Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2006-01-23 10:04 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2006-01-23 10:04 pm
Entry tags:
Gareth Keenan Investigates!
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LISTEN TO THE 'EYES ON ME' OBSESSION REMIX WITHOUT WANTING TO WRITE ABOUT RINOA GOING BATSHIT INSANE.
...ahem!
Behind the cut, I will probably ramble about The Office. I don't think anyone on my friendslist has actually seen it, but OH WELL I WILL RAMBLE INTO THIN AIR. BECAUSE I CAN. Actually, I'll probably be talking about Why You May Or May Not Want To Watch It, so it'll be understandable to people who haven't seen it. Whether you actually want to read it is another matter.
My world does not end within these four walls, Slough's a big place. And when I've finished with Slough, there's Reading, Aldershot, Bracknell, you know I've got to - Didcott, Yately. You know. My - Winersh, Taplow. Because I am my own boss, I can - Burfield. I can wake up one morning and go 'Ooh, I don't feel like working today, can I just stay in bed?' 'Ooh, don't know, better ask the boss.' 'David, can I stay in bed all day?' 'Yes you can, David.' Both me, that's not me in bed with another bloke called David.
- David Brent.
The Office is one of the more recent fandoms I've been getting into, and I'm not sure whether it even counts as a 'fandom', because the online community isn't exactly thriving. It had two series in total, each with six episodes, and ended a couple of years ago. Fanfiction.net has recently opened a section for it, but all of the fics in it are for the American version, which is still running and which I have never seen. This may be just as well, because I have absolutely no idea how it would be possible to write a good fanfic about The Office.
The Office is a show about nothing.
Seriously. It pretends to be a documentary (and does a remarkably good job actually - it feels completely unacted. In, you know, a good way), and is set in the Slough branch of a paper distributing company. Absolutely nothing ever happens. There's an adorable love story going on vaguely in the background (a really really adorable love story my god Tim/Dawn OTP for ever (apart from, inexplicably, Tim/Gareth)), but essentially, it is about nothing. The most action-packed event is a merger with the Swindon branch. THRILLING.
So, naturally, when nothing actually happens, the episodes are built entirely upon idiocy and banter. And also adorability in the background. But mostly banter.
The trouble with The Office is that its humour is certainly not to everybody's taste. As an example, part of it comes from characters (in particular David Brent, the boss who believes himself the Funniest Man In The World) making truly awful jokes. The jokes are not the humour. The fact that the character is making such awful jokes (often amplified by the context in which the joke is made) is. It is impossible to watch an episode without cringing. It's often hilarious, but it's also awful, and you can feel the awkwardness seep through the screen and make you want to die.
In fact, the humour style is different for different characters. David makes dreadful jokes at inappropriate moments, tries too hard to be politically correct, leaps at any opportunity to show off (one of my favourite episodes is the one in which he 'casually' drops in the fact that he used to be in a band during a staff-training session, completely hijacks the meeting and spends the rest of it playing ridiculous songs on his guitar) and is generally incompetent. Gareth is a scary, scary, scary, scary man - after commenting that there should be tests to prevent people faking a disability in order to claim money:
TIM: We're all ears, Gareth.
GARETH: Well, I don’t know, when they go down the DSS to make a claim then they should set off a fire alarm - a fake fire alarm, and everybody legs it out the office, leaving them there. If they're fake they'll be up and running with them, if they're real they'll be left there... screaming for help.
EVERYONE: ...
GARETH: ...then you come back in and say 'It's all right.' *pause* '...Don't cry. It was only a test. You passed. Here's your money.'
Tim is pretty much the only character who deliberately makes good jokes. And even then, he's often incredibly childish.
What I'm saying is that The Office is certainly not for everyone, and a lot of people hate it. What I'm asking is that, should you watch it and find out that you are one of these people, you don't think less of me for liking it (I am extremely paranoid about things like this. After recommending Doctor Who to practically everyone, I began working myself up into a panic worrying about whether they would despise Captain Jack, be unable to work out why I liked him so much and hate me for ever).
I don't even know whether it's a good idea to post this, but I've written quite a bit, so I will REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT IS A GOOD IDEA OR NOT OH YES I ARE A GENIUS.
I think that there should be a 'Name one of my fics and I will write a sarcastic summary of it!' meme, but most of my fics are far too short to summarise sarcastically, and practically all of them can be summed up as one of (or any combination of) the following:
Rose Tyler/Squall Leonhart/Macbeth/Banquo/Mary/Maria: *dies*
James Sunderland/Macbeth/Captain Jack Harkness/Jak/James Sunderland again: AAAAAAAAANGST.
Feel free to steal the idea for your own use, though!
...ahem!
Behind the cut, I will probably ramble about The Office. I don't think anyone on my friendslist has actually seen it, but OH WELL I WILL RAMBLE INTO THIN AIR. BECAUSE I CAN. Actually, I'll probably be talking about Why You May Or May Not Want To Watch It, so it'll be understandable to people who haven't seen it. Whether you actually want to read it is another matter.
My world does not end within these four walls, Slough's a big place. And when I've finished with Slough, there's Reading, Aldershot, Bracknell, you know I've got to - Didcott, Yately. You know. My - Winersh, Taplow. Because I am my own boss, I can - Burfield. I can wake up one morning and go 'Ooh, I don't feel like working today, can I just stay in bed?' 'Ooh, don't know, better ask the boss.' 'David, can I stay in bed all day?' 'Yes you can, David.' Both me, that's not me in bed with another bloke called David.
