Meandering Musings

Joel Stein: The only thing more embarrassing than catching a guy on the plane looking at pornography on his computer is seeing a guy on the plane reading “The Hunger Games.” {...} Or Harry Potter. The only time I’m O.K. with an adult holding a children’s book is if he’s moving his mouth as he reads.

I’m sure all those books are well written. So is “Horton Hatches the Egg.” But Horton doesn’t have the depth of language and character as literature written for people who have stopped physically growing.

I appreciate that adults occasionally watch Pixar movies or play video games. That’s fine. Those media don’t require much of your brains. Books are one of our few chances to learn. There’s a reason my teachers didn’t assign me to go home and play three hours of Donkey Kong.

I have no idea what “The Hunger Games” is like. Maybe there are complicated shades of good and evil in each character. Maybe there are Pynchonesque turns of phrase. Maybe it delves into issues of identity, self-justification and anomie that would make David Foster Wallace proud. I don’t know because it’s a book for kids. I’ll read “The Hunger Games” when I finish the previous 3,000 years of fiction written for adults.

Dr Who

True Blood

HBO has set an official season five premiere date for June 10


Game of Thrones:
Cersei:

Sansa:

1) Enjoyed it.
2) I love Rory (that's a constant BTW), even the jokes at his expense.
3) Enjoying it or not, that was...er... complicated. I'm not sure how that works. I mean, I understand how it works plot-wise. I'm not sure how the in-story 'physics' works. Thwarts the 'bad guys'? Yes. I understand that bit. But the timey-whimey aspects are...er..wha? I'll probably have to watch a few more times (though I suspect it's not supposed to be overly inspected).
4) I love River Song (but, like Rory, that's also a constant).

1) Totally didn't expect the way that Auburn vs. South Carolina turned out. Where did Auburn find a defense? And USc needs a quarterback.
2) Yay, Arkansas comeback against Texas A&M.
3) Woo-hoo Alabama vs. Florida. The first quarter was scary. I wish Bama didn't take so long to get into a damn game. But... hey, how are you going to complain about 38-10 as a final score? Funniest write-up was from someone writing in a Florida newspaper:

...After Alabama's 38-10 victory over first-year coach Will Muschamp and his Florida Gators, it is clear that The Force remains with the Dark Lord of the SEC-- Darth Saban. {...} Everyone chuckled at the Tampa TV reporter who earlier this week had the audacity to ask [Florida Coach] Muschamp if his relationship with his mentor, Alabama coach Nick Saban, was similar to a cinematic Star Wars battle pitting "Master vs. Padawan."

"I don't know what a Padawan is," Muschamp replied, turning on the Southern charm. "You didn't call me a bad name, did you?"

Guffaws resounded throughout the room and then the news conference went on with mundane questions about personnel groupings and injury reports. Little did anybody know that the fledgling TV reporter had it right. She had a better grasp of Saturday night's showdown than any of the grizzled scribes who have been covering SEC football for decades.

You see, it was a long time ago in a gridiron galaxy far, far away, that The Force was sucked out of the Florida football program by this very Alabama program and this very Alabama coach. Darth Saban and his Alabama Death Star took away the mojo and the momentum from the Gators two seasons ago in the SEC Championship Game.

- They took away a chance for a second consecutive national title.

- They sent Tim Tebow, the Gators' spiritual leader, to the NFL with his most devastating loss. [Bama made him cry... on national tv]

- And more importantly, they sent former coach Urban Meyer to the hospital and ultimately out of the profession. [He had an angina attack on the flight home after the loss, quit the team the next day, unquit, flaked-out, and quit again... and now does commentary for ESPN. At least until Ohio State chooses to hire him (yes, I went there).]

This time, the Alabama Death Star landed in an inflamed Swamp [name of Florida's stadium] Saturday night and once again doused Florida's football fire. Florida may have a new coach, but Alabama still knows how to give the Gators an old-fashioned SEC seal-clubbing.

1) Enjoyed it.
2) I love Rory (that's a constant BTW), even the jokes at his expense.
3) Enjoying it or not, that was...er... complicated. I'm not sure how that works. I mean, I understand how it works plot-wise. I'm not sure how the in-story 'physics' works. Thwarts the 'bad guys'? Yes. I understand that bit. But the timey-whimey aspects are...er..wha? I'll probably have to watch a few more times (though I suspect it's not supposed to be overly inspected).
4) I love River Song (but, like Rory, that's also a constant).

1) Totally didn't expect the way that Auburn vs. South Carolina turned out. Where did Auburn find a defense? And USc needs a quarterback.
2) Yay, Arkansas comeback against Texas A&M.
3) Woo-hoo Alabama vs. Florida. The first quarter was scary. I wish Bama didn't take so long to get into a damn game. But... hey, how are you going to complain about 38-10 as a final score? Funniest write-up was from someone writing in a Florida newspaper:

...After Alabama's 38-10 victory over first-year coach Will Muschamp and his Florida Gators, it is clear that The Force remains with the Dark Lord of the SEC-- Darth Saban. {...} Everyone chuckled at the Tampa TV reporter who earlier this week had the audacity to ask [Florida Coach] Muschamp if his relationship with his mentor, Alabama coach Nick Saban, was similar to a cinematic Star Wars battle pitting "Master vs. Padawan."

