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Feb. 3rd, 2013 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Finished marathoning the last six Arrow episodes...which as an aside, sort of remind me a great deal of the Batman movies. Particularly the episode with the drug-dealing Count.
That said, I'm liking the series. Greg Berlanti the writer is one of the writers of Dawson's Creek - came up with Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. (There were two top WB series - Dawson's and Buffy, and those writers have both gone on to do cult tv shows with large fandoms.) I actually like Arrow better than Dawson's, but Dawson's was a teen soap opera...so there's that.
* Ah, Ben Browder gets to play a lame villian of the week. Browder is actually a favorite cult tv actor - the guy unlike most cult tv actors is actually a nice guy, who loves his wife, isn't full of himself, and not into teenage girls and like mature women - his age.
In short, a good actor who is not an entertaining jerk.
But the episode featuring him does delve a bit more into Digger, Arrow's sidekick/associate.
* John Barrowman appears to be playing the dark side of Arrow or the role Liam Neeson played in Batman Begins...the older guy, who became a vigilante of sorts, took off for two years after his wife died horribly, and is about revenge - putting revenge first, and became a cold shadow of himself. Last name ironically Merlin. His actions have alienated his son, Tom Merlin, who is Oliver's best friend.
*The episode with the Count, gives us a bit more information on Thea's relationship with her mom, and why she was acting out, and finally - Felicity, the computer geek, tells Oliver about what Walter stumbled on before he disappeared and she was looking into for him. A book with a list of names - duplicate to the one Oliver has.
* In some respects I prefer this series to other superhero shows that have popped up - it's more grounded in logic and reality, the characters are compelling as are the actors, and
there's a nice back history...told through flashbacks.
2. Never understood racism. Sexism makes a bit more sense to me actually, although like racism its ingrained and silly based upon a bunch of generalizations and assumptions that people refuse to question. (Also it affects me more directly, since I'm the minority in question or the group being discriminated against.) ie. Women can't be firemen or cops because they aren't strong enough? Actually there are women out there who are 6 feet tall, and can lift 200 pounds and men out there who can't lift one pound and are 5 feet tall. I remember having a very long involved battle with a woman on a fan discussion board about this back in 2003.
It got derailed, because some nitwit used the term femnazi - which resulted in a fight over the use of that term and how offensive it is and omg, you can't use the term nazi in that...way. Seriously, people? If you get that upset over the use of a word - you need to go find a meditation class or something. (Although I admit the term femnazi is pretty damn offensive.) I felt sorry for the woman I was fighting with - because she didn't use the term, but some nitwit defending her pov did, and it got ascribed to her. When we met in person - she spent the first 20 minutes of our meeting explaining to me how offensive that term was to her (she lived in Isarel for years on a kibbutz and was Jewish), and I had to know she'd never ever use it to define feminists she disagreed with. The poor gal. She'd actually explained that on the board of course or tried to, but people like to twist your words around online to fit their own purposes.
Not sure this has happened to anyone else? But it has to me, numerous times. I've defriended people on lj over it because it makes me bug-shagging crazy. They'll take one statement out of context - from a five paragraph post or response and slaughter me on it. I'll sputter and say, no, no, that's not what I meant at all. I did not say that! You misread me! And we'll argue for about five-six posts about what I meant to say and what I did say..to the point that I want to reach through the computer screen, grab them by their scruffy little neck and shake them. I'm sure people have felt the same way about me at times...but I live in the hope that it hasn't happened all that often? There's nothing more annoying in the world than to be misunderstood or have what you said twisted to mean the opposite or be misrepresented. We read and scan posts so fast...I'm betting we misread 95% of them. Which is kinda of scary if you think about it. I'm also betting that 85% of lj battles are based on misreading people's posts or misunderstandings. (No wonder romance novelists use the misunderstanding as a big plot-point.)
At any rate...About 90% of my debates get derailed with fights over semantics and puns. It's annoying. This happens at work too - if I use the wrong word, my boss is all over me and it becomes about the proper use and meaning of the stupid word and not well whatever I wanted to talk about it. There's nothing, nothing, more annoying than being misunderstood.
At any rate, sorry for the tangent/rant.
I remember in college, a blue-eyed blond, named Suzie, told me a story about racism. She lived in white suburbia. And her only experience with persons of color, was when someone got knifed and mugged in her front yard. It was traumatizing and she had to work not to see all POC's in that way. (It's worth noting that she had POC roommate and was dating a guy who happened to be POC at the time she related this story.)
