I've been doing a lot of reading.
Jun. 25th, 2002 06:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aruanKeeping hours into the dawn will find one's mind wandering, yearning to be sated. This stuff stuck with me:
Ley Lines by Basingstroke - It should squick me. Identifying with Lana would help I'm sure, but I don't know. It left me wondering about the homoerotic subtext turning into fanon and the future playing out through fanfiction differently because of that. Lex would need an heir, that isn't up for discussion. Not necessarily a wife though - he's shrewd and resourceful enough that he could get himself elected without his bachelorhood factoring too heavily into it all. Would he honestly try to make another life for himself and be happy without Clark? Or would it all continue as a torrid, clandestine triangle?
Three Impossible Things by jenn - I love the Clark of this story. He won't always be the gawkish, blushing 15 year-old he is now, and this showed the heights and surprises he'll soon be capable of. I think I want to see things between he and Lex complicated somehow. Not angsty Jonathan-involving complicated, but... something. I want to see where Clark's boundaries lie. I want to know what he's thinking. Which is ironic since it's Lex who's supposed to be the stoic, mysterious one.
See This by Te - There's been an ongoing discussion on the TWoP fanfic board on the nature of Lex and Lionel's relationship, whether it's actually any of the emotional/physical/sexually abusive stuff you stumble on a lot of the time in fanfic. And damn if those kids don't make good points all around. I'll post a more extensive rumination later.
Long After Midnight by Jules - Yeah, bite me. I've reread it about seven times now. When I finished it the only things I read for were verb tenses and line breaks, and my mum was too late with coffee for me to sit back and wrap my fingers around something soothing instead of letting my overstimulated neurons do the walking.
It was only on tonight's read that I saw why jenn had called it "sweet."
Because she had, and it got me thinking as to why. No one else had described it as such; the closest I'd come was attaching the 'bitter' prefix. But it isn't at all. It seems to have somehow transformed from an ugly duckling into the swan as I took in the words for seemingly the first time. Lex's love for Clark is somehow stronger than resentment, stronger than his hurt at being lied to, stronger than losing and being betrayed by the only two people he's ever loved before (respectively, Lillian and Pamela), stronger than the decade of "Luthor method and boot camp" with his father (and god only knows what else at the same hands), stronger than his insecurities and defenses and capacity to remain objective and neutral. Contrary to what most believe, I think, loving Clark isn't something that comes easily to Lex. He may be deeply drawn to a lot of things within Clark, but love is scary. Love strips you bare to fend against the elements. That I can see where Lex makes the semi-conscious decision to love here is making me fall in love with this bit of "escapist whimsy" more and more.
A Handful of Dust by jenn - While I was absolutely broken by the Lex of this piece during the first half, I can't quite reconcile his deciding to give up his war, his beliefs in the cause and the painful sacrifices he's made to be with Clark. Maybe my appreciation for the scope and depth of love and destiny aren't big enough.
No Particular Night or Morning by Wendi - The name Lena keeps popping up lately, first in 'Things' and now here, though in vastly divergent contexts. But that's not what draws me to this story. Our heroes' tale won't be an easy one to negotiate, but this is the kind of residual bittersweetness that I can see them sharing as Lex and Clark, not Luthor and Superman.
Bound by Auden - The premise was an interesting one, its execution well done if lacking in stylistic competence. I'm thinking of doing something along the same lines with the word 'just.' I've been overusing it, and only when I had Notepad check over each instance did I realize its versatility.
Tearing these two apart is going to be either too easy or a task more colossal than taking on the Roman Empire at its height. That thin line between love and hate has never been more salient to me.
And now, Deep Thoughts by the girl with the ill-fated sleep agenda:
-One of the songs virtually every artist does a cover of is Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Is life really that hopeless that we have to make up fantasy lands of magic and tranquility and fulfillment? What makes happy people happy? I don't want to know this land of disillusion everyone seems so desperate to get away from - drugs and clubs and fight clubs and anonymous fucks. Where's the happiness on *this* side of the rainbow?
