Since becoming a self-proclaimed rock fan in the last eight years, my rediscovery of rock music (especially from the 90’s) led me to think that it’s shameful to like rock music but have a history of having my entire bulletin board covered in Backstreet Boys posters. In my teens particularly, my fixation with Linkin Park, and later also Avril Lavigne and Evanescence, somehow taught me a pessimistic/naturalistic worldview, and I thought that Backstreet Boy songs were essentially meaningless. I was certainly disillusioned when boy band contemporaries Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera (whose music videos I tried to dance along with at the age of 12) turned out to be “frauds”—Britney having already lost her virginity at age 14 and nothing more than a sex symbol; and Christina downplaying her own superior singing talent for using sex appeal with her fake boobs. It doesn’t help that in recent years, I’ve also become disillusioned with nü metal, which is now viewed by the wide internet community to be “emo”, because unlike 90’s rock and roll, which incorporated heartfelt poetry with inventive electronic sounds (complex guitar riffs; in Nine Inch Nails’ case, industrial music), nü metal is repetitive, passing off verses brimming with petty and shallow teen angst as songs when plastered onto rhythms that sound the same with nearly every band in the same category.
Now finding myself suddenly squirming in delight again from videos of Nick Carter on YouTube (music videos, interviews AND his vlogs) as well as viewing the Backstreet Boys videos I loved when I was younger, I felt somehow rejuvenated. Even when I found myself cringing in embarrassment over the choreography and hand gestures, I felt—happy.
I acknowledge that I might actually be regressing right now, but something tells me that my desire to conform (ironically, to nonconformist music) is not worth becoming ashamed of 90’s mainstream teenybopper, bubblegum pop music because that was the kind of music I loved and grew up with. It’s a bit embarrassing for me, but in a playful way; I’m not necessarily ashamed to admit it anymore. Yes, I used to scream every time “I Want It That Way” and “Shape of My Heart” was played on MTV. But so did a lot of people—millions of girls worldwide. And having other fans as obsessed as me is beside the point; loving this music made me happy. It doesn’t matter whether they were mainstream or not; to listen to music that makes me happy, no matter what anyone says, is what counts.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Review of The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner *SPOILERS AHEAD*
I’ve just read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella online, and I was surprised to find it about twenty times more palatable than any of the four books in the Twilight “Saga”. Owing largely to its length, I finished it in one day—approximately 6 hours—minus about two hours in between that I spent eating and surfing the internet. It’s not at all better written than any of the books in the “Saga”; Meyer still committed “thesaurus rape” quite a few times, but not as much this time because by using Bree Tanner’s voice, she didn’t have to use ridiculously big words to attempt to sound intelligent like she did with Bella. Bree Tanner was only palatable because it’s more concise than usual (which I previously thought Meyer could never accomplish); although I would say that Bree Tanner could have been even shorter if Meyer could write any better.
I had been expecting the story to begin with the titular character being turned into a vampire; instead, we find Bree complaining about her companions who are “stupid” and rash and inexperienced.
At first, I thought we were going to have a Bella clone, but I was proven wrong later. We subsequently find out that Bree was appointed to be with these other new vampires by Riley, the leader of what we already know from Eclipse to be an even larger coven than just Bree and these few vampires. But Bree breaks away from this group to hang out with another vampire—a rather charming Hispanic boy named Diego, who later reveals that they do not combust in the sun as Bree had previously thought. After this encounter, Bree develops feelings for Diego. To my surprise, Meyer actually succeeded to be a bit more subtle about this than she did with Bella and Edward. Bree seems cautious about it; she becomes willing to call these feeling “romantic”, especially when Diego kisses her lips without warning, but she doesn’t suffocate the narrative with it because she’s more interested in observing what’s going on around her.
