overdue update

[hermionesviolin]

Am not quite caught up on flist, but woot for finally finishing this update before falling into bed.

I ♥ polls. I’m half-tempted to do one to help decide which of my Works-In-Progress i should work on, but i think i’m just gonna try to finish my Firefly fics what with the Big Damn Movie coming out soon. (And really, does anyone reading this care what i fic anyway?)

Fandom

Speaking of the Big Damn Movie, the fact that a Universal rep is psyched about the movie is more exciting to me than the potential early release date (and i’m not saying that just because i already saw an Advance Screening).

Also, the Sci-Fi channel is rerunning the series (Firefly) starting July 22. Best paragraph:

The show also stars Gina Torres ("Alias," "Angel"), Adam Baldwin ("The Inside"), Morena Baccarin, Alan Tudyk ("Into the West"), Sean Maher ("The $treet"), Summer Glau ("The 4400"), Jewel Staite ("Wonderfalls") and Ron Glass ("Barney Miller"). All of them are reprising their roles in "Serenity."

glimmergirl posted a post-S6 Willow-in-England Giles/Willow fic and mentioned “I'm not a Giles/Willow 'shipper (I wrote this for a friend), so a lot of how their relationship *works* is very... foreign to me. It's interesting to hear how other people, 'shippers and non, interpret/read their relationship.” My first thought was that i always associate that pairing with early season Willow crushing on Giles and Giles being attracted to the ways in which she “gets” him as Buffy doesn’t, lots of bookishness and libraries and sweetness and nerdiness. Then i noticed that the few i’ve actually recced deal with dark themes and given the events of S6 plus Giles’ history with Ethan, it certainly makes sense to deal with issues of power etc.

Reading some of maechi’s recent entries, i’m reminded of how i’m not all woman-focused (i went to a women’s college, but that fact was incidental to my selection of it, and i get squicked when people do the women>men thing), but i do focus on female characters in fandom. I know this hardcore for Harry Potter, but i was thinking how it’s also true for BtVS, Angel, Firefly, and CSI, though not so much TNG.

I happened to see The Inside on Wednesday. OhMiGod. Myabe it was just the episode (“Old Wounds”) but i love this show. It’s dark and fucked up, and yes some of it is problematic, but that’s part of what meta is for. I need to do up a post about the episode 'cause i wanna discuss. [Links to pre-existing posts are welcomed.]

From the official site:

Tim Minear, Executive Producer, Co-Creator, Writer and Director of The Inside, talks about his new show in this special not to the fans:

Welcome to The Inside. And watch your step, it's kind of dark in here.

Those of you who have followed my earlier work, you know that I love the way that humor and dark emotion can combine to interesting effect. I think you'll like the taste of what I'm doing here. If this is a souffle, it's a souffle of pain.

This is a show about damaged people - the only kind of interesting kind there is - and about how their damage sometimes makes them especially suited to the work they do. Our heroes are the FBI agents who investigate serial crimes, and each episode contains interesting surprises as the theory of the case evolves. But I've made every attempt to keep the stories clean and simple, so that the focus stays on the characters. I'm lucky enough to be working with an impressive cast that is bringing these characters to life before my eyes, and with a crew that's giving the images depth and texture. As I'm working to complete each episode, I'm pleased with what i'm seeing - gallows humor and troubled souls - and I hope you will be too.

-- Tim

The ensemble statement reminded me of CSI, of how i like watching the Law & Order shows, etc., but i actually get fannish about CSI because i care about the characters not just the cases.

This Thursday i watched Without a Trace (“Malone v. Malone” 3.10), which i watch intermittently when i’m home. We learn some interesting backstory in this episode, but from the very beginning i was reminded of how i have issues with Jack (and his wife) because i have issues with people who have children knowing they’re never gonna be home.

I also watched Smackdown. It’s a soap opera, but it’s my soap opera.

Teaming up on Chris Benoit with his Cabinet, JBL said, "Get ready to feel the wrath of a wrestling god." Cue darkness and music. Undertaker! The GM then made a match between JBL and Undertaker the main event for the night, and i learned that this was the Undertaker's first appearance on Smackdown since Wrestlemania. When Undertaker entered for the match, he was all quiet and deadly, classic Undertaker. ♥ One of the announcers called it "vintage Undertaker" :) I hate Randy Orton.

