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beer_good_foamyThe other day, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
curiouswombat (ETA: sorry, can't brain) posted something about real-life Swedish chefs. Here's a typical one in action this morning:
Swedish TV Host Starts Fire Live on Air While Frying Cheese Doodles for Some Reason
In other news, under the cut, my thoughts on s3 of House of Cards (the weather was really unbearable this weekend). The short version: not all that impressed. While the first two seasons never really reached the heights of the original BBC series, it was still often really entertaining, and brilliant binge TV. Now, though...
...there are still some excellent things. The season opener, focusing largely on Doug Oops-he's-not-dead-after-all Stamper's rehabilitation while subtly catching us up on what's been going on in the big world in the meantime, is excellent. Then a few episodes in we get a scene where they rip off the classic West Wing scene where Martin Sheen curses out God in the National Cathedral, except this one ends with Kevin Spacey accidentally breaking the Jesus statue at the altar while trying to wipe spittle off it, and then stealing part of it so he can literally "have God's ear". Funniest bit on TV all year. And while it's hardly the most subtle political satire, having Lars Mikkelsen play Vladimir Putin straight up and having the actual members of Pussy Riot call him out (and still have him pretty much outsmart everyone and do whatever the hell he wants) is pretty fun.
Sadly, though, the West Wing comparisons continue, and not in a good way. Look, what makes House of Cards stand out is the sheer ballsiness of it; a Shakespearean villain dropped in the middle of the modern political machinations and making his way by equal parts sociopathy, genre savviness and just being so audacious - with his monologues to the audience and all - that we can't help but wanting to see what he'll do next. Frank Underwood was always slightly more human than Francis Urquhart, more capable of overestimating his ability just a little bit, but the show was still Magnificent Bastard: The Series. In s3, though, he's already achieved what he set out to do - become President - and now it becomes painfully obvious that where Urquhart had a political goal (to make Maggie Thatcher look like a socialist in comparison), Underwood just wants power. Well, he just became the most powerful man in the world, so now what does he do with it? He spends the whole season trying to run the country, is in way over his head, and the whole series turns into just yet another political procedural - just one where absolutely every character is either evil or stupid (or zig-zagging back and forth between the two). There's no point to Frank Underwood if he's not the snarky villain with heaps of protagonist privilege. By the end, virtually the only remotely likeable character is Claire - and she's only not despicable because her establishing moments in this season are about making spectacularly stupid mistakes.
Which brings us to Doug Stamper's arc. He spends the entire season struggling with his past, who he is and who he might be, and actually seems to be on his way to becoming the well-needed heart of the series - only to, in his last scene, literally turn around and commit cold-blooded murder of a character whose entire arc has been "Things get worse", and who'd essentially been written out of the show up until then and was only brought back to be killed off in the most sadistic way. Now, I don't mind stories in which we're forced to realise that the character we've been cheering for is actually a bit of a monster - I'm a Sopranos fan, after all. But this just feels brutal; like the writers are trying to implicate us in something we never got a choice in. Fuck you for that, show. You better leave me on a good cliffhanger if I'm going to... Oh, you're just going to pause the plot in the middle of a clichéd election, huh, without any sort of climax? Where's the fun in that?
It's still a well-made series, with some great actors doing all they can, and somewhere in there a willingness to critique the entire way supposed democracies work (the scenes between Spacey and Mikkelsen were easily the best of the season). But much like Frank himself, the writers seem to have spent everything building up to the s2 finale and now have no idea what to do now that they've won. Meh. Maybe I should just rewatch the BBC series again.
curiouswombat (ETA: sorry, can't brain) posted something about real-life Swedish chefs. Here's a typical one in action this morning:Swedish TV Host Starts Fire Live on Air While Frying Cheese Doodles for Some Reason
In other news, under the cut, my thoughts on s3 of House of Cards (the weather was really unbearable this weekend). The short version: not all that impressed. While the first two seasons never really reached the heights of the original BBC series, it was still often really entertaining, and brilliant binge TV. Now, though...
