A post about four unrelated things
Happy birthday, writteninstars! I hope you're having a lovely day.
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I have had a relatively lovely weekend. I actually did not work, for one thing. I had crab cakes Benedict at Town's End this morning for another. And D. had both kids while Mrs. D worked (she's an event planner, and this is the first big wedding weekend of the season), and I hung out with him while he played Super Dad, so I did what was for me a large amount of baby-wrangling, and made the entirely unoriginal discoveries that (a) hefting babies is a good bicep workout; (b) toddlers sure can move fast when they see something shiny; and (c) spitup is gross. Also, there was much frisbee-playing with the puppydog, who hasn't forgotten who I am despite not having seen me in way too long, and who made gratifying little groany happy noises and did a full body wag when he first saw me. I miss living with him.
Hopefully, this will get me through the next couple of weeks at work, which are going to be hellish. It will all be over soon.
* * * * *
Babylon 5 2.07 - "Soul Mates"
Although I had to roll my eyes a little bit at Delenn and Ivanova bonding over hair care, as cofax7 laurashapiro pointed out, it was a realistic problem; the Minbari have no cultural institutions for dealing with hair, and their bathing practices aren't designed for it, and Ivanova has the longest, shiniest hair of any of the regulars; the show took the opportunity to illustrate that mundane difference between species.
I was able to call the resolution to Londo's marital difficulties almost from the start; because I have watched television before, and because Londo, for all the care he takes of his station and his ego, is so impatient with transparent flattery, it was obvious to me that he'd choose the wife who was honest and open in her contempt for him. That part of the plot was less interesting to me than what his choice represented: an opportunity to divest himself of marriages he'd made to attain his station, an indulgence from the emperor, a mark of favor. He did not actually plot the destruction of the Narn outpost; that was Morden's twisted gift. But he's actively profiting from it, and increasingly putting himself in a place where delivering that kind of attack in the future is indispensible to his continued political position, and those are all choices he's making of his own free will. Oh, Londo. I'm also intrigued by the fact that G'Kar seems to have some kind of friendly relationship with Londo's youngest wife, the architect of the attack on his life; I get the sense that the Centauri court is corrupt, all of the factions fighting over the remaining scraps, and it would make sense for those factions to make alliances outside the empire to try to cultivate advantages. That makes diplomatic relationships complicated.
But the most complicated relationship by far seems to be the one between Talia and PsiCorps, and the degree to which she allowed them to dictate her entire life, and her growing discomfort with that control. Stoner is, after all, wooing her on their behalf, because they are genetically compatible; she wasn't in a marriage, she was in a breeding program. And now she has other resources, friends like Garibaldi whose relationship is with her, the whole person, to counterbalance that influence, and the possibility of making other choices. (I recognized Keith Sarabajka's name in the credits because he played Holtz on Angel, but I did not realize until seeing this episode that Keith Sarabajka is so short; Holtz had such a commanding presence that I'd never noticed it before, but I think Talia had at least a head on him.)
Babylon 5 2.08 - "A Race Through Dark Places"
I am always pleased with shows that use recurring tertiary characters to establish a sense of place, so I like that this show consistently uses the same actor for Garibaldi's second-in-command (Welch?), and that so many of the residents of the Downbelow are familiar faces by now, and that when Bester reappears, we have a rich understanding of his place in the story, even if Sheridan doesn't.
A lot of the political maneuverings involving Earth on this show seem to be located in rebellions against the excessive reach of authority. In the B plot, then, Sheridan makes a fairly silly stand against Earth Force, because he won't sacrifice his quarters, or Ivanova's, to resolve their budget problems. But in the larger and less trivial picture, the Mars colony rebellion against Earth seems to have some specific grievances about lack of equality and oppression behind it. And Psi Corps--which, as Garibaldi astutely points out, began its institutional life as a way of protecting psychics from the oppression of greater society--has, in regimenting everything about the lives of people with psychic ability, sparked a rebellion of its own, an underground railroad. (Sadly, Steven gets no cool points for being the point of contact on Babylon 5; there is perhaps no power in the verse that could render him interesting.) Talia's own rebellion isn't so much motivated by the events of this episode as by the entire series of things she's seen since the show began, from her relationship with Jason Ironheart to her encounter with Stoner to Bester's heavy-handed maneuvers; the stories of the runaways here just confirm what she's known, in her heart, for a long time.
Also, in a show that too often features pretty dreadful episodic actors, Walter Koenig is actually pretty good. Yay!
Delenn and Sheridan's date was sort of silly, but also amusing, because she so clearly seems to know exactly what she wants, and Sheridan's so hopelessly poleaxed by the force of her attention. The Teeth are definitely smitten.
I was quite surprised by the scene between Ivanova and Talia at the end, because wow, They Are So Totally Doing It Now. I was spoiled that there was some kind of romance between them, but I don't think I expected it to be treated so openly (within the restrictions of ca 1994 television standards and practices, at least). Huh.
* * * * *
I know a lot of people have already posted about the LJ user representative elections, but in case you've missed the news, voting is here, and you can change your vote until the poll closes on 5/30 (I did not know you could do that in LJ polls!). You can read the platforms of fannish candidates here. There's a clear explanantion of the runoff system used in this election here.
Do I think the LJ advisory board user representative is going to be an effective position with the power to influence LJ policy? Probably not. Do I think it would be a disaster to elect a dramatastic troll to that position anyway? Absofuckinglutely. Tips of iceberg re: jameth here and here.
Personally, I voted for legomymalfoy, rm, and vichan, in that order, because it's the combination I see as having the best strategic outcome based on current polling results. But I think there are a number of good fandom choices, and would be happy with any winner who has a strong commitment to (a) not being an asshole for the hell of it, and (b) fandom issues. And I can barely believe it, but apparently (a) is a bigger deal than it should be.
