XF Love

It's my day off, so I slept late, and when I was making breakfast, they were playing two X-Files episodes back-to-back on Sci-Fi. These weren't even two of the all-time great XF's. Just standard "good" XF episodes, and while watching I'm struck again how freaking much I loved Mulder and Scully! Those two characters and their relationship really were made of awesome.

In the first episode, the plot itself was mostly forgettable, but there was this moment where Mulder and Scully were standing at the door of some building ringing the bell and the two of them were just talking. Actually, the two of them were snarking -- about the case and about each other, and I loves some good snark. Scully cracked a joke and looked up at Mulder. Mulder had this small "I totally get you" smile, and the eye flirt between them was a thing of beauty. It struck me then how much of X-Files's fun was fully set on Mulder and Scully's ability to snark intelligently and to eye flirt. They were true masters. Snark, "I get you", and eye flirting are the direct line to my fandom shipping heart (and, thinking about it, that was what attracted me to Spuffy in Season 5. They also snarked, always saw beneath put-ons of "I'm so good and infinitely strong"/"I've changed!"), and they had that whole eye-lust thing).

Re-watching, as much as I loved Dogget (and I did love Dogget), I wonder why they tried to extend the show beyond the Mulder (and later the Mulder/Scully) era. The heart and the bedrock of that show was the Mulder/Scully relationship. Both Mulder and Scully were smart (although in different ways). They were equals. They could save each other's asses, and they would walk through the bowels of hell for one another. Unquestioningly. Unwaveringly. And probably bitching about the other person as they went, but --oh-- they would go. Anywhere.

*Sigh.* I loved them.

Second episode was the Donnie Phaster returns episode, and it reminded me of why I loved Scully in particular.

I had as much a girlcrush on Scully as I did with Farscape's Aeryn Sun. Both are my all-time favorite heroines. Scully always had this quiet strength and unwavering determination. The woman would walk into a dark hole that I sure as hell would never go into. There could be creepy crawly things in there!

If you never followed X-Files, or were casual instead of obsessed and thus don't remember Donnie Phaster, he was Riley's military leader at the Initiative he was the serial killer who had a fetish for women's hair, hands, and red fingernails. In Phaster's first episode in... Season 1(?), he almost got Scully. I remember the great shippy moment at the end where Scully fell into Mulder's arms sobbing after it was all over and order was restored (because the woman never, ever fell apart while shit was going down). Today's episode was the second Phaster episode, the one where Donnie escaped prison. Scully is obsessed with re-capturing him and sending his ass away and he has become obsessed with Scully as "the one who got away." At the end of the episode, he has slipped into her apartment to capture her. Gillian Anderson is a small person, but jeez, Scully can kick butt! No super powers needed. The woman just fought like a hellcat, complete with eye-gouging, ball kicking, elbows to the jaw, and use of heavy and/or blunt objects. It's not the pretty, neat fighting of faux martial arts of more stylized super heroines. It was self-defense courses and FBI training in action. She would not go quietly into that good night. And, when his size overcame her fighting skills, she was one cool-headed hostage. Tied up, she still managed to escape, hide, and cut her own bonds. And, though Mulder and the FBI arrive for the rescue, Scully doesn't need rescuing (though it's always nice to have Mulder there for comfort afterward). By the time "rescue" arrives she's released herself, gotten her gun, and is hella pissed, ending with her shooting Donnie in cold blood, killing the creepy bastard.

But Scully was not just an action hero. She was a smart, compassionate woman. The episode ends with her questioning her shooting of the man. She doesn't regret it, per se. She knows he would have killed again. But she wonders whether what she did was justice or vengeance. And that was why she rocked. Smart. Level-headed. The woman never squealed like a helpless girly-girl (though Mulder did once in the Jose Chung episode, and that never ceases to be funny). She could kick butt. But she also pondered things like justice, vengeance, and God. She could be fierce, uncompromising, and compassionate. Any wonder why she, along with Aeryn Sun, continues to be my high water mark where heroines are concerned?

Watch on YouTube

XF Love

It's my day off, so I slept late, and when I was making breakfast, they were playing two X-Files episodes back-to-back on Sci-Fi. These weren't even two of the all-time great XF's. Just standard "good" XF episodes, and while watching I'm struck again how freaking much I loved Mulder and Scully! Those two characters and their relationship really were made of awesome.

