On TWoP, movies, shows, Thanskgiving, and other matters wholly unrelated to each other

[dangermousie]

I am sort of annoyed with TWoP. It has good posters on its boards who know how to spell, but the pervading sycophancy really gets on my nerves. I understand they have very strict board rules, but all that means is you have got to behave yourself. It doesn't mean you have to suck up to the recappers as if your life depended on it: "Recapper X, your comment is a pearl of wisdom. Recapper X, your Recap last week gave meaning to my life. Recapper X, we are not worthy to breathe the same internet air you do." I mean seriously, stop with the servility! Not to mention the fact that most recaps themselves annoy the heck out of me. Fine, Recapper X and I might not agree on what's good (or anything much else, for that matter), but what really bugs me is they aren't even funny. There are some recaps I like (most of Veronica Mars ones) but they drown in a sea of attempted and failed humor. Saying "Such and such sucks" does not a witty remark make. Plus, sometimes you get a sense of a. trying too hard and b. smugness. Very off-putting.

Oh, and I've finally gotten around to watching Crash and found it incredibly well-acted but too one-note, contrived and preachy. Also, not everyone is obsessed with race. Not really my thing. In other movie news, I am still unsure whether to see Jarhead or Zorro. I mean, they both sound OK enough, but I have a singular lack of huge enthusiasm. With Jarhead, it's probably because while "war is evil" makes for an entertaining movie, "war is boring"...not so much. With Zorro, it's because it looks like the kind of movie I'd enjoy if I had a book along (and it's not really a slam. It just means I wouldn't love it enough to devote 2 hours of undivided, unfastforwardable attention to it). Hmmm.

On the non-ranty front, Happy Turkey Day to everyone on my flist who celebrates Thanksgiving. I know it's a bit early, but tomorrow I am going to be at my in-laws and no idea if I'll have the time or ability to post until Sunday ("Phew," sighs the flist, "We get a break from all the Dark Angel ramblings.")

Of course, the only downside to having a lovely long trip with family is that I won't see Veronica Mars until Sunday (!!!). While everybody will be watching Veronica and Logan snark their way through the episode, I'll be in the car. Of course, the plus side is, I won't be able to access spoilers.

And last, but not least, I think my husband is a Max/Logan shipper. I knew he had good taste :D He watches Dark Angel with me (well, most of the time) and he was asking me the other day if Max and Logan ever found a cure for the virus, and he was getting annoyed with Max when she was shutting Logan out. Or it could be guy solidarity :P

I've also realized that much as I like snark, if there is a direct choice between a serious, idealistic, leader type and a snarky, cynical, hides good impulses under bristly exterior type, I am always going to go for the former (Logan v. Alec in Dark Angel, Max v. Michael in Roswell, Angel v. Spike in BtVS/AtS). I guess since the former is my RL type as well. Of course, when a character combines both (Mal in Firefly, Crichton in Farscape), I am an instant goner.

Comments

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

I am sort of annoyed with TWoP. It has good posters on its boards who know how to spell, but the pervading sycophancy really gets on my nerves.

Oh gd, you have no idea how bad it is.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I mean, seriously, why????? You are not going to get kicked off if you don't go into recaps thread and lavish praise. Really. What is with the weird cringing heirarchy?

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think that is going to get you kicked off. ;)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heh. I think I might be in danger :P

Love the icon!

[(Anonymous)]

I love some of the forums on TWoP but I absolutely refuse to post on the Kiss-The-Recapper's-Ass threads. Since the recappers are also powerful moderators with hair-trigger banning powers, posting there is like commenting on Herr Hitler's paintings.

I take it back; I actually did post once and disputed CB's interpretation of a scene. And he delivered a verbal smackdown about that being inappropriate in that thread.

What I hate about TWoP forums is that the recapper eventually warps the overall view of all the forum posters toward the show into the same direction as his own. Any dissenters leave or keep quiet. Natural consequence of the moderating policy, no matter what kind of person the recapper is.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Of course. I know I got rather bored and sort of stopped reading it much for that reason. Headache-inducing.

[grace-om.livejournal.com]

What's "TWoP"?

