yoga, books, movies, tv & too many crime procedurals – not necesarily in that order
Did everything right that Rizzoli & Isles did wrong:
1. Set up some ‘agency’ to help suspend disbelief
2. Introduce backstory in a ‘necessary’ way
3. One outlandish element
4. Good action/good story/interesting characters that aren’t beating you over the head (too much- the bathroom scene was a little ridiculous)
5. Then they even explained away outlandish element in a believable way! This was double-bonus as I’d already enjoyed the show enough to actively ignore it!
Definitely a win. Fun entertainment.
It’s a great premise. Really. Buddy-chicks solving crime. I’m TOTALLY DOWN for it. BUT.
This pilot was a hot mess.
It started out with a nicely ominous montage of a crime. And then went downhill rapidly.
P.S. WTF is it with every show set in Boston needing to have some vaguely Irish music for its theme. I mean really.
Right off the bat we get the nosy family and I’M A TOMBOY WHICH MEANS I DON’T KNOW HOW TO ACT AROUND PEOPLE. Grr. Don’t love it but I can live with it. Then the puking homicide detective. Really? He wouldn’t have known dead bodies make him puke before the promotion? And they would promote him anyhow? WTF.
Then we get the creepy dude who’s always the creepy dude and it’s a dead ripoff of Silence of the Lamb so can we PLEASE STOP DOING THIS, what with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins having pretty much KILLED IT? You won’t do it as well. Please stop trying. Also, WTF with giving the guy EXACTLY what he wanted? And her dude partner having to stick up for her all the time? I mean, what kind of shitty tomboy IS SHE.
Oh, she’s the kind of shitty tomboy who’s a TOTAL CUNT to her mother. WTF was THAT?!
Meet our quirky and interesting Coroner who is very quirky and interesting! She doesn’t wear jeans! She has a turtle! She’s quirky! And interesting! Feh.
Of course there’s a guy so BOTH female leads must be interested because penis = attraction. Seriously, people. WTF.
Then she’s the dumbest cop ever. WTF. Leaves the car, running through the woods yelling, apologizes for DOING HER JOB and tackling what should have been the bad guy. Dear guy cop, if you don’t want to get tackled you should tell the other cops that YOU’RE IN THE FUCKING WOODS. Suck it. I’m actually totally annoyed that she was all sissy about having done it and then APOLOGIZED. IT WAS HIS FAULT. YOU ARE THE WORST TOMBOY EVAR.
Also, the tantrums. Because seriously, this female cop who needs to be better than all the guys because she is the only girl was seriously throwing TANTRUMS about people not telling her stuff. Stomping her feet even. And then when they finally tell her, she whips out some bullshit “this isn’t in the report but I know it because I’m so much smarter” crack the case crap. WTF. WHY WOULD THAT NOT BE IN THE REPORT.
The van. I’m not even sure what to say about getting in the van other than, really WTF.
And the finale – let’s not forget that – where she TURNS HER BACK on the twitchy bad guy to cut herself free rather than SHOOT THE FUCKER because he’s twitching. Really? I mean, WHAT THE BLUE FUCK. I’m pretty sure that if someone tortured and almost killed me and then tried another shot at it and I’ve got a gun, I’m capping his ass before I worry about the duct tape. For reals.
I get that they were trying to be all ‘establish character’ shit but MAN was I disappointed in the ENTIRE SHOW. Spouse actually said “We don’t have to watch this anymore do we?”
I’m willing to give it two more episodes but DUDE. CHOCK full of SUCK.
That is SO my new ringtone. Last night’s True Blood served up equal parts hawt, horrifying and funny – as per usual. What I love about the series (both books and TV) is that you never get to pretend that vampires aren’t bad thing what want to eat you for dinner and maybe play with you a little beforehand (and even during). They’re actually MONSTERS. I dig that.
I have seen a lot of kvetching with regard to “oh noes, wimmen are victims.” To this I say: our media is a reflection of our society. Women are more often victims of crime (violent and not) and to pretend that would be otherwise with monsters who prey on the weak would ridiculous. Do I love it? No. But should it make you think? Absolutely. In fact, in this particular episode, Sookie WASN’T a victim and Tara was doing her best to fight back in a really really bad situation. Is it perfect? Of course not. On the other hand, show me someone fighting – someone trying – and I’m willing to go along for the ride. None of the women on this show are PASSIVE. That’s what I like about it.
Unrelated, I fucking love Lafayette. I heart Lafayette with the fire of a thousand suns. If the entire show consisted of Lafayette’s cooking in that bar I would still watch.
In other TV news, finally saw the Haven premiere. It could be good or complete crap – I’ll wait my decision on a couple of more episodes.
Tonight is new Closer AND Rizzoli & Isles! I’m inordinately excited about summer crime TV. I didn’t know that R&I was based on a crime novel series until I caught a very brief interview with the author on NPR this afternoon. Something to check out if I dig the series.
