deird1 | Entries tagged with geekery

I went to a comedy show last night. Currently in Australia, but it's usually in the UK. If you're reading my blog, you'd probably enjoy it.

It's called BUFFY REVAMPED. And what happens is, Spike stands on stage for an hour, telling everyone the plot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's hilarious.

Highlights include:
- Songs from the perspective of Buffy, Faith, and Xander (all performed by Spike wearing appropriate bits of costume)
- An overhead projector presentation about the Initiative
- Season 5 told mainly through poems by William the Bloody

He described Dawn as being "like a new board game, or a Christopher Nolan film; not shit, but you need time to get used to it".

It's fun! Go see it!

I was discussing Love Actually with my friends, and someone mentioned that the relationship involving Keira Knightley is extremely problematic.

I said, "Yep. But it's one of my favourite stories in the movie."

Everyone stared.

"Why?" they asked. "It's all so… unhealthy."

"EXACTLY," I said.

Because, honestly, my love for fictional relationships has little to do with how healthy I think that relationship would be in real life. If anything, the reverse is true.

Are you a soulless vampire, desperate to stake/screw/destroy the disgustingly soulled vampire lover who you simultaneously adore and despise? I will ship that.

Are you desperately, sort-of secretly, in love with a woman who you keep on calling a "whore", while she insults your job, your skills, and your personal hygiene any chance she gets? I will ship that.

Are you fighting an intergalactic war against your nemesis, father of your daughter, whom you are openly ordering killed while secretly arranging for him to slip through your fingers? I will ship that.

Are you terrified of your wife leaving you, and have arranged a fake pregnancy so that she will stay? Or have you discovered the whole fake-pregnancy thing and are secretly plotting your husband's downfall, while still pretending everything's fine? I will ship that.

Are you utterly devoted to your commanding officer, and following his every order, especially the ones about tying him up, humiliating him, kicking him, and making him lick your shoes? I will ship that.

Are you having fight scenes that somehow morph into sex scenes, where you keep wanting to hurt each other but also can't stay away? I will absolutely ship that.

Healthy relationships are great. They're also – for me – kinda boring to watch. Give me the problematic weirdness any day.

I am rewatching much television, and find myself newly fascinated by a series of four episodes that all came out in fairly quick sucession. They are:
Spirits (from Stargate SG-1)
Pangs (from Buffy)
The Indians in the Lobby (from The West Wing)
Skinwalker (from Smallville)

I find these interesting, because:
- They are all clearly written in an attempt to get Native Americans represented on television more (a fairly good idea).
- They are all clearly trying to be highly respectful of Native American culture (a fairly good thing).
AND YET
- They all fail horribly (with one exception).

So, here's my theory. I think the writers were each handed instructions of "write an episode of your tv show about Native Americans", and did the best job they could. But, because of the complete dearth of Native Americans in the previous few decades of television shows, the writers were all flying blind.

And, if you look at the episodes in question, they're all taking a very logical approach to fitting this episode into their show:
Stargate puts Native Americans in space, and relates Native American mythology to aliens (as they do with EVERY OTHER CULTURE).
Buffy raises a vengeful Native American spirit, to take vengeance for past wrongs (one of the more common Buffy plotlines).
The West Wing raises a political discussion on a subject of concern, and come up with absolutely no solutions (see: EVERY OTHER episode of The West Wing).
Smallville gives Native Americans an important link to Superman's destiny (as they do with EVERYTHING ELSE).

But, comparing and constrasting, I think there's a simple reason why the West Wing episode works, while all the others fail so horribly. All the other shows are taking a stereotype of 18th century Native American culture, dumping it unchanged into their script, and talking about "how connected these people are to their culture!". Which… doesn't work at all.

Whereas The West Wing is talking to Native Americans NOW about issues which affect them NOW. They're treated as real people, rather than mythical, totally-connected-to-their-really-awesome-culture stereotypes.

I get somewhat annoyed by superhero films not using costumes because they're "being realistic". Because... outlandish costumes ARE realistic.

No, people in our world usually don't wear them. But then, our world is also notoriously short on superheroes.

And think about it! If a building was on fire, and rando-civilian-in-street-clothes started rushing in, the firefighters would hold them back so they wouldn't get injured. Whereas if the person was clearly wearing an outfit that said "I have superpowers, and am not afraid to use them!", they'd be far more likely to let that person past.

