Sigh...pardon me while I whine
Nov. 22nd, 2004 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatMood today is much like the weather...not cold, not warm, damp, with grayish skies.
Ever have one of those days that you just wish you could have stayed in bed wrapped in your covers, the phone off the hook, and the music playing softly in the background? Yep that covers it. By mid-day, I felt like an incompentent nit-wit. Made a series of dumb errors. Minor. Nothing to get bugged over. But dumb and embarrassing. Boss shaking her head over me no doubt, wondering...okay did I misjudge this hire? (The stupidest one was mathmatical.
And said something along the lines: "when it comes to math, I tend to trust
calculators over my head..." I do. Actually. Math phobic. It's not that I'm necessarily bad at it per se, just don't trust myself when it comes to numbers. In this case plugged the numbers into the calculator wrong. Dumb. Stupid. Even worse, not double checking before taking the situation to the boss. So add embarrassing. Life doesn't get easier when one gets older, just more complicated and confusing.) At any rate that was at 9am. The day just continued to get more aggravating from that point onwards.
Watched The Mountain last night. The reason? I was curious to see what James Marsters could do with a role that wasn't Spike. I've seen two episodes of that show now. Saw last week's to see what the show was about and if it was worth anything without Marsters. It's not.
How to describe this show? It's basically a soap opera wannabe. It doesn't quite crack the genre though. Soap's require a little more melodrama, or dramatic tension than the Mountain contains. Also a lot more hammy acting. The Less is More Style people adopt in Procedurals and Action/Sci-Fi Shows such as Star-Gate does not work on a soap opera. There is a reason people like Larry Hagman, Joan Collins, Shannon Dougherty, and Heather Locklear are remembered and celebrated in the soaps, while we forget the others. They frigging chewed the scenery. The Mountain doesn't have anyone like this. (Well, outside of James Marsters for about fifteen minutes on Sunday, but he doesn't count.)
But The Mountain certainly wants to be a soap opera. It has all the formulaic bits and pieces of a soap opera - fighting families, former best friends who despise each other, prodigal son who wants to prove himself, nasty parents. Sexy young people with fantastic bodies and perfect faces. Yet, no real drama. The writers spend a great deal of time telling us who their characters are, where they are located, but don't show us much. Having watched two episodes, I still can't find a reason to care why one family gets the Mountain Resort over the other. The actors all seem to hail from the "less is more" school of acting. Actually, "way" less is more. Cardboard expressions. But to give them credit, they don't have a lot to work with direction or writing wise. Most of the time we see them talking while walking somewhere, and emphasis placed on "somewhere", there's no clear idea where, except we have mountains in the background and lots of snow. Apparently being on location is important - so the directors and writers are making the most of it by having people walk places. With intermittent shots of skiers, just in case we forget we are at a ski resort.
The plot? Not all that interesting - fairly clich, actually. We have the hot studly guy who returns from his escapades to save his family resort(David), his stay-at-home responsible brother, mom, and the teenage sister who is interested in the 20 something son of the local competitor who wants to take over said resort. Oh and David has a thing with the local competitor's daughter. Both kids hate their Dad.
There is an Everwood style side story, which isn't bad - Sam, the best friend of the teenage daughter (and potential love interest), is an art student who wants to go to Rhode Island School of Design (which made me giggle because kidbro meet his wife there, and she got in, he didn't, she left because she hated it and thinks it's a horrid school and they constantly poke fun at it).
At any rate, Sam can't afford RISD but he might be able to swing it on the amount his never-do-well father has saved for him and a scholarship. He tells
his girlfriend two things - 1) He'd kill to get into RISD and 2) His Dad hasn't reached a level of sobriety in years to notice his talent. Up until this episode we hear about Sam's dad, but don't see him. Now, finally they show us more. Dad got his act together, he made breakfast for Sam. He's been sober for six days. And went to an AA meeting. No longer passed out on the couch. Breakfast is no longer a cigarette and a bloody mary. So, okay, I think, I've seen this story done before, Dad is going to be over the top. Nope. Marsters reigns it in, but he emotes so much through simple gestures and his eyes, that you feel for him and for Sam. Unfortunately that is only ten-fifteen minutes of the show. Used as a comparison for the lousey relationships the rich people have. They are sober, but they clearly don't know how to show love for one another. While Sam and his Dad do love each other and embrace.
