James/Yeti
My Chemical Romance is... (Complete this sentence with any of the following:) A glorious band of cupcakes. Ridiculously happy. Nerdier than you can keep up with. My favorite. The sort of band who makes earnest concept sketches for their appearance on kids shows. No, seriously, they're SO HAPPY.
In other media, I was reading spoilers for this season of Supernatural, which I stopped watching a while ago, not because I wasn't interested in the story, but because I wasn't interested in a story that was going to inevitably hurt me with both plot and character decisions. And wow, this season, I don't know what show Sera Gamble is writing, but it is really not the show I was ever watching, not even when American-Dreams-Rusting-In-The-Moonlight-Kripke was writing it.
Do you ever play the "If I was writing it?" game? I mean, it's not so much a game as a way I interact with and learn from different narratives. But it goes like this: If I were a new head writer coming on to Supernatural when Sera Gamble did, I wouldn't kill EVEN MORE characters. I would engineer some sort of re-set - an alternate world bleeds over, or time shifts, or angels do their angel magic and, poof, a bunch of characters are back! That is much more appealing to me than season after season of NEW!IMPROVED!Villains and side characters. I would want more, not fewer people around to carry the story, especially with a duo like Sam and Dean who are already living so deeply inside each other's lives that they need someone outside, bad or good, to cause the friction that keeps the story engaging.
On quite the opposite spectrum, I have really been enjoying (and am very glad I am not writing) this season of Castle. The first episode or two had me furiously angry with Beckett - and it was very interesting to see other fans furiously angry with Castle - and my issue is less to do with Beckett and more to do with the fact that I over-identify with Castle. A lot.
ataratah pointed out to me, more kindly than I probably deserved given that I was shouting profanities at the time, that I would have written (and have in fact written) characters keeping secrets and telling emotionally charged lies in exactly the same way, because that's always a fabulous story. Eventually I cooled off about Beckett (sort of) and once we got past the ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE DID THE INTERN WRITE IT OMG episode that focused on Ryan and his speech about bravery or whatever, the season has swept me up again in the usual mix of ridiculousness and delight. Cops and Robbers especially was astounding. I think I made Paul Gross arms and cheered at the end (while K looked at me like I was a crazy person) because, well, I am a crazy person, but good stories make me feel that insanely jubilant.
We watched the first episode of Vampire Diaries the other night, a show I have been meaning to watch for ages. It was a pretty boring pilot overall, especially since it was busy setting up its mythology and it wasn't anything particularly...new, as far as vampires go. Still, I'm curious enough to see where it goes.
Vampire Diaries followed on the tail of Teen Wolf, which I had absolutely refused to watch on principle (well, I mean, sometimes I have them?) until
ataratah showed me a vid about how awesome Stiles is, and then I was hooked. It's actually a really amazingly well done show, and I don't say that lightly, because I HATED Scott, our supposed protagonist. Vehemently. Loudly. Every episode. He is the most pathetic excuse for a teenaged werewolf that you could possibly imagine - and then, pile on some more whining. The reason this is in any way tolerable is because the writers KNOW he's pathetic. They know, when he's making stupid, selfish decisions that they are stupid and selfish. The episode where he cuts school and runs off with his girlfriend? Stiles carries the plot! The episode where Scott goes all emo and does nothing useful to advance the mystery (which is like, EVERY EPISODE?) Stiles kicks ass and takes names. Even Allison, the object of the majority of Scott's misplaced concern and/or whining carries the momentum of several episodes all by herself. In general, there's a really solid supporting cast, a lot like the structure of Buffy, where all of the characters have interesting things happen to them that are not all about Emo!Scott. And they are worldbuilding up and out, giving the story room to go some really interesting places. All of this is to say, you should watch Teen Wolf, for the universe and the whole cast in general, and in particular for Stiles, and for Lydia, who I haven't mentioned yet only because you need to see her storyline for yourself.
Somehow it's only 4:00 and this day is the longest, most boring Friday ever. Ok, no, that's just the cranky talking, but SET ME FREE OH LIBRARY WORKPLACE so I can go forth and buy a microwave (mine exploded last weekend, hi, I don't ever need to experience that science-fiction-y blue glow emanating from something in my kitchen EVER AGAIN) and wrap presents while drinking mulled wine and humming 'Every Snowflake's Different.' JUST LIKE YOU.
