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rewatching some Buffy greatest hits, and this one had me crying so hard, wrenching sobs, as Xander tells Willow, repeatedly, as she tries but cannot kill him, that he loves her
has a few more black actors, thankfully; first season was def feelin' too white, but, the leads are all still white white white
I guess I'm stuck on this popcorn TV show for a while, because the other shows I was watching were much more emotionally demanding, and I need popcorn for a while, but I'd like my popcorn to be a bit more multiracial please!
I guess I'm stuck on this popcorn TV show for a while, because the other shows I was watching were much more emotionally demanding, and I need popcorn for a while, but I'd like my popcorn to be a bit more multiracial please!
Aww, it's the episode for making me cry because it's all about love and telling people how you feel romantically about them. Aww. Relationship Anarchism doesn't mean you can't fall in love and cry at weddings and so forth.
innards improving
28 February 2021 19:00Haven't needed the OTC meds since Friday *fingers crossed*, and I suffered no problems from doing some relatively minor toy play last night.
I can't believe I spent several hours watching Teen Wolf, LOL. But I was watching it on K's Amazon Prime account, which I don't have access to at the house. I don't have my own Amazon Prime account, it's the one streaming service I don't have my own password to.
I can't believe I spent several hours watching Teen Wolf, LOL. But I was watching it on K's Amazon Prime account, which I don't have access to at the house. I don't have my own Amazon Prime account, it's the one streaming service I don't have my own password to.
Teen Wolf, LOL
27 February 2021 18:01Never watched it, was browsing endlessly on all the different streaming services and saw this and thought I'd try it for kicks. All the cute white 20-year-olds pretending to be high school students. I wonder what the effect on real high students was, watching all these "teen" dramas growing up while represented by hot white adults.
I can't help but think about how it compares to Buffy, though it came 14 years later. Even 10 years ago it was OK to have all-white casts?
This was an MTV show? I remember when MTV started making that shift from music videos to original programming. When I was in college we watched MTV for the music videos, which were still a new thing back then.
One of these Teen Wolf actors looks a lot like one of my younger coworkers, heh. Same baby face, same haircut.
This is Bug with way too much time on his hands, watching old supernatural high school dramas, heh. Supposedly it gets a gay character and stuff later? Lots of shirtless young guys in the locker room ... I wish I could be snuggling with somebody while I laugh at this show.
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Oh, we just got a third COVID vaccine authorized, from J&J. Later I'll write about how it works.
I can't help but think about how it compares to Buffy, though it came 14 years later. Even 10 years ago it was OK to have all-white casts?
This was an MTV show? I remember when MTV started making that shift from music videos to original programming. When I was in college we watched MTV for the music videos, which were still a new thing back then.
One of these Teen Wolf actors looks a lot like one of my younger coworkers, heh. Same baby face, same haircut.
This is Bug with way too much time on his hands, watching old supernatural high school dramas, heh. Supposedly it gets a gay character and stuff later? Lots of shirtless young guys in the locker room ... I wish I could be snuggling with somebody while I laugh at this show.
-----
Oh, we just got a third COVID vaccine authorized, from J&J. Later I'll write about how it works.
better than BSG?
26 February 2021 23:57I told T & B in the group chat that 3rd season Outlander was Ron Moore's best, so when T saw me next he said, "Better than Battlestar Galactica?"
Do I have to weigh these against each other?
Yes.
Yes.
Outlander is overall better than BSG, so far. How do I defend such a statement? Why must I rank them? Why did I open this argument?
If I had to go into hyperspace and only carried enough disk space for one, would I take BSG or Outlander?
So far, I'd take Outlander. But is this a recency effect?
Why did I have to superlative? Outlander is emotionally heavier, deeper, BSG has sci-fi, but Outlander has people dying because they have no technology. No technology is emotionally heavier than technology.
But even so, I could probably write a heavier story with technology. No, Outlander is heavier than BSG. The horror is more individual. The focus on fewer people, that's probably why. Instead of the human race at stake, we're loving these few people we come to know.
And the Scottish accents, that's probably it.
