Wherein I Metaphorically Kick My Rotten Weekend & Gripe About Elementary
Please excuse me for bemoaning fate and being negative, but this was truly a craptacular weekend.
On Friday, I finally broke it off with a guy who I've had a friends with benefits thing with for the past 2 1/2 years. My biological clock won't shut up, I'm sick of being in such a casual relationship, and the sex was getting horiffic, mostly because I've been despising the whole casual thing for a while now. Even though there was really nothing at all between us, I'm a bit broken on the inside over the ending of it when I'm not getting any younger and seem to have a talent for attracting jerks. Especially now that I'm unemployed, one of my main regrets is not finding the right guy first, and have the distinct feeling I've gone and mucked my life up royally. Along with the bills that will be coming up past due tomorrow, it's been fun.
Also got around to watching 'Elementary' tonight...
It was so thoroughly underwhelming, I've a good mind to use it as an insomnia remedy. "Holmes'" big introductory deduction was the fact that "Watson", his sober companion, wasn't a former drug addict/alcoholic herself, even though most are. That... was a far cry from "you have been in Afghanistan, I perceive." And while Lucy Liu is normally a tremendous actor, she was severely limited by the script - all that supposed deduction elicited from her was an indifferent shrug and her wanting to know out of passing curiosity if "Holmes'" father told him that. What happened to Watson's (I was going to say the doctor's, then I remembered she wasn't even that) instantaneous awe and fascination?
So, forget the setting, the genderswap, everything. There's a fundamental character flaw right there. You can take Holmes & Watson, transport them to all sorts of ridiculous AU settings, genderswap them, make them werewolves, vampires, pirates or IDK... kittens, and still retain more of their inherent characterization than we had here. Same held true for the following deductions. She's mildly curious, but more like an average person going WTF instead of a true Watsonian reverence for the man and his abilities. It was clear the writers had no true understanding of Canon!Holmes. I wonder if they even bothered to pick up any of the books? Meh. Very unlikely.
Maybe it got better after the half way mark, but I was honestly so bored, I shut it off to clean the snails' tank, which was the preferable of the two tasks :/ Was in the hopes it would at least be a decent cop drama, though aside from Lucy Liu and JLM (at times - I thought his acting was a bit inconsistent and that he made for a very dull, though somewhat neurotic "Holmes") this actually reeked. Don't even get me started on the wooden actor playing Gregson. Just so cliched and stupid. Admirably fought the urge to scream "are you shitting me?" every five minutes. Not even in a position to rate the actual case, becuase I found it so uninteresting that my brain just turned itself off. I'm seeing moderate squeeing over it on Tumblr, and maybe I'm just getting too persnickety in expecting television to be intelligent and engaging, or maybe it's because I'm not a big TV watcher in the first place, but I didn't get the admittedly mild squeefest. Thankfully though, I got a free download and didn't give CBS the ratings. *affixes gold star to self*
Equally annoying was the fact this was the second bad Holmes adaption I'd come across today, though the first one took atrocious to new heights. It was a book being touted as a pastiche but stank worse than the green tripe I feed to the dogs. It actually had Jack The Ripper sexytimes, Watson at Holmes' throat - and get this steaming pile of $*** - Holmes wanting to know if he'd gotten Mary pregnant (this was based around the ending scene from SIGN) and if so, he could recommend an abortion doctor.
Right about now, you're probably having the same reaction as I did if you find yourself opening your mouth like a gaping fish but no words come out, and have the strangest sensation to wash out your eyes. With turpentine.
So. Awful weekend from the bowels of Hell whose icing on the cake was Holmes adaptations that have left me angry and befuddled. Next week will be better, no? Or with any luck will at least bring better pastiches
On Friday, I finally broke it off with a guy who I've had a friends with benefits thing with for the past 2 1/2 years. My biological clock won't shut up, I'm sick of being in such a casual relationship, and the sex was getting horiffic, mostly because I've been despising the whole casual thing for a while now. Even though there was really nothing at all between us, I'm a bit broken on the inside over the ending of it when I'm not getting any younger and seem to have a talent for attracting jerks. Especially now that I'm unemployed, one of my main regrets is not finding the right guy first, and have the distinct feeling I've gone and mucked my life up royally. Along with the bills that will be coming up past due tomorrow, it's been fun.
Also got around to watching 'Elementary' tonight...
It was so thoroughly underwhelming, I've a good mind to use it as an insomnia remedy. "Holmes'" big introductory deduction was the fact that "Watson", his sober companion, wasn't a former drug addict/alcoholic herself, even though most are. That... was a far cry from "you have been in Afghanistan, I perceive." And while Lucy Liu is normally a tremendous actor, she was severely limited by the script - all that supposed deduction elicited from her was an indifferent shrug and her wanting to know out of passing curiosity if "Holmes'" father told him that. What happened to Watson's (I was going to say the doctor's, then I remembered she wasn't even that) instantaneous awe and fascination?
So, forget the setting, the genderswap, everything. There's a fundamental character flaw right there. You can take Holmes & Watson, transport them to all sorts of ridiculous AU settings, genderswap them, make them werewolves, vampires, pirates or IDK... kittens, and still retain more of their inherent characterization than we had here. Same held true for the following deductions. She's mildly curious, but more like an average person going WTF instead of a true Watsonian reverence for the man and his abilities. It was clear the writers had no true understanding of Canon!Holmes. I wonder if they even bothered to pick up any of the books? Meh. Very unlikely.
Maybe it got better after the half way mark, but I was honestly so bored, I shut it off to clean the snails' tank, which was the preferable of the two tasks :/ Was in the hopes it would at least be a decent cop drama, though aside from Lucy Liu and JLM (at times - I thought his acting was a bit inconsistent and that he made for a very dull, though somewhat neurotic "Holmes") this actually reeked. Don't even get me started on the wooden actor playing Gregson. Just so cliched and stupid. Admirably fought the urge to scream "are you shitting me?" every five minutes. Not even in a position to rate the actual case, becuase I found it so uninteresting that my brain just turned itself off. I'm seeing moderate squeeing over it on Tumblr, and maybe I'm just getting too persnickety in expecting television to be intelligent and engaging, or maybe it's because I'm not a big TV watcher in the first place, but I didn't get the admittedly mild squeefest. Thankfully though, I got a free download and didn't give CBS the ratings. *affixes gold star to self*
Equally annoying was the fact this was the second bad Holmes adaption I'd come across today, though the first one took atrocious to new heights. It was a book being touted as a pastiche but stank worse than the green tripe I feed to the dogs. It actually had Jack The Ripper sexytimes, Watson at Holmes' throat - and get this steaming pile of $*** - Holmes wanting to know if he'd gotten Mary pregnant (this was based around the ending scene from SIGN) and if so, he could recommend an abortion doctor.
Right about now, you're probably having the same reaction as I did if you find yourself opening your mouth like a gaping fish but no words come out, and have the strangest sensation to wash out your eyes. With turpentine.
So. Awful weekend from the bowels of Hell whose icing on the cake was Holmes adaptations that have left me angry and befuddled. Next week will be better, no? Or with any luck will at least bring better pastiches