shadowkat | (no subject)

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Well, feel this overwhelming desire to rant. I will not, repeat not, rant in my livejournal.

Sigh.

Took walk to go furniture hunting, only to discover that favorite furniture store - actually the only furniture store within walking distance in my neighborhood - went out of business. It's been replaced by the Brooklyn Writers Room - it's basically a club, you pay about 100- or so bucks to join, then 65 a month to have a place to write. They supply desk, lamp, and chair, you supply paper, pen, lap-top - and they have wi-fi.

Maybe this is a sign that I should be hunting for a new apt? As in somewhere else?

Finished watching Dexter Season 4. Excellent season. Tightly written. Every thread closed. The only subplot that didn't totally work for me - was LaGuerta and Batista. Also this show does not pass the Bechdel Test - there was not one scene between two women or even three at any point in the story - that was not about men or the central focus was a man. Even the scenes that the women had with men - focused on "men". Doesn't make it less enjoyable. But it is worth noting, especially since people told me it passed the Bechdel Test. Folks - the Bechdel Test requires scenes between women that have nothing to do with men. So no, Dexter while feminist, does not pass the Bechdel test.

Favorite character? Continues to be Debra Morgan. That gal rocks! Also, now I want Showtime so I don't have to wait 12 months to see what happens next, dang it. Didn't feel this way after True Blood. True Blood was good. Dexter is better. And John Lithgow completely deserved his emmy, one of the few who actually does.

Thought while watching the last few episodes - that in some ways, Dexter is a modern re-telling of the Batman tale, except more disturbing and satirical.

Anyhow - rating for Dexter S4? A+. (There are no DVD extras though - no interviews or anything. It's very odd.)

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You should totally feel free to rant in your lj....

And yeah, it is hugely frustrating as places like furniture stores and comic book stores go out of business. There used to be some of both near me in Iowa, now we have empty store fronts and I have to drive 50 to 100 miles to find anything. I've found this to be true across the country: I was visiting in Texas, looking for a comic book store and found only empty store fronts as results for out of date listings online.

Yeah, except I want to rant about fandom, and that's never a good idea. ;-) (And well people who think it is sweet to bring donuts to work. It's not sweet, I tell you - it is manipulative and evil, and I wish people would not do it. What are you walking ads for Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Cremes?? Ugh.)

Don't mind me, I ate the wrong things and they are making me irritable. Also a Difficult week. ;-)

oh yeah... fandom. lol
This is what happens: you post really interesting questions, invite people's opinions and then find those opinions really annoying ....

shall I muddy the waters more by saying that Whedon once said that Greenwalt left 'Angel' of his own volition because he resented that Joss was spending all his time on 'Firefly' and 'Buffy', so that Greenwalt felt over-worked and ignored?
But of course that may not be true, it might have been a polite obsification to avoid saying that the network wanted him gone....

There is never one answer to any question, everyone has their own POV and their own justifications.

edited to add: oh and I REALLY agree about the donuts! People should be more aware of allergies and the hazards of tempting people to eat what will make them sick. Parents whose children are allergic to peanuts have a terrible time dealing with keeping the child safe.

Edited 2010-08-28 23:16 (UTC)

shall I muddy the waters more by saying that Whedon once said that Greenwalt left 'Angel' of his own volition because he resented that Joss was spending all his time on 'Firefly' and 'Buffy', so that Greenwalt felt over-worked and ignored?

Oh, you saw that comments thread, did you? ;-) Makes sense it was over 10 comments long, most of which were just repetitive posts from the same people, because people were afraid they hadn't gotten their point across the first round and felt the need to post multiple times and in multiple places, and then, edit their posts because they spelled the word "Greenwalt" or "Charisma" wrong. Resulting in me getting five to six emails from each person saying basically the same exact thing. As an aside - I really really hate the edit function in lj. Wish people would stop using it. (I can understand using it to get the http link right or if you are actually adding "content", but to fix the word "teh" or a person's name??) I can't use it - only available to paid users. So you make typos and misspell the word "the" or someone's name? Big whoop. (sorry, it drives me nuts.)

I finally got fed up with all the negative and angry emails about a topic I could care less about, and deleted both threads completely. It was the attack of the crazy internet gnats - those little bugs that get in your mouth but don't bite, just aggravate.

So, nooo...please don't start that up again! I'll have to delete another thread.;-)

But of course that may not be true, it might have been a polite obsification to avoid saying that the network wanted him gone....

From what I understand - it came from the WB and the executive producers - the people who keep track of the money. (WB was scrambling back then, it was going bankrupt - a lot of people don't know that.) While crew members and cast may think oh, Buffy or Angel the weekend killer - fun, I get overtime! The producers are thinking - shit, that episode just went way over-budget, we need to cut next week's guest star. And actors, like everyone else are notorious for doing stuff in their personal lives that screwed with their work lives. Things we'd think little of - like getting a hair-cut or a fun practical joke or giggling for two hours on set take after take after take, can set production back a week. That's money. Lots of money. Money that is coming out of the WB (network) pocketbook. (I've worked with people who worked in production and budgets - I was thinking of being a television producer in a former life, interviewed a couple of producers, read quite a bit, and thought better of it. The hardest thing, a professional television producer informed me way back in 2003, is dealing with actors.)

