"Oh by the way, you'll be working with a Mountie that's got a wolf who's a florist."
The weather today has been gloomy and gray and cold and it's already been dark for a while and I am so ready to see the other side of the winter solstice. I worked some very long hours last week, and there's just something about being at work five hours after sunset and getting re-acquainted with the night cleaning crew that I'm finding more depressing than usual. This week is going to suck equally in that regard, but after this week it's over, and all in all, that's a remarkably easy release-time crunch for me.
And as long as I'm talking about things that make me crabby right now, let's talk about LJ's awesome new content flagging system! I am... feeling a lot of cynicism and some consternation, I guess is the best way to describe it, about LJ's new content flagging system. The three main problems I have with it can probably be boiled down to the fact that it won't do anything but cover LJ's ass, but it WILL cause the following entirely predictable problems:
I also think that, on top of the grudge flagging, it's a given that groups like Warriors for Innocence are going to adjust their tactics and start using coordinated flagging campaigns to get journals deleted instead of complaining. I don't think there's any way LJ isn't going to end up make some foolish decisions and have to walk them back in the midst of more bad publicity, because I don't have a ton of faith in their judgment or processes at this point. Hopefully Six Apart has bulked up the abuse staff, because they're going to need it.
And cofax7 makes the very salient point here that the way LJ is now set up to programmatically replace entries with a cut with boilerplate warning text for anybody who isn't logged into LJ with a stated age over 14 (for "adult concepts," whatever the hell that means) or 18 (for adult content) makes it impossible for those readers to tell what's under actual cut tags on entries--like spoilers or other warnings or hints about the actual content of the post.
ETA: And who even knows what's going to happen now that SixApart has sold LJ to some Russian media company I've never heard of. Good lord.
* * * * *
Someday, I will finish my Charlie Jade post. I'm a little suspicious that today is not that day. We'll see. In the meantime, in honor of bitchinparty finding some suckers a hotel to host the event, some due South.
due South 2.18 - "Flashback"
I would normally be a little annoyed by a clip show--although, hey, I did survive EIGHT of them on Stargate--but since I was picking the show back up here after a hiatus, I was actually glad for the reminder. And while the amnesia trope is rather hackneyed, I do not envy anyone the task of explaining Fraser to anyone, much less to Fraser. His reaction--"What am I, stupid?"--is priceless, as is Ray's cheerful air of understanding that yes, it's all insane, he's had these very same reactions in the past, but that's who Fraser is, and they miss him and want him back. I like the way, structurally, this season is bookended by head injuries, and that in "North" Fraser and Ray were lost in Fraser's element, while here Fraser is lost in his own life for a time, but with Ray to guide him back.
due South 3.01 - "Burning Down the House"
As I said in my last entry, I had been under the mistaken impression that the Ray K switch came at the beginning of Season 4, so that was a little surprising. And I think if I'd been watching the show contemporaneously, I might have actually been annoyed by the way they accomplished the switch, but knowing it was coming at some point, I really, really liked the way they had Ray K literally take on the identity of the old one and slide into his spot. There's no denying that this is a completely different Ray--except that everyone is denying it, treating him like the old Ray, and Fraser and the audience are both left confused and trying to reconcile what they know with what they're seeing. (I especially like Fraser's reaction here, because he's pretty sure of what he's seeing, but there is that niggling doubt, a nice foreshadowing that his sanity is somewhat in question; he's still seeing his dead father, after all.) The plot of this episode is, quite frankly, really weak, but I do think it accomplishes two important things: giving us a scene of Fraser and Ray K driving around and bickering in a burning Riv, which while OTT is also hilarious, and costing Fraser his home. Ray V was something of a lifeline to Fraser, a way for him to connect to others, and it makes sense that he'd accept Ray K more readily because he is, in whatever form, a continuation of that lifeline, another form of a friendship that had meant everything to him, and a way of honoring that friendship at the same time by keeping Ray V's cover. In some ways, I think Fraser's acceptance of Ray K is still too pat, but it does rest on that foundation.
