See, the problem is that most people thinks their own problems are the biggest. Not consciously, of course, but they still think so. And the people who are most like them have the second biggest problems, etc.

Most people (all people) ultimately think this way. I know I do – whatever cause I’m currently worried about (or worse, whatever personal problem I have) is of course the one I care about the most. It’s self-fulfilling.

And self-defeating.

You know, I think most people are trying to save the world. Environmentalists? Certainly. Mainstream liberals or conservatives? Sure. Hardcore evangelical christians? Absolutely. Libertarians? Check. I think that even most Lawyers/Insurance Executives/Politicians/Whoever you happen to dislike honestly think they’re doing the right thing, at least ideologically speaking. (Personal selfishness is another matter entirely…) But all most people/groups/causes do is help a few people, hurt a few other people, and argue a great deal with each other.

That’s why I’m a feminist, actually. It’s not just the gender equality angle, even though that’s vitally important. It’s that modern feminists more than any other group try to deal with race issues, health issues, war, natural disasters, hell – even men’s issues, in addition to their core mission. It’s usually from a feminist point of view, of course, but it’s an excellent start.

I don’t expect everyone to be a third+ wave feminist, though – but this sort of Grand Unified Oppression Theory is something everyone needs to be on board with…

Basically, I’m sick of working with someone to promote education for disabled children, only to have them turn around and insult a transgendered person, dammit!

Yet somehow, every time I sit down to write, I can’t come up with anything that’s not half-baked, worthless, or irrelevant. For a time, I thought my problem was lack of knowledge. Perhaps by observing more, by reading more, by increasing my understanding of how the world work, I could begin to really understand the economy.

But I’m not getting it. Things don’t make any more sense now than then. And the more varied economic points of view I read, the more confused I become. Here’s an incomplete list, plus the attendant problems:

Socialists – More government – of the right sort!

So… how do we control it?

Communalists/Ecofeminists – Local Government, and don’t call it that!

Bigger groups always absorb smaller ones.

Neo-Anarchists/Socialists – The government is an evil conspiracy!

And you’re suggesting… what? Anarchy? Really?

Mainstream Liberals – Tax and Spend!

Where’s it coming from? Also, see the next one…

Mainstream Feminists (I’m only talking about economic policy here) – Tax and Spend on the right things!

Who determines that? And how to remove the capitalists without destabilizing everything?

Neo-Conservatives – Spend w/out taxing!

How on earth is that even possible?

Real Conservatives – Status Quo…!

Yes, these people still exist.

Libertarians – Smaller Government! (I still call myself this, by the way.)

What are we going to replace the government with? Private enterprise? My left ear…

All of these groups do have some good ideas. They are all right about some things, even if some are more delusional than others. But none of them really have the answer – not in a way that can be proven, or even truly understood.

But I think I’ve finally decided on the problem (partly inspired by this post): It’s pretty obvious. The world is a powercracy. You can gain an advantage with any of the following:

Capital (In some places)
Intelligence (of the right sort)
Class/Race/Gender/other privilege factors
Physical/Athletic Ability

On the whole, the people who have these things insist on exploiting those who don’t. And no amount of government regulation, philanthropy, or education of the oppressed can change that.

Because the trouble with capitalism is the capitalists.

The trouble with socialism and commualism is the demagogues. (Not lazy people, as some like to say!)

The trouble with anarchy is violence.

And so on. Even if you could somehow remove the capital, the privilege will remain. If some miracle could remove that, the economic intelligence and physical differences remain. Unless you clone all identical people, you can’t get rid of it! (You can’t really regulate it out, either – so long as most people are trying to oppress, regulation just gives those in the government more power, most of whom are also potential oppressors, and so it continues) Some people are simply better at taking advantage than others. That’s the root cause of power, and unless those people decide to stop using their advantage, the world will continue as it is. Unfair, favoring the few.

Here’s what it boils down to: If you’re consuming more than you’re producing, if you’re exploiting more than you’re exploited, you are part of the problem. Not part of the solution. ‘Economics’ doesn’t matter. All that counts is individual influence.

Thus, worrying about ‘money’ is completely pointless.

