oceana

In case anyone's wondering what I'm doing in my long absence from lj:
I'm working.

60-70 hours a week.

Blergh.

However, I'm also being fannish:

I watched Simon&Simon Season 2: LOVE!

And then I watched Miami Vice Season 4 and am currently in the middle
of season 5.

Yes, I know. I said I wouldn't buy season 4 and 5. I said that nobody
needs to own, let alone WATCH, five seasons of Miami Vice.

I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong.

Everyone needs to own and watch five seasons of Miami Vice. I
have no words for how much I love that show. I have no words for how
much I love Sonny Crockett. Yes, Miami Vice has flaws. Boy, does it
ever have flaws. But, and I say that after having watched a LOT of tv
shows in full, Miami Vice is probably the most groundbreaking,
innovative, inspiring show that ever was. It is art. It's twenty years
old, and many of the things that made it so special are long outdated
or have become standard, but when you watch it, you can still tell.
Not just sometimes, but regularly, there are scenes, arrangements,
compositions, that are pure and simply art. So incredibly beautiful.
And I have the feeling that the older this show gets, the more
important it becomes in terms of art. As if you need some distance to
fully grasp just how ingenious Miami Vice is.

And yes, tv can be art. If you doubt that, I wonder what you are doing
here at all.


Anyway, about seasons 4 and 5. I know that many say that those are the
weaker seasons, but I think they are wrong. They are just...different.
The pacing changed, the show got darker (even darker than before,
don't let all the white and pastell colors fool you). It may have lost
itself in the carefulness of its own arrangements sometimes, and there
are some episodes without Don Johnson, to which I can only say, WTF?
*g*. But overall, both seasons are still outstanding and in no way any
worse than the first three seasons.

I loved Sonny going dark. I would have loved to see it explored some
more, but that's not what Miami Vice does. It's all there, in my head,
though, and the show, unlike many modern shows who try to cater to the
fannish needs deliberately, but with often questionable results, Miami
Vice lets me have all that (huge white) space to explore the
characters in my head. I never thought I'd say that, but in its own
way, Miami Vice is minimialistic in its approach to character
development. "Minimialistic" as in stripped down to its/their most
fundamental features. And those features are drawn and developed
consequently and honestly. but no more than that. The rest is up to
you. I can lost myself in this show and its world like in no other,
precisely because there is so much space left open to explore.

As for the flaws? Well, for one thing, they apparently cut the budget
in season 5, and decided that the best way to save money would be not
to cut Don Johnson's hair anymore. Of course, they miscalculated,
because now they needed more hair products. I would have been very
happy with season 1 hair. Even season 4 hair was better than season 5
hair.
(still awfully pretty, though).

On the other hand, their method of saving dry-cleaning costs by
letting Sonny wear dark colors more often is much appreciated. Damn,
he looks good in black. Also in white. Also when he is shotting
people, which he does pretty much all the time. Also in his car, which
I had almost forgotten. I'm a 'vette girl myself, but damn, the
Testarossa is just one, maybe THE best designed car ever. It's bold
and beautiful, and I would maybe even prefer it against a stingray.
But only maybe.

So, there's love. LOVE LOVE LOVE. But I also acknowledge that
personally, I maybe liked season 1-3 a tiny little bit better. Which
is why I will watch them right after I finished season 5.
4,5,1,2,3...that's the way to love Miami Vice.

:-)

(I do have a sparkly Don Johnson icon, btw. All Don Johnson icons
should be sparkly. I am posting via email, though, so I'm stuck on my
email default icon. I will change that as soon as I come home, so
watch this space, for more Miami Vice love, this time with sparkles!)

1) Miami Vice made me cry.

2) I haven't watched Stargate yet. Since for the first time in a decade, the number of Stargate episodes is truly limited, I'm waiting for a special occasion to watch the ep
And it better be worth it!

3) My personal situation is difficult at the moment. I'm fully aware that I'm using fandom, especially LJ, as an escape. As long as I can keep up my life here, I can pretend that everything is okay on the outside. A while ago this escape was a good thing, but things have changed, and I know I need to make some more changes. So I'm thinking about taking a break from fandom until I find a job, only I know I won't do it. And since I believe in realistic goals, I'll start with a one-week break. We'll see how that goes.

I'm sorry for everything I didn't do. I've been trying to get myself to do this for a long time, but I always wanted to catch up on things first, answer comments, emails, etc. It won't happen, and for that I apologize. Marga, I'm so sorry to ask you to wait another week for me. Mabiana, I got your letter and the lovely Anhaenger, thank you so much. Lasultrix and Ash, I didn't forget your CDs, just give me a few more days. Everyone else, sorry about not answering comments and mails. (talk about unfinished business...)

*sigh*

Okay, that's it, gone for a week or so.

*waves good-bye*

What show am I watching?*

( Picture under the cut )

Hint: She is not wearing a costume.

Oh, the love. The LOVE. HOURS and hours of fun. And I still have the biggest crush on him. He totally invented The Cool.
*LOVES*


*We have a winner! karieflybabe knows of my Sonny Crockett love and identified the show as MIAMI VICE!

Oh, the love! The LOVE! Never has a man looked cooler wearing sunglasses and pink shirts! And the alligator! The boat! The FERRARI! And the angst, OMG the angst! I didn't remember how beautifully he hurts! Seriously, he isn't like today's guys, who suffer silently in their basements or on their roofs, no, not Sonny. He's all looking hurt and taking Gina into his arms and then he drives places with his FERRARI, and there is Phil Collins playing in the background, and then he shoots people. Oh, it's all so very wonderful and sparkly!
*LOVES*

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm introducing my mom to the West Wing. Turns out that she is a Josh/Donna shipper. Yesterday we watched the episode where Donna goes on the blind date with that Republican (season 3), and my mom was all confused:

"I thought she loves Josh? How can she do on a date with that guy?"
She also wants to fire Toby at least once each ep ("I'd have thrown him out already.")

She calls Sam cute, but at least she doesn't make any more explicit comments. I sure remember the time she admitted that she wouldn't throw Robert Downey Jr. out of her bed when we watched Ally McBeal, I sitll have nightmares from that.

But I'm having so much fun! Plus, I get to rewatch all of West Wing. Did I mention that I love Ainsley? Oh, this is such a brilliant show! I felt kind of Blah about most of season 6, but I love season 7 so far, even though they are really trying to make us believe that Santos is a gift from god with his holier than thou attitude. But he'd got charisma, so I like it. And I like how excited Josh is about the whole thing. It's definitely the TV highlight of the week (right behind NCIS, of course).

As for who will win the election, I don't know. Things are bound to change when the public finds out that he had an affair with a Miami cop once...( not spoilery, I promise )