there will be a fish

We went to a Hitchcock serial killer double feature tonight (Frenzy and Psycho). I found myself thinking of this Sherlock Holmes quote a lot during Psycho. Also, weirdly enough, during the old trailer for Alien they played, because the "In space, no one can hear you scream" tagline is rather bizarrely appropriate:

By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light green of the new foliage.

"Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.

But Holmes shook his head gravely.

"Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there."

"Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?"

"They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."

"You horrify me!"

"But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of country which makes the danger."

— The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

Doyle could really bring the creepy when he wanted, huh? I remember it quite caught my attention. It's such an interesting inversion of the usual way people view crime in cities vs. suburban/rural areas – basically, that cities are wretched hives of scum and villainy, and the countryside is peaceful and quaint and polite. I prefer Holmes' view; human nature is human nature, good and bad, wherever you are, which means human crime doesn't go away when you add more trees. ( this became a much longer piece of meta; I went into this just planning to post the quote, but my brain just won't shut up... )

Comments and debate welcome! It's so boring to be completely agreed with, don't you think? ;)

ethrosdemon has written a very interesting post about Southland, and issues of perception and being a storyteller when you're a woman.

it’s something new...—not a show made by men for women, but a show made by women for everyone (but mostly other women).

Southland isn’t a cop show so much as it is a digital, serialized piece of cinema verite about these certain human beings. I suppose I would compare it to The Hurt Locker, another work called "gritty" by men who then boggle that women were involved in making it. Here, the word "gritty" means that men think women don't comprehend complex emotions/aren't interested in seeing them in media/they're really surprised that women are subtle.

Not just that. Men don’t just boggle that women made it—they boggle because women made the work, and they can relate to it.

Very thought-provoking! I recommend reading. I've already gone and given my two cents, although it turned more into a quarter... *thumbs up*

I had a few things piling up in tabs, so here's some clean-up sharing:

1. Have y'all been reading Ben McKenzie's celeb guest blogs about Southland over at TVGuide.com? He's writing one for every S2 episode, and they're really quite good. He has a clear, direct style, gets his points across succinctly, and quite obviously understands what the show is trying to do, and what he's doing as an actor. I find them very interesting.

Entries for: 2.01 "Phase Three", 2.02 "Butch and Sundance", 2.03 "U-Boat"; all entries listed here.

2. I'm pretty sure most of you have read the AfterElton interview with Michael Cudlitz already, but have the link again. It's not the most highly intellectual interview out there, but is rather blessed with a practical, down-to-earth point of view that I enjoy.

I thought this exchange was of particular interest: ( short Q&A excerpt )

( and then I tangent into Sherlock Holmes again, some more )

Last night, I saw Enemy At The Gates with Jude Law as a famous Russian sniper in the Battle of Stalingrad. Since it is way too depressing a prospect right now to think serious thoughts about a) WWII, b) the millions of people who died in that battle, c) all the characters who die in the film, or d) melodramatic adaptations of real events, I have some shallow ones for you all instead:

1. Very important observation, this one: Jude Law is a damn good-looking man, even when he's covered in dust/mud/blood/etc. (Maybe especially then, because it makes his eyes stand out all the more.) Also, I don't know how he did it, but he made his face look Russian. I'm not sure how that's possible, but somehow, he made it happen.

2. Rachel Weisz is a damn good-looking woman. I think I would like more films where she is a sniper, thank you. She's also exceedingly likeable; I have yet to see a film in which I didn't like her character, even when there were things I didn't like about the character. That's a great quality.

3. Holy shit, ( that one scene ). *fans self*

4. Ed Harris's character was a bastard, but I do love me a competent antagonist. I sorta wish ( that one spoilery thing hadn't happened ). But then again, I'm biased toward making villains a little sympathetic, thereby to make their villainy the more awful.

5. I admit...I am now left imagining Afghanistan-era Dr. John Watson. And it's not even all Jude Law's fault; the same thing happened to me after the "Bastogne" episode of Band of Brothers, because, well, Doc Roe (♥ he's my favorite!).

( long tangent about Watson's self-narration and his time in the Second Anglo-Afghan War )

All right. I'm off! Katie and I are visting gingerwall for the next couple of days. I am leaving my laptop and bringing books. There will probably be drinking, movie-watching, and general town-painting of the crimson variety. \o/! We drive back in the day before our birthday (Wednesday the 10th), then claudiagray is in town on the 11th, and then SXSW STARTS ON THE 12TH WHOOOOOOO!

It's looking to be a good week, is what I'm saying. :D

I am rather invested in SPN this season. I got home from the party last night at almost 2:30am after waking up at 7am and being constantly on the move ever since, I spent a good chunk of time swapping my messed-up hard drive out for the one I replaced last summer (which my brilliant dad convinced me to keep, just in case), all so I could download and watch this episode, even knowing that I had to wake up this morning at 8am for class. (I got to bed around 5am.)

