Stuff and Nonsense
So. Last night, doing my usual screwed sleep cycle, I happened to be awake at the right time to see the unheralded return of Battlestar Galactica to commercial Australian television. I can't really describe how it felt to - after quite a long time - hear that familiar theme music again, followed by poundy!drums. And to find Cottle snapping at Tigh, and Dee and Gaeta exchanging silent snark. And Lee with the most perfect look of 'wtf, dude?' I may ever have seen. Sooo many people with the Tigh!hate. It was lovely. But then I realised that this episode was Fragged, which means I missed two weeks worth of sitting up late to see episodes I'd already seen via more congenial methods.
So, watching Fragged didn't exactly make me squeeful, but it was nice. It was a return to what I liked best about this show in late s1 and early s2. It made me remember that angst could be subtly portrayed and subtly evoked, without the series of sledgehammer, demolish-this-facade collisions that we got post Pegasus. The conflicts are all there, but they're under the surface of keeping the Galactica to some semblance of operational norms. Dee's doing her job - not perfectly, but doing it - and godsdammit but that's how I like her. It's such a pleasure to see her and Gaeta doing the jobs I came to appreciate them for: being the backbone of the ship. And Lee, falling back on professionalism because he doesn't have anything else, and seeming a damn sight more comfortable despite his status than Tigh does, despite his.
Cottle, of course, is the perfect ship's doctor, with no time for the XO's posturing. And then there's Ellen, hovering in the background of Tigh's shots like an extra, manipulative shadow, bottle of grog in her fingers. It's such a delightfully fucked-up situation. I enjoyed it. And then there's the whole chaos-on-Kobol; loved, loved the Tyrol vs Crashdown vs Baltar interplay, though it was nothing so confrontational at first. Loved Cally's naieve mix of determination and fear and connection to Tyrol. And bye, Socinus, we barely knew ya. Sigh. Every scene set planet-side in this ep is well worth the effort.
Add Mme Pres into the mix, and the slow dawning realisation on the quorum's faces, and I am happily back in the actually-watching-this-show fandom again. Wednesday nights may be my busiest, but I will make an effort to be there to see Resistance next week, or at least, if I can't, to haul out my episode burns and watch them again, one per week.
*
I see that the fandom still has its moments of insanity, though - I've been ficcing without fan-ing a while now, and trying not to overdo the meta and discussion, or read spoilers - and was not astonished to find amid my A/S list digests a fair amount of the Dualla-hate, only this time mixed in with hate for Kandyse.
A while back, this list had a hate-on for Katee Sackhoff, because apparently she didn't know or understand the character of Kara as well as the A/S listers figured she should. She was young and stupid and crushing on Michael Trucco, and so many other bits and pieces of stupidity were aimed at her that I ceased to read the list for some considerable period of time. Then they seemed to recover their sanity, and I eventually got back into skimming those digests and not skipping everything unpresaged by the term 'Fic'.
Imagine my perplexity to find - according to a post by list-moms - that list ettiquette forbids the denigration of the show's performers (as well as forbids sharing of information outside the list on what occurs inside the list... but ignoring various unedited and unexpurgated posts discussing the actor who plays Dualla and her apparent new-found heftiness. Or Dualla's actor being unfamiliar with the 'true' relationships of import on the show.
Ugh.
Look, I'm a Kara/Lee shipper, all the way. But my fanatacism for this fucked up duo extends only to the characters themselves (hang on, ignore the overlap to addictive RPF KATIE, nothing to see here) and their fiery interactions, not to the alternaship characters or the actors who play them. No, I don't particularly like Dualla/Lee - but not really because it's in the way of Kara/Lee. I don't like it because the show didn't sell me on it yet. I'm only slightly more amenable to Kara/Anders, because the motivations are made more clear, but I still haven't been given any reason to connect with Sam yet, and it bugs me. I hate, HATE the introduction of half-baked OC's to give mains a romance. Really. I would actually have preferred Dualla/Lee if there'd been half the weight of emotion or chemistry in that 'ship as there is in Kara/Anders.
Yeah, yeah. We've all heard this before: no doubt I'm a pilot!shipper excusing my one-eyed'ness with criticisms of the lack of characterisation, blah blah. But I will say this: at least I am not blaming the actors - WHO DO NOT WRITE THE SCRIPT NOR DO THEY GET TO VETO CRAPPY DEVELOPMENT - for the way canon has mauled things about lately.
A/S listers, yes, I'm a member. I do not point fingers for the most part, though I am quite vocal in my distrust of a readers/writers circle in which every story is apparently fantastic and in which some people have considerably too much influence. I won't use names or reproduce list content wholesale here, but I have mentioned wank before, and this time it's not really wanking, but personal attacks on an actress who is simply doing her job - and doing what she must in finding personal motivations and beliefs for a role she has to play, like it or not - don't really induce me to take more part in the list.