Also, the amount of my surprise that Fraser would destroy $700,000 worth of planes, trains and automobiles while pursuing a litterbug across the wilderness approaches 0, even if "litterbug" in this case actually meant "dumper of toxic waste."
Bye Ray V! I'll miss you!
due South 3.02 - "Eclipse"
The plotting in this episode is extremely weak: the corruption investigation is ludicrous, the fact that the Ray switch didn't have an internal bureaucratic paper trail is nonsensical, the outcome hinging on 0s being smiley faces in the evidence log and a lineup is just silly. (Given my reaction to "All the Queen's Horses," I guess I should be prepared to continue having problems with plotting now that Paul Gross is an executive producer.) Fortunately, what this episode is really about is telling us who Ray K is--a strange man, a little bit of a loner, someone who practices dance steps in his apartment by himself and apparently makes coffee using tap water and skittles (?!?) and spends twenty years obsessing over a childhood humiliation that changed the course of his life. It's a very different motivation for becoming a cop than Ray V's family tradition of police service, something that marks Ray K as a much more inward-looking person, and that plays well into the subtle shift in roles Fraser seems to be taking with this Ray, drawing him out instead of the other way around, making him go through the birthday as a way of enforcing the disguise and highlighting the absurdity of the situation. The glasses were a nice symbol of everything Ray's afraid he didn't shed about the loser he once thought he was.
I also appreciate the show continuing its tradition of wacky booking hijinks with the butlers. On the other hand, I don't think I buy Welsh bobbing for trout.
In other TV news, the past two weeks of Stargate Atlantis have been a pleasant surprise in the sense that I came out of both of them liking all the characters and feeling like I could mostly understand why they made the decisions they made, and that was kind of a relief. I thought John's decision to feed the tycoon to the Wraith was wonderfully dark and ambiguous, and a natural consequence of sleeping with the enemy: they need this Wraith, at this point, and that means feeding it, and you simply can't enter into an alliance like that without staining your soul, even if it is for the greater good. If I thought the show was in any way capable of following through on this development in a meaningful way, I'd be really excited. As it was, though, I thought it played out as a troubling decision for John, and for Rodney, who knew John had done it for him, so they hit all the right notes there.
* * * * *
That TV meme that's been going around...
1. Name a TV show series in which you have seen every episode at least twice:
Farscape and Arrested Development.
2. Name a show you can't miss:
Currently, Battlestar Galactia, Pushing Daisies, The Office, and 30 Rock. And actually, it surprises me a little to admit, Chuck. That show grows on a person.
3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to watch a show:
Claudia Black. And I have the 10-season Stargate DVD set to prove it.
4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show:
Rachel Fucking Nichols.
5. Name a show you can and do quote from:
Arrested Development, surprisingly enough. When is "I've made a huge mistake" ever not appropriate? I've got no problem with that!
6. Name a show you like that no one else enjoys:
Hm. Frontline?
7. Name a TV show which you've been known to sing the theme song:
I do not sing. You can all thank me later.
8. Name a show you would recommend everyone watch:
The Office. Unless it hits your embarrassment squick, in which case, please spare yourself the pain.
9. Name a TV series you own:
I don't own a ton of shows; Angel and Buffy (someday I will take the shrinkwrap off Season 7, I swear), the first season of Dark Angel (it was on sale!), Seasons 1 and 2 of Alias (after which the show is DEAD TO ME DO YOU HEAR THAT JJ?!?), Seasons 1 and 2 of Veronica Mars (will probably buy Season 3 eventually if I find it on sale, but am not super-motivated), Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Wonderfalls, Stargate, The Office, and Arrested Development. And I'm working on a Muppet Show collection.
10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops in television:
I'm going to steal asta77's answer and also say Tricia Helfer.
