Legend of the Corsair

Some of the following was a comment to a recent post by Ginmar. Between my recursive and fascinating internal dialogue about my experience watching Looper today to catching up on Glee... A toggle was switched on in my brain and I got to thinking about the state of things. I saw this article interviewing Michael Dorn (famously known as Worf on Start Trek Next Generation) and his thoughts about needing a new Trak on TV. He was saying something along the lines of all the stuff we are seeing in the media about science fiction these days is dark, distopian, without hope for a better future. Without some type of bright story to inspire us, as ST OST and ST TNG and all the other iterations did, we'll possibly start believing too much in the darker possibilities.

A recent episode of Glee I was watching last night (catching up on the new season, yes I guess I am a bit of a Gleek) began a new story arc for the show. I love that there's been a return to a show similar to what Fame was for me earlier in life. Some things are good when they come around again.

Back to the episode: there's this ultra-bitch new cheerleader type character called Kitty (I think). She's got this thing for getting her little popular crowd to mercilessly make fun of everyone she takes a dislike to - and she starts this new after school club called Left Behind. Do I have to go into details about the whole "left behind after the rapture" mania about the end times and the series of books (describing what happens to the people that are left behind, very distopian and full of righteous fear mongering) that the fundies are probably using to bankroll a lot of the shit they're doing? I hope we are all on the same page at this point - use the Google if you need to.

So this club of hers. They decide to meet at the local diner, with a bunch of people that they dragged in as potential members and/or targets. This poor asian-american "nerd" girl with giant glasses ended up being that night's target... Poor girl gets tricked into leaving the room and all of a sudden Kitty's like "everybody out!" They left bits of clothing similar to what they were wearing in each of their places and watch from the windows outside as the girl comes out and has a mental breakdown b/c she thought she had gotten left behind. Fear! Be afraid! Do what we tell you and conform to how we think you should think/feel/act. That was so telling to me about the way Mittens and all his right wing fundie folk operate. That and the way they railroad people into becoming followers by shaming them, after having gotten them to do something that they can turn around and say "you can't walk away now, look at what you've already done, we are your only path to salvation" and further bullshite. The techniques of mind washing and such where they talk at someone for so long that they get their head turned around and they can't even see that the sky is blue. That a wall is just a wall and a window is just made of glass.

Why can't they get it through their heads that "free will" means you need to let me make my own decisions, my own mistakes, to be autonomous in my thinking and in my actions? The sky is blue. I am a person. My friends are people too.

"We gave them a Roland for their Oliver"; this phrase I've heard recently on an old Magnum P.I. episode where Magnum and Higgins are trading childish but well wrought pranks on one another in a retaliatory-like "game," and I believe it meant they gave a good fight for the one they received. Used like this; It was a short but hot engagement and we gave them a Roland for their Oliver". I'd like to know where this phrase came from and why.

Roland (known in Italian as Orlando) was one of the most famous paladins of medieval literature, one of the mythical knights of the emperor Charlemagne. His exploits feature in some of the most famous poems in early European literature, from the l1th-century "Song of Roland" to the 16th-century "Orlando Furioso". His best friend was called Oliver, and the legendary adventures they each had were so similar that it's hard to tell the stories about them apart. Eventually they met, incognito so that neither recognized the other, and fought for five days without being able to beat each other, until finally they broke each other's swords, and said "I yield" simultaneously. So "to give someone a Roland for his Oliver" is to produce an equal opponent.

Bring on more red wine!

Yes. I am a fan. Though my younger self had been freaked out by an episode where an alien creature incubated its eggs inside of humans who were in stasis, where the hatched youngling ate its way out of the human body, just like a parasitic wasp. However, since CoB was such a long-standing fan, I decided to give the show a chance when they started it up again and am I ever glad I did! Only bad thing is that I never remember to watch it on Friday nights, and I wish I had BBC America as well so I wouldn't have to watch both Dr. Who and Torchwood online, instead of just watching it on the telly.

Damn. I think I'm going to have to go digital and have the digital recorder set up like CoB's brother has...

Anyway: Feast on the Who-ness.


