In which I put everything I am thinking about into one massive post
Happy Big Sunday/Dimanche Gras!!! And Happy Valentine's Day too, if you're into Valentine's Day. I'm very much not, but I do appreciate you all very much, flist, and today is as good a day as any to tell you that. ♥
Last night I only talked three people into going out with me for Mardi Gras weekend, but that's okay because spiderwebb, a school friend and I ended up going out to do karaoke in Annandale until 3am and it was SO GREAT. I am pretty sure I was the only drunk one, though. That just keeps happening.
Some Things!
1) marksykins linked this already and then frankkincense sent me the link, so I imagine most people have seen it, but let's take another moment to watch it again: interview with The Like before they perform at Fashion Week. Okay, they are all adorable and Tennessee is beyond charming in that video, but seriously, the epicness of my crush on Z is getting out of hand. I knew about her singing voice, but listen to her speaking voice and her laugh, my God, I love her. I am going to write epic fic about her to show my love.
2) then put the finished product up on youtube
This showed up in my Gabe Saporta google alert yesterday and I think it's one of the best descriptions of Cobra Starship as a band that I have ever read.
"...Cobra Starship, a band that has turned messing around on the Internet into an absolute art form. And I’m not saying that to be dismissive of their success or because hyperkinetic party machine/ frontman Gabe Saporta sort of dresses like a blog, but rather, because, well … it’s true. Cobra Starship are a musical meme, the band equivalent of every groin shot, epic fail and outrageous bit of bodily harm you’ve ever watched YouTube or e-mailed to a million co-workers. Theirs is a brilliance reserved for the zeitgeist-grabbing Tay Zondays or Chris Crockers of the world. It’s stupid smart. Genius dumb. And this is something to be proud of."
It talks a lot about Cobracam, which I finally caught up on season two of yesterday. HILARITY. I don't know how to link to specific episodes, but I think the best ones are 4 (Nate's letter home to his mom) and 5 (Gabe and Ryland's bowling competition. "It's not about winning or losing; it's about beating Gabe." -Ryland. Excellent, excellent. I only bring this up so that I can take this opportunity to whine some more about the lack of Gabe/Ryland fic). I also have Cobra tickets to the show in May, even though I said I wasn't going unless it was on a weekend. Hahaha, like I was really not going to see Cobra. I should know myself better than that.
3) I have been listening to the Plastiscines because I do what Gabe tells me to, as long as it's within reason. I like them! You should listen to them too! Lalala, I don't like putting that in an unlocked post, but I'm going to for now.
Now some things about television:
Supernatural
I haven't read any other reaction posts yet. The most overwhelming reaction I had to that episode was that the cold open was completely unacceptable in every way and I don't remember the last time a television show squicked my quite that badly.
Also kind of squicked by the fact that Jimmy is still present in his body, though I'm not at all surprised by it and I'm pretty sure they're going somewhere else with it. He was nearly dead the last time we saw him and there was no reason not to kill him so that Castiel could have an empty vessel (and cut down on controversy and the ick factor) unless there's some reason or some role for Jimmy to play.
For all that I get all "eh" about the angel plots, but horsemen are actually pretty cool.
I guess the big thing is Dean coming back wrong/empty/whatever. And okay, I'll roll with that. I'll even believe it. The issue I have is that he actually hasn't seemed at all traumatized *enough* to me since he came back from hell. It would make sense for him to be pretty messed up over what he went through. And early last season, I think he was, but it's been awhile since his reactions to hell have really been addressed, even subtly. There were lots of hints in this episode, obviously, since that's what this episode is about, and I guess there were some in the asylum episode, but it just doesn't feel like a coherent arc to me. I mean, he's clearly been upset over his role in the apocalypse/Sam's demon blood addiction/etc over the last two seasons and he's probably a darker and more messed up character than he used to be, but all of that behavior makes sense in context. I definitely didn't get any "came back empty and wrong" vibes before this episode. Came back understandably fucked up, sure. Came back so empty Famine couldn't affect him and could feel the black hole of emptiness or whatever? Not so much.
