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shadowkatI slept later than usual, but on the bright side - actually got a solid 8 hours of sleep, most of it core, but what can one do? Did get 55 minutes of deep, and 2 hours of rem. I tend to be a light sleeper for the most part, either that or this smart watch sleep monitoring isn't as accurate as it may appear.
Thinking of reading "actual books" and not ones on the Kindle for a bit. The books on my shelves are more appealing than the ones on the Kindle at the moment, and I've been in a long and annoying book slump. I was more engrossed in The Fair Folk - a book this morning, than What Moves the Dead on the Kindle. Books also have a weight to them, and they don't annoyingly go blank without notice.
The technology/information age is currently depressing me, I think? Do you feel like people are throwing their opinions at you constantly? Often unedited, unfiltered, and misinformed? It's not just on social media, it's journalistic articles, non-fiction editorials, etc. And via text message. I can't escape it. People stop. I really don't want to know what some random political analyst, political science professor, historian, social activist, journalist, bored academic, or law professor thinks about our current political situation, politics, the Wars (cultural, actual, and otherwise). Yes, I know they all think the world is coming to an end, I just wish they'd keep it to themselves, why depress the rest of us?
I've been jumping around television shows this weekend, not quite sticking with anything?
Watched Andor S2 Ep. 7 last night - the end the second three arc. Each arc ends with Andor and Bix - blowing something up or killing someone, or so it seems. Good news, Bix seems to have taken care of her problem. So Episode 7 for the most part was a satisfying conclusion to the Bix/Andor and Gorst situation, that was hanging over from S1. I adore Andor and Bix.
I got a bit lost in the episode, and had to rewind it and rewatch. Mainly because my attention kept drifting away from it. This may well be a me thing and not an Andor thing, folks. So I wouldn't make much of it? I'm having troubles focusing on a lot of things at the moment - I don't know if it is left over brain fog from my last bout with COVID, lack of sleep, or this sense of dread that just seems to permeate everything, like a black cloud that you can't quite see on the horizon but you know is there and there's zip you can do about it?
At any rate, the difficulty I'm having with Andor is there are too many storylines and they keep jumping between them, and they don't appear to be connected (even though I know they are), so if my attention wanders at all
I lost one of the threads?
Poker Face - also had to keep rewinding, because my attention kept wandering - I'd play on the phone, I'd play on the internet, I'd cook, etc. It's partly due to the commercials - it's on Peacock and has commercial interruptions, and partly due to the mystery not always being that gripping? This is basically Murder she wrote by way of Columbo by way of person on the run doing odd jobs. Sometimes the mystery of the week is interesting, sometimes not. Like Murder She Wrote and Columbo it likes to utilize old and big time movie stars, some of which I've not seen in a while and are over the age of 70. Ellen Barkin is a very skeletal 70.
Outlander - see previous post. [And now I'm back to it again - and watching S2 Ep.2 - mainly because I'm curious. Also, I like the actress playing Clair and she's written better in the series than in the book. Odd I know, but there it is. Also Jaime is admittedly very appeal - I rather like the actor portraying him. And I find the differences between mid-20th century medicine and 18th century medicine interesting. It's what people do that fascinates me.]
Buffy S3 - Helpless - was surprised at how well written this was. Was going to skip over it, decided not to, and it was rather better than I thought. Not quite as scary, and amusing in places. Also had to keep rewinding, because I kept wandering about doing things while it was on. It's David Fury - who, sigh, "not the nicest human on the planet" is possibly an understatement? (It comes through in the writing - his episodes have an underlying meanness to them that is hard to put my finger on - but is there? I don't think he likes people all that much? And clearly has Mommy issues?) But he's a good writer, got to give him that. And the acting is through the roof. Also, weirdly, I liked Cordelia in the episode, but did not like Willow, Xander, or OZ - who were kind of useless and annoying. Giles...wasn't supposed to be likable, but Head sold it, and made him likable and interesting. Gellar blows me away. She does things in Buffy that she's not done before or since. Jeff Kober as the villain of the week is rather excellent. But Kober always is. Fury does his own take on Little Red Riding Hood - and is a bit heavy handed with the metaphor - I honestly think the writers were told to go the full fairy tale trope in S3? First Gingerbread, now Little Red Riding Hood? And this one is just as heavy handed. I mean at one point I wanted to say - okay, I get it, it's supposed to be little red riding hood, stop it already. (The difficulty is Little Red Riding Hood has been over done. There's not much you can do with that trope any longer - and yes, we all know what it's about.) But it is a clever episode. Kober's character changes the game - with the view that he will turn the slayer into a vampire, and one-up the Watcher council. He's less interested in killing Buffy, as he is in having Buffy kill her Mom while he watches. This is an obvious allusion to Angel/Angelus - who once he became a vampire, liked to play with his prey much the same way Krajick does. And was doing that with Buffy in S2, and most likely intended to drive Buffy insane - until he could turn her into a vampire like he did with Drusilla. Krajick is a reminder of that. The fact that the episode starts with Buffy and Angel grappling, and later has Angel give her a book of poetry and talks about how he wants to take her heart and warm it with his - while Giles is weakening her to take on a vampire not unlike Angelus, just hammers that home.
