Ugly Betty, my love, why do you insist on hurting me like this?
Okay, I've generally stayed quiet about the recent Ugly Betty season 4 spoilers, mainly because my head is in danger of exploding from the pure rage that they induce, but... ugh. I need to vent. My show. My beautiful, beautiful show has been irreparably damaged for some time now, but there was always a little part of me that still lived in hope that it could all be fixed, that the creators would actually watch their own show and realize how awful such a brilliant show has become, how they have ruined everything that used to make this show lovable, how they keep recycling awful storylines that no one ever liked in the first place, how they need to go back to their original formula and look at what made all the foreign Ugly Bettys work, but of course they are just bumbling. To the point where I think Silvio Horta actually wanted this show canceled a long time ago and he's baffled as to why the network keeps renewing it. Seriously. The dude has a death wish. That's the only explanation. Anyway, they got lost, again, and so now they're speeding ahead with something that should have taken at least an entire season to develop, or even half a season. I can't even trust this show to at least comment on the change because it has this tendency to expect the audience to just accept things without explanation. And I feel a little cheated that all this change happened in a time that we don't get to see. We don't get to see the character development, we don't get to see first reactions, we don't get to see if this was a progressive thing or if it just happened, we don't get to see what made it happen, we don't get to see the affect that all this change originally has on Daniel and Betty's friendship. It just picks up without all that development that would have actually required work on the writers' parts. And I'm guessing we will be subjected to yet another contrived love triangle and/or quadrangle that nobody gives a damn about, because that just seems to be a given of any Ugly Betty season. And I'm predicting right now that Daniel has an affair with his new assistant and they fall in love and get married, because that is just the kind of rub that this show likes to do to me. I mean, he already married Betty-lite, why not go the distance and have him marry his assistant, too? Then Betty will marry her boss who is almost an exact replica of Daniel, only ridiculously annoying, and the American version of Ugly Betty will prove that it completely missed the point of all the previous incantations of this show and that yes, we are a terribly superficial society and we fall in love for all the wrong reasons. Yay American Ugly Betty! Dickwads.
Anyway, I finished The Big Bang Theory last night. Oh, this show. It is so epically hilarious. I love it to bits. I mean, it's corny at times, but it completely works for this show. And I was kind of shipping Raj/Howard just for kicks, so I about died of squee during the episode where Leonard's mom concluded that they entered into a subconscious homosexual marriage because they both fear women (and they were horrified, and then proceeded to act like a married couple. Oh man, I love them). And I love that Leonard's mom was basically a female version of Sheldon. It just made so much sense. Clearly this is the reason why Leonard is the only person who could ever stand to live with Sheldon. And Sheldon and Leonard's mom singing together was quite possibly the greatest thing to ever happen on that show. Although Sheldon and Penny singing their assembly line song was pretty awesome too. Basically, Sheldon singing anything is made of win. Also, the more I got along in season 2, the more I found myself shipping Sheldon/Penny, but I still have this problem of them never looking at each other in that way, especially Sheldon, so it would take a whole hell of a lot of convincing to make me believe that ship is even possible. I mean, Sheldon brings about the most change in Penny, and Penny brings about the most change in Sheldon, so, in a literary sense, it would make sense that they'd be the endgame romance. But Sheldon is asexual, and Penny seems to view him as a child more often than not, and those are obstacles that are virtually indestructible. I tried reading some fics and I always seem to stop halfway through because they just aren't doing their job of convincing me that this ship could happen. They have the most interesting chemistry, so I think that's why so many people ship them, but I just have trouble being convinced that Sheldon could ever be romantically interested in anyone. Penny having a subconscious thing for Sheldon I guess I can buy if it's developed right, but no one seems to get Sheldon right. I don't know, it just seems like a seriously challenging ship to write, and yet it's fandom's choice OTP. I'm actually kind of in love with the fandom for preferring them over Leonard/Penny, because Leonard/Penny is the exact kind of canon ship that gets on my nerves. It's so typical, for one thing, but it also lacks in true development. I actually like them better now that they know each other as friends, but it's still basically "Nerd wants to get laid by the hot blond chick, hot blond chick is tired of dating hot douchebags and so settles for the nerd across the hall because he does anything she wants him to." Mmmhmm. Lovely basis for a romance. And I just can't see why Penny is falling in love with him, but the season 2 finale confirmed that she was. I just don't get Leonard's appeal. I like him well enough, but ugh. I think my problem with Leonard is that I was friends with quite a few dudes like him, and MAN did they get on my nerves. But I think I kind of a had a thing for one of them? And he was always obsessing over these unattainable girls, and I hated him for that. UGH! So, poor Leonard suffers from my scorned teenage heart. Sorry, Leonard! I like you! Really, I do! It's just that Sheldon, Raj, and Howard are all 10 times more awesome than you. Frankly, out of that group, if I knew them in real life, I'd probably be in love with Raj. He's so beautiful! But anyway, back to Sheldon/Penny. The only moment where I thought perhaps there was something there was during their "friends with benefits" talk. I know that Sheldon was just inquiring to gather a female's perspective on the whole thing, but he seemed way more curious about it than he usually is about things, to the point of where he actually might like to test his hypotheses about it, and Penny is his only girl friend, so... you know. But then he confirmed that he never has any sexual urges, so he probably wouldn't use himself for the experiment. ANYWAY, if anyone knows of any Sheldon/Penny fics that you think would convince me they could work, link me, please! They are a ship that I would be gaga over if I actually thought that Sheldon could romantically love anyone. But I am still pretty in love with Sheldon/Leslie, I'm not gonna lie. They are both so emotionally detached from people and yet their emotions flare up whenever they face off against each other. (ETA: Okay, The Failure of Einstein's Universe by annakovsky is pretty good. I should have known to seek out The Office authors in TBBT fandom).
