Four things before Bed - True Blood, Outcasts, the Hour, S&P ratings, and Riots in London

[shadowkat]

LJ is slow again. So posting here.

1. While watching the incredibly lack-luster Outcasts, found out that The Hour is coming to BBC America on August 17!!!! YAY!!! Really wanted to see this show, was wondering if I'd have to do what I did with Misfits. This is the new show starring Dominic West (who I fell in love with in The WIRE as an actor), and the guy from Torchwood who used to play Owen. Which is critically acclaimed and is about the beginning of the BBC. Really wanted to see this one. Also Whitechapel, Luthur, and State of Play are all coming to BBC along with S6.2 of Doctor Who. (yes, I'm an Anglo-phile - love the Brit tv shows.)

But Outcasts doesn't quite work. It's sort of silly and poorly acted and melodramatic. It has some interesting ideas...but poor execution. There's just something missing from the mix. Can see why it didn't get renewed. Shame. I tend to like these types of sci-fi shows (about a group of people trying to live in a new world - love survival sci-fi.) Also the best actor died in the premiere episode. Am going to just delete all the episodes and give up on it.

2. True Blood - last night's episode, wasn't as great, but it was fun. True Blood is true to the soap opera genre, it has lots of sub-plots, many of which seem completely disconnected, and
often interrupts the action with really boring subplots where all that is happening is a conversation that we've heard before, more than once. (eg. Alicide and Debbie ....are examples of daytime soaps at their worst.) When last night's episode, at one point I envisioned Buffy talking to Sookie and mid-way through wishing to hook up with Tara, or maybe I'm just confusing Buffy with Faith.



* Am worried about Tara. They better not kill off my favorite female character. Tara actually more sense than Sookie does. I totally get why Tara hates vampires. If I were Tara - I'd hate vampires.
Actually Tara is not wrong...vampires are dangerous to humans. I mean come on - Tara has been raped, victimized, kidnapped, and almost killed numerous times by vampires. Also - because of vampires she had to break up with her girlfriend. I really feel sorry for Tara.

* LaFayette is the prettiest man I've seen. The guy has the longest eyelashes. Also he is hilarious in this episode. When he see's the ghost of demon voodoo doll talking in Creol to Arlene's baby. It's not Rene haunting Arlene - it's demon voodoo doll lady - at least I think the ghost is linked with the demon voodoo doll - it's hard to tell. That whole story line is weirdly creepy and makes no sense. Also it doesn't appear to connect with any of the other story lines.
LaFayette's story does connect with the other storylines - and I'm guessing he'll probably be the one to save the day, just as he was accidentally the one who set the whole Marnie/Antonia thing off to begin with. I doubt Marnie had any power until Lafayette popped up. Way to go Jesus - as if Lafayette and Tara didn't have enough problems.

*Poor Pam. Granted I don't like the fact that she's going after my favorite female character. Stay away from my Tara - Pam. I like you, but I like Tara more! Pam is funny though. That scene with her assistant riding her coffin to keep her from walking into the daylight - was hilarious.

*Woobie!/Amensia!Eric and Sookie are sort of sweet...but I got bored of the naked body sex after a bit. Really not much of a voyeur apparently. Watching two actors fuck on-screen doesn't do all that much for me. Maybe it's just me? But I thought the Spike/Buffy sex scenes where they were fully clothed were a lot hotter. So was, for that matter, the suggested sex scenes between Damon and Rosemarie, and Damon's lusting after Elena in Vamp Diaries. Watching naked bodies roll around looks a bit too much like wrestling without the mud for my taste. That said - it was reminiscent of the book. Although the book's shower scene was admittedly hotter. Written sex scenes are hotter than visual ones. Possibly because my brain is much more imaginative than the camera?

Feel a little sorry for Eric. Less so for Sookie. Because, Sookie most likely will end up back with Bill or with Alicide - once Eric gets his memory back. But Eric will be dumped. Sookie doesn't like amoral, sarcastic Eric, she likes Woobie!Eric. (Can sort of see way - Skarsgard is incredibly endearing...he has managed to make a 7 foot tall vampire look cute and kittenish. That's not as easy as it looks. Marc Blucas tried to do the same thing in Buffy as did David Boreanze and both failed miserably. The looked like drowned puppy dogs...which, not being a dog person, I didn't find all that appealing.)

*Poor King Bill - although the whole silver bit was a stroke of genuis, painful as all get out. But Bill has always been a bit into the self-flagellating, so this wasn't all that surprising.
Jessica, on the other hand, who is a bit less masochistic, overcame her bounds with ease and decided to walk out into the sunlight. (How much you want to bet Jason Stackhouse saves her at the last minute? Have to admit - a Jason/Jessica pairing has a lot more appeal than a Jason/Crystal one did. Still have hopes for Jason/Tara...since they are my favorite characters but that may be a long shot.)

