Life Update
Jun. 8th, 2009 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperx* Gargantuan building from hell is almost out the door, which will be a relief. I need sleep. Lots and lots of sleep. And a vacation.
* Bought a Buddha. Not the antique one I found a few months ago (which, when I went back to find the price was truly far more than I was willing to spend), but I did find this one. I originally wanted it for the kitchen, but the design scheme has changed a bit since then, so it's in the living room instead. Still, I like it.
* I have been watching Out of the Wild on Charter OnDemand. It's amazing how people in misery can make interesting television. I was also somewhat amused that even though they started out with 5 men and 4 women, the men dropped like flies and it's now 3 women and 2 men, one of whom is out and gay.
* Also caught up on OLTL. I have had long periods of tuning out because the characters of Todd Manning and Stacy Morasco make me want to kill things. However, I have to say that today was pretty good because Brody telling Jessica that he loved her today was positively swoon-worthy. That doesn't happen a lot on soaps (or any TV) much anymore. But I do have to hand it to them that this couple has been well paced and given a solid foundation so that we know why Brody has fallen in love with her, how she was there for him when he needed her, and so now when her world has fallen apart and she sees herself as being unworthy of love, his standing there telling her that he's in love with her and how he will stand by and see the best in her just as she stood by and saw the best in him, whether she thinks she 'deserves' it. It was really moving and beautifully romantic... and it doesn't hurt that they are astoundingly pretty together.
Also, I caught the spoilers and I'm cautiously optimistic about the Oliver Fish/Kyle Lewispossible pairing. I mean, it's been the TWOP OLTL forum commentary for months. Lots of joking about what it these two 'shared' back in college, and how much chemistry the two characters/actors have. How interesting it would be if the show really 'went there' and paired all-around good guy cop/geek "Fish" with blackmailing-half-the-town bad boy -- but not too bad -- Kyle. The actors have chemistry and board posters have long since been convinced that whatever the show was doing, the two actors were definitely playing the subtext. Now there are serious spoilers/rumors that the show really will go there. On the one hand -- Yay! These two have chemistry and potential (and one of the actors is openly gay, which was part of why everyone felt that regardless of the writing, the actors were playing the characters as ex-lovers. Usually, I practically have to trip over subtext to catch it, but in this case the slashy subtext has been quite trippy.)
Still, I'm anxious about the show consciously choosing to go with it, really pursue Fish/Kyle. I don't trust ABC Daytime. I don't trust Daytime exec Brian Frons who delights in centering his shows on misogynistic assholes like Sonny Corinthos, Todd Manning, Ryan Lavery, and Zack Slater who humiliate the pathetic womenz. ABC has also been rather abyssmal in story choices for same sex couples... of which, really there's only been mostly Bianca Montgomery, and I'm afraid the only pairing of Bianca's that I liked was Bianca/Lena. And it's Bianca/Lena that makes me cautious about Fish/Kyle.
My thought has long been for a soap to do a gay couple they need to worry less about their being gay and more about their being soapy (and I know that ATWT has a big following for it's Noah/Luke pairing and that apparently GL has a big following for its Olivia/Nata...er.. I know pairing is called Otalia, but I don't know that characters names. I know of them, but I've never been a ATWT or a GL viewer, so I can't comment on how those stories worked, just the ABC soaps which I've watched). The reason I had liked Bianca/Lena was that it had such classic soapy roots. The good girl redeeming the not-too-bad girl. At first I thought AMC had finally discovered that they needed to write a soapy romance, but they sidelined Lena, then wrote her out of existence, then paired Bianca up disastrously with a few more people each in a worse storyline than the last. This is why I'm wary regarding OLTL taking fan speculation regarding Fish and Kyle and turning it into an actual story. In the forum commenter's heads, it's a story about good guy Oliver Fish who broke up with Kyle in college because Kyle (who does have a decided tendency to blackmail people) had a habit of being shady. And, given their storylines that the characters have had on the show, it would make sense if Officer Fish had some repression going on as he's publicly (albeit briefly and platonically) dated Layla and had a ONS with apalling-stripper-slut Stacy (who needs to die just for being so generally unwatchable!) and because of his being a cop., Meanwhile they could pull off Kyle being openly gay if they develop it because I can't think of anything he's done that would run counter to that interpretation... which could also make the break-up not just about Fish's moral qualms about Kyle's sticky fingers in matters of money, but also out of Kyle's frustration with Oliver (he said don't call him that) continually trying to 'go straight.'