From an economic point of view, all we need now is a way to correctly measure one’s influence. (And a way to convince the exploiters to stop – but that’s a different subject)

Hopefully, this review will be a bit more coherent than my last one! (Sorry about that…)

So, The Note said, “I’m with you.” It’s awkward, yet simple and profound. Just like Vivian herself. Her standing up to the cat-calling boys was much the same. She didn’t seem scared, or even annoyed – that’s not what this show is about – instead, she was simply uncertain. Once she said it she became more and more sure of herself. Aster was not really convinced, at the time, until she read the note again. She realizes her mistake. An absolutely fascinating scene. One little nitpick – the sound seemed a bit too clear, somehow. It sounded like the boys were standing right next to Vivian and Aster, instead of across the sidewalk. Very minor, though.

Archibald and Elizabeth continue to… flirt? No, that’s not the right word. More like poke (but not in the facebook sense) at each other. There’s nothing like a good locker door in the nose to get a relationship going! And there’s a bit of foreshadowing via the sports team. Man in charge wants a spy. I’m quite curious as to how this will play out. By the way – I loved the violin cases, complete with the blue duct tape labels, in the background. Those things pop up everywhere!

The scene between Sophie and Jonathon was yet another gem of understatement. I’ve written about this before, so I won’t repeat myself. One again, though – just the right number of words. Excellent writing.

Sophie and Vivian’s relationship continues to be revealed, or rather remade. For whatever reason line “I do better on multiple choice,” was very funny – something I would have said (and also thought funny. Hmm…)

Also hilarious: “You poor boy.” I’m really liking Vivian and Archie’s relationship. There’s such a huge stigma on boys and girls (and women and men, for that matter) being real friends. Either it’s ‘friends with romantic potential’ or ‘one a week eat lunch casual friends’. Anything in between is supposed to tend to romantic. When that fails, you’re supposed to ‘just be friends’. Yes, there are exceptions. Lots of them, in fact. But it’s not ‘normal’ according to society/media. Look at any TV show – the X-Files and Bones especially come to mind. Everybody wants the opposite sex friends to become romantic. And they play to that. In Anyone But Me, though, Vivian and Archie seem to be becoming the central non-romantic relationship of the show, and they’re obviously not going to move toward a romantic one. Very refreshing.

On to the last scene. Cute, cute, sweet, serious, sweet. Flower. Kissing. I have no words. Vivian and Aster are so perfect and believable. And the actresses do such an amazing job of putting the scene across without using too many words or over-emoting.

With Call The Doctor, Sleater-Kinney begins to sound like, well, Sleater-Kinney! Their first album was very riot-grrl, with some flashes of later beyond-riot-grrl brilliance, but Call The Doctor is the beginning of the real thing. The guitars parts are more complex, with bigger riffs and less simple chords. The rhythms are more complex. The songs are longer. The lyrics are more complicated.

Call The Doctor is a very serious album. Riot-grrl (and S-K’s first album) is always serious, of course, but it’s also enraged, angry, out of control. Punk in general, for that matter, tends to have that lack of control, that simple “pounding it out” sound. If riot-grrl is an expression of bottled-up rage, a release of pure anger at the faults of the world, Call The Doctor is more an impassioned argument. It’s rational, reasonable, intelligent – and incredibly personal. And still angry. We’re still being screamed at, but at the same time we know that we deserve it, and moreover, why.

What’s on this album?

Now for fun with stats! (Why this? I just want to know!)

Who sings, and on how many songs?
Corin: 8
Carrie: 1
Both: 3

Lora: 1?

Fast? Slow? Other tempo?
Fast (>130bpm): 6
Middling: 3
Slow (<80bpm): 2

The songs themselves

Call The Doctor

Lyrically:

A song about being different. At some level, I think it is about being gay: “this is love and you can’t make it / i’m your monster i’m not like you / all your life is written for you” It’s also about being a woman: “your life is good for one thing / … / they want to simplify your needs and likes / to sterilize you” More generally, though, it’s about deviancy, almost in a medical sense: they need to Call the Doctor to fix you.

But: You. Are. Not. Me.

