![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWatching Project Runway in the background. Last week's made me cry, of course I was PMsing at the time so there's that. But I found Mondo's story about having to hide who he was to avoid shame and teasing, as a counterpoint to his bold and badacious designs - incredibly moving. Also enjoyed seeing the judges with proverbial egg on their faces. They are trying to make me like Michael C, but I keep noticing how much of an ass-kisser this guy is with the judges, who designs boring clothes. Of course the challenges are also increasingly boring - such as this week's challenge which sort of beat last episode's challenge, which I did not think possible. Felt sorry for the designers who were being asked to make what consisted of gray and black casual clothes that you'd wear laying about the house. To offset the utter boredom of the challenge, clearly just to promote Heidi's dull line and self-indulgent fashion on Amazon, they brought back Ivy to torment Michael C and accuse him of cheating.
I think Mondo has this thing sewn up, to be honest - the judges love him and he's sympathetic. (Not this challenge - Andy got that and he deserved it.) The only two who come close to him as far as talent goes are Gretchen and Andy South - and the judges don't like Gretchen (because she's too much like them, critical, opinonated, bitchy and has an ego - she's basically a lot like Nina and Heidi - and they can't deal with seeing it) and Andy's more artistic and interesting designs occasionally confuse them. Michael C is going to get kicked to the curb soon. April may survive to the final three. But Chris is gone this week. I'm willing to bet on it. (Hee, I was right. Chris is boring and that's the kiss of death on a reality show. They have to keep Michael C around for drama. Although those left really aren't into drama and aren't engaging or reacting. So it ain't working. They just don't have the outrageous personalities of prior seasons or for that matter that talent or even the interesting challenges. This is one of those shows that I think has lasted well beyond its expiration date.)
Took today off for a well-needed four day vacation. Popster wanted to know what my plans were.
Besides going to a play and lunch on Sat, errands, church, relaxing, cleaning, working on novel so I can send it out to publishers again with yet another query, not all that much. That and making a dent in the huge number of tv shows saved to DVR. I have three weeks worth, possibly four of Terriers, Smallville, and Supernatural saved on the thing, on top of about five other shows.
Currently - from a purely objective and critical standpoint? I'd have to say Terriers and Mad Men are the best written, produced and directed of everything I've watched on TV. Tight plot. Tight characterization. Pitch-perfect dialogue.
Watched Vampire Diaries and Grey's Anatomy last night. I'll admit, I enjoyed Grey's a lot more. But I don't think anyone reading this watches Grey's so what's the point in writing about it? I could whine about your taste in tv shows, but then that would be giving you carte blanche rights to whine about mine...and honestly, I don't think my blood pressure is up to the challenge.
Vampire Diaries. Sigh. Admittedly this series is not being written for forty-three year old single women, even if forty-year olds are writing it. I'm pretty sure Williamson and Plec are in their forties, but I could be wrong about that. You know you are getting old, when you roll your eyes during the teenage romantic angst portions of the drama. In my 20s, I swooned and ate it up. Now? I roll my eyes and think why am I watching this again? Why did I eat it up back then? Been there done that. So...past it now, it's not even funny. The teenage angsty bits. Not the other bits.
That said, I have a weakness for supernatural soap operas, with chewy dialogue, and hot guys, and this one has that in droves. Plus, Caroline is turning out to be a kick-ass character, who knew.
Last year, I could not wait to see her dead, this year I find her amusing and kick-ass. There may be hope for Elena yet.
And I so did not see that plot-twist coming. I should have. But I was too distracted wondering if Williamson was going to make Mason gay. Williamson by the way is gay, and considered making Dawsen gay in Dawsen's Creek but was talked out of it, so made Kerr Smith (whose currently on Life Unexpected) gay instead. (yes, I watched Dawsen's Creek). Katherine, baby, you do have interesting taste in men. Pretty and dangerous ones. I did wonder what her relationship was with George Lockwood. As for what the moonstone is - I'm currently confused. I thought it was to tame the beast in Mason sort of like the day-rings. But now, I'm wondering if it does something else entirely, because why else does Katherine want it? Katherine is turning out to be an interesting villain.
Also, Caroline surprised me. She goes out of her way to save both Stefan and Damon. Figures out something is wrong, what happened, and where they were taken. And here I thought she was just another spoiled ditz. Not so much. Best moment was when she took down Mason.