"I don't know what a Padawan is," Muschamp replied, turning on the Southern charm. "You didn't call me a bad name, did you?"

Guffaws resounded throughout the room and then the news conference went on with mundane questions about personnel groupings and injury reports. Little did anybody know that the fledgling TV reporter had it right. She had a better grasp of Saturday night's showdown than any of the grizzled scribes who have been covering SEC football for decades.

You see, it was a long time ago in a gridiron galaxy far, far away, that The Force was sucked out of the Florida football program by this very Alabama program and this very Alabama coach. Darth Saban and his Alabama Death Star took away the mojo and the momentum from the Gators two seasons ago in the SEC Championship Game.

- They took away a chance for a second consecutive national title.

- They sent Tim Tebow, the Gators' spiritual leader, to the NFL with his most devastating loss. [Bama made him cry... on national tv]

- And more importantly, they sent former coach Urban Meyer to the hospital and ultimately out of the profession. [He had an angina attack on the flight home after the loss, quit the team the next day, unquit, flaked-out, and quit again... and now does commentary for ESPN. At least until Ohio State chooses to hire him (yes, I went there).]

This time, the Alabama Death Star landed in an inflamed Swamp [name of Florida's stadium] Saturday night and once again doused Florida's football fire. Florida may have a new coach, but Alabama still knows how to give the Gators an old-fashioned SEC seal-clubbing.

• It rained today. My back yard is so happy. We really, really needed the rain. My hydrangeas have begun to look quite sad. On the other hand, my tomato plant ("Juliet" It's the type. I didn't name my tomato plant) is going gangbusters. I picked 10 tomatoes and counted another 54 on the plant with blooms for still more to come after that. It's been a very prolific plant).



• Went out to Surin and had Thai for dinner. Yum.



• Have begun reading Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking



• Watched Friday Night Lights last night and damn I miss Matt Saracen. However, I have to be honest, I've had enough with tragedy for the time being. It hurts knowing that there is more dispiriting stuff to come for these characters. The show is beautifully written, but the hard luck stories in it...God. So many of them!



• Spent time last night making this banner for menomegirl. It feels really odd making a Bangel banner. :)



• Rewatched the Doctor Who ep that aired on BBC America tonight. It's the one where the Doctor became a guy's flatmate and played soccer. It's not really the best of episodes, but darn it's a fun one



• Have continued rewatching Season 1 Farscape but haven't had much to say. ( I tend to think my watching Season 1 is always influenced by the fact that I watched the series starting with Season 4 then backtracked. )
  
  
  It's weird because plot-wise and mythology-wise it really doesn't kick in until Scorpius shows up, which is almost at the end of the first season. On the other hand, I appreciate things that are earlier because they did indeed function in capacity of world building. Things like the throw away of Sebacean heat sickness and the way that it will eventually play into Scorpius's construction as a villain. So I do appreciate little throw away things in MOTW episodes because they helped to form the Farscape universe, but a lot of the MOTW themselves are only okay. I don't know that I would have valued them much without the rest of the series to give me a lens to view them through.
  
  Generally, though, I haven't had much to say with the recent episodes that I've watched. I have been fascinated by some of shadowkat67 's meta, especially her discussion of Farscape's central theme. If BtVS's central theme is about the challenges (and demons) of growing up, Farscape explores the emotional and interpersonal repercussions of violence and warfare. I don't know that I ever thought about it as clearly as shadowkat67 discussed it, but once noted it's so clear to see it in the series as a whole. ( Rambly thematic thoughts on Farscape )
  Each of them grapple with what violence has cost them. Each of them carry -- and often perpetuate -- those scars. It doesn't happen in a void.
  
  Also a shout-out to shadowkat's summary of Farscape's Season 3's finale Dog With Two Bones ( Read more... )
  What makes Season 3 wonderful to me is its inevitability. That's what's so damn impressive to me, because Season 3 ends on a note that fannish, shippy hearts don't want. Cannot want. And yet... it has to happen that way.
  
  There was a discussion in someone's LJ Friday about tragic endings and I mentioned that I had listened to a writing workshop where the lecturer said that stories need the happiest ending the author can give them. Then he stressed that this does not mean that stories have to have happy endings. Not at all. It means that it can't feel like the author is doing something just to make the audience cry. Audiences don't like to feel manipulated and jerked around. A tragic ending cannot be arbitrary. It must be an organic outcome of the situation that the characters are in. The tragedy needs to be the best outcome those characters (and the audience) could reasonably expect given what has happened in the story and who the characters are. Dog with Two Bones is a wonderful example of this. It's a tragedy... but it's an earned one. Given these characters and the situation they were in, the pain that they were in, and the choices they must make to be true to themselves... it has to end this way. That's what makes it heartbreaking. I can't imagine a happier ending for Season 3 that would feel authentic to what had gone before. So, even as it breaks my heart (and every time that it breaks my heart), I still cannot imagine it happening any other way, not and be true to the journey the characters had taken to reach that point.



