Cultural Scientist Field Journal

Experiments in Everything

[culturalscientist]

Fall 2018 TV Check In, The Mostly Re-Watches Edition

Long time no post!  While considering where to start with post, I felt like I should share where I am now.  That being said, looking back at where I was in my “recent” posts, (aka over a year ago), I was watching almost the exact same things as I am watching now.  Different year.  Same Shows.  And to rub salt in that wound, I’m actually mostly at the same stage of those same shows.  This makes me a little frustrated, as it feels like there hasn’t been any progression, however I also have to laugh because it also says:

“I am who I am, and I like what I like”. 

With that in mind, here is a little bit the shows that like.

VIKINGS

I’m currently watching all of Vikings in anticipation of Season 5 Part 2, which will start to air on November 28, 2018.  I tried this last year in anticipation of Season 5 Part 1, but fell short of my goal.  This year will be the year!  I am well underway of watching the series, and currently in the beginning of Season 4.  So far what I’ve watched has all been re-watching, so I’m looking forward to new-to-me episodes which will start as of Season 4 Part 2.  I’ve realized I’m not terribly loving Season 4 so far, which is shocking because I’ve loved the show so much up until that point. I think this is what stalled me last year, and hopefully recognizing this will help me push through and get to the new stuff.  

I believe the root of what I’m not enjoying in season 4 is that that there are often storylines being told in multiple locations, some of which I don’t understand why were are still following.  They have done this before in the series, but not with quite as many locations.  Generally, I enjoy tucking in and being immersed in one place, whether it’s for an epic battle or mundane life, so it could simply be a preference thing.  That being said, Season 4 Episode 2 Kill the Queen! had one of the most memorable fight scenes (The Tower), that I’ve watched in quite a while.  While re-watching the episode, I could feel the lead up to it this scene, and enjoyed every minute of it. Very impressive performances by both Moe Dunford and Amy Bailey, wow.  

If feels like I’ve just hit the bumpy here, but I’m definitely going to stick with series as I still absolutely adore the characters, the atmosphere, and the gorgeous filmmaking.  Hopefully I will become more connected to the stories as the season goes on.  Stay the Course, Shannon, Stay the Course!

Game of Thrones

I thought I would also quickly mention Game of Thrones, as it’s a show I feel like I‘m continually trying to re-watch and/or read the books. This whole process back in Fall of 2016, and it’s been a clunky project, and even though I knew was in for the long haul it’s been a struggle.  The project keeps going through different iterations and adjustments, which all feel epic in proportion. 

My current plan is to focus on simply reading the books. I am participating in a readalong with the Read Your Face Off group on Goodreads.  This has proven to be great incentive to get back to the books, I love that they give 2 months per book and also have discussion forums to chat with people, and the host Riley has liveshows to chat about the book once we’ve finished reading (see A Game of Thrones here and A Clash of Kings here).  

Reading with others got me back in the groove of the series, and I’m currently halfway through A Storm of Swords.  I was initially hoping to read each book and then watch the corresponding season, but as things have turned out that has too hard to squeeze in.  So I’ve decided just to focus on the books until we are up to date with the series, which will be at the end of February 2019.  At that point, I can re-watch the whole series before it comes back for its final season next year.  I really hope this works!  Wish me luck!

Supernatural

It feels strange to do a TV update without mention Supernatural … so here goes!  I love Supernatural! I love re-watching Supernatural, and when I’m not doing that I’m trying to catch up with Supernatural (less fun, but it still happens). 

Since my last post, no true re-watching of the show has happened in the way I thought it would, but I did watch the first half of Season 13 twice.  Does that count?  This happened because last year when the show came back after a hiatus, I was shocked (and embarrassed) that I couldn’t remember what the heck was going on.  I had a sense of the larger arc of the season, but completely forgot the any of the specifics.  Wanting to really embrace the show wholeheartedly, I decided to go back to the beginning of Season 13 and start again (and even take notes…so help me).  This means I ended up finishing off the season during the summer.  It wasn’t ideal to finish it later than everyone else, but it was worth it because I could understand and appreciate the show more.

For Season 14, I am watching it live and will be continuing the habit of taking notes.  It honestly makes it more fun to jot down quotes, notate any lore or arc pieces, and helps me remember what happened. Sometimes I even sneak in a sketch or two. 

Below are some of my notes on the premiere of Supernatural Season 14 (don’t read if you don’t want spoilers!).  This has been a fun practice to get back to, and is something I did while watching Seasons 6 - 9. It really helps to job the memory, especially with a show as epic as Supernatural. I also have an idea about vlogging this season, but I have yet to test it out so don’t hold me to it!

So that is where I’m at in terms of the big epic shows I love and am working on right now.  I hope to get back to posting more regularly, and sharing thoughts on how the process of any of these watches is going.  

I have a lot of other shows that I would love to share thoughts about, including many of the 2018 Fall TV Premieres, but that will have to wait for a separate post.

Other shows I’m currently in the process of rewatching/catching up to new-to-me episodes include: Nashville, Downton Abbey and The Defenders.

If you just can’t *wait* to see what I’m watching, I often share my watching on both Instagram and Twitter.

[culturalscientist]

September 5, 2017

I had a really long, stressful day which lead to lots of couch time and although I’m not doing well on my planned re-watches I have gotten back to a show I love: Deadliest Catch.  I’m a season behind, but I’m thrilled to be back to watching the show.  It’s surreal to watch a reality/documentary show that has been on for 10+ years.  Seeing the amount of time of the captains and crews, is wild.  I always wish them success, which seems a bit weird as you watch it after everything has happened, but I still do it!

