Spontaneous Musings

Picked up more yarn for the blanket I'm knitting - luckily the yarn I'm using is 50% off, so could afford to get five more balls of it. Also snagged the latest issue of Angel:After The Fall, which according to the letters page is the biggest seller in IDW history and has a 95% approval rating. The only critiques they are getting is on Gunn, Nina and Connor. (Apparently there's still about 20 or 30 fans out there who hate Nina and Connor enough to actually take the time to write a letter or post to the IDW board whining about the inclusion of the characters in the book. The editors response is - "trust us, we will hopefully win you over" - far more diplomatic than mine would have been.) I actually like the letters page and editor Chris Ryall much better than the Buffy letters page and Scott Allie. Not sure why. But Allie annoys me.

At any rate this is one of those rare occassions in which I agree with the majority - I'm enjoying these comics. They are noir horror with a pulpy 1930-esque feel to them. Each twist has taken me by surprise, especially the one on the last page of this issue, which I didn't catch the first time I looked through it. Had to re-read it to *really* get it.

What's great about these comics - is the writers are interested in exploring the characters more than anything else. I don't feel like Lynch has an agenda or that he's using his characters as pawns to provide a message, what I get is a desire to explore them, to see what makes them tick, and to explore this world they are in. He's also doing a great job of sticking to one point of view - Angel's. We are seeing the world through Angel's eyes.

In this issue, we learn a few things that I have mixed feelings about but having read Lynch's Spike comics, I'm not that worried. I'm willing to see where it goes. At least it's not or doesn't feel cliche to me. I also like Lynch's take on Spike, Connor, Illyria, and Angel. So that helps. And when I think about it, everything that happens actually works - if you consider that this is Angel's hell. That WRH is punishing Angel and those who joined Angel in his fight against them, but mostly Angel. Also it sticks with the noir theme, never veers from it. The art? Is getting better and fits the overall tone of the book.



Regarding the missing lords: I'm assuming Gunn is the Lord of Silverlake? And if so...

Is Illyria the Lord of Beverly Hills? I'm thinking so. And I'm thinking Spike is either hiding his philanphropic activities from her or they are working together and using the whole Hugh Hefner/Lady of Swords routine as camoflauge. Question is - why does the editor on the letters page kept telling us that Spike is tempted to switch sides in upcoming issues? That he sees opportunities that are hard to pass up? And that he thinks of himself as retired, done, and should just play? When it is clear in this issue that he's done the opposite - saving lives, more than Angel in fact, and working in tandem with Connor? (Was this told just to torture Angel?)

I'm not all that suprised that Spike is moonlighting as a Champion of the People - saving lives. That would after all be Angel's hell. Because Angel feels he should be doing that.
Or that Spike is working closely with Connor in doing it. Again Angel's hell - because that's what Angel wants.

Which brings me to question number two or the big twist at the end of the issue: So did Angel Shanshue? Or just become Mortal? And if so, then this really is hell for him. He's stuck as a mortal being in hell, unable to go to Buffy, unable to see his friends and son happy - because they're stuck in hell with him. Those who rooted for him to be redeemed and shanshu are either dead (Cordy/Wes) or transformed into souless demons (Fred - Illyria and Gunn-Vampire) by a virus of sorts, which happened because of Angel or something Angel did. The only person who hasn't been transformed in a negative way and is actively helping people is Spike - Angel's old brother in arms, who he has an intense love/hate sibling relationship with and really wishes would just go away or disappear. This is the guy who has taken Angel's old spot and is working alongside Angel's son as a vampire with a soul/champion.

I don't think he shanshued - if he did, he'd be washed clean. Also he signed that bit away. No, I think they made him mortal to punish him. Angel has never dealt with being mortal very well. (To be honest? I never much cared for the whole shanshue prophecy deal. Found it incredibly silly. Also a bit on the confusing side since the writer's kept changing their minds regarding what it meant. After a while, I decided they didn't really know and were just using it as the proverbial carrot to hold in front of Angel's nose - which by the way is in keeping with noir, particularly pulpy sci-fi/horror noir - where the anti-hero always has some bizarre thing they want or need or will do anything for, but in reality they can never get, because hello, noir (black film). Happy endings sort of go against the whole point of noir. If there was a happy ending it would not be noir, which is why a lot of people don't like it.)

Not sure what's up with Illyria and Spike. Why they are together, I'm not sure. Also not really clear on what they are doing with the two characters. Right now, the only character I'm clear on is Angel - which makes sense since it is Angel's pov that we are in, and like the rest of us, Angel is self-absorbed and doesn't concern himself with what others are doing unless it effects him in some way.



[As an aside. Sigh. Am cold. Fingers are freezing. Finally gave up and called landlord with a request to turn up the heat. He always does this - turns it down when he's gone and up when's he home, forgetting that there are other people who live in the building. So as a result it's stayed at 65 or 64 all day long. Coming on just enough to stay there. Am going to make dinner - with the hopes that my oven will help heat up the apartment. Maybe even make cookies. What I wouldn't give for a thermostat that I could control!

ETA: Hear the radiator hissing to life, dare I hope?? (By the way am I using ETA correctly? In business speak it means estimated time of arrival, but here it appears to mean update or at least that's how people appear to be using it. Not sure why. Language is an odd thing. Learned from a lawyer gal at crazy video game company that RFP meant Red Fucking Print. While in most businesses including one I'm currently in it means Request for Proposal. Do we realize we are using an abbreviation or acronyme to mean two different things? No wonder there are so many misunderstandings and online communications often resemble a tower of babel. As a result, we're not arguing about anything but semantics most of the time. How incredibly silly not to mention highly frustrating.]


Oh - and apparently the DGA struck a deal with the AMPTM and has a contract. Does this mean that the WGA will get one too? Will they get to follow suit? Dare we hope? Not surprised by the DGA - they were smart - they went in with their own study of the new media. Ugh.

Amongst the many bad things resulting from WGA strike - a return to *more* reality shows (apparently the reprieve and return to quality serialized drama was short lived, as in abrupt), and 70 writers fired or with contracts terminated including the creators of Journeyman and K-Ville as well as several projects that got the go-ahead before the strike and now, have been cancelled. On the bright side? BSG's prequel series Caprica may actually get a greenlight from Sci-Fi channel. Oh and AMC is premiering another new series: Breaking Bad. It's also rerunning Mad Men late on Sat's which I'm DVR'ing. No clue if it is doing it in order. Will watch and find out. Oh - and a new Torchwood next Sat, which I'm looking forward to. Torchwood, while cheesy, is still a heck of a lot better than a good portion of the tv shows I've seen on network tv of late. And there's Masterpiece Theater - whose playing all the BBC remakes of the Jane Austen novels. Including Northanger Abbey - which I don't think anyone has done and few have read. (Not without good reason - it was a crappy book, I couldn't make it past the first tweny pages. Liked Sandition - a book that was started by Jane Austen and finished by someone else - much better.) This morning - watched Life on Mars - which is growing on me. And tonight Hot Fuzz - courtesy of Netflix. Really haven't been that affected by WGA strike tv watching wise so far - except that I'm already missing my sci-fi tv shows that I'm going to get horribly abbreviated seasons of. Dang it. TV has finally given me six-seven sci-fi shows that I actually enjoy - a rarity - and the writers go on strike, ironically for sci-fi reasons (what will happen with new media). It's annoying. Not the end of the world, admittedly. Just annoying.

In other strike news? Amtrack settled. It's not going on strike. Which leaves the WGA as the only ones unresolved? This is just sad.