(no subject)

1. It's a pretty day if a wee bit on the chilly side, and melted snow on the ground, or a smattering of it. NYC hasn't gotten much snow so far this year.

2. I liked this article in the Atlantic which does a good job of explaining the impeachment process, what is meant by high crimes and misdemeanors, and the historical background or origins of it.

What Does High Crimes & Misdemeanors Actually Mean

( excerpt )

British Costume Dramas among other things..

1, Eh, fandom has decided that "META" matters and is doing a March Meta Matters Challenge for everyone to post meta to Archive of Our Own as the destination site.

So I'm going to attempt it. The only problem is hunting down all my meta. All of it should have been transferred from the LJ journal to the Dreamwidth journal. The only stuff that didn't transfer well was videos and pictures. So meta that contained those...sigh. DW is not great for photos and videos. Finding it in my journal, however, is another matter entirely. I'm a horrible indexer. Organizational skills are not my forte. And never have been. My mind doesn't quite think in a linear fashion -- or in a categorical one.

Anyhow advertising the above to others on flist who happen to write meta. I prefer meta to fanfic actually -- I read and wrote more of it. Mainly because meta allows for discussion and debate, also cool subtangents, while fanfic not so much. People just want praise for fanfic, they don't really want you to analyze it. And my default mode - is to analyze things. Asking me not - sort of goes against my nature and makes me cranky and irritable. If I love something - I will analyze it to death, no matter what it is.

2. Downton Abbey Movie -- not for anyone who has not watched, followed, or seen an episode of the television series Downton Abbey. Personally, I'm surprised they distributed this to movie theaters. Be a bit like distributing the final episode of Game of Thrones to movie theaters. If you aren't familiar with the series and by familiar, I mean seen all the episodes and can remember them -- you'll be hopelessly lost. I was somewhat lost, because I'm hardly a fan, and can't remember the series as well as I thought. Took me a while to figure out how the sister became a Marchioness and who Bertie and Mosby were. Also Daisy's relationship with the footman, and how that came about. (I liked the plumber better).

What works in it -- are Mr. Barrows, and the Dowager Countess, her friend Mrs. Crawley, and her sister -- their subplots work and are for the most part the focus of the story. Mary and everyone else has little to do. Also there's a rather silly fight between the Royals servants and Downton's that struck me as somewhat unrealistic and at times cringe inducing. What never quite worked for me with Downton was the downstairs bit.

Anyhow, it was okay. But I don't understand why they felt the need to make it. It can't have done that well.

3. Howards End was better than expected. I suspect it may be closer to EM Foreseter's novel? Not certain. It does have a bit more of a feminist slant than the movie of the same name, which I can't remember that clearly -- except that the movie started with the protagonist inheriting Howards End, while the series starts with her friendship with Mrs. Wilcox, which leads to her inheritance of Howard's End much to the shock and dismay of Mrs. Wilcox's family -- apparently - Mrs. Wilcox owned Howard's End not her husband.

The casting is actually rather good. I didn't recognize anyone in the male end of the cast, but the female end has the actress who was Angela Carter (Captain America), Julie Ormond, and Tracy Ulmond.

4. The Crown S3 - yes, I've been in a mood for British Costume Dramas lately.
Not quite as entertaining as the first two seasons -- in part because the 1960s-1970s in Britain aren't that entertaining. The acting is stellar of course as is the writing -- and it is set up in an interesting manner - as a series of character vignettes. The focus shifts from each member of the Royal Family.( mild spoilers )