It Must Be a Trick...

Echoes and Man on the Street

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:28:38 GMT

Sooo they said Dollhouse would really take off at around the sixth episode and as far as I can tell they did not lie. (I am of course biased because I didn't think the first five episodes were all that shabby either.) "Man on the Street" was pretty good, although I'm not really that interested in Paul. I'm really happy Mellie is from the dollhouse, because her behavior when she was first introduced just completley squicked me. Her recent behavior (as Mellie, that is) was much better- while I found the fulfillment of her crush on Paul very satisfying, I appreciated that she acted on her doubts and was good at reading the situation. Fool her once, I guess.

I definitely didn't like what happened to Sierra in "Man on the Street," although with regards to plot, it's golden. It just made me really sad. Also confused about the Tabula Rasa stage- if they can wipe that stage down clean, then why not reset the Actives' Tabula Rasa memories every time they get back from an assignment? We know they don't, because Echo, Sierra, and Victor all seem to recognize one another, and Victor wouldn't have developed his crush on Sierra because she was new. (Which, daww that's both adorable and creepy! Good fun seeing the Actives working together as different people though. I wonder if Victor was remembering another Doll assignment or something from his previous life? Guess we'll find out more next week. GOTH I am looking forward to that.

"Man on the Street" was very good plotwise, but I definitely preferred "Echoes." In addition to MAJOR PLOT DEVELOPMENT FUN, everybody got stoned/high/drunk/whatever AND IT WAS HILARIOUS. The interaction between Adelle and Topher was wonderful, and OH MY GOD the security dude! KITTENS!!! And I was really, really glad they showed he had regrets about trying to get Echo killed. It definitely tweaks his character somewhat. Also: were I an Adelle/Topher shipper (more precisely, if I wrote anything and finished it, because I ship everyone with everyone on this show like whoa), there would totally be fluffy awkward PWPs of them having sex during this moment. Since I am not (read: I am lazy, busy, and stoned!sex creeps me out due to consent issues), I am merely going to chortle and be happy that -I- never accidentally got high with my boss while sitting around in my underwear. (Or the same, but in Adelle's position.)

My friend totally called the new recruit though. The actor is cute, so um, yay! I wonder if he'll show up in Echo/Sierra/Victor's group though. I would imagine he'd get sent to a place further away from his mother, although Caroline/Echo is still near her old school, so maybe not? That seems stupid to me. And I wonder if Caroline/Alice/Echo was able to ignore Boyd's trigger-statement because he wasn't mentally all there, because she was remembering being Caroline, or because she was glitching. Or some combination.

Finally: It figures that Boyd would play the piano. Although aaaawwww, he is totally so straight-laced.
In other news....
The lounge where we watch Castle switched from third to second floor, because some freaking jerks on the second floor kicked us out so they could watch Secret Life of an American Teenager or something. I don't care if the sign-up sheet got switched without them noticing; that's not our fault! We were all there first and it wouldn't have been that hard for them to go down one floor that night. Besides, I know that most of them wound up talking in a room for the first fifteen minutes anyway!

Plus Castle is a way better show. (Although I did make an unfavorable comparison between it and Bones the other day. Castle has wit, but I can usually solve the murder pretty quickly. Still, it's only been what, two shows? So there' plenty of room for improvement. And I have to give credit to a mystery show which doesn't use Magic Forensic Tools to "solve" the crimes. *coughcoughMagicBlueFlashlightcoughcough* The characters are all pretty adorable, although the police are pretty meh so far (save for the heroine WHO IS AMAZING GLEE!!!).

And GRRR Bones gets pre-empted for American Idol??? But they were going to go to the zoo!!!

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:38:33 GMT

Yaaaay, caught up on Dollhouse! Which, okay, I only missed one episode, but still. It's way more fun to watch stuff with people! Although I did get my brother to watch with me. That was fun! He was confused though, which I suppose means I am a freak for not being confused. (Or at least am willing to live with confusion.) So I got to rewatch all the episodes while he figured out what the hell was going on. We both agree that Boyd is cool.

Re: Episode 5:

I liked the weirdo eye thing. Well, okay, not the scene where the drill is moving towards the eye. That's just messed up. It made for a good hook though; and while I would have liked more exposition re:the ATF leader's motivations and the cult leader's background, I got the gist of whatever was going on and that's good enough for now.

