weialala leia!

[ontology]

So, I've realised an interesting fact about myself. Most of you will probably not be surprised.

When I enter a new fandom, or am rediscovering an old one, I attempt to connect it to Eliot somehow. Um, yes. While I was waiting to get sleepy last night, I paged through my Complete Eliot and decided that Angel (so far the most likely candidate for Elioting) might find certain passages of Ash-Wednesday and The Hollow Men rather apt. A bit of Rhapsody on a Windy Night, too. Um, yes. I have a feeling it is too late; therapy cannot do me any good now. (But just look at them, will you? I mean really.) And hey,

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

-- reminds me of Simon Tam rather a lot. Oh dear. I haven't really found anyone in any fandom who suits The Waste Land, although I can see River quoting:

A woman drew her long black hair out tight     
And fiddled whisper music on those strings     
And bats with baby faces in the violet light     
Whistled, and beat their wings
And crawled head downward down a blackened wall     
And upside down in air were towers     
Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours     
And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.

And most of you lot know that T.S. Eliot is Remus Lupin's favourite poet. (Shut up. He is. Look at Preludes! And Prufrock! They were practically written about him! And, um, I actually possess about half a draft of an entire Remus-fic based on Rhapsody on a Windy Night. Yes.) And that Four Quartets was written after Mr Eliot took a spin in the TARDIS (definitely post-Time War, because there are references all over the place). And ressie_noldo and I decided once that the Weialala Leia are an alien race, but that's beside the point.

So, this is Banui's brain on, er, madness. Yes. Going away now.

(Stuff about Life later, maybe. I've been having a few days half-out of the world, which is nice, but I also feel about three times as absent-minded as usual, and I've always been terrifically absent-minded.)

Comments

[suangelita.livejournal.com]

I HATE ELIOT!

How *dare* you imply that Angel would lower himself to reading that degrading and boring and depressing and just plain horrible... stuff???

*ahem* I really don't like Eliot. :P

I think Angel would read something more... better. Like Frost. I think he'd appreciate Frost. Hmm. I'd have to flip through my books again...

Btw, Giles gets *fired*. Like, he's no longer a Watcher! Oh, and you missed a kiss between Angel and Buffy. ;) *bemoans Angel's leaving Buffy but does rejoice at episodes all about Angel every time*

There's a new Watcher. Roberto says he grows on you. But he doesn't wear tweed. (But he is British)

And there was something else I was going to say, but I forgot. Oh well, Kiera's calling...

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

You just haven't read the right Eliot. ;) Bits of Eliot are an acquired taste (okay, lots of Eliot is an acquired taste ^-^), but there are bits that are just gorgeous. And he isn't really depressing; Ash-Wednesday and the Four Quartets are hope-from-the-ashes sorts of poems (and, okay, he got a lot more hopeful after he converted to Christianity), and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is hilarious and the worldplay is all kinds of fun. And even some of the weirder poems have very profound and not-incomprehensible moments. "Do I dare disturb the universe?" is brilliant, and the end of "Prufrock" gives me chills. (Schools always make you start with the most incomprehensible Eliot, though. "The Waste Land" is so full of stuff that even Eliot wrote footnotes to explain all of the references -- mostly mythology and history.) *shuts up* Okay, babble to me about your favourite poet now so I feel better. :p

I'm not sure Angel would be much of a Frost sort of bloke, though -- I've nothing against Frost, but mostly he writes about nature and things, and I don't see Angel being able to relate much to that. ;) I can see him digging Dylan Thomas, though. "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." And some of the Romantics, only most of the Romantics have too high of an opinion of themselves. :p (The Romantics are around Angel's original time period, too. Hmm.) Yeah, so, you know how most people take personality quizzes and suchlike? I match people to poets. Hee.

Wesley really ought to get himself some tweed. Honestly, tweed is the Watcher uniform. How is anyone supposed to tell he's not a civilian? ;) (YOU FIRE MY GILES AND I WILL FIRE YOUUU. WITH...FIRE. YEAH.)

