Shopping, DVDS and The L Word...

[shadowkat]

It's finally raining and I feel as if the world is being washed clean by the deluge, pattering against the rooftops and pavement. Released. No longer constipated. Nice feeling. Almost comforting. Takes the edge off. Isn't it funny how connected I am to weather? The desire to kick people has not faded by the way.



After watching the L Word, episodes 5-8, Season One, tonight, I'm reminded of something I said to my pal Wales - "If I could just wave my magic wand and remove a certain group of people from existance life would be so much easier....or go back in time and just neuture their parents - you know, go and say, you and you and you can't have children..." Evil, I know. But there it is.
Can't do that of course, so I kill fictional characters with relish.

In the L Word, Wales and I are in wholehearted agreement - the show is gripping, except for one subplot we could do without
Wales: "Seen all of Season One now and it's good, but...one of the characters just really starts to grate on my nerves and.."

Me: "Wait, don't tell me, let me guess - is it Jenny?"

Wales: "Oh God yes, what a fucking narcissist. And her writing is shit."

Honestly, I can't stand the character. At first I sort of felt sorry for her, now I think she deserves to be run over by a truck. I was in a sense, relieved when I found out Marina had played her. She totally deserved it. On the other hand - the way the writers use the character to describe homophobia and explore it, is fascinating. I personally don't get homophobia. It seems incredibly silly to me. And highly annoying and cruel. But then I don't seek validation through physical expression or sexual identity. I don't get upset if a guy prefers another guy over me, nor do I see it as any different to him preferring a girl over me - he's not rejecting me, it has zip to do with me. People love who they love. There's no formula or rule book. Love doesn't follow rules or boundaries, imposing rules on love is a bit like trying to capture air or a star, or I don't know, the universe in a box. It's too big to be contained. For me, sex is worthless without love attached to it, you might as well just masturbate. Using someone else to escape your body for a moment or to obtain pleasure, seems silly, there are other much easier less destructive ways to accomplish it. Nor does having sex make you a woman or a man. People place way too much weight on sex. And why limit love to a gender or race or creed? You love who you love and that should be embraced. It's not an emotion people can analyze. Let it be. But the L Word does explore the issues in an interesting way, examining them from multiple angles, along with the cliches and stereotypes.

Favorite characters? Wales and I love Shane and Alice, their snarky friendship reminds us of our own I think and is similar to how we talk, except not quite as neurotic. Also Bette and her sister Kitt. I adore Pam Grier's Kitt and she has a lovely scene with her father, played by the late great Ossie Davis. My favorite may be Dana though - who I sort of identify with in an odd way. Her fear of what other people think and screwing things up, and not quite getting the joke.

Got my DVDs today and the art on the S6 and S7 packages is horrendously cheesy. Am tempted to remove the DVDs from the packages, get another container, and put them in that. West Side Story - art is fantastic. S5 DVD?
Actually pretty well contained. Simple. Not as cheesy. Classy. Probably the best art of the group, and no that's not just because Spike's on the cover, he's on the cover of 7 too. Wonderfalls? Good art. Firefly? Ugh. Why can't these shows have simple art like Wonderfalls or West Side Story? And not cater to the 16 year old comic book store geeks? (Probably because that's who the marketing dept. believes is buying this stuff and they aren't completely wrong.)

Also did the shopping spree last night. Apparently the shopping bug is in the air. Lots of people online shopping. I bought myself a couple of shirts, a pair of pants and funky new black spring sweater, with a wide collar. The occassion? L&T was having a sale and on top of the regular discount? Had provided a 20% coupon. So the sweater? Normally priced at $58 was $21.99. The pants? $39.99. (same deal). The shirts? 15.99. Nice bargains. And I could avoid the horrid sales racks at places like Burlington Coat Factory and Marshalls. I like L&T for several reasons: 1) it's rarely crowded - if you go at the right times (ie. after work),2) it's three, maybe four blocks down from work, 3) they let you take as many items as you please into the dressing rooms, which are clean, have hooks, big, and chairs, and are rarely crowded, 4) the clothes are evenly spaced out and easy to find. For people who despise the hassel of shopping or whose idea of shopping is to breeze in, find what the want, breeze out again? Lord and Taylor is the place to be. Also has my size, which always helps.

Now just have to figure out what shoes I need to wear for these Salsa dance classes I'm considering. Worrying over that alot. Amongst other things.

Comments

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

All I can say re: The L Word is that your reactions to the characters are exactly as they should be, or at least, as every I know's are, and that if the writers were not aware of what those reactions would be when they wrote it (which I just really doubt), they became aware of them, and like all good meta, took that into account in what happened subsequently.