Mason: You willing to bet you can take me?
Caroline: I don't need to bet on it. I know I can take you down. (after kicking his ass unconscious) See. Told you.
LOL!
Another group of priceless scenes are between Damon and Caroline, and Damon and Sheriff Lockwood.
Where Damon comforts Caroline. And earlier, when he tells her Mom - who says her daughter is gone, Caroline is not her daughter., "you have no idea how wrong you are about that." Damon intrigues me. I'm not really sure what motivates him, but it's not what he's telling us. He pretends to be the nasty, the evil dude, and yep he is a killer. But...there's something underneath all that, which makes me curious. Stefan on the other hand is a bit too much of an open book - characters that I know everything about upfront, tend to bore me. That said, the one thing about Stefan that interests me is his relationship with Damon and his difficulty with blood, Damon can control himself as can Caroline, but Stefan can't. He drinks human blood - he goes crazy. Of course Elena decides to help him learn how to drink human blood by offering her own...stupid girl. A blood bag makes much more sense and is far more practical. (but it's teen romantic angst...can't complain about it - it's a show written for people who love teen romantic angst - that's the target audience.)
Regarding the Buffy comics, hard not to comment on this - when I see five to six reviews on my flist. I've read pretty much all of them now. Not exactly making me want to hurry out and buy this comic, folks, just saying. Also am I the only one who finds it absurdly amusing that Whedon and his comic book editor have literally switched roles? Apparently, for those who have not been following this, Allie (the editor and chief of the Buffy comics at Dark Horse) is currently writing the comics and sending them off to Whedon to edit and tweak. He put in too much exposition at one point and Whedon told him to cut it out because it slowed down the pacing. (as if the pacing has never been a problem before now. Of course, to be fair, Whedon wasn't editing the comics before now, the current writer was. He was, you know, writing or co-writing them. What happened? Besides becoming incredibly busy directing The Avengers and whatever else he's doing. Did Whedon just decide, you know, Allie's a crappy editor, but he might actually make a great writer, so I'll switch places with him?) Don't know about anyone else, but reading the plot-summaries on this issue, gave me a head-ache. Can this plot be any more convoluted? If you want to read a good one - go tostormwreath.
The only thing all the Buffy comic posts have in common is massive speculation regarding a plot point that either was referenced in one of Buffy's dreams or Alyiwun the snake lady said, in which "the closest person, and most unexpected" will betray her. I'm rather ambivalent about this plot-point. I know who it isn't - it's not Spike (because he doesn't fit the criteria, closest most unexpected - everyone always expects Spike to betray them. So unexpected to the Spike fans maybe but no one else. No, Spike's the character who surprises you because he didn't betray you. Angel's the character who shocks you because he did betray you. Hello. What show were you watching? Plus, Spike's not exactly close to anyone - even Buffy. She hasn't seen him in I have no idea how long, guessing two maybe three years. She's closer to Angel. So no, can't be Spike. Not Giles - because again she expects him to betray her. Certainly not Willow - she expects this from Willow and has accused her of it twice already. Faith? See Willow. Dawn? Dawn's toast. Andrew? Who cares. Riley? Isn't he dead or off bleeding somewhere? OZ? see Riley. Angel? Didn't he already do that? Sort of be rinse and repeat, don't you think? That leaves Xander. Obvious choice. Granted these comics don't always go the logical route...so it maybe Satsu for all I know.) What fascinates me about all the reviews is they keep ignoring the obvious choice - Xander. Granted Xander's the most likable character at the moment, but...he also has the most reason to go against Buffy and try something else. It's not like it hasn't been set-up emotionally. He's stood by her no matter what - losing everything he has in the process. Job. Career. Anya. Renee. Eye. And soon Dawn. And he's watched her sell the world (his world) for a boink with a former boyfriend that he despises. Also they are forgetting that right now, Buffy isn't a hero. So whomever betrays her, may well have gotten fed up and is attempting to save the world? So betrayal? Depends on your point of view. ie. It might be a good thing, just not from Buffy's perspective. At the moment, what I'm not seeing is any hint of redeeming of Buffy or Angel. Although not sure it is possible to redeem Angel, since Angel doesn't appear to realize that he needs to change, not the world, not Buffy, not humanity, Angel himself has to change.