But that's the story in fans' heads and what if the show goes about it entirely differently? That's the story TWOP forum posters have given the subtext of the scenes like when Fish was in the room where Kyle was being interrogated for the baby kidnapping and Fish said that he actually believed Kyle's protestations of innocence (which he was actually innocent). Or when Fish caught Schuyler giving Kyle the shakedown over his apartment break-in and Fish broke it up, only to argue with Kyle himself when Schuyler left, telling Kyle not to call him "Oliver" because they had no friendship or relationship of any kind any more (see what I mean about positively trippy subtext? It's taken no effort whatsoever to read ex-lovers into their scenes). But, given ABC's really crappy record, I kind of hate their ruining the fan's fantasy storyline with a real one if they don't do a good story. Seriously, the characters have enough romantic/character friction to tell a soapy romance. I just don't know whether ABC will tell it or exploit it, because goodness knows most of ABC's soaps are mostly crap most of the time. But, hey, here's hoping they do it right. The potential is there. And the actors playing the roles seem up to the roles... if only ABC doesn't screw the pooch... like they do with 99% of the storylines.
* Bought a Buddha. Not the antique one I found a few months ago (which, when I went back to find the price was truly far more than I was willing to spend), but I did find this one. I originally wanted it for the kitchen, but the design scheme has changed a bit since then, so it's in the living room instead. Still, I like it.
* I have been watching Out of the Wild on Charter OnDemand. It's amazing how people in misery can make interesting television. I was also somewhat amused that even though they started out with 5 men and 4 women, the men dropped like flies and it's now 3 women and 2 men, one of whom is out and gay.
* Also caught up on OLTL. I have had long periods of tuning out because the characters of Todd Manning and Stacy Morasco make me want to kill things. However, I have to say that today was pretty good because Brody telling Jessica that he loved her today was positively swoon-worthy. That doesn't happen a lot on soaps (or any TV) much anymore. But I do have to hand it to them that this couple has been well paced and given a solid foundation so that we know why Brody has fallen in love with her, how she was there for him when he needed her, and so now when her world has fallen apart and she sees herself as being unworthy of love, his standing there telling her that he's in love with her and how he will stand by and see the best in her just as she stood by and saw the best in him, whether she thinks she 'deserves' it. It was really moving and beautifully romantic... and it doesn't hurt that they are astoundingly pretty together.
Also, I caught the spoilers and I'm cautiously optimistic about the Oliver Fish/Kyle Lewis
Still, I'm anxious about the show consciously choosing to go with it, really pursue Fish/Kyle. I don't trust ABC Daytime. I don't trust Daytime exec Brian Frons who delights in centering his shows on misogynistic assholes like Sonny Corinthos, Todd Manning, Ryan Lavery, and Zack Slater who humiliate the pathetic womenz. ABC has also been rather abyssmal in story choices for same sex couples... of which, really there's only been mostly Bianca Montgomery, and I'm afraid the only pairing of Bianca's that I liked was Bianca/Lena. And it's Bianca/Lena that makes me cautious about Fish/Kyle.
