capriuni | Entries tagged with television

So – last night, I watched a repeat of the episode "the Final Frontier," and it was a great, fun episode, all about geek pride. The thing is, that the murder victim was shot (with a laser gun that was very much hand-waved), and "hidden" on a mockup of a television set spaceship and left overnight. … And no one noticed until a couple of fans decided to snoop around and take a closer look. Apparently in the "Castle" universe, human corpses have no smell.

I really do enjoy the series, until I think about it too hard; it's really just a fantasy for writers – all about how were really the smartest people in the room, which would be obvious, if only people would listen to us. Because after all, it's our job to think about everything .

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/707240.html

First. Cute overload of the day, or week, or month, or until the next time I squeal out loud at an image on my screen: Linked Tails (photo of three harvest mice siblings perched on a branch, holding tails the way humans hold hands)

Second. Re: Feeling ... not so much left out as pushed out of Valentine's Day (it's the only holiday I can think of that puts people in a second class based on relationship status, and for those of us who have been historically and culturally discouraged from thinking about having relationships, well... yeah. And being the sort who doesn't like feeling left out and bitter, I spent yesterday trying to think of a positive alternative way to frame it -- or a new one (my old fall back of it bringing a shot of bright color into the grey depths of winter doesn't work as well in Virginia as it did in New York).

This is what I came up with: For the Romans, it was a fertility fest celebrating the founding of Rome, and the suckling of Romulus and Remus by the she-wolf... According to the Christian story (aiui) Saint Valentine became associated with lovers because at one point, married men were exempt from the army, so the Saint would perform marriages as an act of civil disobedience. So I propose that we singletons of that bent use the day to celebrate conscientious objection and other "loving" acts of social change... (hey, "pinko" is already a color associated with it!)

Third. Working on a YouTube video of my "harvest" poem... which is why I haven't been talking here much (which is why I was researching mice to draw).

Fourth. Still need to schedule an inspection of my central heating/AC

Fifth. Need to schedule repairs to the van (may be the transmission). :-/

Sixth. After 30 or so years, This Old House is finally doing a series on wheelchair-accessible design. My feelings, they are mixed. On the one hand: yay! On the other hand, it's still being framed as "Something we should do for our elderly family members." (And again, disability = elderly, rather than disability = everybody). Also, it's a two-storey house and the downstairs is being converted into a self-contained, one-storey, living space with the upstairs being renovated for future live-in help if needed... And once again, I'm thinking that that would probably have been the better option for me to adapt my New York home instead of moving down here...

Seventh: OMG! Asteroids! Meteorite! Eek!

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/702747.html

And, I think I figured something out: The supposed "Special trait" that separates Modern Homo Sapiens from all other species of human, and non-human animals?

It's an obsessive psychological need to be separate from all other species of humans, and non-human animals. ...In other words, it's our bigotry. :-/

On the other hand, the conclusion voiced at the end of the episode (from one of the scientists interviewed) is that Neanderthals "disappeared" because they interbred with the Homo Sapiens who migrated into Europe, and got genetically absorbed (and the Neanderthal genes we [Europeans] inherited are the ones that control our immune systems). So that offers some hope that we really can "Make Love, Not War."

Peace forever, Baby!

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/699008.html

1 ( This one has been building since December 14, 2011 (television: CSI: Why hiring disabled actors matters) )

2 ( Random 'Cerebral Palsy' Education Info-dump )

3 ( What lesson I hope Networks will learn from the recently ended 'Chuck,' sadly, probably in vain )

4 ( Obit: Davy Jones of the American sitcom 'The Monkees' )

5 ( Thinking of doing 'Camp NaNoWriMo' instead of, or in addition, to, the regular, November one )

*looks back over five.*

I guess this can be summed up as Good Writing=Good ??

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/642740.html

Tonight, on the PBS program This Old House, the team of home renovators congratulated themselves on dismantling the ugly and cumbersome wheelchair ramp which the current owners of the house in question didn't need, and replaced it with a much more beautiful and welcoming brand new set of stairs.

