Small Talk: a.k.a. 'The Meet Market'

[YaddaYadda]

I'm never disappointed in my TV shows.

 

Oh, wait...

[tennisgurl]

Thanks for all the kind words and advice, everyone! Honestly, it makes me feel better knowing that I`m not alone in getting so upset about being burned by a show, and then leaving fandom. I have been trying to go cold turkey on everything related to the show, but its been really freaking hard, considering how much time I spent in fandom. Even when I`m bored, my mind will wander to the show, then it starts to hurt again. I have literally started crying, just because of how burnt I feel! That hasn't happened to me in ages! Its been awhile since I was hurt so badly by a show, I feel like I am going to be VERY cautious about what fandom I lose myself in next time. Besides this one, of course, but I have loooong since made peace with how this show is.

 

I`m looking to start a new show, or a book, or something to get me distracted, because I`ve noticed that leaving a fandom/show is kind of like leaving a relationship. You need to move onto something else to truly forget about the old one. At least, in my experience!

 

Again, thank you all so much, I really do feel better :) Plus, kitty! 

Edited April 13, 2015 by tennisgurl

[sharky]

You know though, sometimes it's OK to hate watch your way to the end if you want. I'm doing that with Revenge. I still watch it every week but can't wait for the cancelation notice.

[Curio]

When that happens to a show I really like, I mentally decide that Season X was the final season and that season finale was the series finale, and everything after that is crappy fan fiction.

 

Yep. This exactly. As far as I'm concerned, Supernatural ended with the finale of Season 5 and Boardwalk Empire ended with that finale beautiful shot of Richard Harrow on the beach in the Season 4 finale. I have no intention of watching anything beyond that because it never happened. Nope. You can't tell me otherwise.

[Shanna Marie]

I forgot what season I stopped watching Supernatural. I never made an actual decision to stop watching. They rescheduled it to a time when it was either opposite something else I was more interested in watching live or to a time when I was never home, and then I realized that I never got around to watching the recording. I did the same thing about two episodes into the second season of Lost. I wasn't home on the night it was on, and then one week I realized I'd forgotten to record it, then realized I'd forgotten to watch the recording of the previous week. In that case, I got really tired of the "here's a character's backstory so you'll care about them, and then they're dead by the end of the episode" plotting. Also, as so often happens on Once, they mistook "backstory" for "characterization."

 

I think the only time I felt betrayed by a show was House, where they seemed to think it was a clever idea to scrap the original cast and bring in new people midway through. And it spiraled downward from there, to the point they had a third-year medical student working in their department as though she was a doctor, and that was when I turned the TV off during an episode. It was like the writers went stark raving mad in the middle of the series and deliberately sabotaged it to the point it was no longer recognizable. I think I ended up coming back during the final season, just to see how they ended it.

[Mari]

For me, it would be Castle and Criminal Minds. 

 

I watched Castle until it felt less like they were bantering, and more like Becket was just being mean all the time, and Criminal Minds until it seemed like it was all JJ all the time, and thought the character was Sydney Bristow.  (Not that there was anything wrong with a character being Sydney Bristow--but, don't try to retcon the character into that.)

 

I did something similar to Shanna Marie; several weeks into it, I realized that I still hadn't watched the episodes, and had sort of forgotten about them.

 

(I'm still hanging in there with Supernatural, although I tend to hoard episodes and then binge-play them while I'm working on something else.)

Edited April 14, 2015 by Mari

[Camera One]

Unfortunately, I usually continue watching even if I begin to hate a show.  I feel like I'm missing out if I don't, and I have this need to "complete" it.  The few times where I've outright quit are when I leave watching for so long that the episodes are no longer on the network website, or way back when, if I forget to tape the show on VCR, then after awhile, I fall so far behind I end up never catching up.  

 

(I'm still hanging in there with Supernatural, although I tend to hoard episodes and then binge-play them while I'm working on something else.)

 

Yeah, I tend to do that too on shows I've essentially given up on.

[FurryFury]

I dunno, I drop a lot of shows. Probably as many as I actually finish. Most long-runners tend to become really bad at some point. And then there are good shows that hit a bump and my interest drops (like with Fringe in season 4 - I still want to finish it one day, but other stuff keeps interfering). I have a similar problem with Person of Interest this year, I've binged all the previous seasons and was riveted with s3, but this year kinda sucks.

