Dominion, Season 1, Episode 3: Broken Places

Gabriel goes to diner to have pudding – though he worries about the quality of pudding. Finding decent pudding is definitely a major concern for an Archangel. Also he’s meeting with William Whele who is, apparently, the one loyal man that Gabriel needs to bring god back (or so he tells William anyway. Personally I think it’s a good line to keep a spy on side). William is also concerned because Claire got hurt last week though. Gabriel hears this – and slaughters everyone in the diner (Archangel wings are bullet proof, apparently, but the fact he used them suggests his body isn’t). He gives William a lecture about strength and violence and blood which is all dramatic and evil.

He assures William he’s one of the strong, I don’t think William believes it (or he’s not very convincing). Now, back to dessert!

Random montages – General Riesen  is still getting it on with an 8 Ball. Alex is still moping and has left the city. Arika and Whele spar at each other for a while before coming down to terms: the use of Helena’s airforce in exchange for lots of help setting up a nuclear reactor. But Whele can’t guarantee Riesen will agree, which Arika points out

Riesen and the senate (who Arika derides as “rubber stamping” Riesen) grill Michael on why he never mentioned these new human-looking higher angels. Michael’s reasoning is that they (and the other Archangels, Uriel and Raphael) were neutral. He also explains the limits of angelic perception and why, no Whele, Michael doesn’t know where the other angels are hiding. Whele decides to accuse Michael of all sorts, much to the tired disapproval of the council, including disloyalty (he’s untrustworthy because he supported humans over angels… wait, the logic there is… dubious). Michael runs with it – sure, maybe he is a traitor! Why he could kill everyone in the room and no-one there could stop him, the entire council, Whele himself (said right to Whele’s face since the man has definitely violated. Before he turns and leaves

Pretty much making the point that, if Michael were a traitor, they’d all be dead right now

Alas, we have to join Alex the Pouty Chosen One of Angst and Whining. He finds a wrecked car and lots of dead, humans attacked by 8 Balls.  Alex gets to practice his frowny sad face as he talks to the last survivor and puts him out of his misery.

Back to chez Gabriel and Furiad, leader of the human-looking angels is miffed that they don’t just kidnap Alex (apparently they need to convert him to their side) especially since 2 of his fellows are now all gooey and prserved, but Gabriel thinks it would save them all a lot of pouty rebellion if Alex chose to swap sides (I think he’s just seen how much angst Alex throws out all the time and wants no part of it).

At Vega, Noma tells Ethan (these two are Alex’s soldier friends) about Alex running off. Ethan decides to go talk to Michael, which Noma doesn’t think is a good idea.

Wiliam finds Claire in the market and he’s all puppy-ish. Michael’s also in the market and meets Lewis – an apparent angel who knew Felicia, the angel who attacked Alex, though he insists he never knew she’d sided with Gabriel. He also says “us” suggesting there are a few like him. Michael apparently took them as neutral refugees but insists Lewis keep an eye on the others and check to see if any are infiltrators. He lays out an ultimatum – these angels can join Michael or get out.

It also looks like Whele’s suspicions are at least somewhat justified – Michael did know of angels in the city and chose not to tell them.

Defiance, Season 2, Episode 3: The Cord and the Axe

At the radio station at the top of the arch, Alak has hired a new DJ, an ex-sex-worker from the Need Want. She tries to have sex with Alak (that was very much how Datak worked) but Alak backs off – he’s married and he’s not his father. Until she reveals she was his dad’s customer and how rough she likes things – he kisses her until she brings up Skeever (because bringing up guys who have been brutally beaten seems to have been hot sex talk for Datak?) He pushes her away, snarling angrily about how she needs to shut up about it – and she continues to talk about how violence turns her on. He threatens her if she talks about it again, which she also acts like it’s a turn on.

Those are some terrible crossed communication wires there.

Family dinner time! With Rafe cooking for Christie, Stahma and Alak (aka the most awkward family dinner of all times). The potential awkwardness opens with Stahma and Alak smelling that Christie is pregnant (well, that ruined Christie’s surprise) with lots of joy not just from the family but also Rafe’s Liberata servant.

That super joyful servant is in the market – and Irisa follows her, looking very predatory. She stops and her invisible friend/god/hallucination Irzu shows up to demand Irisa keeps following the Liberata. Instead Irisa chains herself up. Irzu isn’t to be thwarted – Irisa has a hallucination of an extremely odd place with big throbbing alien sacs of nasty – and when she wakes up she’s straddling the Liberata’s corpse.

Back at Rafe’s house and he takes the time to have a fatherly conversation with Alak about how Alak’s going to be a daddy with responsibilities and how Alak’s mother nearly got blown up because of the whole drug dealing shenanigans which is probably not a great environment for a new baby. Rafe follows it up with some threats because that’s how everyone communicates on this show.

