Balance sheet, 8/7/03
Aug. 7th, 2003 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katallisonOf the good: My season 2 dS DVDs arrived, and did not even get stolen off the front porch where my mail carrier left them lying with negligent unconcern!
Of the bad: They have the same piss-poor packaging and production (5 P's!) as the Season 1 set. (Anna, if you want to punch anyone, I suggest starting with whoever was responsible for producing the dS DVDs.) (Not that I'm not delighted to have them, mind you.)
Of the good: VividCon! One week away!
Of the bad: Going back to work! Two and a half weeks away!
Of the good: After running an MRI, they've now decided my dad does not have liver metastases after all, and hence there's no reason why he shouldn't get better.
Of the bad: This makes his continuing weight- and strength-loss more inexplicable. He is not, in fact, getting better, he's down to 138 pounds now on a 6'4" frame. Plus? Cranky as hell. Not that I blame him or anything.
Of the good: I still have a couple of weeks left in which to make some pathetic flailing attempts to actually move forward with the writing of the fucking WIP.
Of the bad: I am stuck. I am SO stuck. I am La-Brea-Tar-Pits stuck. Of the five anticipated sections of the thing, the first two (200K or so) are either written or thoroughly outlined. The last section is about half-written, and I at least know the structure of it. Sections 3 and 4, on the other hand, are a vast and uncharted wilderness of tentative scenes, half-assed plot contrivances, and general befuddlement.
(And the hell of it is, this is exactly how things progressed with the last fucking epic: get the beginning third-or-so all nice and whipped into shape, draft the ending, and then sit for several years in complete helplessness, staring at the gargantuan task of lugging the fucking garbage-scow from here to there, without a roadmap or a clue or anything except a random assortment of scenes that refuse to slot themselves into any kind of cooperative narrative structure, and dear god here I am back in the fucking desert again with the mirages and the locusts and ARRRGGGHHH.)
Ahem. OK, of the good: I made it through before, I can do it again. Probably. Also of the good: my friends, huge bunches of fresh basil in the market for $1, watching season one Angel for the first time, The Donnas, red wine, the fact that it's not twenty below zero, the fact that I at least have a job to go back to, and I think I mentioned my friends but I'll mention them again. Because they rock.
And now I shall go pour some more red wine and nose into my season two DVDs.
Of the bad: They have the same piss-poor packaging and production (5 P's!) as the Season 1 set. (Anna, if you want to punch anyone, I suggest starting with whoever was responsible for producing the dS DVDs.) (Not that I'm not delighted to have them, mind you.)
Of the good: VividCon! One week away!
Of the bad: Going back to work! Two and a half weeks away!
Of the good: After running an MRI, they've now decided my dad does not have liver metastases after all, and hence there's no reason why he shouldn't get better.
Of the bad: This makes his continuing weight- and strength-loss more inexplicable. He is not, in fact, getting better, he's down to 138 pounds now on a 6'4" frame. Plus? Cranky as hell. Not that I blame him or anything.
Of the good: I still have a couple of weeks left in which to make some pathetic flailing attempts to actually move forward with the writing of the fucking WIP.
Of the bad: I am stuck. I am SO stuck. I am La-Brea-Tar-Pits stuck. Of the five anticipated sections of the thing, the first two (200K or so) are either written or thoroughly outlined. The last section is about half-written, and I at least know the structure of it. Sections 3 and 4, on the other hand, are a vast and uncharted wilderness of tentative scenes, half-assed plot contrivances, and general befuddlement.
(And the hell of it is, this is exactly how things progressed with the last fucking epic: get the beginning third-or-so all nice and whipped into shape, draft the ending, and then sit for several years in complete helplessness, staring at the gargantuan task of lugging the fucking garbage-scow from here to there, without a roadmap or a clue or anything except a random assortment of scenes that refuse to slot themselves into any kind of cooperative narrative structure, and dear god here I am back in the fucking desert again with the mirages and the locusts and ARRRGGGHHH.)
