Really, It's All A Blur.

[itsallovernow]

Weekend was busy, no surprise there. One of the women in my writer's group just finished the first draft of her novel. I'm both terribly pleased for her and terribly jealous. I feel like I've totally lost the thread of my own work, and want to just give up. Because rubberneck said that was not an option, I need to re-evaluate the story I'm trying to tell. The first 1/3 is done, and I want to sit with it and figure out if it can be a story on it's own. But it's daunting and makes me sad, despondent and a little floundering. The momentum on this has been what's kept me going the past few months. I need to have it still be there to buoy me.

We won't even discuss the financial/emotional debacle that is my car/relationship with the LAPD/City of LA. No really, no discussion. That not only makes me teary, it paralyzes me with anger and frustration. The fact that some of it is legitimately my fault does not help.

That being said, there was new Rome last night.

Vorenus and the head. Oh man, I loved that he dropped it on the floor and JUST LEFT IT THERE. And that when Antony came in to put him back together, he tossed the head out the window.

Antony is so not equipped for the role he's taken on, and I like that he sort of acknowledges that he thought it'd be all getting laid and giving orders, like being a glorified general, and instead it's infighting and politics and people wanting things of him ALL OF THE TIME. Antony is a brute, he's Pullo with a better family, with political connections. And I adore him for being utterly over his head, for reading Brutus and Cicero so well and Octavian so badly because he isn't the judge of character that Caesar was. He doesn't have that brilliant, twisting brain for politics.

And even more, I fear for the relationship between Vorenus and Pullo. Antony's rousing of Vorenus was hot, and layered, and had enough of the sort of soldier/sex vibe that it was just delicious to watch. That is the kind of thing Antony is good at, and I loved how Vorenus almost had no choice but to stand at attention in the face of his superior officer. That whole triangle was beautifully played. But it show's Vorenus' commitment to Antony, or at least his bond to him. And 13th or not, Octavian has a tie to Pullo that is incredibly powerful and I just have a feeling that they'll be squaring off at the end. Waaaahhh!

I also continue to love watching Antony square off with Cicero. It's just... the voice of the senate versus the man of the people. I kind of love it.

The historical inaccuracies don't bother me, I think, because much like a really good novel adaptation, they're nailing the spirit of the times. That same sense of scheming and lust and everyday and politics and triumph and chaos that I get from the history, so I'm happy to follow the storytelling where it goes. I do feel bad, on occasion, when I don't tell M. that the details are wrong. But he's more interested in the story as well, and it'd be a shame to ruin that.

And, because I love this idea, (stolen from cofax7:

Give me one of my own stories, and a timestamp sometime in the future after the end of the story, or sometime in the past before the story started, and I'll write you at least a hundred words of what happened then, whether it's five minutes before the story started or ten years in the future.

My Farscape stuff is mostly at Leviathan and everything else is in memories.

Comments

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

I love your characterization of Antony as Pullo from a better family – although … I think there is one essential difference in them, and that is that Pullo is characterized by his loyalty (to Vorenus, possibly to Octavian) and … I’m not sure Antony has that characteristic, or capacity for friendship. (He did, after all, briefly at least consider betraying Caesar!)
I am more and more convinced that our “brothers” are going to be on opposite sides in the coming conflict. AND THEN I WILL WEEP!!

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

That's true. Pullo is loyal to his core. He is committed to the people he loves. Antony is loyal to himself, to his ambitions, to his own whims. He's not capricious, but Cleopatra nailed it. He is... changeable as it suits him.

And I meant to talk about Cleopatra and how beautifully matched they are:) Damn!!

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

On a very shallow note, although of course, I pretty much loved Pullo from the get-go, does he actually seem better-looking to you this year? I can't tell if it's that I'm now watching "Rome" in hi-def, or if they're lighting him differently and he just looks totally AMAZING in some shots.

And how great was the "shaving our bears off" scene? Awwww!

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

He does look incredibly beautiful this season. That scene with just his face and it takes a moment to realize that the beautiful man is TITUS PULLO?

I loved that scene, particularly since Pullo is not in favor of this plan:)

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

That scene with just his face and it takes a moment to realize that the beautiful man is TITUS PULLO?

I know!!! And let us not discuss his voice, or I will embarass myself by gushing hopelessly :P

[cofax7]

Five years after Blue Eyes.

[pdxscaper.livejournal.com]

The fact that some of it is legitimately my fault does not help.
Yes, you're wondering how you could have let yourself get in such a mess and if you'd only.... And then you beat yourself up over it. I feel for you. I've been there. I hope you can get everything straightened out soon so you can stop worrying about it. {{{Thea}}}

And I'll play:
Floodlights on the Highway -- the next morning. :)

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Thanks dear. It's unlikely to really get worked out in a way that benefits me. Sigh.

And I actually, sort of, have already written that scene:) Will post it soon.

[pdxscaper.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay! I will wait patiently. :)

[denyeverything1.livejournal.com]

Mostly I'm just here for this: {{{Thea}}}

Also, I lost the thread of Rome in the first season when I cancelled HBO and need to go back to catch up on the first season so I can eventually tackle the second. I'm just relieved to hear, from bits and pieces I've seen around, that Pullo and Vorenus both made it *through* the first season. Yay!

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. Thanks honey!! I seem to remember that you're not a fan of the gore, so S1 would be good to watch on DVD where you can fast forward through the icky bits.

But it's marvelous. So, so marvelous.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Have you ever translated Cicero? My friends in Classics all took a class that was all Cicero and apparently the man never used puntuation and by the end of it, they had al written "Die Cicero, DIE!" in their textbooks....

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Dude, no one used punctuation!! However, Cicero never said something simply if he could make it incredibly irritating to translate:)

[kernezelda]

I've watched only halfway through Rome S1, so can't read this!

But as for the meme - Blue Eyes, six months later?

[thatames.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, this is Bron and Emma's friend Amy; I added you! We have met!

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Hi Amy!!! Welcome!

[ropo.livejournal.com]

Just hang in there with the writing and the evolness that is your car/LA/etc. It will all get worked out!

[looknleap.livejournal.com]

Please please please write a sequel to You Can Lead A Man to Tequila. Timestamp sometime in the near future. I have loved all your stories but I have always loved John and Chianas interaction in the show and in fiction and your depictions of these characters are among my favorites.

Uhm and if it's not to much can there be a sequel to Hierarchy that shows after John wakes up and him and Aeryn dealing with D'argos death.

A million thankyous Just found your journal and I love the way you write, I have a housemate much like M. Once when I had a nightmare the poor guy was completely clueless, but he sat with me and offered me his last beer =)

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Hee - that's so very, very M.

And welcome!! I'm glad you've enjoyed the stories. I'll take a look and see if I can come up with something for the requests:)