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Nov. 19th, 2023 06:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Interesting podcast by someone who was most likely not alive when this first aired Why you should watch S6 Buffy.
My view of television watching is that it is very subjective, and people watch for different reasons, and certainly watched Buffy for different reasons - and related to different characters. No two people will agree.
I used to debate it weekly or monthly with a friend over Sushi, and daily on a fan board - but it should be noted? I didn't do any of this until S6 Buffy. Prior to that Season - I wasn't much of a fan of the show. I taped it on VHS, and looked for spoilers at various points, but that was it. Basically the extent of fannishness that I feel towards things now. The reasons for that are complicated, and do have a lot to do with the fact that this was the early stages of the internet fandom.
Another important thing about S6? It aired its first episode shortly after 9/11.
It also probably matters that I was 28 when I started watching. And in 2002, it was different from just about everything else - and the only thing taking huge risks and doing stuff with characters that most television shows just don't do. And did not do in 2002 on network broadcast television airing at 8-9pm in the US. The sixth or seventh episode of that season which is basically a fight scene that turns into a passionate and somewhat graphic sex scene blew me away. That had never happened on network television to my knowledge. Nor had the musical episode - which is responsible for just about every television show on network television doing one after that, because it was so successful and clever.
Anyhow, it's controversial and still being debated online. You either loved S6 or hated it. You either liked the show, were ambivalent, or didn't. And honestly I don't think either side gives a damn what the other one thinks on the issue. Divisive? Welcome to the human race.
2. Fall of the House of Usher - seen three episodes to date, entitled Once Upon a Midnight Dreary, Masque of the Red Death, Murders of the Rue Morgue. All three cleverly reference Poe short stories, and underline unethical medical and pharmaceutical issues. The deaths are often a result of those issues.
I'm not positive? But it may help if you are familiar with Edgar Allen Poe's stories prior to watching this? The references are basically half the fun. And the main reason I'm watching it. The story and characters aren't all that interesting, and the characters (all of them) aren't remotely relatable or likable - they are all rather nasty, immoral, and worse? Dull.
The only interesting ones are the ones played by veteran actors, Madeline (Mary McDonnell), Roderick (Bruce Greenwood), Pym (Mark Hamill), Vera (Carla Guigona), and August Dupin (Carl Lumbly). Everyone else? It's hard to care. And that's a big problem with a horror series - horror only really works if you care about the characters. Otherwise, it's not scary. Although I'm not certain this is meant to be scary so much as satirically amusing?
It is gory, although it doesn't dwell too long on it - so I had no issues.
[Examples? One character and his friends are well...killed by corrosive acid - which basically melts pipes, so just imagine what it would do to human skin. I spent a good portion of the end of that episode trying to figure out if one of the characters had gotten out in time - they hadn't. It didn't bother me - I thought it looked kind of fake. And in another episode, a chimp brutally kills a woman. We don't see it - just her body and again, it didn't bother me. It was brief.]
3. Barbara Streisand memoir.
Mother: Have you gotten to her relationship with Elliot Gould yet?
Me: I've not gotten to Funny Girl yet, it's a 46 hour book. She's currently touring as a lounge singer and struggling to become an actress.
She gets on Jack Parr, and talks about her first appearance on television at 18.
The odd thing about the singing career - is Streisand didn't see herself as a singer, she saw herself as an actress. But people were blown away by her voice. She sends a recording to an agent - who lost the tap and sends her an empty one as an apology. But is talked into participating in a singing contest at a local nightclub by friends - who are blown away by her singing. So she participates and easily wins. And gets a job as a lounge singer at a gay club, the Boise Lounge. They send her to get voice lessons, but she doesn't understand what the teacher wants, and is annoyed by them, so promptly quits and just does it her way. Streisand is not a trained singer - she never had a voice lesson in her life.
Singing really is a natural talent. You either can sing or you can't. There are a lot of singers out there who really can't sing, but do it anyway. Bob Dylan comes to mind. Streisand can sing.
My view of television watching is that it is very subjective, and people watch for different reasons, and certainly watched Buffy for different reasons - and related to different characters. No two people will agree.
I used to debate it weekly or monthly with a friend over Sushi, and daily on a fan board - but it should be noted? I didn't do any of this until S6 Buffy. Prior to that Season - I wasn't much of a fan of the show. I taped it on VHS, and looked for spoilers at various points, but that was it. Basically the extent of fannishness that I feel towards things now. The reasons for that are complicated, and do have a lot to do with the fact that this was the early stages of the internet fandom.
Another important thing about S6? It aired its first episode shortly after 9/11.
