A book for children is first of all to enjoy, and after that it can be full of all the other things books can do for children — mostly, I believe, to encourage them to think for themselves.
---Diane Wynn Jones(1934-2011)
An author can become like a close friend or relative. Their prose can be their voice and their characters can be their children. It takes a certain type of author and a certain type of prose to accomplish this. But when it is accomplished it will stick with you for life.
Diana Wynn Jone is one of the greatest writers for children that has ever lived. She has penned fantasy adventures that make the mind race and she has created characters who I love as siblings. Her Crestomanci books are simply and plainly one of the greatest series of stories on the Planet Earth.
She wrote the first book in that series, Charmed Life, in 1977 and it was delightful. She has continued to add books to that series every few(or sometimes every 11) years or so. One might think that a series drawn out over such a length of time cannot continue with a high level of quality. However, the strongest book in the Crestomanci series was released in 2005 and was called Conrad's Fate. I cannot praise that book highly enough and if I have ever been right about anything, read that book.
Another one of Ms. Jones' biggest accomplishments is The Tough Guide To Fantasyland in which she lays out every fantasy cliche that she can think of and dissects it hilariously. If you ever watch, read, or especially write fantasy you must pick up a copy of this book.
When I sat down to write this I was thinking of calling her Princess Diana to reference the Ex-Princess of Wales but Ms. Jones was not a princess she was a queen.
Rest in Peace, Diana Wynne Jones. You shone like a star. The funniest, wisest, writer & the finest friend. I miss you.
---Neil Gaiman
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
the last enemy to be conquered is pop culture
I would like to share with you a few words about the Fox television show Glee(I promise to be brief). Now this show is very popular among some and rather hated among others. While there are numerous problems with the show(including writing, directing and acting) this show is doing one thing that has never really been done this way before.
On the show there are various romantic relationships that we are supposed to care about. We have the two main characters and various supporting characters(who aren't really supporting but they are less main than the two main characters). Over the past season(we're in the second) things have developed which I would like to discuss briefly(Spoiler warning).
So in the first season they introduce a gay character(Kurt Hummnel played wonderfully by Golden Globe Winner Chris Colfer) and they set him up as having feelings for a straight boy. Thankfully in the second season they have shelved this subplot and introduced a second gay character(Blaine Anderson played by noted Potter fan Darren Criss) for Kurt to have feelings for. But they carefully avoid the trap of having Blaine just be a token love interest. He is a very deep and interesting character(more interesting then any of the straight character by far and away)
There is one scene that symbolizes for me what this show is doing. In their Valentine's episode, Blaine(unaware of Kurt's feelings) asks for his assistance in asking out this boy. And the scene that follow(of the asking out) is played completely, if you will pardon the expression, straight. It wasn't "Oh Look At This Character....HE"S GAY!" it was "Look at this character, look at what he's doing. Take him as a character." It is scenes like that that make me return to Glee.
In this week's episode(spoiler) Kurt and Blaine finally get together and share a kiss. This kiss is just a kiss, like a boy and a girl would share a kiss. It isn't blocked to shock, it's simply a kiss.
Also, recently, another subplot has arisen. Since the beginning of the show it has been established that Brittney(played by Heather Morris) and Santana(Played by Nata Rivera) are the school bad girls. They have slept with tons of guys, blah blah, blah. But what started off as a joke in an episode last year has turned into a serious plotline.
This season Brittney has been trying to have a steady relationship with Artie(Played by Kevin McHale) something she has never done. In the first half of the season we are expected to care about that relationship but recently it has been revealed that Santana and Britney are in a secret homosexual relationship. And just like that the writers shift our sympathies. I no longer want Britney and Artie to work, I want her and Santana to get together openly. How many shows(other than Buffy the Vampire Slayer) suddenly shift our sympathies from a heterosexual to a homosexual relationship?
All this is taking place on a very popular network show(on Fox no less).
Let's take a quick look at Modern Family(another Fox Show). This show is a sitcom about three families and one of them is two gay men and their adopted child. And the show is very popular among Republicans.
On The Good Wife(CBS) one of the members of the supporting cast is openly bisexual.
On The Office(NBC) one of the members of the supporting cast is gay.
