Linkspam and more SPN babble

[rusty_halo]

* USA released three network promos featuring Neal and Peter from White Collar. I don’t know the characters from the other shows, but yay for more Neal and Peter!

* Some clueless pro writer posted a screed about why fanfic sucks. Old wank, I know, but it’s inspired some lovely counterarguments that have reminded me how wonderful fanfiction is, both the art form itself and the community around it. Here is a really lovely ode to fanfic from pandarus.

* There’s this discussion going on in the feminist blogosphere about “Dude Music” and the comparative lack of respect female musicians and fans get. It’s incredibly interesting if you’re into rock music, and if you’re not it’s still very relevant, since it highlights a whole lot of the subtle ways that sexism works. I found it absolutely fascinating, because I’m definitely someone who grew up with a very male-dominated playlist–I’ve been working to understand why and to be a fan of more female musicians. Anyway, read the discussion in this order:

- I Went To Your Concert and There Was Nothing Going On, or, A Meditation on Dude Music

- The World At Large: How Privilege works in Rock Music

- The center and the margins, and butt hurtness

* Rare Film of Ronald Reagan, James Dean Unearthed. Is it wrong that I kinda wanted to read a slash version of this after I watched it?

* Bowie Dance Ride in NYC today. “Participants are encouraged to dress up as their favorite Bowie character and pedal away, Ziggy Stardust–style.” Uh, seriously?

* Iron Man 2 tonight! I can’t wait. This whole Supernatural obsession was incredibly well-timed; it managed to prevent me from clicking any of the Iron Man 2 spoilers that have been all over my reading list this week. :)

* netweight recommended Conversational Winchester for Trolls by eloise_bright and it is indeed awesome.

* I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge last night (exercise! fresh air!) and then went home and cooked a real dinner (roasted acorn stuffed with spinach cous cous and topped with toasted pine nuts). And then I sat down to watch Just One Episode of Supernatural. And… ended up watching four. So much for functioning like a sane person.

They were good! I enjoyed them. Maybe my previous feeling of disillusionment was just a fluke. Maybe by lowering my expectations I was better able to focus on what’s good. Maybe I was just saddened by the prospect of not staring at Jensen Ackles’ adorable freckles for the next two days, so I appreciated these episodes more.

My thoughts:

4x11 - Helen Slater! You guys!! Billie Jean!!!

Okay, she had nothing to do in this episode, but she used to be so awesome and it was nifty to see her again. She's older, but she still has that amazing voice. I'm totally going to watch The Legend of Billie Jean again when I get over this Supernatural thing. (Which I just found out is available via Netflix streaming--woohoo!)

(One day I want to write an epic post about how progressive The Legend of Billie Jean is in the way it addresses gender and class and power, how skillfully it avoids the usual sexist narrative cliches, how nuanced Billie Jean's process of dealing with sexual assault is, and how fantastically Billie Jean is written and performed as a complex, flawed, vulnerable, brave three-dimensional character who develops throughout the movie, not as a trite Strong Female Character (tm) which she so easily could've been.)

Oh, and ... Supernatural. Right. Something about the tragic kids turned into monsters being a metaphor for Dean and/or Sam. It was fine.

4x12 - I liked this one. It was like The Prestige crossed with "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose." Great guest actors and great foreshadowing of whatever's going to happen when the shit finally hits the fan between the Winchester brothers.

BUT.

"See the thing about real magic? Is that it's a whole lot like crack."

...

"See the thing about real magic? Is that it's a whole lot like crack."

...

"See the thing about real magic? Is that it's a whole lot like crack."



WHO WROTE THIS LINE OF DIALOG? HOW IN GOD'S NAME DID JENSEN ACKLES DELIVER IT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE?

I mean... honestly.

4x13 - Not a bad story for Sam, and I liked the reversal, where the bully turned out to also be a victim. Also a Heathers reference, yay! But the actor who played young Dean was so bad--the episode would've been a lot more watchable if they'd cut him entirely.

4x14 - Loved it. Maybe it was just the exhaustion catching up with me, but this is one of the first times the plot has surprised me. I really didn't expect the FBI guy to be the siren. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the siren's way of seducing Dean was to transform into "the perfect brother" instead of "the perfect woman." This show is awesome. (And is it just me or has it been ramping up the ho!yay lately?)

Also, Sam calling Dean on being so indulgently caught up in his angst about hell? PERFECT. I really like how they're building up the conflict between the brothers.

Another thing I was going to mention, not related to any of these episodes specifically, but just something I like about the show: they explain why they're still chasing monsters-of-the-week when the apocalypse is looming. I mean, the explanations aren't great--they haven't got anything better to do, or they're repressing, or Dean feels obligated to try to save EVERYONE EVER because he has ~issues~, but the point is, they address it in the text. It always drove me so crazy in X-Files where one week they'd uncover an EPIC MASSIVE CONSPIRACY involving the government and their own families and the fate of the human race, and then in the next episode they'd be in nowhere Idaho investigating a sewer monster WITH NO EXPLANATION. They wouldn't even talk about the EPIC REVELATIONS they'd just experienced in the previous episode. At least in Supernatural they respect their audience enough to acknowledge that they haven't forgotten the wider context in which the MOTW episodes take place.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.