Year 2 - Day 53

Kind of a rainy/overcast day. Cool. In the low sixties and fifties, I'm wearing sweat pants (got these amazingly soft comfy sweat leggings from LL Bean last year and been wearing them all winter long) and a cotton cashmere blend purple sweater, plus purple striped fluffy socks. Lounging, and dozing. I feel asleep scrolling my correspondence list on DW.

A lot of posts get lost among the folks who post about twenty posts a day.
I'm not whinging, I could filter if I wanted to.

Got into a bit of a heated debate with fans whinging about their favorite character not getting as many episodes as another character - on FB today.
My tolerance for these debates isn't high - so I probably should steer clear of them. I remember fans whinging about Xander not getting as many episodes as Spike. And berating Spike fans about it. Folks? If you don't like the fact that your favorite character isn't the focus of the story or isn't in many episodes, or is rarely seen? Whine to the television writers. Not to the fans of other characters. Actually you have two choices: 1) Stop watching. 2) Write to the show-runner/television writers and complain. That's it.

I never understood this. On the General Hospital Fan Board the Liz fans are berating the Carly fans - that their character has less episodes and Carly gets all the show time. Carly fans aren't going to care. They are watching the show for Carly. You are kind of pissing at windmills. Same with Buffy, Spike fans don't care that Xander has no screen time. In fact, they are probably happy about it. If Xander had more screen time, they'd be whinging or watching something else. Berating each other on whose character has the best story arc or screen time is a waste of energy. If it bothers you? Whine to the writers. Fandom. Sigh. Fandom. Sigh. People are annoying.

So, I took a break from it - and watched The Quartet which is leaving Netflix this Monday, apparently. So, I caught it before it left. Netflix does that - stuff comes and goes. This flick was directed by Dustin Hoffman, and stars Billy Connelly, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtney, and Pauline Collins. It's based on a true story, and adapted from a play about various musicians who reside in a nursing home that the Italian Composer Verdi bequeathed to the musicians who performed his works. The film also features all the musicians in various roles, performing the works. It's a beautiful film, and a bit of a bittersweet love story. If you can see it, do.

Considering watching a horror flick next - not sure why, considering I'm still plagued with bad dreams.

The film made me feel lonely.

Talked to my parents today, my father who appears to be drifting further and further into the web of Alzhemiers - a metaphor that my college buddy appreciated. Some people stay in touch with folks from High School, I stayed in touch with folks from college. High school was a relatively small period of my life and not all that interesting, college on the other hand - had a lot more going on.

Mother told me that we don't know who we've touched in our lives or who will miss us. It may be more than we think. Mother's clearly been watching It's a Wonderful Life? No actually, she re-watched West Side Story on TCM, along with the panel with Russ Tambolyn, George Chakiris, and Rita Morena, who'd all remained close friends years later. They spoke about how the dance numbers had changed after Jerome Robbins got fired. They all got along with him - but he could be nasty to people, and the new choreography allowed for acrobatics, when Robbins wouldn't. Robbins was kind of known for being an asshole - particularly to women. I tried watching a documentary on Tex Avery - this morning, only to realize how insanely sexist the man was. But that may have been due to the time period. He made the Looney Toones Cartoons with Chuck Jones back in the 1930s, as a kind of response to Disney. In fact it kind of is like Dreamworks take on Disney and Pixar now. Interesting documentary, just bothersome in ways I'd not anticipated, although I should have - I suppose.

Groggy today. Not sure if its weather, or coming off of an allergy attack. Definitely the pollen, because being away from it - is helping. Also having the robot vacuum sweeping up the dust.

Not much more to add in this update.

Here's another picture of flowers..I identify with the lone orange tulip in a field of dandelions.

Movie Meme - 11-20

Movie Meme - 11 -20:

11: Classic movies or current/modern? Why? (If Classic - which eras?)

Depends on my mood. I actually prefer current films, but I do love old movies as well. And have a fondness for the late 20th Century.

12: Political documentary films or comedic/satirical documentary ones?

Prefer satirical/comedic documentary films - like Vice or Borate. Although it does depend. I did like Bowling for Columbine over say This is Spinal Tap.

13: Name a movie with a really bad book/comic/television adaption.

Hmmm...hard. It's often the other way around. Mainly because you can do more with television than film, at least in most cases. Dune - didn't work well as a television series and it should have. Nor did Logan's Run, which should have. Or the Three Musketeers - which should have. I'd say the film version of Sense and Sensibility and Emma were definitely better.