• ( Related thoughts on Doctor Who )


Er... it made sense to me anyway.


• ( Subsequent thoughts on BtVS )
  Inquiring minds want to know...



• And, while watching Doctor Who on BBC America, I saw ads for Being Human! It starts July 24th. It was a freaking awesome season of Being Human, enough so that I will have to watch it again. It was a wonderful case of plotting the downfall of characters by having them slip-n-slide there with the best of intentions. The characters take what they think is the right course -- or at least a reasonable one -- most of the way. The audience, however, can readily see that this is going to end badly and that the characters are blinded by their own wants and needs. Beautifully done.

• It rained today. My back yard is so happy. We really, really needed the rain. My hydrangeas have begun to look quite sad. On the other hand, my tomato plant ("Juliet" It's the type. I didn't name my tomato plant) is going gangbusters. I picked 10 tomatoes and counted another 54 on the plant with blooms for still more to come after that. It's been a very prolific plant).



• Went out to Surin and had Thai for dinner. Yum.



• Have begun reading Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking



• Watched Friday Night Lights last night and damn I miss Matt Saracen. However, I have to be honest, I've had enough with tragedy for the time being. It hurts knowing that there is more dispiriting stuff to come for these characters. The show is beautifully written, but the hard luck stories in it...God. So many of them!



• Spent time last night making this banner for menomegirl. It feels really odd making a Bangel banner. :)



• Rewatched the Doctor Who ep that aired on BBC America tonight. It's the one where the Doctor became a guy's flatmate and played soccer. It's not really the best of episodes, but darn it's a fun one



• Have continued rewatching Season 1 Farscape but haven't had much to say. ( I tend to think my watching Season 1 is always influenced by the fact that I watched the series starting with Season 4 then backtracked. )
  
  
  It's weird because plot-wise and mythology-wise it really doesn't kick in until Scorpius shows up, which is almost at the end of the first season. On the other hand, I appreciate things that are earlier because they did indeed function in capacity of world building. Things like the throw away of Sebacean heat sickness and the way that it will eventually play into Scorpius's construction as a villain. So I do appreciate little throw away things in MOTW episodes because they helped to form the Farscape universe, but a lot of the MOTW themselves are only okay. I don't know that I would have valued them much without the rest of the series to give me a lens to view them through.
  
  Generally, though, I haven't had much to say with the recent episodes that I've watched. I have been fascinated by some of shadowkat67 's meta, especially her discussion of Farscape's central theme. If BtVS's central theme is about the challenges (and demons) of growing up, Farscape explores the emotional and interpersonal repercussions of violence and warfare. I don't know that I ever thought about it as clearly as shadowkat67 discussed it, but once noted it's so clear to see it in the series as a whole. ( Rambly thematic thoughts on Farscape )
  Each of them grapple with what violence has cost them. Each of them carry -- and often perpetuate -- those scars. It doesn't happen in a void.
  
  Also a shout-out to shadowkat's summary of Farscape's Season 3's finale Dog With Two Bones ( Read more... )
  What makes Season 3 wonderful to me is its inevitability. That's what's so damn impressive to me, because Season 3 ends on a note that fannish, shippy hearts don't want. Cannot want. And yet... it has to happen that way.
  
  There was a discussion in someone's LJ Friday about tragic endings and I mentioned that I had listened to a writing workshop where the lecturer said that stories need the happiest ending the author can give them. Then he stressed that this does not mean that stories have to have happy endings. Not at all. It means that it can't feel like the author is doing something just to make the audience cry. Audiences don't like to feel manipulated and jerked around. A tragic ending cannot be arbitrary. It must be an organic outcome of the situation that the characters are in. The tragedy needs to be the best outcome those characters (and the audience) could reasonably expect given what has happened in the story and who the characters are. Dog with Two Bones is a wonderful example of this. It's a tragedy... but it's an earned one. Given these characters and the situation they were in, the pain that they were in, and the choices they must make to be true to themselves... it has to end this way. That's what makes it heartbreaking. I can't imagine a happier ending for Season 3 that would feel authentic to what had gone before. So, even as it breaks my heart (and every time that it breaks my heart), I still cannot imagine it happening any other way, not and be true to the journey the characters had taken to reach that point.



• ( Related thoughts on Doctor Who )


Er... it made sense to me anyway.


• ( Subsequent thoughts on BtVS )
  Inquiring minds want to know...



• And, while watching Doctor Who on BBC America, I saw ads for Being Human! It starts July 24th. It was a freaking awesome season of Being Human, enough so that I will have to watch it again. It was a wonderful case of plotting the downfall of characters by having them slip-n-slide there with the best of intentions. The characters take what they think is the right course -- or at least a reasonable one -- most of the way. The audience, however, can readily see that this is going to end badly and that the characters are blinded by their own wants and needs. Beautifully done.