Do I have to weigh these against each other?
Yes.
Yes.
Outlander is overall better than BSG, so far. How do I defend such a statement? Why must I rank them? Why did I open this argument?
If I had to go into hyperspace and only carried enough disk space for one, would I take BSG or Outlander?
So far, I'd take Outlander. But is this a recency effect?
Why did I have to superlative? Outlander is emotionally heavier, deeper, BSG has sci-fi, but Outlander has people dying because they have no technology. No technology is emotionally heavier than technology.
But even so, I could probably write a heavier story with technology. No, Outlander is heavier than BSG. The horror is more individual. The focus on fewer people, that's probably why. Instead of the human race at stake, we're loving these few people we come to know.
And the Scottish accents, that's probably it.
A+
you have to wade through some horrible shit to get here
but ...
A+
you have to wade through some horrible shit to get here
but ...
A+
If ever I need several good cries I will queue up this season again, damn
so much loss, so many left behind, so far a distance,
reminds me of the end of His Dark Materials,
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My sister warned me that she only liked this show through season 3, that when the focus moved to the next generation it was not as interesting, but at this point I know the characters well enough that all their emotions ring true and through and vibrate my own heart and drive my tears. I don't know that this show is for everyone, it gets horribly gruesome, but that's why the show grabs me. Love shredded by brutality, yet love.
so much loss, so many left behind, so far a distance,
reminds me of the end of His Dark Materials,
-----
My sister warned me that she only liked this show through season 3, that when the focus moved to the next generation it was not as interesting, but at this point I know the characters well enough that all their emotions ring true and through and vibrate my own heart and drive my tears. I don't know that this show is for everyone, it gets horribly gruesome, but that's why the show grabs me. Love shredded by brutality, yet love.
not a hybrid night anymore, just TV now, I must've finally drained my butt toy tank after three nights, satiated Bug
and the result is I'm so relaxed
Plus, yay, Outlander is much better back in Scotland :-) more gruesome there
plus, I pricked that ancient loneliness blister,
Astrid purring in my lap, Dax snoring on the other sofa, Sam in the cat tree, we're all here
and the result is I'm so relaxed
Plus, yay, Outlander is much better back in Scotland :-) more gruesome there
plus, I pricked that ancient loneliness blister,
Astrid purring in my lap, Dax snoring on the other sofa, Sam in the cat tree, we're all here
Outlander 2x08
14 February 2021 16:16Last night I made it through 2x06 and 2x07 before I became too intoxicated, sleepy, distracted, etc., to focus on the plot, so I'll restart now at 2x08. Not giving up on Euphoria, but wanting to take it slow, I'll resume watching one episode per evening after T returns to the house.
2x08 saw me through the entirety of the Paris detour, so it's back to Scotland!
2x08 saw me through the entirety of the Paris detour, so it's back to Scotland!
Perhaps the second season was suffering from Binger's Syndrome inside my head, unable to compete with the too-recently grisly depths of the first season, but now that I've taken a break and returned, YIKES, this show is wonderfully frightful ... and I thought Euphoria was getting too heavy ... maybe I should watch some Hello Kitty cartoons instead, heh :-)
I also want to watch Betty, and, and,
I also want to watch Betty, and, and,
damn, Euphoria
11 February 2021 19:58As much as I was enjoying having this show on in the background while intoxicated and playing, feeding off its aroma, it is so fucking good watching it sober. Took me long enough to get around to it! I'm thankful to K for suggesting it.
finally, Euphoria
10 February 2021 21:41I'm finally watching Euphoria while sober, so now I'll remember what's happening and won't keep starting over with the first episode. It's so rich, it's like those books that I can only read a few pages at a time. So one episode was plenty for the evening, I won't be staying up past midnight binging it.
There's a lot of quality writing, acting, shooting, and music, but like many high-school dramas it suffers a bit from the actors being in their 20s instead of their teens. But you also probably could not shoot sex scenes with underage actors, so ...