Ahem. OK, of the good: I made it through before, I can do it again. Probably. Also of the good: my friends, huge bunches of fresh basil in the market for $1, watching season one Angel for the first time, The Donnas, red wine, the fact that it's not twenty below zero, the fact that I at least have a job to go back to, and I think I mentioned my friends but I'll mention them again. Because they rock.
And now I shall go pour some more red wine and nose into my season two DVDs.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-07 07:14 pm (UTC)Which, of course, I *love*.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-08 07:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-07 09:22 pm (UTC)Gah, I'll punch them for you. I have been thinking about getting the DVDs. When you say poor production value, do you mean that the episodes themselves are of poor quality? Or just everything else? (MST3K DVDs have crappy packaging, but they did include cute little thingies--not stickers, but those static-cling things--for windows--with the silhouette of Joel & the bots. Also, as total tangent, I ordered these duped MST3K tapes, and mostly, for what they are, they're excellent quality--except for the weird occasional moments where they suddenly flicker and TURN OFF MY TV for no godly reason I can think of. )
Best of luck on the writing of course--or, break a pencil or whatever non-jinxy thing one can say--and I speak as one who is staring up at sunlight mournfully, from within a dark well of non-writing. So, er...yes! It's all about me!
But I am happy for you with the basil and the Angel and the upcoming con and the not-working. It occurs to me that I never resent *your* serenity, good things, or happiness, lovely woman. Apparently you have a pass. ;)
::kisses::
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-08 07:36 am (UTC)a) The discs are double-sided, which I've never encountered in DVDs before, and which means that it is *incredibly* easy to scratch or mar them simply in the course of normal handling.
b) Especially because they are packaged, not in separate compartments within the case, but sort of half-overlapping each other, like pancakes laid on a plate (mmm, pancakes...), so extracting the top one without scratching the bottom one is a tremendous exercise in manual dexterity, of which I have not so much.
c) The two-sidedness also means that all labeling info, even something as basic as "Disc 2, side B" is in infinitesimally tiny type on the little teeny narrow strip next to the center hole. And you can't tell which eps are on which side of which disc without referring back to the extremely easy-to-lose insert (also printed in infinitesimal type) inside the case.
d) This is especially aggravating because, really, in order to thwart the scratch-inducing potential of the original packaging, one is well advised to immediately transfer the discs to separate new empty cases, which tend in the normal course of disorganization and stuff-drift to become entirely separated from the easy-to-lose insert.
d) And this fractures me--the episode "Some Like It Red" is listed on the disc main menu (though not, I'll grant you, on the easy-to-lose insert) as "Some Like it Hot." I mean, dude! This is the kind of bonehead slip I might make if I were typing an LJ entry at 6 a.m. with inadequate caffeination, but when you're putting out an ostensibly professional product and charging beaucoup bucks for it?
e) And finally, there are no extras, none, nada, rien. Which I suppose is no big, but...well, I guess I've been spoiled by the Buffy and Angel DVDs.
Anyway. Bitch, gripe. I guess we're lucky to have them at all, and can only hope that seasons 3/4 will follow sometime this decade.
I send you many grateful and encouraging hugs, and drop a rope ladder down into the well of non-writingness. (And do I really come across as serene? Golly. I guess I self-censor better than I knew. *g*)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-08 08:21 am (UTC)And hey, I'm still waiting for my second season! Shows what I get for not pre-ordering. Enjoy the non-sub-zero weather while we've got it, and I'm glad about your dad's prognosis!
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-08 01:59 pm (UTC)If you want beta on the WiP, I should have some free time in September. (: I can't guarantee to unstick you, but I can promise to ask more of those probing questions you seem to like.
We picked them up Monday
Date: 2003-08-14 03:58 pm (UTC)Me: Oh?
Elisabeth: I remember this from last time.
She shares your disgust with packaging woes. Lucky for me, though, she's in charge of all things electronic in our household, and I am very glad of the work distribution. But hey, dvds are better than crappy videos, no? Especially crappy videos with even crappier Canadian commericals. *sigh*
Barb