girlofprey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
girlofprey) wrote2005-06-06 07:25 pm
girlofprey) wrote2005-06-06 07:25 pm
Entry tags:
Cake and reading and Dr Who, oh my...
Went to town with grandmother and mum today. She bought me cake! In our little town's vaguely posh cafe-thing. There is a brand new 'cafe-bar' nearby, which serves onion rings and whatnot, but I did not think my grandmother would be able to sit on the seats, or if she could, get back up again. Still, it requires further investigation in the summer (aka next week), I think. Hmm. The cake came with a huge dollop of ice-cream, which the waitress did not mention was 85p extra, the cunning hag, but grandmother was paying so its all the same to me. There was another cake which my mother and I thought was called Sex and Toffee, which was tempting, but it turned out to be Texan Toffee, and all gone (no suprise, frankly), so we had other cake, and I felt a bit sick but happy :)
Yay, I have £360! Sort of. I'm not sure if the £110 for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
connotations has gone out yet - awaiting my next bank statement. But I owe dad £200 for rent anyway. So slightly less money. But more than yesterday, perhaps. Enough for things. And no-one told me The White Stripes had a new album out! I caused a slight disaster getting it down to look at it in Tesco's, but I am tempted. Oh yes I am. The songs have pretty names. Hmm.
East of Eden is out on DVD :D. Though sadly very expensively. Btw, WH Smith and Tesco CD/DVD prices kick the arse of so-called CD/DVD shops ::looks at you, HMV and Virgin:: Hmm.
The father of my sister's baby almost went to jail. But didn't. They've reduced his fines, apparently. A part of me is slightly disappointed, but he does seem to be helping her out a lot, so yes. Hm.
Lolita is sort of pissing me off. I don't know. I sort of like it. When Lolita is not around. Not that I dislike her, she seems like a perfectly nice kid, but Mr Humbert does have a nasty tendency to go off into flowery, intoxicated, showers-of-gold (not like that)-type speech, which makes me roll my eyes until I go blind and pass out. But all the other adults seem so annoying compared to him that you can't help but like him...until you realise you're only seeing them through his possibly self-delusional paedophilia-celebrating eyes and you just want to choke him again. Hmm. I will finish it though. I'd like to see where the story goes, even if we pretty much know what happens to Humbert Humbert. I am sort of in love with the girl on the front cover though. With her painted nails and Dorothy dress and pretty is-she-19-or-is-she-12? face, and sunshine and grass. Mmm.
I have begun writing what will hopefully turn out to be a nice Mickey/Rose/Doctor/Jack piece. With, yes, much focus on Mickey, who doesn't get much fic-love from anyone but me, le sigh.
Or thoughts on why I dislike the Doctor and Rose most of the time, I guess. I really don't know about Doctor Who - it's exciting and fun, and I enjoy it a lot even when poor Mickey's not around (particularly with evil!Simon Pegg, rawrr). But I'm not sure about this message about the Doctor, and Rose in particular. Yes, a life of adventure in far off places/times in often better than just slobbing around working in a shop you hate - but to act like the vast majority of people are just simpletons, or 'idiots', who cannot get beyond this, cannot even imagine a life beyond it, never mind get to it, with only a few bright shining examples breaking the mold, ie fiesty young girls with no A-levels but nice hair - what precisely is that saying? That some people really are better than others? Nice.
And that's what I see when characters (and fans) go on about poor, stupid, ordinary, 'loser' Mickey. No, he's no bright, dashing hero with 900-years worth of knowledge and a brilliant quip every five seconds, but he's a nice person and he tries his best, dammit, which yes, is not always enough to save the day, but the Doctor rarely saves everyone. We've seen Mickey essentially give up his life to save someone he knew, and someone who didn't like him very much - at worst, to save the mother of a girlfriend who abandoned him for a year, and keeps on pissing off with some mysterious bloke who either calls him 'idiot' or Ricky. We've seen him willing to risk his girlfriend's life to save his planet, to come running whenever said abandoning girlfriend clicks her fingers, and to try to take down what he knows is a homicidal monster with the others despite his lack of experience/heroism. What's that worth, precisely?
I'm not going to say that this is show's view on things, because we probably wouldn't have seen all of the above Mickey moments if they thought everyone but Rose was useless. But it seems like the Doctor's point-of-view, which, let's be honest, colours the vast majority of the show. I don't believe that the Doctor and Rose have any sort of big love going on, 'behind the scenes', or that they're made for each, but precisely how does he see her, having picked her out of a mass of 'idiots' as a worthy companion? And what makes her so 'worthy'? Asking 'the right questions', i.e. the ones he thinks she should ask? Being willing to run off with a strange bloke in a box because he offers to let her travel through time with him, which is frankly just swapping one 'life in the passenger seat' for another, as I see it. He's made it fairly clear how he sees companions who go off and do their own thing (see: Adam), and even Rose when she occassionally disagrees with him. Which I'm sure is building up to some wonderful character arc for the season, but still makes me go arrrrrrrrgh.....
