http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2804

So apparently the Life on Mars US finale aired last night. I’d rather claw out my own eyes than watch that travesty of a show, but I did read the spoilers on Wikipedia, which says:

( MASSIVE SPOILERS for the end of Life on Mars US )

Seriously, you guys, if you've never seen Life on Mars UK, it's not only a million times superior to the US version, but its ending is brilliant and dark and complex and moving and pretty much perfect.

Look, you can even pre-order it in the US now, or get it from Amazon UK (on sale for £9--that's like $13! and overseas shipping isn't bad, though of course you need a region free DVD player).

In other news:

* I sincerely have no attraction to Neil Gaiman. What's wrong with me?

* And I'm getting excited about DreamWidth, which looks wonderful. I'm pleased about the lack of ads, the code improvements, the ability to import your journal and comments, and the owners' friendliness toward fandom, but my favorite aspect is that you'll be able to separate "who can read your posts" from "whose posts you want to read." This has the potential to change the way (this corner of) fandom is structured, to get us out of our little bubbles of like-minded people and expose us to many more perspectives, since we'll be able to check out new and interesting people without having to allow them in to our personal locked posts.

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(Anyone can comment on public entries.)

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2594

While I appreciate that fandom is banding together to elect a pro-fandom candidate in the LJ elections, I would encourage people to take the time to learn about the prospective candidates. I’ve seen a lot of people voting in alphabetical order or for most recognizable name, without realizing that, say, current lead legomymalfoy supported LiveJournal during Strikethrough, while rm made some of the most calm and articulate arguments against it.

You might want to consider reading their platforms and updating your vote.

(Yeah, I don’t actually think that this election will matter. But I like to live in hope, and if anyone can do something positive with the position, it’s rm.)

In happy fannish news, this Life on Mars vid, set to the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” is a thing of beauty. A pastiche of a pastiche! There’s got to be an essay about postmodernism in that. (Thanks to the person who linked it from lifein1973.)

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2581

Jesus Christ, what the hell is wrong with America? Bet you a million dollars they change the ending to make it more palatable to delicate American sensibilities. Just… keep reminding me that it’s going to inspire more people to seek out the real version. (*clutches John Simm*)

Some cheery things to scrub this travesty from my mind:

* versaphile wrote Subterranean, a beautiful coda which made me feel somewhat better about the most recent Doctor Who episode. (She’s also posting a new chapter of the amazing Praxis every week, which just gets better and better.)

* violet_lane wrote absolutely wonderful meta about Rose Tyler. She pretty much gets to the heart of what I love about Rose: that she’s the rare female character who undergoes a true hero’s journey, and that her heroism is due to her own choices, not any kind of special destiny. (And that she lives her life fully: she’s impulsive, adventurous, strong-willed, makes her own decisions, has fun, and sees the beauty of the universe along with the monsters.) It’s a long post, but completely worth the read.

* There are a hell of a lot of awesome Doctor/Master porn writers out there; I’m impressed by the quality of most of the responses at the best_enemies anon porn meme.

* Look how adorable young Stephen Colbert is! (Not that he isn’t still adorable now.)

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I've discovered another reason I can't get into Ashes to Ashes. Every time I read meta with lines like "As heart-stopping as Philip Glenister is,"* I throw up a little bit in my mouth.

If the entire premise of the show is the female lead discovering that she really wants a Manly Man like Gene Hunt, and the whole thing is centered around their sexual tension... well, even aside from the inherent sexism of that story, no wonder the show grosses me out. Philip Glenister = The Anti!Hot.

(The sexism would still upset me even if he was attractive, but I might watch the show anyway as a guilty pleasure. Like how I love Sergio Leone's Westerns even though, um, sexism galore.**)


* Obviously hotness is subjective and I intend no criticism toward those who do find him attractive.

** Leone's films are also way more artistically brilliant.

These macros make me very happy. Maybe for DragonCon I'll dress up as a "Vote Saxon" campaign worker? I could have a sign. And pins. And pro-Saxon literature. Don't laugh; it'd be an easy costume. :P

***

I rewatched the first season of Life on Mars this weekend. I was worried that the crappiness of Ashes to Ashes would negatively effect my opinion of it, but nope; I love it more than ever. If anything, the failures of Ashes to Ashes just make the awesomeness of Life on Mars stand out even more.

