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Kitchen Sinking it again...and yeah, still talking about Farscape
Sorry haven't gotten a chance to respond to comments. Spent the day in meetings interviewing and evaluating consultants regarding the design of a rehabilitation/restoration of the exterior envelope of a 175 year old building. Was rather interesting. I now know quite a bit about the history, wear and tear, repair and replacement of terra cotta. Some people specialize in one thing. Me? I'm a generalist. I like to learn about everything. LOL! Apparently the old type of terra cotta (this is the tiles they put on buildings to protect from rain/wear and tear) was meant to be a sheild against the rain - but it was brittle and over time wore down. Now - it is much more sophisticated. But you have to be careful about replacing it - number one it can be rather costly, two not always necessary - unless there are definitive cracks or spaulings (sp??), and three when you replace it particularly on state or government buildings or historic buildings, you have to comply with the standards of the Secretary of Interior. Who knew? Does however explain a lot. By the by, did I happen to mention recently - that sometimes, like today, I truly do love my job. Had a lot of fun. It's good to enjoy what one does, I think. Helps if you happen to be really good at it.
Weekend is packed with activities. Doing a social justice/action/diversity committee retreat all day tomorrow - spent an hour after work throwing together a tossed salad for it. I'm celiac or gluten resistent, which is more or less the same thing. So it is a good idea to bring something I can eat, in case everything is bread oriented - which it often is at these things.
You don't realize how into bread, pasta, and grains people are - until you can't have them.
Aunt K, who is also celiac, has discovered that you can have a relatively healthy diet ignoring grains and starches all together. Although, unlike Aunt K, I actually do like rice, potatoes,
corn, and quinoa - which all act as excellent fiber substitutes. Beans not so much - since they make me gassy. Also have a potluck function on Sunday, after church, which I have to bring a small side dish for. I'm going to worry about that tomorrow night. I may attempt to make a gluten-free pasta salad for it or just bring chips.
Farscape - have come to the conclusion that the episodes focusing on Zhan are the weakest of the series. Actually in the first and second seasons...the episodes focusing on Zhan and D'Argo so far appear to be the weakest. The strongest are the ones focusing on Pilot, Cricton, and Aeryn. This could change.
Dream a Little Dream appears to be reworking of the original premiere to Season 2, Re-Union. I prefer the re-working. The original premiere was a bit over-the-top and cheesy.
(Zhan has a tendency to be a little on the touchy-feely smulchy side of the fence. I did not miss her when she left...to be honest.) It's not the actress' fault - she's actually quite good in it. The role is written unevenly. Nor is this a problem that is isolated to Farscape, every tv series I've seen has one or two characters that grate after a bit or a little goes a long way. At least with Farscape they got rid of the weak links fairly quickly and in a logical and satisfying manner. Can't say that about the others. Also, Farscape has an advantage over Lost in my book - in that I adore the lead povs, Aeryn and John, while in Lost the lead point of views, Kate and Jack - often were like Zhan, grating, which made Lost difficult to love at certain points. If you are going to have a weak link? Let it be an easily disposed of supporting character. (Granted, this is highly subjective and I'm sure someone on my flist adores Zhan, Jack and Kate and hates well, the ones I love. Such is life, or so I've discovered.)
That said, Dream a Little Dream does have some interesting bits. I found the set-up hilarious or rather the following line.
Rygel: This is an ass-backwards world, they don't have monarchies or political parties - they have ruling law firms
However, it like all shows that feel the need to denigrate a profession the writers obviously know little about outside of what they see in movies, books, and tv shows, tend to fall into cliche. It's not just the legal profession that gets this treatment, I've seen it done to librarians, publishing, academia, doctors, police, etc. Granted they do denigrate and make fun of what they do for a living too...but it tends to be less cliche when they do it for some reason. At any rate, every time I see an episode such as this one about evil lawyers, I feel an overwhelming desire to lock these folks up in law school for three years. Then, hee, force them to take the bar exam - specifically the NY or California Bar Exams (which I refuse to take, the Kansas one, the easiest or so I've heard, was bad enough. The difficulty level of the bar exam has a lot to do with the complexity of the laws in the state you are in. Which Farscape also made fun of - and I laughed, because that was on target. They said something about if there was a why for us to make things more complicated? We'd find it. And the more people who choose to or desire to practice law, the more complex the law becomes in order to accomodate them and give them something to do. I think there may be a bit of truth in that.)
The best bits of the episode were the character bits. Not surprising. Zhan clearly had grown dependent on her three problem solvers, who literally were saving the day or solving all the problems, and had little to no confidence in Chiana or Rygel's ability to help or save them.
