Yes, I’ve gone back to the old theme. I’m not sure why. Couldn’t find a new one that I liked and I missed a header image with the last one. I may do a couple of header images over the next few days, then again I may not.
Decisive amn’t I?
I’m cat minding at the moment, so am watching the two kitties racing round the room pretending to kill each other, I guess they’ve settled in. They are rescue cats, and more than a little skitish and wary of new peoples. So its good that they are going a little crazy.
In other news, I’ve started watching season 1 of Rome, Himself has never seen it and so after Firefly and Serenity last month we’ve moved on. Yay. Cause there is very little worth watching on d’telly at the moment. Though Bones will be back soon.
DVDs, the saviour of telly-fans.
Speaking of the telly, there’s a show on the Beeb at the mo’; Dying for a Drink, about this fella who is giving up drink for a month or something. And he says that the only way he can do it is to avoid going out and being around other people who are drinking. Its all a bit much; I mean surely you can be around drunken fools and stay sober? I’ve done it and it can sometimes be a lot more fun, cause you remember how stupid they were and they’ve nothing on you.
Okay, can some one kindly tell me where this last year has gone? Cause look, it is time for this year’s RIP Challenge. Decisions decisions. But I think I’ll go with the first peril, reading any four books from any subgenre of scary-ness. I just got to go find them now. I think that The Host by Stephenie Meyer qualifies, so that’ll be one. And I’ll have to take a gander through the tbr pile to see if any of those fit. And then probably a trip to Chapters and book buying. But its all good, I haven’t been there in at least 2 months, I’ve been very good about not buying books. I think it is time for a splurge.
I haven’t quite managed to keep up with the two proper blogs a week that I mentioned a while back. But you know, intentions are worth just as much as deeds, right?
Yeah, okay, so thats a lie. But you just gotta deal.
Spent most of Sat. watching the telly. Well, I say telly, I mean dvds. And I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but I just love Rocky Balboa. It is just brilliant. Full of cliché and sentimental shots, but it just works. Rocky just works. Still have to watch the commentary, that’ll be fun.
I’ve been doing a fair bit of rewatching stuff lately. Over the past few weeks I’ve been rewatching Firefly. Its been a while. Don’t think I’ve seen any of those episodes since the film[1] came out. And that was years ago[2] It is so great. Every time we’re about to watch a new episode I say “oh this is a great one” or “I love this one”. We just got up to Out of Gas last week. Awww. Watching them all get together and seeing Mal fall in love with the ship.
Oh, and while I’m moaning about time flying, when did it get to be the end of August? For those of you not in Ireland, well, maybe you lot got a summer. Us, we got rain. Followed by more rain. Followed by some more.
So where was our summer? huh? Life is so unfair sometimes…
I’m about halfway through the second season of The Wire and it is sooo worth watching. Everyone says so, but more importantly, I say so. But if you don’t believe me[2] then here are 9 reasons why you are wrong, and I am right. Just look at all those As. So, with a helpful nudge, I’m directing you to check out The Wire.
On the face of it, it’s a show about police and drug dealers in contemporary Baltimore - but that’s a woefully simplistic description. Stick with it, and by the time you get to season four you’ll realise that when co-creator David Simon describes it as a “treatise on the death of America”, it’s not empty hyperbole. By some margin, this is the most ambitious, complex drama serial ever created.
Course I haven’t gotten to season 4 yet. But I will. In one way I want to watch them all straight through[3] but I’ve learned my lesson from Firefly, patience can bring rewards. Honestly. Not racing through them means that they’ll last longer and I’ll have new episodes to look forward to for longer. I’ve heard that season 5 will be the last. So I only have three seasons left to go.
On one hand the first two Terminator films were great, the third was a bit pants, and too self-referential and mocking. On one hand it has Summer Glau in it, and who doesn’t love Summer?, but on the other, it has Fievel Mousekewitz in it, and can a mouse really take on The Machines?
And then there is the fact that the trailer doesn’t look all that great, that Fox are making it, and, that it is a spin off of a spin off of a spin off. Milking the cash cow dry anyone? And then there is the fact that it is a TV show, and there aren’t really all that many good shows left any more.
Example the first: Lost pants pants pants.
Heroes I do like. But I don’t love. It has some interesting storylines and characters but nothing that really grips me. I haven’t taken advantage of the fact that I can watch ahead on d’internet after all. Which says it all
Veronica Mars cancelled. And while I adored the first season, the second really didn’t grab me. And while I will watch season 3, and I do hope for the best, I’ll admit to feeling a little meh over it.
BSG I really do love. But it annoys me so. It could be so great, and I love most, if not all of the characters, but, as I’ve said before, the writers flinch away from the big issues. Which wouldn’t be a terrible thing if they didn’t set themselves up for them in the first place. If you are going to introduce “big” issues, then you are obliged[1] to deal with them properly. Brushing them under the carpet and solving them with one liners achieves nothing, well, apart from annoying me.[2] There is also the sense that they don’t really know where they are going. Part of this isn’t there fault, it is down to the possibility of cancellation and the fact that they don’t know how long they are going to last.
