'cesting the Nobel prize winners, recent TV yammering
A discussion of John Steinbeck a while ago got me thinking that if the James Dean East of Eden had been filmed today, rather than in the 50s, there would have been lots of fanfic. (I went to ff.net to take a look. Two. Bad ones.)
Then I thought, "Yeah, but if there was fanfic, it'd all be incest and I wouldn't want to read it anyway."
And then: "Well, in that particular fandom I might not mind so much."
Seriously, those family relationships are so messed up already, incest isn't a very far step. Cal and Aaron's love/hate relationship closely mirrors Faith/Buffy, and we all know how subtexty that was. And I can totally see Kate trying to seduce either one of her sons, skanky ho that she is. (I love Kate, she's a very interesting character, but she's definitely not a morally upstanding citizen.)
The only one who doesn't fit into that theme is Adam. Whenever I think of Adam, my mind transfers straight back into vanilla territory. It's some sort of reflex.
***
I've now watched the season finale of Lost and the cybermen two-parter of Doctor Who, as well as the old-Who ep "Revenge of the Cybermen" because it amuses me to watch the same villains twice in one week.
I quite liked the Lost finale. I don't watch the show as a mystery (I don't even read Agatha Christies as mysteries), but it was still fun to get some answers - and as usual with this show, the answers just raise new questions.
I really hope Eko isn't dead, in part because he's awesome and in part because it'd be very lame if the only surviving Tailie was Bernard; it'd make me wonder what the point was in including them at all.
I'm not all that keen on Locke, but I'd prefer it if he wasn't dead either. I rather suspect that Desmond is dead, which is a pity, because I like him. Also, with so many castmembers leaving, I think we need some new blood or the cast will soon be normal-sized. Though we should really have some women. (Alex is a strong candidate, but, meh - in that case I'd rather have her mother.)
I thought it was quite fun to see Michael have something to do, seeing how Harold Perrineau is a great actor and has had very little to work with on this series. That said, what the fuck is wrong with Hurley? He can kick Sawyer's ass for a few nicknames (don't get me wrong, I love that scene) but he can't kick Michael's ass for killing his girlfriend? Not so much as a punch? I'm not your biggest Libby fan, but come on, she deserved that much.
I like that not-Henry is the boss of the Others - he's such a skeevy little bastard.
Speaking of the Others, I re-watched the film The Others the other day. I was mainly interested in whether knowing the twist makes the film less scary, and why I never noticed that Christopher Eccleston was the one playing Grace's husband.
The first answer is yes, it is less scary. Still beautiful, but more melancholy than anything else. In a lesser film, grace would be a villain, but she isn't - she cracked, that's all. Too much strain on a too-repressed individual.
The second answer is that through some strange movie magic, Chris E, who makes me sigh like a schoolgirl as the Doctor (just thinking about it makes me all hot and bothered) is downright ugly as Charles. It's very strange. Even knowing that it's the same person, I can barely see it.
My current theory is that it's because the Doctor is a very active person, while Charles is passive. Obviously he has every reason to be - he must have one hell of a PTSD (or would that be PMSD, in his case?) - but it's still not very sexy.
...And yes, I'm well aware that Charles isn't there to be sexy. Neither is the Doctor, as far as I can tell; that was just a bonus. :-)
Over to DW, I was quite sad to see Mickey leave. I've quite liked the poor boy ever since Boom Town, and I don't like the thought of never seeing him again. Yes, he's probably happy with his gran and his double's boyfriend (were Jake and Rickey supposed to be gay or am I just completely corrupted?) but I'll still miss him.
Plus, it'd be nice to have a companion who'd stay on board the TARDIS for more than four eps. I think Billie Piper is really pretty and I loved Rose to begin with, but there is such a thing as overexposure. I'm used to ensemble shows, I want a second companion - real, semi-permanent companion - or even a third. If Five could have three companions, I see no reason why Ten shouldn't.
I quite liked the eps, though. Rich lady/cyberman Jackie was interesting (though clearly money can't buy a dress sense), and it was nice to see Pete be kind of heroic again.
And I'm starting to wonder if people who aren't RTD aren't quite as fond of Rose as he is. First Steven Moffat pushes her to the sidelines, and now this writer (can't remember his name) writes such an awesome Mickey and makes Rose kind of redundant, plot-wise. (Emotionally, since her family's involved, she's obviously not redundant.)