I’ve also be continuing to watch Intelligence, and it’s been exciting to see people I know have also been watching!  Most have already burned to the mere 2 season so of the show but I’m right at the end of Season 1.  It’s been a perfect rewatch as enough time has passed since I’ve seen it for me to enjoy the story without remembering it too well, but also get to pick up on possible new things.  Such a great show!

The one re-watch I’ve held to is Vikings, I’m only on Season 1 Episode 3, but I’m a-doing it.  I think I should be fine to be up to date by the shows return in November.

It’s also been great to get up to date on Midnight, Texas.  I haven’t been able to see the first two episodes but I have seen everything else and it’s quite an enjoyable show.  I look forward to seeing how the season shapes up, and they only have 3 episodes to go (2 air next week with one on Monday & Wednesday each).  It might have been the only new show that I ended up sticking with the summer season!  Who would have thought?

[culturalscientist]

September 1, 2017

The path of good intentions is filled with... man, I don’t even know the rest of that quote!

So...no progress of my re-watches.  Maybe I don’t want to do them.  Maybe I do.  Maybe it’s more fun to plan than to do.  Who knows. I know I don’t really know what is going on.

That said, I did end up finally diving into Midnight, Texas.  I have meant to try this series out for a while but I’ve waited so long that now not all episodes.  I decided to jump in anyway and started with Season 1, Episode 3: Lemuel, Unchained.  I watch a lot of paranormal TV so I imagine I will be able to figure out the gist of things and I also have someone I can ask question about the series too.  I enjoyed the episode, it wasn’t bad as an introduction because it plays the back history game a bit which is helpful to understanding the setting.  The show has lots familiar faces, and a bit of a different tone to it that I can appreciate.  It is slightly choppy in editing, but it’s not enough to turn me away from it.  I plan on catching up and enjoying the ride to see where it goes.

I also caught up on some reality TV but when I went to look for an image for it, I totally got spoiled for what will happen on an upcoming episode.  Lesson learned!  That one I will not look up and not talk about.  Sigh.

[culturalscientist]

Good Intentions and Bellyflops

August 31, 2017

So, I’ve been super excited the re-watches that I’ve planned out, yet night after night I haven’t been getting back to them.  Instead, I’ve been continuing my current re-watch of Intelligence.

I love Intelligence, a Canadian long arc crime drama that just recently popped up on Netflix.  I rewatched the pilot during the Viewathon earlier this month, and I keep coming back to it again and again.  I’m currently midway though Season 1, and it has become my dinnertime show which means I’m watching it pretty regularly.

Sadly, after watching I usually end up being to tired to commit to another eyes-on-screen show for the night and often just fall asleep.  I don’t like that this happens, but sleep is a good thing so I try not to be to harsh on myself about it.

So, the newly planned re-watches have yet to start, but at least I’m getting some re-watching in.  I wonder what will happen tonight.

[culturalscientist]

Upcoming Rewatching Plans - Fall 2017

Long time no update! 

Fall TV is just around the corner and in this time where we are mostly in between seasons I find myself getting TV restless.  In other words... I want have started to plan epic rewatching projects.

I know there is a danger here of over commitment, yet I can’t seem to resist.  So I will start with sharing the three rewatches I want to begin this fall. 

Each of the three are epic in different ways, and so I'm debating which to do.  All? None? One way to find out. Let's outline the possibilities of re-watches of Vikings (Season 1 - 4), Game of Thrones (Seasons 1-7, plus reading the books) and Supernatural (up to 12 or even 13 freakin' seasons).

Vikings

Season to Re-watch: 4

Episodes to Watch: 49

Deadline: November 29, 2017

I have been a fan of Vikings from the very beginning, which surprizes me because I have never much been interested in historical pieces.  Maybe it's the axes that draw me into this one.  Maybe it's the hair.  Maybe it's the combination of mystic, mythic, adventure and extremely strong characters both men and women alike.  The show is pretty brutal, so I know it's not one for everyone, but I can't help but come back to it again and again for the phenomenal characters, gorgeous art direction and unique vibe.

For me the goal here is to catch up for the show by Nov 29, 2017 when Season 5 premieres.  The majority of this will be a re-watch for me, but I did miss the back half of Season 4, so that will give me something new to look forward to within the re-watch.  Sadly, I've seen a fair amount of spoilers for the second half of Season 4, but I will pretend I didn’t hear them as I don’t want that to let that put me off watching a show I've loved.

One thing that will help out for this re-watch is that the show is finally available on Google Play.  I've already bought the first season, so I'm all ready to go for this re-watch.

Game of Thrones

Season to Re-watch: 7

Episodes to Watch: 67

Books to Read: 4

Deadline: TBC * (Summer 2018, November 2018 or Spring 2019 are all candidates for S8 premiere)

I know , I know.  Season 7 just finished... isn’t it too soon to think about re-watching the show?  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  This would be an extra special effort of a re-watch, because I'd like to catch up with reading the books as well as re-watch all 7 seasons.

I read the first book last fall, and I'm not planning on re-reading it but I will still have 4 huge books which average at 1,000 pages each.  That makes 70 episodes and 4,000 pages to read, hence starting SOON.

This is the re-watch I'm the most on the fence about.  It's the biggest time commitment because of all the reading, and if I don't get the timing right it might fall off the rails halfway through.  Plus, the return date of the show isn’t confirmed so that gets even more tricky (today I heard Nov 2018 but couldn’t find an official  announcement).  Another tricky bit is I to stick to one series per genre at a time, so if I go this route it means putting all other fantasy series on hold for a year.  That's a long time.  But, the reason it might be worth the push is that I feel like if I want to read the books, now is the time. It might even be past the time. Even with knowing that the show does diverge from the books at some point, I still would like to read them before as opposed to after the series finale.