I think Mondo has this thing sewn up, to be honest - the judges love him and he's sympathetic. (Not this challenge - Andy got that and he deserved it.) The only two who come close to him as far as talent goes are Gretchen and Andy South - and the judges don't like Gretchen (because she's too much like them, critical, opinonated, bitchy and has an ego - she's basically a lot like Nina and Heidi - and they can't deal with seeing it) and Andy's more artistic and interesting designs occasionally confuse them. Michael C is going to get kicked to the curb soon. April may survive to the final three. But Chris is gone this week. I'm willing to bet on it. (Hee, I was right. Chris is boring and that's the kiss of death on a reality show. They have to keep Michael C around for drama. Although those left really aren't into drama and aren't engaging or reacting. So it ain't working. They just don't have the outrageous personalities of prior seasons or for that matter that talent or even the interesting challenges. This is one of those shows that I think has lasted well beyond its expiration date.)
Took today off for a well-needed four day vacation. Popster wanted to know what my plans were.
Besides going to a play and lunch on Sat, errands, church, relaxing, cleaning, working on novel so I can send it out to publishers again with yet another query, not all that much. That and making a dent in the huge number of tv shows saved to DVR. I have three weeks worth, possibly four of Terriers, Smallville, and Supernatural saved on the thing, on top of about five other shows.
Currently - from a purely objective and critical standpoint? I'd have to say Terriers and Mad Men are the best written, produced and directed of everything I've watched on TV. Tight plot. Tight characterization. Pitch-perfect dialogue.
Watched Vampire Diaries and Grey's Anatomy last night. I'll admit, I enjoyed Grey's a lot more. But I don't think anyone reading this watches Grey's so what's the point in writing about it? I could whine about your taste in tv shows, but then that would be giving you carte blanche rights to whine about mine...and honestly, I don't think my blood pressure is up to the challenge.
Vampire Diaries. Sigh. Admittedly this series is not being written for forty-three year old single women, even if forty-year olds are writing it. I'm pretty sure Williamson and Plec are in their forties, but I could be wrong about that. You know you are getting old, when you roll your eyes during the teenage romantic angst portions of the drama. In my 20s, I swooned and ate it up. Now? I roll my eyes and think why am I watching this again? Why did I eat it up back then? Been there done that. So...past it now, it's not even funny. The teenage angsty bits. Not the other bits.
That said, I have a weakness for supernatural soap operas, with chewy dialogue, and hot guys, and this one has that in droves. Plus, Caroline is turning out to be a kick-ass character, who knew.
Last year, I could not wait to see her dead, this year I find her amusing and kick-ass. There may be hope for Elena yet.
And I so did not see that plot-twist coming. I should have. But I was too distracted wondering if Williamson was going to make Mason gay. Williamson by the way is gay, and considered making Dawsen gay in Dawsen's Creek but was talked out of it, so made Kerr Smith (whose currently on Life Unexpected) gay instead. (yes, I watched Dawsen's Creek). Katherine, baby, you do have interesting taste in men. Pretty and dangerous ones. I did wonder what her relationship was with George Lockwood. As for what the moonstone is - I'm currently confused. I thought it was to tame the beast in Mason sort of like the day-rings. But now, I'm wondering if it does something else entirely, because why else does Katherine want it? Katherine is turning out to be an interesting villain.
Also, Caroline surprised me. She goes out of her way to save both Stefan and Damon. Figures out something is wrong, what happened, and where they were taken. And here I thought she was just another spoiled ditz. Not so much. Best moment was when she took down Mason.
Mason: You willing to bet you can take me?
Caroline: I don't need to bet on it. I know I can take you down. (after kicking his ass unconscious) See. Told you.
LOL!
Another group of priceless scenes are between Damon and Caroline, and Damon and Sheriff Lockwood.
Where Damon comforts Caroline. And earlier, when he tells her Mom - who says her daughter is gone, Caroline is not her daughter., "you have no idea how wrong you are about that." Damon intrigues me. I'm not really sure what motivates him, but it's not what he's telling us. He pretends to be the nasty, the evil dude, and yep he is a killer. But...there's something underneath all that, which makes me curious. Stefan on the other hand is a bit too much of an open book - characters that I know everything about upfront, tend to bore me. That said, the one thing about Stefan that interests me is his relationship with Damon and his difficulty with blood, Damon can control himself as can Caroline, but Stefan can't. He drinks human blood - he goes crazy. Of course Elena decides to help him learn how to drink human blood by offering her own...stupid girl. A blood bag makes much more sense and is far more practical. (but it's teen romantic angst...can't complain about it - it's a show written for people who love teen romantic angst - that's the target audience.)
