Oh Television, why dost thou vexeth me so?

I like to think I don't watch a lot of television, but in reality I'm just as addicted as anyone else. And while I've seen a few really good, smart shows (Six Feet Under, The West Wing, even some episodes of Star Trek), most of what I watch is pretty silly. Or downright stupid. But it's fun, and diverting, and just like everyone else I like being transported out of my own complex/routine life once in a while to indulge in a fantasy world where funny or exciting things always happen and no problem is so big it can't be solved in about 44 minutes.

But I don't like it when TV goes bad -- when my happy little fantasy world is rudely broken into by bad writing or idiotic decisions, and I'm made unhappy by something that was supposed to be a diversion.

In other words, I don't like it when they decide to kill Carson Beckett.

I've been watching Stargate Atlantis for a while now, and I would admit right from the start that it was big dumb fun. The best kind of relaxing tv -- pretty actors, funny dialogue, explosions, and plotlines that were just silly enough to be made fun of without stretching the bounds of credibility too much. But it's the third season now, and the show's definately gone downhill. Rare is the moment when it makes me laugh, and I'm starting to find watching it a chore rather than something fun. I was watching a recent episode while doing my ironing, and I was still bored with it! But I kept at it because it was once a fun show, and I have many fond memories of watching it with Biku (and the hilariously serious conversations that came out of it, ie. the Binto scale).

But then, the shows executives decided to kill one of my favourite characters in an entirely pointless and over-dramatic manner, for no real reason. Exploding tumours, my ass! Watching that episode ruined my whole day, and made me seriously reconsider both my tv watching and my interest in Stargate Atlantis. What was the tv good for if it couldn't even keep a sweet Scottish doctor with chubby cheeks alive?

I've since (thanks to some good Japanese tv) been won back to the side of the idiot box, but whether I'll ever really enjoy Stargate again is another matter. It makes me mad that such a stupid episode could have affected me so much, and I'm not sure I want to let that happen again.

Just Because I wanted to see what would come up...

I don't think my music collection is very big, or particularly interesting, but this meme caught my attention so I thought I'd throw my music on random and see what the soundtrack of my life is:

1. Opening Credits: Adia by Sarah McLaughlin
"Adia I do believe I've failed you" -- an oddly depressing beginning.

2. Waking Up: Gypsy Kings "Bambolero"
Fittingly Upbeat, I think. I do enjoy being a morning person.

3. First Day At School: "Vengeance and Greed" by The Gruff
The happiest vengeance song I've ever heard -- perhaps I was traumatized by school? (not that I can remember)

4.Falling In Love: Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker "Hot House"
Strange, somewhat old-fashioned, and with no discernible melody or purpose. But I like it nonetheless.

5.Fight Song: "Nothing Better" By the Postal Service
This isn't so much a fight song as it is an attempt to make peace by bending over backwards to accomadate someone turning a deaf ear. Which is just about right...

6.Breaking up: "Billy's Death" by Aaron Copland (from the Billy the Kid)
Quiet, melancholy, with a certain inevitability about it. No loud drums or fireworks, but a sense of inevitability nonetheless.

7. Prom: "Is Anybody Home?" Our Lady Peace
No idea what this means.

8. Life: "One Moment of Grace" by Night Sun
"This time I'm ready, I will journey high. Steer true, keep it steady. This time I will fall -- and even when I fall I still get a chance to reach the sun. I don't get one chance, I get a million..."

9. Mental Breakdown: "New Aaron" by Don Ross
Although oddly, this music actually makes me pretty happy...

10. Driving: "Black and White Haru" from the Fruits Basket soundtrack
Appropriate since this music makes me think of Toria, who I've been driving with countless times. "Love and Joy" (or some song by Erasure) would have been better, but this'll do in a pinch, I guess.

11. Flashback: "Flicks" by Frou Frou
Ironically enough, I don't actually know this song. If that's not a metaphor for my bad memory, I don't know what is.

12. Getting back together: "Electronic Renaissance" by Belle and Sebastien

13. Wedding: "Miss Independant" by Kelly Clarkson.
"Miss 'don't let a man interfere'." teehee.

14. Birth of Child : "Secret" from the Fruits Basket soundtrack.
Uh-ohh....

15. Final Battle: "I Will Follow" by U2
"I was looking at myself, I was blind I could not see."

16. Funeral Song: "Gotta Knock a Little Harder" from Cowboy Bebop

17. End Credits: "The Rules" by the Tragically Hip
It's a good song, but ultimately I have absolutely no idea what it means.

Hmm. I'm not entirely happy with the way that turned out, but hey, that's what 'random' is all about, right?