My tentative schedule will be to give myself 6 weeks per book and 2 weeks per season.  If I rewatch S1 in September, and start reading Clash of Kings in October, I should be able to do it on that schedule with at least a month of breathing room.  I think breathing room is very important, especially as I will likely take a break from everything in February 2018 to watch The Olympics!  

If the reading of the books ends up not working out, I will still re-watch the series starting in early 2018.  The books are the bonus here, but I really want to rewatch the show as with both Season 6 and 7 I felt I missed out on little moments between characters, or remembering family histories or relevant locations.  I think it will be more enjoyable to be really in the know of the show as it winds up to go out with a bang.

Supernatural

Season to Re-watch: 12 or 13

Episodes to Watch: 264 to 287

Deadline: October 2018

Although Game of Thrones will be the most time intensive of these three, Supernatural will be the most episodes to take in for a re-watch.  In fact, this will be my biggest re-watch undertaking ever, as it soars by both Stargate SG-1 (214 episodes) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (178 episodes). 

Even though I love Supernatural, this is the rewatch I am most on the fence on.  The hesitation comes from the fact that it’s a really long project and also that I am worried about being overwhelmed on checking in/sharing the experience which is something I always look forward to in a project like this.  It makes me wonder that if watching without sharing thoughts about it, is worth it?  Would I still have fun if I didn’t say anything about it?  I am not sure.  I think I’m going to take the perspective as it will be an opportunity to have a regular practice of thinking and writing and posting, which is something that is calling out to me right now.  Will it still call to me after months of doing it?  I have no idea!  But I won’t know if I don’t try.  I talk more about this challenge with my sisters on a recent episode of stART.  

If I go ahead with this one, the schedule for this one is simple: a season a month starting September 2017.  If I can get ahead during breaks/hiatuses all the better.  This one I might pair with doing physio, and if so it could help in establishing a habit of watching it very regularly.  I also plan on doing some reflections on the show as I watch it, mostly likely at the end of each season and posting them on my blog.  Writing feels like the way to go for the reflections, I think it would be a good way to gather and share thoughts, but I am not ruling out vlogs quite just yet.

I was a late adopted to Supernatural, coming aboard in Season 5 but that means I've still be watching it for 7 years.  I used to do summer Supernatural re-watches annually, but at some point it just became too many episodes to fit in a summer.  I miss re-watching the show, and with the rumours that Season 14 might be it's last, I feel like the time is NOW to enjoy all of The Roads So Far.  

As this is a really long project, I'm feeling both excited at it's epicness and completely freaked out.  To temper this, I think after I do my reflection on the season, I will also do a check in how the project is going for me and if it's still fun.  Because... this should be fun.  If any of these re-watches become onerous, I have to either find a way to make them work or put them aside.

Looking at all of these I wonder if any of this is a good idea or now.  I'm super pumped about ALL of the options right now, but how will I feel later?  I guess that's why I like to write about things here.  It gives me a moment to take stock, and also remind myself of the original intent.  Things can easily change along the way, but I love seeing where the adventure begins.  And right now that IS the moment of the adventure beginning.  Here goes!

[culturalscientist]

TV Update ~ November, 2015

TV Update time!  It’s been so long since I’ve written that like with my reading post, this will be an update and general observations over a field notes entry. It’s been so long it’s hard to tell where to start.  So many shows, but not so many that I have actually seen.

New/Returning Shows

Initially, I was super excited for the Fall TV season.  I had a big long list of all the shows I was going to try out and what was one when and on which station.  Then when the shows began, I wasn’t rushing to watch them.  I tried out a few, but only a fraction of what I was interested in. 

I did try a few new shows, and the only one I stuck with was Blindspot.  It was actually the first one that I tried, probably because it started on a Monday, and although I don’t love the setup I do quite enjoy the character dynamics and the acting.  It’s nice to have a female lead who is completely amazing when it comes to the action of the show, but a character who is also very compassionate. Jaimie Alexander is great, as is Sullivan Stapleton who is the male lead of the show.  It’s got the case of the week plus long arc thing, and I like that.  And it’s surprized me a few times too, which always impresses me.

I also tried Quantico, but I didn’t love that the first episode established what feels like both the beginning and end of the season.  When it comes to mystery, I prefer linear over flash forward and then flash back and then flash… present?  Too bad, because it was a really interesting premise, has some great acting and interesting characters but it lost me by jumping too forward, to fast.

I’ve had mixed results on keeping up with returning shows, and things that are pretty heavy tend to sit at the back of the queue.  I’ve kept very up to date on reality shows like The Voice and Survivor which have both had great seasons so far.  Keeping with the Monday night trend thing, I’ve also kept up to date on Scorpion which has had a great balance of a few lighter episodes along with heavier ones, and even some threads that have carried through several episodes.  I really love the characters in that one, although sometimes they make me crazy!

Other returning shows I haven’t even started to watch, which is particularly annoying for the ones I worked on to get up to date over the summer.  The Originals and Nashville, I’m looking at you!  This feels totally out of character for me, and I’m still not entirely sure what happened there. 

One thing that has been working for me is watching stuff on my phone at night.  I’m almost caught up on Arrow, which was one of my favourites last year, and this is how I’ve been able to keep up to date on both Scorpion and Blindspot.

