Sneak preview of upcoming novel.
Monday, November 06, 2006
HeroesFinally I remembered to try to watch Heroes on TV. And it was okay, but I have to say that TV must suck really freaking bad now, the way critics are falling all over themselves to laud Heroes and Ugly Betty.
I tried to watch Ugly Betty last week but it reeked of so much eau de Ally McBeal that I couldn't. Sorry if you like either of those shows. I actually like A McB, in retrospect. (Ha, ha. Bet you never thought I'd say that, if you even know me from that period in my writing career. Okay - I kind of like it in retrospect. Compared to everything that's happening now, I mean.) But, yeah... the one snippet I saw of Betty, in which Betty's watching the sad little blonde girl hold back tears, just didn't live up to the hype for me.
Then we're watching Heroes tonight, and I really want to like it, but it's hard because half the cast is over-acting the shit out of it, and the other half is trying to stay down-home in the face of all the melodrama. And I'm kind of confused, now that super powers are coming out of the woodwork, and superheroes are tripping all over each other.
You know what show I miss? Freaks and Geeks. I'm glad Judd Apatow (however he spells it, sorry man) is working today. Hopefully making the big bucks, too.
Maybe I'm just being pretentious and in-joke-y all the time, too, but...
I have to say that it's weird to be able to read the thoughts of any semi-famous person in the world now.
Nyarly turned me on to Pandora, which, in turn, turned me on to James Holden's At the Controls.
I bought the CD. I'm playing it tonight, while I work on my revisions. And one of the songs I like a lot - so much that I feel the need to see if this guy has a MySpace or fan site or something so that I can write him as follows:
Dear James Holden,
I bought your CD. That song Lump is cool. Thank you for making it.
Signed,
Gwen
just like I would say to anyone else in the world about their blog post or their sweater or whatever. And I find James' site, which doesn't give a way to email or leave comments. But it does direct me to his MySpace... which also doesn't let you leave comments. So then I go back to his site (oh my gosh, it has refreshing skins) and start reading his tiny scrolling blog box, and it's all about the industry and what's good about it and what's not, plus comments that are only understandable by his DJ friends...
And then I'm like, "Okay, whatever. I'm not cool enough to tell James Holden I liked his song."
I think I need to remove comments and email links from this page. I think that would make me more successful in my writing career. See, that way people would think I was exclusive. If I'm too good for you, I must be worth spending money on, right? All that stuff about having a web presence that allows you to interact with the whole world - that's only for losers, actually. Cool people just sell things. They don't talk to anybody.
When will I learn that. I don't know. I guess when I'm rich, we'll know I'm done learning.
"If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?"
Do you know what book that's from? Call me.
(James Holden, I'm just kidding, man. Hey, that Lump song is awesome.)
Little girls in makeup.
I saw this little girl on a pop-up ad. At first I thought she was porn.
Be careful, little girl. God keep you safe, please.
Just kidding - she's in no more danger than all the other kids, I'm sure.
God, keep all the little kids in the world safe, please. If you can.
Back to the pop culture.
I guess I wanted to see more little kids get rescued. On the TV, I mean.
Me and Tad saw The Prestige the other day. I liked it. If you saw/see it and you figure/d out the twist before the end, please don't tell me. You're so smart, I know, but you don't have to tell me so. I already know.
(Just like: Please, please tell me how you lost weight, but don't tell me how you think I should lose weight. Tell me your stories, but not what to do, okay? I like it better when you use the "I" language. And I'm saying that with extreme love.)
Okay. Off track again. That means time to go!
Love and Japanese cute things!!!,
Gwen
Labels: pop culture
9:50 PM #Comments:
I like Ugly Betty, but it's no Eureka. Heroes, on the other hand, has some of the worst writing I've heard on TV. The premise is interesting, but even The 4400 had better execution.I watch way too much TV.
# posted by
NemesisVex : 8:54 AM
I like Ugly Betty, I think it's cute and I love America Ferrera. I loved her in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, so I had to check her out on Ugly Betty.
It's not quite a taping show yet - there really is too much on Thursdays - but I'll watch it if I can.
I've never watched Heroes, and I don't really have any desire to. I actually find myself watching less and less TV every season, not sure if it's the quality of TV now days, or if I'm just growing out of it.
Soon my TV will be strictly for sports I think.
# posted by
lisal : 10:20 AM
I'm watching both "Heroes" and "Ugly Betty" (thank you DT Tivo) but I agree they are not as good as their hype. It's enough to make one cynical about TV reviewers! I am hoping that as they find their way a bit, things will improve.