Re choosing between Jarhead and Zorro 2... I enjoyed the first Zorro, but not sure I'll bother about the new one. Maybe rent it when it comes out on DVD. Jarhead is not just about "war is boring". It's about what happens to a human being when you train him to kill, pump him up emotionally for the fight, pull him out of his life at home (which all too often falls apart in his absence), and then...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for thr Jarhead heads up. Basically, I am an emotional vampire and I want something that will really grab me...

[thelana.livejournal.com]

There are some recaps I like (most of Veronica Mars ones) but they drown in a sea of attempted and failed humor. Saying "Such and such sucks" does not a witty remark make.

Word. The reviews get really old, real fast.

TWOP has some very good and unique properties (especially as far as the discussion is concerned), but I usually overdose on it every once in a while. Resulting in a period where I absolutely hate it and stay away from it for a bunch of months before I can return.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, and sometimes the reviewers try SO hard to be hip and cynical and sophisticated, you really want to go "we get it, you are cool. Now, can we move on to something of interest?"

[snacktastic.livejournal.com]

OH GOD! I know. I was on fametracker.com for years and then posted at times, but to a lesser extent on TWOP. There is such an annoying tendency to confuse snark with being an asshole. As well, there is a kind of interaction where both recapper and recappee likes the perpetual asskissing facilitated by the tendency for forum mods to be arbitrary in their smackdowns. It is an annoying part of the DHAK's universe and yet I can't stay away forever. I still go to the Real World forums,even though I question both the show and the recaps. It's the fate of all of us :P

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

confuse snark with being an asshole.

And then there are certain recappers all of them who take a dislike to a character(s) or view them a certain way, and no matter what said character does, it will NOT change the recapper's opinion (I am reminded of a Dark Angel quote which is really apt, where Logan is describing his Uncle (paraphrase): "If I were Jesus and could walk on water, he'd tell me: "'why can't you fly?'")

I'd rather check TWoP than shipper forums for any ship, even a ship I share, because those really scare me.

[stickykeys633.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge Jacob fan for the reason that he can always find the good in a contestant, even if it's one I hate, at least he tries. What did you think of his VM recap? I've heard it was good. I like Couch Baron, but I like him as just a fun guy who says stuff that's funny every now and again, but I never think of him as a laugh riot.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I actually liked Jacob's recap better than CB's. But the problem with ALL recappers is that I feel they try too hard. But at least Jacob was funny. Whoever wrote recaps for Dark Angel and Battlestar Galactica and Buffy severely lacked a funny bone so I was going...what is the point of this? Is there some humor I am really missing here?

[jammer77.livejournal.com]

I love the TWOP recaps. Haaaaaaaaaate the forums. The forums drive me nutso.

I only really read the VM ones, though. Couch Baron, although funny, in no way resembles my god, though. ;)

I also find I'm LMAO at the Prison Break recaps.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I used to lurk at the BSG TWoP forums, and some posters there (of the "Lee is God, Kara should shine his shoes after long training" variety) were scary.

And people tend to overfixate on small things and be "why isn't it resolved now, now, now" (because it's in serialized format, that's why) but I do think there are a lot of intelligent posters there.

BSG recaps used to drive me up the wall.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I must agree about the Prison Break recaps. Those really are hilarious in a snarky, but not too snarky manner, as you can tell the recapper likes the show. And she's funny too.

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

Your thoughts on Zorro echo mine. I happen to think the first one is loads of fun...but the second looks like a good rental that I can stop and go back to if I need a break.

lol - Your ramblings don't bother me. I am very guilty of rambling myself. :)

<3 Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's basically my thoughts on Zorro in a nutshell. Have a great Thanksgiving too!

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

A random question, but are you getting your comments emailed to you? Because LJ hasn't been sending mine through for a couple of days now, and I'm trying to figure out if it's just me or if it's system-wide.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

There is a system-wide problem with comment emails. I don't get mine emailed to be anyway (I turned off the option) but I know a lot of people on my friends list have this problem.

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

And of course the irony of this is that this comment actually did e-mail itself to me, and is possibly the first one I've gotten in almost a week. O_o

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

TWOP recaps often depresses the heck out of me. After a while the snark becomes just bitterness, or snark for the sake of snark (which I find empty), rather than genuinely funny or interesting commentary.

I personally loved Jarhead, and here are my two posts on it, including my review. I loved how it was both very thoughtful, very funny, and emotionally engaging.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes. You often get the feeling that the recapper hates the show which must make it quite a chore to review, indeed, but it's not really a cure to be bitter to make everyone else equally so.

