(no subject)
* "Trump's defense on not paying taxes:"
* "Trump trade plan panned:"
* "What you might not know about Gary Johnson:"
* "Multi-million dollar charity pressures Trump to reveal taxes:"
* "Ford's flub a lesson for gaffe-prone Trump:"
* "Trump Cuba revelation could cost him Florida:"
* "Trump Cuba connection gets close look from Cuban-Americans:"
* TW: Rape. "Deep South - GAYCATION:" https://www.viceland.com/en_us/video/Deep-South/57e37e78f84e2069dd35d5ab?latest=1
* "Governor Paul LePage's Binder Full of Drug Dealers:"
* "Unpacking Stop-and-Frisk:"
* "Putting North Carolina's Anti-LGBT Law to the Test:"
* "Elizabeth Warren Rips Wells Fargo's CEO A New One:"
* "Hey White People! With Jon Batiste And Friends:"
* TW: Rape. Cersei vs, Arianne: http://turtle-paced.tumblr.com/post/150675296862/do-you-think-theres-a-case-to-be-made-that
* Poldark: 2.1. I wrote before how Francis Poldark was the weakest link in the Poldark remake. It is easy for Francis to be contemptible and one dimensional. He is jealous, an alcoholic, a gambling addict, paternalistically sexist, and often an obstacle to the male protagonist (This last tends to bias an audience against a character). One of the things the original did incredibly well is to also make him likeable. That's why his story HURTS, you see. He is likeable, and well meaning, shares his cousin's strong sense of honor, and is painfully self aware of his own failings. He KNOWS what the right thing is to do, but so often can't manage to do it. He is forever in his cousin's shadow, a man who's legend he can't begin to live up to. It is a hard place to be and it preys on him, made worse by him marrying Ross' fiance while Ross was believed dead, thus setting himself up for comparison that way as well. His self awareness of all the ways he doesn't and never can measure up is his real tragedy, you see, and his prophecy is so often self fulfilling. His constant wondering if Elizabeth is measuring him against his cousin leads to jealous, assholish, and boorish treatment of Elizabeth, thus leading to more doubts and more acting out, etc.. This doesn't lead anywhere good. It makes it worse that Ross keeps reaching out a hand to rescue him (drowning, when he gambled away his mine, the card sharp) and genuinely behaving decently, and Demelza, being who she is risks her life and ends up paying a terrible cost to save both their lives. He knows the right thing is to be grateful, to behave well, and that just makes it worse. There is Ross with his strong marriage at a time when Elizabeth can't bear him to touch her anymore. Francis can see how he's behaving and hates himself for it.
The problem with Season One New Francis was that he got all the negative traits down pat, but couldn't bring the likeable. It meant that he was rather flat and to simplistic as a character. He couldn't live up to original Francis at all. He couldn't make me hurt for him.
This deficit is repaired in the season two premiere. The parting from Elizabeth before the assizes WORKS. The line, "Which one of us doesn't secretly adore him," was every bit as ouch as it needed to be, as was the "Had he never gone away in the first place." Ouch, ouch, ouch. I wish he'd brought this feel to first season, but better late than never, and his tragedy hung over all his scenes in this episode the way it should.
On a lighter note, it was weirdly mind bending to have original Ross Poldark judging new Poldark in the opening scene. I love that he's present and a piece of this remake, but at the same time, it's weird seeing two Ross Poldarks in one scene looking at each other. Trust me, I've scene the same actor in other things, such as playing Queen Elizabeth's last favorite in the brilliant Glenda Jackson Elizabeth R, and I know full well actors play other parts, but I watched the original two series so often that in a Poldark context, I'm always going to read that actor as Poldark on some level, if that makes sense. Watching them together my brain felt the way it does when I look at the vase/kiss illusion and see both pictures at once.
* TNG 4 Rewatch:
- The Drumhead. Picard actually notices that this is an unethical use of Betazoid powers, but his call out is countered by her pointing out his unethical use of Deanna's powers. Clearly someone in the writer's room finally noticed the creepy lack of ethics. The MacCarthyism and xenophobia here might be all to real here if November goes badly. I really like Worf's soul searching at the end.
- Half a Life. The Logan's Run Episode. There's a lot of meat on this one, prime directive, assisted suicide, etc.. It's also nice that for once Lwaxana Troi's sexuality is neither a joke nor centering around her sexually harassing people.