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In other media, I was reading spoilers for this season of Supernatural, which I stopped watching a while ago, not because I wasn't interested in the story, but because I wasn't interested in a story that was going to inevitably hurt me with both plot and character decisions. And wow, this season, I don't know what show Sera Gamble is writing, but it is really not the show I was ever watching, not even when American-Dreams-Rusting-In-The-Moonlight-Kripke was writing it.
Do you ever play the "If I was writing it?" game? I mean, it's not so much a game as a way I interact with and learn from different narratives. But it goes like this: If I were a new head writer coming on to Supernatural when Sera Gamble did, I wouldn't kill EVEN MORE characters. I would engineer some sort of re-set - an alternate world bleeds over, or time shifts, or angels do their angel magic and, poof, a bunch of characters are back! That is much more appealing to me than season after season of NEW!IMPROVED!Villains and side characters. I would want more, not fewer people around to carry the story, especially with a duo like Sam and Dean who are already living so deeply inside each other's lives that they need someone outside, bad or good, to cause the friction that keeps the story engaging.
On quite the opposite spectrum, I have really been enjoying (and am very glad I am not writing) this season of Castle. The first episode or two had me furiously angry with Beckett - and it was very interesting to see other fans furiously angry with Castle - and my issue is less to do with Beckett and more to do with the fact that I over-identify with Castle. A lot.
ataratah pointed out to me, more kindly than I probably deserved given that I was shouting profanities at the time, that I would have written (and have in fact written) characters keeping secrets and telling emotionally charged lies in exactly the same way, because that's always a fabulous story. Eventually I cooled off about Beckett (sort of) and once we got past the ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE DID THE INTERN WRITE IT OMG episode that focused on Ryan and his speech about bravery or whatever, the season has swept me up again in the usual mix of ridiculousness and delight. Cops and Robbers especially was astounding. I think I made Paul Gross arms and cheered at the end (while K looked at me like I was a crazy person) because, well, I am a crazy person, but good stories make me feel that insanely jubilant.
We watched the first episode of Vampire Diaries the other night, a show I have been meaning to watch for ages. It was a pretty boring pilot overall, especially since it was busy setting up its mythology and it wasn't anything particularly...new, as far as vampires go. Still, I'm curious enough to see where it goes.
Vampire Diaries followed on the tail of Teen Wolf, which I had absolutely refused to watch on principle (well, I mean, sometimes I have them?) until
ataratah showed me a vid about how awesome Stiles is, and then I was hooked. It's actually a really amazingly well done show, and I don't say that lightly, because I HATED Scott, our supposed protagonist. Vehemently. Loudly. Every episode. He is the most pathetic excuse for a teenaged werewolf that you could possibly imagine - and then, pile on some more whining. The reason this is in any way tolerable is because the writers KNOW he's pathetic. They know, when he's making stupid, selfish decisions that they are stupid and selfish. The episode where he cuts school and runs off with his girlfriend? Stiles carries the plot! The episode where Scott goes all emo and does nothing useful to advance the mystery (which is like, EVERY EPISODE?) Stiles kicks ass and takes names. Even Allison, the object of the majority of Scott's misplaced concern and/or whining carries the momentum of several episodes all by herself. In general, there's a really solid supporting cast, a lot like the structure of Buffy, where all of the characters have interesting things happen to them that are not all about Emo!Scott. And they are worldbuilding up and out, giving the story room to go some really interesting places. All of this is to say, you should watch Teen Wolf, for the universe and the whole cast in general, and in particular for Stiles, and for Lydia, who I haven't mentioned yet only because you need to see her storyline for yourself.
Somehow it's only 4:00 and this day is the longest, most boring Friday ever. Ok, no, that's just the cranky talking, but SET ME FREE OH LIBRARY WORKPLACE so I can go forth and buy a microwave (mine exploded last weekend, hi, I don't ever need to experience that science-fiction-y blue glow emanating from something in my kitchen EVER AGAIN) and wrap presents while drinking mulled wine and humming 'Every Snowflake's Different.' JUST LIKE YOU.
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)