Sleepy Bug! nite nite
There's a lot of quality writing, acting, shooting, and music, but like many high-school dramas it suffers a bit from the actors being in their 20s instead of their teens. But you also probably could not shoot sex scenes with underage actors, so ...
Sleepy Bug! nite nite
I enjoyed the first season of Elite, but the second season felt like somebody had told them, "That first season was great, can you do that again?" I mean, the same plot with the same conflicts as before? Throw in a few new characters, and, well, at least they didn't try to resurrect the dead characters ... but ... it felt like a remake of the previous season so I quickly lost interest. Even the gay guys were stuck with the same problems they had before!
Whereas the second season of Outlander was so different from the first. I may yet return to that second season, but the Paris intrigue was so different from the brutal conflicts between the Scottish and the English, it felt like a different show. The other extreme from Elite's second season.
But the past few days I've been watching Occupied on Netflix, a Norwegian political thriller about a slow Russian takeover of Norway, possibly patterned on some of the slow Russian takeovers that have been happening along other parts of Russia's western border, but with some near-future twists. For example, the US has withdrawn from NATO as Trump seemed to want, and the EU has aligned with Russia against Norway in order to take over Norway's rich fossil fuel reserves.
As the show begins, Norway is led by its Green Party, yay, and they've decided to end all fossil fuel production and replace it with advanced nuclear power, yay! But then all hell breaks loose as the rest of the world gangs up on Norway to keep pumping that oil and gas out of the earth for their hungry industries. At first the Green Prime Minister tries his best to keep the peace via appeasement and compromise, but ...
There's not much romance in this show, straight or gay, but it seems the US Ambassador to Norway is gay, if you watch very carefully, it seems that other fella hanging around at the Embassy is his male spouse.
Oh, this evening there was a scene with one of the Free Norway recruits having his hair shaved off, which is what I'm about to do to my own hair ... but I doubt I'll like it on myself as much as I liked it on this actor.
-----
I don't want to turn into somebody who watches TV every night, but it is winter, it is still Quarantine, we're back to a five-day work week this week, and T just wants to play video games after dinner every night, so ... watching some TV by myself is OK this week. I think I was getting tired of reading a lot, especially all the frightful news on the Internet back before Boring Biden took over. TV feels like a treat to me because I usually don't watch that much. And there's some high-quality foreign TV on Netflix!
I do want to get into HBO's Euphoria, I've started watching it a couple times -- but late on weekend nights after I've become intoxicated and then I don't remember much and have to start over. So, after I finish or tire of Occupied, that's next in the TV queue.
I have a hell of a time remembering TV and movie plots, which often makes it fun to rewatch stuff I've already seen. Back when I was watching Buffy for the first time, I occasionally kept notes to remember the various plot twists in between sessions. When I watch TV with T and too much time goes by in between sitting down to watch the next episode, I need him to explain the context for me. Being intoxicated just makes it worse. I like watching TV while intoxicated, but then I can't remember much about what I saw. So, it is better for me to rewatch familiar shows while intoxicated, and save the new stuff for when I'm sober.
Another thing I do when intoxicated and rewatching stuff -- I don't pay full attention to what's happening on the screen -- because I already know what's happening -- so I might also be writing in my journal, or playing with toys, or playing a game on another screen, or chatting with friends. Sometimes, especially during Quarantine or way back when I lived by myself, rewatching something familiar is a way of keeping myself company, like having an old friend or a sibling hanging out with me, not necessarily paying attention to each other, while we each do our own thing.
I mean, it can be nice to have T in the house, downstairs playing his video games, while I'm doing my own thing upstairs. The main obstacle I find with having T in the house is that he feels offended when I play with my toys while he's here. It has also been awkward when I've had fuckbuddies over to visit me while T is here -- even if we aren't making out, even if T isn't jealous -- he can become openly judgmental about people who he didn't choose to be his friend. The guys I choose for fuckbuddies don't have to meet T's standards, but he's not good at handling it in person, and there's no way I could have a spanking or fisting hookup while T is here. So ... the need for the condo or a similar space while I continue living with T.
