Comics Roundtable

Welcome back Maze. A week with Maze, Detective Dan, and Dr. Linda...and no Ella or Tom Welling/Pierce. YAY! I missed Maze, although she looks different, softer somehow. Did miss Amenadial.
Rather liked that episode. This is my favorite procedural, although it's not a true procedural. In fact the writers aren't even trying any longer with the procedural. Reminds me of what happened with the Good Wife and Angel the Series, started out as a procedural, writers got sort of bored, and went off in another direction. Works for me. I'm not a fan of procedurals, I'm too good at figuring out the mystery ahead of the characters and well, then what's the point?

( spoilers )

Fun episode.

Oh, and my other favorite television show is back -- "Good Behavior" -- it's also a darkly funny series, but about a thief, a hitman, and her kid on the run.

Right now my favorite tv shows on or must watch shows on cable (not streaming) are:

* Lucifer
* The Good Place
* Good Behavior
* Grey's
* Poldark
* This is Us
* Riverdale
* Big Bang Theory

And possibly The Gifted.

Enjoying Inhumans and Seal Team. On the fence about everything else.

Can't say I'm fangurl or fannish about any of it...but I'm rarely fannish about things. Last thing I was somewhat fannish about may have been Farscape, but I came so late to the party -- it lasted a year. BSG -- fannish about for a little while, but got annoyed with the final season. Same deal with Lost. Also happened with Once Upon a Time - was fannish for the first three seasons, then got annoyed. Similar situation with Veronica Mars.

The only series I think I managed to stay fannish about during and after its entire run was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's among the few series that I got more fannish about as it went, usually it's the opposite. I'm not really a cereal fan (meaning jumping from fandom to fandom, not the breakfast cereal).

I feel like I've watched a lot of television shows this weekend. I don't tend to watch that much during the week -- mainly because no time. Between work, errands, and other things not worth mentioning...there's limited time. Plus early wake up time.

Burned out. Don't want to watch any more. Poldark will just have to wait until Monday. Assuming I don't decide to watch Lucifer instead.

Anyhow...more television shows below. I don't know if calling this a review is really accurate. Someone took exception with me calling a post a review once, which made me wonder -- what exactly is determined to be or defined as a review?

1. The Gifted

Still enjoying for the most part. But, it's a bit anxiety inducing and seems to make me angry. I think it may be triggering me? I have major difficulties with people being arrested without fair trial or due process. Unfair imprisonment enrages me and is among my worst nightmares. Also, I have issues with racism and fascism. It's why I have not been able to watch The Man in the High Castle -- every time I attempt it -- it triggers me.

So, while I'm enjoying the series -- I keep finding myself yelling at the television set and wanting to kick the villains.

Don't know how long I'll stick with it. I gave up on The Walking Dead and Revenge for some of the same reasons, and admittedly have struggled with both Poldark and Game of Thrones. Comfort television this isn't. It's frustrating to watch at times...and let's face it the world can be frustrating all on its own, sometimes you just want to escape from it.

Anyhow, I like the characters, the actors, and the story for the most part -- I just wish they'd break out Reed Strucker and Polaris from the damn prison and move on to another story already. Not sure I can watch Polaris get beaten up much longer.

I'm beginning to understand why everyone seems to prefer the DC superhero series and MAOS, they are less frustrating and there's a happy ending, for the most part, or a satisfying conclusion. It's less anxiety inducing. Hmmm...I may be a bit of a masochist where television is concerned.

2. Riverdale

Season opener was slow in places, but did a good job of pushing the story forward and maintaining the general norish atmosphere. It really does feel a bit like Archie Comics by way of Twin Peaks, or at the most James M. Cain. The point of view is mainly the teens, but unlike various 90s and early 00s television series -- the parents have a major role and aren't relegated to the sidelines, or completely invisible. That was always my quibble with Buffy and various other teen oriented series -- the parents didn't appear to exist. They were there...but rarely seen. Did Buffy never meet Xander and Willow's parents? It seemed odd. Here at least they are part of the story and a vital part, they may even be the villains. It's not clear.

