Surfing the Sudafed Wave

[itsallovernow]

First and foremost, my allergies are not kicking my ass, they have kicked it and are now beating on it and knocking me in the ribs and about the head for good measure. I haven't had an allergy attack this bad since I was a kid.

Fortunately for me, Cinemax was running all 6 Star Wars movies on repeat all weekend and so when the allergies really kicked in, I lolled on the couch and watched the movies off and on (you have noooo idea how much better watching the "First" 3 (eps 1-3) on the DVR is as opposed to in the theater. Fast forward is your friend!!) Then M. came home and I totally had to laugh at him because he'd been doing the same damn thing all day(and this is the boy who wouldn't quit bitching about the 3rd movie even though he fell asleep during it at the ArcLight and had to be hauled off the girl's shoulder next to us because he didn't actually KNOW HER!). So we watched Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and M. continually sang that Star Wars rap that was on the internets a few years ago and how he remembers that but doesn't remember that bills come every month I will never, ever know.

The nice thing about not being particularly fannish about anything (and truthfully too depressed to do much about anything I might be fannish about in the first place), is that I'm getting more reading done and that is always a good thing.



In the past week I've read: One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (the sequel of sorts to the fabulous Case Histories. It's more of a mystery and less "Wow" worthy than Case Histories, but still has that beautiful Atkinson turn of phrase and leaps in imagination and connection. I like her so much for the utterly charming and organic way in which her characters exist in exquisite depth. I like Jackson Brodie and his life on holiday and his wanting to be in love with Julia and his attraction to Louise and his need, general need, to be useful, to make amends to the world.

Also, I read the The Prestige by Christopher Priest (and dude, there has to be SOMEONE out there who can talk about this with me) and The King in the Window by Adam Gropnik which feels very old fashioned and I'm not sure if it's the setting or the concept or what, but still a nice YA novel with a nice blend of fantasy and reality (although anything set in Paris always feels fantastical to me anyway). I expected... more... from Gropnik quite truthfully.

I abandoned reading The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks which had an intriguing premise and just sucked too badly for me to continue reading. (I'd like to do a comparison of style between this book and the Atkinson because she really is able to get away with a degree of telling that Hawks only thinks he can get away with, but he's a less than mediocre writer and just doesn't know how to set up character or emotional connections. I'm sure the plot is intriguing, but it pissed me off and I had to work too hard and just kept imagining that the damned thing was really just a giant spec script and a waste of a novel).

I also stopped reading whatever the Val McDermid book it was I picked up looking for a thriller because I liked "Wire in the Blood" so much. It just... the gratuitous, convoluted, graphic deaths were just too much for me and I didn't like any of the characters and well, it annoyed me to abaondon two books in a week but I'm too old to read crap. (Not that I won't read crap, but I want to enjoy it!)

Next up: The Dark Tower which I've been saving up and had to wait until the allergy attack passes because I want to read in the bath and it's M.'s hardcover 1st edition.

Also, a re-read of Tam Lin because there's a new edition out and I read mine from the library the summer I turned 15 and I'm anxious to see what it does now that I'm well past college age having attended a school very, very similar to Carleton and gotten myself a degree of sorts in Classics.

Watched BSG this week and have nothing to say.Except that I clearly missed last week since Lee is now skinny again (and confirming my black t-shirt kink because I've never found Lee Adama sexy, but he looked awfully nice in that black shirt). I am... underwhelmed by the moralizing, and I think Moore and Co. have more subtlety than they're exercising and I'm certain that my "Don't watch until you're no longer crying at ridiculous moments" thing has passed.

I can, however, finally see what some of the fuss is about Supernatural in that I'm getting the "love the characters, ignore the stuff that makes no sense whatsoever or is narratively clunky." I don't love the characters, but I like them quite a bit. (And actually this week's narrative device was nicely used and framed and clever enough to feel intimate even if they telegraphed the ending all the way from the first scene).

Heroes continues to be ridiculous squishy (if occasionally clunky) love. And while there are parts of Studio 60 that I still really adore, mostly the preachy Sorking at his stick up his ass worst parts are wearing me down. Sorkin, I hope whomever you're blowing to have gotten picked up for the season is moderately attractive. That being said, I hope you take a hard look at your show and clean up your act. You can be more. I've seen it. Please to be working on the "your viewers are not morons nor do they need to be preached at" thing.


Finally, My Name is Earl is pure unadulterated love. Total, thorough, ridiculous voice of God, Joy with her three strikes, Earln'Randy sayin' I love you, Darnell in the witness protection program; sleeping with your best friends mother and marrying her and naming your band PhishTako love. If you're not watching Earl and you need joy in your week, trust me, he's there to give it to you. Karma said so.

Comments

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I always feel like I should watch My Name is Earl, but by the time 8:00 rolls around on Thursdays I am bouncing off the walls because MY SHOW MY SHOW (!!) is on in half an hour, and I can't seem to summon the energy to sit still through something else, even on th same channel. (This is also why I put Grey's on a 15 minute commercial delay, for recovery time.) But I should really Netflix or download Earl, just because I like Jason Lee a lot.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Download Earl. He is pure and absolute love. (And Netflix the first season because it is very much worth it:) I don't watch The Office, but I think they're probably pretty well matched. But Earl, I'm sure, will not suffer from dowloading:) I usually don't watch on Thurs, saving it for Friday right after I've survived my week at work.

I totally get the My show, My show thing:) (I've only recently been able to watch things I'm invested on while they actually air. During the heyday of my X-Files and Farscape love, I had to record them, and then sit around with the TV off if I was home, because I wanted that anticipation, was too jittery to watch until I had the whole thing available for my viewing:)

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

sending you hugs and good thoughts. and ack, allergies. *more hugs*

and oh yes indeedy to 'my name is earl'. that show is utter joy and i adore it. ::::devolves into earl squeeeing:::

ps. and if you've recently seen the first three star wars movies...see how luke really does look like yoda? i'm convinced that yoda is luke's father.

[scrubschick.livejournal.com]

Earl is joy neverending. The witness protection racket was love. The barbershop quartet with the post-laryngectomy guy. The bill board. SOCK PUPPETS! There was much sqee-age in scrubsville. I could never write for a show like that because my brain simply is not that skewed, but I so wish it was and I could. Earl never disappoints.