Have you felt up a chicken today?
I have! It's roasting in the oven right now and smells wonderful. This is a foolproof recipe that always produces a moist, flavorful roast chicken, but it is not for those who are hesitant to get intimate with their poultry.
Roast Chicken with Red Wine and Shallots
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 2/3 cup finely diced shallots
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Salt and white pepper to taste
- 1 roasting chicken (~5 pounds)
- 3 - 4 thick slices of crusty bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (I like to use a rustic Italian bread like pugliese)
- 1 cup water
Combine the wine and shallots in a small saucepan and simmer until the liquid evaporates completely, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool, then combine with the butter, salt and pepper. Place in the refrigerator to harden for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Farenheit.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Rub it inside and out with salt and pepper to taste. Without tearing or puncturing the skin, slip your fingers between the skin and the flesh to gently detach the skin from the body of the chicken. Rub half of the butter mixture all over the chicken underneath the skin. Coat the croutons with the remaining butter and stuff them inside the chicken cavity. Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen string and then tie the legs and wings tightly to the body.
Place the chicken in a roasting pan and put it in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes and then add one cup of water to the pan. Continue to roast, basting occasionally, until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a knife, about 40 minutes longer.
Transfer the chicken from the roasting pan to a cutting board. Snip the trussing strings and discard them. Remove the bread from the cavity, carve the chicken, and serve them together on a platter. Serve immediately.
You can serve the chicken with the pan juices, or you can make a simple gravy by melting a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, adding a tablespoon of flour, and cooking, stirring constantly, for at least a minute to cook the flour. Add the pan juices (skimmed of fat if you like) and a cup of chicken broth and cook until thickened. Add more chicken broth as needed until you have the thickness of gravy you prefer. Alternatively, you can roast potatoes directly in the pan with the drippings; add them when the chicken has about half an hour left to cook and turn them a couple of times during cooking.
* * * * *
I have answers to yesterday's meme!
For zandra_x, Farscape:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Aeryn Sun. My first deliberate Farscape viewing was the miniseries, and I didn't know who these people were or what the heck was going on, but I was utterly entranced by Aeryn. Nothing I've seen since has lessened that feeling. I suspect, though, that if I'd seen "Premiere" first, I would have fallen for John.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
There are a long list of characters on Farscape I never expected to love as much as I do now--or to like at all. But I think the top of the list would be Crais, because my perception of him changed so drastically, from loathing him in Season 1 to coming to respect and admire the way he'd tried to make a life for himself outside the Peacekeepers, and because he was honest enough with himself to acknowledge how deeply flawed Talyn was and what a problem he had become and to take that knowledge and his love and make Talyn's death and his own something meaningful. My perception of Scorpius shifted quite a bit over the course of the series too, but Scorpius never lost that core of self-interest, that desire to be the puppetmaster directing others' lives, even though his motives were ultimately somewhat sympathetic. And Rygel's journey was something I found tremendously surprising and moving as well.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Do people love Noranti? Does it count that I find anything short of deep loathing or, at best, grudging ambivalence somewhat dismaying?
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I'm not sure I can think of one. I really liked Jool from the moment she appeared, in all of her spoiled princess glory, because she was so obviously cruising for a fall--she was on Moya, after all where cruising for a fall is a permanent state, a way of life--and because she had the strong ego to bite back when bitten. But I'm not sure she counts, since I don't think she's really universally disliked; I get the impression that many people had to warm to her more than I did, though.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
There is not a single character I fell in and out of love with on Farscape. I loved them all, and still do. Except for Noranti, and then the hate was pretty much there from the get-go, and mellowed to tolerance by the end of Season 4. I did find Stark somewhat disappointing, because I don't feel like the writers managed to make him live up to the potential I saw for him in "Nerve"/"The Hidden Memory."
6. The character I would shag anytime:
I don't really want to shag fictional characters. I'm weird that way. But I wouldn't kick John Crichton out of bed for eating crackers. Unless he was acting all crazy around them.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
I want to be Aeryn Sun. I want to handle the challenges of intimacy and growth with that much grace, and my failures with that much courage. I would also like to bring a pulse pistol to work. It also wouldn't hurt to look like Claudia Black.
8. The character I'd slap:
Grayza. The slapping would come before the shooting. But I suspect I'm supposed to feel that way about her. I also spend some parts of the first half of Season 4 wanting to slap either Aeryn or John or both, but more in the affectionate manner of an Italian grandmother telling them to pull themselves together.
9. A pairing that I love:
John/Aeryn, because they are the ultimate OTP, and oh so pretty to look at.
10. A pairing that I despise:
I despise John/Grayza, and I have a hard time watching "What Was Lost" because John is so stripped and violated by that experience, and has so little way of dealing with it other than sucking it up and moving on. But then again, I'm supposed to despise it, so I'm not sure that counts.
