"You all took a life here today. The life of the party."
Happy belated birthday to writteninstars! I hope you had a fabulous day.
Hey, everybody, remember when I used to post? Me neither. I've been hopelessly distracted lately, not by anything big, but by a series of small, shiny things. And rediscovering my love of the process of cooking, which had been sort of on the wane there for a while. I'm so obsessed with Japanese food right now that it's not even funny. I have two different kinds of yakifu in my pantry right now--the colorful, flower-shaped kind for soup and the plain beige ones for sukiyaki--which is probably ridiculous. Let's not even get into my collection of dried seaweed!
And I think I speak for everyone in my family when I say that I can't wait until my brother is married and we no longer have to deal with his fiancee's mother and her crazy, crazy wedding planning obsession. Which is crazy.
ANYWAY, I have gotten sucked into several wonderful books, about which more at some point (hopefully!), and have been slowly clearing out the TiVO backlog.
* * * * *
The Office 5.24 - "Casual Friday"
The conflict between the Michael Scott Paper Company people and the DM sales staff in this episode was fairly excruciating. Michael really, really knows how to hold a grudge; and Pam did pass the loyalty test, stuck with Michael and deserves some sort of reward, even if Ryan doesn't. On the other hand, when Phyllis isn't busy being terrifying, she's right that the salespeople got caught in the middle when Michael went after Dunder Mifflin. And she plays the family card. It's impossible for me to understand what Michael sees in Ryan, so I was ready to believe he'd actually pick Ryan over Pam. Pam's right: Michael really needs to stop fake-firing people.
Also: "What did I tell you about building forts in my warehouse?" I love Darryl a lot.
Jim got caught in the middle too, barely tolerated in the secret warehouse meeting, ignored when he tries to head off the revolt by advising Michael to cool it. It seemed somehow fitting that he ended up sitting out the drama with Creed in the break room; Creed has a weird sort of animal cunning, and has managed to stay out of most of the messes in that office over the years by keeping his head down, and it seems like Jim has learned something. (From Creed! Time to be officially scared.)
The Office 5.25 - "Cafe Disco"
This episode felt like a lot of filler; I think NBC stretched the rubber band so far it almost broke this season. Still, I did like the scenes between Phyllis and Dwight: Dwight putting all of his home remedies to use because he can, because he knows these things, even though he doesn't actually like Phyllis or particularly want to help her, and Phyllis blurting out her secret fear in a moment of comfort with him, and dispelling the suspicion by saying it out loud. It's those weird moments of connection and empathy that hold these characters together through all of the bickering and infighting and hostage standoffs/fires/bat chases.
The Office 5.26 - "Company Picnic"
I am going to pass over the iffy logistics of holding a companywide picnic with that kind of geographic spread, in favor of going "aw!" at most of the things that happened in this episode. It was bittersweet, but for once, much more sweet than bitter.
I love that Dwight and Toby have counterparts in other offices, and that the parallels were illustrated so beautifully with just a few lines of conversation. Dwight's friend Rolf was particularly--I don't know if the word I'm looking for here is delightful, but we'll go with that--delightful because he combined Dwight's love of dangerous chemicals with Angela's narrow, moralistic sanctimoniousness, and turned that sanctimoniousness on Angela herself, because she'd hurt his friend. But it was good to see Dwight standing up for her, not because she deserved it, exactly, but because it means he's not consumed by bitterness, that he doesn't even want to engage in bitterness by proxy anymore; he's started to make his peace with her.
And how is Pam so awesome?!? She's so nonconfrontational most of the time that it's always wonderful to see her get her competitiveness on, flash that killer instinct, and show that deep down she's got things she's good at, and that she's proud of, and that she loves to get the chance to show.
Michael, on the other hand, kills me most when he's being mature and wistful. And it was especially touching that the big screwup--telling the Buffalo branch that they're being shut down in the middle of that godawful Slumdunder Mifflinaire sketch--wasn't Michael's alone. He and Holly did it together; they encouraged each other; neither of them saw a problem. I don't believe for a minute that he's in no rush, but he seems to sense that he could easily screw up this fragile rapport they have, that he can't make a move until she's ready, and if she's still dating whatshisname, she isn't ready. Michael Scott, restraining himself, looking at the bigger picture. That's love.
