Spontaneous Musings

I want a good meme, you know the sort where you can answer a lot of questions and not think that hard. But alas, there aren't any online at the moment. I've come to the end of the work week, where I've managed to complete various and sundry tasks, and write 48 pages of my novel when I got home or at lunch. Now I feel like a metaphorical truck hit my brain. I don't want to think anymore. Tried to veg with tv, but my mind kept wandering. Did manage to watch the season finale of Greys, and Nashville, which ends next week.

I'm finding it hard to care all that much about television lately. I don't know why. I've enjoyed it.
Maybe that's a good thing? Maybe I'm just busy and tired with other things? So no real time to be fannish about television?

Maybe I can make up my own meme. Just write a bunch of questions and answer them?

1. Favorite color

Purple -- I'm told it's a spiritual color. It used to yellow and for a bit blue and green, but gradually became purple. Purple makes me happy and is comforting.

2. Favorite Ice Cream

Rarely eat any of it. Currently Coconut Bliss Double Chocolat or Cappucino

3. Who I'll vote for in the coming election?

Whichever candidate has the best chance of beating Trump (so most likely whomever is running on the Democratic ticket). Why? Because Trump is evil.
( Read more... )
4. Favorite place?

Mountains with water, probably Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

5. Favorite City?

London, England (mainly because I haven't been there in a long time and I remember it as being less congested than NYC)

6. Favorite Children's Book

The Hobbit - the first great epic adventure. Granted no women. It's tied with OT Nelson's The Girl Who Owned a City, which I adored. It's about a post-apocalyptic world, where disease has killed everyone over the age of twenty.
So a teenage girl finds a way of surviving and running a city in her old high school, with a bunch of other kids.

7. Favorite Loony Tunes Character

Sylvester, although I always did have a fondness for Wile E. Coyote - both are almost too clever for their own good, and jump through hoops trying to kill a ditzy bird.

8. Favorite Cartoon Character

Kimba - from Kimba the White Lion, a television show that was on when I was in nursery school. I adored it. Years later, Disney turned it into the Lion King, which was interesting. I liked the original better, it was creative, with lots of places to play with the story or fill in the gaps.

9. First crush

Jack Wild in HnR Puff n Stuff followed closely by Davey Jones in the Monkeeys. (Both by the way played the Artful Dodger in Oliver, one on stage and one on film.)

10. Favorite Superhero - Male

Cyclops - he's a brilliant stragetist, but has difficulty with social situations, yet very empathetic and knows who works with who best, almost instinctively. Most superheroes are solo, Cyclops had to lead a team of other, equally and often higher powered, superheroes since he was fourteen. (Many of whom were telepaths and could read his mind or shut it down, without blinking.) And he had no family when he did it, his family was lost to him. He's also perhaps one of the better developed.
Add to that, the fact that he's rarely seen on film and even in cartoons, overshadowed by flashier superheroes such as Wolverine and Gambit.

11. Favorite Superhero - Female

Hard to choose, so many good ones. If I had to pick, I'd say either Shadowcat or Phoenix, mainly because I thought they were well developed. And I liked their powers, Shadowcat was particularly interesting - she had become a ninja warrior and could phase through things. Also wickedly smart. But I have a fondness for Storm, another leader, but different in style from Cyclops, and Rogue.

I don't really like any of the female heroines in the DC verse, they feel very one-dimensional to me or male eye candy. Wonder Woman isn't bad - but I despise the costume.

12. Favorite Comic Writer?

Neil Gaiman

13. Favorite film based on a comic book?

Weirdly? X-Men Days of Future Past, although V is for Vendetta is a close second. Both made me think and had layers, plus good dialogue and great acting. Yeah, Dark Knight was great and all, but it focused a bit too much on the villains and felt a bit too dark. I can't watch it again.

It's a tough field, there's a lot of crap out there.

14. Series that has handled music the best? Music done in a series the most effectively?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. No one else comes close, including the so called musical series. Sad but true. The writers of Buffy were experts at pairing songs with their stories, blending them in without losing dialogue, and utilizing music to heighten not distract. To see an example of a series that uses music wrong? See Grey's Anatomy. Note to Grey's don't play a song over dialogue and rain at the same time. We can't hear what the actors are saying.

I've watched a lot of television shows in every genre imaginable and no comes close to what Buffy accomplished with music. They've tried, but Buffy just blended music into the series seamlessly.
Examples?

* Sleeper - we have two songs, one the trigger song, and the other Pavlov's Bell. Both are used beautifully to heighten tension and reveal aspects of Spike's character, emphasizing the bits necessary for the plot and story.

* Becoming Part II - the finale score, ending with Sara Mclachlan's Song, Full of Grace.

* Conversations with Dead People - the opening song that plays throughout...written by the series showrunner.

* HUSH - - where the score is used instead of dialogue.

