high-fives and wishful thinking

So long, SGU. ...erm... thanks for all the fighting?

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:21:11 GMT

Well, I gave it a chance.

I did see some promise at first. The various plot issues they came up with were exactly the sort of thing that got handwaved during SGA, like finding fresh food and water. The camera work was beautiful, with a lot of tight shots giving the actors a chance to express subtle emotions and such.

But there was a sticking point I just could not get past. The characters were a disagreeable mix of complainers, whiners, and dicks. And unfortunately, I don't think they were all supposed to be. I really think there were supposed to be a handful we liked and wanted to see remain in charge. But the show never got me on board with them. (Or, when I was on board, quickly kicked me off.)

Everyone argued. All the time. Even the characters I think we were supposed to like seemed to dislike each other. And the thing is, a lot of the arguments seemed forced. Yes, no one wanted to be there, but seriously, was no one friends? Did everyone have trust issues? It's not like these people hadn't faced working together in isolation before. We saw them doing exactly that in the pilot. But once everyone passed through the 'gate it was like trapping disgruntled strangers (plucked from the customer complaint line of a badly run store maybe?) in a confined area. And the show asked me to watch. Which I did with less and less amusement.

So I've stopped. We've deleted SGU from our dvr's to-do list. I'll miss the idea of a cool sci-fi show, but I won't miss the frustration of watching this one.

eta: Spoilers through episode 10 in the comments

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:26:57 GMT

...to all who celebrate! I know, I'm a day late, but I figure as this is the day of digestion it still counts. ;)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I've finally conquered stuffing. I think two things led to my consistent downfall: the idea that the stuffing had to go inside the turkey, and a desire to recreate the stuffing my mother made. With the former, I've concluded that turkey and stuffing don't cook at the same speed, so you end up with either underdone stuffing or overdone turkey. And with the latter, I'm starting to suspect my mom's stuffing wasn't as good as I'm remembering. I think I've been unduly influenced by nostalgia (and possibly gravy *g*).

The reason I discovered all this was my father's stove. It's a Roper, circa 1928, and there was a real fear the oven didn't work. My dad is not what you'd call a cook (microwaved oatmeal and spaghetti are his two go-to dishes), and the one time he tried to light the oven it made a giant whooshing sound and the flames exploded out enough that he decided he wasn't going to do that again. So we planned a Thanksgiving meal sans home-cooked turkey.

But! My husband loves these sort of challenges and he talked my dad into giving the oven another go. This past Monday we got some long matches and grouped around the oven armed with a fire-extinguisher and a phone (to call the fire department if needed). We quickly discovered that Dad was trying to light the thing from the actual oven, which is the wrong place. It was no wonder a pyrotechnic display was the outcome. The gas had to build up greatly just to reach the place where he was holding the match. Following the gas-line my husband realized that you light it from the broiler and the heat from the broiler flames carry up into the oven itself.

It was all very exciting. (Still is to be honest. The possibilities are now endless! We can broil a steak, or roast a chicken, or bake biscuits!) But we'd already ordered a roasted turkey breast from the store. Rather than cancel that order I decided to do a stuffing recipe I'd seen on FoodNetwork, and bake an apple pie. It all turned out delicious (though, unsurprisingly, store-bought roasted turkey isn't quite the same as homemade) and was very non-stressful.

We also did a massive breakfast with bacon and toast (both done in the broiler) and eggs. So even without all the usual side dishes we feasted like kings. :)

In other news, we're officially Californians! :D This past week or so we've spent getting our drivers licenses and changing over our car insurance, etc. We had to take a written driver's exam in order to get our licenses, which we had to do for Missouri as well but this test was a lot more involved. Thank goodness we both stressed out about it enough that we studied more than we thought necessary. Turns out we studied exactly enough. The end result is, we only had to take the test once, and I finally know what all the different colored curbs mean.

In the process of doing all that, though, I've fallen incredibly far behind in online life. Or I feel like I have anyway. Either way, I'm looking forward to getting back to a more normal schedule. :)

Me + Reading = ♥

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:03:00 GMT

It has been so long since I've curled up with a good book and just lost myself in it. I've had some good reads, but with the real world forcing me to keep one eye on the clock. Which interferes with the whole "lost in book world" thing. But this time I made plans. Knowing I was about to dive into the latest Robert Jordan, knowing that the reviews were positive, I delayed reading until I had the time to let the real world go and just read.

It was lovely. :)

Which is beyond awesome all things considered. The Wheel of Time series has been through some serious drama. It was already long and getting longer. The last two books, while not series-destroying-bad, were a slog. There was a sense that Jordan had lost control of the plot and the series was going stumble on forever. And then he died. With a new author hired to finish the series, I was afraid that the ending we were going to get would be rushed and unsatisfying.

I'm pleased to say, I don't think that's going to happen. The Gathering Storm was a lovely read. The characters were familiar and vibrant, the plot twists were exciting and fulfilling, and I had a hard time putting the book down for silly things like eating, sleeping and bathing. In other words, it was just like reading a Jordan book. For the most part.

GS didn't feel as dark as the last several books, but I think that's due, in large part, to Sanderson's tightening the point of view. The last two books (iirc - I haven't reread the series in years) had a lot of chapters told from the POV of either full on darkfriends and Forsaken, or people working for their own gain and glory (I'm thinking of Elaida here). Of necessity their way of thinking was generally pretty twisted. And to be perfectly honest, I think I actually prefer that Sanderson chose to stick fairly close to the POV of our guys. For one, they're the characters I'm interested in. I was much more interested in what Egwene was thinking and planning than Elaida. For another, with Rand a big ball of emo mess, I felt like we were getting enough darkness. (I do think Rand's issues were earned rather than an indulgence, but I am so glad he seems to have worked through them at the very end there. I love the boy, but it was getting exhausting. *g*)

I was also very pleased that Sanderson peeked in on pretty much all our people, so that even though the story mainly revolved, plot-wise, around Egwene and Rand, I didn't feel like anyone was forgotten. (We didn't see Elaine, but I figure that means her life is going smoothly at the moment which I think she needs.) Most impressive, imo, was that they recognizably were our people. Again, I haven't reread so that might change things, but I didn't have any needle-across-the-record moments with anyone. Their voices and mannerisms were familiar and therefore welcoming.

...except for Mat. For some reason his voice was off to me. I don't know if it's because we've got a guy from the Plains trying to write a Southern voice, or if it's that I'm too far away from Mat and keep mixing him up with Mildmay (from Sarah Monnette's Labyrinth series). But he sounded a lot more like Tom Sawyer than I remembered him sounding. His mannerisms and thinking were all familiar, though. So it's a minor complaint.

This wouldn't be a true Jordan book if it didn't lead to... Speculations! :D I have some. I think Min's find, "He shall hold a blade of light in his hands, and the three shall become one," is actually referring to Rand, Lews Therin, and Ishamael/Moridin. That Rand is able to bounce into Ish/Mor's dreams is what I'm basing this on. I think Callandor connected them when Rand used it to kill Ishamael, and that connection will strengthen at the end when Rand uses Callandor again. (I think he'll use it with the help of Elaine and Aviendha, but I don't think they're going to actually "become one".)

I also think the final battle is going to happen either at the end of the second book or the very beginning of the third. I think the aftermath is going to be too huge to finish up in a chapter or two. Especially considering all the prophecies concerned with the aftermath. (Unless Rand loses, of course. *g*)

It also wouldn't be a true Jordan book if it didn't lead to wailing about the cover. But no worries, this cover is indeed, hideous. ;) Especially when you realize that the woman in the background with the Tammy Faye Baker makeover is actually (brace for it) Aviendha. The horror...the horror... Seriously, it's almost gotten to the point where I love the thing because it's so bad. ;P

Probably the highest praise I can give is that I'm excited about the series again. When's the next book due? ;D

Squee for "V" and boo "SGU"

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:13:33 GMT

Heh. I'm a tiny bit over-proud of my subject title, but... check it out! It rhymes!! :D

Back in the wonderful, wonderful world of DVRs, I know I'm behind the times here, but I enjoyed "V" :D It's no "Battlestar Galactica" from what I've seen. It's more a fun than thoughtful retelling of the original miniseries. But fun can be good! I liked all the main characters from the get-go, and I adore the main villain. I shall be tuning in for the foreseeable.

(I'm really disconnected from the buzz, is this "V" a miniseries as well? Or are they going to try and get a full on series out of it?)

And then there was SGU. Nothing fun about this one folks. My dad wandered through the room at one point and remarked, "No one likes each other, do they?" Unfortunately, the answer is yeah, no one likes, trusts, or cares for each other. As even a brief glimpse will tell you. I thought we'd gotten a glimpse of team between TJ, Scott, and Greer at one point. (When they were poking around in the shuttle a couple of episodes back.) But that got shot down this week when Greer asked TJ if she trusted him and she replied, "No".

