the blog

How or why it became Thursday I will never know (apparently there is this whole theory about the earth moving around the sun and that is how we keep track of time) but wow, it’s here already? I have been caught unawares.

oh shit… new foamy. Respect the Squirrel!

Re-watched Epitaph One (Dollhouse) yesterday. *insert caterwauling against FOX* There could have been so much more they could have done on that show if allowed. But you know how people lament something ending before it’s time… what would have happened if they let Joss run with the ideas and they petered out and jumped the shark? Then where would we, the rabid fans, be? I’m just asking. Also, I so wanted to hand Felicia Day a brush through the whole episode. WHAT? I like my female stars to have perfect and shiny hair. This is part of the mindcontrol appeal of Kahlan, don’t you know. And, hello fan girl SQUEEE, in like a week I will be standing amid crowds and oogling Felicia at the ECCC. Totally awesome.

Tonight will be a Damages night, because disk two of Season Two just arrived in the mail. With all that I will certainly get through the day.

And if that isn’t enough, the promise of working on some Fuffy later will certainly do the trick.

Okay, so I had to change one of my work passwords on Wednesday, and while I can’t tell you what it is, (its a password after all) I can say that every time I type it in I have a grin  / chuckle. And as I do this about 7 times a day, it is awesome.
In hot girl news, My Katie  (yes, I call her that, hush) Kate Winslet  is slated to be in the remake / miniseries being done of  Mildred Pierce for HBO.
I’ll be thankful to see Kate acting, because she is lovely, but as it is on HBO, does this mean there will be nakedness? Not sure how I feel about that. The naked I mean. I’ve seen the movies where she is naked, and well… weird as it may sound as me being a 1. Lesbian & 2. having a huge crush on Kate I don’t watch to see the naked, I watch because she is a fraking amazing actress! A-mazing.  But anyway, I am not sure why so many people are all up in arms about this being done, a remake or what not. Hello people, don’t you see that every TV show,  movie lately is a remake??? Get over it. I do have the book, by James M. Cain which I read a long LONG time ago, but perhaps I will pick it up again. I vaguely recall the movie as well, (with Joan Crawford) I know I know I lose gay points for that statement, but it is the truth. This should be interesting. I am sure there will be more to follow later. 
In the news of the odd… Theo has started to purr / grunt / mumble when he is annoyed or bored. It is trippy.
Here in the beauteous Pacific Northwest to get from the east side into the city (being Seattle) one has four options, two of those are over land and curvy and long, the other two, which people take 99.999% of the time are the two floating (they don’t totally float, but eh) bridges. And sometimes when you drive over one, especially when it is windy you feel it move and get that flash of fear that if this sucker snaps you are going to be sleeping with the fishies. The other, which seems more sound (it’s newer) is generally being crossed by asshats who drive too fast or slow and make a mess of the whole thing. Generally. Last night as I crossed over the I-90 bridge (newer one) I was freaked out by the amount of glass and shattered car bits pushed to the side of the road. I mean really, can’t they clean that stuff up? Why leave it there to freak the hell out of other drivers? I’m just saying. Unnerving!
And let’s round out todays entry with a dash of the Whedonverse. So, last night, re-watching the unaired pilot for Dollhouse,  (fuck you fox) it just solidified and reminded me how restrained leashed gagged  Joss was in the filming of this series. You can see the foreshadowing in the pilot about where they wanted to take the characters, and the sort of experiences they wanted Echo / Caroline to have. Real meaningful human experiences with the small sampling of pervy rich dudes hiring Echo for rolls in the hay. It would have been a great way to explore morality, humanity, what is self and what is a soul. But.. instead we got. Well you know what we got. And sure, eye-candy to the nines. I’m not going to discount that, but I (and I am sure the masses) would have been better served and more in love with the show if it had traveled down the road that was intended for it.

Oh! Did you notice, not one mention of LoTs… Doh! I just did. Balls.

