Firefly and other entertainments

[altivo]

Furries in the library!

Someone lent Gary the Firefly/Serenity series on DVD. I had already heard enough about it to suspect it wouldn't appeal to me, but I agreed to watch some of it with him. Unfortunately, my prior assessment seems to be correct. We watched the first disc's worth, and I was quite put off by all the violence. Some of the story elements are interesting, but it seems to me that the main thing that is used to hold the series together (and keep the interest of viewers?) is regular doses of extreme violence. This certainly is alien to my own life experience and doesn't attract me at all. I can't understand why anyone would want to watch this stuff, frankly, but I feel the same about most television and films.

I've mentioned that I was listening to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in the car when driving to and from work. That's on CD and the car has a CD player. My old Jeep had a cassette player instead, so I used to listen to audiobooks using an mp3 player and one of those tape cassette adapters. Can't do that now. Consequently, the book on the mp3 player only gets listened to while doing barn chores. At the moment, that's the audio version of Brian Jacques' Redwall. The author himself is narrator, and multiple actors perform the character voices, which is nice because there are so many different dialects of British and Scottish English involved. I've been enjoying it quite a bit, which is a contrast to my experience a couple of years ago when I tried to listen to Mossflower while driving. That edition was on cassette tapes and the sound quality wasn't as good. I found that I couldn't follow the accents over the distractions of driving and the noisier background. However, they are no problem at all while filling water buckets and scooping manure. Hmmm.

I've also been reading Why Coyotes Howl by Watts Martin (published by Sofawolf.) This is an anthology of short stories, some definitely furry, some more marginal, and a couple that, while good enough stories, leave me puzzled as to why they were included in this particular collection. The furry stories are very good though, and I recommend the book to furry readers. I especially enjoyed the one set on a college campus and told from the viewpoint of a raccoon who is jealous of the cute vixens, mostly because, as we learn, she has a massive crush on a certain dog fox. The outcome was most satisfying...

Comments

[felder.livejournal.com]

HI 'Tivo

my other half and I adore Serenity/Firefly as one of the best things to happen to TV SciFi, next to the greatness that is the second coming of Battlestar Galactica! (whoo! 3rd season tomorrow!)

it really is worth sticking it out and watching the whole series and the movie. sure there is violence, but the universe it is set in is violent, its back water, Wild West and lacking in High tech. its a real shame it got cancelled before its time, I think it would have evolved greatly.

(have a slight bias, I thought Joss Whedon's Buffy series was good too ;)

*hugs*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Buffy? eeewww! ;p

I think I just was never meant to appreciate television.

[felder.livejournal.com]

Well, perhaps ;)

but then again I don't know what it was like for you to grow up? I know that TV was there during the earlier parts of my life. remembering 'Watch with Mother' and recalling lots of old black and white shows. (heck I recall watching UFO when it was on) ;)

*snugs*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I grew up reading books and making up stories while my two brothers watched the television. :) The thing has never had very much appeal to me.

We did have a television all right, as far back as I can remember (mid-1950s.) There were a few programs that I did watch most of the time, including The Cisco Kid (a Western serial that was mostly satire and parody of the others, quite campy,) The Mickey Mouse Club (approved by the parents,) and a couple of other children's shows. Mostly, though, television seemed too shallow and limited to me even then.

As an adult, I've retained the same attitude toward most television. Through my mate's influence, I was a steady fan of the old BBC Dr. Who series, particularly the Troughton, Pertwee, and Tom Baker periods. After that I felt it wasn't as good. Mostly we thought it was fun as satire and parody of television and science fiction in general. I did watch most of Star Trek, the Next Generation though the original series and the other spinoffs didn't appeal to me as much. Other than that, I enjoyed many presentations on the public television Masterpiece Theatre (which mostly showed BBC material such as the Dorothy Sayers mysteries that featured Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter, and the long-running Upstairs, Downstairs serial.) Oh, and I should mention one other BBC serial that my mate and I have enjoyed, and that was All Creatures Great and Small, of which we have now watched just about everything that was ever produced, renting it on DVD.

