Random Rants LX: I wish to register a complaint

[Zack]

Doesn't excuse the race car shenanigans.

I don't remember specifically what you're referring to, but that seems nitpicky.

 

[sophie]

…because properly polished excrement, e.g. The Flash, still has some shine (read: Tom Cavanagh) to it. Non-polished excrement, i.e. Agent Carter or Marvel's Agents of SHIELD merely stinks.

Link to video.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I don't remember specifically what you're referring to, but that seems nitpicky.

??? It was a major plot point of the last few episodes.

Spoiler :

After he leaves Manhatten, he winds up in the (California?) desert trying to set land speed records with some grease monkeys who have a souped up hot rod. No one knows who he really is and he sleeps with a hooker.

It was just out of place and dumb. It didn't really add anything to him as a character, it came off as just some random thing - the fact that you don't recall it kind of proves my point.

Spoiler :

The whole rest of the series depicts him falling deeper into alcoholism and depravity while he systematically destroys every relationship that matters to him. Meanwhile, his past keeps trying to catch up to him and things really seemed to be coming to a head going into the last season. My group of friends really thought he was going to end up a suicide or in prison (which we thought would have been fitting), however, the writers spent the last season instead trying to put a nice little bow on the stories of most of the characters and went off into left field with Don. It was disappointing mostly for the treatment of Don, though in general I'm not a fan of last seasons where they try and wrap up things for every single character and shows them all essentially doing awesome/having their dreams fufilled. It's too saccharin-sweet and comes at the expense of the main story arc which has been building up over previous seasons. The final season of Parks and Recreation was like this and consequently that season was by far the least funny and just overall kind of lame.

 

[JohannaK]

I also don't think GoT's last season was that great. Winning best writing, in particular, is crazy.

Unlike The equivalent book, the fifth season was pretty great.

 

[Zack]

Unlike The equivalent book, the fifth season was pretty great.

Other than Hardhome, I did not enjoy the fifth season. Some of the writing, Dorne especially, was pretty bad.

Spoiler :

Barristan's death was pointless and stupid. It's like D&D think the entire appeal of the books and show is that people die and that's crazy, which simply isn't true. Stannis' character was butchered even further. Brienne coincidentally running into Sansa/Arya and coming up short is Hollywood silliness. Sansa going to Winterfell in the first place doesn't make sense, and the rape scene was problematic. Olly's stares at Jon throughout the season were eye-rolling. Everything about Dorne was terrible. Ramsay and Sir Twentygoodmen continue to be freakin gods.

I thought it was like watching a season of the Walking Dead. A soap opera with lots of death.

Hardhome was brilliant, though. And the season had its moments. But if I hadn't read the books, I don't think I'd have any interest in the show.

??? It was a major plot point of the last few episodes.

Spoiler :

After he leaves Manhatten, he winds up in the (California?) desert trying to set land speed records with some grease monkeys who have a souped up hot rod. No one knows who he really is and he sleeps with a hooker.

It was just out of place and dumb. It didn't really add anything to him as a character, it came off as just some random thing - the fact that you don't recall it kind of proves my point.

Spoiler :

The whole rest of the series depicts him falling deeper into alcoholism and depravity while he systematically destroys every relationship that matters to him. Meanwhile, his past keeps trying to catch up to him and things really seemed to be coming to a head going into the last season. My group of friends really thought he was going to end up a suicide or in prison (which we thought would have been fitting), however, the writers spent the last season instead trying to put a nice little bow on the stories of most of the characters and went off into left field with Don. It was disappointing mostly for the treatment of Don, though in general I'm not a fan of last seasons where they try and wrap up things for every single character and shows them all essentially doing awesome/having their dreams fufilled. It's too saccharin-sweet and comes at the expense of the main story arc which has been building up over previous seasons. The final season of Parks and Recreation was like this and consequently that season was by far the least funny and just overall kind of lame.

But it wasn't a major plot point. It's not even in the episode summaries on Wikipedia. I vaguely remember a short time was spent working on cars or something, but it's not a huge thing. I don't think there was anything particularly wrong with it, either. Mad Men is filled with "just some random things" that don't seem to add much, it's not unique to the final season.

