God, it's me, ann tara, and we need help down here 'cuz this place is falling apart!
As low as this country has been brought over the last eight years, it still pains me greatly to see how much further we can sink. That bunker in the middle of Nowhere, Montana, is looking better by the second. You can find me over here in a fetal position sucking my thumb.
RIP Paul Newman. :(
Because I've been feeling pretty gloomy, I went ahead and changed my LJ layout last week to reflect the upcoming Halloween season - and my increasingly bleak mood. I may just leave it up til Christmas.
wpadmirer, I got the book - thank you so much! You rock!!!! :D
I actually added something new to my viewing repertoire this week - The Mentalist. Besides the fact that Simon Baker is Teh Hot, I thought it was easily watchable and had good story potential. Definitely darker than it's light-hearted USA counterpart (Psych), but not devoid of humor either. From what I hear, the subsequent episodes are stronger than the Pilot, which pleases me as the Pilot was not without several direction holes. But I liked all the characters, which is increasingly rare these days. And, yes, I also liked Robin Tunney's character and her relationship with Baker's. Besides, I didn't dislike "Veronica" on that first season of Prison Break anyway. The writing for her wasn't the greatest, but the actress was perfectly fine, IMO.
On the flip side, I have dropped Bones, House, and SGA from my "Hot List", for a myriad of reasons. Either the stories are boring me, the characters are irritating me, or it's out and out pissing me off. Doesn't necessarily mean I'll never see an episode again - but they've all become something I no longer feel compelled to keep up with if I'm not in the mood, or doing something else, or something better is on.
Like, I'm still a big fan of the Bones/Booth relationship, probably always will be; but I don't know where the hell they're going with the stories this year, and I feel like the rest of the ensemble is just wasting time better spent on stronger story lines overall. House is par for the course, though too heavy on the 13 - and from what I understand, there's going to be even more 13 than anyone except House himself this year, and I've no interest in her at all. But it's the sameness that's really losing me. It's not worse or anything, it's just more of the same and I think I'm over it. Being over it seems to be the predominant anti-viewing theme with me this year.
As for SGA, I'm just not titillated by the blonde Mary Sue the way Gero and Mallozzi are. I read or flipped channels most of the time I was trying to watch on Friday.
But I guess since I was flipping, maybe I missed a lot of Sheppard and Teyla because all I saw of the two of them was three or four minutes worth (and, from what I understand, they weren't in last week's episode either). And WTF is up with the anti-military personnel shtick? Rodney and Daniel - the latter who has become an even bigger caricature of himself than he always was - giggling like sorority girls about how stoopid John is 'cuz he's just a grunt and not a scientist. Then later Zelenka tells Sheppard he can't "dumb down" his explanation enough for John to understand. Excuse me, but since the fuck when is John a stupid man? All this on the heels of another weak-ass Mallozzi episode a couple weeks ago where he portrays Sheppard as a brainless grunt commander who has no idea who is stationed on Atlantis, who is in which team, or that girls can be in the military too. Uh, whaaa? Apparently no one in the writers trailer can recall that Sheppard's second-in-command is Teyla and has been since Ford disappeared. D'oh! I don't know who Mallozzi was writing in that episode, but it wasn't John Sheppard.
So it's bad enough that Mary Sue Keller now gets more story line than Sheppard - but to continue watching the rest of this season, I apparently also have to put up with an acceleration of the producers' dislike of Flanigan and his on-screen counterpart (don't tell me they didn't know they were being canceled months ago). I can't do it anymore. If anyone hears of a decent Sheppard episode coming up before the end of the season - the key words there being "decent" and "Sheppard" - let me know a week beforehand. Otherwise, bye-bye SGA. I think you probably deserved to be canceled.
On the upside, new Dexter and Californication (Callum!!!!) tonight - though I've already watched the premiere of Californication. That way I can watch the midseason finale of Man Men without feeling like I'm missing Callum. ;) Then Chuck returns on Monday, and goodness knows NBC needs something worth watching after that Heroes mess last week. Apparently you either loved or hated the Heroes premiere - I saw no in-between reactions. I do want to see what Francis Capra can do with the role of Present-day!Peter, especially if there's any chance he'll hook back up with his Veronica Mars costar, Kristin Bell. Besides, anyone other than Milo playing the usually dour Peter may make the character infinitely more watchable.
