Kitchen Sink: Books, Trains, and TV....
Feb. 18th, 2012 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Finished reading The Other Guy's Bride by Connie Brockway, which was okay. I agree with shipperx's assessment of it. The ending was a bit silly. And the love scenes felt like satire...or just fell out of nowhere. Brockway isn't good at building a sex scene or writing one, they are unintentionally humorous. I think sex scenes are really hard to write well. Few men can do it, so they avoid or they deliberately right bad ones. *cough*ThomasPynchon*cough*. I think The Last Hellion by Loretta Chase was a tad more subversive though. The heroine is smarter and tougher in that romance, she saves the hero. Actually in most of Chase's novels the heroine saves the hero...which I found interesting. Spent a good portion of the morning reading it. Then watched the abysmal The River - people find this show scary? I don't find it scary. Maybe in a tepid sense. Somewhat grating and silly, but not scary. Also oddly predictable. I baked brownies and made icing during it. Not because I want to eat the brownies or the icing, I don't really. I just wanted to make them. Now I need to figure out what to do with it. If they weren't gluten-free I'd take them to church and to work. I could, but I'd have to lie to people. Because people who aren't on gluten-free diets refuse to try gluten-free baked goods. Weird, I know, but there it is.
2. I love trains. Was thinking about this the other day...I'm in the wrong country or continent. I should have been born European - they have cool trains. Did you know one of the fastest trains in the world is in France?
Isn't that cool? And still safer than driving or buses.
Compare to the 1955 World Speed Record - also France.
The reason trains are safer is that they are more controlled. Set brakes, lots of safety mechanisms in place. While cars and buses really don't have any. You can't control the other drivers, or road conditions etc. While with trains, the tracks are maintained, checked continuously, and if an engineer falls asleep or is drunk, it isn't a major problem, because there are automatic brake and control mechanisms in place. Is it perfect? Of course not. Are there derailments? Of course. But far less than car accidents or bus accidents. I work in the field of transportation, and I spent hours discussing this with a switch signal engineer.
Also in a train? You can sleep, read, write, walk around, there's a bathroom, eat, and barely feel the movement. Smoothest ride on the planet. I get motion sickness, only place I haven't is on train's, unless I'm going backwards. I can't read or do much more than try to sleep as a passenger in a car or bus. Trains - you can always see the world and beautiful things floating past your window. One of the most beautiful trips by Train in NY is up the Hudson River Line. Far prettier than by car - where you see mostly highway and food franchises and hills. On the train you see the river and the mountains. Another plus about trains - at least modern trains - is they are electric no pollution. Save energy. No need for gas or oil. And don't pollute the environment.
A fast train...that could go 574 miles per hour - could get you to Chicago in less than three hours, faster than a plane from NY. And take more people. Trains can carry over 1000 passengers.
3. How to know you are a geek?
* You can list off the top of your head every Star Trek series that has been on TV and all of the movies...and well you know all the characters more or less by name.
* You know who Joss Whedon is. More importantly you can tell people all the shows he wrote.
And list your favorites.
* You have a weird knowledge of arcane facts and trivia that blows people's minds.
* You actually identify with the cast of Big Bang Theory and Community.
There are others...but my neck hurts and I want to watch Merlin and I'm not sure anyone is really reading this anyway. If so, feel free to list at will in comments or not as the case may be.
4. I'm about to give up on Ringer. I don't like anyone but the poor husband, Andrew, who I am starting to feel really sorry for. The poor guy is being scammed by everyone in his life, talk about your schmuck's. His daughter, his wife, her twin sister, his business partner, his friend, and the new head of one of his companies. Sad. I can't think what he has done to deserve this. Except that he has really bad taste in women. Oddly misogynistic series. It wants to be femme noir, but isn't quite cutting it.
Revenge on the other hand is a lot of fun. Don't have a great deal to say about it, except that it entertains me. And I think I know who killed Tyler. Pretty sure it wasn't Daniel, but rather Takada. Takada is like the evil Nolan. We have Nolan on one side of Emily-Amanda, who wants her to give up the Revenge biz and run off with Jack, and we have Takada on the other side - her mentor, who wants her to be a cold bitch and carry out her Revenge scheme to the letter. Takada tells Emily - he's taken care of her problems. He returns her father's box to her, which Tyler stole, and tells her to bury it where no one can find it. He also gives Amanda-Emily a ride. Convienently after Amanda is discovered by Jack with Tyler's body and has run off. So I think, Takada killed Tyler, set it up to look like Daniel did it, and got Amanda-Emily out of there. Tyler had intended to set it up to make it look like Emily killed Daniel and would get Amanda-Emily out of there. But Tyler misread Amanda-Emily, when he told her that Emily set him up for Frank's murder to protect herself. (No, she was protecting Amanda-Emily),
and second that they were rivals for Jack (no, Emily told Jack not to give up on Amanda-Emily and go off with her.)