One thing that really bugged me, however, was when Mickey and Jake get visuals of the Cyber-lair and Mickey goes all "Yay! Doctor and Rose safe!" Jake does not for one second freak out about the fact that Mrs. Moore is missing and that he's thus lost yet another friend. Evidently, if people don't matter to us, they can't matter to chars in the show.
I didn't like the villain either. Much too hammy. But then, I guess that's an age-old Who tradition.
Speaking of which, the Four ep was kind of entertaining, even thrilling in the last part. (I knew that the planet wouldn't explode; that didn't stop me from fearing it.)
As usual, though, it dragged quite a bit. I talked to jadelennox about it and came to the conclusion that I simply haven't seen much television that's older than the 80s - films, yes, but they're quite a bit faster paced than TV. Also, I'm not always sure I understand all of the plot, but I'm not sure if my attention drifts because I don't understand what's being said, or if I don't understand what's being said because my attention drifts.
Another thing, as I said to her, is that when something does happen, it's usually plot, and I tend to watch TV more for character interaction. (There's a reason ensemble shows are my favourites.)
The show I can think of which resembled old-Who the most in format is the Swedish summer morning show Vintergatan: space ship, slow moving action, silly effects, and constant interruption (though most of that interruption was because it's traditional for Swedish summer morning shows to have other TV shows embedded into it - the main show is mostly a frame story).
Even there, though, the show concerned itself with questions like: "Does Mira think Glenn is cooler than me?" "Why the hell am I even on a space ship instead of in my taxi?" "Why are the boys fawning over that stupid frozen cosmonaut instead of me?" and "What do you mean, there's no USSR?" Character stuff, however juvenile.
So, yeah. I'm enjoying the show, but I'm glad to have my embroidery to occupy myself with during the slower moments.
Ep-wise, I think RotC comes above Frontios, but below Kinda, and I'm not entirely sure on Castrovalva. RotC isn't as intriguing, but OTOH it's more suspenseful, and it gets a big plus for having Cybermen instead of the Master. Robot actors aren't supposed to have much of a range.
Also, it amused me that the Doctor called Harry an imbecile - apparently Mickey isn't the first companion to face verbal abuse. Poor Harry, though it seems to me that someone who uses the word "cheerio" with a straight face can't be quite right upstairs.
Hmm, I think that's all, for now. I've downloaded An Unearthly Child, so my next Who adventure will be the very first.
Then I thought, "Yeah, but if there was fanfic, it'd all be incest and I wouldn't want to read it anyway."
And then: "Well, in that particular fandom I might not mind so much."
Seriously, those family relationships are so messed up already, incest isn't a very far step. Cal and Aaron's love/hate relationship closely mirrors Faith/Buffy, and we all know how subtexty that was. And I can totally see Kate trying to seduce either one of her sons, skanky ho that she is. (I love Kate, she's a very interesting character, but she's definitely not a morally upstanding citizen.)
The only one who doesn't fit into that theme is Adam. Whenever I think of Adam, my mind transfers straight back into vanilla territory. It's some sort of reflex.
***
I've now watched the season finale of Lost and the cybermen two-parter of Doctor Who, as well as the old-Who ep "Revenge of the Cybermen" because it amuses me to watch the same villains twice in one week.
I quite liked the Lost finale. I don't watch the show as a mystery (I don't even read Agatha Christies as mysteries), but it was still fun to get some answers - and as usual with this show, the answers just raise new questions.
I really hope Eko isn't dead, in part because he's awesome and in part because it'd be very lame if the only surviving Tailie was Bernard; it'd make me wonder what the point was in including them at all.
I'm not all that keen on Locke, but I'd prefer it if he wasn't dead either. I rather suspect that Desmond is dead, which is a pity, because I like him. Also, with so many castmembers leaving, I think we need some new blood or the cast will soon be normal-sized. Though we should really have some women. (Alex is a strong candidate, but, meh - in that case I'd rather have her mother.)
I thought it was quite fun to see Michael have something to do, seeing how Harold Perrineau is a great actor and has had very little to work with on this series. That said, what the fuck is wrong with Hurley? He can kick Sawyer's ass for a few nicknames (don't get me wrong, I love that scene) but he can't kick Michael's ass for killing his girlfriend? Not so much as a punch? I'm not your biggest Libby fan, but come on, she deserved that much.
I like that not-Henry is the boss of the Others - he's such a skeevy little bastard.
