Day #47 of year 2
May. 2nd, 2021 05:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatGot another sick headache, so no pictures today or walks for that matter. I blame the pollen in the air. I've been congested all week long, and this weekend, on the verge of nauseous vertigo headaches. Verge - being, I can feel the fullness in the airs, that my digestive system is off, that a headache is lurking, and my balance seems off. In short, a vegging day.
Television
I've watched three episodes of The Nevers on HBO Max, and one episode of Shadow and Bone on Netflix. I like Shadow and Bone better.
Why? Oh, world-building mainly, but also characters. The plot is simpler in Shadow and Bone, with more focus on character and world-buildings. Also excellent special effects. And a very diverse cast. Not to mention a more attractive one to the eye...but alas, that's another bit entirely. The Nevers in stark contrast - has far too much plot for its own good, not enough focus on the world-building (which it seems to take for granted) and very little on character. I think the writers of the Nevers are too invested in being clever - it's not clever, cheesy, predictable and at times cliche - yes, clever no. And the jokes don't land. The more I see of Whedon's dramas the more I wonder about what enthralled me about his writing to begin with?
The villains in Shadow and Bone are less clear cut, and there's layers to it. The Never's villains in stark contrast feel somewhat...comic booky? Or overdrawn.
I think the reason for the differences - is that one is adapted from a series of books, which has a well established and built world. Where the series varies from the books isn't in the world, but characterization and to a smaller degree plot. It also has more diverse casting and romantic relations than the books did. The other is not adapted from books, has spent little time on the world-building (a must for all fantasy works), and less time on character and motivations (most television writers don't really know what their characters motivations or emotional arcs are - and make them up as they go along, which is why television acting is a beast, it is kind of necessary though - since you really don't know what will happen in television - you could have the plug pulled at any moment or a character could be required to leave.) It's a bit too theme driven (kiss of death for television - no one likes being preached to), and plot driven for its own good - and the plot is a convoluted mess, while in Smoke and Bone, it's not a mess at all - it's simple and straight forward.
Anyhow, based on one episode of Smoke and Bone, and three on the Nevers - I'd say Smoke and Bone is the one you should watch. Less aggravating.
I'll watch both of course.
Still watching This is Us - although, I'm not entirely sure about how they are handling the Randall storyline. And, still watching the 9-1-1 procedurals - which I enjoy, I like the characters, and find them comforting.
Completed Great Pottery Throwdown - S4, is better than S3 (which isn't hard to do) but not as good at the first two seasons. Also, I think the themes are kind of cheesy. But that's just me. It is still comforting though. Just kind of odd in how it turned out. Felt contrived.
Falcon and the Winter Solider - the final episode did a good job of wrapping up various character arcs. But, I'm kind of...annoyed by what they chose to do with Sharon Carter. It felt almost against the grain of her character. Her character seems to do a 180 from Civil War to now. Making me think that maybe she did survive the blip and was none too happy about it?
For those who watched, Sharon is revealed as the bad guy that they'd been tracking. The individual responsible for getting the super serum to Karly and various others. Aka The Power Broker. And it's Sharon who finally kills Karly, allegedly to save Sam's life. This plot twist, which I should have seen coming but didn't - aggravated me. Which is why I didn't figure it out - I didn't want to. Zenmo's arc worked better in my opinion, as did John Walker's, Bucky's, and Sam's. The women were given short shrift in this. And we're never told who Julia Louise-Drefuss is supposed to be. Although Johnnie Walker's arc matches the comics fairly closely.
Outside of what they did with Sharon Carter, I rather enjoyed the six episode mini-series. They delved deeply into Bucky and Sam's characters and slowly built their relationship with each other. While at the same time, covering the complex social issues of racism and immigration or being transplanted, without going overboard or getting preachy.
Other Stuff
* Watched two live-streaming Unitarian Universalist services. The first was a tad more intellectual than the second. The second had more music though.
The first had a beautiful song in Chinese about the Yangstee River. What I found interesting though - was a clarification of what it means to be religious, and what it means to be spiritual.
Religious is basically being spiritual with a community, or practicing a spiritual ritual with others. While spiritual is doing it just with oneself.
We=religious=covenant, while Me=spiritual=covenant.
The description made a lot of sense to me at any rate.
* Mother continues to chat with various family members. While my brother has visited with friends, as has his daughter. It appears I'm the only one in my family that continue to be somewhat isolated. It's mainly because I'm a bit of a loner and have phone phobia.
Mother was complaining about a cousin-in-law who teases people. She went on about how he was teasing on of his kids. I asked her, finally, if she'd ever met my brother - who is the same.
*On Kensington FB page we were all mourning the loss of the pretty trees in our area. Including these:
Which are now - these:
Or as I pointed out in a comment to the post - that I was still mourning the loss of the beautiful magnolia tree that the nitwity residents chopped down in favor of a concrete sidewalk like patio and astro turf under their trampoline.
This infuriates me. But alas nothing I can do. Will state - that in New York State - if you chop down any trees on public land, you have to plant ten new ones for each tree removed. I found this out about ten years ago, when we had to replace about five trees in a park, after they had to be removed for a railroad remedial excavation. The NYSDEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New Parks Department require ten trees for each tree removed.) Huzzah! I wish property owners had the same penalty imposed. You remove a tree from your property? Ten trees donated to the city.