I’m going to try let go of catching up on any shows that debuted in Fall.  I can either dive in come January or leave them until later.  For returning shows that I’m not up to date on, there are a few I might want to catch up on via Shomi or can via Google Play because I love them so much.  For everything else, I will just jump in when they start back in January.  This is very unusual for the completist in me, but I will likely be able to figure out/research anything I missed. 

PLAN:

Don’t sweat catching up on shows

Be excited for January 2016 new/returning shows

Do my traditional Teen Wolf most-recent-season re-watch for the shows return in January 2016

I am a little worried that I have the same mindset now that I did in the summer, and wonder if it won’t work out now because it didn’t work out then.  But, winter is very different than summer and it’s a time that it’s nice to be cozy and curl up on the couch which is perfect for TV watching.  

Netflix/Shomi Watching

I am hitting decision fatigue BIG TIME when watching stuff via streaming.  There are so many options, and I have a lot that I am curious about but I never feel in the mood for the shows that I have in queue. 

That being said, I recently did finish Friday Night Lights Season 1 which was amazing.  I took a lot of long breaks between watching it, but anytime I did I got sucked into watching multiple episodes.  It’s an amazing show, and I’m curious to see where Season 2 will go.

I also started re-watching Farscape as a relaxing show to watch when I’m tired or puttering.  I watched a lot of the series when it aired, but didn’t see all of it even though my sister Suzie mailed me a VHS tape of the finale.  I also started re-watching it several years ago as a work out show, but only made it to Season three.  Maybe third time will be the charm.  I really enjoy this scifi/fantasy show, and sometimes completely forget that two of the main characters are puppets, because they are simply Rygel and Pilot. 

One show that I’m shocked I didn’t catch up in time for its fall return is Supernatural.  I’m about halfway through the previous season on Netflix.  I really thought I could easily catch up on Netflix, but as it turned out the previous season came out the new season started so that wasn’t enough time to make it through the 23 episodes.  The good news is, I’m mostly enjoying Season 10 so I think it will fall into my “catch up if I can, but if not don’t sweat it” mentality that I am adopting for Fall debut shows.

I think would be helpful for me to write a simple list of shows I’m watching online, on Netflix and on Shomi.  Then before I open an app or turn to the computer, I can look at the list and make a decision before getting hit with so many options.  It feels silly to get so overwhelmed with decision fatigue, but the truth is it happens so I hope this will combat it.

PLAN:

Make a list of shows I am watching online, on Netflix and on Shomi

Watch what I enjoy watching

Update here more often!

That’s my crazy huge update.  I hope to continue to focus on what I enjoy, not get discouraged by not being up to date and also make active choices on what I’m watching.  Fingers crossed it works! 

[culturalscientist]

Reading Update ~ November, 2015

It’s been months since I’ve done and entry on reading, which will make this an update entry over a field notes entry.

Back in August I was on a really big reading streak (21 titles!) which included a fair amount of novellas and short stories, but also lots of full books as well.  In September I read mostly books from the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club, past and present.  There were so many books that I did a separate vlog in September to review those titles specifically.  But when October hit I hit my reading slump.  I read a few HP Lovecraft stories and a Harlequin, but mostly I wasn’t feeling the reading energy which put me in slump mode.  This feeling mostly carried through to November, although I am starting to feel myself pull out of it. 

I try not to get too worked up over when I don’t feel like reading, because although it’s something that I can technically do almost any time, it’s one that I do have to be in the right headspace/energy to do it.  This means when I’m stressed, I can’t retain what’s going on in a book and likewise if I’m tired I can’t focus on the book either.  Given that I’m on the verge of moving and have spent a lot of the past several weeks prepping and packing for that, I feel it is understandable that the reading energy hasn’t been there.

Right now is the calm before the moving storm, and I have found myself reading again mostly on my Kobo and my newly purchased Kindle.  I also left out three physical books to read, a Harlequin which I’ve already finished, Felicia Day’s memoir You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) and War and Peace. 

One of my big goals of the year is to finish War and Peace, which is optimistic given all that’s going on and the fact that I have 1,000 or so pages to go.  I think if I get in the right groove of it I will be able to do it. I really want to do it.  I also realized I’m only nine books away from surpassing my record of number of books read in one year.  Being someone who is achievement oriented, I find that there is a big temptation to try and break that record.  But when I put it to a pro/con list test, I realized that I would be happier focusing on finishing War and Peace if I had to pick one reading goal for the remainder of the year.

One of the books I’m happiest to have read since I last did an entry is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  Frankenstein has possibly the most elegant writing I’ve ever encountered, and was much more accessible than I expected.  It was also very different than I expected from knowing the story, or thinking I knew the story, from watching film adaptations.  I’m also thrilled to have read Blood and Sawdust by my brother Jason S. Ridler, which also was my first Kindle purchase. It’s a visceral tale about two underdogs in the world of underground fighting, with a supernatural twist. 

Overall it’s been a pretty tremendous reading year, and I hope I continue to keep coming back to my reading goals of enjoying what I read.  I know I get pulled into wanting to do different challenges, being on track with this series or that book club, and I love those things too but I think a baseline of keeping reading centred on it being an enjoyable experience is ultimately the way for to go.

[culturalscientist]

TV and Reading Field Notes ~ Aug 18-19, 2015

Date:  Tuesday August 18 and Wednesday August 19, 2015

WATCHED

I get a little more content chatty/reaction today so it leads in to spoilers.  I am holding strong this isn’t an episode guide site, but old habits are hard to break so I might slip into that vibe here and there!