Rome. Okay, this is my exception. Great TV. But[3] there has only been one season. Where is season two BBC?
Life On Mars - I loved the first season. It was new and funny and interesting. But season 2? I dunno, it just wasn’t as good. Still better than a lot of stuff out there, but I was disappointed. And I disliked the finale. The Gene Genie was excellent, but there was very little character development or any forward movement at all.
House I dunno. I really liked it at first. But then it became a little cliched, and when it clashes with something else I tend to watch the something else.
Medium I like. I like a lot, but it isn’t great tv. It is highly watchable. And likeable. And while it does have some nice touches it is predictable and has never been must see tv.
The Sopranos I love when it is on. But when it isn’t I don’t think about it.
The solution to my telly woes? Give Joss a tv show, I loved Buffy, thought Angel was even better. And Firefly? Best of them all.
Or am I being too hard in my old age? Is there some great tv that I’m missing out on?
You have an above average chance of surviving a T-Rex attack. You are able to recognize what the real dangers are as opposed to the imaginary ones. Go team!
You scored 88% Firefly smarts and 100% Serenity smarts!
It’s official. You know both Firefly and Serenity very well. Shiny! After all, it ain’t easy, keeping all that information in your brainpan, whimsical as it may be. I bet you even know some of the Chinese quotes…Quick, who said, “Holy Mother of God and all her wacky nephews”?
Thirteen of my favourite episodes of Firefly, not including the pilot Serenity which introduced all the characters and the ship. The whole ‘verse.
MAL: Now you only gotta scare him.
JAYNE: Pain is scary.
The Train Job - the second pilot, cause somebody didn’t think the first was all that good! Wherein we get to see a proper bar fight, a holographic type window, a drugged Jayne, a train robbery, and Mal being slightly chippier than in the first pilot.
JAYNE: These are stone killers, little man. They ain’t cuddly like me.
Bushwhacked - Reavers! Alliance!
JAYNE: He looked bigger when I couldn’t see him.
Shindig - Pretties. Smuggling and duelling. Well I do declare
MAL: Sure, it’s humiliating. Having to lie there while the better man refuses to spill your blood. Mercy is the mark of a great man. (Stabs Atherton in the side.) Guess I’m just a good man. (Stabs him again.) Well, I’m all right.
Safe - Does River weigh the same as a duck?
RIVER: They weren’t cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see the sky and they remember what they are.
MAL: Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me.
Our Mrs Reynolds - these crazy planets and their crazy wedding ceremonies. And crazy ship-stealing women.
WASH: Some people juggle geese!
Jaynestown The hero of Canton, the man they call Jaaaaayne.
RIVER: TOO MUCH HAIR!
Out of Gas -remember that compression coil Kaylee warned you about way back in episode 1. Yeah, it bust. Which means no life support. And flashbacks.
JAYNE: Yeah, ‘cos sick people are hi-larious.
Ariel Robbing a hospital. And scanning brains. What fun. Till Jayne decides that the money really is good enough.
RIVER: Two by two. Hands of blue. Two by two
War Stories Tiffs and torture. Lots of torture.
JAYNE: Smellin’ a lot of “if” comin’ off this plan.
Trash Mrs Reynolds makes a return. And of course the job doesn’t go smooth.
RIVER: Also, I can kill you with my brain.
The Message An old war buddy shows up. There is also snow, and a funeral. Not forgetting the alien foetus in a jar. Or calf, whatever.
KAYLEE: Nee GAO-soo NA niou, TA yo shwong mei-moo? (”Why don’t you tell the cow about its beautiful eyes?”)
Heart of Gold Whores!
KAYLEE: Look, they got boy whores! Isn’t that thoughtful?
Objects in Space A bounty hunter, who isn’t a lion. A girl who may be a ship. Space. And the spaces in space. Look it all gets a little metaphysical, existential and philosophical. Isn’t it great?
JAYNE: She killed ‘em with mathematics. What else could it have been?
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So I’ve discovered why I like Firefly so much. You know, apart from the storyline, characters and acting
Because the film is coming out soon, or is already out depending on where you live, there is a shit load of reviews and interviews floating around the web. And in one super-long, 9,500 word long transcript Joss covers a hell of a lot of subjects.
“I would say about the movie that it is very political, but it’s not partisan. And I think the curse, right now, of the politics of our nation is that a line has been drawn down the middle of our country — and that’s not actually how the human mind works”
Now obviously I don’t always dislike the whole good vs. evil storyline, otherwise I wouldn’t enjoy many of the fantasy novels that I read. But I do always prefer a less black and white viewpoint.[1]
