elapses: (v. he taps at my window)
elapses ([personal profile] elapses) wrote2009-02-02 10:07 pm

lol has a price

So I guess if you ever want me to watch something I am resistant to watching, the trick is to say "If you do I'll watch Friday Night Lights, Alexandra!!"

It is very strange to watch something you have so long heard about in snatches of feeling but not in actual illustrations of plot-- it creates this strangely automatic detachment. Um. Do you all do the thing where you read reaction posts for things you don't watch? I do a lot but not always, I guess it depends on who's reacting and how bored I am when it's posted. Anyway I think I read about BSG more frequently than the other shows I don't watch and it's strange how little of everything I know from that. I guess it's that it's a rather complexly plotted show, and I never really cared enough to even keep the characters straight in my head. I guesssss I have to do that now.

Okay so I have a question about the religious element though (I mean if it doesn't like spoil me or something? But I don't know why it would?): have the Cylons created their own form of religion? It's really interesting to me how Six talks of God when everyone else talks of Gods, what a strange little disconnect! Actually no, of course they wouldn't have the same religious beliefs, but the idea that the Cylons have a religion at all is crazy and pretty neat actually. I actually like Six in general, is that weird? Her haunting of Gaius is strangely hilarious.

I'm craaaaazy curious about how all this relates back to Earth and... regular humanity (especially since Apollo is one of their Lord... Gods, too?) buttttttt I guess that's why you keep watching. You guys it's so weird, it's been like... a really long time since I've watched something this plot-driven. Everything else I watch is about characters and their relationships and real life, and it's weird because at one point everything I was into had some grand, important purpose to offset the character stuff. This... thought doesn't really have a point because I don't think either way is necessarily better it's just... weird! To be thrown headfirst back into plotland.

In that vein I kind of have no idea how I feel about most of the characters yet. Which I guess makes sense, when I was trying to articulate miniseries thoughts to [livejournal.com profile] stop_theworld yesterday she said this: What I love about Battlestar is that you will have your favorites and your not-so-favorites, but you will also love and hate each and every one of them at some point, because they are so so human, and they are so so human in the middle of the apocalypse, which tends to intensify everything a lot. So.
ANYWAY RIGHT NOW: Sharon's (both Sharons') scenes are my favorite by farrrrrrr, I kind of love her and I think maybe I have some crazy weird fascination with this cylon/human thing, because of my weird fixation on her and Six both. And Leeeeeeeeeeeee, I kind of love him too? I don't know if that's the rational part of my brain or the part of my brain that's really really really attracted to Jamie Bamber. ALSO DEE IS ADORABLE. And Kara's fun, I like grinny people and she was definitely interesting in the one I just finished. BUT UM, I feel like I just finished a sick amount of television (the miniseries is LONG, christ) and it's weird to only have these vague attachments to most of these people? BUT YES, I guess... I will have to wait and see.

It's also kind of weird that they're doing mundane things like dealing with prisons and thinking about elections and training people???? I guess I thought it would be ALL WAR AND INTENSE LOOKS (and sex) ALL THE TIME. But of course that was dumb, what was I thinking.

ALL FOR YOU, DIZZY. AND HAPPY JUST BARELY BELATED BIRTHDAAAAAAAAY. I'm sorry I didn't sing :(

The Office was actually really delightful (and hilarious!) last night, I MISSED THAT FEELING. Too bad 3D Chuck wasn't. And now I'm going to watch tonight's HIMYM and pray my eyeballs don't fall out from all this TV before I get to the last eight pages of this gender studies reading.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
LOOOOOL, well the couldn't kill of the ~hottie~ now could they? BUT I AM GLAD THEY MADE THAT CHOICE, the Helo-and-Sharon-are-off-on-a-planet plotline is probably the one I'm most invested in right now. I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT IT IS.

[identity profile] manasseh.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
IDKY EITHER BUT YOU WILL REAP PLENTY OF REWARDS/HEARTACHE WITH YOUR INVESTMENT!