I think that's the thing I sometimes miss the most about it, how well it utilized music to tell a story, no one else has figured that out from Glee to Nashville. (I've admittedly not gotten into Empire so can't really comment on it.)

15. Series of books that I keep wishing they'd adapt for television but alas, they don't.

The Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett. Tom Hiddleston would be perfect in the lead role.
With Karen Gilligan as Phillipa. Its a story about a classical hero during the 1500s? And focuses on the period prior to Queen Elizabeth in regards to Scotland, France, and the Ottoman Empire. Also unlike Outlander and Reign, the history is accurate.

16. YA Fantasy that would make a good movie?

The Night Circus -- about a competition between two magicians, the loser dies. They fall in love and create as their arena the night circus, a magical circus that only appears at night. Actually this would make a great television series, since the book is told in multiple points of view and perspectives.

17. Mystery series you'd love to see on film or as a television series?

Elizabeth Peters' Vicky Bliss Mysteries. It's about a female art historian working at a German Museum who falls in love with an antiquities/art thief. The Theif and the Art Historian solve mysteries.

18. Shakespeare Play that should have a modern adaptation?

Twelth Night or A Midsummer Night's Dream

19. Favorite Horror Novel?

as a kid - The Witches of Worm (it was weird) -- about a girl who is given a cat, who may be bewitching her, and is ugly, but she can't get rid of. Psychological horror.

as an adult - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - about a woman who is depressed and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, driven insane by a house.

20. Favorite Science Fiction Novel?

Probably still The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell, it haunts me. It's this story about earth getting a response from a distant planet, in song. The songs are beautiful. So they gather this group of people together to go to this distant planet and meet the people who sent the songs. But of course, things go horribly wrong. Amongst the travelers/instigators of the trip is a Jesuit Priest who is devoted to God. The story in some respects is a critique of anthropological missions of the past.
Issues tackled include vegetarianism, religion, linguists, and how different cultures think differently and perceive things differently. Also how communication is important and can fail you.

21. Favorite Science Fiction Television Series?

Farscape - it also haunts me and in some respects was the most innovative of the millions that I've seen or so it appears. It blended puppets and cultures. Played with the idea of language, and science in ways no one else did or tried to do. In the other series, it's taken as a given that everyone can speak English or they try to speak another one. Here, there's a translator device implanted, yet language is still a problem at times.

It also actually discussed everyday issues of space travel, like going to the bathroom, brushing your teeth, having enough to eat, etc. And it looked into what war and constant fighting does to a person.
Plus the science between space travel.

Oh, I loved that series. It's the sci-fi one I have the ENTIRE series on DVD. I have Doctor Who, but okay, it's impossible to have all of Doctor Who on DVD unless you are wealthy or have connections.
Farscape, I felt did a lot of things that Bab 5 and BSG didn't do, and better. Bab 5 and BSG disappointed me at their ends, Farscape didn't.

Sort of like this fun and completely innocuous meme that I swiped from liz_marks including her five that weren't on it. (Or what I like to call fun with HTML)

Bold those shows where you've seen every episode.

Italics for those shows where you've seen episodes, and are kind of *meh* about what you saw.

Underlined Italics if you only saw a few episodes and liked what you saw.

Strikeout those shows where you've seen episodes, but didn't like it.

Leave the text as is for shows you haven't seen.


Bonus round: List 5 shows you think should've been on the list, but weren't.

30) Strangers with Candy
29) Absolutely Fabulous
28) Stargate SG-1
27) H.R. Pufnstuf
26) Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (seeing a trend here, don't like this type of comedy very much for some reason.)
25) Firefly
24) Twin Peaks
23) Dark Shadows (original)
22) Doctor Who
21) Freaks and Geeks
20) The Avengers
19) Quantum Leap
18) Veronica Mars
17) Beauty and the Beast
16) Babylon 5
15) Family Guy
14) Battlestar Galactica (2003)
13) Mystery Science Theater 3000
12) Pee-Wee's Playhouse
11) Jericho
10) Xena: Warrior Princess (except the final two seasons - when I lost interest)
9) Twilight Zone (most of them)
8) The Simpsons (not of much of the later seasons...)
7) The Prisoner (all in the space of a weekend)
6) Monty Python's Flying Circus
5) Lost
4) Farscape
3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2) The X-Files (liked bits and pieces of it. Weird show - I loved the standalones, but found the serial portions of the series stupid - alien abductions isn't something I can take seriously or interests me. Also not sure this qualifies as *cult* since most people in the mainstream loved it and it got nominated for emmy's - cult shows NEVER do.)
1) Star Trek


My 5 Shows that Should've Been on the List:

1) Red Dwarf
2) Blackadder
3) Futurama
4) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
5) The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.