Maybe it's just me. Maybe its just the ways of show I don't like - I like shows like Farscape, where characters do incredible and insane things because they have too, where characters are pushed to their limits and we see what ordinary people can really do. Which is probably much less realistic, in a way, than Doctor Who, and can be seen on a variety of other shows, like Farscape. But this 'we save the universe because only we can, aren't we fantastic?' still makes my head hurt. It reminds me of the way all my friends used to talk about going out and getting pissed - 'oh it's wonderful, it's so much fun, it's literally the most fun you can have, why aren't you doing it, oh god you're so sad'. Now I don't begrudge them their going out or getting pissed, and I'm not even claiming to have done anything more worthwhile with my time than them (I appear to have mostly watched TV I can't remember now) - but I was quite aware that anyone claiming it was the 'best fun ever' or 'most worthwhile thing to do' was bullshitting me, and probably themselves. And its how I see most people claiming they have found the one truly fulfilling way of living their life. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
And so I like Mickey. Who is ordinary, but doesn't seem ashamed of that fact. Who is not brave enough to go off battling space monsters, but who equally - at least in my view - has his own 'ordinary' life which he's happy with, and doesn't feel the need to go off gallavanting around the galaxy to be happy. And I'm not saying that this is the perfect way to live your life, anymore than I think bouncing around the universe in your own little bubble of a society, never stopping long enough to make any other friends or live any one particular 'way of life' for more than a few days. And maybe I'm reading too much into Doctor Who, and taking it too seriously, but I'm much more interested in some kind of emotional 'balance' between the two extremes - with Mickey as almost perfectly situated 'touchstone' - than in any crazy alien world the effects team can show us. That's fun...but you can't do it all the time. And it's not what I'll be writing fic about, if I ever do.
But that's just what I think. And I've said my piece. I'll bug thee no more ::gets back to scribbling fic...::
What's this about Billie Piper leaving Who after the first series anyway? It's new to me.
Hmm. I quite like these long posts, although I worry they bore the Hell out of everyone else. One advantage of being at home (when the computer's free, anyway ::eyeroll...::).
Yay, I have £360! Sort of. I'm not sure if the £110 for
connotations has gone out yet - awaiting my next bank statement. But I owe dad £200 for rent anyway. So slightly less money. But more than yesterday, perhaps. Enough for things. And no-one told me The White Stripes had a new album out! I caused a slight disaster getting it down to look at it in Tesco's, but I am tempted. Oh yes I am. The songs have pretty names. Hmm.East of Eden is out on DVD :D. Though sadly very expensively. Btw, WH Smith and Tesco CD/DVD prices kick the arse of so-called CD/DVD shops ::looks at you, HMV and Virgin:: Hmm.
The father of my sister's baby almost went to jail. But didn't. They've reduced his fines, apparently. A part of me is slightly disappointed, but he does seem to be helping her out a lot, so yes. Hm.
Lolita is sort of pissing me off. I don't know. I sort of like it. When Lolita is not around. Not that I dislike her, she seems like a perfectly nice kid, but Mr Humbert does have a nasty tendency to go off into flowery, intoxicated, showers-of-gold (not like that)-type speech, which makes me roll my eyes until I go blind and pass out. But all the other adults seem so annoying compared to him that you can't help but like him...until you realise you're only seeing them through his possibly self-delusional paedophilia-celebrating eyes and you just want to choke him again. Hmm. I will finish it though. I'd like to see where the story goes, even if we pretty much know what happens to Humbert Humbert. I am sort of in love with the girl on the front cover though. With her painted nails and Dorothy dress and pretty is-she-19-or-is-she-12? face, and sunshine and grass. Mmm.
I have begun writing what will hopefully turn out to be a nice Mickey/Rose/Doctor/Jack piece. With, yes, much focus on Mickey, who doesn't get much fic-love from anyone but me, le sigh.
Or thoughts on why I dislike the Doctor and Rose most of the time, I guess. I really don't know about Doctor Who - it's exciting and fun, and I enjoy it a lot even when poor Mickey's not around (particularly with evil!Simon Pegg, rawrr). But I'm not sure about this message about the Doctor, and Rose in particular. Yes, a life of adventure in far off places/times in often better than just slobbing around working in a shop you hate - but to act like the vast majority of people are just simpletons, or 'idiots', who cannot get beyond this, cannot even imagine a life beyond it, never mind get to it, with only a few bright shining examples breaking the mold, ie fiesty young girls with no A-levels but nice hair - what precisely is that saying? That some people really are better than others? Nice.
