Is it Friday yet?
Happy birthday to molly_may, one of my very favorite people on LJ. May the coming year bring you great joy.
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I move deeper into Season 4 of Stargate...
4.14 - "The Serpent's Venom"
* If the show holds true to type, the fact that this episode has "serpent" in the title means it will have something to do with Apophis.
* Teal'c's really trying to get the Jaffa revolution going.
* D'oh. And not all the Jaffa are with him. The "gods" slip of the tongue should have been a huge clue. Captured!
* Jack, Selmak and Jacob just abandoned a Tok'ra mission to rescue your ass, so kindly STFU. You can be suspicious of the Tok'ra in general, but don't be suspicious of them.
* Eek! Poor tortured Teal'c.
* When the goa'uld torture Teal'c, aren't they torturing his symbiote too? Do they just not care? Is the symbiote collateral damage? Am I thinking about this too much?
* Heru'ur is offering Teal'c as part of the deal, and Apophis is going to take it.
* Yes, Daniel, zero is the basis of all modern mathematics, so somewhat important to the development of advanced technology. Mines disarmed!
* Aw. Teal'c probably knew when he switched sides that this was the likely outcome.
* D'oh. Because of SG-1, Heru'ur is dead now and Apophis is a bigger threat than ever? Whoops!
4.15 - "Chain Reaction"
* What!?! Hammond can't quit! Nooooooo!
* I am getting a little verklempt at the goodbyes.
* This new guy, Bauer, does not look promising.
* He's breaking up the team? Oh, I don't think so.
* So Hammond retired because those weasels at the NID threatened his granddaughter.
* Excellent. When I heard NID, I knew Maybourne would turn up. Springing Maybourne out of jail for any amount of time seems like a terrible idea, but Jack has no choice; he needs his help.
* I am going to pretend that Maybourne's spiel about how the NID agents communicate using Internet message boards made any kind of sense.
* Wow. Bauer sucks. Why employ experts if you're not going to listen to them?
* Isn't this the asshole senator from "Politics"? Look at Jack and Maybourne holding up a senator! It's like "The Odd Couple Goes to Washington and Breaks Major Laws"!
* So there's an equilibrium bought with blackmail; Hammond's back in charge, Jack is responsible for springing Maybourne, and they have a new enemy in Washington. Yikes.
4.16 - "2010"
* Who in the-- What in the-- Who is this guy Sam's having lunch with? And apparently trying to start a family with?
* Oh, it's the future. I get it. I like FutureSam's suit.
* It's difficult to picture Earth absorbing this much alien technology and culture so seamlessly in just ten years. We humans tend to be more reactionary and short-sighted and xenophobic than that.
* Whoah! I had no idea that Sam was three feet taller than Janet, yet when they walk side-by-side, there it is.
* Hm. Perhaps not so seamlessly? Doubts like Janet's ring truer.
* Er, you can't really just sneak into a computer system like Sam and Janet are doing with the Aschen computer core. There are logs and stuff. *sigh* Handwave!
* The Aschen killed General Hammond? They must die!
* Jack was right--the alliance was too good to be true.
* Hm. RetiredJack seems to have let himself go and embarked on an extensive program of nursing his bitterness. I guess that's one way to spend your golden years.
* Why have they all started pronouncing "Aschen" differently halfway through the episode? Why don't I pretend I just didn't notice that?
* Wow. Jack is really, really, really bitter. I'm not completely sure why he's so okay with the destruction of the human race, even if Sam did turn him down for Ambassador Guy.
* Hee! The SGC tour guide is so annoying! And souvenir photos are $27?
* Yay! I knew Jack would join them on their plan to save the future. Er, present. Save whatever it is.
* D'oh. Ambassador Guy was in on the deal with the Aschen, though he didn't quite understand its implications. And once again, we learn that Samantha Carter has awful taste in men.
* A note from the future saves the day again. Handy, that. And this time they didn't have to power the stargate with trucks!
4.17 - "Absolute Power"
* Meanwhile, back on Abydos... That child seems to be growing rather quickly.
* I hope this kid is evil and/or dies, because the speaking in proverbs is really fucking annoying.
* Kid: still annoying. But I liked Daniel's conversation with him about why Daniel's doing what he's doing, why this is his path now.
* So the kid gave Daniel some goa'uld memories. And now Daniel knows everything they need, and he wants to cut the Tok'ra out? And he's bossing people around and acting like a goa'uld? Something's about to go horribly wrong.
* The argument between Jack and Daniel is awesome, because Daniel's finally taking Jack's position--build weapons, kick goa'uld ass--and is totally unable to understand why Jack's weirded out.
* EvilGeniusDaniel is extremely creepy. I know there has to be a do-over, because there's no way Earth gains this much technology and it sticks.
* Yeah, there's got to be a do-over because Daniel just DESTROYED MOSCOW.
* Aha. It's all a dream, a lesson in what the kid's knowledge would lead them to. That does not stop the kid from continuing to be extremely fucking annoying, and not at all dead or evil.
* Wait--so because of that, they're not going to attempt to learn anything from the harsesis child?!? It makes emotional sense for the episode, so I'm going to pretend it makes sense in general.
