A Three Chocolate Bar Day

[shadowkat]

1) Been having a difficult and somewhat depressing week.

Work and personal issues that I can't quite go into. Anyhow...anyone have any good jokes?

I went to the newstand guy in our lobby and bought three candy bars. Decided it was a three candy bar day. Butterfinger, 3 Musketeers, and Hershey with Almonds - not the greatest, but gluten-free and did the job.

2) After much thought on the topic, probably more than it deserves, I've decided that Mark Watches/Reads is a great way for people new to a tv or book fandom to get their feet wet without getting spoiled. Sure, the man doesn't have an analytical bone in his body and his reviews are hardly "academic" but seriously, does it matter? He's writing about himself, his life, and how he views the show or book, how he is relating to it, and allowing others to respond and say some of the same things. And making some money off of it in the process. Not really all that different than
someone blogging about cooking or buttons or cats and doing the same thing. Although a lot more interesting to me, I personally find cooking and button and craft blogs (which my sisinlaw has been known to do) deathly boring. Nor is it all that different than an academic blog or academic journal or teaching a course on Buffy for that matter. I guess you could say more value is provided via the academic journal or course - but is it really? Buffy was mostly about emotions. And all of this is subjective in any event. At any rate - confession? Yes, I read Mark Watches Buffy, and probably will continue - mainly out of an odd sense of curiousity...will he or his commentators react to the show in the same manner I did or differently? I find how people react to media and books interesting - obviously, or I wouldn't be here discussing these things.

3) Reading Master and The Margritta, but very slowly...it's not a really a page-turner, it's sort of philosophical satire. Has an interesting take on Jesus and Pontias Pilot - sort of reminds me of The Story of Jeusus according to his best friend Biff. (I can't remember the title - but it was by Christopher Moore). Except this is a whole a lot darker, and a lot more complicated. Bulgrave is a better writer than Moore - but he also has a lot more to say...and didn't have as easy a life.
Probably unfair to compare the two. It just reminded me of it, is all.

4) Five Positive Things?

*A bus didn't hit me on the way to or from work, although they certainly tried
* It was sunny and not too cold, so lovely walk around the park - plus a big lovely park to walk around in that is within easy walking distance to the office (which is not as easy to find in a big dirty city as one would think)
* Chocolate and the ability to afford it
* My ipod music playlist and the ability to distract myself by telling stories with the playlist. (Yes, I create stories to music. And have been known to create playlists for stories.)
* A new Justified episode recorded and waiting for my watching pleasure.

Comments

[boot-the-grime.livejournal.com]

2) I have to say his review of Passion describes my feelings almost to a T. But Passion is in lots of ways an episode that's all about the emotion and the way it hits the viewer.

One thing that's really tiresome is when you see commentators going "oh, but Mark doesn't understand that Angel and Angelus are two different people!" because he's saying things like, will Buffy ever be able to forgive Angel, will we ever be able to forgive him. Funny how his straightforward reactions (and the reactions of quite a few other first time viewers) seem to hit the mark much better when unaffected with fandom wanks. Though I have to say that those "Angel isn't guilty, the curse is stupid!" posts were most numerous in the comments to Innocence; they subsided by the time of Passion, or maybe were lost among all the "OMG my poor Jenny, I hate Angel" comments by first time viewers.

3) I presume the Bulgakov misspelling was a typo. ;)
Oddly enough, I found it one of the easiest books to read; the first part of the novel is really hilarious, despite the dark real world inspiration.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

But Passion is in lots of ways an episode that's all about the emotion and the way it hits the viewer.

One commentator points out in tonight's review that Buffy isn't a show you can watch logically, it's about emotion. Which is very true - it's very similar to soaps in that respect - in which it really is about "emotion" and the plot is driven by emotion not logic. If you try to figure it out logically, you'll get lost.

I presume the Bulgakov misspelling was a typo. ;)

Well that and I can't remember how to spell his name. Couldn't remember the title of Moore's book either. And too frigging lazy to pull either out and look. ;-)

I think it's a mood thing. I'm mentally and emotionally tired from work. And the philosophy has been putting me to sleep in the mornings...but keep in mind, I'm reading the thing at 7am in the morning on the train, or right after work...with not a lot of sleep. (allergies, ugh).

[boot-the-grime.livejournal.com]

I write analytical reviews now, when I'm rewatching the show. But the first time I watched it, it was all about emotion. This is why it's good to rewatch shows like BtVS: they appeal to emotions so much, but there's also a lot of analyze, and you see the story in a very different way when you're able step away and look at it more rationally and analytically. Especially when you know where the story is going and how the characters develop, and you can judge them differently.

