About the turmoils of my present life :D
Sep. 3rd, 2007 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandralOMPH! One of my systems has gone life on Saturday. I have been working flat out last week and feel a bit jittery at the moment (What if I left a completely silly bug somewhere or what if aliens will come down from space??). The manager of the project seems to be very happy with the things I have done, though.. *** wipes her brow ***
Parenting joys
Sasha is going to start the new school year tomorrow. It means no! to my long morning sleeps on Monday/Tuesday mornings but at the same time it means yes!! to some "home alone" time.. I am very a-flail about an important choice I need to make ASAP – I need to get a new school desk for Sasha, preferably very cheaply. Eight years of age seems to be the right time for a girl to get her own desk..
In a good parenting news Sasha and I have been doing math and literacy throughout the school holidays and she seems to be much more confident and much less concerned about making mistakes (it was said in Sasha's last year's school report that she is above average in everything but is afraid of making mistakes)..
Buffy
I have watched quite a bit of the season 2 of Buffy the vampire slayer and it is great (with much emphasis on greatness!) The storylines are so much better and more grown up this season and Spike did appear!! And Willow started to dress decently! And she got Oz-the-admirer who is so awesome! I liked the first season's Cordelia much more, though. It seems they are heading towards making her one of the Buffy's group, all pink and fluffy and kind. I liked her so much in her bitchy variety!
Journeyman I am so much looking forward to this new series withVorenus Kevin McKidd. From tv.com website: "Kevin McKidd ( Rome ) stars as Dan Vasser in this new series from NBC set to air in the fall of 2007. Dan is happily married with a son. It seems like he has everything going for him. Dan ends up traveling into the past. He changes people's lives, sometimes for the better, but sometimes not. During his travels he meets up with Livia Beale, he was engaged to her when she died in a plane"..
I am not 100% sure about the premise yet.. Going to the past can play out nicely in episodic TV but I must see more..
NBC trailer:
"Coming to NBC" trailer:
Dan Vasser (I like the name alreayd!!!) – blue eyed, stubble-enhanced high-cheekbone Kevin McKidd! YAY!!
Long-lost Femme Fatale from the past Livia :
Faithful wife Katie:
PS The last question – "Atonement" the movie? Yay? Or Nay?
PS 2 I have found "Devdas" and I am so totally going to watch it today!!
MUST go to Ikea and find a school desk!!!
Parenting joys
Sasha is going to start the new school year tomorrow. It means no! to my long morning sleeps on Monday/Tuesday mornings but at the same time it means yes!! to some "home alone" time.. I am very a-flail about an important choice I need to make ASAP – I need to get a new school desk for Sasha, preferably very cheaply. Eight years of age seems to be the right time for a girl to get her own desk..
In a good parenting news Sasha and I have been doing math and literacy throughout the school holidays and she seems to be much more confident and much less concerned about making mistakes (it was said in Sasha's last year's school report that she is above average in everything but is afraid of making mistakes)..
Buffy
I have watched quite a bit of the season 2 of Buffy the vampire slayer and it is great (with much emphasis on greatness!) The storylines are so much better and more grown up this season and Spike did appear!! And Willow started to dress decently! And she got Oz-the-admirer who is so awesome! I liked the first season's Cordelia much more, though. It seems they are heading towards making her one of the Buffy's group, all pink and fluffy and kind. I liked her so much in her bitchy variety!
Journeyman I am so much looking forward to this new series with
I am not 100% sure about the premise yet.. Going to the past can play out nicely in episodic TV but I must see more..
NBC trailer:
"Coming to NBC" trailer:
Dan Vasser (I like the name alreayd!!!) – blue eyed, stubble-enhanced high-cheekbone Kevin McKidd! YAY!!
Long-lost Femme Fatale from the past Livia :
Faithful wife Katie:
PS The last question – "Atonement" the movie? Yay? Or Nay?
PS 2 I have found "Devdas" and I am so totally going to watch it today!!
MUST go to Ikea and find a school desk!!!
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Date: 2007-09-03 01:17 pm (UTC)That is so weird. I was watching her on Day Break last week - another show about a man who time-travels, and she was the girlfriend.
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Date: 2007-09-03 01:18 pm (UTC)Yay. Definitely yay.
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Date: 2007-09-03 05:32 pm (UTC)And thank you very much for "Atonement" rec - it came to my attention that it will be out this weekend and may be I'll go to see it.. Have you seen it already? I must say that Keira Knightley looks terribly thin on the promo pictures..
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Date: 2007-09-03 09:27 pm (UTC)It was a show from last year (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0801425/maindetails) that got axed pretty quickly, but I downloaded it because I'd heard some good stuff about it. The plot is, I felt, too clever for its own good, but I liked it in that, a) even more so than Heroes or Lost, it's a genre piece that presents a multi-ethnic America, with most of its main characters being non-Caucasian, and b) Ramon Rodriguez (who also plays Renaldo on The Wire) in the most human and funny portrayal of a gang leader that I've ever seen on TV; he's like a scrappier Michael Corleone.
