I collect links to never read

[trinityvixen]

When I'm bored at work, I scour the internet. The problem is that the internet is done by about three hours into my scouring, far as I'm concerned, and then I'm bored. This boredom is made worse by all the links to things I can't read or can't focus enough on to make a coherent post about whatever it is. So I'm going to just collect links here and think about it later. Maybe.

-Predator 2: Not as bad as you think! What? It wasn't! It's nowhere near as smart as Predator. It's fantastically cheesy at parts, too. But it did some effective things. The disc alone means I can forgive this movie because it lead to my favorite activity in playing one-on-one battles with feiran, which was sniping her with the fucking disc. All joking aside, there were some interesting ideas thrown around this movie, and a few genuine laughs, like when the police chase a bad guy onto a subway and fully ten commuters draw guns on the bad guy, too. Or when Gary Busey showed up. Laugh a minute, that.

-This may be a totally relevant and cogent post about how Glee isn't as progressive/transgressive as you think, but I can't read it because I'm still watching the show. Damn it. But I could have told you that. I mean, yay, it has a stable of characters that include people of color, a disabled student, and a gay student. But the show has really missed some opportunities to do more than just throw "teachable moments" at us. For all that I love Kurt, he was the one who pushed and pushed and pushed until [spoiler character] finally snapped and called him the F-word. It's not a nice word, and usage of it is still bad, but some acknowledgment that Kurt provoked it might have been nice. Because gay people are people, too, and sometimes they are pricks. Also, guess what? All the female characters are still crazy and/or evil. PROGRESS.

-I like this stand! Possibly to use to hide kitty litter!

Comments

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Before that episode Glee was a show about a mythical school where people were courageous, and fought for each other, and no one was excluded. It was a show where you could watch football players dance to Beyoncé and imagine that homophobia and gender discrimination were in their death throes. That in fact YOU WERE MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE FOR WATCHING IT. Just by watching a show about attractive people singing show tunes and talking about gay rights, you were being a part of the solution.

If you thought that about Glee, it was your own damn problem. Really, must everything conform to overthrowing the oppressive white male heteronormative patriarchy these days?

I thought what made that scene in "Theatricality" awesome was that Kurt and [redacted] were both in the wrong, and both somewhat right, and to some extent so was Kurt's dad. Finn had plainly been pushed far past the breaking point there, and was fairly sympathetic until using the f-word; Kurt was just plain creepy.

Also, all the characters, male and female, tend to be crazy or evil. The only characters that have shown personality without severe personality defects so far are Kurt's dad and Becky, the Down's Syndrome cheerleader. Finn is usually a stupid weenie with a temper, Kurt's gone from admirable gay kid to flaming jealous stalker, Puck's...well, Puck, Jesse ended up a scheming asshole, and even Artie's been fairly nasty at times (in the Madonna episode).

Pretty much every character on the show is portrayed in some shade of gray, and that's a good thing. We don't need every character to wear a white or black hat, and we don't need every scene to show either perfect sensitivity or the downfall of those who fail at perfect sensitivity.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Ack! Don't post things from the link to me! I said I hadn't read it!!! No spoilers!

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

The shoe is on the other foot now, I see...

See my icon.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

:P

Oh, no spoilers

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Okay, I peeked, no spoilers. Let's see...

Really, must everything conform to overthrowing the oppressive white male heteronormative patriarchy these days?

Are you honestly saying that white, male heteronormativity is under assault when about 10% of ALL TV CHARACTERS are any kind of different color/sexuality? What you're actually bitching about is how white, mostly male/male-lead/male-dominant, heteronormative protagonists and casts are no longer 100% of the shows and are now, being generous here, 95% of shows. The only conformity I see is the conformity to white, male, heteronormative patriarchy here.

And even if there were some evil liberal cabal to overthrow white males in favor of gay tranny black and Asian people on network TV, Glee would be a piss-poor example of it. The two teachers and the two vocalist leads are all white. None of the characters who aren't white and straight are leads. They're supporting players only.