It was an off-putting exchange, and I couldn't help comparing it to a similar exchange in SGA between John and Rodney in s2's "Aurora". But John's statement came after the audience had already seen the strength of their relationship throughout the first season and a bit. So we knew this was an aberration, knew the cause of it (the episode followed "Trinity"), and then watched Rodney spend the rest of the episode earning back John's trust. Whereas with TJ and Greer, we have no idea what sort of friendship they may or may not have had. And the relationship never changed. That "no" echoed throughout the end of the episode and put Greer and TJ on either side of the "versus" divide. (A great divide that seems painted down the length of the ship in stark white paint.)

There are still a few (a very few) characters I like, but I'm starting to waver on finding them interesting. Eli is a sweetie, but he's all, all alone, and I get tired of watching him be by himself. Chloe is also cool, but she's dating a skank and since I seriously doubt we're supposed to see Scott that way, I suspect we're going to get to see a lot more of Scott failing to keep it in his pants, taking advantage of the grieving girl while blowing off yesterday's conquest, and totally failing in his professional duties. Which means Chloe suffers from association. Col. Young is okay, but he's saddled with the worst job in the world. So his brow is furrowed. A lot.

I like Ming-Na so would love to see more of her character, but I suspect she's going to end up hating a bunch of people and alienating others when she finally does get some screen time (iows, follow show procedure). TJ is, unfortunately, a Debbie Downer in an already depressing show. In a happier show, her pessimism would play better. In this one, I'm just getting annoyed. Greer is interesting but, similarly, suffers from being angsty in an already angsty show. (He's actually slotting into my "stop picking on the nerd!" spot. Which is odd as he's not a nerd, but I think he's being under-appreciated and over-blamed.) Scott is icky with a capital "eww".

I think we're going to stick around for a few more episodes (mainly for train-wreck curiosity..."how bad will it get?"), but I won't be surprised if we end up dropping SGU in the not too distant.

On the sunny side, this almost makes me glad SGA got canceled when it did. How horrible if they'd taken season six down this depressing path!

She is me

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:08:06 GMT

I've been away from the computer visiting with family (which was so, so awesome! it's been so long since I've seen so much of my family with such consistency), so this post is probably not quite as au courant as I'd have liked. But it's been lingering in my "post" file for a while, so I'm doing it. :) (Plus, this is the internet. Conversations never die, they just fade in and out and in and out and... *g*)

There was a meme going around ~~recently~~ a little while ago entitled, Fuck You, She's Awesome, which asked people to list the top ten female characters they loved and were tired of defending. A very cool meme, and I was all set to do it. Eagerly pulling up pictures of Scully to find the perfect image to capture the awesomeness of the very first female character I recalled being bashed in an otherwise entertaining fic. But then I started thinking about female characters I actually don't like. Female characters I knew other people liked quite a lot. Female characters I knew would make someone's list, if not mine.

It was a sort of self-check because, with some of those characters, it meant I was the one being told off. So I was mulling over the implications when a couple of different discussions about female characters and bashing occurred. Which made me question the depth of vitriol that can occur when female characters are discussed, in the first place. (Not that all male characters are equally liked by fandom. Certainly, vigorous discussion regarding the merits and demerits of male characters have been carried out with much passion. (It's fandom; passion is what we do. *g*) But it doesn't seem to get as bitter and hurtful as consistently as do similar disagreements over female characters. For example, I've never seen a Fuck You, He's Awesome meme making the rounds.)

Trying to figure out the fandom mind as a whole seemed an impossible endeavor. There are too many individuals making up the whole, and sweeping generalities (the best I could hope for) would miss (and probably insult) a lot of people. So I decided to concentrate on myself. I started thinking about the ways in which I disliked female characters and I realized, more often than not, it does feel a lot more personal to me than with male characters.

The first time I recall actually thinking about the phenomenon was with Harry Potter. (I seriously doubt it was the first time I took a dislike to a female character, but it's the first time I took conscious note of what I was doing.) Mrs. Weasley was the start. I can't recall exactly when I first formed a moue of distaste over her behavior (when she was chastising her boys while clucking over Harry? when she was destroying any hope of brotherly affection between Percy and the twins?) but I do know it curdled quickly into total contempt. Mrs. Weasley came to stand for everything ugly about motherhood for me.

I was part of a vigorous and thoughtful discussion group (Harry Potter for Grownups on Yahoo) at that time, so I was well aware that others felt the exact opposite, arguing that Mrs. Weasley was all that was good about motherhood. Our two sides debated back and forth and I doubt minds were changed, but the discussions were fun. (Needless to say, the moments I exampled as ugly behavior in the previous paragraph were very differently interpreted by the other side.) But I think it was helpful for me to at least recognize that the other side existed.

As the Potter series wore on, I grew to dislike more and more of the female characters. It got to such a point that I had a tiny crisis of faith and feared I was a misogynist. Fortunately, I picked up another series (The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett) to find, to my great relief, that I loved her female characters. With even the most horrible female villains, while I didn't like them as people, I loved them as characters.

With that insight I went back to the Potter series and realized that I disliked most of Rowling's male characters, too. We were up to The Half-Blood Prince, breathlessly awaiting the series finale, and by this point I'd concluded that Arthur Weasley was a pretty crap father. I felt that his absenteeism directly informed the rather desperate emotional ploys Molly Weasley pulled on her children (and Arthur as well, though he had more freedom to ignore her).

Which lead me to question, why had I latched onto Molly as the problem parent first? I hope it's not too navel-gazey to admit that it was because of my own mother-issues. My mother wasn't a Molly Weasley by a long stretch, but she could sometimes fall into using emotional ploys as a form of manipulation. Again, I loved my mother deeply (she passed away around this time, which is another reason I was thinking about this stuff I'm sure) and on the whole she was an excellent mother. (Especially considering the crap mothering she'd received as a child.) But there was this one thing I didn't like, and it was something I was trying to watch for in my own self, and here was this character embracing those behavioral ticks.

In other words, I had a button and Molly Weasley was dancing all over it. Yes, Arthur was a bad father, but his weaknesses were more... guyish. He exemplified something I didn't like, something I would choose to walk away from if confronted by, but not something I was trying to exorcise from myself. This carried through, on various levels, with the rest of my disliked characters. The males were icky in their own ways. But the females hit me where I lived.

What really interested me was that, armed with this discovery, I actually felt a tiny bit more sympathy towards the female characters I'd hated so passionately. I didn't start to like them or anything so drastic, but my passion died down. I could look at Molly, and the other female characters, more critically.

Eager to test out my new critical eye I turned it on another female character I'd hated, Dr. Elizabeth Weir. I didn't know much about the character because I'd steered clear of StarGate:Atlantis, mainly to avoid her. She'd struck me as another "bad mother" type and at the time, I was full up. But I wondered, if I gave the character another look would my opinion change?

In this case, it did. Drastically. I still saw Elizabeth as a mother-type, but not as a "bad mother". Finally I could see the good aspects of the mother-type, and by the time the series was done, I kind of loved Elizabeth. She's not my most favorite character, but she's definitely a reason I enjoyed SGA. So, wonderful change!

But then came Lt. Cadman. Another button-pushing female character. Watching the episode in which she was introduced ("Duet", season 2) was actually emotionally painful for me. At least this time I was able to recognize that there was something personal involved, that I was bringing something to the table. However, I still don't like her. Of all the characters that have passed through Atlantis, she's my least favorite on an emotional level. There are male characters that have behaved a lot (lot) worse and were handled horribly by the show. (Lucius, the serial rapist, springs to mind.) I can see intellectually that they're more reprehensible, but once again, Cadman hit me where I lived.

So recognition of the phenomenon wasn't a quick fix that shutdown my tendency to have different emotional responses to male and female characters. Which leaves me wondering, is it even possible? Maybe recognition is as good as it gets. I also wonder, do I even want to shutdown that tendency? Would that mean shutting down myself, shutting down emotional responses period? I don't know. It does suggest to me that, because my reactions are so personal, it doesn't have a lot to do with writing skills. Not for me, anyway. For better or worse, I do judge female characters by a different criteria than I judge male characters.

Something I have started doing is more consciously recognizing when I enjoy female characters. I can't think of a single t.v. show I'm into right now that doesn't have at least one female character that I rather adore, which is awesome. (At the moment, none have female characters I hate, which is also awesome. But I don't want to pat myself on the back; it may simply be that no button-pushers have crossed my path.) Maybe that's the "better"? Maybe the way to make the emotional response an okay thing is to make sure that response isn't always negative?

Which tells me that the pro-female character lists aren't so much about everyone loving all the characters listed. They're just letting everyone know that all those characters are loved. One person's button-pusher is another person's best beloved. It is emotional, but that emotion isn't just negative. And on that (hopefully!) obvious note, I end. :)

Watched SGU some more ... didn't sob

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:34:18 GMT

The episode didn't hit my SGA-related angst this time around. Probably because I wasn't as blindsided by the lack of familiar characters in a somewhat familiar setting. So I feel like I was better able to judge the show for itself. And at this point? It's somewhat promising.