- David Brent.
The Office is one of the more recent fandoms I've been getting into, and I'm not sure whether it even counts as a 'fandom', because the online community isn't exactly thriving. It had two series in total, each with six episodes, and ended a couple of years ago. Fanfiction.net has recently opened a section for it, but all of the fics in it are for the American version, which is still running and which I have never seen. This may be just as well, because I have absolutely no idea how it would be possible to write a good fanfic about The Office.
The Office is a show about nothing.
Seriously. It pretends to be a documentary (and does a remarkably good job actually - it feels completely unacted. In, you know, a good way), and is set in the Slough branch of a paper distributing company. Absolutely nothing ever happens. There's an adorable love story going on vaguely in the background (a really really adorable love story my god Tim/Dawn OTP for ever (apart from, inexplicably, Tim/Gareth)), but essentially, it is about nothing. The most action-packed event is a merger with the Swindon branch. THRILLING.
So, naturally, when nothing actually happens, the episodes are built entirely upon idiocy and banter. And also adorability in the background. But mostly banter.
The trouble with The Office is that its humour is certainly not to everybody's taste. As an example, part of it comes from characters (in particular David Brent, the boss who believes himself the Funniest Man In The World) making truly awful jokes. The jokes are not the humour. The fact that the character is making such awful jokes (often amplified by the context in which the joke is made) is. It is impossible to watch an episode without cringing. It's often hilarious, but it's also awful, and you can feel the awkwardness seep through the screen and make you want to die.
In fact, the humour style is different for different characters. David makes dreadful jokes at inappropriate moments, tries too hard to be politically correct, leaps at any opportunity to show off (one of my favourite episodes is the one in which he 'casually' drops in the fact that he used to be in a band during a staff-training session, completely hijacks the meeting and spends the rest of it playing ridiculous songs on his guitar) and is generally incompetent. Gareth is a scary, scary, scary, scary man - after commenting that there should be tests to prevent people faking a disability in order to claim money:
TIM: We're all ears, Gareth.
GARETH: Well, I don’t know, when they go down the DSS to make a claim then they should set off a fire alarm - a fake fire alarm, and everybody legs it out the office, leaving them there. If they're fake they'll be up and running with them, if they're real they'll be left there... screaming for help.
EVERYONE: ...
GARETH: ...then you come back in and say 'It's all right.' *pause* '...Don't cry. It was only a test. You passed. Here's your money.'
Tim is pretty much the only character who deliberately makes good jokes. And even then, he's often incredibly childish.
What I'm saying is that The Office is certainly not for everyone, and a lot of people hate it. What I'm asking is that, should you watch it and find out that you are one of these people, you don't think less of me for liking it (I am extremely paranoid about things like this. After recommending Doctor Who to practically everyone, I began working myself up into a panic worrying about whether they would despise Captain Jack, be unable to work out why I liked him so much and hate me for ever).
I don't even know whether it's a good idea to post this, but I've written quite a bit, so I will REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT IS A GOOD IDEA OR NOT OH YES I ARE A GENIUS.
I think that there should be a 'Name one of my fics and I will write a sarcastic summary of it!' meme, but most of my fics are far too short to summarise sarcastically, and practically all of them can be summed up as one of (or any combination of) the following:
Rose Tyler/Squall Leonhart/Macbeth/Banquo/Mary/Maria: *dies*
James Sunderland/Macbeth/Captain Jack Harkness/Jak/James Sunderland again: AAAAAAAAANGST.
Feel free to steal the idea for your own use, though!
no subject
...so, no worries here.
I am strongly considering watching it, if for no other reason than because I can.
(I would ask you to summarise Of Towns And Toasters, but it's difficult to bring the funny out of anything involving Silent Hill, whether or not the Ninth Doctor is being awesome in it.)
no subject
...I just wanted to tell someone that.
no subject
James Sunderland/Macbeth/Captain Jack Harkness/Jak/James Sunderland again: AAAAAAAAANGST.
*giggle*
I want to see The Office, but last time I asked my parents they didn't let me because I was too young. (I'm old enough now.)
no subject
Anyway, The Office sounds at least like it's cool for having a show completely based on the characters. And that it's willing to have episodes about nothing, because real life is totally like that and it's something that drives me nuts about a lot of prime time TV; there are all these shows based on, like, doctors and lawyers and whatnot and they're all the same but they pretend every episode is new and exciting. Of course, I don't actually watch much prime time TV, but that's the sense I've gotten. I could be way off.
I THINK I LIKE DAVID AND
GOLIATHGARETH ALREADY! HOORAY FOR INAPPROPRIATE JOKES!I began working myself up into a panic worrying about whether they would despise Captain Jack, be unable to work out why I liked him so much and hate me for ever
I was actually wondering what was so great about him before I saw Boom Town, but I totally get it now. And also, I did not hate you, even when I was in doubt.
no subject
On the other hand, though, awkward cringe-y humour usually upsets me because I overidentify way too much. I end up going "THAT'S TOTALLY A JOKE I WOULD MAKE NO WAIT I DID MAKE THAT JOKE ONCE IN GRADE SCHOOL AND I'VE ONLY BEEN REPRESSING IT 'TIL JUST NOW AUUGGGHHH." Then, of course: seppuku.
On the other other hand, though:
GARETH: ...then you come back in and say 'It's all right.' *pause* '...Don't cry. It was only a test. You passed. Here's your money.'
ROFL.
no subject
I worry about Eva sometimes.