Echo's persona wasn't the hippy-dippy cuckoo I was worried she was going to be. I liked the exchange between her and Boyd as he dropped her off. It was interesting to watch that right after "Target," where we kept seeing all these flashbacks of Boyd being reluctant (or at least ambivalent) to identify Echo as human or care about her. Since the pilot, he seems to have been treating her more as a partner. Which makes me really, really, really want to know what Alpha's handler was like.

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:24:21 GMT

Why why WHY is the season 2 finale of Bones on a whole friggin separate disc????? I wouldn't even waste my free rental on that!!!

GAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!! WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY!!!!!!!!!!!

Dollhouse

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:08:53 GMT

I've been watching Dollhouse since it started, and I have to say I don't understand what's with the people who complain that it's not a good show OR the people who say "just stick with it! Fox screwed it! Let it get better!"

Because, I mean, good GOTH people, it's barely been 3 episodes! And while those episodes haven't been the most awesome thing that ever awesomed, ala "Trash" or "Ariel" in Firefly, they're not shitty either. I can follow the plot pretty easily, even I sometimes look at the FBI guy (Ballard?) and go "WTF? Whatever, mancandy. Ooh, pretty Victor on a balcony!" So yeah, this isn't bad TV. I don't even find it totally antifeminist TV (even though those egregiously evil and awful FOX ads make me want to STAB MURDER things), 'cos hey, I can figure out that we're supposed to be rooting for Echo to regain her memories. I don't care that many of the characters are unsympathetic or cold, because if I can get into books with terrible awful not-very-nice people, I can do the same with TV. (Hi Dosteovsky! Depressed again today? That's so saaaaad! ;_; )

On the other hand, I don't think whining about how Fox ruined the show and it will magically get better soon because that's when the show creators were given back control is the right thing to do. This is the show we got, so be honest about it. People who don't like it can tune out. If the show gets better, they can tune back in. Yeah, the people saying that the show sucks and will thus always suck need to STFU because a lot of shows are still finding their footing in the first few episodes, but apart from the reviewer who declared the whole show mediocre after only the pilot episode, I don't give much of a damn about those people. I'm gonna watch it because I like it, and that is the only "defense" anyone who likes the show needs to put up. Aaand why do I like it?

BOYD BOYD BODY BOYD BOYD BOYD YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

If I could figure out how to do wrap-around text there, I would. Because OMFG, do I like Boyd. He goes with EVERYTHING. Seriously. Topher/Boyd? AWESOME. Dr. Saunders/Boyd? WHEE EPISODE 3 SHIPPINESS!!! (with bonus Topher jealousy points!) And how can Echo/Boyd not be obvious? Yay for the temptation of getting someone who just fits you (because I think pursuing a relationship with Echo would be just as fake as pursuing one with any of her personalities. Echo and her original self are not the same. Echo's experiences are changing her in a way that her original self wouldn'tve changed.) Boyd/Adelle? Probably the only thing that might make me tolerate Adelle. Boyd/Ballard? LAW ENFORCEMENT SLASH!!! Likeable veteran + moody renegade enforcer! About the only pairings I don't like Boyd with are characters he hasn't yet interacted with and most of the other Dollhouse security people we've met, because with the exception of Boyd, they've all been utter jerks.

Boyd also goes well with gen, angst, and being a viewpoint character. I think of him as being the real entry character, especially right now. We've gotten a lot more of his essential character than Echo's because his personality doesn't have a reset button. Yet. Other Dollhouse thoughts- Sierra may eventually catch up to Boyd in terms of character love. I like her a bit more than Echo, in part because Sierra -isn't- the main character and doesn't have to go through the same plot rigamaroles just yet, so I can get to know her and not her Epic Plot a bit better. Also, I want her personality when she kicked down the door in Ep 1 to come back. Finally, I'm enjoying this show because of all the random hurting that the characters get put through (Ballard shot down in a basement! Boyd shot in the leg! Victor man-handled in a bathroom!). Echo gets put through a fair amount of abuse, but it's the way she reacts to Boyd getting shot in Ep 2 that I really like. Just the way that all her personalities reach a point where they go *snap!* and turn it around so as to become super-competent. It's not necessarily realistic, but it satisfies my secret Mary-Sue loving lizard brain.
In sum, I don't give a damn if other people do or don't wanna watch Dollhouse. Let's just accept the fact that 3 episodes is rather soon to be making judgements about how the entire show is going to be, but that any amount of episodes is an acceptable amount for someone to decide if they wanna keep watching. I'm looking forward to the next episode and that is all I care about.