For instance, the first time I watched seasons 1 and 2, I was like "Buffy and Angel are so sweet and romantic <3 (although they kind of don't really fit together? Not the way some other couples I ship from other shows do. Hm. Never mind)" Now I'm like "the Buffy/Angel relationship is portrayed as an OTT epic romance, but it can be seen as both romantic and subversive. It was never an ideal romance, they didn't even know each other that well, but makes sense as a teenage romance, because this is the time when people believe in such things as One True Love Forever."

When Angel lost his soul, I was like: "He is so horrible. How can he be so different now from the Angel we knew?" and "UGH I HATE THE BASTARD". Now i analyze the motivations of "Angelus" and why he hates the love he used to feel for Buffy, his rivalry with Spike, his issues that go from Liam to Angelus to Angel, etc.

Or, the first time I used to find Xander incredibly annoying and it was all "SHUT UP XANDER, YOU IMMATURE JERK!" but now I watch and think: Xander has grown in a dysfunctional family and is very insecure about his masculine identity, and he is trying to fit into gender roles he's been taught to follow.

Or, the first time I was like "aw, Spike and Drusilla are so romantic in that Sid and Nancy/Bonnie and Clyde way <3" until I went into the "UGH DRUSILLA HOW CAN YOU ACT LIKE THAT WHILE SPIKE'S IN THE WHEELCHAIR, AND HE WAS SO DEVOTED TO YOU WHEN YOU WERE WEAK - I HATE YOU NOW AND I WANT SPIKE TO FIND HIMSELF SOME OTHER VAMPIRE GIRLFRIEND". Now I'm like "Spike/Dru has this surface romanticism that hides the deep dysfunction underneath. Drusilla is such a fascinating character; she's like a self-centered child, living in a world of her own, and her ideas about love and fidelity are different than the ones we're used to. Spike is very devoted to Drusilla but he also doesn't treat her as an adult, doesn't seem to hold her responsible for her behavior or talk his issues with her, instead he'd focused on removing his rival and getting back Drusilla and dragging her to his cave, err car, whether she likes it or not."

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I originally watched it emotionally, the intellectual bit came later. Although - I got very analytical when Angel turned into Angelus - that excited me as did Spike in the wheel-chair.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I'm away from home... currently w/my cousin in Texas, so I'm not posting much.... but I'm reading (and enjoying) your posts at lj, AND I'm reading (and enjoying) Mark reads BtVS.

I first discovered Mark when he was reading Hunger Games and I loved reading his reactions to that book (and his totally misguided predictions of what each of the books would be about). Then I followed him when watching Firefly, which I thought actually showed that he picked up on subtleties about that show really quickly....

Anyway I enjoy just reading his reactions to each Buffy episode... I remember my reactions when I first saw the show, and I'm enjoying him even when we disagree (that is, even when we liked or disliked different things).

I can't wait to see how he reactions to Spuffy! Will he be Bangle only?
LOL
And I expect OMWF to blow his mind!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

While I understand the tv episode reviews, the chapter by chapter reviews of the books blow my mind.
I got bored fairly quickly after the first five chapters of Hunger Games...and now LOTR? Whoa.
(I think he gave up trying to do chapter by chapter with GRRM (Song of Ice and Fire series) and chose to just go with whole book summary reviews. That was too much - small wonder considering each book in the series clocks in at somewhere between 900-1500 pages, with Feast being the shortest at 696. And about 100 chapters or more.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Bored by his reviews of each chapter of Hunger Games, not the book. ;-)

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to read his chapter by chapter reading of Harry Potter....
but I would need to have a lot more time on my hands than I do right now.

Yeah, I can see how GRRM would be hard to do, and frustrating since the books aren't even finished.

I'm surprised he is thinking of doing LotR, I would have thought he had already read that long ago.... or at least would have seen the movie by now.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised he is thinking of doing LotR, I would have thought he had already read that long ago.... or at least would have seen the movie by now.

Not thinking. Doing. Actually doing. He's halfway through The TWO Towers as we speak - according to people on my flist who are reading along.
I can't remember the books well enough..to bother.

And no, hasn't see the movies. He's watched mainly male "mainstream" critical fare and read mainstream books. (The X-Files, Breaking Bad, and post 1990.) He's family was very mainstream fundamentalist apparently.
So no soaps, no teen dramas (a la My So Called Life or Party of Five),
no Angel, Buffy, no LoTR or CS Lewis. You can tell reading his reviews that he did not have a liberal arts background.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

I think BtVS became a serial somewhere around NKABOTFD. I was pretty taken aback by that sentence in his review today.

His review of Passion, though, was pretty good. I think that's probably for the reason boot gives: it's an episode that's pretty much all about emotion.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I think BtVS became a serial somewhere around NKABOTFD..