14: Name a movie where the television/book adaption actually was better than the movie.

Pride and Prejudice - a book that requires a full adaptation. Also, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - which is of course the obvious choice. The film version was abysmal. (I saw the film version of Buffy in the movie theater and was horribly disappointed. I'd read the novelization in the book store - it was better. I had low expectations of the television series and only watched for Anthony Stewart Head. And it wasn't until the second season, that I became a fan of that series - the introduction of Dru and Spike changed the show.)

15: What movie changed your life?

Star Wars. I was blown away by Star Wars. Up to that point, I honestly thought science fiction was just monster movies. My best friend at the time was into monster movies - so I saw a lot of them. I didn't like them. I saw them because she liked them. I spent a lot of time doing what she wanted to do, and pretending I liked it. Star Wars - I was talked into seeing by my Dad - and was blown away by it. It had a cool heroine, who I could identify with - and two hot leads (I was 11 or 12 years of age). And it wasn't scary, just fun.

Because of Star Wars - I fell in love with science fiction, read it, etc. And it was my first fandom. The only action figures I ever owned were from Star Wars.

16: If you could bring three movies to a deserted island which would you bring and why?

Something that has to do with how to survive on a Desert Island - Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Caruso, the one with Tom Hanks. What else? A romantic comedy. Probably Gross Point Blank or Must Love Dogs. And something with a hot male lead? Last of Mohicans...

17: If you owned a movie studio what would you call it?

Elsewhere

18: Which character from a movie is the most like you?

I don't know. I can't think of a bookish loner who is tall and into analyzing things. Belle from Beauty and the Beast?

19: Which character from a movie is the least like you?

Drawing a blank. Probably Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella.

20: Best summer movie?

The Avengers: Endgame

Book Meme 31-40.

[I've been watching all the interviews on West Side Story - on youtube and HBOMax. What's fascinating is they never mention Richard Beymer who played Tony. They do mention Natalie Wood. So I googled, and apparently Beymer hated his performance as Tony so much that he walked out of the London premier and refuses to discuss it at all. And Morena thought Natalie Wood was completely miscast as Maria. Chakris mentions how there's more meat to the characters of Bernando and Riff - because in the stage production, they are dead before their iconic dance numbers/performances - Officer Krupike and America, but in the musical they are still alive and get to do it. ]

Book Meme


31: Who’s your favorite contemporary author?

Don't really have one. Used to be James Joyce. Now? I don't know really.
I've been in a reading slump for a long long time. No writer sticks, I like one book but not another. Joyce was the only one I remember like all of the books from, but maybe not now?

32: Who’s your favorite fantasy author?

Used to be JR Tolkien, now? I don't know. I like Illona Andrews novels. Also, Ellen Kushner for the most part. And recently Children of Blood and Bone. When I was a kid it was Ann McCaffrey for a long time - but McCaffrey does not age well - also she's more sci-fi, I guess.

33: Who’s your favorite SF author?

Don't have one. Sad I know. But no one comes to mind. Maybe Octavia Butler, or CJ Cherryh.

34: List five OTPs.

One True Pairing, but make it Five of them!

Elizabeth Bennet/Mr. Darcy (Pride & Prejudice)
Curran/Kate Daniels (Illona Andrews - Kate Daniels Books)
Jean Grey/Scott Summers (X-men Comics - although I'm also partial to Scott/Wolverine and Scott/Emma)
Dresden/Murphy (Dresden Files)
Vickie Bliss/Sir John Smythe (Vickie Bliss Mysteries)

35: Name a book you consider to be terribly underrated.

I don't know. Is there one? I consider the 1980s-2020 X-men comics to be terribly underrated. And Slaughterhouse Five possibly is underrated? Also a lot of the books by Courtney Milan are, as are Stephen King's Short Stories.
So too are the sci-fi novels by CJ Cherryth. Genre generally speaking is terribly underrated. My favorite mystery writer...Minette Walters is very underrated. She's one of the few that doesn't do the formula. Too many mystery novelists do formula. Same with romance. Milan, Walters, Cherryth, King, Vonnegurt, and Illona Andrews are not formula - they kind of go against it. Which is why I liked them. Illona Andrews did two non-formulaic things with urban fantasy - she put the two leads together quickly and had them get married and have kids. She also, kept the female character strong and in charge, after doing that. And she brought in Russian and Asian and Babylonian folklore, as opposed to Northern European/Christian. Walters refused to do a series and fully developed the characters and made them character centric. Milan - made her female characters tough, went against the trope, and made the male kinder - she also brought in social issues but with research and keeping to the time period, and did characters that weren't white. King puts characters first. Vonnegurt? Is speculative sci-fi, but also comedic. And Cherryth does female centric space opera at a time you rarely saw it. All subversive in their own way.