In the first episode, the plot itself was mostly forgettable, but there was this moment where Mulder and Scully were standing at the door of some building ringing the bell and the two of them were just talking. Actually, the two of them were snarking -- about the case and about each other, and I loves some good snark. Scully cracked a joke and looked up at Mulder. Mulder had this small "I totally get you" smile, and the eye flirt between them was a thing of beauty. It struck me then how much of X-Files's fun was fully set on Mulder and Scully's ability to snark intelligently and to eye flirt. They were true masters. Snark, "I get you", and eye flirting are the direct line to my fandom shipping heart (and, thinking about it, that was what attracted me to Spuffy in Season 5. They also snarked, always saw beneath put-ons of "I'm so good and infinitely strong"/"I've changed!"), and they had that whole eye-lust thing).

Re-watching, as much as I loved Dogget (and I did love Dogget), I wonder why they tried to extend the show beyond the Mulder (and later the Mulder/Scully) era. The heart and the bedrock of that show was the Mulder/Scully relationship. Both Mulder and Scully were smart (although in different ways). They were equals. They could save each other's asses, and they would walk through the bowels of hell for one another. Unquestioningly. Unwaveringly. And probably bitching about the other person as they went, but --oh-- they would go. Anywhere.

*Sigh.* I loved them.

Second episode was the Donnie Phaster returns episode, and it reminded me of why I loved Scully in particular.

I had as much a girlcrush on Scully as I did with Farscape's Aeryn Sun. Both are my all-time favorite heroines. Scully always had this quiet strength and unwavering determination. The woman would walk into a dark hole that I sure as hell would never go into. There could be creepy crawly things in there!

If you never followed X-Files, or were casual instead of obsessed and thus don't remember Donnie Phaster, he was Riley's military leader at the Initiative he was the serial killer who had a fetish for women's hair, hands, and red fingernails. In Phaster's first episode in... Season 1(?), he almost got Scully. I remember the great shippy moment at the end where Scully fell into Mulder's arms sobbing after it was all over and order was restored (because the woman never, ever fell apart while shit was going down). Today's episode was the second Phaster episode, the one where Donnie escaped prison. Scully is obsessed with re-capturing him and sending his ass away and he has become obsessed with Scully as "the one who got away." At the end of the episode, he has slipped into her apartment to capture her. Gillian Anderson is a small person, but jeez, Scully can kick butt! No super powers needed. The woman just fought like a hellcat, complete with eye-gouging, ball kicking, elbows to the jaw, and use of heavy and/or blunt objects. It's not the pretty, neat fighting of faux martial arts of more stylized super heroines. It was self-defense courses and FBI training in action. She would not go quietly into that good night. And, when his size overcame her fighting skills, she was one cool-headed hostage. Tied up, she still managed to escape, hide, and cut her own bonds. And, though Mulder and the FBI arrive for the rescue, Scully doesn't need rescuing (though it's always nice to have Mulder there for comfort afterward). By the time "rescue" arrives she's released herself, gotten her gun, and is hella pissed, ending with her shooting Donnie in cold blood, killing the creepy bastard.

But Scully was not just an action hero. She was a smart, compassionate woman. The episode ends with her questioning her shooting of the man. She doesn't regret it, per se. She knows he would have killed again. But she wonders whether what she did was justice or vengeance. And that was why she rocked. Smart. Level-headed. The woman never squealed like a helpless girly-girl (though Mulder did once in the Jose Chung episode, and that never ceases to be funny). She could kick butt. But she also pondered things like justice, vengeance, and God. She could be fierce, uncompromising, and compassionate. Any wonder why she, along with Aeryn Sun, continues to be my high water mark where heroines are concerned?

Watch on YouTube

XF Love

It's my day off, so I slept late, and when I was making breakfast, they were playing two X-Files episodes back-to-back on Sci-Fi. These weren't even two of the all-time great XF's. Just standard "good" XF episodes, and while watching I'm struck again how freaking much I loved Mulder and Scully! Those two characters and their relationship really were made of awesome.