But I admit I haven't even seen his behavior toward Sam as weird in the last two seasons and I know a lot of fandom has. I'm not gonna lie, every time I read a reaction post about Sam and Dean not caring about each other anymore I get *so confused.* Yes, they are not (or were not) communicating well and yes they were frustrated/angry with each other (in both cases for obvious reasons) but it just seemed like EVERYTHING either one of them did was still because they wanted to protect each other and because they loved each other so much they'd burn the world down for it. And sometimes that meant lying and fighting and hurting each other, but I didn't even read the "When the Levee Breaks"/"Sympathy for the Devil" stuff as them not *caring.* They care too much; that is integral to the show's structure and part of it's tragedy and why I can't stop watching no matter how pissed off I get at other elements.
So Dean came back wrong. Okay, that makes sense, but I really feel like this is an instance of telling rather than showing. Or I'm just not paying as much attention as I used to because this show just isn't the gut punch for me that it used to be, which makes me sad.
Friday Night Lights
I haven't talked about this show this season because I was waiting to get through the whole thing. This is my favorite show; I think it's the best show on television BUT I was actually pretty annoyed when it got renewed last year because I think s3 was completely perfect in every way and I was afraid that if they kept going they'd mess it up because most shows go on too long and do, eventually, mess it up. During s3 I cried at least once, sometimes more, during every episode, and I don't think they hit a wrong note all season. The season finale was just complete perfection and every time I talk about FNL s3 I just end up flailing.
I am eating my words now because I'm really glad they got a fourth season. I don't think it was as good as the third season and I didn't cry every episode (just every other episode) but it was really solid and I'm so impressed by the way they could introduce new characters and make me care about them, make me glad that the characters that left were gone because that means they were out, having lives. I liked that they chose to add more diversity to the cast and the way that was handled and I loved every new character they introduced. (Though I do still find it a little weird to have a show in west Texas without any Latino characters).
Riggins' plotline at the end was a little O_o and martyr-y in a way that didn't feel as organic to the show as the rest of the developments, but overall I really loved the s4 finale too. It didn't leave me sobbing like the final scene of last year's did, but I loved it all the same. I hope they can keep it up next year, but now I have really high hopes that they will.
Seriously, this is the best show on television. I think I find it extra effective because I grew up in a place so very much like that (southeastern NM is almost southwest TX) and so I end up flailing around about "how do they get it so right," but I am told it is not any less excellent even if you don't intensely overidentify with the town.
Dollhouse
I watched the finale of Dollhouse when it aired, and then didn't talk about it. Honestly, anything I have to say about Dollhouse should be it's own post, but I don't know if I really have the energy for that. I have pretty unpopular fannish opinions about the end of DH in that I didn't really like it. At all. Except that Ballard died, I was pretty okay with that part.
The ending came up too fast and didn't have enough development, and maybe that's just because they got canceled and had to rush, I don't know. But that's a structural issue and not my real problem. My real issue is that I can't watch DH just as a sci-fi show; I can't watch it and see it's plot. I can't watch it as anything other than a rape culture allegory because WOW it just never stops being about rape. And I think it does some really interesting things and says some really interesting things and I really was fascinated by it right up until the end, but in the end it didn't work for me because it seemed to go back on a lot of the cleverness that showed promise early on. My biggest problem was making Boyd the villain (a twist for the sake of a twist that really didn't make any sense at all) and allowing Ballard to be an unqualified hero. What made the show interesting in the beginning as how creepy Ballard was - despite having good intentions, despite really wanting to help, his motivations weren't pure and he was still creepy in his obsession with Caroline and Echo. He was both the embodiment/personification of the male gaze AND the audience's entry point/ID character, the only one we really had until Echo began to gain real agency. That was SO INTERESTING because of the position it put the audience in. There was so much that could have been done with that. But I think in the end, Joss was writing a sci-fi adventure and I was watching a commentary on rape culture and those things just didn't meet up.
Exonerating Ballard and completely villifying Boyd just left me cold. And I watched the rest with no real engagement. (Also...wasn't his affection for Echo removed anyway? OH WHATEVER). There *were* things I loved (PRIYA AND TONY ♥ And I ended up loving Topher's storyline, which surprised me). I actually thought Eliza did a really solid job. And the storyline was compelling, it really was. But it didn't work for me and I was pretty disappointed.
