memememe - 2003 in Fic-Review and Musicals

[ciroccoj]

A while ago, I saw a ficmeme that simultaneously attracted and repelled me, the "what's my recurring theme" meme.

A big part of me wanted to do it. A much bigger part of me reminded the curious part of me of a book called Small World. One of the characters in the book was a renowned author who had tried out a new "literary analysis" computer program. The program was supposed to digest an author's works and come up with a profile of the author's writing - eg. length of paragraphs, frequency of dialogue, stats on most commonly used words, etc.

The program informed him that his most frequently used descriptive word was "grease" and its related words. Greasy. Greaselike. Greased. Greasily.

The author never wrote another word. And simultaneously became impotent.

So. No Recurring Themes meme for me. I take my hat off to you braver folks out there who asked and were answered, and I hope the answers were helpful and not inhibiting.

However, I've read no books cautioning me against doing a "year in fic review" meme, or a musicals meme. So:


Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?

Far less, actually. Yowza... looking over my output, it's rather startling. 2002 produced 6 short stories (Confession, Burden, Matrimony, Stakeout, Walk and Don't Look Back, After Effects), 6 short novels (4 Aftershocks, Purgatory, and Justice), and one long novel (It Might Not Be A Pretty Picture). Unless you count the 4 Aftershocks as one long novel, in which case, I wrote 2 long and 2 short novels.

2003... well, 3 short stories (The Child is the Father of the Man, A Very L&O Valentine's (co-written), Open Letter to Fanfic writers), 1 short novel (Promises to Keep) and 5 500-word entries to Plain Sight Exception.

Oh! And ten drabbles for thursday100 and 1 for thursday100plus!

Goodness. No wonder I felt like I wasn't writing as much as before. Because I wasn't.

(Getting extremely geeky and looking up wordcounts... looks like in 2002 I wrote almost 311,000 words. In 2002, roughly 88,000. Hm.)

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2003?

Heh - no question, Jack'N'Ed. cassatt is a corrupting influence >:)

What's your favourite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.

Mmmm... Open Letter. I think. Or Child. Or... damn. I can't decide. So I'll go with Open Letter.

Did you take any writing risks this year?

Co-writing, both as a co-author and as a member of an impromptu round robin.

What did you learn from them?

That I want to do that again! And again!

Actually, it wasn't all good. I learned that sometimes you accept phrases/words that you wouldn't have written, or you disagree with, because it's not worth putting your foot down and risking your friendship or the enjoyability of the co-writing. And that you survive these Dreaded Unacceptable Words far better than you thought you would :)

I also learned that impromptu round robins can bring up unexpected difficulties - like, what happens when somebody wants to join but their style/approach is unsuited to what the rest of you have produced so far? (Answer: you send e-mails back and forth and eventually come up with a diplomatic solution. And yes, you can do it!)

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

• Write original fic.
  
• Organize and finish the last long WIP on my hard drive.
  
• Finish Plain Sight Exception.
  
• Keep encouraging other people to write fic, so I can read without the bother of having to write ;) In other words, indulge my Inner Lazy Child.

What's The Buzz?

Which of the following musicals have I seen?

