TV and meme
Dec. 12th, 2006 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6First some TV thoughts...
So today I finished watching Deadwood (except of course for the two movies to wrap everything up that haven't been done yet). So some thoughts on it and the old west below the cut (not really spoilery).
Enjoyed the show on the whole, but I have to confess there are many times I have only the slightest clue what's going on, on account of their habit of circumlocution. Still, it's surprisingly gripping with lots of characters I enjoyed, particularly Ellesworth and Charlie Udder - sort of unpolished, unsophisticated guys who are full of honor and integrity. And of course there are lots of flawed but entertaining (quasi-historical) characters like Bullock and Calamity Jane, and outright bastards you somehow love like Swearengen.
It's got me thinking some about the Old West. I've never really been all that into the old West. But in the last few years, what with Firefly, Deadwood, and to a certain extent the Dark Tower, I've found its appeal growing an awful lot.
It's got a very compelling feel to it, right on the edge between civilization and anarchy. The idea that a person could come to a mostly unsettled place and essentially just build a house and live there without having to buy the land or anything has its charm. And of course the frontier.
Now, of course, I'm not sure I would have wanted to live there, both with the glaring, obvious downsides (the racism and sexism of the era being one of the
big ones), and the multitude of small problems I'd never even consider until I lived in the time, but most past times are like that. I think the Old West is slowly growing to be one of the historical periods I enjoy more than others. SO yeah, I probably wouldn't want to live there, but I might really like to imagine myself living there, or once we get virtual reality worlds and the like, or if I get a time machine, visit there with an eye to being able to return any time I want.
Also rewatched the most recent new episode of Heroes and I have some theories (spoilery).
I've mentioned this a couple other places, but I don't think I've ever posted it here, so now I will:
I'm troubled by Peter's dreams. That is, that he has them. You see, even Mr. Bennett said it - everyone else we've seen has one power, or logical outgrowths of it (Haitian can alter memories and also interfere with psi-based powers, but you can wrap all those up in 'mental interference'). Peter, alone among everybody, seems to have two completely unrelated powers: the ability to mimic the powers of others, and semi-prophetic dreams.
Two obvious possibilities present themselves... one, he's mimicing someone else's power. The problem here is that nobody else really presents themselves, since nobody's been with him all the times he's had the dreams. The closest we can come to that is his brother, but then we've got the same problem.
The other obvious possibility is that he's got two powers. This is unsatisfying to me though, but then there are a few things about the series that are unsatisfying to me.
I've come up with a third theory. Someone else is giving the dreams to Peter.
Either another, thus-far-unseen Hero, or, perhaps, Peter himself, from the future, using a combination of some of the powers of others. Hiro couldn't interfere with the past, but he had no trouble with sending a message before, maybe this is an outgrowth of that - give past-Peter prophetic dreams so he'll trust them enough to do something when he dreams something bad.
Also, I've been thinking about the dream we saw at the end of the last episode... the Peter-goes-explody scene. I've come to a realization.
I don't think it's the explosion that Hiro saw in the future. I think it's something that happens on the way when Peter gets close enough to mimic the person they _really_ have to stop.
Why? Well, for one thing, the Future Explosion we saw happened after Nathan got elected, but in the dream Nathan walks out of his campaign office and it doesn't seem to have celebratory evidence or anything... it looks like it's just a campaign office. Now, this could be a minor mistake, dream confusion, or the result of changed events moving up the explosion's timeline, but I choose to believe it means it's before the actual explosion.
Also, look at the behaviour of the other heroes. Everyone's there -perhaps brought to find the real bomb, but they're all running from Peter - but running is just pointless and stupid if the bomb is as big as the one Hiro saw in the future and we saw painted. Panic's a natural reaction, sure, but there's other stuff like someone tackling Peter's girlfriend to make sure she doesn't get too close. Everything's pointing to them expecting a smaller, though still deadly, explosion.
Now, two other Heroes in the dream deserve special attention: Claire and Nathan.