In such a situation, the more outlandish (and less like street clothes) the better. It needs to be obvious.

In a world full of superheroes, I'd say yellow spandex is TOTALLY realistic.

TV shows that I consider to be worth watching the whole way through, from start to finish:

Buffy (obviously)
Angel
Farscape
Stargate SG1
The West Wing
The Good Place
How I Met Your Mother (with the exception of the last 10 minutes)
Frasier
Elementary
Leverage

...and that's really it. I expected there to be a few more – but despite loving a tonne of other shows, I usually love them for only a few seasons, and then I leave.

Honourable mentions to The Orville (not finished yet), Ted Lasso (not finished yet), and a whole bunch of British tv from the 70s.

I don't tend to think of myself as being that interested in visuals. Despite this, last night I realised that I will often love (or loathe) a film based purely on whether their costuming is any good.

Pride and Prejudice (2005), for instance, is a terrible film. Because their costuming is not as accurate as it should be. (And for… no other reason that I can identify within my own brain.)

Little Women (2019), is, likewise, a dreadful movie – and not a patch on Little Women (1994). Because 2019 has inaccurate costumes, and 1994 is extremely accurate.

And Bridgerton? Not even worth watching. Because costumes.

And, on the other hand, I tracked down Gentleman Jack mainly because I saw a YouTuber raving about how historically accurate the clothes were – and apparently that really matters to me.

(Gentleman Jack, by the way, is really worthwhile. Especially if you're into historical lesbian dramas based-on-a-true-story with a tonne of upper-class Yorkshire snark.)

So, someone – someone with better vidding skills than me – needs to make a fanvid set to Village People's "In the Navy".

And it needs to feature clips from Pirates of the Caribbean, and from Master and Commander, and from Horatio Hornblower, and from basically anything else that features sailing ships.

And, if possible, the bit where they're all going "WE. WANT. YOU." while the main guy panics should have at least one good clip from the bit of Pirates of the Caribbean when the crew of the Black Pearl are all zombiefied and scaring Elizabeth.

That is all.

Because my internet browsing goes off on weird tangents, I somehow ended up on the Wikipedia page for She's The Man. Apparently, the critical consensus for the film was:

"Shakespeare's wit gets lost in translation with She's the Man's broad slapstick, predictable jokes, and unconvincing plotline."

…I mean…

…err…

…it's an adaptation of Twelfth Night. TWELFTH NIGHT! Which means that, in this case, the broad slapstick, predictable jokes, and unconvincing plotline are ALL Shakepeare's!

I mean, the movie's kinda dumb. But it actually does a pretty good job of convincingly putting together Twelfth Night's plot.

Show I am watching: Stargate (still)

Computer game I am playing: Stardew Valley

Boardgame I am playing: Onitama

Food I am cooking: homemade flour tortillas

Book I am reading: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Music I am listening to: the Come From Away soundtrack

Fanfic I am writing: Rodney, John, and the Tenth Doctor in an unexpected meeting

All highly recommended (except the fanfic, which is currently in partial fragments).

(Yes, I did Snowflake Day 2. But in someone else's comments section.)

The challenge asked who I'd like to have dinner with, out of one of my fandoms. I've always found this question quite tricky, as I'm not sure I'd like to hang out with any characters I like watching, and I wouldn't want to hang out with most show creators either, because we'd have nothing to talk about.

First, I thought through my main fandom: Buffy. But I don't think I'd actually have much in common with any of the characters, and none of them are particularly good at socialising with people they don't know. Stilted small-talk with people who'd rather be saving the world? No thanks.

So I considered my other shows.

Farscape? None of those characters are at all stable. And most of them are quite rude (if not openly hostile).

West Wing? More people who suck at small talk - just in a highly intellectual way. (Which: me too! But our interests wouldn't overlap at all, so we'd have no shared areas of conversation.)

Leverage? Hmm... close. I'd love to hang out with Hardison - he's a total geek, and we definitely have a shared interest in Doctor Who, at least. But I'd also be paranoid that they were trying to con me in some way.

This challenge is hard, guys.

So, finally I've settled on the only person it could ever be: Hercule Poirot. He's considerate, he's good at conversation, and he's a total gourmet - so as long as he picks the restaurant, I am guaranteed a good meal with a charming man who will enthusiastically insist I try every single appetiser.

