Garbage! Garbage! I want garbage!

[imwalde]

Yesterday was lovely, it was sunny and 60ish and I walked around outside in a sweatshirt and wasn't cold, huzzah! I ended up at some Easter markets that I didn't know existed. I know Austria is Catholic and I witnessed how nuts they went for Christmas, but it never occurred to me that the same might be true for Easter. They have whole markets of little kiosks selling literally thousands of painted egg shells and all things bunny and spring. Eeeeeeeee! It's a good thing that I have the cats, because knowing the destruction they would wreak was the main thing holding me back from buying one of each. Most appeared to be actual eggs, emptied out and painted, with a ribbon through them so it can be hung on a tree. And pussy willow was everywhere for sale, too, although I had never associated that with Easter. (Anyone?)

So I ended up buying just three painted eggs and some plastic flower/hen ornaments which are now decorating my dining room table. And a squirrel, sheep, and two bunny knick-knacks. Which is restraint if you knew how much I love bunnies! AND THERE WERE LIVE BABY BUNNIES AT ONE MARKET. Gah, so cute, I stood there for a long time just watching them hop around in their pen. And one was sleeping and his nose was twitching as it slept, and omg. Maybe one day I will get a bunny as a pet. Although, I somehow have the impression that they may not make the best pets, ie are not interactive. (Anyone?)

In conclusion, yay for the approach of spring!

I am also happy to report that I am better. My last blood test (10ish days ago) was nearly normal, and I feel even better since then. And as a colleague commented, I look Irish again. (I was reeeeeally pale there for a while.)

I missed two weeks of work, just lying around my apartment waiting to recover, instructed to do nothing but take it easy, no heavy lifting or exertion, and so as a consequence I have recently watched a lot of tv. (Spoilers included in thoughts below.)



Slings and Arrows

Synopsis from imdb:

In the fictional town of New Burbage, legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival, the site of his greatest triumph and most humiliating failure, to assume the artistic directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles.

I bought the complete series when it came out in November on the recommendation of biggieshorty, who swore that I would love it. And franzeska loving it made me excited to watch. And OMG, SOOOOO GOOD LOVE LOVE LOVE. I was an arts/theater person in high school, but musicals/choir not plays. It is so perfect at capturing that world. When you hate some of the other actors, but magic on stage can make everyone cohere. The "cast slut" conversation. How difficult it can be to explain why it matters, what it is for, until it is done right and everyone watching gets it. And it is so funny and squee-inducing one minute and sad and touching the next. And so, so quotable. And I love just about every character.

Paul Gross as Geoffrey Tennant just rocks my world. (The thing with the razor? HOT.) He is just heartbreaking and broken and so good at what he does and my love for him makes me all flappity. An insight that came to me after watching season one which I shared in a gleeful voicemail to Tiff was that he is Richie Tenenbaum! A genius undone by a broken heart. Gah, I do love a tortured artist, always have.

I think my favorite character is Emily the overeager and prone to tears intern assistant stage manager. She cracked me up everytime. But sometimes it is Anna or Geoffrey. And even the characters I can't quite say I like (Richard, Darren) I love. Everyone should watch! It might have special resonance for theater folks, but I think the appeal is universal.

I liked seasons one and two more than three, I think because I have a hard time watching people get into trouble or trainwrecks in progress. (I have never finished watching the movie Shattered Glass, for instance, I just cringe and cover my face too much.) But even though it was hard to watch the Lear problems and I wanted Geoffrey to pull off another miracle, the very, very end was supremely satisfying, and I was happy he got back on stage. And I loved all the East Hastings stuff. Richard makes a flowchart!


"If you want people to trust you, DON'T QUOTE NIXON, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

"Everyone cries when they are stabbed, there's no shame in that."

"How do you cry like that?" "I think about my grandmother."

"Richard, are you a man or are you a puppy dog performing tricks for cookie treats?"

"That's not a good position for prison, darling."

"I would start with the less reputable firms."

SO MUCH LOVE.




Due South season 1

I was so sad that there was no more Slings and Arrows to be had that I busted out my Due South dvds. I had watched the show sporadically when it was on tv (SO long ago) but never saw every episode and had never watched the dvds since I bought them. And then my burning Paul Gross love made me tear through season one in no time. It's funny how memory works, I would be convinced I had never seen an episode, because I would remember nothing until a certain point when I would know/remember that Dief was going to crash through the door or Fraser was going to jump on top of the car or something.

Oh, show. I have so much love for Diefenbaker and Fraser. And Ray! Being the loyal best friend! And the dad! Seeing Paul Gross as Geoffrey makes me appreciate more how good he is. Because Geoffrey is such a big character, and Fraser is so reserved and careful and he is utterly convincing in both their skins. And Ryan Phillipe and Mark Ruffalo and Teri Polo in guest spots. And Melina Kanakaredes, who I loved ever since she was Eleni on Guiding Light.

One random thought that struck me was all the on location shooting. So many u-turns of the Vic on actual streets with other cars! And so many elaborate stunts! Most shows I watch must be sets only/mostly, otherwise this probably wouldn't have struck me so forcefully.




Angel Season 4

I hadn't seen this since it aired. (It's part of my alphabetical rewatch of my collection.) I still am pissed at what they did to Cordelia's character, but knowing it, I could disassociate that anger from the episodes, if that makes sense. Although how evident it was that Charisma Carpenter no longer gave a shit was still annoying. I like this season a great deal because I likw how dark it got, and all the rain of fire stuff and eternal darkness is cool, and I love Connor, poor kid, but Angelus is just not as cool this time around, because I know all he does is talk. It still all makes sense knowing that Cordy is evil; it perhaps makes a bit more sense.