In the first episode, the plot itself was mostly forgettable, but there was this moment where Mulder and Scully were standing at the door of some building ringing the bell and the two of them were just talking. Actually, the two of them were snarking -- about the case and about each other, and I loves some good snark. Scully cracked a joke and looked up at Mulder. Mulder had this small "I totally get you" smile, and the eye flirt between them was a thing of beauty. It struck me then how much of X-Files's fun was fully set on Mulder and Scully's ability to snark intelligently and to eye flirt. They were true masters. Snark, "I get you", and eye flirting are the direct line to my fandom shipping heart (and, thinking about it, that was what attracted me to Spuffy in Season 5. They also snarked, always saw beneath put-ons of "I'm so good and infinitely strong"/"I've changed!"), and they had that whole eye-lust thing).

Re-watching, as much as I loved Dogget (and I did love Dogget), I wonder why they tried to extend the show beyond the Mulder (and later the Mulder/Scully) era. The heart and the bedrock of that show was the Mulder/Scully relationship. Both Mulder and Scully were smart (although in different ways). They were equals. They could save each other's asses, and they would walk through the bowels of hell for one another. Unquestioningly. Unwaveringly. And probably bitching about the other person as they went, but --oh-- they would go. Anywhere.

*Sigh.* I loved them.

Second episode was the Donnie Phaster returns episode, and it reminded me of why I loved Scully in particular.

I had as much a girlcrush on Scully as I did with Farscape's Aeryn Sun. Both are my all-time favorite heroines. Scully always had this quiet strength and unwavering determination. The woman would walk into a dark hole that I sure as hell would never go into. There could be creepy crawly things in there!

If you never followed X-Files, or were casual instead of obsessed and thus don't remember Donnie Phaster, he was Riley's military leader at the Initiative he was the serial killer who had a fetish for women's hair, hands, and red fingernails. In Phaster's first episode in... Season 1(?), he almost got Scully. I remember the great shippy moment at the end where Scully fell into Mulder's arms sobbing after it was all over and order was restored (because the woman never, ever fell apart while shit was going down). Today's episode was the second Phaster episode, the one where Donnie escaped prison. Scully is obsessed with re-capturing him and sending his ass away and he has become obsessed with Scully as "the one who got away." At the end of the episode, he has slipped into her apartment to capture her. Gillian Anderson is a small person, but jeez, Scully can kick butt! No super powers needed. The woman just fought like a hellcat, complete with eye-gouging, ball kicking, elbows to the jaw, and use of heavy and/or blunt objects. It's not the pretty, neat fighting of faux martial arts of more stylized super heroines. It was self-defense courses and FBI training in action. She would not go quietly into that good night. And, when his size overcame her fighting skills, she was one cool-headed hostage. Tied up, she still managed to escape, hide, and cut her own bonds. And, though Mulder and the FBI arrive for the rescue, Scully doesn't need rescuing (though it's always nice to have Mulder there for comfort afterward). By the time "rescue" arrives she's released herself, gotten her gun, and is hella pissed, ending with her shooting Donnie in cold blood, killing the creepy bastard.

But Scully was not just an action hero. She was a smart, compassionate woman. The episode ends with her questioning her shooting of the man. She doesn't regret it, per se. She knows he would have killed again. But she wonders whether what she did was justice or vengeance. And that was why she rocked. Smart. Level-headed. The woman never squealed like a helpless girly-girl (though Mulder did once in the Jose Chung episode, and that never ceases to be funny). She could kick butt. But she also pondered things like justice, vengeance, and God. She could be fierce, uncompromising, and compassionate. Any wonder why she, along with Aeryn Sun, continues to be my high water mark where heroines are concerned?

Watch on YouTube

FNL

FNL, I love ya. I really do. But you know there's something that I really have to set straight because your research department screwed up...

Bama has twelve national championships. Not eight. T-W-E-L-V-E. M'kay?

Second of all, I've had issues with the recruiting storyline they have with Smash. For one thing, there are a bunch of restrictions on when a student can be recruited. It's monitored and legislated to an anal retentive degree. Plus, schools report on each other (boy, do they squeal on each other), so Smashmama doesn't have to do anything to stop overrecruiting except let on that some big schools are trying to recruit the kid and 'they' (looking at you NCAA) will be watching like hawks. (They are watching like hawks anyway on Rivals.com and Scout.com which tracks these things to the nth degree to begin with).