There are major differences between British television and US productions, of course, and most of what I've been exposed to is of US origin. Flat, shallow, and rushed would be the adjectives I'd use to describe it. Exaggerated violence, sex, and sensationalism seems to be the selling point. Eh. I'm just not interested.

[kint.livejournal.com]

I really do think that Firefly gets into an extraordinary amount of character development. Unfortunately, if the violence gets to you I'd suspect that it's liable to draw your attention away from such things (and I will agree, there is plenty.

And the British can certainly exaggerate their sex! They do it to hilarious effect in 'Coupling' IMHO :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I can see the potential for character development there. It certainly has a collection of oddities and extremes. But the violence is so gratuitious, and I just can't see much of it as essential to the plot. Those first episodes that we watched make even Star Wars look tame, and I got so disgusted with Star Wars that I haven't even bothered with the last two films Lucas did.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Fair point about violence in fiction. Also, substitute "romantic love" for "extreme violence" thus...

"Some of the story elements are interesting, but it seems to me that the main thing that is used to hold the series together (and keep the interest of viewers?) is regular doses of romantic love. This certainly is alien to my own life experience and doesn't attract me at all."

and you've got my objection to most television and films. ;D Sorry, I'll stop breaking brains now and vamoose.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That too. And I don't read Danielle Steel or W.E.B. Griffin either. ;p

Actually, I like romance, but not in the style of most popular presentations. Hence much furry fiction works for me. Of course, a lot of it has gay relationships treated as if they were just as normal as hetero ones.

Unfortunately, mainstream gay fiction is not as good. Like Danielle Steel or Victoria Holt, it is distorted and just too unrealistic and exaggerated. I feel the same about furry stories in which yiff seems to be the whole point of the tale (tail?)

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

Violence in popular entertainment is the norm.

Well, at least since the Collesium.

Its difficult to get popular acclaim unless
you include kinky skanky sex and/or
people being physically destroyed in
awful ways. I think Melville mentioned that
once.

I wrote to S.M. Stirling once who does heavy
military sci fi. He said, "Said as it is,
you need a hook. Sex or violence, but it
sells."

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes. And that's why my own writing probably has no market. It doesn't change the fact, however, that this stuff either repulses me or bores me.

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

I have this fantasy of writing Anti-King
stuff. That my stories will be /so/
wonderful, so goodly, so peaceful and
full of heartbreaking love that people
will buy it and it will make everyone
stop for a moment and ask;

"Why do we watch media that shows people
being killed? Isn't the news enough?
Shouldn't we be trying to make our world
such a wonderful place, with our children
filled with knowledge and love and
self confidence, that we don't /need/
violence?"

Yes, I do have what the Roman's called
"hubris". ^.^;

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*giggle* It was the Greeks who coined that word.

There is a market for that kind of writing, sort of. I can make a list of authors who have made a commercial success of it, including some pretty well-known names like Nicholas Sparks and Beverly Lewis.

The problem with changing society through that medium is that their readers seem to be almost entirely middle aged women, the kind who devote themselves to family-rearing, teaching, nursing, etc. rather than politics or other activities more likely to change the world. If you can get men, or better yet, teenagers of both sexes, to read and love that stuff, then we might see a change for the better.

Alas, these books are nowhere near as popular as John Grisham, Tim LaHaye, or Stephen King. Consequently, I fear that their effectiveness in producing change is probably limited, even though they are definite commercial successes.

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

I think this is why certain genres excell at
teaching adolescent males the pitfalls of
a life of violence. Harlan Ellison's "I Have No
Mouth But I Must Scream" comes to mind.

Of course we both assuming reading here.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, and judging by what I see daily here, that's a poor assumption. The few males in that age group who read regularly are not part of that particular problem. Those who do need teaching might respond to MTV programming or music videos or movies, but the printed word isn't going to reach them.

[dlorn.livejournal.com]

Good to hear another positive redwall review, I'm about to start that series myself.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

In audio or print?

