Odds and Ends: The cloud monster
by javabeans
girlfriday: So, I’m not sure how this happened, but another week went by.
javabeans: Apparently that’s the thing that time does. Keeps going.
girlfriday: Well somebody needs to put a stop to that. Didja do anything fun?
javabeans: …that’s a sad question. By which I mean it’s a question that provokes sadness. I guess we’ll be doing stuff for next week’s post soon—probably as this post is up, even—but as that has yet to happen, we can’t talk about it yet. I guess I could try to predict the future, but then I’d just be breaking promises.
girlfriday: Yeah so we’ll play it safe and talk about the Boston talk next week, because Past Us doesn’t know what Future Us is up to, those wily bastards.
javabeans: Oh, I know something I did: mourned the loss of Television Without Pity. I can’t believe they’re shutting down!
girlfriday: SADNESS. It’s truly the end of an era.
javabeans: When people would ask about Dramabeans, I would often say we’re the Korean drama version of Television Without Pity. I guess I can’t use that comparison anymore.
girlfriday: TWoP was where I first got to talk about TV with other like-minded crazy people who loved TV as much as I do, and it’s the first place where the discourse for television was intelligent even if the subject matter veered into the ridiculous.
javabeans: All that content, those recaps, those hours spent building that site! How sad. I spent so much of my U.S.-television-watching time reading that site, and now it’s just…
girlfriday: It’s the saddest thing ever.
javabeans: I think a shutdown was the fear when they were first bought out by NBC Universal, though I suppose it managed to last many years after the buyout. Still, it’s crazy to think of all the time you spend building something like that, selling it, and then having someone else decide to shut it down.
girlfriday: Yeah I stopped being a regular reader when they sold it back in 2007, but would still go back once in a while for old recaps or for the random shows I was still following.
javabeans: It wasn’t perfect and there were quibbles I had with TWoP, but ultimately it was an important site and I wish it were sticking around. Then again, they were in existence for something like 15-plus years, and I don’t know where I’ll be in another seven so… I guess sometimes eras just end.
girlfriday: They do. It’s just sad when something that was such a pivotal part of your young internet-using life is going away, and into the great ether no less. I don’t often think about the internet in an existential way, but where does it all go?
javabeans: Away? Erased? Like interactions and conversations we have in real life, only to remain in our memories? So maybe it’s just like the real world after all? Either that or there’s a great big cloud somewhere growing more monstrous and sentient by the day, gurgling, “Mooooore… daaaaataaaaaa….”
girlfriday: Internet Waste Monster?
javabeans: Maybe we’re all just living in the Matrix. I like it in here. Don’t wake me.
girlfriday: I like the taste of steak! Don’t take it awaaaay!
javabeans: I guess we’re doing our part by feeding the cloud monster more ephemeral data with all the words we keep spouting. Annnnnd this conversation turned weird.
girlfriday: Are we surprised?
javabeans: Clearly we need more sleep. And now I’m going to dream of the Stay Puft Data Monster stomping around in search of more verbiage.
girlfriday: Scary. Quick, feed it more recaps!
javabeans: Now that I can do.
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Tags: conversation post, Odds and Ends
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1 Anonymous
April 4, 2014 at 8:09 PM
"All hail the Glow Cloud," seems appropriate at the moment.
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hellochloe
April 4, 2014 at 8:25 PM
shh, they're listening.
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2 Museofmanymasks
April 4, 2014 at 8:18 PM
"I like the taste of steak! Don’t take it awaaaay!" hahahahaha took the words right out of my mouth.
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im_eve
April 5, 2014 at 8:48 AM
"javabeans: Maybe we’reall just living in the Matrix. Ilike it in here. Don’t wake me."
i wanted to LIKE this so bad.
also, ilu keanu reeves!! Unconditionally!
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3 methebat
April 4, 2014 at 8:23 PM
RIP - TWoP you will be missed!!
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TG
April 5, 2014 at 5:50 AM
Totally. Although it was much more important (for me) earlier on when yo couldn't easily watch episodes you'd missed. Now y can always find them somewhere online. The 24 recaps were hysterical. I haven't really read it in 7 or 8 years so I guess I'm just being nostalgic for the sake of nostalgia, not because I'm actually missing anything.
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4 methebat
April 4, 2014 at 8:25 PM
RIP - TWoP you will be missed...
{puts fingers in ears and closes eyes}
Lalalalalala
Dramabeans will ALWAYS be here
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Skyofblue
April 4, 2014 at 9:20 PM
Pssh, of course it will. *sings*
It's never goiing awaaaayyy, eeevvveeerrr.
*joins you*
LALALALLALAAAA
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5 yoko_loco
April 4, 2014 at 8:51 PM
I think the old recaps are staying up for the time being, at least. And there are various people working to preserve different shows or writers. It's really a huge loss though. TWoP helped define television culture as something important -- something with important things to say. And it was a great place to snark back to it in turn.
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6 tiny
April 4, 2014 at 9:15 PM
Soompi just had its sweet 16 recently. And I'm looking forward to Dramabeans', too.
