(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. True Blood - continues to rock this season. It's spooky Southern Gothic. And

*I'm loving vamp Tara, who can totally kick butt. She can out-wise-crack Pam. Perfect match.
"If I wanted to dress drag, I would have raided Lafayette's closet." Turning Tara into a vamp is inspired.

*I can't decide who is creepier? Terry's Fire Monster or Lafeyette or Russell Edington. I'm going with Lafayette at the moment. Edington remains amusing.

* Someone should have knocked out Doug. Just saying.

* Sorry, Eric is hotter than Bill. Bill still looks scrawny and tiny. Even more so next to Eric. But I do love the bro-romance going on there.

* I wish I could care what is happening to the shifters and Sam, but I don't. I know they won't kill Sam, seriously, we should be so lucky. But Hasta La Vista - Luna and the shifter club, you were so boring. The only one I liked, the kid, got away.

*Jason looks like he may join the anti-sup club soon...lets' hope not. The anti-Supe club is also creepy. Possibly creepier than Lafayette. But Jason's renewed hatred of vamps works...and is an interesting storyline.

I actually like this season. The plot is tighter. The writing cleaner. And the character arcs make sense. It's more like the season with The Fellowship of the Sun - which I think was Season 2? And reminds me a little of S1, which was also tighter in structure.
They've managed to get rid of the annoying characters and the annoying character arcs, and
inserted a few interesting new ones, and enhancing old characters that were growing stale.


2. Amy Pallindino-Sherman (Gilmore Girls/Bunheads), Aaron Sorkin (Newsroom/West Wing/Sports Night) and Joss Whedon all have one thing in common - quippy dialogue that you wish you thought or said, but know for a fact that no in reality ever says. In short - the witty dialogue, one-liners, and quips are cool, and lots of fun to listen to, but let's face it - no one talks like this. No one. It's comedy dialogue.

That doesn't mean of course that I don't eat up this type of dialogue like candy. I love it. Realistic dialogue tends to be incredibly boring.

Comments

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

In real life most people can't express themselves well at all: no one has ever spontaneously talked like they do in a Shakespeare play or a Jane Austen novel... beautiful poetry & prose (and tight quippy dialogue) is just such a pleasure. Both George Bernard Shaw and Lawrence Kasden were/are better at writing dialogue than plots, but somehow I never missed having a great plot when I was given really wonderful dialogue.

BTW I've finally broken down, I'm going to start to read Game of Thrones (I miss the characters too much, I don't want to wait a whole year for them to return to HBO).

[sophist.livejournal.com]

You probably have just enough time to finish all 5 before next season. :)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Actually if you make it through the first half of Book 3 - you should be ready for the tv series.

Assuming you don't get bogged down in Book 2. I got bogged down in Book 2 and Book 4...speaking of which, at some point I should probably finish reading it and start book 5.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

I found books 4 and 5 to be tough slogging. There's actually a lot of stuff in there which seems like it'll be important, but it's tedious on first read.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I'm still stuck in the middle of Book 4. I loved the character of Jamie until I hit book 4...and began to think, stop brooding and whining already! I started to lose interest in a character I'd found fascinating up to that point.
And kill Cersei already, she's grating on my nerves.

Less is more, Martin, less is more!

That said, I rather liked Aysha - who is Arrya in the series. And Sam is not bad.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

That's confusing to call her Arya, since Arya Stark is one of the main characters. Two Aryas is too many; they should have stuck with Aysha.

Agreed on Jaime. And Cersei.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly. But they changed her name to avoid confusion with a minor character named Osha. I kid you not.

Makes you wonder about the tv series writers.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

If you are lucky enough to hang around a newsroom assignment desk or hear a group of kids 18-21 you will hear really quick funny quirky conversations.

Truly, that is the only thing I miss about CNN. Also - having teenagers around the house. Back when both kids lived at home and Tom & I both worked at CNN, dinner conversation at our house was amazing. So were weekends.....

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Do they really talk like they do in Sorkin's HBO Drama?

I mean I do to an extent. But I edit myself. Dry wit...can come across as rude.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

Actually - funnier and smarter. No one would talk about their relationship unless there was something dire like a death in the family. Mostly - they bounce ideas, the latest findings on whatever or a better way to find someone to verify facts.

It was the smartest place I'd ever been, with the most dedicated workers. Newsrooms are very competitive (be right!! be first!! what happened!! WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW!!). Then we mock politicians and make really off color, black humor jokes.....

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Actually I do talk quite a bit in one-liners. But as Chandler Bing of Friends was frequently reminded, that's not necessarily a good thing. ;o)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so do I, I've learned to edit myself. My mother hates them.
I got it from my Dad, he has the same snarky sense of humor. He in turn go it from his Dad.

Unfortunately this doesn't always translate well on the internet. I've pissed people off online with my on-liners.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

I actually like this season. The plot is tighter. The writing cleaner. And the character arcs make sense.

Yes, so far it's a big improvement on the past few Seasons.

[lizziebuffy2008.livejournal.com]

I actually like this season. The plot is tighter. The writing cleaner. And the character arcs make sense.

I wonder if it is because most of the plots this year are Alan Ball's creation and not something from the books that he changes? I have not read the books (just the summaries,) but I think the only plot from a book is the shifter shootings?

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Was admittedly thinking exactly the same thing. Although they have veered away from the book's plot before. Jason, Sam, Tara, and Lafayette's stories sort of veer away from the book's plot. The whole Sam's family bit - was Ball. And Tara doesn't exist in the books any more than Lafayette really does. Terry is in them but in a far more limited fashion. And the fairies are completely different.

But, I've admittedly only read about five or six of them. The books are quick reads, unmemorable, poorly written, so poorly written that they make EL James writing seem fantastic in comparison. Don't remember the shifter shootings, but like I said the books aren't memorable.

The only thing that is interesting about the books is the world Harris created - a world where synthetic blood has enabled vampires to come out in the open. That was a cool idea.