Also, catching the last few minutes of the Sarah Connor Chronicles is making me wonder if I should look into that. Terminator isn't really my thing, and it looks like the characters get put through hell which is also iffy to me, but then again there is robot ass-kicking and I am not as squeamish about character suffering as my mother.

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:19:39 GMT

Currently sitting in my dorm room, wishing I felt more like writing because for once I actually have the time, but I simply cannot write anything at the moment. My hands itch in that way that lets me know I want to create and do things for once, but it's not working for writing alone. I guess I'll draw or something, but I'm not very keen about going back in the lounge. Everything's just getting on my nerves a lot and I need to have breaks from other people. The whole floor's been really tetchy, actually. So I don't wanna go out and draw there, even if it might be nice to be pseudo-social, because I really, really, really don't want other people looking over my shoulder while I draw. It's not so bad with writing, because most of my friends are ~~crackaddicts~~ fannish/weird too, so mpreg fic just gets "You don't need to say it's Juno with boys, I speak yaoi." But drawings are harder to explain and more people feel like they can/should comment on it, which would really piss me off right now because I am not in a sharing mood.

Ugh. I wish the lounge was less crowded, because I'd really rather be out there than in here. It's so messy. And the internet is distracting!

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:06:00 GMT

Blergh. Was reading perfectly decent, loooooong story with a lovely lead-in. The rest of it, however, is the epitome of good writing, bad fic. First off, I hate the rendering of Anamarie's speech. So far as I know, she doesn't speak with a ridiculous accent. So the fact that she does in the fic makes me unhappy. She's also capable of managing her temper, so the fact that Anamarie is practically invisible expect for when she's raising a fuss is extra-annoying. As is the manner in which most of the pirates are characterized as speaking with ridiculous accents and characterized with varying degrees of the same character traits. Yes, it's nice to indicate the variety of accents and languages spoken in the Caribbean during this time. But not when they speak like charactures!

Then there's Norrington's inexplicable friendship with random lower-level navy men. I bow to the necessity that he have some friends, I acknowledge that many of his interactions with them are quite witty, but I really, really, really need more explanation for how a Commodore and some random guys all started hanging out in bars. "They agreed to pretend to be peers whilest drinking" does not suffice, although were I enjoying the fic more, I'd be able to overlook it. However, once the Sparrington romance got into full-swing, it started to bleed into the other friend parts and make them stupid. Irrational Jealousy is a really OLD way of showing that Character X secretly has real feelings for Character Y. And the angst set up elsewhere in the fic really doesn't need the help.

Plus the historical opposition to same-sex relationships is, like, barely a problem. And some conflict over that is why I went looking for Sparrington in the first place, so this is totally not satisfying at all. I wonder why I am even interested in finishing it, as opposed to finishing the "Identity" series for Sentinel fandom.

PWP? No, Porn is Plot

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:57:33 GMT

Arrghkpbtbleh.

Am reading a year-old post with commentators complaining about how much fanfic there is with just sex, and while I agree that fanfic can get pretty repetitive and PWP can sometimes take over everything, I do not think that it is a bad thing that many writers include explicit sex scenes instead of fading out. The sex is not pointless, not titilating, and not irrelevant. There is a point to including those scenes and it is not just to write something hot and titilating or to attract more readers. Writers are making statements and points about sex and desire that, though they may not add anything to other themes in the fic, are still important. Why should explicit sex scenes be banished to PWPs?

And speaking of PWP, that is often a misnomer. Just because it's focused on the sex or mostly sex doesn't mean there's no plot there. The sex can be the plot- whether we think of it as "the order in which Liz and Jack did various sexual things" or "Liz gets over her sexual anxieties while having sex with Jack" or "Jack and Liz illustrate various emotions/dynamics that may occur during sex or in sexual relationships." Are PWPs any less plotty than fics that consist only of character musings, fluff, or simply reveal one aspect of a character? Hell no! Even the PWPs I don't like have plots. The plots may bore me, may be cliche, may be completely OOC, but they're still there. It's not like Jackson Pollack, Pablo Picasso, and a two year old got together and threw scrabble tiles at a wall until one of them spelled something dirty and then transcribed the whole thing and uploaded it to FFnet.

