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Nov. 6th, 2022 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Interesting take on Canon and how it relates to various film and television franchises adapted from books or sprawling from original works.
Canon has a big problem, and the call is coming from inside the house. It’s not hard to see how this obsession with canonical fealty has hamstrung Marvel and Lucasfilm, two franchise juggernauts whose every innovation is punished by a fan meltdown. When storytellers are held hostage by their own audiences, it undermines their ability to do what artists do best: explore, revise, play. This is the problem with storytelling in the age of the mega-franchise—all too often, the impulses of abiding canon conflict with the impulses of making art. As Ron Moore, a longtime Star Trek writer who later rebooted Battlestar Galactica, put it, "It’s frustrating to be in the writers room and tossing out stories, then having to stop yourself and go, ‘Does this work? Does this violate continuity?’ And having to call people and check encyclopedias and look up information. You want to have it all in your head and just play. The Trek universe has got to the point where you can’t play anymore."
How can storytellers possibly play or progress under the weight of all that baggage—and still please today’s demanding audiences, too? Some mega-franchises have found a solution where canon isn’t a restriction, but rather, a foundation. If fans won’t accept stories where canon makes less sense, then by God, these shows will bring the canon to make more sense.
2. Wales and I made a plan - to book a room at a hotel in Sleepy Hollow for Thanksgiving, and explore the town. ( Only one problem, after we booked it - it had some troubling reviews - which I found on my lap-top not on the phone. But Trip Advisor has it ranked at 4.0 and 5 out 7 hotels in Tarrytown (aka Sleepy Hollow).
So not sure what to do. On the one hand - it's only two nights. It's thirty minutes from NYC, or about an hour and a half from Brooklyn (about same distance as my workplace). We won't be in the hotel that much. And will most likely try to rent a car while up there. On the other - I can't tell from the reviews if the rooms are generally speaking okay?
Reviews are weird on the internet - because people have agendas, and we don't always know what they are.
At any rate - we have until November 22, to cancel.
We gave up on Hudson - it was booked solid. And I'm basing my current novel in Tarrytown, so want to look around.
Wales: How about Irvington?
Me: No. I'm not stalking my ex-college boyfriend.
Wales: okay, I could get into Tarrytown.
There's a lot to see in Tarrytown - it has Lyndhurst Castle, Kikuyk (the Roosevelt Estate), and Rockerfeller National Park, place Riverside Walk.
And all the Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving attractions.
In order to do the above, Wales and I did brunch, then jumped over to a coffee shop to discuss our plans for Thanksgiving. It was a muggy day for November, warm, and humid. Felt more like June. I perspired throughout, Wales wore a sweater. Must be nice to be on the other side of menopause. Either that, or she got her thyroid taken care of - and everyone thinks mine is fine and dandy.
The coffee shop fit Wales needs more than mine - it did not have gluten free desserts or tea lattes. Just tea. It worked beautifully for coffee lovers, and folks who can eat any dessert, but not people like myself who are more limited. However, it was a cute, cheap, laid-back little spot, close to home - and Wales adored it.
Overall a nice visit. And it was lovely to visit with a friend - who isn't critical or judgemental. Also has a shared history. And I don't feel self-conscious with.
3. Been watching a few episodes of S10 of the Great British Bake-Off aka Baking Show in the US. It's not changed that much from the beginning except in a few major ways...that I've mixed feelings about:
* Pru instead of Mary Berry. (I actually like Pru better. Mary Berry irritated me.)
* The hosts are two male comedians, I preferred the two female hosts, who were a little less...crass? The male comedians jokes tend to fall more in the category of insult and embarrassment humor. And they both irritate me, while I was charmed by the female comedians.
* They apparently got bored of featuring "British" baking and felt the need to try other cultures products? I understand the impulse. I mean, there isn't that much to - British Cooking. It's not praised for its cuisine for a reason.
But, I'm not sure this was necessarily a good idea. Part of what makes Bake-Off so charming, or rather made it charming, was it's insistence that British Baking was amazing, and everyone should do it. And learn how to make things like Victorian Sandwich cake, and Tennis Cake.
Venturing away from that approach (which admittedly would get old after 8 or 9 seasons) has ...had mixed results. The Brits (and most cultures for that matter) aren't exactly known for their ability to approach other cultures with the curiosity and sensitivity it demands - in other words they are kind of like messy elephants stomping on everyone's feet trumpeting with false bravado about how great they are, and isn't this new food quaint and charming in comparison to their superior culture and feasts. They assume their culture is superior to everyone else (it isn't) and have a tendency to look down their large nostrils at other countries and cultures (which is kind of ludicrous to anyone who resides outside of their country). The result is - the Brits look silly, and I find myself laughing at them. For example? Mexican cuisine doesn't use coconut in everything. That's the Caribbean, you don't get that much coconut in Mexican food. And a great American Cake isn't necessarily Red Velvet Cake.
Other than that - it's the same show.
I should know, I've watched ten seasons of it, some seasons more than once. The first five seasons are rather good. It kind of begins to show its age, and loses a charm around season 7.
4. I bought hard seltzer, Margrita flavored and a grape mojito with Stevia, zero sugar. And...uhm...promptly threw both out. Not to my taste. Margritia Seltzer is gross - it really requires Tequila to work. Same with Mojito's - which are far too sweet and slightly bitter without the hard alcohol.
Is there a drinkable hard seltzer? Ponders.
