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1. So I bought a Chrismas tree, actually it's Charlie Brown's Christmas tree's poor decrepit cousin. It was basically five buckeroos. And is comprised of what appears to be two small pine covered branches, a bunch of tiny ornaments, and gel to keep it alive, I think. It's called a living Xmas tree..and is supposed to be healthy and hardy. Read the directions after I bought it...and thought, okay, I'll be lucky if this thing makes it two weeks. It wants sunshine, lots of watering, and a nice sunny plot after the holidays. Yeah right, good luck with that. Ain't gonna happen. Besides I kill plants. I can kill a cactus. I did kill a cactus. I kid you not. It drowned and rotted.
Was not a pretty sight.
But hey it was only five dollars and it looks sort of cute next to my tv and along-side the tiny pumpkin I bought for Halloween. I'm not much into decorations...or design, that's my bro and Mom's gig, I take after my Dad...I really don't care that much. Low maintenance all the way. As you may have noticed if you ever checked out my live journal - I don't do banners or lots of graphics or even icons for that matter, too much bloody work.
Speaking of work? I gave up on WW, I have too many things to track, can't do it too.
Also let go of the Y membership - too far away and too problematic. So, I'm saving 80 dollars a month that used to be spent on that. We're not talking about the amount I wasted on both.
2. TVD...sigh. It was going so well, but alas... it's a soap opera. And sigh...I have a weakness for soap operas, apparently. They are also the only things I ever hunt for spoilers on. For the record, Buffy was a soap opera too, if you don't think it was...well, take it from an expert, it was a soap opera. A well written soap opera, but still a soap opera. Whedon is a huge soap fan - he is on record for watching both General Hospital and that supernatural soap that I can't remember the name of. The problem with soap operas is they like to do the same stupid romantic tropes over and over again. I can never predict them because they have troll logic...they tend to go by "emotion" not well logic. Or whatever pulls at the writer's emotions. Which is impossible to predict. Also you get roped into hoping for things, because occasionally the soap will surprise you and do something really cool and innovative and no one does that...then they'll fall into the abyss and go the cliche route and you want to throw things at your tv in frustration. Long-time soap opera watcher...I'm not masochistic, just addicted to those chewy bones they throw me on occasion. Even if they are wonky.
At any rate I'm pretty sure I've figured out TVD aka Vamp Diaries (a title that makes me laugh, so I prefer it, we need laughter in our lives...it helps.) current wonky plot thread. I could be wrong - it is after all a soap opera...they defy me. Which is why I like the dang things.
( spoilery speculation...will try not to be too snarky, but not promising anything )
3. Story Tropes that have been overdone...been thinking about this today. It is in a way an off-shoot of previous posts. The problem with the influx of information or the fact that everyone can publish a book, a movie, a tv show...is after a while certain tropes get done to death.
Here's a challenge, can you do any of these tropes in a way that has not been done before? I bet you can't.
* It's a Wonderful Life - how many times have you seen this story done?
* Three ghosts from your past will visit you in one night ...the Christmas Carol Trope
* sire bond - ie. I sired you, you are my childe, you will do my bidding unless you can find a way to break it...
* Romeo and Juliet...the star-crossed lovers who met, fell in love at first sight, and are doomed to never be together...one or the other, or both will die...or be separated forever. (I did actually see in the book store a new twist on it - entitled Immortal Juliet...where Romeo is a bad guy who killed her and they fight each other for eternity.)
* Evil Dude: I know, we'll kill the mom(or dad, but mom works better) before the son(or daughter or both), who is prophesied to save humanity, was ever born.
* Oedipus complex - he sleeps with or wants to sleep with mom, and kill the stepfather, then goes balmy. (OR for a bit of spice...Electra Complex - goes after Dad, wants him, gets rejected...kills mother or something to that effect.)
There's probably more but that's all I can think of at the moment.
4. Saw OUAT and Revenge last night. Revenge was better, admittedly not hard. OUAT is...well, poorly written. The dialogue and direction is off. And a lot of the characters actions make no sense. It's also a bit jarring in how it flips around. I want OUAT to be better than it is, it's very disappointing - great ideas, poor execution. Damn, why can't they hire better tv writers? Too many bad writers get hired and published, and too many good writers are stuck doing real hard jobs that are more meaningful and contribute more to the world than well tv shows do. Pop culture brings out the bitch in me, I've decided. OR it has been lately. Mainly because I'm frustrated with the tv shows I've been watching. Although to be fair...Jennifer Morrison does not quite work for me as Emma, I don't know why. I didn't like her that much in House either. Didn't dislike. Just felt ambivalent. Same here. It's weird...but I'm finding Regina, Rumple, Cora, Jefferson, Cassaday, and Hook to be the most interesting characters in the show at the moment.
Revenge was convoluted. I don't like the Jack subplot, it's cliche and stupid and I can see where its going. I am on the fence about the Nolan subplot. And confused by the Emily/Aiden/Daniel/Grayson's subplot. That said? It was enjoyable.
Haven't seen Good Wife yet.
Nashville? I like the main arc with Juliette Barnes and Ryana, can't stand the subplots with the horridly whiny Scarlette who managed to ruin my favorite Johnny Cash song (Ring of Fire) which I did not think was possible. She's really bad. And Gunner, the guy mooning after her, is worse. The only one I find talented or interesting is Avery (Jonathan Jackson) but I hate his storyline (even if it is admittedly realistic). I'm afraid they'll write him out, when I'd rather they write out the other two. Also not a fan of the political subplot which also screams cliche. Nashville in short is suffering from the same problems that SMASH did, bad subplots.