There is never one answer to any question, everyone has their own POV and their own justifications.

Sigh. So true. That's 85% of my work week - navigating differing points of view. People don't even agree on established procedures.

It's also why the Farscape episode the Ugly Truth remains one of my favorite episodes. Five people witness the same event. All five give testimony - and are told if they are caught lying, they will die. They give the truth as they saw it. But here's the thing their testimony's all conflict. So are they all lying? The aliens assume they are. But no, Crichton states, it's human nature or life. We are different, we see things differently. Think differently. We all see it from our pov. And we all have our own agendas. Love that episode.

Yeah, I loved that episode of 'Farscape' and also last week's episode of 'Leverage' was like that... the same theft at the same museum seen from 5 different points of view, it was hilarious! None of them were lying, they were all telling it as truthfully as possible, but their own point of view was all they every saw or understood. We all need to be reminded of that from time to time.
People can honestly disagree about the same situations.

Donuts are evil. So are the (freshly baked) salted pretzels. Especially when you're supposed to eat less salty things

Or gluten intolerant and can't eat either. Why do people insist on bringing food to share at work? If they have to bring something - why not fruit? There are women who do just bring fruit - lovely ladies.

Most people to my knowledge aren't allergic or hurt by fruit.

Totally agree! And the preview reel for Dexter 5 looks awesome. I don't subscribe to Showtime (I don't have cable), but since I buy the streaming versions the instant they become available, I let myself watch borrowed media when the show is unspooling. Yay for modern technology.

I was worried in season 3 that they weren't going to explore the darkness of Dexter's choice to not seek to 'cure' himself in season 2. But season 4 did a great job of showing how that can't work. Lundy was great. Deb rocked all season long. I loved every minute of Dexter and Trinity. Really not enough praise to hand out, except for reservations of how whiny they let Rita get.

Oddly I found Rita less whiny this season than the last two. I actually liked her this season. Although I do agree she was a bit whiny, just not as whiny as I was expecting. The character's unfortunately always been a bit on the whiny side. (Darla would have eaten by now - which by the way is testament to how good an actress Julie Benze truly is. )

Otherwise agree. They've done an excellent job of exploring how our choices affect those around us. Dexter's choices affected his family. Lundy's obsession with Trinity - cost him a life and Deb.

Also the final scene shows how Dexter's choices are in some ways echoing his father's. The father/son dynamic in this show is actually really good, tightly written and consistent.

And finally, Deb knows Dex's back story - that has got to affect her she views him from now on. (They are laying the groundwork for a Quinn/Deb romance - big time. I think that's going to be next season.)

You haven't seen the preview reel, I take it? Won't spoil if you don't want.

There's a preview reel? Dang - they didn't put that on the DVD.
Might as well - I'm going to get spoiled anyway. I knew Lundy got killed (just not how or by who - thank god- TV Guide spoiled me for that one), and that Rita died (because EW and TV Guide spoiled me) - and how she died. Just not exactly when. (So the last scene I was waiting for, but was a little confused because it came later than I expected. I expected it before he killed Trinity not after.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUbCMbW-BRE

I remember them saying that Deb and Quinn were going to be an item, but that doesn't show up on the reel -- but it'd make sense if that was part of the mix.

Oh, the Deb/Quinn bit is so set up in the last five episodes of S4.
I thought they were going to do it with the cop that Lilith killed in Season 2 (I was annoyed by that, because...that would have been an interesting relationship), but instead they put her with Lundy.
Now Quinn is becoming suspicious of Dexter - so if he gets involved with Deb - that brings him closer to possibly figuring out what Dexter is up to, and through him, Deb. (I've been waiting for Deb to figure out her brother is vigilante.)

I love Dexter. Season 3 sort of lost me a bit. But this season was amazing.

I just saw that trailer. Wow! Next season is going to finally give me the story I've been waiting for.

The dialogue between Trinity and Dexter was perfect - Trinity told him that he could not escape the demon inside. That he was responsible.

Dex thought he'd protected Rita, but he didn't. And he's right - Rita would have been okay - if he hadn't saved Trinity's life, if he hadn't mislead the police, if he hadn't focused on trying to kill Trinity himself. His vigilantism got Rita killed.

And the guilt is going to eat away at him. Yep it's ironic because it's not guilt for something he actually did, but something someone else did. It reminds me a little of Nolan's The Dark Night, but in some respects better written. (yes, I'm a Batman fan, I like stories about these types of characters - it's partly why Spike fascinated me. Characters who appear to be one thing, and are the opposite underneath. Dexter appears at first to be soulless, no remorse, not to care, yet he actually cares a great deal and is terrified of his craving to kill.)

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