What I have learned from "The Libertine"
This evening I drank a couple glasses of wine with my parents and watched the movie The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp. And what have I learned from The Libertine? (and Wikipedia?) I have learned that I never want to get syphilis, especially not if penicillin is not available, because I never want to look the way Johnny Depp looked at the end.
The impact of the disease on his person was incredibly...creepy. I may steal those descriptions for monsters in my own works in the future, because the skin degeneration was amazing. Does it make me a horrible person for saying things like this?
It's interesting to think that in movies we often do not see the negative results of the actions that the characters choose. I remember my surprise, realizing once when reading books by one of my favorite authors that, indeed, my favorite characters were having a lot of unprotected sex, which, conveniently, never resulted in treatments for gonorrhea.
Anyway, back to The Libertine. The poetry of the language was beautiful. Granted, this is from a person who adored the Restoration plays read in her 17th Century class (The Country Wife more than most of the poetry we had to read in the class) and yes, I loved them for the frank talk of sex, adultery, and licentiousness (three things of which I approve of to varying degrees in various situations). If anyone ever says that the younger generation is going to hell in a hand basket, please refer them to the Restoration court, or Ancient Rome, or, indeed, to the 70s. It is either encouraging or depressing that human beings have loved the same excesses since we were carving graffiti into rocks.
After The Libertine, we watched an episode of Supernatural, "Changing Channels" and episode that I think of every time the old (and, in my opinion, crappy) TV show Night Rider comes up on Retro TV (my family gets about seven channels. Of them, Retro TV is one of my favorites. It also has the A-Team [at 8 p.m] which is one of my favorite things currently, and yes, I know it's not a quality show, but it fills a desire in my heart that cannot be met in any other way; rather like the Black Jewels Trilogy and chocolate). "Changing Channels" mocks several show I don't think very highly of, and, thus, is hilarious and I got my parents to watch it with me.
One thing that has never occurred to me before is: where did Cas go for most of the episode? Granted the Trickster smacks him down, but he's just gone. It would be interesting to write a fic about where he went, and I will as soon as I figure it out myself. Though I have this intense urge to actually finish writing a couple of the SPN fics I have in process before doing that.
Another consideration, exactly how does an archangel become a trickster? No matter how much of a little brother he is, he's really powerful, and both other archangels in the series have to have a host. I would write a fic about Gabriel getting a host, and then never letting go of him, but, 1) he a jerk, and thus not fun to write about and 2) I want to finish other fic. Yes, the song remains the same (which is my FAVORITE SPN episode title because I actually said the phrase while we were watching the ep before I knew that it was the title. Because the minor characters are always trying to kill someone, or telling someone they are evil and it is NOT TRUE (okay, this is a little bit of backlash from watching the S6 preview, sorry).
Anyway, the thing that I love about SPN is that they can show you one thing (boys trapped in a TV world) and it is funny. And then get farther in the episode, and it is horrific and sad and heart wrenching. Granted, less so when watching with my parents (they are not fans, which I understand because they have not gotten addicted as I do, and they are past the age when the sheer hots of Sam and Dean can overcome any obstacle (not to mention the pillars, but those come later. The Zeroth Pillar of SPN: hotness!
In more real life commentary, my dad has been reading a joke book to us
A joke: What is round and really violent? (answer later)
We are getting a new refrigerator and stove and plug in thingy tomorrow! Which means, joy of all joys, that soon there will be a full sized fridge in my house (as opposed to the STUPID tiny one that my aunt really nicely gave me [but it's so small!]) and a stove where the thingers under the heating element isn't crumbling from rust. Mom cleaned where the old fridge (dead and full of mildew) and the old stove (can you say disgusting?) used to be. It was like a thin carpet of dust. Eeeew. But it will all be better tomorrow.
Answer: A vicious circle.
And with that, good night!
The impact of the disease on his person was incredibly...creepy. I may steal those descriptions for monsters in my own works in the future, because the skin degeneration was amazing. Does it make me a horrible person for saying things like this?
It's interesting to think that in movies we often do not see the negative results of the actions that the characters choose. I remember my surprise, realizing once when reading books by one of my favorite authors that, indeed, my favorite characters were having a lot of unprotected sex, which, conveniently, never resulted in treatments for gonorrhea.
Anyway, back to The Libertine. The poetry of the language was beautiful. Granted, this is from a person who adored the Restoration plays read in her 17th Century class (The Country Wife more than most of the poetry we had to read in the class) and yes, I loved them for the frank talk of sex, adultery, and licentiousness (three things of which I approve of to varying degrees in various situations). If anyone ever says that the younger generation is going to hell in a hand basket, please refer them to the Restoration court, or Ancient Rome, or, indeed, to the 70s. It is either encouraging or depressing that human beings have loved the same excesses since we were carving graffiti into rocks.
After The Libertine, we watched an episode of Supernatural, "Changing Channels" and episode that I think of every time the old (and, in my opinion, crappy) TV show Night Rider comes up on Retro TV (my family gets about seven channels. Of them, Retro TV is one of my favorites. It also has the A-Team [at 8 p.m] which is one of my favorite things currently, and yes, I know it's not a quality show, but it fills a desire in my heart that cannot be met in any other way; rather like the Black Jewels Trilogy and chocolate). "Changing Channels" mocks several show I don't think very highly of, and, thus, is hilarious and I got my parents to watch it with me.
One thing that has never occurred to me before is: where did Cas go for most of the episode? Granted the Trickster smacks him down, but he's just gone. It would be interesting to write a fic about where he went, and I will as soon as I figure it out myself. Though I have this intense urge to actually finish writing a couple of the SPN fics I have in process before doing that.
Another consideration, exactly how does an archangel become a trickster? No matter how much of a little brother he is, he's really powerful, and both other archangels in the series have to have a host. I would write a fic about Gabriel getting a host, and then never letting go of him, but, 1) he a jerk, and thus not fun to write about and 2) I want to finish other fic. Yes, the song remains the same (which is my FAVORITE SPN episode title because I actually said the phrase while we were watching the ep before I knew that it was the title. Because the minor characters are always trying to kill someone, or telling someone they are evil and it is NOT TRUE (okay, this is a little bit of backlash from watching the S6 preview, sorry).
Anyway, the thing that I love about SPN is that they can show you one thing (boys trapped in a TV world) and it is funny. And then get farther in the episode, and it is horrific and sad and heart wrenching. Granted, less so when watching with my parents (they are not fans, which I understand because they have not gotten addicted as I do, and they are past the age when the sheer hots of Sam and Dean can overcome any obstacle (not to mention the pillars, but those come later. The Zeroth Pillar of SPN: hotness!
In more real life commentary, my dad has been reading a joke book to us
A joke: What is round and really violent? (answer later)
We are getting a new refrigerator and stove and plug in thingy tomorrow! Which means, joy of all joys, that soon there will be a full sized fridge in my house (as opposed to the STUPID tiny one that my aunt really nicely gave me [but it's so small!]) and a stove where the thingers under the heating element isn't crumbling from rust. Mom cleaned where the old fridge (dead and full of mildew) and the old stove (can you say disgusting?) used to be. It was like a thin carpet of dust. Eeeew. But it will all be better tomorrow.
Answer: A vicious circle.
And with that, good night!