This was odd to me. Because my experience had been different. When I was transferred to a new school in the fifth grade - actually I changed schools twice that year. Or had two new schools. 1 st was due to rezoning and desegregation, the second due to a cross-country move.
At the first new school - the people who the nicest and most welcoming to me happened to be two African-American boys, TJ and Rodney. They were wonderful. The people who were nastiest to me through school - tended to have blue eyes and blond hair for some reason. They were also petite or short.
Now, tempting as it would be to generalize and state - okay, all blond haired, blue-eyed people who are below the height of 5'6, and were or are cheerleaders are nasty and mean bullies - I know for a fact this is not true. It's dumb. Obviously I know this - because I happen to have at least two close friends who are blue-eyed, blond-haired, and below 5'6 - although I doubt they were cheerleaders. To judge someone on what they look like or their ethnicity is the height of stupidity. Yet, that's racism in a nutshell, isn't it?
I think it comes from tribalism - which I also don't really understand because I don't quite belong to a tribe - well my immediate family maybe, but the extended ...I don't quite fit in with. Cliques and me are unmixy things. I find them grating. I wouldn't say I'm a Kansan, certainly not a Chicagoan, nor Colorado, or a really a New Yorker. I am an American - so there's that. Not really found of the labels...they don't define who I am, really, they define what other people perceive and the perceptions are somewhat skewed anyhow like looking at funhouse mirrors.
What I like about the online world is we can't judge each other on our looks, race, creed, etc - because we often don't even know what they are. We judge on the essence of who the other person is. What they write about. How they express themselves. If at all. Although, to be fair.. I remember when I first came online - a lot of people assumed I was male, a few people thought I was younger than I was, others older. And I did much the same with others. When I realized my assumption was wrong...it forced me to challenge the generalizations that lead me there and realize labels tell us little.
So...misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and faulty assumptions - all seem to result online as well as off - because people don't think it through. We make five minute decisions. There's a book out there somewhere, probably by Malcolm Gladwell, about the tendency to make snap judgements based on ingrained generalizations. And how that tendency often leads to errors in judgement and mistakes. Can't remember the name of the book.
That said, I'm liking the series. Greg Berlanti the writer is one of the writers of Dawson's Creek - came up with Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. (There were two top WB series - Dawson's and Buffy, and those writers have both gone on to do cult tv shows with large fandoms.) I actually like Arrow better than Dawson's, but Dawson's was a teen soap opera...so there's that.
* Ah, Ben Browder gets to play a lame villian of the week. Browder is actually a favorite cult tv actor - the guy unlike most cult tv actors is actually a nice guy, who loves his wife, isn't full of himself, and not into teenage girls and like mature women - his age.
In short, a good actor who is not an entertaining jerk.
But the episode featuring him does delve a bit more into Digger, Arrow's sidekick/associate.
* John Barrowman appears to be playing the dark side of Arrow or the role Liam Neeson played in Batman Begins...the older guy, who became a vigilante of sorts, took off for two years after his wife died horribly, and is about revenge - putting revenge first, and became a cold shadow of himself. Last name ironically Merlin. His actions have alienated his son, Tom Merlin, who is Oliver's best friend.
*The episode with the Count, gives us a bit more information on Thea's relationship with her mom, and why she was acting out, and finally - Felicity, the computer geek, tells Oliver about what Walter stumbled on before he disappeared and she was looking into for him. A book with a list of names - duplicate to the one Oliver has.
* In some respects I prefer this series to other superhero shows that have popped up - it's more grounded in logic and reality, the characters are compelling as are the actors, and
there's a nice back history...told through flashbacks.
2. Never understood racism. Sexism makes a bit more sense to me actually, although like racism its ingrained and silly based upon a bunch of generalizations and assumptions that people refuse to question. (Also it affects me more directly, since I'm the minority in question or the group being discriminated against.) ie. Women can't be firemen or cops because they aren't strong enough? Actually there are women out there who are 6 feet tall, and can lift 200 pounds and men out there who can't lift one pound and are 5 feet tall. I remember having a very long involved battle with a woman on a fan discussion board about this back in 2003.
