and this was called history
Actually got a good night's sleep last night. It's amazing how much better that makes me feel.
Item the first: today's poem:
The Future
by Billy Collins
When I finally arrive there --
and it will take many days and nights --
I would like to believe others will be waiting
and might even want to know how it was.
So I will reminisce about a particular sky
or a woman in a white bathrobe
or the time I visited a narrow strait
where a famous naval battle had taken place.
Then I will spread out on a table
a large map of my world
and explain to the people of the future
in their pale garments what it was like --
how mountains rose between the valleys
and this was called geography,
how boats loaded with cargo plied the rivers
and this was known as commerce,
how the people from this pink area
crossed over into this light-green area
and set fires and killed whoever they found
and this was called history --
and they will listen, mild-eyed and silent,
as more of them arrive to join the circle
like ripples moving toward,
not away from, a stone tossed into a pond.
***
Item the second: Wednesday reading meme:
What I've just read
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett, which was quite a step up from the first two books, even if it's not all the way there yet. Granny Weatherwax! ♥♥♥ (though it's weird having Granny Weatherwax without Nanny Ogg.) I also really liked Esk and wanted her to get what she wanted. It's like you can almost see the gears shifting as the series goes from parody to something else entirely. It also feels like a rough sketch of what Tiffany Aching eventually becomes, and I love the Tiffany Aching books a lot.
What I'm reading now
Still Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War. I've just reached the First Battle of the Marne. Yay?
What I'm reading next
Your guess is as good as mine.
***
Item the third: last night's SHIELD, which spoils Cap 2 if you haven't seen it yet (as does this post about the ep). I mean, serious, major spoilers, not like that weak Thor 2 tie-in episode.
This was much better than most of the show's outings, though it still suffers from the twin flaws of looking cheap (why do they spend so much money on those awful exterior shots of the plane?) and having godawful dialogue (it's written by people who get paid to write! How is the dialogue so freaking clunky ALL THE TIME?). The fight scenes were definitely better, though still not as great as they could be. (I mean, the fight scenes in Cap 2 were particularly brutal and beautiful to watch - I did not at all find them hard to follow - but I don't even expect movie-levels of greatness; if Arrow can do amazing fight scenes on a budget, SHIELD should be able to, as well.)
Thankfully, neither May nor Hand are HYDRA, though with Hand they kept me guessing for a while - and I was worried about Triplett being HYDRA too - but in keeping with Cap 2, the villains are mostly white men. I think everyone knew Bill Paxton's character would be evil, but I am SO SO GLAD they made Ward HYDRA, though I'm afraid they're going to walk that back, either by having him be brainwashed (sorry, nope. They already tried to tell us he's as good at espionage as Natasha [which I guess I could almost accept if he's really HYDRA and they don't pull that punch]; they can't sell me a faux Winter Soldier story too. Not having it.) or having him be a triple agent.
This interview with Jeffrey Bell and Jeph Loeb (obligatory *shudder*) seems to indicate that no, Ward really is HYDRA, but showrunners lie. They lie all the time. About things that they don't even have to lie about, so they surely lie about major plot twists. (Everyone lies. Murderers lie because they have to; witnesses lie because they think they have to; everyone else lies for the sheer joy of it. Thank you, Meldrick Lewis.)
On the third hand, if Joss really has any influence whatsoever as an executive producer, that gross Skye/Ward scene was supposed to be Buffy/Angel-esque, where the spunky chosen one finds true love and then discovers he's evil (and then she gets to kill him: Y/Y? :D :D :D). On the fourth hand, Ward really looked weird in that final shot, so he could actually be HYDRA, but Skye's True Love could be causing him to have regrets/second thoughts. I would roll my eyes at that, but it could also result in heroic death, and as long as death is the final result, that would be okay by me.
I still like May best, and also Simmons, and I guess I wouldn't have cried if Fitz cacked it, but I don't mind that he's alive and apparently not evil. Same goes for Skye. I think it would have been HILARIOUS if Coulson had turned out to be HYDRA, if only because I enjoy watching the internet implode and also the overall terribleness of this show has eroded my goodwill towards the character (and it would make his Cap fanboyishness just another twist of the knife), but I think that really would have made the show untenable going forward. (I still think they should have just started it in January and had this be like the 5th or 6th episode in a 13 episode run, if only to avoid the endless holding pattern of the first half of the season.)
I don't think I'm ever going to love - or even invest wholeheartedly - in this show, but at least now I'm curious to see what happens next.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/654023.html.
people have commented there.
