Reading reading
Mar. 20th, 2026 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jffgldblm90sI finished "Common Goal" and it was pretty cute. I don't think it stood out particularly or grabbed me more than others, but it was overall good. In the end, the weird vibe I got about it was resolved in a way I was happy about. More hockey guys living happily ever after :)
I am still cherry picking my way through Network Effect, but I did actually start reading "All Systems Red" in Japanese. (The title is changed to reflect the Japanese for the same concept, which makes searching it up completely useless.) I need to LOCK IN on actually reading it and taking notes on the unfamiliar kanji, but I really appreciate that Murderbot uses very simple and straightforward grammar and forms. But Naoya Nakahara really does her best to bring the kind of wordplay and surface vs. deeper linguistic meaning that is a pretty emblematic part of Japanese writing.
I have been saying a lot about the translation stuff on Tumblr and Bluesky, but it feels weird to opine too much. First of all, because I have fujo/fudanshi brain. And it is influencing me, but I do want to be able to talk about the ART's way of speaking as not only rude and disrespectful but also a reflection of how quickly it wants to be VERY CLOSE to Murderbot. The omae is a great way to show that ART is both a completely rude asshole and also an overly familiar, clingy baby. Likewise, Murderbot using the same mid-polite register for EVERYONE is both overly familiar (to people who want SecUnits to be subserviant weapons) and overly formal (to people who want SecUnits to be friends). EXCEPT. Notably, the group of characters who never get to be people in language: bots, constructs, and non-human intelligences. LIKE. THAT'S SO COOL!!!! Really deepening my understanding of the characters.
I wanna edit and post some fic tonight, but I am just glad I survived this week even if next week may be worse.
I am still cherry picking my way through Network Effect, but I did actually start reading "All Systems Red" in Japanese. (The title is changed to reflect the Japanese for the same concept, which makes searching it up completely useless.) I need to LOCK IN on actually reading it and taking notes on the unfamiliar kanji, but I really appreciate that Murderbot uses very simple and straightforward grammar and forms. But Naoya Nakahara really does her best to bring the kind of wordplay and surface vs. deeper linguistic meaning that is a pretty emblematic part of Japanese writing.
I have been saying a lot about the translation stuff on Tumblr and Bluesky, but it feels weird to opine too much. First of all, because I have fujo/fudanshi brain. And it is influencing me, but I do want to be able to talk about the ART's way of speaking as not only rude and disrespectful but also a reflection of how quickly it wants to be VERY CLOSE to Murderbot. The omae is a great way to show that ART is both a completely rude asshole and also an overly familiar, clingy baby. Likewise, Murderbot using the same mid-polite register for EVERYONE is both overly familiar (to people who want SecUnits to be subserviant weapons) and overly formal (to people who want SecUnits to be friends). EXCEPT. Notably, the group of characters who never get to be people in language: bots, constructs, and non-human intelligences. LIKE. THAT'S SO COOL!!!! Really deepening my understanding of the characters.
I wanna edit and post some fic tonight, but I am just glad I survived this week even if next week may be worse.
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