I had been enjoying B5 increasingly throughout season 2, but this was the stretch of episodes that finally got me really excited. Not that they're perfect, and I suspect that much of my particular affection (sort of a love-hate relationship, really) with "Divided Loyalties" has to do with the fact that Susan/Talia pinged hard for me, for some reason. But all these pieces of the puzzle have been put into place for two seasons, people have made their choices, and now suddenly everything is in motion, and there's no stopping it now. It's completely fascinating, and seasons 3 and 4 follow up on all of this setup really satisfyingly (I think, at least
( ... )
But all these pieces of the puzzle have been put into place for two seasons, people have made their choices, and now suddenly everything is in motion, and there's no stopping it now.
I think that's one of the things that particularly hits the right spot for me with the show: the fact that for all of the grand political scope, these events are the direct results of characters' choices playing out over time.
It's a shame, really, that this show is so uneven, because the good parts are so very good, and it's easy enough to imagine how brilliant the same story in the hands of a more well-rounded writing staff and more capable actors might have been.
Yeah, subtlety is definitely not one of JMS's strong suits, and he never passes up the opportunity to use a cliche. (Watching with cofax7 is particularly hilarious because she calls out half the dialogue before the characters say it; she has an excellent nose for predictable cliche.) I've been mulling over why the non-human characters seem to work better than the human ones do, and part of that
( ... )
I want to draw pink sparkly hearts around this post. (:
♥
Having grown up there, I can assure you that Sacramento is weirdly generic; if it has any distinguishing feature at all, it's that it's so entirely typical of every other medium-sized city in the U.S.
I had assumed The Jane Austen Book Club would be too "chick flick" for me, but your review is encouraging.
I want to draw pink sparkly hearts around this post.
It's the ice cream. I just know it.
I had assumed The Jane Austen Book Club would be too "chick flick" for me
I very much shared that assumption, and only got interested in reading it after I learned that Karen Joy Fowler wrote it. I think she's a really wonderful writer; she has a knack for telling the small stories of everyday people in a way that gives them meaning without making them overly dramatic.
Granted, I haven't spent a ton of time there, but I always think of Sacramento as overwhelmingly Californian--albeit in a different way than the coasts. To the outsider's eyes, it has some distinctive markers.
It's not the ice cream! I have trouble digesting ice cream. Your ep reviews, however, make me feel full and satisfied. (:
I guess having lived in California almost my entire life might make me blind to certain things that are different about Sacramento. To me, it's freeways and four-lane streets lined with strip malls and car dealerships. ::shudder::
Dagnabbit! Part of my carefully-constructed rationale for getting this ice cream maker attachment depends on my ability to foist most of the ice cream off on guests.
I've read both the The Jane Austen Book Club and The Thin Place, though it's been so long ago for both of them that I can't remember much about my opinions. Because I'm predictable, I do remember that I of course liked Grigg because he was a Buffy fan; I watched the movie recently and was very pleased that they still introduced the character as he was on his way to a Buffy conference. Have you read Fowler's latest, Wit's End, yet? It doesn't have much in the way of a plot, but I just love the way Fowler writes, and one of the threads of this book is about fan culture and fanfiction.
I'm waiting for Wit's End to come out in paperback, but it's definitely on the list. I thought Fowler's perspective on fan culture was refreshing--and I like the subtle parallels she drew with the dog breeders, who were their own little subculture, and had less grounds than they thought to look down on the science fiction geeks.
Ice cream maker. Yes, I'm always tempted and then I make the voice in my head yell, oh, are you nuts? That's exactly what you need, an ice cream maker. But, you know, ice cream.
It's even worse that it's just an attachment. Just a measly attachment! A teeny, tiny, insignificant little attachment! And making ice cream looks like so much fun. But then... I need a freezer full of ice cream like I need a hole in the head.
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I think that's one of the things that particularly hits the right spot for me with the show: the fact that for all of the grand political scope, these events are the direct results of characters' choices playing out over time.
It's a shame, really, that this show is so uneven, because the good parts are so very good, and it's easy enough to imagine how brilliant the same story in the hands of a more well-rounded writing staff and more capable actors might have been.
Yeah, subtlety is definitely not one of JMS's strong suits, and he never passes up the opportunity to use a cliche. (Watching with cofax7 is particularly hilarious because she calls out half the dialogue before the characters say it; she has an excellent nose for predictable cliche.) I've been mulling over why the non-human characters seem to work better than the human ones do, and part of that ( ... )
Reply
♥
Having grown up there, I can assure you that Sacramento is weirdly generic; if it has any distinguishing feature at all, it's that it's so entirely typical of every other medium-sized city in the U.S.
I had assumed The Jane Austen Book Club would be too "chick flick" for me, but your review is encouraging.
Reply
It's the ice cream. I just know it.
I had assumed The Jane Austen Book Club would be too "chick flick" for me
I very much shared that assumption, and only got interested in reading it after I learned that Karen Joy Fowler wrote it. I think she's a really wonderful writer; she has a knack for telling the small stories of everyday people in a way that gives them meaning without making them overly dramatic.
Granted, I haven't spent a ton of time there, but I always think of Sacramento as overwhelmingly Californian--albeit in a different way than the coasts. To the outsider's eyes, it has some distinctive markers.
Reply
I guess having lived in California almost my entire life might make me blind to certain things that are different about Sacramento. To me, it's freeways and four-lane streets lined with strip malls and car dealerships. ::shudder::
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