What the post and it's sign-ons really seem to be saying is that they can't find specific types of plots anymore. Specifically, plots that primarily deal with things other than sex and romance, or plots that involve a lot of action as opposed to reflection. Which, yeah, I don't see that much of. Action-adventure type plots seem to be much more common for fandoms based on kid's cartoons, like Digimon. Frankly, a lot of the ones I see kind of suck. It is harder to find gen/action fics than to find romance fics. But the caveot is that it's easier to find gen fics than to find good romance fics, and a lot of good gen fics are simply labeled pre-ship because they focus on the relationship between two characters that are frequently shipped or that the author ships. So gen isn't dead and I really wish the OP and first few commentators hadn't hated on ship fans or romance fans as if the existence of romance and sex in fanfic was driving gen and non-explicit fans to extinction. Fic in every genre is at risk of becoming stale. It's not the shippers or the romance-lovers who are solely responsible for all this.

But of course, responding to any of this there would seem a little weird, as the conversation is pretty much over and I bet there've already been several responses to it that I liked. It's not a bad post, but the Fandom is Stale! Blame the Shippers/Sexx0rs! vibe annoyed me. I agree with most of the actual post (LABEL YOUR NON-CON, FOLKS!), especially the part the opposite of noncon being someone's kink, but the comments complaining about how fandom's gotta eroticize everything should quite whining. There's a way to describe the sort of fics they want and ask why they're not so common that doesn't start trashing on the shippers and sexx0r-loving folk. Do that. Otherwise, we'll just get bogged down ragging on other people's kinks and then nobody learns anything.

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 07:50:41 GMT

Aaaaaaaaand the instant I made the last post, my friend linked to a truly appalling story which I literally could not read. My eyeballs recoiled. It was the sort of thing where I think nobody could seriously believe the author wrote it for the purposes of pleasing others, even if the thing did include numerous cries of "review plz! lol omg thx fir sayin nice things!!! to all yus haters SHUT UP!!1!!11!!! XP lol lol lol" every. other. line!

And no, I will not inflict that story upon anyone else, even the willing, by providing a link.

In other news, metafandom needs to stop distracting me from the stories I'm trying to write. I mean, I'm finally actually writing again, as opposed to just trying to write, and whenever writing a scene begins to lag I wind up browsing metafandom or fanlore. This has been exceptionally noticeable of late, as the most recent metafandom posts I've read were about art... and lo and behold, I suddenly wanted to do nothing but draw! It's disappointing to realize I'm so impressionable.

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:32:47 GMT

While talking with a friend of mine, who mentioned that as she got more into fandom, she found it harder and harder to find stories that she liked. I, on the other hand, keep getting into fandoms and mindlessly reading nearly everything that's out there. My talents at skimming fic are better, I'm waaaay better at knowing when a fic isn't going to be good or appeal to me, and I use things established in previous stories to fill in where one story isn't good enough. So while her tolerance for cliches, and shoddy fic has gone down, I'd say that mine has gone up in general. I still don't really read fic that I think sucks or anything, but I will knowingly decide to stick with a mediocre fic for a bit longer, and when I do hit the back button on a story, I get less frustrated than I used to. Like, it's been a long time since I really got upset with Mary Sue stories. So I wonder if I've just gotten better at avoiding fics I just won't like, or if I've just grown used to a literary environment the includes *very* amateur writers.

Of course, my perception may be skewed by the fact that of the past few fandoms I was interested in, one was Star Trek:TOS where archives with great fics were easy to find, and the others were mostly small fandoms where fics I'd enjoy were typically easy to identify. Whereas my friend has been pretty involved with only one fandom during the same time, which makes low quality fics more annoying, especially when that's the only thing that keeps showing up or when fic one doesn't like dominates the comms.

Now and Then

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 08:31:28 GMT

With the holidays have come a whole host of TV shows on DVD to watch. It's a wonder no one in my family works in law enforcement, given our penchant for mysteries and detective shows. Psych appears to have settled into a nice, comfortable comedy slot. Gus just got more adorable! And there were a couple of great Jules-centric episodes too. That made me so happy; I was worried that she'd get zero character development. She's still pretty conventional as characters go, but I'm less worried that she'll become two-dimensional. I like the cop-buddy moments between her and Lassiter.