I'm starting to warm up to some of the characters. Greer intrigues me. I like that he's protective towards Scott (team? maybe?) and I loved that Rush's attempts to manipulate him (using pop-psychology, which was a tiny bit sad) failed so miserably. The medic character (Johansen? I need to figure out their names...) won me over when she full on sedated the one Colonel who'd taken over the other Colonel's body (yeah, names would be helpful *g*) when he ignored her medical advice. I think she made the right call (it wasn't his body to abuse), and I liked the very matter-of-fact way she did it.

I wasn't so thrilled with the regurgitating of Scott's back story. Yes, it's nice he has a back story, but we didn't need to get it all in one fell swoop. Or maybe it was less the amount of back story and more the method of telling. I think it was supposed to feel organic and somehow work with the plot, but it felt kind of pasted on to me. I'm not sure how young Mr. Scott discovering sex (and falling into the middle of an after-school special while doing so) links up with present day Lt. Scott finding the limestone for the CO2 cleaners (if I recall the science-bit correctly).

The glimpses we've gotten into Chloe's background strike me as better done. We know she's a high achiever, very close to her father, and a supporter of the stargate program. And now we've gotten hints (okay anvil-sized hints, but I'm speaking relatively here *g*) that her mother is an alcoholic and that Chloe is more used to taken care of her than the other way around. True, this means Chloe is also a character from an after-school special, but it's something just hinted at rather than out and out stated. And that subtlety makes all the difference for me.

Eli still needs to win me over. Truth be told, he's not my most favorite type. Less Dr. Rodney McKay (arrogant genius hiding the heart of gold) and more Po from Kung Fu Panda (heart of gold hiding the genius). Which means I won't see Rodney where Eli is supposed to be, and that's good. Eli can stand on his own. But it also means he probably won't become a beloved favorite (I really, really like a touch of arrogance in my favorite characters *g*).

In conclusion, fangirl levels have risen to tepid and I'll continue to watch. :)

The debut of SGU

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:36:43 GMT

I watched SGU last night. Such a simple sentence to describe such an emotionally fraught action! It's impossible for me to untangle all the ways SGA, with its premature end, colored my viewing experience. Especially because of its premature end. Which, in and of itself, makes me question the wisdom of canceling SGA before launching SGU. Surely I wasn't alone in doing the compare and contrast thing with a bitterness that would not have been if SGA had been around for just one more season.

The "Math Guy", Eli, for example. He's sort of a Rodney figure in that he's the non-military "everyman". I got that I was supposed to like him. I got that he was there to provide humanity and humor to the dark and desperate storyline. But I had to fight my inner-"Rodney fan girl" to get to point where I could just let Eli flow. And when I finally approached something near that point (I'd be lying if I said I actually achieved it), I started thinking about all the ways Eli didn't fit the mold. He has no drive. Both Daniel Jackson and Rodney McKay were driven characters, highly intelligent pioneers in their fields. Eli's an easy going slacker. Which is a very different sort of character.

Or the plot revolving around the search for the ninth chevron. Isn't that uncomfortably close to the search for the eighth chevron that launched the Atlantis expedition? Only instead of a planet-bound broken space ship, they find a mid-flight broken space ship. And instead of pretty Ancient background we get rusted out Ancient background. And instead of death by drowning it's death by spacing as the immediate danger. All capped by the "but how will we get home?" question of the season.

I can't help but think that if SGA were still around I'd be slightly amused by the similarities but intrigued enough by the differences. This story is a bit grimmer in that no one really wants to be there (so there's no excited "space ships!" or "we're underwater!" moments, alas), and the enemy is within. Which I think are both interesting twists to the main premise. (An aside: I'm not all that familiar with the show, but didn't the space version of the Swiss Family Robinson (of "Danger, Will Robinson!" fame) have a mad-scientist saboteur?)

But it ends up bothering me that the driven scientist is a sociopath. He's a dark-side version of Daniel Jackson or Rodney McKay. "This is the Rodney-version they preferred?!?" is my thought. Which I'm not sure is even a fair thought to have, because this is a different show and Dr. Rush isn't Rodney. But they begged the comparison by shutting down one show to bring us the other. What could have been a lovely arch-type twist if SGA were still around, becomes a twist of the knife now that SGA is gone.

I struggled with that sort of thinking the whole show. Which sucked. There were things I thought I maybe liked but there was too much taint for me to be sure. Did I really like them or was I trying too hard to give the show a chance? Or was I being too picky in the first place and missing things I would have otherwise enjoyed?

Figuring my husband wasn't going through quite as much emotional gymnastics (he enjoyed SGA but not to my levels of squee), I asked him his opinion. "I prefer to like my team," was his succinct response. And one I agree with. I'm going to keep watching, but more out of curiosity than anything else. Maybe it'll get better. I wonder if I'll notice if it does?

Hello, Dexter. I think I love you.

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:39:37 GMT

Which, considering it's a show all about a serial killer trying to make it in "civilized society", is pretty massive. Because I'm not generally a fan of shows where you're supposed to dislike the main character (the main reason I gave up on "The Sopranos"). And I'm still not. Somehow Dexter manages to make the serial killer likable. Despite everything, I find myself pulling for him. When it looks like Dexter is going to get caught/killed/exposed, I'm on the edge of my seat hoping he wins in the end.

I think there are two things the show does, and does well, that keeps me in this frame of mind: (1) They are very good at protecting Dexter, making sure that, even while his character pushes the envelope of accepted behavior, he never crosses the line; (2) They don't insult my intelligence by ignoring or sugarcoating the implications of what Dexter does, what he is.

Protecting Dexter:
The very first episode I ever saw was season three's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". In it Dexter kills a pedophile targeting the daughter of his girlfriend. The show makes it very clear that the guy is actively hunting young girls, that he's done this before, that he'll do it again. Reducing the story down to the strictest sense of good and evil, Dexter is clearly on the side of good. Dexter, himself, sets it up as two predators battling over a cub (using his internal monologue to great affect, as usual), with Dexter as the protective lion and the pedophile as the invading hyena.

The episode beautifully juxtaposes the way these two men hunt. The pedophile's attention is caught by the young girl, which in turn draws Dexter's attention to him. The pedophile, ignoring Dexter's warning (see! Dexter gave the guy a warning! that's a noble play right there!), tracks the young girl. So Dexter is forced (see! he's just doing what he has to do!) to track down the pedophile in turn. It's a battle of predatory skills and Dexter wins. And you want him to win. No one likes a pedophile.

Even while Dexter clearly relishes the chance to hunt down a man and then kill him, even while he makes it clear that he's not doing this out of mere necessity because he so enjoys this sort of thing, I'm drawn into hoping Dexter succeeds in his task. And I like the fact that Dexter is shown to be a bigger badass than the pedophile ever could be. (That happens a lot, actually. Dexter drops his "lab geek" persona and puts on his killer game-face and takes down someone clearly evil and I like it.)

And the show helps me maintain that frame of mind by taking care of their character. They carefully play down Dexter's sadism: he loves the moment of the kill, but the kill itself is quick and neat. Sure he mind-games his victims before killing them, but not for too long and generally more in the service of bringing down their evil, evil arrogance to normal human levels than pushing them into the dirt. And we're made to know that the victim really is a bad guy. Guilt is established without a shadow of doubt (much harder in the real world, but very possible within this world, especially with Dexter being such a genius in the forensics department), and nothing is shown to garner any confusing sympathy. No extenuating circumstances or feelings of deep remorse to suggest maybe death is a rather harsh punishment here.

Basically, Harry's "Code" not only gives Dexter a structure to operate in, it gives the audience an excuse to like Dexter. Even while he's telling us we really, really shouldn't. Which cleverly leads into point number two.

Please, don't insult me:
The thing is, though, Dexter is a killer. Sure, no one likes a pedophile. But are we really expected to think it's cool for people to run around killing them all willy-nilly? In case the answer to that question might be a semi-qualified "yes" (well, only if we're really, really sure, etc.), the show introduces us to a passionate and principled defense attorney. Everyone deserves their day in court, she points out. Dexter takes that right away from the people that cross his path to feed his own need. That's not actually a good thing.

And it's the show that points that out! I very much love that. Because it's the sort of thing I'd have thought about eventually. Once the shiny entertainment part had stopped, anyway. And the ethical implications would have niggled. But by not ignoring it, by encouraging the niggling, the show tells me it wants me to think about this sort of thing. They're not just about the shiny.

Dexter himself is fairly honest about what he's doing. He's a killer who enjoys killing and a good portion of his "Code" is about covering his own ass. The show makes that all clear. I do think there's a certain coyness to it (the more Dexter protests his own monster-dom the more I look for ways he's not a monster), but I still appreciate that the show doesn't ignore the implications. (For one, I've often thought ignoring these sort of ethical implications ignores good story opportunities. So yay, for Dexter. *g*)

So, long story short? I've got a new show addiction. :)

Oh! Bonus points! The supporting characters are awesome; there's a bit of a team-vibe going on within the police precinct; the brother-sister relationship is also awesome (Debra is ♥); and! it takes place in Miami! :D

I have committed fic!

