Harry Plato and the Half-Blood Philosopher

This about sums up my life, and well, life in San Francisco.

I’m walking home past the Laurel Heights strip mall with a copy of Harry Potter and the HPB sans dust jacket tucked under my arm. It’s thick and has the hard black cover with the title in gold on the spine. Ahead of me, I can see a guy standing by a little make-shift podium with a big poster on it demanding the resignation of Dick Cheney (“and the jerk or the dweeb or the shrub (I forget the words) can go second”). He has a clip board and a smile so you know he’s looking for signatures.

Although I have some agreement with the sentiment, I doubt this is the way to go about it and so I walk briskly past, not looking at clip-board guy. But he’s trying to get my attention of course, so he says to me, “Hey! Is that Plato? Are you reading Plato?!”

Now mind you, I don’t know this guy from Adam and vice-versa. I scurry on my way.

Well, you know, it could have been Plato I had tucked in my arm.

Nah, that book sits on my shelf for show now, next to the equally impressive-looking Aristotle and Heidegger hard-bound volumes. I read Harry Potter on the bus.

Angel, Season 3 eps 15-18


This review contains 95% less obnoxious Angel+Baby Connor squeeing than the last. I promise. But I just have to start the post by noting their relationship, because of course the episodes “Loyalty” and “Sleep Tight” mark the tragic turn of Season 3, when Angel loses his child in Holtz’s devastating act of eye-for-an-eye vengeance.

So, ahem:

Episodes

New York pics!

I’ve set up a folder over at Existential Scoobies in the same place we keep Vancouver and Chicago pictures for NYC. If you want your pictures (or some of your pictures) uploaded there, just let me or ladystarlightsj or atpolittlebit know.

See my pics!:

http://www.atpobtvs.com/existentialscoobies/images/New_York/

http://www.atpobtvs.com/existentialscoobies/images/Chicago/
http://www.atpobtvs.com/existentialscoobies/images/Vancouver/

Pictures of the SF mini-meet:



Bewitched

It’s here! My Season 1 Bewitched DVD set. 36 episodes! Boy, TV has changed a bit in the last 40 years, hasn’t it?

Well, that goes without saying. I happened to catch one of the old B&W episodes of Bewitched on my parent’s cable while I was out of town, and it was one of those *annoying* episodes where Samantha comes up with a great idea for one of Darren’s ad campaigns and he passes it off as his own without batting an eye and the episode ends with them hugging and her saying how she doesn’t want his job, she just wants to be the PerfectLittleAverageHousewife for her big super-star Ad Exec man.

WTF??

You’d be nobody without her, buddy.

It made me think twice about buying the DVD set instead of being patient and waiting for Netflix to notice it’d been released. But I’ve liked this show for a LONG time and have only caught episodes here and there in a totally RANDOM order and I wanted to see it in the order it originally aired for once. Plus, only $27.00 bucks.

I think what ultimately makes this show tolerable is despite the episode-ender “important lesson” lip-service to “You-man, me-little-wife”, the show ultimately subverts that message because Samantha’s heritage and strong personality won’t allow her to be an “obedient wife”. Not to mention the support she gets in her liberation from her family, which to a person look askance at the life she is trying to live (and not just the denying her magic, but also the submissive housewife routine as well).

I’m not saying this is a feminist show, ’cause I don’t think it is, at least not consciously. But it’s one of those shows like I Love Lucy that gets its energy and charm from the Wacky!Disobedient!Wife gimmick and says a lot about the transition in attitudes that were going on in pre-1970’s America.

The real reason I like the show is I have a soft spot for supernatural family stories.

Well, duh.

In my day, we called it “Star Wars”

It’s playing! It’s playing on my DVD player! Episode IV!!! DVD-quality!

Shit, now I need a wide-screen TV.

Well, more than a 13-inch screen, at any rate.

Wee!

And stereo. I seriously need stereo.