Both are the only ones (aside from Simone) we see approach him. Claire runs up to him, mouths 'I'm sorry', then runs away. Could she be sorry because she was trying to run close enough to him that he could get her healing powers, but then chickened out at the last minute?
And of course Nathan who gets close, cause they're brothers. But it's also the setup for the classic hero move. When there's a bomb, the best place to get rid of it is in the sky. And Nathan knows that if he gets close to his brother, his brother will be able to fly. And he knows his brother is a hero, who'll do the right thing.
The dream shows them getting in place to handle the situation. Nathan will get close to Peter to let him fly into the air so he doesn't hurt anybody when he explodes (and then Claire's influence will let him heal from any damage he causes himself).
My bet is this is actually what'll happen in the February sweeps, more or less as in the dream, but it's only a stepping stone on the way to stopping the big explosion (which'll be the May finale), probably caused by Sylar.
Oh, and a couple more survey memes stolen from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
firefox27...
Countdown Meme and a Meme of 10s.
10 things currently on your desk
01. Milk crates full of books (11 in all, on the desk, more elsewhere in the room and apartment)
02. DVDs
03. Spare change
04. Two long cardboard boxes full of comics
05. My keys
06. My wallet
07. An empty box
08. Gizmo (stuffed Mogwai)
09. rubber ball
10. batteries
9 favourite ships/couples
Not super big on ships, but...
01. Chase/Gert
02. Sam/Jack (SG1)
03. Simon/Kaylee
04. Veronica/Logan
05. Ultimate Spidey/Kitty
06. Buffy/Spike (even though I never thought they should belong together forever, I liked the story and the effect on Spike)
07. Sol/Trixie
08. George/Izzie (even if it is just their dynamic as friends, though they'd also make a good couple IMHO)
09. Robin/Spoiler (I know that ship has long sailed, but I'm counting it, I'm running out of choices)
8 of your current favourite songs
I don't listen to music much, so my choices probably suck to you all, and mostly they're just ones I remember enough.. No particular order.
01. Superman Song, Crash Test Dummies
02. Eve of Destruction (dunno... Barry McSomething?)
03. Imagine, John Lennon
04. The Impossible Dream, from Don Quixote
05. Mad World, Gary Jules
06. The Gunners Dream, Pink Floyd
07. Don't Fear the Reaper, ?
08. Firefly theme song
7 people you talk to most
First 3 are nonline people, the rest are all LJers. Order isn't all that strict, I don't keep track of such things exactly and there are all sorts of different types of 'talking to'... some are very few words over a regular basis, some are long discussions but fairly infrequent, etc.
01. My brother
02. My brother's gf
03. My dad
04. Eve (bareedy )
05. Jono (angelophile)
06. Cadi (hayzil)
07. Sort of a tie between a whole bunch of people.
6 favourite kinds of candy/chocolate
01. Reese Peanut Butter Cups
02. Crispy Crunch
03. Kit Kat
04. Crunchie
05. Caramilk
06. Hershey's Cookies and Cream
4 favorite bands and ONE artist
Don't really listen to music so my choices are all the ones whos names I think of first for one reason or another. Sometimes just because I liked the name. FOr the 1, they didn't specify musical artist, so I went with a comic artist.
01. Beatles
02. Guns & Roses
03. Pink Floyd
04. Barenaked Ladies
05. Adrian Alphona
4 websites you visit daily
01. Livejournal
02. Newsarama.
03. BoingBoing.
04. Wikipedia
3 items on your wall
01. Weird glass ball thingie
02. Posters (Serenity, Dungeons & Dragons (The game, not the movie), and X2)
03. A fabric hanging of a lion
2 favourite sayings
01. Alas
02. Don't Do It, it's a trap!
1 favourite movie (This is a rude question!)
01. Serenity, though it may not be my favorite I have trouble of instantly categorizing and ranking.
10s quiz.
TEN FAVORITES GIRLS
I'm going with TV and comic girls, and again I have remembering and categorization problems.