For asta77, Angel:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Angel himself. The character never did much for me on Buffy, but once he had room to be himself--to be as dorky and conflicted and determined as he is, fighting his own fight rather than acting as an adjunct for someone else's--I loved him to pieces. And no matter how many mistakes he made, that love continued right up to that alley.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Cordelia. Pre-"Birthday" Cordelia, that is. She was such an excellent foil for Angel's melodramatic tendencies, and such a solid good heart. There will be ranting under #5.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Hm. I don't know how much Fred was loved by fans, as opposed to by Joss Whedon and the other writers. There were a few shining moments where Fred was excellent, like in "Magic Bullet" and parts of "Hellbound." Otherwise, she was a terrible combination of plot device (she knows physics! So she can translate demon languages, and build devices, and do everything!) and vaguely creepy infantilization of what should have, under the circumstances, been a strong female character.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
Connor. Connor, Connor, Connor, you poor, screwed up kid. He never really had a chance, and like all teenagers, he was snotty and ungrateful to his long-suffering dad. But he was also lost and terribly alone, and Cordelia/Jasmine used that loneliness, drew him to a place where he made an unspeakable choice, committed an irredeemable act, and was lost forever. Angel loved him so much, gave up so much for him, and one of the best parts of Season 5, for me, was seeing that choice have a good outcome, seeing Angel get, for once, something he wanted--a normal life for his son, a second chance.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
Cordelia. The trouble, as far as I was concerned, started in "Birthday," and was oddly telegraphed by her hair. Cordelia was a wonderful foil for Angel, completely down-to-earth, willing to call him on his shit, committed to the same fight. I really wish they hadn't decided to make that relationship romantic, because it was such a beautiful friendship, and because the Saint Cordelia stuff, Cordelia somehow becoming better and more worthy of a champion, really screwed up her character. I won't even go into the Evil Cordelia of Season 4. By the time she was in a coma, I didn't miss her at all, and that's a terrible thing considering how integral she was to the show at one point.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
Hm. I don't think I can come up with anybody for this category. They're all very pretty, but none of them does it for me to that extent. Maybe Gunn?
7. The character I'd want to be like:
There's actually no one in this carnival of dysfunction that I'd really like to be like. Hee.
8. The character I'd slap:
Maybe Fred. Not with real malice, just to get her to shut the hell up and stop babbling.
9. A pairing that I love:
Wesley/Lilah. They were so dark and bare and honest with each other, and I have a thing for relationships where both parties see the other with absolute clarity, even if it results in a trainwreck. It was so romantic, the way Wesley beheaded her and then tried to burn her contract. Seriously.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Wesley/Fred. Fred/Gunn was annoying (pancake kisses--WTF?!), but Wesley/Fred was seriously creepy. Wesley seemed to have a major madonna/whore complex, and his idealization of Fred, the way neither of them really knew the other, the way Wesley had to hide so much of what he was from her to get her to like him, was disturbing and didn't speak well for either of them. That the writers thought they were an awesome romantic couple, meant to be, is something I will never not find puzzling.
For brynnmck, Alias:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Sydney Bristow, who was so determined and vulnerable and strong from the get-go. She was the emotional heart of the show, until JJ Abrams turned her into a weepy other woman in Season 3, not that I'm bitter! I did also develop almost immediate Jack love, though, when he shut down Danny on the phone in the most excellent worst-case-scenario boy approaching a prospective father-in-law scene I've ever seen.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Dixon. He was so deadpan and grim at first, it took me a few episodes to appreciate his courage and competence, the strength of his convictions, and his real fondness for Sydney. The relationship between Dixon and Sydney, one part work and one part family, was one of my favorite things in the show until JJ Abrams turned Dixon into a pod person who no longer went on missions in Season 3, not that I'm bitter!
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Vaughn does very little for me. I don't dislike him, he's just there. I occasionally even liked him when he had his own storyline. The way he anchored Sydney in the crazy world they lived in was actually rather nice, until JJ Abrams gave him an extremely lame wife and made him spend a season vaccilating and being kind of a weasel to one woman or another in Season 3, not that I'm bitter!
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I can't think of anyone.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
All of them. Every. Single. One. Except for Jack, sometimes. And Will, who isn't even on the show any more. Not that I'm bitter!
6. The character I would shag anytime:
Sark. He's hot, and there wouldn't be any stupid talk about relationships and emotions.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
I would love to be like Season 1/2 Sydney. She was so very competent (even if she was the Worst. Spy. Ever.), and I could relate to her struggle to balance the demands of work and personal life, and the way she valued love all the more because of the horrors she dealt with daily. What I wouldn't want to be, though, is someone who weepily pined after an ex who'd gotten married in Season 3 rather than sucking it up and moving on. Not that I'm bitter!
8. The character I'd slap:
Rachel Fucking Nichols.
9. A pairing that I love:
Jack/Irina. The layers of deception and affection between those two are so complicated, and one melts into the other so easily. It's fascinating. I also really liked Sloane/Emily. Really, all of the interesting romantic relationships on this show were between the older characters.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Sark/Lauren. brynnmck pretty much covered it when she said, "Lauren sucked enough; did she have to pull Sark into her Orbit of Suck? ARGH." Watching the writers try to salvage Lauren by making Sark think she was great almost made me cry. Not that I'm bitter!