Sometimes I think living next door to T would be fine, like in adjoining townhomes or condos. It's not like I want him to disappear. But if he had responsibility for his own bills, and I had privacy as needed ... it was all going pretty well back when T was spending every other weekend in NYC visiting B. I could have people over, I could play with toys.
We'll see what the end of Quarantine brings, and this belated resumption of T & B's relationship, and the resumption of my own hanging out with people other than T. But that's still a number of months away.
Whereas the second season of Outlander was so different from the first. I may yet return to that second season, but the Paris intrigue was so different from the brutal conflicts between the Scottish and the English, it felt like a different show. The other extreme from Elite's second season.
But the past few days I've been watching Occupied on Netflix, a Norwegian political thriller about a slow Russian takeover of Norway, possibly patterned on some of the slow Russian takeovers that have been happening along other parts of Russia's western border, but with some near-future twists. For example, the US has withdrawn from NATO as Trump seemed to want, and the EU has aligned with Russia against Norway in order to take over Norway's rich fossil fuel reserves.
As the show begins, Norway is led by its Green Party, yay, and they've decided to end all fossil fuel production and replace it with advanced nuclear power, yay! But then all hell breaks loose as the rest of the world gangs up on Norway to keep pumping that oil and gas out of the earth for their hungry industries. At first the Green Prime Minister tries his best to keep the peace via appeasement and compromise, but ...
There's not much romance in this show, straight or gay, but it seems the US Ambassador to Norway is gay, if you watch very carefully, it seems that other fella hanging around at the Embassy is his male spouse.
Oh, this evening there was a scene with one of the Free Norway recruits having his hair shaved off, which is what I'm about to do to my own hair ... but I doubt I'll like it on myself as much as I liked it on this actor.
-----
I don't want to turn into somebody who watches TV every night, but it is winter, it is still Quarantine, we're back to a five-day work week this week, and T just wants to play video games after dinner every night, so ... watching some TV by myself is OK this week. I think I was getting tired of reading a lot, especially all the frightful news on the Internet back before Boring Biden took over. TV feels like a treat to me because I usually don't watch that much. And there's some high-quality foreign TV on Netflix!
I do want to get into HBO's Euphoria, I've started watching it a couple times -- but late on weekend nights after I've become intoxicated and then I don't remember much and have to start over. So, after I finish or tire of Occupied, that's next in the TV queue.
I have a hell of a time remembering TV and movie plots, which often makes it fun to rewatch stuff I've already seen. Back when I was watching Buffy for the first time, I occasionally kept notes to remember the various plot twists in between sessions. When I watch TV with T and too much time goes by in between sitting down to watch the next episode, I need him to explain the context for me. Being intoxicated just makes it worse. I like watching TV while intoxicated, but then I can't remember much about what I saw. So, it is better for me to rewatch familiar shows while intoxicated, and save the new stuff for when I'm sober.
Another thing I do when intoxicated and rewatching stuff -- I don't pay full attention to what's happening on the screen -- because I already know what's happening -- so I might also be writing in my journal, or playing with toys, or playing a game on another screen, or chatting with friends. Sometimes, especially during Quarantine or way back when I lived by myself, rewatching something familiar is a way of keeping myself company, like having an old friend or a sibling hanging out with me, not necessarily paying attention to each other, while we each do our own thing.
I mean, it can be nice to have T in the house, downstairs playing his video games, while I'm doing my own thing upstairs. The main obstacle I find with having T in the house is that he feels offended when I play with my toys while he's here. It has also been awkward when I've had fuckbuddies over to visit me while T is here -- even if we aren't making out, even if T isn't jealous -- he can become openly judgmental about people who he didn't choose to be his friend. The guys I choose for fuckbuddies don't have to meet T's standards, but he's not good at handling it in person, and there's no way I could have a spanking or fisting hookup while T is here. So ... the need for the condo or a similar space while I continue living with T.
Sometimes I think living next door to T would be fine, like in adjoining townhomes or condos. It's not like I want him to disappear. But if he had responsibility for his own bills, and I had privacy as needed ... it was all going pretty well back when T was spending every other weekend in NYC visiting B. I could have people over, I could play with toys.