Canon has a big problem, and the call is coming from inside the house. It’s not hard to see how this obsession with canonical fealty has hamstrung Marvel and Lucasfilm, two franchise juggernauts whose every innovation is punished by a fan meltdown. When storytellers are held hostage by their own audiences, it undermines their ability to do what artists do best: explore, revise, play. This is the problem with storytelling in the age of the mega-franchise—all too often, the impulses of abiding canon conflict with the impulses of making art. As Ron Moore, a longtime Star Trek writer who later rebooted Battlestar Galactica, put it, "It’s frustrating to be in the writers room and tossing out stories, then having to stop yourself and go, ‘Does this work? Does this violate continuity?’ And having to call people and check encyclopedias and look up information. You want to have it all in your head and just play. The Trek universe has got to the point where you can’t play anymore."
How can storytellers possibly play or progress under the weight of all that baggage—and still please today’s demanding audiences, too? Some mega-franchises have found a solution where canon isn’t a restriction, but rather, a foundation. If fans won’t accept stories where canon makes less sense, then by God, these shows will bring the canon to make more sense.
2. Wales and I made a plan - to book a room at a hotel in Sleepy Hollow for Thanksgiving, and explore the town. ( Only one problem, after we booked it - it had some troubling reviews - which I found on my lap-top not on the phone. But Trip Advisor has it ranked at 4.0 and 5 out 7 hotels in Tarrytown (aka Sleepy Hollow).
So not sure what to do. On the one hand - it's only two nights. It's thirty minutes from NYC, or about an hour and a half from Brooklyn (about same distance as my workplace). We won't be in the hotel that much. And will most likely try to rent a car while up there. On the other - I can't tell from the reviews if the rooms are generally speaking okay?
Reviews are weird on the internet - because people have agendas, and we don't always know what they are.
At any rate - we have until November 22, to cancel.
We gave up on Hudson - it was booked solid. And I'm basing my current novel in Tarrytown, so want to look around.
Wales: How about Irvington?
Me: No. I'm not stalking my ex-college boyfriend.
Wales: okay, I could get into Tarrytown.
There's a lot to see in Tarrytown - it has Lyndhurst Castle, Kikuyk (the Roosevelt Estate), and Rockerfeller National Park, place Riverside Walk.
And all the Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving attractions.
In order to do the above, Wales and I did brunch, then jumped over to a coffee shop to discuss our plans for Thanksgiving. It was a muggy day for November, warm, and humid. Felt more like June. I perspired throughout, Wales wore a sweater. Must be nice to be on the other side of menopause. Either that, or she got her thyroid taken care of - and everyone thinks mine is fine and dandy.
The coffee shop fit Wales needs more than mine - it did not have gluten free desserts or tea lattes. Just tea. It worked beautifully for coffee lovers, and folks who can eat any dessert, but not people like myself who are more limited. However, it was a cute, cheap, laid-back little spot, close to home - and Wales adored it.
Overall a nice visit. And it was lovely to visit with a friend - who isn't critical or judgemental. Also has a shared history. And I don't feel self-conscious with.
3. Been watching a few episodes of S10 of the Great British Bake-Off aka Baking Show in the US. It's not changed that much from the beginning except in a few major ways...that I've mixed feelings about:
* Pru instead of Mary Berry. (I actually like Pru better. Mary Berry irritated me.)
* The hosts are two male comedians, I preferred the two female hosts, who were a little less...crass? The male comedians jokes tend to fall more in the category of insult and embarrassment humor. And they both irritate me, while I was charmed by the female comedians.
* They apparently got bored of featuring "British" baking and felt the need to try other cultures products? I understand the impulse. I mean, there isn't that much to - British Cooking. It's not praised for its cuisine for a reason.
But, I'm not sure this was necessarily a good idea. Part of what makes Bake-Off so charming, or rather made it charming, was it's insistence that British Baking was amazing, and everyone should do it. And learn how to make things like Victorian Sandwich cake, and Tennis Cake.
Venturing away from that approach (which admittedly would get old after 8 or 9 seasons) has ...had mixed results. The Brits (and most cultures for that matter) aren't exactly known for their ability to approach other cultures with the curiosity and sensitivity it demands - in other words they are kind of like messy elephants stomping on everyone's feet trumpeting with false bravado about how great they are, and isn't this new food quaint and charming in comparison to their superior culture and feasts. They assume their culture is superior to everyone else (it isn't) and have a tendency to look down their large nostrils at other countries and cultures (which is kind of ludicrous to anyone who resides outside of their country). The result is - the Brits look silly, and I find myself laughing at them. For example? Mexican cuisine doesn't use coconut in everything. That's the Caribbean, you don't get that much coconut in Mexican food. And a great American Cake isn't necessarily Red Velvet Cake.
Other than that - it's the same show.
I should know, I've watched ten seasons of it, some seasons more than once. The first five seasons are rather good. It kind of begins to show its age, and loses a charm around season 7.
4. I bought hard seltzer, Margrita flavored and a grape mojito with Stevia, zero sugar. And...uhm...promptly threw both out. Not to my taste. Margritia Seltzer is gross - it really requires Tequila to work. Same with Mojito's - which are far too sweet and slightly bitter without the hard alcohol.
Is there a drinkable hard seltzer? Ponders.
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Date: 2022-11-08 11:50 pm (UTC)The male comedians jokes tend to fall more in the category of insult and embarrassment humor.
Yeah, agreed. Even one male host and one female worked out, with Noel and Sandi, but I just find the two guys together, especially Matt, really annoying.
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Date: 2022-11-09 02:14 am (UTC)Sandi kind of undercut some of Noel's humor. But Matt makes it worse. I really miss Mel and Sue - who were the perfect hosts. They seemed to calm the contestants down, and there was less awkward tension.
However, I think Pru and Paul get along better than he did with Mary Berry.