Whole Bunch of Stuff
May. 31st, 2005 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxThe beach was nice though I joked to my mother that we were just camping with air conditioning and a really sturdy tent. I say that because my sister's house is still in a mid renovation catastrophe with a 2/3 finished kitchen, 1 fully functioning bathroom... that has no mirrors, paint or vent covers. There's also not much in the way of furniture (just a loveseat that is literally older than I am, and matresses and box springs in the upstairs bedrooms [no actual beds... just the mattresses]. No phones (though I still have my cell) and the tv has no cable so it's DVDs or nothing. Glorified camping indeed. But it's nice if you aren't high maintenance... or mid-maintenance. And I'm quite impressed with my 10-year-old neice for happily occupying hereself there with only her grandparents and her aunt.
Various and sundry things:
It was on my neice's summer reading list so on the way down and the way back we listened to "Anne of Green Gables" on the unabridged book CD.
Yeah, I know it's not actually reading the book... but it is unabridged). It's been at least 20 years since I read the book and in the meantime my mental image of the story is hopelessly intermixed with the mini-series. So remembering the petite actress who had played Anne from the age of 11 though what had to have been her mid to late twenties, I had forgotten that in the book by the time that Anne is in her late teens, she's supposed to be tall. I also noted for the first time, some of the structure of the book. The writer did manage to make Anne both incredibly almost pollyanna-sh/Mary Sue sweet... without it being cloying or off putting. Anne was a Mary Sue who wasn't because clearly the character was largely based on the author, and yet for all of Anne's melodramatically downtrodden past, she is actually human as evidence by her fits of temper. (I loved when she started off on the wrong foot with Rachel proclaiming bluntly "I hate you" and the years long grudge against poor Gilbert Blythe. All in all the book was as enjoyable as I remembered.
We also went shopping while at the beach and bought this skirt (It's actually a softer blue than it appears to be.)
And since we didn't have cable we watched a bunch of videos which we owned. Part of what I owned was Season 1 and Season 2 Northern Exposure, and we haphazzardly skipped through the two seasons.
I was surprised at how much in the early seasons they tried to paint Maggie and Joel as being sort of "meant to be." I noticed it in at least two episodes. The first was the episode where the town was hit by the flu and it's pointed out that only Maggie and Joel don't become ill (and a parallel is drawn that they are both the only ones who didn't fall ill) Well, except if you're watching Ed never fell ill either so I guess it was a somewhat flawed parallel. But they did point it out.
They also were shown in parallel courses in the episode where spring is coming and the ice is "groaning" getting ready to break. All the other characters have obsessions which come out. Chris is stealing. Shelly is hit with the reading bug, devouring books. Holling was dying to pick a fight. etc. Both Maggie and Joel are pretty much in heat. (Joel trying to convince himself that he's only buying Playboy for the articles is a funny scene though). But, again, while the other characters are given an assortment of obsessions, they chose to give Maggie and Joel the same obsession and have them play off of one another.
It's quite clear that the show intended the audience to ship Maggie and Joel, and, yes, certainly there's lots of sexual chemistry between the two characters. But having watched the entire series I know that attraction is both going to be fulfilled and doomed. And, while I know a lot of people were upset by the fact that Maggie and Joel got together but didn't end up together (and I was probably one of them), in retrospect I'm more than okay with it. Yes, Maggie and Joel have a lot of sexual chemistry and they are fun to watch as they bicker and banter... but looking at it objectively with lots of years behind it... Maggie was probably better off ending up with Chris. Joel was certainly a good man, and I enjoy the fact that ultimately he chose (for a while at least) to stay in Alaska and was made to appreciate that life before he returned to NYC. The truth is his story probably wouldn't have been complete until he returned to NYC because though it was good for him to have those epiphanies and go nature boy for a while... he really was a New York guy at heart and it had been important to his character from the first. So it was actually right that he returned to NYC in the end. And... that really isn't the life that Maggie would have wanted. She could easily survive there since she was a Grosse Point girl... but that was NOT the life she wanted. It never had been. So, actually though it wasn't the original course set by the series which was clearly going for Maggie + Joel 4 eva, and while that's certainly the sentimental ship of the series... in a purely objective judgement Maggie probably was better off ending up with Chris as Maggie and Chris shared lifestyles and interest. Maggie and Chris happily intended spending the rest of their lives in Cicely and they were both genuinely good and nice people. So for all the fact that series set-up and audience expectation from the start was that Maggie and Joel should end up together, it's probably more realistic that she ended up with Chris (which isn't to say that the show should have gone on without Joel. The replacement yuppies never, ever lived up to the neurotic Joel Fleishmann. The show probably should have ended with the "Maggie and Joel on a quest to find the City of the North" episode.