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:24:35 GMT

This was supposed to be written in 38 minutes (get it? just like the name of the episode! *g*), but I'm utterly incapable of that sort of speed. Dangerously though, I'd gotten an idea and I didn't want to let it go. So here it is. :)

Title: Plays Well With Others
Author: Horridporrid
Fandom: Stargate:Atlantis
Episode Tag: Thirty Eight Minutes (1x04)
Rating: G (gen)
Warnings: none
Word Count: ~1300
Summery: Teyla has some ‘McKay’ issues...

Teyla breathed in the fragrant steam rising from her mug and stared out at the morning sun slowly swelling up over the ocean. There was a still a slight chill to the air, and she was not dressed for it, but Teyla relished the quiet out here on the balcony away from the other diners. Still, she controlled the grimace that wanted to form when she heard someone else stepping through the balcony doors. It was a beautiful morning and it was natural for others to wish to enjoy it as well.

“Still haven’t gotten used to that view.”

“Major!” This was the last person Teyla was expecting. And now she did nothing to hide her delight. “It is good to see you out of the infirmary.”

“Believe me, it’s good to be out of the infirmary.”

Teyla smiled at John’s obvious relief and returned to watching the final minutes of the sunrise. John watched beside her for a few moments, and then leaned over the railing to stare at the sea below, and then tilted back to stare at the sky overheard, and then bounced on his toes a little as he looked back at the sunrise, and then tightened his grip on the railing and did his best to shake it. Testing its strength was Teyla’s best guess.

“The sunrise is beautiful, is it not?”

“Oh, sure.” John nodded, relaxed his grip, and stared back out at the horizon.

Teyla hid her smirk in her mug.

“So,” John turned and leaned back against the railing, “that first mission was a doozy.”

This time Teyla did nothing to hide her grimace. “Not an experience I wish to repeat, no.”

“Yeah, me neither.” John fiddled with the bandage on his neck, and then seemed to shake himself out of the bad memory. “Still, the team did good, didn’t they?”

Teyla gave her best neutral smile. “Lieutenant Ford did an impressive job.”

“Yes, he did. And McKay pulled out a good save in the end.”

John was trying to meet her eyes, so Teyla pretended a deep fascination with the dregs of her swiftly cooling mug. Usually she was much better at this sort of thing, but she didn’t want to lie to John. So she made a non-committal sound of possible agreement and hoped he’d change the subject.

Instead John muttered, “I knew it,” and paced over to the balcony door and then back to his position against the railing. He didn’t look pleased with his foresight. “You have a problem with McKay.”

And there went her hopes. Ah well. She’d never made a good liar. Teyla met John’s gaze, “I do.”

“Is it a deal-breaker?”

“A what?”

“Are you going to quit the team?”

“Never!”

John let out a breath Teyla hadn’t been aware he’d been holding. “Good. That’s... that’s really good.”

“I joined with you to fight the Wraith, John. I will not let Dr. McKay get in the way of that goal.”

John shook his head in frustration. “See, I don’t think McKay wants to get in the way of your goal. I mean, he shares your goal. We all do. I know he can be difficult to get along with –”

“‘Difficult’!” The frustration and anger Teyla had thought she’d successfully handled came flooding back. “You were in pain, dying, and he asked for food. Food! Lieutenant Ford spent most of his energy keeping Dr. McKay from dissolving into total panic – ” Teyla stopped herself. Ranting never helped. Taking a deep breath, she continued more calmly, “I do wonder if his expertise in one area balances out his obvious lack of expertise in everything else.” Alright, maybe not as calmly as she’d hoped.

Fortunately John didn’t look like he was ready to run from the balcony and the conversation. He was chewing his bottom lip and staring thoughtfully into the middle distance. “Okay,” he said. “Not invalid complaints...”

Teyla stifled the many possible retorts that crowded behind her teeth and instead crossed her arms waiting for John to formulate his reply. Her argument wasn’t with him after all.

After a moment John snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “How old were you when you went through the ‘gate for the first time?”

“The first summer after my birth.”

John seemed strangely surprised. “Really? That young?”

“We have close ties with families on other planets. My father wished to introduce me.”

“Huh.” John shook himself, and focused back in on his point. “When did you first actively go through ‘gate, take part in a trade mission,” he waved his hands vaguely, “or something.”

“By my seventh summer I was accompanying my father on all his trading missions. I was thought old enough to quietly observe and learn.” She thought she could see where John was going with this.

“But see, this was McKay’s very first time through the stargate. I mean, barring a few practice rounds back on Earth, and the actual trip here...” John trailed off again and looked at her meaningfully.

Oh. He thought his point was made. “John, I am aware of his lack of ‘gate experience. But surely your people are not so sheltered that a man Dr. McKay’s age has not had to work with others – ”

“Aha!” John bounced up and down on his toes pointing at her triumphantly. “No see, that’s exactly it! McKay’s never had to learn to play well with others. He really was that sheltered!”

Teyla rubbed her forehead with the hand not holding her mug. “Your people are very strange.”

John grinned at her. “Not ‘my people’, just McKay. Or well, and any other mad geniuses out there. On Earth.”

“John.” At her tone, John’s grin slipped away. “I do not find the idea that Dr. McKay has a reason to be so very... aggravating all that helpful.”

“Look, I don’t expect you to become best friends with the man – ”

“I am grateful,” Teyla said dryly. She turned away from John, from the all too obvious disappointment on his face and stared down at the sea, the small waves churning within the various crannies formed by the city’s shape.

After a moment she felt John move over to join her, could see his clasped hands out of the corner of her eye as he looked down at the sea beside her. “Teyla, I see something in him... something...” his hands flailed, like he was trying to grab the right word out of the air, “something good.”

He sighed. “I’m not doing a good job explaining it, but the thing is, I think McKay is the right choice for our team. His knowledge is pretty spectacular and he really did pull a win out there. And,” he straightened up and faced her, “I think he’ll learn how to get along with people.” He chuckled a little. “Eventually.”

Teyla turned to look at John. “Truly?”

“Cross my heart.”

An odd vow, but Teyla felt he meant it. And when it came down to it, she did trust John. She would not have joined his team otherwise.

“Alright.”

“Really?”

“I do not foresee drinking tea with Dr. McKay any time soon, but,” Teyla reached out with her free hand and grabbed John’s shoulder. “I believe I can work with him. And,” she could give him this much, “maybe it does help, a little, to know he is new to working with a team.”

“Thank you, Teyla.” John smiled up at her through his eyelashes and Teyla resisted the urge to tousle his hair.

“Well!” John slipped out from under her hand. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.” He opened the balcony door and the cacophony of a breakfast service well under way filled their formally quiet spot. The sun’s light poured into the dining hall filling it with warmth.

“I’ve already eaten,” said Teyla. “But,” she added as John looked at her hopefully, “I would enjoy another mug of tea.”

Just saw District 9

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:50:19 GMT

I wasn't impressed. Or, I should say the filming was well done but it was in support of a tired story and a thoroughly unlikable main character. I wish that rather than following Wikus (the "human" character) we'd just concentrated on the alien, Christopher.

Wikus is a rather stupid, mid-level managerial drone, who's married unrealistically well. There are hints that he's got more depth than we first see. An inner-hero maybe? But, no. No, he's pretty much as crass and selfish as we'd first been led to believe. No inner depth here.

Christopher is far more interesting, but we spend very little time with him. It's too bad, because Christopher's motives are instantly understandable and very worth rooting for. Plus he's got that single dad thing going for him. Instead we get to watch Wikus bumble around in a fog of self-pity, coming darn close to ruining everything Christopher's worked years to accomplish through utter selfishness.

Bizarrely, I get the sense we're supposed to see a connection forming between Christopher and Wikus. But I think that connection relies too heavily on the "foxhole buddies" cliché. Wikus gives Christopher no reason to trust him, and frankly, I think Wikus would've killed Christopher in a heartbeat to accomplish his own goals. (Not much of a guess on my part. Wikus pretty much does just that towards the end of the film, anyway.)

Speaking of cliches, they're all here. Evilly sadistic military leader with unreasonable grudge towards main character? Check. Sterile and inhuman multinational company controlling everything from the sidelines? Check. Easily frightened and unsympathetic populace? Check.

What's most unfortunate was the cliché formed around the Nigerian gangsters. While all the white people were using medical science and technology to harness the alien tech, the black gangsters were depending on vooodoo and cannibalism. I'm not sure how that doesn't translate into rather ugly racism.

It's too bad. I was looking forward to an "alien's invade" story that took place somewhere other than NYC or LA or the American heartland. But the story didn't really change with the new location. And it certainly didn't do South Africa any favors. (Neil Blomkamp, the director and co-writer, is actually from there, so at least he's insulting his own.) Instead we got a stale story with flashy camera work and cool accents. And those aren't enough to make up the difference.

We have arrived in California!