OMG. I spent… 2.5 hours last night, and then another 3.5 hours sitting here renaming and reformatting images for a new web page / project. And I only got through 258 images. *head meet desk* Oh the things I do for fun. I feel kinda like Echo right here. Seriously, I need to keep reminding myself that this all a gas, and done for the simple joy of it. For those playing at home? All 258 images? They were from LoTs (legend of the seeker) I kid you not. *squee*

I need to get my ass back to writing. I am still in the angst filled world of grr and arrgghhh. So I took some time last night to work on editing ch4. Which, been edited 3 times now so almost done, and will be ready for the Tuesday upload. Not sure if I will be ready to re-load the images (Buffy ones) I have been scrubbing by Tuesday, but that is a more open ended project.

Yes, I am very aware that my nerd flag is flying high.

Yes, I am aware that this post is really not saying anything. It merely is. A brain wipe for me. You try getting up when I do, and then jumping into an image correction project and you tell me how articulate you will be. *nods*

Soon I will run errands, and then I am thinking I need to like veg in front of the TV for a few hours. All this productivity is… well… too productive.

My first thought was  ‘it’s over.‘ *and cue big sigh*
My second thought was ‘Man Fox botched the end editing. seriously? No longing stare and smile?’
My third thought was ‘Joss is genius, and I sort of love Mo and Jed’s writing. Sorta being a whole lot.‘
Then I stopped keeping track of my thoughts.
While I put the whole Ballard / Echo love thing on my list of ‘The Bad’
The episode was good, and I hope you at home were playing along and understood. (I am assured that all Whedonites fall into that category) It was as nice of an ending as we could be given, you know under the thumb of nonfunctioning sociopathic network goons circumstances.
I will miss the Dollhouse, but more I will wait impatiently for the next thing. Because as Mare said, there will always be a Joss project going on. It’s a given.
That gives me happy face.

In other news, things that give me a happy face (get your mind out of the gutter!) The new project is coming along pretty well.

Ch 1 is online people! Join the ranks of the *checks* 58 people who had checked it out!
Ch 2 is edited. Shew.
Ch 3 is edited, but I think it needs something. either less or more, I don’t know!!! ARGH
Ch 4 in the can
Ch 5 in the can as well
Ch 6 done! Needs to be edited
Ch 7 outlined baby.

I know ch 3 is going to be longer than it’s predecessors, there is just so much going on, so it needs to be. It’s tough to find that happy medium, especially when I form my chapters around the ‘episode’ frame. You can’t go too long. oh!! ch 3 could be a very special extended two hour episode?? Huh… maybe?

So I am working on the Arch section of the piece, which as a writer is always the most difficult, bringing the little bits you left for the reader in the beginning back around, and using them as the bridge to get you to the climax. What makes it hard is writing it so that it feels natural and seamless. Good writing is hard work. *nods*

I’m off to have more coffee and get a couple hours writing in. Perhaps this getting up at 430am, not so bad, in the long run.

So this is it. D Day. Or rather Dollhouse Day. The day that the joyous entertaining ride ends. *fuck you fox* I think it is a sign, that every amazing show that Joss puts on Fox gets axed, and I am hoping that now contracts are done, and obligations are met, and Joss and Co. can find a new home far far away from the likes of Fox and it’s brethren. Because we the fans, are loyal, patient and above all, FANS. That being said, let’s talk about Dollhouse, shall we?

I watched this show first because I am a rabid Whedonite. Period. That was the only reason. While I love Eliza Dushku and think she is the bee’s knees… I do not watch everything she does. Tru Calling? Yeah, no. Maybe I watched a handful of episodes. Most of her movies (Open Graves, we talked about earlier this week) Though some of them I have seen and I like. Original Bring it on? Awesome. Alphabet Killer? Really good (and no not for the infamous boob scene. I liked more the serial killer / cop breaking dynamic.) So I was interested in Dollhouse, and signed on as a fan before the first episode aired.
There were parts of this show that were complete and utter Whedonverse fodder. You know people suddenly dying, being betrayed, humor with a knife in the guts at the end as a punch line? These are all things that make Joss, well Joss, and the master of the universe.