On Doctor Who(BBC), one of the most famous children's programs in England, introduced a very flamboyant bisexual character who was so popular he got his own spinoff show, Torchwood(BBC/Starz)
What on television used to be a punchline to a joke(looking at you friends) is becoming mainstream. We have talented writers of Young Adult Fiction writing stories and books with gay main characters(Boy Meets Boy, Will Grayson/Will Grayson, ect). We have bright, funny gay actors becoming leading men(Neil Patrick Harris, Johnathan Groff, Alan Cumming, ect), we have Adam Lambert, an openly gay ex-American idol contestant, who has been invited back on American Idol numerous times after his coming out. We have Lady Gaga, a proud Bisexual and LGBT rights activist, ruling the charts with an iron fist. One of the biggest songs of a few years ago was from an singer named Katy Perry and called "I Kissed A Girl". It isn't just musical theater and folk groups anymore.
Right now, there is a movement to get homosexuality into the mainstream in pop culture. If it becomes mainstream then it's mainstream, the haters will be but a small minority. And the great civil rights battle of the generation will be won.
On the show there are various romantic relationships that we are supposed to care about. We have the two main characters and various supporting characters(who aren't really supporting but they are less main than the two main characters). Over the past season(we're in the second) things have developed which I would like to discuss briefly(Spoiler warning).
So in the first season they introduce a gay character(Kurt Hummnel played wonderfully by Golden Globe Winner Chris Colfer) and they set him up as having feelings for a straight boy. Thankfully in the second season they have shelved this subplot and introduced a second gay character(Blaine Anderson played by noted Potter fan Darren Criss) for Kurt to have feelings for. But they carefully avoid the trap of having Blaine just be a token love interest. He is a very deep and interesting character(more interesting then any of the straight character by far and away)
There is one scene that symbolizes for me what this show is doing. In their Valentine's episode, Blaine(unaware of Kurt's feelings) asks for his assistance in asking out this boy. And the scene that follow(of the asking out) is played completely, if you will pardon the expression, straight. It wasn't "Oh Look At This Character....HE"S GAY!" it was "Look at this character, look at what he's doing. Take him as a character." It is scenes like that that make me return to Glee.
In this week's episode(spoiler) Kurt and Blaine finally get together and share a kiss. This kiss is just a kiss, like a boy and a girl would share a kiss. It isn't blocked to shock, it's simply a kiss.
Also, recently, another subplot has arisen. Since the beginning of the show it has been established that Brittney(played by Heather Morris) and Santana(Played by Nata Rivera) are the school bad girls. They have slept with tons of guys, blah blah, blah. But what started off as a joke in an episode last year has turned into a serious plotline.
This season Brittney has been trying to have a steady relationship with Artie(Played by Kevin McHale) something she has never done. In the first half of the season we are expected to care about that relationship but recently it has been revealed that Santana and Britney are in a secret homosexual relationship. And just like that the writers shift our sympathies. I no longer want Britney and Artie to work, I want her and Santana to get together openly. How many shows(other than Buffy the Vampire Slayer) suddenly shift our sympathies from a heterosexual to a homosexual relationship?
All this is taking place on a very popular network show(on Fox no less).
Let's take a quick look at Modern Family(another Fox Show). This show is a sitcom about three families and one of them is two gay men and their adopted child. And the show is very popular among Republicans.
On The Good Wife(CBS) one of the members of the supporting cast is openly bisexual.
On The Office(NBC) one of the members of the supporting cast is gay.
On Doctor Who(BBC), one of the most famous children's programs in England, introduced a very flamboyant bisexual character who was so popular he got his own spinoff show, Torchwood(BBC/Starz)
What on television used to be a punchline to a joke(looking at you friends) is becoming mainstream. We have talented writers of Young Adult Fiction writing stories and books with gay main characters(Boy Meets Boy, Will Grayson/Will Grayson, ect). We have bright, funny gay actors becoming leading men(Neil Patrick Harris, Johnathan Groff, Alan Cumming, ect), we have Adam Lambert, an openly gay ex-American idol contestant, who has been invited back on American Idol numerous times after his coming out. We have Lady Gaga, a proud Bisexual and LGBT rights activist, ruling the charts with an iron fist. One of the biggest songs of a few years ago was from an singer named Katy Perry and called "I Kissed A Girl". It isn't just musical theater and folk groups anymore.
Right now, there is a movement to get homosexuality into the mainstream in pop culture. If it becomes mainstream then it's mainstream, the haters will be but a small minority. And the great civil rights battle of the generation will be won.
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