Welcome back! Today we’ll be matching up the sixes vs. the elevens and the sevens vs. the tens. Prepare yourself, it’s going to be really tough!
Today’s pairings:
6. Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie
7. Claudia (From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
6. Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling) vs. 11. Ella (Ella Enchanted
7. Lyra Belaqua (His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass)
6. Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing
7. Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs
6. Brienne of Tarth (A Song of Ice and Fire, Books 1-4 (A Game of Thrones / Clash of Kings/A Storm of Swords /A Feast for Crows)
7. Nanny Ogg (Witches series by Terry Pratchett
Happy voting!
106 replies on “Middlemarch Madness II: Voting Day Two”
BE YE WARNED
I just want to quietly say how fucking much I love this website. Never change, Persephone Magazine. The world needs you just the way you are.
I think it’s probably too late to get a response from anyone so maybe I’ll post again in tomorrow’s thread, but I have one comment and one question.
Hopefully, this isn’t against the rules of advocating characters, but if this is an annual thing I would love to see Susie Derkins get a chance.
Also, thank you for all of the warm welcomes on the various threads. Â This seems like a stellar community.
The contestants are all picked from characters the commentariat nominates, then we vote again to narrow the field, then the competition starts in earnest. So next year, absolutely, nominate Susie Derkins and if she gets enough support from others as well she’ll be in. Hope that’s clear?
And you’re very welcome for the welcome (heh) :)
All of the Middlemarch characters are nominated by readers and site staff, so next year, you’ll definitely get your chance to give Susie a shot!
Sing it with me now!
“The wizaaaard’s staff has a knob on the end…”
#TeamNanny
Always!
Ginny vs. Ella?? You have no clue how hard that is!! Ok, you probably do. And Laura Ingalls Wilder vs. George? Â Claudia vs. Cassie? You’re making me choose between childhood favorites everywhere today!
And of course, I love it. :) I LOVE Middlemarch MADNESSS!!!!
Yesterday didn’t hurt. Today hurts. Too much badassery!!
It does hurt, doesn’t it? I feel like flailing ineffectively just thinking about it.
Team Rue FTW!
Against Lyra, though? Lyra is an entire saga all her own!
Sigh. That was hard.
I love you.
Team Rue! Also, I just figured out how to check where my extra points came from, thank you Selena MacIntosh :-)
That has to be the Naval College at Greenwich with some CGI on the top. Help me out, English commenters? *runs to IMDB*
Team Lyra! (For today).
I’ll bring you around for good.
Beatrice!
Witness Catherine Tate as Beatrice opposite Davide Tennant as Benedick.
*_*
(two of my favorites playing two of my favorites in one of my favorites- my favorite comedy of Shakespeare, though closely followed by Taming of the Shrew, and my over all favorite is a tragedy, King Lear.)
*bounces*
PS can the mods wave the magic video-izing wand?
I tried, and verily, I failed. I must not have got to that part in the modding handbook yet:)
tis a sad thought indeed! maybe the editing goddesses can help? @pileofmonkeys ?
To embed a video, paste the direct link as plain text (not as a link). Should work fine.
See, I’ve tried it repeatedly and have yet to have that work. hm.
Me too. And when I went in to your comment to edit it, it wasn’t appearing as a link there even in HTML view. It’s a mystery!
As you wish. : )
ILU!
King Lear is totally the best. *nods sagely*
let’s try with hey nonny nonny
ooo interesting.
AND THEN TENNANT PLAYED AIR GUITAR WITH HIS LEG. i’m really sad that’s not in this video. it’s a moment of bliss that everyone should experience.
…
…
…
I had no idea this marvel existed. My day is now immeasurably brighter. A thousand thousand curtsies of gratitude!
ah ha ha!
My best friend was actually in London for business when this run was live, and he got tickets. He’s been TAUNTING ME ever since.
You can buy a digital download of the whole performance in much higher quality too! Yay Digital Theatre! Much Ado About Nothing, Starring Catherine Tate and David Tennant.
I should also note that this production was directed by a woman, Josie Rourke. She’s now the Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre.
I saw it on the last weekend it was open – standing room tickets! It was AWESOME and I’ve been gloating about it ever since.
LOVE.
I GOT TO SEE IT. It was fabulous. I loved it so much.
Basically every time we went to the movies for months and we saw a Fathom Events ad, I mentioned to the Mister that I hoped desperately that they would do a Fathom Events one night only special thing for Much Ado with Tennant and Tate until finally he was like, “Let’s just go to London. We’re young. We don’t have kids. Let’s do it.” I had just gotten laid off and was getting paid out a boatload of unused vacation time, so we ended up using that money to actually take a vacation, which I hadn’t done properly in two years. It was pretty awesome. And the play was amazing. Highlight of last year, really.
So. Jealous!
I am exceedingly jealous.
TENNANT! Eh. Ahum.
New favourite!
I was waiting for this.
Hot damn, you know I am with you. LYRA GETS SHIT DONE. LYRA WERQZ.
I’m going to be so sad if Sansa gets knocked out. I know that she sometimes gets a lot of hate, but I have a lot of love.
Sansa is an awesome character and a badass woman. She really, really is.