01. Veronica Mars
02. Kitty Pryde
03. Cassandra Cain
04. Gert Yorkes
05. Kaywinnit Lee Frye
06. Sharon/Athena/Boomer (technically these are two people but I'm counting them as one)
07. Molly Hayes
08. Barbara Gordon/Oracle (but not Barbara Gordon/Batgirl)
09. Fred (Angel)
10. Claire Bennett (as current fandoms go, anyway)
TEN FAVOURITES BOYS
(Again, TV, comics, and books, unordered except by thinkingof it)
01. Star Pilot Grainger
02. Hiro Nakamura
03. Chase Stein
04. Malcolm Reynolds
05. Michael Scoffield
06. Rodney McKay
07. Chamber/Jono
08. Spike
09. Sayid (Lost)
10. Jayne Cobb
TEN FAVOURITES
01. televison show: Heroes at the moment
02. drink: Water
03. color: Grey
04. sport: Soccer to play. Or Assal Horizontology. Nothing to watch.
05. mall: Eaton Centre I guess
06. music: None
07. food: Gyros, or tacos.
08. season: spring
09. animal: some kind of big cat
10. city: Toronto I think
TEN FACTS
01. hometown: I don't consider myself to have one.
02. hair color: Brown
03. hair length: Mid-neck liength at present.
04. hair style: Rockstar hair! Messy and a little too long.
05. eye color: Brown
06. shoe size: Dunno
07. mood: meh
08. orientation: Straight
09. available?: yes, but unsuitable
10. lefty/righty: Righty
TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE
01. have you ever been in love: Yes
02. do you believe in love: Yes
03. why did your last relationship fail?: cowardice on my part?
04. have you ever been heartbroken: Yes
05. have you ever broken someone's heart: Probably not, though maybe
06. have you ever fallen for your best friend: don't think so.
07. have you ever loved someone but never told them: Almost exclusively.
08. are you afraid of commitment: Possibly, don't know yet.
09. have you ever had a secret admirer: No
10. do you believe in love at first sight: Not love as such, though attractions that can lead to love, sure.
TEN THINGS: THIS OR THAT
01. love or money: love
02. hard liquor or beer: neither
03. spaghetti or lasagna: lasagna, though both are good
04. one night stands or relationships: Relationship
05. televison or internet: If I had to choose, internet, cause I can download my TV shows.
06. pepsi or coke: really don't care.
07. wild night out or romantic night in: Romantic night in
08. colored or black and white pictures: colored. I'm not big on black and white in TV, photos, or art.
09. phone or in person: In person
10. aim or myspace: Aim, I guess, by virtue of the fact that I have aim but don't have myspace.
TEN HAVE YOU EVERS
01. have you ever been caught sneaking out: No
02. have you ever skinny dipped: No
03. have you ever done something you regret: Yes
04. have you ever bungee jumped: No.
05. have you ever been on a house boat: No
06. have you ever finished an entire jaw breaker: Yes
07. have you ever wanted someone so badly it hurt: Yes
08. have you ever went out without your parents permission: Yes, although not in the 'gone out despite being told not to' way (not sure I can recall being told not to, I was quite happy staying in) but in the sense of 'going out without asking permission' certainly.
09. have you ever regret something so much that u want to erase it if you could: Sure
10. have you ever been caught by your parents doing it?: No.
TEN EMOTIONS
01. are you missing someone right now: Not actively, but passively missing a large number of people
02. are you happy: no
03. are you talking to anyone right now: no
04. are you bored: yeah
05. are you german: I wasn't aware german is an emotion. But then again, I was feeling slightly german the other day. (I was about to type 'feeling a little German, but that just sounds dirty).
06. are you irish: I have some irish blood in me but I don't feel the Irish emotion, whatever that is.
07. are you french: Might have some french blood in me, but I don't feel french.
08. are you Italian: No.
09. are your parents still married: No.
10. do you like someone right now: Not specifically, no.
So today I finished watching Deadwood (except of course for the two movies to wrap everything up that haven't been done yet). So some thoughts on it and the old west below the cut (not really spoilery).