A pretty house is one with trees. An ugly house is one without them. Unless of course you live in the desert, in which case...
Television
I've watched three episodes of The Nevers on HBO Max, and one episode of Shadow and Bone on Netflix. I like Shadow and Bone better.
Why? Oh, world-building mainly, but also characters. The plot is simpler in Shadow and Bone, with more focus on character and world-buildings. Also excellent special effects. And a very diverse cast. Not to mention a more attractive one to the eye...but alas, that's another bit entirely. The Nevers in stark contrast - has far too much plot for its own good, not enough focus on the world-building (which it seems to take for granted) and very little on character. I think the writers of the Nevers are too invested in being clever - it's not clever, cheesy, predictable and at times cliche - yes, clever no. And the jokes don't land. The more I see of Whedon's dramas the more I wonder about what enthralled me about his writing to begin with?
The villains in Shadow and Bone are less clear cut, and there's layers to it. The Never's villains in stark contrast feel somewhat...comic booky? Or overdrawn.
I think the reason for the differences - is that one is adapted from a series of books, which has a well established and built world. Where the series varies from the books isn't in the world, but characterization and to a smaller degree plot. It also has more diverse casting and romantic relations than the books did. The other is not adapted from books, has spent little time on the world-building (a must for all fantasy works), and less time on character and motivations (most television writers don't really know what their characters motivations or emotional arcs are - and make them up as they go along, which is why television acting is a beast, it is kind of necessary though - since you really don't know what will happen in television - you could have the plug pulled at any moment or a character could be required to leave.) It's a bit too theme driven (kiss of death for television - no one likes being preached to), and plot driven for its own good - and the plot is a convoluted mess, while in Smoke and Bone, it's not a mess at all - it's simple and straight forward.
Anyhow, based on one episode of Smoke and Bone, and three on the Nevers - I'd say Smoke and Bone is the one you should watch. Less aggravating.
I'll watch both of course.
Still watching This is Us - although, I'm not entirely sure about how they are handling the Randall storyline. And, still watching the 9-1-1 procedurals - which I enjoy, I like the characters, and find them comforting.
Completed Great Pottery Throwdown - S4, is better than S3 (which isn't hard to do) but not as good at the first two seasons. Also, I think the themes are kind of cheesy. But that's just me. It is still comforting though. Just kind of odd in how it turned out. Felt contrived.
Falcon and the Winter Solider - the final episode did a good job of wrapping up various character arcs. But, I'm kind of...annoyed by what they chose to do with Sharon Carter. It felt almost against the grain of her character. Her character seems to do a 180 from Civil War to now. Making me think that maybe she did survive the blip and was none too happy about it?
For those who watched, Sharon is revealed as the bad guy that they'd been tracking. The individual responsible for getting the super serum to Karly and various others. Aka The Power Broker. And it's Sharon who finally kills Karly, allegedly to save Sam's life. This plot twist, which I should have seen coming but didn't - aggravated me. Which is why I didn't figure it out - I didn't want to. Zenmo's arc worked better in my opinion, as did John Walker's, Bucky's, and Sam's. The women were given short shrift in this. And we're never told who Julia Louise-Drefuss is supposed to be. Although Johnnie Walker's arc matches the comics fairly closely.
Outside of what they did with Sharon Carter, I rather enjoyed the six episode mini-series. They delved deeply into Bucky and Sam's characters and slowly built their relationship with each other. While at the same time, covering the complex social issues of racism and immigration or being transplanted, without going overboard or getting preachy.
Other Stuff
* Watched two live-streaming Unitarian Universalist services. The first was a tad more intellectual than the second. The second had more music though.
The first had a beautiful song in Chinese about the Yangstee River. What I found interesting though - was a clarification of what it means to be religious, and what it means to be spiritual.
Religious is basically being spiritual with a community, or practicing a spiritual ritual with others. While spiritual is doing it just with oneself.
We=religious=covenant, while Me=spiritual=covenant.
The description made a lot of sense to me at any rate.
* Mother continues to chat with various family members. While my brother has visited with friends, as has his daughter. It appears I'm the only one in my family that continue to be somewhat isolated. It's mainly because I'm a bit of a loner and have phone phobia.
Mother was complaining about a cousin-in-law who teases people. She went on about how he was teasing on of his kids. I asked her, finally, if she'd ever met my brother - who is the same.
*On Kensington FB page we were all mourning the loss of the pretty trees in our area. Including these:
Which are now - these:
Or as I pointed out in a comment to the post - that I was still mourning the loss of the beautiful magnolia tree that the nitwity residents chopped down in favor of a concrete sidewalk like patio and astro turf under their trampoline.
This infuriates me. But alas nothing I can do. Will state - that in New York State - if you chop down any trees on public land, you have to plant ten new ones for each tree removed. I found this out about ten years ago, when we had to replace about five trees in a park, after they had to be removed for a railroad remedial excavation. The NYSDEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New Parks Department require ten trees for each tree removed.) Huzzah! I wish property owners had the same penalty imposed. You remove a tree from your property? Ten trees donated to the city.
A pretty house is one with trees. An ugly house is one without them. Unless of course you live in the desert, in which case...