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Egplant dike ass ([info]jrs1980) wrote in [info]twop_crit,
@ 2005-03-23 02:21:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood:Bitter

He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named

My issue is this week's 24 recaplet.

There's also hope for Grayadder, and of course DoDder's romantic vacillations during his surgery swallow up more air time. Looks like Kiefer's only hope with her is to get as nearly-killed as Grayadder is, which, given the fact that he ends up in ImhoTerror's clutches, might just work out for him. Oh, and Potato Face is back, more than filling the bitchface vacuum left by Special Agent Breck.
Can anyone tell me why that recaplet sucks?

Ooooh, I know! There is not one single character mentioned by their FUCKING NAME! The forever unanswered question: Why do they insist on coming up with so many nicknames instead of writing, like, funny stuff?

Remember when the recaps were to tide over those who had missed an episode, as opposed to punishment for someone who hasn't read every episode recap ever?

I don't blame M. Giant. Perhaps I feel guilty hatin' on someone I've met (*waves at Miss Alli*), but really. Gustave started that "SpindlyBeckLookALike"* nickname crap.

*The exact moment I gave up on the S2 24 recaps. What's wrong with, like, Lackey Guy? Those recaps read like they've been Babelfished and back. (Don't even get me started on NoDaddyNo/Jonbénet, Rolaide(????), and Poor Man's _____.)

Um, I think if I just link and excerpt we won't get sued...?

(Post a new comment)


[info]miss_kitten
2005-03-23 08:50 am UTC (link)
My eyes just crossed so hard that my face got sucked back into my skull. That is not coherent. At all.

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[info]thebratqueen
2005-03-23 04:14 pm UTC (link)
What used to drive me nuts is that they wouldn't explain the nicknames in their FAQs either. Real pain in the ass to want to check a recap to find out what happened on a single episode that you missed, only to find out that all the characters and relevant plot points were given nicknames/in-jokes about a season and a half ago.

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[info]thepiratequeen
2005-03-23 05:10 pm UTC (link)
I started watching Angel and reading the recaps well into the run of the series and it took me forever to figure out that Carey was Lorne.

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[info]thebratqueen
2005-03-23 05:14 pm UTC (link)
One time, for my sins, I tried reading a Charmed recap. I don't follow the show or the recaps - this must've been an ep with a guest star I was interested in - and I couldn't understand a damn thing because everything was in-jokes. It was like reading a Mad Lib. "Phoebe [in-joke] while [Nickname] [in-joke as verb] and then [Nickname] comes in wearing [in-joke ajective] [in-joke noun] and [in-joke verb]." Tried looking at the FAQ for an explanation and got nothing. Which kind of makes the FAQ a bit of a misnomer since I've got to imagine they get questions about the nicknames and in-jokes all the time. Why not explain them?

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[info]thepiratequeen
2005-03-23 08:33 pm UTC (link)
What makes it even worse is that I remember reading in someone's recap that they are encouraged to come up with nicknames. They thrive on the in-jokeyness. And some in-jokes are nice but very few of them know when to stop.

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[info]phosfate
2005-03-23 07:51 pm UTC (link)
Thank God it wasn't just me.

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[info]thebratqueen
2005-03-23 08:23 pm UTC (link)
What's hilarious is if you go back to fanfics that were written prior to Lorne's name being revealed. You'll find a few out there where they called him "Cary", thinking that Strega somehow was giving them canon.

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[info]thepiratequeen
2005-03-23 08:30 pm UTC (link)
Are you serious? That is so so sad.

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[info]thebratqueen
2005-03-23 08:32 pm UTC (link)
I kid you not. That was back when I used to read TWOP regularly. Tough call on what was funnier, though: the people who wrote fic calling him Cary, or the people who tried to claim that they thought the name up on their own.

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[info]doyle
2005-03-24 11:18 am UTC (link)
Hee. I've seen older fics where he's called Cary, but I assumed TWoP took the nickname from that or it was fanon at the time. I had no idea TWoP started that.

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[info]mistressrenet
2005-03-24 05:36 pm UTC (link)
Well, to be fair, for a while he had no name at all beyond The Host. But, DUDE, no one will hurt you if you don't use a nickname every time. Really.

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(Anonymous)
2005-03-24 04:34 am UTC (link)
The 24 nicknames are indeed in the FAQ (http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/faq.cgi?show=73&q=1566)

Personally, I'm OK with the use of the nicknames, though I hang out on the 24 boards pretty often, so I know who all the names refer to. A lot of them kinda suck, though. I'd rather he be referred to as straight "Imhotep" than "ImhoTerror".