Among these observations were of a “college age” boy named Freaky Fred, who has “repelling” powers. I didn’t understand this at first, but I sort of understood later that his gift was similar to Bella Swan’s in Breaking Dawn. It’s like he can conjure a shield around himself, like Bella, but whoever gets close to it becomes “nauseated” and so compelled to keep distance. An offshoot of this ability is that by using this shield, he can make himself “invisible”, which I understood to be “undetectable” by other vampires rather than strictly “invisible”. Near the end, Fred becomes fond of Bree and urges her to run away to Canada with him and avoid the final battle with the Cullens, who they only know as the “yellow-eyes”. Bree agrees, but she tells Fred that she’ll catch up when she finds Diego, who Riley said was with Victoria, whose name was never revealed to the young vampires. Fred goes ahead to Canada while using his ability to go undetected by Riley and promises to wait for Bree and Diego for 24 hours while Bree looks for Diego at the edge of the battlefield only to find her large coven dwindling and dying.
You all probably know by now what happens in Eclipse, so it turns me off that the plot—Diego and Bree’s earlier motivation to find out Riley’s purpose for creating vampires so many and then Bree’s plan to run away after she realizes that Riley had been lying to them about burning in the sun and then hiding from them his and Victoria’s conniving with the “dark-cloaks” (the Volturi)—would be utterly pointless. That being said, it’s no doubt that this entire novella is pointless in itself. Bree does win my heart when she becomes determined to see through these tasks and then bravely faces death when she fails. But the fact that her courage and resolve accomplishes nothing really turns me off. I normally don’t mind tragic endings, but having no resolution is a big letdown.
I had been expecting the story to begin with the titular character being turned into a vampire; instead, we find Bree complaining about her companions who are “stupid” and rash and inexperienced.
At first, I thought we were going to have a Bella clone, but I was proven wrong later. We subsequently find out that Bree was appointed to be with these other new vampires by Riley, the leader of what we already know from Eclipse to be an even larger coven than just Bree and these few vampires. But Bree breaks away from this group to hang out with another vampire—a rather charming Hispanic boy named Diego, who later reveals that they do not combust in the sun as Bree had previously thought. After this encounter, Bree develops feelings for Diego. To my surprise, Meyer actually succeeded to be a bit more subtle about this than she did with Bella and Edward. Bree seems cautious about it; she becomes willing to call these feeling “romantic”, especially when Diego kisses her lips without warning, but she doesn’t suffocate the narrative with it because she’s more interested in observing what’s going on around her.
Among these observations were of a “college age” boy named Freaky Fred, who has “repelling” powers. I didn’t understand this at first, but I sort of understood later that his gift was similar to Bella Swan’s in Breaking Dawn. It’s like he can conjure a shield around himself, like Bella, but whoever gets close to it becomes “nauseated” and so compelled to keep distance. An offshoot of this ability is that by using this shield, he can make himself “invisible”, which I understood to be “undetectable” by other vampires rather than strictly “invisible”. Near the end, Fred becomes fond of Bree and urges her to run away to Canada with him and avoid the final battle with the Cullens, who they only know as the “yellow-eyes”. Bree agrees, but she tells Fred that she’ll catch up when she finds Diego, who Riley said was with Victoria, whose name was never revealed to the young vampires. Fred goes ahead to Canada while using his ability to go undetected by Riley and promises to wait for Bree and Diego for 24 hours while Bree looks for Diego at the edge of the battlefield only to find her large coven dwindling and dying.
You all probably know by now what happens in Eclipse, so it turns me off that the plot—Diego and Bree’s earlier motivation to find out Riley’s purpose for creating vampires so many and then Bree’s plan to run away after she realizes that Riley had been lying to them about burning in the sun and then hiding from them his and Victoria’s conniving with the “dark-cloaks” (the Volturi)—would be utterly pointless. That being said, it’s no doubt that this entire novella is pointless in itself. Bree does win my heart when she becomes determined to see through these tasks and then bravely faces death when she fails. But the fact that her courage and resolve accomplishes nothing really turns me off. I normally don’t mind tragic endings, but having no resolution is a big letdown.
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