Item the first: today's poem:
The Future
by Billy Collins
When I finally arrive there --
and it will take many days and nights --
I would like to believe others will be waiting
and might even want to know how it was.
So I will reminisce about a particular sky
or a woman in a white bathrobe
or the time I visited a narrow strait
where a famous naval battle had taken place.
Then I will spread out on a table
a large map of my world
and explain to the people of the future
in their pale garments what it was like --
how mountains rose between the valleys
and this was called geography,
how boats loaded with cargo plied the rivers
and this was known as commerce,
how the people from this pink area
crossed over into this light-green area
and set fires and killed whoever they found
and this was called history --
and they will listen, mild-eyed and silent,
as more of them arrive to join the circle
like ripples moving toward,
not away from, a stone tossed into a pond.
***
Item the second: Wednesday reading meme:
What I've just read
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett, which was quite a step up from the first two books, even if it's not all the way there yet. Granny Weatherwax! ♥♥♥ (though it's weird having Granny Weatherwax without Nanny Ogg.) I also really liked Esk and wanted her to get what she wanted. It's like you can almost see the gears shifting as the series goes from parody to something else entirely. It also feels like a rough sketch of what Tiffany Aching eventually becomes, and I love the Tiffany Aching books a lot.
What I'm reading now
Still Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War. I've just reached the First Battle of the Marne. Yay?
What I'm reading next
Your guess is as good as mine.
***
Item the third: last night's SHIELD, which spoils Cap 2 if you haven't seen it yet (as does this post about the ep). I mean, serious, major spoilers, not like that weak Thor 2 tie-in episode.
This was much better than most of the show's outings, though it still suffers from the twin flaws of looking cheap (why do they spend so much money on those awful exterior shots of the plane?) and having godawful dialogue (it's written by people who get paid to write! How is the dialogue so freaking clunky ALL THE TIME?). The fight scenes were definitely better, though still not as great as they could be. (I mean, the fight scenes in Cap 2 were particularly brutal and beautiful to watch - I did not at all find them hard to follow - but I don't even expect movie-levels of greatness; if Arrow can do amazing fight scenes on a budget, SHIELD should be able to, as well.)
Thankfully, neither May nor Hand are HYDRA, though with Hand they kept me guessing for a while - and I was worried about Triplett being HYDRA too - but in keeping with Cap 2, the villains are mostly white men. I think everyone knew Bill Paxton's character would be evil, but I am SO SO GLAD they made Ward HYDRA, though I'm afraid they're going to walk that back, either by having him be brainwashed (sorry, nope. They already tried to tell us he's as good at espionage as Natasha [which I guess I could almost accept if he's really HYDRA and they don't pull that punch]; they can't sell me a faux Winter Soldier story too. Not having it.) or having him be a triple agent.
This interview with Jeffrey Bell and Jeph Loeb (obligatory *shudder*) seems to indicate that no, Ward really is HYDRA, but showrunners lie. They lie all the time. About things that they don't even have to lie about, so they surely lie about major plot twists. (Everyone lies. Murderers lie because they have to; witnesses lie because they think they have to; everyone else lies for the sheer joy of it. Thank you, Meldrick Lewis.)
On the third hand, if Joss really has any influence whatsoever as an executive producer, that gross Skye/Ward scene was supposed to be Buffy/Angel-esque, where the spunky chosen one finds true love and then discovers he's evil (and then she gets to kill him: Y/Y? :D :D :D). On the fourth hand, Ward really looked weird in that final shot, so he could actually be HYDRA, but Skye's True Love could be causing him to have regrets/second thoughts. I would roll my eyes at that, but it could also result in heroic death, and as long as death is the final result, that would be okay by me.
I still like May best, and also Simmons, and I guess I wouldn't have cried if Fitz cacked it, but I don't mind that he's alive and apparently not evil. Same goes for Skye. I think it would have been HILARIOUS if Coulson had turned out to be HYDRA, if only because I enjoy watching the internet implode and also the overall terribleness of this show has eroded my goodwill towards the character (and it would make his Cap fanboyishness just another twist of the knife), but I think that really would have made the show untenable going forward. (I still think they should have just started it in January and had this be like the 5th or 6th episode in a 13 episode run, if only to avoid the endless holding pattern of the first half of the season.)
I don't think I'm ever going to love - or even invest wholeheartedly - in this show, but at least now I'm curious to see what happens next.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/654023.html.
people have commented there.