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itsallovernowJust finished The Jane Austen Book Club, and pretty much was delighted. I like Karen Joy Fowler, I like her writing and her playfullness and the way she can get away with telling us about the characters and still allow us an intimacy, particularly in this book when she's telling us things that happen to the characters and we're drawn into the intimacy because the others in the book don't know the secrets and they're mostly mild and kind of kind secrets and it is all about Austen, and yet a lot about love and words and the way books shape us, but we shape them as well.
It's probably the prettiest, warmest example of post-modern fiction I've ever seen and I love that she's just so much... nicer than other pomo writers. And I so, so loved Grigg as a science fiction reader, and the way they couldn't quite grasp it, but forgave him, and that Jocelyn realized that it was important to read his books if he were reading Austen. I loved as well that these middle class women, these readers, are the ones that we seek approval of, and yet never quite get it from. And yet these are good, intelligent women, drawing conclusions from themselves and from Austen and passing this summary, kind sort of judgement and never getting caught up in dogma, always willing to re-evaluate. They are, and always have been, the element of society passing judgement, the one's Austen writes about, and yet forgives.
My mother got the book and gave it to me because Pride and Prejudice is her favorite book. And she's decided to write a sequel. I know there've been others, but I don't want to tell her about them. It's so tempting to tell her about fic, though. She'd get all sucked up into La Femme Nikita and Highlander fic though and I'd have to explain slash and god of all the things I never would want to know it would be that my mother's turned into a rabid slash fan, so maybe I won't tell her about fic after all.
Watched SG-1. "Insiders". I... yeah, I don't miss Daniel, even though I've been enjoying him lately. And I'll say up front that I was bothered by Landry doing the pat on the head, it'll all be fine thing, but really not the other stuff because I absolutely do not watch this show for the plot. Hell, some weeks I don't even pay attention to the plot, couldn't tell you what it was to save my life.
So, I thoroughly enjoyed this ep. In particular, I loved:
-Cam and Vala and the odd sort of conspiratorial, adversarial relationship they're developing. He knows that, like the others, he's got no control over her behavior, but at the same time, he's leveling another sort of judgement and authority over her. Daniel isn't an authority figure. Vala wants Daniel's regard, but not his... authority. She sees him as an equal, worthy of playing with, of playing as well, but she's not doing that anymore. She's trying to figure out how to make him think well of her, to take her into this battle as well. But with Cam, he's.. he's the one who can ultimately decide if she stays or goes. He's an unknown, and he's a man, and he's a soldier and all of those things allow for this odd, delicious sense of play between them. Aggravated play. There's a strange sort of dubious respect there, and I love that Vala is irrepressible. I loved her kind of bouncing into the room to show that she's all dressed up and ready to go, and being given the zat. I love that she's clever and competent and knowledgeable and is still a force of chaos, but is controlling her own chaos. And I will just never not love the two actors playing off each other in whatever context.
- Cam. I just... last season it seemed like the writers didn't know what to do with Cam, and this season, I'm not sure if it's them or if BB has just taken on his own authority wrt the character, but Cam is fully realized now. Not just the admission that he's not in control, that he's wrangling the energy and direction, but not controlling it, although I did love that. But so many things. We're seeing him competent, we're seeing him in charge, and a little competitive and finding his feet and finding his place and I'm really loving that. And god, it so doesn't hurt that we got to see him in the black t-shirt and blue pants and he's just really getting even better looking as he gets older and I'm gonna quit now before I start drooling.
-I loved the Ba'al jokes, and the Ba'als proving why they were dangerous and ran an intergalactic empire, and I loved the interaction between Ba'al and Vala, the backstory on Qetesh and really the idea that she was powerful in her own right and Vala's likely retained that knowledge (I'm assuming, I still get squicked at the whole host thing, so... you know, my facts could be iffy). That scene was fascinating because we got to see Vala use an entirely different sort of seduction, one that's far more adult, and a little dangerous and a little menacing, and I think everyone will forgive me for saying that I missed my show so goddamned much in that scene because... well, it's not that she was acting like Aeryn, but there was this focus and seriousness and I just really mourned it for a few minutes.
