Category Archives: Reviews
F is for… Firefly #AtoZChallenge
F is for… Firefly
Oh, what a surprise… another Joss Whedon show. Unless I’m mistaken this is the last in this list though – Mr Whedon – do you not like the middle or the end of the alphabet?
I have to admit to coming to Firefly late in the day – think it might have been less than 3 years ago even though it started in 2002 (actually must have been because I was able to follow some of the actors on Twitter straight after watching and I’ve not been on Twitter more than that amount of time).
That evil priest dude who poked Xander’s eye out in Buffy was suddenly nice!! (And then he turned into Castle and stayed nice – yay).
Nathan Fillion, as evil priest dude is otherwise known plays Mal – the Captain of a Space transport ship Serenity. His crew are Zoe and her husband/pilot Wash – Jayne (not a girl but a gun loving grump) and mechanic Kaylee (a girl). They are joined by ‘on-the-run’ brother and sister, medical officer Simon and River (who is a bit doolally). Also on board are courtesan Inara and preacher Shepherd.
The show had a western feel with train robberies and shindigs.
As this only got one season and a mere 14 episodes (rude – I’ve just read on imdb that Joss had intended it to run for seven seasons!!) (and I need to watch it again because I’ve only seen it once) – I am not going to single out any episodes but instead highlight some standout ‘bits’.
- The bit where Kaylee puts on a dress and gets to be a girl.
- The bit where a song gets sung about Jayne (lyrics in all their glory here)
- The bit where this is said about Jayne’s statue (linked to the song and copied from imdb)
Wash: [about Jayne’s statue] I think they really captured his essence.
Kaylee: He looks angry.
Wash: Yeah, that’s kinda what I mean.
- All the bits with Inara – she is a pretty complex character.
Finally though, someone saw sense and breathed a final hurrah back to the series by making it into a movie (I wish they would do that with every series they cut off mid story). I loved the big budget ‘Serenity’ and we finally get to properly see why River is on the run.
And a quick nod to Falling Skies
I’ve only seen season 1 so far so no season 2 spoilers please. Looks like a season 3 might be forthcoming too. I do like a bit of Noah Wyle.
How are we all doing with this blogging everyday lark?
I was very naughty today and didn’t start writing until 22.17!! Some days I’ve written and scheduled for the next day but have slacked the last few days. Think I’ll have to use my leave next week to make sure some are scheduled in advance because when I go back to work it will be harder.
Are you a Firefly/Serenity fan?
Which series would you like a movie of to wrap things up? Personally very happy that Veronica Mars is happening – not in this genre I know but still a good show cancelled too soon.
Share this on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
E is for… Eureka #AtoZChallenge
E is for… Eureka
Known in the UK as A Town Called Eureka this started in 2006 and has five seasons (and I believe it has been cancelled now). I am currently still watching this show and am at the beginning of the fourth season (watched from the pilot though I originally saw the first two seasons years ago). Annoyingly my sky box seemed to glitch and I have missed one of the episodes which always frustrates me.
A brief outline of the show is that US Marshal Jack Carter comes to Eureka with his daughter Zoe to investigate a death. He ends up staying on and becoming Sheriff (obviously, there would be no show otherwise) and has to deal with all the sci-fi mishaps created by this town full of genius (and often mad) scientists.
Just a couple of stand out episodes today (I don’t think I’ve watched it enough times to pick out tons though I’ve enjoyed each one).
H.O.U.S.E Rules – Season 1 Episode 11
When Jack considers leaving his house S.A.R.A.H (thanks to imdb for telling me this stands for Self Activated Residential Automated Habitat) decides otherwise. Not letting you go Jack. This show definitely has a knack of warning us about an over-reliance on technology (*cough* should listen *cough*).
Phoenix Rising – Season 2 Episode 1
I like this because it has an Occupational Therapist mentioned in it. It’s a pity they get spontaneously human combusted before the credits though!
A picture from my tumblr blog of the little OT pile of ash
And a quick nod to Eerie Indiana
This only got one season between 1991 and 1992.
I strongly remember an episode where a set of twins were kept in Tupperware – this was actually the first episode called Foreverwhere. A lot of the episodes were equally as random, often fun but definitely eerie.
Are you a fan of either of these shows?
What potential scientific discovery would you like to see? What one scares you most?
Share this on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
D is for… Dialogism: Bakhtin and his world (Book) #AtoZChallenge
D is for… Dialogism: Bakhtin and his world (Book)
I thought I would use this challenge to remind myself why I had bought a few of the books on my bookshelf. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to read whole books I decided scan reading and providing an overview of each on my A to Z list would be sufficient for now; providing me with a synopsis I could return to.
I bought Dialogism: Bakhtin and his world by Michael Holquist (New Accents series) after attending a session at BU led by someone from the media school. It sounded interesting, possibly relevant and I remember Bakhtin was one of the theorists who cropped up a few times when I was studying for my OU degree in Literature. I bought this book (originally published in 1990) for my Kindle (2002 edition).
I started scanning and reading and quickly I got lost. I was confused and the words on the page didn’t all seem to make sense when combined. I felt stupid – I believe this is a feeling that will occur again on my PhD journey. Occasionally though there was a glimmer of hope and I was highlighting sentences, sometimes even whole paragraphs that I understood and thought could be useful.
I guess the fear is that is where I could stop – only using that which makes sense – in terms of understanding, and with reference to my worldview. I have to be cautious to push myself further – push myself back. Theorists refer to other theorists and so it goes on. I feel I need to make myself a timeline – distinguish how Bakhtin relates to and differs from Kant, Heidegger and the like (names mentioned in this book). Believe me I’m already lost in a sea of names that sound familiar but that I can’t automatically place.
Anyway back to a very brief synopsis of this book and why I think it might be relevant:
Clearly it refers to the idea of writing (particularly the novel) as being a dialogue and one that is context driven. I can’t tell you how much this links to my distrust of learning literature at school – “just read the words” and then the more satisfying experience at university – “yes it is ok to understand the social, political, historical and personal contexts of when the words were written”. Dialogism also refers to a ‘multiplicity’ of perception – again acceptance that opinions and perception will be different.
The book talks about relations (this is becoming more important to me and the direction I am taking) – between an author and their heroes for one, and even goes as far as referring to novels being able to actively shape cultural history. A quote from the book ‘In dialogism, literature is seen as an activity that plays an important role in defining relations between individuals and society.’ (Location 1692 in the kindle edition).
It mentions intertextuality (which I have another whole book on – see the letter I post to come).
Generally this appears to discuss language and books with less discussion for example about what this all means for the author/writer – that is something that I hope to explore.
And that’s it – all I seem to have understood (?!) at the moment. I think this is a book to come back to when I’ve grown more brain!
How do you best tackle books/articles that you just don’t get on a first read, especially if you think you need to understand them?
kirstyes 