Seeing them as mere children. The fact that amoral and selfishly motivated Chiana and Rygel go out of their way to save Zhan, not only that, but they also do a splendid job of it and in spite of Zhan, who gets in their way and almost screws up their plans on more than one occassion. If I were Chiana and Rygel, I'd have left Zhan on the planet. Very ironic. Because Zhan never seems to acknowledge it or credit them, except somewhat obliquely to Crichton, to whom, she is telling the tale. Crichton in the first five or six episodes of S2, serves as a bit of a sounding board for other characters. We get hints of his own issues, but they are subtle. And it depends on who is the focus of the episode. Zhan of all the characters - is ironically the most self-involved, she really doesn't see much outside of herself and her own needs. It's ironic - because she is introduced as this priestess, highly compassionate, empathetic, and insightful - yet as the story goes forward, she is increasingly shown as being
somewhat myopic, and oblivious to what is happening around her. Meanwhile, Chiana and Rygel who are introduced as selfishly motivated and amoral - tend to pick up on what is happening around them at different points and tend to be rather insightful. I love the ironic dichotomy.
The show does an excellent job of showing us one thing, pulling back a layer, and revealing something else entirely.
When Zhan is framed for killing someone on the law firm planet (LOL! Yes, that would be one of my personal hells), she proclaims yes, I'm guilty but not of killing anyone here. True.
She's feeling guilt for abandoning Aeryn, D'Argo and Crichton - as is everyone else apparently.
Still plagued by it - she tells Crichton what happened, several episodes after he, Aeryn and D'argo have saved themselves and returned to Moya. But Zhan has killed someone - we're told who and why in Rhaposdy in Blue. And her motivations as time wears on, are revealed as less and less black and white, and more grey or blue as the case may be. At any rate - when Zhan's defense attorney insists she's guilty and the judge says, that what her attorney says - goes, and she has no choices in the matter, Chiana steps up, along with Rygel. One problem - they can't lie. (The joke in the tale is on this planet the truth is the most important thing, if you lie - you die. And they believe that if you lie the branch of truth will flame. It's amusing because lawyers manipulate the truth and are seen by society as professional liars (actually that would be politicians, and fiction writers, and memoirists.) Perhaps that was my problem with law, I never could do the lying thing well.) Very satirical episode. Chiana and Rygel - the writers have discovered are a hoot and a half together. Gigi Edgely who plays Chiana has a gift for comic timing. One of the funniest scenes is in Mind the Baby - when Chiana and Rygel are cooped up in a tank together, while everyone else is on the planet and Moya has been damaged and they have to open the air ducts. Rygel lets loose a fart of helium,
and the two proceed to speak in high pitched voices. This happens again in Dream a Little Dream. Gigi plays it beautifully - completely annoyed, and high pitched voice.
See the trick to telling a good story - is creating interesting character arcs. The plot can be stupid at times or cliche, but if you can make the reader, watcher fall in love with and care deeply for the character and want to see where they go...no worries.
Weekend is packed with activities. Doing a social justice/action/diversity committee retreat all day tomorrow - spent an hour after work throwing together a tossed salad for it. I'm celiac or gluten resistent, which is more or less the same thing. So it is a good idea to bring something I can eat, in case everything is bread oriented - which it often is at these things.
You don't realize how into bread, pasta, and grains people are - until you can't have them.
Aunt K, who is also celiac, has discovered that you can have a relatively healthy diet ignoring grains and starches all together. Although, unlike Aunt K, I actually do like rice, potatoes,
corn, and quinoa - which all act as excellent fiber substitutes. Beans not so much - since they make me gassy. Also have a potluck function on Sunday, after church, which I have to bring a small side dish for. I'm going to worry about that tomorrow night. I may attempt to make a gluten-free pasta salad for it or just bring chips.
Farscape - have come to the conclusion that the episodes focusing on Zhan are the weakest of the series. Actually in the first and second seasons...the episodes focusing on Zhan and D'Argo so far appear to be the weakest. The strongest are the ones focusing on Pilot, Cricton, and Aeryn. This could change.
Dream a Little Dream appears to be reworking of the original premiere to Season 2, Re-Union. I prefer the re-working. The original premiere was a bit over-the-top and cheesy.
(Zhan has a tendency to be a little on the touchy-feely smulchy side of the fence. I did not miss her when she left...to be honest.) It's not the actress' fault - she's actually quite good in it. The role is written unevenly. Nor is this a problem that is isolated to Farscape, every tv series I've seen has one or two characters that grate after a bit or a little goes a long way. At least with Farscape they got rid of the weak links fairly quickly and in a logical and satisfying manner. Can't say that about the others. Also, Farscape has an advantage over Lost in my book - in that I adore the lead povs, Aeryn and John, while in Lost the lead point of views, Kate and Jack - often were like Zhan, grating, which made Lost difficult to love at certain points. If you are going to have a weak link? Let it be an easily disposed of supporting character. (Granted, this is highly subjective and I'm sure someone on my flist adores Zhan, Jack and Kate and hates well, the ones I love. Such is life, or so I've discovered.)
