Fandom nostalgia, more Robert Downey Jr movies and Sharpe thoughts
drujan informed me this weekend that BAPS is closing, which makes me sad, particularly because they're deleting the archives.
I haven't been back there in years, but that's where I entered fandom. (And my opinions have certainly changed dramatically since!) Still, the nostalgia is strong.
I'm looking through old posts now. 2001, and everyone's wondering what's going to happen when Riley returns. (Kelly suggests that Buffy will have to kill him to save Spike--oh, those were the good old days!) There's drujan, 10zlaine, kellyhk, redeem147, chenanceou, ww1614, spikewriter, jerrymcl89, jaydk, shipperx, klytaimnestra, cindermom... and plenty of others, but I can't spend all day scrolling through BAPS. To think, the different places we were in our lives back then.
It's amazing, looking through the list of people posting, how many of those people I later met in person, and how many I still know today. Fandom is crazy. In a good way.
The weekend was fun. jaydk and I finally celebrated drujan's birthday with a dinner at Pukk, which involved lots of their excellent sangria, and I secretly squeed over the fact that I'd gotten my two omnivorous friends to be enthusiastic over a vegan restaurant. Then we went to the AMC 25 (most comfortable theater in the city) and saw "The Illusionist." Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti were good (I'm of the opinion that Edward Norton is another of those actors who is good in everything) but I didn't like the movie too much, mainly because it was predicated on this nonsensical idea of "true love" that I just can't swallow. If you spend 15 years pining over someone you knew as a teenager, there's something wrong with you.
Then we discovered that jaydk's roommate was away, so we went to her place Saturday night, ordered lots of food, and watched movies. I finally got to make them watch "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," and they both liked it a lot. (And they seemed surprised! What, do I have a reputation for bad taste?) I can't believe drujan didn't know who Robert Downey, Jr was, though! How do you go through life missing that? :P
We also watched a bunch of Jonathan from Guiding Light, jaydk's latest obsession. drujan headed home, and jaydk and I watched the Sean Bean scenes from the first Lord of the Rings. I tried to watch that movie once, years ago, but fell asleep. I saw the second one and hated it, and I've never seen the third. (I know, I'm a terrible fangirl.) Anyway, apparently nothing had changed because I once again couldn't stand it, and then fell asleep. I don't know, Peter Jackson's directing style just totally rubs me the wrong way, and everything's so pompous and serious and annoying and there's all these endless landscape shots and I can't stand any of the characters and just... ick. Sorry. Still don't get it.
I managed to wake up after that, though, and we watched the first episode of Farscape. The series is still on my Netflix queue; I'm going to trust you guys that it gets better. I finally headed home about 5am; luckily it's a quick cab ride when there's no traffic.
(And really, how cool is it that the three of us were all posting together on BAPS back in the day, before we even knew each other.)
On Sunday I got some actual work done, and then watched my three latest Netflix movies, which were Less than Zero, Richard III (with Ian McKellen), and Wonder Boys.
Wonder Boys was just sort of a bland adult movie that thought itself far more clever than it actually was. I think it was supposed to be about the nature of creativity and the parallel between the choices we make in our art and in our personal lives. But mostly it was about Michael Douglas wandering around in a pink bathroom and smoking pot (which sounds more funny than it actually was!) It was also kind of weirdly sexist (men Write, women follow them around and clean up their mistakes). However, it did have Robert Downey Jr seducing Tobey Maguire, and for that it was entirely worthwhile, and I highly recommend it for those scenes alone (which are, sadly, too few).
Richard III was a great movie, and I'm very glad to have rented it. Ian McKellen was completely awesome. Its basic concept is to place Shakespeare's Richard III (trimmed, but with the original dialog) in a fascist alternate reality of 1930s England. It's not a perfect parallel, but it worked well enough, and made for a great film. This is the single film I've seen so far where I didn't think Robert Downey, Jr added to the movie. His American accent was jarring, and his over-the-top acting style didn't mesh well with the rest of the cast. His death scene was pretty hot, though.
Less Than Zero is one of those movies I've avoided watching for about 15 years, because I knew that 1) it's a bad movie and 2) it would make me cry. This was probably a good decision because if I'd seen it any time before the age of 16, I would've been miserable for a week. Luckily, I am now a cynical bitch who rolls her eyes at this kind of blatant emotional manipulation.
Anyway, it's one of those inane "Just Say No!" polemics that audiences were apparently expected to take seriously back in the 1980s. This is made more offensive by the fact that it's based on a Bret Easton Ellis novel that I'm certain did not have a neat little moral tacked on at the end.
It also features two of the most bland of the 80s brat pack: Andrew McCarthy and Jamie Gertz, whose combined charisma is less than that of a piece of styrofoam. How in god's name did these people get hired? and famous??