And OMG, Jim and Pam are having a baby!!! We find out as they do, in the best tradition of the show's season finales--without a word of dialogue, just the look on their faces, stolen through a window. I can't tell you how relieved I am that the writers have stuck to the show's core competence when it comes to their relationship: the plodding pace, the ordinary ups and downs, the lack of soap opera melodrama. I think it's worked so far; and I wonder if Jim won't freak out just a little bit with the reality of fatherhood rushing at him and the realization that slackerly sliding by might not be enough for him anymore.
* * * * *
Babylon 5 4.11 - "Lines of Communication"
One thing that really impresses me about this show is the attention payed to consequences. There was a big conflict between the Shadows and the Babylon 5 team, and between the Shadows and the Vorlons, and that was dramatic in its own right. But wars that big are fundamentally destabilizing to the societies that are caught up in them. The Narn lost and then won their freedom; the Centauri emperor fell, and it was all the court could do to create a smooth transition to a Regent; Santiago used the conflict to seize and consolidate his power, and the relationship between Earth and its colonies deteriorated; and now, the divisions in Minbari society have become so pronounced that they have spawned a civil war. It is expecially neat, in a twisted way, that Delenn was--directly or indirectly--responsible for so much of the chaos. She didn't make the tensions; those have been around for millenia. But she made difficult choices between bad options, and there has been blowback. The Gray Council is no more because of her, and Minbar is falling apart, and the religious cast's dodgy potential allies won't deal with Delenn because of her role in destroying Z'ha'dum.
It's quite clear that Clarke has begun preparing Earth for a two-minute hate against Sheridan. What's especially neat and creepy is that the campaign is couched in terms of concern for him, as a sufferer of "Minbari War Syndrome," whatever the hell that is. The pervasive message is that contact with aliens is corrupting, polluting. Someone can be the best person, can be a war hero, and still succumb to that terrible influence. It's less about making Sheridan a villain, more about making him an object lesson to every other human. The way the show handles Clark's use of propaganda and the power of state institutions to promote his authoritarian rule is just dead on.
Also, I officially do not care about Steven's romance with the Mars resistance leader, but I am also not actively repelled and/or creeped out by it, so: progress!
Babylon 5 4.12 - "Conflicts of Interest"
Garibaldi's fondness for Daffy Duck is such a wonderfully charming little detail. And, since Daffy Duck is always running off on wild goose chases and getting smacked around, perhaps an omen. He's terribly unfair to poor Zack, who was only doing his job, asking for the weapons and comm badge and access card that Garibaldi should have surrendered himself when he walked out of his job. And that just contributes to my sense that there is something terribly wrong with him. It's a vicious downward cycle: he does something to alienate his friends, they react harshly, he gives up another piece of whatever is holding him back from acting against them. Whatever he's gotten involved in, it involves telepaths, and some very powerful and fanatical people who might not be able to move freely without the Clark administration's assent, if not outright connivance, and I have no idea what it is, but as they say, this will not end well.
The woman playing his ex, Lise, is a terrible actress, but I like that she's able to introduce an interesting little piece of information about how people born on Earth get preferential treatment in the Martian legal system. It's another hint that the rebellion is well-justified. (It's also interesting that her husband, though he lives on Mars, is from Earth.)
That there are 10 Zathrases who all look more or less alike explains SO MUCH!
It seems like the war with the Shadows and the eventual departure of the Shadows and the Vorlons created a big power vacuum in the galaxy. Sheridan is, perhaps, either hopelessly optimistic or crazily arrogant for thinking he can fill it, but at least he's got the right idea in involving the Narns and the Centauri, and everyone else who can help, so that it's a cooperative achievement if it works, and a collective failure if it doesn't.
* * * * *
I sort of want this R2D2 water bottle, but it's not $42 worth of want. Oh well.