We'll see what the end of Quarantine brings, and this belated resumption of T & B's relationship, and the resumption of my own hanging out with people other than T. But that's still a number of months away.
One more episode to go, and now I think just about everybody is going to kill everybody, wow. At least the gay guys still like each other, although even their relationship may go the way of Romeo and Juliet before this is over. So tense!
Now comes the finale, don't fuck it up writers. Giving this first season an A so far, if they can pull of a good finale I'll give it an A+.
One of the things I like most about this show is that even the good people have to lie. And then it's the truth that blows everything to hell.
Now comes the finale, don't fuck it up writers. Giving this first season an A so far, if they can pull of a good finale I'll give it an A+.
One of the things I like most about this show is that even the good people have to lie. And then it's the truth that blows everything to hell.
I was napping hard yesterday afternoon when Dax jumped into my bed, which is an athletic feat for him because my mattress is so tall -- hard woke me in the middle of a dream cycle. OK ... I was supposed to help T with the basement before dinner anyway ... so I got up and that's what we did. We're not finished yet, but we made significant progress and T felt grateful for the help. If we keep chipping away at it every weekend we'll be finished soon. And the bonus of having a basement gym now, complete with video and sound system!
Then we had pizza delivered and split one of those half-bottles of wine while watching an episode of TV, but afterward T wanted to return to his video game. He's been spending hours upon hours playing his video game while I've been here since Sunday morning.
So, I looked for something to watch by myself on my laptop until bedtime -- I'd already read an entire book earlier in the day, was tired of reading. I picked a Spanish high school drama on Netflix: Elite. It felt smart and sexy, a soap opera with high production values and increasingly layered plot complexities. I was hooked. Of course, as is typical, these "16-year olds" are played by actors in their mid-20s, all of them sporting model-quality bodies. Not even a token overweight or even unfashionable character.
The show is thoroughly modern, with leading racial/religious minority characters; gay, lesbian, & bisexual characters; a poly triad; class conflict; corruption; frank drug use; an HIV+ character; pregnancy & abortion; did I leave anything out? No time travel, heh.
I was so hooked I stayed up until 2am watching the first six episodes, I had to force myself to stop or I would've stayed up another two hours finishing the first season. It's not a spoiler to say this season revolves around a murder mystery, and it sure does pile on layers of suspects as the episodes fall on top of another. At this point I figure EVERYBODY killed her ala Murder on the Orient Express, heh.
Sometimes I love love love a show until the ending; ending a story is hazardous. I love love love first season Picard, but I think the finale is crap. I don't always finish reading or watching a story, as you may recall, especially if I like it a lot, because I don't want it to end. I remember as a kid feeling so sad when I finished reading LOTR, not because the ending was sad, but because it ended. I've even written to my favorite author buddy on Twitter that I wish he'd write more sequels, heh. I asked him point blank how he can write so lovingly about characters and their relationships and then END THE STORY. His response was simple and unemotional -- he's ready to move on to the next project. I find that I love my characters too much. I'm certain I will return to write more about the characters I've written about in my LJ. When I finally kill one of them, it will feel like losing a friend.
Anyway, I do not yet know how the first season of Elite ends, but I've enjoyed the journey so far. I will finish it later today.
-----
I think I'm going to take Dax on a hike, then give him a bath, then catch up on any chores around the house -- although T did a big batch of them this morning while I was still in bed. Then, as things look quiet in the area around the condo downtown, I think I'm going to the condo for some Time to Self. Then back to the house by Noon so I can watch the Inauguration with T with a bottle of champagne. Then back to work on Thursday
Then we had pizza delivered and split one of those half-bottles of wine while watching an episode of TV, but afterward T wanted to return to his video game. He's been spending hours upon hours playing his video game while I've been here since Sunday morning.
