"I don't talk trash, I talk smack. They're totally different."
Belated happy birthday to dtissagirl!
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Work has been extremely busy this week. I finally got to see Pushing Daisies last night.
Pushing Daisies 1.06 - "Bitches"
I continue to be completely charmed by Olive, and by the relationship between Olive and Chuck in particular--both of them wanting Ned, but more importantly both of them wanting Ned to be happy, and united in that. I'm so glad Olive is starting to work the cases with them.
I am also completely charmed by the fact that Ned and Chuck's inability to touch each other is a real loss; they're not made of stone, they're human, and human touch is important, and they have to face what that lack between them means. Chuck is so open and honest about their problems, and it cuts nicely through the dense layers of Ned's denial, making him have to confront them too. In that, they work well together.
Tonight in Canadian Actor Bingo: although Serena (I believe her name was?)[ETA: sugargroupie reminds me that it was actually Simone] is not on the episode's IMDb page yet, I'm 99% sure that was Christine Adams, who I remember very clearly from the SG-1 episode "Birthright" because she actually sold some of the show's worst dialogue while wearing terrible hair and it impressed me a lot. Emerson's reaction to Simone, both Pavlovian and hormonal, was hilarious. But probably not as hilarious as the fact that Bubblegum was like the UGLIEST DOG EVER. (Okay, maybe the second ugliest dog ever.)
The Office 4.08 - "The Deposition"
When I saw the episode title, I wondered if Toby was at long last going to get the deposition for which he has been preparing. And in some ways, he did, because while the suit itself was over Jan's wrongful termination, it is impossible to separate Jan's last year at Dunder Mifflin from the development of her relationship with Michael Scott, and because it is impossible for Michael to testify in the deposition without making it all about him and all personal. He tries to testify the way she wants him to, but in the end, although Jan wants to blame other people for everything that has gone wrong in her life, her own behavior is at the root of so many of her problems--her brutally honest performance review (she's probably right that Michael is far more well-suited to sales) and her cutthroat instinct to bring Michael's private diary into the lawsuit to bolster her case are a noticeable contrast to David Wallace's testimony. Calling Michael a nice guy and being reluctant to admit that he never seriously considered him for Jan's position are pretty weak tea, but it's behavior that looks a world kinder than Jan's, and it's what Michael desperately needs to hear, and that's all it takes to bring Michael back to the Dunder Mifflin fold. That and Ryan's incredibly dishonest and slimy trading on their "friendship" to get Michael not to hurt the company.
You could just see how crushed Michael was, watching the entire legal and management team--and Toby, his arch-nemesis--page through his most private thoughts over their soup and sandwiches. (And poor Toby, who is there as Michael's advocate, continues to tilt at windmills, sharing the story of his own parents' divorce and of being pulled apart by it, and getting in return Michael's reaction, which is to reject out of hand the idea that he might have anything in common with the detested Toby, and to push his lunch off the table to make that point.)
It occurs to me that if Jan had embraced her attraction to Michael from the beginning, she would also have insisted on disclosing their relationship to HR much earlier, and she would not have been caught up in the discrepancy between when she testified their relationship started and that damning Jamaica photo. Instead, she was ashamed of it, and tried to hide it, and it cost her her credibility in the suit. That makes me very sad for Jan, who is afraid of what she wants, and who sabotages her own life because of it. That car ride back to Scranton, both Michael and Jan feeling angry and betrayed and bitter, but not willing to rupture what is left of the understanding between them, negotiating calmly over what they'll have for dinner, was so painful.
So was hearing Michael's schtick read back by a court reporter.
I wasn't that interested in the Scranton ping pong B-plot, though Kelly's glee over her relationship with Darryl, her pride in him, and her cutthroat competitiveness, were fun. And I liked the symbolism of Pam first trying to play the game Kelly's way and compete through their boyfriends, but eventually taking the competition to the place it belonged, between them, and crushing Kelly like a bug. I am absolutely not surprised that Dwight is, among other things, an amazing ping pong player. He probably had a lot of time on his hands between the beets and the martial arts back before he started dating Angela, and he probably does again.
And that's the last new episode for whoever knows how long. Via asta77, Universal has suspended actor contracts, which means that if the strike is not resolved in 5 weeks, they'll be out of contract. As I said to her, my reading of the situation is that the studios aren't just fighting the writers; they're also positioning themselves for upcoming SGA negotiations, and they don't want to give any ground on Internet residuals going into those. I'm bracing for the worst case scenario. I absolutely support what the WGA is doing, because they are fighting for their right to compensation in the new delivery models, but I'm also sad for all the people who are losing work, and for the TV season, which may very well be hosed into 2009, and which might come back looking significantly different.
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In honor of a recent conversation about lighthouses, the Deputy Dog's 12 stunning lighthouses, one of which is Pigeon Point.