...there are still some excellent things. The season opener, focusing largely on Doug Oops-he's-not-dead-after-all Stamper's rehabilitation while subtly catching us up on what's been going on in the big world in the meantime, is excellent. Then a few episodes in we get a scene where they rip off the classic West Wing scene where Martin Sheen curses out God in the National Cathedral, except this one ends with Kevin Spacey accidentally breaking the Jesus statue at the altar while trying to wipe spittle off it, and then stealing part of it so he can literally "have God's ear". Funniest bit on TV all year. And while it's hardly the most subtle political satire, having Lars Mikkelsen play Vladimir Putin straight up and having the actual members of Pussy Riot call him out (and still have him pretty much outsmart everyone and do whatever the hell he wants) is pretty fun.
Sadly, though, the West Wing comparisons continue, and not in a good way. Look, what makes House of Cards stand out is the sheer ballsiness of it; a Shakespearean villain dropped in the middle of the modern political machinations and making his way by equal parts sociopathy, genre savviness and just being so audacious - with his monologues to the audience and all - that we can't help but wanting to see what he'll do next. Frank Underwood was always slightly more human than Francis Urquhart, more capable of overestimating his ability just a little bit, but the show was still Magnificent Bastard: The Series. In s3, though, he's already achieved what he set out to do - become President - and now it becomes painfully obvious that where Urquhart had a political goal (to make Maggie Thatcher look like a socialist in comparison), Underwood just wants power. Well, he just became the most powerful man in the world, so now what does he do with it? He spends the whole season trying to run the country, is in way over his head, and the whole series turns into just yet another political procedural - just one where absolutely every character is either evil or stupid (or zig-zagging back and forth between the two). There's no point to Frank Underwood if he's not the snarky villain with heaps of protagonist privilege. By the end, virtually the only remotely likeable character is Claire - and she's only not despicable because her establishing moments in this season are about making spectacularly stupid mistakes.
Which brings us to Doug Stamper's arc. He spends the entire season struggling with his past, who he is and who he might be, and actually seems to be on his way to becoming the well-needed heart of the series - only to, in his last scene, literally turn around and commit cold-blooded murder of a character whose entire arc has been "Things get worse", and who'd essentially been written out of the show up until then and was only brought back to be killed off in the most sadistic way. Now, I don't mind stories in which we're forced to realise that the character we've been cheering for is actually a bit of a monster - I'm a Sopranos fan, after all. But this just feels brutal; like the writers are trying to implicate us in something we never got a choice in. Fuck you for that, show. You better leave me on a good cliffhanger if I'm going to... Oh, you're just going to pause the plot in the middle of a clichéd election, huh, without any sort of climax? Where's the fun in that?
It's still a well-made series, with some great actors doing all they can, and somewhere in there a willingness to critique the entire way supposed democracies work (the scenes between Spacey and Mikkelsen were easily the best of the season). But much like Frank himself, the writers seem to have spent everything building up to the s2 finale and now have no idea what to do now that they've won. Meh. Maybe I should just rewatch the BBC series again.
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no subject
Date: 2015-03-05 11:11 pm (UTC)Once you've read George R.R, Martin's short story The Pear-Shaped Man you can never look at a cheese doodle the same way, nor eat one ever again. (Not that I really did before).
Wait, wut, there's a Cheese Doodle Day here? I knew about Kanelbulledagen, but cheese doodles? Is there a day for every random foodstuff?
no subject
Date: 2015-03-07 10:37 am (UTC)Apparently the Cheeze Doodle Day is an American thing that, like most of our culture, we've now imported. On the same day that the Brits celebrate World Book Day, too! We're nothing if not classy. :)
Here's a good list (http://www.norrmejerier.se/recept/viktiga-matdagar-2014) of official foodstuff days. Waffle Day, coming up in a few weeks, coincides with Annunciation because "Vårfrudagen" and "Våffeldagen" basically sound the same.
no subject
Date: 2015-03-06 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-07 10:42 am (UTC)