tv and stuff
Jul. 25th, 2010 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serynI watched the Veronica Mars pilot episode this afternoon.
I kind of liked it. It's got that Nancy Drew vibe. But there was one scene that was horrible and I didn't like myself much for what I was thinking. Apparently at a party Veronica was given a mickey... she said it was your standard rum-and-coke-and-rufie. I was thinking, "You're a high school student, wtf are you doing drinking rum?" The next scene showed some of the aftermath, and I felt really bad for blaming the victim. But I do still think she shouldn't have been consuming alcohol.
Veronica Mars has that guy who was the successful vampire friend on Moonlight. No wonder I thought he sucked at portraying a vampire. He went from rich surfer boy to entrepreneur. I know there are 20 year olds who are astonishingly successful, but you just don't see it that often. Comparing the two roles, the performance in Moonlight was amazing. Kind of like seeing a kindergarten talent show winning an Emmy for best drama. But if you compare, say, Marlon Brando as The Godfather, even the Moonlight performance looks like the actor's a bratty pissant.
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I'm almost done with season three of Doc Martin. I've seen most of these already because they were on PBS. But I was missing 2 of 7 (non-consecutive episodes) so it's been vaguely helpful to listen to them while doing something else.
Unfortunately I was attempting to do some complex knitting and had to pull it all out again plus some that had been good before. I shouldn't have assumed I was awake enough for that.
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Kate Daniels #4 or How I hate Goober Peas
I'm reading the fourth Ilona Andrews book in the Kate Daniels series. I enjoy this series a lot, but it's definitely missing something. I think what it's missing is something that's been missing in most fantasy novels my whole life. No one is a responsible adult. There are adults (never the main characters) and there are responsible people (often the main characters), but there never seems to be someone who is mature enough to do the right thing when it doesn't count. It's not enough to defend the weak with your gun or your sword, you can't be bitchy all the time just because you're not working. You can't have hurt feelings without giving the other person a chance to explain or listening to the reasons when they are offered. It's really unattractive when someone who insists that she be treated professionally and tells us that her boss is incredibly unfair tells the shared secretary not to let her boyfriend's calls through because she's not talking to him. That's someone childish who is undeserving and unprofessional.
I don't like that the books are set in Atlanta. I don't like how idiotic the main character is about money (see: set in Atlanta... there's definitely a stereotype that Southerners are unable to spend/save wisely, but it's not me perpetuating it.) Like she trades a sword worth TWO HOUSES because her friend got arrested on trumped up charges. This is the main character whose adopted daughter told off the boyfriend for eating her food because the main character can't afford it. And the same main character who bins a fancy supper when the guest doesn't show. Uncooked marinated steaks can be frozen for later use. Baked potatoes can be chopped and made into home fries. There's no reason not to cover a salad bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. And if you're not going to eat leftovers then you can't teach your kids to bitch about your finances risking your starvation.
The author's note says there's sex in this book. Um. spoiler alert much?
----
My TiVo and my cable box are not getting along again. About 40% of the time programmed recordings are not what they say they are. It records some random channel. After changing the channel to the correct one, it immediately changes it again to something stupid. So there will be a tantalizing 2-3 seconds at the very beginning where it is recording the right thing. Then there is someone shouting, "Arrriba! Arrriba! Andale Andale!" And advertising some sort of cleaning product in Mexican Spanish... I don't watch TV in Spanish, but whenever I see it, they're always advertising something that kills germs. It's not exactly a prejudice-fighting experience.
We're going to have to cancel cable because there's no way to deal with this without spending an ungodly sum of money to fix it. I need a new TV (we don't have a widescreen thingy). I'd need somewhere to put it (old cabinet won't fit it). I'd need a new TiVo (which I'm not going to buy because I am unhappy with them. Not to mention they're very expensive.) And I'd need a new disc player. All this stuff I'd need to buy in order to be able to watch cable... which they charge more than $100/month for. In the meantime Netflix has more streaming content than I can watch for $10/month, there's Hulu, and there are never recording conflicts with either of those. I've got a dedicated laptop and a widescreen monitor already. So... it will cost me nothing.
If I change my mind, chances are pretty good the cable people will be running a special in 6 months or a year. So I'd have the $100/month saved up to buy into the new stuff. All the electronic equipment will be that much cheaper too. We'll probably miss the few shows that aren't available elsewhere. Like Criminal Minds (they only show the episode once and they don't give a fuck if Obama pre-empts it... it's not available anywhere until the re-run which may or may not happen. They usually seem to skip over any show during re-run selections that a lot of people missed. Maybe it drives DVD sales, but probably it drives torrents. I don't torrent things. If you don't show my program and don't make that recoverable, then you can fuck off and die. I'll find something else I like that doesn't deliberately screw the viewers over.)