Third, this whole underlying thing about "will a school guarantee all four years" of scholarship... Well, unless Smash is a hell of an athlete, it would be five years because, unless a team is desperate or the kid is a phenomenal athlete, they are redshirted their freshman year (i.e. they're on the team but they don't play so it doesn't deduct from their eligible playing years. I don't mean that they're on Kirk's away team and bound to die). Red shirting is in addition to the four years they're allowed to play, so they actually have five years under a scholarship (more if they sit out most of a year due to medical hardship). Other than that, if an athlete is injured to the point where they cannot play ever again, they're moved to a medical scholarship. That's what they've had to do with poor, poor Prothro. Damn, Prothro was talented but a bad catch two years ago gave him a rather horrific break in his leg. Last year he remained on full football scholarship, despite not playing at all. This year, still unable to play, he was moved to a "medical scholarship" where he still has a scholarship to the university despite the fact that he can no longer play football. Schools don't kick kids out of school just because they can no longer play.

Also, at the very least, Bama stands by their recruiting. We have a high school kid right now that gave a verbal commitment last fall. The poor kid was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. After the kid's brain surgery, our coach promised the kid that regardless of whether he can ever play, Bama intends to stand by its scholarship offer. So Mama-Smash's concern that one injury in his current season would do in Smash's college career isn't an entirely true reflection of how college football scholarships are handled even in really intense football schools.

Finally, Mama-smashes timing is a tad bizarre in that she's wanting Smash to not pay attention to recruiting when signing day is just a handfull of weeks away. (And I'm laughing my ass off with the description of the Bama team because it's SO not reflective of the team we actually have. Hee! We wish what Coach Taylor was saying was actually true. Dude, we are the school telling signees that they can play as freshmen, and we sincerely mean it. We are that desperate. :)

Basically, while I appreciate the storyline, and while I laughed at the Bama mentions, this isn't FNL's most true to life storyline. (Then again, it's probably a case of my knowing way too much about the realities of the situation.) I'll overlook all of it except one small detail -- it's twelve national championships.

Roll Tide. :)

ETA: Dude. Dude! The TMU thing at the end. That's an absurdly inaccurate portrayal of recruiting. It's really not done that way.

But hey, it keeps Smash close to home...

FNL

FNL, I love ya. I really do. But you know there's something that I really have to set straight because your research department screwed up...

Bama has twelve national championships. Not eight. T-W-E-L-V-E. M'kay?

Second of all, I've had issues with the recruiting storyline they have with Smash. For one thing, there are a bunch of restrictions on when a student can be recruited. It's monitored and legislated to an anal retentive degree. Plus, schools report on each other (boy, do they squeal on each other), so Smashmama doesn't have to do anything to stop overrecruiting except let on that some big schools are trying to recruit the kid and 'they' (looking at you NCAA) will be watching like hawks. (They are watching like hawks anyway on Rivals.com and Scout.com which tracks these things to the nth degree to begin with).

Third, this whole underlying thing about "will a school guarantee all four years" of scholarship... Well, unless Smash is a hell of an athlete, it would be five years because, unless a team is desperate or the kid is a phenomenal athlete, they are redshirted their freshman year (i.e. they're on the team but they don't play so it doesn't deduct from their eligible playing years. I don't mean that they're on Kirk's away team and bound to die). Red shirting is in addition to the four years they're allowed to play, so they actually have five years under a scholarship (more if they sit out most of a year due to medical hardship). Other than that, if an athlete is injured to the point where they cannot play ever again, they're moved to a medical scholarship. That's what they've had to do with poor, poor Prothro. Damn, Prothro was talented but a bad catch two years ago gave him a rather horrific break in his leg. Last year he remained on full football scholarship, despite not playing at all. This year, still unable to play, he was moved to a "medical scholarship" where he still has a scholarship to the university despite the fact that he can no longer play football. Schools don't kick kids out of school just because they can no longer play.