What's disturbing is who they are casting as the parents...people who were in all the teen shows and movies that I watched in the 1990s and 80s. I mean Luke Perry was Buffy's boyfriend in the Buffy Movie and the teen heart-throbe in 90210. And Molly Ringwald did all those John Hughes teen films.
Madchen -- Betty's mother, was the teen hottie for guys in Twin Peaks, and Billy Crudup - was the teen baddie in the Scream flicks. Ack. I now know how my parents felt. Weirdest thing about getting older, you don't feel like you are any older...until you look at other people and think, okay, wait a second.

Anyhow, I like this season better than last. It's done a good job of building the characters. And Jughead has gotten a bit more interesting.

The teens or rather twenty-somethings playing the teens are rather good in their roles. It's well cast. And the cinematography feels like you are watching a painting unfold. Each scene is so perfectly shot. The writing good be a smidgen or two better...but considering what it is, it's not bad.

3. Once Upon a Time

Well, they've definitely rebooted the concept. This week's episode answered one of the three questions that I was curious about. Which was how they were going to continue the series with Hook, but without Emma, and still keep their happy ending. Also why the heck Regina and Hook ended up in Hyperion Heights with Henry, but no one else did outside of Rumplestilskin. ( spoiler )

The other two questions I have are -- how'd Rumple get there and what in the hell is his deal this round? Once that gets answered, I may or may not give up on it. Emma unfortunately was and is a better actress and character than her son Henry, and the guy currently playing him. So, I'm not sure this is going to have much staying power. That said, the actress playing Cinderella aka Lucinda, rocks. I love her.

Lucinda: I find it disturbing that my daughter thinks I'm Cinderella waiting for her prince to save her. I want her to see me as saving myself, and supporting her, not idly waiting around thinking some day my prince will come.
Henry: Actually, I think that was Snow White.

Go Lucinda.

Other than that...I don't know how long I'll stick with it. The evil stepmother isn't as interesting or entertaining as the Evil Queen. She wasn't in the fairy tale either. It's sort of dull. And I think they wrapped it up rather neatly last year.

4. Grey's Anatomy

I enjoyed this episode better than last weeks. (I'm not a fan of April, Arizona or Jo Wilson...so when they aren't featured, I'm happy. My mother isn't either. We grouse about them over the phone, so no need to do it here.) That said, I'm feeling sorry for Wilson, and I can't quite decide where they are going with April.

( spoilers )

5. Scandal -- yes, I'm still watching Scandal. How much longer don't know. Since it is the final season, I may stick it out.

I like the actors and characters for the most part. Particularly Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope. She's fierce. And Cyrus Been is interesting to me. Also have an odd fondness for Charlie and Quinn.

It's interesting that now that Olivia has the power, she's doing underhanded things. The series has always been a rather adept examination of power, how people abuse it, and how it corrupts. It's similar to The Good Wife in this respect. Both the Good Wife and Scandal are political satires about gender politics, and power. I think The Good Wife is better written, but Scandal is definitely entertaining at times, even though it's plots often make no sense.

( why I'll be posting less and mainly on innocuous topics )

Television

Watching Seal Team, which is better than I expected. It's well acted, and an interesting role for Boreanze, who for the most part is playing more of character role for a change, less romantic lead. (Of course he's not pretty any longer, somewhat rugged, sort of looks like a hockey player gone to seed, and more normal looking. And somewhere between Buffy S1 and Seal, Boreanze became a good television actor, although I never thought he was a bad actor. I liked him well enough in Angel and Buffy. Buffy, for the most part, was well cast, as was Angel, or I'd have never stuck with either.) It's a good role for DB, who is playing Jason, leader of the team, a conflicted solider with problems at home. DB does conflicted well. Also the rest of the heavy male-oriented cast is good. So far I don't see any weak links in the cast.