Regarding the Buffy comics, hard not to comment on this - when I see five to six reviews on my flist. I've read pretty much all of them now. Not exactly making me want to hurry out and buy this comic, folks, just saying. Also am I the only one who finds it absurdly amusing that Whedon and his comic book editor have literally switched roles? Apparently, for those who have not been following this, Allie (the editor and chief of the Buffy comics at Dark Horse) is currently writing the comics and sending them off to Whedon to edit and tweak. He put in too much exposition at one point and Whedon told him to cut it out because it slowed down the pacing. (as if the pacing has never been a problem before now. Of course, to be fair, Whedon wasn't editing the comics before now, the current writer was. He was, you know, writing or co-writing them. What happened? Besides becoming incredibly busy directing The Avengers and whatever else he's doing. Did Whedon just decide, you know, Allie's a crappy editor, but he might actually make a great writer, so I'll switch places with him?) Don't know about anyone else, but reading the plot-summaries on this issue, gave me a head-ache. Can this plot be any more convoluted? If you want to read a good one - go to
stormwreath. The only thing all the Buffy comic posts have in common is massive speculation regarding a plot point that either was referenced in one of Buffy's dreams or Alyiwun the snake lady said, in which "the closest person, and most unexpected" will betray her. I'm rather ambivalent about this plot-point. I know who it isn't - it's not Spike (because he doesn't fit the criteria, closest most unexpected - everyone always expects Spike to betray them. So unexpected to the Spike fans maybe but no one else. No, Spike's the character who surprises you because he didn't betray you. Angel's the character who shocks you because he did betray you. Hello. What show were you watching? Plus, Spike's not exactly close to anyone - even Buffy. She hasn't seen him in I have no idea how long, guessing two maybe three years. She's closer to Angel. So no, can't be Spike. Not Giles - because again she expects him to betray her. Certainly not Willow - she expects this from Willow and has accused her of it twice already. Faith? See Willow. Dawn? Dawn's toast. Andrew? Who cares. Riley? Isn't he dead or off bleeding somewhere? OZ? see Riley. Angel? Didn't he already do that? Sort of be rinse and repeat, don't you think? That leaves Xander. Obvious choice. Granted these comics don't always go the logical route...so it maybe Satsu for all I know.) What fascinates me about all the reviews is they keep ignoring the obvious choice - Xander. Granted Xander's the most likable character at the moment, but...he also has the most reason to go against Buffy and try something else. It's not like it hasn't been set-up emotionally. He's stood by her no matter what - losing everything he has in the process. Job. Career. Anya. Renee. Eye. And soon Dawn. And he's watched her sell the world (his world) for a boink with a former boyfriend that he despises. Also they are forgetting that right now, Buffy isn't a hero. So whomever betrays her, may well have gotten fed up and is attempting to save the world? So betrayal? Depends on your point of view. ie. It might be a good thing, just not from Buffy's perspective. At the moment, what I'm not seeing is any hint of redeeming of Buffy or Angel. Although not sure it is possible to redeem Angel, since Angel doesn't appear to realize that he needs to change, not the world, not Buffy, not humanity, Angel himself has to change.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-10-08 08:34 pm (UTC)Love love LOVE Caroline. Making her a vampire was the most brilliant decision ever. I think right now I am shipping Damon/Elena and Stefan/Caroline. I think that'd be fun. Damon and Caroline both lighten up the angst-meisters. But I also enjoyed the confrontation with Liz, which proves that Damon really did value his friendship with her.
As for the comics, I think you may be onto something. Angel presumably wants to remove the seed to usher in the new universe - or at least Angel-still-under-the-influence-of-Twilight will want that. Willow wants to protect the seed to preserve her magic, and at the moment, Buffy agrees with her. I'm guessing Giles and Spike will want to destroy it and end magic. So that sets up a three-sided conflict, but none of them are really unexpected if we can predict them, right?
