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Oct. 13th, 2015 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1) Back to work tomorrow..after a relaxing five day weekend. I wandered around Prospect Park, which a huge park in Brooklyn, where you can forget for periods of time that you are actually in the city.
Visited the Chelsea Piers and the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, also saw two theater presentations, Deaf West's Revival of Spring Awakening - which is supposed to go on tour after it finishes its 18 week run on Broadway (it's amazing, if you get a chance to see it - do), and a series of one-act plays regarding the fight to maintain libraries in NY and elsewhere, proceeds went to the Citizens Defending Libraries Campaign. (There were some decent plays in there, but for the most part the performances were better than the material.) Also got various errands done. Did not, however work on my sci-fi novel, where I'm sort of stuck at the moment.
2.) I've fallen down the X-men comic book rabbit hole, unfortunately. But there's an end in sight.
I hope. The good news, they rebooted the series again, so I'm not interested in anything written past May 2015. And I've already read everything prior to 2008. It's not a series you can just jump into willy-nilly. Highly serialized. I adore all the characters though, and some of them have amazingly good arcs, and there are various moral issues that are examined from multiple points of view.
However, reading it has reminded me of why the Avengers movies and Marvel Agents of Shield don't quite work for me. Honestly? They've always come across as vaguely fascist. This isn't the movie or television writers' fault, it's pretty much in the comics too. The Avengers destroy people's lives but, hey, they come from privilege - white guys and they saved the world, right? (I got the feeling watching Whedon's take on both -- that he has somewhat the same problem with both the Avengers and SHIELD. Whedon was an X-men fan.) Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, etc. Very hard to like them very much. SHIELD is a covert government agency that puts down anyone who looks mildly like a threat. And in the X-men comics, they are the antagonists or pseudo-bad guys. So if you are an X-men fan -- it's really hard to like the Avengers.
3.) Watching Television shouldn't feel like a job -- it's produced to entertain. Lately, few shows seem to capture my attention for more than a couple of minutes. I can't quite decide if this is a result of the commercials, which come in about every 10-20 minutes, and seem to last 20 minutes themselves. Five minutes is a heck of lot longer than I thought.
Tried watching the Ridely Scott film Exodus : Gods and Kings - you know the highly controversial movie where they cast a Welsh man in the role of Moses? I don't mind all that much, considering 90% of the biblical films that have been produced featured Americans in the lead roles, white Americans, such as Charleton Heston. No, the problem with the movie is it is boring. Which is odd, considering - on its face it shouldn't be. But fifteen minutes in, I'm bored. Everyone is so stiff, and the direction is sluggish. Gladiator - this isn't. (Another film with mainly white Americans in ethnic roles.) But at least Gladiator wasn't boring.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- was disappointing. The songs reminded me a little of Galavant (except Galavant's songs were actually better, which ahem is saying something, I suppose), as did the humor, which was overly broad and more parody than satire. (Think Galavant meets Jane the Virgin by way of the Julia Roberts comedy My Best Friend's Wedding). I don't know why television comedy writers feel the need to hit you over the head with the joke. Repeatedly.
That said, it had a few good moments, enough to tune in for the next episode. There's a rather funny bit with a rapper who is helping the protagonist do her "Preparing to Be Sexy For You" number. He pauses and stars at her vanity - where all the tools are lined up - curling iron, hot wax, fake eyelashes, eyelash curler, mask, etc...and states: "Whoa, what is this? Is this what you had to do to look like that? It looks like a freaking horror show. My god. I never knew you had to do all that! There's some b*tchs that I have to apologize to. And I need to do that right now." He storms off.
At the end, while the credits roll, he's apologizing to all the women he ever dated, was in a video with, or had anything to do with - and it's a long list. That's hilarious. Particularly when they flip over to the heroine's date, who is just napping on the couch in a t-shirt and jeans. Although they did go a bit over the top with it -- also what made it funny, was it sort of came in out of the blue. I mean the rapper wasn't part of the story, he was part of a number inside the heroine's head.
