Bearer of bad news, tall tales, and comical surprises.

So, there's this new series on TNT that I just heard about called The Librarians, and I watched all of their episodes nearly on the strength of the title alone. I like the idea of librarians. The last librarian I knew personally was a sweet old lady. I loved Rachel Weisz's character in The Mummy, and Mrs. Lesser, the weekend librarian in Diane Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard. Harold Finch, librarian de facto of Person of Interest, purveyor of rare books and guardian of less obscure ones fallen prey to US nationwide budget cuts, is brainy sexy in his tweed and vests. Anthony Head's Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer  is another example, though one I know less of since I wasn't really much for television growing up. There is something infinitely satisfying about being surrounded by so many books, having all that knowledge at your fingertips, and endless excellent company to boot. I think that if I could have supported a family which sometimes includes certain cousins, a mortgage, endless rounds of home repair and improvement, and a decided partiality to cab rides on a librarian's income, I would have considered becoming one. Order on the basis of the Dewey Decimal System is soothing, and the only system more wonderful to me is the periodic table of elements. Seriously, how could I resist?

On the TV show itself, I have fun with the idea of Noah Wyle as The Doctor, as I think the influences are rather obvious. Rebecca Romijn eerily looks like Angela Miller in the animated Resident Evil: Degeneration film, especially in the opening sequence of the premiere; she may be blonde but they decided to go against cliche by picking a romantic interest whose dress size isn't Hollywood-cliched. Christian Kane with short hair is hilariously cute, and his role is pretty much the same as in Leverage, except he is more likely to chime in with bits of art history knowledge than worryingly scary pieces of trivia like how the rotors of different attack helicopters sound like. (In fact, The Librarians is kind of like Doctor Who (John Larroquette's wardrobe and Noah Wyle's well, everything, for a start) meets Scooby Doo (there's a lot of running around as a group) meets Leverage (their Thief is also a Hacker and there are five in their group if you don't count Jenkins) meets Indiana Jones (all their adventures are pretty much related to mythological artefacts or legendary creatures and people).) I like the fact that Lindy booth plays a synesthete (yay for the differently-abled!) and that John Kim's "worst version of himself" character keeps them from being 2D-good. It's silly and fun, and would probably be cute to watch if you had children and have run out of kid-friendly episodes of Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. I will probably be watching more of it in the future.

1. Oodles of schmoopy, perfect, straight love.  If I wanted in on a het love story I will send my significant other a text message and we will try to out-cheese each other.
2. "Soulmate" love.  "Foe Yay" seems to so much better in that the angst is more believable and there is actual logic in both pining for the other!  Okay, enough abuse of italics.  Just because most every printed and celluloid romance out there is beating the same dead horse and for the love of Mike have you guys even met each other or are you both just incredibly gone on someone else with the same name but hates you, doesn't mean I can't exercise a little self-restraint.
3. Killing the Cutie.  I mean, I love the underdog as much as the next girl, but there's a fine line between tragic embattled hero and punching bag.

1. Snappy dialogue.  It's kind of sad how very little snappy dialogue there is in my life right now.  Or maybe I was just spoiled in my youth.  Where are the pithy comments, the deadpan comebacks, the conversations that sound like all participants are stoned or seeing in chartreuse?
2. Friend face time.  No matter how much there is of it, there should always be more.  Because if life can't stop sucking the least it can do is to make sure one doesn't suffer alone and that everyone gets an equal opportunity to laugh at someone else biting the dust for a change.  And it's less humiliating when you have someone to make your excuses to.
3. Fantasy.  def. noun: Things that don't just happen in "real life."   ° Things that apparently happen to other people but not to me, because life occasionally forgets to win.   °  Things that are only fun to explore vicariously because otherwise it would be too messy, too smelly, too far away, too difficult, too expensive, too impossible, too embarrassing or just plain too much hard work.   ° Things that are entertaining provided that they are happening to other people. (But not too much, because I still believe what comes up must come down sometime.)