100. Let's Make Love (1960)
99. Miss Saigon
98. Bright Eyes (1934)
97. The Cotton Club (1984)
96. Lullaby Of Broadway (1951)
95. Breaking Glass (1980)
94. Sholay (1975)
93. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
92. The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (1964)
91. Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
90. Cry Baby (1990) -
89. A Little Night Music (1977)
88. For Me And My Gal (1942)
87. Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
86. There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
85. Funny Face (1957)
84. Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
83. A Star Is Born (Barbara Streisand) (1976)
82. Anything Goes -
81. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
80. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
79. All that Jazz (1979) - Ooh, I remember this one. Even though I was rather small at the time.
78. Hedwig And The Angry Inch (2001)
77. Porgy And Bess (1959)
76. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
75. Dil Se (1998)
74. Shall We Dance? (1937)
73. Half A Sixpence (1967)
72. Godspell (1973)
71. Show Boat (1951)
70. Gigi (1958) - remember this one oh, so very vaguely. Is this the one with "Thank Heaven for Little Girls"?
69. The Producers (1968) - must see this someday. Leslie raved about it.
68. Kiss Me Kate (1953) - on stage. Hilarious!
67. Doctor Dolittle (1967)
66. Gypsy (1962)
65. The Jazz Singer (1927) - Does the Neil Diamond version count? And does it count to have sung along to the soundtrack? And borrowed it from my mom?
64. Easter Parade (1948)
63. Jailhouse Rock (1957)
62. Sweet Charity (1969) - saw it in Toronto. Liked it.
61. Scrooge (1970)
60. Top Hat (1935)
59. Funny Girl (1968)
58. An American In Paris (1951)
57. Paint Your Wagon (1969)
56. Meet me in St Louis (1944)
55. Hair (1979) - seen it, own the soundtrack, have played it to my kids, and told them a little about the play and the era it sprang from. Also once started to sing the Kama Sutra song in class under my breath and got as far as "Sodomeeee, fellati-ooo, cunninLINgus..." before my brain jumped up and shut me up. Luckily my voice is very very soft, so nobody looked at me funny.
54. On The Town (1949)
53. Cinderella (1950)
52. Carmen Jones
51. Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
50. Hello Dolly (1969) - On stage with Carol Channing. Wow.
49. Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
48. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
47. Summer Holiday (1963)
46. A Chorus Line (1985) in Toronto. Amazing. Breathtaking. Glorious.
45. A Star Is Born (Judy Garland) (1954)
44. Tommy (1975)
43. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
42. Starlight Express: twice! The second time I went with my mom, and told her the version I'd seen was different. "How?" she asked. "Oh, the steam train lost," I told her.
41. Carousel (1956)
40. 8 Mile (2002)
39. South Pacific (1958) - only in bits and pieces, never from beginning to end. I have to say, the song "You Have To Be Taught" seems rather avant garde for its time.
38. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
37. White Christmas (1954)
36. Guys and Dolls (1955)
35. Oklahoma (1955): On stage done by high school students. And done well.
34. High Society (1956)
33. Fiddler on the Roof (1971): sigh. One of my favourite musicals ever. Not sure why.
32. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
31. Blood Brothers
30. Cats (1981-2002): On stage in Toronto. Amazing.
29. Fame (1980): Saw it, memorized it, showed it to Chris last month. Still can't believe Leroy died this year.
28. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) quote sangerin: "the music, especially "Gethsemene", is amazing. Early ALW is the good stuff."
Word. My kids have listened to it a number of times. Justin particularly loves the Jesus Must Die song. Hm... gotta get that kid some serious therapy.
27. Jungle Book (1967): Bare necessities.
26. Annie (1982)
25. Calamity Jane (1953)
24. The Blues Brothers (1980)
23. The King And I (1956): Yup. Movie version.
22. Evita (1996) on stage in Toronto, and the Madonna version. Which proved that she can act. So... why doesn't she?
21. Little Shop Of Horrors (1986) in London with my choir. Loved it. The vines springing down on the audience at the end were spectacular :D :D :D
20. Phantom Of The Opera: saw it and loved it, but it didn't compare to Les Miz.
19. Bugsy Malone (1976)
18. Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
17. Cabaret (1972): I've heard that the movie version was nothing compared to the stage version. I'd love to see the stage version then, because I liked the movie a lot.
16. Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
15. Les Miserables Why this is #15 is a mystery to me. It will always be my favourite musical. My kids already know the "Bad Man Song" (duet between Valjean and Javert) and "Master of the House".
14. The Lion King (1994) - if the movie counts, I've seen it.
13. Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Once More With Feeling (2002) - hae heard so much about this I'll have to see it some day.
12. My Fair Lady (1964) Saw the movie many times, then saw it done by a bunch of high school students in Deep River, Ontario. And their version was better.
11. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001) - sorry, I liked it ;)
9. Oliver! (1968)
8. Chicago (2002): Whee!! Loved it, will buy it some day.
7. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975): at Queen's, frosh week.
6. Singin' In The Rain (1952)
5. Mary Poppins (1964) I do have children, you know. You can't not see it if you have kids.
4. West Side Story (1961): Movie version. Meh. The faux-Puerto Rican accents bothered me. But Rita Moreno rocks.
3. The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
2. The Sound Of Music (1965): Well, duh.
1. Grease (1978) (quote sangerin: "who on earth thinks this is good? I mean, really?". Answer: Not me. Except as glorious kitch.)


Have to agree with sangerin re. WTF where were "Chess?" "Rent"? "42nd Street". Haven't seen "Into the Woods", but I've heard it's amazing. Also wonder where The Fantasticks went. Isn't that the oldest running musical in North America or something?

And Starlight Express? Yeah, it's totally the epitome of the eighties :) One of my very few fond memories of the decade.

Comments

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Wow - I got quoted a bit there, didn't I?

Actually, I do have one good thing to say about "Grease"... the weirdness of Stockard Channing being that young. It's worth it (but only once) for that.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I'd forgotten that! Yeah, that's fairly surreal.

Still doesn't make it worth it. And making poor John Travolta sing is just plain cruel.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

And the end is just... urgh