# posted by
RandomRanter : 12:29 PM
Living in Prague for a year with no TV seems to have broken me of my habit for the most part. The only thing I watch regularly is Grey's Anatomy--oh, and whatever crap VH1 shows on Saturday afternoons. Oh, and reruns of Three's Company late at night when I can't sleep.
But my TV habit? Completely broken.
# posted by
tina : 3:09 PM
(This isn't about if/when I figured out THE PRESTIGE, I promise!) I have the pleasure of seeing movies for free with a bunch of old industry-types, so we went to see THE PRESTIGE with them. And it was hysterical. Because none of them had any idea what had happened. I've never seen a more confused bunch of people than I saw walking out of the theater. Then, one of my co-workers came to me a couple days later and asked me to explain it to him, and when I explained what he hadn't understood, he said, "Oh, I didn't expect it to turn to fiction like that." What? Did he think we were watching a documentary? Oh, fun was had for days after that screening.
# posted by
Cerulean Lily : 4:11 PM
HAHAHA!!!!! I have no idea what book "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?" is from, but I remember when I was a little girl, my great grandma had a little plaque in her kitchen (?!) that said that, except it said "If you're so damn smart, why ain't you rich?", and I remember being scandalized that my grandma had both a swear word AND bad grammer hanging in her house. HA! If she could only hear me now...Thanks for bringing back a hilarious memory!
# posted by
Rachel L. : 4:20 PM
Yeah, Heroes isn't all that and a bag of chips. But I still like it. Although I do want to find the person (there can only be ONE person, right?) who thinks voiceovers are necessary and stab him. Because voiceovers are hardly EVER necessary. Especially voiceovers that tell you the supposed moral of the story.
But I still like it. Because *I* want super powers, dammit.
# posted by
Nyarly : 11:04 PM
I watch Heroes and Ugly Betty and while neither one of them is perfect, they beat the shit out of a lot of other stuff on tv these days.
I've watched Heroes from the beginning and I will say that if you've only seen the most recent episode I understand why you don't think it's all that. It's been going down hill the last couple weeks, but the first 3 or 4 episodes were totally the SHIT for a comic loving nerd-girl like myself. And Hiro makes me smile every time.
# posted by
Jamie : 11:46 PM
Heroes is boring. I have no interest in any of the characters and I hate the fact that the Japanese guy on there speaks really broken English and everyone finds it "cute." It's not cute damnit - it's annoying.
America Ferrera playing Ugly Betty is a bore as well. It's only slightly entertaining in a whimsical way. And by whimsical, I mean the way Ally McBeal was. Oh wait, Gwen already mentioned that. At least there were hotties on Ally, oh wait, wrong again.
Sadly, Grey's Anatomy proves to be more entertaining than both of these shows combined. Did I just say that out loud?
# posted by
Datty : 11:56 PM
Nemesis V: Now I have to find out what Eureka is and see if it still exists. :)
Lisal: I wonder if people go through TV/no TV phases in their lives. Maybe it serves some purpose, like "nesting" or "bonding" or "connnection" or something.
Randomranter: I'm glad you said that about becoming cynical about reviewers! Because I'm secretly starting to wonder if, with all the media outfit conglomeration, the reviewers are asked/forced to hype certain shows.
Tina: I feel you. I used to not watch TV at all, but then I got into the habit of watching Runway or ANTM with my kids each week. And now I'm looking for something to replace those. (ANTM sucks too much now, and we're over Top Chef, too.) I miss the, "Gather around, it's X-time on X-night!" feeling.
C Lily: That's hilarious. In a sad way, but hilarious still. I applaud the person who had the guts to ask for an explanation, though. Maybe you can lend him fiction and non-fiction books and he will continue to improve his understanding.
Rachel: Now I have to go see where you're from. I quoted a Eudora Welty story, but all she did was quote people living in the South in the olden days.
Nyarly: That's why I started watching it - because of my superpower fantasies. But it didn't live up to them. :( Shouldn't those people be saving lives by now??
Jamie: Good to know. I had the impression it wasn't always like that, maybe.
Dat: It's okay that you like Grey's Anatomy. Tina said she does, so you're in good company. And, yeah, I feel you on the cliched "nerdy Asian male who speaks broken English" character. Even while I can see its appeal. I'm sure it's lame to see that all the time, though, without any counteracting Asian characters.
# posted by
Gwen : 9:49 AM
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