One thing I have in common with Cameron Mitchell is that we both fail at pants
Why are my new jeans practically falling off me today?!? They should be the right size! They fit when I first tried them on. Which was, admittedly, before Christmas. I should not be able to pull them down over my hips without unfastening them. Did I manage to do something freakish like lose 10 pounds over the holidays? And now I've worn them and can't take them back. Argh!
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Stargate 10.12 - "Line in the Sand"
This episode did a couple of things I didn't expect. It spent a lot of time with a character I previously had absolutely no interest in, Tomin, and managed to make his crisis of faith relevant, and part of the plot mechanics, and part of Vala's development, and part of the larger story of the Ori conquest of the galaxy. And it made me worry for Sam, even though I knew there was no way she was going to die, because her wounding was another failure for Cam, another place where he barely managed to scrape together a semi-happy ending. One thing SG-1 has been doing quite a bit since Cam took over is failing, and when not failing, just barely barely triumphing. And the fact that Cam is not really in control but does feel completely responsible is one of his best features, because he cares so much that you have to care along with him. He's giddy and overly optimistic about the device because they finally have a tool that they can use to stop the Ori--because they have't been able to stop them any other way--and because this is SG-1 and this is Sam, and she'll be able to pull off technological miracles and they'll be able to save the day, right? And maybe, the whole time they're saving the day, he won't have to think about the fact that he lost Daniel. (This is a faith Vala shares, a strange spot of naivete, and I loved how nonplussed Sam was by New!Super!Helpful!Vala! volunteering them for the job with such confidence.) The reality, as Sam--who has been around this block a few times before--knows, is much more complicated, and they saved the village, but not before a massacre, not before she almost died, and only by the skin of their teeth.
And pretty much all of the scenes between Sam and Cam were golden; they have such a great rapport, and Tapping and Browder bounce off each other so well. Cam likes to talk, and I'm coming to realize that a lot of what he says is actually directed to himself, so he's talking Sam into fighting for her life and himself into fighting his panic, telling them both that of course she's going to make it, while her breath grows labored and gurgling and her focus starts fading. I think half the reason things seemed so dire for Sam, despite the fact that I knew she'd ultimately be fine, was the speech she gave about being a scientist, but understanding, right then, the things you can get from a higher power when there's nothing science can do. I love that she entrusted him with her final messages to people, and that he brought her awful maccaroons, and that she's a really shitty liar. (Side note, though: they have a Goa'uld healing device, and they have someone who can use the Goa'uld healing device--Vala--so shouldn't she be putting in regular stints in the infirmary? That gut wound would probably heal a lot faster if they used all of the resources they actually have to heal it. I suspect this is a Comic Book Guy-type question on my part--but still!)
I did feel like there was quite a bit in the scenes between Vala and Tomin that ended up not going anywhere. He challenged her with the fact that maybe she didn't know the real him, the person who had killed all of those people, and I think there's something to be said for that, because he has killed a whole bunch of people, and he can't be the person she married again, he can try to atone but he'll never get the blood off his hands. He massacred a bunch of innocent villagers right before her (and our) eyes, and her disappointment and shock and loathing was obvious. But with their farewell, the writers seemed to be saying that the good old Tomin was in there all along, he just went through a rough patch, and Vala was completely right about him in her original assessment, and I don't find that persuasive. I also really, really liked the intensely cold and hard look Vala got on her face after Tomin hit her, because I suspect Vala will put up with a lot when she's trying to get what she wants, but she has her own line in the sand--but then it never really went anywhere, because Tomin was helping her escape, and being his old self again, and all was back to where it had been before. I don't see Vala forgetting something like that, but I do see her having been too optimistic about Tomin's goodness originally--I suspect it's important for her to believe that goodness like that exists out there somewhere--and having to adjust her thinking now that the Ori have cultivated the darker side of his personality. This is a guy who left his pregnant wife tied to a stone in the center of the village for three days without food or water, after all. And, although the writers seem to backtrack on it when he has a change of heart and helps her escape, the fact that he could strike her says a lot about what he's become, how much further those tendencies toward obedience and ceding personal agency have come, how it's grown from passive sins of ommission to overt acts of violence, and that change of heart doesn't undo that. Ultimately, the Ori are supposed to be false gods, but the really intersting part of the Tomin portion of the story is what makes otherwise good men deliberately choose to follow them, and the show's not really going there, it's tackling the issue from a much more black-and-white brainwashing angle, and that's dissatisfying. Then again, this is Stargate. No wonder people write so much fic for this show.
And since we're in the last half of the show's last season--can they please, for the love of all that is holy, give Teal'c something to do?