* I can't really fault Antonia for wanting revenge on the vampires. I know, I know, she's supposed to be this horribly insane evil villain, but at the moment she seems to be pretty rational. After all the vampires did rape and torture and burn her at the stake. And she watched them do the same thing to countless others. Also it's not like they don't do the same thing now, more or less.
Fiona Shaw is excellent in this role. I think I saw Fiona Shaw on stage in King Lear way back in the 1980s, opposite Anthony Hopkins. Could be wrong about that. At any rate Fiona Shaw is convincing as both the hapless Marnie and the diabolical Antonia. Heck, if I were Tara, I'd team up with Marni/Antonia too.

*I laughed during the whole spell to bring vamps into the sunlight - particularly the Pam/Gigi bit and the Sookie/Eric bit.

*Damn, Tommy's not dead. You know there's a problem with the storyline and character when you are actually rooting for Sam to kill Tommy (his brother) and hoping this won't result in Sam morphing into Tommy at some later date, because that would be nasty. I did however find Sam and Luna's revelatory conversation to be funny.

Luna: Well if you were at the apartments all night, who was staying in your trailer?
Sam: Just my brother Tommy...wait do you remember what you said happened to you when you turned into your Mom?
Luna: Yes, I throw up everything in my stomach and then some, also ran a really high fever....
Sam: Damn.
Luna: Oh..Shit.
Sam: I think I'm going to be sick.
Luna nods. Right there with you. Uh huh.

Then I just rooted for Sam to kill Tommy and was somewhat disappointed when it didn't happen. Although like I stated above, on the plus side - at least we don't have to worry about Sam turning into any of the Minskes, because that would be bad. But does this mean, Tommy will keep turning into different family members...and we'll get all three for the price of one, because I can really do without that. (Actually, when Sam realized Tommy turned into him, I was thinking - hey it could of have been worse, he could have turned into one of your parents, because bleargh.)

* Alcide and Debbie...apparently Alcide has a thing for Sookie, can't think why? Although their discovery of Sookie and Eric in the woods...and watching Sookie and Eric in the woods, brought to mind two things. 1) Xander and Anya stumbling across Spike and BuffyBot boinking and actually sticking around to watch, and 2) a story my Aunts told me about a fundamentalist Christian woman whose property happens to border a nudist camp in the Poconos, and how every time she takes walks with her husband he'll cover her eyes to avoid seeing the nudists congregating. Debbie was upset because Alicide looked jealous of the Eric/Sookie sex, and Alicide - well he looked jealous.
Can't say I blame Debbie. Grating character, yet still not as grating as she was in the books.

Notably that did not show us in the previews whether Jessica survived, but I'm betting she did.
Although one never knows with True Blood.



3. Paper commented on the London riots this morning, which according to flist - were a lot worse than the paper indicated. Quite glad everyone on flist who lives in London is okay. The only thing I remember from the paper's coverage was:

Interviewer to young rioter: so what do you think you accomplished by rioting? Do you think anyone will hear your message or listen to you?
Young Rioter: Well, you're talking to me, aren't you?

Which felt like a scene right out of the Wire, to be honest. Different city. Same concept.

4. People are freaking out over the Standard and Poor rating. Momster reminded me of why S&P isn't the most reliable or credible source on the planet when it comes to credit ratings. 1)They are the one's who gave the high ratings to the Bank ARM's that got us into this mess to begin with. 2) I actually inteviewed for a job with S&P and found out from several people who left, that it was complete chaos, and horribly run. In short, take it with a grain of salt. Moody's didn't lower the rating and they are more reliable. The stock market still dropped - but that wasn't just because of S&P, it also was due to well what is going on Europe and the horrible state of grid-lock that the US government is in. That's right - ironically - we can blame the Tea Party for the stock market drop. I've decided to make the Tea Party my scape-goat - every horrible thing that happens is from now on the fault of the Tea Party. It's easier that way.

Off to read more Harry Dresden. Then bed.

Comments

[shapinglight]

That's right - ironically - we can blame the Tea Party for the stock market drop. I've decided to make the Tea Party my scape-goat - every horrible thing that happens is from now on the fault of the Tea Party. It's easier that way.

Can I ask - do you think the Tea Party would even exist if Barack Obama were not black? I have a hard time believing it.

Re: The Hour, it's not so much about the beginnings of the BBC (BBC was around from the beginnings of radio in the '20s), but about early attempts to get serious news programs on telly. Though in fact, it's also a drama, and the news program stuff is so far mostly background to the drama stuff.

Still love it, though, and the cast is stellar.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Can I ask - do you think the Tea Party would even exist if Barack Obama were not black? I have a hard time believing it.

Hard to say. I know of people in the Tea Party who are not, definitely not, racist. And the Tea Party platform is actually more "economically" driven than social policy driven.

So I think it would resist regardless.
That's not to say that the Tea Party doesn't feel very racist at times - heck their rhetoric is beginning to sound uncomfortably like the speechs of the facist/populist leaders in the 1930s and 40s. Of course they'd scream and pant and yell if anyone told them that.