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7 Rashell
April 4, 2014 at 9:38 PM
I can't believe TWoP is closing. It kills me! It's where I fell in love with recaps and snarky ness. It's where I fell in love with Buffy and Alias and a ton of other shows by reading their fabulous recaps. It's so sad.
This must NEVER happen with Dramabeans! EVER!
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8 Hazel
April 4, 2014 at 9:52 PM
I'd be interested in hearing some of the quibbles javabeans had with TWoP. :-)
The site played an important role in my TV-watching experience as well, but I just gradually drifted away from it. Usually I appreciated all of the snark, but sometimes the recappers let their prejudice against certain characters or even the entire show take over to the point where I just wanted them to either take a step back and regain a measure of emotional distance or just drop it altogether, and not let their antipathy overwhelm every page.
But for the most part, the writers were amazing, and I loved distinguishing their various styles. For instance, I remember finding Jacob Clifton's Gossip Girl recaps hysterically overblown considering their subject matter. He'd go off on these drawn-out tangents, assigning way too much philosophical significance to what was happening, and I was half-torn between admiring that he could magnify some trivial catfight of breakup into something earth-shatteringly profound and illuminating (and with such eloquence), and just being like: "Dude, it's Gossip Girl. The writing and characters aren't nearly as deep as you're giving them credit for."
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9 Eileen
April 4, 2014 at 10:24 PM
Oh noes! The end of TWoP is really the end of an era. That site allowed me to view TV through a different lens. Sigh.
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10 soprection
April 4, 2014 at 11:18 PM
Just FYI, I never went to TWOP but if you're still looking for intelligent, thoughtful reviews of American (and some British) television, the AV Club is a viable option. The writers there definitely LOVE TV and generally know what they're talking about. Like here, I'm always a bit bummed if they're not reviewing a show I watch.
That being said, I understand that feeling, albeit to a lesser degree.
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11 kanz
April 4, 2014 at 11:21 PM
Sometimes the internet growth is scary. I mean few years back I could live without internet but nowadays I'll be mad if I can't connected to it. Data, cloud computing, etc all in the internet. All seems so real but it's actually not and we become more dependent to the internet. On the other side, without internet we won't have Dramabeans. Now I'm dreaded to think otherwise...
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12 yasminsatria
April 5, 2014 at 1:38 AM
Nooooo! I can't imagine how I can live without dramabeans. Your recaps relieve my needs for drama and entertainment. Since I don't have your 4th time dimension, the only way I'm survive with all those job and dramas who keep pop up is your recaps. Hiks... Don't ever leave me *start to act like clinging second female lead*
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13 Cynthia
April 5, 2014 at 7:43 AM
TWoP is closing shop?! Ackkk! It was the first site to highlight snark - hilarious while cutting like a scalpel. The recappers were priceless, my favorite being Erin the Red Head with her Alias recaps. I still go to the Archives and just pick an ep for the joy of the read, CloneSloan, SpyDaddy & Clifford, the red ball of doom. Linda Holmes was also an excellent recapper at TWoP. I seem to recall her leaving shortly after the dreaded buyout when many of the founding recappers jumped ship. Linda went to NPR and created Monkey See. She's one of the sharpest writers around and as funny as ever.
An era has passed with the closing of TWoP. Sigh.........
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DJMuenchen
April 5, 2014 at 10:52 AM
cosign this completely! Linda had an excellent piece mourning her past site, but it made my realize that the best writers fromTWoP moved on to other enterprises which is somewhat comforting. Plus, at least they arent deleting the content into the ether as they were originally planning.
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14 DJMuenchen
April 5, 2014 at 10:54 AM
cosign this completely. Linda had and excellent post about it and her podcast PCHH is amazing, makes me realize the best writers have moved on from TWop which is semi comforting.
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15 anubic
April 5, 2014 at 2:36 PM
farewell, twop.
on a lighter note, adorable picture. her notebook is so cute!! it's so tiny though, she'd go blind using that thing.
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16 jomo143
April 5, 2014 at 3:09 PM
RIP TwoP
I think that site may be why I felt immediately at home here.
But I believe I started watching it before it even had that name. Did anyone watch the hilarious recaps of Making the Band? Looking back it's kindy creepy considering the head dude Lou Pealman went to jail for all sorts of improprieties.
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jomo143
April 5, 2014 at 3:11 PM
I found it! Mighty Big TV was one of its names.
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17 Jennipoh
April 5, 2014 at 4:43 PM
Hm never heard of Television Without Pity until now. I checked it out just now, but boy am I'm glad to say that you guys here at Dramabeans write a way better recap than all the ones I skimmed over at the other site.
I JUST WANT TO LET YOU ALL KNOW THAT I GREATLY ADMIRE YOUR WRITING AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS! <3
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18 Jessica
April 6, 2014 at 12:44 AM
I used to read that site but after discovering Asian dramas again I stopped going since most of what they talked about just didn't interesting me anymore.
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19 jademwong
April 6, 2014 at 9:43 PM
I just want to say that I hope in 7 years you guys will still be around and dramabeans will be more popular than ever before because I don't know what I would do.without this site and your recaps and all the beanies who contribute to convos. I.love you guys!!
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