Final Fantasy of Manners

Brace yourselves friends... This is going to be an odd one. I've been doing a lot of thinking and thusly, I am glad to present to you... (drumroll please)... Aerin Unfiltered!

Those of you who've known me for any length of time have probably noted my general polite demeanor. I say "please" and "thank you" almost to a fault. I pay my respects to party leaders, PLs, unexpected saviours, and friends through bows and kneels. I celebrate level dings. And so on...

A few people have teased me for it and one demanded I stop with the bowing and scraping because she thought it made me look trampy. But, aside from being how I was raised, it's just part of my RP enjoyment.

So, imagine my surprise to earn there's a subgenre of fantasy fiction called "fantasy of manners". I only know this because Kushiel's Legacy is considered to be in this genre (the fact uncovered as I was researching the trilogy) and now that I have a name for it I can explain the strong appeal the life of a Night Court adept risen to nobility has to me.

I daresay I'd actually be at home in such a world. IRL I've done my best to remember my station, especially when I worked in healthcare. Patients, physicians and allied health professionals I considered above me. Then my peers and then the occasional junior staffer below. But I strived never to look down my nose at anyone, and I hope it showed.

Once I finish the first Kushiel trilogy I'll consider the Imriel saga. But I think I'll miss Phèdre. She's been fun to watch and examining her choices and methods has been quite enjoyable. I despair I won't find another book or series with such a compellingly-written protagonist or setting. Not to mention the deft handling of place and event descriptions!

Actually, the more I read (and fret!) over Phèdre and Joscelin, the more I want to read or watch other strong romances. Not necessarily in FoM tales, mind. All I care about is the relationship and chemistry. I haven't found any manga that clearly fits but in the anime department I'm looking at Someday Dreamers. Anyone still with me have any advice? I don't know if what I'm looking for is considered shoujo, but I do know I'm not after yaoi yet. Pure fanservice yuri is out too... I'm honestly looking for relationships and romance!

Changing gears *completely*, something funny happened yesterday, and it ties bizarrely with the FoM business above. I was raised Catholic but left the Church for reasons that are my own. Note I didn't say I left my faith! Anyway, as Ape is a Catholic school teacher and must attend mass somewhere to keep her job (huh?) she's been going pretty regularly.

As we were all out already, returning from "9" (review to follow), we just went as a family, and actually met Ape's sis with her whole fam, plus mom. The church we went to had a "contemporary" service. Now, don't get me wrong - I've attended various Baptist, AoG, Pentecostal... But to have a Catholic mass go that way really threw me.

I never expected to say this ever, but, if I'm going to go to mass, it needs to be a traditional one! I hope that doesn't sound like so much hypocrisy, as nobody is more surprised by my reaction than I am!

In any case, I told Ape I'd rather we attended Saturday or earlier Sunday to get away from the contemporary format.

Movie review time: Friday night we saw "Extract" and Sunday we went to "9". First "Extract". I think they called it that because it extracted 10 bucks from my wallet and nearly two hours of my life.

If I ever find the nutter who wrote the "Funnier than Office Space" ad copy, I'd ask to see the version of OS he was comparing with. He *had* to have been watching a foreign-language cam-rip or something to think Extract was anywhere nearly-well written comedically. Ben Affleck was great in his supporing role but that was about it...

The trailers for"9" had me hooked on the visuals, post-apocalyptic setting and the teaser music. It mostly delivered (except musically) but the story was far too linear and predictable. While there was action, I got the sense it was really trying to make a point about the strength of humanity and the preciousness of the spirit. OK, I get it - I had no quarrel with the core idea. But the paint-by-numbers execution left me wanting.

"Extract" gets 1 crystal and "9" takes home 2.5, largely on the strength of having tried something different in "family animation".