Demonizing Dee in fic I can bear (if well written). Demonizing the actress for being an obstacle to shippery satisfaction? No. Just... no. Please don't. It was bad enough when it was Katee you were bitching out, but you'll forgive her because she's also Kara. Kandyse is playing a role; being criticised (even in a 'closed' list) for doing so, having her appearance denigrated, etc etc, all because of sour K/L grapes doesn't achieve anything but making the list look bad.
Not that that hasn't happened before, sadly.
*
The lad gave me a bottle of Burberry's London for my birthday. The good stuff, eau de parfum, not the cheap alternative. And I'm delighted, because the bottle of Brit he gave me 18months ago is down to the dregs. All in all, it was a lovely birthday; I got a pair of rose-gold earrings from the parental types, a gorgeous bag from my sister-in-Sydney (she of the pregnancy) and various scented, soapy and extremely welcome odds and ends from the BFFs.
A cousin bought me a gorgeous spring bathrobe - you know, the middle-weight ones, not warm enough for winter, but long enough and warm enough for the change of season - and I'm about to alter the hospital appearance thereof by tossing it in the washing machine with a packet of Dylon. What colour, dear flist? I'm a black fanatic, but that doesn't extend to my bathrobes. I was thinking that dark green or burgundy, or maybe teal would look gorgeous. Because white? honestly. It's a bathrobe. White's fine when you're in a hotel and they will take it away and wash it every day, but at home, you get toothpaste on it or spill your tea or makeup and hairspray get on the collar, and what-have-you. White isn't practical.
Speaking of the lad, he's visiting today. Sigh. The distance between our current abodes and the fact that he doesn't have his own car at present (things get sold to finance overseas trips, alas) mean that visits are not quite so regular as either of us might like. Or last as long as we could tolerate.
Hi, employers, please employ me. Or him. Or both. Money enough to invest in lad's motorcycle / my car / an abode somewhere not an hour's drive away from him, for example, would be extremely welcome at this point. *goes out to buy lottery ticket*.
*
Fic report: next bit of Contraventions is causing me issues. I was supposed to send it to beta on the weekend and ended up delaying because I didn't like things about it. Without giving too much of the plot away... Is it permissable / likely that two people who haven't seen each other in five months and who had only one night together previously would dive straight back into bed? I mean, sure, I was writing Contra as a means for providing pilot!sex, but I can't be 100% sure that, given their last encounter, Contra!Kara and Contra!Lee would seize a very short, hurried interlude of smut after so long. Not before the end of the worlds, at any rate. Still, let me know what you think, if you're reading it over on the Pit of Voles.
So, back to the drafting board, at least for this part of this chapter. E&A on the other hand is doing quite well. Look for the finale in a few weeks.
*
On a completely unrelated note (NOT) who is writing fic about pilots, lately? There's been some lovely stuff, but I think we need more. You know, as a bolster between us and the oncoming S3 angst.
*pleads*
So, watching Fragged didn't exactly make me squeeful, but it was nice. It was a return to what I liked best about this show in late s1 and early s2. It made me remember that angst could be subtly portrayed and subtly evoked, without the series of sledgehammer, demolish-this-facade collisions that we got post Pegasus. The conflicts are all there, but they're under the surface of keeping the Galactica to some semblance of operational norms. Dee's doing her job - not perfectly, but doing it - and godsdammit but that's how I like her. It's such a pleasure to see her and Gaeta doing the jobs I came to appreciate them for: being the backbone of the ship. And Lee, falling back on professionalism because he doesn't have anything else, and seeming a damn sight more comfortable despite his status than Tigh does, despite his.
Cottle, of course, is the perfect ship's doctor, with no time for the XO's posturing. And then there's Ellen, hovering in the background of Tigh's shots like an extra, manipulative shadow, bottle of grog in her fingers. It's such a delightfully fucked-up situation. I enjoyed it. And then there's the whole chaos-on-Kobol; loved, loved the Tyrol vs Crashdown vs Baltar interplay, though it was nothing so confrontational at first. Loved Cally's naieve mix of determination and fear and connection to Tyrol. And bye, Socinus, we barely knew ya. Sigh. Every scene set planet-side in this ep is well worth the effort.
Add Mme Pres into the mix, and the slow dawning realisation on the quorum's faces, and I am happily back in the actually-watching-this-show fandom again. Wednesday nights may be my busiest, but I will make an effort to be there to see Resistance next week, or at least, if I can't, to haul out my episode burns and watch them again, one per week.
*
I see that the fandom still has its moments of insanity, though - I've been ficcing without fan-ing a while now, and trying not to overdo the meta and discussion, or read spoilers - and was not astonished to find amid my A/S list digests a fair amount of the Dualla-hate, only this time mixed in with hate for Kandyse.
A while back, this list had a hate-on for Katee Sackhoff, because apparently she didn't know or understand the character of Kara as well as the A/S listers figured she should. She was young and stupid and crushing on Michael Trucco, and so many other bits and pieces of stupidity were aimed at her that I ceased to read the list for some considerable period of time. Then they seemed to recover their sanity, and I eventually got back into skimming those digests and not skipping everything unpresaged by the term 'Fic'.