* * * * *
I have had a relatively lovely weekend. I actually did not work, for one thing. I had crab cakes Benedict at Town's End this morning for another. And D. had both kids while Mrs. D worked (she's an event planner, and this is the first big wedding weekend of the season), and I hung out with him while he played Super Dad, so I did what was for me a large amount of baby-wrangling, and made the entirely unoriginal discoveries that (a) hefting babies is a good bicep workout; (b) toddlers sure can move fast when they see something shiny; and (c) spitup is gross. Also, there was much frisbee-playing with the puppydog, who hasn't forgotten who I am despite not having seen me in way too long, and who made gratifying little groany happy noises and did a full body wag when he first saw me. I miss living with him.
Hopefully, this will get me through the next couple of weeks at work, which are going to be hellish. It will all be over soon.
* * * * *
Babylon 5 2.07 - "Soul Mates"
Although I had to roll my eyes a little bit at Delenn and Ivanova bonding over hair care, as cofax7 laurashapiro pointed out, it was a realistic problem; the Minbari have no cultural institutions for dealing with hair, and their bathing practices aren't designed for it, and Ivanova has the longest, shiniest hair of any of the regulars; the show took the opportunity to illustrate that mundane difference between species.
I was able to call the resolution to Londo's marital difficulties almost from the start; because I have watched television before, and because Londo, for all the care he takes of his station and his ego, is so impatient with transparent flattery, it was obvious to me that he'd choose the wife who was honest and open in her contempt for him. That part of the plot was less interesting to me than what his choice represented: an opportunity to divest himself of marriages he'd made to attain his station, an indulgence from the emperor, a mark of favor. He did not actually plot the destruction of the Narn outpost; that was Morden's twisted gift. But he's actively profiting from it, and increasingly putting himself in a place where delivering that kind of attack in the future is indispensible to his continued political position, and those are all choices he's making of his own free will. Oh, Londo. I'm also intrigued by the fact that G'Kar seems to have some kind of friendly relationship with Londo's youngest wife, the architect of the attack on his life; I get the sense that the Centauri court is corrupt, all of the factions fighting over the remaining scraps, and it would make sense for those factions to make alliances outside the empire to try to cultivate advantages. That makes diplomatic relationships complicated.
But the most complicated relationship by far seems to be the one between Talia and PsiCorps, and the degree to which she allowed them to dictate her entire life, and her growing discomfort with that control. Stoner is, after all, wooing her on their behalf, because they are genetically compatible; she wasn't in a marriage, she was in a breeding program. And now she has other resources, friends like Garibaldi whose relationship is with her, the whole person, to counterbalance that influence, and the possibility of making other choices. (I recognized Keith Sarabajka's name in the credits because he played Holtz on Angel, but I did not realize until seeing this episode that Keith Sarabajka is so short; Holtz had such a commanding presence that I'd never noticed it before, but I think Talia had at least a head on him.)
Babylon 5 2.08 - "A Race Through Dark Places"
I am always pleased with shows that use recurring tertiary characters to establish a sense of place, so I like that this show consistently uses the same actor for Garibaldi's second-in-command (Welch?), and that so many of the residents of the Downbelow are familiar faces by now, and that when Bester reappears, we have a rich understanding of his place in the story, even if Sheridan doesn't.
A lot of the political maneuverings involving Earth on this show seem to be located in rebellions against the excessive reach of authority. In the B plot, then, Sheridan makes a fairly silly stand against Earth Force, because he won't sacrifice his quarters, or Ivanova's, to resolve their budget problems. But in the larger and less trivial picture, the Mars colony rebellion against Earth seems to have some specific grievances about lack of equality and oppression behind it. And Psi Corps--which, as Garibaldi astutely points out, began its institutional life as a way of protecting psychics from the oppression of greater society--has, in regimenting everything about the lives of people with psychic ability, sparked a rebellion of its own, an underground railroad. (Sadly, Steven gets no cool points for being the point of contact on Babylon 5; there is perhaps no power in the verse that could render him interesting.) Talia's own rebellion isn't so much motivated by the events of this episode as by the entire series of things she's seen since the show began, from her relationship with Jason Ironheart to her encounter with Stoner to Bester's heavy-handed maneuvers; the stories of the runaways here just confirm what she's known, in her heart, for a long time.
Also, in a show that too often features pretty dreadful episodic actors, Walter Koenig is actually pretty good. Yay!
Delenn and Sheridan's date was sort of silly, but also amusing, because she so clearly seems to know exactly what she wants, and Sheridan's so hopelessly poleaxed by the force of her attention. The Teeth are definitely smitten.
I was quite surprised by the scene between Ivanova and Talia at the end, because wow, They Are So Totally Doing It Now. I was spoiled that there was some kind of romance between them, but I don't think I expected it to be treated so openly (within the restrictions of ca 1994 television standards and practices, at least). Huh.
* * * * *
I know a lot of people have already posted about the LJ user representative elections, but in case you've missed the news, voting is here, and you can change your vote until the poll closes on 5/30 (I did not know you could do that in LJ polls!). You can read the platforms of fannish candidates here. There's a clear explanantion of the runoff system used in this election here.
Do I think the LJ advisory board user representative is going to be an effective position with the power to influence LJ policy? Probably not. Do I think it would be a disaster to elect a dramatastic troll to that position anyway? Absofuckinglutely. Tips of iceberg re: jameth here and here.
Personally, I voted for legomymalfoy, rm, and vichan, in that order, because it's the combination I see as having the best strategic outcome based on current polling results. But I think there are a number of good fandom choices, and would be happy with any winner who has a strong commitment to (a) not being an asshole for the hell of it, and (b) fandom issues. And I can barely believe it, but apparently (a) is a bigger deal than it should be.