( why does Life on Mars handle sexism better than Ashes to Ashes? (spoilery for all) )

Best Valentine's Day cards ever.

jaydk came over yesterday for an evening of very bad TV:

( Torchwood 2x05 - Which harkens back to the good old days of S1, by which I mean that I can't stop laughing at the stupid. )

( Torchwood 2x06 - The Triumphant Return of Martha Sue! )

( Ashes to Ashes 1x01 - Wow, they just completely sucked the soul out of Life on Mars. )

Choose five series (no peeking before you choose them), list them, and then answer the questions behind the cut.

1. New Doctor Who
2. Life on Mars
3. Highlander
4. Buffy
5. South Park

( Read more... )

Should I watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles? I almost never watch TV shows as they air unless I know that they've already managed to pull off at least one decent season. But Sarah Connor is one of my all-time favorite fictional characters, and The Terminator is in my list of top five movies of all time. (I'm one of those freaks who prefers the original to the sequel; it's just so raw. And it's infiltrated my subconscious to the point where I have nightmares about being chased by the Terminator on a regular basis.) I'm kind of freaked out that Linda Hamilton isn't in it, although I understand that wouldn't really work because of the age issue. And I'm glad that the character, and the whole fictional world, is having a life beyond its original writers and actors. So. Is it worth watching, or am I just going to end up ranting about how disappointing it is?

I'm kind of boggled that so many of my friends are getting into Torchwood. I mean, yes, there's bisexuality, but the show is so badly written. I'm just hoping that people will follow the Torchwood trail back to Doctor Who, and see how much better that show is, and discover the slashtastic awesomeness of the Doctor and the Master.

Today's fic recs:

John Simm did an interview in which he confessed to having worked as a cage dancer when he was young and needed the money. No, seriously! So versaphile wrote fic in which a young inexperienced David Tennant meets cagedancer!Simm. And then they have some of the hottest sex I've ever read. And the end almost made me cry. Read it here: Kiss Me Quick.

versaphile also wrote more Doctor/Master. (versaphile, I swear I am not stalking you. I just kind of want to live inside of your brain.) Three for a Wedding. It's actually Doctor/Master and Doctor/TARDIS, and it's extremely disturbing, but it's the good kind of disturbing.

yahtzee63 wrote The Yankee's Loot, in which the Tenth Doctor picks up Scarlett O'Hara as a companion. And it works, brilliantly, because she perfectly captures Scarlett's inner voice. That woman is a sociopathic megalomaniac, and somehow you can't help but love her. I'd never have imagined that these two fandoms could be combined, but Yahtzee makes it work.

Here's another Life on Mars fic that I greatly enjoyed. It's like an episode--70s police show plot, entertaining dialog--just with the bonus of gay sex. You wouldn't think those things would blend together so well, but, obviously, they do. (Sorry, I know there's tons of slashy police show fandoms out there, I've just never been into one before.)

I've been following the metafandom discussions about the Organization for Transformative Works, and I continue to think that it's awesome. One of the things that boggles me about the internet is that people just take for granted that things disappear. You can read a story that's stunning, life-changing, brilliant, and then look it up one morning and find that it's completely gone.

( here is me rambling on about the OTW, as if you haven't read enough about it already )

Some kind of ridiculous combination of cold medicine and coffee caused me to stay up until 2pm on Saturday night. Like I was awake all Saturday night and Sunday morning before finally crashing at 2pm Sunday afternoon. All the while thinking "this is not a very wise thing to be doing when I am sick." And reading Life on Mars fanfic.

jaydk was over until 5am. We watched Voyage of the Damned and reveled in the mutual squee. I'm so glad that we both loved it. That one scene, where the Doctor snaps his fingers and the angels carry him up, god, I just love it so much. I haven't felt that kind of pure fannish adoration in a long time.