For bheerfan, Battlestar Galactica:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Kara Thrace. I had been expecting the brash and cocky; I hadn't expected the vulnerability, the flaws a mile wide, the way her biggest struggles are with herself so the piloting seems like the easy thing. I ended up developing quite a bit of Lee love as well, but let's fact it, he's kind of a whiny punk in the miniseries. I love him for it now, because I can see it as a starting place for his reconciliation with his father. We're talking first impressions here.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Six. I was actually kind of annoyed by her vamping in the miniseries; it took a while for me to see the sex as her trick, her way of communicating, her angle, the way she tries to take apart the outward components of love and quantify and understand it.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Hm. I don't love Roslin. I find her very interesting, and often very sympathetic, but she has no emotional resonance with me. I often like her best when she and Adama are at loggerheads. But I feel like the fact that she's often right, often trying to achieve an outcome I agree with, doesn't quite outweigh the fact that she's also extremely manipulative and willing to overlook means when it's convenient. I don't see her as an unadulterated good. Adama's flaws are more immediately visible.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
The crowd I run with in livejournal is generally at worst indifferent to Starbuck, but I know there's a lot of hate out there. Her flaws and her pain and self-doubt are so apparent to me that I have a hard time understanding why some people think she's too good at everything--she'll never be good enough to silence that critical voice in her head.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
I have yet to fall out of love with any of the characters.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
Probably Lee. He's very pretty, but what does it for me is the snark, and he's shown his ability to snark.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
Hm. There are certain aspects of several characters, like Kara and Laura, that I'd like to emulate a lot, but I don't think I'd want the full package. So maybe Tyrol, because I am strongly attracted to competence, and once he stopped turning a blind eye to Sharon's extremely sketchy behavior, he's shown an honesty and willingness to confront past mistakes and make hard choices that I admire a lot. I also like the weight he gives to his responsibility for those under him, and his loyalty.
8. The character I'd slap:
Ellen Tigh. What a viper. And then I'd slap Tigh for being so blind and human and in love that he doesn't put her out the airlock himself.
9. A pairing that I love:
Lee/Kara. I don't expect it in canon, and at this point, I think the trainwreck potential would be high. But I love the way they know each other, warts and all, and the comfort they both derive from that closeness, and the admiration they have for each other's strengths, and the hotness.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Nothing I've seen in canon so far. The idea of Kara/Adama squicks me, because he's too much like a father to her, and that aspect of their relationship--the familial one--is so obvious and important to them both. Just--no.
For raislak, Lost, with the proviso that these apply only to Season 1, since I haven't seen more than one episode of Season 2:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Probably Sun. I like her a lot. She's the quiet one in the background, doing what needs to be done to help them survive while the rest of them do big dramatic stupid things in the jungle.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Michael, who I grew to like more and more as the season progressed, because his desperation to try to be a father to Walt under terrible circumstances, and the mistakes he made along the way, were so real.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Hm. I'm not sure who's really loved and hated on the show. Maybe Kate. I felt like the writers were trying to give her a tortured past, but they never succeeded, as far as I was concerned, in justifying her actual actions onscreen, which made her look a bit like a manipulative sociopath. I don't like it when what I see and what the writers seem to want me to think about a character part ways so drastically.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I liked Shannon a lot. She was a manipulative, spoiled bitch. It was a big uphill struggle for her to think about anybody besides herself. It was clear that nothing in her life up to that point had made that struggle seem worthwhile. She still sometimes considered it.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
I liked Claire more at the beginning of the season than at the end, when she seemed incapable of helping herself in any way.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
Jin. Not the least because he was once Gavin Park.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
None of them. I like my roof and indoor plumbing, thanks.
8. The character I'd slap:
Maybe Claire, towards the end of the season. I don't like futile hysterics.
9. A pairing that I love:
Jin/Sun. They had so much twisted history between them, they both accepted so much that they hated to try to be together.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Kate/anybody. This relates to my view of Kate as something of a sociopath. At least Sawyer could probably hold his own to some extent. She'd eat Jack alive.