Awww. Cliche as hell. But I give Marsters credit for pulling me in during his scenes, the rest of the show nearly put me to sleep. Sigh. Note to writers and directors of nightime soaps? Watch Dallas and Dynasty - and hire a few actors who know how to do more than look like wall ornaments.
Don't recommend The Mountain. Waste of time. Here's hoping Marsters lands on something more entertaining in the future. Acting tough gig. Especially finding good roles.
Other news of note...almost finished reading Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo. This book for some reason really hit my mood perfectly. Only problem with finishing it is finding another one on my shelf that does it.
Have lots of books, just having troubles finding one that hits my mood.
I recommend Ship of Fools. It's an interesting novel about Prayer, Faith, God, and how we deal with them.
Also saw the Incredibles recently with cjlanksy. I enjoyed the movie. It, for me, did everything that Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow did wrong, right. The characters were warm. Engaging. Course I went into the movie not expecting that much, so that may have helped. Movies are like books for me, mood is important. I'd read a lukewarm review on the Incredibles in Entertainment Weekly (haven't read a movie review in a while) and was concerned about the message. ie. That only "super" people with "special" talents can be great. After seeing the movie, I realized that really wasn't the message and the reviewer may have misread it. It's not that you can't be super without special talents, so much as you should be allowed to use your talents to be whatever you wish to be. You also shouldn't copy someone else or try to be them, find your own purpose. Has a very snarky message about over-zealous fans which I appreciated. Also some nice inside jokes on comics.
Definitely one of the better films I've seen this year. (Haven't seen that many I'd rate as good to be honest - only two or three seem to register in my memory banks: Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, Spiderman 2, and maybe Hero (although I'd forgotten about both Spiderman 2 and Hero until about a week ago.)
Ever have one of those days that you just wish you could have stayed in bed wrapped in your covers, the phone off the hook, and the music playing softly in the background? Yep that covers it. By mid-day, I felt like an incompentent nit-wit. Made a series of dumb errors. Minor. Nothing to get bugged over. But dumb and embarrassing. Boss shaking her head over me no doubt, wondering...okay did I misjudge this hire? (The stupidest one was mathmatical.
And said something along the lines: "when it comes to math, I tend to trust
calculators over my head..." I do. Actually. Math phobic. It's not that I'm necessarily bad at it per se, just don't trust myself when it comes to numbers. In this case plugged the numbers into the calculator wrong. Dumb. Stupid. Even worse, not double checking before taking the situation to the boss. So add embarrassing. Life doesn't get easier when one gets older, just more complicated and confusing.) At any rate that was at 9am. The day just continued to get more aggravating from that point onwards.
Watched The Mountain last night. The reason? I was curious to see what James Marsters could do with a role that wasn't Spike. I've seen two episodes of that show now. Saw last week's to see what the show was about and if it was worth anything without Marsters. It's not.
How to describe this show? It's basically a soap opera wannabe. It doesn't quite crack the genre though. Soap's require a little more melodrama, or dramatic tension than the Mountain contains. Also a lot more hammy acting. The Less is More Style people adopt in Procedurals and Action/Sci-Fi Shows such as Star-Gate does not work on a soap opera. There is a reason people like Larry Hagman, Joan Collins, Shannon Dougherty, and Heather Locklear are remembered and celebrated in the soaps, while we forget the others. They frigging chewed the scenery. The Mountain doesn't have anyone like this. (Well, outside of James Marsters for about fifteen minutes on Sunday, but he doesn't count.)