I kind of liked it. It's got that Nancy Drew vibe. But there was one scene that was horrible and I didn't like myself much for what I was thinking. Apparently at a party Veronica was given a mickey... she said it was your standard rum-and-coke-and-rufie. I was thinking, "You're a high school student, wtf are you doing drinking rum?" The next scene showed some of the aftermath, and I felt really bad for blaming the victim. But I do still think she shouldn't have been consuming alcohol.
Veronica Mars has that guy who was the successful vampire friend on Moonlight. No wonder I thought he sucked at portraying a vampire. He went from rich surfer boy to entrepreneur. I know there are 20 year olds who are astonishingly successful, but you just don't see it that often. Comparing the two roles, the performance in Moonlight was amazing. Kind of like seeing a kindergarten talent show winning an Emmy for best drama. But if you compare, say, Marlon Brando as The Godfather, even the Moonlight performance looks like the actor's a bratty pissant.
------
I'm almost done with season three of Doc Martin. I've seen most of these already because they were on PBS. But I was missing 2 of 7 (non-consecutive episodes) so it's been vaguely helpful to listen to them while doing something else.
Unfortunately I was attempting to do some complex knitting and had to pull it all out again plus some that had been good before. I shouldn't have assumed I was awake enough for that.
---
Kate Daniels #4 or How I hate Goober Peas
I'm reading the fourth Ilona Andrews book in the Kate Daniels series. I enjoy this series a lot, but it's definitely missing something. I think what it's missing is something that's been missing in most fantasy novels my whole life. No one is a responsible adult. There are adults (never the main characters) and there are responsible people (often the main characters), but there never seems to be someone who is mature enough to do the right thing when it doesn't count. It's not enough to defend the weak with your gun or your sword, you can't be bitchy all the time just because you're not working. You can't have hurt feelings without giving the other person a chance to explain or listening to the reasons when they are offered. It's really unattractive when someone who insists that she be treated professionally and tells us that her boss is incredibly unfair tells the shared secretary not to let her boyfriend's calls through because she's not talking to him. That's someone childish who is undeserving and unprofessional.
I don't like that the books are set in Atlanta. I don't like how idiotic the main character is about money (see: set in Atlanta... there's definitely a stereotype that Southerners are unable to spend/save wisely, but it's not me perpetuating it.) Like she trades a sword worth TWO HOUSES because her friend got arrested on trumped up charges. This is the main character whose adopted daughter told off the boyfriend for eating her food because the main character can't afford it. And the same main character who bins a fancy supper when the guest doesn't show. Uncooked marinated steaks can be frozen for later use. Baked potatoes can be chopped and made into home fries. There's no reason not to cover a salad bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. And if you're not going to eat leftovers then you can't teach your kids to bitch about your finances risking your starvation.
The author's note says there's sex in this book. Um. spoiler alert much?
----
My TiVo and my cable box are not getting along again. About 40% of the time programmed recordings are not what they say they are. It records some random channel. After changing the channel to the correct one, it immediately changes it again to something stupid. So there will be a tantalizing 2-3 seconds at the very beginning where it is recording the right thing. Then there is someone shouting, "Arrriba! Arrriba! Andale Andale!" And advertising some sort of cleaning product in Mexican Spanish... I don't watch TV in Spanish, but whenever I see it, they're always advertising something that kills germs. It's not exactly a prejudice-fighting experience.
We're going to have to cancel cable because there's no way to deal with this without spending an ungodly sum of money to fix it. I need a new TV (we don't have a widescreen thingy). I'd need somewhere to put it (old cabinet won't fit it). I'd need a new TiVo (which I'm not going to buy because I am unhappy with them. Not to mention they're very expensive.) And I'd need a new disc player. All this stuff I'd need to buy in order to be able to watch cable... which they charge more than $100/month for. In the meantime Netflix has more streaming content than I can watch for $10/month, there's Hulu, and there are never recording conflicts with either of those. I've got a dedicated laptop and a widescreen monitor already. So... it will cost me nothing.
If I change my mind, chances are pretty good the cable people will be running a special in 6 months or a year. So I'd have the $100/month saved up to buy into the new stuff. All the electronic equipment will be that much cheaper too. We'll probably miss the few shows that aren't available elsewhere. Like Criminal Minds (they only show the episode once and they don't give a fuck if Obama pre-empts it... it's not available anywhere until the re-run which may or may not happen. They usually seem to skip over any show during re-run selections that a lot of people missed. Maybe it drives DVD sales, but probably it drives torrents. I don't torrent things. If you don't show my program and don't make that recoverable, then you can fuck off and die. I'll find something else I like that doesn't deliberately screw the viewers over.)