-Vala arm-wrestling Teal'c. Because I can see the scene before it - Vala bored, and someone suggesting arm-wrestling, and her bugging Teal'c because there's also some nice behind the scenes development going on there because he's got this sort of tolerant bemusement going on with her, and him finally just putting his arm out and letting her go to town. Odds are, she's been trying to wrestle him for awhile:)
-Y'all realize that none of this is dampening my desire for porn on an front involving Vala/anyone and everyone. I just think she's adding a lovely dimension to this show and they're managing to incorporate her while playing to her strengths. God I hope that trend continues. They're allowing her to be smart, to show that she's smart, particularly with the ring thing.
- I like that SG-1 keeps getting screwed over (and while I agree, there's nothing worse than characters being dumb for the sake of plot, I didn't get that here as much as I'm sure harder core fans did. Instead, what I assumed was that Sam assumed a last minute save. She, and the rest of them, underestimated Ba'al, perhaps assuming that the clones really were working against each other. And there was a moment when Mitchell was interrogating the clone that I wanted to yell, "Dude, man knows his clones. Don't bullshit him!! Although, you know, also equal and identical so not really a good way to determine real vs. identical dna'd dude." SG-1 needs to pay attention. They need to keep assuming that they're not the only people in the 'verse with a vested interest in the Orii's success or failure. They tend to get fairly self-involved. This was a good wake-up call.
So, to recap. Great Cam, great Vala, good Sam, and Teal'c looking pretty and giant and menacing (he's really not a fan of Ba'al is he:) Loves on Teal'c so very much. I enjoyed it, but then, I'm an easy audience.
It's probably the prettiest, warmest example of post-modern fiction I've ever seen and I love that she's just so much... nicer than other pomo writers. And I so, so loved Grigg as a science fiction reader, and the way they couldn't quite grasp it, but forgave him, and that Jocelyn realized that it was important to read his books if he were reading Austen. I loved as well that these middle class women, these readers, are the ones that we seek approval of, and yet never quite get it from. And yet these are good, intelligent women, drawing conclusions from themselves and from Austen and passing this summary, kind sort of judgement and never getting caught up in dogma, always willing to re-evaluate. They are, and always have been, the element of society passing judgement, the one's Austen writes about, and yet forgives.
My mother got the book and gave it to me because Pride and Prejudice is her favorite book. And she's decided to write a sequel. I know there've been others, but I don't want to tell her about them. It's so tempting to tell her about fic, though. She'd get all sucked up into La Femme Nikita and Highlander fic though and I'd have to explain slash and god of all the things I never would want to know it would be that my mother's turned into a rabid slash fan, so maybe I won't tell her about fic after all.
Watched SG-1. "Insiders". I... yeah, I don't miss Daniel, even though I've been enjoying him lately. And I'll say up front that I was bothered by Landry doing the pat on the head, it'll all be fine thing, but really not the other stuff because I absolutely do not watch this show for the plot. Hell, some weeks I don't even pay attention to the plot, couldn't tell you what it was to save my life.
So, I thoroughly enjoyed this ep. In particular, I loved:
-Cam and Vala and the odd sort of conspiratorial, adversarial relationship they're developing. He knows that, like the others, he's got no control over her behavior, but at the same time, he's leveling another sort of judgement and authority over her. Daniel isn't an authority figure. Vala wants Daniel's regard, but not his... authority. She sees him as an equal, worthy of playing with, of playing as well, but she's not doing that anymore. She's trying to figure out how to make him think well of her, to take her into this battle as well. But with Cam, he's.. he's the one who can ultimately decide if she stays or goes. He's an unknown, and he's a man, and he's a soldier and all of those things allow for this odd, delicious sense of play between them. Aggravated play. There's a strange sort of dubious respect there, and I love that Vala is irrepressible. I loved her kind of bouncing into the room to show that she's all dressed up and ready to go, and being given the zat. I love that she's clever and competent and knowledgeable and is still a force of chaos, but is controlling her own chaos. And I will just never not love the two actors playing off each other in whatever context.
