Life, pimping and musicals
Haven't posted recently because I have been having internet issues (problem resolved yesterday and turned out to be a problem with the network cable so the fact that networking fell over just after I did an upgrade was just bad luck). This resulted in my not checking LJ much over the last week. Given I am now about 500 posts behind I think I will just give up, if I have missed anything important let me know.
This also meant I missed the fact that it was jhava's birthday :-( So happy birthday and big hugs to her now.
Which sort of leads on to my weekend as I had a wonderful time getting together with the usual suspects (or at least one of my two sets of usual suspects) at jhava's for a weekend of guilty pleasures (DVD-wise you dirty minded perverts) and going to see Wicked. Enjoyed Wicked, although at least partly because I can respect anyone who manages to produce an all-singing, all-dancing fanfic (including crack pairing). I gave in and got one of the T-Shirts that I think my family will be deeply amused by - it is rather low cut and says 'Defy Gravity' across it in big letters. kludge approved when I showed it to him.
Sunday was spent watching stuff[TM].
Robbie Williams was fun and a nice way to wake up.
'3:10 to Yuma' was definitely a thinking person's western and despite the presence of both Russell Crow and Christian Bale (both of whom were brilliant in it) I do mean thinking with higher brain rather than 'lower chakras'.
One the other hand, 'The Transporter' required no actual thought but had a wonderful Casablanca-esque friendship between the hero and the policeman and a fun fight scene involving a lot of oil (and oil in a good way, not oil in a 'why are they so shiny' Dante's Cove way).
Keeping with the theme of brains not being required we went on to 'The Shadow' - which when it started I realised I had actually seen before. Alec Baldwin was good, but about half way through I found myself wishing that it was starring Rupert Everett. Much maniacal laughter was had by all.
At some point we slotted in some 'Fantasy Island' which I hadn't seen before although I did know of it. Am now suprised it isn't used in more crossovers as it seems an ideal 'plot device # 1', prostitute ring and all (okay, they probably weren't actual prostitutes, they were... hired companions *nods*).
Had just go onto the music vids when kludge came to take me home but I was able to take jhava's copy of The State Within with me. Having been intrigued by the wonderful pimping at Connotations and then hearing jhava enthuse we gave the first episode a watch on the Saturday and I ran off with it for more. It rocked!
SPOILERS
Watched it through with kludge (who had wondered what my angle was *snerk*). We watched the first episode Sunday night and he liked it enough that he suggested we watch the second episode over lunch on Monday (he was off ill). Probably not unsurprisingly the 'second episode' turned into the rest of the series as we wanted to know how it ended (well I wanted to, I'm guessing kludge's motivations).
The writing was superb as was the acting. A bit Wag the Dog, a bit Death of the President and with that added hint of West Wing, 24 and Bond (not least because Ben Daniels seems to make everyone think of Daniel Craig). One of the things I was thinking about half way through was that it put me in the mind of Yes, Minister or House of Cards where the real policy is being done by the lower stratas who are the ones directing the public figures. I wonder if this is a very British take on politics. From that perspective it was interesting to see the way they had almost mirrored the UK and US with Mark and Lynne squaring off supported by Nick and Chris (or possibly Nick and Chris squaring off and directing Mark and Lynne depending how you look at it). I did wonder for a bit whether Chris had had something going on with Lynne's son and both Lynne and Chris were on a bit of a vengeance kick, however now I suspect that the Chris/Lynne's son imagery was more to do with trying to set up a quasi-familial vibe between Chris and Lynne. While it was probably an unintentional side effect of the plot but there are interesting comparisons with Lynne loosing her son and Mark gaining one (and did anyone else wonder about the parentage of the kid?) and the effect this had on the balance set up between the UK and US players.
I had heard much squee over Jason Isaacs previously but never really got why before. Oh yes, liked Sir Mark a lot. Almost as much as loved Ben Daniels as Nicholas Brocklehurst. (Someone please point me towards some good Mark/Nick kthx). I really liked the fact that while he had his moments of typical action-type spy, a lot of it was thinking and putting the clues together. I like my characters intelligent and I loved his response when Mark accuses him of being a duplicitous bastard. He is good at his job (otherwise I suspect he wouldn't be based in the US) and that adds enough moral ambiguity to make him interesting. In the same way I adored Agent George Blake (although given the name I do wonder if the part was originally intended to be male). She was obviously intelligent and she could be tough when she needed to be. The relationship between her and Nick was interesting and I think one of mutual respect even when Nick was keeping her in the dark. Again the lower rungs of the ladder linked/bonding in ways that the higher rungs don't need to know about. Plus much respect for what she did at the end, that was quite an impressive shot.
I loved the ending because I don't think there could have been any way they could resolve things satisfactorily so leaving it up to the audience was a nice touch. Although having said that - talk about a cliffhanger. Of the three of them, my money is on El Presidente not backing down (or even thinking that could be an option) and I can't see Warner doing so either so in theory it comes down to whether Mark is bluffing. I don't think he is, he is pissed enough to go through with it and damn the consequences - I'm just not sure Nick will let him.
/SPOILERS
My test, as it were, for characters that grip me is whether they start trying to insinuate themselves into my fic plotting. About half way though the series the little writing voices at the back of my head were going 'oh, Nick would make an interesting Immie. Wouldn't he get along with Methos well. Maybe Methos trained him'. Having studiously ignored that bunny, the cogs were crunching by the end with thoughts I had been having about my Torchwood/X-Files crossover and Alex having to go back to the US for a bit. I think Alex might have just got himself a base at the British Embassy c/o Nick and diplomatic immunity, which is really going to piss Mulder off when he catches him *eg*. Considers George and Mulder's reaction to each other... oh dear. Okay, kludge wasn't helping by wondering if there was a rule that all female FBI agents had to be redheads. *Squishes bunny in box, chains up and drops into deep bit of mental sea*
This also meant I missed the fact that it was jhava's birthday :-( So happy birthday and big hugs to her now.