Enjoyed the show on the whole, but I have to confess there are many times I have only the slightest clue what's going on, on account of their habit of circumlocution. Still, it's surprisingly gripping with lots of characters I enjoyed, particularly Ellesworth and Charlie Udder - sort of unpolished, unsophisticated guys who are full of honor and integrity. And of course there are lots of flawed but entertaining (quasi-historical) characters like Bullock and Calamity Jane, and outright bastards you somehow love like Swearengen.
It's got me thinking some about the Old West. I've never really been all that into the old West. But in the last few years, what with Firefly, Deadwood, and to a certain extent the Dark Tower, I've found its appeal growing an awful lot.
It's got a very compelling feel to it, right on the edge between civilization and anarchy. The idea that a person could come to a mostly unsettled place and essentially just build a house and live there without having to buy the land or anything has its charm. And of course the frontier.
Now, of course, I'm not sure I would have wanted to live there, both with the glaring, obvious downsides (the racism and sexism of the era being one of the
big ones), and the multitude of small problems I'd never even consider until I lived in the time, but most past times are like that. I think the Old West is slowly growing to be one of the historical periods I enjoy more than others. SO yeah, I probably wouldn't want to live there, but I might really like to imagine myself living there, or once we get virtual reality worlds and the like, or if I get a time machine, visit there with an eye to being able to return any time I want.
Also rewatched the most recent new episode of Heroes and I have some theories (spoilery).
I've mentioned this a couple other places, but I don't think I've ever posted it here, so now I will:
I'm troubled by Peter's dreams. That is, that he has them. You see, even Mr. Bennett said it - everyone else we've seen has one power, or logical outgrowths of it (Haitian can alter memories and also interfere with psi-based powers, but you can wrap all those up in 'mental interference'). Peter, alone among everybody, seems to have two completely unrelated powers: the ability to mimic the powers of others, and semi-prophetic dreams.
Two obvious possibilities present themselves... one, he's mimicing someone else's power. The problem here is that nobody else really presents themselves, since nobody's been with him all the times he's had the dreams. The closest we can come to that is his brother, but then we've got the same problem.
The other obvious possibility is that he's got two powers. This is unsatisfying to me though, but then there are a few things about the series that are unsatisfying to me.
I've come up with a third theory. Someone else is giving the dreams to Peter.
Either another, thus-far-unseen Hero, or, perhaps, Peter himself, from the future, using a combination of some of the powers of others. Hiro couldn't interfere with the past, but he had no trouble with sending a message before, maybe this is an outgrowth of that - give past-Peter prophetic dreams so he'll trust them enough to do something when he dreams something bad.
Also, I've been thinking about the dream we saw at the end of the last episode... the Peter-goes-explody scene. I've come to a realization.
I don't think it's the explosion that Hiro saw in the future. I think it's something that happens on the way when Peter gets close enough to mimic the person they _really_ have to stop.
Why? Well, for one thing, the Future Explosion we saw happened after Nathan got elected, but in the dream Nathan walks out of his campaign office and it doesn't seem to have celebratory evidence or anything... it looks like it's just a campaign office. Now, this could be a minor mistake, dream confusion, or the result of changed events moving up the explosion's timeline, but I choose to believe it means it's before the actual explosion.
Also, look at the behaviour of the other heroes. Everyone's there -perhaps brought to find the real bomb, but they're all running from Peter - but running is just pointless and stupid if the bomb is as big as the one Hiro saw in the future and we saw painted. Panic's a natural reaction, sure, but there's other stuff like someone tackling Peter's girlfriend to make sure she doesn't get too close. Everything's pointing to them expecting a smaller, though still deadly, explosion.
Now, two other Heroes in the dream deserve special attention: Claire and Nathan.
Both are the only ones (aside from Simone) we see approach him. Claire runs up to him, mouths 'I'm sorry', then runs away. Could she be sorry because she was trying to run close enough to him that he could get her healing powers, but then chickened out at the last minute?