That night, Irisa buries the body of the Liberata and comes home at 7:00am – to find Nolan has waited up for her and wants answers. Irisa tells him outright that she’s not talking about it, he doesn’t like it, he can leave. Their argument is interrupted by Rafe arriving with news that his Liberata servant, Bertie, has disappeared. Rafe is worried that someone hurt Bertie to get to him

So Nolan goes to question Niles. Niles declares the whole thing beneath him but lets Irisa (who has the guilts) check his CCTV system with Berlin. Who is very nervous and tries to make nice with Irisa after the whole arrest thing, especially since Tommy (her current boyfriend) is Irisa’s sorta-ex. Irisa is silent and doesn’t help the conversation along at all.

As Berlin follows Bertie on the CCTV, Irisa moves behind her with a knife, Irzu appearing in her reflection… when the whole system and all the computers explodes in a shard of sparks. Irisa runs from the room.

Niles and Nolan take a walk so, basically, Niles can say he’s after Amanda and wants to see if he’s going to be competing with Nolan. Nolan snarks at how utterly childish the conversation is.

The Remaining: Aftermath (The Remaining #2) by D.J. Molles

Lee has his mission to restore society and civilisation to the ruined US, destroyed by the RAGE plague turning people into ferocious, violent zombie-like beings. He’s made it to Camp Ryder but the survivors are wary. They’re surrounded by a rampaging gang that’s more than happy to destroy them and they don’t trust or have the supplies for outsiders

Lee has to prove his worth, prove his loyalty and show the camp he can help – but delivering the supplies that were stashed before society collapsed. At the same time, his mission continues – he’s not there for one group of survivors, but to try and re-establish civilisation itself. Unlike Camp Ryder, he can’t ignore other groups needing help.

This book is, in many ways, an action film in book form. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I have to say at times I do like to turn off some of the higher thinking and watch things go boom. It can be fun, it can be a good way to relax. It is what it is, and if you like guns and bullets and action and well written, pretty exciting fight scenes with a Big Damn Hero protagonist, then this will work for you. If not? Not.

Personally, I’m kind of caught in the middle. Because I can appreciate a good action book, but this book is pretty simple and devoid of any real nuance. The bad guys? Are bad. Very bad. I don’t just mean Milo’s band of evil killers (who are just that, evil killers, rapists, sadistic torturers, psychopaths), but even people who oppose Lee in the camp as well. There’s a man who speaks against him early on and he’s seen as conniving, weak, lazy and generally unpleasant even by most of the people who we meet in the camp (unlike his mute and nameless supporters) and he doesn’t just question Lee but by the end of the book he’s almost comically unreasonable. There’s no chance of us seeing this guy as having a point or even understanding why he would be doing or saying what he did even if we disagree with him – he’s just wrong.

There’s a guy put into a terrible position and forced to do something awful in the vain hope of saving a loved one. Ah, nuance and understanding? Aw hell no, that man is weak and pathetic and needs chewing out pronto before redempdeath.

And the main character, Lee? Well, in the first book he was a soldier and special forces so we always expected him to be competent and capable. But we’ve gone beyond that – he’s a Hero. He’s tough and his strong and he’s awesome. It doesn’t matter how hurt he is, he will keep on fighting. It doesn’t matter how hungry, he will skip the meal because he’s just that tough. He will back people down with the power of his steely gaze, he will fight on with broken bones and torn ligaments, he will make plans based on him tearing up several of the enemy, because he’s just that awesome. And he’s good and kind when called for, and ruthless and brutal when it’s necessary because he’s a badass with a heart of gold. People who criticise him are wrong and mean or, at very least, misguided. He’s a leader and he doesn’t so much work as a team as order around minions who recognise his awesomeness (and are fairly irrelevant anyway because he’s so awesome. Their main role is to die around him so he can then be noble and sad and have the Guilts because he didn’t save them).

The Last Ship, Season 1, Episode 2: Welcome to Gitmo

Welcome to Gitmo? Oh this is going to be awful…

They’re off to Guantanamo Bay for supplies and the equipment they need to make a cure on the shop. Spy Quincy tells his Russian bosses who order him to stall the ship. Somehow. Even he thinks this is a bit of a tall order. To achieve that, Quincy convinces Dr. Rebecca to let him go off shop with the away team to get supplies, not her, using the excuse that she’s already pushing herself to exhaustion.

On deck, we have firing drills and ridiculous dialogue (they need balls damn it! BALLS!). And time is something they don’t have but they need to make sure their soldiers are ready… is there a reason why these soldiers aren’t already ready, or do we just need an excuse for overdramatic awful dialogue?

Alisha tells her coms people to record messages and not spread rumours – bad coms people! Mike (2^nd in command and designated captain arguer) checks in engineering and the chief engineer informs him that all the fuel they got from the cruise ship last week is super terribad, also that they have to use all the engines because the captain said so (lots of eye flicks from people not entirely agreeing with that order).