But The Mountain certainly wants to be a soap opera. It has all the formulaic bits and pieces of a soap opera - fighting families, former best friends who despise each other, prodigal son who wants to prove himself, nasty parents. Sexy young people with fantastic bodies and perfect faces. Yet, no real drama. The writers spend a great deal of time telling us who their characters are, where they are located, but don't show us much. Having watched two episodes, I still can't find a reason to care why one family gets the Mountain Resort over the other. The actors all seem to hail from the "less is more" school of acting. Actually, "way" less is more. Cardboard expressions. But to give them credit, they don't have a lot to work with direction or writing wise. Most of the time we see them talking while walking somewhere, and emphasis placed on "somewhere", there's no clear idea where, except we have mountains in the background and lots of snow. Apparently being on location is important - so the directors and writers are making the most of it by having people walk places. With intermittent shots of skiers, just in case we forget we are at a ski resort.
The plot? Not all that interesting - fairly clich, actually. We have the hot studly guy who returns from his escapades to save his family resort(David), his stay-at-home responsible brother, mom, and the teenage sister who is interested in the 20 something son of the local competitor who wants to take over said resort. Oh and David has a thing with the local competitor's daughter. Both kids hate their Dad.
There is an Everwood style side story, which isn't bad - Sam, the best friend of the teenage daughter (and potential love interest), is an art student who wants to go to Rhode Island School of Design (which made me giggle because kidbro meet his wife there, and she got in, he didn't, she left because she hated it and thinks it's a horrid school and they constantly poke fun at it).
At any rate, Sam can't afford RISD but he might be able to swing it on the amount his never-do-well father has saved for him and a scholarship. He tells
his girlfriend two things - 1) He'd kill to get into RISD and 2) His Dad hasn't reached a level of sobriety in years to notice his talent. Up until this episode we hear about Sam's dad, but don't see him. Now, finally they show us more. Dad got his act together, he made breakfast for Sam. He's been sober for six days. And went to an AA meeting. No longer passed out on the couch. Breakfast is no longer a cigarette and a bloody mary. So, okay, I think, I've seen this story done before, Dad is going to be over the top. Nope. Marsters reigns it in, but he emotes so much through simple gestures and his eyes, that you feel for him and for Sam. Unfortunately that is only ten-fifteen minutes of the show. Used as a comparison for the lousey relationships the rich people have. They are sober, but they clearly don't know how to show love for one another. While Sam and his Dad do love each other and embrace.
Awww. Cliche as hell. But I give Marsters credit for pulling me in during his scenes, the rest of the show nearly put me to sleep. Sigh. Note to writers and directors of nightime soaps? Watch Dallas and Dynasty - and hire a few actors who know how to do more than look like wall ornaments.
Don't recommend The Mountain. Waste of time. Here's hoping Marsters lands on something more entertaining in the future. Acting tough gig. Especially finding good roles.
Other news of note...almost finished reading Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo. This book for some reason really hit my mood perfectly. Only problem with finishing it is finding another one on my shelf that does it.
Have lots of books, just having troubles finding one that hits my mood.
I recommend Ship of Fools. It's an interesting novel about Prayer, Faith, God, and how we deal with them.
Also saw the Incredibles recently with cjlanksy. I enjoyed the movie. It, for me, did everything that Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow did wrong, right. The characters were warm. Engaging. Course I went into the movie not expecting that much, so that may have helped. Movies are like books for me, mood is important. I'd read a lukewarm review on the Incredibles in Entertainment Weekly (haven't read a movie review in a while) and was concerned about the message. ie. That only "super" people with "special" talents can be great. After seeing the movie, I realized that really wasn't the message and the reviewer may have misread it. It's not that you can't be super without special talents, so much as you should be allowed to use your talents to be whatever you wish to be. You also shouldn't copy someone else or try to be them, find your own purpose. Has a very snarky message about over-zealous fans which I appreciated. Also some nice inside jokes on comics.
Definitely one of the better films I've seen this year. (Haven't seen that many I'd rate as good to be honest - only two or three seem to register in my memory banks: Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, Spiderman 2, and maybe Hero (although I'd forgotten about both Spiderman 2 and Hero until about a week ago.)