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beccatoriaEh, haven't posted in a while. This week has been kind of crappy, and I'm hating work. Compounding this is the fact that I'm convinced that I've lost a freakin' referral even though I can't find any evidence of it - no matter how hard I've looked. So, because of me, there's probably some poor, mad old woman, convinced she's a teapot, leaving her gas on and it's all my fault. God I feel terrible. I really hope I'm imagining it...
Moving on to brighter things, here's what I've been doing over the last week - this is long, meandering and largely pointless, so feel free to move right on :)
1. Vidding. It is not going well. Rather, I should say, it's proving tricky but it is moving forwards, albeit at a snail's pace. Mostly it's technical problems with my vidding program (Windows Movie Maker 2 - I know, I'm so high tech!) Bitch keeps crashing. Well...it'll be done one day. I'm just starting to wish it wasn't eating hours of my evening at a time.
2. I'm REALLY looking forward to Heroes. It's such an awesome show. I don't even seem to care about the rather dodgy gender stuff that's going on. I mean (and I do this while full of love for the show and in the firm belief that many of these characters are deeply interesting), it's kind of hilarious. I'm gonna list all the female character I can think of that've been in this show and y'all tell me if I missed one -
Niki/Jessica Sanders - Niki's spent her entire time on the show being manipulated, terrified and imprisoned, frequently by her own subconscious (though she does win the occasional small battle) while Jessica is painted as a sex-bomb villain.
Claire Bennett- Despite being literally indestructable, a large part of the storyline surrounding saving the world seems to hinge on her being the damsel in distress in need of saving. Still she has potential. And the fact that she's damn important. Though it now seems Peter is more so.
Simone Deveaux - Death through Mangst after existing mostly as a love interest for two men to pose over. Real shame, she rocked.
...which basically concludes the major female characters, which, given the size of the cast, says something. But, moving on.
Eden McCain - Murdered by Sylar.
Cheerleader Jackie - Murdered by Sylar.
That Woman Who Could Hear Real Well - Murdered by Sylar.
Waitress Charlie - Murdered by Sylar.
Mrs Bennett - proves to have some real, incredible strength at the end, but is basically a characature housewife who's constantly mind-raped for most of the series.
Candice - total queen bitch.
Hana Gittelman- not enough to really say yet. All she's done is show up with some info. We have no idea what her opinion of the hostage situation might have been.
Jan Parkman - Difficult. I don't think the intention is to show either her or Matt as the "bad guy" in their relationship, but still, she's having an affair with her husband's workmate and the "fix" (although again, credit to the show that I don't think it's supposed to be a magic cure-all fix) is that she gets knocked up.
Kimiko Nakamura - We don't see much of her, and I know there are cultural issues, but she's subordinated to her father and needs her brother to "save her".
FBI Audrey - Hmm, possibly we have found a capable, strong woman who's only slightly bitchified! Woohoo! Though then she gets demoted and dropped in the shit by her boss.
Niki's Friend with Red Hair - well, she's barely in it and she's kinda dumb and a characature.
Nathan's Wife Who's Name I Can't Remember - Cuckolded and crippled under tragic circumstances.
Mohiner's Ma - Again, not really in it enough to judge. I'd say she seems reasonably characterised, and that her secrecy over his sister isn't really gender-based. In fact, see...
Shanti Suresh - Okay, so she's dead, and possibly there's some gender issues that we yet again have a tragic, dead girl, but for once, it's the girl that's more important than the boy.
Hope - Manipulates men (the heroes) with her sexuality.
Angela Petrelli - Well, due to the reveal in the last five minutes, I'ma go with AWESOME! I suppose I should reserve judgement, but AWESOME!
So...there we have it. I'm sure you could probably come up with a similar list (and I'm sure I've left some off that one) for, well, anything. But still, from a "women in refrigerators" perspective it sure is interesting. And the characters that are the best out of that list are Angela Petrelli who only became awesome in the last five minutes of footage, a DEAD CHILD, and the literal Cheerleader-In-Distress in literal need of saving.
Eh. I still love my show and am HUGELY excited about it. :)
3. Star Wars: Legacy. This is a comic book series and it is AWESOME. It's set about a hundred and forty years after the death star gets blown up and manages the crazy task of incorporating and referencing pretty much everything that's happened in the Extended Universe up to that point while still being a great "jumping in" point for people who don't know about all that.
It's about ten issues in, the art is great, the writing is great, the colours are great. The ideas behind it are interesting. It shows the seedy underbelly of the universe again - something that comes and goes and is sorely under represented in most of the novels. There's an honest-to-god squid-man pirate in purple pantaloons with a mechanical claw peg-leg! Also - crazy aliens! There are actual aliens in prominent roles! Unless you're talking about the Empire (which is very human-centric) most characters you see aren't actually human!. Visually this just makes the whole thing a treat.
You want the Empire? You've got the Empire!
You want the New Republic (or the Galactic Alliance as they're now calling it?)? Well, you've sort of got that too, though they're fragmented and *gasp* almost like the Rebellion!
You want Sith? You've got Sith!
You want Skywalkers? You've got Skywalkers!
You want Jedi? Real, proper wise Jedi? You've got Jedi!
You want smugglers and pirates and spies? You've got 'em!
You want the Yuuzhan Vong war to not the TOTALLY FREAKIN' FORGOTTEN?! IT ISN'T!
You want a vast eeeevil Empire you can really hate, while also getting a more Zahnlike practical, honourable (in its way) Empire? What's more, you want the non-evil Empire to be running a *gasp* Rebellion against the evil Empire? You got it!
And oddly, the scruffy, angsty hero isn't anywhere near as irritating as I'd usually find him. I think it's because, well, it's a subtle difference but it's not that he's a reluctant hero angsting about his role, he's just refusing to be a hero. And the thing that finally makes his decision to become a more active agent in his own future is - well, to quote him: "No one dies for me! Never again!" Which sounds, well, horrifically cheesy, so perhaps it's context. But I respect that instead of having someone die for him and then angsting about whether he was worth it, or having someone die because of his refusal to act, or having someone die and then it still being all about him as so often happens withhemoes heroes, he acts. He refuses to let this happen. Perhaps it's that I don't feel he's attention seeking the way a lot of stock emo characters do (even though he would deserve to more than some). He just genuinely, bottom line, feels he's not worth someone else's life. Again, it might be context, but it was actually quite affecting.
But the point is, this series is crack. And next issue, CADE DUELS VADER FOR THE PANTS OF DESTINY!
...or perhaps I should just spent less time on the theforce.net literature forums...
Anyway, I love this series so much I went out and spent my grocery money on all the back issues of a COMPLETLEY DIFFERENT STAR WARS COMIC BOOK SERIES! I can't help it. The idea of a clumsy Jedi was just too hilarious.
4. Curse of the Golden Flower. Well, I liked it. I mean, come on, Gong Li! GONG LI! Um, what I mean to say is, Gong Li's acting is breathtaking. I think it was a bit too slow for Addy. And it gave Kevie flashbacks and now he hasn't slept well in over a week (which he claims is not a direct result but I have other suspicions) which means neither have I, which means I have a tiredness headache and I'm trying to vid with the vidding program of crashing doom! Hooray!
Um, where was I? Oh yes. Gong Li, FTW.
5. I am officially boycotting Wizards of the Coast. They cancelled Dungeon Magazine and Dragon Magazine. Those things are older than me! Wizards: I put up with you driving D&D into the ground. I put up with the bizarre twist of irony that allowed you to come up with something so beautiful as the Open License only to shit all over the spirit of it. I put up with you stealing back every interesting liscense to yourselves as soon as anyone else did anything interesting and financially succesful with it, only to drive it further into the ground yourselves. The occasional Dragon magazine was basically the only thing of yours we ever bought anymore and now even that is denied us. My money will be going to Paizo. To Fantasy Flight Games, and possibly to White Wolf (if I ever get over my bitterness about WoD 2.0, which I'm slowly doing, thanks, in large part, to your continued bone-headed rollplayerness; YOU'RE DRIVING ME INTO THE ARMS OF YOUR COMPETITION!)
Wizards? Fuck you. And your little kobold too.
Do I sound bitter? Well guess what. I AM. Plus this is yet again going to screw over Friendly Local Game shops like crap. *sigh*
Plus nearly every game we've been scheduled to have for the past two weeks has been cancelled. I'm getting the shakes. I NEED TO PRETEND I'M AN ELF AGAIN, DAMMIT!
6. Life On Mars - I don't ever really post about this, but I've liked this show since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hmpf showed it to me back at the start of February, and I watched the second season on the telly. I was enjoying it, even though it initially didn't appeal to me. It convinced me that the era was really...tragic, maybe? The marked increase in so many bad things (football hooliganism, racial violence and hate crimes, heroin) along with the widespread police corruption. The genuine moral tangles of Gene Hunt trying to keep his city safe even if it meant being bent, of Sam trying to keep his conscience clean. It never struck me as amoral so much as a web of conflicting moral viewpoints. It was a show all about morals - what they are, why you believe them, how you justify them, what you'll do to keep them intact.