Danny (the one with the dog) and Kara (his illict love interest) have a moment where we try for some belated humanisation of the dead Frankie. He’s dealing with grief and loss by being snappy and bad tempered having also accepted that it’s not just a matter of Frankie being dead, but pretty much everyone any of them have ever known not on the ship is probably dead.

Continuing that theme we have the coms people flicking between numerous distress calls they can do nothing about. On deck there’s a little ceremony where many of the crew gather to talk about the people who may be dead, loved ones they can only hope and pray for. Which goes from moving to a REALLY clumsy segue into “this is god’s plan!”

I’d find it more touching but a) the dialogue is awful (did I mention that) and I just keep hearing the Captain saying “we need balls!” which is going to ruin the whole episode.

To Dr. Rebecca who expositions about the disease basically summed up as: airborn, wear masks, animals are fine. Mike decides to question how much Rebecca can be sure of all this, she throws back that she would say if she had doubts (and, hey, maybe she doesn’t know everything. But she knows more than anyone else).

The Captain takes Mike aside to call him out on his passive aggressive pouting and that, hey, maybe getting the other officers to think her advice on how to stay alive is wrong may be bad for morale and their confidence in the mission. Mike’s also angry that Rebecca lied to them for 4 weeks. Captain Tom makes him get back in line

Effortless Beauty: I Know You Didn't Really Eat That Pizza

© 2010 Keith Ramsey, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

Television is a medium which affirms a dissonance in worth and value.  An actor generally speaking must be considered attractive, as well as have the ability to act to be considered valued. So not only do we get a false representation of what society generally looks like, we have a standard which is absolutely unattainable for the average person.  Celebrities are in the business of looking good at all times because it is a requirement of the job.  Certainly you can argue that character actors manage to avoid this as a job requirement; however these same character actors very rarely end up in leading roles.

When we examine shows like The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, The Originals, Beauty and the Beast, (or, indeed, anything on the CW) and Dominion to name a few, what we have is a false world in which most are beyond conventionally attractive. The women are incredibly slim (Nina Dobrev, Peyton List, Anna Paquin for example) and the men are muscular and fit (Joe Manganiello, Ryan Kwanten, Charles Michael Davis, Jensen Ackles). Yes, we are indeed looking at a fantasy world but the characters themselves are meant to be relatable and not necessarily part of the fantasy itself.  Not only does it set up an unrealistic standard, it creates a world in which appearance becomes primary to how we value people.

These images then become not only naturalized but something to actively be sought after.  Of course because these standards are unattainable to the average person it makes this a quixotic dream.  If to be seen as likeable, attractive, valuable and talented one must necessarily conform to an idealistic vision, shows which continually highlight the beautiful quite unintentionally cause recognizable harm. In the normal course of events this small percentage could integrate with the rest of society and simply exist. It is the medium of media that elevates their existence and creates a hierarchy. These body types become overly presented and set up as something we should all be trying to achieve - and therefore something most of us are falling short of

There’s a lot to unpack about television constantly depicting one standard of physical beauty which could take a ream of posts alone to touch. But one thing that creeps in (in both books and on TV) is the depiction of these body types as effortless and normal.

There are probably people who have managed to luck out on the genetic lottery and manage to be predisposed towards a body type that fits our societal ideal of what is attractive or even super-attractive. But they’re not common and, frankly, even with kind genes, so many of these actors manage these physiques by at least some level of conscious effort - and it is that effort that is so often missing.

Take a recent episode of True Blood where Jason Stackhouse identifies the age of stale pizza by tasting it - implying that Jason orders take away pizza an awful lot. Jason Stackhouse can live off unhealthy take aways, but I doubt very much that Ryan Kwanten eats like that to produce his stunning physique and 1% body fat. I can’t imagine that Ryan Kwanten does anything but work extremely hard for that body - yes, there’s a lot of genetic advantage there, but there’s also a lot of very hard work.

Tethered (Iron Seas #2.5) by Meljean Brook

Yasmeen and Archimedes, mercenary and adventurer, are settling into married life and finding a new balance while hoping to protect Yasmeen’s essential, ruthless reputation.

An old friend of Archimedes approaches – he wants help to rescue his brother from Eden; the impenetrable flying city that enslaves any it comes across. It’s an impossible mission – but the man will use any means in his power to force Yasmeen and Archimedes to help him

Probably not the wisest thing the man has ever done

I love the romance in this book – and how often do I say that? I’m normally not a fan of books with heavy romance elements.