BTVS is sort of like Fringe and Firefly and Angel in that it was initially set up as an episodic series - ie. people catch and kill a monster each week, with the emotional relationship arc in the background.
You might get a few serial heavy episodes, but most are stand-a-lone. But...gradually, it became more serial with just a few stand-a-lone episodes thrown in, until somewhere around S5 - they gave up on the stand-a-lone episodes all together and went pure serial. (Although there were a few scattered in there here and there - they tended to be weak episodes though - Doublemeat Palace is an example for S6) Did the same thing with Angel in S3-4 - gave up on stand-a-lone and went serial. (Because Whedon sucks at stand-a-lone, the weak episodes tend to be the stand-a-lone's in every season.) In S7...we do see a brief flirtation with stand-a-lone again with Lessons, Help, and possibly Him, but not really - you still need to know the back-story or you'd be completely lost.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

Hm. In my view it's a serial all the way. Each episode has a purpose in the season arc and fits in with the season themes.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

True. But...in first few seasons there were a lot of episodes that could stand alone. Skipping them didn't hurt your understanding of the story or the arc. By that I mean - you can be a casual viewer and not watch everything. I sort of was actually in S1-4. There were episodes that I skipped over when I watched the show live. I saw them later when F/X re-ran them. I'd see the first fifteen minutes and flip channels. OR just miss it because I was doing something else. I know in rewatches I've done that too.

Episodes that act as stand-a-lone:

S1
*Witch
*the one with the Pray Mantis
*I Robot You Jane
* the one with the Puppet
*Out of Sight Out of Mind

S2
Inca Mummy Girl
Some Assembly Required
Bad Eggs
Ted
Go Fish
Killed by Death

S3
The episode about the dance with the cowboys - Slayerthon? Homecoming
Beauty and the Beasts
Gingerbread
Earshot

(less in S3...this is where it started to become a serial a bit..)

S4
Living Conditions
The Freshman
Wild at Heart
Fear Itself
Superstar
Where the Wild Things Are
(these are less stand-a-lones than previous years...but you can still more or less follow them without knowing what already happened.)

Whedon sucks at stand-a-lone's - even his stand-a-lone's sort of require some
back story. He really can't do episodic tv well - which is his problem with network television - they prefer episodic tv, it's easier to sell to advertisers.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

I agree you could skip most of those if your only concern was the surface storyline. IMO though, all those episodes serve a metaphorical/thematic purpose on Buffy's journey. For example, Bad Eggs is all about sex because it's setting up the fact that Buffy's about to have sex with Angel. Now strictly speaking you don't have to know any plot fact in Bad Eggs to appreciate Surprise/Innocence, but thematically it's step along the way.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree with you. But keep in mind that a lot of people watched on a surface level. Mark Watches is at the moment, he's not really delving that far beneath the surface. I don't expect that to start happening until S3-4 - where all of sudden the writers decide to get experimental and do interesting things. (ie. The Wish, Dopplegangland, The Zeppo in S3) and (HUSH, Who are You, Superstar, and Restless in S4). I think some of those episodes may blow that boy's mind. I know Hush and Restless will. That's when you can't do surface level any longer or you'd be completely lost.

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

Sad thing is, I still like mark watches, too. So I will be reading. It's funny - it's fun. But I probably will lurk for a while.

Season two is seriously serialized! Spike in a wheelchair, Angel a demon, and our lovely mad Dru smelling the jasmine. You rally need to watch every episode to catch on to the story, and definitely to appreciate the nuances.

A positive thing for me * you made me smile!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It provides a way for some people (granted not everyone, you can't please everyone) to be fannish about the series again and positive. Which is always a good thing.

And oh good, I'm glad I made you smile. Reading that made me smile as well.

[gingerwall.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with your opinion of Mark watches. Not super enlightening, but a lot of fun to relive seeing Buffy for the first time, and he's super delightful when he gets excited about stuff. Plus I think it's hard to be super analytical your first time through, without the big picture in mind. I can't wait to read his reaction to Dawn's entrance, Glory, Spike's redemption arc, The Body, OMWF ... the whole thing just makes me so excited, like I was my first time through.

And if you're ever looking for a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of why the Twilight Saga sucks, he's your go-to guy. If you can keep from getting FURIOUS!!! they are entertaining in an absurd I-can't-believe-this-got-published-and-people-don't-vomit-all-over-the-page-while-reading-it kind of way.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Well, I do wonder about the boy at times...apparently his favorite movie of all time is...wait for it...give up? JURASSIC PARK!
(okay, it's admittedly entertaining, but seriously?)

And "Go Fish" was not that good an episode. I remember being quite annoyed by it when it premiered in 1998...hee.