Text 13668, 123 rader
Skriven 2007-04-20 00:03:14 av Josh Hill (31.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: Attn JMS: The five stages of grief and  "FALLEN SON: THE     DEATH 
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On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:01:35 GMT, "Vorlonagent"
<nojtspam@otfresno.com> wrote:

>
>"Josh Hill" <usereplyto@gmail.com> wrote in message 
>news:nhsv139vobj3fkh0n0jf6tuqmvsv7eq15i@4ax.com...
>
>> Sons and Lovers. Hell, anything by D. H. Lawrence. And Seinfeld. And
>> Madonna.
>
>I *liked* Madonna in her mid-80's heyday.  I didn't thnk she was "all that", 
>but I liked her.  I thought and think she did some good stuff once she came 
>out of her early "material girl" bubblegum stage (which itself was OK). 
>Then she decided to go all "artiste" and, well, there you are.  She was 
>already losing it with "Express yourself" and imitating Michael Jackson's 
>crotch grab.  <rolls eyes>.

I always had the impression that Madonna was a master of
self-promotion rather than an artist. No performing talent, and no
song-writing talent of which I'm aware -- she just seems to have
attached her name to songs that others wrote.

>Seinfeld, agreed.  And all shows like it: Mad About You (a show I couldn't 
>watch without thinking of "Aliens"), FRIENDS, and all the hyper-neurotic 
>"shows about nothing" that spend their airtime making mountains out of 
>molehills.
>
>Ender's Game, which in turn left me ambivalent about Orson Scott Card in 
>general.  I devoured the book in one sitting.  Could not put it down. I was 
>more compelled to finish than entranced by a complelling story.  Came away 
>feeling that the book shortchanged me with a weak, and aimless ending, 
>though I has grievances all the way though, such as Ender's siblings plot to 
>take over the world through what we would call "blogging" today.  It was a 
>plotline that Card could have edited out entirely and I wouldn't have missed 
>a thing.  The book more unraveled toward an ending than built to a climax. 
>It was as if Card could not figure out how to end the thing properly.

Heh. It's been a long time and I don't remember the ending, but I do
remember thinking that the blogging was ridiculous -- sort of a
throwback to the "boy and his cyber-dog take over the world" trope.

OTOH, I did love the book, because I loved Ender. I don't know quite
what authorial magic Card used to create that bond, but I've found
that when a book does that, I react strongly to it. Haven't always
felt that way about Card's work, which can be repetitive and tends I
think to be stronger on people than the science fictional aspect.

>B5: Crusade
>Gideon was complaint #1.  Gideon looked to me like an attempt to retread 
>Sinclair, whose first-season incarnation didn't do much for me.  He had 
>Sinclair's self-righteousness, and his stiffness.  Though JMS tells me 
>Gideon is a gambler, I don't "feel" it even when I'm seeing him at the poker 
>table.
>
>Complaint #2 was the other G, Galen, who also seemed very shallow and 
>superficial.  As I think about him now, he had some tragic-poet elements I 
>found distatseful in Byron, but I didn't realize it at the time.  JMS once 
>said words to the effect of, "you don't show a technomage eating his 
>breakfast."  And over time, I find I partly disagree with that.  I think a 
>crucial modification to the idea is you don't show him *just* eating his 
>breakfast.  Alan Moore, through the comic Promethea, made a very good case 
>that the objects of everyday life can come alive with meaning or magic.  A 
>technomage can't just pick up a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a cup of 
>coffee unless he treats them differently, giving us a glimpse into the world 
>he lives in.  There are also times when Galen demystified too much, in 
>effect eating his breakfast in his manner of working with the world.  I'd 
>have to rewatch the series to point to specifics.

I confess I wasn't wild about Galen either, mostly because he, well,
seemed to posture too much -- but then, there's a depth to the
technomage concept that only comes out in the books, and I assume this
would have made its way into the series, which just didn't have a fair
chance to develop. Ditto for Gideon: I suspect his character would
have gained depth as we learned more about the magic box.

>The fact that JMS killed off Elric with a throwaway line did not endear me, 
>either.  It was as if half the mystique of the Technomages came from Michael 
>Ansara's portrayal of Elric and once he was gone, the technomages became 
>smaller and less mythic in stature.
>
>Complaint #3 (minor, but nagging): I was not happy with Netter Digital's 
>effects for B5's 5th season and the changes they made to the universe with 
>Crusade (which looked to be gratuitous to me) didn't help, though I did get 
>used to them.

For me, it was the infamous music. There was perhaps the exhaustion
effect to which JMS referred -- the episodes were a bit lacking in
vigor -- but my sense at the end was that the series was just then
hitting its stride. I'm amazed that it worked as well as it did given
TNT's meddling.

>The Shadow Within.  Jeanne Cavelos romanced Mr. Morden by proxy through Anna 
>Sheridan way too much and was way too happy to whitewash Mr Morden by 
>explaining why he decided to work for the Shadows.  Won't touch her 
>technomage trilogy.

My memories of that are dim, but while I did enjoy Cavelos's
novelizations, I wasn't wild about the novelized Anna Sheridan story,
which seemed to me to lack and even detract from the compelling horror
of the episodes. So too some other cases in the novels where I felt
that excessive explanation robbed the story of impact and mystery.

I suppose there's some of that in the technomage trilogy, but -- they
do have a fascinating background and explanation.

>Finally, Saving Private Ryan.  Spielberg hit us with a hyper-real D-Day 
>landing then left realism on Omaha Beach, spending the rest of the film 
>trying to turn Tom Hanks into John Wayne.

LOL. Am I the only one who laughed during that movie? Something about
the earnestness of the fake guts. I never like Spielberg when he's
trying to be serious, because you can see how hard he's trying, and
yet it's not his sensibility.

-- 
Josh

[Truly] I say to you, [...] angel [...] power will be able to see that [...]
these to whom [...] holy generations [...]. After Jesus said this, he departed.

- The Gospel of Judas
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
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