11. What is your favorite episode of your favorite series?
I can't really name favorites.
12. Name a show you keep meaning to watch but you just haven’t gotten around to yet:
Babylon 5 is next in the queue; I've been wanting to watch it for a long time.
13. Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad?
Have I ever. The most recent example is Bionic Woman, although I still have last week's Heroes sitting unwatched on my TiVO (I'm not sure I'd call Heroes "bad" at this point so much as "profoundly uninteresting," though). Also, Alias, which I stuck with longer than I should have (DO YOU HEAR THAT JJ?!?).
14. Name a show that's made you cry multiple times:
I almost never cry at TV, but Farscape has given me a few teary moments. Also, I once watched a PBS Nature special on all of the dogs who'd been abandoned during Katrina and bawled the entire hour, because it was just heartbreaking.
15. What do you eat when you watch TV?
Dinner. On the weekends, sometimes lunch. I have a table, I just don't use it much.
16. How often do you watch TV?
It depends on how busy I am and what's on; maybe 10 hours a week? This week it was more like 3.
17. What's the last TV show you watched?
Stargate Atlantis, which I had to watch after the fact because I didn't make it home in time on Friday night.
18. What's your favorite/preferred genre of TV?
SciFi/fantasy, by an overwhelming margin. Although I do enjoy a good procedural occasionally. (And by "good," I mean NOT CSI Miami.)
19. What was the first TV show you were obsessed with?
This is embarrassing, and also goes way back; GI Joe.
20. What TV show do you wish you never watched?
Every episode of Alias from 3.01 on. (NOT THAT I'M BITTER.)
21. What is the weirdest show you enjoyed?
Hm. Maybe Arrested Development? I think it's profoundly weird.
22. What TV show scared you the most?
I don't tend to get frightened by television.
23. What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched?
Probably Arrested Development. Or The Carole Burnett Show, although that could be the childhood memories talking.
And as long as I'm talking about things that make me crabby right now, let's talk about LJ's awesome new content flagging system! I am... feeling a lot of cynicism and some consternation, I guess is the best way to describe it, about LJ's new content flagging system. The three main problems I have with it can probably be boiled down to the fact that it won't do anything but cover LJ's ass, but it WILL cause the following entirely predictable problems:
- I know I'm excited to see the LJ Abuse team get involved in every wank, dispute, or heated discussion that hits fandom! Because they will. There is no way participants in a kerfuffle aren't going to try to get other journals deleted by abusing the flag. And journals will be deleted, because...
- The LJ Abuse team is in charge of deciding which flagged content doesn't meet LJ standards, and this is an organization with a proven track record of deleting journals based on exaggerated and hysterical accusations from less than credible sources because, among other things, LJ employs...
- Incredibly vague standards for what constitutes "obscene," or in this case, "adult content" and "adult concepts." Notice that LJ has not bothered to define these terms before rolling the feature out.
I also think that, on top of the grudge flagging, it's a given that groups like Warriors for Innocence are going to adjust their tactics and start using coordinated flagging campaigns to get journals deleted instead of complaining. I don't think there's any way LJ isn't going to end up make some foolish decisions and have to walk them back in the midst of more bad publicity, because I don't have a ton of faith in their judgment or processes at this point. Hopefully Six Apart has bulked up the abuse staff, because they're going to need it.
And cofax7 makes the very salient point here that the way LJ is now set up to programmatically replace entries with a cut with boilerplate warning text for anybody who isn't logged into LJ with a stated age over 14 (for "adult concepts," whatever the hell that means) or 18 (for adult content) makes it impossible for those readers to tell what's under actual cut tags on entries--like spoilers or other warnings or hints about the actual content of the post.
ETA: And who even knows what's going to happen now that SixApart has sold LJ to some Russian media company I've never heard of. Good lord.