(Example of breaking the 4th Wall. The show does that a few times, and those are actually the funniest moments. When the writers sort of comment on themselves. A meta-narrative. Reminds me a little of Joss Whedon's Once More With Feeling, which sort of did the same thing. Hey, aren't we nuts for doing a musical?)
In short, I want more OMWF meta-narrative, and less Jane the Virgin meants Galavant.
Minority Report -- may not last long. The characters aren't that gripping. I got bored watching it today. Blindspot on the other hand, has potential. I like the cast, for the most part, and the story is intriguing on a certain level. I may have to give up on Gotham which is becoming more and more of a violent, graphically so, horror movie. Everyone killed in increasingly gruesome ways. I'd like a little more noir and a little less blood and gore. It really doesn't need to be Quentin Tarantino's Resevoir Dogs meets The Dark Knight. Gave up on The Player -- which is just silly, and I don't like the lead. Limitless is however still entertaining, again due largely to the cast. And it has a sense of humor missing from the others.
The Good Wife is actually better this season than last season. Getting rid of Kalinda, was a good idea. And adding Margo Martindale as Peter's new campaign handler, a stroke of genius. Eli actually has something to do. The satire is as biting as ever, and the cast spot on. I like this season better than last season, so far. I found last season frustrating.
Visited the Chelsea Piers and the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, also saw two theater presentations, Deaf West's Revival of Spring Awakening - which is supposed to go on tour after it finishes its 18 week run on Broadway (it's amazing, if you get a chance to see it - do), and a series of one-act plays regarding the fight to maintain libraries in NY and elsewhere, proceeds went to the Citizens Defending Libraries Campaign. (There were some decent plays in there, but for the most part the performances were better than the material.) Also got various errands done. Did not, however work on my sci-fi novel, where I'm sort of stuck at the moment.
2.) I've fallen down the X-men comic book rabbit hole, unfortunately. But there's an end in sight.
I hope. The good news, they rebooted the series again, so I'm not interested in anything written past May 2015. And I've already read everything prior to 2008. It's not a series you can just jump into willy-nilly. Highly serialized. I adore all the characters though, and some of them have amazingly good arcs, and there are various moral issues that are examined from multiple points of view.
However, reading it has reminded me of why the Avengers movies and Marvel Agents of Shield don't quite work for me. Honestly? They've always come across as vaguely fascist. This isn't the movie or television writers' fault, it's pretty much in the comics too. The Avengers destroy people's lives but, hey, they come from privilege - white guys and they saved the world, right? (I got the feeling watching Whedon's take on both -- that he has somewhat the same problem with both the Avengers and SHIELD. Whedon was an X-men fan.) Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, etc. Very hard to like them very much. SHIELD is a covert government agency that puts down anyone who looks mildly like a threat. And in the X-men comics, they are the antagonists or pseudo-bad guys. So if you are an X-men fan -- it's really hard to like the Avengers.
3.) Watching Television shouldn't feel like a job -- it's produced to entertain. Lately, few shows seem to capture my attention for more than a couple of minutes. I can't quite decide if this is a result of the commercials, which come in about every 10-20 minutes, and seem to last 20 minutes themselves. Five minutes is a heck of lot longer than I thought.
Tried watching the Ridely Scott film Exodus : Gods and Kings - you know the highly controversial movie where they cast a Welsh man in the role of Moses? I don't mind all that much, considering 90% of the biblical films that have been produced featured Americans in the lead roles, white Americans, such as Charleton Heston. No, the problem with the movie is it is boring. Which is odd, considering - on its face it shouldn't be. But fifteen minutes in, I'm bored. Everyone is so stiff, and the direction is sluggish. Gladiator - this isn't. (Another film with mainly white Americans in ethnic roles.) But at least Gladiator wasn't boring.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- was disappointing. The songs reminded me a little of Galavant (except Galavant's songs were actually better, which ahem is saying something, I suppose), as did the humor, which was overly broad and more parody than satire. (Think Galavant meets Jane the Virgin by way of the Julia Roberts comedy My Best Friend's Wedding). I don't know why television comedy writers feel the need to hit you over the head with the joke. Repeatedly.