Teen Wolf Season 5 Episode 9 Lies of Omission

Wow, you could really feel this episode coming.  A lot of Season 5 has been about the group getting uncomfortably distanced from each other, and becoming weaker and questioning themselves every step of the way.  We have seen that Theo is actively doing this behind the scenes, and of course Stiles caught it right away that something was off but Scott gave him a chance, because that is what he does.  And being questioning is who Stiles is. This lead to an ultimate faceoff between the two, where it was pretty clear that Scott didn’t trust Stiles.  So painful!  I find most show that work with an ensemble and last several eventually go here, and I never like it. I remember it happening in Buffy, although it was pretty early (Season 2 episode 2 if I remember right).  The relationships of the usually recover, but they never forget.  I just hope they don’t do a “this was a guise and they knew what was really going on the whole time” flashback sequence next week, because that would suck.  But, I feel like they might have to go to that route because Scott being a werewolf should be able to tell when Stiles is lying. Anyhow, I hope it’s revealed that Theo is involved with the Dread Doctors, and that he’s betrayed everyone’s trust.  My prediction is that will come out, but the gang will still try and help them.

Observations:

I’ve mostly been a bit behind this season, but now that I’m up to date I’m excited to go watch Happy Cool’s Teen Wolf videos.  I love this YouTube channel, and always enjoy their Teen Wolf vids.

Bonus points for word usage of syzygy.  I love that word, although I would say it was hard to understand that this was what was being said by the Dredd Doctors, whom although are cool villains, it can be hard to not only hear but “get” what they are saying.

Sadness all around that it’s the midseason penultimate episode, and I’m still not sure where it’s coming back other than simply “midseason”.  I guess that might mean winter. /tear

Supernatural Season 9 Episode 7 Devil May Care (re-watch)

We have Cass working at a convenience store, tragically thinks he’s going on a date and he’s actually being asked to babysit.  Poor Cass! Er, make that Steve.  I actually quite liked the baddy in this one, who is a battlefield angel who lets people die when they are in too much pain, I wonder if that is kind of like a reaper for angels.  Not sure if this is the explosion of pink goo episode, of a different one.  I was multitasking through re-watching this episode, and got way deep in the other task so I only remember the broad strokes of this one.  

Observations:  

Amazing how quickly re-watches feel like they get intensive enough that I don’t want to multitask while watching!  Egads.  Or perhaps, I’m at the point where TV watching isn’t a multitasking activity.  At least when thinking is required, I’m sure I can still knit and that kind of stuff while watching.  I guess I need a knitting project!

The Whispers Season 1 Episode 11 Homesick (with dinner)

Man, this show is just faltering a bit more every week.  The idea of the show was interesting, and it had a pretty strong start but at this point I feel like I just keep punching holes in the logic of things over and over, for fun even.  And I’m not normally like that.  I will say that it’s been harder to be excited about it ever since a very important episode to the overall story didn’t tape a few weeks back, and even though when I looked it up it said it wasn’t on, the story gap is there and they showed it on the ‘previously on’ so something got missed somewhere in watching it. But, given it’s so close to the end of the season I know I’m curious enough to know how it will resolve.  Here’s hoping it does resolve and not cliffhanger, as I would be very surprized if it was renewed.

Observations:  

It ended on a GREAT creepy note.  Woohoo for that.

11 episodes in and I still don’t remember the majority of the names of the characters.  I know there is a Wes, but I thought he was a different person than he is.  I always remember Minx’s name though.

Crimson Tide/The Rock (Film)

Observations: I was too tired to watch a new show one night, and thought I would doze off to a film and started watching Crimson Tide on Netflix.  Pretty soon I realized that it had been so long since I’ve seen it, and that the story was so good, that I needed more attention to actually enjoy it.  I switched gears and started watching The Rock, which has quickly become one of my go to movies for bedtime stories.  It’s exciting, has a lot of great lines, but I know it well enough that I can easily konk out to it and pick up at some other point along the way.

READ

I finished Gunmetal Magic (Kate Daniels, #5.5) by Ilona Andrews, and ended up really enjoying it.  It took a bit to get to that, as it follows Andrea and she’s tough but more than a bit broken when it starts.  I am really glad I stuck with it, it made some things about the series make more sense in terms of the characters.  It’s funny how as the Kate Daniels books go on, they are more and more centred in the community of the shape shifters, but given that Kate isn’t one there are things that always feel like everyone but her has a hive/ cultural/collective mindset that she doesn’t.  This book makes that a lot more relatable, even given that Andrea isn’t in the pack but she knows the culture and has the instincts.  There were lots of great scenes in this one, and I loved that Roman was in it who is like a dark magic type but not evil per se.  I love how the series finds ways to seamlessly bring back in characters that we’ve been previously introduced to but don’t always have a logical place in every single book.  I also ended up liking Gunmetal Magic a lot more than Magic Mourns, the novella that follows Andrea earlier in the series.  That being said, my favourite of the companion pieces to this series is still Magic Dreams following Dali.  I hope she is in more of the series as it moves forward, totally awesome characters.  

Observations:  

It was worth sticking this one out, not only for completion but for enjoyment too.  I can say that after the fact, but you only know if it’s worth it after the fact!

The book was much shorter than I expected as the eBook also has a novella following Kate and Curran.  Can’t wait to get to that!  I didn’t even really realize it was there.

I also finished (re-)reading Alice in Wonderland via Kindle.  I admit I’m annoyed that the version I read on my Kobo felt incomplete and I know I was going to re-read it so I felt like I “really read” it, but it’s annoying to mostly being annoyed with the experience as opposed to like... having the experience.  That being said, the more complete version was better and I did like having the illustrations, in particular at the end of the book they had a whole whack of illustrations from different books over the years.  Hopefully over time I’ll just remember enjoying the book and not the experiential bit.

