"I have to be strong about this."
AAAAAAAAHGAAAAAAAAHD, "As You Were"...! Why did I do this to myself? [cries forever]
(And yet, I found it less distressing on second viewing than Retreat, which says something about which characters I most identify with and how much distress I know I need to store up for the next few episodes.)
(Just out of curiosity, does anyone happen to remember when we first learn that Angel's name was Liam?)
I finished series two of Merlin last night. I was rater more satisfied with it than with the first series finale for a number of ideological reasons, but I was also disappointed that some brilliant possibilities were missed by killing Merlin's father right away and frustrated with the obvious contortions the writers and directors have to go through to keep Merlin's secret and keep Uther on the throne. It's shows like this that make me especially glad of what Mark pointed out in the first edition of Mark Watches 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer':
"And now let’s talk about the other fantastic thing this pilot does: It doesn’t make Buffy’s secret a plot point for longer than twenty minutes. I don’t necessarily think this would have been a bad thing to watch, but I’ve seen it before. How many ways can you write that sort of stuff? Instead, Joss Whedon has Xander, Jesse, and Willow all find out about Buffy and vampires by the end of the very first episode, drawing them into the action pretty much immediately. THIS IS WONDERFUL."
I was also somewhat disappointed that I liked this episode so much more than the previous one because that essentially boils down to the fact that they can only prevent feminism fail by simply not having the female characters on screen, like, at all. Maybe I'm asking too much from a show about Camelot, but they were doing so well there at the beginning...
And, because it's Hogswatch and I think it's entertaining, how about a little contest fun? Maybe win a DVD set or a Sculpey figure?
1) Who is Will Friedle kissing?
It's Charisma Carpenter, as identified by bizarreoptimism!
2) Who is Will Friedle absolutely not kissing?
It's Julie Benz, as identified by bizarreoptimism!
3) Who is Will Friedle contemplating punching in the face?
A correct answer to any of these three questions will earn a Sculpey figure. Tell me which two DVD box sets contain performances by all three of the actors pictured here with Mr. Friedle, and you get copies of said sets (or a prize of equal value, if you already have them/don't want them. We can work that out on an individual basis).
(I have a feeling this is going to be blatantly obvious to, like, three people and pretty difficult for everyone else. Sorry about that - this was less of a "What would be a good contest idea?" situation and more of a "LOL WOT? How can I blog about this?" situation.)
Now, I'm off to research '70s horror movie tropes, make a Sculpey!Dru to keep my Sculpey!Spike company*, and try to pull my first successful all-nighter since before I graduated college so I can get my sleep schedule back on track (that didn't take long to bollix up, wot?)
* Yeah, he's got Sculpey!Illyria and Sculpey!Lorne, but maybe he's not in a Brian Lynch comic right now. Maybe he needs Ducks. You don't know.
Also, "Spike" and "Ducks" is incredibly amusing to me right now, being that Ashley made this for me for Hogswatch.
ETA RE: Goals listed above: EPIC FAIL. Have reached that point where my brain refuses to focus on anything at all. Damn you, Murtaugh/inexorable linear progression of time! I'm going to try to sleep for just a couple of hours; don't let me completely blow this by sleeping for 12 hours again.
(It's like I spent two years living on 4 hours a night or something...)
(And yet, I found it less distressing on second viewing than Retreat, which says something about which characters I most identify with and how much distress I know I need to store up for the next few episodes.)
(Just out of curiosity, does anyone happen to remember when we first learn that Angel's name was Liam?)
I finished series two of Merlin last night. I was rater more satisfied with it than with the first series finale for a number of ideological reasons, but I was also disappointed that some brilliant possibilities were missed by killing Merlin's father right away and frustrated with the obvious contortions the writers and directors have to go through to keep Merlin's secret and keep Uther on the throne. It's shows like this that make me especially glad of what Mark pointed out in the first edition of Mark Watches 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer':
"And now let’s talk about the other fantastic thing this pilot does: It doesn’t make Buffy’s secret a plot point for longer than twenty minutes. I don’t necessarily think this would have been a bad thing to watch, but I’ve seen it before. How many ways can you write that sort of stuff? Instead, Joss Whedon has Xander, Jesse, and Willow all find out about Buffy and vampires by the end of the very first episode, drawing them into the action pretty much immediately. THIS IS WONDERFUL."
I was also somewhat disappointed that I liked this episode so much more than the previous one because that essentially boils down to the fact that they can only prevent feminism fail by simply not having the female characters on screen, like, at all. Maybe I'm asking too much from a show about Camelot, but they were doing so well there at the beginning...
And, because it's Hogswatch and I think it's entertaining, how about a little contest fun? Maybe win a DVD set or a Sculpey figure?
1) Who is Will Friedle kissing?
It's Charisma Carpenter, as identified by bizarreoptimism!
2) Who is Will Friedle absolutely not kissing?
It's Julie Benz, as identified by bizarreoptimism!
3) Who is Will Friedle contemplating punching in the face?
A correct answer to any of these three questions will earn a Sculpey figure. Tell me which two DVD box sets contain performances by all three of the actors pictured here with Mr. Friedle, and you get copies of said sets (or a prize of equal value, if you already have them/don't want them. We can work that out on an individual basis).
(I have a feeling this is going to be blatantly obvious to, like, three people and pretty difficult for everyone else. Sorry about that - this was less of a "What would be a good contest idea?" situation and more of a "LOL WOT? How can I blog about this?" situation.)
Now, I'm off to research '70s horror movie tropes, make a Sculpey!Dru to keep my Sculpey!Spike company*, and try to pull my first successful all-nighter since before I graduated college so I can get my sleep schedule back on track (that didn't take long to bollix up, wot?)
* Yeah, he's got Sculpey!Illyria and Sculpey!Lorne, but maybe he's not in a Brian Lynch comic right now. Maybe he needs Ducks. You don't know.
Also, "Spike" and "Ducks" is incredibly amusing to me right now, being that Ashley made this for me for Hogswatch.
ETA RE: Goals listed above: EPIC FAIL. Have reached that point where my brain refuses to focus on anything at all. Damn you, Murtaugh/inexorable linear progression of time! I'm going to try to sleep for just a couple of hours; don't let me completely blow this by sleeping for 12 hours again.
(It's like I spent two years living on 4 hours a night or something...)