My life, it has changed!

[jlh]

Had a great time at soupkills's Superbowl extravaganza with the usual pot of chili—veg this time, yum!—and wings and chips and I brought three kinds of dip. I ate the leftover dip for breakfast this morning, and it was good. Pre-show, we watched the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet; post-show, we played Guitar Hero. My kind of party.

The game itself was even fun to watch (and when's the last time you could say that?) with all the turnovers and the falling in the wet grass. On their radio show this week Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann had bemoaned the lack of weather in Super Bowls due to the use of southern and/or domed stadiums so I'm looking forward to listening today. I think they had a point; football is often played in the snow or the pouring rain and just because it's the Super Bowl doesn't mean it should be pristine, at least in my opinion.

You know, I'm actually not going to comment on the ads! I know! But I'm sort of enjoying the whole "I'm not in the industry anymore" vibe of this Super Bowl. (Last spring I was freelancing so I still had a hand in.) However, I encourage you to check out the USA Today coverage and Bob Garfield's Ad Age podcast.

Instead, let's talk television.

sistermagpie, I totally agree with you about the Hilda/Betty non-resolution on Ugly Betty this week. I thought Hilda had a point with her whole "in the game of life Betty actually wins" bit but it's hard to be hardworking and not as well liked as you might be. I wish that Hilda would be protective of Betty in a way that actually felt protective. And I also agree that Hilda's "reason" for not telling Betty that Henry called was not her real reason, though I wonder if Hilda herself understands that; I couldn't tell by the way she played it. (Ignacio's side plot is somewhat silly, but doesn't interfere so I sort of don't care.)

I adored Daniel's protectiveness of Betty. I am just loving their growing friendship and the effect they have on each other. I would hope that they don't go the ship route with those two and leave them as friends because I don't think they suit. I did like how complementary Henry was about Betty's looks, which we really haven't heard from anyone except her father. Daniel and Alexis went pretty much as expected (I really liked the use of Daniel's friend to goad Daniel into flirting with Alexis) and I appreciated that Alexis' gender reassignment surgery was genuine and not just a ploy. I loved the parallel sibling issues stories, with Daniel and Betty standing side by side at the end.

I'm so excited that Gil is back on CSI this coming week, and also that the beard is back! I'm also intrigued that Nick, who is usually so trusting, really to a fault, is the one who is the most distrustful of Kepler, while Cath, who never trusts anyone, has been the one to work most closely with him. I reckon that after this the whole serial killer thing will start up again, but I hope that they don't make us wait very long before Gil finally opens up that box. I wonder what that letter was he was writing to Sara? I just wish this show wouldn't be so on-off with the character development, because it's really annoying.

I find that I don't have much to say about Veronica Mars these days and that makes me sad. This season just isn't pulling me in like others have. The rape arc had its moments but was ultimately somewhat confusing. I had thought the summer rape was faked, but I guess they meant us to think that Mercer had snuck back up to SD from TJ while Logan was drugged? Could they have told us that before?

I listened to the writer's podcasts on the last two episodes but they only irritated me and I think I might write to them and tell them look, like, either pay attention or don't do the podcast, but don't do it half-assed. Anyway, Diane Ruggiero wrote this week's episode and was apparently disappointed that the TWoP folks hated the whole "tell me who you were with, Logan, I can be cool" story which she thought was "real" because she's done it. Well, of course it's "real," but that doesn't mean it isn't really fucking stupid, as in, if she were my girlfriend I would say, "Jesus, Veronica, of course you care! What were you doing?" The TWoP'ers apparently thought it was all a little too One Tree Hill and I agree; it's what makes me nervous about losing the mystery arcs. Apparently the whole find-a-hooker story was also from something they almost did, which just made me feel like Diane Ruggiero isn't someone I would want to hang out with in real life, and it worries me that she's the most senior female writer on staff with all these guys.

Also? Keith has to stop thinking he can wander around incognito. What part of "notorious" do you not understand, Keith? You were in a New Yorker profile. You had a national best seller that I think they turned into a movie of the week. You were all over the press, especially in your hometown. You just ran for sheriff last year! Sheesh!

Comments

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Seriously, Keith! That just happened to you, like, a couple of weeks ago! It's a miracle only Nish knew who he was. Mind you, these girls are unbelievably stupid (and horrible). As feminists, you know, are! *eyeroll*

A message to poor, poor trapped Logan. Veronica has too many issues. She will not stop. You should not have taken her back. You shouldn't have slept with Madison either, but really, it's none of Veronica's beeswax what you did when you weren't with her.

I saw an episode of Ugly Betty in the emergency room and quite liked it. Should I watch more?

[jlh.livejournal.com]

There's a whole thing of people who are just going to school in a town not paying a lot of attention to the local issues in the town, so I'm not surprised that only Nish, who had been the editor of the paper, recognizing Keith. The "feminists are bad" storyline is really irritating because Rob Thomas seems to think that he's subverting our liberal expectations of a girl power-ish show (see, some feminists are mean! see, some fraternity/sorority types are cool!) but since the liberal expectations want to go against the prevailing attitude, the subverting of those expectations just … plays into the prevailing attitude. Like, I understand not wanting to be all PC about your characters, and I understand that there isn't time in TV for minor characters to be really well rounded, but it feels like the wrong choice.

You should absolutely watch more Ugly Betty, especially if you saw an ep and liked it. They are pretty much all like that, sort of silly and farcical but with a lot of heart and by the end Betty usually comes out on top to a certain extent, but at the same time the people don't miraculously change. And also you feel that the "villains" are very sympathetically portrayed—they aren't bad people, just sort of shallow, and have managed to find their way to a place where their shallowness is rewarded and celebrated. It's sort of like reverse nerdy, in a way, as I'm sure that none of them were particularly well-liked in high school, either. There aren't really hawt boys as Daniel is cute but clearly a lightweight and Henry is adorkable but not a stud and Marc is OMG so gay but you know, I'm really fine with that. Eye candy isn't a prerequisite for my TV enjoyment.

[ziggy1278.livejournal.com]

Um, I just caught up on your journal. Two things:

1) VM: I know it's supposed to be a tv show and therefore fantasy, but I think the smaller mysteries are more believable than if she gets involved in a major big deal hoopla every dang year. I liked the rape plot and find the writing and mysteries this year to be much more satisfying on a no-coma-baby level.

2) BSG: Watch it. BSG owns you... and then it slaps you around and owns you again. Caveat: The early-middle of season 1 drags a little and you get reeeeal tired of Gaius talking to himself, but then the show takes off like a rocket.

Also, other shows could learn alot from BSG about moving the frakking plot along. It's like seasons one and two of Buffy where you keep thinking "Oh, the end of the world, I guess that means this will be an ongoing thing for several episodes," but then she just stabs the dude at the end of the episode and everyone moves on (contrasted with that whole season with the horrible bitchy blonde bitchy villain that just wouldn't go away and nothing substantial ever happened and then I stopped watching because it turned into a WB bad soap opera instead of hilarious social commentary... with vampires).

"More Hush, less Willow pouting." - I know the BSG writers have that on their mantra wall.