[X-posted to Dreamwidth and Livejournal]
Hey, everybody, remember when I used to post? Me neither. I've been hopelessly distracted lately, not by anything big, but by a series of small, shiny things. And rediscovering my love of the process of cooking, which had been sort of on the wane there for a while. I'm so obsessed with Japanese food right now that it's not even funny. I have two different kinds of yakifu in my pantry right now--the colorful, flower-shaped kind for soup and the plain beige ones for sukiyaki--which is probably ridiculous. Let's not even get into my collection of dried seaweed!
And I think I speak for everyone in my family when I say that I can't wait until my brother is married and we no longer have to deal with his fiancee's mother and her crazy, crazy wedding planning obsession. Which is crazy.
ANYWAY, I have gotten sucked into several wonderful books, about which more at some point (hopefully!), and have been slowly clearing out the TiVO backlog.
* * * * *
The Office 5.24 - "Casual Friday"
The conflict between the Michael Scott Paper Company people and the DM sales staff in this episode was fairly excruciating. Michael really, really knows how to hold a grudge; and Pam did pass the loyalty test, stuck with Michael and deserves some sort of reward, even if Ryan doesn't. On the other hand, when Phyllis isn't busy being terrifying, she's right that the salespeople got caught in the middle when Michael went after Dunder Mifflin. And she plays the family card. It's impossible for me to understand what Michael sees in Ryan, so I was ready to believe he'd actually pick Ryan over Pam. Pam's right: Michael really needs to stop fake-firing people.
Also: "What did I tell you about building forts in my warehouse?" I love Darryl a lot.
Jim got caught in the middle too, barely tolerated in the secret warehouse meeting, ignored when he tries to head off the revolt by advising Michael to cool it. It seemed somehow fitting that he ended up sitting out the drama with Creed in the break room; Creed has a weird sort of animal cunning, and has managed to stay out of most of the messes in that office over the years by keeping his head down, and it seems like Jim has learned something. (From Creed! Time to be officially scared.)
The Office 5.25 - "Cafe Disco"
This episode felt like a lot of filler; I think NBC stretched the rubber band so far it almost broke this season. Still, I did like the scenes between Phyllis and Dwight: Dwight putting all of his home remedies to use because he can, because he knows these things, even though he doesn't actually like Phyllis or particularly want to help her, and Phyllis blurting out her secret fear in a moment of comfort with him, and dispelling the suspicion by saying it out loud. It's those weird moments of connection and empathy that hold these characters together through all of the bickering and infighting and hostage standoffs/fires/bat chases.
The Office 5.26 - "Company Picnic"
I am going to pass over the iffy logistics of holding a companywide picnic with that kind of geographic spread, in favor of going "aw!" at most of the things that happened in this episode. It was bittersweet, but for once, much more sweet than bitter.
I love that Dwight and Toby have counterparts in other offices, and that the parallels were illustrated so beautifully with just a few lines of conversation. Dwight's friend Rolf was particularly--I don't know if the word I'm looking for here is delightful, but we'll go with that--delightful because he combined Dwight's love of dangerous chemicals with Angela's narrow, moralistic sanctimoniousness, and turned that sanctimoniousness on Angela herself, because she'd hurt his friend. But it was good to see Dwight standing up for her, not because she deserved it, exactly, but because it means he's not consumed by bitterness, that he doesn't even want to engage in bitterness by proxy anymore; he's started to make his peace with her.
And how is Pam so awesome?!? She's so nonconfrontational most of the time that it's always wonderful to see her get her competitiveness on, flash that killer instinct, and show that deep down she's got things she's good at, and that she's proud of, and that she loves to get the chance to show.
Michael, on the other hand, kills me most when he's being mature and wistful. And it was especially touching that the big screwup--telling the Buffalo branch that they're being shut down in the middle of that godawful Slumdunder Mifflinaire sketch--wasn't Michael's alone. He and Holly did it together; they encouraged each other; neither of them saw a problem. I don't believe for a minute that he's in no rush, but he seems to sense that he could easily screw up this fragile rapport they have, that he can't make a move until she's ready, and if she's still dating whatshisname, she isn't ready. Michael Scott, restraining himself, looking at the bigger picture. That's love.
