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Nov. 24th, 2010 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI think I'm losing interest in No Ordinary Family...the writing is bordering on cliche. And whomever is playing the daughter is a dead ringer for Amber Tamblyn - to such an extent, Momster thought she was Amber Tamblyn when she saw a preview of it. Shame - there was potential here. Now, sort of gone.
So far, the only new series this season that are holding my attention are: Raising Hope, Terriers, and The Event. (I haven't watched The Walking Dead yet so can't comment.) Watched two hours of The Event tonight - mostly to get through the DVR bank before taking off tomorrow. Probably won't watch much tv in the next two days, which is a good thing.
Is anyone else watching The Event? It's actually gotten pretty good. There's a lot of complex characters, and they have the Lost trick of doing brief flashbacks to show us why the characters are doing what they are doing. Plus it has some excellent character actors - Laura Innes, Zevik Ivanjko (the guy who played the opposing attorney in Damages first season and committed suicide during that season? Well he's playing far more interesting role here. A twisty one. ), and Hal Holbrook (who is playing a really creepy villian). And it has strong male and female roles - possibly the least sexist tv series I've seen in a while. Has good pacing.
Just finished watching The Good Wife - which ended on a cliff-hanger. And blew me away. This show just keeps getting better. Also, it's hilarious. Great lines, great acting, and intricate plotting.
And in Entertainment Weekly? They released pics of Game of Thrones - the HBO adaptation of the epic George RR Martin series - which has the writer directly involved with casting, writing, and production. Martin for those who didn't know this already - was the producer and creator of the fantasy series Beauty and the Beast and before he began writing novels, produced and wrote for television and film. Go here for some great pics:
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20385926_20442931,00.html
And their choices for Danerys, Jaime, Cersise, Tyrion, and Ned Stark could not be any more perfect.
I may have to get HBO for this series. Well this and the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's short story and play by Tommy Lee Jones and Cormac McCarthy - starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L Jackson, as well as directed by Tommy Lee Jones. We also have the adaptation of "Game-Plan" the book about the OBama/McCain/Clinton race for president.
I'm almost done with Storm of Swords and George RR Martin could give Tolkien, Dunnett, and Herbert a run for their money regarding character detail, world, and plot. Intricate and bloody.
Very bloody. Not for the weak of stomach. (Example - Danerys in one scene has her men cut off the right hand of anyone who loots, hang all murders, and chop off the manhood of all rapists after winning a war. Then the writer describes the hands in one jar and the limp worms in the other.)
But the writer can teach you a thing or two about point of view and shifting tone, voice, etc. He has close to 12 different points of view, each chapter is in a different one. And he sticks to that point of view - third person close, all the way through. We see the thoughts and feelings and view of that character.
I can see why the books have a ferocious fandom, they are so character specific and so detailed.
Also there's a catharsis in the violence and aggression that I think appeals as well. Plus sex.
Lots of sex. But so far no rapes - at least none I remember. A couple attempted, but quickly thwarted. No, he avoids depicting rape. Which is interesting. It's mentioned - be we don't see it, and it's not shown. Happens off-stage.
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. I'm gone...for the next few days. Off to the wilds of Northeastern Pennsylvania, around Allentown, Bethelhem and the Poconos. Hopefully it won't rain all weekend. But I'm welcoming the break from work and apartment hunting.
So far, the only new series this season that are holding my attention are: Raising Hope, Terriers, and The Event. (I haven't watched The Walking Dead yet so can't comment.) Watched two hours of The Event tonight - mostly to get through the DVR bank before taking off tomorrow. Probably won't watch much tv in the next two days, which is a good thing.
Is anyone else watching The Event? It's actually gotten pretty good. There's a lot of complex characters, and they have the Lost trick of doing brief flashbacks to show us why the characters are doing what they are doing. Plus it has some excellent character actors - Laura Innes, Zevik Ivanjko (the guy who played the opposing attorney in Damages first season and committed suicide during that season? Well he's playing far more interesting role here. A twisty one. ), and Hal Holbrook (who is playing a really creepy villian). And it has strong male and female roles - possibly the least sexist tv series I've seen in a while. Has good pacing.
Just finished watching The Good Wife - which ended on a cliff-hanger. And blew me away. This show just keeps getting better. Also, it's hilarious. Great lines, great acting, and intricate plotting.
And in Entertainment Weekly? They released pics of Game of Thrones - the HBO adaptation of the epic George RR Martin series - which has the writer directly involved with casting, writing, and production. Martin for those who didn't know this already - was the producer and creator of the fantasy series Beauty and the Beast and before he began writing novels, produced and wrote for television and film. Go here for some great pics:
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20385926_20442931,00.html
And their choices for Danerys, Jaime, Cersise, Tyrion, and Ned Stark could not be any more perfect.
I may have to get HBO for this series. Well this and the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's short story and play by Tommy Lee Jones and Cormac McCarthy - starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L Jackson, as well as directed by Tommy Lee Jones. We also have the adaptation of "Game-Plan" the book about the OBama/McCain/Clinton race for president.
I'm almost done with Storm of Swords and George RR Martin could give Tolkien, Dunnett, and Herbert a run for their money regarding character detail, world, and plot. Intricate and bloody.
Very bloody. Not for the weak of stomach. (Example - Danerys in one scene has her men cut off the right hand of anyone who loots, hang all murders, and chop off the manhood of all rapists after winning a war. Then the writer describes the hands in one jar and the limp worms in the other.)
But the writer can teach you a thing or two about point of view and shifting tone, voice, etc. He has close to 12 different points of view, each chapter is in a different one. And he sticks to that point of view - third person close, all the way through. We see the thoughts and feelings and view of that character.
I can see why the books have a ferocious fandom, they are so character specific and so detailed.
Also there's a catharsis in the violence and aggression that I think appeals as well. Plus sex.
Lots of sex. But so far no rapes - at least none I remember. A couple attempted, but quickly thwarted. No, he avoids depicting rape. Which is interesting. It's mentioned - be we don't see it, and it's not shown. Happens off-stage.
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. I'm gone...for the next few days. Off to the wilds of Northeastern Pennsylvania, around Allentown, Bethelhem and the Poconos. Hopefully it won't rain all weekend. But I'm welcoming the break from work and apartment hunting.
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Date: 2010-11-25 06:11 am (UTC)I was a bit surprised at you saying that Martin skips the rapes, but you are right, despite there being lots and lots of them, they usually happen off screen and not to the POV characters (at least not in the present, thinking of Cersei).
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Date: 2010-11-27 10:57 pm (UTC)But Martin references them, he shows us the result, not the actual rape. A perfect example is Gregor Clegan who killed and raped Prince Oberyn's sister - so many horrible events occur because that happened. Same deal with Cersei - her continued rape and abuse by men that her father put her with for power...drives her insane. But we never see the rapes. It's not that we don't have sex scenes, we do, many. Or that there isn't graphic violence - quite a bit. And rape certainly exists. But interestingly enough he avoids showing the actual rape - just it's consequences. Which I give him a lot of credit for. He seems to understand something that a lot of writer's don't that you don't need to see it - to understand it's impact. The "word" rape is more than enough.
That show may get me to purchase a subscription to HBO...it looks amazing. The cast alone...(Peter Dinklage is "perfect" for Tyrion and Charles Dance as the father, head of the Lannister clan - inspired. The only casting I'm uncertain about is a Catelyn, although they appear to have changed the actress.)