Gainful Employment

I’m home a lot, and Caitlin-from-Venturi always manages to call with same-day interview opportunities when i’m out for the day.

I had an interview at Atrium Staffing on Monday, and the woman had given me directions from Copley Green Line, so i was totally planning on getting off at South Station but then the conductor said, “Coming up, Back Bay/Copley.” Doh.

Tuesday i interviewed at Cunny & Jospé. They actually had the position i replied about open, so i have an interview 2 days later. Reception at Longwood Pediatrics (right across the street from where my mom’s work used to be).

10am appointment. The 8:46 train doesn’t stop at Ruggles or Back Bay, so i’d get out at South Station at 9:23 and have to make it all the way to Longwood Medical Area by 10. That’s cutting it close. The train before that (the 8:12) gets in to Ruggles at 8:42, so i got to LMA super early and hung out at Starbucks. I saw Steph N. from NHS on the train in and Sally from Lamont at Starbucks. My mom and i had lunch at The Wrap next door. They have a multiplicity of vegetarian food options. I was excited.

I’m not entirely sure i want the position. Part of me wants to take the first decent paying job i can get, and part of me doesn’t wanna settle for something i’m not certain about. Catherine from Manning is working on getting me an interview doing reception/project manager work for some educational institute, which sounds more up my alley. So hopefully i can keep my options open.

The fact that i have to leave work around 4 on Tuesdays for my massage class is a hindrance to job-getting, and i fully validate people wanting coverage for the whole of the business day, but i refuse to give this up. Not only am i obviously not quitting a class i’ve already paid for partway through, but i want to go through the full training courseload (and not just because you can make good money doing massage therapy).

I ordered my massage table the 8th. One of my classmates ordered hers the 1st and it came on the 10th, so mine should be arriving soon.

My dad might be a Physics teacher up at the high school next year. He was looking at t-shirts (www.scienceteecher.com/physics.html, www.mathematicianspictures.com) and i thought these ones were really interesting.

Uncle-Harry-of-the-Illegible-Handwriting sent me a graduation card (with a check -- bringing my total to $330).

And Smith sent me a one-page printout of my unofficial transcript. At the top it says: “Events: Dean’s List 2004-2005, First Group Scholar 2005". Look at me go. That’s definitely a first for my Smith College career.

Politicky

This reminded me that i wanted to do the Blogathon last year and it was on hiatus, but it’s back this year. So do we think i can come up with a charity sufficiently unproblematic for me that i can actually ask people for money for it?

hedy pointed out this interesting article on how “the news” focuses on stories about white women.

IN the months since charges were filed, I have heard people profess intense anguish that Michael Jackson might "get away with it." Each time, I asked these people what other possible miscarriages of justice concerned them, past or present? I asked if they knew that in many states, including New York and California, the penalties for sexual abuse of one's own child are markedly less than those for abusing an unrelated child. I asked each of them if this incest loophole also provoked their outrage; if they were prepared to actually do anything to change such laws. Not one ever answered.
-from “Unsafe at Any Age” by Andrew Vachss (NYT June 15, 2005)

My one comment on the verdict was that i could go happily a long time without ever seeing a “Beat It” pun headline. My brother pointed out that given the content of the allegations, perhaps that was not the best choice in puns.

Etc.

Thanks to hedy for this.

Trivia for the day, via linaria:

The greatest misconception about black bears is that they are likely to attack people in defense of cubs. They are highly unlikely to do this. Black bear researchers often capture screaming cubs in the presence of bluff-charging mothers with no attacks. Defense of cubs is a grizzly bear trait. About 70 percent of human deaths from grizzly bears are from mothers defending cubs, but black bear mothers have not been known to kill anyone in defense of cubs.
-http://www.bear.org/Black/Black_Bear_Facts.html

My brother got a Cingular phone a year and a half ago, non-flip, LCD screen, and honestly, if we had decided on Cingular, i would have been more than happy to take that phone. [We ended up getting Verizon.] However, looking at phone options and how cheap stuff was, i ended up deciding on an actual fancy phone -- an LG VX1600. It turns out we can't mix and match, so we're both getting my brother's choice phone, a Motorola V710.

A few nights ago we were talking about the Importance of Being Earnest line, “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his,” and via Project Gutenberg i confirmed that it is said by Algernon.

My brother has the paperback 'cause he read it for English class last year, so we read some of that passage and then the "Thank you, Lady Bracknell, I prefer standing" passage. Good times.