The pilot is exposition heavy and hard to follow as a result. There's a lot going on, and a lot of back story. The story picks up in the middle, with the team already established. Via flashbacks, we learn that Boreanze's character feels directly responsible for one of his team members' deaths who was also his best friend. That he's separated from his wife due to being married to his job and being away a lot, also not exactly into sharing and emotionally distant. Has three kids, all teenagers. We jump into the team mid-flow, with a lot of military jargon thrown at the screen, and the first job is your typical hostage rescue, failing to capture not kill the bad guy routine (Similar to The Brave's plot-line, but less suspenseful and far more realistic. Not to mention less predictable and cliche ridden.). The difficulty is there's a lot of
jumping back and forth between the flashback, the job, and the home lives of the team -- also a lot of characters are introduced at once and too many pov's.

The second episode is much better than the first. It was compelling enough to get me to watch the second episode "On Demand", which I guess is saying something, right?

This episode gives us more insight on how the team works together. It follows two main pov's instead of several, Jason (Boreanze), who is the seasoned leader of the team, with the world on his shoulders, and Clay Spenser, the young hot-head, who he kicked back to training and off the team. Both are compelling characters, and hit my story kinks pretty hard. (I like wounded/conflicted male and female heroes, with savior complexes, and who have to make tough and often ambiguous decisions. I'm not really gender specific.) The other thing about this episode is it is realistic -- they come upon a bunch of poisoned Syrian kids, and debate what to do about it. The debate is mainly, if you rescued them, then what? They spend their lives in a refugee camp? Will we even be able to do it?
And do we risk ourselves for a fools mission? With impossible odds? They win and lose the day. And Jason also has to make a decision about whether to tell one of his team-mates about his wife undergoing a difficult c-section to delivery her child. Each decision is realistic and fits the tough and world-weary character that DB is portraying. Seal Team, unlike The Brave, feels more like a character piece and the jobs are less important that the character's arcs. It's also not a soap opera, there's no romantic bed-hopping, or love triangles. It's a straight from the top military action drama.

The one draw-back of both episodes, and why my attention kept wandering, is I had to watch both "On Demand" and you can't fast-forward via On Demand. So you are stuck with about five-six commercials interrupting the flow of the drama. I wish the commercials would be before, at an intermission and after -- less disruptive.

[There are so many tv shows that I can't keep track of when they are premiering any longer. I've missed five pilots to date. And had to watch shows via On Demand. Part of the problem is they all have different start dates between September - November. And some of the date published in magazines and elsewhere were wrong. I miss the days when there were less shows and it was easier to track. There are now so many the entertainment mags have given up giving full reviews of all of them. (145 scripted each season). ]

I have the third episode of Seal taped apparently. I thought it was the second.

After seeing these two episodes, I may stick with it for a while. I'm not in love with it or anything, but I find it compelling in places and recommend it to people who enjoy strong albeit conflicted male leaders, military action dramas with heavy and somewhat diverse male casts (although this one is heavily white, but there are POC in it), with a few women characters in supporting roles. If that isn't your thing? Pass this one on by.

I've seen two of these military action dramas to date, The Brave and Seal Team, and I think "Seal Team" is better -- better written at any rate. Title sucks. While they are very different in some respects, they have similar set-ups, so it is hard not to compare them. Also of the two, one (The Brave) I don't buy at all (it reminds me of one too many similar top secret US government covert ops thriller television series that I've seen...which no, the government just doesn't operate like that. I can tell the writers don't know what they are writing about), and the other one I do (Seal Team - whoever is writing this appears to have done some serious research). And certainly more compelling. Of the two? I think Seal Team has more longevity. I could be wrong about that. Anyhow, considering I don't tend to like military action dramas and am not a fan of David Boreanze by any stretch of the imagination, yet of the two dramas -- watched the second episode of Seal Team (on "On Demand" no less) and didn't bother to record the second one of The Brave. Add to all of that? I wanted to like the Brave and not like Seal Team. In short, don't judge a television show by its title or the actors in it.

After Poldark, which has pacing problems...my attention kept wandering, too much focus on Mr. & Mrs Narcissist Warleggan, not enough on Dr. Ennis, Caroline, and Delmelza, watched Lucifer, which I enjoyed a lot more. Sorry, but there it is. Lucifer is just the more enjoyable series.