That said, it had a few good moments, enough to tune in for the next episode. There's a rather funny bit with a rapper who is helping the protagonist do her "Preparing to Be Sexy For You" number. He pauses and stars at her vanity - where all the tools are lined up - curling iron, hot wax, fake eyelashes, eyelash curler, mask, etc...and states: "Whoa, what is this? Is this what you had to do to look like that? It looks like a freaking horror show. My god. I never knew you had to do all that! There's some b*tchs that I have to apologize to. And I need to do that right now." He storms off.
At the end, while the credits roll, he's apologizing to all the women he ever dated, was in a video with, or had anything to do with - and it's a long list. That's hilarious. Particularly when they flip over to the heroine's date, who is just napping on the couch in a t-shirt and jeans. Although they did go a bit over the top with it -- also what made it funny, was it sort of came in out of the blue. I mean the rapper wasn't part of the story, he was part of a number inside the heroine's head.
(Example of breaking the 4th Wall. The show does that a few times, and those are actually the funniest moments. When the writers sort of comment on themselves. A meta-narrative. Reminds me a little of Joss Whedon's Once More With Feeling, which sort of did the same thing. Hey, aren't we nuts for doing a musical?)
In short, I want more OMWF meta-narrative, and less Jane the Virgin meants Galavant.
Minority Report -- may not last long. The characters aren't that gripping. I got bored watching it today. Blindspot on the other hand, has potential. I like the cast, for the most part, and the story is intriguing on a certain level. I may have to give up on Gotham which is becoming more and more of a violent, graphically so, horror movie. Everyone killed in increasingly gruesome ways. I'd like a little more noir and a little less blood and gore. It really doesn't need to be Quentin Tarantino's Resevoir Dogs meets The Dark Knight. Gave up on The Player -- which is just silly, and I don't like the lead. Limitless is however still entertaining, again due largely to the cast. And it has a sense of humor missing from the others.
The Good Wife is actually better this season than last season. Getting rid of Kalinda, was a good idea. And adding Margo Martindale as Peter's new campaign handler, a stroke of genius. Eli actually has something to do. The satire is as biting as ever, and the cast spot on. I like this season better than last season, so far. I found last season frustrating.
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no subject
Date: 2015-10-14 02:43 pm (UTC)You hit the nail on the head. I've been having trouble watching anything on network TV lately.
From what little I been watching I haven't noticed extra commercials during prime time shows, but during the national news, yikes. Why run the news for a half hour if you are going to have ten minutes of commercials and ten minutes of feature stories, none of which are actually news? Yes, there was a time when the national news and the local news and weather took up 30 minutes altogether. Now many stations are spreading the same thing over two and a half hours, chockful of lame local feature stories.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-15 12:14 am (UTC)And they don't stop there - they post ads at the bottom of the screen during the program that you are watching.
When I watched streaming this summer - it was such a wonderful thing not to have to fast-forward through advertisements or deal with them. If it weren't for the news and my desire to see the occasional sporting or live event, I'd cancel cable and go streaming full-time.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-15 03:17 am (UTC)It's true that the premiere was a little rough, but I got several really good laughs from it, and I find the lead actress appealing in the way she handled material like this that often can go way over the top. The musical numbers were funny and clever, and like you I thought the rapper guy apologizing to his many "bitches" was hilarious.
I think this has great potential, so for sure I'll be tuning in next week.
Loving The Muppets very much, this was another show that could have been a disaster, but has been nothing but delightful. Jim Henson can rest easy.
Good Wife very good so far-- now waiting patiently for Elementary to return, and (very, very, extremely) patiently for The 100 (~sigh~ not until January).
no subject
Date: 2015-10-16 12:11 am (UTC)Agree for the most part. Although I think you enjoyed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend far more than I did. It did have its moments though - the scene on the lawn with the paralegal, where she realizes she may actually be crazy, was quite good. Along with the rapper bit.
Also awaiting The 100's return. While ultra-violent (gee what adventure series isn't nowadays?) - it had some of the most compelling character arcs and themes.
Have you given up on OUAT?