So anyway. Come talk to me about any of the above! Distract me from my homework. I do not want to do my homework. :(
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Last night I only talked three people into going out with me for Mardi Gras weekend, but that's okay because spiderwebb, a school friend and I ended up going out to do karaoke in Annandale until 3am and it was SO GREAT. I am pretty sure I was the only drunk one, though. That just keeps happening.
Some Things!
1) marksykins linked this already and then frankkincense sent me the link, so I imagine most people have seen it, but let's take another moment to watch it again: interview with The Like before they perform at Fashion Week. Okay, they are all adorable and Tennessee is beyond charming in that video, but seriously, the epicness of my crush on Z is getting out of hand. I knew about her singing voice, but listen to her speaking voice and her laugh, my God, I love her. I am going to write epic fic about her to show my love.
2) then put the finished product up on youtube
This showed up in my Gabe Saporta google alert yesterday and I think it's one of the best descriptions of Cobra Starship as a band that I have ever read.
"...Cobra Starship, a band that has turned messing around on the Internet into an absolute art form. And I’m not saying that to be dismissive of their success or because hyperkinetic party machine/ frontman Gabe Saporta sort of dresses like a blog, but rather, because, well … it’s true. Cobra Starship are a musical meme, the band equivalent of every groin shot, epic fail and outrageous bit of bodily harm you’ve ever watched YouTube or e-mailed to a million co-workers. Theirs is a brilliance reserved for the zeitgeist-grabbing Tay Zondays or Chris Crockers of the world. It’s stupid smart. Genius dumb. And this is something to be proud of."
It talks a lot about Cobracam, which I finally caught up on season two of yesterday. HILARITY. I don't know how to link to specific episodes, but I think the best ones are 4 (Nate's letter home to his mom) and 5 (Gabe and Ryland's bowling competition. "It's not about winning or losing; it's about beating Gabe." -Ryland. Excellent, excellent. I only bring this up so that I can take this opportunity to whine some more about the lack of Gabe/Ryland fic). I also have Cobra tickets to the show in May, even though I said I wasn't going unless it was on a weekend. Hahaha, like I was really not going to see Cobra. I should know myself better than that.
3) I have been listening to the Plastiscines because I do what Gabe tells me to, as long as it's within reason. I like them! You should listen to them too! Lalala, I don't like putting that in an unlocked post, but I'm going to for now.
Now some things about television:
Supernatural
I haven't read any other reaction posts yet. The most overwhelming reaction I had to that episode was that the cold open was completely unacceptable in every way and I don't remember the last time a television show squicked my quite that badly.
Also kind of squicked by the fact that Jimmy is still present in his body, though I'm not at all surprised by it and I'm pretty sure they're going somewhere else with it. He was nearly dead the last time we saw him and there was no reason not to kill him so that Castiel could have an empty vessel (and cut down on controversy and the ick factor) unless there's some reason or some role for Jimmy to play.
For all that I get all "eh" about the angel plots, but horsemen are actually pretty cool.
I guess the big thing is Dean coming back wrong/empty/whatever. And okay, I'll roll with that. I'll even believe it. The issue I have is that he actually hasn't seemed at all traumatized *enough* to me since he came back from hell. It would make sense for him to be pretty messed up over what he went through. And early last season, I think he was, but it's been awhile since his reactions to hell have really been addressed, even subtly. There were lots of hints in this episode, obviously, since that's what this episode is about, and I guess there were some in the asylum episode, but it just doesn't feel like a coherent arc to me. I mean, he's clearly been upset over his role in the apocalypse/Sam's demon blood addiction/etc over the last two seasons and he's probably a darker and more messed up character than he used to be, but all of that behavior makes sense in context. I definitely didn't get any "came back empty and wrong" vibes before this episode. Came back understandably fucked up, sure. Came back so empty Famine couldn't affect him and could feel the black hole of emptiness or whatever? Not so much.
