Spontaneous Musings

1. At work this morning...over the sound system..( Read more... )
2. Trying to watch Once Upon a Time - "The Stable Boy", on my ipad, so far I have the annoying Hyundi car commercial memorized. I swear if I see it one more time I'm going to hire a hitman to take out the evil marketing people who created it or maybe just Hyundi.

Impressions? The casting of the Evil Queen's mother and Young Snow White are inspired. That kid looks and sounds like a young Jennifer Goodwin. She's also a tad annoying. I can sort of understand why the Evil Queen hates Snow. That kid would drive me homicidal too.

( spoilers )

3. Extended Review of Game of Thrones: 2.1 (Although I'm not sure I say much more than what has already been said elsewhere. Don't know about your flist, but Game is my flist's new fandom.)

Was a rather good episode last night. Granted I don't expect all that much from tv shows. Just a complicated and somewhat thought provoking plot, interesting and complex characters, strong female roles, good dialogue, not too much in your face realistic violence or torture. Nudity doesn't bug me as much as graphic violence. Nor for that matter does sex.
( TV Series vs. Books )

Okay enough on the books. Not really spoilerly on books, because I barely remember Clash of Kings, outside of the last two chapters, and most of the stuff I remember from Storm is well the big events. And that's getting foggy too.
( Game of Thrones Episode 2 - lengthy review of the episode, vague on books since I can't remember Clash of Kings. )

Outside of maybe one or two quibbles...rather enjoyed tonight's outing of Once Upon a Time.
My quibbles? Not entirely sure of the theme that Ms. Espenson and company were going for here? Do they really think avoiding war or fleeing a battlefield is cowardice? Have mixed feelings. Seemed to be condoning violence to resolve problems. Then again maybe not. Rather complicated episode, come to think of it. May need to ponder. Other quibble was...the evil queen is still a bit too evil. Every other character is layered but her. Need more layers. I keep hoping, because right now she's the weak cog in the story or the stray thread. And Henry is a bit too precious...this is the problem with kids in tv shows...they aren't old enough to be good actors and have a tendency to come across as bit too cutsy. Kids and animals, very hard to work with. Did you know WC Fields kept the baby he worked with drunk? Sad but true.

Violence a meter?
*Five to six guys killed with a knife, one got his neck broken
*Another guy killed with a knife
*Several women and children killed or quelled by magic
[But hey no persons of color or women.]

Not bad. Still little blood. And no gore. About a 2 on the old meter.

Rumplestilskin is the Brothers Grimm version of the age-old Trickster character. In some languages he goes by the name "Spindleshanks" and other's "Hobble Foot".

From Wiki:

The name Rumpelstilzchen in German means literally "little rattle stilt". (A stilt is a post or pole which provides support for a structure.) A rumpelstilt or rumpelstilz was the name of a type of goblin, also called a pophart or poppart that makes noises by rattling posts and rapping on planks. The meaning is similar to rumpelgeist ("rattle ghost") or poltergeist, a mischievous spirit that clatters and moves household objects. (Other related concepts are mummarts or boggarts and hobs that are mischievous household spirits that disguise themselves.) The ending -chen is a German diminutive and designates something as 'little' or 'dear,' depending on context.

The earliest known mention of Rumpelstiltskin occurs in Johann Fischart's Geschichtklitterung, or Gargantua of 1577 (a loose adaptation of Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel) which refers to an "amusement" for children named "Rumpele stilt or the Poppart".

In tonight's episode of Once Upon a Time written by Jane Espenson - we get a new version or back story for the age-old character that first popped on the scene as early as 1577, and in a fairy tale 1812.

( spoilers of course )

Off to bed. I did see Revenge this week. Was quite good. But not a lot to say on it.

Tonight's episode of Once Upon a Time was written by Jane Espenson, and had Harry Groener and Carolyn Hennessy (two excellent character actors) playing Jimminy Cricket's parents. Jane is my favorite of the Buffy writers, I actually find her more interesting than Whedon and far more versatile. Jane has written everything, comedy, pure science fiction, fantasy, romance, comic books...and in various tv shows. She's more of writer's writer, not a director, actor, or producer like so many. Nor comfortable as show-runner.

And tonight's episode like much of her work deals with puppetry.

The story of Pinnochio often concentrates far too much on the boy, and not nearly as much on far more interesting supporting characters of Geppetto and Jimmny. The original version is not really a fairy tale in the same mode as the Grimm Fairy Tales but an actual story that someone wrote, much like Hans Christian Anderson wrote his fairy tales...and has long since fallen into public domain.