Of course the ending fucked that right up. Buthmpf said all that for me already here: http://hmpf.livejournal.com/162034.html#cutid1
Hmm...and that's been about the size of my week so far. Hope y'alls has been interesting :)
Moving on to brighter things, here's what I've been doing over the last week - this is long, meandering and largely pointless, so feel free to move right on :)
1. Vidding. It is not going well. Rather, I should say, it's proving tricky but it is moving forwards, albeit at a snail's pace. Mostly it's technical problems with my vidding program (Windows Movie Maker 2 - I know, I'm so high tech!) Bitch keeps crashing. Well...it'll be done one day. I'm just starting to wish it wasn't eating hours of my evening at a time.
2. I'm REALLY looking forward to Heroes. It's such an awesome show. I don't even seem to care about the rather dodgy gender stuff that's going on. I mean (and I do this while full of love for the show and in the firm belief that many of these characters are deeply interesting), it's kind of hilarious. I'm gonna list all the female character I can think of that've been in this show and y'all tell me if I missed one -
Niki/Jessica Sanders - Niki's spent her entire time on the show being manipulated, terrified and imprisoned, frequently by her own subconscious (though she does win the occasional small battle) while Jessica is painted as a sex-bomb villain.
Claire Bennett- Despite being literally indestructable, a large part of the storyline surrounding saving the world seems to hinge on her being the damsel in distress in need of saving. Still she has potential. And the fact that she's damn important. Though it now seems Peter is more so.
Simone Deveaux - Death through Mangst after existing mostly as a love interest for two men to pose over. Real shame, she rocked.
...which basically concludes the major female characters, which, given the size of the cast, says something. But, moving on.
Eden McCain - Murdered by Sylar.
Cheerleader Jackie - Murdered by Sylar.
That Woman Who Could Hear Real Well - Murdered by Sylar.
Waitress Charlie - Murdered by Sylar.
Mrs Bennett - proves to have some real, incredible strength at the end, but is basically a characature housewife who's constantly mind-raped for most of the series.
Candice - total queen bitch.
Hana Gittelman- not enough to really say yet. All she's done is show up with some info. We have no idea what her opinion of the hostage situation might have been.
Jan Parkman - Difficult. I don't think the intention is to show either her or Matt as the "bad guy" in their relationship, but still, she's having an affair with her husband's workmate and the "fix" (although again, credit to the show that I don't think it's supposed to be a magic cure-all fix) is that she gets knocked up.
Kimiko Nakamura - We don't see much of her, and I know there are cultural issues, but she's subordinated to her father and needs her brother to "save her".
FBI Audrey - Hmm, possibly we have found a capable, strong woman who's only slightly bitchified! Woohoo! Though then she gets demoted and dropped in the shit by her boss.
Niki's Friend with Red Hair - well, she's barely in it and she's kinda dumb and a characature.
Nathan's Wife Who's Name I Can't Remember - Cuckolded and crippled under tragic circumstances.
Mohiner's Ma - Again, not really in it enough to judge. I'd say she seems reasonably characterised, and that her secrecy over his sister isn't really gender-based. In fact, see...
Shanti Suresh - Okay, so she's dead, and possibly there's some gender issues that we yet again have a tragic, dead girl, but for once, it's the girl that's more important than the boy.
Hope - Manipulates men (the heroes) with her sexuality.
Angela Petrelli - Well, due to the reveal in the last five minutes, I'ma go with AWESOME! I suppose I should reserve judgement, but AWESOME!
So...there we have it. I'm sure you could probably come up with a similar list (and I'm sure I've left some off that one) for, well, anything. But still, from a "women in refrigerators" perspective it sure is interesting. And the characters that are the best out of that list are Angela Petrelli who only became awesome in the last five minutes of footage, a DEAD CHILD, and the literal Cheerleader-In-Distress in literal need of saving.
Eh. I still love my show and am HUGELY excited about it. :)
3. Star Wars: Legacy. This is a comic book series and it is AWESOME. It's set about a hundred and forty years after the death star gets blown up and manages the crazy task of incorporating and referencing pretty much everything that's happened in the Extended Universe up to that point while still being a great "jumping in" point for people who don't know about all that.