The documentary that aired in the very next hour focused on the work and life of African American painters, and the struggles they've personally had to wage against racism in the professional Art World. The injustice of Segregation and Jim Crow laws, which codified in writing where individual people were allowed or forbidden to enter was mentioned more than once.

. . . . . . . . .

I trust you, Gentle Reader, can see where all the irony quotes should go without me actually typing them. Do I trust rightly?

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/633113.html

Season Final of Chuck (So far): Three down, ten to go.

I'm really liking this. ( Spoilers for seasons 1-4, strictly speaking, but only in the very broadest of strokes )

Ye Muses and Storytellers! There needs to be more of this! Please!

Another snippet from Rolling around in my head:

(quote) ( Read more... ) "If our most important invention was the wheel," he said, "why did we follow up with the stair?" (unquote)

Thoughts that come to mind from wanting to talk back to Brian Greene in his new "Fabric of the Cosmos" series:

I am really sick of the Theory of Entropy being treated like it's a hot, new, exciting idea. ( Read more... )

And, thanks to Life, a chaotic and falling-apart Universe is a lot more fun and interesting that the super-ordered moment at the very start of the Big Bang. I'll take it. Thanks.

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/626559.html

Yesterday, I wrote this:

(Quote)
In the past, I've always used my NaNo novel to create a psychological buffer zone for myself. And now, the prospect of dealing with all that without the project that requires to write past word #35,000 is scaring me at the moment... scaring me quite a lot, actually.

So ... Should I, or shouldn't I?
(Unquote)

Well, yesterday, I posted this question/thought again on the Mudcat thread about it. And someone I know on there said she wished I'd join up so I could guide her through it...

So, with that little nudge, I decided to go for it -- only this time, I'm not expecting or planning to "win"... But just to have it as a thing.

The theme for The Art Garden this year is "Charms," and its deadline is November 12. So what I've decided is: to work on something for that today and tomorrow (a sonnet, maybe), and then use whatever key thought arise in that work as the starting point for my NaNovel.

So I will go do that now...

(after a snack and a pee, not necessarily in that order...)

Oh, and tonight on Nova, it's the start of a new series about emerging theories in quantum physics: dark energy, time travel, more parallel universes, etc., with Brian Greene. I can't remember my opinion of him, but I think I remember him being kinda cool (not as cool as Sagan or Feynman, but you have to take what you've got).

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/624519.html

I'd completely missed the promos for the newest (5th, half-sized, and final) season of Chuck... Perhaps that's because NBC completely failed to promote it?

In any case, I happily stumbled upon the first episode last night, even though I'd missed the first few minutes. It was good. It was fun.

(Without divulging too many spoilers)

Over the last four seasons, Chuck completed one of the most satisfying, character-focused story-arcs I've ever witnessed on the small screen. Were it in a prose novella format, ('cause, really, television dramedy seasons can all be reduced to chapters with a dozen or so pages), it could have been used as study material in an English Fiction-writing course. The titular character was given both internal and external conflicts to face, and as he faced each one, the solutions led to both personal growth and further complications. The final episode of season four satisfactorily and happily resolved every one of the conflicts presented in Season One, Episode One.

In the first episode of season five, Chuck is confident in his self-identity which is almost the the polar opposite of his self-identity in the very beginning. But then, everything on which he bases that identity is taken away or threatened, and he is once more a fish-out-of-water, on his way across an entirely new story arc -- with an entirely new, mysterious and conspiratorial Baddie to face.

Oh, and it also gleefully mocked the tropes of spy fiction with balletic slapstick and witty dialogue.

The one sour note was that this was the first episode in the entire four-plus years in which a wheelchair appeared on screen... and it was being used by the scheming and incompetent employees Jeff and Lester to scam money out of the customers at the Buy More via Pity Porn. Bletch.

---
Immediately following Chuck was the American broadcast (legal) premiere of Grimm, which I checked in on because both

jekesta and

calapine panned it. So I was curious.

They were right.

First of all... I dunno... it was visually ... flat -- dingy lighting, or something. But with lots of camera flare mixed in anyway. It was not particularly pleasant to look at. Which is a bad idea in a television show.