Yasmeen and Archimedes love for each other is clear on every page, I don’t think I’ve read many books that convinced me how completely in love the main characters are. Mainly, because it shows me why. Not by long monologues or eyes meeting over a crowded room or descriptions of how very hot the other is (though we have elements of all), but by them simply thinking and caring for each other. Of them taking the time to make the other happy, to care for their feelings, to understand each other, to comfort each other, to spend time thinking of ways to make the other smile. They trust each other and show that trust, they’re sure to realise where the other’s limits and worries are, they give each other both the space and the support each needs

They are in love and it shows because they behave like people who care about each other. They show it, they don’t just say it. It’s clear in every interaction and the time and energy they devote to each other. It’s a perfect romance.

The plot adds a great foundation for Zenobia in the future (and explains some of the elements of Kraken King I was unsure on, like why she’s such a kidnap victim) and I love how both Archimedes and Yasmeen react to the plot – they’re good people, but they’re not fools. Your brother is tragically held prisoner somewhere that enslaves people and is nearly impregnable? Well, good luck with that – buh-bye. Because it’s not just their lives at risk – they have a crew they’re responsible for and the crew matters, they’re people, not just random background figures to be sacrificed at a whim

Under the Dome, Season 2, Episode 1: Heads Will Roll

Random Domey-ness causes a bright light to cover the sky which disturbs a new character in a cabin somewhere, and makes everyone freak out a little on the gallows where they plan to kill Barbie (especially Junior who is kind of always freaked out a little anyway). It comes with a strange noise and all the church bells ringing  - and a bell is torn out of the tower to hit the Dome (the wrecked tower nearly splats  Joe, Norrie and Angie (it misses. Which I’m sure we’re all happy about)

By the lake, Julia has just made it to shore when she notices someone struggling in the middle (rather than get back into the boat she’s just got out of, she swims). At the hanging a bunch of people in the crowd pass out.

Junior decides he can’t hang Barbie because the Dome has spoken. Big Jim the arsehole doesn’t really care what the Dome has to say – but Linda agrees and she has a gun so Big Jim kind of has to listen to her.

Julia performs CPR on the woman she rescued from the lake and is joined by New Stranger character who helps. CPR works like it always does in television (like the touch of a benevolent healing deity) and she lives – they take her to New Guy’s cabin. New Guy is called Sam Verdreaux and was an EMT (except for the that drinking issue) and could probably have been really useful all last season when he managed to avoid the entire new town. The girl they saved is all silent, but awake.

Meanwhile, Barbie, Linda and Junior go to the Dome to receive it’s wisdom and see a lot of metal objects stuck to it. Magnetic Dome rips away all of their weapons, metal tags and drags Barbie (really unrealistically – it’s bodily dragging him but he has enough space to stand up?) to it until Linda uncuffs him managing to push him away from the Dome before the car being dragged to it splats him

It splats her instead. Linda, you’ve gone to a better place (this would not be difficult, the bar is set low).

Big Jim blames Junior, because giving Junior complexes is his hobby. There’s a brief  argument where Barbie both accuses Jim of framing him then tells Junior it doesn’t matter (Junior apparently finds THIS protestation of innocence believable, unlike Barbie’s previous protestations of innocence). Barbie is focused on protecting the rest of the town from magnetic chaos and when Jim tries to grab him, Barbie punches him and knocks him to the floor. Barbie goes to find Julia, leaving Junior to realise his dad is a murderer and not expect his terrible “hard choices” excuse.

Meanwhile at the cabin, Sam has a sad past of sadness. Even the Dome doesn’t care and throws out some more bright light (I will hereby call this “Screw your damn Manpain” light)

This Week in Book Covers 3rd June - 27th June

This week we have incontrovertible proof that you don’t need mantitty and disembodied torsos to have really really sexy men on the front cover of a book. 4 of our 5 books have definitely brought the mancandy

But have they brought much else?

Shattered (Iron Druid Chronicles #7) by Kevin Hearne

We’ve definitely got more than eyecandy on this cover (though YUM). We have the sword, the celtic designs, the ongoing theme with the previous books in the story and a really nifty background. It doesn’t exactly going into a lot of detail of what’s there - but there’s more than enough hints but it does kind of fit the Urban Fantasy generic pattern - medieval weapon, ancient symbols. I also like the fact that the cover model is pretty much how I picture Atticus - I always like to see the main character on the cover who positively resembles the characters and doesn’t look generic.

The Seventh Miss Hatfield by Anna Caltabiano

This is unique, interesting and pretty. I’m intrigued. I get the sense of Victoriana and it definitely has class and style. It also looks vaguely like a sewing guide or full of knitting patterns or maybe a particularly refine and old fashioned cook book or historical etiquette guide. The latter seems most likely, full of arcane trivia like how to properly address the third cousin of a marquis. I think I’d examine it simply because it is so different - but it’s so out there the cover isn’t even clear this is fiction.

It goes in my “pretty, but doesn’t do the job” box.