What doesn't quite work - is why the Watcher Council feels the need to test her at all? I mean she beat the Master. Managed to die and come back, as a result there's now two slayers, which broke the rules. Also, she defeated Angelus and sent him to hell, and managed to cleverly enlist Spike to help her? Seems to me she's pretty frigging clever - and the Watchers are kind of feckless and ineffective? So what the heck?
This series consistently makes the men in authority positions look like idiots. Often in sly ways. Also once again the writers are making fun of tests and rites of passage.
The way she outsmarts Krajick is rather clever. She doesn't need the guy to save her - Giles actually arrives after she defeated Karjick. And while Giles takes out a vampire (one of the watchers who Krajick turned), and shows up in time to help untie Joyce...making it easier for Buffy to forgive him. He doesn't really save the day. Buffy does. Just as earlier Cordelia fights off her attacker, and Buffy's attacker. (Although why she didn't just knee him in the groin, I've no idea. Fella's? Most women wouldn't hit you the way Cordy does? They'd punch you. They'd need you in the groin. I know how to fight. )
There's an annoying line in the episode, but I've heard it in reality as well, so it is a realistic line.
Buffy - I can't throw knives, I throw them like -
Giles - like a girl.
Buffy - Not like a slayer.
I'd have written: "no, I throw them like you and Xander. Cordy is actually not half bad at it. I've played darts with her." Generalizations based on race, gender, age, ethnicity, color of skin, sexuality, etc - annoy me. It's lazy backwards thinking.
One of the things I loved about Buffy is how much fun it made of generalizations based on gender.
Buffy can't open the peanut butter jar at the end of the episode, because the slayer powers aren't there yet. Xander - ah let me, I'll manly open it for you and show you how it's done. Buffy - you are enjoying my temporary weakness far too much Xander. Xander - yes, now, ugh...I'll, ugh, show, ugh - uh, Will, can you help me with this?"
Note, he asks Willow for help, not Oz. The writer kind of redeemed himself with that line alone. They really had fun with Xander. But it is interesting how every episode gets across that Buffy and Angel can't work, and she can't ever trust him enough to make it work. And they can't be friends either. In fact they really can't reside in the same area, because they want each other, but it brings out the monster in him, which is always lurking, always there, and really who he is - the curse is the soulful man, not the monster. Which is an odd twist on that fairy tale as well. Buffy has a lot of fun twisting fairy tales, and going for the dark bits in them.
Damn, this series holds up well. And it gets better as it goes. S3 is much better than S1 and S2, writing wise. The writers finally hit their stride. I can see why Gellar was done by S3 - they worked her to death. She's in every scene, they are all very physical scenes, and she has to cry a lot. She was doing 20 hour days, seven days a week. I think they burned her out, and it's why she's not really done anything great since. They also burned out Marsters. Not so much the others.
**
Took a long walk to get groceries. Used the robot vacuums. Read a bit of The Fair Folk. Meditated. And tried not to let the noise on the internet bother me too much. The birds outside were tweeting. The sun was shining. The trees are green. It's a warm balmy day in Brooklyn. And if I don't think too much and just be, everything is seemingly just fine.
Thinking of reading "actual books" and not ones on the Kindle for a bit. The books on my shelves are more appealing than the ones on the Kindle at the moment, and I've been in a long and annoying book slump. I was more engrossed in The Fair Folk - a book this morning, than What Moves the Dead on the Kindle. Books also have a weight to them, and they don't annoyingly go blank without notice.