Represent, y'all.

Anyway, this started as a reply to thespatz's episode reaction, but I figured it was a post in its own right. And then I added some more stuff, so it really was one.

( spoilers! )

I think that's it. Who knows, I may come up with more later. Or maybe I'll nap. I donated blood today, too, did I mention? I'm thinking that's a valid reason to skip pilates class. No wait! I can watch Criminal Minds now! Yay! *runs off* :D

Can anyone point me to good meta about TV shows and horror films? Surely some fandom person must've written on the topic re: Buffy/Angel/Supernatural/The X-Files/etc. I'm planning to check out spn_heavymeta, but that's all I've got so far.

I'd appreciate it! :)

First, off, have a trailer for the new Batman movie. There's also a bootlegged, six-minute IMAX trailer/sequence here. God, I am SO excited, y'all. ( spoilers? )

In other news, I have been industriously...uh, watching the entire first season of Project Runway on YouTube, and catching up on this season. Tim Gunn, you are totally great and I adore you. *hearts*

I really, really, really need to get cracking on my Yuletide pinch-hit. [insert panicked laughter here]

My older sister Emma came home over last weekend. It's her birthday this Friday, so we had early birthday/MCAT score/internship celebrations for her--fed her dinner, baked her Italian cream cake, and let her veg out by watching all but two episodes of Heroes S1. It's really weird rewatching that show when you know what's going to happen.

I did sadly miss the Sports Night Chat for sportsnightglee; I had insomnia and two hours of sleep Thursday night, so I crashed early on Friday, overslept, and then Emma came into town. :( Oh, well. Next time!

However, my fangirly heart was made happy, quite unexpectedly, by Live Free Or Die Hard, of all things. No, really. It was totally and completely awesome; Katie and I spent the rest of the afternoon gleeking about it, and we don't do that for just anything. (As a matter of fact, we even went back to see it again tonight, less than a week after our first viewing, and then continued to geek out about it.)

[Note: I've managed to avoid any uncut spoilers beyond what could be seen in the trailer, or what would come out in conversation if I was trying to sell you on going to see it with me (I am very vague about these things), so feel free to read even if you haven't seen the movie. Also, sorry for not cutting for length, but I'm trying to pimp. *pimp pimp*]

It probably helped that I had low expectations, since the trailer screamed "Great action; desperate comeback of aging action star" and "more 'US vs. terrorists' wank" and "damsel-in-distress hostage situation" to me. I have never been so pleasantly proven wrong (except maybe by the first Pirates movie).

To start detailing how I was mistaken, I would like to apologize to Bruce Willis for ever thinking he was an aging action star desperate for a comeback. You still effortlessly kick ass, Mr. Willis. I was so wrong. Second, the terrorist plotline was actually a clever twist on a terrorist threat because ( spoiler ); the villains were competent, intelligent, and provided with motivation that made sense. This is vitally important, IMO--you can't have a really great hero without a really cool villain (example: Darth Vader=awesome, Darth Maul=not so much; Luke Skywalker=legendary, and--whoeverthefuck was Darth Maul actually supposed to be after? I forget. So, that's pretty pathetic. The Emperor was pretty cool, but his absence in Episode 1 greatly contributed to the badness). If the bad guy is lame, the hero winning isn't nearly as much fun or as effective. Third, John McClane's daughter is a hostage, but she has just about as much agency as you can possibly have as a hostage. I really liked her. Especially ( spoilers )

I really ask two things of a movie: that it tells a good story, and that it tells it well. The "good" part, of course, allows for a whole range of qualitative assessment, but I'm pretty easy. I base my evaluation a lot on genre going in, but re-evaluate at the end based on what it seems the movie was trying to achieve. If they do what they were trying to do, that makes it good. In this particular case, LFoDH is an action movie. If the pirate genre is about freedom, the action genre at its best is about heroism. Obstacles and conflicts are transformed into primarily physical obstacles and conflicts, and are overcome by the hero in a dramatic show of perseverance and strength. There's something to fight for or against, or something to save.

This can be a bit problematic in certain ways (perpetuation of an uber-American individualism, for one; disposal of subtlety, for another), but if it's done well, it can be inspiring. Take most of the comic book hero movies, for example, which are also action films. There's are reasons Superman moves us, and it's not because of his rippling muscles or tight-clad rear. He never gives up, and he fights for principles even more steely than his muscles, because kryptonite can't touch them. That's what makes him a hero; the rest is window dressing.

Anyway, my point is that Live Free Or Die Hard was one of the best pure action movies I've seen in a really, really long time. I actually like it better than the original Die Hard in a lot of ways (I know, blasphemy!), for a lot of reasons.