I don't think the ending was that happy, either.

Spoiler :

Look at Ken Cosgrove - does he seem happy to you? Instead of spending time with his family and writing, he's bitterly trying to get back at the ad agency that wronged him.

How happy do people seem about the office closing and having to go to McCann?

How happy do Don's kids and ex-wife look? Betty's dying of cancer, for Christ's sake.

What about Don? His trophy wife left him and took a bunch of his money and stuff. Betty doesn't want the kids to live with him. He's alone. The happy ending you're dissatisfied with is actually kinda cyncial - Don finds his nirvana by figuring out how to manipulate the cultural zeitgeist to create a good ad? You think maybe Don's found some sort of enlightenment on how to lead a more meaningful existence, but it turns out all he's done is rediscover his passion for creating ads. It's perfect.

 

[Civ'ed]

Rain fixing me down at school

 

[JohannaK]

I'll give you Ser Barristan.

 

[The_J]

Oh, boah, this meeting was so annoying.
It boiled down to me explaining a problem, and my boss not getting it.
Which resulted also in "why it's not done yet?", which would be valid if the problem didn't exist.
Grrr. And next week I have to give 2 presentations about it. I should better make sure that I properly explain it.

 

[Antilogic]

??? It was a major plot point of the last few episodes.

Spoiler :

After he leaves Manhatten, he winds up in the (California?) desert trying to set land speed records with some grease monkeys who have a souped up hot rod. No one knows who he really is and he sleeps with a hooker.

It was just out of place and dumb. It didn't really add anything to him as a character, it came off as just some random thing - the fact that you don't recall it kind of proves my point.

Spoiler :

The whole rest of the series depicts him falling deeper into alcoholism and depravity while he systematically destroys every relationship that matters to him. Meanwhile, his past keeps trying to catch up to him and things really seemed to be coming to a head going into the last season. My group of friends really thought he was going to end up a suicide or in prison (which we thought would have been fitting), however, the writers spent the last season instead trying to put a nice little bow on the stories of most of the characters and went off into left field with Don. It was disappointing mostly for the treatment of Don, though in general I'm not a fan of last seasons where they try and wrap up things for every single character and shows them all essentially doing awesome/having their dreams fufilled. It's too saccharin-sweet and comes at the expense of the main story arc which has been building up over previous seasons. The final season of Parks and Recreation was like this and consequently that season was by far the least funny and just overall kind of lame.

Other than Hardhome, I did not enjoy the fifth season. Some of the writing, Dorne especially, was pretty bad.

Spoiler :

Barristan's death was pointless and stupid. It's like D&D think the entire appeal of the books and show is that people die and that's crazy, which simply isn't true. Stannis' character was butchered even further. Brienne coincidentally running into Sansa/Arya and coming up short is Hollywood silliness. Sansa going to Winterfell in the first place doesn't make sense, and the rape scene was problematic. Olly's stares at Jon throughout the season were eye-rolling. Everything about Dorne was terrible. Ramsay and Sir Twentygoodmen continue to be freakin gods.

I thought it was like watching a season of the Walking Dead. A soap opera with lots of death.

Hardhome was brilliant, though. And the season had its moments. But if I hadn't read the books, I don't think I'd have any interest in the show.

But it wasn't a major plot point. It's not even in the episode summaries on Wikipedia. I vaguely remember a short time was spent working on cars or something, but it's not a huge thing. I don't think there was anything particularly wrong with it, either. Mad Men is filled with "just some random things" that don't seem to add much, it's not unique to the final season.

I don't think the ending was that happy, either.

Spoiler :

Look at Ken Cosgrove - does he seem happy to you? Instead of spending time with his family and writing, he's bitterly trying to get back at the ad agency that wronged him.

How happy do people seem about the office closing and having to go to McCann?

How happy do Don's kids and ex-wife look? Betty's dying of cancer, for Christ's sake.

