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shadowkat1. What is Juneteenth? It's the anniversary of the emancipation of the slaves in the United States (or when all the slaves were released) and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the US.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is a holiday in the United States honoring African American heritage by commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. State of Texas in 1865. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a portmanteau of June and nineteenth, and is recognized as a state holiday in 36 states of the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth
Had lovely and moving service at church - where Woody Gutheri and Bob Dylan songs were sung, and people spoke about the women's movement, immigration rights, LBGT - (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender), and minority rights. Right now the big battle going on is LBGT and it is a cause that has been close to my heart for some time. Finding a church where all these people are accepted and welcomed - is amazing. And important. Few churchs welcome folks who are well different. Sad but true.
2. Father's Day - spoke to Dadster - who is busy studying up on atrocities in Kenya for a World Affairs Council Group Discussion that he is leading next week. They discuss what can be done and what US policy should be, and what we are doing about it. I thanked my Dad, as I do every year, for being my Dad. I wouldn't trade my Dad for anything. He's also struggling with Arturo Perez-Reverte's Club Dumas - which I couldn't make it through. Although it was made into a horrific movie starring Johnny Depp by Roman Polanski.
3. Doctor Who episodes - The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood? Could these be any cheesier? Or more stupid? Or suck more? I think not. Sigh. I hear the season gets better, let's hope so, so far I've only liked four episodes. Probably did not help that I'd been watching the superior Farscape season 1 prior to seeing it? Nor is it fair to compare the two - Farscape had first rate indi film directors, the Henson Creature shop, and top-notch Australian film and television actors in it. It had a bigger budget than Doctor Who. And unlike Who - the writers preferred to do arcs and built on character, as opposed to doing a standalone format. Doctor Who is also targeted towards a 8-24 demographic, not a 25-45 demo. As a 43 year old, that's probably worth mentioning.
It's equally not fair to compare Farscape to Star-Gate, which like Doctor Who got better ratings than Farscape did. It was interesting to listen to Brian Henson describe how the show got cancelled, why it got cancelled, and why it got picked up for a miniseries. Apparently during the 4th Season of Farscape - they had talked Syfy into letting them film S4 and S5 at the same time. SyFy went along with it - as long as it was understood that they had an option to shorten or cancel at the end of S4. (This is classic example of a tv show being canceled at the whim of the network not the writers or creators. The exact opposite of BSG and LOST. Ironically this happened to Star-Gate as well - with the plot-lines being wrapped up later in a direct to DVD movie. Equally ironic - it happened to Star-Gate, when Ben Bowder and Claudia Black were cast members - I'm certain both had an uncomfortable sense of deja-vue.)
Why was Farscape prematurely canceled? Ah, money. Syfy discovered that it was cheaper and more profitable if you pick up a series elsewhere, than if you produce it yourself. They had expended a lot and I mean in the million dollar range, of funds advertising Farscape. But since they were a cable channel - they couldn't pick up the audience. Star Gate - which had started on another channel first - and migrated to Syfy, brought a bigger audience and demographic. The other reason Star-Gate had a bigger demo - was it was "standalone" syfy, in much the same mold as Star Trek, Warehouse 13, Doctor Who, and X-Files, in which you basically have a group of people visiting planets or aliens visiting us, and new adventures each week. It tends to be fairly formulaic in nature, you can watch any episode, and more or less in any order, have no problems figuring out what is going on, and people from the ages of 8-50 can watch them - with no difficulty. Also in most cases - the characters don't really change that much, they aren't the true focus of the work, the mystery or puzzle or problem of the week is. The focus is plot, not characters. The characters are replaceable. And are rarely killed. Safe TV for the whole family - and does quite well in ratings in the US. About 85% of US tv shows are in this model.
What was ground-breaking about LOST - was it managed to get across to the networks in a way that previous series hadn't, that serialized science fiction could bring in large ratings. That it did not have to be a tv show such as Dallas or Melrose Place to do that.
How was it brought back? The fans went nuts and inundated the networks with pleas for Farscape to continue. ALL the networks. And I remember this campaign - because more than one fan showed up on Buffy fan discussion boards pleading with others to watch. Their campaign much like the Firefly campaign worked - it resulted in a four hour mini-series that wrapped up all the story lines, yet left the story open for movies if need be. Henson states in the commentary - that if it weren't for that campaign, he wouldn't have met the investors or knew they existed, nor would they have known Farscape existed. The fans succeeded in bringing together a group of people who could aid each other in pushing the series forward.