4.18 - "The Light"
* Hee! Daniel and Jack bet on whether Sam would take time off.
* Aieeee. That guy just committed suicide by kawoosh. What a way to go.
* Hm, Daniel's acting weird. Yes, definitely acting weird, as evidenced by him putting himself on an 8th floor ledge.
* Aw. And Jack's there to talk him down and give him a manly arm-grasp and almost-hug.
* I'm thinking that that light is more than decorative. The fact that this episode is called "The Light" is a subtle but important clue.
* SG-5 is dead and Daniel's in a coma? It's weird that they're not showing any of that at all; it's all telling. This episode has weird pacing.
* Whoa there, Jack. You're upset about Daniel and affected by the light, but that's no excuse for getting tetchy with Janet!
* So the light is crack and it has a remote control. Remote control crack.
* That kid is definitely up to something.
* The light isn't crack, it's the Pink Floyd laser show that you enjoy while on the real drugs.
* Aw. So the kid was just hiding that he felt responsible for his parents' death.
* * * * *
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, which was a quick read that started out strong and used some interesting devices but came to what I thought was a rather abrupt and pat end.
Snow by Orhan Pamuk, which I thought was a really fascinating dissection of ideals, of what freedom means when it makes the enforcement of theocracy possible, of what religious conformism means when it is a way of expressing dissent from totalitarianism, of how something like a headscarf, a supposedly common symbol, can mean so many different things to so many different people, can evolve in meaning over time. I must confess, though, that while I understood the symbolism of the snow, I'm not sure what it symbolized, and that left me feeling rather dense at the end of the book.
I'm reading An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears right now, and wish I knew more about the Restoration period of English history. I was not enthused at first, despite the way the author locates the novel in a time and place of intellectual discovery, a crossroads of ideas and innovation, because it came across at first a bit like name-dropping, proving that research had been done. But now that I'm into the second narrative, I'm appreciating the nuances of the unreliable narrator/Rashomon structure and realizing how much of my reaction was due to the personality of the first narrator. Hopefully it's a good mystery too.
* * * * *
I just started knitting a scarf from a charted pattern, and after a couple of fits and starts, I think I've got a hang of the chart thing. Woo! If all goes well, there may even be pictures at some point.
_par_avion just linked to some patterns for cute knitted things like dinosaurs and the Loch Ness Monster (with a little hat!). So cute. somehow, when I'm poking around on the Internets, I tend to find things like the Viking chicken hat, which is less cute and more... uh... interesting. Truly, you can knit anything if you put your mind to it.
* * * * *
I move deeper into Season 4 of Stargate...
4.14 - "The Serpent's Venom"
* If the show holds true to type, the fact that this episode has "serpent" in the title means it will have something to do with Apophis.
* Teal'c's really trying to get the Jaffa revolution going.
* D'oh. And not all the Jaffa are with him. The "gods" slip of the tongue should have been a huge clue. Captured!
* Jack, Selmak and Jacob just abandoned a Tok'ra mission to rescue your ass, so kindly STFU. You can be suspicious of the Tok'ra in general, but don't be suspicious of them.
* Eek! Poor tortured Teal'c.
* When the goa'uld torture Teal'c, aren't they torturing his symbiote too? Do they just not care? Is the symbiote collateral damage? Am I thinking about this too much?
* Heru'ur is offering Teal'c as part of the deal, and Apophis is going to take it.
* Yes, Daniel, zero is the basis of all modern mathematics, so somewhat important to the development of advanced technology. Mines disarmed!
* Aw. Teal'c probably knew when he switched sides that this was the likely outcome.
* D'oh. Because of SG-1, Heru'ur is dead now and Apophis is a bigger threat than ever? Whoops!
4.15 - "Chain Reaction"
* What!?! Hammond can't quit! Nooooooo!
* I am getting a little verklempt at the goodbyes.
* This new guy, Bauer, does not look promising.
* He's breaking up the team? Oh, I don't think so.
* So Hammond retired because those weasels at the NID threatened his granddaughter.
* Excellent. When I heard NID, I knew Maybourne would turn up. Springing Maybourne out of jail for any amount of time seems like a terrible idea, but Jack has no choice; he needs his help.
* I am going to pretend that Maybourne's spiel about how the NID agents communicate using Internet message boards made any kind of sense.
* Wow. Bauer sucks. Why employ experts if you're not going to listen to them?
* Isn't this the asshole senator from "Politics"? Look at Jack and Maybourne holding up a senator! It's like "The Odd Couple Goes to Washington and Breaks Major Laws"!
* So there's an equilibrium bought with blackmail; Hammond's back in charge, Jack is responsible for springing Maybourne, and they have a new enemy in Washington. Yikes.
4.16 - "2010"
* Who in the-- What in the-- Who is this guy Sam's having lunch with? And apparently trying to start a family with?
* Oh, it's the future. I get it. I like FutureSam's suit.
* It's difficult to picture Earth absorbing this much alien technology and culture so seamlessly in just ten years. We humans tend to be more reactionary and short-sighted and xenophobic than that.
