Television I have been Watching (the sequel)
I have finally weeded my RL email-inbox from well over 200 emails to 2. TWO!! I also organized the crap out of my email folders. I am made of awesome. \o/ To celebrate, I shall now talk television.
We have just started watching The Wire. The very first season is showing on some strange DirectTV channel that I think(?) belongs exclusively to that company. Or something. None of that really matters. The important thing is: It's on and we're watching and it's really, really good! I don't know why I'm surprised; I've been hearing about The Wire since forever. But we didn't have HBO (or was it Showtime? ...feels more HBO-ie) and I confess to a certain cynicism when something is too well-liked. (In this case my cynicism was wrong, wrong, wrong.)
What I'm most impressed with is how likable the main characters are, even with all their faults. The show is pretty unflinching about showing the faults, and sometimes they're shocking, but they're not afraid of showing the goodness either. Which makes for such wonderfully well-rounded, interesting characters that are a treat to watch each week. Extra special bonus: The channel starts each ep off with a mini-interview with creator, David Simon. So you get a little serving of meta before the show. I like it. :)
We're also watching Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth on Starz. That was one of my desert-island books back in high school. It hit my id so perfectly (probably still does) that I feel pretty incapable of looking at it critically. I haven't read the book in a long, long time, but I've really enjoyed the miniseries. I know stuff is missing and has changed a bit and such, but it's close enough that I don't care. :) The casting has been excellent as far as I'm concerned (casting Matthew Macfadyen as Prior Phillip was a stroke of genius, imo) and the storyline has followed the book closely enough that I'm happy.
(Okay, one little niggle. There are three boys we meet when they're supposed to be twelve to fifteen years old. But because they're played by the same actors who play them all grown up, it's really hard to see them as that young. So they just seem like especially doofy twenty-somethings. Which could have ruined the characters if I didn't realize they were supposed to be pretty young and so freaking out like that was kind of okay given their age. That's the hard thing with men, I think. Once they've passed puberty they can't really play that much younger than they are. Women don't have quite that problem: the two women who play girls in the beginning are more believable.)
Anyway, I've been enjoying it a lot, a lot. But I'm really leery of recommending it, because it could be a whole lot of silly melodrama that I just happily sail on by because I'm already primed to love it.
And then there's Doctor Who. I know I'm unbelievably late at posting my reactions, but I'm doing it anyway. ;P In conclusion: I LOVED IT! Really, the ending was about as perfect as perfect could be for me. I adored the way the story wound back to the beginning (tiny, little Amelia! ♥), and I adored how Rory and Amy's story ended (sweet, brave, constant Rory - in his Roman soldier uniform that he's only wearing because that scratched Amy's id), and I adored Amy getting her family back (her tiny, little dad! who is totally a hobbit and fits so beautifully with Amy being someone straight out of a fairytale!), and I massively adored that Amy was the Doctors secret weapon and that River was the fairy-godmother who set everything to rights and that the final clue was that trite, old wedding ritual. So! Perfect!
I'm very much in love with this version of Doctor Who, and in a way I wasn't with the last version. I mean, I enjoyed Russell T. Davies' seasons, but not this much. Though I think the reason for that is incredibly subjective.
To start I should say that I think David Tennant is a better actor than Matt Smith. I think he's able to do more with less, really packing a lot into a scene. (I strongly suspect it's more to do with experience than talent, so I expect Smith will improve as he goes.) But I think there was something ... disturbing? slightly more dangerous, maybe? about Tennant's Doctor, Ten. So I was heavily dependent on Tennant's charm and vulnerability to keep me attached to Ten.
But with Smith's Doctor, Eleven, that charm and vulnerability isn't as needed. Weirdly (considering the ages of the two actors), I feel like Eleven is a much older character than Ten. He's been through the wars, he's suffered and he's lonely and he's got a dark side, just like Ten. But Eleven seems more aware of his dark side and more in control of it. With Ten, I always felt like his companions were barely holding him back from the brink (and I feel like, in the end, they failed). But with Eleven, I don't get the sense that he needs Amy in the same way. He's much more interested in figuring out how to help her (bringing Rory along, returning her family to her, making sure to grab her a drink when she's thirsty *g*) than in using her to beat back his own demons. (Not to say he doesn't need her; just not quite that desperately.)
I think the difference in the two Doctors reflects the difference in the two writers. I couldn't say Steven Moffat is a better writer than Russell T. Davis. As far as I'm concerned, they're equal. But I can say, I prefer the type of story Moffat is telling. Davis' seasons seemed almost dystopian, which I'm not a big fan of, while Moffat was much more hopeful. And I like hopeful. :) And fairytales. ♥ And Moffat's definitely telling fairytales with Eleven. Or at least, with this past season.
But! That's a very subjective thing having a lot more to do with personal taste than actual quality, so ... I'm incredibly happy, but I understand if others aren't quite as much.
And finally (and not nearly as long-windedly), True Blood is the best sort of crack show. And I adore what Sookie's super-secret-power is. Or more correctly, what the answer to the, "What are you?" question was. Especially Sookie's "That's so lame!" reaction. :D I shall never look at Tinker Bell the same way. Ah, True Blood, you're not deep, but you are fun.