Observations:

As much as I love free stuff and getting stuff via public domain, the quality control piece isn’t always there.  It’s probably more reliable to read stuff through the library for stuff that’s public domain, or at least check to see if it’s available there first.  If it is, I can always spot check library copy vs public domain copy to see if what I have feels complete enough to me.  

This is probably worth more trouble than it’s worth, so I have no idea if I’ll do this.  Heh.  Might stick to tree books until I decide.

[culturalscientist]

Reading Field Notes ~ First Entry

As I mentioned in my recent TV Field Notes ~ First Entry, these field note entries aren’t reviews, but rather my response/reactions to reading.  I will discuss the process of reading more than the plot of any one book.  My goal here is to look at my reading habits and process, see if it matches my goals, and adjust accordingly.

Reading Goals:

My main goal with reading is simply to enjoy books

This year I decided I wanted to try out being a part of a book club, and I’ve been following along with most of the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club titles.  I’ve been enjoying the books so much I’m considering going back and reading all of the titles.

Other book involvements that I am working through are my 2015 Book to Film Challenge and Shannon Reads “Those Books” Exploration.

I would love to get my Currently Reading shelf on Good Reads down to a more reasonable number. Right now it’s at 17, but I would be so much happier if it was in the realm of 10 or so.

I am completely fine with reading more than one book at a time, but I find things are better when I read one book per genre at a time.

Reading: Monday August 17, 2015

I’m in the middle of Gunmetal Magic (Kate Daniels, #5.5) by Ilona Andrews. This is the second Andrea-centric story I’ve read in the Kate Daniels World and I continue to be confused by the fact that I love Andrea as a character, but I don’t enjoy the stories that focus on her as much as I enjoy her in the other books.  She’s a total bad ass, but she’s got a huge chip on her shoulder which leads to lots of personal tension that can be a little hard to be around.  Also, because I read the novellas/companion books well after their place in the series (by choice), there is little tension in the story as I feel confident the mystery/case will be solved and I know where the characters are going.  But the characters are where it’s at.  I hope Andrea really comes to terms with what she’s dealing with and also things smooth  over with Raphael.  I imagine I’ll finish this one in the next few days, that is if I don’t keep falling asleep while I’m reading!  I’m being a bit completist on this one, with a drive to get up to day in the series as a new Kate Daniels came out this month and I’m one behind in the series and want to be up to date for when my library hold comes through.  All that said, it’s one of the favourites of the series I’m reading and I look forward to reading every single book, novella and story in this world.  Huge shout out to Vaginal Fantasy Book Club for having the first book as one of their book club selections.

Observations:  

Is my drive to read the series as complete as possible getting in my way? 

If I’m not overly enjoying this book, should I just skip it and go to the next Kate Daniels book? 

Will there be enough in it that I’ll enjoy that it will be worth it? 

I don’t actively dislike it, and I feel like I’m far enough in that I’ll likely push through but is that the best choice?

A few days ago I read Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll on my Kobo. At least I thought I did.  I realized that I read it in record time, even given it’s a kids book.  Because it felt so short and much fewer pages than any of the versions listed on Good Reads I wanted to double check another copy, and sure enough the Kindle version I found was a longer version of the text (with illustrations to boot).  I liked it, but not as much as I expected.  There was a lot of becoming smaller/bigger over and over. I know almost all of the story from film and TV adaptations, as well as other pop culture references.  

Observations:

I feel stuck on whether or not I consider that I’ve read the book, considering the Kobo version feels incomplete.

I started speed-reading/re-reading the Kindle version to feel more comfortable saying I’ve read it. This does feel a bit silly, but I can feel that I will continue to do it.

The Kindle version is more enjoyable, so I will likely finish it.

I have a bunch of other books I got free via Kobo, but given what happened here, how confident will I be that they are complete? 

This is my 11th title for the Shannon Reads “Those Books” Exploration, which I haven’t picked a new title for a bit since I started reading War and Peace, but given it’s so long it’s probably reasonable to read other books from the list at the same time.

I want to get back to War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I’m doing this as a Buddy Read with my buddy Paddy, but I’m way behind where I would like to be.  I recently got a physical copy which really helps as I wouldn’t be able to read this long a book on the 3-week library loan period, but with my hand hurting all last week I couldn’t hold the physical copy open to read.  I’m also a little stumped on to take notes or not.  Pros for taking notes are retention of story and characters (given it’s 1300 pages that feels like a smart way to go), but big con for taking notes means I have to read it sitting up or at a desk, which is not as comfortable and I know it’s hard to get myself in the habit of doing this.  It’s a really long book so I would love to find some way to make this work.

Side note: A TV adaptation is in the works to be released in January 2016.  Oddly, I now usually read books that have TV adaptations after watching the adaptation, but this will have to buck that trend because I’m committed to reading it, and hoping to finish it WAY before then.  Avoiding spoilers should give me some added incentive there.

Overall I feel like I know where I’m at and where I’d like to go with my reading, which helps a lot.  The one book per genre feels very freeing and puts me in the good place of less time deciding and more time reading, which is a good place to be.

[culturalscientist]

TV Field Notes ~ First Entry

I’m excited to start to share what I hoped to do here, which is looking doing field notes and sharing experiments in cultural things from TV, Books, Film, Art, Music, Gaming along with potentially the expression/engagement in these elements of culture.