But who's also been going on about disliking magic ever since "Retreat"? The normal folks. Xander and Dawn. I could see (having not actually read most of the latter half of the season, lol) Xander and/or Dawn as the betrayer. Maybe that's how Dawn ends up dead (as per the cover) - without magic, she loses her Key energy/life force? So it'd be all ironic that Xander and/or Dawn bring it about, not realizing it would kill her.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-10-08 05:47 pm (UTC)The words "The closest the most unexpected" were said only once, back in issue 10. Since then, blurbs repeat them again and again - but blurbs are written by the same people who called Spike "former vampire".
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-10-08 06:18 pm (UTC)I cried last night watching Jon Stewart (and I don't have the PMS excuse): Congress quietly passed a bill to make it easier for banks to foreclose on home owners who are having trouble meeting their mortgages, or on homeowners who may actually not be in default but are struggling with bank errors). I can definitely understand hating Congress when they just sell us all out to the banks (or anyone else with the cash). Luckily Obama refuses to sign the bill so the situation did not get worse... but I am still bitter and angry about Congress.
sigh
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-10-08 07:14 pm (UTC)Nods. We pretty much assumed - wrongly it seems - that the moonstone would keep the wolfy tendencies in check. But clearly there's more going on than that.
Caroline is turning out to be a kick-ass character, who knew.
Last year, I could not wait to see her dead, this year I find her amusing and kick-ass. There may be hope for Elena yet.
Nods again. We had Caroline kicking the stuffing out of Mason, quickly removing the deputies and then confronting her Mother "Hi, Mom" - which was a beautifully sad moment. And then she goes and confesses her sins to Elena. And you know that Damon's glamour just isn't going to stick on Mom (remember Jeremy?) so that should be very angsty.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-08 08:03 pm (UTC)Look at it this way, he can't possibly make it any more stupid, can he? All they can do is swim around in the current level of dumb.
What show were you watching? Plus, Spike's not exactly close to anyone - even Buffy.
Nodding. Cause his death last time produced such angst, right? I mean, you know, if you squint really, really, really hard. Like, microscope hard you might... nope. His death produced no angst for any character anywhere. So I'm not sure why his arriving in the last five minutes and dying all over again would suddenly deeply effect anyone (but his fans, but I think we've basically been told for three years now that we aren't really a factor in this).
I guess you're right that Xander is the logical choice, especially if Dawn dies (they'd angst over her).
Spike could possibly be collateral damage. I'd buy that. If he got sealed off in a hell dimension, no biggie. Not a lot different than AtF. He could have adventures there and no one on this side would be bothered about it for more than five minutes.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-10-08 09:14 pm (UTC)The thing about the betrayal is, to me, there isn't a single simple scenario in the plot as-is to warrant that reaction. A death? Spike dying? Nah. Buffy killed Willow herself in the future, so I don't see her crippled if it happens. Giles or Faith? Nah. Dawn? I doubt it. Buffy has been shown to not care a whole lot about anyone in the comics. There just isn't a death that would do it. That's not to say someone won't die, but I think it's going to be salt in the wound, not the actual betrayal.
So what's the betrayal? Breaking the Seed? Buffy does that. I'm convinced of it. She's the only one in the room in the flashforward. She's the Slayer of Slayers in the future, which we know breaking the Seed does. There's no way Joss is letting Xander, Giles, Spike or Angel end the Slayer line.
My theory is the betrayal is going to be something else, something done in the past. Buffy's indifference to everything is striking and I think it's going to come up when the Seed breaks.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2010-10-08 10:34 pm (UTC)His self restraint in dealing with Ivy and the other bullies is plain out admirable. He makes me want to hug him, whenever I see those bitches bully him. And I include April and Andy in that. (so yes I do want to see both them and Gretchen aufed.)
Gretchen's not just opinionated. I like opinionated. What she is, is self centred. She only cares about herself. Hell she even spells it out at the start of the ep. She loves to dish out criticism, but can't take it when someone criticizes her. To someone like Wretchen, the only opinion that matters is her own. We saw that in her talk to her mother, when she wouldn't even let her mom finish a sentence without interrupting her.
She also seems very fake to me. I don't know, just can't stand her, at all.
And I usually like the female contestants that tend to get called bitches. Like say Mila last year.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: