our rifles blaze away; we blaze away
I just watched the pilot for the show Profit, and, gyeaah. It’s kinda stuck in my brain now and making me totally not able to sleep. Hence the late-night journaling. Profit was the show David Greenwalt created and executive produced in 1996, before he went to Buffy. I can’t say I’ve really followed Greenwalt’s work - Miracles was very much not my thing, and Jake 2.0 didn’t do anything for me, but then they had this at the library, and, well, how could I resist a show that premiered on FOX, received enormous critical acclaim, and was cancelled after four episodes? Well, I can’t. GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT.
Because I’m too lazy to recap it myself, the back of the box calls Jim Profit is “a charismatic sociopath who turns a horrific childhood secret into a ruthless climb up the corporate ladder… a ‘hero’ for whom greed, blackmail, incest, sexual manipulation and even murder were all in a day’s work.” All of which is in the pilot. I’m intrigued about some things, but not hooked yet. Profit, being a complete sociopath, is interesting, but not exactly… accessible. I’ll probably keep watching, though, and see where it goes. As soon as I get over the aforementioned gyeaah factor, mostly due to the shocker ending, which has Profit crawling naked into a cardboard box, where he eats and sleeps (and presumably where he grew up). Points in its favour: the Joss Whedon seal of approval, plus the fact that they wanted to bring Profit in as one of the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart, which makes him all the more interesting. Also, Holtz! Or Keith Szarabajka, rather.
Speaking of work by Angel alum, this weekend I plowed through Bass Ackwards and Belly Up, the young adult novel by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain. I honestly can’t remember where I heard about this, because I’m pretty sure it wasn’t mentioned on Whedonesque or my flist (could be wrong, though). Again, I haven't been following them, and I’m pretty neutral about their work on Angel, (“Underneath,” “Harm’s Way,” “Supersymmetry”, among others) but I love seeing people show off their talents in other mediums. It’s about four best friends, three of which ditch their college plans in favour of “pursuing their dreams”. It reads sort of like an older Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants… which I haven’t actually read (though I have seen the movie. It made me cry. On an airplane.) so to me it’s kind of like a Babysitters’ Club book grown up. Its conception is a teensy bit cheesy that way, what with the four grew-up-together-just-like-sisters BFFs and their Very Different Personalities (including the flamboyant wannabe actress and the straight-A, Harvard-bound, All-American girl who needs to find herself), but that’s just a pitfall of the genre, no? In any case, they generally manage to transcend this with some strong characterization and plot development that’s realistic and satisfying without being cheesy. And it really is well written. And sardonically humourous. And I’m totally just throwing out adjectives here because I have no idea how to write an effective book review. I don’t read that much popular fiction because so many authors seem so self-conscious about their trendy turns of phrases and their carefully placed pop culture references and I hate when I can see (or think I can see) the strings being pulled. This was extremely contemporary but never felt contrived, which was nice. And a sequel is in the works for next year, which is also nice, ‘cause I think there are a lot of interesting places this could go.
Because I’m too lazy to recap it myself, the back of the box calls Jim Profit is “a charismatic sociopath who turns a horrific childhood secret into a ruthless climb up the corporate ladder… a ‘hero’ for whom greed, blackmail, incest, sexual manipulation and even murder were all in a day’s work.” All of which is in the pilot. I’m intrigued about some things, but not hooked yet. Profit, being a complete sociopath, is interesting, but not exactly… accessible. I’ll probably keep watching, though, and see where it goes. As soon as I get over the aforementioned gyeaah factor, mostly due to the shocker ending, which has Profit crawling naked into a cardboard box, where he eats and sleeps (and presumably where he grew up). Points in its favour: the Joss Whedon seal of approval, plus the fact that they wanted to bring Profit in as one of the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart, which makes him all the more interesting. Also, Holtz! Or Keith Szarabajka, rather.
Speaking of work by Angel alum, this weekend I plowed through Bass Ackwards and Belly Up, the young adult novel by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain. I honestly can’t remember where I heard about this, because I’m pretty sure it wasn’t mentioned on Whedonesque or my flist (could be wrong, though). Again, I haven't been following them, and I’m pretty neutral about their work on Angel, (“Underneath,” “Harm’s Way,” “Supersymmetry”, among others) but I love seeing people show off their talents in other mediums. It’s about four best friends, three of which ditch their college plans in favour of “pursuing their dreams”. It reads sort of like an older Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants… which I haven’t actually read (though I have seen the movie. It made me cry. On an airplane.) so to me it’s kind of like a Babysitters’ Club book grown up. Its conception is a teensy bit cheesy that way, what with the four grew-up-together-just-like-sisters BFFs and their Very Different Personalities (including the flamboyant wannabe actress and the straight-A, Harvard-bound, All-American girl who needs to find herself), but that’s just a pitfall of the genre, no? In any case, they generally manage to transcend this with some strong characterization and plot development that’s realistic and satisfying without being cheesy. And it really is well written. And sardonically humourous. And I’m totally just throwing out adjectives here because I have no idea how to write an effective book review. I don’t read that much popular fiction because so many authors seem so self-conscious about their trendy turns of phrases and their carefully placed pop culture references and I hate when I can see (or think I can see) the strings being pulled. This was extremely contemporary but never felt contrived, which was nice. And a sequel is in the works for next year, which is also nice, ‘cause I think there are a lot of interesting places this could go.