On the plus side, Robert Downey Jr is astounding, and James Spader is excellent. If you'd taken the two of them and stripped away the moral lesson and the mannequin lead actors, you might've actually had a very good film.
It's also got a nice soundtrack and some greats sets; it works as sort of a fascinating glimpse into the fashions of the past. Big hair, gigantic monster cellphones, and the super rich with their ancient-looking TV sets.
I haven't much to say about the plot, which is basically just propaganda suggesting that unless you attend a fancy East Coast Ivy League college, you'll end up a male prostitute, giving head to feed your crack habit, within 6 months of high school graduation.
I suppose it's a consequence of the decade, or of the mainstream movie studio, that the film can't attempt to portray a fucked-up world without a tacked on lesson, a heroic Marty Stu there to tell the audience exactly what they should think, and a happy ending for those wise souls who do finally figure out the redeeming power of, er, the East Coast.
Anyway, rent this movie because Robert Downey Jr is great in it, and because James Spader is super creepy, and for the historical perspective. Just hold your nose through all the moralizing.
I've somehow also managed to read seven Sharpe novels in the past week and a half. (I need to sleep!) I liked Sharpe's Enemy immensely, but have some bitching to do about Sharpe's Honor (I'm sure you can guess; I always have issues with "honor").
Mainly my issue was with the novel repeatedly presenting choices and then not following through on their actual consequences. Sharpe has to choose between saving his career/life or preserving his "honor," and he always chooses honor, but then a deus ex machina sweeps in and saves him, and then saves him, and then saves him again. (Leroy stops the duel, Hogan stops the hanging, and a random explosion allows him to escape without signing the parole). So Sharpe preserves his honor, but he'd be dead if the author hadn't finagled it in order to allow him to do so. Lame.
I think Methos said it best in The Messenger:
Methos: Okay, there's this Spanish guy: Alejandro Diego Spinofa. One day he gets called in by the Inquisition for questioning. Red hot pincers, tongs, usual drill. Now, all he has to do is say "no," okay, very simple word. They take his home, his money, his lands, but he will not give in.
Joe: So what happened?
Methos: He died screaming in agony. But, he kept his integrity.
Also, Sharpe got over Teresa's death really fast, but I guess you can sort of fanwank it that he transferred his grief and guilt over her to his obsession with protecting La Marquesa.
Oh, and I'm leaving for DragonCon tomorrow. I'm not really into anything fannish at the moment, but I'm sure I'll find stuff to do, and I'll definitely be seeing Godhead, the Cruxshadows, and Voltaire, and hanging out with jaydk and 10zlaine.
I haven't been back there in years, but that's where I entered fandom. (And my opinions have certainly changed dramatically since!) Still, the nostalgia is strong.
I'm looking through old posts now. 2001, and everyone's wondering what's going to happen when Riley returns. (Kelly suggests that Buffy will have to kill him to save Spike--oh, those were the good old days!) There's drujan, 10zlaine, kellyhk, redeem147, chenanceou, ww1614, spikewriter, jerrymcl89, jaydk, shipperx, klytaimnestra, cindermom... and plenty of others, but I can't spend all day scrolling through BAPS. To think, the different places we were in our lives back then.
It's amazing, looking through the list of people posting, how many of those people I later met in person, and how many I still know today. Fandom is crazy. In a good way.
The weekend was fun. jaydk and I finally celebrated drujan's birthday with a dinner at Pukk, which involved lots of their excellent sangria, and I secretly squeed over the fact that I'd gotten my two omnivorous friends to be enthusiastic over a vegan restaurant. Then we went to the AMC 25 (most comfortable theater in the city) and saw "The Illusionist." Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti were good (I'm of the opinion that Edward Norton is another of those actors who is good in everything) but I didn't like the movie too much, mainly because it was predicated on this nonsensical idea of "true love" that I just can't swallow. If you spend 15 years pining over someone you knew as a teenager, there's something wrong with you.
Then we discovered that jaydk's roommate was away, so we went to her place Saturday night, ordered lots of food, and watched movies. I finally got to make them watch "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," and they both liked it a lot. (And they seemed surprised! What, do I have a reputation for bad taste?) I can't believe drujan didn't know who Robert Downey, Jr was, though! How do you go through life missing that? :P
We also watched a bunch of Jonathan from Guiding Light, jaydk's latest obsession. drujan headed home, and jaydk and I watched the Sean Bean scenes from the first Lord of the Rings. I tried to watch that movie once, years ago, but fell asleep. I saw the second one and hated it, and I've never seen the third. (I know, I'm a terrible fangirl.) Anyway, apparently nothing had changed because I once again couldn't stand it, and then fell asleep. I don't know, Peter Jackson's directing style just totally rubs me the wrong way, and everything's so pompous and serious and annoying and there's all these endless landscape shots and I can't stand any of the characters and just... ick. Sorry. Still don't get it.