Yesterday’s movie marathon included TiMER, which was cute and interesting and I really enjoyed it. I also watched Daniel Tosh do standup (hilarious), Bright Star (Keats bio-pic-ish) which was very good and Suspect Zero which was…better than I expected. A bit predictable but all in all a decent film.
They suck.
My plan was to go to a book club meeting tonight (The Magicians by Lev Grossman) but unless I’m feeling SERIOUSLY better that won’t happen. The book itself was interesting and borrowed pretty heavily from the Narnia mystique. Imagine if Narnia were a Real place – a place where four bumbling kids don’t manage to do everything more or less right and the inhabitants aren’t all thrilled by their presence. Imagine it had real rules with real consequences. Unfortunately the book relies pretty much on the story of the protag who’s not all that interesting (especially when compared to that original premise) and has a LOT of time devoted to him “growing up” before taking a sharp left back to the original premise (with predictably dire results). It also suffered a bit from dwelling in some minutae of this alternate fairytale-ish world such that I kind of skimmed sections. All told an enjoyable book despite an unlikeable protag.
We watched Capitalism: A Love Story yesterday. Generally speaking I’m not a fan of Michael Moore. His Sicko didn’t accurately represent the experience of MANY Canadians I knew who came over the border to Michigan to get health care they couldn’t in their country. If you want me to take you seriously, you’ve got to point out the good WITH the bad rather than glossing over the bad – which makes me feel like you’re blowing smoke up my ass. I’ve got politicians to do that so I don’t need documentarians.
In point of fact, I think he’d have been better served to make Capitalism BEFORE Sicko. Capitalism is pretty fantastic and does an excellent job of explaining how 1) we don’t actually HAVE capitalism and 2) why we don’t want it. THIS film points out all the things that are currently broken with our system and actually talks about what some people are doing to fight it. THIS is a great film. That doesn’t mean I agree with everything he says. When you’re talking about subprime mortgages, the “subprime” refers to the borrower. Some of the borrowers knew full well that they didn’t have the money to do what they were doing and did it anyhow. I don’t think that’s robbery. I also think that the consumer has to put some consideration into their actions – it’s not like these companies were out FLEECING everyone. You signed a contract – a contract which if you didn’t read, I’ve got limited sympathy.
We also watched The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo on Netflix streaming. My second viewing, Spouse’s first. You know it’s a good film when you’re still riveted after 1) reading the book and 2) having seen it once already. I fucking love Salandar. That is all.
I’m considering making this for lunch/dinner today as I picked up a lovely mango from the store yesterday. It will depend whether or not the local grocer has some fresh mint but I might just compromise.
Today is about more Netflix streaming and more Kindle books. Oh, and quality time with my Neti pot. Fuck. I hate being sick.
And then someone you know (albeit not well) gets murdered. What the fucking fuck.
Best thoughts and wishes to the Flores family. Vonnie was a ray of sunshine and deserved better.
To spend Friday night recovering from your week? Because DAMN.
On the bright side, I got most of the heavy lifting done this week. All that’s left is purging the files and fixing the paperwork. Heh. ALL.
As for now, I’m enjoying a nice cold beer, awaiting some company and contemplating which book I’ll be reading next.
As a public service announcement: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is out on DVD. If you’ve been on the fence, rent it.
I like rules. REALLY like rules. Most people who meet me would probably not expect that.
It’s true that in a lot of things I find rules to be arbitrary or not well thought out. However at work, rules are a girl’s best friend. For example: today I had a vendor show up an hour past our posted dock hours. I told them to take a hike, albeit politely and even apologetically. They were disgruntled.
This is one of those situations where the rule actually MAKES SENSE. My job is more than waiting around for vendors. The vendors stop showing up 2.5 hours before I go home so that I have time to DO OTHER SHIT. Important shit, for that matter. They groused about what the old guy in my job would do – for the record, NOT a good idea because I’M NOT HIM – and my response was “Tough shit.”
I honestly believe in the immortal words of Dalton: Be nice until it’s time to not be nice.
These guys knew full well they were after hours. Rather than apologize and suck it up, they tried to bully me. No surprise, I don’t respond well to bullying. It gets my back up. THEN, they did a B.S. song and dance for another guy at the store and got him to come to me on their behalf. To which I said “AbsoFUCKINGLUTELY not.” Because before, I’m giving you a grace – I’m new and not going to bust your balls. NOW I’M PISSED. So your options are to show up tomorrow or I call your boss. AND now I will NEVER give you a minute past my hours because you pulled this bullshit trip.
Pissing me off twice in the same shift is pretty impressive. Burning BOTH of your chances within a half an hour has to be a record. My foot in your ass, let me show you it.