[suangelita.livejournal.com]

I hate Prufrock. :P I have read most of Eliot. I really really can't stand his poetry. I don't like Ash-Wednesday or the Four Quartets.

I don't know who to babble about right now.

Well, I was thinking of seeing Angel with "The Road Less Travelled" because, y'know... Angel's path as a vampire is the road less travelled, at least for vampires. ;) YES! I can see him TOTALLY digging that!

Some Wordsworth I can see him doing, too.

Wesley needs tweed, he needs to learn how to actually *kiss* and he needs to learn to take care of himself, the arrogant git. But I think the Council fired him too, that was the general vibe I was getting from what Giles was saying and stuff. Dude, that Council just fires everyone... Giles, Gwendolen (though she was with good reason), and now Wesley...

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

Shun the unbeliever! Shuuuun! (That's okay, I still love you. ^-^)

I think Angel would tend to like poetry with more of, um, an edge to it -- lots of angst and things. Which is why I thought of Dylan Thomas. And poets who write about redemption a lot, and "raging against the dying of the light", and suchlike. I also see him preferring at least some semblance of rhyme and rhythm to pure free-verse. And Buffy probably thinks it's all just weird. Hee. (We still need to find out what book it was that he gave her for her birthday. Watch that bit again and pause it, or something!)

Oh, wait! Trusty Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helpless_(Buffy_episode)) comes to the rescue again! "The book Angel gives to Buffy for her birthday is 'Sonnets From the Portuguese', by Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Angel, you have very good taste. ^-^ I may actually have that, or some of it. I'm not sure.

I like Wesley. He's so awkward and...awkward. (But he totally needs to learn to at least pretend he can kiss, instead of...writhing. Awkwardly. Heh. Poor Wesley. He probably watches too many movies.) And British. And I think the Council is...um, kind of like the UN. As in, probably in need of a great deal of reform, wot wot.

[suangelita.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Dylan Thomas would be good. Poor Angel. *huggles*

OOH! He *does* have good taste! Elizabeth Barrett Browning is very good... How sweet of him... She just doesn't appreciate it. Tsk tsk.

Reform? Pah. I think they're in need of dismantling. They obviously don't realize what's going on. And how come all the Slayers are these American chicks? We've had 3 American Slayers so far... You'd think that other countries might get one...

Though I have to admit I don't really know *what* Kendra is from. Just that she showed up in Sunnydale. :P

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

All Slayers are American like...all Watchers are British? :p Seriously, though, I don't get the whole One Slayer thing -- it's completely impractical. Buffy's so busy in Sunnydale she doesn't have any time to go off to, say, Europe, and from the tales Spike and Drusilla bring, it seems to me that Europe could use a Slayer. And what about the East Coast? And, you know, all of the other continents? Surely there's more than one Hellmouth, even?

So, when you move to California, you should go Angel stalking. Yep. Then maybe we could get that television show about you and Roberto fighting vampires. You could join Angel's team.

Maybe Kendra is related to Tia Dalma. :DDD

[suangelita.livejournal.com]

I doubt all Slayers are American... Angel was vampire-fied before the United States of America existed. And Spike killed 2 Slayers, and I don't think they were American either. HAHA! I'd *love* to see a chick in a Regency gown fighting like Buffy does... Or in a hoopskirt... can you imagine?!?

I don't wanna join Angel's team. I want it to be about us on our own. With no Angel to distract viewers. ;)

This isn't 'cause I don't like Angel (because I DO!), it's 'cause I like Roberto and myself more. ;)

Maybe she is... freaky odd, that...

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

Kendra totally did sound like Tia Dalma, didn't she? I could never decide if her accent sounded like really weird Irish/Scottish (which made no sense) or some random African...something. But she definitely wasn't American, whatever she was.

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's really good crackfic potential right there. I am going to hide my head under a blanket until it goes away. :p