[shapinglight]

I'm sure there are people in the Tea Party who are not racist, but I can't help thinking that no one would have even thought to start this movement if it weren't for Obama being black. So it may well be that now most of them are economically driven, but I don't think it started off that way.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Not sure. This may well be a "what came first the chicken or the egg bit" but.. there is proof of the economic issue. The "Tea Party" label after all comes from "The Boston Tea Party" - when people in Boston threw tea bags into the sea to protest the British tax on tea at the start of the Revolutionary War.

But...since racism and economic downturns have tendency to go hand in hand...that whole - oh the immigrant is stealing my job! The rich jew is stingy with his money! Affirmative action is taking away my ability to get ahead! Sort of sprouts it's ugly head at times like these. And people are pattern making machines - they'll see patterns that aren't there. So, my guess? They are probably both apparent. There's definitely an anti-immigrant (specifically persons who are not white northern european immigrants) sentiment going on, and a lot of anti-muslim (that's gotten really bad - Peter King comes to mind, who is a Tea Party favorite - he's the guy who has been holding the anti-Muslim interrogations for Terrorists (aka witch trials) on Long Island - which we keep protesting against and not getting anywhere - since he's still holding them.)

And it's worth noting that racism often sprouts from economic crisis (not that it didn't exist prior to that, but severe economic crisis often brings out the racial discrimination and violence - with a vengeance.)

On the other hand? There's another issue we're ignoring - that is big with the Tea Party and the ultra-conservatives (actually this has bled into the average conservative as well) - they are scared to death of terrorists and see them lurking every-where. And being pattern making machines who suck at deductive reasoning - they have decided that since Osma Bin Laden was Muslim (the fact that he is a fanatical Muslim that most Muslims consider insane - seems to be overlooked) and Al Queda and The Taliban are Muslim than obviously all terrorists are Muslim and therefore if you are a Muslim you must be a terrorist too, or if you are an Arab or hail from any country out in the Middle East or happen to even look like you do - than obviously, you are suspicious and a terrorist. Because heaven forbid...that there are actually Muslims out there who lost family members in 9/11 and are scared of Al Queda and terrorism too.

Curiously enough people did not leap to the same insane deductive logic when Timothy McVie (fundamentalist Christian) blew up the government building in Oklahoma City or the right-wing white supremist Christian group rep went on a killing spree in Norway. They didn't decide all white guys who hail from Europe, look like they do, or immigrated from Europe or speak English or all fundamentalist Christians are obviously terrorist. Which means..yep, racism.
If the insane terrorist looks like me and believes in the same type of religion I do, then they are just a nut-job and I won't generalize. But if they look differently than I do and believe in a religion different than mine, than obviously it's the whole group that is a problem. (Real Life Example - Tea Party Congressman - Peter King, who is Irish and Catholic - was up in arms about any associations people made regarding his possible involvement with the IRA (which you know, Irish/Catholic Terrorist Group)
but anyone of Muslim decent who may or may not hail from the Middle East or Persia or Arabia, is a possible terrorist and requires careful interrogation and possible torture. Yeah, he's not a racist. Not one bit. (sarcasm, very heavy sarcasm.) Sorry - I have to joke about this in a sarcastic way or I will start to rant. I'd like to kick Peter King.)

So, yeah, I think you may be right - racism is definitely a part of it, and most likely was there before the economic bit - all the economic bit did was make it worse - or provide more heat to the fire. (Personally, I think Bush and his cronies share some of the blame for this - they acted irresponsibly after 9/11. Instead of calming the country down and thinking it through - they invaded two countries and started two wars, and fueled the hatred and fear already brewing inside the US. When will we learn than flying off the handle in a vengeful fury accomplishes nothing and just makes things worse?)

[shapinglight]

When will we learn than flying off the handle in a vengeful fury accomplishes nothing and just makes things worse?)

Never, I suspect.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Sigh - should be "exist" not "resist" - honestly, the typos I come up with.

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

Interviewer to young rioter: so what do you think you accomplished by rioting? Do you think anyone will hear your message or listen to you?
Young Rioter: Well, you're talking to me, aren't you?

Which felt like a scene right out of the Wire, to be honest. Different city. Same concept.

Wow. You're right, it does sound like something out of the Wire.

[rahael.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised if the newspaper you were reading was the NYT, as their London correspondent, Ravi Somaiya has been doing excellent on the ground coverage of the riots. His is the most reliable twitter feed I have been following..I think perhaps without the accompanying pictures/local knowledge it might be hard to visualise whats going on.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It wasn't. It's a free global newspaper called "The Metro" - about five to six pages in length, that is handed to me every morning as I board the subway.

Go here: http://www.metro.us/newyork

Not a tabloid, but not a good paper either. But hey, it's free. ;-)

And it only had one article on the riots - that was it. I got better reporting from people on my flist who are either there or commenting on what they've heard.