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:33:44 GMT

And I can confirm, they do have the internet. (Obscure-ish South Park reference to highlight my cool. *g*) We're getting semi-settled, so I'm posting. Finally. :D

The drive was... smoky. :) Utah was on fire, California was on fire, and Nevada was damn hot. I mean, really damn hot. As was eastern California for that matter. The temperature went up to 112 and the wind wasn't ocean breezy at all. More, open furnace. You know that scene in Chronicles of Riddick when Batman's daddy walks out into the sunshine and bursts into flame? I used a rest stop and thought the same was going to happen to me.

Which makes Las Vagas the weirdest city in the world. Because it seriously should not exist and that becomes abundantly clear when you drive out of the stone canyons of Arizona into the Nevada desert. Not even close to a piece of the world I'd pick to build a city in, and yet, there it is. All successful and growing and everything.

For a long while, California didn't seem like the best place to live either. The interior of the State is very different from the coastal areas. At least in the southern portion. (I constantly underestimate the size of California; it's huge.) Plus, there's a lot of hills/mountains. As we wanted to avoid L.A. for traffic reasons (though fire reasons seemed good as well) we pretty much zig-zagged our way up and down roads of various sizes, winding our way west. As we left the desert the famous California beauty started to show itself: golden hills, orange groves, wineries. And then suddenly, at a point we both missed, the temperature dropped 40 degrees and we were in the lower 60's.

Minutes later we finally got to the 101 and the ocean. After that it was an easy drive up to Santa Barbara. Destination reached. :)

Weirdly enough, it took us exactly one month. We left July 31st, we arrived August 31st. I like the symmetry of that. I'm fascinated to find out what happens next...

[eta: fixed a spelling error, because Nevada is sandy not sweet. *g*]

On the road again!

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:52:32 GMT

Greetings from Richfield, Utah! I feel like I've traveled I-70 west of the Rockies before, but it must have been at night because I can't believe I'd forget how stunning it is. First, the mountains don't just end. They pour down into a series of canyons, the highway clutched to the canyon walls, the Colorado river flowing below peppered with rafters and kayakers.

About 10 miles before hitting the Utah border the Colorado river dropped away, heading south while we continued into the bleak west. At one point the hills were so gray and ravaged by water and wind that it looked like a mass of sleeping elephants. And then the flesh was ripped off the earth and we got a good look at her lovely, lovely bones. I wish we were traveling with a geologist because I'd bet they'd have tons to say about what we were seeing. The rock formations were gorgeous and eerie and alien. And that's just what we saw from the highway (though we did take every "view area" offered). I can't imagine what the actual National Parks look like. Or, I can, and it must be fantastic, and some day I'm going. :D

We should arrive in Santa Barbara (our end point... as of now) tomorrow. It will be nice to be semi-settled again, I'll admit. :) I'll have to do a "what I did in Colorado post" then, because I'm too sleepy now.

On a completely different (though nicely segued *g*) note, I see my "mood pics" are gone. How will you all understand my mood if you don't have an interpretive picture starring either Rodney or John or both to translate?!?!! *sigh* The "Account inactive" is accurate though. So accurate I don't recall a password or account name or anything about my photobucket account. But... this is a project for another day. Tonight I sleep! :D

"Beautiful! Lovely! Wish you were here!"

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:30:27 GMT

Greetings from lovely, lovely Colorado! Where every single view is pretty much breath-taking (hence my stealing from French Kiss for my subject line *g*). I'm having the best time in the whole world visiting with my two sisters. It reminds me so strongly of our childhood summers in Canada, nature and family and long laugh-filled chats around the dinner table. The other day, after putting my little niece to bed, my sister broke out some ice cream treats. Which confirms it!! Every time the adults sent us to bed it meant they were up to something fun and cool and guaranteed to give us joy. Grownups do suck. ;P

Here's an irony: I expected no internet connecting issues at my tech-loving sister's house. But there's no wireless! So there's one single ethernet to split between the four of us, hence my delay in posting. (Catching up should be interesting. I'm a tiny bit scared to look at my email. I could drown in the deluge!) We're going to be here for a while, so my connection time will be sketchy for a while, just so you all know.

And now it's time for cute pet stories! Otherwise known as "Bandit the Cat meets Fanny the Bulldog". Really, the problem is a breakdown in translation. Fanny thinks Bandit is awesome! She thinks it'd be super-neat for the two of them to run and play and be best-friends forever! And she says as much by crouching down in front of Bandit, butt in air, tiny little bulldog tail wiggling like mad (which basically means, butt wiggling like mad) and barking out her enthusiasm.

Bandit doesn't get that particular message. As far as she's concerned this loud, noisy behemoth is in her face, giving her crap. So she goes straight into full battle-mode. Honestly? I didn't know Bandit had a full battle-mode. But she fluffs up big, and growls deep and low in her throat. Sounds like an angry raccoon. (And angry raccoons are scary as hell.) In an odd sort of way, I'm kind of proud. :)

Fortunately, Bandit's established our bedroom as her home base and has a safe-spot under our bed. And Fanny's generally content to ignore her. (Though secretly, I think Fanny would just die of happiness if Bandit would seriously be her friend already! *g*)

Next up, cute niece stories! :D Seriously, she is adorable. She loves to climb up and down stairs, and she's very close to running (she walks very fast), and she'll wave her hands in the air as she goes because this is the most fun ever! (...and maybe also for balance, now I think...) Also, whenever we emerge from our bedroom in the morning she smiles and claps and it's the best morning greeting ever. (Though I strongly suspect a large part of her glee is that, once we're up, she can visit with our cat. *g*) Also, she loves cell-phones and will pick up anyone lying around and say, "Hies!" So! Cute! :D

Another irony: When we visited Seattle they had a record breaking sunny-streak. Here in "sunny Colorado" they're getting an unusual amount of rain. It's the greenest I've ever seen it. Frankly, I'm loving it. :)

And now to answer those Top Five Meme questions you all asked (I apologize for the delay):

Top 5 things you would say to a specific fictional character if you could.

1. Kate Somerville of The Lymond Chronicles: "You really did that? How brave and clever and exciting!"
Kate doesn't really need that sort of feedback, of course. She was one of the more emotionally secure characters in the series. But a character-defining quote about her said that her husband would complement her as "reliable" not realizing how much it stung her to be described that way. (Horrified because he'd hurt her; Gideon was a sweety.) So I figure underlining her bravery and quick-wittedness would be a complement she'd enjoy. I quite like Kate. :)

2. John Sheppard of Stargate:Atlantis: "Well done, you."
Not that he'd listen. So I'd have to slide it in all cunning-like. Maybe come in under the radar as a simple bureaucrat doing a routine review, then WHAM! Direct hit with an unexpected compliment. And I'd sound all surprised, too, so that way he wouldn't think I was fishing for something. (A quick retreat would be essential for that reason. "Who was that masked complimenter?") *sigh* He's awfully hard on himself, is our John.

3. Admiral William Adama of Battlestar Galactica: "Oh, my God! Go exploring with your son! Laura would kick your ass all over this planet if she knew you were moldering by her grave side and giving up on life."
One of the major character arcs of the series (and one I very much enjoyed) was the healing relationship between Bill and Lee. So I was cruelly disappointed when they split up forever as soon as they reached their new world. That each man headed off completely alone was doubly wrong. Neither seems suited to a life of solitary, and I'd think Bill would enjoy exploring alongside Lee. It was beautiful that Bill was with Laura to the end. But her end should not have been his. (Certainly Laura wouldn't want that.)

4. Rufus Scrimgeour of the Harry Potter series (specifically, after the funeral in The Half-Blood Prince): "I have some information I think you'll find useful. You may want to cancel all your appointments; this will take a while."
And then I'd tell him everything. Voldemort splitting his soul into seven bits, the horcruxes, the items Dumbledore is aware of, the deep background Dumbledore shared with Harry: everything. Sure, Dumbledore’s faithful would label me the worst sort of traitor, but I think it'd be worth it. Sending out an actual professional, with access to other professionals, to get this job done would have gotten the job done faster, saved lives, and saved readers from the interminable camping scenes. And I'm giving like that. ;)

5. Zuko and Mai of Avatar: The Last Airbender (specifically during "The Beach"): "You two are SO ADORABLE!”
I expect a deadly rolling of eyes and definitely some extra-dry muttering, but come on! They so were! :D

Top five things you really liked in SGA...

1. The likability of the main characters. I came to SGA from a fandom (Harry Potter) where I'd gone from loving the main characters to loathing them. So I was really pleased that SGA took such care of their core characters. It's been very refreshing to be in a fandom where I’ve enjoyed all of them all the way through.

2. The irreverent humor. I adored how funny the show could be. All of the characters have their own specific sense of humor and... huh. This is probably a big reason I find them all so likable. Anyway, even during the darkest episode there’s always a moment or two of humor. I liked that.

3. The John/Rodney banter. It's the reason I started watching in the first place. Or, well, not the reason I started so much as the reason I kept watching. For me, their relationship, their friendship, is the core of the show. And their friendship is best expressed through their banter. (Not to mention, it’s usually funny as hell. *g*)

4. The willingness to go dark. For all the humor our heroes are often in very dire situations where it’s either kill or be killed. And while I’d never describe SGA as a hardhitting realistic show, it doesn’t ignore the darkness. Which makes the moments of sweetness and silliness that much more enjoyable, I think.