The show shines a light on the dusty surface of our own morality. What we do and why we do it, these are things that continue to drive humanity, and in the doll-verse they are driving humanity to extinction.
A totally wipe, is different from a culture that bans information, in only one way… length of time.
This world that we sit and watch from the comfort of our homes is showing us the sterility of our society, and how everything could be controlled by a select few… which I could rant for hours on the commonalities of current western politics and philosophies. Ethics and all that. But I won’t. (you’re welcome). It was a show that made you think about implications, made you feel things and then you were forced to look at yourself and your reactions. It put an unflattering light on TECH and how it has this ability to control you. (seriously, how many times do you check your email, send a text message, update your FaceBook status, or /heavens forbid/ tweet?) And while addressing all these things, Dollhouse still addressed something more. What is a soul? What makes someone a someone? What is love?

The Dollhouse was not your average waste an hour of television. It was so much more, and a little less. It was Worthwhile Television. There isn’t much of that around anymore.

The bad:

1. When it suddenly became apparent that the dolls were high priced whores, and that Echo was pretty much a walking petri dish from all the sexing that was going on. Hot leather outfits withstanding, it just made me feel funny in my stomach. Like, this is not right, and this certainly does not seem like something Joss would do. *fuck you fox*
2. Ballard and Echo falling all sappy in love at the beginning of S2. While I can see it as a plot point (damn those plot bunnies) so that Ballard would have something to lose later in the season, I still thought it was forced and sort of odd to see. I liken the two of them more to a brotherly sisterly love. It works better. Not all dudes and girls can’t be friends. I don’t care what we learned in ‘When Harry Met Sally’.
3. Suddenly jumping to the future *fuck you fox* while I get what Joss is doing with this, saving us from another hour of whoring out Eliza, it should have taken longer to get to this point. Again, not Joss’ fault.
4. Backup singer episode. I KNOW Joss has a thing about singing and torturing actors by making them sing. And we all LOVE him for it *waves OMWF & Dr Horrible fan banners* but, I didn’t like all the other actors in this episode. It was what I expected from a network who holds AI above all things. (Isn’t it ironic, American Idol, AI… Artificial Intellegence… Ironic!) Eliza, she gets kudos though. Because she is fabulous. *quiet… I am geeking out*

The good:

1. Dr. Saunders. An amazing multifaceted character. She goes from broken, meek, to silently strong, to traumatic, to mental abuser, to killer, to savior, to everything. She IS the consummate doll. *love you Amy*
2. Echo when she gains her consciousness. It is pretty awesome to watch a fully functioning schizophrenic /  multiple personality disorder person walking around.
3. Eliza is hot. *get over it*
4. Topher. I didn’t like him at first, but then I loved him. His egomaniacal, terrified little self.
5. Victor. Because he can BE any one, believably. See above mention of Topher.
6. ALPHA. Because Alan does bad so damn GOOD.
7. The inclusion of Buffy-isms. Such as “tabula rasa” and, from Season Seven Ep 7 ‘Conversations with Dead People’ Buffy, HELLOOOO… ‘Did I fall asleep’ as spoken by Willow
8. Melly. I just heart Joss for having Miracle on the show. She is all sweet and beautiful, and then BAM killer. And the way she ‘left’ so very Joss.
9. Bennett. Summer Glau getting her hair washed by Eliza. Yes please. But okay, more than that, we got to see her use her acting abilities: versus the show TSCC, where she was a robo-babe.

Tonight is the Series Finale, and I will be watching, and I may even blog about the episode specifically at a later date. I am sad it’s ending, but glad that FOX is removing it’s greasy hooks from the likes of the Whedonverse. If we are lucky this will be the last time. I do hope that Joss returns to TV, but not to mainstream networks. Where their motivator is money, not story telling. (case in point, NBC). I am looking forward, with minimal looking back.

This quote… makes all the sense. And therefore the get all the points today:: Robert Bianco of USA Today describing it as a show “that Joss Whedon’s most devoted fans will debate and embrace, and a mass audience just won’t get.”