For skylee, Buffy:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Buffy. I loved how she could be scared, but she never let that stop her, and how seriously she took a responsibility she never wanted, how it was the most natural thing in the world to try to help other people, and how she still wanted to have her life.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Angel, but that's more on his own show, so I don't know if that counts. Maybe Jonathan Levinson, also, because he started out a running joke and ended up being the only one of the troika who was worth the oxygen it took them to breathe.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
That's a difficult question, since I think Buffy fandom is pretty divided. I think my sense of humor fails me when it comes to Andrew. He never expressed an iota of concern over Warren's potential to hurt other people, or a moment of regret when Warren actually killed someone, and he murdered the person he called his best friend because he was too cowardly to say no. His only concern was being on the winning side, or the side that could keep him safe, and that's why he threw in with Buffy, not because he thought she was right. He never expressed remorse for anything on his own, only after he'd gotten caught. But apparently since he makes good comic relief, it's all okay and he should be welcomed into the bosom of the Scoobies without any of the painful redemption that Spike and Anya and even Willow were expected to work through. I know a lot of people like him, because he is indeed funny, but he's a weaselly little sociopath whose only concern is preserving his own hide, and I can't let that go. Ahem.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
Also a difficult question. Maybe late series Buffy. She was pretty opaque to me in Season 7, but I never lost sympathy for her, even though I sometimes felt like she'd grown too hard or was behaving badly. She was just so worn down by then.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
Xander. I loved Xander until "Into the Woods," but his speech to Buffy persuading her to run after Riley gave me the creeps because there was so much unhealthy projection and lack of caring about his friend's best interests going on there. He completely lost me in Season 6 with his treatment of Anya--which alone may not have done it, since he was so obviously confused, and so obviously making a terrible mistake the gravity of which he was too young to fully comprehend as he made it--and his treatment of his supposed best friend, who he had no right to judge, much less scorn for her depression and choice of sexual partners. Unfortunately, although he pulled himself together some in Season 7, I never saw the kind of working through those negative traits that would have rehabilitated the character in my eyes. I had a similar problem with Willow, but at least they made a stab at giving her a redemption story. Season 7 PodGiles also put me off quite a bit.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
I can't think of anyone. At one time, I probably would have said Spike, but I find that I can't unlearn certain things about James Marsters that kill the attraction.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
Once again, in the carnival of dysfunction, I can't think of a single person I'd really like to emulate wholeheartedly. Must be a Whedon thing.
8. The character I'd slap:
Kennedy. GOD. Why couldn't the First have ponied up some actual evil and killed her? WHY?
9. A pairing that I love:
I really loved the potential for Spike/Buffy that existed up to "Tabula Rasa," and that's the pairing I read the most in fanfic. In canon, they were a trainwreck, but they still had that clear-eyed view of each other that gets me every time, that honesty. For the most part.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Willow/Kennedy. That was a pairing that made both of the characters look really terrible, which was something I don't think the writers understood at all. Kennedy was obviously into Willow for her power, and didn't really understand her at all--Willow was quite open about her problems with magic, but Kennedy either didn't believe her or didn't listen, hence the getting pissy over the spell in "Get It Done" where things happened exactly as Willow had warned her. So on top of Kennedy's abrasiveness, she was a shitty girlfriend and a power-hungry social climber willing to sleep her way to the top. And Willow was supposed to be delving into herself and regaining her strength as an individual, learning who she was without the magic and letting herself harness her power more naturally, so hooking up with a crutch, with someone who would tell her how great she was and didn't understand her at all, made her look pathetic. Bleah.
For writteninstars, Veronica Mars:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Definitely Veronica. The very first episode laid out the layers of scar tissue she's carrying around, and she took that pain and turned it outward.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Logan. He was such an utter jerk, and the show peeled back the layers on him so slowly to show what shaped that, how much of that is a defense.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Hm. I don't think I don't love anyone on the show besides Duncan, and I don't think he's very well liked either.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I love Aaron Echolls, but more in a love to hate him kind of way, so I'm not sure that counts.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
Hm. I'd probably have to say Duncan, though it's a little bit of a stretch. I never loved, him, but I found him interesting and somewhat sympathetic in Season 1, and was actually moved by him in the episode where he went off his meds, and when he broke down in front of Veronica and told her that they had had sex at the party. But he's another case where I feel like what I'm seeing and what the writers are trying to do are diverging. He's handled the Meg pregnancy news very badly, and I think it was lousy of him to dump Meg for Veronica the way he did, and Veronica's seeming acceptance of this situation is not a good thing.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
None of them. They are all way too young.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
Probably Keith Mars. He struggles and makes mistakes, but when his wife left him and he lost his job, he picked himself up and tried to do the best he could to provide for his daughter and give her the support she needed, and he wants to do the right thing, even if he's realistic enough to know that it's often more trouble than it's worth.
8. The character I'd slap:
At this point, Duncan. Way to knock up a girl, dump her, and hide the news from your current girlfriend, dude.
9. A pairing that I love:
Keith/Alicia. Can't those two crazy kids make it work? I like Logan/Veronica in theory, but right now I think Logan's on such a self-destructive path that romantic involvement with Veronica would drag her down; he needs too much. But I would love to see her help him, for them to develop a basis for a relationship that's not just attraction, a deeper understanding, and for him to pull himself together enough to make something more possible.
10. A pairing that I despise:
I'm moving from feeling like Veronica/Duncan is interesting, two people trying to recapture a better time in their lives, neither really seeing the other for who they've become, to feeling like the ball of suck that is Duncan (or rather, the gulf between what Duncan does onscreen and what the writers think of him) is going to drag Veronica down with it. I hope I'm wrong.