This won’t be episodes guides or info on shows, , but rather my reactions to the experience of watching.  I’m still finding my way on this, but I imagine I’ll be talking about the themes and content of the shows but more often than not I’ll be talking about the experience of watching from discussing methods of watching, my habits (good or bad), and how much I am enjoying something.  I’ve included my goals for watching to help anchor what I’m driving towards.  These are current goals and reflect Summer 2015, they will likely be revised for the Fall/Winter 2015-16 season.

Goals:

Enjoy what I watch

Catch up on past fall/winter show by the time they return in the new season (Nashville, The Originals, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries and Outlander possibly Reign).

Spend less time deciding what to watch

KNOW what I'm watching per medium (Netflix, Shomi, DVD, etc)

Watch 1 per genre (generally)

Be up to day with CURRENT shows I enjoy

Be comfortable while watching

Date:  Monday August 17, 2015

Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1 Mudd’s Women I am watching this as a show to either rest or do physio, plus of course for the love of Star Trek.  I know this episode because it’s so iconic but so far in my re-watch of Star Trek: The Original Series I’m surprized at how often the gender dynamics are not what I remember.  Sure, it was the 60’s and so there is a free spiritedness and that’s awesome but this one in particular was a bit disturbing because the women were being bartered/were the cargo and then also had a theme of when they appear older they have less value.  What made that last part more disturbing was that it was aligned to valuing yourself less, and that if you believe in yourself you’ll be fine.  This is all so close to some of my beliefs and VERY far from others that it made it a bit uncomfortable.  I was also a bit fidgety during watching so possibility I didn’t ‘get’ everything, but I’m okay with that.

The Originals, Season 2 Episode 9 The Map of Moments It was so exciting to get to see an episode I hadn’t seen yet.  Background on this was I got The Originals via iTunes but ended up not watching it through the fall/winter season.  I finally started early in the summer but faded fast.  Watching on my computer is just not a good way for me to watch TV anymore.  Anyhow, I realized last week that I could check out the Shomi app which has The Originals as one of their shows!  In less than a week I rewatched all the episodes I had gotten to and this was the first new one to watch and it was amazing.  I love how over the top the show is, and this one was a Christmas themed one which is fun that they did that given how melodramatic the show is.  I feel pretty confident I will get up to date in no time.  And I’m thrilled that the app works well, there were some horrible reviews but so far it works just peachy with my phone.

Humans, Season 1 Episode 8 (with Dinner) Season 1 finale of Humans was amazing.  This is easily one of the best new shows of the summer if not the year.  I loved every episode, and was impressed by the amazing storytelling, the things you didn’t see coming (but worked) and all the complex character dynamics whether they were wonderful or uncomfortable.  I am thrilled that it’s been renewed for a second season and I know I will miss seeing a new episode next week.

Supernatural, Season 9 Episode 5 Dog Dean Afternoon Like The Originals, I’m way behind on Supernatural.  I also bought the recent season (S10) it on iTunes, but didn’t keep up with it throughout the year.  It felt too overwhelming to take it on watching at the computer at the same time as The Originals, so I opted to re-watch the previous season on Netflix and it could be my re-watching show which I like to have.  I also loved this episode in particular.  It’s really odd, I don’t remember the arc of S9 that much, but I remember a lot of the specific episodes, including this one where Dean ends up being able to communicate with a dog which provides lots of awesome humour.  And as a sidenote, I’ve been enjoying reading The SUPERNATURAL  Re-Watch Project over at Forever Young Adult, as someone who has rewatched the show again and again, it’s fun to see someone else enjoying a rewatch.  

Side Observation: I love episode guides and fan reactionary stuff, which reminds me that it’s often a lot more fun to be up to date of stuff so you can enjoy them at the time.

Friday Night Lights, Season 1 Episode 12 I started watching this show ages ago but took a hiatus when I was watching another drama.  I also  might have stalled this when I was getting up to date on Nashville, as both shows have Connie Britton and sometimes it’s confusing to see the same actor in 2 different shows I’m watch intensively.  It’s a first time watch and I enjoy it so much, so I am very glad I came back to it.  I really want to keep on track with watching it this time.

Previous Observations:

I abandoned my Heroes re-watch in anticipation for Heroes: Reborn.  After a few episodes in I realized I remembered how the first season ended and I feel like that’s all I would get through so might as well free up that time to watch and enjoy something else.

I also tried but abandoned Bates Motel after three episodes. Although the stories are great and acting is very good, it got very dark, very fast.  The content that they were handling was way darker than I expected for a sleepy small town, and almost everyone went to dark places pretty quick.  I watch a fair amount of dark shows, but I don’t like dark shows that are realistic and show regular people doing horrible things.  Give me paranormal, conspiracy, mystery or comedy with the darkness and I’ll likely stick around.  But horrible people doing horrible things?  Not for me.

Both of these choices match up to feeling strongly about wanting to ENJOY what I am watching.  So that made it easier to make the decision and I feel much happier about it.

General Observations:  

I think I’m going strong with the working towards getting up to date with shows before their new seasons come out.  

I recently decided that I think it would be best to watch 1 new and 1 re-watch show medium of Netflix/Shomi and that has been going really well.  I spend less time deciding and can just settle into watching.  

I got up to date with Nashville S3 (thank goodness!), and now am watching Supernatural S9 (re-watch) and Friday Night Lights (1st time watch) on Netflix and Star Trek: The Original Series (re-watch) and The Originals S2 (1st time watch) on shomi.  This plan feels like it’s really working, it gives me enough options to have something to suit my mood/engagement level without being so many choices that I stew in indecision.

[culturalscientist]

I was recently watching a lesson for an art class I’m taking, and I noticed my specific resistance showing up to a few steps in the process.  I knew I could tweak the lesson to accommodate what I did and didn’t want to do, but I felt that at some point if I made too many changes I would lose the lesson itself. 