5. TEAM!! There’s the actual team, of course (John, Rodney, Teyla and Ronon), and the way they work together and care for each other. But there’s also the more expansive sense. There was never a lot of inner-politics in Atlantis and I liked that. Our characters tended to give people the time to prove themselves. Not a usual choice for a tv drama (it's not all that dramatic, after all), but one I appreciated.

...and the top five you would have seriously changed/done differently in SGA.

1. Get to know the Wraith more. I think we were starting to go down this road with the greater involvement of Todd in the last season, but I think we should have explored the Wraith culture a lot earlier on. These are the main enemies after all; our guys should have been massively curious. (Season 2 would have been a good time, I think. It could have used a more strongly defined plot-arc, quite frankly.)

2. Get to know Pegasus cultures more. Not all Pegasus culture, obviously. But if we'd had at least two cultures that we saw more in depth, set up as regular plot points, it would have given a nice flavor to this galaxy. (I'd have used the Athosians and the Genii. Perfect contrasting cultures with two vastly different ways of dealing with the Wraith threat. They kind of, sort of, did this. But it was kind of half-assed and we never really got beyond surface stuff. Starting off with those two and then adding a new culture per season would have been so, so cool.)

3. Give us more character moments. In the end, it was the characters that made the show. The plot, the adventure, the lovely, lovely space-porn was all very entertaining. But it was the characters that gave the show its heart. Unfortunately, I think SGA was kind of skimpy with the character stuff, especially in the beginning. They picked it up in seasons 4 and 5, but it would have been lovely to have those sort of character moments from the beginning.

4. Don't make the scary new villains the Asgard, for crying out loud! BORING! We've already met these aliens, guys. This is a whole new galaxy! Give us something so new our guys can't crib off of SG1 cheat sheets. The lack of an actual new villain struck me as lazy. Maybe it was a foreshadowing of the bad news to come? Which leads to...

5. CREATE A SIXTH SEASON!! They were so hitting their stride, as far as I was concerned. And they'd set up some fascinating arcs that we'll never get to see realized. Very, very frustrating. Also, sad. :(

YOUR top five Top Gear moments! :-D

1. “And I shall name him, Oliver.” Though really, it’s the look of horror as Richard realized he’d actually named a car. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. :)

2. The spotting of the hideous toupee. All the other tourists are watching the animals at the watering hole. Of course our boys get bored with all the “nature” and instead turn their attention to the unfortunate man with the bad toupee. (The moment the poor guy notices that three men with binoculars and a camera crew are staring at him? Priceless.)

3. Captain Slow tours in a racing car. Top points for picking out the most uncomfortable ride ever. Not even stripping down to his underware (at least, I think James stopped at underwear) and buying a cheap cushion and a tiny fan could end his misery. Which thrilled Jeremy and Richard to no end, of course. ;)

4. Richard rides a bike. That episode where they race a bicycle, a boat, a bus, and a car through rush-hour London. Everything about Richard on a bike was hilarious. Being forced to obey traffic signals because he’s on camera (as all the other bikes sale through the red-lights), cussing out the buses as they cut him off, getting a face full of truck exhaust. I laughed and laughed.

5. Jeremy interacts with gun-crazy Americans. Buying a clunker in Miami, Jeremy is shocked at the number of guns the proprietor owns. (I’m amused that one of his guns has been temporally misplaced.) I always enjoy when Americans live up to stereotype and scare the tourists. ;)

top five moments reading fic and going "guh! How is that hot? I didn't know that was hot."

1. X-Files: "In a Dark Time" by A. Leigh-Anne Childe (I couldn't find her actual website, but I found a site that has the story: part 1, 2, 3, 4): IIRC, this is the fic that introduced me to slash. That it was such a good story on top of the hot was a lovely, lovely bonus. (When I actually saw the episode it was based on, I admit to being disappointed. Not nearly enough Mulder/Krychek interaction.)

2. X-Files: I can't remember the fic name or the author (sorry!), and just describing the fic gives me the heebie-jeebies. Basically, Scully has her period, Mulder has a blood-kink, smut happens. Should be grosser than gross per my squick-o-meter, and yet... for some reason I dug it. I very much enjoy when authors manage to pull that sort of thing off. Which leads to...

3. Harry Potter: Everything by Amanuensis: The Grande Dame of Kink as far as I’m concerned She takes all sorts of kinks (stuff I’d never heard of before) and brings the hot out. Warnings that I’d otherwise run from I went ahead and read because I trusted her ability to make me like it. (Seriously though, if you follow the link heed the warnings. When going hardcore, Amanuensis doesn’t flinch.)

4. Alias: "Pomegranate" by Rach: (I think it was this, anyway -- the title makes sense -- but it seems to have left the web.) In a completely different direction this is a fic that should be too boring to be hot. I mean, the two players aren’t even in the same room. Sark sends Sydney a pomegranate and she eats it. They don't even talk, iirc. And yet, somehow, someway, hot. :)

5. Stargate:Atlantis: Transcendental by shalott: This is the fic that not only showed me that John/Rodney makes for a hot ‘ship, but clued me into the hotness that is Rodney McKay. My life would never be the same. ;)

Top Five things you can DO to fictional character (different characters please but otherwise yes, you can interpret it as broadly as you like ;)

1. Angela Montenegro from Bones: Go shopping! :D We don’t share the same style, but I strongly suspect Angela can give great fashion advice. Plus, she’s like the best, best friend, ever. I think she'd be a blast to hang with. :)

2. Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender: Surfing lessons! :D I’m kind of interested in learning, what with the on-going move and all. (A crazy idea that I doubt I’ll follow through on, truth be told. *g*) But I think Katara would make a perfect teacher (patient and encouraging). And with her water-bending skills, no risk!

3. John Sheppard and Rodney McKay from Stargate:Atlantis: Take a tour of Atlantis! I’m cheating by giving you two characters here, but part of the fun would come from their differing views on what's important to see and what the various rooms and machines are for. (John and Rodney banter is ♥)

4. Lord Peter Wimsey from the eponymous mystery series by Dorothy Sayers: Go to a chic country-estate party and solve a mystery! I could have chosen an Agatha Christie character for this, of course. But honestly, none of them are as sexy as dear Lord Wimsey. That said, Harriet Vane's presence would be a lovely bonus. ;)

5. Nicholas from House of Niccolò and Lymond from Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett: Take them both to a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Just to watch their expressions. :) I’m cheating again, but I can’t choose between the two men. Both deserve a moment of pure, uncomplicated, bliss and I think Beethoven would deliver. (That, and I adore the idea of the two of them getting to meet.)

Top five favorite minor SGA characters.

1. Perna!! from s1 "Poisoning the Well": I adored this character. She was intelligent and driven and beautiful and tragic. I still cry at her death scene.

2. Kiryk from s5 “Tracker”: Hot and ruthless and totally committed to the little girl he was protecting. (I love it when ruthless has a squishy center. *g*) He’s a character I would have loved to see again. *grumble grumble stupid cancellation grumble grumble*

3. Torrell from s2 “Condemned”: He made for a fascinating villain in that his goal wasn’t actually bad (save his fellow prisoners from becoming Wraith-food), it was his methodology that caused problems. And I adored his ability to get beneath John’s skin. (I’m honestly surprised we never saw him again. The civilization he came from was interesting as well.)

4. Princess Harmony from s4 “Harmony”: She was adorable and snotty and just the perfect over-achieving little girl. I adored her in crush mode and she needled poor Rodney beautifully. :) I didn’t necessarily need to see her again, but I loved her every moment on screen.

5. The Coalition from s5 “Inquisition”: I think this is an unpopular fannish opinion, but I loved the implications of a segment of Pegasus cultures coming together to form a cabal like this. And I adored that the game proved to be even deeper. I would have enjoyed seeing them interact with the Atlantis crew again. (Would I bore you if I weep over the cancellation again? Because I’m weeping.)

The road trip continues

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:34:55 GMT

Rolled out of Kentucky this morning -- almost literally. We ate and ate and ate! :D A lot of it was garden goodness (I keep telling myself *g*), but last night my mother-in-law whipped up a chocolate cake, topped with ice-cream, whipped cream, and home made chocolate sauce. So... not all garden goodness. ;) But all of it delicious and that's the important bit. :D

Drove through the boot-heel of Missouri, then across the State via I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City. Lots of billboards and traffic (especially trucks) and beautiful, beautiful farmland tucked within the various hills and valleys. Also, lots of memories because we've driven this route a lot. I remembered deciding our wedding colors during another boot-heel drive. My husband remembered hitting black ice on I-70 just before the bridge over the Missouri river, taking his foot of the gas and hoping for the best.

We navigated the mouse-maze that is the Kansas City highway system. I remembered taking it at speed one late, late night because I figured the 45mph speed limits were for traffic reasons. So, so wrong. My friend slept through the whole thing, fortunately. (Friend: "I had this weird dream that I was a fighter pilot." Me: "That is weird." *blinks innocently*)

And then we were in Kansas. I-70 opened up, the billboards disappeared. The hills started rolling more and more gradually and the trees thinned. Eventually crop land became grazing land and we reached Salina (rhymes with vagina -- which I've giggled over for years; because I'm twelve).