We also watched some of the old series, which is the first I've ever seen of it. I'm not sure what the episodes were called, but it had some kind of mix of vampires/zombies/whatever that thing is in Creature From the Black Lagoon. Also Russians and Nazis and Vikings. And, um, it looked a lot like something a second-year high school Media Arts class would've come up with. Although I did really like Ace. After just one episode she was already more interesting than Martha in her entire series run.

Oh! And then we watched David Tennant in Casanova. It was probably some combination of DayQuil and lack of sleep, but Casanova just totally ripped my heart out and stomped all over it. David Tennant is so emotive, with that expressive face and those huge eyes, and every time he looks sad or hurt I just ACHE FOR HIM. Ack. I hate crying during movies.

I think I've completely lost my ability to judge fanfic objectively, but here are a few Life on Mars stories that stood out:

We Could Steal Time by dorcas_gustine has really hot kitchen!sex. And good characterization. Although the author has some weird issues with commas. Sam/Gene, NC-17.

All These Editions of You by dorcas_gustine is in three parts, the first of which is told from an excellent Gene POV. The author keeps him in-character while showing how much he cares about Sam underneath, as much as he'd never admit it even to himself. Sam/Gene, NC-17.

Say Hello to the Id by maestro1123 has a slashy ultra-sexually-charged fight scene that is just beyond hot. Plus fucked-up masochistic Sam. Some Sam/Annie but mostly Sam/Gene. This is more violence porn than sex porn, so technically not NC-17.

It’s Jus’ Magic by mikes_grrl is just fantastically cracked-out nonsense of the best sort. Sam/Chris, NC-17.

There are a bunch of stories that try to explain a gay Gene within canon. I thought Undercover by mikes_grrl was one of the better ones. Sam/Gene, NC-17.

It occurs to me that part of the reason I love the messianic imagery and over-the-top badass slow-motion Doctor in Voyage of the Damned is that it reminds me of a Sergio Leone Western. Exaggerated, stylish, drawn out, set to striking music... yep. That explains it.

(Leone wasn't invested in religion either, but he used tons of Catholic imagery in his films because it was part of his culture, and because he understood the power of mythological images that are ingrained in our consciousness from childhood. I don't get why people have such a problem with it. It's about the power of image and myth, not about some kind of subconscious urge to actually be religious.

Actually, both Leone and Davies seem to have a thing about subverting religious imagery. Davies has got killer angels, a killer Christmas star, and killer Santas. Leone had... well, tons of stuff, but what comes immediately to mind is Indio at the church pulpit, "preaching" a "parable" to his gang about the bank they're about to rob.)

I started thinking about this during one of those "Doctor striding through the fire" scenes, when a bit of the music reminded me of Ennio Morricone, and then the Doctor does that slow-motion finger snap and the angels carry him up. It feels very Leone!

(Leone, of course, has had a huge impact on the modern action film, so the influence might not even be direct. VotD is a pastiche of tons of things, mostly disaster movies. But the combination of religious imagery, extended time, and striking music in a couple of specific scenes definitely has a Leone aspect to it.)

There is totally other Leone-inspired stuff in Doctor Who, btw. Or at least, Morricone inspired. The confrontation scene between the Doctor and Giles Mr. Finch in "School Reunion" comes to mind.

VotD also has a bunch of James Bond type imagery (although thankfully the Doctor is not a misogynist douchebag like Bond--and I say that with love) and I can remember writing some college essay about how Bond and Leone's Western heroes reflected the changing cultural construction of masculinity in the 1960s... now I totally can't remember what it said. Mostly I think Doctor Who was just playing with the cool images, anyway.

Yeah, you can tell what I spent my weekend thinking about! Well, that and comparing Life on Mars to Fight Club. God help me.

OH MY GOD. I just finished watching the final episode of Life on Mars and there is not enough squee in the world to describe how completely awesome that was! Best ending to a TV series I have ever seen! And one of the best shows that I've seen in my life, period.

Um, let's see. Raw initial thoughts before I delve into the fandom and then re-watch the entire thing (yay four day weekend!). Warning: lots of babbling incoherent squee ahead.

( big spoilers for Life on Mars, obviously )