Also, at the very least, Bama stands by their recruiting. We have a high school kid right now that gave a verbal commitment last fall. The poor kid was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. After the kid's brain surgery, our coach promised the kid that regardless of whether he can ever play, Bama intends to stand by its scholarship offer. So Mama-Smash's concern that one injury in his current season would do in Smash's college career isn't an entirely true reflection of how college football scholarships are handled even in really intense football schools.

Finally, Mama-smashes timing is a tad bizarre in that she's wanting Smash to not pay attention to recruiting when signing day is just a handfull of weeks away. (And I'm laughing my ass off with the description of the Bama team because it's SO not reflective of the team we actually have. Hee! We wish what Coach Taylor was saying was actually true. Dude, we are the school telling signees that they can play as freshmen, and we sincerely mean it. We are that desperate. :)

Basically, while I appreciate the storyline, and while I laughed at the Bama mentions, this isn't FNL's most true to life storyline. (Then again, it's probably a case of my knowing way too much about the realities of the situation.) I'll overlook all of it except one small detail -- it's twelve national championships.

Roll Tide. :)

ETA: Dude. Dude! The TMU thing at the end. That's an absurdly inaccurate portrayal of recruiting. It's really not done that way.

But hey, it keeps Smash close to home...

FNL

FNL, I love ya. I really do. But you know there's something that I really have to set straight because your research department screwed up...

Bama has twelve national championships. Not eight. T-W-E-L-V-E. M'kay?

Second of all, I've had issues with the recruiting storyline they have with Smash. For one thing, there are a bunch of restrictions on when a student can be recruited. It's monitored and legislated to an anal retentive degree. Plus, schools report on each other (boy, do they squeal on each other), so Smashmama doesn't have to do anything to stop overrecruiting except let on that some big schools are trying to recruit the kid and 'they' (looking at you NCAA) will be watching like hawks. (They are watching like hawks anyway on Rivals.com and Scout.com which tracks these things to the nth degree to begin with).

Third, this whole underlying thing about "will a school guarantee all four years" of scholarship... Well, unless Smash is a hell of an athlete, it would be five years because, unless a team is desperate or the kid is a phenomenal athlete, they are redshirted their freshman year (i.e. they're on the team but they don't play so it doesn't deduct from their eligible playing years. I don't mean that they're on Kirk's away team and bound to die). Red shirting is in addition to the four years they're allowed to play, so they actually have five years under a scholarship (more if they sit out most of a year due to medical hardship). Other than that, if an athlete is injured to the point where they cannot play ever again, they're moved to a medical scholarship. That's what they've had to do with poor, poor Prothro. Damn, Prothro was talented but a bad catch two years ago gave him a rather horrific break in his leg. Last year he remained on full football scholarship, despite not playing at all. This year, still unable to play, he was moved to a "medical scholarship" where he still has a scholarship to the university despite the fact that he can no longer play football. Schools don't kick kids out of school just because they can no longer play.

Also, at the very least, Bama stands by their recruiting. We have a high school kid right now that gave a verbal commitment last fall. The poor kid was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. After the kid's brain surgery, our coach promised the kid that regardless of whether he can ever play, Bama intends to stand by its scholarship offer. So Mama-Smash's concern that one injury in his current season would do in Smash's college career isn't an entirely true reflection of how college football scholarships are handled even in really intense football schools.

Finally, Mama-smashes timing is a tad bizarre in that she's wanting Smash to not pay attention to recruiting when signing day is just a handfull of weeks away. (And I'm laughing my ass off with the description of the Bama team because it's SO not reflective of the team we actually have. Hee! We wish what Coach Taylor was saying was actually true. Dude, we are the school telling signees that they can play as freshmen, and we sincerely mean it. We are that desperate. :)

Basically, while I appreciate the storyline, and while I laughed at the Bama mentions, this isn't FNL's most true to life storyline. (Then again, it's probably a case of my knowing way too much about the realities of the situation.) I'll overlook all of it except one small detail -- it's twelve national championships.

Roll Tide. :)

ETA: Dude. Dude! The TMU thing at the end. That's an absurdly inaccurate portrayal of recruiting. It's really not done that way.

But hey, it keeps Smash close to home...