* * * * *
Work has been extremely busy this week. I finally got to see Pushing Daisies last night.
Pushing Daisies 1.06 - "Bitches"
I continue to be completely charmed by Olive, and by the relationship between Olive and Chuck in particular--both of them wanting Ned, but more importantly both of them wanting Ned to be happy, and united in that. I'm so glad Olive is starting to work the cases with them.
I am also completely charmed by the fact that Ned and Chuck's inability to touch each other is a real loss; they're not made of stone, they're human, and human touch is important, and they have to face what that lack between them means. Chuck is so open and honest about their problems, and it cuts nicely through the dense layers of Ned's denial, making him have to confront them too. In that, they work well together.
Tonight in Canadian Actor Bingo: although Serena (I believe her name was?)[ETA: sugargroupie reminds me that it was actually Simone] is not on the episode's IMDb page yet, I'm 99% sure that was Christine Adams, who I remember very clearly from the SG-1 episode "Birthright" because she actually sold some of the show's worst dialogue while wearing terrible hair and it impressed me a lot. Emerson's reaction to Simone, both Pavlovian and hormonal, was hilarious. But probably not as hilarious as the fact that Bubblegum was like the UGLIEST DOG EVER. (Okay, maybe the second ugliest dog ever.)
The Office 4.08 - "The Deposition"
When I saw the episode title, I wondered if Toby was at long last going to get the deposition for which he has been preparing. And in some ways, he did, because while the suit itself was over Jan's wrongful termination, it is impossible to separate Jan's last year at Dunder Mifflin from the development of her relationship with Michael Scott, and because it is impossible for Michael to testify in the deposition without making it all about him and all personal. He tries to testify the way she wants him to, but in the end, although Jan wants to blame other people for everything that has gone wrong in her life, her own behavior is at the root of so many of her problems--her brutally honest performance review (she's probably right that Michael is far more well-suited to sales) and her cutthroat instinct to bring Michael's private diary into the lawsuit to bolster her case are a noticeable contrast to David Wallace's testimony. Calling Michael a nice guy and being reluctant to admit that he never seriously considered him for Jan's position are pretty weak tea, but it's behavior that looks a world kinder than Jan's, and it's what Michael desperately needs to hear, and that's all it takes to bring Michael back to the Dunder Mifflin fold. That and Ryan's incredibly dishonest and slimy trading on their "friendship" to get Michael not to hurt the company.
You could just see how crushed Michael was, watching the entire legal and management team--and Toby, his arch-nemesis--page through his most private thoughts over their soup and sandwiches. (And poor Toby, who is there as Michael's advocate, continues to tilt at windmills, sharing the story of his own parents' divorce and of being pulled apart by it, and getting in return Michael's reaction, which is to reject out of hand the idea that he might have anything in common with the detested Toby, and to push his lunch off the table to make that point.)
It occurs to me that if Jan had embraced her attraction to Michael from the beginning, she would also have insisted on disclosing their relationship to HR much earlier, and she would not have been caught up in the discrepancy between when she testified their relationship started and that damning Jamaica photo. Instead, she was ashamed of it, and tried to hide it, and it cost her her credibility in the suit. That makes me very sad for Jan, who is afraid of what she wants, and who sabotages her own life because of it. That car ride back to Scranton, both Michael and Jan feeling angry and betrayed and bitter, but not willing to rupture what is left of the understanding between them, negotiating calmly over what they'll have for dinner, was so painful.
So was hearing Michael's schtick read back by a court reporter.
I wasn't that interested in the Scranton ping pong B-plot, though Kelly's glee over her relationship with Darryl, her pride in him, and her cutthroat competitiveness, were fun. And I liked the symbolism of Pam first trying to play the game Kelly's way and compete through their boyfriends, but eventually taking the competition to the place it belonged, between them, and crushing Kelly like a bug. I am absolutely not surprised that Dwight is, among other things, an amazing ping pong player. He probably had a lot of time on his hands between the beets and the martial arts back before he started dating Angela, and he probably does again.
And that's the last new episode for whoever knows how long. Via asta77, Universal has suspended actor contracts, which means that if the strike is not resolved in 5 weeks, they'll be out of contract. As I said to her, my reading of the situation is that the studios aren't just fighting the writers; they're also positioning themselves for upcoming SGA negotiations, and they don't want to give any ground on Internet residuals going into those. I'm bracing for the worst case scenario. I absolutely support what the WGA is doing, because they are fighting for their right to compensation in the new delivery models, but I'm also sad for all the people who are losing work, and for the TV season, which may very well be hosed into 2009, and which might come back looking significantly different.
* * * * *
In honor of a recent conversation about lighthouses, the Deputy Dog's 12 stunning lighthouses, one of which is Pigeon Point.