Speaking of the Maggie and Joel "quest" episode... I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the whimsey of the series existed almost from the first. There were so many dream sequences. From the ep we watched where Joel's subconscious was warning him that his fiance and he were doomed, doomed, doomed because in his dream he's back in NYC and everyone kept referring to his sister... only for him to discover that his "sister" was his fiance and that Maggie (complete with Red Barron bomber jacket and white scarf flowing in the breeze) was his wife. To the Joel singing lead in "Simply Irresistable" complete with the bevvy of models.
The most hilarious dream sequence in the eps we watched was the one where Holling decided that he needed to be circumcized (yikes!). Shelly commented on his "little turtleneck" and how all the other guys she had been with hadn't had those, and Hollilng took it into his head that if he got circumsized his dick would look "younger." His showing up dead drunk on Joel's doorstep telling Joel not to be worried about the surgery was pretty funny along with his telling Joel about his history of "adventures with Johnny" until Joel figured out that "Johnny" was Holling's dick was also funny. But the dream sequence where Holling dreams he's laying on the surgery table with all of Cicely looking on and gasping as Joel "oops!" makes a mistake (with a chain saw instead of a scapel) was cringeworthy and pretty hilarious.
I did catch a continuity error in one of the eps. It was founder's day and Chris was giving a talk on the history of the founding of Cicely giving the story of how the lesbian couple of Cicley and Roslyn founded the city (and of course the homophobic Maurice insisting that they were "hearty spinsters"... LOL!) Anyway, the continuity error was Chris describing Roslyn as being a not particularly attractive woman. But I remember the "flashback" episode that showed the initial founding of Cicely and both Roslyn and Cicely were very attractive women. That said it's a minor continuity error because the flashback episode kept the same starcrossed love story that Chris was talking about on Founder's Day... and it's not exactly a huge problem that they cast attractive actresses to play the part in the fantasy flashback.
Anyway, it's too bad that we don't have many quality shows and it would be nice to have a few more of NE's caliber around these days.
When I made it back home I watched my TiVoed eps of and OH MY GOD! The so-called "heroic" Ryan Lavery hit all new levels of unbelievable ASSHAT status. Truly, the character has become revolting and abusive...and why in the hell does the FEMALE headwriter of the show think that this raging, verbally abusive asshat is a "hero" is beyond me. Guh!
And I watched Ep 2 of the new that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rahirah was kind enough to send to me. The fx are of course greatly improved over the old series. But as improved as they are, there is still some cheese to them. And in a way or two the ep reminded me of somthing that Star Trek:TNG might do. Then again Star Trek:TNG was the GOOD Star Trek. What this version of Dr. Who has going for it are two very appealing leads. Rose is a sympathetic avatar for the audience. She seems a good proxy for "us." And (and coming from a BtVS fan this is ALWAYS appreciated) she is expressive. She comes off as bright and compassionate. She's very easily liked and delivered a good performance. And the new Doctor is very appealing. He still has some of the nerdishness that is my primary memory of the old Who. But his nerdishness is now given a new twist with (mmmm) black leather and a certain degree of "cool" as well. The moment he won me was the moment when he had tears in his eyes over the death of his own civilization. I know there's probably no point to ship these two as Eccleston has already quit and I read the other day that "Rose" has as well. But I certainly understand the urge to ship them. All in all, while there's still some cheese involved, the new Who was very enjoyable -- entertaining AND emotional. So all inall, good TV.
