Behind the Monster's Mask...a rambling meta on dark fictional characters, from Dexter to Angel

Currently enjoying Dexter Season 4. This is actually better than I expected. S2 and S3 were sort of slow in places and not as gripping. This season so far is by turns hilarious and suspenseful. But I am not for some reason emotionally affected by the characters. I have yet to cry during this series. Of course - part of the problem was the disc I got kept freezing during Deb's breakdown over the FBI agent Lundy's death. And well, I'd been spoiled by TV Guide that Lundy was going to die - just didn't know how.

Dexter is a rather dark comedy. About a serial killer who goes after other serial killers. The character is a blood splatter specialist by day, killer by night. ( Spoilers for Dexter Season 4 - this rambling meta sort of compares Dexter to Angel in some respects, the spoilers are only for episodes 1-7, please do not spoil me for episodes past that point! )

Please note before commenting that I have not watched past episode 7, the last episode I watched, was the one where Dex took his son on a sailing trip.

(no subject)

Fairly relaxing day. Tried out a Chocolat Mousse recipe - which I'm somewhat iffy about.
Couldn't find chocolat pudding mix, so substituted pre-prepared Swiss Miss Creamy Milk Chocolat Pudding - not sure this worked. The Mousse as a result became a bit too creamy, but whatever.
Also I made enough to last a month. Which may be a good thing - I'll burn out on it and stop buying it at the food mart after church. Must stop using food as a reward - it's almost pavolvian. Does anyone else do this? Reward yourself for something with "food"?

Decided to give self a break and not do much. Have had a stressful couple of weeks at work, with no end in sight. Am patting self on back though - I managed to save my company $80 K. Granted that's small beans in comparison to what some of my colleagues have done. But still.

Watched Project Runway this morning. ( Project Runway Spoilers )

On a Netflix DVD kick at the moment. Rather enjoying watching tv without commercial interruptions and knowing I can see all the episodes without having to wait for them to be made. Started with True Blood, now Dexter, next Weeds, then Big Love S1 - S4, then No#1 Ladies Detective Agency, and then either The Tudors, The Wire, or Rome. My aunts are obsessed with Big Love - so am trying that again. Also it's not really violent and after True Blood, Being Human, Dexter, and Weeds - I'm going to need a break from violence.

Oh, up and coming tv series? No Ordinary Family sort of looks like brainless fun. May well turn into a new guilty pleasure - not that I don't have enough of them already. That's the series with Julie Benze (Angel and Dexter) and Michael Chicklis (The Shield and The Commish and Fantastic Four (hey he's moving from his cop phase to his super-hero phase) as parents of a super-powered family - they get super-powers after their plane crashes into a weird lake. Julie Benze has super-speed, Chicklicks - can jump and super-strength, his son super-smarts, not sure what the daughter does (but she reminds me of a young Amber Tambyln). Speaking of super-heroes - according to Comic Con reports - Joss Whedon is definitely directing the Avengers. Makes sense - Marvel loves Whedon and Whedon loves Marvel - he wrote for them, so they are familiar with him and know he's a huge fan of their comics and won't do silly things with them. (ie - they feel they can control him, and yes, I think that's actually true - Marvel may well be the only one's who can - since Joss fanboys Marvel and Stan Lee. Be a bit like a Whedon fangirl/fanboy such as Brian Lynch directing or writing a Buffy or Angel story. Wait, he did that.) Much better marriage than Whedon and Wonder Woman/DC Universe. Whedon isn't really a DC fan. He's a Marvel fan. You can tell. Me? If given a choice? I'd go with Marvel - they had a better sense, of humor, were more realistic, and often made fun of the DC comics. Captain America is such a satire of Superman. And Iron Man - complete satire on Batman.

Regarding the IDW vs. DH stuff? After reading more about it - I agree with everyone on my flist who is into this. IDW's plots make no sense. I honestly can't keep track of them. Not that the Buffy comics make sense either. Actually, at this stage - it's probably best not to bother trying to make sense of either's plots and just go with the flow - and this is coming from someone who is really good at analyzing story plots.

That said? Does anyone know if Whedon is planning on incorporating IDW's Angel series plots into the Buffy comics? Or is he just ignoring what happened, outside of Brian Lynch's up-coming Spike series and the Wolf Ram and Hart final Angel arc? What is canon to the Whedon comics and what isn't at this stage? Probably isn't relevant, considering I've sort of given up on everything but the Lynch comics at this stage. But, yet I stubbornly hold out a smidgen of hope that the Whedon comics will get better and actually resolve some of the outstanding character bits as opposed to merely showing how the Buffyverse gave birth to the Frayverse... justifying my purchasing of the things for the last four years.