Lucifier - Episode 3.2

Eh, spoilers ensue. Still not feeling the love for Welling's Pierce or Ella. The Procedural story however had me laughing really hard at one point...and was rather run. I'm wondering if the writers have decided to use the procedural storylines as comic relief? If so, they really need to tone down Ella's fannishness. It's grating on my nerves.

( spoilers )

Odd, the show is on at 8, yet it's going a bit darker than last season when it was on at nine.
Meanwhile the family show about mutants is on at 9, shouldn't that be on at 8? Granted no-one actually watches television live any longer, but still.

I loved this episode.

But, I'm not really "fannish" about the series. I feel no need to purchase the DVDs or re-watch the episodes. I don't really feel that way about any series at the moment. The closest I came was the Great British Baking Show and Daredevil this summer, but that was more out of boredom than anything else...and in regards to Great British Baking...comfort food.

1. The Margins of Print - Fan Fiction as Book History by Catherine Coker -- which I got from elisi but I'm almost positive was mentioned by yourlibrarian.

Abstract—Contemporary fan fiction is overwhelmingly digital in both publication and dissemination; it has never been easier to access this subculture of writers and writing. However, fan fiction in print has likewise never been so accessible, as a slew of recent popular novels proudly proclaim their fannish origins and make claims such as "More Than 2 Million Reads Online—FIRST TIME IN PRINT!" Further, traditional fannish mores insist that fan work should never be done for profit, and yet numerous print works adapted from fan fiction have become best sellers. I would like to problematize how we consider form and content in both creation and reception, how the popular value of work waxes and wanes in relation to its fan fiction status. In other words, how can we read fan fiction as part of a continuum of historical publication practices by women, and problematize our hierarchies of value between print and digital?

Fanfiction and self-publishing have both been stigmatized. But with the digital age, more and more people are ignoring this and sort of looking at the people pooh-poohing it and saying bugger off, as I run off with my millions.

The internet has in some respects freed people to write and create without worrying about the gate-keepers, who for the most part no longer exist. This upsets a lot of people, mainly people who make money from traditional publishing, television, music and film venues and feel that it is encroaching on their revenue stream. It is and it isn't. It is only to the extent that the public chooses to read fanfiction or non-traditionally distributed cultural works over say traditional ones. Which, hello, means the traditionally distributed works aren't meeting the public's needs or expectations.

If someone prefers to read EL James Fifty Shades of Grey over the latest Danielle Steel or Nora Roberts novel, then perhaps there's a reason for it? (Mainly Danielle Steele and Nora Roberts don't have any new ideas and have become a bit tired in their conventions and style. Having read all three, I'd say they are on par with each other for the most part, with Roberts being the best...but she hasn't had a new idea in twenty years. 50 Shades didn't either, but it did incorporate text messaging and a contract, fanfic writing techniques, which was a new idea stylistically.)

Let's face it the publishing world needs to be shaken up a bit in this regard. It's sat comfortably on its laurels for far too long. Fanfic and self-published novels, such as many of Courtney Milan's recent works, deal with LGBTQ relationships, POC, and love interests that are off the beaten track and defy conventional models. They don't follow the Romance Writers Guidelines, they make up their own.

Same deal with Sci-fi.

Also, I remember a fan telling me that she'd been approached by trade publishers at fan conventions to publish her work. Because they felt she had a built-in readership. She was writing real person fanfic - or celebrity fic, where basically she picks an actor like say James Marsters or in this case a guy from a British Reality Show about casting someone for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat...and puts him in various stories. It's really not that different from Everybody's All Human fanfic that I've read back in the day. And a heck of a lot easier to publish, because all you have to do is change the names and throw in a bit more description. Everything else can remain.
No worries about copyright infringement, because you aren't using anything from the original creator's world. And no worries about defamation, because you just changed the names.