[identity profile] annalouwho.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
there's this essay in my battlestar galactica and philosophy book about monotheism being the chosen religion of slave races, like when the jews were in egypt. i wish i could remember the philosophy behind it right now, but i'd really have to read it again.

ANYWAY, YAAAAAY, BSG. i don't know what to make of your detachment. i could see that it might have something to do with reading reaction posts before watching the show (i never do that). but i really hope that it goes away at least by the end of the season. i myself had a very strong initial attachment to the chief of the deck and helo's sharon (fyi, she does know she's a cylon; it's her cylon mission to seduce helo), and four seasons later they're still my two favorites (even though neither one of them has been very front-and-center for a while now, which upsets me).

but anyway, it is a very plot-driven show, but the plot is really rooted in the characters and their relationships. i mean, at its heart it's really just a show about people figuring out how to live at the end of the world.

[identity profile] crazyvictoria.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
THAT IS A TOUGH DECISION. I watched during exam week (hint: don't do that, you do not study). GO SLEEP AND WATCH TOMORROW. It'll be easier to concentrate in class without Act of Contrition/You Can't Go Home Again on your brain.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
there's this essay in my battlestar galactica and philosophy book about monotheism being the chosen religion of slave races, like when the jews were in egypt.
OOOOH, this is what I was looking for. I wonder if they have that book in regular bookstores, I really want to read that essay. WOW I'M A NERD.

It's really funny how half of everyone is like "being detached is totally normal!" and the other half is like "whaaaaaat?" Even before I had started, in the coercion phase, one friend was telling me I'd be totally hooked after the miniseries and the other was saying it'd take until the end of season 1. I GUESS I'LL SEE HOW IT GOES? But you're right, I bet reading reactions has something to do with my detachment.

[identity profile] dashakay.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
When I first started watching BSG, I had a hell of a time just keeping everyone straight, let alone deeply loving the characters. But just like your friend said, I ended up caring about just about all of them because they're so complicated and flawed and real, all of them. And I definitely go through cycles where I will be so in love with one (or several) characters and then they break my heart by doing something terrible or misguided, but they almost always find a way to worm their way into my heart again.

Or to put it more simply--give it time. Let the story and the characters sink in. Enjoy the ride.

[identity profile] dashakay.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 01:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't worry about Lee. Lee is Lee. I think that [livejournal.com profile] miri_d is right. You have a ton of A/R people on your f-list (raises hand) and many of us like Lee, but he's just not our focus while watching.

Plus, he has amazing arms. WHOA.

[identity profile] famousdeaths.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL you have 7 weeks. And ~40 episodes left. TOTALLY DOABLE.
ext_10173: (bsg | starbuck pilot)

[identity profile] erries.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 02:49 pm (UTC)(link)
YAY!! I'm excited that you're watching BSG. I hope you continue to like it! (I think you will.)

[identity profile] the-wanlorn.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
omg now I want to get you to watch something TOTALLY HORRIBLE just to see if that actually works.

[identity profile] barilace.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 03:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Haha! Yes! I think I'm somewhat odd for my LOVE of Lee. There are MANY Kara/Lee shippers I know who also mock Lee for his "little bitch-ness." Yes, he can be a little whinnnnnny bitch but I think a lot of that is because of his background with his family/father/etc. I just find him interesting and I like the fact that he usually always trys to be fair to everyone, which is something you don't see a lot on BSG - even with Adama.

Also I like how Lee's "I'm going to try and be good and fair" meshes with Kara's "fuck everyone" POV. It's interesting. And...there isn't a character on this show that I've been able to really dislike. (well except one which you will get to in time) They always are SO GREAT with showing two sides of an issue, which is something I LOVE so much about BSG.

[identity profile] miri-d.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
YOU WILL BBCAKES BECAUSE THOSE OPINIONS ARE CUMULATIVE AND NOT BASED OFF ANY PARTICULAR EPISODE, SO YOU WILL HAVE TIME TO FORM YOUR OWN :D.

[identity profile] praedial.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 04:37 pm (UTC)(link)
...If you do, I'll watch Friday Night Lights with you!