In the best traditions of fandom, I made up my mind about Spider-Man: Homecoming long before watching it. Through cunning use of YouTube reviews, written reviews, and random comments on Reddit, I figured out the plot and what everyone else thought, and I decided that it definitely sucked (but not as much as the Amazing Spider-Man movies… which I also haven't seen).

Point 1: it's in the MCU, which I have many issues with.
Point 2: it has Tony Stark supplying Peter with super-advanced suits, which is kind of missing the point of Spiderman.

I have now, belatedly, seen the actual movie. And I agree with my totally biased opinions! But I have a few more thoughts.

You see, the problem with this movie is that it should star Miles Morales. In other words, they're aiming for Into The Spider-Verse and missing.

( let me explain )

Questions? Comments?

So... fanfic readers: does anyone else have a genre of fanfic that is totally not their type, that it makes absolutely no sense they'd be into, that they nevertheless adore?

Here's mine: John/Rodney SGA fic.

Which, as mentioned, makes no sense whatsoever.

1) It's slash. I don't like slash (I'm a gen-fic person).

2) It's a show that (until recently) I knew absolutely nothing about. In fact, when I started reading it, I knew absolutely nothing about the Stargate franchise.

And yet...

The thing about John/Rodney fic is that it's fic that lives and dies entirely on snarky conversations between its main characters. And even when I didn't know anything about these characters (other than that they starred in snarky slash fics), the prospect of reading them arguing some more was so appealing that I clicked on every fic I could find. Still do.

I have read John-is-secretly-into-Rodney fic, and Rodney-is-secretly-into-John fic. I have read coffee-shop AUs, college lecturer AUs, and high school AUs. I have read action adventure extravaganzas, and intimate evenings at home. (And I'm not into any of those things, in any fanfics that aren't this lot! Really!) And I love them all.

It is a genre of fanfic that I adore, despite it contradicting my every taste in fanfic.

Does anyone else have one of those?

I am playing a new D&D character that makes everyone in my group double-take and say "Wait – she isn't a rogue?"

My character is a cleric, who worships the Iron God from Ptolus (Google is your friend). So, she is fascinated by technology, traps, locks, and all things mechanical.

Our group is rogueless; they are relying on me to rogue for them. (And heal them, because, yes, I am the cleric.)

What my brain does at 2 am:
"Ooh! There could be a superhero who can shift her own gravity, so that she can walk up the side of skyscrapers! Cool! I could call her... SKYWALKER."

What my brain does at 3 am:
"Wait. Skywalker. Star Wars. Damn."

What my brain does at 4 am:
"So, should I change her name? Or should I have her repeatedly introduce herself as Skywalker so that she can be really pissed off when everyone thinks she's referencing Star Wars? Yeah, that would be hilarious..."

Several years later, I've realised one of the reasons I grew tired of the MCU: because they're not superhero movies.

And yet they look like superhero movies at first glance, so it took me a long time to understand this.

What I Mean By "Superhero"

So, my go-to examples of superheroes are Superman, Spiderman, and Buffy.

Superman:
- has a secret identity
- has to conceal his secret identity
- has to occasionally screw up Clark Kent's life to be Superman (for instance, by standing Lois up on a date because he's busy rescuing a crashing plane)

Spiderman:
- has a secret identity
- has to conceal his secret identity
- is constantly screwing up Peter Parker's life to be Spiderman
- is hated by the popular press
- is dirt poor

Buffy:
- has a secret identity
- often has to screw up Buffy Summer's life to be the Slayer
- is hated by the popular kids at school (in the early seasons)
- is dirt poor (in the later seasons)

In my mind, your classic superhero story is the story of an Average Joe with a slightly crummy life, who also happens to be a super-powered protector of the innocent. And one of the major points in the story is the conflict between their ordinary life and their superhero life.

...and then there are the MCU movies.

The main characters:
- do not have secret identities
- have no conflict between their ordinary lives and their superhero lives, because everything they do is about their superheroing
- are super wealthy
- basically have no problems until we're in the middle of the movie plot*

* Not that they have no problems, but the movie arcs tend to be "Everything is fine and awesome... and now the bad guys have attacked... and now my life is back to being awesome in every way."

They're... not exactly standard superheroes – but more like the Gods of Mount Olympus. In that they are up there, having lives that we the audience simply do not have.