I'm also interested in seeing who Jamie Hector's character turns out to be (aka "Marlo Stanfield" from The Wire). Otherwise, the usual suspects have lost me. I'm not even sure I care that Mama Petrelli is claiming to have birthed Sylar. Who knows, maybe she's like an immortal queen bee or a spider or something, and she spit out all the heroes, like Patient Zero. Yeah, that would be icky.
But I'm not putting the show back in regular viewing rotation unless it can inexplicably pull me in sometime in the next couple of weeks. The premiere certainly didn't do the trick.
The addition of Misha Collins to Supernatural this season is manna from heaven - literally! Delicious. :D And, really, what's better than the title of this past Thursday's episode? Foremost, Dean is right - Bobby is the epitome of awesome! I'm really glad he's playing such a prominent role in the story line. Though enough with teasing us that Bobby might die. *grrrrrr* Not that I didn't think Sam would get there in time to save him, but I don't like thinking the writers could decide at any time to off him. Look, the boys have already lost one father-figure. It would be cruel to lose two, especially since I think this one is better than the first when it comes to being genuinely paternal.
I know some fans are not on board with the heavenly direction this season appears to be going in. But, IMO, it's time because the writers had already opened that can of worms in season two the second John Winchester made that first deal with the Crossroads Demon, bargaining for Dean's life with John's soul. And, really, where did you think his "light" went after he later escaped from Hell? There has to be balance to the story - you can't bring in Hell as a genuine domain from which all these demons spring and one can be sent to without proposing that the other domain must therefore exist too. And, believe me, I'm not a religious person myself. But in terms of the story these writers are trying to sell, then it's only logical that the two domains exist and are warring.
I could have sworn that the idea of Lucifer or Satan or whatever you want to call him/it had already been brought up by one of the demons either in season two or the truncated season three. I never thought Lilith was the Ultimate Big Bad - possibly Satan's top lieutenant or right hand, but not the one calling all the shots. So, again, you can't bring in the Prince of Darkness and not speculate on a God. Besides, we've already been told that Sam believes in God anyway. Though it never made sense to me that Dean didn't. He buys into all the demonic stuff, probably because that's what he can see and touch. And, sure, the weight of so much horror and misery in the world, even before you throw in demons and urban legends on top of it all, would make one skeptical and bitter about the possibility of divine intervention. Goodness knows it does me. But I don't see why Dean wouldn't at least hope there was another alternative. Isn't he the one who saw John's light or spirit fly away after John saved Dean from the YED?
Of course, it's interesting that Sam is the one who believes in God given the speculation that the season could climax with Dean having to fight Sam as, quite possibly, the embodiment of Lucifer himself. *shudder* Though if that or something like it is indeed in the storyline works, I'm mystified right now as to a potential escape plan from this eventuality. They can't threaten to kill off either of the boys again - they've already both been dead and resurrected at least once apiece already. That well has got to be dried up by now.
I love Misha Collins' portrayal of a war-weary heavenly avenger. He's not fluffy and pretty - well, yeah, he is pretty (*slurp*), but you know what I mean. ;) No, he's all scruffy with dry lips and a dirty trench-coat, and if you piss him off - as Dean found out the hard way - he's gonna threaten pretty freaking convincingly. I don't know if it was Misha's facial expressions or the direction or the feeling that the writers are going all Old Testament with their angelic portrayals, but I was getting very nervous when Dean was all up in Castiel's grill about God falling down on the job WRT the suffering on earth. So when Castiel was back in Dean's face saying Dean had better show him some respect, I was all, *gulp*, Dean, please behave yourself! This guy is scary - scarier than a lot of the demons we've seen so far.
And that's what's really cool and why this works, IMO, because Old Testament angels and God are fucking scary. Like Lewis Black always says, the God in the Old Testament, kind of a prick.
I assume, from what Castiel said in the first episode, that there is a difference in the way a demon takes over a human's body and the way one of the Lord's avenger's does. It was a kick in the teeth in this episode to be reminded by Dead!Meg that demons just take and tear through human bodies like they were tic-tacs. When Castiel showed up, he told Dean the guy who used to own his pretty body was happy to give it up and serve the angel. So do angels ask first, or maybe they choose to take over bodies close to death to begin with? It would be interesting to find out who the guy was before Castiel took over his form. ETA, thanks to ezust for reminding me how the blood stain on the coat got there. D'oh!
I'm glad Dean opened up to Sam about Castiel. No biscuit for Sam, however, in keeping his relationship with New!Ruby a secret. First step on the road to becoming The Big Bad? Maybe. Glad Meg bitch-slapped his ass about hanging with Ruby, though. Someone had to.