The technology/information age is currently depressing me, I think? Do you feel like people are throwing their opinions at you constantly? Often unedited, unfiltered, and misinformed? It's not just on social media, it's journalistic articles, non-fiction editorials, etc. And via text message. I can't escape it. People stop. I really don't want to know what some random political analyst, political science professor, historian, social activist, journalist, bored academic, or law professor thinks about our current political situation, politics, the Wars (cultural, actual, and otherwise). Yes, I know they all think the world is coming to an end, I just wish they'd keep it to themselves, why depress the rest of us?
I've been jumping around television shows this weekend, not quite sticking with anything?
Watched Andor S2 Ep. 7 last night - the end the second three arc. Each arc ends with Andor and Bix - blowing something up or killing someone, or so it seems. Good news, Bix seems to have taken care of her problem. So Episode 7 for the most part was a satisfying conclusion to the Bix/Andor and Gorst situation, that was hanging over from S1. I adore Andor and Bix.
I got a bit lost in the episode, and had to rewind it and rewatch. Mainly because my attention kept drifting away from it. This may well be a me thing and not an Andor thing, folks. So I wouldn't make much of it? I'm having troubles focusing on a lot of things at the moment - I don't know if it is left over brain fog from my last bout with COVID, lack of sleep, or this sense of dread that just seems to permeate everything, like a black cloud that you can't quite see on the horizon but you know is there and there's zip you can do about it?
At any rate, the difficulty I'm having with Andor is there are too many storylines and they keep jumping between them, and they don't appear to be connected (even though I know they are), so if my attention wanders at all
I lost one of the threads?
Poker Face - also had to keep rewinding, because my attention kept wandering - I'd play on the phone, I'd play on the internet, I'd cook, etc. It's partly due to the commercials - it's on Peacock and has commercial interruptions, and partly due to the mystery not always being that gripping? This is basically Murder she wrote by way of Columbo by way of person on the run doing odd jobs. Sometimes the mystery of the week is interesting, sometimes not. Like Murder She Wrote and Columbo it likes to utilize old and big time movie stars, some of which I've not seen in a while and are over the age of 70. Ellen Barkin is a very skeletal 70.
Outlander - see previous post. [And now I'm back to it again - and watching S2 Ep.2 - mainly because I'm curious. Also, I like the actress playing Clair and she's written better in the series than in the book. Odd I know, but there it is. Also Jaime is admittedly very appeal - I rather like the actor portraying him. And I find the differences between mid-20th century medicine and 18th century medicine interesting. It's what people do that fascinates me.]
Buffy S3 - Helpless - was surprised at how well written this was. Was going to skip over it, decided not to, and it was rather better than I thought. Not quite as scary, and amusing in places. Also had to keep rewinding, because I kept wandering about doing things while it was on. It's David Fury - who, sigh, "not the nicest human on the planet" is possibly an understatement? (It comes through in the writing - his episodes have an underlying meanness to them that is hard to put my finger on - but is there? I don't think he likes people all that much? And clearly has Mommy issues?) But he's a good writer, got to give him that. And the acting is through the roof. Also, weirdly, I liked Cordelia in the episode, but did not like Willow, Xander, or OZ - who were kind of useless and annoying. Giles...wasn't supposed to be likable, but Head sold it, and made him likable and interesting. Gellar blows me away. She does things in Buffy that she's not done before or since. Jeff Kober as the villain of the week is rather excellent. But Kober always is. Fury does his own take on Little Red Riding Hood - and is a bit heavy handed with the metaphor - I honestly think the writers were told to go the full fairy tale trope in S3? First Gingerbread, now Little Red Riding Hood? And this one is just as heavy handed. I mean at one point I wanted to say - okay, I get it, it's supposed to be little red riding hood, stop it already. (The difficulty is Little Red Riding Hood has been over done. There's not much you can do with that trope any longer - and yes, we all know what it's about.) But it is a clever episode. Kober's character changes the game - with the view that he will turn the slayer into a vampire, and one-up the Watcher council. He's less interested in killing Buffy, as he is in having Buffy kill her Mom while he watches. This is an obvious allusion to Angel/Angelus - who once he became a vampire, liked to play with his prey much the same way Krajick does. And was doing that with Buffy in S2, and most likely intended to drive Buffy insane - until he could turn her into a vampire like he did with Drusilla. Krajick is a reminder of that. The fact that the episode starts with Buffy and Angel grappling, and later has Angel give her a book of poetry and talks about how he wants to take her heart and warm it with his - while Giles is weakening her to take on a vampire not unlike Angelus, just hammers that home.