Russell T Davies

June 15, 2008
Television
Who Altered British TV? ‘Who’ Indeed
By SARAH LYALL

CARDIFF, Wales

RUSSELL T DAVIES, perhaps the most admired writer and producer working in British television drama, was once confronted at a wedding by a fellow guest bristling with indignation about a scene in Mr. Davies’s hugely successful, family-friendly science fiction series, “Doctor Who.” In the scene Capt. Jack Harkness, a swaggering intergalactic hero who exuberantly lusts after both men and women, plants quick kisses on the mouths of both the title character and the title character’s female sidekick as they face imminent death. (Everyone survives.)
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CoB and I were discussing the writer's strike the other day. Today, while having lunch, I got reminded of a solution (or stop-gap measure to stave off the coming plague of reality tv crap) that I came up with...

Re-release a bunch of old shows as if they were new, from the pilot episode, through as many seasons as they made. Suggestions of such shows were as follows:

Chips
Magnum PI
WKRP
Dallas
Simon & Simon
Northern Exposure
Greatest American Hero
Moonlighting
Knightrider

Stuff that we aren't seeing in reruns now. Stuff that is getting bought like hotcakes in the stores because people miss it so much they are buying it. This is the chance to introduce all this stuff to the generations that were not able to watch the first time around. We could also import more stuff - like all the UK shows that would be really popular (instead of having to rewrite them into an Americanized version, which really killed the comedic effect of Coupling) if aired on the regular stations instead of exclusively on BBC America.

A thing to do that could help out if the strike started affecting the movie industry would be to re-release classic films (yes, they'd have to lower the prices on tickets because come on, they aren't paying as much to show these older films - which is why we have discount theaters showing "new" releases that are past their prime). They've been doing that, as well as live showings of opera as it is being performed at theaters, as pilot programs for a little while now... They could expand that. Imagine being able to see Spamalot at your local movieplex? I for one would love that.

Comments? Ideas? Nominations for re-release? Things you would like to see aired live at your local movie theater?

Okay, any theories people because I am just well... I don't think they could kill off her character. Isn't she one of the main characters in the storyline? GAH!

Blast them all to the coldest reaches of space! Those BASTARDS! They're not bringing back Surface... we will never find out what the hell was going on, or get any resolution, or see anymore cute Nim shots. *wails*

NBC betting on backstage bickering

Two shows about shows on sked; 'Joey,' 'Conviction' gone

NEW YORK (AP) -- NBC is betting on Aaron Sorkin's new tale of backstage intrigue at a TV comedy show and three new serialized dramas to lead the network out of a ratings slump caused by its inability to develop new hits.

The network is revamping its Thursday night lineup, the linchpin of its "must-see TV" golden years, and hopes Sunday night football will also add strength to the schedule.

NBC finished a first-ever fourth in the ratings last year and is looking at a similar showing this season, with Howie Mandel's game show "Deal or No Deal" the only notable new success. That game will be on the schedule twice next fall, Monday and Friday nights.

NBC was the first of the broadcast networks, including the fledgling CW network that will start operations in September, to announce a fall schedule this week.

"In all candor, I think it's been a banner year in NBC development," Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president, said Monday. "We hit the gold mine this year."

That's what advertisers, who will commit to billions of dollars of commercial time over the next few weeks in the process known as the upfront, are most eager to see from NBC. Sorkin's show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is the most prominent new series.

Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing," brings Bradley Whitford from that series to his new show, along with Matthew Perry of "Friends" and Amanda Peet. It's about the turmoil and romance backstage at a network comedy sketch show, and NBC is telegraphing its importance by scheduling it at 9 p.m. on Thursdays -- once the time slot of "Cheers" and "Seinfeld."

NBC also scheduled "30 Rock," a comedy that Tina Fey of "Saturday Night Live" wrote and stars in, about the backstage world of a network comedy. Reilly said he wasn't worried about two new similar series, saying the tone is very different.

"If they were two cop shows, nobody would waste a minute of breath on it," Reilly said.

NBC is moving its two promising Thursday comedies, "My Name is Earl" and "The Office," up an hour to begin at 8 p.m. While "ER" returns at 10 p.m., NBC won't air repeats of the long-running medical show. "ER" will split its run with a new drama, "The Black Donnellys," about Irish mobsters.

Three other new dramas the network will introduce in the fall are "Friday Night Lights," an adaptation of the popular Buzz Bissinger book built around a Texas high school football team; "Kidnapped," a thriller about the abduction of a rich New York teenager; and "Heroes," about a group of people with superhuman powers.

The introduction of National Football League games on Sunday nights gives NBC strength on what has been a weak night. When football ends, NBC will bring back "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump in Los Angeles, and a talent show with Regis Philbin as host that is getting a summer run starting in June.

