![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatGetting this out the way first, it was a bad horrible nasty good-for-nothing day which had me wanting to string people up by their thumbnails, but hey sunny and in the 60s with a blue sky by the time I lugged my ass home. The weather is confusing me. One day it is freezing, the next freezing in the morning, but warm in the afternoon. Makes it very hard to figure out what the heck to wear each day. Anyhow..regardless of what you think about what I write below or how you personally view un-locked posts on lj? You might want to keep the first sentence of this post in mind prior to responding to this lj. (It always bewilders me when people choose to argue or attack a post they see on the net that starts out with "bad day" or "people are making me crazy right now" or "arrgh." I mean you know the person you are responding to is in a bad mood, right? Do you really want to get into it with them? You know they are going to rip you to shreds right? Are you nuts? Of course I wondered the same thing about female co-worker who saw me glaring at the microwave at lunch as if I wanted to arm wrestle it to the ground and throttle it, and said somewhat annoyingly "SMILE kat" (felt like a slap, well-meaning or not). I glared at her and muttered "Smile yourself". Seriously. People bewilder me.) In retrospect, it may be a good thing in the long run that I can no longer read or reply to my blog during work or anyone else's for that matter.
Mark Watches has yet again said a couple of humdingers that a) made me burst out laughing and b) being me, I feel the need to comment on:
1. In the category of story tropes that annoy me to no end and must die, for once Mark and I appear to be in agreement:
First of all, I am so bored with science fiction and fantasy shows using women to be hosts to babies they did not ask for. [So say we all. OR yes! I've been saying this for months now! Thank you!] It is one of the most pervasive tropes in the history of both genres, especially science fiction. It’s so common that I just assume a science fiction show or series will have it in some form at one point. Hell, even my precious The X-Files centered an entire character around a forced birth. There are a billion problems with this trope, namely the fact that no one in the actual show ever calls it what it is: rape. Cordelia was raped, and there’s not a single mention or reference to what actually happened to her. So yeah, could this stop happening?
Amen.
a) Seriously, after Ridely Scott did it in Alien, no one could top that. Everything else just looks silly in comparison.
b) Hee, if he hates Expecting, just wait until S4 Angel...that's actually sort of worse.
(And ahem, he probably should skip the Buffy S9 comics too for that matter...just saying.)
c) Unfortunately the unwanted baby trope in sci-fi is a favorite of Joss Whedon's. I don't know why, but it is. It keeps popping up. A lot of pulp sci-fi writers love it. It's quite bewildering.
2).Additionally, could anyone in the Buffy/Angel universe actually have sex without it being a complete and utter disaster? I suppose Willow and Oz count, but then that makes me think about Oz and how upset I am that he left, and it makes me want to not count any of that. Still, even with the jokey nod towards the Angel/Buffy storyline in season two, I just felt weird about another woman having sex and then facing consequences for the act that are ridiculously unfair. NO FUN.
And you haven't even made it to S6 Buffy or S4 Angel, yet.
I'm tempted to say...as I was to #1, "so say we all", but I really have no idea if anyone else agrees with me. It's hard to know for certain. People view life so differently.
Is it safe to say, most people reading this would agree that Mutant Enemy gets a bit carried away with the whole sex leads to horrible things trope and should probably back off of it, just a tad?
a) Admittedly Whedon has done this particular story trope to death. I get why he did it to death - it's a big part of the "slasher movie" genre - the virgin has sex and then dies.
Kevin Williamson even makes fun of it in Scream - where he has a character state one of the rules in a horror movie is to never have sex. And to stay a virgin, because sex is bad.
b) Granted there's plenty of fertile ground to plow regarding the horrible consequences of having sex. Sex can be scary. You could get pregnant (which doesn't always turn out well - I know at least two people who almost died in childbirth including my Great Grandmother),
you could get a fatal disease (there's any number out there, including Aids), or the person you choose to have it with could be a complete jerk. Plus our society has weird feelings about sex. And sexual fantasy is all over the map, who amongst hasn't had odd or dark sexual fantasies that we don't want to tell a soul? (Don't answer that - bad day remember? Plus rhetorical question. Well two rhetorical questions.) But...to do the same story over and over, it gets a bit repetitive. After a bit, you just want to hit the writer over the head with bludgel and say - we get it! Sex is scary. Enough already! Let's move on!
c.) After reading this paragraph in Mark Watches... I'm curious how Mark will deal with Seeing Red and the juxtaposition of the Willow/Tara sex scene with Tara's death in the exact same room they had sex. I'm guessing not well. Even if he doesn't know about the Lesbian Cliche. It's hard not to see that juxtaposition as not deliberate on Whedon's part. (I happen to know for a fact that it wasn't, since originally it was supposed to be in the cafe, but due to production costs they switched it to the bedroom at the last minute. It was apparently cheaper to do it there and easier to film. It apparently never occurred to them that having Tara get shot by a random bullet through the bedroom window, in the room she had sex with Willow, and had recently reunited with Willow would send the wrong metaphorical message and be highly offensive to many fans. Plus, the only time we actually see them have physical sex and it's not just implied with "magic". After...several episodes where the magic metaphor between Willow and Tara is shifted from "sexual" to "manipulative addiction to power". Yet, as certain as I am that they probably didn't intend that...somehow, I find it hard to believe. That had to have occurred to someone, right? Particularly considering how many times they do the whole "sex has horrible consequences" bit?