* Whoah! I had no idea that Sam was three feet taller than Janet, yet when they walk side-by-side, there it is.
* Hm. Perhaps not so seamlessly? Doubts like Janet's ring truer.
* Er, you can't really just sneak into a computer system like Sam and Janet are doing with the Aschen computer core. There are logs and stuff. *sigh* Handwave!
* The Aschen killed General Hammond? They must die!
* Jack was right--the alliance was too good to be true.
* Hm. RetiredJack seems to have let himself go and embarked on an extensive program of nursing his bitterness. I guess that's one way to spend your golden years.
* Why have they all started pronouncing "Aschen" differently halfway through the episode? Why don't I pretend I just didn't notice that?
* Wow. Jack is really, really, really bitter. I'm not completely sure why he's so okay with the destruction of the human race, even if Sam did turn him down for Ambassador Guy.
* Hee! The SGC tour guide is so annoying! And souvenir photos are $27?
* Yay! I knew Jack would join them on their plan to save the future. Er, present. Save whatever it is.
* D'oh. Ambassador Guy was in on the deal with the Aschen, though he didn't quite understand its implications. And once again, we learn that Samantha Carter has awful taste in men.
* A note from the future saves the day again. Handy, that. And this time they didn't have to power the stargate with trucks!
4.17 - "Absolute Power"
* Meanwhile, back on Abydos... That child seems to be growing rather quickly.
* I hope this kid is evil and/or dies, because the speaking in proverbs is really fucking annoying.
* Kid: still annoying. But I liked Daniel's conversation with him about why Daniel's doing what he's doing, why this is his path now.
* So the kid gave Daniel some goa'uld memories. And now Daniel knows everything they need, and he wants to cut the Tok'ra out? And he's bossing people around and acting like a goa'uld? Something's about to go horribly wrong.
* The argument between Jack and Daniel is awesome, because Daniel's finally taking Jack's position--build weapons, kick goa'uld ass--and is totally unable to understand why Jack's weirded out.
* EvilGeniusDaniel is extremely creepy. I know there has to be a do-over, because there's no way Earth gains this much technology and it sticks.
* Yeah, there's got to be a do-over because Daniel just DESTROYED MOSCOW.
* Aha. It's all a dream, a lesson in what the kid's knowledge would lead them to. That does not stop the kid from continuing to be extremely fucking annoying, and not at all dead or evil.
* Wait--so because of that, they're not going to attempt to learn anything from the harsesis child?!? It makes emotional sense for the episode, so I'm going to pretend it makes sense in general.
4.18 - "The Light"
* Hee! Daniel and Jack bet on whether Sam would take time off.
* Aieeee. That guy just committed suicide by kawoosh. What a way to go.
* Hm, Daniel's acting weird. Yes, definitely acting weird, as evidenced by him putting himself on an 8th floor ledge.
* Aw. And Jack's there to talk him down and give him a manly arm-grasp and almost-hug.
* I'm thinking that that light is more than decorative. The fact that this episode is called "The Light" is a subtle but important clue.
* SG-5 is dead and Daniel's in a coma? It's weird that they're not showing any of that at all; it's all telling. This episode has weird pacing.
* Whoa there, Jack. You're upset about Daniel and affected by the light, but that's no excuse for getting tetchy with Janet!
* So the light is crack and it has a remote control. Remote control crack.
* That kid is definitely up to something.
* The light isn't crack, it's the Pink Floyd laser show that you enjoy while on the real drugs.
* Aw. So the kid was just hiding that he felt responsible for his parents' death.
* * * * *
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, which was a quick read that started out strong and used some interesting devices but came to what I thought was a rather abrupt and pat end.
Snow by Orhan Pamuk, which I thought was a really fascinating dissection of ideals, of what freedom means when it makes the enforcement of theocracy possible, of what religious conformism means when it is a way of expressing dissent from totalitarianism, of how something like a headscarf, a supposedly common symbol, can mean so many different things to so many different people, can evolve in meaning over time. I must confess, though, that while I understood the symbolism of the snow, I'm not sure what it symbolized, and that left me feeling rather dense at the end of the book.
I'm reading An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears right now, and wish I knew more about the Restoration period of English history. I was not enthused at first, despite the way the author locates the novel in a time and place of intellectual discovery, a crossroads of ideas and innovation, because it came across at first a bit like name-dropping, proving that research had been done. But now that I'm into the second narrative, I'm appreciating the nuances of the unreliable narrator/Rashomon structure and realizing how much of my reaction was due to the personality of the first narrator. Hopefully it's a good mystery too.
* * * * *
I just started knitting a scarf from a charted pattern, and after a couple of fits and starts, I think I've got a hang of the chart thing. Woo! If all goes well, there may even be pictures at some point.
_par_avion just linked to some patterns for cute knitted things like dinosaurs and the Loch Ness Monster (with a little hat!). So cute. somehow, when I'm poking around on the Internets, I tend to find things like the Viking chicken hat, which is less cute and more... uh... interesting. Truly, you can knit anything if you put your mind to it.