Second of all, the premise -- ick. Somehow, "grimms" are now a thing -- a special category of people, like the vampire-hunters of the Buffy-verse, who can see the "baddies" of fairy tales (and of course, all the fairy tales are literally true). And the protagonist of this show is one of the last, and it's his job to hunt them down. But really, all the baddies just appear to be werewolves. And it was completely unclear, beyond that, as to why the baddies are bad, or dangerous to us, and what the nature of this fictional universe is, and how goodies and baddies fit together. Besides the fact that baddies are secretly ugly and snarl a lot.

As someone who loves stories, and the power of good storytelling, it makes me sad to see people forget that Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm were actual, individual, people who recognized the power and beauty of good stories and so collected them the way a wine connoisseur collects wine, and spent their lifetime working together to polish them and bring them to the public in the hopes of changing their country's direction and bringing justice to their still-feudal state. ... I don't agree, ultimately, with their particular notions of proper justice in all details. But I do admire their ambitions and methods (and I'm really grateful they did all that work, so that the stories they recorded and published would not be forgotten).

By insisting that the stories are literally true, and erasing the presence of the storyteller, (rhetorical) you sap stories' greatest magic: the ability to spark the imagination and create new realities.

Oh, and there's another fairy-tale show, that aired last Sunday (Once Upon a Time) on ABC-- here's my rant about that, from comments I left in

jekesta's journal:

(Quote)

I wouldn't mind the Fairy Tale Show so much (I kind of half-watched it last week, out of morbid curiosity) if it weren't based almost completely on the Disney versions. But the television network that's producing the show is owned by the Disney Corporation. So what else could anyone expect?

And no: "It's because they're afraid of copyright violations if they do anything else!" doesn't work as a defense, 'cause the original tales (collected by Jacob, and given their poetic turns-of-phrase by Wilhelm [sp? Sorry, W.]) were put into writing before copyright laws even existed.

So the deliberate copying of the old Disney movies [Even down to the personalities of the 'Seven Dwarves'] is just a blatant pitch to sell more home DVDs...

[snippity]

If Fairy Tales happen upon a time, that means they kind of exist separate from time -- floating, skimming, over its surface, rather than embedded within it. So if, say (To borrow "Once Upon a Time"'s hook), fairy tale characters are trapped in our, real, world, but are surfing over time, then, they could, Quantum Leap-like, find themselves hopping to different periods of human history -- from the Medieval / Renaissance periods the stories (as we know them) are set, to our present, to our future -- in a space-traveling culture -- And, unlike "Once upon a Time," the Baddie would not announce him/herself, or her motives, or her methods. But they'd have to look for clues in each time they find themselves.... And I'd draw on some of the stories Disney hasn't touched, yet (the other 190, or so, to choose from).
(Unquote)

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/623588.html

The two women in a TV Series or movie are talking about a murder suspect, and/or the suspect's motives, if that suspect happens to be a man?

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/621779.html

*Frozen "Complete" meals: With Entree, Vegetable, and Dessert.

Why do they still do this? Really -- the dessert might ordinarily be very tasty. But broccoli tastes really weird with "Apple Caramel Crumble" mixed in. And Apple Crumble tastes funny with that drop of tomato sauce that escaped its compartment. Truly.

If they really want to entice people into buying their product by including a dessert, why not make it a frozen dessert (that could be removed before the food tray goes into the oven or microwave), and saved for after you've finished your main course? What a concept! That would also allow it to melt just slightly from rock hard to soft serve, but still cold. A couple of suggestions: rounding out a "health food" dinner with frozen blueberry and lemon yogurt (with soy yogurt for vegan meals), or a decadent "home-style favorite" with an ice cream sandwich... or even a warm brownie -- that you can warm for 10-20 seconds separately.

*One thing that's always baffled me: As a wheelchair user, when I approach a set of heavy double doors, nine times out of ten, a well-meaning Able-bodied type person will rush forward to "help" -- so far, so good [note, below] -- except they almost always jump to the middle of the doors, and try to open both at once, by standing in the middle of them, in some contorted version of a spread-eagle pose, giving me far less space to get through than I would have, otherwise, if I'd tried to open the door by myself.