Cassandra Clare did it with Harry Potter fanfic -- her Shadowhunter series is basically based on her Harry Potter fanfic. There's a lot of published fic out there in the YA and New Adult genre that came from Twilight and Harry Potter. Harry Potter and Twilight took fanfic mainstream. Most people didn't know about fanfic until Twilight and Harry Potter. Those of us who were writing and/or reading it prior to that -- know about the Star Wars, Star Trek, Supernatural, Farscape, Doctor Who, House, Buffy, Angel, etc fanfic. I admittedly didn't discover it until Buffy, when I went hunting for Buffy discussion boards, spoilers, etc.. and stumbled upon the fanfic first. This was in the early days of the internet, circa 2002, before we had LJ, before Twitter, before FB, before all the other social media platforms. We just had websites, listserves and voy forums.

Twilight fic tends to be X-rated New Adult. While Harry Potter tends to be Dystopian YA or Paranormal YA. For some reason Potter fans didn't do All Human fic and get it published, near as I can tell.

There are a few fanfic writers such as Cat Valente and CS Pascal who wrote original fics online and self-published them online, prior to a publisher grabbing them and turning them into best-sellers. Andy Weir is an example of a non-traditionally published writer -- who got a best-seller and a movie - The Martian. Go on Good Reads sometime, quite a few of us non-traditionally published writers are on that site. Also before you pooh-pooh it, keep in mind half your flist may fall in that category, just as half falls under the fanfic category.

It's really all about how you promote and market yourself. If you are good at it -- the sky's the limit. If you aren't...doesn't matter how good your writing is, it won't go far.


2. Fanfic pairings I'd like to read but can't seem to find that much of, so gave up.

* Daredevil and Jessica Jones (gen or platonic) - combine those worlds

* Doc Holliday from Wynonna Earp with anyone

* X-men Scott Summers (Cyclops - original version) with Jean Grey(romantic/het), or anyone (platonic/gen)

* John Crichton and Aeryn Sun fanfic

* Sense8 - Wolfgang and Talia, also Wolfgang and the Cop.

* River Song and pretty much anyone

* Starbuck and Apollo (BSG, either version)

Buffy fanfic was easier to find. I have a tendency to like characters and relationships others aren't into writing about.

Oh, regarding Buffy, one fic I wanted to read...but have yet to see is Spike becoming human and acting more like say Ripper or a human version of Spike, not William. Crack martial artist, into killing demons, and becoming a Watcher who hates vampires. I thought about writing it myself but gave up.

Another that I was reading, a WIP, but disappeared before it was completed was about a human Spike with no memory caught in the cul-de-sac hell that Gunn was stuck in, when Dawn runs into him -- thinking he was dead. We had just gotten to Buffy running into him as well...when the writer stopped. Anyone remember it or know what happened to it?
It was doing interesting things with memory loss.

1. On a rainy, somewhat warm day, I'm baking gluten-free artisanial flat-bread, with rosemary, garlic/parsely and parmessene sprinkled on top. I added the eggs, apple cider vinegar, water and olive oil -- to a pre-prepared gluten free flour mix. Mainly because gluten-free flours confuse me.

Have a conflict problem...small group ministry has invited me to a barbecue on Thursday night. And I have got to do laundry and the best night is Thursday. I may try to do it tomorrow. Do it tonight, but baking bread. Laundry is a bit of an ordeal...requires lugging laundry down to the basement, and hoping for an available machine. We have four washers and three dryers for 77 units. You have to plan it right to get around the other people.

Also be patient.

Trying to get self off the sweets and to the savory.

2. Finished latest romance novel that I was reading. So this is the Wed reading meme on Sunday, not that anyone is reading my memes...but in case you are stumbling upon it. Not sure why I'm compelled to read romances at the moment. If I were to hazard a guess -- I'd state it would be one or more of the following reasons, although I think it's hard to quantify why anyone likes or is interested in something at any given time.