While it is tempting to hate Star-Gate and its fandom for Farscape's premature demise (and trust me I struggle hard not to) - it's not really true. If it had not been Star-Gate beating it in the ratings, it would have been something else. Star-Gate had the added plus of being like the Star Trek franchise - basically it was a show that could be copied and spun off endlessly into a franchise - Star Gate Atlantis, Star Gate Universe - easy. The reason for this - is it is not character dependent. The characters are more or less interchangable, all you need is the Star Gate. Or in the case of Trek - all you need is the Federation.
Farscape in contrast was character dependent. You can't do it without those characters and this is limiting for most networks - who prefer interchangable characters - because actors are expensive. Which may explain, why I get obsessive about Farscape and fall so deeply in love with it. I am wildly fannish about this series - in a way I have not been about anything since Buffy. But find myself largely ambivalent about other shows. Plots to me are interchangable, characters aren't - as you've probably guessed from my metas and reviews. Copyright law supports me in this - since characters can be copyrighted, a plot really can't be. The Doctor Who - Hungry Earth and Cold Blood are good examples of interchangeable and redundant plots/themes - I've seen these stories before, done better, elsewhere - to the point they both felt cliche to me. I didn't really care about Rory and I should have. He felt interchangable to me. I've seen lots of doctors, lots of companions, and I know the Doctor will never die and neither will his companion. The earth will survive. So, for me, the emotion is never quite there. And I often forget what happened after I delete it. There are a couple of exceptions to this - those are the episodes I've actually written about in depth.
I know mileage varies hugely on this - considering most people are huge fans of Doctor Who and haven't watched or heard of Farscape. As my pal Ames said after I told her I found Bones (her favorite show) dull and loved House (which she didn't like): "You always were character girl. It's always been all about the characters for you." Yep. You can't analyze literary texts, dramas, tv shows, and films in college together and not figure this out.
4. Justified Finale - rocked. This was funny, moving, and a perfect character sketch. It was focused on character relationships, and unlike Doctor Who - the plot was organic to the characters, it rose from them and their relationships. You could not just start watching the episode and figure out what was happening, you had to be following it from the beginning.
It examined male friendship and father/son from multiple angles. And it was pure Elmore Leonard - if you want to learn how to write interesting, complex, quirky characters - read Leonard.
Also how to write good dialogue, dialogue that resonates and makes you laugh? Again Leonard.
He's a master at it.
5. Still having Mice issues....saw two of them last night. Or maybe the same one. Hard to tell. One dashed across the room and under the fridge. And the other darted into my bedroom. There was five hours between both. I have sound repellers plugged strategically around the apartment. They send off high frequency sounds that only mice and insects can hear, the sounds disrupt their digestive tracts, make it hard to eat, and make them want to flee. It will bring them out of the walls and they will leave. (OR so I'm told.) Also set up traps - the mouse goes in, the trap closes, I don't see it in this little black round box, and just throw it out when it says it trapped something. (Hasn't worked so far, but we shall see.) Spoke to Momster and mentioned how it would be nice to have a cat - but she reminded me that actually the cat wouldn't help.
We had mice in our house when I was a kid, and our cats used to catch the critters, then bring them to my mother in the middle of the night as gifts. They'd plop the mouse down on the middle of her bed and play with it in front of her, waking her up in the process. Almost as if they were saying: "See - Mom, I caught a mouse, watch me kill it!" LOL! She was constantly saving rodents from cats in the middle of the night. So cats? Not that bloody useful. Well not unless you happen to like having a mouse plopped into bed with you, while you cat is busy torturing it. (Me? Not so much.) That said - it did keep me awake last night, worrying about the mouse under my bed - until I managed to convince myself that it was unlikely to climb into bed with me, and it's not like it hadn't been there before - I've had mice for about three-four weeks now. Besides, could be worse, could be a spider. Prefer mice to spiders any day of the week.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is a holiday in the United States honoring African American heritage by commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. State of Texas in 1865. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a portmanteau of June and nineteenth, and is recognized as a state holiday in 36 states of the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth
Had lovely and moving service at church - where Woody Gutheri and Bob Dylan songs were sung, and people spoke about the women's movement, immigration rights, LBGT - (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender), and minority rights. Right now the big battle going on is LBGT and it is a cause that has been close to my heart for some time. Finding a church where all these people are accepted and welcomed - is amazing. And important. Few churchs welcome folks who are well different. Sad but true.