Roast Chicken with Red Wine and Shallots
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 2/3 cup finely diced shallots
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Salt and white pepper to taste
- 1 roasting chicken (~5 pounds)
- 3 - 4 thick slices of crusty bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (I like to use a rustic Italian bread like pugliese)
- 1 cup water
Combine the wine and shallots in a small saucepan and simmer until the liquid evaporates completely, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool, then combine with the butter, salt and pepper. Place in the refrigerator to harden for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Farenheit.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Rub it inside and out with salt and pepper to taste. Without tearing or puncturing the skin, slip your fingers between the skin and the flesh to gently detach the skin from the body of the chicken. Rub half of the butter mixture all over the chicken underneath the skin. Coat the croutons with the remaining butter and stuff them inside the chicken cavity. Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen string and then tie the legs and wings tightly to the body.
Place the chicken in a roasting pan and put it in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes and then add one cup of water to the pan. Continue to roast, basting occasionally, until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a knife, about 40 minutes longer.
Transfer the chicken from the roasting pan to a cutting board. Snip the trussing strings and discard them. Remove the bread from the cavity, carve the chicken, and serve them together on a platter. Serve immediately.
You can serve the chicken with the pan juices, or you can make a simple gravy by melting a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, adding a tablespoon of flour, and cooking, stirring constantly, for at least a minute to cook the flour. Add the pan juices (skimmed of fat if you like) and a cup of chicken broth and cook until thickened. Add more chicken broth as needed until you have the thickness of gravy you prefer. Alternatively, you can roast potatoes directly in the pan with the drippings; add them when the chicken has about half an hour left to cook and turn them a couple of times during cooking.
* * * * *
I have answers to yesterday's meme!
For zandra_x, Farscape:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Aeryn Sun. My first deliberate Farscape viewing was the miniseries, and I didn't know who these people were or what the heck was going on, but I was utterly entranced by Aeryn. Nothing I've seen since has lessened that feeling. I suspect, though, that if I'd seen "Premiere" first, I would have fallen for John.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
There are a long list of characters on Farscape I never expected to love as much as I do now--or to like at all. But I think the top of the list would be Crais, because my perception of him changed so drastically, from loathing him in Season 1 to coming to respect and admire the way he'd tried to make a life for himself outside the Peacekeepers, and because he was honest enough with himself to acknowledge how deeply flawed Talyn was and what a problem he had become and to take that knowledge and his love and make Talyn's death and his own something meaningful. My perception of Scorpius shifted quite a bit over the course of the series too, but Scorpius never lost that core of self-interest, that desire to be the puppetmaster directing others' lives, even though his motives were ultimately somewhat sympathetic. And Rygel's journey was something I found tremendously surprising and moving as well.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Do people love Noranti? Does it count that I find anything short of deep loathing or, at best, grudging ambivalence somewhat dismaying?
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I'm not sure I can think of one. I really liked Jool from the moment she appeared, in all of her spoiled princess glory, because she was so obviously cruising for a fall--she was on Moya, after all where cruising for a fall is a permanent state, a way of life--and because she had the strong ego to bite back when bitten. But I'm not sure she counts, since I don't think she's really universally disliked; I get the impression that many people had to warm to her more than I did, though.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
There is not a single character I fell in and out of love with on Farscape. I loved them all, and still do. Except for Noranti, and then the hate was pretty much there from the get-go, and mellowed to tolerance by the end of Season 4. I did find Stark somewhat disappointing, because I don't feel like the writers managed to make him live up to the potential I saw for him in "Nerve"/"The Hidden Memory."
6. The character I would shag anytime:
I don't really want to shag fictional characters. I'm weird that way. But I wouldn't kick John Crichton out of bed for eating crackers. Unless he was acting all crazy around them.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
I want to be Aeryn Sun. I want to handle the challenges of intimacy and growth with that much grace, and my failures with that much courage. I would also like to bring a pulse pistol to work. It also wouldn't hurt to look like Claudia Black.
8. The character I'd slap:
Grayza. The slapping would come before the shooting. But I suspect I'm supposed to feel that way about her. I also spend some parts of the first half of Season 4 wanting to slap either Aeryn or John or both, but more in the affectionate manner of an Italian grandmother telling them to pull themselves together.
9. A pairing that I love:
John/Aeryn, because they are the ultimate OTP, and oh so pretty to look at.
10. A pairing that I despise:
I despise John/Grayza, and I have a hard time watching "What Was Lost" because John is so stripped and violated by that experience, and has so little way of dealing with it other than sucking it up and moving on. But then again, I'm supposed to despise it, so I'm not sure that counts.