Speaking of the Others, I re-watched the film The Others the other day. I was mainly interested in whether knowing the twist makes the film less scary, and why I never noticed that Christopher Eccleston was the one playing Grace's husband.
The first answer is yes, it is less scary. Still beautiful, but more melancholy than anything else. In a lesser film, grace would be a villain, but she isn't - she cracked, that's all. Too much strain on a too-repressed individual.
The second answer is that through some strange movie magic, Chris E, who makes me sigh like a schoolgirl as the Doctor (just thinking about it makes me all hot and bothered) is downright ugly as Charles. It's very strange. Even knowing that it's the same person, I can barely see it.
My current theory is that it's because the Doctor is a very active person, while Charles is passive. Obviously he has every reason to be - he must have one hell of a PTSD (or would that be PMSD, in his case?) - but it's still not very sexy.
...And yes, I'm well aware that Charles isn't there to be sexy. Neither is the Doctor, as far as I can tell; that was just a bonus. :-)
Over to DW, I was quite sad to see Mickey leave. I've quite liked the poor boy ever since Boom Town, and I don't like the thought of never seeing him again. Yes, he's probably happy with his gran and his double's boyfriend (were Jake and Rickey supposed to be gay or am I just completely corrupted?) but I'll still miss him.
Plus, it'd be nice to have a companion who'd stay on board the TARDIS for more than four eps. I think Billie Piper is really pretty and I loved Rose to begin with, but there is such a thing as overexposure. I'm used to ensemble shows, I want a second companion - real, semi-permanent companion - or even a third. If Five could have three companions, I see no reason why Ten shouldn't.
I quite liked the eps, though. Rich lady/cyberman Jackie was interesting (though clearly money can't buy a dress sense), and it was nice to see Pete be kind of heroic again.
And I'm starting to wonder if people who aren't RTD aren't quite as fond of Rose as he is. First Steven Moffat pushes her to the sidelines, and now this writer (can't remember his name) writes such an awesome Mickey and makes Rose kind of redundant, plot-wise. (Emotionally, since her family's involved, she's obviously not redundant.)
One thing that really bugged me, however, was when Mickey and Jake get visuals of the Cyber-lair and Mickey goes all "Yay! Doctor and Rose safe!" Jake does not for one second freak out about the fact that Mrs. Moore is missing and that he's thus lost yet another friend. Evidently, if people don't matter to us, they can't matter to chars in the show.
I didn't like the villain either. Much too hammy. But then, I guess that's an age-old Who tradition.
Speaking of which, the Four ep was kind of entertaining, even thrilling in the last part. (I knew that the planet wouldn't explode; that didn't stop me from fearing it.)
As usual, though, it dragged quite a bit. I talked to jadelennox about it and came to the conclusion that I simply haven't seen much television that's older than the 80s - films, yes, but they're quite a bit faster paced than TV. Also, I'm not always sure I understand all of the plot, but I'm not sure if my attention drifts because I don't understand what's being said, or if I don't understand what's being said because my attention drifts.
Another thing, as I said to her, is that when something does happen, it's usually plot, and I tend to watch TV more for character interaction. (There's a reason ensemble shows are my favourites.)
The show I can think of which resembled old-Who the most in format is the Swedish summer morning show Vintergatan: space ship, slow moving action, silly effects, and constant interruption (though most of that interruption was because it's traditional for Swedish summer morning shows to have other TV shows embedded into it - the main show is mostly a frame story).
Even there, though, the show concerned itself with questions like: "Does Mira think Glenn is cooler than me?" "Why the hell am I even on a space ship instead of in my taxi?" "Why are the boys fawning over that stupid frozen cosmonaut instead of me?" and "What do you mean, there's no USSR?" Character stuff, however juvenile.
So, yeah. I'm enjoying the show, but I'm glad to have my embroidery to occupy myself with during the slower moments.
Ep-wise, I think RotC comes above Frontios, but below Kinda, and I'm not entirely sure on Castrovalva. RotC isn't as intriguing, but OTOH it's more suspenseful, and it gets a big plus for having Cybermen instead of the Master. Robot actors aren't supposed to have much of a range.
Also, it amused me that the Doctor called Harry an imbecile - apparently Mickey isn't the first companion to face verbal abuse. Poor Harry, though it seems to me that someone who uses the word "cheerio" with a straight face can't be quite right upstairs.
Hmm, I think that's all, for now. I've downloaded An Unearthly Child, so my next Who adventure will be the very first.