I haven't seen Atonement, and it won't be out here until Christmas; but I have quite a lot of faith in Joe Wright after Pride and Prejudice, and what I've seen (http://community.livejournal.com/fadingatonement/28324.html) and read of it gives me a lot of reason to think it'll be good.
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Date: 2007-09-04 11:38 pm (UTC)I'll check "Day Break", thank you so much for the rec!!!!
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Date: 2007-09-03 04:44 pm (UTC)And Willow/Oz...sigh...they were so cute...then the abruptly changed sexual orientations almost overnight...ah well...
Gotta love Spike...there's especially one bit with Spike near the end that I love...though, Joyce/Spike is my favorite non-shippy B/A relationship...
*is feeling the desire to rewatch*
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Date: 2007-09-03 05:45 pm (UTC)SO good to know! I agree that she may be one of the most truly original characters so far on Buffy. A girl who is there to save the world – check. And for strange reason it is mostly girls who save the world nowdays.. A computer geek girl – check . And being a lesbian makes Willow's character even less original. I have to agree with
But such cute, non-evil and amusing self absorbedness as Cordelia's has yet to be seen! I applaud Charisma Carpenter!!And I am so watching "Angel" when I get to that point! I think she and Angel have a nice chemistry together. Funny enough, together they remind me Agent Booth and Bones!!!!
Gotta love Spike...there's especially one bit with Spike near the end that I love...though, Joyce/Spike is my favorite non-shippy B/A relationship...
I am trying to watch this as objectively as I can but Spike definitely seems to have a thing for Buffy from the first moment! And he is just so funny!
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Date: 2007-09-03 07:22 pm (UTC)Buffy is one of the main reasons it always is the girls who save the world these days, really. And I agree about Spike...when I saw S2, I knew she and Spike got together at one point but not much else. While it likely influenced me some, I didn't really have an opinion on that one way or the other. I think part of it is that Spike is kinda like Cordy, unless you cross him(which, at this point, is really limited to doing something to Dru) he has no malice. He likes people...and not just as happy meals with legs. You treat him well(like Joyce does, and later, Tara and Anya) and he'll treat you well, approach him as an equal and he'll treat you with respect(odd respect, but respect) This is all outside of fighting and eating and such, of course.
Cordy is one of those rare, very difficult to pull off characters...a likable bitch(I'm actually watching the kdrama Fantasy Couple right now and thinking of Cordy left and right) The funny thing is that she's actually rather generous in her self-absorption...she thinks about and tries to help others, but it comes out so...bizarrely. I hadn't thought of the Bones/Booth comparison, but I can see that. Wait until Cordy is Angel's Girl Friday in Angel...I just love how their relationship goes from his "I must take care of her because of Buffy and co" to paternal to partners to more...and you don't even quite realize how much it's changed because it's so smooth and gradual.
Cordy, IMO, really was the heart and soul of Angel, she's what kept him(and the others) going, and what constantly kept us aware of both of Angel's sides...she'd figuratively be giving him her own special version of a peptalk while making sure her stake was still sharpened and her holy water was still well stocked.
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Date: 2007-09-03 07:39 pm (UTC)Oh, I didn't realize she will think about Xander later on btu it seems to be so fitting. They are exactly in this type of "they are best friends but one of the friends is in love with the other" type of relationships...
Buffy is one of the main reasons it always is the girls who save the world these days, really.
I dunno - always think it is emancipation gone overboard.. There were others before Buffy, for example, Nikita..Xena the warrior princess, after all??? It seems because for a long time all the heroes were only male they are not in fashion anymore.. :D but this is just my observation of BSG and other shows..
I think part of it is that Spike is kinda like Cordy, unless you cross him(which, at this point, is really limited to doing something to Dru) he has no malice.
I think this is what I like. I rarely go for straight heroes, I like redemptive types. Buffy is very good at this – both Angel and Spike fit the profile.. But to add to this there is some indefinable charisma in Spike. He is not my usual type as far as looks go but I can't stop thinking that he is attractive..
He likes people...and not just as happy meals with legs.
This is another thing that I like- he is so in denial about his better feelings and doesn't give himself justice. SO MY THING!
(You are so making me want to watch "Angel" NOW!!!
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Date: 2007-09-03 08:10 pm (UTC)Yes. Honestly, I don't know why they said she only liked girls mid-s4...they hint she might be bi in s3, then they just go "oh, she's gay and doesn't like boys at all now" in s4...
Yeah, Buffy was far from the first, but it's only since then that the market has really seemed to be absolutely flooded with the type.