For asta77, Angel:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Angel himself. The character never did much for me on Buffy, but once he had room to be himself--to be as dorky and conflicted and determined as he is, fighting his own fight rather than acting as an adjunct for someone else's--I loved him to pieces. And no matter how many mistakes he made, that love continued right up to that alley.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Cordelia. Pre-"Birthday" Cordelia, that is. She was such an excellent foil for Angel's melodramatic tendencies, and such a solid good heart. There will be ranting under #5.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Hm. I don't know how much Fred was loved by fans, as opposed to by Joss Whedon and the other writers. There were a few shining moments where Fred was excellent, like in "Magic Bullet" and parts of "Hellbound." Otherwise, she was a terrible combination of plot device (she knows physics! So she can translate demon languages, and build devices, and do everything!) and vaguely creepy infantilization of what should have, under the circumstances, been a strong female character.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
Connor. Connor, Connor, Connor, you poor, screwed up kid. He never really had a chance, and like all teenagers, he was snotty and ungrateful to his long-suffering dad. But he was also lost and terribly alone, and Cordelia/Jasmine used that loneliness, drew him to a place where he made an unspeakable choice, committed an irredeemable act, and was lost forever. Angel loved him so much, gave up so much for him, and one of the best parts of Season 5, for me, was seeing that choice have a good outcome, seeing Angel get, for once, something he wanted--a normal life for his son, a second chance.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
Cordelia. The trouble, as far as I was concerned, started in "Birthday," and was oddly telegraphed by her hair. Cordelia was a wonderful foil for Angel, completely down-to-earth, willing to call him on his shit, committed to the same fight. I really wish they hadn't decided to make that relationship romantic, because it was such a beautiful friendship, and because the Saint Cordelia stuff, Cordelia somehow becoming better and more worthy of a champion, really screwed up her character. I won't even go into the Evil Cordelia of Season 4. By the time she was in a coma, I didn't miss her at all, and that's a terrible thing considering how integral she was to the show at one point.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
Hm. I don't think I can come up with anybody for this category. They're all very pretty, but none of them does it for me to that extent. Maybe Gunn?
7. The character I'd want to be like:
There's actually no one in this carnival of dysfunction that I'd really like to be like. Hee.
8. The character I'd slap:
Maybe Fred. Not with real malice, just to get her to shut the hell up and stop babbling.
9. A pairing that I love:
Wesley/Lilah. They were so dark and bare and honest with each other, and I have a thing for relationships where both parties see the other with absolute clarity, even if it results in a trainwreck. It was so romantic, the way Wesley beheaded her and then tried to burn her contract. Seriously.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Wesley/Fred. Fred/Gunn was annoying (pancake kisses--WTF?!), but Wesley/Fred was seriously creepy. Wesley seemed to have a major madonna/whore complex, and his idealization of Fred, the way neither of them really knew the other, the way Wesley had to hide so much of what he was from her to get her to like him, was disturbing and didn't speak well for either of them. That the writers thought they were an awesome romantic couple, meant to be, is something I will never not find puzzling.
For brynnmck, Alias:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Sydney Bristow, who was so determined and vulnerable and strong from the get-go. She was the emotional heart of the show, until JJ Abrams turned her into a weepy other woman in Season 3, not that I'm bitter! I did also develop almost immediate Jack love, though, when he shut down Danny on the phone in the most excellent worst-case-scenario boy approaching a prospective father-in-law scene I've ever seen.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Dixon. He was so deadpan and grim at first, it took me a few episodes to appreciate his courage and competence, the strength of his convictions, and his real fondness for Sydney. The relationship between Dixon and Sydney, one part work and one part family, was one of my favorite things in the show until JJ Abrams turned Dixon into a pod person who no longer went on missions in Season 3, not that I'm bitter!
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Vaughn does very little for me. I don't dislike him, he's just there. I occasionally even liked him when he had his own storyline. The way he anchored Sydney in the crazy world they lived in was actually rather nice, until JJ Abrams gave him an extremely lame wife and made him spend a season vaccilating and being kind of a weasel to one woman or another in Season 3, not that I'm bitter!
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I can't think of anyone.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
All of them. Every. Single. One. Except for Jack, sometimes. And Will, who isn't even on the show any more. Not that I'm bitter!
6. The character I would shag anytime:
Sark. He's hot, and there wouldn't be any stupid talk about relationships and emotions.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
I would love to be like Season 1/2 Sydney. She was so very competent (even if she was the Worst. Spy. Ever.), and I could relate to her struggle to balance the demands of work and personal life, and the way she valued love all the more because of the horrors she dealt with daily. What I wouldn't want to be, though, is someone who weepily pined after an ex who'd gotten married in Season 3 rather than sucking it up and moving on. Not that I'm bitter!
8. The character I'd slap:
Rachel Fucking Nichols.
9. A pairing that I love:
Jack/Irina. The layers of deception and affection between those two are so complicated, and one melts into the other so easily. It's fascinating. I also really liked Sloane/Emily. Really, all of the interesting romantic relationships on this show were between the older characters.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Sark/Lauren. brynnmck pretty much covered it when she said, "Lauren sucked enough; did she have to pull Sark into her Orbit of Suck? ARGH." Watching the writers try to salvage Lauren by making Sark think she was great almost made me cry. Not that I'm bitter!
