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shadowkat1. Woo-hoo! Democrats won across the board. (In NYC - they won everything but Staten Island Borough President, because you know...Staten Island? And Texas. But it is Staten Island and Texas...)
New York City hits 2 million votes for first time since 1969. Biggest turnout for a Mayoral election ever.
Mamadani kind of kicked Cuomo's butt? It stands at:
Zohran Mamdani Democrat at 1,036,051 votes (50.4% of the vote)
Andrew Cuomo Independent at 854,995 (41.6 %)
Curtis Sliwa Republican at 146,137 (7.1%)
Per NBC news wire.
Breaking Bad told me that he felt like it was Christmas morning and he'd unwrapped his presents. As did cubical mate.
It was the largest turnout in NYC history for a mayoral election, on an off year. We had over 2 million people vote in a mayoral election. Usually, we're lucky to get 600,000. I know I've skipped a few. And I honestly think if it was between either Cuomo, Adams and Silwa, and Zohran wasn't running, they'd have gotten a low turn out.
Most of the voters were new voters or under the age of 35.
I do wish people had voted differently on NY State Proposal 1 - but it was admittedly written in a confusing manner, and I can see why it passed. People were confused by it. I had to do some research - to see how to vote on it. Everything but Proposal 6 passed, which was to switch the local races for Mayor, Borough Presidents, etc to the Federal Election year - people saw through the ploy and voted no.
I've mixed feelings about California's Prop 50 - on the one hand, it's needed to counteract the Republican Agenda, on the other...it's gerry-mandering?
Miki Sherrel won the Governor's Race in New Jersey - becoming the first female Democrat Governor of the State.
Oh, and NBC has an interactive map showing how each neighborhood in NYC voted for the Mayoral race. It's kind of fun, and shows that elections are complicated.
2. Work wore me out. That and lack of sleep - I couldn't get comfortable, and I kept waking up. Didn't fall asleep until Midnight, and woke up at 3 am and 5:26 am. Something beeped outside and woke me up at 3. Took a while to get back to sleep. Then something woke me at 5:26, and I never got back to sleep.
Very busy. Kind of inundated? They decided to get together and unload all their work on myself and Breaking Bad at the same time. Don't procrastinate folks? It just makes more work for everybody. But my good deed was installing two printers on my computer and Breaking Bad's. Just in time for the new folks to move in - in two weeks. Maybe they'll bring a printer that is in closer proximity. Albeit not too close proximity.
Commute wasn't easy either - but went smoother than expected. I miss hopping on the G taking it to 4/9th Streets, and running down the steps.
Now? Going down steps hurts, so I take the F, run up, then down steps, and wait on a tiny platform with a ton of folks for the R. Oh well, it's 35 minutes either way.
But overall? Happy to be back at work. I enjoy what I do for the most part - it's a lot of analysis, editing, problem solving, and figuring things out.
3. Cooler - in the 40s-low 60s. Typical Autumn weather in NY. A-typical is 60s-80s, typical is 40s,50s, and low 60s.
Time change is still messing with me though - by the time my body gets accustomed to it - they'll change it again, right around my birthday.
Whose bright idea was it to do the Time Warp?
4. Buffy/Angel re-watch.
I'm enjoying Angel more now than I did the first go-around. Buffy, I always enjoy. It occurred to me today that the writers fell in love with a specific plot twist - which they employed in S2. Which is the good guy turns bad or switches sides. They also did the bad guy switches sides to help the heroine - but they enjoy the good guy turns bad a lot more.
I give them credit for flirting with it - but not doing it in S7, S4, and S5. Instead they went in the opposite direction in those seasons - with Riley in S4, Spike in S4 (he jumps between the good guys and the bad guys in that season), Spike in S5, and Spike in S7. With Spike - the writers got off on misleading viewers into thinking Spike would turn evil and be early S2, and early S4 Spike again. I never understood why viewers fell for it?
It was pretty obvious to me that Spike was on the redemptive path. It worked for the overall story arc. Anything else would undermine the overall story arc and the emotional arcs of all the characters. Why couldn't people see that? Also, from a writer perspective - it's more interesting to attempt to redeem him - you can torture the character a lot more, explore more angles, and it's more interesting in relation to other characters. Not redeeming the character leads to a dead end. Wile E Coyote chasing the Road Runner endlessly only works for about ten episodes in a television series, if that, before it becomes redundant. Also going down that road is somewhat cliche and yes, overdone. I think audience members who were used to formula television series where the Spike character is basically a bad guy in the background, causing issues, but either escaping or not enough to get killed, and shows up every three or four episodes - kind of like he did in Lover's Walk and Harsh Light of Day - were kind of discombobulated by what the writers did? They were thinking Wile E. Coyote. But the writers were more interested in a complicated and rather multi-layered character arc. I know it threw the actor. They did the same thing to Damon on Vampire Diaries - and it threw that actor too. Because the actors thought they had an easy gig, just lurk and play evil (it's fun and easy), but both were too good at appearing vulnerable and smoldering, that the writers decided to play with their characters.