Other familial acquisitions include Paper Chase and Moonlighting. I have to say, Bruce Willis is pretty entertaining to watch. I'm still finding it difficult to sit through the episodes though. Thy are just so painfully asshole-y. What this series really needs is for Laura Holt from Remington Steele to show up, put down some people (coughDavidAddisoncough) with a little common sense, befriend Maggie Hayes, and knock sense into everybody. Except Aggie DiPesto. She's cool.

Paper Chase is more unabashed fun. Prof Kingsfield could not care less for any of these students. I like the mundanity of it all; if this was being made now, Hart would wind up sleeping with someone within the first week, Anderson would be expelled for pot but get back in because of his girlfriend's drug-dealing father's connections, etc, etc, etc. Waaay too much drama. That sort of thing is fun too, but I like having characters who aren't on sitcoms yet are still ordinary and relatable. (Nooo, the heroine of Privileged does not count. Plus, she totally reminds me of Giselle from Enchanted.)

It does irk me that the female character in the pilot changes, as does the pizza girl. I prefer it when the pilot and the first few episodes to work together better than that. Plus the hippy-dippy Logan doesn't appeal to me as much as Pilot Girl. Unrealistic expectations for TV, I know. (Actually, that was what I love about Dexter: one season works very much like a book does. Things flow together right, move along at a good pace, and wrap up properly. The only problems is that I -cannot- watch them as they air. They're just too damn addictive.) It's interesting to watch Paper Chase, because it does something really well that modern television utterly fails at, and that is make the mundane exciting. It's telling that the moment I've hated most so far was also the most ridiculous: When Logan gets arrested for "inciting a riot" and makes an early morning phone call to Kingsfield to help get her out of jail. Her behavior the whole time was ridiculous, but that took the cake. I was desperately wishing for the female study group character from the pilot to come back. Actually, I noticed several tendencies where I, a simply undergrad, wouldn't act as immature as the characters. (Shouting "I'll sue you" the instant you've been run over? Sure, I understand the impulse, particularly on a stressful day, and I'm not saying I'd never do it, but geez louise! Fourth graders run around insisting that they'll sue for every single calamity that befalls them!)

So Paper Chase is good. I think my like of many old TV shows is because older TV shows tend not to jump around a lot. Cuts between shots are less abrupt, and shots tend to linger on things in a way many newer shows like Pushing Up Daises or the various L&O/CSIs don't. I find that all that lingering, especially on scenes that aren't intended to be deeply emotional, makes everything seem less fake. Scenery and tuff going on around the characters becomes more important, and those sorts of details build worlds. Watching old movies is like staring at a Rembrandt that was mistakenly hung in the Musee D'Orsay; it's beauty becomes more novel because it's not the same, and one starts to wonder why everything nowadays is so alike. (Grr! I'm like a young fogey!)

It's kind of like CGI vs old-timey props and costuming. Yeah, obviously improvements in technology allow for more artistic expression and for better depictions of things, but there's waaaay too much reliance on whatever's newest. No consideration of what would look the best. Those goofy groundhogs in Indiana Jones 4 are a perfect example: it would be better that they not be included than for them to be filled in with CGI, because the look is all wrong. Some things (like Gollum or Benjamin Button) work fine with CGI, because the little tics that make viewers go "that's not right! Something is wrong and unnatural here!) can be disguised because the character is supposed to look a little wrong and unnatural. And in those cases, if CGI works better than ordinary costuming, then it's al good! Nobody wants a goofy guy in a stupid costume playing Gollum. But on the other hand, I don't want any goddamn CGI Aliens either. Because props and old fashioned special effects can be just as good and deliver a different aesthetic appeal.

It occurs to me that subpar special effects sometimes just don't bother me, if they're sufficient enough for the purposes for the movie and make sense. Twilight's stupid super-speed effects are serviceable, even though they're not great. You're not supposed to really look that hard, and this would be true. Even the sparkling isn't that bad. I was expecting a Dentene smile level of shine, but what's there could just be a low-key interpretation. But when the camera is lingering on a visual effect that just isn't. that. spectacular (coughLupin'stransformationinHarryPotter3cough), it makes the whole thing unwatchable.

