sovay | Hickory, ash, and oak

Current Music: Jake Xerxes Fussell, "Copper Kettle"

Hickory, ash, and oak

My week has continued to consist primarily of coughing and capitalism, but the last thirty-six hours have also contained a concentrated shot of Stargate SG-1 (1997–2007) and Stargate Atlantis (2004–09) and while there are ways in which I am beginning to think it is not actually good for me to have ready access to heaps of syndicated television, I really like Robert Picardo. Have some links.

1. The first thing I saw when I woke was that Christopher Plummer had died. I must have seen him first in The Sound of Music (1965), but I liked him ever since discovering in college that he had played the original Nickles in Archibald MacLeish's J.B. (1959). I don't think I ever wrote about him except in passing mention of The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) or The Silent Partner (1978) or sharing that wonderful, all too suddenly relevant gif of Captain von Trapp tearing the Nazi flag.

minoanmiss linked to a clip of him singing "Edelweiss" in his own, un-dubbed voice. He was of a reasonable age for dying, but when people have a renaissance at the age of eighty, you expect them to go on forever.

2. Courtesy of

asakiyume: the paintings of Gabriella Mirabelli. I rather desperately covet Aquinnah Shallows (2018). Her oceans look like woodblocks and themselves.

3. Courtesy of a friend who is not on DW: "My favourite species of birds are the ones named by people who clearly hate birds." I had never encountered some of these names before. Like the rest, the fluffy-backed tit-babbler is entirely real.

4. I was looking for a gifset of the scene in Victor/Victoria (1982) where Julie Andrews steps literally out of the closet in men's clothes and decks Robert Preston's no-good ex, but I found these posts instead and maybe it's just the chalk stripes, but my brain is now attempting to persuade me to fancast Andrews as Peter Wimsey. I still need to see Viktor und Viktoria (1933) and First a Girl (1935).

5. From conversation with

handful_ofdust: it has been wild to watch TV from the '90's and even the early-to-mid-2000's and realize just how rapidly I acclimated to the existence of canonically queer characters in popular media when for decades it was not to be expected—if anything, the opposite. I didn't know enough about TV in 1995–96 to recognize that it was groundbreaking of Babylon 5 to imply a romantic relationship between Susan Ivanova and Talia Winters and then confirm it textually, even after the fact; I took the representation of a bisexual Russian Jewish main character for granted. (It was plausible to me!) Now I realize that however much of a tiny sketch it looks to a modern viewer, it was a big deal to present as canonical when DS9 was still doing its first same-sex kiss with a bodyswap plot. Watching the first two seasons of Torchwood this past fall, it struck me as refreshingly normal that no one on the team is straight, but the show took real flak for it in 2006–08. The Legend of Korra only ended in 2014 and its finale with the endgame f/f pairing holding hands and looking deeply into one another's eyes was a game-changer for children's/YA TV. These things move so fast and it's so easy to forget what existed before.

I had the misfortune to be awake for a spectacular sunrise this morning, so I took a picture. It really doesn't capture the full Krakatoa. I am a little disappointed we didn't have a storm.

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That is a gorgeous sunrise. :)

I am ridiculously surprised and pleased whenever I see canonically queer representation. It's probably silly of me at this point but I *shriekded with delight* at the Big Damn Kiss in The Old Guard for instance. *blushes*

That is a gorgeous sunrise.

I looked even better in person!

I am ridiculously surprised and pleased whenever I see canonically queer representation.

I don't think that's silly at all. It's still not as common as it should be. It's just been impossible for me not to notice how straight all the Star Trek and Stargate I've been watching has been and I find it weird as hell and have to remind myself about broadcast standards and practices. I have much more experience filtering for the Production Code.

(It is probably a little unfair of me to knock on DS9 for the kiss in "Rejoined" because Trill are by nature canonically genderfluid, but the fact that it was a female character kissing the memory of a male host made it feel too much like a get-out-of-gay-free card to me. I much prefer the casualness of the exchange between Jadzia and Pel in "Rules of Acquisition":

"You really do, don't you? Love Quark . . . I've seen the way you look at him. Does he know?"
"He doesn't even know I'm a female."
"You're a woman?!"