My thought has long been for a soap to do a gay couple they need to worry less about their being gay and more about their being soapy (and I know that ATWT has a big following for it's Noah/Luke pairing and that apparently GL has a big following for its Olivia/Nata...er.. I know pairing is called Otalia, but I don't know that characters names. I know of them, but I've never been a ATWT or a GL viewer, so I can't comment on how those stories worked, just the ABC soaps which I've watched). The reason I had liked Bianca/Lena was that it had such classic soapy roots. The good girl redeeming the not-too-bad girl. At first I thought AMC had finally discovered that they needed to write a soapy romance, but they sidelined Lena, then wrote her out of existence, then paired Bianca up disastrously with a few more people each in a worse storyline than the last. This is why I'm wary regarding OLTL taking fan speculation regarding Fish and Kyle and turning it into an actual story. In the forum commenter's heads, it's a story about good guy Oliver Fish who broke up with Kyle in college because Kyle (who does have a decided tendency to blackmail people) had a habit of being shady. And, given their storylines that the characters have had on the show, it would make sense if Officer Fish had some repression going on as he's publicly (albeit briefly and platonically) dated Layla and had a ONS with apalling-stripper-slut Stacy (who needs to die just for being so generally unwatchable!) and because of his being a cop., Meanwhile they could pull off Kyle being openly gay if they develop it because I can't think of anything he's done that would run counter to that interpretation... which could also make the break-up not just about Fish's moral qualms about Kyle's sticky fingers in matters of money, but also out of Kyle's frustration with Oliver (he said don't call him that) continually trying to 'go straight.'
But that's the story in fans' heads and what if the show goes about it entirely differently? That's the story TWOP forum posters have given the subtext of the scenes like when Fish was in the room where Kyle was being interrogated for the baby kidnapping and Fish said that he actually believed Kyle's protestations of innocence (which he was actually innocent). Or when Fish caught Schuyler giving Kyle the shakedown over his apartment break-in and Fish broke it up, only to argue with Kyle himself when Schuyler left, telling Kyle not to call him "Oliver" because they had no friendship or relationship of any kind any more (see what I mean about positively trippy subtext? It's taken no effort whatsoever to read ex-lovers into their scenes). But, given ABC's really crappy record, I kind of hate their ruining the fan's fantasy storyline with a real one if they don't do a good story. Seriously, the characters have enough romantic/character friction to tell a soapy romance. I just don't know whether ABC will tell it or exploit it, because goodness knows most of ABC's soaps are mostly crap most of the time. But, hey, here's hoping they do it right. The potential is there. And the actors playing the roles seem up to the roles... if only ABC doesn't screw the pooch... like they do with 99% of the storylines.
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-09 03:03 am (UTC)ATWT has handled some things very, very well with the Luke/Noah story, and some things not so well, but overall the fans are happy with the story. Luke's coming out was done very, very well, as was the beginning of his relationship with Noah, who was deeply in the closet at the time. But since then the show itself has gone steadily downhill, although Luke and Noah remain one of the bright spots. The main complaint with them these days is that they are not being treated the same as other couples in regards to sex scenes (i.e., innuendo instead of showing them in bed together), but my feeling is that like everything else, that will come in time. If the show has time - I wouldn't be surprised if it was next on the chopping block.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-09 03:51 am (UTC)I don't think that anyone believes that Fish/Kyle was a pre-planned but it may have been a confluence of events with the guy playing Fish being openly gay, the lack of unattached female characters in the 20-something age range, and the fact that the pairing sort of took off in fandom.
What's interested the fans is that it would make a good soapy set-up with Fish having been on canvas for a little over a year and having been established as a cop, a good, sincere guy, and a bit geeky in a totally-cute way. And the guy who plays Kyle has done a good job in a role that could have gone in the toilet really fast because he's infused the character with enough sincerity that though he's been blackmailing a bunch of different people over secrets they've been keeping, he's managed to be likable while doing it. Revealing that Fish and Kyle had been frat buddies in college and it started some slashing online between the characters.
I think the buzz and popularity of Nuke and Otalia along with Y&R deciding to have a gay storyline, may well have allowed RC to convince Frons to allow him to take the characters the way a lot of fans had fanwanked them.
I just hope if they do it, that they give the characters a real romance and not simply some 'issue' storyline. Issues are fine and well, but the two guys have shown a lot of subtlety with the subtext, so they could actually pull-off a real storyline if given a chance. They seem to have committed to it even before the show decided they could go there.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-09 10:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 12:35 am (UTC)And did you see that Lynn Herring just got hired by ATWT?
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 11:32 am (UTC)I've never really watched CBS soaps -- a little Guiding Light years ago, when Patrick Mulcahey wrote for them -- but I might have to make an exception. :-)