Mars!

So, I think this is the best mini-series thingy ever (is it a mini series if it has 21 episodes? Or something else?).  It really is: there is so much angst and pretty people standing around with issues.  So far we have:

1. One male lead (Ling) with serious issues because a) he is the product of an extra-marital affair and b) he told his twin this pushing him to commit suicide, right in front of Ling.  He has catatonic fits (they call it 'false death') and rides motorbikes, when he is not standing around being absurdly pretty.  He also sometimes goes a bit bonkers and beats the living daylights out of people who probably deserve it.  And has spent 2 years in the loony bin

2. One female lead (Qi Luo) who has serious intimacy issues. Serious as in she freaks totally out if someone touches her too much.  As she is dating Ling, who likes the ladies, yes we have a crash coming up soon.  Obviously there is something in her past as we get flashbacks of it, but we do not know precisely what yet. 

3. Ling's sort of ex-girl from high school. He stole her from dead twin (before he was dead) and she returns and sort of stalks him for a bit. She has an annoying little girl voice and mannerisms and I hates her, yes I do.

4. Ling's gay masochistic stalker who killed his last lover/tormenter.  He is also very pretty and stands around smiling slightly whatever happens, which is much creepier than it sounds.  Also spent time in the same loony bin as Ling and resents Qi Luo for taming Ling's more bonkers instincts.

5. Some mysterious older gentleman who pops up when Ling's portrait (as Mars, god of war) was exhibited. I think he will be Important in some way. 

ETA 6: I forgot the slightly creepy dead mum of Ling, who used to say that their father was evil and at the same time it was good that they were growing up to look like their father. Of course, they didn't know that the guy they thought was their father was not really their real father.  The flashbacks to her are always have this wierd timing thing going on and the frames are slightly out of sync so it looks a bit like some shots in a Japanese horror film. Obviously Ling's memories of her are not happy, happy ones. 

And there's so much more! 

Can someone rec me more of these sort of dramas? dangermousie?

Things I do not understand

There are many things I do not understand, chief amongst which is science in any of its forms.  Which is sad, because I once did understand some science when I did it at school and stuff, but now even basic chemistry fills me with superstitious awe, much like a medieval peasant faced with the concept of soap. 

But one of the things I really don't get is why do people consistently watch things they obviously loathe?  I get hanging onto old stuff for a bit in the hope it gets better (this explains my watching of about half of Buffy season 6), but if it is clearly giving you such pain that it is as if the entire universe has not only betrayed you, but also kicked your pet, stole your favourite piece of clothing, burned down your house, danced on the ashes of its smouldering ruin and then used your DVDs as coasters while cackling evilly, then surely it is not worth it?  Because quite frequently it is clear that people's relationship with entertainment they are not enjoying  is not 'oh, I'll watch it and have fun mocking it light heartedly' but something that they are taking very much to heart and actually obsessing about.  Endlessly.

I know I've been guilty of watching things myself which I did not enjoy and posting about them afterwards (I am thinking shamefully of some McCoy Dr. Who episodes) and then going back for more, but not for month and months of time.  And it's not (I hope) as if I felt those things purposefully set out to offend me and my intelligence on a very personal level.  There are many things that I don't like that other people find excellent and I assume it is because my taste is different and not because I see things very deeply and they are sheep who but graze on the side of the television road and are frequently run over by sit-coms and the like.  I watch telly in my free time; I have to do/read/see enough stuff in my real life that I do not enjoy not to want to have to repeat that in my spare time.

(I apologise for the rant: I think I am excessively grumpy today because I have been putting together a syllabus on imperialism and if there is anything that depresses you it is reading stuff about ancient cruelties in the name of nations and ideals and power and realising that absolutely nothing has changed.) 

Just when I think it is not possible to despise Tony Blair more...

Blair talks to Rupert Murdoch and his pals

Quote: "Mr Blair, who flew by helicopter from San Francisco to the exclusive Pebble Beach resort to make his speech, argued that modern political debate in Europe and the US was "no longer between socialists and capitalists but instead between the globalisers and the advocates of protectionism, isolationism and nativism", which he described as issues of migration and national identity.

The prime minister argued: "Most confusingly for modern politicians, many of the policy prescriptions cross traditional left-right lines. Basic values, attitudes to the positive role of government, social objectives - these still divide among familiar party lines, but on policy cross-dressing is rampant and a feature of modern politics that will stay."

So it's not that you don't have any principles, it's just that we're all confused. Glad you sorted that one out Tony.