There are other characters like this in Angel, too. Wesley(who shows up around mid s3 of Buffy) grows and changes just as much as Cordy does in Angel, and takes a serious dark turn while still being a good guy. Then there's the street vampire hunter, Gunn, who starts as barely even an ally and always keeps his darker edge, and Gwen, a thief(who sadly, only appears a few times) whose morality only comes up when it's "save the world or die with it" time. And of course, there's Lindsay and Lilah, two "evil" lawyers who are among the most interesting characters in the show(and Lindsay is actually the reverse of Angel and Spike...he tries to turn good more than once but is never strong enough) And, of course, there's Lorne, the gloriously bisexual demon who indiscriminately loves, lectures and is superior to all other beings, who runs a karaoke bar that's a neutral ground for everyone, good or bad.
That's actually part of why I prefer Angel as a show to Buffy...most of the characters there except Spike(I count Angel, Wesley and Cordy as Angel characters since they were there longer) are pretty much indiscriminately good...yes, Giles has his dark side and Willow goes nuts, and Anya's never quite "good"(she's basically the Cordy stand-in once Cordy goes to Angel, but I like her) they're always going to be all about the big picture and saving the world. The Angel characters are darker and not as clear cut...the saving the world thing is often a necessary default, and often it's more about smaller problems than the world.
Yes, that and the character who has lost or almost lost his way is actually my favorite kind of character...I love the true blue heroes, but you always know how they'll react and what they'll do. But the not-quite-hero who's attached to the hero is much more interesting...you don't know if they'll save the world because it's what the hero would want, or if they'll say screw it and just go save the hero.
Han Solo is probably one of the best examples of this(for that matter, Madmartigan in Willow is essentially Han with a sword) Han never cares a whole lot about the rebellion (except for maybe at the end) just in keeping Luke and later Leia alive. Who's in ccharge has no bearing on him whatsoever...the only reason he stuck around (or came back in the first movie in the first place) was because he figured Luke wouldn't make it 5 minutes without him.
In Buffy terms: Buffy will always go to save the world. Spike will go to save Buffy, and if he helps save the world in the process, that's just a nice bonus.
Well, hopefully I've made you want to see it even more...
You can watch it after s3 of Buffy(though you'll often need to alternate discs w/ Angel s1 and Buffy s4)
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Date: 2007-09-03 08:48 pm (UTC)It is difficult to overestimate the cultural impact of the series, for example I was surprised to read that there even seem to be "Buffy Studies" as academic discipline (read this in wiki). This is one of the reasons I decided to undertake watching of something as massive (7 seasons of Buffy + 4 seasons of Angel). It is roughly about 200 episodes, right??
And, of course, there's Lorne, the gloriously bisexual demon who indiscriminately loves, lectures and is superior to all other beings, who runs a karaoke bar that's a neutral ground for everyone, good or bad.
Hee! I am particular looking forward to this one. :D
That's actually part of why I prefer Angel as a show to Buffy...most of the characters there except Spike(I count Angel, Wesley and Cordy as Angel characters since they were there longer) are pretty much indiscriminately good… The Angel characters are darker and not as clear cut...the saving the world thing is often a necessary default, and often it's more about smaller problems than the world.
I know some other great people who like Angel more .. It sounds like it is something more grown-up. One of the real things I must battle with in "Buffy" is that unfortunately I am well past their age and though I like them to bits it is often like I want to say "Oh,, dearie! I just want to give you a reassuring hug and give you a mug of hot chocolate.." :D
Han Solo is probably one of the best examples of this(for that matter, Madmartigan in Willow is essentially Han with a sword) Han never cares a whole lot about the rebellion (except for maybe at the end) just in keeping Luke and later Leia alive.
** Nods **. Exactly. I think may be because I am like this myself (al little tired of grand political ideas) I can easier relate to someone who is just there for his friends..
In Buffy terms: Buffy will always go to save the world. Spike will go to save Buffy, and if he helps save the world in the process, that's just a nice bonus.
Ditto
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Date: 2007-09-03 09:05 pm (UTC)5 seasons of Angel, actually. But yeah, somewhere around 200 eps...actually, maybe more like 250(11 seasons of 21 eps and 1 season of 13 eps) And yeah, there's a lot of Buffy academia out there.
Lorne is...there are no words. If you've seen Stardust yet, Captain Shakespeare is the closest I can come to describing Lorne, only Lorne is...more...
Yes. I was the same age as the Buffy character's were when it aired, but I didn't get into the fandom until Angel was almost over, and I binded though Buffy s4-7 and Angerl s1-5 not even 2 years ago. The Angel characters have Cordy at the youngest(and things happen to her that, maturity-wise, often make her seem several years older...it's hard to remember sometimes that she was only 20 or so around s3 of Angel, because by then, even though she was still self-centered and snarky, many of her attributes felt more like she was mid-20s) and then, not counting Angel and Spike(who would be mid/late 20s if judged normally) range up to the early 30s. Buffy is, in many ways, a dark fairy tale, while Angel is more along the lines of urban fantasy noir, rather like Dresden Files.