And that's what I see when characters (and fans) go on about poor, stupid, ordinary, 'loser' Mickey. No, he's no bright, dashing hero with 900-years worth of knowledge and a brilliant quip every five seconds, but he's a nice person and he tries his best, dammit, which yes, is not always enough to save the day, but the Doctor rarely saves everyone. We've seen Mickey essentially give up his life to save someone he knew, and someone who didn't like him very much - at worst, to save the mother of a girlfriend who abandoned him for a year, and keeps on pissing off with some mysterious bloke who either calls him 'idiot' or Ricky. We've seen him willing to risk his girlfriend's life to save his planet, to come running whenever said abandoning girlfriend clicks her fingers, and to try to take down what he knows is a homicidal monster with the others despite his lack of experience/heroism. What's that worth, precisely?
I'm not going to say that this is show's view on things, because we probably wouldn't have seen all of the above Mickey moments if they thought everyone but Rose was useless. But it seems like the Doctor's point-of-view, which, let's be honest, colours the vast majority of the show. I don't believe that the Doctor and Rose have any sort of big love going on, 'behind the scenes', or that they're made for each, but precisely how does he see her, having picked her out of a mass of 'idiots' as a worthy companion? And what makes her so 'worthy'? Asking 'the right questions', i.e. the ones he thinks she should ask? Being willing to run off with a strange bloke in a box because he offers to let her travel through time with him, which is frankly just swapping one 'life in the passenger seat' for another, as I see it. He's made it fairly clear how he sees companions who go off and do their own thing (see: Adam), and even Rose when she occassionally disagrees with him. Which I'm sure is building up to some wonderful character arc for the season, but still makes me go arrrrrrrrgh.....
Maybe it's just me. Maybe its just the ways of show I don't like - I like shows like Farscape, where characters do incredible and insane things because they have too, where characters are pushed to their limits and we see what ordinary people can really do. Which is probably much less realistic, in a way, than Doctor Who, and can be seen on a variety of other shows, like Farscape. But this 'we save the universe because only we can, aren't we fantastic?' still makes my head hurt. It reminds me of the way all my friends used to talk about going out and getting pissed - 'oh it's wonderful, it's so much fun, it's literally the most fun you can have, why aren't you doing it, oh god you're so sad'. Now I don't begrudge them their going out or getting pissed, and I'm not even claiming to have done anything more worthwhile with my time than them (I appear to have mostly watched TV I can't remember now) - but I was quite aware that anyone claiming it was the 'best fun ever' or 'most worthwhile thing to do' was bullshitting me, and probably themselves. And its how I see most people claiming they have found the one truly fulfilling way of living their life. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
And so I like Mickey. Who is ordinary, but doesn't seem ashamed of that fact. Who is not brave enough to go off battling space monsters, but who equally - at least in my view - has his own 'ordinary' life which he's happy with, and doesn't feel the need to go off gallavanting around the galaxy to be happy. And I'm not saying that this is the perfect way to live your life, anymore than I think bouncing around the universe in your own little bubble of a society, never stopping long enough to make any other friends or live any one particular 'way of life' for more than a few days. And maybe I'm reading too much into Doctor Who, and taking it too seriously, but I'm much more interested in some kind of emotional 'balance' between the two extremes - with Mickey as almost perfectly situated 'touchstone' - than in any crazy alien world the effects team can show us. That's fun...but you can't do it all the time. And it's not what I'll be writing fic about, if I ever do.
But that's just what I think. And I've said my piece. I'll bug thee no more ::gets back to scribbling fic...::
What's this about Billie Piper leaving Who after the first series anyway? It's new to me.
Hmm. I quite like these long posts, although I worry they bore the Hell out of everyone else. One advantage of being at home (when the computer's free, anyway ::eyeroll...::).
no subject
I am trying not to think too deeply about the new who because if I did the whole concentrating on the people on Earth thing would be killing me. But your mickey thoughts are good yes, especially about people valuing one way of life over another because of their random beliefs type thing. Hm:)
Hurrah for moneyness yes:):):)
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Oh, Farscape. <3
I first read Lolita when I was Lolita's age, and so my reaction was mostly "Ew!". Also, I was Philistine and didn't get the prose style. But I reread it last year and cried like a baby. Really, I think it's beautiful and amazing and what it does to the love story is just mindblowing. I won't spoil it all for you so eee, hurry up and finish it and CRY WITH ME. *bounce*
no subject
But...anyway. That was an incredibly interesting post. It's interesting that they kinda did tackle that theme on the show, with 'It's what the rest of us do.' in Parting Of The Ways.
p.s. Mind if I friend you?
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