(no subject)

[green_queen]

Dom to attend a convention in London on 9 June, 2007. If you heard it here first, say hi for me! Apparently it's doubtful.

Happy Birthday chaodai.

spn_fridayfive

1. What other urban legends would you like to see on the show?
Almost all of my knowledge of American urban legends come from the film Urban Legends, which I saw because I'm in love with Mike Rosenbaum. How about the babysitter with the calls coming from inside the house? Or was that part of the Hookman legend? The Hookman legend seemed to incorporate rather a lot on Supernatural. Oh, Chupacabras. I love Chupacabras.

2. What other roles would you like to see Jensen or Jared play?
Gay ones.

3. The dreaded question: what do you think of Ellen, Jo, and Ash?
Ellen: I was reserving judgment on her until last night, but then she went and pissed me off. For one thing, I don't think the actor's very good - she's wooden and her performance is very one-note, no complexity or interest. For another, who does she think she is? The Demon clearly has a strong interest in the Winchesters - it took Mary, Jess and John, has a vested interest in Sam, and hell, as far as we know John was the ONLY person gunning for the Demon for years. Now suddenly it's not their war, it's everyone's? Who does she think she is?
Mary Jo: Instant dislike. I hate her whiny emo blog, her constant pursuing of Dean when he's sad he's not interested and when he's grieving, her tough-chick act when she's actually about as interesting as paste, and her whining at her mother. Most of all, I hate the concept of the character - tough chick mourning the death of her father as love interest for tough guy mourning the death of his father. I can't think Alona's acting badly, because the character is just so poorly written that there's nothing there to DO.
Ash: Instant love. He just cracks me up, with his nudity and his mullet and his genius. I love that he's curious about the brothers, but not curious enough that he can't be bribed. I wish that Sam would just get his own laptop instead of constantly calling the Roadhouse for information, though. The characters need to start solving their own problems again, handing off the research is lazy writing.

4. How many seasons do you think this show could last?
It depends on whether or not Kripke manages to completely screw things up with these new characters and how long he can keep the family dynamic the centre of the show. If he doesn't screw up, it could last a good five or six years. If he screws up, three.

5. The Demon killed all the special children's mothers when they were six months old. Why do you think he killed Jessica? How did she 'get in the way'? Do you think the demon has killed some of other children's girlfriends/boyfriends?
I think that in order to build his army, the Demon is trying to destroy all human ties that the specials have. If he kills off everyone that they love, then convinces them he's their family, they join him. That's what I'm guessing, anyway. It makes sense given the family-focussed nature of the show. Max was doing the job for him, Weber did it for Andy and himself, but Sam's got Dean, who's not letting himself get killed and who Sam won't kill, so the demon's having trouble getting to him. Now that he's offed John, Dean is all that's left standing between Sam and the Demon.

5 Things I think Kripke needs to do in order for Supernatural to stay on the air:

1. Instead of forcing new 'concept' characters who don't work in practice down our throats, bring back established characters who you already know the audience react positively to. Sarah comes to mind, as does Bobby. Missouri, as much as I hate her, is very popular among the fans. If she came back she could redeem herself in terms of bullying Dean, and she's at least more understanding of their situation than Ellen (and a better actor.) Lenore, omg.

2. When establishing new characters, do not build their character only in relation to their love interest. None of the great ships of television have ever been created when the character is first introduced to us as a love interest, because then there is no sense of character about them. They need to be defined by their own actions, their relationships with people who are not their love interest, their reactions to situations which are not 'hey, hot potential boyfriend/girlfriend, how shall I pursue them?' This also relates to the creation of Mary Jo and Ava Sue as female versions of our male protagonists, rather than well-rounded characters who balance out the characters but have their own personalities.

3. Don’t recycle old ideas too much. By the time you’ve made the bad guy the little girl that nobody suspects three times, it’s not unexpected, it’s stupid. Pretty dark-haired pale lady ghosts are only sexy once. The first classic rock montage was made of awesome and is one of my favourite moments of the show. The second was good. The third was mediocre. Same goes for recycled gags – ‘Full-on Obi Wan’d me’ has less impact because it’s already been done with ‘Full-on Swayze’d that mother,’ and it negates the impact of the first line on repeat viewing.

4. Make sure the Monster of the Week either echoes or, at the very least, doesn’t detract from the emotional arc of the boys. If they’re dealing with something big, it can’t be too flippant. See: Everybody Loves a Clown, Bugs.

5. Know your own canon. If Winchester rule #1 is ‘we do what we do and we shut up about it,’ for fuck’s sake don’t make Sam blab to every Tom, Dick and Ellen about the details of their lives. Be consistent in the way the Demon appears and kills and communicates. Be consistent in your characters - season 2 has been better, but remember the debacle of John? Is he an alcoholic loser or a loving father, was he affectionate with his kids or did he knock them around, etc. etc.? Before writing about an incident in the boys’ past, know every detail of it.

Otherwise, just keep letting Jensen and Jared and the directors do what they're doing. The show is beautifully shot and those boys are great actors.

Collection of thoughts about Simon Said that's awesome.

Final note about Supernatural for the day: ad for next week and Director's Cut video up at the CW website. Gag me. Veronica Mars clips are much, much better.

Tonight I saw The Good Girl

This will teach me to always read ALL the important credits of a film before I see it - cast, director AND WRITER. Cast was good - Jennifer Aniston, OK, but also Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly, Tim Blake Nelson, and the always awesome Zooey Deschanel. Hadn't heard of the director, fine.

Written by Mike White.

I have, unfortunately, experienced the writing of Mike White once before, with Chuck&Buck. I usually try to wipe this film from my mind. It was one of the least pleasant viewing experiences of my entire life. He has written films I like. In fact, he's written at least one film I really like, and think is very underrated. But all of those films were tempered by someone less...creepy and insane. This movie was creepy and insane. It was either boring or uncomfortable the whole way through. Jake was playing a role that was pretty much just the creepy side of Donnie Darko. The packaging is totally misleading, and for some reason it was in the comedy section. I only laughed at Zooey. I don't watch films to be uncomfortable or bored for hours at a time. Hated it.

3 out of 10 - 1.5 stars each for Zooey and Jake.


Rolling Stone outtake

Daylight Savings sucks at this time of year
Green Queen

Comments

[thumbaleena.livejournal.com]

I heard about this earlier today and all I know is people are querying how legit that con actually is, at the minute.

Would be nice if it's no a "con" - scuse the pun lol

[chancecaught.livejournal.com]

I deleted that post regarding the con at dom_dedicated because there is a lot of speculation whether the con is for real or not, or how reputable the company is that's putting it on is.

[nora1980.livejournal.com]

what swoonstar said.
foxykc asked about this thing a few weeks ago and there's a lot of bad rumours about the organisation and such..

[snuffkin.livejournal.com]

2. What other roles would you like to see Jensen or Jared play?
Gay ones.

Simple and true *g*



5 Things I think Kripke needs to do in order for Supernatural to stay on the air:

Agreed to all 5 of them!

[magikalcrab.livejournal.com]

...

Huh. I'm going to be in near London in June of 07 ...