Edited April 15, 2015 by FurryFury

[Crimson Belle]

For future reference, do not try and lift two 80 pound cases of pork butts out of a shopping cart by yourself. It leads to pulled back and elbow muscles. And I think I broke my spleen.

Haven't even smoked the things yet, and already injured.

[Mari]

 two 80 pound cases of pork butts

That's a LOT of pork butt.  And your poor, poor spleen.

[ParadoxLost]

You know though, sometimes it's OK to hate watch your way to the end if you want. I'm doing that with Revenge. I still watch it every week but can't wait for the cancelation notice.

 

I was watching Revenge yesterday and I thought it had been cancelled.  I'm finding the promotion for the rest of the season really weird for a lot of shows.  I thought Revenge was done because they were promoting the final episodes during what was essentially a clip show.  But then I saw Arrow and Flash do the same kind of promotion for their final episodes and I doubt they are over.  The only show I saw promote a season finale is the one I'm pretty sure is all but dead (Hart of Dixie).  It doesn't seem like the wisest move to put doubt in viewers mind about a show continuing if its not most assuredly dead.  Maybe they are trying to bring viewers back for the end and hope they'll be impressed enough to come back next seasons.

[KAOS Agent]

So it's tax day and I drove through some nasty weather to mail my check to the IRS. Happily, for the second year in a row, my check is nicely postmarked April 15, but it's going nowhere because the freeways are closed. I consider this proof that Mother Nature also hates the IRS and does her best to mess with them when she can even if it's only for a day or two.

[Souris]

This tax year was especially annoying. The day after I sent in my taxes two weeks ago, I got a new 1099 form from the state saying the first one they sent me was incorrect because they forgot to include the consumer use tax. It was $17 off and doesn't affect the amount of my refund, but now I guess I gotta do an amended tax return. I am SO pissed. !@#$%^&! At least I have three years to do it. I tried to do it Sunday, but my printer suddenly decided it wouldn't print out black despite having ink and you can't e-file an amended return.

[sharky]

I was watching Revenge yesterday and I thought it had been cancelled.  I'm finding the promotion for the rest of the season really weird for a lot of shows.  I thought Revenge was done because they were promoting the final episodes during what was essentially a clip show.

Yes! I don't know what's going on there but Sunday's episode was all kinds of weird. I really feel like they're expecting the end, and I would be happy with that. Tie up some loose strings and be done with it. This reminds me of when I watched Studio 60 as well -- many that was a hate watch, but I did it!

 

Luckily, my husband is a former CPA so taxes are done and we're getting some money back. I always feel a little cheated when that happens though, like the government is just returning the interest-free loan I gave them.

[YaddaYadda]

So I actually just realized that I knew one of the actors on Revenge a few years back.  I used to work at a high end place when I was doing my undergrad and she was one of my clients.  I didn't even know she had gone Hollywood, I also didn't recognize her because she had long hair back in the day.

[Shanna Marie]

I'm self-employed. April 15 is very painful for me. I had a good year last year, but that meant my estimated taxes based on the previous year were well under what I owed, so that was one big check. And then I had to pay this year's first estimated tax payment based on last year's (rather high) taxes, so it was another big check. I don't know that I will end up making as much this year as I did last year, but I could, so I have to make the higher payments, just in case. So almost everything I've earned so far this year went to pay taxes yesterday. Fortunately, I have a big savings cushion, so it's not like I'll starve, or anything. It's just rather horrifying writing a check like that, all at once. You notice it less when you get a bit taken out of your paycheck each month.

 

And then after paying taxes, I had to go deal with crazy kindergarteners.

[KAOS Agent]

I feel your pain, Shanna Marie. My check was also for estimated taxes and it kills me to write a check that's larger than the invoice I sent in yesterday. It's painful to see that all of my earnings from my work and more just went to the government.  On a positive note, the freeways are still closed and will most likely remain that way at least until tomorrow, so that check is still going nowhere.

[Shanna Marie]

I've just discovered that the ticky box to say you have health insurance and didn't have to pay the fine didn't stay ticked on the return I mailed. There was a weird glitch in their PDF where some of the information I typed in stayed and some didn't and had to be filled in by hand on the printed form. Most of the ticky boxes except that one stayed ticked, so I missed that one. Let's hope that anyone reviewing my form notices the substantial deduction for health insurance on the previous page and has an ounce of common sense. Or do I need to file an amended return for one ticky box?