* * * * *
Someday, I will finish my Charlie Jade post. I'm a little suspicious that today is not that day. We'll see. In the meantime, in honor of bitchinparty finding some suckers a hotel to host the event, some due South.
due South 2.18 - "Flashback"
I would normally be a little annoyed by a clip show--although, hey, I did survive EIGHT of them on Stargate--but since I was picking the show back up here after a hiatus, I was actually glad for the reminder. And while the amnesia trope is rather hackneyed, I do not envy anyone the task of explaining Fraser to anyone, much less to Fraser. His reaction--"What am I, stupid?"--is priceless, as is Ray's cheerful air of understanding that yes, it's all insane, he's had these very same reactions in the past, but that's who Fraser is, and they miss him and want him back. I like the way, structurally, this season is bookended by head injuries, and that in "North" Fraser and Ray were lost in Fraser's element, while here Fraser is lost in his own life for a time, but with Ray to guide him back.
due South 3.01 - "Burning Down the House"
As I said in my last entry, I had been under the mistaken impression that the Ray K switch came at the beginning of Season 4, so that was a little surprising. And I think if I'd been watching the show contemporaneously, I might have actually been annoyed by the way they accomplished the switch, but knowing it was coming at some point, I really, really liked the way they had Ray K literally take on the identity of the old one and slide into his spot. There's no denying that this is a completely different Ray--except that everyone is denying it, treating him like the old Ray, and Fraser and the audience are both left confused and trying to reconcile what they know with what they're seeing. (I especially like Fraser's reaction here, because he's pretty sure of what he's seeing, but there is that niggling doubt, a nice foreshadowing that his sanity is somewhat in question; he's still seeing his dead father, after all.) The plot of this episode is, quite frankly, really weak, but I do think it accomplishes two important things: giving us a scene of Fraser and Ray K driving around and bickering in a burning Riv, which while OTT is also hilarious, and costing Fraser his home. Ray V was something of a lifeline to Fraser, a way for him to connect to others, and it makes sense that he'd accept Ray K more readily because he is, in whatever form, a continuation of that lifeline, another form of a friendship that had meant everything to him, and a way of honoring that friendship at the same time by keeping Ray V's cover. In some ways, I think Fraser's acceptance of Ray K is still too pat, but it does rest on that foundation.
Also, the amount of my surprise that Fraser would destroy $700,000 worth of planes, trains and automobiles while pursuing a litterbug across the wilderness approaches 0, even if "litterbug" in this case actually meant "dumper of toxic waste."
Bye Ray V! I'll miss you!
due South 3.02 - "Eclipse"
The plotting in this episode is extremely weak: the corruption investigation is ludicrous, the fact that the Ray switch didn't have an internal bureaucratic paper trail is nonsensical, the outcome hinging on 0s being smiley faces in the evidence log and a lineup is just silly. (Given my reaction to "All the Queen's Horses," I guess I should be prepared to continue having problems with plotting now that Paul Gross is an executive producer.) Fortunately, what this episode is really about is telling us who Ray K is--a strange man, a little bit of a loner, someone who practices dance steps in his apartment by himself and apparently makes coffee using tap water and skittles (?!?) and spends twenty years obsessing over a childhood humiliation that changed the course of his life. It's a very different motivation for becoming a cop than Ray V's family tradition of police service, something that marks Ray K as a much more inward-looking person, and that plays well into the subtle shift in roles Fraser seems to be taking with this Ray, drawing him out instead of the other way around, making him go through the birthday as a way of enforcing the disguise and highlighting the absurdity of the situation. The glasses were a nice symbol of everything Ray's afraid he didn't shed about the loser he once thought he was.
I also appreciate the show continuing its tradition of wacky booking hijinks with the butlers. On the other hand, I don't think I buy Welsh bobbing for trout.
