Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Big Bang Theory: "The Scavenger Vortex"

Cool! Amy Farrah Fowler and Howard Wolowitz both liked Neil Diamond.

Moreover, they expressed their like in such an over-the-top way that even though it was supposed to be funny, I could not help wanting to join in as well.

And oh, yes, other people were in this episode too. But who really cares about them?

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Big Bang Theory: "The Stockholm Syndrome"

In real life, actress Sarah Michelle Gellar is a 42-year-old married woman who has two kids. Since she is married to actor Freddie Prinze Jr., it's tempting to call her an honorary Latina -- because hey, why not? I've always liked her since I first saw her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I'm glad to see that she is still acting.

And yet I could not help but find it weird that when she made a cameo appearance in the final episode of The Big Bang Theory, she was basically presented as little more than a trophy date, an unmarried celebrity hottie who apparently had nothing better to do than accompany Big Bang Theory character Raj Koothrappali to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm.

Yes, it seems foolish to expect much of an enlightened attitude from The Big Bang Theory but still. And that's without getting into the symbolic implications of having Raj break up with his Indian girlfriend in the previous episode so that he could be free to date a blonde-haired white non-Indian.

Nonsequential Links X

As always, all my comments are in parentheses.

Well, no kidding. Every group seen as cruel and repressive has reasons for what it does. Pick the nastiest groups in history, and you can bet that with sufficient study one can come up with reasons why they behaved as they did. And indeed, it’s worth doing that. A view of history in which dangerously bad bogeymen do horrible things simply because they are bad is a shallow view of history that teaches us nothing.

If you say, “Those Mexicans do the jobs Americans won’t do,” what you’re really saying is “We should continue to rip off these foreigners because they have no choice and they have no way to go to court and stop us.”

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not inclusive casting that I’m objecting to. I just want black women to get their own stories.

What’s insulting is the thought that we’re supposed to be happy with whatever representation we get, without understanding that what we crave and demand goes far beyond the simple presence of a person of color on screen. It’s about substance. It’s about the opportunity for an actor or actress of color to be able to stand on their own merit and not in the shadows of their white predecessor. It’s about the importance of highlighting original stories by and featuring talent of color — without presenting it through a white gaze.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Crush”

I have been researching a lot of old Buffy episodes in order to prepare for my latest Buffy fanfic story and I'm kinda surprised what thoughts come to mind watching such episodes nowadays that didn't occur to me when I first watched them. For example, there was a scene in this story where the vampire Spike kept professing his love for the title character over and over again, only to have his feelings mocked and rejected. Granted, this was a character who spent his first two seasons on the show trying his damnedest to kill the Slayer so it is kinda hard not to see why Buffy might be shocked by this latest turn of events. Then again one can't help but wonder how this reaction of Buffy's would be received by the TV audience if it were a female vampire -- like, say, Drusilla -- professing her love for Buffy instead of a more conventional choice like Spike.

Okay, it does not necessarily have to be Spike's ex-girlfriend Drusilla in the scenario I mentioned above but it is kinda hard to hear Buffy continually talk about how disgusting the idea of Spike loving her was to her without thinking of an obvious parallel in the real world. You could say that people no longer act like that nowadays but one would wonder how much of the idea that "people no longer act like that" is based on wishful thinking. Prejudices don't always go away easily and given the way many scenes in Buffy have rightly or wrongly been alleged to have a gay subtext, one can't help but wonder whether or not this is one of them.

Of course I might be biased on the whole matter because I've written quite a number of fanfic stories -- both serious and not so serious -- about the odd relationship between Buffy and Drusilla, and it has gotten to the point that even when I try to write a Buffy story that doesn't have Drusilla in it, she nevertheless finds a way to enter the storyline. In many ways, I find her more interesting than other female vampire characters on the show like Darla and Sunday because -- among other things -- she doesn't even try to act normal. She is not always as crazy as she pretends to be and she's certainly not as likable as her fans would hope but she is interesting to write about. I can't help but see her as kind of an anti-Buffy -- a woman who -- like Buffy Summers -- was cursed with an unwanted supernatural power and rejected by a mother who did not understand her gifts. I don't believe that it would be fair to argue that Drusilla is basically what Buffy would be like if she ever became a vampire but she is not as dissimilar from Buffy as I once would have liked to believe.

Anyway, there is another scene in this episode in which Drusilla tries to persuade Buffy that even a vampire has the ability to love. That said love is real and not a thinly disguised parody of the real thing. Again, one can't help but think of real-life parallels. And one doesn't necessarily have to confine such parallels to the gay community either. The deepest heterosexual feelings I ever felt were for a woman who was never my official girlfriend -- yet in my own way, I loved her more seriously than many of my more "official" romantic interests. And in her own way, she showed more affection to me than I ever received from many women whom I actually dated.

Anyway, we all have a tendency to read our own issues into the stories that we see on both the big screen and the little screen. And sometimes these readings are even true.

Edited to Add:

Further Thoughts on This Episode:

Cool! Drusilla traveled to Sunnydale via Amtrak. So odd to see an American TV show episode set in the early 21th century that had people traveling by train.