[OnceUponAJen]

Amended returns can sometimes be a red flag for an audit, but this sounds pretty minor. If this software vendor had a problem, then you won't be the only one. If they (the IRS) contact you, you could amend then. There's no effect on your tax liability since the return calculated correctly. I've had them fix my return before, and I got a notice as to what the change was and that was all. No further work needed on my part.

[Souris]

Hmm, maybe I shouldn't amend my return then for the $17 that didn't affect my refund amount. I've already gotten my refund.

[Shanna Marie]

This wasn't the software vendor. It was the form downloaded from the IRS site. All the other forms allowed you to input data and save, but the 1040 had the blanks pop up for inputting data, then when you moved to the next box, the data disappeared, except in most of the ticky boxes, so I had to print that form and fill it out instead of filling it out on the computer and then printing a completed form. I should have double-checked better, but I was focusing on the numbers and the math, not the ticky boxes. I think I'm going to leave it alone and figure that if they don't have common sense and notice that a deduction for health insurance probably means I have it, then all I have to do to correct it if they contact me is send something from Blue Cross/Blue Shield that verifies my coverage. I'm irked about that whole thing anyway because I've always had insurance while being self-employed, even during the really lean years, and the year you could get subsidies if your income was at a certain level, that was the year my income went above that level and my premiums skyrocketed, so I'm one of the few self-employed people who's worse off with Obamacare. Not that I'm complaining about making more money, but it was just bad timing for me. I could have used the help a few years earlier.

[Crimson Belle]

14 pork butts, 4 gallons of slaw, 13 hours and one exhausted me later, I am ready for tomorrow's pork plate sale. And ready for bed.

[KAOS Agent]

I joined Tumblr the other day because I was bored and trying to figure out how something worked. I found it really amusing, however, because rather than getting sucked into Tumblr and exploring, I ended up spending several hours messing around on Google streetview. I found virtually wandering around Warsaw and its suburbs to be more interesting that whatever I saw on Tumblr.

[HoodlumSheep]

^ i've thought about getting a tumblr but decided against it. I'd just end up reblogging everything seeing how I have no talent for gif making or any of that stuff. So, I don't think I could contribute to anything. Also, I joined this forum last year, and joined Twitter not too long ago, and I feel like it's already taken over my life. So adding another social media outlet is a no go from me. I'll stay a lurker when it comes to tumblr.

[FurryFury]

I have a tumblr, but I don't write anything there. I used to read about Once, but I stopped during 3B, now it's mostly Dragon Age and stuff like MCU and my current favorite show (The 100) or anime (Psycho Pass). 

 

Anyway, I've randomly happened upon the old Madonna song Like A Prayer... and I think I've finally realized what it might be about. I'm horrified. I was like 11 when I heard it for the first time. I feel like Willow in BtvS when she realized what the song I Touch Myself could have meant.

Edited April 21, 2015 by FurryFury

[YaddaYadda]

Anyway, I've randomly happened upon the old Madonna song Like A Prayer... and I think I've finally realized what it might be about. I'm horrified.

 

I remember the feeling the first time I realized what it was about.  I stopped humming it and it is being used in some car commercial right now which is just...no words.

[FurryFury]

Worst thing is, I still like the song, no matter what - but I'm just so embarrassed for younger me. Also, I'm not really into pop music, but I feel like it could have a really great metal adaptation. And maybe has.

[pezgirl7]

Anyway, I've randomly happened upon the old Madonna song Like A Prayer... and I think I've finally realized what it might be about. I'm horrified. I was like 11 when I heard it for the first time. I feel like Willow in BtvS when she realized what the song I Touch Myself could have meant.

I love Like a Prayer! It's probably my favorite Madonna song. Even as a kid, I thought it was about sex, but the music video made me think it was about something else. I just read the Wiki page about it, and Madonna wanted it to have dual religious/sexual innuendo connotations, but with a truer meaning underneath. "She described "Like a Prayer" as the song of a passionate young girl "so in love with God that it is almost as though He were the male figure in her life."

