Home Again
Jun. 7th, 2004 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxHome again. I'm going to have to go to work tomorrow.
. . .not looking forward to going to work tomorrow. I like vacation. Oh well, have to work. Need the paycheck. Comments on various and sundry things.
1) Read the "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on vacation I had never actually read the book before. Sort of Monty Python-esque, and I think Douglas Adams may have had A D D. Although I have to admit he was pretty good at keeping things tied together. I had downloaded "Life, the Universe, and Everything" from Soulseek two weeks ago and had listened to half of that book. There were lots of little shout-outs to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. All in all, I enjoyed the book but it's anything but linear. What do you expect from a book claiming the meaning of life is 42?
2) Saw Shrek 2 while on vacation. I took my neice to see Shrek 2 while we were at the beach. Amusing. Lots of Hollywood jokes. Particularly liked the visual of people rushing out of a collapsing Starbucks... directly into the Starbucks across the street. I was actually expecting the Fairy Godmother to offer plastic surgery, and I thought when they were going to the Muffin Man that they'd have him create a Ghost Busters Marshmellow Man (I don't know why I thought that, but it seemed to fit).
3) Completely ignored my diet for several days while on vacation Will probably live to regret that one.
4) Someone want to explain to me why sushi is cheaper here in Birmingham than it is at the beach?
5) Hee! Sci-Fi had a Farscape Marathon one day while I was on vacation More fun, the marathon was mid-season 3 with episodes like Daedalus Demands, Icarus Abides, Revenging Angel, The Choice, and Fractures. All it really needed to be completely awesome was Dog with 2 Bones!
6) Have found myself in a kerfuffle on Sparklies I tend to have an iron clad rule about NOT discussing politics in fandom. Having spent many years in many fandoms, I've long since learned that politics and fandom quickly lead to big kerfuffles and very hard feelings. The thing is, I didn't even consider my statement to be particularly political inasmuch as I wasn't debating Republican vs. Democrats. I'm not debating Bush versus Anti-Bush. I'm not debating the Reagan presidency (about which I am actually somewhat passionate) or anything that has anything to do with the US Government, the war, or any of these issues. I categorically refuse to go into those issues, because more often than not, the debates are so complicated and gray and become so protracted that it almost inevitably ends up with people getting into fights with a lot of hurt feelings because it takes a lot of time and effort to deal with the intricacies of it. . . and it's fandom. Who in the hell wants to do THAT? (Besides, I honestly dislike having those debates or discussions be it with people I in no way agree with or those that I completely agree with. I just don't find poliltical debate to be an enjoyable past time. It's what I believe. Fandom by and large means having to have some humor about it or you end up at each other's throats. You fundamental beliefs have a lot less humor involved than fandoms needs in order to function very well.
My personal views tend to be a mixed bag of things that run the gamut of the political spectrum. I'm still a bit pissed by my kerfuffle at work with the overbearing little Napolean VP who was off on some lecture on Christianity until I finally got snippy and said, "Sorry, but I completely believe in evolution. And you may as well not go on with this discussion because we are never, ever going to agree on this" and refused to debate religious issues with him. Ever. Heh. I think I messed him up enough the day he asked "Do you know what demons are?" And I said, "Yes. FICTION." while secretly wondering whether I could push it far enough to have responded to "Do you know what demons are?" with "Yes, the only characters I liked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.")
My rule of NO POLITICAL DISCUSSION aside, I stand by my Sparklies stance of "I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS WHAT HOLLYWOOD ACTORS THINK ON POLITICAL MATTERS!" I don't care what side of the political fence they are standing on. What I want from an actor is good acting, and if they look pretty to boot...well, that doesn't hurt. Where and how they cast their vote is up to them. Their views are also entirely up to them. They can think, believe, vote whatever they like and more power to them, but I really don't care if they are a leftist nut, general liberal, somewhat moderate, some right wing Christian Conservative or any unlikely combination or permutation of these things.
Okay, I admit it, by and large I tend to think actors as a group have a tendency to be...well, let's be nice and say they are very artistic and creative people (and after architecture school, I have a lot of opinions on the matters of creative artists... and art majors...and let me say here, I think Dadaism was largely a big joke perpetrated on the art world). Fame doesn't make someone wise in the way of politics or the way that the average American lives. I'm not even sure how seriously I take politicians in matters of politics. But I know good and well that I don't take anyone in Hollywood seriously regarding politics, and I don't care whether they're on the Barbara Steisand/Michael Moore end of the spectrum or the Mel Gibson end. Being famous isn't a reason I should be influenced by someone or a reason I should pay attention to their political views. (Except if someone could make Baldwin follow through on his threat to leave the country... I wouldn't weep over it).