The opening in which various train passengers were attacked by an unseen assailant was well-done. So was the final fight scene, which involved a tied-up Drusilla getting herself loose so that she could attack a chained-up Buffy. If nothing else, that scene made me realize how rare it was to see a scene on this show where Drusilla and Buffy actually fight each other.

Poor Harmony Kendall attempted to win Spike over by doing the world's worst impression of Buffy Summers ever.

Dawn attempted to bond with Spike and annoyed the heck out of her big sister by doing so. Because apparently certain traits -- like befriending vampires -- run in the family.

Spike was easily one of the most popular characters on this show -- especially with female fans. But many of his actions on this show seemed at best questionable. For example, his attempt to persuade Buffy to give him a chance by offering to stake Drusilla seemed so obviously destined to fail that it was surprising that a smart guy like Spike thought of it. If nothing else, Buffy would have to have been insane to look at the way Spike was treating his once-beloved Drusilla and not see a vision of the type of treatment that she could expect from Spike if she ever chose to let him fall in love with her. And Spike was an idiot for not seeing that.

¡Feliz Día del Padre!

Happy Father's Day to all my readers!

I hope you all are able to enjoy this holiday with your own fathers.

My father, unfortunately, is no longer with us but while he was alive, he inspired me in so many different ways that it seems futile for me to try and list them all.

For example, I once saw him working on a painting that looked much like the above illustration. When he asked him about it, he said that he had copied it from a picture -- and I'm guessing that the above illustration -- which comes from a famous book by Mexican architect Ignacio Marquina -- is the one he copied it from. To some people, that might not seem like much but it seemed obvious to me even when I was a child that it took a lot of effort for him to duplicate a picture like the above illustration so well that it looked like an original piece of work. And of course, my father's interest in things artistic eventually helped inspired my interest in the arts -- although, unlike him, I never seriously tried to copy an actual picture, much less create one from scratch.

Anyway, I am sorry that I never had a chance to question him more about his painting when he was alive but perhaps it is just as well. After all, some things are better left to the imagination.

Anyway, please enjoy the holiday.

(A repost in honor of my late father.)

Comic Book Image of the Week

Alan Moore's salute to Father's Day.

Trailer of the Week: Godzilla (1998)

I saw this again last weekend and I was surprised by how much of it looked like a Jurassic Park sequel. Which kinda sums up the biggest problem most people had with this movie.

Quote of the Week

Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy. They do not attack people because they want to, but because of their size and strength, mankind has no other choice but to defend himself. After several stories such as this, people end up having a kind of affection for the monsters. They end up caring about them.
--Ishiro Honda

Cuento de Mi Id

“I Don't Want to Start Any Blasphemous Rumors, But I Think That the Muse Has Got a Sick Sense of Humor”

Alondra was dreaming again when she had the vision. It was a white palace adorned with purple pennants and there were servants throughout the place, dressed in green and gold. On a balcony overlooking the countryside, there stood a princess clad in a purple dress looking up at a full moon. She was gazing at a silver lake and chanting words that seemed quite familiar to Alondra...

It was then that she woke up. She reached for the notebook by the bed to write down the details of the dream while it was still fresh in her mind. But before she could write down the first words, a baby started crying.

It was her sister's baby but her sister was not home. So Alondra had to get up and see what was wrong with the baby. Did it need a new diaper? Or a fresh bottle?

Alondra could not tell. But she changed its diaper just in case and then she gave it a bottle when it kept fussing.

By the time the baby went back to sleep, it was almost time for Alondra to get ready for work. Alondra really wanted to write down her story first but she just knew that she had to take her shower now or else she would not get a chance to take one this morning.

Besides, the story was still intact in her brain. She just had to get it down on paper.

After her shower, there was no time to write because then she had to get dressed. Then she had to brush her hair. And do her makeup. Then she had to eat breakfast, only no one else was up yet so she had to cook her own breakfast first. Finally she had time but no, she didn't because she had to leave for her job at the local coffee shop or else she would be late. And her boss hated it when she came in late.

Oh, well, Alondra thought. I'll write at the coffee shop.

When she got to the coffee shop, there was no time to write because she had to wait on customers. It seemed unusually busy this morning -- not just during the morning breakfast rush and the lunch rush but in-between as well.

Ironically, one of her customers was herself a writer. She was a middle-aged redhead who continually stared at her laptop as if it held the answer to all the mysteries of the universe. Alondra thought about asking her for advice about writing, but every time she had the chance, the expression on the woman's face always discouraged her.

At long last, Alondra's work was through and she had the chance to go home. Now she finally had time to write.

But as Alondra opened her notebook and started to write down her dream, she had trouble remembering little details. Had it been a large palace or a small one? Purple pennants or green? Silver lake or blue?

Was this story really worth writing down? Alondra wondered. It had seemed so vivid this morning but now...

As Alondra read over the few words she had written, it was all she could do to keep from weeping.

xxx

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the redhead who had been in the coffee shop was in her apartment trying to think of a story to write in order to justify her art grant.

But for some reason, the words would not come.

Indeed, no words had come all day.

And all week.

And yet people all around her seemed to find plenty of stuff to write about.

Life is so unfair, she thought. Why does everything always happen to me?

Home Again

I'm finally back home after all too many days in physical rehab.

I hope to return to work soon. We'll see.