General TV musings.

[mrv3000]

I flipped past Bewitched, which set off my Darrin rage. He really is King of All Douchebags. You might think there are douchier guys out there, but there aren't. I mean, I seriously have no idea what Samantha could see in him, other than to secretly laugh at him behind his back. I can picture her at some witch cafe with her buds: "LOL DARRIN. Think I'll have a couple of kids with him and then ditch his whiny ass."

AHEM.

Tangentially related, why do many witch/wizard/superpower-type TV people shun their powers for the "mortal" life? I can understand hiding that kind of thing from prying eyes since otherwise you'll start getting people looking at you as their own personal genie, but if I can snap my fingers to scrub the toilet, HELL YEAH I'D DO IT. WHAT ARE YOU, INSANE?

AHEM. Again.

And completely unrelated, since I'm on a reading kick, I think I might actually try the Harry Potter books. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

ETA: Speaking of reading, I tried Alexander McCall-Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club. I loved The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency but hated 44 Scotland Street, both done by him. Unfortunately, The Sunday Philosophy Club didn't do it for me either. I didn't even bother finishing the book. It's like whenever he writes in a Scottish setting, there's this undercurrent of cynicism that just isn't there when he writes in a Botswana setting. Very disappointing.

Comments

[professor-spork.livejournal.com]

YOU'VE NEVER READ HARRY POTTER?

OMG OMG OMG. DOOOOO IT.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Never have! :D I always meant to get the audiobooks, but I've gotten back into the habit of actual reading lately.

[sherbertglasses.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter is AMAZING! Read it!!!! It's, like, a worldwide requirement for anyone who can read.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

:D I'm so behind the times!

[rattus-aerius.livejournal.com]

If I could twitch my nose and clean the house damn right I'd do it! I'd also make my house bigger on the inside. XD

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

No kidding!!

[shinyopals.livejournal.com]

JUST THINK, IF YOU READ HP, YOU'LL FINALLY BE ABLE TO ENJOY DISCUSSING WHAT HOUSE TO SORT TEN INTO.

Also, I would totally abuse my powers if I had them. TV is weird!

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Oh, Ten is totally a Ravenclaw! I'm cool that I know that.

And what is your icon of?

[shinyopals.livejournal.com]

A icon version of this fan art. This icon is another of hers! I luff it! :D

[shaela]

Tangentially related, why do many witch/wizard/superpower-type TV people shun their powers for the ‘mortal’ life?

I have no idea. I mean, in some stories, magic is messy or difficult or has unpleasant side effects (cf. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). But in Bewitched? Why wouldn’t you twitch your nose and let the chores do themselves? I mean, seriously.

And completely unrelated, since I’m on a reading kick, I think I might actually try the Harry Potter books.

The Harry Potter books are very, very cute, with moments of OMG FTW. (And also, to be fair, moments of OMG WTF?) You’ll have to let us know what you think of them.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

But in Bewitched? Why wouldn’t you twitch your nose and let the chores do themselves? I mean, seriously.

Yes! It bugs the crap out of me! (Of course, then you have Darrin saying things like he forbids it in the house, which is a whole different kind of fail...)

The Harry Potter books are very, very cute, with moments of OMG FTW. (And also, to be fair, moments of OMG WTF?) You’ll have to let us know what you think of them.

:D :D Well unfortunately (or maybe not unfortunately) I pretty well know the big spoilers from the movies and from my flist.

[janetmaca.livejournal.com]

I adore Harry Potter, especially the later books. Rowling's writing sometimes isn't the greatest but she's amazing at creating the wizarding world, and characters seemed to be fleshed out. There's so much detail, Rowling said she had to go check the HP lexicon's website to refresh her memory because there's too much to remember. Also, I love this essay by her.

As for Bewitched, I enjoyed it when I was younger but now I fear I'd be all "STFU Darrin!" *rage* *changes the channel* Which is sad because Endora was awesome.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

That sounds great! I don't necessarily mind ordinary writing if I can get into the story well enough.

And I watched it as a kid too. Fortunately the badness of it flew over my head back then.

[janetmaca.livejournal.com]

I really hope you enjoy it. I forgot to mention I ordered The Eyre Affair today, the store clerk was really nice and told me that one of her colleagues really enjoys the series, too. I'm excited to get my hands on it now.

Now I'm rethinking I Dream of Genie and Gilligan's Island.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I hope you like it! And if this means anything, I liked the second book even better!