And OMG, Jim and Pam are having a baby!!! We find out as they do, in the best tradition of the show's season finales--without a word of dialogue, just the look on their faces, stolen through a window. I can't tell you how relieved I am that the writers have stuck to the show's core competence when it comes to their relationship: the plodding pace, the ordinary ups and downs, the lack of soap opera melodrama. I think it's worked so far; and I wonder if Jim won't freak out just a little bit with the reality of fatherhood rushing at him and the realization that slackerly sliding by might not be enough for him anymore.
* * * * *
Babylon 5 4.11 - "Lines of Communication"
One thing that really impresses me about this show is the attention payed to consequences. There was a big conflict between the Shadows and the Babylon 5 team, and between the Shadows and the Vorlons, and that was dramatic in its own right. But wars that big are fundamentally destabilizing to the societies that are caught up in them. The Narn lost and then won their freedom; the Centauri emperor fell, and it was all the court could do to create a smooth transition to a Regent; Santiago used the conflict to seize and consolidate his power, and the relationship between Earth and its colonies deteriorated; and now, the divisions in Minbari society have become so pronounced that they have spawned a civil war. It is expecially neat, in a twisted way, that Delenn was--directly or indirectly--responsible for so much of the chaos. She didn't make the tensions; those have been around for millenia. But she made difficult choices between bad options, and there has been blowback. The Gray Council is no more because of her, and Minbar is falling apart, and the religious cast's dodgy potential allies won't deal with Delenn because of her role in destroying Z'ha'dum.
It's quite clear that Clarke has begun preparing Earth for a two-minute hate against Sheridan. What's especially neat and creepy is that the campaign is couched in terms of concern for him, as a sufferer of "Minbari War Syndrome," whatever the hell that is. The pervasive message is that contact with aliens is corrupting, polluting. Someone can be the best person, can be a war hero, and still succumb to that terrible influence. It's less about making Sheridan a villain, more about making him an object lesson to every other human. The way the show handles Clark's use of propaganda and the power of state institutions to promote his authoritarian rule is just dead on.
Also, I officially do not care about Steven's romance with the Mars resistance leader, but I am also not actively repelled and/or creeped out by it, so: progress!
Babylon 5 4.12 - "Conflicts of Interest"
Garibaldi's fondness for Daffy Duck is such a wonderfully charming little detail. And, since Daffy Duck is always running off on wild goose chases and getting smacked around, perhaps an omen. He's terribly unfair to poor Zack, who was only doing his job, asking for the weapons and comm badge and access card that Garibaldi should have surrendered himself when he walked out of his job. And that just contributes to my sense that there is something terribly wrong with him. It's a vicious downward cycle: he does something to alienate his friends, they react harshly, he gives up another piece of whatever is holding him back from acting against them. Whatever he's gotten involved in, it involves telepaths, and some very powerful and fanatical people who might not be able to move freely without the Clark administration's assent, if not outright connivance, and I have no idea what it is, but as they say, this will not end well.
The woman playing his ex, Lise, is a terrible actress, but I like that she's able to introduce an interesting little piece of information about how people born on Earth get preferential treatment in the Martian legal system. It's another hint that the rebellion is well-justified. (It's also interesting that her husband, though he lives on Mars, is from Earth.)
That there are 10 Zathrases who all look more or less alike explains SO MUCH!
It seems like the war with the Shadows and the eventual departure of the Shadows and the Vorlons created a big power vacuum in the galaxy. Sheridan is, perhaps, either hopelessly optimistic or crazily arrogant for thinking he can fill it, but at least he's got the right idea in involving the Narns and the Centauri, and everyone else who can help, so that it's a cooperative achievement if it works, and a collective failure if it doesn't.
* * * * *
I sort of want this R2D2 water bottle, but it's not $42 worth of want. Oh well.
[X-posted to Dreamwidth and Livejournal]