by (c) Nin Harris 2013

This is a poem that is not meant to be taken seriously. It’s a tongue-in-cheek piece of Austenite gender-roles-bending geekery. Because not all #mythicfolk poems are serious ones.

*

White shirt, green lake;
an image etched in the vision
of many would-be Lizzies enthralled by
dark curls and introspective eyes that
flash across your screen, accompanying tea at 5pm
followed by a dinner of asam pedas and rice.

Wet plastered against white cotton
and on powerpoint slides in lecture halls;
inducting a new crop to the creed
of genteel and governed love.

I smile over clenched teeth
and tell them over tea and tapioca cakes that I am like Darcy
because my good opinion, once lost is lost forever.

*

Perhaps I will be punished by
a Lizzie Bennet in a man’s form.

Perhaps, I will treat him to an awkward proposal
that despite my better judgement…

…which he will then spurn with heaving chest
and moral indignation at not being
marked a superior and highly amiable species,
like Keira Knightley in a tropical downpour
wailing his wounded anguish to the overcast skies.

*

This is before he is wooed by
bounteous estates, and massive tracts of land.

My worldly possessions
and tasteful collections will merit praise
moreso than my lordly demeanour,
introverted arrogance , and mordant wit.
He will fall in love with the lustrous green
of moneyed gardens and the white sheen
of Grecian artefacts.

Of course, quite naturally,
a wet white shirt will clinch the deal.

This is somewhat belated, given that we have less than a handful of episodes to go before Season 1 ends, but I shall be posting my thoughts and spoilerish gushings here in comments. If you’ve watched the latest episode(s) or would like to discuss random things concerning previous episodes, here’s the thread for you to do!

BEWARE, HERE BE MASSIVE SPOILERS!

What is more, this thread ENCOURAGES SPOILERS! (do not read until you’ve watched the most recent episode for the week!)

This thread exists because I am likely to explode with excited spewage throughout this season, and I’d rather not be a spoiler-fiend! The thread is open for everyone who would like to rant, squee, ask questions or debate stuff to do with each episode of Season Two, Game of Thrones. I shall post my own thoughts in comments periodically.

BEWARE, HERE BE MASSIVE SPOILERS!

Or, there should be! Tally-ho!

[this review reflects the status of the show at the end of Season 4]

cast/characters, from wiki:

Bryan Cranston as Walter White
Anna Gunn as Skyler White
Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman
Dean Norris as Hank Schrader
Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader
RJ Mitte as Walter White, Jr.
Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman
Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo “Gus” Fring
Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut

–

Breaking Bad (BrBa) re/presents classic wild west themes in a contemporary context. The main characters, Walter White- and to a lesser extent his partner Jesse Pinkman- are ‘driven by desperation to become outlaws’ (a trope, variation of ‘the outlaws are the heroes’ general/meta western trope, especially in combination with the ‘intense calamity befalls a family’ trope). (continue reading…)

Okay, okay. Spoilers, I get it. Everything else is under the “more” tag if you haven’t watched till the end of Lost, the first episode of Eureka, or until the fourth episode of Once Upon A Time.

(continue reading…)

To ask oneself how to review a television drama that lasted only two seasons poses many questions. The obvious: why did this show get canceled? And then the not-so-obvious: why did this show get canceled? Think of it like a double-sided coin, the probability is 100%. Eliza Dushku, or Echo, the main protagonist and co-producer of Dollhouse in interview expressed her concerns about how this might have come to be. Advertising being one, but mostly it was the Friday night time slot she recalled as “death” that inevitably would drag the series down.

The series seemed to have everything going for it: futuristic technology, kick-ass fight scenes, and a slew of intriguing characters to tickle the intellect or pull at the heart-strings of any science fiction or fantasy genre enthusiast. What I won’t do is sit here and complain about why the show got canceled but rather try to convince you why you should sit down and give this 27 episode masterpiece a chunk of your time.

I believe the magic behind Dollhouse was fueled by the cast and crew’s inevitable realization that this show might not go on forever like anticipated igniting passion into everyone that truly believed in the project and where the possibilities could lead given a six season run. The characters were concise yet elusive and open, forcing viewers to really analyze and walk inside the shoes of these complex individuals and situations inside the schizophrenic nature of The Dollhouse.

On the DVDs there are three extra episodes, all unaired. One being a sort of prequel to the series and two at the end of each season that sort of summed up all of what writer Joss Whedon wanted to say before the series was canceled. The first unaired episode begins with the director, one of many, but our series specific “Dollhouse” interviewing her next potential client. Then Echo, well, being Echo.

What Adelle DeWitt, the director, baits her newest potential client with is the opening:

“The world is a very simple place – at first. Then, as we grow up, it grows around us. A dense thicket of complication and disappointment – unbearable for some; and even for the luckiest of us still sometimes more than we can handle — less than we’d hoped.”

The life of the average “active” is not so complicated. Get imprinted with the correct memory topography to complete the assignment, get sent to the client, come back to The Dollhouse, and be erased. The client is happy, The Dollhouse gets paid, and time moves forward. What The Dollhouse creator could not anticipate was the resilience of the human mind, the idea of evolution, and the inevitable progress of science and technology.

All of these factors play into the plotline of Dollhouse, creating an intricate web of creation, betrayal, hope, and redemption, leading us into a fantastic journey through what life could be if one was able to purchase the raw emotions needed to complete their own human experience.

10/10
Joshua D. Biddle