And of course Nathan who gets close, cause they're brothers. But it's also the setup for the classic hero move. When there's a bomb, the best place to get rid of it is in the sky. And Nathan knows that if he gets close to his brother, his brother will be able to fly. And he knows his brother is a hero, who'll do the right thing.
The dream shows them getting in place to handle the situation. Nathan will get close to Peter to let him fly into the air so he doesn't hurt anybody when he explodes (and then Claire's influence will let him heal from any damage he causes himself).
My bet is this is actually what'll happen in the February sweeps, more or less as in the dream, but it's only a stepping stone on the way to stopping the big explosion (which'll be the May finale), probably caused by Sylar.
Oh, and a couple more survey memes stolen from
firefox27...Countdown Meme and a Meme of 10s.
10 things currently on your desk
01. Milk crates full of books (11 in all, on the desk, more elsewhere in the room and apartment)
02. DVDs
03. Spare change
04. Two long cardboard boxes full of comics
05. My keys
06. My wallet
07. An empty box
08. Gizmo (stuffed Mogwai)
09. rubber ball
10. batteries
9 favourite ships/couples
Not super big on ships, but...
01. Chase/Gert
02. Sam/Jack (SG1)
03. Simon/Kaylee
04. Veronica/Logan
05. Ultimate Spidey/Kitty
06. Buffy/Spike (even though I never thought they should belong together forever, I liked the story and the effect on Spike)
07. Sol/Trixie
08. George/Izzie (even if it is just their dynamic as friends, though they'd also make a good couple IMHO)
09. Robin/Spoiler (I know that ship has long sailed, but I'm counting it, I'm running out of choices)
8 of your current favourite songs
I don't listen to music much, so my choices probably suck to you all, and mostly they're just ones I remember enough.. No particular order.
01. Superman Song, Crash Test Dummies
02. Eve of Destruction (dunno... Barry McSomething?)
03. Imagine, John Lennon
04. The Impossible Dream, from Don Quixote
05. Mad World, Gary Jules
06. The Gunners Dream, Pink Floyd
07. Don't Fear the Reaper, ?
08. Firefly theme song
7 people you talk to most
First 3 are nonline people, the rest are all LJers. Order isn't all that strict, I don't keep track of such things exactly and there are all sorts of different types of 'talking to'... some are very few words over a regular basis, some are long discussions but fairly infrequent, etc.
01. My brother
02. My brother's gf
03. My dad
04. Eve (
bareedy )05. Jono (
angelophile)06. Cadi (
hayzil)07. Sort of a tie between a whole bunch of people.
6 favourite kinds of candy/chocolate
01. Reese Peanut Butter Cups
02. Crispy Crunch
03. Kit Kat
04. Crunchie
05. Caramilk
06. Hershey's Cookies and Cream
4 favorite bands and ONE artist
Don't really listen to music so my choices are all the ones whos names I think of first for one reason or another. Sometimes just because I liked the name. FOr the 1, they didn't specify musical artist, so I went with a comic artist.
01. Beatles
02. Guns & Roses
03. Pink Floyd
04. Barenaked Ladies
05. Adrian Alphona
4 websites you visit daily
01. Livejournal
02. Newsarama.
03. BoingBoing.
04. Wikipedia
3 items on your wall
01. Weird glass ball thingie
02. Posters (Serenity, Dungeons & Dragons (The game, not the movie), and X2)
03. A fabric hanging of a lion
2 favourite sayings
01. Alas
02. Don't Do It, it's a trap!
1 favourite movie (This is a rude question!)
01. Serenity, though it may not be my favorite I have trouble of instantly categorizing and ranking.
10s quiz.
TEN FAVORITES GIRLS
I'm going with TV and comic girls, and again I have remembering and categorization problems.
