General snarkiness

[shadowkat]

The term waking up on the wrong side of the bed really applies to me today. Nerve endings on edge, spoiling for a fight. So wisely stayed far far away from posting boards.

Suffice it to say, I completely and utterly identified with Spike in last night's Angel episode. In every way imaginable. Yep, that's me right now, complete with snarky comments. Have nothing else to say about the episode right now. Was spoiled for it. Thought it was okay. Nothing special. But then I'm not a David Fury fan.

Apparently California has a new governor and it is Arnold Swazernegger. (The only plus sides I can see from this are: 1) Thank God I don't reside in California, 2.) He won't be doing any more movies.
3) He's apparently a whiz at finance and from all reports California needs it. Sorry so not an Arnold fan.) With Arnie in California, Pataki/Bloomberg here, and Bush in office, I'm wondering if my old idea of defecting to Canada is still possible? Plus sides of Canada: 1) National Healthcare ( ie. I don't have to bleeding pay $346 bucks a month for health insurance)
2) Possibly more jobs?? 3)Not at War with Iraq. 4)Gun control (no silly 2nd amendment), 5)Beautiful environment. Negative sides: 1) can't afford to move right now. 2) hard to get a job if not a Canadian, makes sense that, 3) Sars (not a good reason I know)
4) Cold. (Although the cooler summers is a plus).
Would I still get Angel up in Canada? From what I've seen online - it looks like it. Oh well, might as well stay in NYC for the moment. Although...if someone were to offer me a decent job in Canada, particularly Quebec or British Columbia? I would not turn it down.

Methinks I'm burnt on the whole analyzing television thing. Not surprising considering I wrote the equivalent of two books in 2001-2003 on BTVS. I think I analyzed every character, every metaphor, and every episode upside down and sideways. Now I look at an episode of Angel and all I can think of is well a few snarky comments reminscent of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and general impressions, hardly anything worth posting on. I tried to write an essay on impressions of BTVS writers but blanked sometime after doing David Greenwalt - that was just the first one. Yep, I'm burnt. Oh well.

Still reading Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett, starting to get really good.

Listening to Billie Holiday.

Oh - good show to watch if you like Elmore Lenard, film noir or pulp mysteries: Karen Sisko - ABC, 10pm on Wed. Also - Smallville was surprisingly good this week and last week.

Comments

Re: Don't live in Canda, live in denial

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Well, the interesting thing about both ME shows is how much the text of the shows and the characters themselves are open to interpretation. This is what gives the characters their complexity and realism (that all interpretations are at the same time true of the characters and at the same time all overgeneralizations), and this is what makes the show so fascinating and frustrating to debate over on the board(s).

And it's what makes people on the board get uncomfortable and snippety with posters like Claudia who want to back up their arguments with, "Well almost everyone I talked to believed X or saw it as Y". Perception is everything on shows like this, and perception (interpretation) occurs through the lens of our own personal experience with things.

Re: Don't live in Canda, live in denial

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Perception is everything on shows like this, and perception (interpretation) occurs through the lens of our own personal experience with things.

Very true!

I completely agree with you on Claudia and on the need to tolerate more than one interpretation. It's why I love reading your impressions as well as Randoms,TCH, Rook's, D'H's, Rahael's, yabby, KdS's even though I know you often have very different takes on the show than I do. As you should, since we all come from different backgrounds and different perceptions. It's what I love about the online fandom and the shows in general. It would be really boring if everyone agreed with us all the time. And what's the point of discussion - if you don't have a little disagreement??

I believe the writers have done an excellent job of creating extremly convulted characters with multiple layers and interpretations. It's what makes Angel the Series one of the more gripping and entertaining series on TV. I like prickly/edgy characters. For example - I still watch ER b/c I love the characters of Romano and Carrie - two of the most prickly characters on TV.

I also like seeing more than one interpretation, as long as the interpretations are polite and tolerant of others views. My friend cjl and I have great discussions on the characters and we don't always agree. His take on Angel is sometimes very different than mine, yet I oddly enough agree with it. Claudia gets on my nerves - I can't read her, just like I can't read Diana and a couple of others. Doesn't matter who they post on - I find the tone of their posts off-putting and difficult to read, so I do myself a favor and just skip them. I don't mind a different take, what I mind is the condescending tone or confrontational that some people have - ie. "you're 'wrong' b/c I know more than you (ie. look how bright I am!)" or "so and so says so" or "the majority says this so it must be true" as opposed to "it's odd but I see this differently, just my personal take, your mileage may vary". Of course, I admit I've been guilty of using writers' comments as a short cut to back myself up, dirty pool...I know. ;-) The confrontational posts just bring out the troll in me now, so I've learned to avoid the posters who post them. I guess I had more energy and/or tolerance for it last year, now? 0 tolerance for some reason. So I've been posting more in my live journal and less and less on the boards.

Re: Don't live in Canda, live in denial

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

The confrontational posts just bring out the troll in me now, so I've learned to avoid the posters who post them.

This has always been my strategy. I wish more people could learn to do this. You see a hot-button person posting, don't read their post. It seems simple enough, but some people just love to jump into a vat of acid. I donno.

So I've been posting more in my live journal and less and less on the boards.

You and many other ATPoers. Used to be, back earlier this year, only a couple of ATPoers were over here. Now there are quite a few of us. It has sort of become the "safe place" we can say what we want without getting jumped on by people who feel differently but aren't tolerant of other points of view.

I'm not trying to get down on my own board, but it is a fairly public forum with a free speech policy, and that means people get to speak their minds, even if they're the Claudias of the world. I still think the board is a fun invigorating place to go.

But there are people over here now in LJ land that have learned the hard way that you can get bit on the butt for posting your feelings/opinions on things on a public board. I personally don't post much of any of my opinions over there (mostly OT posts, if I post at all) because I'm trying to remain a neutral figure on the board.

But over here, I say pretty much what I want, what I believe. If someone trolls me over it, I can delete their post without the guilt I'd feel over at ATPo (incidentally, I don't think I've ever deleted a post for anything other than spam content).

Re: Don't live in Canda, live in denial

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

If someone trolls me over it, I can delete their post without the guilt I'd feel over at ATPo (incidentally, I don't think I've ever deleted a post for anything other than spam content).


I do applaud you for how you've handled that board. And I don't blame you for any of the posters there - since it's a public board. One of the things I like about ATPO is the free speech element. That we can say pretty much whatever we want without the fear of getting deleted. All the other boards delete you pretty quickly. The ironic thing? Buffy Cross and Stake which deletes - has more troll posts than ATPO ever does and far more screaming matches. So maybe permitting open discourse and informing the participants it's up to them to police things (ie. treating them like adults) results in a far more adult response?

I did post something fairly personal on Atpo this morning, that I may regret later on...god, I hope not. But I felt the need to share the feeling of loss of control. The nice thing is - sooner or later it will get archived and I can forget about it.