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Thoughts on NBC’s Hannibal Ep 1 (maybe spoilers-ish)

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Hannibal. It was everything I was hoping it would be even if I had no real idea of how it would go. I mean, I did because I’ve read the books, but there’s a lot of room to work and grow and what you ever know about Hannibal isn’t always as it seems. And given that most of what we’ve seen of Will Graham came from Manhunter, where the relationship between he and Lecter was mostly defined by how it ended: with Will discovering who Lecter was an getting stabbed for his trouble, he has even more room to grow.

It is the stuff of great fanfiction, my friends and this is fanfiction by the professionals with a great cast.

Now, I love Hugh Dancy but I don’t always love the roles he chooses. This time, the script and the storyline is playing to his strengths in a way only he can. I see now why Bryan Fuller jumped on casting him.

Mads Mikkelsen has a hell of a poker face, which is a good thing when you’re trying to portray someone who gives little away. He has a sort of quiet quality to him that, unlike Superman who is hiding that body under a suit, I could buy as being someone that everyone might overlook as being truly psycho.

Mostly what we saw of the other characters, including Laurence Fishburne, was connecting the dots. I imagine we’ll see a bit more from them as the series progresses. The first half was pretty much dedicated to getting into Will Graham, which makes sense since he’s a lead we have less familiarity with. Plus it saved the money shot of Mads being all cannibally until after the commercial break.

I love the mood of the show and the way that it is shot in moody blue and red tones that will make the color RED jump out at you. It would be a good thing if you really like RED. But also it’s difficult to get a real sense of time and place. The first time we see Hannibal he is wearing a more retro-looking suit, perhaps taking cues from the movies.

Anthony Hopkin’s Hannibal seemed to have a bit more twinkle than our Mads Hannibal, but there are aspects of that portrayal that I find more in character from the books. If that’s better or worse would depend on your preference. I like both for different reasons. The only criticism I had was that my ear is less attuned to Mads’s accent so it was difficult at first for me to understand what he was saying. His voice has that quiet, soothing quality but by the second scene he was in I’d sorted it out.

The other thing that some may find troubling is the graphic nature of the story. Meaning gore. Meaning very disturbing imagery. If you go into a series about a cannibal serial killer and are surprised by this, turn in your TV now. Seriously.

Now, I already knew this show as for me, but seeing Kids in the Hall’s Scott Thompson made me grin and previews that promise Gillian Anderson and Eddie Izzard, plus others that I was too overwhelmed to properly comprehend make it beyond must-see TV.

I’m excited to see everyone settled into their roles. It has some great potential and a very promising start. Can’t wait for the next!

Hannibal - Season 1

Feeling ranty

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So, here’s the thing. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s rah-rah, but I think the root of the problem with bullying and telling kids that it gets better is that it really only gets better if you don’t ever want to get married and don’t want to serve in the military.

The problem isn’t the bullies. They’re the symptom of the problem which is systematic governmental oppression of gays via denial of rights.

No gays in the military equals “gays aren’t worthy to serve.”

No marriage rights equals “gays aren’t worthy to love.”

And this comes from the top, guys. It comes from our political leaders. It comes from the jackholes in charge. How do a few Youtube videos, no matter how moving, compete with that?

You want gay kids to feel less ashamed? Give them a world in which they can be whoever they want. They can marry whomever they want. Give them a world where the government isn’t the one telling them “you’re not okay.”

How you do this? Get involved. People wank about how little it means to retweet but you know what? It’s something. It’s action. Maybe you retweet a while, maybe you get mad. Maybe you start volunteering or giving money.

Even if all you ever do is post about it, someone sees it. Someone thinks about it. Sure, maybe it’s not changing John McCain’s mind, but maybe some of his constituents are watching. Maybe you make them think a little about it and maybe next time they go with the other guy.

The war is on the status quo and people? They don’t like to shake things up so much. Sometimes you have to shake them. Usually more than once.

I can only give you where I tend to get involved, which is the Courage Campaign and the Human Rights Campaign. They are not the only worthy organizations, just the ones I’m currently giving to. Even if you’re just on their mailing list to get their alerts for petitions, it’s something.

If you are already, <3 I’m not talking to you. Unless it lights a fire under you to do more. Then, you know, yay for that, too.

Anyway, what crawled up my butt tonight was the Senate Republicans demanding (blackmailing) us–we the people of the United states–to preserve the tax cuts for their campaign contributors rather than vote on DADT.

They don’t care that the military is fine with serving with gays. They don’t care that those Bush tax cuts weren’t funded to start with and add to the national debt more than the unemployment benefits they’re also holding hostage so people can’t pay their rent, let alone go shopping for Christmas (oh and don’t get me started on how this is going to hurt the economy–our economy is based on people spending money and spending it locally, how many people on unemployment do you jet off to Italy for a shopping spree?)

(oh and if you think giving money to rich people makes them invest more? Tell me and I will explain supply side economics to you and why it doesn’t work. It’s a nice theory, but we’ve been trying it for THIRTY YEARS and it hasn’t worked yet.)

So, yeah. I’m pretty peeved. I need a drink.

The Night Caller: Coming Soon

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Finally, I finished editing the book. I was expecting a rougher edit from the book people, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. So naturally, I had to be a prima donna bout my own writing and go in and rewrite several sections. Maybe 5 paragraphs were left unscathed.

So if it’s bad, it’s not the editor’s fault. It’s mine. But then, it’s my name on it, so it should be my fault.

Part of me is nervous since this is self-published. Not that I gave it much of a college try the regular route. Waiting just isn’t in my nature. Not when I know that I can do it myself. And not when I actually enjoy doing a lot of it myself.

Things are moving along. It does look like they’re trying to downplay the gayness of the book, so I’m making some adjustments to the press release and who it’s being sent to. It’s great having somewhere to start from, though. I’m sure in a mass-market way, playing down teh ghey is smrtr, but it is what it is. The book gets far too purple towards the end to pretend. Just the way I like it.