(no subject)

[chelseagirl]

New Victorian fashion porn -- The Paradise -- on PBS now, which seems to have exactly the same storyline as the Edwardian fashion porn, Mr. Selfridge. I know it's loosely based on Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames (and though I sound all pretentious, I'm afraid I read it in English). Also Downton Abbey is making me want a very long faceted jet bead necklace. Speaking of early 20th century fashion porn . . .

In other centuries, Sleepy Hollow is my unexpected utter delight this season; you (or at least I) have to love a show that knows it is fundamentally absurd and goes with it and yet has such great character interaction that you (or at least I) buy into it anyway. And back to fashion porn, I was horrified to see people on Io9 wanting Ichabod to update his look. A) he wears that 18th century coat so well (buttons! and I freely admit . . . hotness!) and B) that would compromise the absurdity of the whole matter.

My problem with Agents of SHIELD in a nutshell: it's Coulson and Melinda May (both of whom I quite like) and four rather bland young persons. M. was rewatching Buffy before work and I was reminded how *those* young persons were completely unbland -- is it Large Network Casting? Or is Joss just tossing off the clever lines more automatically now? I plan to continue watching but I am sadly unexcited.

I started to plan out a long detailed post about my love/hate relationship with Hell on Wheels -- how it won me over, nearly lost me, won me back again, and now may have lost me again -- but does anyone who reads this actually watch the show?

Comments

[havocthecat]

I have unfortunately never even heard of Hell on Wheels. What's it about?

[chelseagirl]

It's an AMC show about the building of the railroad in the Old West. Sometimes really good; sometimes maddening (as in the second season, which largely consisted of inarticulate drunken male brooding, and which painted one of the major female characters into a corner they couldn't get her out of). They dealt with Native Americans respectfully in season one, totally dropped the ball in season two. This season they added some interesting new female characters, mostly got the men out of brooding mode, and did some really cool stuff . . . gave at least one character what seemed to be a total personality transplant . . . and then killed off someone I cared about in the final episode. (As they did the season before.) I think I might be in an abusive relationship with this show. Not sure I'd recommend it unless period dramas with less tea and more whiskey appeal to you.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I jumped off the Joss bandwagon long ago, but I'm looking forward to getting into Sleepy Hollow. And no, I don't watch HoW. Sorry.

Meanwhile, you probably have this on your Kindle already, but just in case... Amazon's offering the Tenniel-illustrated Alice... for a penny today. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Alice-in-Wonderland-Illustrated-ebook/dp/B00A64NSSG/%3Ftag%3Dbg-u-20%26SubscriptionId%3D0DK6RX2SNSBPXDSWSNR2%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00A64NSSG

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

I was not one of the people alienated by later Buffy, so I was all in through Angel and Firefly -- it's only Dollhouse that lost me. And I liked Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers and especially Twelfth Night.

This is not objectionable, it's just not much of anything.

Sleepy Hollow, otoh, makes me SOOOO happy. And I need to upload the icon I found, because I am bordering on fannish again!

[valancy-s.livejournal.com]

The Paradise aired in England before Mr. Selfridge did here but I remember having the same thought. Weirdly coincident celebrations of capitalism, ho!

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

Especially as they come from quite different source material, but manage to be so much more alike than that. Hmmm. I had heard about The Paradise but didn't pay much attention 'til I saw it was on PBS.