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Oct. 17th, 2020 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I've come to the conclusion that telling people you don't want advice on social media is akin to throwing a stick and telling a dog not to retrieve it. This little bit of understanding (because I can't spell epipthany) comes via my observance of various folks on FB not asking for advice, and in fact advising folks not to advise them - only to get nothing but advice.
People just can't help themselves, can they? Kind of like pavolov's dog.
Hence the reason on Dreamwidth folks often turn off comments.
2. Finished The Haunting of Bly Manor
It was...okay. The first three or four episodes are actually creepy and do a good job of building a sense of dread. Then...it kind of goes downhill for a bit in regards to pacing...I got bored. Kiss of death for a horror series - boredom. I fast-forwarded out of boredom. A first.
The series works best when it focuses on Dani - the au pair, and when we are in Dani's point of view. Everyone else - not so much.
The plot? Ah. It's Henry James Turn of the Screw meets the lady in the lake, and the disappearing boyfriend. In short we have what amounts to three ghost stories, most likely written by James and adapted from James, interwoven together. Which is okay, except...of the three the least interesting is the central and main threat - the lady in the lake. The other two are actually more interesting, and the disappearing boyfriend is the one that creeped me out and gave me nightmares. Those were the first four to five episodes. That story is resolved by episode five.
I'd go into more detail - but spoilers. Will state that the housekeeper episode is confusing - it takes a few episodes after it to figure out what is happening in that episode. Which is another problem - the writers and filmmakers are more interested in being clever and setting up a narrative puzzle than telling an engaging story. I find narrative puzzles kind of self-indulgent. Also, it rarely works - unless you really know what you are doing. The first series, The Haunting of Hill House - handled shifts in time really well and effectively. Haunting of Bly Manor doesn't. The shifts in time are either jarring, confusing, or annoying - stopping the story dead in its tracks. It's like when you are watching a soap opera, and a lead character is in danger, but they've jumped over to two people discussing something over coffee at a different time and place - and you're thinking, can we get back to the person being strangled to death, please. This interlude is kind of annoying.
The annoying ones happen in episodes 6-8.
They promised us more ghosts and more scares than the Haunting of Hill House. Did they deliver? Nope. I counted, there were less ghosts. And they are hard to find in the shadows. I know, I kept looking for them to entertain myself - I was kind of bored. There's a lot of scenes of people talking over tea about nothing.
The focus is on four-five separate love stories. All end tragically. So four tragic love stories - who end tragically for the most part due to ghosts.
The best is a lesbian love story between the Au Pair and the Gardner, which also may be the best developed of the four. Also there's a heavy theme about forbidden romance - all the romances have that in common. Along with the difference between "love" and "possession/obsession". The love story between the previous au pair/nanny and the valet is starkly contrasted with the ones between the gardner/au pair and the housekeeper/cook. Also we have the love triangle between the uncle and the kids parents (his brother and sister-inlaw) contrasted with Viola/Perdita (sisters) and Viola's husband Arthur back in the 1800s. The love stories provide the motivation for the ghostly hauntings and their rage, much like the original Turn of the Screw.
The kids are kind of creepy. Also a little on the annoying side. By episode six, I wanted to smack Flora. But this is sort of keeping with the story of "The Turn of The Screw" - in which the children are supposed to be creepy, they are either possessed or being manipulated by the ghosts of the former governess and the valet.
The best scares in the entire series is the use of dolls, the dollhouse, and mirrors. All of which normally creep me out. They all take place before episode six. After episode six, it's not that scary. And it kind of ruins the previous scares.
For those who did not like the ending of Haunting of Hill House and prefer dark creepy shocking endings? This series is similar to Haunting of Hill House's ending, if anything it's even more romantic, comforting, and romantic than Hill House. I found Hill House's ending somewhat creepy. This one is weirdly reassuring.
I think the difference here - is that the writers are more interested in telling a story about grief, and romantic love...than really a ghost story.
Which works and doesn't at the same time. The love stories kind of hurt the pacing of the story and cause it to drag.
Overall? Compelling but quite flawed, and extremely slow in places.
3. Watching the play What the Constitution Means to Me" on Amazon. This is the one woman or two person play that was shown across the country from 2017 until about when the pandemic hit. And filmed and streamed once the pandemic hit.
Heidi Schreck’s show What the Constitution Means to Me is a (mostly) one-woman performance that shifts between constitutional history and personal storytelling. Schreck opens the show by re-creating her own teenage speech about the Constitution for the American Legion and then considers that experience with her understanding of the role of women in American history — and the history of women in her family. After both an Off Broadway and Broadway run, a filmed version directed by Marielle Heller is now available to watch on Prime Video. Here, two Vulture writers discuss what this latest incarnation of What the Constitution Means to Me means to them.
It's funny in places, but mainly feels like an extended rant or a scream of rage. Although I agree with her. And what she states needs to be said.
Also, she does rip apart the insanely toxic male society that we currently live within - the society that is trying to kill us at the moment.
Using the Constitution to show what should be done and what should be followed.