It's about ten issues in, the art is great, the writing is great, the colours are great. The ideas behind it are interesting. It shows the seedy underbelly of the universe again - something that comes and goes and is sorely under represented in most of the novels. There's an honest-to-god squid-man pirate in purple pantaloons with a mechanical claw peg-leg! Also - crazy aliens! There are actual aliens in prominent roles! Unless you're talking about the Empire (which is very human-centric) most characters you see aren't actually human!. Visually this just makes the whole thing a treat.
You want the Empire? You've got the Empire!
You want the New Republic (or the Galactic Alliance as they're now calling it?)? Well, you've sort of got that too, though they're fragmented and *gasp* almost like the Rebellion!
You want Sith? You've got Sith!
You want Skywalkers? You've got Skywalkers!
You want Jedi? Real, proper wise Jedi? You've got Jedi!
You want smugglers and pirates and spies? You've got 'em!
You want the Yuuzhan Vong war to not the TOTALLY FREAKIN' FORGOTTEN?! IT ISN'T!
You want a vast eeeevil Empire you can really hate, while also getting a more Zahnlike practical, honourable (in its way) Empire? What's more, you want the non-evil Empire to be running a *gasp* Rebellion against the evil Empire? You got it!
And oddly, the scruffy, angsty hero isn't anywhere near as irritating as I'd usually find him. I think it's because, well, it's a subtle difference but it's not that he's a reluctant hero angsting about his role, he's just refusing to be a hero. And the thing that finally makes his decision to become a more active agent in his own future is - well, to quote him: "No one dies for me! Never again!" Which sounds, well, horrifically cheesy, so perhaps it's context. But I respect that instead of having someone die for him and then angsting about whether he was worth it, or having someone die because of his refusal to act, or having someone die and then it still being all about him as so often happens with
But the point is, this series is crack. And next issue, CADE DUELS VADER FOR THE PANTS OF DESTINY!
...or perhaps I should just spent less time on the theforce.net literature forums...
Anyway, I love this series so much I went out and spent my grocery money on all the back issues of a COMPLETLEY DIFFERENT STAR WARS COMIC BOOK SERIES! I can't help it. The idea of a clumsy Jedi was just too hilarious.
4. Curse of the Golden Flower. Well, I liked it. I mean, come on, Gong Li! GONG LI! Um, what I mean to say is, Gong Li's acting is breathtaking. I think it was a bit too slow for Addy. And it gave Kevie flashbacks and now he hasn't slept well in over a week (which he claims is not a direct result but I have other suspicions) which means neither have I, which means I have a tiredness headache and I'm trying to vid with the vidding program of crashing doom! Hooray!
Um, where was I? Oh yes. Gong Li, FTW.
5. I am officially boycotting Wizards of the Coast. They cancelled Dungeon Magazine and Dragon Magazine. Those things are older than me! Wizards: I put up with you driving D&D into the ground. I put up with the bizarre twist of irony that allowed you to come up with something so beautiful as the Open License only to shit all over the spirit of it. I put up with you stealing back every interesting liscense to yourselves as soon as anyone else did anything interesting and financially succesful with it, only to drive it further into the ground yourselves. The occasional Dragon magazine was basically the only thing of yours we ever bought anymore and now even that is denied us. My money will be going to Paizo. To Fantasy Flight Games, and possibly to White Wolf (if I ever get over my bitterness about WoD 2.0, which I'm slowly doing, thanks, in large part, to your continued bone-headed rollplayerness; YOU'RE DRIVING ME INTO THE ARMS OF YOUR COMPETITION!)
Wizards? Fuck you. And your little kobold too.
Do I sound bitter? Well guess what. I AM. Plus this is yet again going to screw over Friendly Local Game shops like crap. *sigh*
Plus nearly every game we've been scheduled to have for the past two weeks has been cancelled. I'm getting the shakes. I NEED TO PRETEND I'M AN ELF AGAIN, DAMMIT!
6. Life On Mars - I don't ever really post about this, but I've liked this show since
hmpf showed it to me back at the start of February, and I watched the second season on the telly. I was enjoying it, even though it initially didn't appeal to me. It convinced me that the era was really...tragic, maybe? The marked increase in so many bad things (football hooliganism, racial violence and hate crimes, heroin) along with the widespread police corruption. The genuine moral tangles of Gene Hunt trying to keep his city safe even if it meant being bent, of Sam trying to keep his conscience clean. It never struck me as amoral so much as a web of conflicting moral viewpoints. It was a show all about morals - what they are, why you believe them, how you justify them, what you'll do to keep them intact. Of course the ending fucked that right up. But
hmpf said all that for me already here: http://hmpf.livejournal.com/162034.html#cutid1Hmm...and that's been about the size of my week so far. Hope y'alls has been interesting :)