For bheerfan, Battlestar Galactica:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Kara Thrace. I had been expecting the brash and cocky; I hadn't expected the vulnerability, the flaws a mile wide, the way her biggest struggles are with herself so the piloting seems like the easy thing. I ended up developing quite a bit of Lee love as well, but let's fact it, he's kind of a whiny punk in the miniseries. I love him for it now, because I can see it as a starting place for his reconciliation with his father. We're talking first impressions here.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Six. I was actually kind of annoyed by her vamping in the miniseries; it took a while for me to see the sex as her trick, her way of communicating, her angle, the way she tries to take apart the outward components of love and quantify and understand it.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Hm. I don't love Roslin. I find her very interesting, and often very sympathetic, but she has no emotional resonance with me. I often like her best when she and Adama are at loggerheads. But I feel like the fact that she's often right, often trying to achieve an outcome I agree with, doesn't quite outweigh the fact that she's also extremely manipulative and willing to overlook means when it's convenient. I don't see her as an unadulterated good. Adama's flaws are more immediately visible.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
The crowd I run with in livejournal is generally at worst indifferent to Starbuck, but I know there's a lot of hate out there. Her flaws and her pain and self-doubt are so apparent to me that I have a hard time understanding why some people think she's too good at everything--she'll never be good enough to silence that critical voice in her head.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
I have yet to fall out of love with any of the characters.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
Probably Lee. He's very pretty, but what does it for me is the snark, and he's shown his ability to snark.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
Hm. There are certain aspects of several characters, like Kara and Laura, that I'd like to emulate a lot, but I don't think I'd want the full package. So maybe Tyrol, because I am strongly attracted to competence, and once he stopped turning a blind eye to Sharon's extremely sketchy behavior, he's shown an honesty and willingness to confront past mistakes and make hard choices that I admire a lot. I also like the weight he gives to his responsibility for those under him, and his loyalty.
8. The character I'd slap:
Ellen Tigh. What a viper. And then I'd slap Tigh for being so blind and human and in love that he doesn't put her out the airlock himself.
9. A pairing that I love:
Lee/Kara. I don't expect it in canon, and at this point, I think the trainwreck potential would be high. But I love the way they know each other, warts and all, and the comfort they both derive from that closeness, and the admiration they have for each other's strengths, and the hotness.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Nothing I've seen in canon so far. The idea of Kara/Adama squicks me, because he's too much like a father to her, and that aspect of their relationship--the familial one--is so obvious and important to them both. Just--no.
For raislak, Lost, with the proviso that these apply only to Season 1, since I haven't seen more than one episode of Season 2:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Probably Sun. I like her a lot. She's the quiet one in the background, doing what needs to be done to help them survive while the rest of them do big dramatic stupid things in the jungle.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Michael, who I grew to like more and more as the season progressed, because his desperation to try to be a father to Walt under terrible circumstances, and the mistakes he made along the way, were so real.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Hm. I'm not sure who's really loved and hated on the show. Maybe Kate. I felt like the writers were trying to give her a tortured past, but they never succeeded, as far as I was concerned, in justifying her actual actions onscreen, which made her look a bit like a manipulative sociopath. I don't like it when what I see and what the writers seem to want me to think about a character part ways so drastically.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I liked Shannon a lot. She was a manipulative, spoiled bitch. It was a big uphill struggle for her to think about anybody besides herself. It was clear that nothing in her life up to that point had made that struggle seem worthwhile. She still sometimes considered it.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
I liked Claire more at the beginning of the season than at the end, when she seemed incapable of helping herself in any way.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
Jin. Not the least because he was once Gavin Park.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
None of them. I like my roof and indoor plumbing, thanks.
8. The character I'd slap:
Maybe Claire, towards the end of the season. I don't like futile hysterics.
9. A pairing that I love:
Jin/Sun. They had so much twisted history between them, they both accepted so much that they hated to try to be together.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Kate/anybody. This relates to my view of Kate as something of a sociopath. At least Sawyer could probably hold his own to some extent. She'd eat Jack alive.