* * * * *
Teevee news: The Office and Heroes have been renewed. No decision yet on Friday Night Lights, though the quote from the network guy about finding it a better time slot might be a good sign? I would rather chew my own arm off than watch a show that has anything to do with football, but I know a lot of y'all have fallen in love.
molly_may linked to Wil Wheaton's recapping of the first season of ST:TNG. The combination of snark on some truly snarkworthy parts, inside baseball, and appreciation for acting and writing choices and particular things they show was trying to achieve makes for a fun and at times actively hilarious read.
And that popping noise you might have heard from the direction of the midwest was asta77's head exploding, because Jamie Bamber has been added to the Dragon*Con guest list (you have to scroll down to the list, because the D*C site is lame and has no section links). I was already planning on going, and quite frankly, I'm most excited to hear Christopher Judge speak (*pauses for a moment to fangirl*), but unless there's a lot of last-minute upheaval in the guest list (which does happen--Judge pulled out at the last minute last year, and Bamber pulled out at the last minute the year before), there should be some really interesting panels. Which is good, since she and I and molly_may were a panel-attending machine last year.
* * * * *
I thought this post on dicking around--playing around in one's spare time with the things one does professionally, and the reasons it seems to be more of a male than female thing to do--was quite interesting. I would actually contend that, at least as a whole, women do have much less free time in the after hours than men do--they don't call it the second shift for nothing. But it also made me think about the things I do in my spare time, besides knitting and cooking and reading, and they pretty much all revolve around fandom at this point, and, to some degree, writing and analysis. I am by profession a technical writer, but the skill set I apply to my hobbies is somewhat different from the one I need to do my work, although it's still writing. It's not contributing to open source software or pro bono legal aid or tutoring at-risk youth, projects that apply professional skills toward projects recognized as valuable by society as large, it's contributing to fandom--which is also something the people who are involved with get a lot of value (and often exasperation) out of, but in a much more subjective and less quantifiable way. And, of course, fandom hasn't traditionally been considered valuable, and has traditionally been a mostly female space. It's also true that I'm a luddite at home; the last thing I want to do after a full day of messing around with software that doesn't work the way it's supposed to--which is pretty much the state software is in when you're writing about it, because it's still being developed, and that is not a pretty process--is mess around with software, hence my inability even after all these years to do anything more rudimentary than place text in Photoshop. And, of course, the post is addressing people who do what they love--or at least like--for a living, when most of us, if we're lucky, do things we're pretty good at and that challenge us or at least don't make us want to drive nails through our skulls, and follow our grander and less lucrative passions on the off hours.
Do any of you mix profession and free time?
* * * * *
Stargate 10.12 - "Line in the Sand"
This episode did a couple of things I didn't expect. It spent a lot of time with a character I previously had absolutely no interest in, Tomin, and managed to make his crisis of faith relevant, and part of the plot mechanics, and part of Vala's development, and part of the larger story of the Ori conquest of the galaxy. And it made me worry for Sam, even though I knew there was no way she was going to die, because her wounding was another failure for Cam, another place where he barely managed to scrape together a semi-happy ending. One thing SG-1 has been doing quite a bit since Cam took over is failing, and when not failing, just barely barely triumphing. And the fact that Cam is not really in control but does feel completely responsible is one of his best features, because he cares so much that you have to care along with him. He's giddy and overly optimistic about the device because they finally have a tool that they can use to stop the Ori--because they have't been able to stop them any other way--and because this is SG-1 and this is Sam, and she'll be able to pull off technological miracles and they'll be able to save the day, right? And maybe, the whole time they're saving the day, he won't have to think about the fact that he lost Daniel. (This is a faith Vala shares, a strange spot of naivete, and I loved how nonplussed Sam was by New!Super!Helpful!Vala! volunteering them for the job with such confidence.) The reality, as Sam--who has been around this block a few times before--knows, is much more complicated, and they saved the village, but not before a massacre, not before she almost died, and only by the skin of their teeth.
And pretty much all of the scenes between Sam and Cam were golden; they have such a great rapport, and Tapping and Browder bounce off each other so well. Cam likes to talk, and I'm coming to realize that a lot of what he says is actually directed to himself, so he's talking Sam into fighting for her life and himself into fighting his panic, telling them both that of course she's going to make it, while her breath grows labored and gurgling and her focus starts fading. I think half the reason things seemed so dire for Sam, despite the fact that I knew she'd ultimately be fine, was the speech she gave about being a scientist, but understanding, right then, the things you can get from a higher power when there's nothing science can do. I love that she entrusted him with her final messages to people, and that he brought her awful maccaroons, and that she's a really shitty liar. (Side note, though: they have a Goa'uld healing device, and they have someone who can use the Goa'uld healing device--Vala--so shouldn't she be putting in regular stints in the infirmary? That gut wound would probably heal a lot faster if they used all of the resources they actually have to heal it. I suspect this is a Comic Book Guy-type question on my part--but still!)