Off to watch The Good Wife which got chopped up and disrupted by football. They apparently ended one game and decided to go 15 minutes over watching the end of another one? Weird.
Was not a pretty sight.
But hey it was only five dollars and it looks sort of cute next to my tv and along-side the tiny pumpkin I bought for Halloween. I'm not much into decorations...or design, that's my bro and Mom's gig, I take after my Dad...I really don't care that much. Low maintenance all the way. As you may have noticed if you ever checked out my live journal - I don't do banners or lots of graphics or even icons for that matter, too much bloody work.
Speaking of work? I gave up on WW, I have too many things to track, can't do it too.
Also let go of the Y membership - too far away and too problematic. So, I'm saving 80 dollars a month that used to be spent on that. We're not talking about the amount I wasted on both.
2. TVD...sigh. It was going so well, but alas... it's a soap opera. And sigh...I have a weakness for soap operas, apparently. They are also the only things I ever hunt for spoilers on. For the record, Buffy was a soap opera too, if you don't think it was...well, take it from an expert, it was a soap opera. A well written soap opera, but still a soap opera. Whedon is a huge soap fan - he is on record for watching both General Hospital and that supernatural soap that I can't remember the name of. The problem with soap operas is they like to do the same stupid romantic tropes over and over again. I can never predict them because they have troll logic...they tend to go by "emotion" not well logic. Or whatever pulls at the writer's emotions. Which is impossible to predict. Also you get roped into hoping for things, because occasionally the soap will surprise you and do something really cool and innovative and no one does that...then they'll fall into the abyss and go the cliche route and you want to throw things at your tv in frustration. Long-time soap opera watcher...I'm not masochistic, just addicted to those chewy bones they throw me on occasion. Even if they are wonky.
At any rate I'm pretty sure I've figured out TVD aka Vamp Diaries (a title that makes me laugh, so I prefer it, we need laughter in our lives...it helps.) current wonky plot thread. I could be wrong - it is after all a soap opera...they defy me. Which is why I like the dang things.
( spoilery speculation...will try not to be too snarky, but not promising anything )
3. Story Tropes that have been overdone...been thinking about this today. It is in a way an off-shoot of previous posts. The problem with the influx of information or the fact that everyone can publish a book, a movie, a tv show...is after a while certain tropes get done to death.
Here's a challenge, can you do any of these tropes in a way that has not been done before? I bet you can't.
* It's a Wonderful Life - how many times have you seen this story done?
* Three ghosts from your past will visit you in one night ...the Christmas Carol Trope
* sire bond - ie. I sired you, you are my childe, you will do my bidding unless you can find a way to break it...
* Romeo and Juliet...the star-crossed lovers who met, fell in love at first sight, and are doomed to never be together...one or the other, or both will die...or be separated forever. (I did actually see in the book store a new twist on it - entitled Immortal Juliet...where Romeo is a bad guy who killed her and they fight each other for eternity.)
* Evil Dude: I know, we'll kill the mom(or dad, but mom works better) before the son(or daughter or both), who is prophesied to save humanity, was ever born.
* Oedipus complex - he sleeps with or wants to sleep with mom, and kill the stepfather, then goes balmy. (OR for a bit of spice...Electra Complex - goes after Dad, wants him, gets rejected...kills mother or something to that effect.)
There's probably more but that's all I can think of at the moment.
4. Saw OUAT and Revenge last night. Revenge was better, admittedly not hard. OUAT is...well, poorly written. The dialogue and direction is off. And a lot of the characters actions make no sense. It's also a bit jarring in how it flips around. I want OUAT to be better than it is, it's very disappointing - great ideas, poor execution. Damn, why can't they hire better tv writers? Too many bad writers get hired and published, and too many good writers are stuck doing real hard jobs that are more meaningful and contribute more to the world than well tv shows do. Pop culture brings out the bitch in me, I've decided. OR it has been lately. Mainly because I'm frustrated with the tv shows I've been watching. Although to be fair...Jennifer Morrison does not quite work for me as Emma, I don't know why. I didn't like her that much in House either. Didn't dislike. Just felt ambivalent. Same here. It's weird...but I'm finding Regina, Rumple, Cora, Jefferson, Cassaday, and Hook to be the most interesting characters in the show at the moment.
Revenge was convoluted. I don't like the Jack subplot, it's cliche and stupid and I can see where its going. I am on the fence about the Nolan subplot. And confused by the Emily/Aiden/Daniel/Grayson's subplot. That said? It was enjoyable.
Haven't seen Good Wife yet.
Nashville? I like the main arc with Juliette Barnes and Ryana, can't stand the subplots with the horridly whiny Scarlette who managed to ruin my favorite Johnny Cash song (Ring of Fire) which I did not think was possible. She's really bad. And Gunner, the guy mooning after her, is worse. The only one I find talented or interesting is Avery (Jonathan Jackson) but I hate his storyline (even if it is admittedly realistic). I'm afraid they'll write him out, when I'd rather they write out the other two. Also not a fan of the political subplot which also screams cliche. Nashville in short is suffering from the same problems that SMASH did, bad subplots.
Off to watch The Good Wife which got chopped up and disrupted by football. They apparently ended one game and decided to go 15 minutes over watching the end of another one? Weird.