Yes, you can admire and love the hero for his/her goodness and problems, but the one who's just there for his friends, or who struggles with which side to choose, is a more interesting character.
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Date: 2007-09-04 11:43 pm (UTC)We haven't got "Stardust" here yet. I have seen the posters but it is not showing yet. I am so much looking forward to see it!
it's hard to remember sometimes that she was only 20 or so around s3 of Angel
Oh, interesting! For some reason I thought that Cordelia is much older then the rest in Buffy, she just looks like it..
Yes, you can admire and love the hero for his/her goodness and problems, but the one who's just there for his friends, or who struggles with which side to choose, is a more interesting character.
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Date: 2007-09-04 11:46 pm (UTC)I think Charisma Carpenter is older than the others(and honestly, to make a character like Cordy work, you need to have an actress with more maturity than the character, really) but Cordy is supposed to be the same age as the rest.
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Date: 2007-09-04 11:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-03 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-03 06:17 pm (UTC)I have my share of the canceled shows - "The Nine" for example!! ** sniff ** I don't seem to find the latest episodes even for download... :(
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Date: 2007-09-03 06:29 pm (UTC)I've been considering a Rome rewatch, although that's a little ridiculous one month before the new season. I still have a few shows to completely catch up on first.
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Date: 2007-09-03 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 03:01 am (UTC)Spike is not around much in Season 3, but by the time Season 4 rolls around he's there all the time. Which is great. Spike and Drusilla are my favorite now. Especially after this past weekend. :)
Please say something when you watch "Lover's Walk", "Something Blue", "Out of My Mind" and "Fool for Love".
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Date: 2007-09-04 11:32 pm (UTC)Spike and Drusilla are my favorite now. Especially after this past weekend. :)
Just love them together, they brought so much variety and quirkiness in the Buffy!!!
Please say something when you watch "Lover's Walk", "Something Blue", "Out of My Mind" and "Fool for Love".
I will surely never shut up about "Buffy" - I seem to like it more and more!!
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Date: 2007-09-04 11:49 pm (UTC)Nope, no vampirism(thank goodness)
Another character becomes a vampire...I actually had no use for her as a human, but thought she was very fun once she became a vampire.
Cordy...urm...it's hard to explain without going into detail(IMO) Though I could if you want...
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Date: 2007-09-04 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 12:00 am (UTC)Vampire: Cordy's friend Harmony. She gets turned at the end of s3 and tries to become Buffy's worst enemy and she completely sucks at being evil.
Cordy: Basically, she's made part demon so that she can have visions to help Angel save people, but it gives her migraines because she's mostly human, and in s3 we learn it's killing her and she's given the choice of becoming all human and abandoning Angel, or becoming all demon and continueing to help him. She chooses to keep the vision, of course, but because she chose to accept it, a demon named Jasmine essentially "became" Cordy and took over, causing her to have and affair with Connor so that Jasmine could give birth to herself, except Jasmine was actually a goood and giving birth to a god left Cordy comatose.
Not the best description, but I'm about to change computers.
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Date: 2007-09-05 12:04 am (UTC)Thank you so much, dear!
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Date: 2007-09-05 12:43 am (UTC)Yup, that's pretty much what it is.
There's also the fact that Angel is more protective of Cordy than he ever was of Buffy. Partly because Cordy needs protecting more, but also partly because she was someone to protect before she was someone he cared about, and he was always aware of what she gave up to help him, both against her will, and then when she chose to.
For that matter, Spike is more protective of Buffy than Angel was, in a way. Maybe Angel and Buffy were always too busy angsting over their love being forbidden for him to show his psycho protective side as much(Booth has it too...Boreaniz does that very, very well...)
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Date: 2007-09-04 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-04 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 06:59 am (UTC)I haven't decided yet if I will see the movie (may depend on my mood once it reaches theatres here) so please no spoilers for me. :)
What I can't get enough of is this piece of the score (http://www.atonementthemovie.co.uk/site/mp3/01%20Track%2001_64K.mp3) from the trailer.
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Date: 2007-09-05 08:30 am (UTC)I have missed the poster somehow.. I think I try to stay unspoiled too ( I can wait until Friday :D). The only thing is I am not a huge fan of Keira..
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Date: 2007-09-05 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 09:06 am (UTC)Maybe there's a chance that Mr. McAvoy will balance the appearance of that undernourished girl for you. ;)
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Date: 2007-09-06 08:30 pm (UTC)Ha-ha! I am sure James McAvoy can help any film.. Also Romola Garai has some lovely curves..