When analyzing a character on a television series and trying to figure out where the character is going? A tip? Think of it from a writing perspective. What is the most interesting and outside the box thing you can do with the character? What will move the story and the other character arcs forward? And keep the viewers coming back for more?
Hint? It's not the predictable run of the mill - oh he's going to stay evil trope. Bored now. You may not be, but trust me - a lot of people are.
It's always more interesting to send a good character on the road to evil, and a seemingly evil/opportunistic character on the road to good, the suppense is - how far will they go, will it work out, can they be redeemed?
Also it's more realistic, since most people fall somewhere in between and on any given day, can do something irredeemably evil or inherently good, often at the same time. That's more interesting to explore in a story, than just boilerplate good vs. evil. Willow slowly falling into the addiction to power and dark magic...is more interesting than Willow just falling in love and practicing magic. Spike slowly learning how to control his demonic urges, hunger for blood and control, and falling in love and wanting to help others - is more interesting to explore and has more angles, partly because it is seemingly impossible, than Spike just doing evil things to screw with Buffy and her friends, or flailing in his attempts to destroy them. One has added depth, one is merely cartoonish and we might as well be watching the Road Runner.
[I'm mainly just writing about this at this point to please myself at this point. Hopefully it entertains others too. But alas, as in most things, there's really no way of knowing for sure. I'm thinking I probably wrote it to please myself back in the day as well. Although a bit better, and more targeted.]
New York City hits 2 million votes for first time since 1969. Biggest turnout for a Mayoral election ever.
Mamadani kind of kicked Cuomo's butt? It stands at:
Zohran Mamdani Democrat at 1,036,051 votes (50.4% of the vote)
Andrew Cuomo Independent at 854,995 (41.6 %)
Curtis Sliwa Republican at 146,137 (7.1%)
Per NBC news wire.
Breaking Bad told me that he felt like it was Christmas morning and he'd unwrapped his presents. As did cubical mate.
It was the largest turnout in NYC history for a mayoral election, on an off year. We had over 2 million people vote in a mayoral election. Usually, we're lucky to get 600,000. I know I've skipped a few. And I honestly think if it was between either Cuomo, Adams and Silwa, and Zohran wasn't running, they'd have gotten a low turn out.
Most of the voters were new voters or under the age of 35.
I do wish people had voted differently on NY State Proposal 1 - but it was admittedly written in a confusing manner, and I can see why it passed. People were confused by it. I had to do some research - to see how to vote on it. Everything but Proposal 6 passed, which was to switch the local races for Mayor, Borough Presidents, etc to the Federal Election year - people saw through the ploy and voted no.
I've mixed feelings about California's Prop 50 - on the one hand, it's needed to counteract the Republican Agenda, on the other...it's gerry-mandering?
Miki Sherrel won the Governor's Race in New Jersey - becoming the first female Democrat Governor of the State.
Oh, and NBC has an interactive map showing how each neighborhood in NYC voted for the Mayoral race. It's kind of fun, and shows that elections are complicated.
2. Work wore me out. That and lack of sleep - I couldn't get comfortable, and I kept waking up. Didn't fall asleep until Midnight, and woke up at 3 am and 5:26 am. Something beeped outside and woke me up at 3. Took a while to get back to sleep. Then something woke me at 5:26, and I never got back to sleep.
Very busy. Kind of inundated? They decided to get together and unload all their work on myself and Breaking Bad at the same time. Don't procrastinate folks? It just makes more work for everybody. But my good deed was installing two printers on my computer and Breaking Bad's. Just in time for the new folks to move in - in two weeks. Maybe they'll bring a printer that is in closer proximity. Albeit not too close proximity.
Commute wasn't easy either - but went smoother than expected. I miss hopping on the G taking it to 4/9th Streets, and running down the steps.
Now? Going down steps hurts, so I take the F, run up, then down steps, and wait on a tiny platform with a ton of folks for the R. Oh well, it's 35 minutes either way.
But overall? Happy to be back at work. I enjoy what I do for the most part - it's a lot of analysis, editing, problem solving, and figuring things out.