That said, Dream a Little Dream does have some interesting bits. I found the set-up hilarious or rather the following line.
Rygel: This is an ass-backwards world, they don't have monarchies or political parties - they have ruling law firms
However, it like all shows that feel the need to denigrate a profession the writers obviously know little about outside of what they see in movies, books, and tv shows, tend to fall into cliche. It's not just the legal profession that gets this treatment, I've seen it done to librarians, publishing, academia, doctors, police, etc. Granted they do denigrate and make fun of what they do for a living too...but it tends to be less cliche when they do it for some reason. At any rate, every time I see an episode such as this one about evil lawyers, I feel an overwhelming desire to lock these folks up in law school for three years. Then, hee, force them to take the bar exam - specifically the NY or California Bar Exams (which I refuse to take, the Kansas one, the easiest or so I've heard, was bad enough. The difficulty level of the bar exam has a lot to do with the complexity of the laws in the state you are in. Which Farscape also made fun of - and I laughed, because that was on target. They said something about if there was a why for us to make things more complicated? We'd find it. And the more people who choose to or desire to practice law, the more complex the law becomes in order to accomodate them and give them something to do. I think there may be a bit of truth in that.)
The best bits of the episode were the character bits. Not surprising. Zhan clearly had grown dependent on her three problem solvers, who literally were saving the day or solving all the problems, and had little to no confidence in Chiana or Rygel's ability to help or save them.
Seeing them as mere children. The fact that amoral and selfishly motivated Chiana and Rygel go out of their way to save Zhan, not only that, but they also do a splendid job of it and in spite of Zhan, who gets in their way and almost screws up their plans on more than one occassion. If I were Chiana and Rygel, I'd have left Zhan on the planet. Very ironic. Because Zhan never seems to acknowledge it or credit them, except somewhat obliquely to Crichton, to whom, she is telling the tale. Crichton in the first five or six episodes of S2, serves as a bit of a sounding board for other characters. We get hints of his own issues, but they are subtle. And it depends on who is the focus of the episode. Zhan of all the characters - is ironically the most self-involved, she really doesn't see much outside of herself and her own needs. It's ironic - because she is introduced as this priestess, highly compassionate, empathetic, and insightful - yet as the story goes forward, she is increasingly shown as being
somewhat myopic, and oblivious to what is happening around her. Meanwhile, Chiana and Rygel who are introduced as selfishly motivated and amoral - tend to pick up on what is happening around them at different points and tend to be rather insightful. I love the ironic dichotomy.
The show does an excellent job of showing us one thing, pulling back a layer, and revealing something else entirely.
When Zhan is framed for killing someone on the law firm planet (LOL! Yes, that would be one of my personal hells), she proclaims yes, I'm guilty but not of killing anyone here. True.
She's feeling guilt for abandoning Aeryn, D'Argo and Crichton - as is everyone else apparently.
Still plagued by it - she tells Crichton what happened, several episodes after he, Aeryn and D'argo have saved themselves and returned to Moya. But Zhan has killed someone - we're told who and why in Rhaposdy in Blue. And her motivations as time wears on, are revealed as less and less black and white, and more grey or blue as the case may be. At any rate - when Zhan's defense attorney insists she's guilty and the judge says, that what her attorney says - goes, and she has no choices in the matter, Chiana steps up, along with Rygel. One problem - they can't lie. (The joke in the tale is on this planet the truth is the most important thing, if you lie - you die. And they believe that if you lie the branch of truth will flame. It's amusing because lawyers manipulate the truth and are seen by society as professional liars (actually that would be politicians, and fiction writers, and memoirists.) Perhaps that was my problem with law, I never could do the lying thing well.) Very satirical episode. Chiana and Rygel - the writers have discovered are a hoot and a half together. Gigi Edgely who plays Chiana has a gift for comic timing. One of the funniest scenes is in Mind the Baby - when Chiana and Rygel are cooped up in a tank together, while everyone else is on the planet and Moya has been damaged and they have to open the air ducts. Rygel lets loose a fart of helium,
and the two proceed to speak in high pitched voices. This happens again in Dream a Little Dream. Gigi plays it beautifully - completely annoyed, and high pitched voice.
See the trick to telling a good story - is creating interesting character arcs. The plot can be stupid at times or cliche, but if you can make the reader, watcher fall in love with and care deeply for the character and want to see where they go...no worries.
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