2. Father's Day - spoke to Dadster - who is busy studying up on atrocities in Kenya for a World Affairs Council Group Discussion that he is leading next week. They discuss what can be done and what US policy should be, and what we are doing about it. I thanked my Dad, as I do every year, for being my Dad. I wouldn't trade my Dad for anything. He's also struggling with Arturo Perez-Reverte's Club Dumas - which I couldn't make it through. Although it was made into a horrific movie starring Johnny Depp by Roman Polanski.
3. Doctor Who episodes - The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood? Could these be any cheesier? Or more stupid? Or suck more? I think not. Sigh. I hear the season gets better, let's hope so, so far I've only liked four episodes. Probably did not help that I'd been watching the superior Farscape season 1 prior to seeing it? Nor is it fair to compare the two - Farscape had first rate indi film directors, the Henson Creature shop, and top-notch Australian film and television actors in it. It had a bigger budget than Doctor Who. And unlike Who - the writers preferred to do arcs and built on character, as opposed to doing a standalone format. Doctor Who is also targeted towards a 8-24 demographic, not a 25-45 demo. As a 43 year old, that's probably worth mentioning.
It's equally not fair to compare Farscape to Star-Gate, which like Doctor Who got better ratings than Farscape did. It was interesting to listen to Brian Henson describe how the show got cancelled, why it got cancelled, and why it got picked up for a miniseries. Apparently during the 4th Season of Farscape - they had talked Syfy into letting them film S4 and S5 at the same time. SyFy went along with it - as long as it was understood that they had an option to shorten or cancel at the end of S4. (This is classic example of a tv show being canceled at the whim of the network not the writers or creators. The exact opposite of BSG and LOST. Ironically this happened to Star-Gate as well - with the plot-lines being wrapped up later in a direct to DVD movie. Equally ironic - it happened to Star-Gate, when Ben Bowder and Claudia Black were cast members - I'm certain both had an uncomfortable sense of deja-vue.)
Why was Farscape prematurely canceled? Ah, money. Syfy discovered that it was cheaper and more profitable if you pick up a series elsewhere, than if you produce it yourself. They had expended a lot and I mean in the million dollar range, of funds advertising Farscape. But since they were a cable channel - they couldn't pick up the audience. Star Gate - which had started on another channel first - and migrated to Syfy, brought a bigger audience and demographic. The other reason Star-Gate had a bigger demo - was it was "standalone" syfy, in much the same mold as Star Trek, Warehouse 13, Doctor Who, and X-Files, in which you basically have a group of people visiting planets or aliens visiting us, and new adventures each week. It tends to be fairly formulaic in nature, you can watch any episode, and more or less in any order, have no problems figuring out what is going on, and people from the ages of 8-50 can watch them - with no difficulty. Also in most cases - the characters don't really change that much, they aren't the true focus of the work, the mystery or puzzle or problem of the week is. The focus is plot, not characters. The characters are replaceable. And are rarely killed. Safe TV for the whole family - and does quite well in ratings in the US. About 85% of US tv shows are in this model.
What was ground-breaking about LOST - was it managed to get across to the networks in a way that previous series hadn't, that serialized science fiction could bring in large ratings. That it did not have to be a tv show such as Dallas or Melrose Place to do that.
How was it brought back? The fans went nuts and inundated the networks with pleas for Farscape to continue. ALL the networks. And I remember this campaign - because more than one fan showed up on Buffy fan discussion boards pleading with others to watch. Their campaign much like the Firefly campaign worked - it resulted in a four hour mini-series that wrapped up all the story lines, yet left the story open for movies if need be. Henson states in the commentary - that if it weren't for that campaign, he wouldn't have met the investors or knew they existed, nor would they have known Farscape existed. The fans succeeded in bringing together a group of people who could aid each other in pushing the series forward.
While it is tempting to hate Star-Gate and its fandom for Farscape's premature demise (and trust me I struggle hard not to) - it's not really true. If it had not been Star-Gate beating it in the ratings, it would have been something else. Star-Gate had the added plus of being like the Star Trek franchise - basically it was a show that could be copied and spun off endlessly into a franchise - Star Gate Atlantis, Star Gate Universe - easy. The reason for this - is it is not character dependent. The characters are more or less interchangable, all you need is the Star Gate. Or in the case of Trek - all you need is the Federation.