Reason 1: I fucking love the sidekick character. Like, seriously. I have a huge crush on him, besides my intellectual love for his role in the movie. If there's one thing John McClane needed, it was a foil, and this guy brought it in spades. McClane needed a tech-savvy partner to bring him out of the 80's, and he's much more fun with someone to bounce off of. They brought that in a bit with the beat cop Al in Die Hard, but to a lesser degree. I absolutely hated his dynamic with Samuel L. Jackson's character in Die Hard With A Vengeance, and he was pretty much on his own in Die Hard 2. So LFoDH had that, which gives it major points. John McClane in this was more human than he's been in any of the previous movies, which I credit a lot to the sidekick dynamic. They were complementary in pretty much every way: humor (Matt is snarky and a little goofy; John is dry and deadpan), style (sneaky and techy vs. blunt and blunt-objects), age, etc. It brought balance, breadth, and dynamism where it used to be just John McClane, badass loner who blows shit up well. I also have to give props to the actor playing Matt (for other things than being cute, which he was: geeky-cute, smart, sarcastic and snarky, pretty eyes, great smile, lean build, tiny scar between his eyebrows, slightly emo hair, a little scruffy, nice hands, YUM), and believe me, I'm shocked to be complimenting the Mac Guy on his acting skills. He walked that very fine line to avoid being That Whiny Guy Who Complains The Whole Movie; he pulls it off instead as Likeable Normal Guy Not Used To Being Shot At And Reacting Like A Sane Person Would without being a wimp, which is exactly as it should be. Seriously, I loved the character a LOT.

Reason 2: The surprisingly non-anvil-like discussion of heroism. Again, the hero-sidekick balancing act comes into play very effectively here. We have McClane on the one hand, who already has this stuff down pat, so things like him killing a helicopter with a car early-ish in the movie comes off as believable. This is good for pure entertainment and suspense value, because you don't have to build up to the hero being awesome. However, with Matt also in the picture, you get the other side of things. Real heroism doesn't mean blowing shit up or shooting lots of people; it's about being ass-deep in trouble and doing what's right, what has to be done, because you can when no one else can. It's about stepping up. The rest is, again, window dressing and entertainment. Matt is important because he's that normal guy shoved into the mess to sink or swim, and over the course of the movie, we get to see him start choosing to swim. It's pretty subtly done, too; the couple of times heroism comes up explicitly in conversation, it feels utterly natural. That's hard to do. And then they back it up with actual situations in the plot that support the development of the theme, and I develop an intellectual crush on whoever was responsible.

Reason 3: The plot. It was tightly written, without really any extraneous flabby bits of script. The motivations make sense, the detail continuity is excellent, it's smart, and there's, like, character arcs. I didn't once think "Wow, that was contrived," which is rare occurrence in action movies. Okay, sometimes I thought "Wow, him surviving that was unrealistic," but I can roll with suspension of disbelief better than bad pacing and pointless scenes. Speaking of the action...

Reason 4: Action sequences! Let's face it; most of the time, you go to an action movie looking for cool explosions and maybe a car chase. This had a pretty amazing variety of your standard selection: car chases, lots of explosions, helicopters, a jet plane, people with guns held to their heads, shootouts, martial arts and old school fistfights, lots of wanton property destruction, etc. They played a lot of twists on old standards, which was excellent fun. It kept predictability a non-factor and upped the ante most of the time. Pretty damn cool.

There are lots of other little things I liked, such as just the right amount of sly nods to earlier movies in the series; enough to reward a fan, not so much as to be tiresome or recycle material instead of working for new laughs (*coughPirates2cough*). Ooh, that's another thing--fun banter, both sidekick-hero joking and hero-villain taunting. McClane's had a lot of practice on the latter, and he's really quite good at it. ( a bit spoilery ) ETA: I forgot to mention, excellent inclusion of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son," which I love. :D

I think I better cut myself off here. For those who have seen it, do you agree, or think I'm completely insane?

I had a thought about Supernatural. Therefore, I'm sharing. ( Suck it up; it builds character )

In other news, yesterday was a good day. This was surprising, because I went to sleep at 5:30 in the morning for absolutely no reason. LJ. Email. Watching things. Not doing any homework AT ALL. And then I actually woke up for my 9:10am class, took a short nap, and went to my other two classes. Then, I joined ladyjaida and orangeaddict and watched (re-watched, for me) three episodes straight of Supernatural ("Shadow" through "Something Wicked"). They were both lovely and friendly and amusing, and I had a lot of fun. That was followed by another nap, dinner, and then the glorious movie It Happened One Night for my seminar. And then I went to bed *gasp* before midnight. That hasn't happened in a really, really, ridiculously long time. So, good day.