I'm sure that genre is still capable of producing good movies. But they're not so much superhero movies – and I miss those.

So, I bought my kids a CD player.

It failed, I returned it and got a replacement.

It failed, I returned it and said "...what else have you got?"

This was when I discovered that my favourite version of iPod is no longer sold in stores, and the ones that are still sold are way too overpowered for my 4 year old.

I got a store credit for the cost of the CD player (and bought a used iPod on eBay).

So far, my store credit has bought:
- Aladdin
- Happy Death Day
- Into the Spider-Verse
- The Muppet Show (Season 3)
- Muppet Treasure Island
- Big Hero 6
- an iTunes gift card

...and I still have money left.

(For the record: I loved Happy Death Day, and am eagerly waiting for my kids to go to sleep so I can watch Big Hero 6. From the trailer, it looks like exactly what Into the Spider-Verse was: a superhero movie that remembered why superheroes are fun.)

I've spent a fair bit of this morning mentally race-casting an Australian production of Hamilton.

Hamilton is, of course, notable for having its original US cast being largely Latino and African American. Which is awesome - but doesn't translate well to an Australian audience. You see, we don't so much need to be subconsciously reminded about our country's Latinos and African-Americans... because we don't really have either of those people groups. Instead...

Hamilton: Chinese
Washington: Lebanese
Burr: Aborigine
Jefferson (Lafayette): Greek/Italian
Madison (Mulligan): Aborigine
Philip (Laurens): SriLankan
King George: Anglo

I nearly swapped Hamilton and Washington, so that our hero/immigrant was the Lebanese guy, but decided that it was more important to have the visual of a wise, discerning, downright heroic Lebanese guy, and make the Chinese guy the young hothead.

I can't really cast King George as anything other than an Anglo - otherwise it just doesn't work in my head...

And Burr is one of the most prominent people in the show other than Hamilton himself, and I thought that role should belong to an Indigenous actor.

(No idea about the female leads, though.)

Clue
Sneakers
Arsenic and Old Lace
Groundhog Day
Spider-Man (the Tobey Maguire ones)
The Pink Panther
A Few Good Men
Jurassic Park
Back to the Future
What's Up Doc

Interestingly, there are movies I like more that I don't care so much about my kids seeing. But these ones they have to see (and enjoy, dammit!).

Tried White Collar. Got 1.5 episodes in, and decided, meh, I didn't care about the characters. So I turned it off.

Thing is, I love Leverage. And quite enjoyed Hustle. White Collar should, in theory, be right up my alley. And it's certainly a perfectly decent show. But unless I'm interested in the characters, I can never make it past the second episode of anything.

This also happened with Babylon 5, and Psych, and Wonderfalls. They're interesting, and high quality – but I just don't CARE.

How it works: reply with "Oh! Shiny" and I'll choose three of your icons. Tell me about them: where they came from, what they mean to you, and/or when you deploy them. Drop a link here to your post in your own journal. Spread it around.

rydra_wong asked me about:
( these three icons )

So, if perchance you've been on Tumblr for the last few years, you might be wondering if I'm at all up to the same fannish stuff that I used to be.

Not so much. Because:
- I have children taking up my fic-writing time.
- I am much happier with my work, so I'm not ficcing just to stay sane.
- No-one's really been writing much meta here.
- The fandoms I'm interested in aren't the ones that my flist wandered off to.

BUT.

I'm still interested in fannishness. And I'll happily participate in any discussions on the subject.

I've watched quite a few shows lately - some new, some old, some my perpetual obsessions that I will never quite stop watching. The obsessions are BtVS (obviously), Farscape, Leverage, and The West Wing. The new ones that I'd be somewhat interested in discussing are Newsroom and Elementary (although I'm two seasons behind on that one).

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The Mezzanine

stuck in the middle...

Entries tagged with geekery

recommendation for you Buffy fans

somehow still talking about Spuffy...

how to write a bad episode with the best of intentions

random rant

the best set

(ask me about the Marie Antoinette film, I dare you)

vid request, to the world at large

Shakespeare was seriously into slapstick, people.

what's happening

Snowflake Day 3: who's coming to dinner?

coming late to the party...

fanfic tastes that defy logic

incorrigible geek

genre dissonance

apparently, CD players are expensive

cannot stop listening to the CDs

movies I definitely want to show my kids one day

(really must track down the rest of Hustle)

icon meme

the state of the fan