The glib part of me wonders if walking has the unfortunate side effect of walking is that it interfere's with a person's ability to think logically. But then, I started to get a serious glimmer of an idea why:

People have been taught to believe two memes: 1) Helping a Disabled Person is a Virtuous Sacrifice, and 2) The more Difficult your Sacrifice, the More Virtuous your Sacrifice.

And the people who hold these memes in their heads are thinking more about how difficult it is for themselves than how helpful it is for the disabled person.

*"Procedural" Television dramas are very popular now -- they take up about 90%, by my guesstimate, of the evening TV. They're favorites of TV execs because it's easy to break them into segments where commercials can be aired. They have drama built in, and they're the same formula every week, so they can be written quickly, and you don't have to spend a lot of time on exposition. But they're either Doctor Shows or Police Shows. And after a while, they all sort of blend together and become low-res copies of their competition. Surely, there must be other professional fields that follow a regular procedure in a day's work than doctors and police, right? (I was just commenting to

welfycat tonight that I'd love to see the Criminal Minds cast as marine biologists -- They'd be on a boat together. How would that not be awesome?). There could be restaurant dramas, and architect dramas. Or how about hotel staff dramas? We do have Pan-Am this year, at least, but I don't know if that counts as "procedural." I doubt it.

[note] (except

haddayr points out how it's really not so good, here: On Understanding

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/617728.html

American TV shows always end their yearly seasons on a major-threaten-to-change-everything cliffhanger. And all through the beginning of the summer, it feels like an impossibility to wait for the resolution in September. But when Premier Week finally rolls around, I kind of half-dread watching the new shows, for fear It All Goes Wrong, and I will Hate my Show.

Last night, it was Castle (Shuddup. I know it's dumb but)

Tonight (In less than 5 minutes), it's NCIS. (I'll probably watch with the sound muted, to start, just to spare myself the Ominous Chords of Doom [tm]

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/616567.html

There's going to be a repeat of "Inspector Lewis," where the plot revolves around a family whose teenage daughter becomes paralyzed in a car crash, and the action is driven by the different family members' reaction to same -- including the daughter.

The first time it aired, I got to wondering how the way this is dealt with reflects the difference between Britain's predominantly Social Model of Disability, and America's predominantly medical model.

So... you know, if you have 90 minutes or so to spare sometime this week, maybe you could check it out so I have someone to talk to about this?

(I'll be cross-posting this to

crip_crit)

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/609608.html

Questions that have been rolling around in my head since the end of the American Spring Television Season*:

Why do mass media cater to hipsters, and treat geeks as second-class citizens, especially in entertainment (my working definitions of those two terms, for those who missed 'em)? And is the Hipster class, in part, created by mass media?

My thought -- and I admit this may be nothing more than "pretty to think so" -- is that yes, mass media, and particularly television, help to craft the hipster class, and that's why they cater to them -- as a sort of domesticated consumer pet. But here's why I think that:

Both Geeks and Hipsters value the intellect, and eschew the popular trends of the culture. However, hipsters have an active scorn for popular culture as "beneath them" (Judging by the hipster-written definitions of "hipster" at UrbanDictionary.com, anyway). And geeks don't care much for popular culture simply because they're so engrossed by their own favorite things to notice what's popular and what's not.

And that's why I think media, and in particular, television, promotes the hipster class: They need a class of young, stylish, people who see themselves as the avant-garde so they can sell their eyeballs to advertisers, to be "early adopters" for a continual stream of new things to buy. So intellectual curiousity is valued -- the media and the marketplace need at least some people who are not afraid of new ideas. Both Geeks and hipsters have that curiosity.

What sets hipsters apart from geeks (and why the television industry loves them) is that scorn. Because as soon as something goes from being avant garde to popular, you need to have people who declare it "Soo last year (month, week, yesterday)!" The problem with geeks is: they fall in love with something, and they tend to stay in love it. They might, indeed, be young men between the ages of 18 and 34, but their trend-setting habits align them more with the 50-year olds.