* gender politics -- specifically how women writers view gender politics
* comfort -- happy ending
* resolving problems without violence, vengeance, etc -- instead with forgiveness and love
* class issues - for some reason these novels delve into it more deeply than other genres, I've no clue why that is.
* doesn't require that much concentration

Anyhow probably doesn't matter. We like what we like. Want what we want. As long as it isn't harming anyone, who bloody cares? No animals, pets, or humans were harmed during these readings or writings.

The latest two are by Christie Caldwell, a bestselling novelist and traditionally published. I point this out, because I've never seen so many typographical errors in a book...and glaringly obvious ones not subtle stuff like occasionally skipping over a "the" or leaving an "e" off. Obvious. Such as "she" instead of "he", "her" instead of "his", "pressured" instead of "pressure", and improper comma and punctuation placement. It may be a Kindle transference issue. But I doubt it. So, in case you are one of those people thinking only self-published or non-traditionally published books have these issues? Really not. Actually this one had more typos than many non-traditionally published books I've read. (This is obviously an issue for me -- because, besides myself, I have four family members that are self-published writers with varying degrees of success. So yeah, when someone disparages self-published works, I have to remind myself not to take it personally, and let it go. People are insensitive about these sorts of things. Getting traditionally published often has zip to do with talent and everything to do with who you happen to know, similar to most if not all professions in that regard. The only reason Harper Lee got published traditionally was she had contacts in the industry through her friends. And they changed her book to fit their needs. She hated the publishing industry afterwards.)

Caldwell's books are actually fairly good, except for a few plotting quibbles, and well the aforementioned typographical errors. Which are less prevalent in her latest work.

My Lady of Deception -- this story takes place during the Napleonic Wars (I think) shortly after the French Revolution. It's about a British Spy Organization called "The Brethren" that is attempting to keep England safe by whatever means necessary. In this case, determining if the heroine, Georgina, is loyal to Britain or to her father, a notorious terrorist, Irish Republican Cause. Her father, code-named The Fox, has captured a couple of spies and is torturing them for information. For those who despise torture scenes? No worries. We don't see them. Except in flashback or overheard screams. The focus is on the romance between Georgina and one of the captives, Adam Markman, a spy for the Brethren. Georgina without her father's knowledge, obviously, has been sending messages to the Brethren informing them of her father's traitorous activities with Emmet and his attempts to aid the involvement in France. She's also been trying to help the captives. She attempted to rescue one, but believes he died. And is in the midst of trying to rescue Adam, who she's fallen for.

The book is in three sections -- the captivity/rescue, their marriage/falling out, catching her father/forgiveness.
( Read more... )

The Spy Who Seduced Her - The Brethren Book #1

( Read more... )

3. Bread was really good by the way. They are playing Lady Gaga above me, so I put music on. Not that I have anything against Lady Gaga, but I really don't feel like listening to muffled music at the moment.

This is Us -- was really good this week. Hit all the right marks, with no sappy over-voice or platitudes. Also, they did a good job of examining alcohol addiction without laying on the melodrama, something television doesn't always do effectively.

1. Pretty day for the most part. In the low 80s. Humid. And dry. We desperately need the rain, that will most likely arrive tomorrow and Monday. Assembled a chair and table today...major accomplishment of the morning. I can now paint. One can write without a table, even draw without a table, but one cannot effectively paint.

I miss painting. It calms me.

Also ate too much sugar...I don't know why I binge things that hurt me. Seems rather self-destructive actually, also gets in the way of the sleeping.

Table that was easy to assemble did have a damaged table -- most likely from the manufacturer. While I should just return it. It's nothing major. And I want the table to paint on. Plus can't really notice it. And the table was only $29.

Chair was a bitch to assemble however.

2. Once Upon A Time

The reboot didn't grab me. Honestly they couldn't pick a story that hadn't been done already...such as I don't know there has to be one out there. Maybe Rose White and Rose Red, where the prince is a bear? It seems to me that the writers have run out of ideas.

( spoilers )

Regarding Marvel's Inhumans -- I forgot to DVR it this week so missed the episode. Which probably states how interested I was in it. Odd it's not on Demand...I did look. But hard to care one way or the other. (Everything else is On Demand).