So I decided to look at the things I was resisting, and thought about why that was Instead of simply changing them.  After a while, I noticed two different kinds of resistance.   One kind of resistance, was for something that gains a result I don’t like to aesthetically.  The other resistance I had a harder time figuring out why I resist it, other than what I call a “peas and carrots” response for things I like to keep separate from another (paint and words). 

When is something a preference, and when are we being inflexible?

My first resistance, I decided was a preference.  I’ve tried it, I don’t like how it looks, and I know my own artistic style well enough now to know I won’t like the result.  I decided it was okay to forgo this element, as I know it as a preference.

But my other resistance, I felt that if I wouldn’t be doing the exercise.  This was my “peas and carrots” response to putting words on art.  I don’t fully know why I like to keep drawing, painting and collage wordless, but I feel rather strongly about it.  But I felt like omitting the word element would take it too far away from the lesson and therefore I wouldn’t really be doing it.  I’m not drawn to words for my own art, often feeling they too firmly define what it is going one.  But, I decided this time I was going to work them in and wondered how I could do it.  One thing I have kept as a side-project-I-always-mean-to-get-back-to is collecting and defining words I don’t know what they mean.  Then I remembered my dictionary phone app keeps a history of recent words, and I could draw on those to use in the exercise!  To add my own touch, I wrote out the definitions on the back of the art pieces, so they double as flash cards.

In the end, I was able to find a way that worked for me and felt like I was being true to the lesson.  Plus, I was able to hold strong on one preference, and give a bit on another.  As someone who is not a fan of compromise, this felt like a huge success! 

I chat more about this experience on this weeks episode of stART: Creating As We Go.  There are lots of giggles, and lots more words.

[culturalscientist]

Heroes Re-Watch/New Watch Begins

I’m working on watching Heroes in lead up to Heroes Reborn Which begins Sept 24, 2015.  That’s 2 mere months to watch 77 episodes if I go with the whole series.  I only seen Season 1 and a few episodes of Season 2 and I heard there were diminishing returns, so I’m not sure how much of it I will work in.  I do know that it’s amazing that the first episode was pretty hazy in my memory, and was shocked when I did the math and realized it aired 9 years ago.  The good news is, that being hazy means I can enjoy it almost as it for the first time.  Hopefully I will be having as much fun as Hiro is in this picture.

[culturalscientist]

Now that I’ve finished my entire Star Trek: The Next Generation re-watch, I’m enjoying some (casual) watching of The Original Series.  I’m not committing to a re-watch or to write about it, which became challenging for TNG, but I’m enjoying simply enjoying it.  It’s been years since I’ve watched any Classic Trek, and although I’m 100% positive that I’ve seen them all I was just barely remembering this episode 1.01 The Man Trap where an alien posing as human who craves salt so much that they consume if from humans.  Absorbing thing from the crew seems to be something that happens pretty often, you’d figure at some point they’d have some kind of shielding against that.

I’m very curious to see how many of the episodes I remember right away or ones that may just be a glimmer of a memory.  We’ll see!

[culturalscientist]

Finding NEW Music to Enjoy ~ Indie 88′s Your First Listen

One of the experiments I’m working on is finding a radio station I like.  There are lots of factors from sheer likability to availability, but I realized one of the parameters I want to fit in is that they play NEW music I like. As much as I can enjoy Retro 80s, Classic Rock and 70′s goodness, I long to hear new music on the radio.

When I was doing some digging, I came across Indie88′s Your First Listen, which features “5 Remarkable Tracks You Need to Hear”.  I found them on their website which shares the songs via videos, and it looks like it’s updated biweekly-ish.  I checked out the songs they listed for July 6, 2015 and enjoyed most of the so I think this will be a good spot for me for new music.

I haven’t checked out if I can get the radio station on my radio, but I used to listen to CKLN 88.1 so it would makes sense it still comes through okay. I’m going to try that and if I like it I might also check out their app, but it’s unrated at the moment (not sure what that means) and the reviews are all over the place so I not going to jump into that quite just yet.  But finding new music that I like definitely lends to the possibility that it’s a radio station for me.  A promising start for sure.

[culturalscientist]

Things I’m thinking about writing about...

The oddness of not liking/understanding a video for a song you love

Getting out of reading slumps

The goals/effect of reading diversely when doing so is a trend in it of itself

Why watching 2 episodes of TV is harder than 1 film that’s 1h30 min (or 3 eps and a 2h25 min film).

Getting BACK to watching film

Reading enjoyment

Finding a radio station I like

Finding a top 20/40 countdown I like

The Stargate Effect

The consistent response on Facebook to the X-Files 201 Day countdown is that people can’t limited themselves to watch 1 episode a day.

Reading HP Lovecraft short stories before bed is not a great idea, and gave me weirder than normal dreams.

How I felt about Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín.

[culturalscientist]

It Begins

I have created this blog/Tumblr because I want a place to put my thoughts and reflections on cultural things, in an organized way (that's the scientist part).

This idea has been inspired while working in a composition book as discussed in Lynda Barry's book Syllabus and this resource on keeping a field journal.

I want a place to not only write down but work through and process some of my thought on books, film, TV, art, etc and also the cultural reactions in response to how we interact with books, film, TV, art, etc. 

This site is a work in progress.  I love consistency of format, but recognize that until I get a little deeper into working with these ideas that I won't know what format the thoughts and reflections will take.  Who knows, it may not be consistent at all.  

There is one way to find out, and that is to get started which is exactly what I'm going to do.