It also probably matters that I was 28 when I started watching. And in 2002, it was different from just about everything else - and the only thing taking huge risks and doing stuff with characters that most television shows just don't do. And did not do in 2002 on network broadcast television airing at 8-9pm in the US. The sixth or seventh episode of that season which is basically a fight scene that turns into a passionate and somewhat graphic sex scene blew me away. That had never happened on network television to my knowledge. Nor had the musical episode - which is responsible for just about every television show on network television doing one after that, because it was so successful and clever.
Anyhow, it's controversial and still being debated online. You either loved S6 or hated it. You either liked the show, were ambivalent, or didn't. And honestly I don't think either side gives a damn what the other one thinks on the issue. Divisive? Welcome to the human race.
2. Fall of the House of Usher - seen three episodes to date, entitled Once Upon a Midnight Dreary, Masque of the Red Death, Murders of the Rue Morgue. All three cleverly reference Poe short stories, and underline unethical medical and pharmaceutical issues. The deaths are often a result of those issues.
I'm not positive? But it may help if you are familiar with Edgar Allen Poe's stories prior to watching this? The references are basically half the fun. And the main reason I'm watching it. The story and characters aren't all that interesting, and the characters (all of them) aren't remotely relatable or likable - they are all rather nasty, immoral, and worse? Dull.
The only interesting ones are the ones played by veteran actors, Madeline (Mary McDonnell), Roderick (Bruce Greenwood), Pym (Mark Hamill), Vera (Carla Guigona), and August Dupin (Carl Lumbly). Everyone else? It's hard to care. And that's a big problem with a horror series - horror only really works if you care about the characters. Otherwise, it's not scary. Although I'm not certain this is meant to be scary so much as satirically amusing?
It is gory, although it doesn't dwell too long on it - so I had no issues.
[Examples? One character and his friends are well...killed by corrosive acid - which basically melts pipes, so just imagine what it would do to human skin. I spent a good portion of the end of that episode trying to figure out if one of the characters had gotten out in time - they hadn't. It didn't bother me - I thought it looked kind of fake. And in another episode, a chimp brutally kills a woman. We don't see it - just her body and again, it didn't bother me. It was brief.]
3. Barbara Streisand memoir.
Mother: Have you gotten to her relationship with Elliot Gould yet?
Me: I've not gotten to Funny Girl yet, it's a 46 hour book. She's currently touring as a lounge singer and struggling to become an actress.
She gets on Jack Parr, and talks about her first appearance on television at 18.
The odd thing about the singing career - is Streisand didn't see herself as a singer, she saw herself as an actress. But people were blown away by her voice. She sends a recording to an agent - who lost the tap and sends her an empty one as an apology. But is talked into participating in a singing contest at a local nightclub by friends - who are blown away by her singing. So she participates and easily wins. And gets a job as a lounge singer at a gay club, the Boise Lounge. They send her to get voice lessons, but she doesn't understand what the teacher wants, and is annoyed by them, so promptly quits and just does it her way. Streisand is not a trained singer - she never had a voice lesson in her life.
Singing really is a natural talent. You either can sing or you can't. There are a lot of singers out there who really can't sing, but do it anyway. Bob Dylan comes to mind. Streisand can sing.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-20 01:34 pm (UTC)Also, Dylan can sing when he wants to -- listen to "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" for a good example. It's just that a lot of times he's trying for vocal effects (usually a Woody Guthrie-like "folk" accent) so he gets a reputation as unable to sing.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 02:17 am (UTC)However, I doubt it. It's out of character. She's somewhat shy and incredibly modest about her body.
And doesn't think she's that attractive. The reason she did the memoir? She was tired of everyone lying about her - and spreading lies. So, felt she should set the record straight and tell it like it is, so to speak. She keeps repeating this. It's ironic too - because she admits to fibbing and lying a lot in the book about things in her past, but she's not lying in the book itself. It's a great listen - it's kind of like sitting in a room with Streisand and listening to her tell you a bunch of stories about her life and career in showbiz. One of the better audiobooks that I've listened to. Actor/Showbiz memoir audiobooks read by the entertainer - are by far the best. (I'm leery of Spears - because she doesn't read it.)
I still don't think Dylan can sing - or rather his singing voice makes me cringe. I prefer other people's renditions of his songs. Although - there are a few of his songs that kind of work best with a rugged sound - like "Work for Somebody" and "Times They are a Changing" - some of his songs kind of need that Woody Guthrie or bad singer vibe to work.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-21 02:20 am (UTC)This is true of a lot of singers, song-writers, and actors out there.
Both knew almost without thinking how to act or phrase a song, and which notes to hit to make it work emotionally for an audience. Pure natural talent. Sinatra also was like that - I don't think he had any singing lessons either.