Hi Again…
http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2894
Um, hi. I’ve let myself get out of the habit of posting. Again. (Sorry.)
I actually have been reading my friendslist, though. (Some of you will have noticed totally random comments from me over the past few weeks/months.) *waves*
I miss being in fandom; I just don’t have much to talk about. Mostly I’m worrying about real life stuff: money, and possibly moving again, and my cats’ health, and work, and… it’s just depressing, really.
But I do have a few fannish thoughts on my mind! I have mostly been occupied with:
* David Bowie, of course. I’m up to Heathen, from 2002. It’s fantastic! I can’t believe it came so late in his career! The cover of “Cactus” is awesome, and “Everyone Says ‘Hi’” is very moving. I’m hesitant to listen to “Reality, though, because it’s the last one and (unless he comes out with something new *fingers crossed*) once I hear it, this whole Bowie odyssey will be over. *sniffle*
* I started watching White Collar. I haven’t watched a current American TV show in years; I guess I kind of missed the experience? I chose it for utterly shallow reasons: I saw the ad on the subway and thought the guy looked hot in a Brian Kinney way. (He is cute, but alas, nowhere near Brian Kinney.)
It's about what I expected from an American TV show: it plays its morality safe and keeps its heroes and villains clearly delineated -- its "criminal" lead character is as dark as a teddy bear; its humor is bland and lacks sharp wit; its gender roles are painfully essentialist; it dumps exposition in big graceless dialog chunks; and it explains everything twice to make sure the slowest audience member can keep up. Its predictable plots-of-the-week are too implausible to take seriously but not absurd enough to work as comedy, and its arc is not at all compelling (the audience has been given no reason to like Kate or to feel anything other than that Neal needs to move on).
But... I kind of like it anyway. It hits one of my big fictional kinks: an opposites-attract partnership, two totally different characters growing together and bonding despite themselves. Life on Mars and Due South do it better, but Neal and Peter are a lot of fun, and their banter has been getting better. I'm not seeing the slash (and actually, I love that Peter has a stable, loving relationship with his wife--who knew that Tiffani-Amber Thiessen could act?!) but I like the friendship and the mentor relationship.
I love the actor who plays Peter--he has tons of character and can do lighthearted humor and heavy drama equally well. I'm less enthralled by Neal--he's got that "generic underwear model" look, and I don't get nearly the level of emotion, complexity, or intelligence from him that the character warrants. (Despite my lack of interest in the Kate plot, a good actor could've made me care despite myself, as Spike did re: Buffy in season five/early six.) But he's not awful--he can do the cheeky charm thing really well.
I was initially disappointed that Neal is not a dark character, but actually I kind of like the vulnerability that comes with his naive optimism, and the way that Peter can't help but feel protective even as he knows not to fully trust Neal. And I like that Peter is so solid and decent that Neal looks up to him despite himself.
Oh, and on a shallow visual level, I love Neal's gorgeous, ridiculous outfits and I love the NYC scenery.
I keep wishing the show would do something more interesting, though. Stop playing it so safe. But it's only ten episodes in, so I'll reserve judgment for now. (If Farscape taught me anything...)
* Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes really was awful, despite the fantastic chemistry between Downey and Jude Law, but the Iron Man 2 preview got me madly excited. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the first one; I ended up rewatching it something like ten times in January.
Iron Man is such a great showcase for Downey's talent, and also just such solidly good superhero movie. It hits all the satisfying notes that you want from a superhero film, but also subverts expectations in cool ways: the actors (Terrence Howard aside) are excellent, the dialog feels spontaneous and real, the relationship between Tony and Pepper is subtle and sweet, the arc is about second chances and redemption instead of a kid coming of age, and, dude, how awesome is it that Tony announces to the world that he's a superhero? I grin at that final scene every time. Admittedly the battle at the end is pointless and the tech porn montages go on way too long, but as long as I get to see Robert Downey Jr. being gorgeous and witty, I'm happy.
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