Yes, I really meant it. I know I’m not a film-geek, but this week with school and writing I was fluttering around finding shows for background noise, and this popped up recommended, so I tried it. Boy, was that a mistake. Fortunately, there are only two of the shows on Hulu currently.
Look, I shut off cable back in 2009. We have Netflix, which I usually use for background noise while I’m writing, and the free Hulu is nice, and I have Amazon Prime video. So really, that’s like having a whole video rental store in my pocket whenever I want it. I grew up without TV, so not having it isn’t really a problem, and it’s nice that I can watch what I want, when I want it. This usually translates to not really watching anything. The last movie the First Reader and I sat and watched together was His Girl Friday, which was so much fun. It had been years since I’d last seen it. Before that? Well, we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy in the theater, which was good campy fun.
So I put on Agent Carter for background noise this week. I promptly lost two hours of working time, as I watched through all that was available. Sure, there are issues with it. The whole feminist agenda crammed sideways on top of the story is transparent, ugly, and honestly, could have been done better if the writers really thought it was necessary. But the characters, other than the thuggish male agents whose only purpose is to bumble around causing problems (really? this was not the best written part, and I know they could have done better…) are a riot. Jarvis is wonderful, the waitress in the café is fun, and the villains are not complete idiots. The pacing is… well, it reminds me more of some of the BBC shows I enjoy, than American TV. I’ve seen complaints that Agent Carter is slow, and that would be why. But it allows for delicious little dialogues, like the fork incident.
Since this was good, I tried out Agents of SHIELD. Which is fine, as background noise. I’ll watch/listen to it for that. Unlike Carter, it didn’t make me feel like I needed to watch it, I could follow along and do other things, too. Which is usually what a TV show does for me. I don’t recall many things that have allowed me to immerse in them. I can read a book, and watch a show, and when asked, summarize the plot of both the book and the show. TV just isn’t enough to keep my brain happy by itself. Even with Agent Carter, because there are commercials on Hulu, I was doing other things at the same time.
And this is why I am not a film geek. Books do it for me. But this week, I didn’t have the time to immerse myself in a book. I’ve been working on Martian Aria, which has a lot of promise, and hopefully this coming week with the beginning of classes won’t keep me from reading. Although I still have 20K to write on Dragon Noir. Which I’d better go do now.