Farscape in contrast was character dependent. You can't do it without those characters and this is limiting for most networks - who prefer interchangable characters - because actors are expensive. Which may explain, why I get obsessive about Farscape and fall so deeply in love with it. I am wildly fannish about this series - in a way I have not been about anything since Buffy. But find myself largely ambivalent about other shows. Plots to me are interchangable, characters aren't - as you've probably guessed from my metas and reviews. Copyright law supports me in this - since characters can be copyrighted, a plot really can't be. The Doctor Who - Hungry Earth and Cold Blood are good examples of interchangeable and redundant plots/themes - I've seen these stories before, done better, elsewhere - to the point they both felt cliche to me. I didn't really care about Rory and I should have. He felt interchangable to me. I've seen lots of doctors, lots of companions, and I know the Doctor will never die and neither will his companion. The earth will survive. So, for me, the emotion is never quite there. And I often forget what happened after I delete it. There are a couple of exceptions to this - those are the episodes I've actually written about in depth.
I know mileage varies hugely on this - considering most people are huge fans of Doctor Who and haven't watched or heard of Farscape. As my pal Ames said after I told her I found Bones (her favorite show) dull and loved House (which she didn't like): "You always were character girl. It's always been all about the characters for you." Yep. You can't analyze literary texts, dramas, tv shows, and films in college together and not figure this out.
4. Justified Finale - rocked. This was funny, moving, and a perfect character sketch. It was focused on character relationships, and unlike Doctor Who - the plot was organic to the characters, it rose from them and their relationships. You could not just start watching the episode and figure out what was happening, you had to be following it from the beginning.
It examined male friendship and father/son from multiple angles. And it was pure Elmore Leonard - if you want to learn how to write interesting, complex, quirky characters - read Leonard.
Also how to write good dialogue, dialogue that resonates and makes you laugh? Again Leonard.
He's a master at it.
5. Still having Mice issues....saw two of them last night. Or maybe the same one. Hard to tell. One dashed across the room and under the fridge. And the other darted into my bedroom. There was five hours between both. I have sound repellers plugged strategically around the apartment. They send off high frequency sounds that only mice and insects can hear, the sounds disrupt their digestive tracts, make it hard to eat, and make them want to flee. It will bring them out of the walls and they will leave. (OR so I'm told.) Also set up traps - the mouse goes in, the trap closes, I don't see it in this little black round box, and just throw it out when it says it trapped something. (Hasn't worked so far, but we shall see.) Spoke to Momster and mentioned how it would be nice to have a cat - but she reminded me that actually the cat wouldn't help.
We had mice in our house when I was a kid, and our cats used to catch the critters, then bring them to my mother in the middle of the night as gifts. They'd plop the mouse down on the middle of her bed and play with it in front of her, waking her up in the process. Almost as if they were saying: "See - Mom, I caught a mouse, watch me kill it!" LOL! She was constantly saving rodents from cats in the middle of the night. So cats? Not that bloody useful. Well not unless you happen to like having a mouse plopped into bed with you, while you cat is busy torturing it. (Me? Not so much.) That said - it did keep me awake last night, worrying about the mouse under my bed - until I managed to convince myself that it was unlikely to climb into bed with me, and it's not like it hadn't been there before - I've had mice for about three-four weeks now. Besides, could be worse, could be a spider. Prefer mice to spiders any day of the week.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 11:31 pm (UTC)Hmm...
I think you're right. After all, with Doctor Who you know that somehow, the whole world will get back to normal by the end of the season. Whereas I can picture Farscape actually blowing up the entire planet and then moving on...
no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 11:40 pm (UTC)I grew up going to the big parade every year with my parents, but don't do anything for it now... that was nice reminder.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 04:34 am (UTC)I used those a week or so back and found peanut butter to be the best mouse-enticer, rather than the cheese they recommended. Took a few days of tiptoeing around the black box but eventually it did the job.
Mice under bed, preferring mice over spiders, mice in childhood homes... all these things, I totally understand. Good luck getting rid of the little bugger(s).
no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 10:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-21 04:10 pm (UTC)Doctor Who has the most uneven writing. It goes from brilliant to horrible, almost every other episode.
They've got two good writers - Moffat and the guy who either wrote Amy's Choice or part of the Time of Angel's arc.
As a result, it's hard for me to get too invested. There's always five to six episodes that suck. And about three or four that are brilliant. I was hoping with the change in writing staffs - that balance would shift more towards brilliance, but so far not seeing it. Granted I'm about five episodes behind everyone else...and I've read that the next episode is a good one. (About Vincent Van Gough).