Notice how the point of view shifts. They want to socialize ‘you’, but later it’s ‘my’ life. That’s the point – it’s not you or me. It’s Them. Even if you/we disagree, seem like monsters to each other, we’re in the same boat.

And then there’s the Contradiction:
“I’m your monster i’m not like you”
“I’m no monster i’m not like you”
“I’m no monster i’m just like you”

And that’s the essential argument: I’m a monster? No, you’re the monster. No, we’re actually the same.

Musically:

CtD is in a minor key. The melody is simple – most S-K melodies are – the main motif starts on the second, moves to the third, back to the second, and down to the tonic. But, the tonic is really less important than the second. CtD never really cadences – it’s uncertain throughout, right up to the end, when the song suddenly stops.

The screaming of “You Are Not Me” is highly effective here. It’s really more of an effect than an actual scream. It seems so impersonal, like the ocean, enveloping the listener. It’s as if it is saying, “you are not me, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. Just accept it.”

Hubcap

A simple song about control, setting the mood for the album. Hubcap is… utterly creepy. The drums cause this, I think; they are quite non-typical, and seem to be chasing something, or someone.

I’m not sure who exactly this song is about, but someone obviously doesn’t want them to think, to act! “you’re my co-pilot / not my god pilot” is, of course, a reference to the movie/book (god is my co-pilot) I haven’t seen the movie, but it in any case is yet another reference to control.

Interestingly, the middle of this song is sung in harmony. Not something S-K does often.

Little Mouth

Is about a prostitute. Short, and to the point. The listener is put into the position of the person buying the services of the prostitute. Very scary. It’s a different perspective – it invites you to objectify and deride her, while at the same time be horrified by the way you are treating her.

Corin’s vocal performance in this song is astonishing. The ostinato “i’m your little, i’m your little…,etc” is done in only two breaths, and the intensity never, never stops or lightens even a little bit.

Amazing.

Anonymous

Who wants to be anonymous? This woman does, apparently. She wants the easy way out, for no one to notice her, for no one to bother her. And, well – that’s not honest. That will make her unhappy.

I love the way Corin spits out the word an-on-y-mous. That alone tells us what

Anonymous is the first of many “story” songs – telling us about one particular person.

Stay Where You Are

Yet another song about being trapped. It would almost be redundant, but the vocals make it different than the previous song.

Carrie has the main vocal part, and her voice lends an almost sarcastic touch. “She’s dead if you want and that’s me if you want.” And she wants to “burn up the place”! She’s “bad because she wants to set things on fire” because, after all, we wouldn’t want to upset the status quo, would we?

Good Things

This song starts out quietly, then builds. Corin’s voice starts out softly, almost pleasantly, “got this feeling…”, and then turns immediately hard “…when I heard your name the other day”, and by the time she reaches the end of the verse “…weight crushing down on my face”, she’s almost spitting the words out.

It’s about a breakup – or perhaps a friendship ruined by romantic interest. They’re trying to fix it, but despite the last line, “this time it’ll be okay” the singer doesn’t really seem to believe it herself. Why do good thing never want to stay.

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone

The dance number on this album. It’s about… wrestling on the bedroom floor? I don’t know much about the overall cultural impact of Joey Ramone, but I thought this song was just about the singer wanting to be as important to her significant other as Joey Ramone was. It’s a slightly silly (and very danceable!) song. Tons of fun. Not too serious.

Random people on the internet did have some other theories, though, ranging from “She feels like she’s not famous because of her gender,” to “She wants to be the hot lead singer so all the straight girls will lust after her” (?!). Weird. I still think it’s simply the one light moment on a very deep album.

Taking Me Home

A song about objectification. In this case, the singer is… confused about it. She’s supposed to be free, supposed to be a real person. Why do they treat her like this? She’s “…mixed up with someone else”. Who would invite that kind of treatment.

It’s an interesting idea – the mystery of the patriarchy, if you will. Why is it like it is? Not how it came about, but why? It hurts almost everybody. Is it just confusion? It’s not supposed to be this way.

Taste Test

The Contradiction returns:
“I’m tired, I’m hurt, I’m fine.”