This show unlike Ringer is written tightly and does achieve a noirish tone, also all the characters are interesting, somewhat likable, and complex.
The Vamp Diaries - a bit slower this week, but some nice cliff-hangy moments. I'm not as besotted with Elijah as everyone else is. He's hot, but also a bit stiff. While Ian Sommerhands bug-eyed reactions to things crack me up, that's Damon. He's hilarious. He reminds me a little of Jim Carry in the Mask. That man has a rubbery face. Vamp Diaries has hot men, you have to give it that. They definitely know how to cast their male lead eye candy. Nik-Klaus on the other hand is growing on me, he is hot in this episode, and I like his chemistry with Caroline. Tyler has competition. They still don't appear to know what to do with Matt though.
The brother who is Momma's favorite and whose name I can't remember...is quite attractive. Would like to see more of him.
Bad Damon for killing Bonnie's Mom, Abby (we hardly knew yah). Good Damon for doing it instead of Stefan, who he has decided Elena truly loves and he won't stand in the way of true love.
Such a martyr. But a more appealing martyr than Stefan. I rather like the Damon/Stefan relationship. As do the writers obviously - they clearly are investing more in it than other relationships on the series.
Can't blame Bonnie for not wanting Elena hovering around any longer. Seriously, Caroline is right.
Elena has taken everything from Bonnie. Literally. Including Jeremy. How these two are still friends, I don't know. Also can't blame Bonnie for wanting the vampires dead. I would if I were Bonnie. Although I'm glad they aren't dead, I find the originals highly entertaining. Let's keep them alive for at least another season.
Am beginning to understand why Nik-Klause staked Cole first. I would have. Cole's annoying.
Rebecca/Damon make a good pair - more of that please. Particularly if it succeeds in making Elena jealous.
Nik-Klaus arty ways reminded me of Angelus in Buffy, but I find Nik-Klaus hotter and more interesting than Angelus, also more complicated.
Goody, next week, we get Damon flashbacks. I was getting bored of the Stefan one's.
* Secret Circle - why do they always write the girl meeting her father in these stories in a such a disappointing way? And make it all about her boy friends of the moment? They'd better not write the father out quickly or have him disappear like the Grandmother. I find this trend in teen supernatural shows grating. Yes, I understand how troublesome it is with adults in the story too, but it's not realistic to have these teens living on their own.
My problem with this show is I'm not interested in what the writers are interested in or the fan base, I'm guessing. I don't care which guy Cassie gets together with. Jake reminds me too much of a young David Boreanze, except blond, he even has the same brood down and cynical remarks. While Adam...appealing, is also grating in his over-protectiveness. I also don't care if Melissa decides to do drugs - that story line is too close to Willow's magic arc in S6. What I care about is why John Blackwell left, what happened all those years ago to cause the elders to strip them of their powers, why Blackwell was extranged from Cassie's mom, if Faye is his other kid - how he'll reacte when he finds out. Also...the bonding between father and daughter. And again what went down between the parents, why Ethan is scared of Blackwell, why Dawn wants him, why Charles despises him...and what they did. Also who Eamon is. And more on the elders.
I basically want the Cassie/Blackwell show and the focus to be on the adults not the kids, because I think the adults are far more interesting and complicated, not to mention played by better actors. But I'm not going to get that. Instead they'll tease me about it for five-six episodes before going back to the grating love triangle, which makes me feel sorry for Diana and Faye.
Also, seriously? Do we have to put Cassie in danger in every episode? I know they aren't going to kill her, come one. Although I was worried about Daddy. I'm afraid they'll do to him what they did with Granny...have him show up, then go again.