I did feel like there was quite a bit in the scenes between Vala and Tomin that ended up not going anywhere. He challenged her with the fact that maybe she didn't know the real him, the person who had killed all of those people, and I think there's something to be said for that, because he has killed a whole bunch of people, and he can't be the person she married again, he can try to atone but he'll never get the blood off his hands. He massacred a bunch of innocent villagers right before her (and our) eyes, and her disappointment and shock and loathing was obvious. But with their farewell, the writers seemed to be saying that the good old Tomin was in there all along, he just went through a rough patch, and Vala was completely right about him in her original assessment, and I don't find that persuasive. I also really, really liked the intensely cold and hard look Vala got on her face after Tomin hit her, because I suspect Vala will put up with a lot when she's trying to get what she wants, but she has her own line in the sand--but then it never really went anywhere, because Tomin was helping her escape, and being his old self again, and all was back to where it had been before. I don't see Vala forgetting something like that, but I do see her having been too optimistic about Tomin's goodness originally--I suspect it's important for her to believe that goodness like that exists out there somewhere--and having to adjust her thinking now that the Ori have cultivated the darker side of his personality. This is a guy who left his pregnant wife tied to a stone in the center of the village for three days without food or water, after all. And, although the writers seem to backtrack on it when he has a change of heart and helps her escape, the fact that he could strike her says a lot about what he's become, how much further those tendencies toward obedience and ceding personal agency have come, how it's grown from passive sins of ommission to overt acts of violence, and that change of heart doesn't undo that. Ultimately, the Ori are supposed to be false gods, but the really intersting part of the Tomin portion of the story is what makes otherwise good men deliberately choose to follow them, and the show's not really going there, it's tackling the issue from a much more black-and-white brainwashing angle, and that's dissatisfying. Then again, this is Stargate. No wonder people write so much fic for this show.
And since we're in the last half of the show's last season--can they please, for the love of all that is holy, give Teal'c something to do?
* * * * *
Teevee news: The Office and Heroes have been renewed. No decision yet on Friday Night Lights, though the quote from the network guy about finding it a better time slot might be a good sign? I would rather chew my own arm off than watch a show that has anything to do with football, but I know a lot of y'all have fallen in love.
molly_may linked to Wil Wheaton's recapping of the first season of ST:TNG. The combination of snark on some truly snarkworthy parts, inside baseball, and appreciation for acting and writing choices and particular things they show was trying to achieve makes for a fun and at times actively hilarious read.
And that popping noise you might have heard from the direction of the midwest was asta77's head exploding, because Jamie Bamber has been added to the Dragon*Con guest list (you have to scroll down to the list, because the D*C site is lame and has no section links). I was already planning on going, and quite frankly, I'm most excited to hear Christopher Judge speak (*pauses for a moment to fangirl*), but unless there's a lot of last-minute upheaval in the guest list (which does happen--Judge pulled out at the last minute last year, and Bamber pulled out at the last minute the year before), there should be some really interesting panels. Which is good, since she and I and molly_may were a panel-attending machine last year.
* * * * *
I thought this post on dicking around--playing around in one's spare time with the things one does professionally, and the reasons it seems to be more of a male than female thing to do--was quite interesting. I would actually contend that, at least as a whole, women do have much less free time in the after hours than men do--they don't call it the second shift for nothing. But it also made me think about the things I do in my spare time, besides knitting and cooking and reading, and they pretty much all revolve around fandom at this point, and, to some degree, writing and analysis. I am by profession a technical writer, but the skill set I apply to my hobbies is somewhat different from the one I need to do my work, although it's still writing. It's not contributing to open source software or pro bono legal aid or tutoring at-risk youth, projects that apply professional skills toward projects recognized as valuable by society as large, it's contributing to fandom--which is also something the people who are involved with get a lot of value (and often exasperation) out of, but in a much more subjective and less quantifiable way. And, of course, fandom hasn't traditionally been considered valuable, and has traditionally been a mostly female space. It's also true that I'm a luddite at home; the last thing I want to do after a full day of messing around with software that doesn't work the way it's supposed to--which is pretty much the state software is in when you're writing about it, because it's still being developed, and that is not a pretty process--is mess around with software, hence my inability even after all these years to do anything more rudimentary than place text in Photoshop. And, of course, the post is addressing people who do what they love--or at least like--for a living, when most of us, if we're lucky, do things we're pretty good at and that challenge us or at least don't make us want to drive nails through our skulls, and follow our grander and less lucrative passions on the off hours.
Do any of you mix profession and free time?