Think of the most common jokes (in television sitcoms and romcom movies, particularly) mocking the geek for geek stereotypes: a man in his 30s or 40s who still has his Star Wars action figures from when he was 12.

That's why I think of CBS's The Big Bang Theory as a hipster show masquerading as a 'geek pride' show. Yes, all the four male leads are framed as highly intellectual, geeky, scientists... But all the laugh lines basically boil down to: "oh, my god! How ridiculously geeky is that?!"

And the one male lead who is paired with the only female lead** (who happens to be blonde and thin, and speaks with a piping girl voice, and is framed by the narrative as "The object of desire"), is the one who rolls his eyes at the others.

...Either that, or I'm still judging the show for that one line in its theme song: "The autotrophs began to drool." I mean, if that's not geek-science-biology fail, I don't know what is!*** It's like someone just scanned the Internet for cool sounding science words, and put them together into a song, without caring if it makes any sense or not. And it's that aloof not-caring that flagged the show as 'hipster,' to me.

I was going to go on, and write further about geekery and disability. But this has taken up too much space-time already.

*Summer, in American television, is when the regular primetime shows go into hiatus and/or reruns, and stations bring out all their "reality" programs to fill the airwaves -- like Fear Factor, Big Brother, Wipe-Out, and the like, and I find myself scrambling to do anything but watch television. So, since I'm not watching ... not caught up wondering what will happen in the next episode ... I find myself reflecting on the season just past. So, specifically, this question popped into my head at the end of Chuck, which, I think, is quintescentially "Geek vs. Hipster"

**Oh, how TBBT fails at the Bechdel test, let me count the ways ... eh... never mind.

*** "Auto" means 'self' "Troph" means 'food.' So Autotrophs are .... plants. And I've never seen a drooling geranium. Have you?

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/593157.html

(I've come back to edit the bullet point about Chuck -- rereading it, I realized I had so many thoughts, I left key bits out of a key sentence)

Okay, so I cut my own hair, Friday night, and was tweaking it through the weekend... which meant I was spending more time than usual looking closely at my face in the mirror. And I noticed something.

You know that the our faces are naturally asymmetrical, right? And that the right side of the brain controls the left side of the face? Here's a Web page that talks about that: Face assymmetry.

...Anyway: after looking at my reflection for the umpteenth time Saturday night, I noticed that my left eyebrow is markedly arched, and my right eyebrow is flatter and tending toward furrowed-ness. It's as if the analytical side of my brain is looking at the world and saying: "Grr! Eedjits!" And the creative side of my brain is looking at the world and saying: "Oh, Really?!"

It struck me as highly lollerous. And yes, I LOL'ed.
I had a meta dream, this morning. I dreamt that I had a weird dream, and I ended up explaining my weird dream to people in my dream, and explaining how I thought my weird dream was giving suggestions for what we should do next (also, one of the characters in my dream was. Oh, and for some strange reason, Danny Rebus (from the new version of The Electric Company) was one of the people I was working with... (Here's His page on the Electric Company Website).
My cat Amanda is being particularly talkative today: walking around the house loudly declaring ...something... to the world at large like a Shakespearean actor doing a soliloquy.
(I almost put this one in things making me happy list from May 31, because I like it when the lightbulb clicks on about something. That 'aha!' moment feels good. ... Except this time, that light also illuminated something unpleasant. So I left it out. And I'm sticking it with "random" instead)

I recently realized something about why I find Chuck so entertaining to watch, and while I will probably miss it when it's gone: For what's not in it: Disability.