From Wiki: Pinocchio (IT: [piˈnɔkkjo]; UK: /pɪˈnəʊkiəʊ/[1]; US: /pɪˈnoʊkioʊ/) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the 1883 children's novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, and has since appeared in many adaptations of that story and others. Carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a small Italian village, he was created as a wooden puppet, but dreamed of becoming a real boy. Pinocchio is often a term used to describe an individual who is prone to telling lies, fabricating stories and exaggerating or creating tall tales for various reasons.

And here's the book which you can read for free on the internet: http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/C_Collodi/The_Adventures_of_Pinocchio/

This version has pictures: http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/pinocchio/pages/002_pinocchio.htm

( spoilers for Pinnochio and for tonight's episode of Once Upon a Time, cut for length, embedded video, and various quotes..more meta than review )

Quickly because I have to go to bed. First a few things to get off my chest so to speak, although I always think this goes without saying or at least if feels obvious to me...which is 1) in response to a question of what sort of things I am willing to do for six hours at a time to relax and meditate, that I constantly practice at - I said, I write. Often in a blog. No rules, or few. Under another name. Sometimes delete. I feel free when I do it. As if I can be fully myself...just let it go and when I go into the zone, I feel a sense of peace. I seriously doubt anyone else blogs that way. But there it is. 2) I'm not a specialist, I'm a generalist. I am interested in tons of things and know a lot about a variety, yet not enough to be an expert...for some I think this looks arrogant or disingenuous or dangerous, but I disagree - specialists scare me more - because they see themselves as experts, nothing left to learn, so stuck in one area, they don't look outside of it, they become in a way bureaucratic stuck inside their own cubicle, they never look outside the box or think outside of it or admit...they don't know. I prefer generalists, I was raised by generalists and taught by them - to question everything and that the wisest thing was to say I don't know and admit when I am horribly wrong. And more often than not, as you well know, I am. Being wrong is being human. I think we need to admit it more. Or I do. Admitting when I am wrong, even when it is bone-crushingly embarrassing and it often is. It gives me at least the gift of humility. Arrogance...leads to bullying.

Case in point tonight's The Good Wife proved me deadly wrong on an assumption I'd made about the age of Eli's daughter and who her mother was. LOL! Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

( Good Wife spoilers )

Once Upon a Time - my second favorite show. My favorite shows are right now: Good Wife, Once Upne a Time, Vamp Diaries, and Revenge. (currently airing - Game of Thrones is in there somewhere as well of course).

My only problem with Once is the male guest-stars could be better. CinderELLA's prince charming is no Dougray Scott, just saying. I liked the actress who played Ella/Ashley though. And I adore Rumplestilskin/Mr. Gold. Robert Carlyle's Gold is almost as good as Alan Cummings Eli Gould.

Of course, I love Rumplestilskin - he's a trickster character and I adore tricksters, you can't quite predict what they will do next. Also a character that makes things happen, a catalyste character - a character type that I am exceedingly fond of. Jimmy McNulty, Omar, Spike, Rumplestilskin. They aren't either good or evil, they tend to be ambiguous ...and often shake things up. They bring about change. Helps that Rumple is portrayed by the fabulous Robert Carlyle - who was the star of The Full Monty and various independent British flicks, before popping up as the star of Star-Gate Universe (which I tried to watch, but most military based sci-fi adventure bores me. I can't watch it.)

( Spoilers for Once )

Five Things Fan Meme.

1. Five of your most favorite male fictional characters - only books or tv
2. Five of your most favorite female fictional characters - only books or tv
3. Five villians who are effective and most favorite - books or tv
4. Five tv or book ships - actual ships as in something you would travel in.
5. Five theme or credit music for tv

[Note - should be sci-fantasy, but I broke the rule for the last one, since, I'm sorry but Veronica Mars and MASH rocked.]

( mine are below the cut )
Bonus: Come up with something

Favorite Fairy Tales:
1. The Snow Queen - hero captured by Queen who poisons his mind/heart, heroine goes on an epic journey to save her lost love and friend, and heal him.
2. Rose White and Rose Red - the hero is a bear who was once a prince.
3. Bremen Town Musicians
4. The Pied Piper (not sure this is a fairy tale so much as a legend)
5. Beauty and the Beast (also may be a legend)