This season is off to a raucous start! :D
I typed most of this yesterday, but got hit by a massive headache and had to wait until this morning to post it. Hate it when that happens. *grrr*
RIP Paul Newman. :(
Because I've been feeling pretty gloomy, I went ahead and changed my LJ layout last week to reflect the upcoming Halloween season - and my increasingly bleak mood. I may just leave it up til Christmas.
wpadmirer, I got the book - thank you so much! You rock!!!! :D
I actually added something new to my viewing repertoire this week - The Mentalist. Besides the fact that Simon Baker is Teh Hot, I thought it was easily watchable and had good story potential. Definitely darker than it's light-hearted USA counterpart (Psych), but not devoid of humor either. From what I hear, the subsequent episodes are stronger than the Pilot, which pleases me as the Pilot was not without several direction holes. But I liked all the characters, which is increasingly rare these days. And, yes, I also liked Robin Tunney's character and her relationship with Baker's. Besides, I didn't dislike "Veronica" on that first season of Prison Break anyway. The writing for her wasn't the greatest, but the actress was perfectly fine, IMO.
On the flip side, I have dropped Bones, House, and SGA from my "Hot List", for a myriad of reasons. Either the stories are boring me, the characters are irritating me, or it's out and out pissing me off. Doesn't necessarily mean I'll never see an episode again - but they've all become something I no longer feel compelled to keep up with if I'm not in the mood, or doing something else, or something better is on.
Like, I'm still a big fan of the Bones/Booth relationship, probably always will be; but I don't know where the hell they're going with the stories this year, and I feel like the rest of the ensemble is just wasting time better spent on stronger story lines overall. House is par for the course, though too heavy on the 13 - and from what I understand, there's going to be even more 13 than anyone except House himself this year, and I've no interest in her at all. But it's the sameness that's really losing me. It's not worse or anything, it's just more of the same and I think I'm over it. Being over it seems to be the predominant anti-viewing theme with me this year.
As for SGA, I'm just not titillated by the blonde Mary Sue the way Gero and Mallozzi are. I read or flipped channels most of the time I was trying to watch on Friday.
But I guess since I was flipping, maybe I missed a lot of Sheppard and Teyla because all I saw of the two of them was three or four minutes worth (and, from what I understand, they weren't in last week's episode either). And WTF is up with the anti-military personnel shtick? Rodney and Daniel - the latter who has become an even bigger caricature of himself than he always was - giggling like sorority girls about how stoopid John is 'cuz he's just a grunt and not a scientist. Then later Zelenka tells Sheppard he can't "dumb down" his explanation enough for John to understand. Excuse me, but since the fuck when is John a stupid man? All this on the heels of another weak-ass Mallozzi episode a couple weeks ago where he portrays Sheppard as a brainless grunt commander who has no idea who is stationed on Atlantis, who is in which team, or that girls can be in the military too. Uh, whaaa? Apparently no one in the writers trailer can recall that Sheppard's second-in-command is Teyla and has been since Ford disappeared. D'oh! I don't know who Mallozzi was writing in that episode, but it wasn't John Sheppard.
So it's bad enough that Mary Sue Keller now gets more story line than Sheppard - but to continue watching the rest of this season, I apparently also have to put up with an acceleration of the producers' dislike of Flanigan and his on-screen counterpart (don't tell me they didn't know they were being canceled months ago). I can't do it anymore. If anyone hears of a decent Sheppard episode coming up before the end of the season - the key words there being "decent" and "Sheppard" - let me know a week beforehand. Otherwise, bye-bye SGA. I think you probably deserved to be canceled.
On the upside, new Dexter and Californication (Callum!!!!) tonight - though I've already watched the premiere of Californication. That way I can watch the midseason finale of Man Men without feeling like I'm missing Callum. ;) Then Chuck returns on Monday, and goodness knows NBC needs something worth watching after that Heroes mess last week. Apparently you either loved or hated the Heroes premiere - I saw no in-between reactions. I do want to see what Francis Capra can do with the role of Present-day!Peter, especially if there's any chance he'll hook back up with his Veronica Mars costar, Kristin Bell. Besides, anyone other than Milo playing the usually dour Peter may make the character infinitely more watchable.
I'm also interested in seeing who Jamie Hector's character turns out to be (aka "Marlo Stanfield" from The Wire). Otherwise, the usual suspects have lost me. I'm not even sure I care that Mama Petrelli is claiming to have birthed Sylar. Who knows, maybe she's like an immortal queen bee or a spider or something, and she spit out all the heroes, like Patient Zero. Yeah, that would be icky.