Just my opinion, of course, but I feel strongly on this issue and have for the last decade or so.
7) On Vacation I kept tabs on Soaps
. . .not looking forward to going to work tomorrow. I like vacation. Oh well, have to work. Need the paycheck. Comments on various and sundry things.
1) Read the "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on vacation I had never actually read the book before. Sort of Monty Python-esque, and I think Douglas Adams may have had A D D. Although I have to admit he was pretty good at keeping things tied together. I had downloaded "Life, the Universe, and Everything" from Soulseek two weeks ago and had listened to half of that book. There were lots of little shout-outs to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. All in all, I enjoyed the book but it's anything but linear. What do you expect from a book claiming the meaning of life is 42?
2) Saw Shrek 2 while on vacation. I took my neice to see Shrek 2 while we were at the beach. Amusing. Lots of Hollywood jokes. Particularly liked the visual of people rushing out of a collapsing Starbucks... directly into the Starbucks across the street. I was actually expecting the Fairy Godmother to offer plastic surgery, and I thought when they were going to the Muffin Man that they'd have him create a Ghost Busters Marshmellow Man (I don't know why I thought that, but it seemed to fit).
3) Completely ignored my diet for several days while on vacation Will probably live to regret that one.
4) Someone want to explain to me why sushi is cheaper here in Birmingham than it is at the beach?
5) Hee! Sci-Fi had a Farscape Marathon one day while I was on vacation More fun, the marathon was mid-season 3 with episodes like Daedalus Demands, Icarus Abides, Revenging Angel, The Choice, and Fractures. All it really needed to be completely awesome was Dog with 2 Bones!
6) Have found myself in a kerfuffle on Sparklies I tend to have an iron clad rule about NOT discussing politics in fandom. Having spent many years in many fandoms, I've long since learned that politics and fandom quickly lead to big kerfuffles and very hard feelings. The thing is, I didn't even consider my statement to be particularly political inasmuch as I wasn't debating Republican vs. Democrats. I'm not debating Bush versus Anti-Bush. I'm not debating the Reagan presidency (about which I am actually somewhat passionate) or anything that has anything to do with the US Government, the war, or any of these issues. I categorically refuse to go into those issues, because more often than not, the debates are so complicated and gray and become so protracted that it almost inevitably ends up with people getting into fights with a lot of hurt feelings because it takes a lot of time and effort to deal with the intricacies of it. . . and it's fandom. Who in the hell wants to do THAT? (Besides, I honestly dislike having those debates or discussions be it with people I in no way agree with or those that I completely agree with. I just don't find poliltical debate to be an enjoyable past time. It's what I believe. Fandom by and large means having to have some humor about it or you end up at each other's throats. You fundamental beliefs have a lot less humor involved than fandoms needs in order to function very well.
My personal views tend to be a mixed bag of things that run the gamut of the political spectrum. I'm still a bit pissed by my kerfuffle at work with the overbearing little Napolean VP who was off on some lecture on Christianity until I finally got snippy and said, "Sorry, but I completely believe in evolution. And you may as well not go on with this discussion because we are never, ever going to agree on this" and refused to debate religious issues with him. Ever. Heh. I think I messed him up enough the day he asked "Do you know what demons are?" And I said, "Yes. FICTION." while secretly wondering whether I could push it far enough to have responded to "Do you know what demons are?" with "Yes, the only characters I liked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.")
My rule of NO POLITICAL DISCUSSION aside, I stand by my Sparklies stance of "I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS WHAT HOLLYWOOD ACTORS THINK ON POLITICAL MATTERS!" I don't care what side of the political fence they are standing on. What I want from an actor is good acting, and if they look pretty to boot...well, that doesn't hurt. Where and how they cast their vote is up to them. Their views are also entirely up to them. They can think, believe, vote whatever they like and more power to them, but I really don't care if they are a leftist nut, general liberal, somewhat moderate, some right wing Christian Conservative or any unlikely combination or permutation of these things.
