Noodles, Broken Flowers and

[andrewducker]

I have just had some Chicken & Herb Noodles.  They were lovely.

Earlier I went to see "Broken Flowers", which you will like if you liked "Lost in Translation" and not if you didn't.  Nothing very much happens, but there are some amusing moments and the movie is clearly saying something about meaning, but I'm going to write a whole huge post about that, inspired by various things (including this post coalescent pointed me at about the problems with Story in TV, focussing on Lost and The X-Files).

Now to get some stuff done around the flat so it's not an irretrievable mess when Ed gets back tomorrow...

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

An excellent link. My own analysis is that shows like the X-Files, Lost, and very possibly Battlestar Galactica suffer from what a friend of my called "Gilligan's Island syndrome" - the show ends of the characters ever get off the island/find Earth/find out the truth about the aliens, so the entire show is an extended tease where the character's almost find out crucial info or a way to escape, but continually have it taken away from them by the end of the episode. This is inherently unsatisfying. One of the things I loved most about Babylon 5 was that it didn't follow this formula. For quite a while I assumed that the tension between the secrets both Earthgov and the Minbari were hiding would never be revealed and a bit later that no matter how serious the problems between B-5 and Earthgov became, B-5 would always remain loyal because doing otherwise would totally change the show - and the people in charge were actually willing to totally change the show. That's a level of courage and forethought that is rare for TV. In contrast, I didn't see any similar problems in Angel or Buffy, since all problems that were stared at the beginning of a season were mostly resolved by the end of that season.

In any case, I also very much liked "Broken Flowers" and "Lost in Translation".

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I don't like Lost, but I think it'd be funny if (presuming it ends at some point) it finishes and ties things up, and then has a followup/spin-off series called "Found" ;-)

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

There's just been an episode called "...and Found".

So they've kinda done that.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

The comment about Twin Peaks sickened me. He missed most of the show, saw the end, and made a judgement about the entire series. If I had watched the first season of, say, B5, then watched just the final episode... I wouldn't EXPECT it to make sense.

An entire series which, funnily enough, could replace all the bits where he mentions the X-Files and Lost.

Not having seen it is a reason not to mention it. Discounting it because you didn't watch it all so didn't know what it was -about- and then making judgements based on assumptions doesn't really support his earlier arguments.

And yes, I'd say the same if it was a show I -didn't- like that he hadn't mentioned but was clearly important. And that he had judged based on not having seen most of it. In a plot driven show, not watching most of it will, funnily enough, mean that it doesn't make sense.

What a moron.

[abigailn.livejournal.com]

He missed most of the show

She, actually.

I'm a little unclear on what you believe would have been an appropriate action on my part. Should I have spoken about a subject when I didn't know enough about it?

I watched parts of Twin Peaks and although I liked them, they weren't enough to encourage me to watch the whole. Maybe that's a loss and maybe one of these days I'll catch up, but I hardly see how your reaction is justified.

(Oh, and by the way, considering that Babylon 5's final season sucked mightily and that the first season wasn't much better, I'd be very surprised if a someone who watched only episodes from those two chose to watch the entire show.)

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I thought it was fair enough reply (I'm Lilian BTW)

[andrewducker]

Which comment? I've just rescanned the post a couple of times and can't spot it (for some reason, Firefox's search also can't spot the words "Twin Peaks" either).

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

It's a response to MY comment..

[andrewducker]

Your comment? Where?

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Duh!! To A's POST!!!

Aren't you meant to be in Livingstone ro something??

[andrewducker]

There are three comments here:
http://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2005/08/television-novel-thoughts-and-musings.html

And none of them are from you, or mention Twin Peaks...

I'm awaiting the return of Bekka, at around 3:00.

Oh, and going to have breakfast now.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Try refresh - there are 5..

How are the boxes??

[andrewducker]

I managed to see the comment - which seemed perfectly reasonable to me.

All they said was they didn't talk about Twin Peaks because they hadn't seen all of it, and didn't feel the need to, because they hadn't heard great things about it.

Which seems reasonable as apparently:
Also around this time a major storyline involving a romance between Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) was vetoed by Kyle MacLachlan (some said with pressure from then-girlfriend and co-star Lara Flynn Boyle), as he felt his character, who was known for his strong morals, would never become involved with a high school student. Since no agreement could be reached, the writers unhappily had to take evasive action and bring minor subplots (which were never intended to dominate the show) into the foreground to cover the missing story.

So the second season did go in a different direction, and many people do fee that it was frequently wierd for the sake of it (also Lynch himself was less involved, having been disappointed by ABC's pressure to reveal the killer).

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

Twin Peaks was extremely inaccessible if you missed chunks. The main reason I haven't seen it myself is because I missed the start and watched an episode here and there and couldn't follow it.

On the other hand, I didn't start watching Buffy obsessively until the 5th season after having seen bits of the first 4. I had no problems slipping back in.

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I should put that film on my own personal Netflix list, because Shannon hated Lost In Translation, but I loved it. We've often discussed that I watch movies (or tv shows or read books or whatever) for characterization above all, while he watches/reads for plot. It makes for an overlap of tastes, but also a lot of difference.

[paddie-gal.livejournal.com]

see, I saw Lost in Translation, really liked it. So I saw Broken Flowers, and it just annoyed me. I didn't like him as a character, I didn't see the point of what he was doing, and I didn't like that he was a desperate man clutching at straws. I just didn't like it.

[andrewducker]

I thought part of the point was that he didn't see the point of what he was doing either. It was like a version of The Journey that John Cusack makes in High Fidelity - only one that came out how they would in real life.

I liked the fact that everywhere he went there were things that could have been clues to his quest - or could have met nothing, until by the end, everyone he saw might have been his son, or might not have been.