And I had a Spike rant/discussion inspired by today's debate on BAPS, but at the moment, I'm tired and ready for bed so it'll keep for another day.
Anyway, nice little mini-vacation and thanks for all the support regarding my Dad's health.
Various and sundry things:
It was on my neice's summer reading list so on the way down and the way back we listened to "Anne of Green Gables" on the unabridged book CD.
Yeah, I know it's not actually reading the book... but it is unabridged). It's been at least 20 years since I read the book and in the meantime my mental image of the story is hopelessly intermixed with the mini-series. So remembering the petite actress who had played Anne from the age of 11 though what had to have been her mid to late twenties, I had forgotten that in the book by the time that Anne is in her late teens, she's supposed to be tall. I also noted for the first time, some of the structure of the book. The writer did manage to make Anne both incredibly almost pollyanna-sh/Mary Sue sweet... without it being cloying or off putting. Anne was a Mary Sue who wasn't because clearly the character was largely based on the author, and yet for all of Anne's melodramatically downtrodden past, she is actually human as evidence by her fits of temper. (I loved when she started off on the wrong foot with Rachel proclaiming bluntly "I hate you" and the years long grudge against poor Gilbert Blythe. All in all the book was as enjoyable as I remembered.
We also went shopping while at the beach and bought this skirt (It's actually a softer blue than it appears to be.)
And since we didn't have cable we watched a bunch of videos which we owned. Part of what I owned was Season 1 and Season 2 Northern Exposure, and we haphazzardly skipped through the two seasons.
I was surprised at how much in the early seasons they tried to paint Maggie and Joel as being sort of "meant to be." I noticed it in at least two episodes. The first was the episode where the town was hit by the flu and it's pointed out that only Maggie and Joel don't become ill (and a parallel is drawn that they are both the only ones who didn't fall ill) Well, except if you're watching Ed never fell ill either so I guess it was a somewhat flawed parallel. But they did point it out.
They also were shown in parallel courses in the episode where spring is coming and the ice is "groaning" getting ready to break. All the other characters have obsessions which come out. Chris is stealing. Shelly is hit with the reading bug, devouring books. Holling was dying to pick a fight. etc. Both Maggie and Joel are pretty much in heat. (Joel trying to convince himself that he's only buying Playboy for the articles is a funny scene though). But, again, while the other characters are given an assortment of obsessions, they chose to give Maggie and Joel the same obsession and have them play off of one another.
It's quite clear that the show intended the audience to ship Maggie and Joel, and, yes, certainly there's lots of sexual chemistry between the two characters. But having watched the entire series I know that attraction is both going to be fulfilled and doomed. And, while I know a lot of people were upset by the fact that Maggie and Joel got together but didn't end up together (and I was probably one of them), in retrospect I'm more than okay with it. Yes, Maggie and Joel have a lot of sexual chemistry and they are fun to watch as they bicker and banter... but looking at it objectively with lots of years behind it... Maggie was probably better off ending up with Chris. Joel was certainly a good man, and I enjoy the fact that ultimately he chose (for a while at least) to stay in Alaska and was made to appreciate that life before he returned to NYC. The truth is his story probably wouldn't have been complete until he returned to NYC because though it was good for him to have those epiphanies and go nature boy for a while... he really was a New York guy at heart and it had been important to his character from the first. So it was actually right that he returned to NYC in the end. And... that really isn't the life that Maggie would have wanted. She could easily survive there since she was a Grosse Point girl... but that was NOT the life she wanted. It never had been. So, actually though it wasn't the original course set by the series which was clearly going for Maggie + Joel 4 eva, and while that's certainly the sentimental ship of the series... in a purely objective judgement Maggie probably was better off ending up with Chris as Maggie and Chris shared lifestyles and interest. Maggie and Chris happily intended spending the rest of their lives in Cicely and they were both genuinely good and nice people. So for all the fact that series set-up and audience expectation from the start was that Maggie and Joel should end up together, it's probably more realistic that she ended up with Chris (which isn't to say that the show should have gone on without Joel. The replacement yuppies never, ever lived up to the neurotic Joel Fleishmann. The show probably should have ended with the "Maggie and Joel on a quest to find the City of the North" episode.