Now, I was actually surprised when this notion clarified in my mind (as if floating slowing from the murky depths of a silty pond, until it bobs up on the surface, all shiny like). Normally, I despise the erasure of "my kind of people" from the world, but the lack of disabled people from even the background crowd scenes means that in the entire four season run of the show (So far, I hope this post doesn't jinx this) means I could sit back, relax, and not worry that I'd have to watch any of the following plot points:
1. That someone is going to "fake" a disability, in order to avoid suspicion or notice (which means, in real life, that people with disabilities are always under suspicion).
2. That possible disability is used as a threat for a fate worse than death.
3. That bitterness over having a disability is regarded as a reasonable motivation for wanting to hurt others or seek revenge (in an: "Oh, well. Of course that makes sense," sort of way).
4. That shame over becoming disabled is likewise seen as reasonable excuse for not asking for help, even when going on as if nothing has changed actually results in the death of innocent people.
5. That averting a feared disability, is portrayed as the happiest of happy endings, especially if the person who escaped this terrible fate is pretty. ... as long as you're "Beautiful" and "Whole," your life will be nothing but sunshine and lollipops for ever after.
The fact that I do have to brace myself against those story lines in every other hour-long drama (and a few sitcoms) on television in the last (unspecified number of years) or so, is very, very depressing.
Thanks to trouble for pointing me to a transcript of Jay Smooth's video that I posted, last night:

( How to Tell People They Sound Racist )

One reason why this is making me especially squeeful right now is that I'd just finished reading the bit in Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (Appiah, 2006), where the author makes the point that sharing someone's values isn't really important, and what we should be worrying about instead is agreeing on proper actions.

Philosophical convergence for the win!

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/592313.html

Okay. This is the first Monday since the last Chuck of this season. And after this, there are, according to most sources I've come across, thirteen episodes for next seaon. And then, no more, don't even bother asking, etc., forever and ever, no backsies.*

However, I've learned (thanks to my experience of the Barren Years of Doctor Who on the Internet) that having fandom support in your friendship-circle is almost as good as having an actively running show to watch. 'Cause then, you can have fanfic, and inside jokes, and speculative conversations, and all that good stuff. So I am preparing now, and trying to nudge those who might already be so inclined to look it up, and maybe embrace it and fall in love with it. It's quirky enough not to be everyone's "cup of tea," and I'm not so mad as to believe that the whole world must love it, or else. But, you know... there are a few people on my f'list / in my dwircle who I think would really get a kick out of it. And it's to those folks I'm writing this post.

( So: Why I think you'd love <i>Chuck</i> if you tried it -- a bulleted list: )

A word of caution: Chuck's narrative style is a bit like a super-cool, vivid dream. You know the kind, where you're swept up by it and thoroughly entertained while you're sleeping, and you think: "This would make a great movie!" And then, when you wake up, you realize the plot doesn't really hold together: "Wait -- how did we get from point A to point B (or was that 'G')?" So if you're looking for a Spy-action thriller like you'd get from John le Carre, you'll be sorely disappointed, and I suggest you look elsewhere. But, like a dream, it holds together emotionally, and remains truthful and logical on that level.

In terms of style -- it actually kind of reminds me of the old Adam West Batman from 1960s TV -- but prettier. If we had TV-Mystery-Action-Drama Scale of one to ten, with Batman being a one, and ...oh, I don't know -- CSI: being a ten, then Chuck would be a three.

And finally, a fan-vid I found (from DVDs of seasons one and two, I think). I think it's telling that about half the clips in this vid (and many other fan vids I came across) are actually from the DVDs' blooper cuts.... just to show how much fun the cast has together, making the show.

*One source said there will be fifteen new episodes, every other source has said thirteen, so.

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/589612.html

( Cut for those not interested in *Doctor Who,* because I can't remember if I have that filter 100% sorted, yet )

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/583746.html

So, yesterday,

gordon_r_d posted a YouTube vid of a humorous North Carolina Lottery commercial.

And that reminded me of the Virginia Lotto commercials that started playing down here, shortly after I moved here, featuring the personification of Lady Luck, portrayed as a put-upon, bedraggled, and slightly snarky fairy godmother type. They retired that campaign several years ago, now, and I miss it. I really liked Lady Luck.

Anyway, here's one typical commericial that shows the tone and humor (I don't know what year it's from); my still-needs-practice transcription follows below the cut.

( Transcript behind here, to the best of my ability (not really sure how much is needed) )

Now, don't you think TVland need more characters like that?

