and this is my brain on grading

[pellucid]

It's 7:40 pm, and I'm still in my pajamas. Yup, it's a grading day. The current word I would strike from the vocabulary of all undergraduates, were I blessed with such power? "relatable" It's just barely a real word anyway, and if I never have to read another student writing about "relatable" characters, it will be too soon! *stabbity

Comments

[gabolange]

My soul always feels better after our marathon chats. :D

Aww, mine too. *big hugs* It was wonderful to talk to you today! Now if only we could find a way to slow time and talk longer, or become less busy and talk more frequently . . . that would be ideal! *more hugs*

Tell me of your favorite television finales, if you will! I think "Sleeping in Light" may be my favorite, as well. It is sort of a love letter to the characters and to the fans, and it hits every single note correctly. And it is the episode that makes John and Delenn work for me, the episode that makes Vir work for me, the episode that makes me forgive Lennier. It makes the series work

[pellucid]

The funny thing about "Sleeping in Light" is that I think it's my favorite for different reasons than it's your favorite! Yes, I guess it is sort of a love letter to the characters and makes John and Delenn work for me in a lot of ways--at least better than they had since early season 3 (I've never had a problem with Vir working for me), but I think what strikes me so much about that episode is the way it encapsulates the whole journey. It has perspective, and it shows the choices people have made and the way they've drifted apart and what holds them together. Most of all, I think it captures that bittersweet mood of an ending--any ending, all endings--perfectly: the joy and the grief and the sense of how far they've come and how far they've yet to go. It's not just that it does an excellent job ending this story, but it also shows how stories end. My ultimate example for this is always The Lord of the Rings (the book; the film screws it up), but among television, B5 ranks very high

[gabolange]

And I've actually never seen the finale of ST:TNG.

Well, get thee to it! It's a wonderful, kind look at where they started and where they're going and . . . yeah. Easily in the top three finales ever. Though I am discovering, reading through comments, that I also need to watch M*A*S*H* just for the finale!

Most of all, I think it captures that bittersweet mood of an ending--any ending, all endings--perfectly: the joy and the grief and the sense of how far they've come and how far they've yet to go.

Yes. I love how the story ends and yet doesn't end at all, I love that there's as much of a sense of the future as there is of the past . . . there are so many things I love about "Sleeping in Light" that I don't know that it's really that we love it for different reasons but that we picked different reasons! And now I really want to watch it again, but not only do I not have time right now, but I'm so not up for the sob-fest that it always engenders!

I hope the actual finale is worthy of the show. Oh, indeed! They've been doing

[pellucid]

As I told abyssinia4077 below, there's really quite a lot of TNG I've never seen; I really am rather a newbie to this whole Trek thing. I've seen enough of TNG to be familiar with the characters and some of the big plot things (well, some of the Borg stuff, anyway), but I doubt I've seen more than a small fraction of the total episodes. I'll get around to it one of these days, I'm sure, but I suspect the finale would mean more to me once I've seen more of the show itself. One Trek series at a time, perhaps!

Well, as positive as I can feel about something that's sure to kill off my favorite character and make me cry. :)And what does it say about me that if it doesn't kill off my favorite character and make me cry, I'll probably be disappointed! (I'm not sure it says anything about me, actually, but it probably says quite a lot about the storytelling thus far!) My main reason for having faith in the BSG finale--aside from the fact that 4.0 went so well--is that I think they've known for a long time where they wanted to end up, and it was just a

[pellucid]

Heh! I'm not sure I'd ever actually vote for Colin Powell even if he were to run (I mean, maybe, depending on who he was running against, but I have a feeling we would not actually agree on all that much, no matter how much I respect him in many ways), but his endorsement certainly made me want to stand up and cheer. And back in the 90s when I was far more conservative than I am now, I very much wanted him to run!

[gateslacker]

Usually, finale's always disappoint me. I consider myself pretty easygoing as far as fans go in that I have never been that fan who feels that what I think is what everyone thinks and should naturally dictate the course of a show. I am continually amazed by those fans/fan groups who seem to think just that. I have always been able to either go with the flow or lose interest and stop watching. Even so, when you spend a great deal of time invested in a show and its characters, it is natural to have some sort of expectation about how everything is going to play out even when you have no idea where things are going. Babylon 5's finale was one of the best and most satisfying finale's I have ever watched. I don't know why other than I feel that everything had been resolved at this point (if I am remembering it correctly...it has been a few years) and the finale was more about the characters and saying goodbye rather than resolving the entire story. I hate the word closure but you had that with the B5 finale and could spend the entire

[pellucid]

I think the best finales are the ones that acknowledge what endings are about and are sensitive to that--that's why I love "Sleeping in Light," and I think you're right that the Slings and Arrows finale does that, as well. "Unending" hit that note in the last scene, but I wouldn't put it on my list of favorites--more into the second category of finales that pleased me but didn't blow me away. I'd put PK Wars in that category, as well, with, perhaps the exception of the Wormhole o' Doom scene, which was awesome. But neither of those shows took enough time to say goodbye (arguably Farscape didn't have the time to take).

I'm not really worried about the BSG finale. I suspect it will be awesome. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I do have fairly lofty expectations, and I think it has a fair shot of actually living up to them.

But yes, it's always better to end, I think--even when it's as pathetic an ending as something like X-Files or Voyager--than just to get cancelled!

[zinke]

The X-Files had a series finale (It's possible I have forcibly expunged it from my memory)?

My favorite is still the Cheers finale, which I haven't seen is years now but I still remember so strongly the feelings it evoked - about the importance of friendship, having a place to call home, knowing yourself and being understood. I still remember one of the last lines in the episode delivered by Kelsey Grammar: "Friends come in and out of our lives so quickly; we must never miss an opportunity to tell them how much they mean to us."

Good stuff.

[pellucid]

Yes, X-Files had a series finale, and it's probably just as well you don't remember it. It was predominantly a clips show, of all things, and the plot was utterly preposterous, and the whole thing was just a tremendous disappointment. The very last scene wasn't bad, but it wasn't worth the travesty of the rest of it.

And oh, Cheers! That's one of the great classics of finales, as is M*A*S*H, as I recall. And while I've seen both of them, it's been so many years that I don't remember them well enough to give a proper assessment.

[pellucid]

Ah, I've heard that the Alias finale does belong in the annals of worst finales ever. Wouldn't know from personal experience, but you're not the only person I've heard who was rageful about it.

As for Palin, I don't particularly care whether she wants to go on SNL or not, but the whole thing just seemed so strange to me. It seemed to be hovering right on that line between "I'm a good sport/I can take a joke" and "I am a joke: all of America thinks so, and I acknowledge it." And I will fully admit that the thought of her with power scares me shitless and I'm happy enough to see anything that makes her less likely to be elected (sorry, but it's true!); nevertheless, it makes me cringe to see anyone get on national television and admitting to being a laughingstock.

[pellucid]

No worries, and I didn't read it that way. Believe me, you're far from the only McCain/Palin supporter among my friends, and I like to think I've gotten fairly good over the years at the whole "agreeing to disagree" thing--or at least I hope I have, and I am still friends with all of those people, so... :)

And re: your original comment, I think that's sort of what I meant by perceiving the SNL appearance as treading that line between "I can take a joke" and "I am a joke"--and probably which side it seems to fall on has a great deal to do with how one perceives her in general. (It should also be noted that I have an extraordinarily low threshold of embarrassment, and my reactions to things like this--no matter who it is--should not be taken as normative!)