Merlin, Mother's Day & stuff
May. 3rd, 2009 01:19 pmSo, I'm six episodes into Merlin, and liking the series more with every new episode. The settings are beautiful - I never heard of Chateau de Pierrefonds before, but it's a gorgeous place - I like the playfully anachronistic air about the whole thing... I even like the monsters, even if some of them are a bit too dinosaur-like. And Lancelot is HOTTT˘.
Erm... yes... I needed to get that out of my system. The young regulars are pretty enough, but a bit too young for an old hag like me to be really interested. Which is okay, since the show's made for young people, so they are the ones who need to identify with the main characters. And while I might still be sweet 16 in the heart of my hearts, sadly, reality looks a little different.
Where was I? Oh, yes, liking Merlin very much. My only complaint is that while they do have a middle-aged male regular (Giles... erm, Uther Pendragon), and even an elderly male regular (Gaius), there isn't a single mature female character on the show. Yes, I know there's Merlin's mother and that she'll reappear in the second half of the series, but that's just not enough.
We not-so-young women are annoyingly misrepresented in the media, and if there is any character of that sort, it's usually evil, mentally challenged or ridiculous. Considering that we carry more than half of the workload that keeps society working, I find that insulting. Modern interpretations of old myths ought to be a bit more open-minded about that, IMO. They could have make Nimueh an attractive mature woman instead of a girlie fatale.
It does have a bright side, though. It means I won't feel the urge to write Merlin fanfic any time soon, which is a relief. My plotbunny kennel is overcrowded as it is.
So, Mother's Day coming up, Mum and I visited this café again:

It's a lovely little place and they have gorgeous cakes. Mum decided that an invitation would be much better than some useless present she doesn't need, so we made ourselves pretty and went there to have espresson and cheesecake with fruit jello. It was delicious, and we had fun.
We also shopped for groceries - hurrah, asparagus season is there again! We'll have asparagus with ham and cheese sauce and parsley potatoes for dinner. Yum!
The next part of Wishverse and the first chapter to "Atlantis Café" have been posted to
otherworlds_lib, in case anyone is interested.
And now off for a while to watch more Merlin!
Erm... yes... I needed to get that out of my system. The young regulars are pretty enough, but a bit too young for an old hag like me to be really interested. Which is okay, since the show's made for young people, so they are the ones who need to identify with the main characters. And while I might still be sweet 16 in the heart of my hearts, sadly, reality looks a little different.
Where was I? Oh, yes, liking Merlin very much. My only complaint is that while they do have a middle-aged male regular (Giles... erm, Uther Pendragon), and even an elderly male regular (Gaius), there isn't a single mature female character on the show. Yes, I know there's Merlin's mother and that she'll reappear in the second half of the series, but that's just not enough.
We not-so-young women are annoyingly misrepresented in the media, and if there is any character of that sort, it's usually evil, mentally challenged or ridiculous. Considering that we carry more than half of the workload that keeps society working, I find that insulting. Modern interpretations of old myths ought to be a bit more open-minded about that, IMO. They could have make Nimueh an attractive mature woman instead of a girlie fatale.
It does have a bright side, though. It means I won't feel the urge to write Merlin fanfic any time soon, which is a relief. My plotbunny kennel is overcrowded as it is.
So, Mother's Day coming up, Mum and I visited this café again:
It's a lovely little place and they have gorgeous cakes. Mum decided that an invitation would be much better than some useless present she doesn't need, so we made ourselves pretty and went there to have espresson and cheesecake with fruit jello. It was delicious, and we had fun.
We also shopped for groceries - hurrah, asparagus season is there again! We'll have asparagus with ham and cheese sauce and parsley potatoes for dinner. Yum!
The next part of Wishverse and the first chapter to "Atlantis Café" have been posted to
And now off for a while to watch more Merlin!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-03 05:57 pm (UTC)You've got a very good point. Perhaps we ought to make our feelings about this fact known to the powers that be. We do, after all, constitute a large, influential section of the market.
Glad you enjoyed the visit to your fav cafe.
>>We'll have asparagus with ham and cheese sauce and parsley potatoes for dinner. Yum!<<
Yum indeed! It sounds downright mouth-watering. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-03 06:12 pm (UTC)They would just ignore us as always. The same way as they ignore the fact that while they always aim with sci-fi at males between 15 and 45, the majority of the viewers are females between 20 and 120. So they give us big CGI and sparkling special effects and no characterization, which is the reason why the overwhelming majority of fanfic writers are female. We need to get our fix somewhere, too. *g*
As fort he asparagus, I gave up on the cheese sauce and made it instead with roast ham, boiled eggs and roast breadcrumbs, but it was yummy nonetheless. The ham needed to be used up before it got wrong. We've had it for a week or so already.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-03 06:42 pm (UTC)Maybe. Then again... maybe not. Did you hear about the Kenyan women's boycot? lol
>>As fort he asparagus, I gave up on the cheese sauce and made it instead with roast ham, boiled eggs and roast breadcrumbs, but it was yummy nonetheless. <<
Even better! Cheese sauce can be a bit much, unless one is really, really hungry.
PS: PM heading your way in five minutes.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-04 09:08 am (UTC)You can come to me any time you want. But what's about the Kenyan women's boycot? I haven't heard about that.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-04 04:29 pm (UTC)>>what's about the Kenyan women's boycot? <<
Here ya go: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3f2b087e-35db-11de-a997-00144feabdc0.html
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-10 09:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-10 12:10 pm (UTC)*snorts* You are absolutely correct.
I thought the boycott was real cool. Wonder if it worked?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-03 08:45 pm (UTC)If you send a comment to the BBC, it is (supposedly) noted in a regular report that's sent to the Powers That Be. The BBC is publicly funded so it has an obligation to listen to feedback. (Of course, it might not act on the feedback.)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-04 09:08 am (UTC)That's more likely, I'm afraid.