Another song about confusion, but desperate this time. Why can’t she find her? Why is he always making her guess? How can she make it right? Where is she, anyway?

The guitar playing is absolutely incredible on this song, especially on the chorus. It dips down into a lower registers, an underscore for the whole passage. Then, it returns to the starting point, the protagonist confused more than ever.

My Stuff

What do we teach children? Some say, indoctrinate them with the ‘right’ beliefs. Others say, let them decide for themselves. And, we don’t like our traditional beliefs. We want a “clean slate”. But than we’re “without a path”. So, “it doesn’t work that way”

It’s even more about confusion, I suppose. The underscoring guitars return. This time, though, the confusing is bigger. In Taste Test, it was confusion about one person. Now, it’s confusion about how to pass on beliefs.

I’m Not Waiting

And now, perhaps, we move to the child’s perspective. When should she grow up? What does that even mean? Is it only how you look in a swimsuit?

Musically, this song is heavy, pounding. Corin spits out every word, almost with distaste. It’s an exploration of maturity, of the anger that comes with it.

Heart Attack

My personal track on this album.

Lyrically:

Death. It could come at any time, you know. Some people are paranoid, like the in the song. You might get sick – throw everything out! Germs! Take medicine! Watch out! Live life as if it was the last moment you had – but try to stop it from ending, too!

What is death, anyway? Why do we fear it? Why don’t we want to stop existing, anyway? Or, go to the afterlife, if we believe in that? Either way, we can’t really help it. And yet, we worry endlessly about it.

Musically:

Heart Attack is very understated. There’s the ‘heart attack’ riff, a little, simple arpeggio. Then a little feedback squeal, and we’re into the second section – but it’s only a bit more intense, with none of the power one might expect from the squeal. See, worrying about death isn’t just an occasional thing – it’s constant. Not too big of a deal, most of the time, but occasionally we get that little squeal, and it comes closer.

Conclusion:

Thematic movement in Call the Doctor:

They try to control those who are differeny (Call the Doctor)
Control and prostitution (Hubcap, Little Mouth)
Control – Give in, avoid it (Anonymous)
Control – We don’t have it (Stay Where You Are)
Control of relationships (Good Things)
Interlude (Joey Ramone)
Control of bodies, lives (Taking Me Home)
Control of relationships, scared, desperate this time (Taste Test)
Control of the future (My Stuff)
Control of ourselves – do we have it (I’m not waiting)
Control of our lives – death (Heart Attack)

Call the Doctor is about control, about power. Who has it? Who wants it? And ultimately, we all lose control, die – but we can still feel, we can still do some things, even if we are limited and oppressed.

I loved the last episode of the L Word.

Well, maybe not quite loved – really, really, really liked. Lived, perhaps. (Get it? Liked + Loved? I’ll stop now. I usually don’t make horrible puns, but somehow it feels okay here. I think I’m high on L Word juice, or something)

Warning: This going to be super long – I have a lot of feelings at the moment.

Quick summary: I liked the Alice/Tasha/Jamie resolution. Sure, it was a bit artificial in the beginning, but it worked here. And I liked Helena and Dylan’s fight. It never made sense that they would make up so quickly. And I was sure that Jenny had screwed up the impersonation of Nikki’s manager. I felt relieved that Shane found Molly’s letter and the negatives. I loved nearly every scene with Tina and Bette. And I especially liked the last five minutes. (I’ll get to that in a minute.)

Alice/Tasha/Jamie. Threesome waiting to happen. And, I kind of wish it had. But, in real life (so I’m told) those things almost never turn into real relationships. Either the ‘third’ is the third wheel (and is only in it for sex), or one of the original couple gets jealous/falls for the third/both. The only way it can work is if the whole thing consists of nothing but sex, or if the people involved are very, very unusual. I can’t see Tasha “thinking is cheating” even coming close. And, I think she came back for the same reason. She was attracted to Jamie, but she never thought about it. Once she thought about it, she realized that she really wanted to be with Alice. Jamie was just a temporary attraction.

