"Organization always merges back if you don't pay attention. Death to organization."
Today, a mischievous basket ball attacked the middle finger of my left hand, and it's not bandaged and it's all swollen and it looks like I spilled ink on it and I can't type properly and it sucks. From now on until it heals, I've decided to name him, since it's the first time that something inside my finger goes pop. Say hi to Bunker. He's playing Mr. Blue today.
Have been obsessing over Saw lately. Thinking too much about Zep and I want his chibi self out of my head now. I keep thinking about the first and only fanfic centered around him I ever read, how brilliant it was. You know, maybe someday I'll reconciliate with him and write something serious, but for the time being, I think he's stuck with fangirling over John and putting too much sugar in Amanda's coffee.
James Blunt's "1973" is definitely not the strangest thing I've cried while listening to. There was that incident with a certain song of a certain musical which shall not mentioned. I need help like that.
Michael Emerson is not Zep anymore. Henry Gale was Zep. Benjamin is his own separate thing and it may not be for first time, but I’m in awe in a completely different way. He’s a genius. I see him in a different light every scene.
You know, there are just these varying degrees of a good actor one can be. I can't really see him playing anything too far from... well, not an evil character, nor a cheap one necessarily, just maybe broken. To be completely honest here I've just seen him in Saw and Lost and probably have quite the chunk of his filmography that I've missed, but there's just what I get from Zep and Ben and um, Henry. (We'll get into the Ben and Henry later, if anybody is listening.)
It's like, take Tarantino for example. He's comfy at playing himself. He practically *only* plays himself. I think the exception is Richie Gecko and it took him a while to get in and out of character (the crewmembers were starting to get nervous around him and George Clooney because they were apparently sort of turning into the Gecko brothers. He had this whole threatening Harvey Keitel thing in mind while they shot apparently. I wonder if he and Salma Hayek also made out onstage. Or him and Clooney for that matter). But yeah, that was some evolution as an actor back in you know, 1996, and it's sort of not changed that much since then. He's a good character, not a good actor.
Uma Thurman instead, I consider her the perfect character actress, practically turns into them, understands them in a whole different dynamic every time. She doesn't do the exact same thing every time. Back at the beginning, and I'm talking Sinsy Hankshaw and Helena Robertson here, you may have noted she was a bit you know, new, but from Pulp Fiction, hell from Henry & Jane upwards, that's completely gone. You can actually see her taking some time back to understand her character, even if it's something not that particular. That's another of the many many reasons why I love her. She's an awesome actress.
Now Michael Emerson... happens to fall somewhere in the middle. Somewhere where he's been sort of shoved into one type of character, but one in which he *exceeds*. He's not just brilliant doing what he does, he's just capable of prodding out the development out of a character miraculously, almost his only presence, the looking at his face, the listening to his voice makes whoever he's playing all the more deep.
Zep was a normal guy, not unkind, maybe a bit on the odd side, who always let himself be bossed around and be ridiculed by all the cool kids. Or doctors. When he obtained power, because what John gave to him was a complete gift, he was torn between how excited and fascinated he was by it, and the absolute fear he had of holding it. And although he would love to be the evil psycho, the mastermind behind everything, in the end he freaks out and messes up. Immensely.
On the other hand you have Ben. Probably can't be summed up in a paragraph. The only fact that I want to look into the possibility of somebody completely separating Ben Linus from Henry Gale in a fanfic probably speaks for itself. Is he lying? Is he telling the truth? Does he (still) have absolutely everything planned, or have things escaped his control? When he tells you to do something, should you not obey because he's a bastard, should you do it because he knows you'd never ever believe a word he says, should you not do it because he probably knows you know, or does he know you know he knows? Etc.
On the other hand it's a bit of a tricky character, just like Jigsaw. Because you know, absolutely everything can fit in his logic. Hardly anything will ever be incoherent, you can always back it up with "and it's not entirely true because...".
Anyway. My point is... These are the kind of characters nobody else could really *get*. He has something in there that irradiates so much humanity; you don't need to have him sporting a t-shirt with big red letters going HEY GUYS, MENTAL DILEMMA LOL or PATHOLOGICAL LIAR FTW or RAGINGLY GAY FOR JOHN (Kramer or Locke take your pick). He has that shiftiness, that ambiguity. Little things like Zep biting down his lower lip or Ben staring at nothing in particular as he speaks. Things he couldn't use if he played somebody "pure". That's what limits his role. But I think that's part of the charm.
