lout and I miss him not a whit)? To quote a pirate: Argh.

I think I can handle being subjected to almost anything (R/Hr, Draco going good, Harry retaining his emotional one-dimensionality, poor Percy snuffing it, Hagrid being the HBP, Harry being distracted by romance even though he knows that he's fated to fight Voldemort and thus should be buckling down in his studies rather than making cow eyes at some bint, etc).

However, I don't think I would like to read unless I am properly forewarned: 1) Snape buying it; or 2) Neville betraying Harry. I am resigned to Snape's likely Book 7 demise; frankly, it might not be the best moral message to allow Snape to escape from the situation he made for himself, so I'm prepared for a messy, but hopefully valiant, pivotal death scene somewhere in the latter half of Book 7. I'm not at all prepared for Neville to be anything but a good guy, and if he turns into a latter-day Peter Pettigrew... I just want to know in advance.

So, if you've digested the HBP spoilers, and you know that either 1 or 2 will come to pass, would you please email to warn me (please don't post in comments)?
penfold_x: (ate clay aiken)
12" Rowan & Thestral
You scored 68% Elementality, 80% Magic Knowledge, and 37% Goodness!
Your wand is 12" and rather flexible, made of rowan with a thestral tail hair core. The rowan is associated with powerful magic, and the breaking of and protection from evil enchantments. This wand will be especially useful in spells concerning those issues. The thestral is only visible to those who have seen death and, as such, can have a negative association. However, thestrals are also symbolic of being able to see beneath the surface and mindfulness, and the thestral tail hair in your wand will bring those elements to the party. This is a very powerful and potentially dangerous combination but, based upon your magical knowledge score, I am not worried about your ability to use it. Or maybe I should be...

The Right Wand for You Test

Point Me?

Jul. 3rd, 2005 04:52 pm
penfold_x: (militant genner)
I'd really like to read some Percy-centric gen fan fiction. I've a couple pieces in my "library" but I'd enjoy a bit more, particularly fic focusing on Percy's relationship with his family after the events of Phoenix, but really, any gen Percy story would do.
penfold_x: (ate clay aiken)
I dropped off my Slytherin robe at the dry cleaner for a hem and press. The proprietor examined the robe and said "It's very full; I'll need to charge extra and I won't have it until the end of the week." I assured her that I only wear it on special occasions.

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