Helena and Dylan. Are one fucked up couple. Full Stop. They were weird back when they were playing ‘power sex’ that got caught on video tape. They were weird when Dylan couldn’t make herself do the right thing regarding the lawsuit, and yet still obviously loved Helena. And they are weird now, what with cutting clothes up with a knife and all. And, I think they still have a bunch of cycles to go before they work it out, or finally give it up. There’s just not time in eight episodes. I think that that’s okay, though. IC showed us just enough to make me happy.

That is one of the things I really liked about the finale, by the way. One of the stupid things about the L Word, has always been the assumption that the audience consists of idiots. The sledgehammer foreshadowing, they endless scenes of talking head exposition, the spelled out references, like this one:

[paraphrasing!]
Bette: “Lez girls. Cute, Jenny.”
Shane: “Like les girls. Nice play on words.”

Yeah…

We were never allowed to assume anything, to guess anything, to figure anything out. But thanks to time constraints in the finale, they allowed us to guess at a few things (the banister rail being an exception). The fate of Tasha/Alice, for example, and the future of Helena/Dylan for another.

!!!INSANE TANGENT WARNING!!!

I really wish the sequel was about Helena. Picture this: Helena, finding herself rather broke (through some unknown means), leverages her prison smarts, and becomes a big shot crime boss. Dylan is her on again, off again, girlfriend who insists on keeping a separate identity through her film-making. Helena would knock people around, sleep with hot cops to keep them quiet (and she’d play blackjack! and eff hookers! [sorry]), blow up Mormon churches (for being anti-gay!) (oooh, and the Mormons would be like the rival mob!) and all the while Helena would rule the criminal underworld with an elegant fist. At the end of the whole thing, Dylan would be killed by the cops by mistake when she stumbles into a big fight, and Helena would go on an insane rampage, and when they finally corner her, she has a bottle of wine in one hand, a detonator in the other, and she’s like, “<British Accent>Bloody Hell. Oh, fuck it all…</British Accent>” and she punches the detonator and blows up a whole city block!

Soooo… that was nuts. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

Back to the L Word.

!!!END INSANE TANGENT WARNING!!!

Where was I? Oh, yes, Shane and Jenny. Shane’s storyline finally came together, for once. I never really cared for Shane, honestly – sure she was interesting (and hot!) the first season, but the whole ‘that’s Shane. She fucks a lot of girls.’ shtick got really old, really fast. Then came Carmen, who Shane dumped, and Paige, who Shane dumped, and probably a bunch of others I’m forgetting. And the whole Shay incident. Ok, we get it now – Shane has commitment issues. She also has no spine, despite her baby butchy demeanor. Why, oh, why, oh why can’t she change? Develop? Just a little bit? Then came Shenny, and the Shenny ’shippers were happy. The rest of us didn’t get it. What – another one for her to dump? What was the point? I think the point is: that Jenny was the first person who wouldn’t let Shane go. Sure, that girl in the first season was clingy, but she didn’t buy Nikki Stevens for 25,000 dollars! Shane is trapped. Will she break out? We assumed she wouldn’t – we didn’t have any reason to. But Shane actually did it! She found Molly’s jacket and decided that enough was enough. She didn’t get a change to actually do it – but her interaction with Alice, both at the party and before (at Alice’s) led me to believe that’s she’d really do it. She finally figured it out. (And by the way – yay for the understatement, again!)

That brings us to Jenny, who wasn’t nearly as despicable as she has been. Jenny’s just… crazy, really. Not clinically insane, but just her own brand of personal crazy. The season 2 acid trips with the circus clowns represent the worst of this. But I don’t mind her obsession that Bette admit to having an affair with Kelly. She honestly feels justified. And, her video project was really sweet and non-creepy.

Finally, Tina and Bette. Who had the sweetest and hottest sex and post-sex scenes ever. I’m so happy they ended up together. I always wished that TiBette hadn’t broken up at the beginning. We needed a strong central couple to hold the crazy together, and their breaking up was the worst thing in the show. Still, I think that there is closure now. And perhaps their new New York lesbian circle will be just as crazy, only they’ll be smart enough to hold it together themselves. Funny, TiBette is my favorite couple, but I can’t seem to find much to say about them here! Still – love, love, loved.

