Re: Unpopular Opinion
Nov. 6th, 2008 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetQuick heads up; I get pretty grouchy in this entry. And opinionated. I'll do my best to keep a clear head and an open mind if you take me to task for any of this, but understand that I probably won't want to ;)
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So hey! I never got around to sharing my revised opinion on Firefly having watched Jaynestown! I should do that now...
....
I'm still not really getting much out of the show. Having given it another episode, and an episode that was pretty much universally guaranteed to be the one to sell the show to me, I did revise my opinion somewhat - just not a lot.
The real difference between then and now is that, at the time, I'd partially misdiagnosed why I'm fairly certain it doesn't do much for me. With new data to consider, it seems that, rather than overall tone being the main problem, it comes back to a common issue for me: I don't tend to find myself very involved in any series that does not have direct ties and/or interaction to present day earth. This is, to the best of my knowledge, why both high fantasy and space opera just Don't Do It for me. There are definitely exceptions, though I don't know that I can offer any off the top of my head (except that if Diana Wynne Jones wrote it, there's a 99.9% chance I'll like it no matter what the setting is like), but Firefly doesn't seem to be one of them.
The weird-as-all-hell culture and lack of historical background offered in feasible bites are also definitely strongly contributing factors, as well as my inability to get a real bead on most of the characters/their motivations, but when it comes down to it, the major problem is almost certainly how far removed it is from my here and now.
In summary, this is not likely to be a show I'll be going out of my way to watch. HOWEVER! It is a show I would watch for the sake of being social*. For example, if my roommates are watching it and I feel like hanging out, I would have no problem flopping down on the couch or futon and absorbing the current episode. Or if my friends decide to start a "Let's get together and watch television and/or movies on a regular basis!" night and make that part of the lineup, I would watch it. It's not far enough removed from my kind of thing that I would walk out of the room just because it's on and I'd rather let other people enjoy it than complain about it and demand the channel be changed, and I've gone to the theater to see movies I liked and expected to like far less for the sake of being with friends, so it wouldn't be too much of a hardship. I'm just not interested in it for its own sake.
* For the record, I also happen to include "being prodded by internet friends into watching it an episode at a time and sharing feedback on them" as social interaction. Just so you know ;)
In another unpopular opinion, after collapsing pretty much everything on my profile, I'm not 100% hating the new setup. Or even really 75% hating it. Hell, I'm almost feeling it, 10%. Though of course, I wasn't exactly doing much with mine. It probably sucks a lot more for people who had banners and shit and had everything laid out perfectly. This'd probably throw all that off. Edit:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nightangelca managed to express what seems to be the basic problem users have with the new design here; once again, marketing has completely misunderstood the market. I'm still not sure whether I now agree that it is completely hideous and useless now, but that may just be because I haven't really looked at any social networking sites to compare. I'll see if my opinion's changed by morning. [/edit]
It does kinda suck that it seems we can no longer link things in our userpic comments. How long has that been going on?
And, in something completely different:
Dear co-worker,
I understand that you've been having a hard time of things. I understand that you're stressed out and that your life is pretty bad right now. Hell, that's why I offered to watch your kid a few hours for you in the first place: so you could get some rest and/or time away from him and maybe start feeling a little better!
This does not mean, however, that you can interpret my offer as tacit permission to rant about how horrible your life is and all your problems for half that time. After the first fifteen minutes, I'm really not interested any more! It may sound callous, but that's how I am. Either start talking about how you plan to fix things, ask me for advice/help, or shut. The fuck. Up.
Yours,
Me
----
Still working on Fic or Treat stuff. Go pop in to take a look at some of the art I've posted there if you haven't yet :3 Still also working on my counselor app; have a rough draft done, but could stand to bat it around with someone for more humor inspiration. Which reminds me; I still have nagging/cheering duty for that one apper. I'd better get on that...
Edit 2: It amuses me more than it should that this was release forty-two [for LJ stuff], and yet so few LJ users seem to think it's the ultimate answer.
----
So hey! I never got around to sharing my revised opinion on Firefly having watched Jaynestown! I should do that now...
....
I'm still not really getting much out of the show. Having given it another episode, and an episode that was pretty much universally guaranteed to be the one to sell the show to me, I did revise my opinion somewhat - just not a lot.
The real difference between then and now is that, at the time, I'd partially misdiagnosed why I'm fairly certain it doesn't do much for me. With new data to consider, it seems that, rather than overall tone being the main problem, it comes back to a common issue for me: I don't tend to find myself very involved in any series that does not have direct ties and/or interaction to present day earth. This is, to the best of my knowledge, why both high fantasy and space opera just Don't Do It for me. There are definitely exceptions, though I don't know that I can offer any off the top of my head (except that if Diana Wynne Jones wrote it, there's a 99.9% chance I'll like it no matter what the setting is like), but Firefly doesn't seem to be one of them.
The weird-as-all-hell culture and lack of historical background offered in feasible bites are also definitely strongly contributing factors, as well as my inability to get a real bead on most of the characters/their motivations, but when it comes down to it, the major problem is almost certainly how far removed it is from my here and now.
In summary, this is not likely to be a show I'll be going out of my way to watch. HOWEVER! It is a show I would watch for the sake of being social*. For example, if my roommates are watching it and I feel like hanging out, I would have no problem flopping down on the couch or futon and absorbing the current episode. Or if my friends decide to start a "Let's get together and watch television and/or movies on a regular basis!" night and make that part of the lineup, I would watch it. It's not far enough removed from my kind of thing that I would walk out of the room just because it's on and I'd rather let other people enjoy it than complain about it and demand the channel be changed, and I've gone to the theater to see movies I liked and expected to like far less for the sake of being with friends, so it wouldn't be too much of a hardship. I'm just not interested in it for its own sake.
* For the record, I also happen to include "being prodded by internet friends into watching it an episode at a time and sharing feedback on them" as social interaction. Just so you know ;)
In another unpopular opinion, after collapsing pretty much everything on my profile, I'm not 100% hating the new setup. Or even really 75% hating it. Hell, I'm almost feeling it, 10%. Though of course, I wasn't exactly doing much with mine. It probably sucks a lot more for people who had banners and shit and had everything laid out perfectly. This'd probably throw all that off. Edit:
nightangelca managed to express what seems to be the basic problem users have with the new design here; once again, marketing has completely misunderstood the market. I'm still not sure whether I now agree that it is completely hideous and useless now, but that may just be because I haven't really looked at any social networking sites to compare. I'll see if my opinion's changed by morning. [/edit]It does kinda suck that it seems we can no longer link things in our userpic comments. How long has that been going on?
And, in something completely different:
Dear co-worker,
I understand that you've been having a hard time of things. I understand that you're stressed out and that your life is pretty bad right now. Hell, that's why I offered to watch your kid a few hours for you in the first place: so you could get some rest and/or time away from him and maybe start feeling a little better!
This does not mean, however, that you can interpret my offer as tacit permission to rant about how horrible your life is and all your problems for half that time. After the first fifteen minutes, I'm really not interested any more! It may sound callous, but that's how I am. Either start talking about how you plan to fix things, ask me for advice/help, or shut. The fuck. Up.
Yours,
Me
----
Still working on Fic or Treat stuff. Go pop in to take a look at some of the art I've posted there if you haven't yet :3 Still also working on my counselor app; have a rough draft done, but could stand to bat it around with someone for more humor inspiration. Which reminds me; I still have nagging/cheering duty for that one apper. I'd better get on that...
Edit 2: It amuses me more than it should that this was release forty-two [for LJ stuff], and yet so few LJ users seem to think it's the ultimate answer.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-09 03:17 am (UTC)