- Cam. I just... last season it seemed like the writers didn't know what to do with Cam, and this season, I'm not sure if it's them or if BB has just taken on his own authority wrt the character, but Cam is fully realized now. Not just the admission that he's not in control, that he's wrangling the energy and direction, but not controlling it, although I did love that. But so many things. We're seeing him competent, we're seeing him in charge, and a little competitive and finding his feet and finding his place and I'm really loving that. And god, it so doesn't hurt that we got to see him in the black t-shirt and blue pants and he's just really getting even better looking as he gets older and I'm gonna quit now before I start drooling.
-I loved the Ba'al jokes, and the Ba'als proving why they were dangerous and ran an intergalactic empire, and I loved the interaction between Ba'al and Vala, the backstory on Qetesh and really the idea that she was powerful in her own right and Vala's likely retained that knowledge (I'm assuming, I still get squicked at the whole host thing, so... you know, my facts could be iffy). That scene was fascinating because we got to see Vala use an entirely different sort of seduction, one that's far more adult, and a little dangerous and a little menacing, and I think everyone will forgive me for saying that I missed my show so goddamned much in that scene because... well, it's not that she was acting like Aeryn, but there was this focus and seriousness and I just really mourned it for a few minutes.
-Vala arm-wrestling Teal'c. Because I can see the scene before it - Vala bored, and someone suggesting arm-wrestling, and her bugging Teal'c because there's also some nice behind the scenes development going on there because he's got this sort of tolerant bemusement going on with her, and him finally just putting his arm out and letting her go to town. Odds are, she's been trying to wrestle him for awhile:)
-Y'all realize that none of this is dampening my desire for porn on an front involving Vala/anyone and everyone. I just think she's adding a lovely dimension to this show and they're managing to incorporate her while playing to her strengths. God I hope that trend continues. They're allowing her to be smart, to show that she's smart, particularly with the ring thing.
- I like that SG-1 keeps getting screwed over (and while I agree, there's nothing worse than characters being dumb for the sake of plot, I didn't get that here as much as I'm sure harder core fans did. Instead, what I assumed was that Sam assumed a last minute save. She, and the rest of them, underestimated Ba'al, perhaps assuming that the clones really were working against each other. And there was a moment when Mitchell was interrogating the clone that I wanted to yell, "Dude, man knows his clones. Don't bullshit him!! Although, you know, also equal and identical so not really a good way to determine real vs. identical dna'd dude." SG-1 needs to pay attention. They need to keep assuming that they're not the only people in the 'verse with a vested interest in the Orii's success or failure. They tend to get fairly self-involved. This was a good wake-up call.
So, to recap. Great Cam, great Vala, good Sam, and Teal'c looking pretty and giant and menacing (he's really not a fan of Ba'al is he:) Loves on Teal'c so very much. I enjoyed it, but then, I'm an easy audience.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 01:00 am (UTC)and yup, sg1 definitely needs to pay attention. i keep hoping that somehow sam messed with the data disc.
loved cameron admitting he's not in charge, and think that by doing that he stands a better chance of setting some kind of boundaries with the team. so to speak... and heh, vala and teal'c, too funny.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 01:32 am (UTC)Vala and Teal'c, heh, too cute. I have screen caps of the arm wrestling on my LJ.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 11:08 am (UTC)Me, I can't wait.
(And oh, damn, busted. Yes. I watched Insiders. AND THERE WAS VALA&SAM INTERACTION! *squee*)
no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 05:26 pm (UTC)Must learn more about Vala. Can you rec the best five Vala episodes or so; I'll try to dl and catch up on her?
no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 05:51 pm (UTC)And, god, I don't remember any of the titles for SG-1. I liked all the Vala eps from last season, so I'd go for five or six of them (They're the first five eps). Thinks. Were there 5 or 6? Hmmm. I've also really loved her this season, so, I'm not sure. She's more restrained now that she's a full time cast member, but canon wise it makes sense as well. She's an adventure and a total force of chaos during her run from last season.
well...
Date: 2006-08-10 06:47 am (UTC)i'm just saying, if you're interested.