"Scrubs" and "Crossing Jordan" received full-season orders, although they are not on the schedule. That means each show will likely replace others that fail.

NBC is canceling the failed "Friends" spinoff "Joey," the sci-fi drama "Surface" and producer Dick Wolf's show about youthful prosecutors, "Conviction." emphasis added

NBC's position as the first network introducing its schedule means it may make adjustments upon seeing what its rivals do in the coming days, Reilly said.

Posted today on CNN.com here, for those of you who need proof.

As my sweety crabbyolbastard said just a few minutes ago (yes he invented a new word):
It's Blizzarding!

It is indeed. Reports by the overexcited weatherman on the local Channel 3 news (which bumped Sunday Morning to 10:30, just to say it was snowing...) are that we will be getting at least 2 feet of snow. COB's dad said "You know its going to be bad when they NAME the storm." The name of our genteel nor'easter is called Carson. Query Did Carson Daley call up the weather people and make his case about how cool it would be to name a snowstorm after him? Better a snowstorm than a hurricane these days - they are rarer.

Don't forget to read my previous post - the huge, long, update of all the interesting news that you may have missed over the last few days... Are they - like in Mel Gibson's Conspiracy Theory all linked? You decide.

So, we have decided that in our snowed in state there should be some really horrifying movies being played to keep us awake, alert, and freaked out - since during a snowstorm there is still that feeling of being isolated, of being "snowed in" and unable to contact, let alone get out into, the world. (No, The Shining isn't on the list unfortunately, we don't have a copy of that yet.) The line up so far is: The Ring Two followed by 28 Days Later... Both are the UNRATED (read scarier and more fracked up) versions. Neither of which we've seen. I was thinking of having a zombie fest follow these but... who knows. Any suggestions? (damn, opening scene to the ring two and we say to each other at the same time "it's the ultimate (teen) chain letter!" and wouldn't you know it, the way they set it up in the first one... it is. this better not turn into one of those stupid teen movies... of course we just said - he waited too long, she'll watch it but not until he's already DEAD! hahahahaha! the irony.

Of course this (not the movie the snow) makes me want to even more, move to Colorado or some place that has a snow culture. New England does in a way but, it isn't that overarching, especially in the lower NE states like CT. And NH - yes I have finally come to the point where I can sorta bad mouth the place... there is a large population of the "inbred" and hateful types up there. Of course, the color of my skin would exclude me from their hate, until I opened my mouth and started voicing my opinions. And it isn't everywhere, just in (some?) the small, poor insular towns. Of which there are many in NH. There are plenty of nice places too - like Laconia and the Lakes Region - that sort of balance it out but... I have had too much exposure to the previous type in the past four years.

I would x out that whole part about NH if I could - don't know how to do it... You could tell me, of course... *sigh* My main problem is that I have ONLY been influenced to that opinion by the singular town of Pittsfield. Of which I have only heard most of the bad and not nearly enough of the good. How it has affected my immediate family, destroyed a marraige that I never wanted to occur, (not that I would take it back if I could because it resulted in three most wonderous siblings) and so on. Should I allow that experience, (and a few others that were purely on an interpersonal basis) poison (I was going to say "color" but then realized what the root of that particular saying probably was) all the good memories I have of NH? Should I allow the feelings of tawdriness influence the good that I've known of people and places?

Back to the movies: why can I not stop yelling at or about the movie at the screen and to my sweet crabby one? About how stupid the people are, about: WHY DO THEY STILL HAVE TELEVISIONS AFTER WHAT THEY WENT THROUGH?! Oh. it was a nightmare. Never mind - I'm going to have to just shut up and watch it.

Enjoy the snow!

Fortunately for all of you, someone has thought up a way of finding that out. Interesting results.

How to make a semiotic_pirate

Ingredients: 3 parts intelligence 1 part self-sufficiency 5 parts perseverance

Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add curiosity to taste! Do not overindulge!

Yay for the Sponge! Long live the Sponge! (anyone ever wonder if he is a displaced kitchen sponge, being square?) We LOVE the Sponge!


Absorbency Plus Frivolity, a Blend the World Needs
By A. O. SCOTT


In the wake of the recent election, there's been some talk of healing, but until today no single figure has emerged with the capacity to repair the deep fissures in the body politic. We are so hung up on blue states and red states that our only hope may lie in the primary color that has been left off the map. We need something - or someone - yellow, and also absorbent and porous enough to soak up the ill will and scrub away the lingering bad feelings.

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