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shadowkatDecided during my walk with Wales yesterday that I was going to stop watching politics on the news and stay as far away from it as possible until the election - since it appears to be bad for my blood-pressure. This morning reinforced that realization - when I was attempting to get news on Hurricane Gustave and instead got an opportunistic sincere??? speech from John McCain about how they were taking off their party hats and going to be Americans and support the people down South. McCain and Governor Palin had even visited the FEMA site in Mississippi to show their support. I prefer Obama's approach - which would have been mine - stay the fuck out of the way and let people do their job, while at the same time offerring to send aid and support if needed. As opposed to taking your whole little retinue of reporters, volunteers, campaign managers, and security detail to a place where they are attempting an evacuation. Also, I did not know it was possible - but McCain is actually a worse speaker than Bush and Cheney combined. He makes my skin crawl. I can actually listen to Bush, not so much McCain. That said, it is awfully sweet of them to postpone the Republican Convention until Gustave has passed, not that they had much choice in the matter. "Oh, I'm sorry, I have to give a speech on Monday night - you can wait New Orleans..." Yeah right. No politician is THAT stupid, especially in the wake of Katrina. Personally, I have no idea why we feel the need to continue having these conventions - in old times it made sense, we had no way of counting the delegates back then, now you pretty much know whose getting the nomination months before the convention date.
Enuf of that.
Been watching Season 2, Dexter - and this is actually better than Season 1, which is saying something considering Season 1 was pretty good. Season 2 reminds me even more of what the writers were attempting to do with Angel and Spike, but without the metaphors. I think it works better without the gothic metaphors - because the problem with the heavy metaphors is they can and often are misinterpreted and confusing. Dexter - actually delves into grayer and far denser moral territory by not relying on metaphor. He's a serial killer who murders serial killers. Season 2 - delves into why Dexter is who he is and if it is possible for him to change. Is he merely an addict? Addicted to killing? Or is there a bit more to it than that? Also to what degree do we create killers? And to what degree are people like Dexter monsters? Are we all monsters? Lilah - a new and fascinating character - tells Dexter at one point that everyone is a monster, there is good and evil inside all of us. The writers of Dexter, go on to show through each and every character in the cast - exactly how right Lilah is. Fascinating exploration of human nature and fun to watch to boot. I'm on Disc 2, Episode 6, "Dex, Lies, and VideoTape", having just finished watching the brilliant episode "The Dark Avenger" - which shows how our society have mythologized and to a degree romanticized vigilantism - or the concept of "killing the bad guys". Yet, as Dex's sister states in a really interesting exchange:
Deb: "I'd shoot the Bay Butcher Killer in the forehead."
Dex: "Really? But he's killing bad guys..."
DEB: "Of course, if Harry taught us anything it was to respect life."
Dex thinks to himself, without saying anything - yes, but we had different homework assignments
It's a great exchange - because Deb states that she'd kill the Butcher, but by the same token all life is sacred and you shouldn't kill. The difference between Deb and the Butcher - is as Deb puts it much earlier - he enjoys killing.
On the same wavelength, well at least in my brain, finished Whedon's Fray recently and was quite taken with this passage:
You do not want a war. You have known violence. You have suffered loss. But you have seen nothing of war. War is not just the business of death. It is the antithesis of life. Hope, tortured and flayed. Reason dismembered, grinning at its limbs in its lap. Decency raped to death. You will be a murderer. And more." The power in that passage is how true it is.
War hurts more than it helps. We justify it to ourselves, telling ourselves that the damage is merely collateral, we dare not look to closely, or we may see a monster staring back at us in the mirrored glass that sits behind the ruin. Ironic passage as well - because it reflects a world that sprouted from a WAR that was begun ages ago. A WAR that was meant to stop the demons, but merely pressed them into hiding and removed magic and wonder from the place.
By the way, after thinking about it for a bit, I've decided Harth cannot be Twilight, without a lot of tricky retconning and contrivance. It doesn't quite track logically, Harth is too slight, and he doesn't really know Buffy, and well it's too, I want to say neat? But contrived is a better word. Of course we are talking about a writer who brought Warren back as a villian, so...you never know. I just think Riley, Giles, even Xander would make more sense at this point and be more interesting - since this is after all Buffy's story, not Melaka Fray's. OR maybe someone we haven't seen previously. That said? I would not be the least bit surprised if Harth was, disappointed, but not surprised.
Having a nice low-key weekend. My heart goes out to those who live in Mississippi, New Orleans, and South-Eastern Texas, with any luck Gustave will not be as bad as it looks.
Enuf of that.
Been watching Season 2, Dexter - and this is actually better than Season 1, which is saying something considering Season 1 was pretty good. Season 2 reminds me even more of what the writers were attempting to do with Angel and Spike, but without the metaphors. I think it works better without the gothic metaphors - because the problem with the heavy metaphors is they can and often are misinterpreted and confusing. Dexter - actually delves into grayer and far denser moral territory by not relying on metaphor. He's a serial killer who murders serial killers. Season 2 - delves into why Dexter is who he is and if it is possible for him to change. Is he merely an addict? Addicted to killing? Or is there a bit more to it than that? Also to what degree do we create killers? And to what degree are people like Dexter monsters? Are we all monsters? Lilah - a new and fascinating character - tells Dexter at one point that everyone is a monster, there is good and evil inside all of us. The writers of Dexter, go on to show through each and every character in the cast - exactly how right Lilah is. Fascinating exploration of human nature and fun to watch to boot. I'm on Disc 2, Episode 6, "Dex, Lies, and VideoTape", having just finished watching the brilliant episode "The Dark Avenger" - which shows how our society have mythologized and to a degree romanticized vigilantism - or the concept of "killing the bad guys". Yet, as Dex's sister states in a really interesting exchange:
Deb: "I'd shoot the Bay Butcher Killer in the forehead."
