I got nothing
I am taking a mental health half-day Friday afternoon and catching up on some of the TV I didn't catch up on this weekend and it is going to be good. I would be more excited about the 'Gates starting back up on Friday if I hadn't already seen all the SG-1 episodes. As it is, I'm looking forward to seeing the end of the show's run on the big(ger) screen, and I bite my thumb at SciFi every time it runs one of those "The 10-year journey ends" promos. THE JOURNEY'S ENDING BECAUSE YOU CANCELED IT, YOU ASSHOLES. *ahem* But the promos have been instructive in how misleading the promo department is, so there is that. And they're running a "Behind the Mythology of Stargate" special at 7pm Eastern on Friday, before the premieres, that promises to explore important aspects of how Michael Shanks and Chris Judge look in suits.
And speaking of the 'Gates: some news about Season 4 of SGA--general spoilers about setup with casting changes, not specific plot-points--that has me shaking my head even harder. (via dtissagirl) Here's the thing... I like Sam, am much more interested in Weir in theory than in practice, and realize that reading spoilers is no substitute for seeing the way developments play out on the actual show. And yet, I am not at all in love with the idea of Sam commanding the Atlantis expedition, even though I think she is tremendously capable and fully deserving of her own command of something. Writing Weir out like this seems like a rather shabby way to treat a character who has been a key regular for the entire run of the show up to now, no matter how thinly written she was, although I'm not invested enough to be that indignant on her behalf. But. One of the few interesting things SGA has had going for it from the outset, on a thematic level, was the tension between military and civilian leadership and the way the Atlantis crew has increasingly identified itself with the Pegasus Galaxy rather than the home planet Earth, the way Sheppard's military worldview was tempered by Weir's more humanistic concerns and vice versa, and the expedition's increasing movement toward rogue colony status. For all I know, that got shot to hell in the second half of the third season and is no longer an operative concern; I haven't seen those episodes yet. But putting a military commander in charge of the expedition ties it back to Earth again and makes it a much more military enterprise rather than the interesting hybrid it's been so far. I do think there might be some potential for interesting conflict between Sam and Sheppard, if the writers actually let Sam command him in a meaningful way, but I'm skeptical. What I'm most fearful of, though, is that Sam's going to take over Weir's role of making ethically dodgy and just plain dumb command decisions. I'd rather not see that, and I hope it's not the case.
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The Washington Post ran a Peeps diorama contest this year, and some of the entries are rather amazing. Here's a slideshow of the top 22.
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I haven't been reading the Buffy comic books--my indifference to the comic book format is pretty strong--but I've been following the reactions with some interest. Two feminist critiques of the second issue that popped up on my flist last week:
molly_may talks about Buffy's role in her own story and male versus female gaze in the show and the comic here.
thedeadlyhook adds her two cents on how male and female characters are written in the issue here, and has some notes on the artwork.
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If I had the initiative to actually take and post pictures, I would be so good at Mr. Bento porn. Today I packed roasted fingerling potatoes, grilled asparagus, heirloom cannellini beans in sherry vinaigrette with mint and roasted red peppers, and salt-baked pork in adobo, which was an incredibly easy and fool-proof recipe and tastes AMAZING. I think I'm going to have to adapt the salt-baking technique, because I taught myself to cook when I was a vegetarian and have a problem with overcooking meat, and thanks to the salt crust, even I could not turn this piece of pork into shoe leather.
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ETA I can't believe I almost left this off. D'oh! thassalia is running a reunion fic challenge with lots of interesting prompts. Spread the word!
And speaking of the 'Gates: some news about Season 4 of SGA--general spoilers about setup with casting changes, not specific plot-points--that has me shaking my head even harder. (via dtissagirl) Here's the thing... I like Sam, am much more interested in Weir in theory than in practice, and realize that reading spoilers is no substitute for seeing the way developments play out on the actual show. And yet, I am not at all in love with the idea of Sam commanding the Atlantis expedition, even though I think she is tremendously capable and fully deserving of her own command of something. Writing Weir out like this seems like a rather shabby way to treat a character who has been a key regular for the entire run of the show up to now, no matter how thinly written she was, although I'm not invested enough to be that indignant on her behalf. But. One of the few interesting things SGA has had going for it from the outset, on a thematic level, was the tension between military and civilian leadership and the way the Atlantis crew has increasingly identified itself with the Pegasus Galaxy rather than the home planet Earth, the way Sheppard's military worldview was tempered by Weir's more humanistic concerns and vice versa, and the expedition's increasing movement toward rogue colony status. For all I know, that got shot to hell in the second half of the third season and is no longer an operative concern; I haven't seen those episodes yet. But putting a military commander in charge of the expedition ties it back to Earth again and makes it a much more military enterprise rather than the interesting hybrid it's been so far. I do think there might be some potential for interesting conflict between Sam and Sheppard, if the writers actually let Sam command him in a meaningful way, but I'm skeptical. What I'm most fearful of, though, is that Sam's going to take over Weir's role of making ethically dodgy and just plain dumb command decisions. I'd rather not see that, and I hope it's not the case.
* * * * *
The Washington Post ran a Peeps diorama contest this year, and some of the entries are rather amazing. Here's a slideshow of the top 22.
* * * * *
I haven't been reading the Buffy comic books--my indifference to the comic book format is pretty strong--but I've been following the reactions with some interest. Two feminist critiques of the second issue that popped up on my flist last week:
molly_may talks about Buffy's role in her own story and male versus female gaze in the show and the comic here.
thedeadlyhook adds her two cents on how male and female characters are written in the issue here, and has some notes on the artwork.
* * * * *
If I had the initiative to actually take and post pictures, I would be so good at Mr. Bento porn. Today I packed roasted fingerling potatoes, grilled asparagus, heirloom cannellini beans in sherry vinaigrette with mint and roasted red peppers, and salt-baked pork in adobo, which was an incredibly easy and fool-proof recipe and tastes AMAZING. I think I'm going to have to adapt the salt-baking technique, because I taught myself to cook when I was a vegetarian and have a problem with overcooking meat, and thanks to the salt crust, even I could not turn this piece of pork into shoe leather.
* * * * *
ETA I can't believe I almost left this off. D'oh! thassalia is running a reunion fic challenge with lots of interesting prompts. Spread the word!