At any rate? Mark, Dude, Oz got off easy. When you see what they do with Willow and Tara, you may have serious issues with the fact that OZ got off as easy as he did. Hard not too.
But like I stated above, I seriously doubt any of it was deliberate. I believe the writers when they state that they were oblivious to the negative message/perception. They aren't gay after all. I was oblivious to it until it was pointed out to me. We unfortunately tend to be oblivious to things that don't directly or indirectly hurt us or affect us, but do in fact directly or indirectly hurt others - that's why it is so easy for us to really hurt each other with words, films, media, etc. (And yes, that sentence gives me a headache too.)
Before I take off...I did watch this week's Smash and it really has problems.
Me: Angelica Huston is...a bit stiff.
Momster: You think?
Yes, unfortunately, that was an understatement. At this point, I think they should get rid of everyone but Tom, Derek and Ivy. Julia's storyline bores me. Eileen's is horribly cliche and Angelica Huston is clearly uncomfortable acting. She looks like she'd rather be anywhere else. Don't get me started on Karen - whose boyfriend's story makes little sense and I keep getting lost during. (The Good Wife handles this sort of juxtaposition of subplots rather well, SMASH really doesn't - the subplots don't quite fit together and feel like competing stories from other shows not fully developed. So under-developed plot-lines from various unrelated shows thrust uncomfortably together. The only storyline that made sense was Derek, Ivy, and Tom's. Also, I was beginning to agree with Derek, whose sentiment that Marilyn lacked a contemporary edge could also apply to the series.
So how to fix Smash? Well, I've read that it is set up to focus on a different show each season and only a few characters will continue. So my suggestion? Find a way to have Tom and Derek move on to a new musical and we can move along with them. Replace Eileen with another actress, someone like Blythe Danner or Viola Davis. Also focus more on the showbiz world and the trials and tribulations of developing a show.
I know, I know...I really need to start the swimming thing like yesterday. Me and my silly fear of being unable to unlock my locker and not be able to get back into my apartment as a result. (Before you suggest that I use a duplicate set of keys - I already thought of that. I have to lock my apartment keys in the locker. And there is no where and no one I can realistically stash a second set with - pathetic, I know, but there it is.) Does any one else have these insane fears? Or is it just me? (If you don't, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Only fellow worriers need apply. I'm not sure NYC is the best place on the planet for a worrier/anxiety prone individual, but having lived in both rural areas and suburban, I can attest that they aren't much better. At least here, I don't have to drive. Realized recently that I'm phobic about driving. Always have been. One of the many reasons I love NYC - I don't have to drive. I can drive, don't get me wrong...I just avoid it at all costs.)
Mark Watches has yet again said a couple of humdingers that a) made me burst out laughing and b) being me, I feel the need to comment on:
1. In the category of story tropes that annoy me to no end and must die, for once Mark and I appear to be in agreement:
First of all, I am so bored with science fiction and fantasy shows using women to be hosts to babies they did not ask for. [
Amen.
a) Seriously, after Ridely Scott did it in Alien, no one could top that. Everything else just looks silly in comparison.
b) Hee, if he hates Expecting, just wait until S4 Angel...that's actually sort of worse.
(And ahem, he probably should skip the Buffy S9 comics too for that matter...just saying.)
c) Unfortunately the unwanted baby trope in sci-fi is a favorite of Joss Whedon's. I don't know why, but it is. It keeps popping up. A lot of pulp sci-fi writers love it. It's quite bewildering.
2).Additionally, could anyone in the Buffy/Angel universe actually have sex without it being a complete and utter disaster? I suppose Willow and Oz count, but then that makes me think about Oz and how upset I am that he left, and it makes me want to not count any of that. Still, even with the jokey nod towards the Angel/Buffy storyline in season two, I just felt weird about another woman having sex and then facing consequences for the act that are ridiculously unfair. NO FUN.
And you haven't even made it to S6 Buffy or S4 Angel, yet.
I'm tempted to say...as I was to #1, "so say we all", but I really have no idea if anyone else agrees with me. It's hard to know for certain. People view life so differently.
Is it safe to say, most people reading this would agree that Mutant Enemy gets a bit carried away with the whole sex leads to horrible things trope and should probably back off of it, just a tad?
a) Admittedly Whedon has done this particular story trope to death. I get why he did it to death - it's a big part of the "slasher movie" genre - the virgin has sex and then dies.