01. Veronica Mars
02. Kitty Pryde
03. Cassandra Cain
04. Gert Yorkes
05. Kaywinnit Lee Frye
06. Sharon/Athena/Boomer (technically these are two people but I'm counting them as one)
07. Molly Hayes
08. Barbara Gordon/Oracle (but not Barbara Gordon/Batgirl)
09. Fred (Angel)
10. Claire Bennett (as current fandoms go, anyway)
TEN FAVOURITES BOYS
(Again, TV, comics, and books, unordered except by thinkingof it)
01. Star Pilot Grainger
02. Hiro Nakamura
03. Chase Stein
04. Malcolm Reynolds
05. Michael Scoffield
06. Rodney McKay
07. Chamber/Jono
08. Spike
09. Sayid (Lost)
10. Jayne Cobb
TEN FAVOURITES
01. televison show: Heroes at the moment
02. drink: Water
03. color: Grey
04. sport: Soccer to play. Or Assal Horizontology. Nothing to watch.
05. mall: Eaton Centre I guess
06. music: None
07. food: Gyros, or tacos.
08. season: spring
09. animal: some kind of big cat
10. city: Toronto I think
TEN FACTS
01. hometown: I don't consider myself to have one.
02. hair color: Brown
03. hair length: Mid-neck liength at present.
04. hair style: Rockstar hair! Messy and a little too long.
05. eye color: Brown
06. shoe size: Dunno
07. mood: meh
08. orientation: Straight
09. available?: yes, but unsuitable
10. lefty/righty: Righty
TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE
01. have you ever been in love: Yes
02. do you believe in love: Yes
03. why did your last relationship fail?: cowardice on my part?
04. have you ever been heartbroken: Yes
05. have you ever broken someone's heart: Probably not, though maybe
06. have you ever fallen for your best friend: don't think so.
07. have you ever loved someone but never told them: Almost exclusively.
08. are you afraid of commitment: Possibly, don't know yet.
09. have you ever had a secret admirer: No
10. do you believe in love at first sight: Not love as such, though attractions that can lead to love, sure.
TEN THINGS: THIS OR THAT
01. love or money: love
02. hard liquor or beer: neither
03. spaghetti or lasagna: lasagna, though both are good
04. one night stands or relationships: Relationship
05. televison or internet: If I had to choose, internet, cause I can download my TV shows.
06. pepsi or coke: really don't care.
07. wild night out or romantic night in: Romantic night in
08. colored or black and white pictures: colored. I'm not big on black and white in TV, photos, or art.
09. phone or in person: In person
10. aim or myspace: Aim, I guess, by virtue of the fact that I have aim but don't have myspace.
TEN HAVE YOU EVERS
01. have you ever been caught sneaking out: No
02. have you ever skinny dipped: No
03. have you ever done something you regret: Yes
04. have you ever bungee jumped: No.
05. have you ever been on a house boat: No
06. have you ever finished an entire jaw breaker: Yes
07. have you ever wanted someone so badly it hurt: Yes
08. have you ever went out without your parents permission: Yes, although not in the 'gone out despite being told not to' way (not sure I can recall being told not to, I was quite happy staying in) but in the sense of 'going out without asking permission' certainly.
09. have you ever regret something so much that u want to erase it if you could: Sure
10. have you ever been caught by your parents doing it?: No.
TEN EMOTIONS
01. are you missing someone right now: Not actively, but passively missing a large number of people
02. are you happy: no
03. are you talking to anyone right now: no
04. are you bored: yeah
05. are you german: I wasn't aware german is an emotion. But then again, I was feeling slightly german the other day. (I was about to type 'feeling a little German, but that just sounds dirty).
06. are you irish: I have some irish blood in me but I don't feel the Irish emotion, whatever that is.
07. are you french: Might have some french blood in me, but I don't feel french.
08. are you Italian: No.
09. are your parents still married: No.
10. do you like someone right now: Not specifically, no.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-15 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-18 07:36 pm (UTC)I guess the negative aspects in fictional or historical eras appeal to me in terms of having to cope with bad situations you can't fix outright. A certain level of that helps sort of justify to my own subconscious that it's not all just an escapist fantasy where everything is perfect and instead I can ride along in the story more easily.