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Watched Television today...eh, some good, some...making me think, why am I still watching this?

* Roswell, New Mexico -- this is surprisingly enough working for me. I didn't expect it to.[In part, because I wasn't a fan of the previous version. (I don't really remember it.) I'm wondering if those of us who either don't remember the previous version, disliked it, or a combo of both -- will be more likely to enjoy the reboot? Probably. Because I'm not comparing it to the original at all in my head -- I only saw two or three episodes of the original (based on fan recs) was highly unimpressed, and gave up on it and then promptly forgot about it. I remember people being really upset it was cancelled back in the day. But that's about it.] But I like the ironic political slant, of the actual aliens (who are attractive, white with superpowers and in positions of power in the community) being threatened by the illegal immigrants (who have no power, and own a diner). ( Read more... )

* Manifest -- is continuing to irritate me. I like aspects of it. But it is frustrating to watch. It's like an endless puzzle that can't be solved because if they solve it the show is over.
Reminds me of LOST. I find those types of series irritating.

I'd rather they did four-five episode plot arcs. These are much tighter plotted. Not as convoluted.
And usually don't have gaping plot holes. It's actually why I sort of prefer British and Netflix television programming -- the seasons are shorter -- 6-10 episodes, so the plots are shorter and tighter. They don't feel the need to draw it out. Here, the plot is dragging and taking attention away from the character moments.

The episode I just saw (I'm two behind) -- ( Read more... )

I may give up on this one soon.

* This is Us -- another tear-jerker. It guest starred Griffin Dunn as the Pearson's uncle.
I realized watching it that Jack Pearson, the Dad, has always irritated me. Actually the kids parents have irritated me from the beginning. I really like Kevin though.

* Grey's Anatomy -- a mixed bag. It's a bit slow in places. Also way too much reliance on love triangles this season (I'm not a fan). A little annoyed that they dropped the Meredith/Greg German (can't remember the character's name) working relationship.

* A Million Little Things -- not clear where they are going with this. It's not going in the direction I expected. Has definite potential. But at the moment, I really only like Gary and Maggie, everyone else I want to smack.

Youtub Podcasts...

1. ( Stephen King on writing, films, etc. )

Why do readers always ask writers where they get their ideas from?

I was asked this as well.

Answer? No clue, they just come to me. From the world around me, from what I've seen, heard, thought about...read.

Usually it's like a movie unfolding inside my head or that I'm channeling.

And I have to put it on paper to make sense of it. Or tell it aloud. I used to just tell it aloud.

Whether anyone else wants to read it or hear it, doesn't seem to matter. I remember being surprised that this doesn't happen with everyone. You don't have stories constantly unfolding every few months in your head? Weird.

What King states? "I'm working on a novel and I don't know if it will ever get done. I don't plot, it unfolds as I write it. I don't know it will be a novel until it gets done, until I finish it."

I'm the same way. Sometimes I finish, sometimes I don't.

Some writers know everything ahead of time, like John Irving writes the last line first -- I tried that once, it doesn't work for me. I lose interest. As King puts it, "It's like eating the icing on the cake first." Why eat the cake after that?

Another good bit..."when writing a character, you have to look, you have to see, you have to be curious about people." One of the problems he has with third rate fiction is the writer puts the character through the paces but they don't really grow or evolve, you don't get to see the character.
And his critique of 50 Shades - I agree with. "The problem with it is that Ana, the main character, really only has two default settings -- if things get good? Oh my!, and if they are bad, "Oh god". And it's every other line." He's right. That was my problem and I read all three of them. Also, he's right -- what works in them is the sex scenes (also the text messaging is hilarious) -- this is actually the critique that I'd make of James Patterson's novels as well, the action scenes are fine, but it reads like an outline with characters that are rather stock and have no depth.


2. ( How the Original Star Wars was saved in the editing room )

They show various bits that were in the unedited version and what happened when they were deftly removed and the film improved considerably. Also explain the number of edits and rewrites. The film that Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, etc made wasn't the one that aired -- a lot of scenes they did never made it to the screen. Small wonder that they were shocked by its success. It was a bad movie that a good editor made into a good one.

(Last Jedi suffered from bad editing, a lot of that film made no sense, and it didn't follow the arc set up in the first film. It's a mess because the director had too much control and JJ Abrahams and others ...didn't take a stronger hand in the editing room. I know a lot of folks liked it, but most of the people I've met either went to sleep during it, or were completely lost. I'm a long-time fan and I could barely follow it and felt it drug in places.)