Re: Oh, no spoilers

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

My problem's with the author of the article, who apparently can't enjoy the show unless it's somehow transformative and useful. Of course Glee isn't transgressive--why does it have to be?

Re: Oh, no spoilers

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Why can't it be, though? What's wrong with wanting better? He's saying that a show that makes this much effort to be different than usual wouldn't be ill-served to go all the way. I think that's probably true.

Re: Oh, no spoilers

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Because I don't think you can go all the way without dropping the entertainment value. Part of what makes the scene in "Theatricality" so great is that there isn't a clear message out of it. Instead, the characters, acting with imperfect information and their own motives, get into a big fight where there is no clear good guy. Do you want there to be a clear good guy--maybe the gay kid isn't a stalker? Maybe Kurt's dad acts like a perfect voice of author and calls Kurt out on his talking too? But that weakens the ambiguity of the scene.

There are 3 Asian characters, 2 of them more or less fully fleshed out, one of them's sort of a villain (and I'd contest the description of Ken Tanaka as a villain--he's a sympathetic loser; Santana and Sue are the first half villains.) But the good Asian character also does a jerky thing in faking a speech disability. Such is life--even faking the disability, she's one of the most admirable of this bunch of people. What more do you want, a pre-affair Tiger Woods to showcase the goodness of Asian-Americans? There are Asian characters, they act like people, they aren't stereotypes (none of them are studious geeks!)

It's a show about a bunch of teens in a semi-rural Northern Ohio school in a Glee Club. It's entertaining. There's singing. The characters are mostly well written. I'm not quite sure what more the article's author wants or expects without ruining the entertainment.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I like this stand! Possibly to use to hide kitty litter!
You're supposed to be getting rid of furniture, not acquiring it!

I do not watch Glee, but I did read a post on it awhile ago, about its "hipster racism." That is, the use of old racist standards (I believe there's an Asian called token?) with the nudge, nudge, that racism is over so it's totes okay now. This is the bastard cousin of enlightened sexism. But, you know, can't say. Haven't seen the show.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I'm not buying anything! I swear! I don't even have a free weekend to go to IKEA until July!

As for Glee, it lampshades a lot of its touching on -isms of any kind, sexism, racism, etc. Like, there are two male singers, one black, one Asian. When they were pairing off for group work, picking names out of the hat, one of the names was "the other Asian." Ha ha! So funny how the show knows that it hasn't bothered to name that kid! He has a name now, though, so it's totally cool. (Black kid? Still no name.)

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I think the post I saw was about this. Saying that just because you know it's racist, and you're pointing out it's racist, doesn't make it not racist. It's so funny that white people can't tell Asians apart! Yeah, that's funny. To white people. People who've lived through that, or at least some of them, not so much.

[shell524.livejournal.com]

I'd have to go back, but IIRC the "other Asian" kid remark was from Sue, who spends most of the show being a total bitch about anyone "different."

The two football players don't have names, but the story doesn't deal with them much. They're like backup dancers.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It's possible Sue said something. I was thinking about the time they pulled names out of the hat and even Tina was listed as "the Asian," and she was pulling the names out and pulled out "the other Asian." Eee.

[shell524.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it was Sue's "names" for them in that hat, though. In the episode where she's trying to call Will out on racism and splits the club up into the minorities and the white folks, then proceeds to do things like call Tina "the Asian" and the other guy "the other Asian."

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Ah, now I remember.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Did you hear about Glee Karaoke Revolution?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

...but...why?

The SCORPIO is READY.....

[arcfox7.livejournal.com]

Ye can't see de eyes of de demon...until he come callin'. No use killin what can't be killed mr. policeman...

I Friggin love Predator 2. It's got great action, intro of so many new cool weapons. better than either of the avps, I'm hoping Predators is awesome.

lots o' predators make arcfox7 a happy boy...

Re: The SCORPIO is READY.....

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I think the story is hilarious, with the Cuban vs. Jamaican gangsters. I think moving it to an urban setting was actually a good idea. Lots more people to kill, there.