What about Don? His trophy wife left him and took a bunch of his money and stuff. Betty doesn't want the kids to live with him. He's alone. The happy ending you're dissatisfied with is actually kinda cyncial - Don finds his nirvana by figuring out how to manipulate the cultural zeitgeist to create a good ad? You think maybe Don's found some sort of enlightenment on how to lead a more meaningful existence, but it turns out all he's done is rediscover his passion for creating ads. It's perfect.

Spoilered comments on Mad Men:

Spoiler :

Hobbs, it wasn't out of place. Don ran away from his problems, to California, or to random locations during the workday, etc. throughout the entire series. It's a core part of his character, both with the Dick Whitman backstory and how he was developed throughout. However, he has a toxic relationship with New York advertising and he keeps getting drawn back in to the world of false promises and imagery that he helps create, both in advertising and in his false identity. To finish the series with his jaunt out west, maybe figuring out a bit of what life would be like as someone besides Don Draper, but at the last moment inventing the Coke ad with that sly smile on his face, that's kinda dark in my eyes. Because it tells you that, despite outwardly appearing to find peace (and everyone else appears to be getting happier), he's still getting sucked back in.

Another interpretation of that final scene: if you aren't a pessimist like me, you might think he called Peggy back and gave her the idea, and then left advertising entirely. I think that would be a bit too optimistic, though, because Don's not a quitter and for all the insight he has into other people, he doesn't gain any self-reflection.

Long story short, I agree more with Zack here.

 

[Arakhor]

Gone Home still makes me blub embarrassingly, even on the fourth time through.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I think you both are probably right. I'll have to re-watch the last season but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[azzaman333]

Was going to get completely smashed tonight, but after one beer I just cbf.

 

[The_J]

Oh, boah, I hate it.
Tuesday I submitted a manuscript to a journal. I knew it would be rejected, because it wasn't good enough. Previously it already had been rejected by another journal (within 30 minutes), due to the same reasons. This time it took 2 days to reject it. Fine with me. The editors suggested to submit it to 2 other journals (same company), which would cause hardly any work for me. One of them is even an okay enough journal, has some impact, I think it could get accepted there (like, um, 30% chance or so).
But the bosses don't want to. They rather want to discuss with the editors from the first journal about their decision.
But it's not good enough. Okay, wrongly worded: It's not interesting enough. I am convinced that my partner, the other first author, did good work, and that I did good work, and that the data is good (even very good), that the results are consistent, that the statistics are okay, and there are no logical gaps. But we didn't find ANYTHING interesting. I wouldn't know why anyone else even would want to read this manuscript. It's boring as hell. I'd be happy to get it accepted in any known journal (even if it's Plos One), but the bosses most have some form of hallucinations or something, and believe that there's something which really advances science in it. There isn't. There absolutely isn't.
I just want to get rid of it, I want it to be published, because we have nice data, and nothing else.
If it gets accepted in a higher scoring journal, I'll be even disappointed in science, because then the editors and reviewers will not have caught that it's boring and unintersting.
I want it to go away. Since nearly a year. Go away. Let me get rid of it. Please.

I have absolutely no idea what to do right now.
*sigh*

 

[Kennigit]

it's been a long while since I've had to make competent decisions (e.g. prepare or study for stuff, various life choices, etc)

it is refreshing and good to know I still would procrastinate and make poor decisions, for no real reason. I did literally NOTHING for like 12/16 waking hours when I needed to do stuff (did some chores/exercise in the other bit--not quite my worst ever).

and by that I mean literally nothing. I just kind of lied down all day. Not even to watch a movie or netflix or something. Just kind of catatonic aimlessly browsing.

 

[azzaman333]

We've all been there. Or at least I have.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Rant: Oh that sinking feeling returns... what joy

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The best places to eat are in the worst part of town. Not that it matters to me, but when people come from out of town and I want to take them out to eat I hate having them treat me like I'm a necessary bodyguard.

 

[Takhisis]

Solution: Charge them for your services and hint subtly at the possible consequences of a deferral of payments vis-a-vis grievous bodily harm.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

"I found this great place to eat. Pay me for protection and I'll take you there."

Tacky. Even for me.

 

[Takhisis]

Well, I didn't say it would be elegant, but perhaps you could arrange it differently, as a sort of… legitimate business venture.