And to prove I haven't talked enough about an actor who needs moar credit, have him inaugurate the first pairing rant from Lost in you guys know what that means? Taaaahat's how you be dosing it hon, fanfiction tiem pls.
Yeah... Rewatching Season 2 episodes, after an overdose of Benjamin in Season 3, there's this incredibly squishy-squeey idea floating about in my head that Henry Gale and Benjamin Linus would seem almost two separate entities. Who is able to see the wounded, scared, stuttering balloon man in that bespectacled genius who talks more lies than words and talks to an empty chair? I liked Henry from the start, but Benjamin had to grow on me. I think that's interesting, and from the point of view or somebody in the island... I think you guys know where this is going.
I may copy/paste from this for the ship manifesto btw. OhmygodI'mcheatingDDD:
So yes. Henry Gale, Henry Gale. There's something he has and Ben doesn't that's an element of mystery. The whole "should I trust him or should I not?" mindfuckiness: speaking from a strictly Locke-only pov, with Ben it’'s less that and more like feeling completely manipulated and screwed over after every single of their conversations, but that comes later.
I thought that maybe, rather than the "being drawn to Henry for an unspecified reason then falling in love/lust with Benjamin and hatesex all the way", which is the most common approach, maybe "in love with Henry, in hate with Benjamin [for not being Henry?]" is more appealing, newer.
Why Locke though. Well there's a deeper explanation to that other than them being two of my favourite characters and sort of talking dirty to each other during season 3 and stuff. You know, in the beginning I thought I may dig the Kate/Ben pairing, but I just don't find that scene at the beginning of the third season all that sexy. It seemed less like he was interested in Kate sexually and more like um, what a nice older sister would do. Yeah, I'm pretty convinced that Ben is gay. At least that's the idea that's been crammed into my head from a man buried where Henry's wife should be. Sayid rolled eyes as he said that, back from his balloon-finding trip. And besides, Kate/Juliet is so much hotter, like so much, so much, hotter, in the catfight sexy kind of hot. Like the Kapitan said. Stop fighting and start kissing already. But um...that's a story for another day.
Locke is clingy. So, so clingy. It would, you know, it would be like Anthony Cooper over again. The Anthony Cooper he met and loved, and went hunting with, and had the bestest father-son relationship evar111, was definitely not the Anthony Cooper who betrayed him and stole his kidney, and who he obsessed over. He has this really obvious, really particular and dependant relationship with him.
When his girl... What was her name? Helen? I'll look it up later, well, when his girlfriend tells him to just let go, she's right. But he can't let go. What John hopes for, going back so many times, is that deep down, there will be something in him that will make him change and be the good - the fake - Anthony again, and love him like a proper father should. But there isn't. And Locke is put through much shit because of it.
Now Henry is different from Anthony in a) the obvious and b) the fact that he does sort of gradually evolve into Benjamin. Sort of, in that he lets out clues here and then, good thing he's not one of them indeed. But then again, Henry does have something that Benjamin doesn't. Ben knows everything about John, he knows all John wants to hear, but as Ben, there's just no real way to use it that won't make him a whore. Ben lives in a neatsuburb-looking Other!island where he has a few half-captive freaks who aren't too fond of him and where he indulges in kidnapping survivors with a song in his heart and a tumour in his back. Henry, on the other hand, is first off enshrouded by mystery, providing John with somebody who trusts him, who he'll always have power over, who even though he may have lied, is "one of the good guys". He's there to tell John everything he wants to hear.
I guess my point is that not only is Ben completely obsessed with John and his kinky lack of wheelchair but it also would make sense for it to be mutual. At least out of love/hate. Whatever.
You know, like me or not, you have to admit I um, just wrote a whole lot of stuff. I'd also rant about the Juliet/Kate pairing and everything that makes it wonderful. And Ethan/Claire. Either of the two is up next for my manifesto love and overall OMG fits.
Pulp Fiction, Saw and Lost. So hard to choose, so hard, but I'll only have one afternoon to write. Maybe I'll just say to hell to fanfic and start working on the ship-manifesto. I'm pretty excited about that. At least it isn't Desmond and Kelvin. I mean this time.
I also watched The Science of Sleep. *sigh* I'm too tired to elaborate now, but I loved loved loved it.
Now I'm off to listen to "Goodbye Moon" on repeat. That song is one big moment that makes the song in its entirety.
Well you're up so high, how can you save me
When the dark comes tonight to take me
Out for a walk and into the bed
Where it kisses my face and eats my head