******
* Louisiana is having a major flooding disaster, the worst disaster in this country since Sandy. Want to help? https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation
* "How to help Flint, Michigan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-help-flint-michigan
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* A list of LGBTQA Charities: http://awkward0w1.tumblr.com/post/126399233673
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.comhttp://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/asia/indonesia-drug-executions/
This entry was originally posted at http://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/641654.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
* "Trump trade plan panned:"
* "What you might not know about Gary Johnson:"
* "Multi-million dollar charity pressures Trump to reveal taxes:"
* "Ford's flub a lesson for gaffe-prone Trump:"
* "Trump Cuba revelation could cost him Florida:"
* "Trump Cuba connection gets close look from Cuban-Americans:"
* TW: Rape. "Deep South - GAYCATION:" https://www.viceland.com/en_us/video/Deep-South/57e37e78f84e2069dd35d5ab?latest=1
* "Governor Paul LePage's Binder Full of Drug Dealers:"
* "Unpacking Stop-and-Frisk:"
* "Putting North Carolina's Anti-LGBT Law to the Test:"
* "Elizabeth Warren Rips Wells Fargo's CEO A New One:"
Click to view* "Hey White People! With Jon Batiste And Friends:"
* TW: Rape. Cersei vs, Arianne: http://turtle-paced.tumblr.com/post/150675296862/do-you-think-theres-a-case-to-be-made-that
* Poldark: 2.1. I wrote before how Francis Poldark was the weakest link in the Poldark remake. It is easy for Francis to be contemptible and one dimensional. He is jealous, an alcoholic, a gambling addict, paternalistically sexist, and often an obstacle to the male protagonist (This last tends to bias an audience against a character). One of the things the original did incredibly well is to also make him likeable. That's why his story HURTS, you see. He is likeable, and well meaning, shares his cousin's strong sense of honor, and is painfully self aware of his own failings. He KNOWS what the right thing is to do, but so often can't manage to do it. He is forever in his cousin's shadow, a man who's legend he can't begin to live up to. It is a hard place to be and it preys on him, made worse by him marrying Ross' fiance while Ross was believed dead, thus setting himself up for comparison that way as well. His self awareness of all the ways he doesn't and never can measure up is his real tragedy, you see, and his prophecy is so often self fulfilling. His constant wondering if Elizabeth is measuring him against his cousin leads to jealous, assholish, and boorish treatment of Elizabeth, thus leading to more doubts and more acting out, etc.. This doesn't lead anywhere good. It makes it worse that Ross keeps reaching out a hand to rescue him (drowning, when he gambled away his mine, the card sharp) and genuinely behaving decently, and Demelza, being who she is risks her life and ends up paying a terrible cost to save both their lives. He knows the right thing is to be grateful, to behave well, and that just makes it worse. There is Ross with his strong marriage at a time when Elizabeth can't bear him to touch her anymore. Francis can see how he's behaving and hates himself for it.
The problem with Season One New Francis was that he got all the negative traits down pat, but couldn't bring the likeable. It meant that he was rather flat and to simplistic as a character. He couldn't live up to original Francis at all. He couldn't make me hurt for him.
This deficit is repaired in the season two premiere. The parting from Elizabeth before the assizes WORKS. The line, "Which one of us doesn't secretly adore him," was every bit as ouch as it needed to be, as was the "Had he never gone away in the first place." Ouch, ouch, ouch. I wish he'd brought this feel to first season, but better late than never, and his tragedy hung over all his scenes in this episode the way it should.
On a lighter note, it was weirdly mind bending to have original Ross Poldark judging new Poldark in the opening scene. I love that he's present and a piece of this remake, but at the same time, it's weird seeing two Ross Poldarks in one scene looking at each other. Trust me, I've scene the same actor in other things, such as playing Queen Elizabeth's last favorite in the brilliant Glenda Jackson Elizabeth R, and I know full well actors play other parts, but I watched the original two series so often that in a Poldark context, I'm always going to read that actor as Poldark on some level, if that makes sense. Watching them together my brain felt the way it does when I look at the vase/kiss illusion and see both pictures at once.
* TNG 4 Rewatch:
- The Drumhead. Picard actually notices that this is an unethical use of Betazoid powers, but his call out is countered by her pointing out his unethical use of Deanna's powers. Clearly someone in the writer's room finally noticed the creepy lack of ethics. The MacCarthyism and xenophobia here might be all to real here if November goes badly. I really like Worf's soul searching at the end.
- Half a Life. The Logan's Run Episode. There's a lot of meat on this one, prime directive, assisted suicide, etc.. It's also nice that for once Lwaxana Troi's sexuality is neither a joke nor centering around her sexually harassing people.
******
* Louisiana is having a major flooding disaster, the worst disaster in this country since Sandy. Want to help? https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation
* "How to help Flint, Michigan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-help-flint-michigan
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* A list of LGBTQA Charities: http://awkward0w1.tumblr.com/post/126399233673
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.comhttp://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/asia/indonesia-drug-executions/
This entry was originally posted at http://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/641654.html. Please comment there using OpenID.