I managed to wake up after that, though, and we watched the first episode of Farscape. The series is still on my Netflix queue; I'm going to trust you guys that it gets better. I finally headed home about 5am; luckily it's a quick cab ride when there's no traffic.
(And really, how cool is it that the three of us were all posting together on BAPS back in the day, before we even knew each other.)
On Sunday I got some actual work done, and then watched my three latest Netflix movies, which were Less than Zero, Richard III (with Ian McKellen), and Wonder Boys.
Wonder Boys was just sort of a bland adult movie that thought itself far more clever than it actually was. I think it was supposed to be about the nature of creativity and the parallel between the choices we make in our art and in our personal lives. But mostly it was about Michael Douglas wandering around in a pink bathroom and smoking pot (which sounds more funny than it actually was!) It was also kind of weirdly sexist (men Write, women follow them around and clean up their mistakes). However, it did have Robert Downey Jr seducing Tobey Maguire, and for that it was entirely worthwhile, and I highly recommend it for those scenes alone (which are, sadly, too few).
Richard III was a great movie, and I'm very glad to have rented it. Ian McKellen was completely awesome. Its basic concept is to place Shakespeare's Richard III (trimmed, but with the original dialog) in a fascist alternate reality of 1930s England. It's not a perfect parallel, but it worked well enough, and made for a great film. This is the single film I've seen so far where I didn't think Robert Downey, Jr added to the movie. His American accent was jarring, and his over-the-top acting style didn't mesh well with the rest of the cast. His death scene was pretty hot, though.
Less Than Zero is one of those movies I've avoided watching for about 15 years, because I knew that 1) it's a bad movie and 2) it would make me cry. This was probably a good decision because if I'd seen it any time before the age of 16, I would've been miserable for a week. Luckily, I am now a cynical bitch who rolls her eyes at this kind of blatant emotional manipulation.
Anyway, it's one of those inane "Just Say No!" polemics that audiences were apparently expected to take seriously back in the 1980s. This is made more offensive by the fact that it's based on a Bret Easton Ellis novel that I'm certain did not have a neat little moral tacked on at the end.
It also features two of the most bland of the 80s brat pack: Andrew McCarthy and Jamie Gertz, whose combined charisma is less than that of a piece of styrofoam. How in god's name did these people get hired? and famous??
On the plus side, Robert Downey Jr is astounding, and James Spader is excellent. If you'd taken the two of them and stripped away the moral lesson and the mannequin lead actors, you might've actually had a very good film.
It's also got a nice soundtrack and some greats sets; it works as sort of a fascinating glimpse into the fashions of the past. Big hair, gigantic monster cellphones, and the super rich with their ancient-looking TV sets.
I haven't much to say about the plot, which is basically just propaganda suggesting that unless you attend a fancy East Coast Ivy League college, you'll end up a male prostitute, giving head to feed your crack habit, within 6 months of high school graduation.
I suppose it's a consequence of the decade, or of the mainstream movie studio, that the film can't attempt to portray a fucked-up world without a tacked on lesson, a heroic Marty Stu there to tell the audience exactly what they should think, and a happy ending for those wise souls who do finally figure out the redeeming power of, er, the East Coast.
Anyway, rent this movie because Robert Downey Jr is great in it, and because James Spader is super creepy, and for the historical perspective. Just hold your nose through all the moralizing.
I've somehow also managed to read seven Sharpe novels in the past week and a half. (I need to sleep!) I liked Sharpe's Enemy immensely, but have some bitching to do about Sharpe's Honor (I'm sure you can guess; I always have issues with "honor").
Mainly my issue was with the novel repeatedly presenting choices and then not following through on their actual consequences. Sharpe has to choose between saving his career/life or preserving his "honor," and he always chooses honor, but then a deus ex machina sweeps in and saves him, and then saves him, and then saves him again. (Leroy stops the duel, Hogan stops the hanging, and a random explosion allows him to escape without signing the parole). So Sharpe preserves his honor, but he'd be dead if the author hadn't finagled it in order to allow him to do so. Lame.
I think Methos said it best in The Messenger:
Methos: Okay, there's this Spanish guy: Alejandro Diego Spinofa. One day he gets called in by the Inquisition for questioning. Red hot pincers, tongs, usual drill. Now, all he has to do is say "no," okay, very simple word. They take his home, his money, his lands, but he will not give in.
Joe: So what happened?
Methos: He died screaming in agony. But, he kept his integrity.
Also, Sharpe got over Teresa's death really fast, but I guess you can sort of fanwank it that he transferred his grief and guilt over her to his obsession with protecting La Marquesa.
Oh, and I'm leaving for DragonCon tomorrow. I'm not really into anything fannish at the moment, but I'm sure I'll find stuff to do, and I'll definitely be seeing Godhead, the Cruxshadows, and Voltaire, and hanging out with jaydk and 10zlaine.