Imagine my perplexity to find - according to a post by list-moms - that list ettiquette forbids the denigration of the show's performers (as well as forbids sharing of information outside the list on what occurs inside the list... but ignoring various unedited and unexpurgated posts discussing the actor who plays Dualla and her apparent new-found heftiness. Or Dualla's actor being unfamiliar with the 'true' relationships of import on the show.
Ugh.
Look, I'm a Kara/Lee shipper, all the way. But my fanatacism for this fucked up duo extends only to the characters themselves (hang on, ignore the overlap to addictive RPF KATIE, nothing to see here) and their fiery interactions, not to the alternaship characters or the actors who play them. No, I don't particularly like Dualla/Lee - but not really because it's in the way of Kara/Lee. I don't like it because the show didn't sell me on it yet. I'm only slightly more amenable to Kara/Anders, because the motivations are made more clear, but I still haven't been given any reason to connect with Sam yet, and it bugs me. I hate, HATE the introduction of half-baked OC's to give mains a romance. Really. I would actually have preferred Dualla/Lee if there'd been half the weight of emotion or chemistry in that 'ship as there is in Kara/Anders.
Yeah, yeah. We've all heard this before: no doubt I'm a pilot!shipper excusing my one-eyed'ness with criticisms of the lack of characterisation, blah blah. But I will say this: at least I am not blaming the actors - WHO DO NOT WRITE THE SCRIPT NOR DO THEY GET TO VETO CRAPPY DEVELOPMENT - for the way canon has mauled things about lately.
A/S listers, yes, I'm a member. I do not point fingers for the most part, though I am quite vocal in my distrust of a readers/writers circle in which every story is apparently fantastic and in which some people have considerably too much influence. I won't use names or reproduce list content wholesale here, but I have mentioned wank before, and this time it's not really wanking, but personal attacks on an actress who is simply doing her job - and doing what she must in finding personal motivations and beliefs for a role she has to play, like it or not - don't really induce me to take more part in the list.
Demonizing Dee in fic I can bear (if well written). Demonizing the actress for being an obstacle to shippery satisfaction? No. Just... no. Please don't. It was bad enough when it was Katee you were bitching out, but you'll forgive her because she's also Kara. Kandyse is playing a role; being criticised (even in a 'closed' list) for doing so, having her appearance denigrated, etc etc, all because of sour K/L grapes doesn't achieve anything but making the list look bad.
Not that that hasn't happened before, sadly.
*
The lad gave me a bottle of Burberry's London for my birthday. The good stuff, eau de parfum, not the cheap alternative. And I'm delighted, because the bottle of Brit he gave me 18months ago is down to the dregs. All in all, it was a lovely birthday; I got a pair of rose-gold earrings from the parental types, a gorgeous bag from my sister-in-Sydney (she of the pregnancy) and various scented, soapy and extremely welcome odds and ends from the BFFs.
A cousin bought me a gorgeous spring bathrobe - you know, the middle-weight ones, not warm enough for winter, but long enough and warm enough for the change of season - and I'm about to alter the hospital appearance thereof by tossing it in the washing machine with a packet of Dylon. What colour, dear flist? I'm a black fanatic, but that doesn't extend to my bathrobes. I was thinking that dark green or burgundy, or maybe teal would look gorgeous. Because white? honestly. It's a bathrobe. White's fine when you're in a hotel and they will take it away and wash it every day, but at home, you get toothpaste on it or spill your tea or makeup and hairspray get on the collar, and what-have-you. White isn't practical.
Speaking of the lad, he's visiting today. Sigh. The distance between our current abodes and the fact that he doesn't have his own car at present (things get sold to finance overseas trips, alas) mean that visits are not quite so regular as either of us might like. Or last as long as we could tolerate.
Hi, employers, please employ me. Or him. Or both. Money enough to invest in lad's motorcycle / my car / an abode somewhere not an hour's drive away from him, for example, would be extremely welcome at this point. *goes out to buy lottery ticket*.
*
Fic report: next bit of Contraventions is causing me issues. I was supposed to send it to beta on the weekend and ended up delaying because I didn't like things about it. Without giving too much of the plot away... Is it permissable / likely that two people who haven't seen each other in five months and who had only one night together previously would dive straight back into bed? I mean, sure, I was writing Contra as a means for providing pilot!sex, but I can't be 100% sure that, given their last encounter, Contra!Kara and Contra!Lee would seize a very short, hurried interlude of smut after so long. Not before the end of the worlds, at any rate. Still, let me know what you think, if you're reading it over on the Pit of Voles.
So, back to the drafting board, at least for this part of this chapter. E&A on the other hand is doing quite well. Look for the finale in a few weeks.
*
On a completely unrelated note (NOT) who is writing fic about pilots, lately? There's been some lovely stuff, but I think we need more. You know, as a bolster between us and the oncoming S3 angst.
*pleads*