Which sort of leads on to my weekend as I had a wonderful time getting together with the usual suspects (or at least one of my two sets of usual suspects) at jhava's for a weekend of guilty pleasures (DVD-wise you dirty minded perverts) and going to see Wicked. Enjoyed Wicked, although at least partly because I can respect anyone who manages to produce an all-singing, all-dancing fanfic (including crack pairing). I gave in and got one of the T-Shirts that I think my family will be deeply amused by - it is rather low cut and says 'Defy Gravity' across it in big letters. kludge approved when I showed it to him.
Sunday was spent watching stuff[TM].
Robbie Williams was fun and a nice way to wake up.
'3:10 to Yuma' was definitely a thinking person's western and despite the presence of both Russell Crow and Christian Bale (both of whom were brilliant in it) I do mean thinking with higher brain rather than 'lower chakras'.
One the other hand, 'The Transporter' required no actual thought but had a wonderful Casablanca-esque friendship between the hero and the policeman and a fun fight scene involving a lot of oil (and oil in a good way, not oil in a 'why are they so shiny' Dante's Cove way).
Keeping with the theme of brains not being required we went on to 'The Shadow' - which when it started I realised I had actually seen before. Alec Baldwin was good, but about half way through I found myself wishing that it was starring Rupert Everett. Much maniacal laughter was had by all.
At some point we slotted in some 'Fantasy Island' which I hadn't seen before although I did know of it. Am now suprised it isn't used in more crossovers as it seems an ideal 'plot device # 1', prostitute ring and all (okay, they probably weren't actual prostitutes, they were... hired companions *nods*).
Had just go onto the music vids when kludge came to take me home but I was able to take jhava's copy of The State Within with me. Having been intrigued by the wonderful pimping at Connotations and then hearing jhava enthuse we gave the first episode a watch on the Saturday and I ran off with it for more. It rocked!
SPOILERS
Watched it through with kludge (who had wondered what my angle was *snerk*). We watched the first episode Sunday night and he liked it enough that he suggested we watch the second episode over lunch on Monday (he was off ill). Probably not unsurprisingly the 'second episode' turned into the rest of the series as we wanted to know how it ended (well I wanted to, I'm guessing kludge's motivations).
The writing was superb as was the acting. A bit Wag the Dog, a bit Death of the President and with that added hint of West Wing, 24 and Bond (not least because Ben Daniels seems to make everyone think of Daniel Craig). One of the things I was thinking about half way through was that it put me in the mind of Yes, Minister or House of Cards where the real policy is being done by the lower stratas who are the ones directing the public figures. I wonder if this is a very British take on politics. From that perspective it was interesting to see the way they had almost mirrored the UK and US with Mark and Lynne squaring off supported by Nick and Chris (or possibly Nick and Chris squaring off and directing Mark and Lynne depending how you look at it). I did wonder for a bit whether Chris had had something going on with Lynne's son and both Lynne and Chris were on a bit of a vengeance kick, however now I suspect that the Chris/Lynne's son imagery was more to do with trying to set up a quasi-familial vibe between Chris and Lynne. While it was probably an unintentional side effect of the plot but there are interesting comparisons with Lynne loosing her son and Mark gaining one (and did anyone else wonder about the parentage of the kid?) and the effect this had on the balance set up between the UK and US players.
I had heard much squee over Jason Isaacs previously but never really got why before. Oh yes, liked Sir Mark a lot. Almost as much as loved Ben Daniels as Nicholas Brocklehurst. (Someone please point me towards some good Mark/Nick kthx). I really liked the fact that while he had his moments of typical action-type spy, a lot of it was thinking and putting the clues together. I like my characters intelligent and I loved his response when Mark accuses him of being a duplicitous bastard. He is good at his job (otherwise I suspect he wouldn't be based in the US) and that adds enough moral ambiguity to make him interesting. In the same way I adored Agent George Blake (although given the name I do wonder if the part was originally intended to be male). She was obviously intelligent and she could be tough when she needed to be. The relationship between her and Nick was interesting and I think one of mutual respect even when Nick was keeping her in the dark. Again the lower rungs of the ladder linked/bonding in ways that the higher rungs don't need to know about. Plus much respect for what she did at the end, that was quite an impressive shot.
I loved the ending because I don't think there could have been any way they could resolve things satisfactorily so leaving it up to the audience was a nice touch. Although having said that - talk about a cliffhanger. Of the three of them, my money is on El Presidente not backing down (or even thinking that could be an option) and I can't see Warner doing so either so in theory it comes down to whether Mark is bluffing. I don't think he is, he is pissed enough to go through with it and damn the consequences - I'm just not sure Nick will let him.
/SPOILERS
My test, as it were, for characters that grip me is whether they start trying to insinuate themselves into my fic plotting. About half way though the series the little writing voices at the back of my head were going 'oh, Nick would make an interesting Immie. Wouldn't he get along with Methos well. Maybe Methos trained him'. Having studiously ignored that bunny, the cogs were crunching by the end with thoughts I had been having about my Torchwood/X-Files crossover and Alex having to go back to the US for a bit. I think Alex might have just got himself a base at the British Embassy c/o Nick and diplomatic immunity, which is really going to piss Mulder off when he catches him *eg*. Considers George and Mulder's reaction to each other... oh dear. Okay, kludge wasn't helping by wondering if there was a rule that all female FBI agents had to be redheads. *Squishes bunny in box, chains up and drops into deep bit of mental sea*