3. Cooler - in the 40s-low 60s. Typical Autumn weather in NY. A-typical is 60s-80s, typical is 40s,50s, and low 60s.
Time change is still messing with me though - by the time my body gets accustomed to it - they'll change it again, right around my birthday.
Whose bright idea was it to do the Time Warp?
4. Buffy/Angel re-watch.
I'm enjoying Angel more now than I did the first go-around. Buffy, I always enjoy. It occurred to me today that the writers fell in love with a specific plot twist - which they employed in S2. Which is the good guy turns bad or switches sides. They also did the bad guy switches sides to help the heroine - but they enjoy the good guy turns bad a lot more.
I give them credit for flirting with it - but not doing it in S7, S4, and S5. Instead they went in the opposite direction in those seasons - with Riley in S4, Spike in S4 (he jumps between the good guys and the bad guys in that season), Spike in S5, and Spike in S7. With Spike - the writers got off on misleading viewers into thinking Spike would turn evil and be early S2, and early S4 Spike again. I never understood why viewers fell for it?
It was pretty obvious to me that Spike was on the redemptive path. It worked for the overall story arc. Anything else would undermine the overall story arc and the emotional arcs of all the characters. Why couldn't people see that? Also, from a writer perspective - it's more interesting to attempt to redeem him - you can torture the character a lot more, explore more angles, and it's more interesting in relation to other characters. Not redeeming the character leads to a dead end. Wile E Coyote chasing the Road Runner endlessly only works for about ten episodes in a television series, if that, before it becomes redundant. Also going down that road is somewhat cliche and yes, overdone. I think audience members who were used to formula television series where the Spike character is basically a bad guy in the background, causing issues, but either escaping or not enough to get killed, and shows up every three or four episodes - kind of like he did in Lover's Walk and Harsh Light of Day - were kind of discombobulated by what the writers did? They were thinking Wile E. Coyote. But the writers were more interested in a complicated and rather multi-layered character arc. I know it threw the actor. They did the same thing to Damon on Vampire Diaries - and it threw that actor too. Because the actors thought they had an easy gig, just lurk and play evil (it's fun and easy), but both were too good at appearing vulnerable and smoldering, that the writers decided to play with their characters.
When analyzing a character on a television series and trying to figure out where the character is going? A tip? Think of it from a writing perspective. What is the most interesting and outside the box thing you can do with the character? What will move the story and the other character arcs forward? And keep the viewers coming back for more?
Hint? It's not the predictable run of the mill - oh he's going to stay evil trope. Bored now. You may not be, but trust me - a lot of people are.
It's always more interesting to send a good character on the road to evil, and a seemingly evil/opportunistic character on the road to good, the suppense is - how far will they go, will it work out, can they be redeemed?
Also it's more realistic, since most people fall somewhere in between and on any given day, can do something irredeemably evil or inherently good, often at the same time. That's more interesting to explore in a story, than just boilerplate good vs. evil. Willow slowly falling into the addiction to power and dark magic...is more interesting than Willow just falling in love and practicing magic. Spike slowly learning how to control his demonic urges, hunger for blood and control, and falling in love and wanting to help others - is more interesting to explore and has more angles, partly because it is seemingly impossible, than Spike just doing evil things to screw with Buffy and her friends, or flailing in his attempts to destroy them. One has added depth, one is merely cartoonish and we might as well be watching the Road Runner.
[I'm mainly just writing about this at this point to please myself at this point. Hopefully it entertains others too. But alas, as in most things, there's really no way of knowing for sure. I'm thinking I probably wrote it to please myself back in the day as well. Although a bit better, and more targeted.]
no subject
Date: 2025-11-06 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-06 04:11 pm (UTC)Yeah, at my pollsite several coworkers got into a talk about how Staten Island is the most racist borough, and pulled me in (as the only white person? weird choice there...!) to back them up, and... yeah, once you leave the North Shore it's just fucking terrible out there.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-06 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-06 11:31 pm (UTC)Agree. I also think it's why I do this instead of keep a personal journal? I used to, but the problem was what to do with them? I had two boxes full. Here at least - it's just on the internet, and easy to store.
I enjoy reading your analysis of Buffy/Angel episodes.
Thank you. I always analyzed it mainly for myself. And initially - I craved the discussion, so I went online - because I couldn't do it with anyone I knew (no one watched it and those that did - did not want to analyze the show). Now, it's kind of freeing doing it without the shipping and fighting over ships.
Weirdly, I don't feel the need to analyze other television series? Just Buffy and Angel. I've flirted with it and done it here and there, but no repeatedly. There's just something about Buffy and Angel that struck a chord in me that most television and films haven't. Star Wars kind of did too. What can I say? I get obsessed by weird things? (shrugs).