That episode remains the best bittersweet Ferengi Twelfth Night I am ever likely to see.)

While I regret you were awake all the way through to see it, that is a spectacular riot of colors.

Plummer was my third death of the day. We pick ourselves up and go on?

While I regret you were awake all the way through to see it, that is a spectacular riot of colors.

I thought it deserved memorialization. It was difficult to sleep through.

Plummer was my third death of the day. We pick ourselves up and go on?

What else is there to do?

*hugs*

I had a very long Zoom day and am only vaguely awake, but wow, Julie Andrews, wow, sunrise. And salutes to Mr. Plummer.

I had a very long Zoom day and am only vaguely awake, but wow, Julie Andrews, wow, sunrise. And salutes to Mr. Plummer.

I am glad to be able to share good things. Sorry to bear the news of the other kind.

Andrews as Peter Wimsey, whoa!

Andrews as Peter Wimsey, whoa!

It was the first interpretation my brain supplied!

Beautiful sunrise!

Those bird names are all so hilarious, I can't seem to pick a favorite.

Beautiful sunrise!

Even through the blinds, it tinted everything in the room.

Those bird names are all so hilarious, I can't seem to pick a favorite.

"Typical swifts."

I still have a supercut of Youtube reaction-video people reacting to Korra/Asami :D

Yeah, man. It's changed so fast.

Yeah, man. It's changed so fast.

It's not like I don't know that things change, either. It was just fascinating to have the evidence presented to me so plainly.

(That supercut must be impressive.)

Julie Andrews must feel a trifle odd: She is outliving the cast of nearly every hit film she has done, including two of the von Trapp children.

Julie Andrews must feel a trifle odd: She is outliving the cast of nearly every hit film she has done, including two of the von Trapp children.

Norman Lloyd is even more of an endling. He's the last living member of the Mercury Theatre.

Hoo wow.

"it has been wild to watch TV from the '90's and even the early-to-mid-2000's and realize just how rapidly I acclimated to the existence of canonically queer characters in popular media when for decades it was not to be expected—if anything, the opposite."

No kidding, I'm exactly the same, and it was impressive for me to watch early DS:9 and realize the first two seasons were made back when sexual harassment of women was still a subject for humor on TV, to now when almost every US show I watch not only has queer characters, it has queer main cast characters in relationships, and most of these same shows also have transgender characters. I remember Xena, where Gabrielle and Xena were canonically soulmates, but they were also never shown to be romantically involved, and the first few steps towards queer characters on DS:9, B5, with single episode queer characters and relationships and then Buffy with Willow and Tara [[1]], and now all that was previously subtext is text. I'm overjoys that rather than just being confined to groundbreaking shows, even trashy (but fun) shows like Roswell New Mexico now have multiple bi and gay characters, and there have even been a handful of geeky shows with poly relationships.

I was recently thinking about how awesome a well done remake of impressively slashy shows like Xena or (far more recently, and just before queer characters became widespread) The Vampire Diaries, where the writers would be free to actually have queer characters. Many years ago I predicted what I call "TV bi", which for geeky soap operas of the sort the CW is well known for would mean that most characters would be bi, because doing this gives twice as many opportunities for relationships, pining, and all of the rest of the soap opera tropes. We're almost there, and the last bit of this change happened so fast.

[[1]] I remember reading the Buffy newsgroup on usenet back in Season 4, and many of us were discussing whether the growing Willow/Tara romance was text or subtext (and hoping that we'd finally get a queer romance that was more than an episode long), and one guy kept maintaining it was subtext well past the point that everyone else did saying they were "just friends", until near the end of the season when it eventually became vividly clear that they were involved. After that episode, he had the grace to admit he was wrong.

I'm overjoys that rather than just being confined to groundbreaking shows, even trashy (but fun) shows like Roswell New Mexico now have multiple bi and gay characters, and there have even been a handful of geeky shows with poly relationships.

I agree with you that there is a certain milestone in representation in trashy shows: I'm not obliged to watch them and it's nice to know that something has become sufficiently normalized to cease being the domain of prestige TV. (And I am not familiar with Roswell New Mexico at all, so I'm glad it's fun!)

saying they were "just friends", until near the end of the season when it eventually became vividly clear that they were involved. After that episode, he had the grace to admit he was wrong.