[janetmaca.livejournal.com]

Yay! I just wish the library had them so I wouldn't have to buy one on the basis of a lot of good reviews and one paragraph. :D

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

That's a bummer! My library had them all.

[janetmaca.livejournal.com]

My kibrary has all of 2 aisles of English fiction. *facepalm* So annoying.

[vegmb.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to the essay. This is a subject that comes up far too often in life, and with my teenage daughter. I just sent her the link, maybe she will listen to someone who is not mom saying it.

[janetmaca.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Serendipity! I hate that it's still relevant but I'm glad it's there to help point us in the right direction.

[fauxkaren.livejournal.com]

READ HARRY POTTER. DO IT. lol. I really want to reread the series, but I have a reading list a mile long for grad school that I need to get started on. Maybe I can reward myself with Harry Potter. Like for every 5 chapters of academic reading, I will allow myself one chapter of Harry Potter. Yes, apparently I am five and I need a reward system in order to get anything done. haha.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

HA! That sounds like a good system! :D

[nandamai]

I read Harry Potter so I could understand what all the wank is about. It didn't really work ...

(The first book is a very quick read.)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

BWAH! *pats*

[erikau.livejournal.com]

1. Even as a child in the 1960's (OLD PERSON)I hated Darrin. Both of him. King of all Douchebags is a very accurate description.

b. And the movies. I think 'Bewitched' was based on an old movie called 'I Married a Witch'. And then there was 'Bell, Book and Candle', in which Kim Novak lost her powers because she fell in love with James Stewart. And Jack Lemmon was her brother. There was also some old movie with a mermaid. I think The Man was trying to force conformity on us all! (Especially because the movies were all post WWII or Better Dead than Red era.)

X. You should read the Harry Potter books. At this point, you can pick up cheap used copies so you won't feel bad if you hate them. I fought reading them for a long time for a variety of reason. I'm a snob, and automatically assume 'wildly popular'='horrible shite because the masses have appalling taste'. Plus I'm a huge fan of Diana Wynne Jones, and was certain that Ms. Rowling was stealing away attention that should rightfully have been DWJs. (Speaking of which, try some of her books). But finally I was worn down by people whose literary tastes I trusted, and found that the books were really pretty good.

But I absolutely refuse to read any of that 'Twilight' crap.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

1. He's emotionally abusive and it's played for laughs. Gotta love TV's Golden Age.

b. I'm vaguely familiar with the Bell, Book and Candle movie, although I can't remember if I've seen it. It seems a strange theme, if you think about it.

x. I'm not familiar with her. Looking at her wiki page, look like she has a few different series - any you'd recommend first?

And I'm not on with Twilight either. I almost said I would have read it if I was 20 years younger, but that's probably not the case either. When I was a teen I was reading Agatha Christie instead of romance novels. Not saying that as a badge of pride or anything, it's just the way I was.

[solielle.livejournal.com]

x. I'm not familiar with her. Looking at her wiki page, look like she has a few different series - any you'd recommend first?

Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air are probably the most well known.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check those out!

[erikau.livejournal.com]

I think all those movies and TV shows were really pushing (subliminally or not) the whole post war American Dream. You know, All Good American Women want the house in the suburbs, the hubby who rules the roost when he comes home from his Very Important Job in the City. All the women who kept things running Stateside during WWII had to be pushed back into the 'housewife' box after the men came home.

Howl's Moving Castle and its sequel Castle in the Air are a good starting point. The Chrestomanci series has quite a few books, although the protagonists in all of them are children. (DWJ writes 'children's books') Archer's Goon is entertaining-mysterious characters and timey-wimeyness.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I think all those movies and TV shows were really pushing (subliminally or not) the whole post war American Dream. You know, All Good American Women want the house in the suburbs, the hubby who rules the roost when he comes home from his Very Important Job in the City. All the women who kept things running Stateside during WWII had to be pushed back into the 'housewife' box after the men came home.

I think you're right. No wonder there was a counterculture revolution in the 60s.

Howl's Moving Castle and its sequel Castle in the Air are a good starting point. The Chrestomanci series has quite a few books, although the protagonists in all of them are children. (DWJ writes 'children's books') Archer's Goon is entertaining-mysterious characters and timey-wimeyness.

I'll have to give them a look!

[janetmaca.livejournal.com]

I want to go back and warn myself about Twilight, but I kept hearing comparisons to Harry Potter so I gave it a go. Blah.

I'll keep an eye out for DWJ though. :)