Some may recall the singing of the sirens lured in the sailors who'd wreck and drown

[sovay]

1. Last night I fell asleep before four in the morning and I stayed that way until shortly after one in the afternoon. In between, for the first time in months, I had detailed, narrative dreams in two distinct phases. I was watching a television play and participating in it at the same time: the killing of a king in something like a Shakespearean history, filmed with all the grey skies and chapped faces and damp wool of modern adaptations. There might or might not have been a plot with a pretender. The speeches should have been in verse, but I can't remember if they were. I fell in love with the youngest of the killers, the one who got the death-blow in, a thin, cowled, gender-ambiguous person with straw-spiky hair and a round face with too many bones in it. They were quick-spoken, taking little nervous breaths halfway through phrases; they were gentle and political and I knew they would be betrayed. We never did more than hold one another, briefly and longingly. I had to watch them found out and torn apart, long after the point where the frame of the play had blurred into something that was really happening. Quartering sounds neat as mathematics, I remember thinking; bodies aren't stamps with dotted lines. After the coronation, I pushed through the gallery of spectators into the backstage that had not existed since the first moments of the dream and found them in modern dress, scarf pulled down around their neck like a cowl, packing a knapsack. They burrowed against me instantly. Later I learned that their name was Filipe and their gender identity was "boi" and we went out to dinner with a bunch of other actors and dancers they worked with (at a restaurant near Fresh Pond that hasn't existed since I was a child, though I didn't remember that until after I'd woken) and it wasn't that the events of the history play had never happened, or that we were living in some kind of metatheatrical region between dreams, but dying and going out to dinner were apparently not mutually exclusive. It was not an idyllic dream, which interests me from here. Not all their friends liked or approved of me; I hadn't introduced them yet to any of mine beyond rushthatspeaks and derspatchel. It must have been colder where we were or earlier in the year, because I remember trees breaking into flower above our heads, white and pink petals all over the sidewalk. I remember how they fit into my arms, a little shorter than I was and much skinnier. I missed them when I woke up. Those are unusual dreams for me these days.

2. I spent much of this evening with sairaali and M., watching Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001). It turns out that the pilot and the second half of the two-parter with the Borg Queen are not a good introduction to Voyager, but being shown four favorite episodes (and one chosen to showcase a character I was interested in) by someone who really likes the series is great. Robert Picardo continues his streak of fantastic character acting, because the Doctor was my favorite character almost at once. Her figure-hugging jumpsuit is idiotic, but Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine may be coming in second. I am interested to see a show running two very different narratives about how to be human—or not—simultaneously, without putting them in conflict with one another. Will gladly watch more episodes as recommended. Also, Kate Mulgrew has an amazing voice. The last person I heard who sounded like her was Katharine Hepburn.

(I stand by my original assessment of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005), however: it was terrible.)

3. I should cook fruit more often. The braces and other health concerns have made eating most raw fruits difficult, but the baked-down plums and nectarines really worked.

Comments

[sovay]

Jeri Ryan consistently does good work with minimal roles.

There's actually a lot about Seven of Nine's character as written that I really enjoy. She really is much less human than she looks, physiologically as well as psychologically; at least in the episodes I've seen, there's a degree past which she seems genuinely disinterested in recovering or developing her humanity, or at least she's not interested in doing so for the comfort or approval of others. I loved that the episode in which the Doctor attempts to teach Seven of Nine how to date ends with him in love and her deciding that romance isn't her thing. I was so happy to hear her remind Janeway that she has just as much in common with the replicator and the Doctor as she does with Janeway or the other organic characters on the ship. Some things about personhood intrigue her, others hold no appeal, and either way she'll spend the rest of her life recharging in regeneration alcoves rather than sleeping. Her costume is just incredibly stupid and I'm not even sure, in-world, what explains it. As I said to sairaali, I would expect a person who's used to the weight and bulkiness of Borg armor and implants to wear more layers of clothing, not fewer.

She's really quite good when she shows up in Leverage, mostly in season 2.

I am beginning to see Leverage in my future . . .

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Leverage is very worthwhile television. Timothy Hutton's character can be a little much sometimes, but the others are always great, and he's usually good (and in a "helps the others shine" sort of way. When the plot is centered on him, it tends to leave me cold).

Also, it's got Mark Shepard, who is not always a mark of quality (no pun intended, but now that it's here, I embrace it), but always a mark of style. And they don't overuse him like they do in Supernatural.

[sovay]

but the others are always great, and he's usually good (and in a "helps the others shine" sort of way.

Cool. I appreciate generous acting.

Also, it's got Mark Shepard, who is not always a mark of quality (no pun intended, but now that it's here, I embrace it), but always a mark of style.