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_a_Prayer_(song)

[FurryFury]

Wow, it sounds kinda creepy. Whatever. Still a good song. Not sure if it's my favorite of hers, though - I also really like La Isla Bonita and You'll See. I was really into Madonna while in my tweens (and also Spice Girls. Shut up.)

[KAOS Agent]

Oh man the Spice Girls. I was living in Europe when they first made it big and then the next year when I was in the US, they followed me and Wannabe was all over the radio there. That song is catchy, but not years long endless radio play catchy. The Spice Girls make me stabby.

[FurryFury]

Haha I think was like 10 when I loved them. Had posters all over the room, too.

[Shanna Marie]

This is going to show my age, but I had a similar thing happen with the song "Afternoon Delight." That was my favorite song when I was seven or eight. I mostly loved the melody and the harmonies, but I thought it was about a romantic picnic. I can still see the mental images that song gave me, and it was just people sitting on a picnic blanket and maybe holding hands.

 

Many years later, as an adult, I was driving to work and had the oldies radio station on. That song came on and I swear, I nearly ran off the road when I started singing along and then realized what I was singing. I called my mom to say, "You let me listen to that? You bought me that record! And it was a song about a nooner! I thought it was about a picnic!" My mom said she figured it was okay because I thought it was about a picnic. I ended up liking the B-side of that record better, anyway.

 

Needless to say, when they did the father/daughter karaoke thing on Arrested Development and started out thinking it was just a sweet song, then realized with great horror what it was really about mid-song, I found it absolutely hilarious.

[YaddaYadda]

(and also Spice Girls. Shut up.)

 

Backstreet Boys anyone?  Sometimes, I wonder what I was thinking.  I went through my Hip Hop phase, back when Hip Hop was worth everything.  Now, I don't care for everyone rapping about bitches and hoes in the clubs.

 

I have no clue what's going on in the music world these days anyway.  Since I don't drive anymore (living in NYC and all), I don't listen to the radio, therefore I don't download music.  I reverted to 80s power ballads.  80s music is classic.

[FurryFury]

Backstreet Boys anyone?  Sometimes, I wonder what I was thinking.

 

I had a tape of them (tapes, remember them?), but I was never a big fan.

 

I have no clue what's going on in the music world these days anyway.

 

Well, I've binge-watched all of Glee and now I know. And don't care about it, mostly. All these Rihannas and Beyonces and Biebers (ugh)... I'll continue listening to my power metal and folk and classic rock, thanks.

[HoodlumSheep]

I love ABBA. Their songs are so catchy.

[Dani-Ellie]

My favorite song of 2015 will probably end up being Walk the Moon's "Shut Up and Dance." It's a total 80s throwback and I can't get enough of it.

[RadioGirl27]

Backstreet Boys anyone?

New Kids on the Block ;-)

When I was around 12, I was so in love with Donnie Whalberg.

Edited April 21, 2015 by RadioGirl27

[YaddaYadda]

New Kids on the Block ;-)

When I was around 12, I was so in love with Donnie Whalberg.

I was in elementary school when they started out and I remember some of my friends liking them.  Thankfully, I was still going through my boys are icky phase.

[KAOS Agent]

 

tapes, remember them?

 

I actually still have a tape player in my car which is kind of awesome because I found a stash of mix tapes awhile back and it's a blast to whip them out on road trips.

[OnceUponAJen]

The Seinfeld "coffee is sex" episode is on. I am to laugh.

[YaddaYadda]

I'm watching it right now.  "Wanna come up for Coffee?"

[Mari]

New Kids on the Block ;-)

My New Kids on the Block memory is mostly a relative a couple of years older grilling me on my opinion of them, being relieved I didn't really care one way or another, and making sure I understood that they were not--emphatically not--a good band, and I should not listen to them.  (I can't remember what he did listen to, though. )

Edited April 21, 2015 by Mari

[FurryFury]

I remember me and my cousin laughing at another cousin's musical tastes (he had Metallica posters all over his room). Little did I know then that 5 years later or so metal would become my genre of choice...

[Shanna Marie]

I love ABBA. Their songs are so catchy.

ABBA is still just about my favorite group. They make me happy. And there's actually some really good composition in there.