A few random bits: “Bye, Daddy.” Completely unnecessary. After ONE day at the zoo. I expect this show to be stupid, but when did it become hetero-normative? (He was in drag at the time, I suppose…) Also – they completely wasted Lucy Lawless. She’s seriously one of the best living actors, if not THE best. They could have at least put her face on camera more than twice! And Shane’s ‘voice over’ at the beginning was too extended. I felt like I was watching Sugar Rush!

Finale:

But these little nitpicks aren’t the point. Neither is the silliness all this season, or the disappointments seasons past. I think I’ve finally figured it out.

Near the very end of the episode, Jenny (as Ilene Chaikan) is sitting in front of the camera, saying goodbye. At first, of course, I thought, “Oh, great. IC’s finally gone off the deep end. Silly Meglomanaic!” But as the credits began to roll, as the cars drove up, as the women disembarked, walking, no, sashaying across the LA skyline, their bodies standing out like paintings, almost glowing, I realized: We’ve all been so wrong. The L Word isn’t a ‘realistic show’, a drama, a dramady, even a melodrama. It’s epic fantasy, in the tradition of, say, Gilgamesh or Faerie Queene or even Dune or Lord of the Rings.

Because the world is so, well, enormous and different. It’s the L Word, where all the woman are strong and beautiful, the men are mostly idiots, and the children are way, way above average. Goddesses abound. Bette may screw up, but when she does, it’s huge. She falls like a stone, at a pace mere mortals can’t began to follow. We can only worship. Marina’s the Succubus who when she can’t have her victim, tries to kill herself. When Alice outs somebody, she does it on national TV. Shane can’t just sleep with a few dozen girls – she has to sleep with thousands. And when Helena steps in shit, she does it in $40,000 boots.

I think it’s the theme song that fooled us. “The way that we live,” and all that. We said, “that’s not the way we live!” And it wasn’t. So we were angry. We took it at face value, thinking that they were at least trying tell the truth, and we missed the fantasy. Dana was another source of confusion. She was relateable, friendly, identifiable. We made the show about her – and missed that she was everywoman, the one source of real humanity in the whole fantastic mess.

It wasn’t the typical ‘epic struggle’, or course. No ‘Good against Evil’ or ‘Woman against God’. It was about love, friendship, of course, but not in the way we normally expect. Instead, it almost exists in stasis, a series of character portraits who are destined to act in a particular way, rather than let us identify with them.

Which is why we didn’t understand Jenny. Jenny was… us. Us, and IC. Jenny’s the one who dreamed the world into existence, or rather stepped through the looking glass to find it. That’s why she thought it was all about her – she didn’t catch the epic nature of it either. And that’s why she had to die. The world began with her. It could only end with her.

So as the final credits rolled, the characters blowing past the camera, back into that huge storybook called LA, the theme song (which sounded amazing without vocals, by the way), I had chills down my spine. The L Word succeeded, not because of wonderful stories, not because of meaningful human insight, but because the characters, the world, were so big, so different.

Lesbians, Loving, Lying, Laughing…

According to the latest statistics, due to men being laid off at higher rates women now make up almost 50% of the workforce. (Thanks to Girl w/ Pen ) Now, as the Gw/P post pointed out, this is not necessarily a good thing, either for women or society as a whole.

But I do think that something very interesting could happen here. While much of the reason for this gender-unequal decrease is due to an overall decrease in male-dominated sectors (construction, etc.), there are many, many jobs being lost in other areas. Now, we know that women are paid much less on average than men. Furthermore, this pay inequality is not only caused by a larger percentage of men having jobs in higher paying fields, rather, the inequality holds true in almost every field (PDF).

If an employer is forced to lay someone off out of several who hold similar jobs, who are they going to choose – the higher paid person or the lower? Given similar work output (which is reasonable, I believe), most employers should choose the higher paid worker, who is statistically more likely to be male. This, will lead to a decrease in the gendered pay gap, at least temporarily.