Speaking of the Maggie and Joel "quest" episode... I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the whimsey of the series existed almost from the first. There were so many dream sequences. From the ep we watched where Joel's subconscious was warning him that his fiance and he were doomed, doomed, doomed because in his dream he's back in NYC and everyone kept referring to his sister... only for him to discover that his "sister" was his fiance and that Maggie (complete with Red Barron bomber jacket and white scarf flowing in the breeze) was his wife. To the Joel singing lead in "Simply Irresistable" complete with the bevvy of models.
The most hilarious dream sequence in the eps we watched was the one where Holling decided that he needed to be circumcized (yikes!). Shelly commented on his "little turtleneck" and how all the other guys she had been with hadn't had those, and Hollilng took it into his head that if he got circumsized his dick would look "younger." His showing up dead drunk on Joel's doorstep telling Joel not to be worried about the surgery was pretty funny along with his telling Joel about his history of "adventures with Johnny" until Joel figured out that "Johnny" was Holling's dick was also funny. But the dream sequence where Holling dreams he's laying on the surgery table with all of Cicely looking on and gasping as Joel "oops!" makes a mistake (with a chain saw instead of a scapel) was cringeworthy and pretty hilarious.
I did catch a continuity error in one of the eps. It was founder's day and Chris was giving a talk on the history of the founding of Cicely giving the story of how the lesbian couple of Cicley and Roslyn founded the city (and of course the homophobic Maurice insisting that they were "hearty spinsters"... LOL!) Anyway, the continuity error was Chris describing Roslyn as being a not particularly attractive woman. But I remember the "flashback" episode that showed the initial founding of Cicely and both Roslyn and Cicely were very attractive women. That said it's a minor continuity error because the flashback episode kept the same starcrossed love story that Chris was talking about on Founder's Day... and it's not exactly a huge problem that they cast attractive actresses to play the part in the fantasy flashback.
Anyway, it's too bad that we don't have many quality shows and it would be nice to have a few more of NE's caliber around these days.
When I made it back home I watched my TiVoed eps of and OH MY GOD! The so-called "heroic" Ryan Lavery hit all new levels of unbelievable ASSHAT status. Truly, the character has become revolting and abusive...and why in the hell does the FEMALE headwriter of the show think that this raging, verbally abusive asshat is a "hero" is beyond me. Guh!
And I watched Ep 2 of the new that
rahirah was kind enough to send to me. The fx are of course greatly improved over the old series. But as improved as they are, there is still some cheese to them. And in a way or two the ep reminded me of somthing that Star Trek:TNG might do. Then again Star Trek:TNG was the GOOD Star Trek. What this version of Dr. Who has going for it are two very appealing leads. Rose is a sympathetic avatar for the audience. She seems a good proxy for "us." And (and coming from a BtVS fan this is ALWAYS appreciated) she is expressive. She comes off as bright and compassionate. She's very easily liked and delivered a good performance. And the new Doctor is very appealing. He still has some of the nerdishness that is my primary memory of the old Who. But his nerdishness is now given a new twist with (mmmm) black leather and a certain degree of "cool" as well. The moment he won me was the moment when he had tears in his eyes over the death of his own civilization. I know there's probably no point to ship these two as Eccleston has already quit and I read the other day that "Rose" has as well. But I certainly understand the urge to ship them. All in all, while there's still some cheese involved, the new Who was very enjoyable -- entertaining AND emotional. So all inall, good TV.And I had a Spike rant/discussion inspired by today's debate on BAPS, but at the moment, I'm tired and ready for bed so it'll keep for another day.