Kevin Williamson even makes fun of it in Scream - where he has a character state one of the rules in a horror movie is to never have sex. And to stay a virgin, because sex is bad.
b) Granted there's plenty of fertile ground to plow regarding the horrible consequences of having sex. Sex can be scary. You could get pregnant (which doesn't always turn out well - I know at least two people who almost died in childbirth including my Great Grandmother),
you could get a fatal disease (there's any number out there, including Aids), or the person you choose to have it with could be a complete jerk. Plus our society has weird feelings about sex. And sexual fantasy is all over the map, who amongst hasn't had odd or dark sexual fantasies that we don't want to tell a soul? (Don't answer that - bad day remember? Plus rhetorical question. Well two rhetorical questions.) But...to do the same story over and over, it gets a bit repetitive. After a bit, you just want to hit the writer over the head with bludgel and say - we get it! Sex is scary. Enough already! Let's move on!
c.) After reading this paragraph in Mark Watches... I'm curious how Mark will deal with Seeing Red and the juxtaposition of the Willow/Tara sex scene with Tara's death in the exact same room they had sex. I'm guessing not well. Even if he doesn't know about the Lesbian Cliche. It's hard not to see that juxtaposition as not deliberate on Whedon's part. (I happen to know for a fact that it wasn't, since originally it was supposed to be in the cafe, but due to production costs they switched it to the bedroom at the last minute. It was apparently cheaper to do it there and easier to film. It apparently never occurred to them that having Tara get shot by a random bullet through the bedroom window, in the room she had sex with Willow, and had recently reunited with Willow would send the wrong metaphorical message and be highly offensive to many fans. Plus, the only time we actually see them have physical sex and it's not just implied with "magic". After...several episodes where the magic metaphor between Willow and Tara is shifted from "sexual" to "manipulative addiction to power". Yet, as certain as I am that they probably didn't intend that...somehow, I find it hard to believe. That had to have occurred to someone, right? Particularly considering how many times they do the whole "sex has horrible consequences" bit?
At any rate? Mark, Dude, Oz got off easy. When you see what they do with Willow and Tara, you may have serious issues with the fact that OZ got off as easy as he did. Hard not too.
But like I stated above, I seriously doubt any of it was deliberate. I believe the writers when they state that they were oblivious to the negative message/perception. They aren't gay after all. I was oblivious to it until it was pointed out to me. We unfortunately tend to be oblivious to things that don't directly or indirectly hurt us or affect us, but do in fact directly or indirectly hurt others - that's why it is so easy for us to really hurt each other with words, films, media, etc. (And yes, that sentence gives me a headache too.)
Before I take off...I did watch this week's Smash and it really has problems.
Me: Angelica Huston is...a bit stiff.
Momster: You think?
Yes, unfortunately, that was an understatement. At this point, I think they should get rid of everyone but Tom, Derek and Ivy. Julia's storyline bores me. Eileen's is horribly cliche and Angelica Huston is clearly uncomfortable acting. She looks like she'd rather be anywhere else. Don't get me started on Karen - whose boyfriend's story makes little sense and I keep getting lost during. (The Good Wife handles this sort of juxtaposition of subplots rather well, SMASH really doesn't - the subplots don't quite fit together and feel like competing stories from other shows not fully developed. So under-developed plot-lines from various unrelated shows thrust uncomfortably together. The only storyline that made sense was Derek, Ivy, and Tom's. Also, I was beginning to agree with Derek, whose sentiment that Marilyn lacked a contemporary edge could also apply to the series.
So how to fix Smash? Well, I've read that it is set up to focus on a different show each season and only a few characters will continue. So my suggestion? Find a way to have Tom and Derek move on to a new musical and we can move along with them. Replace Eileen with another actress, someone like Blythe Danner or Viola Davis. Also focus more on the showbiz world and the trials and tribulations of developing a show.
I know, I know...I really need to start the swimming thing like yesterday. Me and my silly fear of being unable to unlock my locker and not be able to get back into my apartment as a result. (Before you suggest that I use a duplicate set of keys - I already thought of that. I have to lock my apartment keys in the locker. And there is no where and no one I can realistically stash a second set with - pathetic, I know, but there it is.) Does any one else have these insane fears? Or is it just me? (If you don't, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Only fellow worriers need apply. I'm not sure NYC is the best place on the planet for a worrier/anxiety prone individual, but having lived in both rural areas and suburban, I can attest that they aren't much better. At least here, I don't have to drive. Realized recently that I'm phobic about driving. Always have been. One of the many reasons I love NYC - I don't have to drive. I can drive, don't get me wrong...I just avoid it at all costs.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-03-29 01:09 am (UTC)Hee, I feel for your mother. I can't do combinations. It's not the numbers that are the problem, its the way you have to turn the nob. I always screw it up. Could never open my combination in high school or junior high, I gave up finally and just carried everything with me in a back pack, I think my brother did the same thing. May be genetic.
It's also why I'm phobic about bicycles. That and the fact that I always, regardless of the situation, I always get a flat tire. My next step is to get a bike - Brooklyn is getting very bike centric.
No super in my building. Just inconsiderate neighbors who I never see.
And never pick up their mail. I miss my landlords who used to live in the building - they were amazing. (I live at the top of a four story brownstone...so it's not really an apartment complex so much as town house with three apartment, one duplex.)