There is one nickname-related thing about TWoP that does bug me, though. There's this dude on the boards named Sandman who apparently can't go one post without ever referring to a character by their oh-so-clever nickname. He's the only one that does it ALL THE DAMN TIME! It's one thing to do it in the recap, but on the boards?? He's so damn annoying, and you can tell he's only doing it to show off his "wit". I hate that bastard.

By the way, I love your nickname, Svetlana Monsoon! Can't wait for those NR DVDs!

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[info]thebratqueen
2005-03-24 04:39 am UTC (link)
It can depend on the show. Some recappers will explain the in-jokes/nicknames, others won't.

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names
(Anonymous)
2005-03-24 01:48 pm UTC (link)
Argh! See, that makes it worse. I think M. Giant's recaps are actually very, very funny, but even as a regular reader I have to go check the FAQs sometimes to see who is who. I know he didn't invent or start it -- Gustave, I am looking at YOU! -- so maybe he felt like he had to continue the tradition, since he took on the show midway through the season. But seriously, I think some of the names take away from his otherwise very funny writing.

Now, some other recappers could use with some witty names. Might make the recaps they write actually readable...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: names
(Anonymous)
2005-03-24 04:49 pm UTC (link)
By the way, does anyone have the scoop on why Gustave left so abruptly? I liked his recaps a lot.

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Re: names
(Anonymous)
2005-03-30 12:02 am UTC (link)
I'm curious about that too. I liked Gustave's recaps until he showed himself to be an asshole prick as a mod, around the time in season 1 when Jack's wife offered up herself to be raped in order to spare Kim from the same fate. But I'm guessing that he didn't leave before of a bad breakup with Sars, which was the case with Aaron.

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[info]mmaresca
2005-03-23 05:00 pm UTC (link)
Seriously. I don't mind the occasional character nickname, but the idea behind using a nickname is that it is somehow easier to use than the actual name, or that the character has NOT been readily identified, so you need to give an simple name to a character without one. But to give EVERY character a nickname, just because? Dumb.

Now, for one, "ImhoTerror" only makes sense if you recognize that Marwan is played by Arnold Vosloo, who was in The Mummy, where he played Imhotep. But you have to ask yourself: isn't easier just to write "Marwan"? Isn't it easier to write "Paul" rather than "Grayadder", which only makes sense if you realize that the actor who plays Paul reminds M. Giant of Rowan Atkinson, who was the one who played Blackadder.

The words "Trying too hard" are not strong enough.

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[info]misswindy
2005-03-23 09:42 pm UTC (link)
Back when we used to have PanFandom.com with recaps and reviews of TV eps, we had a rule that if a writer were going to use a nickname for a character or personage (for example, in my AI reviews I always referred to Ryan Seacrest as "Cresty") the writer was required to put in parentheses the character's actual name the first time the nickname was used in the recap.

Example:

"Then ImhoTerror (Marwan) ran across the room."

HOW HARD IS THAT, BITCHES? Jeez.

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[info]deeablo
2005-03-23 10:36 pm UTC (link)
We still do that at MediaSharx. I mean, I only use(d) two nicknames in my Everwood recaps (St. Celestia for Amanda, and Dr. Dimples for Jake -- which I have since stoipped using because I like Jake now) but I still made sure to say "Andy and Amanda (a.k.a. St. Celestia)..." Because I'm not so egotisitcal to think that people who read my recaps have read everyone since the beginning.

And the Lost recaps? No nicknames at all there, because there are already so many characters to keep track of.

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[info]jrs1980
2005-03-24 04:36 am UTC (link)
It almost makes me yearn for the Sars/WC days of recapping DC. One mention of "Joey "Lunch Tray" Potter" at the start of the 'cap. Nice. Simple. Not driven into the ground until your teeth hurt.

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[info]jrs1980
2005-04-06 06:40 am UTC (link)
Example:

"Then ImhoTerror (Marwan) ran across the room."

HOW HARD IS THAT, BITCHES? Jeez.

Who says one person can't make a difference? (Last paragraph.)

I can't decide if I'm impressed that they took crit or just indignant at them ripping off your idea.

Of course, the myriad missing words in both that 'cap and DH aim me toward the latter.

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[info]mediumdave
2005-03-23 05:06 pm UTC (link)
Well, do the math... if one in-joke/character nickname is funny, then ten must be ten times as funny. Plus, for added hilarity, make your screen name an in-joke! Crap. Is that Terry Pratchett's lawyer calling?

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[info]tinfoilhat
2005-03-23 05:49 pm UTC (link)
Those recaps read like they've been Babelfished and back.

AHahahahahaha! That is the</> perfect nutshell description of a TWoP 24 recap! I tried reading one when I missed the last ten minutes of an episode, but I never did manage to crack the code and find out what happened.