That's a nicer ending than a lot of stories! Maybe he just also had the gaydar of a rock.

These things move so fast and it's so easy to forget what existed before.

This has been coming to mind for me a lot lately, when I see people bagging on "old" media (read: like maybe twenty years ago) for not being diverse enough in its representation or doing a bad job with what it has, and I keep thinking . . . it's fine to say "I want to spend my attention and money on stuff that does better" (because we often do have better now! and that's good!), but please don't forget that for their time, those things were a big step forward. Like, just because we have airbags in cars now doesn't mean that seatbelts weren't a big improvement in the state of automobile safety. I'd still prefer to be in a car with airbags, but I applaud the seatbelts.

Like, just because we have airbags in cars now doesn't mean that seatbelts weren't a big improvement in the state of automobile safety. I'd still prefer to be in a car with airbags, but I applaud the seatbelts.

That's well said and should be said somewhere that isn't my comments. (My personal automotive safety metaphor would probably be collapsible steering wheels or laminated safety glass, but I still agree.)

Thank you! This is a conversation I've had more than once, and I'm glad to have suddenly found a metaphor that lets me express what I mean more succinctly. Hopefully I'll remember it the next time I have this conversation.

Hopefully I'll remember it the next time I have this conversation.

I was trying to encourage you to post on the subject, but you're under no obligation to. It's just too good a metaphor—and a point—not to share.

Hmmm, it turns out I have some uncertainty around doing that. When the topic arises, I find it interesting to discuss . . . but posting off my own bat feels a little odd because I'm basically not an individual for whom that representation matters personally. (Half a point for being female, maybe, because god knows there's been some terrible female representation out there -- but it isn't in the same boat as queer or BIPOC or what have you.) So launching a conversation of that kind myself feels . . . presumptuous?

I do applaud the seatbelts, and I get really frustrated when I'm talking about an author who refused to use seatbelts in a car that had one and people chide me for not appreciating that seatbelts were an advance at the time. In this metaphor.

That is: I feel like this take is really important, but it also requires people to have an accurate sense of what was going on at the time, rather than just declaring that anything they like was fine at the time. Which. Sometimes it really, really was not. I feel more confident about that working well in this company than in some others.

I get really frustrated when I'm talking about an author who refused to use seatbelts in a car that had one and people chide me for not appreciating that seatbelts were an advance at the time. In this metaphor.

I like your elaboration of this metaphor, actually, because there are authors where you just wanted to take a scenic drive and instead you got decapitated by the windshield. And you shouldn't have had to expect to.

I feel more confident about that working well in this company than in some others.

Understood.

My usual metaphor is "I want to eat cotton candy without having to worry that I'll find a razor blade in it" but the windshield thing is very good too.

Oh, no argument that it's a metaphor which should be deployed with caution. I'm only happy because, in the situations where it will be useful, I finally have a more succinct way of phrasing it than my previous long rambling fumbles in that direction.

I really like Robert Picardo

Well, this is fair. He's great!

I like your sunset. And here's to hopefully significantly less coughing and capitalism next week.

Well, this is fair. He's great!

He was my strongest impression from my first go-around with Voyager in 2015. I followed him into a handful of Stargate: SG-1 at the time—and imprinted on his character even as a semi-antagonist, apparently "obstructive bureaucrat with hidden depths" is one of my catnips—and then for reasons I can't recall never explored further. Stargate Atlantis was definitely not my kind of show, but I regret nothing about having seen all of Picardo's scenes.

I like your sunset. And here's to hopefully significantly less coughing and capitalism next week.

Thank you! I suspect the capitalism is here to stay for the foreseeable future, but I have hopes regarding the cough.

Robert Picardo was one of MANY fine character actors contributing to the madness of one of my favorite flicks, _Get Crazy_. The film is about a New Year's Eve rock concert, and Picardo plays the bureaucratic fire inspector who threatens to shut the show down.