So, wow! I kind of blathered on, huh? Oh, well. It's been a while. And it's kind of nice to talk about something not epic-story related. ;D
We have just started watching The Wire. The very first season is showing on some strange DirectTV channel that I think(?) belongs exclusively to that company. Or something. None of that really matters. The important thing is: It's on and we're watching and it's really, really good! I don't know why I'm surprised; I've been hearing about The Wire since forever. But we didn't have HBO (or was it Showtime? ...feels more HBO-ie) and I confess to a certain cynicism when something is too well-liked. (In this case my cynicism was wrong, wrong, wrong.)
What I'm most impressed with is how likable the main characters are, even with all their faults. The show is pretty unflinching about showing the faults, and sometimes they're shocking, but they're not afraid of showing the goodness either. Which makes for such wonderfully well-rounded, interesting characters that are a treat to watch each week. Extra special bonus: The channel starts each ep off with a mini-interview with creator, David Simon. So you get a little serving of meta before the show. I like it. :)
We're also watching Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth on Starz. That was one of my desert-island books back in high school. It hit my id so perfectly (probably still does) that I feel pretty incapable of looking at it critically. I haven't read the book in a long, long time, but I've really enjoyed the miniseries. I know stuff is missing and has changed a bit and such, but it's close enough that I don't care. :) The casting has been excellent as far as I'm concerned (casting Matthew Macfadyen as Prior Phillip was a stroke of genius, imo) and the storyline has followed the book closely enough that I'm happy.
(Okay, one little niggle. There are three boys we meet when they're supposed to be twelve to fifteen years old. But because they're played by the same actors who play them all grown up, it's really hard to see them as that young. So they just seem like especially doofy twenty-somethings. Which could have ruined the characters if I didn't realize they were supposed to be pretty young and so freaking out like that was kind of okay given their age. That's the hard thing with men, I think. Once they've passed puberty they can't really play that much younger than they are. Women don't have quite that problem: the two women who play girls in the beginning are more believable.)
Anyway, I've been enjoying it a lot, a lot. But I'm really leery of recommending it, because it could be a whole lot of silly melodrama that I just happily sail on by because I'm already primed to love it.
And then there's Doctor Who. I know I'm unbelievably late at posting my reactions, but I'm doing it anyway. ;P In conclusion: I LOVED IT! Really, the ending was about as perfect as perfect could be for me. I adored the way the story wound back to the beginning (tiny, little Amelia! ♥), and I adored how Rory and Amy's story ended (sweet, brave, constant Rory - in his Roman soldier uniform that he's only wearing because that scratched Amy's id), and I adored Amy getting her family back (her tiny, little dad! who is totally a hobbit and fits so beautifully with Amy being someone straight out of a fairytale!), and I massively adored that Amy was the Doctors secret weapon and that River was the fairy-godmother who set everything to rights and that the final clue was that trite, old wedding ritual. So! Perfect!
I'm very much in love with this version of Doctor Who, and in a way I wasn't with the last version. I mean, I enjoyed Russell T. Davies' seasons, but not this much. Though I think the reason for that is incredibly subjective.
To start I should say that I think David Tennant is a better actor than Matt Smith. I think he's able to do more with less, really packing a lot into a scene. (I strongly suspect it's more to do with experience than talent, so I expect Smith will improve as he goes.) But I think there was something ... disturbing? slightly more dangerous, maybe? about Tennant's Doctor, Ten. So I was heavily dependent on Tennant's charm and vulnerability to keep me attached to Ten.
But with Smith's Doctor, Eleven, that charm and vulnerability isn't as needed. Weirdly (considering the ages of the two actors), I feel like Eleven is a much older character than Ten. He's been through the wars, he's suffered and he's lonely and he's got a dark side, just like Ten. But Eleven seems more aware of his dark side and more in control of it. With Ten, I always felt like his companions were barely holding him back from the brink (and I feel like, in the end, they failed). But with Eleven, I don't get the sense that he needs Amy in the same way. He's much more interested in figuring out how to help her (bringing Rory along, returning her family to her, making sure to grab her a drink when she's thirsty *g*) than in using her to beat back his own demons. (Not to say he doesn't need her; just not quite that desperately.)
I think the difference in the two Doctors reflects the difference in the two writers. I couldn't say Steven Moffat is a better writer than Russell T. Davis. As far as I'm concerned, they're equal. But I can say, I prefer the type of story Moffat is telling. Davis' seasons seemed almost dystopian, which I'm not a big fan of, while Moffat was much more hopeful. And I like hopeful. :) And fairytales. ♥ And Moffat's definitely telling fairytales with Eleven. Or at least, with this past season.
But! That's a very subjective thing having a lot more to do with personal taste than actual quality, so ... I'm incredibly happy, but I understand if others aren't quite as much.
And finally (and not nearly as long-windedly), True Blood is the best sort of crack show. And I adore what Sookie's super-secret-power is. Or more correctly, what the answer to the, "What are you?" question was. Especially Sookie's "That's so lame!" reaction. :D I shall never look at Tinker Bell the same way. Ah, True Blood, you're not deep, but you are fun.
So, wow! I kind of blathered on, huh? Oh, well. It's been a while. And it's kind of nice to talk about something not epic-story related. ;D