ETA: Holy crap. How did I not hear about this till now? Jesus. Most of the people in those exercise classes are mothers with 5 month old babies trying to get rid of their pregnancy weight. God. I worked in gyms like that for 5 years. I will never understand these rampage killers who blame other people for their own failures (or for mistreatment by other people). Somehow they think that killing these innocent people that they've never even spoken to is justice. I just don't get it.
Anyway, I finished The Big Bang Theory last night. Oh, this show. It is so epically hilarious. I love it to bits. I mean, it's corny at times, but it completely works for this show. And I was kind of shipping Raj/Howard just for kicks, so I about died of squee during the episode where Leonard's mom concluded that they entered into a subconscious homosexual marriage because they both fear women (and they were horrified, and then proceeded to act like a married couple. Oh man, I love them). And I love that Leonard's mom was basically a female version of Sheldon. It just made so much sense. Clearly this is the reason why Leonard is the only person who could ever stand to live with Sheldon. And Sheldon and Leonard's mom singing together was quite possibly the greatest thing to ever happen on that show. Although Sheldon and Penny singing their assembly line song was pretty awesome too. Basically, Sheldon singing anything is made of win. Also, the more I got along in season 2, the more I found myself shipping Sheldon/Penny, but I still have this problem of them never looking at each other in that way, especially Sheldon, so it would take a whole hell of a lot of convincing to make me believe that ship is even possible. I mean, Sheldon brings about the most change in Penny, and Penny brings about the most change in Sheldon, so, in a literary sense, it would make sense that they'd be the endgame romance. But Sheldon is asexual, and Penny seems to view him as a child more often than not, and those are obstacles that are virtually indestructible. I tried reading some fics and I always seem to stop halfway through because they just aren't doing their job of convincing me that this ship could happen. They have the most interesting chemistry, so I think that's why so many people ship them, but I just have trouble being convinced that Sheldon could ever be romantically interested in anyone. Penny having a subconscious thing for Sheldon I guess I can buy if it's developed right, but no one seems to get Sheldon right. I don't know, it just seems like a seriously challenging ship to write, and yet it's fandom's choice OTP. I'm actually kind of in love with the fandom for preferring them over Leonard/Penny, because Leonard/Penny is the exact kind of canon ship that gets on my nerves. It's so typical, for one thing, but it also lacks in true development. I actually like them better now that they know each other as friends, but it's still basically "Nerd wants to get laid by the hot blond chick, hot blond chick is tired of dating hot douchebags and so settles for the nerd across the hall because he does anything she wants him to." Mmmhmm. Lovely basis for a romance. And I just can't see why Penny is falling in love with him, but the season 2 finale confirmed that she was. I just don't get Leonard's appeal. I like him well enough, but ugh. I think my problem with Leonard is that I was friends with quite a few dudes like him, and MAN did they get on my nerves. But I think I kind of a had a thing for one of them? And he was always obsessing over these unattainable girls, and I hated him for that. UGH! So, poor Leonard suffers from my scorned teenage heart. Sorry, Leonard! I like you! Really, I do! It's just that Sheldon, Raj, and Howard are all 10 times more awesome than you. Frankly, out of that group, if I knew them in real life, I'd probably be in love with Raj. He's so beautiful! But anyway, back to Sheldon/Penny. The only moment where I thought perhaps there was something there was during their "friends with benefits" talk. I know that Sheldon was just inquiring to gather a female's perspective on the whole thing, but he seemed way more curious about it than he usually is about things, to the point of where he actually might like to test his hypotheses about it, and Penny is his only girl friend, so... you know. But then he confirmed that he never has any sexual urges, so he probably wouldn't use himself for the experiment. ANYWAY, if anyone knows of any Sheldon/Penny fics that you think would convince me they could work, link me, please! They are a ship that I would be gaga over if I actually thought that Sheldon could romantically love anyone. But I am still pretty in love with Sheldon/Leslie, I'm not gonna lie. They are both so emotionally detached from people and yet their emotions flare up whenever they face off against each other. (ETA: Okay, The Failure of Einstein's Universe by annakovsky is pretty good. I should have known to seek out The Office authors in TBBT fandom).
ETA: Holy crap. How did I not hear about this till now? Jesus. Most of the people in those exercise classes are mothers with 5 month old babies trying to get rid of their pregnancy weight. God. I worked in gyms like that for 5 years. I will never understand these rampage killers who blame other people for their own failures (or for mistreatment by other people). Somehow they think that killing these innocent people that they've never even spoken to is justice. I just don't get it.