In other TV news, the past two weeks of Stargate Atlantis have been a pleasant surprise in the sense that I came out of both of them liking all the characters and feeling like I could mostly understand why they made the decisions they made, and that was kind of a relief. I thought John's decision to feed the tycoon to the Wraith was wonderfully dark and ambiguous, and a natural consequence of sleeping with the enemy: they need this Wraith, at this point, and that means feeding it, and you simply can't enter into an alliance like that without staining your soul, even if it is for the greater good. If I thought the show was in any way capable of following through on this development in a meaningful way, I'd be really excited. As it was, though, I thought it played out as a troubling decision for John, and for Rodney, who knew John had done it for him, so they hit all the right notes there.
* * * * *
That TV meme that's been going around...
1. Name a TV show series in which you have seen every episode at least twice:
Farscape and Arrested Development.
2. Name a show you can't miss:
Currently, Battlestar Galactia, Pushing Daisies, The Office, and 30 Rock. And actually, it surprises me a little to admit, Chuck. That show grows on a person.
3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to watch a show:
Claudia Black. And I have the 10-season Stargate DVD set to prove it.
4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show:
Rachel Fucking Nichols.
5. Name a show you can and do quote from:
Arrested Development, surprisingly enough. When is "I've made a huge mistake" ever not appropriate? I've got no problem with that!
6. Name a show you like that no one else enjoys:
Hm. Frontline?
7. Name a TV show which you've been known to sing the theme song:
I do not sing. You can all thank me later.
8. Name a show you would recommend everyone watch:
The Office. Unless it hits your embarrassment squick, in which case, please spare yourself the pain.
9. Name a TV series you own:
I don't own a ton of shows; Angel and Buffy (someday I will take the shrinkwrap off Season 7, I swear), the first season of Dark Angel (it was on sale!), Seasons 1 and 2 of Alias (after which the show is DEAD TO ME DO YOU HEAR THAT JJ?!?), Seasons 1 and 2 of Veronica Mars (will probably buy Season 3 eventually if I find it on sale, but am not super-motivated), Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Wonderfalls, Stargate, The Office, and Arrested Development. And I'm working on a Muppet Show collection.
10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops in television:
I'm going to steal asta77's answer and also say Tricia Helfer.
11. What is your favorite episode of your favorite series?
I can't really name favorites.
12. Name a show you keep meaning to watch but you just haven’t gotten around to yet:
Babylon 5 is next in the queue; I've been wanting to watch it for a long time.
13. Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad?
Have I ever. The most recent example is Bionic Woman, although I still have last week's Heroes sitting unwatched on my TiVO (I'm not sure I'd call Heroes "bad" at this point so much as "profoundly uninteresting," though). Also, Alias, which I stuck with longer than I should have (DO YOU HEAR THAT JJ?!?).
14. Name a show that's made you cry multiple times:
I almost never cry at TV, but Farscape has given me a few teary moments. Also, I once watched a PBS Nature special on all of the dogs who'd been abandoned during Katrina and bawled the entire hour, because it was just heartbreaking.
15. What do you eat when you watch TV?
Dinner. On the weekends, sometimes lunch. I have a table, I just don't use it much.
16. How often do you watch TV?
It depends on how busy I am and what's on; maybe 10 hours a week? This week it was more like 3.
17. What's the last TV show you watched?
Stargate Atlantis, which I had to watch after the fact because I didn't make it home in time on Friday night.
18. What's your favorite/preferred genre of TV?
SciFi/fantasy, by an overwhelming margin. Although I do enjoy a good procedural occasionally. (And by "good," I mean NOT CSI Miami.)
19. What was the first TV show you were obsessed with?
This is embarrassing, and also goes way back; GI Joe.
20. What TV show do you wish you never watched?
Every episode of Alias from 3.01 on. (NOT THAT I'M BITTER.)
21. What is the weirdest show you enjoyed?
Hm. Maybe Arrested Development? I think it's profoundly weird.
22. What TV show scared you the most?
I don't tend to get frightened by television.
23. What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched?
Probably Arrested Development. Or The Carole Burnett Show, although that could be the childhood memories talking.