Tomorrow I expect to leave hills and green behind and hit the brown and flat of Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado. There's a stark beauty to this part of the country I must admit. And then I get to see my sisters and my niece! ♥

(I'm working on my top five meme, fyi. Thinking about it during the drive has been most fun, so thanks to all of you who've asked. *g*)

Top Five Meme

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:05:42 GMT

This meme is going around everywhere and I've had the most fun asking the questions and getting the answers, so I figure I should probably play, too. :)

Ask me my fannish Top Five [Whatevers]. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really! Some people have come up with some creative ones. And I will answer them all in a new post.

Green Acres! (not so much the place for me...)

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:18:01 GMT

It's a good thing we're hitting Colorado after Kentucky. We've been gorging on ribs, and barbecue, and fried chicken, and baked beans, and fresh-from-the-garden corn and tomatoes and peaches. Okay those last three (maybe four? or does the bacon negate the goodness of the beans?) items are pretty darn healthy, but... I've been eating a lot of pork. ;) I figure we'll do a bunch of hiking in Colorado though, so it should all even out in the end. (At least, that's what I've been telling myself.)

It's funny, because when we were living here I got so sick and tired of the many, many smoked and fried options. Especially as that was mainly all there was on offer. But I think there's a massive difference between living in a place and visiting it. Since we're just passing through, and since we're pretty much sticking to areas of the country that offer things not smoked or fried, this is a lovely treat. (I am not sick of fresh produce, of course. The whole point of Summer is to gorge on garden goodies as far as I'm concerned. It's what makes the heat bearable. *g*)

But this visit has made it pretty clear that the country is a place for us to visit rather than live. I'm not knocking the country. It really is beautiful. But it's just not the place for me. It doesn't have the things I'm interested in on a day to day basis, and the things it does have, I'm not all that interested in. Ditto the husband (thank goodness; that would have created some unwanted stress).

On a slightly different topic, I feel like I've been doing fly-by postings so I'm going to grab the opportunity to write something a bit more in depth.

We had a really good time in Tampa. We also discovered that our cat has no street sense at all. Or as my husband put it, "She's a dolt." Our friends have a cat, Bailey. He spends most of the day outdoors and has been known to get into a tussle or two with fellow outdoor cats. Our cat, Bandit, has stayed inside all her life and hasn't been in any sort of fight, ever. So what did she do when Baily got all territorial and hissed and spat at her and pretty much made clear that she was to not be where he was? She got all big-eyed and hunched down and then started creeping her way towards him! She eventually retreated, but at one point I caught her slinking up to Baily while he was eating! I watch the Discovery Channel. I know that's not a smart move. Bandit, though? Apparently she's a big fan of the passive aggressive thing. Fortunately she's really good at scurrying away and no actual kitty-clashes occurred. Baily did seem on the verge of a nervous breakdown, though. I'm betting he was glad when we left.

On the way up to Kentucky we passed through Nashville, Tennessee and stopped at the Neely's Barbecue restaurant (the same family that has that show on the Food Network). The coleslaw was excellent (light on the mayo and with a nice tang of mustard), the baked beans were addictive, and the barbecue sandwich was... dry. :( We were disappointed in that, I'll admit. Granted, we were off the lunch hour (I think we got there around two-ish?), and the flavor itself was really nice, but it just wasn't as juicy as it should have been. My husband suspected the barbecue wasn't covered tightly enough. Which, if they'd had a lunch rush, would have been easy to have happen. Still, it was tons better than McDonalds! :D (Honestly, I'd be willing to try them again.)

Oh! And we watched "Julie & Julia" last night. I very much enjoyed it and now have this bizarre desire to debone a duck. :D And! I actually have Julia Child's cookbook!! I'm incredibly excited about that fact! :D But... it's packed away in one of our many, many boxes. :( So I shall have to wait for some future date to get my French cooking on.

Actually, one of the reasons I know I wouldn't be happy here in the country is that it's next to impossible to find the sort of ingredients I like to cook with. (...does that sound snobby? I'm afraid it sounds a little bit snobby...) However, I'm enjoying our visit here very much. And that's good. :)

drags self to computer - forces self to post

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:44:13 GMT

Oh, the relaxing, relaxing life of the country. We've been pretty much eating and sleeping and... Nope, just eating and sleeping. :D This is the best place in the world to visit. Beautiful and quiet and beyond peaceful.

(Maybe too peaceful? I swear, putting words together for this post seems near impossible. *g*) But I do have internet and hopefully I can put a better post together later. You know, after I rest up a bit. ;P

Greetings from Birmingham, Alabama!

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:06:58 GMT

Or the outskirts thereof. ;)

Bad news first: The hotel doesn't get Syfy (which I personally pronounce Cee-Fee, because zomg that was a stupid name change) so I'm missing Joe Flanigan on "Warehouse 13". :( Which sucks doubly because during the drive through the southern part of Alabama there were tons of Army helicopters stuck up on posts. (By tons I mean 3.) Which of course made me think of John Sheppard (never a bad thing). And then I was sad because SGA isn't on tv anymore. :(

Good news second: When leaving a rest stop we noticed this weird thwapping sound coming from our roof. Which was odd, because the cargo holder never made that sound before. So we assumed a bug. (Not incredibly bright, because damn that would have been a big bug.) The sound stopped pretty quickly so we shrugged it off. But then my husband noticed papers flying off the back of our car, so he pulled over immediately and I checked the cargo holder and made sure the back of the car wasn't open. And as I circled the car I discovered WE'D LEFT OUR PORTFOLIO ON THE ROOF!!!

We'd been driving down the highway at at least 80mph and it managed to wedge itself against the roof racks. Our list of what's in all our boxes (our 60+ boxes) was in there as well as a bunch of phone numbers. Thank goodness the box list was saved. \o/ The phone numbers (and old directions) were the papers that blew away, but that's okay because we have the numbers in electronic form.

We should reach the in-laws tomorrow. Here's hoping we'll have internet access!

Made it! :D

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:32:07 GMT

Finally done with the packing portion of this saga. \o/ And boy did we cut it to the wire!

The realtor's office closed at 5:30 (and believe me we needed that extra half hour). At 5:35 I was on the cell phone as we drove through Miami rush hour traffic begging them to stay open because we were going to be there any moment. Thank goodness they agreed. (Honestly, I doubt we were the only desperate renters, what with it being the end of the month, summer, and right around the University of Miami; the office people probably draw straws on who's going to hold the office open. *g*)

Previous to that my husband was slinging stuff into the car, or into the trash, while I desperately packed and/or stuffed things into grocery bags (we'd long run out of trash bags). Our poor cat, already freaked by the whirlwind occurring around her, decided she did not want to get into her carrier. So we had to chase her through the apartment and forcibly grab her. She was not pleased.

But we got the keys turned in, celebrated with a couple of triple chocolate cupcakes from Buttercream (best cupcakes ever! if you're ever in Miami and find yourselves on Sunset Drive? go, eat, fall in deep cupcake love), and hit the road. The cat protested heavily in the beginning, but we stopped at a rest stop along Alligator Alley and rearranged our stuff and she was happier after that.

We arrived in Tampa around 11pm (fortunately our friends are night-owls) and pretty much collapsed. Not having anything pressing to do is lovely. :) I'm still exhausted, but I'm definitely less stressed.

Oh. My! GOD!!

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:22:34 GMT

Packing sucks! We are still doing the last of the packing today! TEN DAYS LATER!! I am proud of the fact that we've only had one serious breakdown: I cried, the husband went into "hulk smash!" mode, though manfully kept himself from smashing anything -- then we rented another storage unit and everything got better.

That's the hell of moving. You always have more stuff than you think you do. I mean, we've packed over 60 boxes. And that's just boxes. ::sigh:: But it should be over today. (Well, it has to be over today. We have to be out of the apartment by 5pm.)

I'm writing this on the fly because once we pack up the modems I have no idea when next I'll have internet access. We're heading to Tampa to stay with friends for the weekend. (Should be fun; they're the sort of people that make you laugh until you pee.) Then it's off to the in-laws in the depths of rural Kentucky. They have internet, wireless even, but the chances of my mother-in-law knowing her log-on code is fairly slim.

I'm not sure how long we're going to stay there. Then it's off to Colorado (which will be a two day journey, I think) so there'll be a hotel stop. That's the next time I'm pretty sure I'll be on the internet again.

But I want to record this adventure (I keep reminding myself: this is an adventure! Just like a Nancy Drew mystery!! *g*) so I'm going to post whenever I get the chance. [insert witty end remark here...]

Packing, packing, packing

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:56:56 GMT

The packing has begun in earnest! We've gotten a storage area, got a call in for someone to move the piano, and bought (and filled) our first set of boxes. Yay, us!