For skylee, Buffy:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Buffy. I loved how she could be scared, but she never let that stop her, and how seriously she took a responsibility she never wanted, how it was the most natural thing in the world to try to help other people, and how she still wanted to have her life.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Angel, but that's more on his own show, so I don't know if that counts. Maybe Jonathan Levinson, also, because he started out a running joke and ended up being the only one of the troika who was worth the oxygen it took them to breathe.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
That's a difficult question, since I think Buffy fandom is pretty divided. I think my sense of humor fails me when it comes to Andrew. He never expressed an iota of concern over Warren's potential to hurt other people, or a moment of regret when Warren actually killed someone, and he murdered the person he called his best friend because he was too cowardly to say no. His only concern was being on the winning side, or the side that could keep him safe, and that's why he threw in with Buffy, not because he thought she was right. He never expressed remorse for anything on his own, only after he'd gotten caught. But apparently since he makes good comic relief, it's all okay and he should be welcomed into the bosom of the Scoobies without any of the painful redemption that Spike and Anya and even Willow were expected to work through. I know a lot of people like him, because he is indeed funny, but he's a weaselly little sociopath whose only concern is preserving his own hide, and I can't let that go. Ahem.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
Also a difficult question. Maybe late series Buffy. She was pretty opaque to me in Season 7, but I never lost sympathy for her, even though I sometimes felt like she'd grown too hard or was behaving badly. She was just so worn down by then.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
Xander. I loved Xander until "Into the Woods," but his speech to Buffy persuading her to run after Riley gave me the creeps because there was so much unhealthy projection and lack of caring about his friend's best interests going on there. He completely lost me in Season 6 with his treatment of Anya--which alone may not have done it, since he was so obviously confused, and so obviously making a terrible mistake the gravity of which he was too young to fully comprehend as he made it--and his treatment of his supposed best friend, who he had no right to judge, much less scorn for her depression and choice of sexual partners. Unfortunately, although he pulled himself together some in Season 7, I never saw the kind of working through those negative traits that would have rehabilitated the character in my eyes. I had a similar problem with Willow, but at least they made a stab at giving her a redemption story. Season 7 PodGiles also put me off quite a bit.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
I can't think of anyone. At one time, I probably would have said Spike, but I find that I can't unlearn certain things about James Marsters that kill the attraction.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
Once again, in the carnival of dysfunction, I can't think of a single person I'd really like to emulate wholeheartedly. Must be a Whedon thing.
8. The character I'd slap:
Kennedy. GOD. Why couldn't the First have ponied up some actual evil and killed her? WHY?
9. A pairing that I love:
I really loved the potential for Spike/Buffy that existed up to "Tabula Rasa," and that's the pairing I read the most in fanfic. In canon, they were a trainwreck, but they still had that clear-eyed view of each other that gets me every time, that honesty. For the most part.
10. A pairing that I despise:
Willow/Kennedy. That was a pairing that made both of the characters look really terrible, which was something I don't think the writers understood at all. Kennedy was obviously into Willow for her power, and didn't really understand her at all--Willow was quite open about her problems with magic, but Kennedy either didn't believe her or didn't listen, hence the getting pissy over the spell in "Get It Done" where things happened exactly as Willow had warned her. So on top of Kennedy's abrasiveness, she was a shitty girlfriend and a power-hungry social climber willing to sleep her way to the top. And Willow was supposed to be delving into herself and regaining her strength as an individual, learning who she was without the magic and letting herself harness her power more naturally, so hooking up with a crutch, with someone who would tell her how great she was and didn't understand her at all, made her look pathetic. Bleah.
For writteninstars, Veronica Mars:
1. The first character I first fell in love with:
Definitely Veronica. The very first episode laid out the layers of scar tissue she's carrying around, and she took that pain and turned it outward.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Logan. He was such an utter jerk, and the show peeled back the layers on him so slowly to show what shaped that, how much of that is a defense.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Hm. I don't think I don't love anyone on the show besides Duncan, and I don't think he's very well liked either.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I love Aaron Echolls, but more in a love to hate him kind of way, so I'm not sure that counts.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer:
Hm. I'd probably have to say Duncan, though it's a little bit of a stretch. I never loved, him, but I found him interesting and somewhat sympathetic in Season 1, and was actually moved by him in the episode where he went off his meds, and when he broke down in front of Veronica and told her that they had had sex at the party. But he's another case where I feel like what I'm seeing and what the writers are trying to do are diverging. He's handled the Meg pregnancy news very badly, and I think it was lousy of him to dump Meg for Veronica the way he did, and Veronica's seeming acceptance of this situation is not a good thing.
6. The character I would shag anytime:
None of them. They are all way too young.
7. The character I'd want to be like:
Probably Keith Mars. He struggles and makes mistakes, but when his wife left him and he lost his job, he picked himself up and tried to do the best he could to provide for his daughter and give her the support she needed, and he wants to do the right thing, even if he's realistic enough to know that it's often more trouble than it's worth.
8. The character I'd slap:
At this point, Duncan. Way to knock up a girl, dump her, and hide the news from your current girlfriend, dude.
9. A pairing that I love:
Keith/Alicia. Can't those two crazy kids make it work? I like Logan/Veronica in theory, but right now I think Logan's on such a self-destructive path that romantic involvement with Veronica would drag her down; he needs too much. But I would love to see her help him, for them to develop a basis for a relationship that's not just attraction, a deeper understanding, and for him to pull himself together enough to make something more possible.
10. A pairing that I despise:
I'm moving from feeling like Veronica/Duncan is interesting, two people trying to recapture a better time in their lives, neither really seeing the other for who they've become, to feeling like the ball of suck that is Duncan (or rather, the gulf between what Duncan does onscreen and what the writers think of him) is going to drag Veronica down with it. I hope I'm wrong.