Dex: "Really? But he's killing bad guys..."
DEB: "Of course, if Harry taught us anything it was to respect life."
Dex thinks to himself, without saying anything - yes, but we had different homework assignments
It's a great exchange - because Deb states that she'd kill the Butcher, but by the same token all life is sacred and you shouldn't kill. The difference between Deb and the Butcher - is as Deb puts it much earlier - he enjoys killing.
On the same wavelength, well at least in my brain, finished Whedon's Fray recently and was quite taken with this passage:
You do not want a war. You have known violence. You have suffered loss. But you have seen nothing of war. War is not just the business of death. It is the antithesis of life. Hope, tortured and flayed. Reason dismembered, grinning at its limbs in its lap. Decency raped to death. You will be a murderer. And more." The power in that passage is how true it is.
War hurts more than it helps. We justify it to ourselves, telling ourselves that the damage is merely collateral, we dare not look to closely, or we may see a monster staring back at us in the mirrored glass that sits behind the ruin. Ironic passage as well - because it reflects a world that sprouted from a WAR that was begun ages ago. A WAR that was meant to stop the demons, but merely pressed them into hiding and removed magic and wonder from the place.
By the way, after thinking about it for a bit, I've decided Harth cannot be Twilight, without a lot of tricky retconning and contrivance. It doesn't quite track logically, Harth is too slight, and he doesn't really know Buffy, and well it's too, I want to say neat? But contrived is a better word. Of course we are talking about a writer who brought Warren back as a villian, so...you never know. I just think Riley, Giles, even Xander would make more sense at this point and be more interesting - since this is after all Buffy's story, not Melaka Fray's. OR maybe someone we haven't seen previously. That said? I would not be the least bit surprised if Harth was, disappointed, but not surprised.
Having a nice low-key weekend. My heart goes out to those who live in Mississippi, New Orleans, and South-Eastern Texas, with any luck Gustave will not be as bad as it looks.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 03:58 pm (UTC)Time travel based stories often deal with the pro and cons of changing the future. (Gads, but I miss Journeyman. What potential that show had for an intelligent examination if just such issues.)
I'm assuming for the moment that as things unfold in S8 that the war will come down to one between Willow, who thinks the world needs to have magic, even if that means having demons around, and Buffy, who would willingly sacrifice magic if it means the demons would go somewhere else.
And yay! New S8 issue this Wednesday! Gads, it seems so long between issues. Weekly TV eps have me so spoiled.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 10:11 pm (UTC)So, it clearly wasn't the slayer who caused it.
Also, I don't think Willow is a vampire. They state the "madwoman" not the "lurk" or "mad vampire". A woman who has existed for centuries and may have been driven mad. We assume she's a vampire because she's young, but it could be the magic? I don't know. The jury is out on that one.
I don't know, when I read Fray, Harth didn't quite feel right as Twilight. Not sure why.
Not a huge fan of time travel stories in comics, they often are a bit like ex deus machina - a convienent device to manipulate a plotline that does not work organically on its own and often doesn't consider all the other plotlines that it affects.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 04:05 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you are loving Dexter S2 as much as I did. I hadn't thought they could top S1, but they really did.
Yeah, I didn't think Twilight could be Harth either, and I'm hoping it isn't Riley or Giles or Xander... but I'm always open to seeing where Joss wants to go with this stuff (I always get a kick out of his stories).
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 10:16 pm (UTC)Right now, people are worried about Hannah and Ike - there's two more hurricans and my parents are worried - they may have to evacuate Hilton Head.
Gustave wasn't as bad as they'd expected thank ghod. But you're right about the levees.
(Didn't know this, but apparently during Katerina, the Bush's were partying at McCain's ranch...as opposed to responding to Katerina. Which explains their response to Gustave. Another reason in a very long long list not to vote for McCain, unless you want four more years of Bush. Anyone who thinks that is not the case is living in a fantasy world.)
Agree on the Buffy comics. I think you have the right attitude, it's better to just see where the writer takes the story than attempting to second-guess him, no matter how much fun that appears to be...
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 10:28 pm (UTC)And yeah, I knew about Bush & McCain eating cake (literally, at McCain's birthday party) while New Orleans drowned.... McCain has given a lot of lip service to how it wouldn't have happened under his watch, but in reality he voted against rebuilding New Orleans and providing health care for the victims of Katrina without insurance. McCain's budget has no provisions for rebuilding the USA infrastructure (unlike Obama's) so I don't think we could expect improvements in a McCain Administration! I know you already know most of this stuff, but I can't believe how many people think that McCain would be better!
*sigh*
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 10:57 pm (UTC)He also stated in response to reports of Palin's teenage daughter being pregnant, that this topic was "off-limits" and he sympathized with the family. It was not a topic that should in any way be discussed during a political campaign.
Nothing Obama does surprises me, because it is how I'd operate if I were in his position.
He is a bright man, and a pragmatist, who understands that the only way to get things done is through compromise - not thrusting it down people's throats.