(no subject)

1. Rise

Saw the pilot finally, it has potential. Closer to Friday Night Lights and Thirtysomething than Glee or Fame.

Ensemble cast, and a heavy focus on a disadvantaged rural/small town Americana, similar to Friday Night Lights. Where high school football takes center stage, and everything else sort of falls by the wayside.

Also tackles some weighty topics but with kindness and a sense of compassion which I loved in FNL, and an ability to see the complexity of the situation, and not put it in black and white terms.
Plus a diverse cast.

Katims casts well. FNL had Michael Jordan, Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, among others.

Rise has Rosie Perez, the lead from Moana and others...the actors don't look like each other, and aren't pretty or pristine. They look the ages they are portraying. They don't have perfect pitch or dance moves...it's in other words not Glee.

But, it did feel like the writers packed an awful lot into a small space. Hoping they slow down a bit and build the stories more.

That said? I love the musical they are doing. Spring Awakening is by far the best coming of age musical that I've seen. It sort of thrashes Grease's butt. And Pirates of Penzance, bleach.
(Which are the other two musicals mentioned in the episode.)

2. Slowly moving through my taped hours of television. Would probably help if I watched any of these shows during the week and not just on weekends. Have 58 hours taped. Unlike some, I have no problem finding new television series to watch.

Lucifer

( I'm bored and Pierce/Caine needs to go. )

This is Us

Explaining This is Us to my mother was amusing.

Mother: So is Deja Randall's daughter? That's why she started banging his car with the bat?
Me: No, she's just angry.
Mother: But the woman said she looked like the father and she assumed he's her -
Me: It's not a soap opera. And that's impossible. No, some person who didn't know them saw a dark-skinned girl and said she looked like the dark-skinned adoptive father -- it's a typical dumb remark white people make about black people. Or anyone for that matter.
Mother: Oh.

The whole episode was basically Kate dreaming about her parents 40th wedding anniversary that never happened.

It was a good episode. But I liked last week's better.


3. Decided to do the DNA test on Ancestory.com, which unlike the other services, actually tests Y and X chromosomes and digs deeper. It's good for genetic testing, among other things. And I have relatives who are doing a good job of isolating various strands of DNA to determine familial traits and branches.

So, out of curiosity, I'm doing it. And I want to know the genetic markers and ethnic heritage.

We'll see what happens if anything.

Shhh..don't tell my mother, she thinks this whole thing is stupid and has little tolerance for it.

(no subject)

1. Been writing in long hand, in purple, metallic, and green ink, because its' faster than trying to type it in the computer, and after working all day long on the computer, five days a week, I want a break from it. AND - no distractions, ie. no internet. Discovered when I write in long-hand listening to music, I'm less tempted to play on the net.

2. Just saw For the People -- the new critically acclaimed Shondra Rhimes series. It's okay. Reminds me a lot of Grey's Anatomy, except with eager young litigators working in the NY Federal Courts.

It did get past my "lawyerproblems", so that's saying something I suppose. (i.e. my suspension of disbelief didn't want to punch the television writers in the nose.)

That said, it's a bit too eager young attorneys. And I found the cases a tad too interesting and politically on target. Most cases are dull and/or irritating. I know, I've done jury duty in NY and I've been to law school, and I did internships and worked in public defender offices. In reality? Court rooms are boring, irritating, and more like what is on the Good Wife than anything else. You spend most of your time waiting around for stuff to happen.

Also, lawyers tend to argue loop-holes, footnotes, and fine print.

In short? The series romanticizes the legal profession much like Grey's romanticizes the medical profession and Buffy romanticized the vampire slaying profession ( I thought I slide a joke in there when you weren't looking). Neither profession is that cool. Nor are the people in either that attractive, if they were they wouldn't be lawyers or doctors, they'd be actors and models -- more money. I mentioned this once to a fellow law student when I looked at our class photo -- none of us were photogenic.

But hey, it's fun if you ignore all that and accept the fact that it's a Shondra Rhimes soap with little to no basis in reality.

3. Krypton is on next Friday. I had to go hunting for it. It airs after the Magicians on Syfy. This is for the people who are interested. In preparation, Syfy is airing all the Superman films except the ones starring Henry Cavell and Kevin Spacey. Basically the Chris Reeves films and the animated ones. Apparently its decided the others aren't worthy or it doesn't have the rights, one or the other.