sundries

[rm]

We slept very late, and correctly didn't get up when the doorbell rang. It was Jehovah's Witnesses, and I feel irritated that they gave us fancy new Do Not Duplicate keys to the building, and this nonsense is still going on.

Patty has tied a large squeaky mouse toy to the end of the cat dancer. The cats are HORRIFIED and making faces best described as "Jesus Christ, it's a mouse, in the AIR!"

Patty, despite being femme-like in many other ways, does not wear heels. Except she just got this pair of platform sandals with a slight heel that add about 3 inches to her height. She's an inch taller than me, but since I usually wear more significant shoes to her flip flops, I'm generally used to thinking of us as the same height. Last night, she comes home in these shoes, I'm barefoot and she's a giantess. It was super weird.

LJ is being slow about delivering comments again, so just FYI if you get something form me you interpret as looming silence.

Tiny Turtle! via moonpupy.

How Muslims get treated in America via shadesong. It's not clear at first, so I will tell you the guy behind the counter is an actor as is the Muslim-dressed woman that comes into the shop. The experiment is how patrons react. (Note: video does not have captioning; if someone knows of there being a transcript anywhere, let me know; if not, I will try to do one this evening).

First two teachers harassed a student who they perceived gay. Then another student in the same school-district killed himself because of anti-gay bullying. via pgdudda.

But.... but... but the sand: NC-17 porn circa-1900 via azn_jack_fiend.

eredien found this Tampax marketing site thingy in which a boy turns into a girl and gets his first period. The boy character then describes his female condition as being neutered and uses cheesy predatory metaphors to discuss his male attraction to women. It's so damn peculiar, it's hard to know what to say about it, other than Dear Tampax, Blogosphere will eat you.

The depth of offense I believe all Americans should take from Glenn Beck and co. attempting to usurp Dr. King's mantle is actually beyond my ability to describe.

The last resident of Carnegie Hall moves out.

Last night we finished season 4 of Angel: What a strange, strange season. I felt ultimately satisfied with the payoff from the endles, boring, "turgid supernatural soap opera" that dominated most of the season. Jasmin was a great and compelling villain and the ethical issues raised were interesting, although I felt we ultimately deserved more about her motivations, the Powers in general, the truth of her love (no matter how malevolent in execution) and more. I loved the surprise reappearance of Lilah, and the Wolfram & Hart twist.

In fact, I think the Wolfram & Hart twist provides the best entry point for fanfiction in all of Angel thus far, as I imagine each team member probably has small obsessive personal projects they engage in with those resources -- like the matter of Wesley's desire to destroy Lilah's contract.

Also, huge props to the writers for making that final scene with Connor and his family so well-done that after hating Connor for the entirety of his existence on the show, I suddenly cared about and like him.

The memory erasure issue is either compelling or hugely problematic -- erasing Connor also erases the central fracture in the team: why Wesley left; why Angel was missing; and all the issues of trust and family. Also, RTD? I see what you did there.

Meanwhile, I wrote a Torchwood thing. Now all I have to do is my Retcon Book Rewrite and I'm all done on my fic obligations until Kali gets me the next bit of EtGB. Just in time too, as I have a lot of serious business pro work I need to attend to (and if I owe you email in that regard, it'll be sometime this weekend).

Comments

[tommx.livejournal.com]

What I loved about this season of Angel was that it justified Conners existence, not because of the explanation Jasmine gave for him existing in the first place, but because the true depths of his character were fleshed out and explored. His speech to Cordelia really spoke volumes to me because I could relate to it. He always saw Jasmine as she really was. He simply didn't consider her to be particularly horrifying because of her outward deformities. But, it wasn't even that: he always knew she was a lie. Jasmine offered world peace at the expense of a dozen sacrifices a day and free will. The free will thing was the lie, but Conner was willing to overlook that if it meant he could finally feel something.

But, he couldn't, and this was always his issue. He never felt the peace that Jasmine promised any more than he could feel love as a positive emotion. He was brought up to hate Angel by Holtz who, if he ever did love Conner, it was twisted by his desire to make Conner into a weapon against Angel.

Conner thought that sinking Angel to the bottom of the sea would give him closure, but it didn't work. He thought he found love in Cordelia, but he was just being manipulated. He thought he found peace in Jasmine, but he never could actually feel it.

So, in the end, the only way to save Conner was to literally change the entire world (including him) so that he would have a different past, and the illusion of a normal life. It is still a lie, but it is one that he now can accept because he doesn't know it is a lie.

Season 5 of Angel is worth a looksee. It's not consistent, and there are some weak episodes, but there are some good ones as well.

Thanks for letting me reminisce with you on this one.