But I'm not putting the show back in regular viewing rotation unless it can inexplicably pull me in sometime in the next couple of weeks. The premiere certainly didn't do the trick.
The addition of Misha Collins to Supernatural this season is manna from heaven - literally! Delicious. :D And, really, what's better than the title of this past Thursday's episode? Foremost, Dean is right - Bobby is the epitome of awesome! I'm really glad he's playing such a prominent role in the story line. Though enough with teasing us that Bobby might die. *grrrrrr* Not that I didn't think Sam would get there in time to save him, but I don't like thinking the writers could decide at any time to off him. Look, the boys have already lost one father-figure. It would be cruel to lose two, especially since I think this one is better than the first when it comes to being genuinely paternal.
I know some fans are not on board with the heavenly direction this season appears to be going in. But, IMO, it's time because the writers had already opened that can of worms in season two the second John Winchester made that first deal with the Crossroads Demon, bargaining for Dean's life with John's soul. And, really, where did you think his "light" went after he later escaped from Hell? There has to be balance to the story - you can't bring in Hell as a genuine domain from which all these demons spring and one can be sent to without proposing that the other domain must therefore exist too. And, believe me, I'm not a religious person myself. But in terms of the story these writers are trying to sell, then it's only logical that the two domains exist and are warring.
I could have sworn that the idea of Lucifer or Satan or whatever you want to call him/it had already been brought up by one of the demons either in season two or the truncated season three. I never thought Lilith was the Ultimate Big Bad - possibly Satan's top lieutenant or right hand, but not the one calling all the shots. So, again, you can't bring in the Prince of Darkness and not speculate on a God. Besides, we've already been told that Sam believes in God anyway. Though it never made sense to me that Dean didn't. He buys into all the demonic stuff, probably because that's what he can see and touch. And, sure, the weight of so much horror and misery in the world, even before you throw in demons and urban legends on top of it all, would make one skeptical and bitter about the possibility of divine intervention. Goodness knows it does me. But I don't see why Dean wouldn't at least hope there was another alternative. Isn't he the one who saw John's light or spirit fly away after John saved Dean from the YED?
Of course, it's interesting that Sam is the one who believes in God given the speculation that the season could climax with Dean having to fight Sam as, quite possibly, the embodiment of Lucifer himself. *shudder* Though if that or something like it is indeed in the storyline works, I'm mystified right now as to a potential escape plan from this eventuality. They can't threaten to kill off either of the boys again - they've already both been dead and resurrected at least once apiece already. That well has got to be dried up by now.
I love Misha Collins' portrayal of a war-weary heavenly avenger. He's not fluffy and pretty - well, yeah, he is pretty (*slurp*), but you know what I mean. ;) No, he's all scruffy with dry lips and a dirty trench-coat, and if you piss him off - as Dean found out the hard way - he's gonna threaten pretty freaking convincingly. I don't know if it was Misha's facial expressions or the direction or the feeling that the writers are going all Old Testament with their angelic portrayals, but I was getting very nervous when Dean was all up in Castiel's grill about God falling down on the job WRT the suffering on earth. So when Castiel was back in Dean's face saying Dean had better show him some respect, I was all, *gulp*, Dean, please behave yourself! This guy is scary - scarier than a lot of the demons we've seen so far.
And that's what's really cool and why this works, IMO, because Old Testament angels and God are fucking scary. Like Lewis Black always says, the God in the Old Testament, kind of a prick.
I assume, from what Castiel said in the first episode, that there is a difference in the way a demon takes over a human's body and the way one of the Lord's avenger's does. It was a kick in the teeth in this episode to be reminded by Dead!Meg that demons just take and tear through human bodies like they were tic-tacs. When Castiel showed up, he told Dean the guy who used to own his pretty body was happy to give it up and serve the angel. So do angels ask first, or maybe they choose to take over bodies close to death to begin with? It would be interesting to find out who the guy was before Castiel took over his form. ETA, thanks to ezust for reminding me how the blood stain on the coat got there. D'oh!
I'm glad Dean opened up to Sam about Castiel. No biscuit for Sam, however, in keeping his relationship with New!Ruby a secret. First step on the road to becoming The Big Bad? Maybe. Glad Meg bitch-slapped his ass about hanging with Ruby, though. Someone had to.
This season is off to a raucous start! :D
I typed most of this yesterday, but got hit by a massive headache and had to wait until this morning to post it. Hate it when that happens. *grrr*