I am going to read your Jarhead views. I basically want something emotionally engaging and I was afraid it was all just a bunch of "we are bore, bored, bored" stuff.

[munchkin62.livejournal.com]

Happt Turkey day to you too!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oooooh...icon! *dies*

[munchkin62.livejournal.com]

Thank you! liminalliz made it, it's the best.

bsgrpf is dirty and I love it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, Katee looks talled than Jamie in this pic :P

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

I thought I was the only person who didn't think Crash was all that. It seemed to me like a movie everyone signed on to so they could do all of that stuff they learned in drama school, which might have been great for them and it's the sort of thing movie critics love. But I also found it contrived, relentlessly-p.c., and it's zeal for gritty realism (which in Hollywood means crudeness, sex, violence, and frequent f-bombs) ironically made it feel unrealistic. The race issues were so exaggerated, Spike Lee would think it was over the top. They did really well with suspense in some parts, i.e. the crazed shop owner going to shoot the Latino guy we all know was innocent or whether Matt Dillon was going to rescue that woman in time. But in the end, it was all pointless. It just ends with an "oh well, that's life in El Lay" shrug.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the spoilers.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it ended up being ridiculously over the top and contrived and exaggerated. You'd think all the people did is breathe, eat and sleep race. Ugh.

Total Oscarbation.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Oscarbation! Great new word!

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Wow, there are a bunch of icons I adore on this response thread.

Anyway, TWoP drives me insane most of the time. The forums are ridiculous. I remember the Angel one had a moderator who was just a NAZI when it came to posting anything the slightest bit off the exact topic of the thread. If you had so much as a sentence that did not directly relate to the actual topic the post would be erased. The Supernatural forum isn't that bad, but there are a bunch of panic stricken posters on there who gloom and doom that Supernatural is going to get pulled because it doesn't bring in Desperate Housewife like numbers. That forum needs some tranqs. The recaps themselves I'm a bit disappointed in lately. The person who does Prison Break is pretty good, but most of the other ones just aren't that funny. I remember I lived for the X-Files recaps because they were hilarious.

Of the guys you just listed, I picked the opposite one of you every time. LOL.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Of the guys you just listed, I picked the opposite one of you every time.

I knew that would happen :) It's not that I find the others unappealing, it's just that I find the responsbile type suits me best (in RL, my husband is a lot more like Logan than like Alec, that's for sure).

Panic sricken posters? Boy, every forum has those, unfortunately.

[ayn-rand-fan-13.livejournal.com]

I could not agree with you more about TWOP. One of the mods locked the "House" fanfiction thread. Her reason? There was an irrelivant discussion going on. About fanfiction.
That said, I do like the Veronica Mars and Apprentice recaps. (I don't watch "The Apprentice", I just like the recaps).

Have fun at your in-laws!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Yeah, TWoP is an odd, odd place.

[cosmicviolet.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to think about TWOP really...I guess you take from it what you want. Like, I find the VM media thread quite useful, but the episode thread moves too fast for me to comment in and would take forever to read (and people would most likely ignore me anyway), so I don't bother with it usually. What does worry me a bit is that Rob Thomas is known to visit the board, and I hope he doesn't take what people say to heart too much. I mean, it can be a pretty negative place, and it must be crushing to see something that you enjoyed creating be picked apart by people. I also wouldn't want what we say to influence the show.
The Supernatural forum seems okay, but then, it's only been around for two weeks or so. The Charmed forum can be funny at times (one of the posters does a comic strip called 'Harmed,' which is awesome). Interesting thing with the Charmed recaps is that as the show gets worse, the recaps are generally funnier, because there's more to mock I guess. So even though Demian spends half the time saying "I hate this show and want to die", I get the sense he likes it more than he lets on.
In general, I've noticed that it does seem to be bitter for bitter's sake sometimes, and I don't see the point in that, so I try to keep a healthy distance. But it's a bit more balanced than some other boards, where people are really perky and "OMG if LoVe doesn't get together right now I'll die!!11", etc.
Anyway, happy Thansgiving. :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

where people are really perky and "OMG if LoVe doesn't get together right now I'll die!!11", etc.

Heh.

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!