I don't think I know Mark Sheppard at all. I might have seen him in Firefly. Who does he play in Leverage?

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Mark Shepard plays ... oh crap. I forget his name in Leverage, he's an old rival for timothy Hutton's character. He shows up once in a while and makes a good foil for the team.

He's Crowley in Supernatural, and they love him on that show to the point where they have (amongst their many latter-day sins) kind of overuse the character.

[sovay]

He's Crowley in Supernatural, and they love him on that show to the point where they have (amongst their many latter-day sins) kind of overuse the character.

I never got into Supernatural; I know the premise, but I've never seen an episode. Given what I've heard about the later seasons, however, I feel like that's all right.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

It has its charms, at least for the first 6-7 seasons, and bright spots in season 8. I wouldn't recommend it without reservation (this is a universe where they identify God as a man who has a problem with women and they run with that), but there are worse things on television.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Seconding Leverage. I enjoy this show a great deal, but then, I think con men are fascinating, and count among my favorite comfort movies The Brothers Bloom, Maverick (for the sheer number of double crosses) and Leap of Faith, so the mileage of any person who didn't thoroughly impress on Robert Preston as Harold Hill is probably running on a different odometer.

[sairaali.livejournal.com]

Oh dude, I got so bored of Nate Ford and his endless wallowing in angst and his abject refusal to make any personal growth or development at all. I could have dealt with it if I thought he was growing at all in any way, but no, it was the bog of eternal pity.

Mark Shepard was great! I love to hate him -- he was the most sympathetic ruthless tv villian I can remember in a long time. He was an excellent antagonist in Warehouse 13 too. I don't want to typecast him, but, every time I've liked him, he's been playing the dogged believer in The System going after our loveable but reckless and unlawful heroes, and he does so well in that kind of role.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

This is true. Nate is only good when he's hatching the plan or interacting with the others (except for Sophie, and I think that relationship between the two of them bogs her character down).

Shepard is great when they use him right. He's fun even when they don't. Sterling was a good example of using him correctly.

[sovay]

his abject refusal to make any personal growth or development at all. I could have dealt with it if I thought he was growing at all in any way, but no, it was the bog of eternal pity.

*snerk*

I will consider myself warned.

I don't want to typecast him, but, every time I've liked him, he's been playing the dogged believer in The System going after our loveable but reckless and unlawful heroes, and he does so well in that kind of role.

Please tell me he has actually played Javert sometime; he sounds perfect. And generally like someone I should see.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

LJ ate my first comment, so I'll try it again.

I would expect a person who's used to the weight and bulkiness of Borg armor and implants to wear more layers of clothing, not fewer.

This nails something for me that was always an underlying, inarticulate unease about the costume, overshadowed by the fanservicey aspects.

Fanservice is one thing, and as a member of the default target audience for it, it always leaves me feeling a little insulted and filthy (at some point, I need to talk about going to the car after Ex Machina (2015). But fanservice that is also bad fiction really rubs me up the wrong way.

[sovay]

But fanservice that is also bad fiction really rubs me up the wrong way.

At present it's my major argument with the presentation of her character!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

There's an episode I've only ever seen part of, and only once, that I'd dearly like to see, in which they seem on the verge of discovering a singularity or something--something that for the Borg is spiritually significant--and she experiences some sense of loss or regret when ? I don't know... things don't work out for one reason or another. I'd like to see the episode and see what actually happened in it.

And yes, I like that about being as like the replicator and the doctor. It's not a self-deprecating remark, it's a machine-elevating remark.

[sovay]

they seem on the verge of discovering a singularity or something--something that for the Borg is spiritually significant--and she experiences some sense of loss or regret when ? I don't know... things don't work out for one reason or another. I'd like to see the episode and see what actually happened in it.

If we watch it, I'll report back.

It's not a self-deprecating remark, it's a machine-elevating remark.

Exactly. Other kinds of life are valid, too. [edit] I associate it more with Star Trek: The Next Generation than with the original series, and I haven't seen enough of Deep Space Nine to comment, but there's a persistent issue with the inclusivity in the Star Trek universe—IDIC and all that, but far too often alien-human compare-and-contrast plots wind up resolving as if automatically in favor of the human way, and that includes artificial intelligence stories. I liked seeing the explicit acknowledgement that the organic human way is not the only right way and it's the humans' responsibility to get over that particular blind spot, not the cyborg's to change to conform to it.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Far too often alien-human compare-and-contrast plots wind up resolving as if automatically in favor of the human way, and that includes artificial intelligence stories. I liked seeing the explicit acknowledgement that the organic human way is not the only right way and it's the humans' responsibility to get over that particular blind spot, not the cyborg's to change to conform to it.

ME TOOOOOOO.