I made a monumental decision: I'm packing up all my Stargate:Atlantis DVDs. :( It's just... we're going to be busy these next several days, then we're going to be on the road, then we're going to be living with my dad for a little (hopefully!) while. There's not going to be time for me to watch any episodes. Certainly there's not going to be time for me to do the intense watching I do for an episode review.

Which means I'm going to be putting the reviews on hold for at least a couple of months. I realize I kind of have already, but that was unexpected life-busying. This is a lot more deliberate. However! I very much intend to get back to it once we're semi-settled. At the very least I want to finish out season two, especially as I've only five more to go.

I shall miss my Atlantis-fix though. (Thank goodness for Hulu! And headphones. *g*)

GAH! I'm procrastinating again!

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:06:10 GMT

...or, greetings from the cocoon. (Heh. I feel like I've just done a "did you miss me?" post and now here's another. *g*) But I've got some good excuses!

Excuse 1: I picked up a ton of extra shifts at work last week. Because I was gone for those two weeks in June and also, because this Sunday is my last day and I'd like to close out with a decent sized paycheck. Which leads into...

Excuse 2: We're moving at the end of the month. (That's two weeks from now. I refuse to panic.) We're shoving all our stuff in storage, strapping a cargo holder (for basic necessities, ie: cat toys (I'm not joking as much as I should be)) to the top of our car, and heading to my dad's place in California. We'll figure out what we're doing once we get there.

It should actually be a lot of fun. We're going to take our time and stop to visit friends and family along the way. So more road trip than intense cross-continent drive. But since I'm not panicking I'm doing my next favorite coping technique: cocooning. I know this because I'm reading a lot of fanfic without commenting. *slaps wrist* Also, I'm reading a lot of really old fanfic from my, "Oooh, what's this fanfic thing? Wait, are Mulder and Scully actually kissing in this one?!? *grabs with both hands*" days.

Neither of those things are fully bad (though I do prefer to comment on fics I like, because feedback is a good thing), but I'm using them as avoidance techniques which... Eh, still not a horrible thing, but not a place I really want to be right now. This is an adventure; I should pay attention.

So I'm serving notice to... well, to myself. :) It's time to wake up.

Seattle is \o/ and science fiction is ♥

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:21:00 GMT

Seattle was lovely. ♥ Though I must point out that nobody (online, offline, sideline) mentioned the steep streets! Miami is flat, flat, flat, so they took us a bit by surprise. Though I will say, there was a satisfied feeling of a job well done when we made various climbs. I've concluded that stairs beats hills both in the up and the down, and I think up actually beats down just for the sake of my shins. I can't imagine it, but I saw several women take on the hills in heels (not, I should add, the extreme heels I spot regularly here in Miami, but heels none the less), to which I can only say, "wow".

I was a teeny-tiny bit disappointed in the weather. They had a near record breaking sunny streak and I'd been looking forward to a good gloom, but that seems the sort of thing it's kind of rude to complain about. ;)

We did all the touristy things, our Frommer's guide clutched firmly in hand. (By the way? Frommer's rocks.) Seattle has tons of fun touristy things to do. But the thing that affected me the most, and in a way I didn't realize I even needed, was the Science Fiction Museum. It reminded me that I'm a fan! :D A dorky media fan more than a bookish fan (though I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of authors I had read), but a fan none the less.

Science fiction has taken some serious hits this past year. Some of it, in my opinion, has been well deserved (the painful but very, very necessary "Racefail '09" discussions), and some of it has been grossly disappointing (depressing reactions to female characters). But it left me with the feeling that science fiction was a rather nasty little playground with a few shiny objects to lure in the ignorant.

Visiting a place that celebrates all the things science fiction does well, reminded me that there are in fact things science fiction does well. :D I have always, always been attracted to the shiny optimism that human beings are going to make it, that there are tons of nifty new phenomena and worlds to explore, that there's always going to be something worth striving for. That's what I've always loved about science fiction, and that's something it's still able to offer.

It's not a perfect genre, obviously. It makes plenty of mistakes, some of them rather egregious. But when it gets it right, science fiction can hit a storytelling sweet spot in me no other genre can. I'd lost sight of that and I'm grateful to Seattle's Science Fiction Museum for reminding me. Thanks, Seattle! :)

...and then my brain exploded! :D

Tue, 19 May 2009 03:38:56 GMT

I have experienced IMAX!! Or, well I've seen IMAX films before, but only the science ones, actually designed for the IMAX screen, where things are pretty static as you swoop over arctic ice or into a volcano. Never an actual, story-telling, dialogue-happening, movie. Until now.

It was "Star Trek" (of course) and we made sure it was an actual, bona fide IMAX screen (which means we by-passed Aventura where they're no-good fakers and headed up to Fort Lauderdale). Neither of us had any clue about where to sit so we just followed the people who'd made sure they were in the front of the line and plowed into the theater on a clear mission. They sat middle seats/middle rows, so we sat middle/middle, too. In the future we'll probably go for middle/back, but on the whole it was good placement.

The difference was remarkable. So much sound, so much visual, so close to tipping into system overload. It was awesome! Unless you had two people on the screen talking to each other. It was a bit of a strain to watch both characters: like a really shiny tennis match. Close ups were much more IMAX-friendly. In conclusion: I'm glad I experienced it and I'll definitely go to an IMAX again for "thrilling ride!" type movies. But just one for one viewing. Regular old movie theaters are still my venue of choice and a favorite place to spend a hot summer afternoon. :)

And now to the movie itself! First I shall be lazy and recommend posts that say what I'd have said myself if I was that witty and wise. Two are by sistermagpie: The first, Enterprise!, is spoiler free but still manages to capture why I've squished this movie so hard. The second, Return of the Doofus!, has spoilers galore and covers the coming of age aspects of the story. The third, also spoiler filled, is by taraljc, and I'm totally stealing this rec from astridv, and I haven't commented on either post so I'm probably breaking all kinds of lj etiquette laws (I plan on commenting! I've just been busy... and lazy...), but the post is really good! It's basically, "I ♥ Uhura" and it's in response to some Uhura complaints that have apparently been made.

And now to my very own views! That are totally sporadic! And also deliciously spoiler filled!

I adore that Eric Bana was cast as the villain. He's a soft seeming man and a thoughtful looking one. Even with the tattoos and the crazy talk and the missing bit of ear I could believe that this was a guy who chose "honest labor" over joining with the Empire's battle-lust and had simple dreams and simple desires and went white-hot mad when those things were destroyed. For some reason he made me think of Captain Ahab from Melville's "Moby Dick". Probably his obsessive need to avenge himself against those what done him wrong. No matter the twisting logic needed.

I loved how clean-cut and fresh-faced and shiny all the Star Fleet people were. All crisp hair-cuts and crisp uniforms and fabulous makeup (seriously, I loved how the women were made up -- shallow, but true) and "best of the best of the best! Sir!" :D This is Earth's elite and it shows. (And that's how it should be. That's how Star Trek has always portrayed itself.) But I also loved that the implied professionalism actually carried through. When things went to hell (pretty much from start to finish), the regulations and chain of command and academy training worked.

After rewatching the movie I really think Spock's story was supposed to be more about him and his mother rather than him and his father. All of his big character beats (his finally cracking under the bullies taunts; his decision to go into Star Fleet; his dealing with the loss of his mother and his planet) centered around his relationship with his mother. I still wish there'd been a scene between young!Spock and Amanda. Something to clearly show the audience that she's guiding this child, that there's something about her specifically that helps shape Spock into the man he becomes. (I strongly suspect there was a scene cut; I think I saw a flash of it in a preview while we were lined up to go into the theater. Plus, why cast Winona Ryder just to stick her into old-age makeup?) I do love that it's Spock and his mother echoing Kirk and his father, but I wish we'd gotten as strong a "This is Amanda" beat as we got the "This is George" beat.

Speaking of... This is totally cavewoman squishy of me, but the primitive, man gives his life so his wife and child may live thing just works for me. Even knowing what was coming, I still cried. And fell in love with George just a little.

I hate bugs. A lot. Still, I loved the call back to "Wrath of Kahn" with the torture by bug scene with Captain Pike. Definitely squirmed and looked away, but still pleased.

Also? Bana totally stole his, "Spock! Spock! Sssspooooooock!" scream from Shatner. Which was awesome!! :D

What I love the most is how well cast this whole thing was. It's a fast paced film without much room for chat, and yet each character manages to shine through. Every look is loaded with information. There's a scene at the end when everything is done and the Earth (and galaxy!) has been saved where Uhura looks at Spock who looks at Kirk who looks at Sulu who looks at Chekov as they pass along a smile of "well done us". Generally, I hate those sort of scenes because they're inevitably trite. (Seriously, who has those sort of moments in real life? No way someone doesn't screw that "smile train" up.) But this one comes really close to working for me (it's still a minor peeve of mine, so uphill battle you understand) because I can almost buy that these people would share that sort of victory smile. These people are a team and yeah, they're tight. :)

And now? To bed! :D

Braaaaains!!

Mon, 11 May 2009 23:24:39 GMT

I have just picked up "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". How could I not?!?