I first read Redwall and Mossflower shortly after they were published, in about 1994. Some people complained about the obsession with food, but I found it amusing. All the fanciful creations of mouse and mole cuisine are kinda delightful, if you take my meaning, though I'm not sure I want to sample them all. The otters specialize in very spicy soup, the moles in deep dish pies that incorporate root vegetables, and the mice appear to be master brewers and distillers.

As the series went on (he has passed the 20th volume now I believe) I felt that it was starting to repeat itself excessively. There are several potential problems. One is the stereotyping. Rats, weasels, stoats, and foxes are always incurable villains. After a while, it becomes almost a sort of racism. Another is the interminable amount of time spent on fighting battle after battle. And the third is, yes, the lengthy descriptions of banquets featuring cutesy foods. Jacques did some delightful things, and I still find the use of different regional dialects of English to represent the speech of different species a fascinating concept. The moles, for instance, are Yorkshiremen while the sparrows are Cockney. It takes some getting used to if you aren't familiar with that stuff, and you might find the audio version easier (or more difficult) for the same reason.

I do recommend at least the first half dozen or so books, in any case. It's delightfully furry, full of clever fantasy, witticisms, and riddles that must be solved. The endings are happy but the stories aren't saccharine at all. People get hurt, and even die. A lot of history is covered, and he keeps it consistent where it ties together from one book to another. Read Redwall first, and then Mossflower because that's the order in which they were published, even though the latter comes earlier in the timeline. After that, you can pretty much take them in any order, because the setting is the connection, rather than the individual characters.

Do let us know what you think of them, too. :)

[dlorn.livejournal.com]

I'm more of a book reader myself, so when I get the books I'll be sure to recommend it to others if it's as good as it sounds like it's going to be.

I'm currently getting through that last book of the Wheel of Time series, after that I'm starting Redwall.

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

I'm currently getting through that last book of the Wheel of Time series

Isn't there supposed to be one more after Knife of Dreams? Or do you mean including that one?

[dlorn.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's out yet, but yea there is one more I think, I'm including that one, but I think I can start another series while I wait for it to come out.

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Redwall's pretty lightweight anyway (particularly by comparison!), and most of the books can stand on their own (so you don't have to read them in any real order).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. I found Wheel of Time unreadable, and I'm hardly a "light" reader.

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

Yay! Go Librarian!

^_^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*hands you red and blue pom-poms and a big white cheerleader sweater with an "L" on the front*

You are now appointed squad leader.

[octatonic.livejournal.com]

As usual he takes point.

*Give me an EEEELLLL!!!*

XD

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider.

I loved Firefly and understand how you feel. Still, the series only lasted a season and that is about when you get to know and understand the characters, plot-line, and overall theme n' stuff so that is too bad.

Another favorite is FarScape, a very strange universe with plot and great characters and the costumes and sets were awesome.

Of course Babylon 5 never went far enough either.

Star Gate, Battlescar and Atlantis are also favorites on Friday night Sci-Fi when the new series return twice a year.

You have never been a big sci-fi guy anyway, Rider. Which is, of course, perfect ok.

Imperator

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. Hiya handsome.

Actually, I've been a member of Science Fiction Book Club for 30 years. However, it's true that I read more what they probably call "fantasy" than I do hard core SF. And the violence is one reason for that. Violence just turns me off. It's bad enough that it exists in real life. I don't want it in my entertainment.

I liked Babylon 5 at first. The settings and characters were brilliant and complex. But after the first season it just kept getting worse and worse. Horribly depressing, nothing was ever right, it was all disasters and worse. I gave up on it.

I stuck with Star Trek the Next Generation through the whole thing, because they had real character development with interesting characters and because Patrick Stewart is a good actor in my opinion. It seemed there was less violence than in most television SF, though there was still too much in my opinion.