My 5 shows that Should've Been on the List:

1. Forever Knight
2. American Gothic
3. Now and Again
4. Angel
5. Highlander

It's been a quiet weekend - won't bore with details. Did a little of this and a little of that. Weather is being wonky. 60 degrees at noon yesterday, then proceeded to drop to 48. Today it's 37 degrees and flirting with snow. I don't know about any one else, but I'm beginning to think Mother Nature is irritated with the human race and playing games.

On my flist today two people mention the word "weird" in their posts. The first asks why does everyone mention that they are "weird" in their lj's and if they are, how, exactly? The other sort of answers the question, in an unrelated post, in fact I'm not even sure if the two are aware of one another (which is part of the fun of reading lj), but anyhow, they state in detail how their brain is weird. It's not. By the way. A lot of people I know think that way.

I think we use it as a means of apologizing for what we believe are our little quirks and idiosyncrasies. A way to protect oneself from unwanted criticism. The world let's face it can be brutal. One needs a few little words to throw out there to protect oneself from the onslaught.

How am I weird? ( how I'm weird )

I'm weird about memes...I don't do most of them because I have no clue how to answer most of the questions posed. For example the book meme going around - there's only one question on that meme I can answer - okay maybe three. They are: 1) Have you ever fallen in love with a literary character? If so which ones? (2) What book are you reading now? 3) What was the last book you read? -But which books you'd want on a Desert Island or which book would you want to be in Farenheit 451? That I'm not sure I can answer - it would require limiting it to just one or five. And I'm moody when it comes to books, music, movies, and tv. Not to mention fickle. In short it depends on which day of the week, month, year you ask. But please don't hold me to my choice.

The answers?
( that book meme )
TV...weird here too. I like a broad assortment. These are the one's currently on the air.
( tv shows I watch in case anyone is interested. )

The box meme

On a gloomy Sat, where one just wants to curl up and read a good book, came up with this meme that has been rolling about in my head most of the week or ever since I read the spirtuality meme online and had an interesting, albeit brief discussion with frenchani in my lj.

Meme – descriptive trait.
Box – a square, rectangle or even a circle, contains items, often a defined category with label attached.

Purpose – predicting behavior and interests and personality of individual answering the questions. Determining a commonality of interest or traits in order to select friends, spouses, lovers, members of a group, employees, applicants to graduate or undergraduate programs, and private schools. Knowing who fits where, who clicks with whom. Who should be excluded and who included.

Categories/questions obtained from applications, marketing questionnaires and surveys, quiz memes, online dating matches & email questionnaires.

Rules: 1. Define the category that you are answering. EX: What do you consider your country of origin to be? What does that mean to you, is it important?
2. Is it important others share these traits? Rate importance on scale of 1-10, 10 vital, 1 not. Would you reject or select someone based on their answer? How important is their answer to you? (ex: Define Liberal or conservative – what does it mean to you and how do you perceive the category that you aren’t? If you define yourself as liberal, do you dislike and reject conversatives?)
3. Length : one word or as many as you want.

Here’s the list of questions. I’m just doing 10. You can do as many or as little as you want. The questions have one thing in common, with the possible exception of the last one, done in honor of Halloween, is that they are all used to define what people are like, categorize, and reject or select them based on their answers.

1.Country of origin (also state or territory depending on where you live)
2. religious heritage (not to be confused with religion you currently practice or don’t)
3. racial background or ethnicity
4. age
5. gender
6. height and weight
7. education
8. Television watching habits: TV shows currently watch, how many hours a week, what you enjoy, how much is news related – tv news shows you watch
9. Movie watching habits: Types of movies you watch, movies you enjoy, most recent movies, favorites
10. Reading habits: Books, magazines, newspapers, journals you are reading
11. Listening habits: Radio stations, music, ipod, mp3, just CDs, tapes
12. Food – favorite foods, food issues, foods won’t eat – Vegetarian, Non-Vegetarian, Vegan?
13. Liberal or Conservative? (can be economic or social or both)
14. Religious belief (not to be confused with heritage: ie. Are you practicing a religion and do you believe in God?)
15. Sexual Orientation
16. Sports/Athletic Pursuits (what you watch, what you play, how much time you put into watching, do you bet on them)
17. Married or single
18. Do you drink (alcohol)? Socially? Extensively? Alone? Not at all?
19. Smoke or don’t smoke?
20. Fashion or Favorite Clothes (do you pay attention to fashion? Are you a shopper?)
21. Current Abode – home you live in (apartment, house, boat, trailer) and where
22. What state or country or territory do you currently live in? What village, city, suburb?
23. Children ? (Do you have them, how many, do you plan on having them, how do you feel about them? )
24. Occupation Currently Have and Occupation Currently Dream of. (Can be one and the same)
25. What do you fear?

I’m cut tagging my answers for length and well other reasons.

( “country )

( “religious )
( “racial )

( “Age” )
( “gender” )

( “height )

( “educational )

( “TV )

( “Movies” )

( “Reading )

Okay, do with that what you will. Off to run errands and such.