(no subject)

1. My headspace mindfulness app -- which weirdly has been far more successful in lowering my anxiety levels and eliminating depression than any shrink or group therapy has been to date. Well that and a good gastrotestinologist not to mention avoiding the news and discussions about politics. Anyhow...it's advice today (after I meditated yesterday for twenty minutes - yes, I made it twenty minutes! Howza!) - was "the contrast or point between what is happening and what we want to be happening, lies stress, recognizing that is the first step in letting it go."
Quite true. I can't remember the exact phrasing, but that is close enough.

2. Breaking Bad Movie allegedly in the works -- I think I'll pass. Honestly this brings up a salient point about television shows, movies, and other serial works. Sometimes a story should just end. If you keep going with it...you could stretch it too thin or lose the thread. Some stories should be allowed to end. Period.

I wrote a book. I published said book. I had a lot of people say they loved it and ask me when I was writing or publishing the sequel. I said, uh, no sequel. That's the story. I'm done with the characters. They aren't speaking to me past that point.

"But, you left it open-ended."

Yes, but that was sort of the point. Life is open-ended. I like open-ended stories. They end, but they are also open for more.

Back to works written by other people, people you've actually heard of and may have read or watched and love.

* Breaking Bad had a great first, third and fourth season. The second and last two seasons (which was actually one season split in half for ratings) were uneven. I liked the ending, even though I do agree with my co-worker (who is a frustrated screenwriter and Breaking Bad fanatic) that Ozymandias - the last episode, didn't quite work and was a bit too much on the nose, and a tad cliche in how it played to established tropes. (He's not wrong. Although I think we're the only two people who noticed or were bothered by it.) It does not need any more story. Leave it alone.

Note -- that's not to say they shouldn't do spin-offs with say Saul, who was a supporting character. (But it is worth mentioning that I couldn't get into Better Call Saul and really was happy with how it ended.)

* Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series...I don't think they should have done the comics. Or if they did, the original creator should have stayed out of it or didn't decide to egotistically declare it canon, because he happened to want to play with these characters a bit more. It stretched it too thin. Angel had a great ending. Buffy's ending, I had mixed feelings about, but it was a good close to the series. I think they should just do spin-offs, such as a new slayer within the same verse. That's not hard to do, considering she empowered everyone. And it is a well built verse with lots of possibilities.

* Star Wars -- I think the prequels may have been a mistake. But the sequels work rather well and expand on the verse. However, I'm not sure we need Han Solo's back story, or for that matter Darth Vader's. After watching both, I've come to the conclusion that it's better to leave these things to the audience's imagination. Don't tell the audience too much or you'll show them the wacky guy behind the curtain (ie give away the magic trick).

*BattleStar Galatica v.2 -- this is an odd duck. I liked the reboot quite a bit, but it got spread too thin and the last season doesn't quite work and gets rather preachy and sentimental in spots. (It basically reminded me of why I gave up on Deep Space 9 -- Ron Moore has a thing about religion, apparently.) The spin-off was a mixed bag as well...I liked aspects of Caprica, but for the most part it didn't quite work. Again the religion bits were over the top and sort of silly. It was at it's best when it focused on the AI.

Sometimes stories just need to be allowed to end. The writer needs to let go of them and tell new ones. If new writers want to play with them, that's a whole another thing --- and more power to them.
Because actually that's what I love most about telling stories...how someone can reinterpret it and retell it, and add to it...changing it and making it something new along the way.

3. Someone explains to American Viewers what the Brits mean by Pudding and Biscuits. LOL! I thought as I read it...I don't have this problem, because I've all these Brits who I've been corresponding with for years...to explain it to me. They've also explained the difference between couldn't care less and could care less. And now I'm confused and find myself using them interchangably. When I wrote my book and sent it to the line editor, the editor quipped that I was using a lot of British'isms without realizing it. Years and years of correspondence with Brits on fanboards, livejournal, FB, and Dream-Width along with watching British television series, has resulted in me inadvertently picking up Britishisms.

Any how, I found the article amusing.

I used GBBS to deal with Haunting of Hill House over the weekend. I'd chosen to watch one episode...and could not stop, before I knew it, it was 9PM and I was in trouble. I was not going to be able to sleep after watching episode 6.

4. Haunting of Hill House continues to play with my head. It's how the writer/director chose to tell the story. He did it like a chinese puzzle box, with various layers being revealed and mysteries inside mysteries. Also at the root of the story -- was how our fears, wishes, desires, grief, and hopes play upon us. The mind tells stories and often shows us what we want to see.
In this series, Hill House sort of acts in that role, showing the characters their worst fears, and greatest desires...however seemingly mundane.
( eh, vague spoilers )