Poor Connor, he is just so unfixably fucked up. It was hard to watch sometime knowing all the shit that was headed his way, kind of like watching old school Mulder and Scully before her abduction and her sister was murdered and she got cancer and she had to give up the not-alien-probably-miracle baby, I'm just all, retire now, go be a doctor! Tangent, sorry. Connor brings out much the same reaction. I wish there had been more Faith and Connor scenes. Faith is a high point of the season. "Like riding a biker." Jasmine made for really cool tv, too.

Big dork that I am, I am also inordinately proud of the fact that back in the day I named Mr. Skitters on the TWoP boards. I never named anything that stuck before! "Shut it, talky meat!"




Eureka season 2

I love this show while I am watching it, but forget about it while it is off. And that is a good thing, I suppose, because if that didn't happen with some shows, I'd have no more room in my brain.

I love Carter, but I think I love Jo the most. She is so awesome. And Zoe, equally awesome. Colin Ferguson is fantastic on this show. I think he is the most consistently hilarious.

Poor Henry, though! *sniff* Bad, bad things are going to happen, I think. I could not care less about the Kevin subplot, though, so I was happy that it appears to be mostly over.




Torchwood

A lot of promise, but with wildly uneven execution and character development. Enjoyable, but I have a lot of problems with it. Except for Jack, who I already know from Who, it is hard to say what the other characters are like, what makes them tick, etc. I really liked some of the episodes, though, like Captain Jack Harkness which was heartbreaking and beautiful. And the one with Diane and Owen and the rift. And the dead guy with a crush on Gwen.

I should rewatch the Cybermen Who eps when the first Torchwood is destroyed, because it seems supremely silly to have the whole organization be 5 people. What if the cannibal villagers had eaten them? Then where would the Earth be then? Fucked, that's where. Seems like there should be a back up plan for their FUNDAMENTALLY flawed setup.

I'm going to stick with it, though, because it is fun. And all the Jack/Ianto icons from season 2 are helping persuade me, too... :)




Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles

I really like, but do not yet love this show. But I would hate for it to be canceled because I do want to see the story go forward. John Connor doesn't actually seem all that well trained for the apocalypse at this point, now does he? Like, it's a little worrisome for the future of mankind.

Cameron is awesome, she's my favorite, and I don't think that it just a Firefly fan talking. Summer Glau has this odd/unearthly quality about her that I think is put to PERFECT use as Cameron. Like when she is interacting with some human at school and breaks into a huge smile a beat too late. I like everyone, actually,

And Brian Austin Green is sort of hot? And can act? SO CONFUSING. When he just shot that dude? That just made me love Derek.




Moonlight

Objectively, I know this show is not good. And yet, that does nothing to deter me. Despite the cringe-inducing moments early on (the "turn me!" shower scene for one...), I just cannot stop watching. And either I am becoming immune to the bad, or the show is getting better as it goes. I like Mick, and I like Beth mostly despite Sophia Miles' stilted delivery because she is suppressing her accent, and Joseph is played by Jason Dohring so I cannot pretend to be objective. But I'm interested in the history with Coraline, even if Shannon Sossoyman (?) mostly blows. And the mortal cure thing in intriguing and they went way darker with the Josh story than I thought, so I have some hope.




Gossip Girl

This show is SO AWESOME and completely exceeds my expectations. Leighton Meester just rocks my socks. I think it might be running the same danger of the OC in blowing all its stories in the first season, but since it is based on books, maybe there is more material. I cannot wait to see all the Blair/Chuck/Nate fallout.




Aliens in America

I had DLed the pilot when it was free on iTunes, and had never gotten around to watching it. But it is really good! Really funny! I've watched the first few episodes, and it is solid and consistently funny. A pleasant surprise.




Drive

I rented Waitress and got all Nathan Fillion nostalgic, and I had always meant to see it, as it is Tim Minear. And I liked it, didn't love it, but I think it was fun. I mostly zzzzzz the highway car chases, but once Nathan gets the better car and drives like he can? Hot. I wanted to learn more about the lives of the characters, him especially, but without the race stuff.


Anyway, in non-tv developments, the other night I had a dream that was not quite a nightmare. I guess it could be best called stressful. See, I was in a ranch-style house that was my home (although it bears no resemblance to any place I've lived) and there were man-eating lions. Three man-eating lions, to be specific, one man-eating lion and two man-eating lionesses. This was a very distressing development, as it was, you know, my home. And I saw them drag someone off to be eaten in another room, namely Katie Holmes. So I was hiding with Moya and Pilot in some back room, but I couldn't keep hold of both of them (true in real life, too). And I was really worried about what would happen if the cats got out, that the man-eating lions would kill/eat them. So I was going to have to make my way past the man-eating lions to get to the front hall, where the cat carrier is stored, sneak back, get the cats and then get out. My plan was luring the lions into rooms with two entrances and then doubling back and shutting them in. And I was already putting the plan in action when I had the realization, motherfucker, these are French doors, and are not going to stop man-eating lions! It was at that point that I was all, I don't like this dream, it's stressful, I want to wake up. So I did. (Cats safely snuggled next to me.)

I have no idea why man-eating lions were on the brain. I have seen the movie The Ghost and the Darkness, but not for years. Katie Holmes is easier to know why, I just saw her in The Gift on tv a couple of weeks ago, Oscar season, GFY, etc. I had never seen the Gift, but I remembered characters talking about her topless scene in Harold and Kumar. And I have to say, they were right, she's got a great rack.

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope all is well in your little corner of the world!