I also love Sansa. She grows on you. Couldn’t vote for her over Nanny Ogg, though.
Sansa is the best. It was tough to knock out Nanny Ogg because I love her too, but Sansa is just something else.
I’ve only read up to book #2, so don’t say too much! :-)
I have much love for Sansa – she’s one of my favourites from ASOIAF – but I love Nanny Ogg more :/
RUE!
Also, Laura Ingalls Wilder can come sit by me. I STILL have the complete collection of books AND the book she later wrote about her first year of marriage.
…and I’ve read most of Miss Marple. That dame was bold. Crafty and bold.
I’m starting to think that I need to get this Discworld business on to the top of my book pile.
You totally do! Though I recommend reading in the series-es (?) rather than in the writing order. You can skip the first two books, too.
So which book should I start with?
Given the lady-themed site and post, I’d recommend the Witches, starting with Equal Rites then Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum and then the Tiffany Aching subseries.
…there’s a subseries?…
I’ll need to chart this out. I hope Powell’s has everything I need…
That one started out as more children’s lit but grew up with the character and then pulled in characters from the main series-es.
Full bibliography here:)Â http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Bibliography#Novels
You forgot Monstrous Regiment!
That’s more of a standalone Discworld book, like Pyramids.
Did you know, there is speculation that Laura’s daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, actually wrote the entire series? I can’t remember where I read it, Longform.org, maybe? Â After comparing writing samples they know came from Laura to some of Rose’s later published works, they think Rose either wrote them all or contributed a great deal to the final product. Â I’m not sure how much of a scandal I’d call it, but I thought it was interesting and even kind of cool.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they had similar writing styles considering Laura would probably have had some influence on how Rose wrote.
And even over time, style can change. Once I read a book on writing, it greatly affected how I structure a sentence. I think my writing style improved by something like 50% after reading that book.
(that’s not hard to do when one’s writing style sucks to begin with…)
I’m new to the site and this March Madness nearly brought a tear to my eye. Â Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’s Cassie? Â The Paperbag Princess? Â George from Nancy Drew? Ramona Quimby? Â Sigh. Â I am finally home. Â I love this place. Â Where have you been my entire life?!
Welcome! Middlemarch Madness is very serious bizness. You may need to prepare yourself.
The battles will get rough.
And remember – two may enter, only one may leave.
Welcome! We’re glad you’re here!
This is our second Middlemarch Madness, it’s going to get pretty exciting in here. We take our lady heroes very seriously.
I’m so glad you’re here, but I almost feel bad. Middlemarch Madness will break your heart. The plus side is that, no matter who wins, we all know that these ladies kick ass, and the brackets inspire awesome new reading. I read The Westing Game and The Hunger Games after last year’s competition and my life is better for it.
Laura v George??
Claudia v Cassie??
AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(PS – Beatrice must move on to at least another round)
Seriously! This is worse than yesterday! I’m still trying to cast my vote…
(BEATRICE FTW!!!)
Nanny vs Sansa? Oh butter balls.
Nanny Ogg gets my vote, because her cookbook is the best cookbook ever. Toffee rat on a stick is always a hit at parties.
not to mention the Bananana Soup Surprise.
And the cider. There’s definitely apples.
Well, mostly apples.
Strawberry Wobbler!
What’s so surprising about banana soup? It has a banana in it.
NOOOOOOOOOO
I’m so sorry, Sansa. You’re badass. But I had to vote for Nanny. :(
Me too. She speaks Foreign! She is unident! She buried three husbands and at least two of them were already dead!
Having to vote for not-Sansa still makes me so incredibly sad.
In the realms of badassery, though, Nanny has several decades on Sansa.
Lyra vs Rue? Uh, is Persephone going to implode once you and POM cast your votes? Just … all the Unicorn and glitter behind those votes … going against each other.
No kidding.
So. Weird. to see her as Lyra now, because of Skins.
They totally chickened out with her character. Nobody does genderqueer well.
Yeah I was so disappointed with that! I dipped in and out of it though, maybe I missed character-driven reasons for it… #hopeful.
It’s not even fair, that one. Lyra travels universes, she brings down Empires. She represents Eve, for God’s sake. Eve. As in the mother of one and all.
Her sexual awakening and intellectual agency REPRESENTS THE DEATH OF OPPRESSION.
I APPROVE YOUR USE OF CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LYRA.
And yet Rue is sacraficed. She’s the quiet little hope that is in the end instrumental in saving the day.
Rue’s sacrifice lives on throughout the books! She remains powerfully instrumental. Oh god, I just got shivers.
I need a moment.
Pom and I have agreed to eat cake and have a dance off to remove any lasting animosity when my beloved Rue trounces Lyra.
And I’m not voting, since I can see all the results. LET ME TELL YOU HOW HARD THAT IS. IT IS VERY HARD.
DEAR GOODNESS. That IS very hard. And in the mean time, Persephone gets to witness the whole great power and great responsibility thing in action, too.
I HAVE AGREED TO NO SUCH DANCE-OFF.
Can we still eat cake?
These cakes…
I want them.
WHAT.
Yes, please, and thank you, cake wizards.