What doesn't quite work - is why the Watcher Council feels the need to test her at all? I mean she beat the Master. Managed to die and come back, as a result there's now two slayers, which broke the rules. Also, she defeated Angelus and sent him to hell, and managed to cleverly enlist Spike to help her? Seems to me she's pretty frigging clever - and the Watchers are kind of feckless and ineffective? So what the heck?
This series consistently makes the men in authority positions look like idiots. Often in sly ways. Also once again the writers are making fun of tests and rites of passage.
The way she outsmarts Krajick is rather clever. She doesn't need the guy to save her - Giles actually arrives after she defeated Karjick. And while Giles takes out a vampire (one of the watchers who Krajick turned), and shows up in time to help untie Joyce...making it easier for Buffy to forgive him. He doesn't really save the day. Buffy does. Just as earlier Cordelia fights off her attacker, and Buffy's attacker. (Although why she didn't just knee him in the groin, I've no idea. Fella's? Most women wouldn't hit you the way Cordy does? They'd punch you. They'd need you in the groin. I know how to fight. )
There's an annoying line in the episode, but I've heard it in reality as well, so it is a realistic line.
Buffy - I can't throw knives, I throw them like -
Giles - like a girl.
Buffy - Not like a slayer.
I'd have written: "no, I throw them like you and Xander. Cordy is actually not half bad at it. I've played darts with her." Generalizations based on race, gender, age, ethnicity, color of skin, sexuality, etc - annoy me. It's lazy backwards thinking.
One of the things I loved about Buffy is how much fun it made of generalizations based on gender.
Buffy can't open the peanut butter jar at the end of the episode, because the slayer powers aren't there yet. Xander - ah let me, I'll manly open it for you and show you how it's done. Buffy - you are enjoying my temporary weakness far too much Xander. Xander - yes, now, ugh...I'll, ugh, show, ugh - uh, Will, can you help me with this?"
Note, he asks Willow for help, not Oz. The writer kind of redeemed himself with that line alone. They really had fun with Xander. But it is interesting how every episode gets across that Buffy and Angel can't work, and she can't ever trust him enough to make it work. And they can't be friends either. In fact they really can't reside in the same area, because they want each other, but it brings out the monster in him, which is always lurking, always there, and really who he is - the curse is the soulful man, not the monster. Which is an odd twist on that fairy tale as well. Buffy has a lot of fun twisting fairy tales, and going for the dark bits in them.
Damn, this series holds up well. And it gets better as it goes. S3 is much better than S1 and S2, writing wise. The writers finally hit their stride. I can see why Gellar was done by S3 - they worked her to death. She's in every scene, they are all very physical scenes, and she has to cry a lot. She was doing 20 hour days, seven days a week. I think they burned her out, and it's why she's not really done anything great since. They also burned out Marsters. Not so much the others.
**
Took a long walk to get groceries. Used the robot vacuums. Read a bit of The Fair Folk. Meditated. And tried not to let the noise on the internet bother me too much. The birds outside were tweeting. The sun was shining. The trees are green. It's a warm balmy day in Brooklyn. And if I don't think too much and just be, everything is seemingly just fine.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-14 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-14 06:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-14 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-14 08:58 pm (UTC)Also the sex scenes in S6 came very close to soft-core porn.
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Date: 2025-07-15 09:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 02:31 pm (UTC)They'd do five shots from Sarah's perspective with the shot on Sarah, then five from Spike, then five from above, then five from the side. Have them say the lines kind of differently in various ones.
Then have them act slightly differently.
Seriously, the directors and writers don't really think about the actors - they are thinking about getting the movie in their heads on screen. The actors are just tools to do it. If the line is wrong in the best shot? They'll make the actor dub it.
Often the actor's best take isn't the one they want - because of lighting etc. The actor does have power - in how they deliver the lines, and express them, but not over a lot else.