All that said? I rather like Joe Lando in this part. He's unrecognizable. (Used to play Scully on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman...not that I watched it, too sweet for my tv taste buds even back then.)
shipperx's assessment of it. The ending was a bit silly. And the love scenes felt like satire...or just fell out of nowhere. Brockway isn't good at building a sex scene or writing one, they are unintentionally humorous. I think sex scenes are really hard to write well. Few men can do it, so they avoid or they deliberately right bad ones. *cough*ThomasPynchon*cough*. I think The Last Hellion by Loretta Chase was a tad more subversive though. The heroine is smarter and tougher in that romance, she saves the hero. Actually in most of Chase's novels the heroine saves the hero...which I found interesting. Spent a good portion of the morning reading it. Then watched the abysmal The River - people find this show scary? I don't find it scary. Maybe in a tepid sense. Somewhat grating and silly, but not scary. Also oddly predictable. I baked brownies and made icing during it. Not because I want to eat the brownies or the icing, I don't really. I just wanted to make them. Now I need to figure out what to do with it. If they weren't gluten-free I'd take them to church and to work. I could, but I'd have to lie to people. Because people who aren't on gluten-free diets refuse to try gluten-free baked goods. Weird, I know, but there it is.2. I love trains. Was thinking about this the other day...I'm in the wrong country or continent. I should have been born European - they have cool trains. Did you know one of the fastest trains in the world is in France?
Isn't that cool? And still safer than driving or buses.
Compare to the 1955 World Speed Record - also France.
The reason trains are safer is that they are more controlled. Set brakes, lots of safety mechanisms in place. While cars and buses really don't have any. You can't control the other drivers, or road conditions etc. While with trains, the tracks are maintained, checked continuously, and if an engineer falls asleep or is drunk, it isn't a major problem, because there are automatic brake and control mechanisms in place. Is it perfect? Of course not. Are there derailments? Of course. But far less than car accidents or bus accidents. I work in the field of transportation, and I spent hours discussing this with a switch signal engineer.
Also in a train? You can sleep, read, write, walk around, there's a bathroom, eat, and barely feel the movement. Smoothest ride on the planet. I get motion sickness, only place I haven't is on train's, unless I'm going backwards. I can't read or do much more than try to sleep as a passenger in a car or bus. Trains - you can always see the world and beautiful things floating past your window. One of the most beautiful trips by Train in NY is up the Hudson River Line. Far prettier than by car - where you see mostly highway and food franchises and hills. On the train you see the river and the mountains. Another plus about trains - at least modern trains - is they are electric no pollution. Save energy. No need for gas or oil. And don't pollute the environment.
A fast train...that could go 574 miles per hour - could get you to Chicago in less than three hours, faster than a plane from NY. And take more people. Trains can carry over 1000 passengers.
3. How to know you are a geek?
* You can list off the top of your head every Star Trek series that has been on TV and all of the movies...and well you know all the characters more or less by name.
* You know who Joss Whedon is. More importantly you can tell people all the shows he wrote.
And list your favorites.
* You have a weird knowledge of arcane facts and trivia that blows people's minds.
* You actually identify with the cast of Big Bang Theory and Community.
There are others...but my neck hurts and I want to watch Merlin and I'm not sure anyone is really reading this anyway. If so, feel free to list at will in comments or not as the case may be.
4. I'm about to give up on Ringer. I don't like anyone but the poor husband, Andrew, who I am starting to feel really sorry for. The poor guy is being scammed by everyone in his life, talk about your schmuck's. His daughter, his wife, her twin sister, his business partner, his friend, and the new head of one of his companies. Sad. I can't think what he has done to deserve this. Except that he has really bad taste in women. Oddly misogynistic series. It wants to be femme noir, but isn't quite cutting it.
Revenge on the other hand is a lot of fun. Don't have a great deal to say about it, except that it entertains me. And I think I know who killed Tyler. Pretty sure it wasn't Daniel, but rather Takada. Takada is like the evil Nolan. We have Nolan on one side of Emily-Amanda, who wants her to give up the Revenge biz and run off with Jack, and we have Takada on the other side - her mentor, who wants her to be a cold bitch and carry out her Revenge scheme to the letter. Takada tells Emily - he's taken care of her problems. He returns her father's box to her, which Tyler stole, and tells her to bury it where no one can find it. He also gives Amanda-Emily a ride. Convienently after Amanda is discovered by Jack with Tyler's body and has run off. So I think, Takada killed Tyler, set it up to look like Daniel did it, and got Amanda-Emily out of there. Tyler had intended to set it up to make it look like Emily killed Daniel and would get Amanda-Emily out of there. But Tyler misread Amanda-Emily, when he told her that Emily set him up for Frank's murder to protect herself. (No, she was protecting Amanda-Emily),
and second that they were rivals for Jack (no, Emily told Jack not to give up on Amanda-Emily and go off with her.)