36: Name a book you consider to be terribly overrated.

Atlas Shrugged and anything by Ayn Rand, god, all she does is sermonize. Also Thomas Pynchon - who copies Joyce and badly. And anything by William S. Burroughs. I also think Hemingway, Nathanial Hawthorn, Henry James, and Virigina Woolf are terribly overrated. Not to mention the guy who wrote Jude the Obscure and Tess.

37: How many books are actually in your bookshelf/shelves right now?

More than I can count. I just unloaded a bunch to the basement library downstairs. Plus I have over 1000 on my kindle, over 1000 on comixcology. And the dozens in my parents house. I collect and hoard books.

38: What language do you (most often) read in?

English. (I'm not a linguist)

39: Name one of your favorite childhood books.

Watership Down by Richard Adams (took me a while. I loved animal books as a child - read all the James Herbert, Benjy, and all the horse books - Misty, etc.)

40: Name one of your favorite books from your teenage years.

Dune by Frank Herbert - I was obsessed with that book.

Television Meme: 1-10

1: What Television Series did you last finish? When was that?

Shadow and Bone - on Netflix, this week. I think Wednesday. Excellent. That rare television series in which I found every character interesting. Also it wrapped up the story, but at the same time set them up for more. Highly recommend. And I think I'm going to read Six of Crows.

2: What are you currently watching?

At the moment, been watching West Side Story interviews. Also General Hospital, A Million Little Things, and The film The Quartet on Netflix.

Series? I need to complete The Nevers - the last episode should be airing Sunday. I am two episodes behind. It has six episodes, with six more to come - HBO ordered six more, and it's unclear if it will have a second season.

Do I recommend? Eh. I am on the fence. It's not as good as Whedon's earlier series. Although I'm not certain it will be Whedon's after the fourth episode. The new show-runner took over after episode Four, and tweaked the first four episodes. My difficulty with it - is its busy, and it has too many villains. It's best to have more focus, and keep the plot simple, the characters complicated, as opposed to the opposite. I'd dump a couple of the villains - the mad scientist by Denis O'Hare should go - he's a cliche, so too should the crazy Maladie - she's too much like Drusilla, which I liked better. Juliette Landau was excellent as Dru. I'd keep Swan and expand on him more, Lavina, Manson and the Beggar King. That group isn't bad, although I'd give Bonfire Annie more to do.

The inventor - also feels cliche, she's the same character in every Whedon series. Cute, pretty, nerdy, and socially awkward without a wit of sense.
Also thin as a rail. Mrs. True (who sounds like Dru to me) is interesting, so is the doctor, and the woman who breaks glass.

3: What television series are you planning to watch next?

Well outside of finishing The Nevers? I was considering The Irregulars, but I may do the Expanse. (I have seasons 4 and 5 to watch, but I'm waiting for S6 to drop - I don't like long waits, so I want to watch the last three seasons together.)

4: What was the last television show you added to your to watch list?

I think it was...Irregulars? I don't really do to watch lists. I am moody and change my mind. I do set things up to tape, then promptly forget about them.

5: Which television show did you last re-watch?

Hmmm. General Hospital stuff on youtube. I've been watching old Carly/Sonny scenes.

6: Which television series was the last one you really, really loved?

Shadow and Bone - which I just finished. Also Bridgerton, which I may re-watch.

7: What was/were the last television shows you bought on DVD?

I haven't bought anything in a very long time. I think it may have been Outlander S1? Which I later got rid of. I don't really have a working DVD player - it's in the closet, it probably works, but I've no interest in setting it up and my DVDs are also in the closet.

8: Streaming, Cable or Broadcast? Why?

Streaming - no commercials, hate commercials. Cable - Spectrum News aka NY1.

9: Children's, YA, NA or Adult? Why?

Depends on the content and how well it is written - I will pretty much watch any of the above. But I am in my 50s, no kids, single, so adult.

10: Sci-Fi or fantasy? Why?

Both. I like both. Reality isn't an issue for me. Sometimes combined.