The Tyranny of Socks

Good morning and Happy Hanukkah!

I've been browsing around without actually posting much, largely because typing anything but Yuletide fills me with guilt. (As BH reminded me, though, freaking out about Yuletide is something of a tradition for me. I have attempted to persuade him that this year it's different and worse, with no luck.)

We've also been rewatching BSG; we're up to Episode 5. ( cut for minor spoilers )

That turned out to be more negative than I meant it to -- but I'm going back downstairs to do some writing, and don't really feel like editing it.

Clearly, I'm going to have to start remembering episode titles, since the numbering is now officially confusing. ( let's call this 3x07, shall we? )

Spoilers, of course.

( spoilers for BSG 3x03: Exodus )

Can't wait for the next part!

...but not by me. Instead, a link to a very good post about Starbuck, by thepiratequeen: In Defense of Kara Thrace. What I like about this post is that she grounds what she has to say about Kara in what we've seen Kara do before. Spoilers for the finale.

* * *

It's a beautiful warm day here, if by warm we mean 53 degrees. I have the window open and am making a vast pot of chili; I haven't made chili in at least a year, I suspect, so I'm looking forward to tonight's dinner. My chili is excellent.

...Black Market ( spoilers below )

Day from hell now over. Imagine me saying "huzzah" in a very small, weak voice. In celebration, a meme:

Take a look at my icons. Comment with the following:

1. one that makes you automatically think of me.
2. one that you think I should TOTALLY use more often.
3. one that you don't get/needs more explanation/you have no idea why I have it.

[If you like,] comment using an icon of yours that you LOVE, and tell me why you picked THAT one too.

Although really, I think my userpics are all too predictable.

* * *

This is a busy week for me, not just because of the day from hell -- my parents are visiting, which is wonderful, because they've rented a little apartment and will cook for me, but also cuts into my downtime. Also, I'm wondering whether this strikes anyone else as odd -- they brought with them a set of two keys which they found somewhere in the house and decided are mine. (In fact they are -- department keys from the University of Chicago, I think.) But what do they think I'm going to do with them?

* * *

Because leadensky pointed out the parallels between Admiral Cain on BSG and Signy Mallory, I have been re-reading Downbelow Station. I like Cherryh, but there's some seriously weird shit going on in her head, isn't there? I may have thinky thoughts, or at least shallow first impressions, at some later date, because the comparison is most interesting at the points where it may break down.

* * *

Now I am going to wander home (or rather, to the apartment my parents are using) to drink wine and eat sausages and sweet potatoes. Mmm.

I'm not sure I have anything of great interest to say here, but maybe something will come to me. Anyway, ( spoilers for Home 2 under the cut tag )

Anyway, it's late here and I've been posting rather a lot as it is. Enough already.

I have a few comments on the "What was Apollo thinking?" question ( under the spoiler cut )

In an aside, was I the only one to have that song from the South Park movie going through my head while I wrote up my comments on this episode? Or indeed, whenever I think about it?

We may be witnessing the gradual reawakening of Vanzetti's brain. Maybe.

At one point I had a long post about religion in BSG and religion in the ancient Mediterranean in my head, although it never got written. Here, in its place, are some notes on the subject. For the record, I'm a classicist with an interest in religion in the Greek and Roman worlds, and this is all rather sketchy and generalizing. Please feel free to discuss and ask question in the comments.

( a few notes on Greek and Roman religion )

( ...and on Colonial religion )

In retrospect, I'm not sure how relevant all this is -- of course there's a very clear Christianizing tendency in the representation of religion on BSG, which may mean that ancient Mediterranean religion is essentially meaningless for our understanding of what the writers of BSG are trying to do -- if indeed they're consciously trying to do anything.

There has been a good deal of interesting discussion of the human vs. cylon issues raised in BSG, and most recently in 1x08, Flesh and Bone. I found this post and the comments to it particularly thought-provoking. It takes me a while to figure out what I think about complicated issues like this, but ( here are some thoughts on humans, cylons and other toasters )

Questions? Comments? Stories about evil toasters of doom?

(Oh, and I'm ignorant of everything after 1x08; if possible, please refrain from detailed comments about later episodes.)