This show unlike Ringer is written tightly and does achieve a noirish tone, also all the characters are interesting, somewhat likable, and complex.
The Vamp Diaries - a bit slower this week, but some nice cliff-hangy moments. I'm not as besotted with Elijah as everyone else is. He's hot, but also a bit stiff. While Ian Sommerhands bug-eyed reactions to things crack me up, that's Damon. He's hilarious. He reminds me a little of Jim Carry in the Mask. That man has a rubbery face. Vamp Diaries has hot men, you have to give it that. They definitely know how to cast their male lead eye candy. Nik-Klaus on the other hand is growing on me, he is hot in this episode, and I like his chemistry with Caroline. Tyler has competition. They still don't appear to know what to do with Matt though.
The brother who is Momma's favorite and whose name I can't remember...is quite attractive. Would like to see more of him.
Bad Damon for killing Bonnie's Mom, Abby (we hardly knew yah). Good Damon for doing it instead of Stefan, who he has decided Elena truly loves and he won't stand in the way of true love.
Such a martyr. But a more appealing martyr than Stefan. I rather like the Damon/Stefan relationship. As do the writers obviously - they clearly are investing more in it than other relationships on the series.
Can't blame Bonnie for not wanting Elena hovering around any longer. Seriously, Caroline is right.
Elena has taken everything from Bonnie. Literally. Including Jeremy. How these two are still friends, I don't know. Also can't blame Bonnie for wanting the vampires dead. I would if I were Bonnie. Although I'm glad they aren't dead, I find the originals highly entertaining. Let's keep them alive for at least another season.
Am beginning to understand why Nik-Klause staked Cole first. I would have. Cole's annoying.
Rebecca/Damon make a good pair - more of that please. Particularly if it succeeds in making Elena jealous.
Nik-Klaus arty ways reminded me of Angelus in Buffy, but I find Nik-Klaus hotter and more interesting than Angelus, also more complicated.
Goody, next week, we get Damon flashbacks. I was getting bored of the Stefan one's.
* Secret Circle - why do they always write the girl meeting her father in these stories in a such a disappointing way? And make it all about her boy friends of the moment? They'd better not write the father out quickly or have him disappear like the Grandmother. I find this trend in teen supernatural shows grating. Yes, I understand how troublesome it is with adults in the story too, but it's not realistic to have these teens living on their own.
My problem with this show is I'm not interested in what the writers are interested in or the fan base, I'm guessing. I don't care which guy Cassie gets together with. Jake reminds me too much of a young David Boreanze, except blond, he even has the same brood down and cynical remarks. While Adam...appealing, is also grating in his over-protectiveness. I also don't care if Melissa decides to do drugs - that story line is too close to Willow's magic arc in S6. What I care about is why John Blackwell left, what happened all those years ago to cause the elders to strip them of their powers, why Blackwell was extranged from Cassie's mom, if Faye is his other kid - how he'll reacte when he finds out. Also...the bonding between father and daughter. And again what went down between the parents, why Ethan is scared of Blackwell, why Dawn wants him, why Charles despises him...and what they did. Also who Eamon is. And more on the elders.
I basically want the Cassie/Blackwell show and the focus to be on the adults not the kids, because I think the adults are far more interesting and complicated, not to mention played by better actors. But I'm not going to get that. Instead they'll tease me about it for five-six episodes before going back to the grating love triangle, which makes me feel sorry for Diana and Faye.
Also, seriously? Do we have to put Cassie in danger in every episode? I know they aren't going to kill her, come one. Although I was worried about Daddy. I'm afraid they'll do to him what they did with Granny...have him show up, then go again.
All that said? I rather like Joe Lando in this part. He's unrecognizable. (Used to play Scully on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman...not that I watched it, too sweet for my tv taste buds even back then.)
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Date: 2012-02-19 04:47 am (UTC)And when you travel with kids, they have great fun on the train; in other vehicles they just fight over space because they're crammed in and tied down.
I loved the way Revenge finally took us to the day we started in the pilot before the season long flashback and then left us with almost as many questions as before.