But I admit I haven't even seen his behavior toward Sam as weird in the last two seasons and I know a lot of fandom has. I'm not gonna lie, every time I read a reaction post about Sam and Dean not caring about each other anymore I get *so confused.* Yes, they are not (or were not) communicating well and yes they were frustrated/angry with each other (in both cases for obvious reasons) but it just seemed like EVERYTHING either one of them did was still because they wanted to protect each other and because they loved each other so much they'd burn the world down for it. And sometimes that meant lying and fighting and hurting each other, but I didn't even read the "When the Levee Breaks"/"Sympathy for the Devil" stuff as them not *caring.* They care too much; that is integral to the show's structure and part of it's tragedy and why I can't stop watching no matter how pissed off I get at other elements.
So Dean came back wrong. Okay, that makes sense, but I really feel like this is an instance of telling rather than showing. Or I'm just not paying as much attention as I used to because this show just isn't the gut punch for me that it used to be, which makes me sad.
Friday Night Lights
I haven't talked about this show this season because I was waiting to get through the whole thing. This is my favorite show; I think it's the best show on television BUT I was actually pretty annoyed when it got renewed last year because I think s3 was completely perfect in every way and I was afraid that if they kept going they'd mess it up because most shows go on too long and do, eventually, mess it up. During s3 I cried at least once, sometimes more, during every episode, and I don't think they hit a wrong note all season. The season finale was just complete perfection and every time I talk about FNL s3 I just end up flailing.
I am eating my words now because I'm really glad they got a fourth season. I don't think it was as good as the third season and I didn't cry every episode (just every other episode) but it was really solid and I'm so impressed by the way they could introduce new characters and make me care about them, make me glad that the characters that left were gone because that means they were out, having lives. I liked that they chose to add more diversity to the cast and the way that was handled and I loved every new character they introduced. (Though I do still find it a little weird to have a show in west Texas without any Latino characters).
Riggins' plotline at the end was a little O_o and martyr-y in a way that didn't feel as organic to the show as the rest of the developments, but overall I really loved the s4 finale too. It didn't leave me sobbing like the final scene of last year's did, but I loved it all the same. I hope they can keep it up next year, but now I have really high hopes that they will.
Seriously, this is the best show on television. I think I find it extra effective because I grew up in a place so very much like that (southeastern NM is almost southwest TX) and so I end up flailing around about "how do they get it so right," but I am told it is not any less excellent even if you don't intensely overidentify with the town.
Dollhouse
I watched the finale of Dollhouse when it aired, and then didn't talk about it. Honestly, anything I have to say about Dollhouse should be it's own post, but I don't know if I really have the energy for that. I have pretty unpopular fannish opinions about the end of DH in that I didn't really like it. At all. Except that Ballard died, I was pretty okay with that part.
The ending came up too fast and didn't have enough development, and maybe that's just because they got canceled and had to rush, I don't know. But that's a structural issue and not my real problem. My real issue is that I can't watch DH just as a sci-fi show; I can't watch it and see it's plot. I can't watch it as anything other than a rape culture allegory because WOW it just never stops being about rape. And I think it does some really interesting things and says some really interesting things and I really was fascinated by it right up until the end, but in the end it didn't work for me because it seemed to go back on a lot of the cleverness that showed promise early on. My biggest problem was making Boyd the villain (a twist for the sake of a twist that really didn't make any sense at all) and allowing Ballard to be an unqualified hero. What made the show interesting in the beginning as how creepy Ballard was - despite having good intentions, despite really wanting to help, his motivations weren't pure and he was still creepy in his obsession with Caroline and Echo. He was both the embodiment/personification of the male gaze AND the audience's entry point/ID character, the only one we really had until Echo began to gain real agency. That was SO INTERESTING because of the position it put the audience in. There was so much that could have been done with that. But I think in the end, Joss was writing a sci-fi adventure and I was watching a commentary on rape culture and those things just didn't meet up.
Exonerating Ballard and completely villifying Boyd just left me cold. And I watched the rest with no real engagement. (Also...wasn't his affection for Echo removed anyway? OH WHATEVER). There *were* things I loved (PRIYA AND TONY ♥ And I ended up loving Topher's storyline, which surprised me). I actually thought Eliza did a really solid job. And the storyline was compelling, it really was. But it didn't work for me and I was pretty disappointed.
So anyway. Come talk to me about any of the above! Distract me from my homework. I do not want to do my homework. :(
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