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/580430.html

Okay, so last night, I was watching a repeat of Bones, which has a history of being incredibly ableist in its plots and dialog. And sure enough, the b-plot of last night's episode was the angst between the b-plot romantic couple, newly married (and now preggers) Angela and Hodgkins [sp?], over the fact that their yet unborn child will have a one in four chance of being BLIND (horrors of horrors!).

But then it ended sort of okay, with Hodgkins saying: "So what if I won't be able to teach my child to look through microscopes? We can play the piano together. Our Kid will be fine. We'll be fine; we can handle anything."

So I left the show feeling a bit more optimistic. Sure, it was still ableist. But it wasn't as ableist as it's been in the past.

Then. Then.

Then the evening news came on. And the "Health and Science" segment was all about the worries new parents have when they discover their baby isn't perfect, like they expected. And the "imperfections" they were discussing?

Being a little bit cross-eyed.

Having dandruff.

Having acne.

And the final word from the Nice Lady Baby Doctor in the White Coat of Authority[tm]? "Don't worry. Be patient, and in a month or two, your baby will be perfect" (More or less a direct quote... At least as far as I remember).

Facepalm.
Headdesk.
Headwall.
Repeat.

While I was writing this, I had the idea for a new icon to stick on my Ableism-themed posts (on the DreamWidth side): "Monster on wheels" Y/Y?

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/576769.html

(What's been running in the background, in my brain-roof-chatter index: A follow-up to this post: A Random-ish sci-fi question that came to me, today -- the GeekErotica edition; the erotic parts and the sociological parts, and the evolutionary biology parts, and random tangeants, are all tangled up, at the mo', and I think, if I tried to write it as I'm thinking it, it would come out as bizarre gobblety-gook).

So In the Meantime:

Here's a show I wish to cultivate a fandom for. There probably is a fandom for it, already. But I want this fandom on my f'list and dwircle, so I can quote it, and make inside jokes about it, and people reading me will get it. That's what a fandom is for, anyway, right -- first and foremost?

Peep and the Big, Wide, World Yes, this is a cartoon written for kids aged three to six years (to introduce them to scientific thinking and exploration). But its dialog is snarky and funny (I actually laugh when I watch it), and no other show on TV today does better eyerolls and facepalms (the fact that it's a kids' show with eyerolls and facepalms in response to teh foolish should tell you a lot). Also, the vids on their site are all closed-captioned, and have Spanish versions).

Three of my favorite episodes on YouTube -- each about 10 minutes:

That's a cat Peep's first day out of the egg. (includes the live action epilogue with neighborhood children -- and cats)

The Winter of Quack's Discontent

Star Light, Star Bright The complications of staritis.

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/575182.html

Television things:

The Wikipedia article on the TV series Chuck explains one reason why I love it so much, and am distressed at the thought of it going away: It's up against shows that make my skin crawl -- "Dancing with the Stars"/"Bachelor" on ABC (depending on the season; the latter is downright, unapolgetically ableist in pursuit of "humor") "Rules of Engagement" on CBS (for the second half of the hour -- full of mean cynicism) and "House" on FOX (All about how Medical Technology is the best thing evah!). And Chuck is an antidote to all that, primarily because it takes "Not taking itself seriously" seriously. It's funny and romantic and funny and actiony, and light-hearted and warm-hearted and geeky and... You can watch full eps online.
American culture has gone off the edge of the cliff, "Civility tone-wise," I think, ever since the Federal Communications Commission did away with regulations requiring that every single station provide a minimum number of hours a week to kids' programming. Up until the mid-1990s, every morning at the get-ready-for-school hour, and every afternoon between get-home and eat-supper-hours, there were kids's shows like (YouTube clips of opening themes -- varied by year and station, but just a sampling of shows I remember [and miss -- some of them]):
- Gargoyles (action/fantasy)
- TailSpin (A spin-off of Disney's Jungle Book with vintage airplanes... no, I don't get it either. It was soppy and moralistic, but at least fun)
- Eskaflowne (American butchering of Japanese Anime of a story that reminded me of Shakespeare's King Lear on an alien/parallel universe planet with tarot cards and robots and dragons)
- Bugs Bunny
  And finally (and most-missed-of-all)
- Animaniacs
Those shows went away, with all their variety and color, and, since broadcasters have to fill air time with something, what has taken their place? "Courtroom" shows where neighbors and family members sue each other, act like two-year olds, and "talk shows" with themes like "My brother slept with my wife and she's pregnant with his baby!". When the kids were given entertainment time, the grown-ups were given a break from anger.