[identity profile] tenacious-err.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I felt the same way with the vague attachments. I actually didn't watch the miniseries first, which only led me to absolute confusion and frustration over who the hell these characters were and what was up with them. I think my thoughts in early season one were basically "Kara is really badass and awesome. I like Lee a lot. Kara/Lee is cute. Adama is cool. Laura Roslin is awesomesauce, and I like Billy's dynamic with her a lot." But it was like... I felt that way, but I didn't entirely care. I could have stopped watching and I wouldn't have felt like I was missing out on anything, it just wouldn't have been my type of show.

That changed obviously, and like I said it was late season 1 that really dragged me into the universe and made me go HOLY SHIT FRAK!!!1!111!!

I think the action misconception is a realllly popular one. It sounds cliche, but Battlestar is just a political drama set in space in which things happen to explode now and then.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Dude I don't even know who Billy is? The... sweetly awkward guy who's always with Roslin? Who had the thing with Dee?

I think the action misconception is a realllly popular one. It sounds cliche, but Battlestar is just a political drama set in space in which things happen to explode now and then.
I don't know that I totally agree with this (although I also don't know that I am far enough along to make these kind of judgements and equivocal statements) because so far it seems like there's been a looooooot of spaceships and spacefights and piloting through things and just... general actiony stuff. But it's like... it's like XF and the aliens. You cannot deny that the alien storyline is integral to the show, but "I don't have any interest in aliens" is a stupid reason not to watch the X-Files, becaaaaause it's so much more than the little green men. BSG is definitely actiony (and political and I'm sure eventually very character-driven), but that's not... a bad thing? And people who would claim it as such are dumb.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
IF I DO WHAT.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I'M SORRY YOU LIKE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OTHER PEOPLE'S WEAKNESSES :(

I DON'T KNOW THOUGH! I'm not sure you would fall irrevocably in love with the magic that is Friday Night Lights, which is the eventual aim of my sad little game.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope so!

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Let the story and the characters sink in. Enjoy the ride.
HA, this is good advice. Sometimes I need to be reminded just to turn my squalling brain off, yikes.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
HA WOW, that really is nothing for a TV nerd. Easy, even!

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Plus, he has amazing arms. WHOA.
I KNOW RIGHT!!!! I think I spend 75% of his screentime staring at them.

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, he can be a little whinnnnnny bitch but I think a lot of that is because of his background with his family/father/etc.
Yeahhhhhh, I can see that. I found it crazy obnoxious in the miniseries when he went off on Adama about the dead brother, I hate it when people add to already large piles of guilt just to make themselves feel better. BUT I GUESS WE'LL SEE.

[identity profile] the-wanlorn.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
What's it even about?

[identity profile] elapses.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
It centers around a high school football coach in Texas and his family and a couple of kids on the team and the characterization is incredible and it's EMOTIONALLY MAGNIFICENT and pretty much my favorite thing and way too many people pass it up but it's also... not for everyone.

[identity profile] adinfinitum.livejournal.com 2009-02-03 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Ugh, now I have to watch BSG, THANKS. Actually, it's on my list but I probably won't get to it any time soon, seeing as I go through things at a snail's pace. As of now it's after

A) The West Wing
B) XF S7
C) Psych
D) The Wire
E) Dr. Who
F) 30 Rock

WHY IS THERE SO MUCH GOOD TELEVISION OUT THERE? It's kind of annoying, but in an awesome way.

In other news...I still kind of feel like this show might not do it for me, though? I know I'm just saying that because I haven't given it the time of day yet, but I'm generally not very sci-fi-ey. Like, at all. Do you think I'd dig it?

I thought Chuck was fuuuuun! I mean, minus all the stupid Buy More stuff, which never fails to be utter suckage. AND ALSO THE LACK OF AWESOME/ELLIE. IDK, maybe I was blinded by the fact that Chuck ~*returned*~. (A part of me vaguely ships Casey with...Everybody? Is that weird?)

HOW SURPRISED WERE YOU THAT THE OFFICE WAS ACTUALLY FANTASTIC?

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