It got derailed, because some nitwit used the term femnazi - which resulted in a fight over the use of that term and how offensive it is and omg, you can't use the term nazi in that...way. Seriously, people? If you get that upset over the use of a word - you need to go find a meditation class or something. (Although I admit the term femnazi is pretty damn offensive.) I felt sorry for the woman I was fighting with - because she didn't use the term, but some nitwit defending her pov did, and it got ascribed to her. When we met in person - she spent the first 20 minutes of our meeting explaining to me how offensive that term was to her (she lived in Isarel for years on a kibbutz and was Jewish), and I had to know she'd never ever use it to define feminists she disagreed with. The poor gal. She'd actually explained that on the board of course or tried to, but people like to twist your words around online to fit their own purposes.
Not sure this has happened to anyone else? But it has to me, numerous times. I've defriended people on lj over it because it makes me bug-shagging crazy. They'll take one statement out of context - from a five paragraph post or response and slaughter me on it. I'll sputter and say, no, no, that's not what I meant at all. I did not say that! You misread me! And we'll argue for about five-six posts about what I meant to say and what I did say..to the point that I want to reach through the computer screen, grab them by their scruffy little neck and shake them. I'm sure people have felt the same way about me at times...but I live in the hope that it hasn't happened all that often? There's nothing more annoying in the world than to be misunderstood or have what you said twisted to mean the opposite or be misrepresented. We read and scan posts so fast...I'm betting we misread 95% of them. Which is kinda of scary if you think about it. I'm also betting that 85% of lj battles are based on misreading people's posts or misunderstandings. (No wonder romance novelists use the misunderstanding as a big plot-point.)
At any rate...About 90% of my debates get derailed with fights over semantics and puns. It's annoying. This happens at work too - if I use the wrong word, my boss is all over me and it becomes about the proper use and meaning of the stupid word and not well whatever I wanted to talk about it. There's nothing, nothing, more annoying than being misunderstood.
At any rate, sorry for the tangent/rant.
I remember in college, a blue-eyed blond, named Suzie, told me a story about racism. She lived in white suburbia. And her only experience with persons of color, was when someone got knifed and mugged in her front yard. It was traumatizing and she had to work not to see all POC's in that way. (It's worth noting that she had POC roommate and was dating a guy who happened to be POC at the time she related this story.)
This was odd to me. Because my experience had been different. When I was transferred to a new school in the fifth grade - actually I changed schools twice that year. Or had two new schools. 1 st was due to rezoning and desegregation, the second due to a cross-country move.
At the first new school - the people who the nicest and most welcoming to me happened to be two African-American boys, TJ and Rodney. They were wonderful. The people who were nastiest to me through school - tended to have blue eyes and blond hair for some reason. They were also petite or short.
Now, tempting as it would be to generalize and state - okay, all blond haired, blue-eyed people who are below the height of 5'6, and were or are cheerleaders are nasty and mean bullies - I know for a fact this is not true. It's dumb. Obviously I know this - because I happen to have at least two close friends who are blue-eyed, blond-haired, and below 5'6 - although I doubt they were cheerleaders. To judge someone on what they look like or their ethnicity is the height of stupidity. Yet, that's racism in a nutshell, isn't it?
I think it comes from tribalism - which I also don't really understand because I don't quite belong to a tribe - well my immediate family maybe, but the extended ...I don't quite fit in with. Cliques and me are unmixy things. I find them grating. I wouldn't say I'm a Kansan, certainly not a Chicagoan, nor Colorado, or a really a New Yorker. I am an American - so there's that. Not really found of the labels...they don't define who I am, really, they define what other people perceive and the perceptions are somewhat skewed anyhow like looking at funhouse mirrors.
What I like about the online world is we can't judge each other on our looks, race, creed, etc - because we often don't even know what they are. We judge on the essence of who the other person is. What they write about. How they express themselves. If at all. Although, to be fair.. I remember when I first came online - a lot of people assumed I was male, a few people thought I was younger than I was, others older. And I did much the same with others. When I realized my assumption was wrong...it forced me to challenge the generalizations that lead me there and realize labels tell us little.
So...misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and faulty assumptions - all seem to result online as well as off - because people don't think it through. We make five minute decisions. There's a book out there somewhere, probably by Malcolm Gladwell, about the tendency to make snap judgements based on ingrained generalizations. And how that tendency often leads to errors in judgement and mistakes. Can't remember the name of the book.
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Date: 2013-02-04 08:25 am (UTC)there's a nice back history...told through flashbacks.
Yes, that's exactly why I like it as well.