It makes me sad and lonesome-like.
Hm... I think this one was going to be all about how I miss the Animaniacs, but I covered that one, above... so... Never mind. That show had catch phrases that I wish were still recognized, but I fear are obsolete: "Faboo!" for "Fabulous!" for example (Wakko), and "Hello, Mr. Man!" (Mindy from "Mindy and Buttons")
On the darker, far less fun, side, here's a short film (< 4 mins) that shows exactly why wheelchair-accessible parking spots are designed the way they are -- extra wide, and the closest ones to the store: Just 2 minutes (French, w/English subtitles). I know that no one reading this would dare park in a wheelchair accessible spot without a placard or tag (Right?). But this vid might give you tools for persuading other people, who can be jerks.
For some reason, LJ periodically logs me out when I try to read my f'list page. (But I'm still logged in on my "recent Entries" page... or if I link to an individual journal -- this only happens with my friends page, and only sometimes). So if I keep missing your f'locked entries, you know why, now.

Crossposts: http://capriuni.livejournal.com/574871.html

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Ann

May 2013

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I like the TV show "Castle," but if I think too hard about the logic of it, it does my head in...
Has it really been a week since I last posted?!
I just finished watching a *Nova* episode on emerging science around Neanderthals:
5 fingers (usually), 5 senses (usually), 5 days (usually) to a work week, 5 things make a post
sometimes, it just makes me want to cry with the irony.
Brain-dump: Things that are not my novel, to clear my head:
NaNoWriMo: I decided to go for it. Also Brian Greene and "The fabric of the Cosmos" tonight, on Nova
Narrative TV that I watched, last night: *Chuck* and (little bits of) *Grimm*
Does it count as passing the Bechdel test if...
Sundry sentences, somewhat scattered:
Cliffhanger resolution anxiety.
Before I forget: Tonight, on "Mystery!" (PBS American Teev)
More "Geek Pride" geekery...
Random stuff: what it says on the tin...
This is where I try to nudge a few more folks into *Chuck* fandom.
Karen Gillan was on Craig Ferguson, last night:
If ever an advertising character deserved an entire spin-off sitcom, it's this one.
*Swears* *Mutters* *Growls* *Cries* Some days, it's one step forward, three steps back.
Some of my brains are wrestling with whether or not I should post a post, while
Four things and another thing

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Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

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Entries tagged with television

I like the TV show "Castle," but if I think too hard about the logic of it, it does my head in...

Has it really been a week since I last posted?!

I just finished watching a Nova episode on emerging science around Neanderthals:

5 fingers (usually), 5 senses (usually), 5 days (usually) to a work week, 5 things make a post

sometimes, it just makes me want to cry with the irony.

Brain-dump: Things that are not my novel, to clear my head:

NaNoWriMo: I decided to go for it. Also Brian Greene and "The fabric of the Cosmos" tonight, on Nova

Narrative TV that I watched, last night: Chuck and (little bits of) Grimm

Does it count as passing the Bechdel test if...

Sundry sentences, somewhat scattered:

Cliffhanger resolution anxiety.

Before I forget: Tonight, on "Mystery!" (PBS American Teev)

More "Geek Pride" geekery...

Random stuff: what it says on the tin...

This is where I try to nudge a few more folks into Chuck fandom.

Karen Gillan was on Craig Ferguson, last night:

If ever an advertising character deserved an entire spin-off sitcom, it's this one.

Swears Mutters Growls Cries Some days, it's one step forward, three steps back.

Some of my brains are wrestling with whether or not I should post a post, while

Four things and another thing