state of fannish me

[pellucid]

In my new, post-dog life, I was going to have so much time for things! And all the stuff I was going to do--going out and being active, getting work done, watching cool stuff and writing about it, thereby reviving my dying fannish presence--was going to help buoy me through the post-dog sadness, as well as through the period of living where I don't

Comments

[pellucid]

I find it's really hit and miss (as opposed to the American commentators, where there's usually a pretty standard level of competence, except for Bob Costas, who is just horrible, but is possibly just a robot and not a sentient being, so it might not be his fault). So I liked the diving commentators, and the track commentators, and the hyper gymnastics guy was really rather adorable. But I wanted to reach through my screen and strangle the triathlon guys (by the fifth time they'd explained the notion of a domestique in triathlon, while mixing up the names of the athletes), and there have been a few others where there's that awkward combination of mixing up names/saying the wrong thing, combined explaining the sport in quite a patronizing way, combined with just a generally unpracticed way of being on the air--and I find that really trying. There were also some hugely awkward interviews: Katherine Pendrell crying while some obnoxious talking head asks her, "so how does it feel to come in ninth when you were the overwhelming favorite to

[gabolange]

One of the most important things about The Wire is that it is very rarely an enjoyable show. It is challenging, frustrating, infuriating, heartbreaking, brilliant, impossible, and so many other things, but it isn't enjoyable. I couldn't mainline it. You don't always like the characters--in fact, the characters I ended up loving most were the ones I started hating most, and in some cases that's true the other way, too. But in some ways, that is the thing that makes me love the show--because it did such interesting things with character, with plot, with exposition (the first four episodes of season two are impossibly obnoxious for this reason), with everything--but I didn't love it because there was one character or two I was most intrigued by or invested in. (And in some ways, it's not good to get invested. Which is also kind of the point.)

That, of course, is entirely contrary to my usual television-watching preference, so I acknowledge that it's sort of a weird thing. I don't love this show the way I love SG-1 or Leverage or

[pellucid]

Fundamentally, it's the question of late 19th-century fiction. :) The French realists (and non-French novelists writing in that style, often called naturalists, especially in the US) countered the prevailing romanticism of mid-19th-century fiction with long, gritty, novels in which absolutely nothing was sugar-coated, the characters were rarely likeable, and there was never a happy ending. So The Wire is the Zola to the Dickens that is conventional TV drama. But then what starts to happen at the beginning of the 20th century is even more interesting. The French realists have been the benchmark for all that is highbrow, but then you get these modernists coming in saying, essentially, "aren't there other kinds of realism than just grit? What about psychological realism?" Etc. And I guess it's not for nothing that I have spent the better part of the past decade reading way too much modernism. The sweeping investigation of the system is fascinating and brilliant, and The Wire would make all kinds of late 19th-century French bohemians

[daybreak777]

Yay, the Olympics! It was grand. But I will be happy to be able to sleep at night again. :-)

I the gabolange hit on it with the Wire. It's a brilliant show at times and I didn't always get that until I saw all five seasons. And it was uncomfortable as hell to watch at times. There was one point in season 4 where I didn't know if I'd be able to continue. The paucity of female characters is an issue, but the glimpse of female characters we do get are memorable.

I still remember these character's names almost every one and I did mainline the show. I was actually thinking of rewatching season 1. I might still. It was a good season and gosh, how I adored D'Angelo.

[pellucid]

I think the main thing with my reaction to The Wire is simply that the kind of story it's telling is not the kind of story I prefer, in terms of approach, narrative goals, etc. (More details in the comment above, if you care.) It does what it does brilliantly, and it's so great to see that kind of effective complex storytelling in a serial drama--love it! But at the end of the day, all of its brilliance doesn't quite make up for the fact that I simply prefer a different kind of story (in terms of the kinds of things to emphasize versus downplay).

I did rewatch season 1 and enjoyed that a lot--and I enjoyed the season a lot more the second time. I'd seen it a couple of years ago and liked it, but it didn't grab me enough for me to keep watching. And then when I decided I would give the whole series another go, I figured I'd do best to refresh my memory on season 1. I recommend it!

[surreallis]

I had the same reaction to The Wire. Not that it isn't a really GOOD show, because clearly it is. But I got into season two and just slowed down and then found things I'd just rather watch and I just... never went back to it. I think my main problem was I just didn't like the main guy much. Like, I found him so utterly boring, and I didn't care about his life and I didn't even feel like he needed to be there. I found the storylines in the projects with the drug dealers SO much more interesting. And Kima was SO MUCH more interesting. And I know the show eventually does play down his involvement more, but I just... I was watching it just to watch it and not because I was really enjoying it, so I just quit. To be fair, sometimes shows are hard to watch and I know you can enjoy and get stuff out of them. For me, that's 'Oz' and 'The Shield'. So I'll go back one day and finish it. Just not now.

[pellucid]

Who do you mean by "the main guy"? McNulty? (He's the asshole white guy.) I guess I sort of see the fact that he's boring and dumb to be kind of the point--he gets called out so much on his privilege. But mostly it seems like an ensemble show, and probably especially by the second season; he gets no more attention than anyone else. We're not really supposed to be invested in him, or in anyone else--and the fact that he first appears to be the crusading white guy, the kind of guy that other shows might make the hero, and then that all gets taken away, is kind of the point.

But it's one thing to be intellectually invested in that idea and another to be emotionally invested in it. The Wire has me on the first point but not so much on the second. Which, again, is sort of the point. But it's still not my favorite storytelling choice. (All of this means, though, that I really LIKE the show, rather than really LOVE it. Because I still find it awesome and compelling in a lot of ways.)

[surreallis]

Yes. McNulty.

*shrug* I guess I just didn't get the point then. Alas.

[pellucid]

I didn't mean to sound dismissive--sorry! (Note to self: always re-read comments before posting.)

I think part of what makes The Wire difficult, especially at first (and I'm finding this to be true at the beginning of each of the subsequent seasons) is that it takes a big risk that you'll stick around and let them play out a long game. It starts slow. There's tons of exposition. It's hard to see what the point is, and all these characters are annoying, and we don't get enough of the ones who aren't, etc. And then even when the payoff comes, it's a different kind of payoff than I, at least, was expecting the first time I watched season 1

[pellucid]

Jessica Ennis (and her abs, omg!) is now on my fridge, next to my old, faithful motivator Chrissy Wellington. Would Chrissy eat that cookie? Would Chrissy fail to work out because she's tired? (No, she would not! One does not beat most of the men and all the women in Ironman triathlons by eating cookies on the couch!!!) But Chrissy is semi-retired now, so I figured Jessica could help share the weight in motivating me to, y'know, get in my 45 minutes of cardio. :)

As for The Wire, I've now mapped it all out on the pattern of late 19th- and early 20th-century fiction and have consequently determined why I feel as I do (see comment to gabolange above, if you care!). But yes, a lot of it has to do with that question of what we want in our fiction: do we want gritty realism or escape? Or some combination of both, which tends to be my answer. I am most interested in what makes characters tick, and I'm always drawn to those moments when characters can rise above whatever their current situation is and be a little bit more, even just for a