 

I haven't listened to the radio since I got my new car (well, it's seven years old, but it only has 30,000 miles on it, so it's kind of new). The CD player plays MP3 CDs, so I've made a few mix CDs of about ten hours worth of music and just leave one in the car all the time. Every so often, when I get to where I can predict the next song, I'll make a new mix. I don't commute, so just running errands around town means it can take weeks for me to get through ten hours of music.

 

Because of not listening to the radio, I'm completely out of touch with "new" music. I generally don't stop liking something I once liked, and I think my music interests are "full." There's just so much stuff I already like that it's hard for me to add anything new. Add to that the problem of having perfect pitch, so it's physically painful to listen to someone who's not quite on pitch (so very many pop singers) and being picky about melody and harmony, and I seem to have the musical taste of someone who remembers WWII. My clock radio is set on the big band station.

 

I still have cassettes. My last car only had a tape player, so I have a ton of mix tapes and I have tapes of most of the CDs I bought up until I bought the new car. The CD player in my office died, but the cassette deck on that stereo still works, so if I listen to music in my office, it's usually on cassette. I still have a few things I need to replace on CD that I only have on tape.

[OnceUponAJen]

I love ABBA too. I saw a documentary a few years back. I never realized the inspiration behind Chiquitita was El Condor Pasa by Simon & Garfunkel. I can totally hear it now.

I've actually come to appreciate a lot of 70s music and even see the appeal of (God help me) disco.

Edited April 21, 2015 by OnceUponAJen

[Shanna Marie]

I love ABBA too. I saw a documentary a few years back. I never realized the inspiration behind Chiquitita was El Condor Pasa by Simon & Garfunkel. I can totally hear it now.

I was surprised to learn a few years ago that many of their melodies are based on Swedish folk music. They were originally a folk group, then got smart when they looked at what was making money globally and transformed themselves into a disco pop group, with the outrageous outfits that got them a lot of attention. The melodies remained the same, but then they layered in the beat and all the other orchestration in the arrangement and production to turn it into these lush disco/pop songs. This is especially true for the older songs. If you just focus on the melody, it really does sound like it could be Swedish folk music.

 

I'm actually rather fond of some of their later stuff that was less popular. It's kind of trippy and has a lot of New Wave influence. My favorite album of theirs is The Visitors.

[Mari]

They were originally a folk group, then got smart when they looked at what was making money globally and transformed themselves into a disco pop group, with the outrageous outfits that got them a lot of attention.

I read in an interview article that the costumes were over the top outrageous partly for tax reasons.  In order for them to be deductible, the costumes could not be considered street wear by any remotely reasonable person.  One of the men--I can't remember which--really wanted them to be deductible, and pushed the costumes that way partly for that reason.

[Shanna Marie]

The more I learn about ABBA, the more impressed I am by how smart and savvy the men who started and ran the group were. They made a lot of very strategic and calculated decisions that helped maximize their success, not just in the fame sense but in the way they profited from their work. It was all carefully planned, and it helped that they had a really solid musical foundation to back it up, so there was some substance beneath the flash and the marketing.

[ParadoxLost]

Wow, it sounds kinda creepy. Whatever. Still a good song. Not sure if it's my favorite of hers, though - I also really like La Isla Bonita and You'll See. I was really into Madonna while in my tweens (and also Spice Girls. Shut up.)

 

I just had a flashback to the mid eighties when every girl dressed up like Madonna from the 'Like a Virgin' era (the lace gloves without fingers) and every guy dressed like they stepped out of Miami Vice (pastel T-shirts and suit coat).  Michael Jackson's Thriller jacket.  MC Hammer parachute pants. 

 

Maybe I'm old and out of touch and just don't recognize it, but kids today have no idea how idiotic their parents were, compared to them,  adopting every fad and fashion trend they were exposed to.

[KAOS Agent]

I have a soft spot for ABBA because I went to Swedish camp where everything not Swedish was removed from us upon arrival at "customs" (yes, they actually searched our luggage - it helped me develop excellent smuggling skills). ABBA was acceptable as well as the late 80s & 90s groups Ace of Base and Roxette. You can tell the ABBA songs are more based in Swedish folk music if you listen to and understand the Swedish versions of some of the songs. Fernando is a completely different song lyric-wise than the English version although the English version is still oddly folk-ish. 

Edited April 22, 2015 by KAOS Agent