So, I looked for something to watch by myself on my laptop until bedtime -- I'd already read an entire book earlier in the day, was tired of reading. I picked a Spanish high school drama on Netflix: Elite. It felt smart and sexy, a soap opera with high production values and increasingly layered plot complexities. I was hooked. Of course, as is typical, these "16-year olds" are played by actors in their mid-20s, all of them sporting model-quality bodies. Not even a token overweight or even unfashionable character.
The show is thoroughly modern, with leading racial/religious minority characters; gay, lesbian, & bisexual characters; a poly triad; class conflict; corruption; frank drug use; an HIV+ character; pregnancy & abortion; did I leave anything out? No time travel, heh.
I was so hooked I stayed up until 2am watching the first six episodes, I had to force myself to stop or I would've stayed up another two hours finishing the first season. It's not a spoiler to say this season revolves around a murder mystery, and it sure does pile on layers of suspects as the episodes fall on top of another. At this point I figure EVERYBODY killed her ala Murder on the Orient Express, heh.
Sometimes I love love love a show until the ending; ending a story is hazardous. I love love love first season Picard, but I think the finale is crap. I don't always finish reading or watching a story, as you may recall, especially if I like it a lot, because I don't want it to end. I remember as a kid feeling so sad when I finished reading LOTR, not because the ending was sad, but because it ended. I've even written to my favorite author buddy on Twitter that I wish he'd write more sequels, heh. I asked him point blank how he can write so lovingly about characters and their relationships and then END THE STORY. His response was simple and unemotional -- he's ready to move on to the next project. I find that I love my characters too much. I'm certain I will return to write more about the characters I've written about in my LJ. When I finally kill one of them, it will feel like losing a friend.
Anyway, I do not yet know how the first season of Elite ends, but I've enjoyed the journey so far. I will finish it later today.
-----
I think I'm going to take Dax on a hike, then give him a bath, then catch up on any chores around the house -- although T did a big batch of them this morning while I was still in bed. Then, as things look quiet in the area around the condo downtown, I think I'm going to the condo for some Time to Self. Then back to the house by Noon so I can watch the Inauguration with T with a bottle of champagne. Then back to work on Thursday
And I'm incredibly honored that my sister would think so highly of me, damn. She must think of me as a person who is honest, who has integrity, and who truly cares about every person he meets. I don't know that I live up to that image.
When I heard about this show, back when it came out, I thought it was just a gimmick. But it's very well done. At least the first season, so far.
And it's helping me to cry.
West Wing was good, but this show is better.
When I heard about this show, back when it came out, I thought it was just a gimmick. But it's very well done. At least the first season, so far.
And it's helping me to cry.
West Wing was good, but this show is better.
T says he's feeling worse today, but still no fever/cough/breathing problems. Ah, yes, the Day Three intensification stage of common cold symptoms, as the immune system kicks in, the mucus thickens, the inflammation/irritation of the ears, eyes, nose, throat worsens. I remember this happening to me so many times, it's usually the stage in a cold when I get a multi-day asthma flare and start taking Albuterol around the clock.
It's the stage of the cold when your own immune system's reactions to the cold virus feel worse than the effects of the virus itself. Hopefully he'll feel better by Christmas morning when we open presents.
Poor guy. We'll continue giving each other space and wearing masks if we're in the same part of the house, until his symptoms die down.
-----
I'm still in bed this morning, I was up very late finishing the first season of Outlander. I decided near the end to start calling it Prison Break 1743. How many times would this couple have to break each other out of prison? Plus the brutality of the ongoing physical, mental, and sexual assaults -- I told T this show portrays a period before there was a Bill of Rights constraining the behaviors of government officials -- such assaults made parts of the later episodes nearly unwatchable, especially if you want to sleep that night. But the season held my interest with excellent writing and acting, incredible sets & props, and tons of well-detailed extras -- even too many extras! At times I felt Scotland must have been overpopulated in the 18th Century. I laughed out loud a lot, and cried at times. A few times the suspense was so unbearable I paused and ran away to the Internet to spoil myself, which I rarely do, I generally despise spoilers.
