Television and Question a Day Memage..

[shadowkat]

Television

Started watching Pluribus on Apple + finally. This is the latest television series written and created by Vince Gillian (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Terriers, and writer on the X-Files). And it is a satirical and subversively funny take on a viral zombie apocalypse. Imagine if an alien virus were to wipe out a third of the global population and turn the rest into a happy peace-loving hive mind that's sole purpose is to make everybody and everything happy? No pollution, no violence, no crime, no fighting, no killing, etc. Except for about eleven to twelve people who were immune around the globe - that the rest are trying to figure out how to save and incorporate into the happy and connected hive mind that shares everything. It's hilarious in places. Say what you will about Vince Gillian - but he's great at dialogue.

Example?

Carol (who is immune to the virus): Why would you give me a frigging grenade? (Frigging is my word not Carol's.)
Guy at hospital and part of the Hive Mind: Because you wanted one.
Carol: Why not make it fake grenade?
Guy: Did you want a fake grenade?
Carol: Would you give me a bazooka and the rocket it fires if I asked for it?
Guy: Yes.
Carol: Would you give me a ...tank?
Guy: Yes, if you wanted a tank...

I have seen every iteration on the zombie and alien invasion theme - but I gotta to say this is innovative and a new one. It's not clear that the hive mind is bad or good idea? We're in Carol's point of view - and Carol was unhappy to begin with.

Also? As an aside? Vince Gillian apparently has issues with Rick Stevens, the vacation/travel guru. Carol keeps making fun of him.

Will give Gillian credit - I like his satire. Satire is hard to do well. And Gillian pulls it off without hammering me too hard over the head with it.

***

Angel S3 Rewatch. Yup, I prefer Buffy S6. Angel S3 is unfortunately weighed down by the irritating love triangles and the Grooslaug. Although Gunn/Fred are amusing, and it does serve to isolate Wes, which works for the overall plot. Wes has no one to talk to - and that's a bad thing for Wes, who tends to overthink things and often draws the wrong conclusions. Groo is funny in how he manages to annoy the hell out of Angel. And Cordy's oblivious. Cordy has some of the same flaws as Angel - she refuses to give up the visions for the same reasons Angel refused to keep his humanity in I Will Always Remember You. They kind of understand each other - they need to be important, to have value, and are rather vain. She gets upset with Angel for giving away her clothes. Angel gets upset with Cordelia for giving away his. The Grooslauge is kind of a ditzy male character, similar to Harmony - what is it with Cordelia and the ditzy characters?

********

Question a Day Mememage - January

8. Do you look back on your school days with fondness? What was your favourite subject to learn?

Not really? Most of it has blurred together and I can't say I liked school that much? Favorite subject was Social Studies or History. I was usually in Honors Social Studies. I found it to be the most challenging, and least disruptive. Also the most interesting. I was fascinated by world history, politics, and culture.

In college? Favorites were Folklore/Myth courses, Ancient Religions, trip to Britain to study theater, Creative Writing Course, and a Poetry Course, also I rather liked extracurricular pottery courses.

9. What time do you usually get up and go to bed each day?

Get up at 6 AM during the weekdays and between 9:45-10PM at night, if possible. To average between 6-8 hours a sleep. Weekends or days off, between 10-11:30pm, and get up between 8-8:30 AM. I usually can't sleep past 8-8:30 no matter what I do. I am a night owl - and tend to get a burst of energy at night. But alas, my work hours are 8-4pm. With a 30-45 minute commute.

10. Are you impulsive, or do you take time to make decisions?

It depends? I'm impulsive about some things. Not others. Trips - no. Anything logistic related - definitely not. When it comes to buying books, television shows, movies, theater, music, writing posts in my journal or what to have for dinner - I'm impulsive. Also clothing and shoes apparently - due to online shopping. So, it depends? I do a lot of things innately or with my gut - or intuitively.

***

Oh and below is my finished water color - cartoon of the nasty woman yelling at me when I was stumbling across a street on Christmas Eve. (While I don't own a purple coat or a cane, the woman did look EXACTLY like that.)

I like how the car and the woman calling me "bitch" came out - but not myself. It was harder to draw and paint a woman walking across the street, carrying bags, than it was a woman driving a black van for some reasons.
But I was going for a cartoon - so I think that worked.

Comments

[kazzy_cee]

Ack - I had forgotten that whole series of Angel - I really didn't enjoy it. I've probably only seen it once.

I wonder what the story arc will be with that zombie series. I would have thought they'd run out of ideas after a while.

[shadowkat]

Weirdly I'm enjoying Angel more now than I did when I was watching it. I skipped a lot of episodes originally. But it does have some really bad episodes in there, and the two love triangles, played oddly for laughs, don't quite work. There's two characters in the series that don't quite work - Gunn and Groosalaug.

On Pluribus? The problem isn't the set up. There's places they can go with that.

It's basically how can she undo it, why was it done, should it be undone, and what happens next.

It's not really zombies? It's more everyone has shared memories and become very efficient worker bees for a hive mind. They don't eat anyone, kill, or hurt anything. And if you scream at them - they freeze in place, have a seizure, and fall on the ground convulsing. Carol screams at them - then races to try and save them.

That said? It doesn't really have any characters that I like in it? I'm limited to Carol for the most part, and Carol isn't all that likable. She's a dissatisfied, famous fantasy heterosexual romance novelist who sold out, with a lesbian wife - then this happens killing off her wife.

On the one hand, it's easier to watch than all the other zombie television shows and films out there (which I find very difficult to watch personally), but on the other - those shows had more interesting and varied characters? Like most satire - this seems to be too wrapped up in one idea.
Reminds me a little of The Omega Man, but less dystopian, and here everyone is just part of a happy, kind, concerned hive mind (although I could be wrong on that - I've only watched three episodes - it's 9 episodes.)

[iddewes]

I wish you did have a coat like that! 😉 People like her are so annoying. Years ago a coworker of mine told me she saw a small Asian woman crossing the road and some idiot in an SUV kept revving his car as though he was about to drive over her. The Asian woman apparently looked terrified. My coworker was a big woman and apparently she launched herself onto the front of the idiot’s car and screamed at him to leave the woman alone. Apparently he was quite terrified then instead 😂

[shadowkat]

LOL! Good for your co-worker! I saw an old woman with a walker flip off a truck driver (in an eighteen wheeler) once for attempting to make a turn, right into her - as she was crossing an intersection. I'm trying to figure out how to draw it - I wanted a picture, but it was over by the time I got my phone camera out.

[mtbc]

There's a great style to how you've painted that! Thank you for sharing.

[shadowkat]

Thank you!

[mtbc]

Thanks for the Pluribus report, I definitely need to finally get around to trying it. Got distracted by Fallout and the new season of The Night Manager.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, Fallout and Night Manager are on my list as well. I have a long list.

[trepkos]

Pluribus sounds fun, but I can't pay for another service. Why was the nasty woman yelling? (I've missed a few posts.)

[shadowkat]

The light had just changed, I was stumbling through the cross walk as it changed (it was a short cross walk) on a cold dark evening, around 5:30 pm, and she was in a rush and unlike 80% of other drivers, couldn't be bothered to wait two minutes. It's also a residential area, with a lot of pedestrians, kids, etc. It's not a highway.

[trepkos]

How mean of her!

[shadowkat]

She called me a "bitch" - but I decided not to put that in the watercolor. All I was doing was trying to get home on a cold night, the light had just changed. And yes, she looked exactly like the woman in the watercolor - if you can see it. Short blond hair, round white face, dark glasses.