Adds to it - with young fifteen girls debating the US Constitution. They even do a debate on the stage - regarding whether they should abolish the US Constitution.
Worth watching, particularly the last debate.
People just can't help themselves, can they? Kind of like pavolov's dog.
Hence the reason on Dreamwidth folks often turn off comments.
2. Finished The Haunting of Bly Manor
It was...okay. The first three or four episodes are actually creepy and do a good job of building a sense of dread. Then...it kind of goes downhill for a bit in regards to pacing...I got bored. Kiss of death for a horror series - boredom. I fast-forwarded out of boredom. A first.
The series works best when it focuses on Dani - the au pair, and when we are in Dani's point of view. Everyone else - not so much.
The plot? Ah. It's Henry James Turn of the Screw meets the lady in the lake, and the disappearing boyfriend. In short we have what amounts to three ghost stories, most likely written by James and adapted from James, interwoven together. Which is okay, except...of the three the least interesting is the central and main threat - the lady in the lake. The other two are actually more interesting, and the disappearing boyfriend is the one that creeped me out and gave me nightmares. Those were the first four to five episodes. That story is resolved by episode five.
I'd go into more detail - but spoilers. Will state that the housekeeper episode is confusing - it takes a few episodes after it to figure out what is happening in that episode. Which is another problem - the writers and filmmakers are more interested in being clever and setting up a narrative puzzle than telling an engaging story. I find narrative puzzles kind of self-indulgent. Also, it rarely works - unless you really know what you are doing. The first series, The Haunting of Hill House - handled shifts in time really well and effectively. Haunting of Bly Manor doesn't. The shifts in time are either jarring, confusing, or annoying - stopping the story dead in its tracks. It's like when you are watching a soap opera, and a lead character is in danger, but they've jumped over to two people discussing something over coffee at a different time and place - and you're thinking, can we get back to the person being strangled to death, please. This interlude is kind of annoying.
The annoying ones happen in episodes 6-8.
They promised us more ghosts and more scares than the Haunting of Hill House. Did they deliver? Nope. I counted, there were less ghosts. And they are hard to find in the shadows. I know, I kept looking for them to entertain myself - I was kind of bored. There's a lot of scenes of people talking over tea about nothing.
The focus is on four-five separate love stories. All end tragically. So four tragic love stories - who end tragically for the most part due to ghosts.
The best is a lesbian love story between the Au Pair and the Gardner, which also may be the best developed of the four. Also there's a heavy theme about forbidden romance - all the romances have that in common. Along with the difference between "love" and "possession/obsession". The love story between the previous au pair/nanny and the valet is starkly contrasted with the ones between the gardner/au pair and the housekeeper/cook. Also we have the love triangle between the uncle and the kids parents (his brother and sister-inlaw) contrasted with Viola/Perdita (sisters) and Viola's husband Arthur back in the 1800s. The love stories provide the motivation for the ghostly hauntings and their rage, much like the original Turn of the Screw.
The kids are kind of creepy. Also a little on the annoying side. By episode six, I wanted to smack Flora. But this is sort of keeping with the story of "The Turn of The Screw" - in which the children are supposed to be creepy, they are either possessed or being manipulated by the ghosts of the former governess and the valet.
The best scares in the entire series is the use of dolls, the dollhouse, and mirrors. All of which normally creep me out. They all take place before episode six. After episode six, it's not that scary. And it kind of ruins the previous scares.
For those who did not like the ending of Haunting of Hill House and prefer dark creepy shocking endings? This series is similar to Haunting of Hill House's ending, if anything it's even more romantic, comforting, and romantic than Hill House. I found Hill House's ending somewhat creepy. This one is weirdly reassuring.
I think the difference here - is that the writers are more interested in telling a story about grief, and romantic love...than really a ghost story.
Which works and doesn't at the same time. The love stories kind of hurt the pacing of the story and cause it to drag.
Overall? Compelling but quite flawed, and extremely slow in places.
3. Watching the play What the Constitution Means to Me" on Amazon. This is the one woman or two person play that was shown across the country from 2017 until about when the pandemic hit. And filmed and streamed once the pandemic hit.
Heidi Schreck’s show What the Constitution Means to Me is a (mostly) one-woman performance that shifts between constitutional history and personal storytelling. Schreck opens the show by re-creating her own teenage speech about the Constitution for the American Legion and then considers that experience with her understanding of the role of women in American history — and the history of women in her family. After both an Off Broadway and Broadway run, a filmed version directed by Marielle Heller is now available to watch on Prime Video. Here, two Vulture writers discuss what this latest incarnation of What the Constitution Means to Me means to them.
It's funny in places, but mainly feels like an extended rant or a scream of rage. Although I agree with her. And what she states needs to be said.
Also, she does rip apart the insanely toxic male society that we currently live within - the society that is trying to kill us at the moment.
Using the Constitution to show what should be done and what should be followed.
Adds to it - with young fifteen girls debating the US Constitution. They even do a debate on the stage - regarding whether they should abolish the US Constitution.
Worth watching, particularly the last debate.