Anyway, nice little mini-vacation and thanks for all the support regarding my Dad's health.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-02 07:53 pm (UTC)If Fen doesn't get them up first, remind me, and I can put up another couple of episodes for you if you want them. (I'm seriously thinking of getting a DVD player that will play avi files. They have them now and they're no more expensive than a regular DVD player, and it would cut out all that annoying file conversion garbage.)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-02 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-03 09:53 pm (UTC)I do remember the scene when they finally, finally *Did It* as one of the hottest such scenes ever. I rate it very nearly as highly as Smashed. As I recall, their surrender to carnal passion was preceded by passionate argument too (sans the fisti-cuffs), but there was something about their steaming, hot passion finally exploded through the surface in that freezing cold barn while they're both bundled up in those great, poofy parkas, mittens, hats and boots that was just so funny and incredibly hot.
I can understand why they couldn't end up happily ever after, but I wish that they had gotten them together sooner so they would have had time to be together longer before showing them breaking apart. All that UST for so long, and even after it was resolved they went right back into a holding/denial pattern. The pay-off didn't last long enough for me.
It's kind of funny when I think about how in the Gross Pointe episode, when it originally aired, I never gave JM a second thought or a second look. Who knew, eh? Since Rob Morrow got that new series last season I've wondered if he and JM are friendly at all. I've only seen it a couple of times but it wouldn't be bad show for him to guest-star on. Quite decent, actually.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 02:53 am (UTC)I think we both completely agree that Season 7 Spike was a sexually neutered and therefore "acceptable" Spike, but it kills me watching a Spike without a zest for life and adventure. So I don't get the deep love of Season 7 Spike as the zenith of Spike Evolution. I tend to think of it as Spike's nadir. He was in a very low place during Season 7, he was emotionally exhausted and in so much pain. . .and I can't take pleasure in that.
Sure the first part of AtS Spike is a bit of congnitive dissonance compared to the Spike of Season 7, and there IS some bad writing involved. But also a lot of Spike's bastard-like qualities are perfectly understandable if you actually agree with Part II of my thesis which was that Spike was NOT okay with the way that Buffy treated him.
If we look at Spike as someone who has a lot of internal emotional conflict then his irritability makes sense. Spike LOVES Buffy. He adores Buffy. But Spike also has a lot of unresolved anger with Buffy. And I don't know where people think that just disappeared to because he died. The Spike of End of Days didn't trust Buffy enough to open up and share his feelings (which says a GREAT deal for someone as emotionally available as Spike). And he was HURT damnit! He was hurt and angry in the first part of Chosen. Even in Touched he referred to her as being "insufferable".
Yes, Spike loved Buffy and continued/es to love Buffy. ANd I think his love for her is enough that he wouldn't actually allow himself to be grudge-like ANGRY with her. He probably feels he deserves to not win the girl. He probably makes a lot of excuses for Buffy. He probably CLAIMS that he's okay with it all. But that's a veneer and inside he's far more conflicted. He was before he died, I'm not at all sure why people think that would have disappeared simply because he self immolated.
I'm not saying that Spike holds a grudge or that he's actively angry... just that there are unresolved emotions there and one of which is anger and frustration... because those have ALWAYS been part of Spike and why would they have gone away? He isn't THAT evolved. And if you can understand the Spike of early Season 5 being in emotional conflict, unhappy, at loose ends, etc, then his behavior isn't as inexplicable as some are claiming when they say that Spike was so OOC in early Season 5. No, he wasn't like BtVS Season 7 Spike (and there was bad writing involved) but many of his actions make sense if you allow him to be profoundly unhappy and conflicted.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 02:55 am (UTC)But I did enjoy when they first had sex. It was funny, passionate, and in character.