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[info]misswindy
2005-03-23 09:39 pm UTC (link)
It's been brought to my attention on my LJ flist that in a recent Lost recap, a reader had the temerity to dare to politely suggest that saying "Boone, God's Friggin' Gift To Humanity" 23957235 times in one recap instead of just "Boone" was laborious.

This earned her the title of Goofy McTwatTwat for the rest of the recap. His exact response:
No dice, Goofy McTwatTwat! I don't refer to Boone, God's Friggin' Gift to Humanity as Boone, God's Friggin' Gift to Humanity because it's funny. I refer to Boone, God's Friggin' Gift to Humanity as Boone, God's Friggin' Gift to Humanity because that is the man's proper and full name. So it would be rude of me to shorten that full name, just as it would be rude of me to shorten your full name, Goofy McTwatTwat. Boone, God's Friggin' Gift to Humanity he remains.


I swear that web site is so revolting.

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[info]deeablo
2005-03-23 10:50 pm UTC (link)
It also easily ups his word count to have five extra words tacked on to that character's name.

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[info]mmaresca
2005-03-24 12:54 am UTC (link)
Are they paid by the word? That would explain a LOT.

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[info]deeablo
2005-03-24 05:50 am UTC (link)
They're not Dickens or anything (that's an understatement). But I believe their minimum is... 8,000 words? And for that the going rate is $90 I think. Not to count their unpaid time for monitoring the boards.

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Dan Kwa: Handling criticism in a mature, adult manner
(Anonymous)
2005-03-24 01:21 am UTC (link)
That sort of behavior ought to earn them being forcibly infested with the butt fleas of a thousand camels.

Well, there's always [info]cleolinda's Lost recaps to read.

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(Anonymous)
2005-03-24 01:40 am UTC (link)
I tried to register with TWoP as Goofy McTwatTwat, but they chose to ignore me. Evidently, I have been pre-banned.

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[info]mediumdave
2005-03-24 01:48 am UTC (link)
Boone. Boon. Ha ha, now I get it.

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[info]misswindy
2005-03-24 05:54 pm UTC (link)
No, it's from what the character Shannon called him in the pilot episode.

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[info]mediumdave
2005-03-24 06:18 pm UTC (link)
*thunk* So I was actually giving Dan too much credit...

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[info]wanktastic
2005-03-25 12:28 am UTC (link)
Sobell has started doing that with her CSI recaps. She used to call Greg "Liam the Lab Tech" because in season one, he looked a lot like Liam Gallagher from Oasis. At a certain point, she shortened it to "Liam" and there it stood for the last four seasons. Nothing wrong with that.

But this season Greg has moved from lab tech to full CSI so Sobell changed his nickname to "Grasshopper, Gil's Adopted Son Number Three". Most writers would think using that ONCE at the start of a recap would be fine, but then shorten it to just "Grasshopper" for the rest of the recap. Not Sobell. No, she uses the ENTIRE nickname throughout the whole fucking recap, which make her recaps impossible to read anymore. It's fucking aggravating and it's just plain bad writing.

I really wish there was a valid alternative to TWOP. Other multifandom recap sites like MediaSharx don't cover many of the shows I watch and there aren't many single fandom sites doing recaps. I want a one stop site that has the same breadth as TWOP and I'm sorry that no other sites have yet succeeded in breaking their stranglehold on the recap writing industry. I understand the pitfalls of breaking into the market, especially if a site has to rely on volunteer recappers instead of paying them, but I can't believe TWOP has dominated the market for so many years without any real competition.

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[info]grapefruitzzz
2005-03-25 01:13 am UTC (link)
I'd do it in a shot if I were in America. I've written hundreds of college film reviews. But all I can offer is a full recap of Dr Who on Sunday for the three other people who haven't downloaded it yet.

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Wow
(Anonymous)
2005-03-29 07:01 pm UTC (link)
That's just sad and it proves how incresingly unable they are to handle criticism. They wouldn't want to listen to suggestions from people who actually read their recaps. I stopped reading the recaps before I left because they'd gotten so boring. If I'm reading a recap of one show, I don't really need 5 pages of what the author saw on Lifetime (& totally unrelated to the show I'm reading about) stuck in that show's recap. And while a personal reference here or there is ok (especially if it relates to the show somehow) pages and pages of what they did that week or conversations they have w/each other are just boring. And rather hypocritical considering they've smacked people down in forums for going off topic about things like accents, etc.

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(Anonymous)
2005-03-29 01:19 pm UTC (link)
I didn't like Miss Ali's nicknames on the last TAR season. I read them from the beginning, but I still kept forgetting who Team Nuance was. Also, I don't think that the nickname was very clever. But then again, Miss Ali isn't very clever either.

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