Miniposts: Due South, Rachel Yamagata, And Character Mapping OR Dear Lord, I need a chat client

[sisabet]

I have no idea what to post about. I mean - there are a ton of things running through my brain right now, even more so than usual as I don't have a computer at home this week and so my chat/email outlets have been severely affected.

So I have things to say. I can't tell if the things I have to say need to be said, but that really has never stopped me before. I could post about my thoughts re: due South Season 4 and the tremendous relief I now feel having watched the entire series (seriously, I get anxious about strange things. Not having access to complete collections is one of those things. Panic inducing almost). Short version: I really like this show. A lot.

I'm also vaguely irritated at Rachel Yamagata. I bought an EP this weekend at the used store based on the fact that I liked her voice and energy in "Letter Read" and yet on an initial superficial listen today at lunch - grrr. See, no energy at all at all at all. This drives me nuts - like a Norah Jonesian Disease that affects female singers with this kind of voice. Dammit girl - spit out what you are trying to say, I do not have all day to listen to one freaking song! Yes. I lack patience. I know this and so my personal distaste for these faux-torch songs is my own. Just... I am learning if a descriptor attached to a female singer contains the words "smoky" or "sultry" than said singer is liable to drive me nuts. I should have known this from "Letter Read" as I love the songs structure and I love Yamagata's voice in the song and I love the instrumentation... just - GAWD!! I am so sick of "My baby done me wrong and now my life is over" songs. Get a grip. Seriously - Rachel! You are freaking out here! What happened? Is it just your man/woman left you/cheated on you? Cause it sounds like more than that - did your Mom die? Did your ex kill your dog? Do you have a passel of kids and the ex took the truck and you lost your job? Cause otherwise, calm the fuck down and go to fucking work, okay. Sheesh.

Yeah. I am impatient. Luckily, I've been obsessively listening to Patti Smith's "horses" since last weekend and there is a woman who knows urgency and layers.

tzikeh asked me over crack wings a few months ago exactly how my Angel-mapping works (you know - when I get all excited about a character and post about him/her and then say "And he/she is Angel!!) she wanted to know what that is about - how it works and I don't think I was able to explain it to her adequately.

And it isn't that the Jossverse was my first fandom -- it is that a lot of the archtypes that resonate with me are represented in the Jossverse. And it isn't just that Angel is Angel. It is that... the qualities that make him Angel, the intangibles that go beyond just physicalities (although I do appreciate his physical form immensely) make him so perfectly Angel and the Angel type is just... it is a representation in its pure form of a character that has ALWAYS pinged with me. I mean, I look back now and I can see that my favorite Smurf was actually ANGEL. So, this has been going on for a loooong time (and I do believe renenet is keeper of the Buffy-Smurfs).

So, when I start saying that Aeryn is Angel - I don't really mean that she has oh so much in common with Angel. I mean her representation, her intangible Aeryn-ness, pings with me on the Angel-wavelength. They are cut from the same cloth.

Buffy is actually Buffy and so therefore is a definable character for me. I can look at another universe and at another character and go "Oh, that is Buffy!" But as pipsqueaky and I discussed on the drive back from Chicago - Buffy has a lot in common with Angel and so sometimes that water gets murky - sometimes you can confuse an Angel with a Buffy or vice versa, initially. It is a complicated process, I admit it. Buffy is cut from a similar cloth as Angel, just on the bias.

For example - Wes is not his own character - he is just a representation of "Buffy: Worst Case Scenario." Xander is actually "Buffy: Best Case Scenario" or he will be - hopefully. They all ping on the same wavelength to me (but one that is closely parallel to the Angel-length and sometimes intersects).

Spike is the third type and he is usually easily identifiable. The Spikes of the world are not shy about their Spikeness.

And of course all of the above is just my opinion and kind of how I categorize and think about things. I know that a lot of people see things differently and hell, a lot of people like Norah Jones. Amazon seems to want me to be one of those people - they have been pimping her hard at me for *years* so who knows - maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and have changed my mind. Not about Angel - I don't see that happening, but you know -- something else.

ETA: messed up LJ tags created havoc on this post

Comments

[kimera.livejournal.com]

I think it is funny how fannish pimping seems to happen in waves. I mean, it's understandable with new-ish shows... but, due South has been finished for years, and all of a sudden my friendslist has erupted in Mountie-squee (well, er, moreso than usual, anyway). I love it :)

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Well - *getting* due South was difficult and expensive in the States (I ordered from eBay) and the discs SUCK. And then, suddenly last month with no warning whatsoever, Best Buy came out with Season 1 and 2 at $20 each. Not that I am *bitter* about that.

Oh! And a week before *that* tzikeh had a pimping party and it was ALL MOUNTIE, ALL THE TIME. I was allowed to watch some of S1 before I came to her house, but past and including "The Wild Bunch" - which I was okay with as even with supportive friends that ep almost killed me.

[kimera.livejournal.com]

Haha, yes. They were $90-ish here when they first came out, which isn't even close to the prices I have seen on the few places that'll import them to the States, but still. A *lot* for a bare-bones DVD set. But, you know, they're not ten-year-old tapes off the CBC, so I'm happy. Still can't find anyplace offline that has S3, though. Woe :(

I think you ought to watch Twitch City next. It's very... meta.

Sometimes I think I could exist happily with nothing to watch but nineties television.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

quick note, I am updating my web site and linked back to your vid site.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Coolness. Not all of my vids are accessible from the site, though. They are gettable thru this LJ post (just fyi):

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sisabet/220944.html