Okay, I admit it, by and large I tend to think actors as a group have a tendency to be...well, let's be nice and say they are very artistic and creative people (and after architecture school, I have a lot of opinions on the matters of creative artists... and art majors...and let me say here, I think Dadaism was largely a big joke perpetrated on the art world). Fame doesn't make someone wise in the way of politics or the way that the average American lives. I'm not even sure how seriously I take politicians in matters of politics. But I know good and well that I don't take anyone in Hollywood seriously regarding politics, and I don't care whether they're on the Barbara Steisand/Michael Moore end of the spectrum or the Mel Gibson end. Being famous isn't a reason I should be influenced by someone or a reason I should pay attention to their political views. (Except if someone could make Baldwin follow through on his threat to leave the country... I wouldn't weep over it).
Just my opinion, of course, but I feel strongly on this issue and have for the last decade or so.
7) On Vacation I kept tabs on Soaps
A. All My Children
AMC has made Ryan Lavery absolutely insufferable. I don't care how great his washboard abs are (and they haven't even shown those in a while) this Kendal and Greenlea fight over Ryan story just annoys the hell out of me. There's something smarmy in how sweet they've suddenly made the bitchy Greenlea, and the hypocrisy of Ryan's behavior where Kendal is concerned just rubs my last nerve. Ryan gets pissed at Kendal's ultimatums... so what does Ryan do? Issue ultimatums. Ryan bitches about Kendal always "testing" him, but what does he do? He constantly tests her. He gets pissed that Kendal doesn't have absolute blind trust and faith in him and that she shouldn't dare QUESTION him... on anything. Meanwhile, he constantly demands that he NEVER be asked to actually explain anything he ever does. He tests her to see whether she can have absolute blind trust and faith in him. My favorite in this whole mess was Ryan demanding Kendal's absolute faith that he felt nothing for Greenlea and would never ever be unfaithful to Kendal...And of course the way to convince a girl of the depth of your commitment to her and that her fears of your involvement with another woman are utterly groundless and paranoid is that every, single time you have a tif... you go running STRAIGHT to the other woman! Heck, if your fiance has the question your involvment with this other woman you constantly bend over backward, the way to show your fiance how out of line and delusional she is. . .is to run off and MARRY the other woman...THAT DAY! Guh! The fact that both these female characters continue to fight over "who Ryan loves" instead of recognizing that clearly the person Ryan loves best is Ryan is making the show damn near unwatchable. Am I supposed to hope EITHER of these women end up with him? If I wish hard enough, could Ryan end up with Erica Kane? That'd serve him right!
B. The Mad Wackiness of Days So... apparently Belle has known Phillip longer than she's known Shawn-Douglass. Hmm... the explanation for this one has to be as good as the explanation for Sami's comment about an incident with Marlena when Sami was five years old. The way I seem to remember it was that Marlena was off presumed "dead" when Sami was five on the show (after all... this was only in 1990 or so) And if I remember correctly, Shawn-Douglas was born in 1986 or so... Bell was sometime in 93 or 94. And Phillip shortly after that. Now, SORAS not withstanding (all of these kiddies are currently 19, 20, 22, or something like it) how would Belle have known Phillip longer than Shawn-D? The all lived in the same little incestuous town!
Jennifer is now the next person slated to die. . .which naturally means that Jack is the only "dead" Salemite that has currently escaped the island. Therefore when Jennifer shows up there, Jack will be the person she ISN'T reunited. . .and I'm wondering. . .who is left to take care of poor little un-SORASED Abby? (The only kid on Days who hasn't leap frogged into her twenties but is actually YOUNGER than she should be. ) Seems to me that Days will have "killed" her father, her mother, her soon to be born sibling, her great aunt, her great grandmother. Are they going to forget that Abby exists or is she going to be taken in by NuUncle Mickey who looks suspiciously like Grandpa Quartermaine? And if so is she ever going to say to the gold digging Bonny "Gee, you look JUST like my Aunt Adrienne... who for some reason never came to my dad's funeral." And why am I worried about this poor soon to be orphan? I guess it may be that I don't think they'll even bother with reuniting her with the not-really-dead Jack if he does find his way back to Salem before the year 2005... which is actually an optimistic time scale where Days is concerned. Hmm... wonder if they might evern send poor little Abby to Uncle Lucas. That's all the tyke needs... if years of her own parentlys starcrossesd bickering and double murder isn't enough, she can join poor Little Will (the only other kid in town not turned into instant teen) in watching HIS parents dysfunction junction. Ah well... such is days. Where Death never means you'll stay that way.