Hmm…I donno, this seems weird. Like the sound track was re-done. I hope this *is* the original trilogy. Guess we’ll find out when we get to the Cantina!

Hell, yes!!!!

Han shot first, Han shot first! Han shot first, Han shot first! Han shot first, Han shot first! Han shot first, Han shot first! Han shot first, Han shot first!

*dances the dance of Star Wars geeker joy*

I’m off to go smooch up my supplier now!!!1!

Reason #1 to love Star Wars:

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

The damsel in distress carries a really big gun.
And she saves the heroes’ asses.

Full geek mode, with icon request

When I do something, I don’t do it small. It’s a thing with me. I’m determined to change my mind about the Star Wars prequels to the fullest extent I can–not just so I can so I can squeeze every moment of appreciation out of Revenge of the Sith when I do see it (which I haven’t yet so keep yer stinky spoilers to yourselves, flist-oids!)–but so I can geek the whole gorram series.

“Geeking” includes:

– Reading the arrogantly assuming but still informative analyses of Lard Biscuit;
– Reading the prequel novelizations (and yes, they *do* help give background I didn’t understand before, especially after reading Lard-ass Biscuit);
– Reading the prequel-prequel tie-in novel “Cloak of Deception”. And no, I usually don’t read that drivel. I stopped reading “published fan fic” a LONG time ago (like Star Trek:TOS long time ago) when I realized it could be contradicted by the actual TV shows/movies. But it was a recommendation of the elitist and purist Sith Lard Biscuit to help understand the politics of the first two prequel movies;
– watching the prequels I and II a few more times (“The Phantom Menace” actually goes down really good with the sound turned off and the closed captioning turned on. Just not having to hear Jar-Jar squeal every five seconds takes a large amount of the ick off);
– watching the “Clone Wars” cartoon series to fill in the gaps between Episodes II and III;
– watching the “original” trilogy (folks like me who saw the original movies as teens/early twenty-somethings just refer to these movies as “the Movies”. Everything else is “the prequels to the Movies”).

– and through all of the above, arrive at an Masquerade-esque encyclopedic knowledge of this universe that will allow me to do the aforementioned enjoying it to its fullest.

And I must say that the Movies do gain more depth with the prequels filling in the details (which is what they were *supposed* to do, so, yeah them). If you can look past or wank the little contradictions (“well, obviously someone erased poor C3P0’s memory banks”), you notice interesting subtleties, like, how the actor who plays Anakin Skywalker manages to walk just like the actor who played Darth Vader. And I thought Hayden Whathisname was just a vapid pretty-boy.

Speaking of the Skywalker boys, anyone who knows me can guess who my Star Wars OTP is turning out to be during this Geek Banquet. I totally want an icon now that has Hayden and Mark Hamill either superimposed or with side-by-side pictures. Not sure what the caption would say, if any, but maybe it’ll just say “Father and Son” or “OTP”. And no, you dirty-minded….It’s Anakin+Luke. Plus sign, people, not slash. Just….eww.

I’d start searching the Star Wars icon LJs for such an icon, but my usual experience with trying to find an icon like that usually ends up with me doing it myself.

Anyone know any good Star Wars Movies and Star Wars Prequels screen shot websites?

That Star Wars thang

So my flist is a-buzz with the Sith this morning, whether it is with praises or rants or expectations. I, too, plan on plunking down the $9.50 I am normally loathed to plunk to see this on the big screen. Star Wars was made for the big screen.

To prep, I’ve been rewatching the first two prequel films, but it didn’t help much. So much of the plot of both those movies is politics, and my brain just naturally tunes out politics. Of course, it might help if I wasn’t answering emails and reading my flist while I’m watching the movies. So I think I’m going to buy the tie-in novels for cheap and see if they don’t clear up what the heck is going on in those two movies.

Prep will also involve seeing the three “sequel” films. I, of course, have them on old, scratchy, home-made video tape. George, keep your paws off your creations. They’re in the can already. Deal with it.

ETA: Actual thinky thoughts on prequel quality in comments.