It's really television and movies that irritate me, more than the books. In those media, they obviously believe that sex and gore is what sells, so they push it really, really hard.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Why don't you just convert the mp3's to cd? If the CD player in your car plays mp3 cds that is. The other thing you can get is these little devices which broadcast to fm :) although the sound suffers a bit. Failing that you can get aftermarket stereos with "line in" :)

Also perhaps a little set of over the ear headphones, the light ones allow you to hear everything thats going on around you too :)

As far as tv goes, I only watch comedies and crime mysteries these days if at all. I tend to buy comedy series on dvd :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The car player will play MP3 files off CD. Unfortunately, the audiobooks I listen to on the MP3 player are not MP3 format. They are audible.com, a proprietary format that requires an enabled player. Lots of personal players are enabled, but you can't play them off a CD.

I've tried one of the FM gadgets and didn't care for the quality. It's also nearly impossible to find a free channel to use here. Instead you have to pick on that has a weak station or two on it and hope the player can "capture" the receiver's bandwidth. It only sorta works.

I dunno why the stereo in the car doesn't have a line in. It even has a button for an AUX input. But when you press that, you get a message saying it's disabled. Dumb.

Over the ear headphones are illegal while driving here. They do enforce it. Some time I'm going to try to get a look at the back of the built in stereo to see if it really has no line in. It's supposed to be satellite ready too, but I don't see where or how the satellite radio adapter connects.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Have you tried looking for a converter for those files? I'm sure someone has come up with one :)

Impossible to find a free channel? Kitty has one that can go at each 0.5mhz increment up the FM band. It also seems to be powerful enough to knock out a fair few of the stronger stations :)

Ahh if you have AUX, it could be you have two RCA plugs in the back of the stereo, usually if you have a CD changer fitted, graphic equilizer or satellite radio you can still control them with the current stereo :) You might be able to switch on the aux input at the back of the stereo.

Over the ear headphones are illegal? But they still allow handsfree kits for phones I bet.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's a conversion program. The format is proprietary and highly compressed.

A transmitter that tunes "between" channels wouldn't help much here because the car receivers are channelized and won't listen between the "official" frequencies.

The radio is digital. There may be no aux input and it just uses the same firmware as a model that does have the input.

Handsfree kits for phones that use an earpiece are also illegal to use while driving. The law about headphones predates the use of cell phones. Chicago stirred up a controversy last year by passing a local ordinance requiring cell phone users to have handsfree operation while driving. They made it illegal to drive while holding a cell phone in your hand. The earphone law is statewide. The courts have yet to clarify, and the legislature hasn't yet made any adjustments. Technically now, inside Chicago itself, the only legal way to use a cell phone while driving is to have a speakerphone with handsfree. Enforcement is impossible of course and the one handed cell phone blabbers are still causing crashes.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Sounds like here :)

Although for some reason a lot of the people I know here are from the Chicago area o.O Maybe that's an omen? What's the job market like?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The job market is rotten all over the US. The Bush administration keeps recalculating the statistics in various odd ways to try to make it look better, but the truth is we have a decline in the number of full time jobs, and the increases they keep crowing about are mostly part time jobs with no benefits like paid time off or health insurance. The number of US residents who are employed full time and have health insurance has been declining steadily throughout this administration.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Oh....well perhaps I'll stay here till it improves :)

[heavens-steed.livejournal.com]

I loved the Firefly series. I just happened to see it one day on the Sci-Fi channel and got hooked on it. The movie Serenity was okay. I am not a big fan of violence myself but I don't remember that show being accessively violent and even tame compared to many other movies and shows.

I am not a lover of gratuitous or gory violence by any means, but I do admit I like a good meaningful fight scene, preferably either sword fighting or martial arts like and that certain meaningful violence can serve to evoke powerful messages and emotions. The Passion of the Christ was full of horribly brutal violence, as most of the movie was about Christ's crucifixion, yet every bit of violence had profound meaning to the point where that meaning became all the more beautiful.

But most of the violence in Firefly/Serenity was probably quite gratuitous.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I only saw the first three episodes or something like that. But if they continued in the same vein, it just overshadows the important message and content. Violence and sex are used like bait in a trap, to keep viewers or readers hooked. They usually are not essential or particularly relevant, and even when they are, need not be presented in so much detail.