Unrelated note: I'm worried that I'll forget when new Bones episodes start airing again. I think I missed an episode or two of this season anyway. I still need to watch season 3. I think it came out already, but I know if I go to Blockbuster to check, I'll wind up trying to find Xena or X-files instead. And I know my Blockbuster doesn't have the X-files TV series. (For shame!) I'll probably wind up buying it or something- or maybe watching it over the summer (didn't I intend to do that with the original Star Trek? And I'm not even past season one. Whoops!), but first I'll have to pry myself out of the house. (HAHAHA, and maybe they'll let Pluto be a planet again.)

Qu'as-tu dit?

Thu, 29 May 2008 09:09:13 GMT

Qu'as-tu dit?
Fandom: X-Men
Characters: Northstar and Iceman.
Jean-Paul teases Bobby. Just a little story about how speaking multiple languages can be lots of fun.... especially if your conversation partner doesn't know a lick of French.

Jean-Paul was in the rec room reading a book, when Bobby Drake walked in. Jean-Paul glanced up, and then returned to his book.

“Hey J.P,” said Bobby, “whatcha got there?”

“Un roman.” Jean-Paul replied absentmindedly.

“That French for fuck off?” asked Bobby.

“Non, c’est francais pour ‘niques-moi,’” the Canadian muttered. With an exasperated sigh, he replied in a more audible tone. “What now?”

“Gonna watch TV. Give me the remote, will ya?”

“Je te donnerai quelque chose,” Jean-Paul answered, “It’s over on the bookshelf.”

“Ah, thanks.” The brown-haired mutant dropped the cushion he had been looking under.

“No problem, mon bel homme.”

Bobby paused. “What did you say?” he asked.

“Nothing you’d understand.”

“Well, if you’re going to speak in French, then expect me to not understand.”

Jean-Paul merely smiled, and buried himself in his book again. Bobby clicked on the TV, and flopped down on the couch. After a few seconds spent channel surfing, Bobby settled for watching a King of Queens rerun. Jean-Paul couldn’t resist commenting,

“This is what passes for entertainment in America?”

“Don’t mock it till you’ve tried it, J.P.”

“Mon bon ami, je ne veux pas regarder ce programme, je veux te regarder. Mais tu es trop stupid. C’est impossible. Alors regarde ton programme, et je te regarderai.”

Bobby gaped, “What? Say that again.”

“D’accord. Mon bon ami-”

“In English, you dope!”

Jean-Paul turned the page, “Learn French, Bobby-boy.”

“Learn manners, ya stuck-up prick.” Bobby shot back.

“Si tu es nu, je serai ‘stuck-up.’ Anyway, I was only talking about how bad your hair looks today.”

Bobby nervously ran a hand through his hair. “Me? Look bad? Well, we can’t all compete with the loveliness that is you, I suppose.”

“True, true.’” Jean-Paul grinned. Shaking his head, Bobby turned back to the TV. “Aw, now it’s commercial break. Thanks a lot, J.P.”

“You’re welcome.”

Bobby threw a pillow at the smirking man, which Jean-Paul promptly caught. “Better luck next time, mon petit chou.”

“Did you just call me a shoe? What kind of freaky Canadian expression is that?”

“‘Shoe’ would be soulier, Bobby. Although I’m sure it’s pretty much impossible to hope you’ll bother to learn any French- c'est la raison pour laquelle je puisse flirter avec toi.”

Bobby raised an eyebrow at him. “Hey, I know some French.”

“Sure you do. And I can read minds.”

“Oh no, all my secrets are exposed!” laughed Bobby, “Seriously, I can speak a little French.”

“Vraiment, dis-le-moi. Parce que tes secrets n'ont pas tout ce qui est je voudrais voir exposé.”

“What?”

Jean-Paul rolled his eyes. “I said, let’s hear it.”

“Okayy-” Bobby thought quickly, “How about, ‘je ma pelle Bobby?”

“You have just said ‘I, my shovel, Bobby.”

“Whatever.” He shrugged, turning his attention back to the TV.

“Bored much?” asked Jean-Paul several minutes later, putting down his book.

“What? Oh, no.” Bobby said dazedly. Jean-Paul arched an eyebrow,

“I only ask because I don’t think normal people find detergent commercials to be of such… interest.”

Bobby laughed, and tore his eyes from the television,

“Normal? Who’s normal here?”

“I,” said Jean-Paul, “Am better than normal.”

This made Bobby laugh even harder.

Fini.

And of course, there is a copy over at the Pit of Voles. (Do we still call it that?)