Spontaneous Musings

Decided during my walk with Wales yesterday that I was going to stop watching politics on the news and stay as far away from it as possible until the election - since it appears to be bad for my blood-pressure. This morning reinforced that realization - when I was attempting to get news on Hurricane Gustave and instead got an opportunistic sincere??? speech from John McCain about how they were taking off their party hats and going to be Americans and support the people down South. ( more politics, look away, look away! )

Enuf of that.

Been watching Season 2, Dexter - and this is actually better than Season 1, which is saying something considering Season 1 was pretty good. Season 2 reminds me even more of what the writers were attempting to do with Angel and Spike, but without the metaphors. I think it works better without the gothic metaphors - because the problem with the heavy metaphors is they can and often are misinterpreted and confusing. Dexter - actually delves into grayer and far denser moral territory by not relying on metaphor. He's a serial killer who murders serial killers. Season 2 - delves into why Dexter is who he is and if it is possible for him to change. Is he merely an addict? Addicted to killing? Or is there a bit more to it than that? Also to what degree do we create killers? And to what degree are people like Dexter monsters? Are we all monsters? ( Dexter S2 Spoilers )

On the same wavelength, well at least in my brain, finished Whedon's Fray recently and was quite taken with this passage:

You do not want a war. You have known violence. You have suffered loss. But you have seen nothing of war. War is not just the business of death. It is the antithesis of life. Hope, tortured and flayed. Reason dismembered, grinning at its limbs in its lap. Decency raped to death. You will be a murderer. And more." The power in that passage is how true it is.
War hurts more than it helps. We justify it to ourselves, telling ourselves that the damage is merely collateral, we dare not look to closely, or we may see a monster staring back at us in the mirrored glass that sits behind the ruin. Ironic passage as well - because it reflects a world that sprouted from a WAR that was begun ages ago. A WAR that was meant to stop the demons, but merely pressed them into hiding and removed magic and wonder from the place.

( Buffy S8 spoilery speculation )

Having a nice low-key weekend. My heart goes out to those who live in Mississippi, New Orleans, and South-Eastern Texas, with any luck Gustave will not be as bad as it looks.