Ley Lines by Basingstroke - It should squick me. Identifying with Lana would help I'm sure, but I don't know. It left me wondering about the homoerotic subtext turning into fanon and the future playing out through fanfiction differently because of that. Lex would need an heir, that isn't up for discussion. Not necessarily a wife though - he's shrewd and resourceful enough that he could get himself elected without his bachelorhood factoring too heavily into it all. Would he honestly try to make another life for himself and be happy without Clark? Or would it all continue as a torrid, clandestine triangle?
Three Impossible Things by jenn - I love the Clark of this story. He won't always be the gawkish, blushing 15 year-old he is now, and this showed the heights and surprises he'll soon be capable of. I think I want to see things between he and Lex complicated somehow. Not angsty Jonathan-involving complicated, but... something. I want to see where Clark's boundaries lie. I want to know what he's thinking. Which is ironic since it's Lex who's supposed to be the stoic, mysterious one.
See This by Te - There's been an ongoing discussion on the TWoP fanfic board on the nature of Lex and Lionel's relationship, whether it's actually any of the emotional/physical/sexually abusive stuff you stumble on a lot of the time in fanfic. And damn if those kids don't make good points all around. I'll post a more extensive rumination later.
Long After Midnight by Jules - Yeah, bite me. I've reread it about seven times now. When I finished it the only things I read for were verb tenses and line breaks, and my mum was too late with coffee for me to sit back and wrap my fingers around something soothing instead of letting my overstimulated neurons do the walking.
It was only on tonight's read that I saw why jenn had called it "sweet."
Because she had, and it got me thinking as to why. No one else had described it as such; the closest I'd come was attaching the 'bitter' prefix. But it isn't at all. It seems to have somehow transformed from an ugly duckling into the swan as I took in the words for seemingly the first time. Lex's love for Clark is somehow stronger than resentment, stronger than his hurt at being lied to, stronger than losing and being betrayed by the only two people he's ever loved before (respectively, Lillian and Pamela), stronger than the decade of "Luthor method and boot camp" with his father (and god only knows what else at the same hands), stronger than his insecurities and defenses and capacity to remain objective and neutral. Contrary to what most believe, I think, loving Clark isn't something that comes easily to Lex. He may be deeply drawn to a lot of things within Clark, but love is scary. Love strips you bare to fend against the elements. That I can see where Lex makes the semi-conscious decision to love here is making me fall in love with this bit of "escapist whimsy" more and more.
A Handful of Dust by jenn - While I was absolutely broken by the Lex of this piece during the first half, I can't quite reconcile his deciding to give up his war, his beliefs in the cause and the painful sacrifices he's made to be with Clark. Maybe my appreciation for the scope and depth of love and destiny aren't big enough.
No Particular Night or Morning by Wendi - The name Lena keeps popping up lately, first in 'Things' and now here, though in vastly divergent contexts. But that's not what draws me to this story. Our heroes' tale won't be an easy one to negotiate, but this is the kind of residual bittersweetness that I can see them sharing as Lex and Clark, not Luthor and Superman.
Bound by Auden - The premise was an interesting one, its execution well done if lacking in stylistic competence. I'm thinking of doing something along the same lines with the word 'just.' I've been overusing it, and only when I had Notepad check over each instance did I realize its versatility.
Tearing these two apart is going to be either too easy or a task more colossal than taking on the Roman Empire at its height. That thin line between love and hate has never been more salient to me.
And now, Deep Thoughts by the girl with the ill-fated sleep agenda:
-One of the songs virtually every artist does a cover of is Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Is life really that hopeless that we have to make up fantasy lands of magic and tranquility and fulfillment? What makes happy people happy? I don't want to know this land of disillusion everyone seems so desperate to get away from - drugs and clubs and fight clubs and anonymous fucks. Where's the happiness on *this* side of the rainbow?