The real test will come when the economy improves, pay rises, and unemployment drops. Will the men who were let go for having higher salaries be hired back at similar salaries to the women who remained? Will women’s salaries be raised? (increased relative seniority, etc.) In other words, whereas historically women have been entering, at a lower wage, into a male-dominated workforce, at some future point significant numbers of men might be entering into a (slightly) female-dominated workforce. I’m certain pay won’t become equal overnight, but hopefully things will improve.

On the other hand, non-whites are being disproportionately affected by rising unemployment. I’m not sure what the causes are, but I imagine it’s related to social inequalities. So, it comes down to: a (potential) step forward, and an (immediate) step back.

(Crossposted at Fourth Wave Feminism)

Anyway, I meant to talk about the latest episode, not review the whole series!

Contents Under Pressure

Overall impressions:

I really like the new music. The old music was just too cheesy and synthy, even for a campy radio show! The new sound effects are also much better – although the engine rumble made my head hurt sometimes. I think that this is one of the best episodes, plotwise, yet – the ending surprised me, and nearly all of the characters developed in new and interesting ways. Even the annoying ones!

Weird opening…

I was really confused as to what happened to Carson, but after it was all revealed to be a simulation, it didn’t matter so much! So, they’re doing some sort of officer evaluations, and the stupid bigoted Admiral is back! He’s fighting with the Captain, making jabs at Aer’la, and generally being a pain. Sometimes it was a bit over the top, but it was lots of fun hearing him get his due in the end!

Throwing guns…

Kaya and Carson fighting with each other over who screwed up the most was hilarious. I was surprised that Kaya didn’t succeed, though! Then again, she’s easily distracted, so… why not.

Metcaf comes through.

Everyone knew he could do it, but it was still interesting to see it happen. His breakdown at the end was fascinating, though. It’s the age old question – when is it okay to kill? The lives of 10 billion people would seem like a pretty good justification. Metcaf, though, isn’t convinced – he feels like he did it out of anger and revenge, therefore, it was wrong. The ending is one of the most dramatic and interesting segments to date.

I love Lydia!

She’s awesome! As freaky as Pallas’s ‘computerizing’ of her is, it works very well. She’s snarky, insightful, and doesn’t seem to resent being a computer… although, if Metcaf find out, he’ll probably see it as a betrayal of trust. Then again, he’s adjusted to Pallas fishing through his mind, so why not adjust to having Lydia back?

No killing Aer’la!

The one bad part of this episode. Look – we all know Aer’la’s not going to die. She’s the one with the book written about her, remember? And it wasn’t even very dramatic – Cernac’s emotional responses haven’t developed to the point that they were interesting, and Aer’la’s physical strength and endurance have been harped on so much, that her survival was only matter-of-fact.

It was interesting that Pallas was the one to snap Cernac out of it, though.

Finally, Five and Co. get a break

This was the best part of the episode. The annoying crew members have never been sympathetic at all. They’ve alway just been comic relief, someone to run their mouthes and make us groan. So, it was nice for Metcaf to admit that Five actually was good at his job. And, it was even nicer for Five to get over himself and give Metcaf some good advice, even if it was in his own annoying way!

Overall very, very excellent.

And, it’s a lot harder to make, too – I’m not anywhere near done, but I thought I’d upload the rock portion, as it’s farthest along.

Things I Have Learned While Making This Chart:

1. Wikipedia is a mess.
2. Allmusic is a mess.
3. There aren’t any good book on popular music as a whole (At least, not that I can find!)

The most interesting thing about Aeire’s work – all of it – is the sheer exuberance with which it is done. The main character of Punch an’ Pie is Angela. She’s weird, overly excited, and childish, when she’s not miserable over messing something up. She’s just so much fun to watch, and that’s really the entire point of the strip.
Punch an’ Pie is supposed to be a slice-of-life comic, and it succeeds in this wonderfully. It’s light on plot – the only major change is her breaking up with her girlfriend. But it’s not a gag-a-day comic. On the contrary, the characters gradually morph and change, much in the same fashion that real people do. Angela is a little more mature, a little different, a little better in some ways, and a little worse in others, than when she first appeared in Queen of Wands. And, since Aeire’s not really trying to make a point or force exciting soap opera-style plots, it feels natural.

I guess the best way I can describe Punch an’ Pie is: it’s a friendly comic.