LJ fandom and politics: moving towards symbiosis?

[selenak]

Yesterday, this convincing demonstration of Sarah Palin's secret identity as a fanfiction writer was posted; today, Nicholas D. Kristof in the New York Times talks about how Bush's policy got America "defriended" by most of the rest of the world and how there needs to be "refriending" under the next President.

On that note: I hated what the last eight years did to what was once a favourite show, "The U.S. of A". Most of the storylines sucked and were downright unbelievable, and we never got any pay-off for those unfound weapons of mass destruction and the hooray, torture agenda. There were only so many Bush/The English Language hate-sex scenes I could take before I needed to switch off as soon as some of these gratitious and exploitative scenes came in the news. All the recasting didn't help, either, especially since the Attorney Generals all seemed to be the same character (see: Hooray, Torture agenda) while having different names. What was up with that? At least whoever thought they could corner the slash market with Bush/Foreign Leader To Prove He's No Xenophobe went to the trouble of making the boyfriends different, what with Vladimer Putin, Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi. Bush raving about Putin's eyes (from which he deduced honest intention and the democratic spirit) was a bit problematic whenever the camera actually showed us Putin, or Putin's democratic politics in Russia, of course. George/Tony was somewhat more convincing, but what with the rapid aging of Tony B. and that scene where Bush told him to sit when the mikes were still on, I'm not surprised he got recast as well. Bush/Berlusconi, on the other hand, appear to be made for each other, and it has to be true love, what with Silvio reassuring the world he still loves him even if no one else does, and given Berlusconi has practice in evading prison and changing the laws to do so if necessary, it should come in handy if someone ever should decide to do an anniversary special with a "Bush: The Trial" subject. Still, it must be the gen girl in me: these romantic storylines leave me cold. I'm so ready for a new cast and headwriter. Pretty please?

Comments

[hibernate.livejournal.com]

*gigglesnort*
You're killing me here. BEST ENTRY EVER!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

One tries. :)

[toysdream.livejournal.com]

And whatever happened to that Osama Bin Laden character? One week they're building him up as the new Big Bad, and then they suddenly stop mentioning him altogether, and the plotline is never resolved. Maybe the actor wasn't available anymore, but they could always have used some soap-opera gimmick like having him be horribly burned off-camera and then come back with a new face.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it! Though I was half expecting them to bring him back just in time for the season finale this year, to get better ratings...

[leia-naberrie.livejournal.com]

Most of the storylines sucked and were downright unbelievable, and we never got any pay-off for those unfound weapons of mass destruction and the hooray, torture agenda.

ROTFL!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*bows*

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

*snerk!*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

:) Good grief, which episode is that Kirk icon from?

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I believe it's the evil half-a-Kirk from "The Enemy Within."

I find it useful, because all my laughter is insane laughter. :)

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Oh man, you can probably hear my hysterical laughter all the way over in Germany!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

We're always attuned to sounds from the other side of the Atlantic here!

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

You? Are made of win!

*is howling with laughter*

[kathyh]

Bwahahaha...

George/Tony was somewhat more convincing, but what with the rapid aging of Tony B. and that scene where Bush told him to sit when the mikes were still on, I'm not surprised he got recast as well.

And then they tried to fix George up with Tony B's former boyfriend but that was never going to go well.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

NO CHEMISTRY. Plus the ex didn't even show up for months at George's ranch!

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

Did you see the unaired pilot of the Cheney spinoff? Pretty clear why that never made it onto the fall schedule.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*shudders* I switched off after the first three minutes, what with all the Halliburton product placement, but yeah, no kidding.

[trobadora]

*gigglesnort*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Of course, the embarassment of Bush/Putin is equal to our local show's fling with Schröder/Putin, so...

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I love your critique!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Let's face it, we just have to watch this show over here, no matter what, so one might as well review!

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

ROTFL!!!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

:)

[wondygal.livejournal.com]

There were only so many Bush/The English Language hate-sex scenes

*dies*

It does really half feels like a fandom, what with all the picspams, and the way people talk about Obama like he's a celebrity and McCain/Palin like they're particularly hateful reality tv contestants, people posting pics of Obama when he was a kid and Sorkin writing fanfic and so on. Such crazy times.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

And don't forget the vids! Now complete with Bruce Springsteen original soundtrack!

[leviathan0999.livejournal.com]

I am so in love with you right now!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

:)

[elisi]

I rather liked the Clinton years. Sure they were rather sordid, but you knew where you were.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, they were fun to watch.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I did, too, but I can't be entirely objective about them due to having met the leading actor, which resulted in me being biased in his favour, which disqualifies me for reviews!

[andraste]

You forgot about Bush/John Howard! Admittedly this was a minor pairing in the overall show, but for the Aussie fans it was something of a dominant theme. Of course, Howard has also been recast, and the replacement seems to have no chemistry with Bush at all.

I have high hopes for Obama/Kevin Rudd to go with Kevin Rudd/China.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

My bad. I confess I usually fast forwarded through the Bush/John Howard scenes, but I do remember your scathing reviews!

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

This is so bloody hilarious. And andrastewhite is right - the Bush/John Howard pairing was kind of interesting for us. Of course, time zones worked in our favour there - for the rest of the world, the implied rimming on the map of Iraq scene was broadcast suitably late at night, but for us (and Spain) it was right there in the middle of prime time.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, time zones. If we're talking minority pairings, though, I remember a very tentative tryout for Bush/Angela Merkel but thankfully viewers reacted to him putting his arms around her shoulder with "what the hell?!?" rather than "oh, sexy!", so they backed away at once.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

I personally gave it up for lost and switched to a new favorite show, "Small-Town Japan." Still, I'll keep an eye on the new team. If nothing else, it promises to be interesting.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Quite. The one guarantee is that no matter who gets to be the new producer, the viewers won't get bored...

[spacedoutlooney.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

:)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I've been enjoying some great political comments on LJ the past few days, and this is among the finest I've seen.

Very clever and funny. And scary. And yes, time for a whole new cast.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and let's just hope we get it!

[yourlibrarian]

Here from elisi's post. Brilliant!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*bows*

[havocthecat]

*cackles* You so win at the internets this week.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I just hope I'll find it still funny on Wednesday. But I think I will...

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

This is completely, totally brilliant!

We're doing our best to bring you a new cast. Oh yes.

And to bring you the best of us, not the worst of us. Because the worst is ugly, and really you do not want it. Let us try instead to be our best selves, the things that made us friends once.

Because the plotline has been all too familiar. Once, there were some heroes, and they really genuinely were heroes, generous in victory. Only they had flaws, as all heroes do. And their sons got cocky and sure they were the best, and forgot all the things that had made their fathers heroes in the first place, like respect for the rule of law, kindness to the defeated, helpfulness to the poor, and their way of going about the world with wide open eyes marveling at everything they found. And all the dark boxes they'd hoarded in dark corners were opened, still full of the same familiar demons....

God save us from ourselves. And may our friends welcome us when we return.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*has just woken up again*

And you did. You did. And in such numbers. I'm so glad, relieved, and overwhelmed with love right now*

*celebrates with you*