It's available on YouTube (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1-w0z68nFzk), but not DVD, as no-one seems to know who holds the rights. I have read allegations that that is because it basically got funded by the mafia as a money-laundering scam. Regardless, it's a really fun ride, as if Harvey Kurtzman's MAD was somehow made into an 80's comedy.

The film is about a New Year's Eve rock concert, and Picardo plays the bureaucratic fire inspector who threatens to shut the show down.

You have mentioned this movie! I will try to check it out. I am sympathy with loving media trapped in rights hell—Alan Rudolph's Remember My Name (1978) is in a similar position of not existing in any legal home format. I've seen it twice on TCM, more than five years apart, and it drives me up the wall.

[edit] I have now seen much more of Robert Picardo than I ever expected in two different movies from the '80's. Then again, I have also now heard the voice of Malcolm McDowell's junk.

I have good news for you.

Edited 2021-02-09 07:42 (UTC)

"Don't just stand there, give the lad a drink!"

Thanks for the release news!

Thanks for the release news!

You're welcome!

I have functionally not slept since Monday night, so I wrote you up a movie.

While I mourn your lack of sleep, "sleep-deprived" may in fact be the proper frame of mind for watching or writing about that film :-)

My week has continued to consist primarily of coughing and capitalism

That's a great line!

A shitty experience, but a great line.

A shitty experience, but a great line.

Thank you! I try.

The Legend of Korra only ended in 2014 and its finale with the endgame f/f pairing holding hands and looking deeply into one another's eyes was a game-changer for children's/YA TV. These things move so fast and it's so easy to forget what existed before.

and even very recently, the showrunners of the recent She ra reboot had to fight so hard for same-sex relationships in the show that one of them had a nervous breakdown...

and even very recently, the showrunners of the recent She ra reboot had to fight so hard for same-sex relationships in the show that one of them had a nervous breakdown...

Jeez. I hadn't heard that. I'm glad they won, but.

Noelle Stevenson talking about it in her own words:

https://gingerhaze.tumblr.com/post/181587351548/2018-year-in-review

That really is a fine sunrise!

That really is a fine sunrise!

There was a hot bronze-colored one this morning that woke me!

my brain is now attempting to persuade me to fancast Andrews as Peter Wimsey

And now so is mine.

Yeah, that would be fun!

And now so is mine.

I'm delighted it's not just me.

Edited 2021-02-06 14:56 (UTC)

My rapidly-dimming memory from the days when I was watching B5 as it aired is that Talia Winters was written out because the actress had to leave for some real-world reason, and that Ivanova was written out because during all the shenanigans of "season 5 is canceled! woops, it's uncanceled!" the actress made other commitments and wasn't available.

Both of these facts match my memory as well. I believe much of what turned into Lyta Alexander's arc was originally written for Talia. I would love if that had contained an ongoing relationship with Ivanova. Better than Byron.

(Babylon 5 was the first TV show I followed that was not a product of Jim Henson or the Children's Television Workshop and I still have opinions!)

(Though in that case, one does wonder whether the Marcus-pursuing-Ivanova plot was always intended, or written in after the loss of Talia. I forget the relative chronology.)

Talia left in the second season, Marcus was introduced in the third, I have actually no idea! The combination did at least keep me from viewing Talia's death-of-personality as a case of "Bury Your Gays" as opposed to "Bury Anyone Ivanova Might Vaguely Be Interested In."

That is a glorious sunrise! No way I would have seen it, as I have no eastward window,and I am unlikely to be on the street at that hour...

Nine

No way I would have seen it, as I have no eastward window,and I am unlikely to be on the street at that hour...

I'm glad to have caught it for you!

It's so, so recent. Remembering how I felt seeing the Korra finale is just amazing; I was one of the people who figured that the creators were intending Korra and Asami to be romantically interested in each other in season 4, and "holding hands and walking into the sunset on a vacation together" was still explicit beyond my wildest dreams.

I was one of the people who figured that the creators were intending Korra and Asami to be romantically interested in each other in season 4, and "holding hands and walking into the sunset on a vacation together" was still explicit beyond my wildest dreams.

The internet exploded and it had a right to.

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Hickory, ash, and oak

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