The show reminds me a bit of the German sci-fi/historical drama Dark (which I watched for only two of its three seasons), because I suspect there may be some family tree paradoxes going on in Outlander, due to people going back in time and having children while in the past. Sometimes two distinct characters are played by the same actor in different time periods. In Dark, the family tree paradoxes are the entire darn plot, and these paradoxes multiply exponentially as the seasons pass. I don't think this theme is as central to Outlander, but I cannot be sure yet, there are many more seasons ahead of me.
An interesting feature of Outlander's editing is that no subtitles are provided when people speak languages other than English. I think this is supposed to put you in the position of the main character, when she cannot understand what is being spoken around her.
I struggle to think of an example when I've seen as much or more graphic bisexual sadism on screen, even in some of the more extreme porn scenes I've collected, even in some art house films I've watched by European sadomodernists like Lars von Trier. I was not expecting this, it repeatedly approached the level of a snuff film. To see this depth of multi-dimensional violence coming from Ron Moore and Ira Steven Behr (both of Star Trek fame) repeatedly shocked me. This show was at times more like something K would recommend than something my sister would recommend (which she did, when I asked her about it a few days ago). Though I started watching it because Anais recommended it.
Somebody compared Outlander to a slow-burn Game of Thrones, probably because (1) pre-modern setting with UK accents, (2) gratuitous violence, and (3) lots and lots of titties; but I ultimately wasn't a fan of the TV adaptation of Game of Thrones and stopped watching it. I'm curious about where this Outlander show goes after such a disturbingly dark first season. Will the second season be about puppies, perhaps?
It's the stage of the cold when your own immune system's reactions to the cold virus feel worse than the effects of the virus itself. Hopefully he'll feel better by Christmas morning when we open presents.
Poor guy. We'll continue giving each other space and wearing masks if we're in the same part of the house, until his symptoms die down.
-----
I'm still in bed this morning, I was up very late finishing the first season of Outlander. I decided near the end to start calling it Prison Break 1743. How many times would this couple have to break each other out of prison? Plus the brutality of the ongoing physical, mental, and sexual assaults -- I told T this show portrays a period before there was a Bill of Rights constraining the behaviors of government officials -- such assaults made parts of the later episodes nearly unwatchable, especially if you want to sleep that night. But the season held my interest with excellent writing and acting, incredible sets & props, and tons of well-detailed extras -- even too many extras! At times I felt Scotland must have been overpopulated in the 18th Century. I laughed out loud a lot, and cried at times. A few times the suspense was so unbearable I paused and ran away to the Internet to spoil myself, which I rarely do, I generally despise spoilers.
The show reminds me a bit of the German sci-fi/historical drama Dark (which I watched for only two of its three seasons), because I suspect there may be some family tree paradoxes going on in Outlander, due to people going back in time and having children while in the past. Sometimes two distinct characters are played by the same actor in different time periods. In Dark, the family tree paradoxes are the entire darn plot, and these paradoxes multiply exponentially as the seasons pass. I don't think this theme is as central to Outlander, but I cannot be sure yet, there are many more seasons ahead of me.
An interesting feature of Outlander's editing is that no subtitles are provided when people speak languages other than English. I think this is supposed to put you in the position of the main character, when she cannot understand what is being spoken around her.
I struggle to think of an example when I've seen as much or more graphic bisexual sadism on screen, even in some of the more extreme porn scenes I've collected, even in some art house films I've watched by European sadomodernists like Lars von Trier. I was not expecting this, it repeatedly approached the level of a snuff film. To see this depth of multi-dimensional violence coming from Ron Moore and Ira Steven Behr (both of Star Trek fame) repeatedly shocked me. This show was at times more like something K would recommend than something my sister would recommend (which she did, when I asked her about it a few days ago). Though I started watching it because Anais recommended it.
Somebody compared Outlander to a slow-burn Game of Thrones, probably because (1) pre-modern setting with UK accents, (2) gratuitous violence, and (3) lots and lots of titties; but I ultimately wasn't a fan of the TV adaptation of Game of Thrones and stopped watching it. I'm curious about where this Outlander show goes after such a disturbingly dark first season. Will the second season be about puppies, perhaps?
