Whew! Also, I'm Looking For Your Opinion.

[disbelief11]

Wow, I'm tired now. Tired and satisfied, because I've been cleaning the house. Not just the dishes and stuff - I'm talking about the Martha Stewart/Holy Grail/This Old House kind of thing. My Mom arrives for a visit tomorrow night, so my normal procrastinating self has been shoved aside by this crazed person who wants her house to be "perfect" by the time Mom gets here.

It's good to have company every once in a while. Makes you actually get stuff done.



Speaking of Mom, she and my Favorite Sister (okay, she's my only sister) had a polite freak-out last weekend when I was telling them about visiting my friends in Florida. Seems they haven't gotten the memo that not everyone who is on the Internet is a rapist/murderer/child molester. So when they asked me where I had met these people and I my answer was "online," their eyes bugged out and later I was subjected to a mild interrogation by the Moms.

So, my first question of y'all tonight: what do YOU say when people ask you where you met your online friends?



I have another question for all of you SV fans, this one about Lana. I was thinking about all of the SV peers of Clark, and what lessons Clark learns from each of them. Pete teaches him about friendship and trust, and helps him scooby things. Chloe helps him with the scoobying and helps him develop his journalistic interest. Lex is teaching him all kinds of new things, from Greek mythology to how to deal with the girl of your dreams to corporate espionage and of course, trust and mistrust.

And Lana? Really, all I could come up with was guilt over smooshing her parents. But I thought that might be because of my intense dislike of Lana, so now I'm turning the question to all of you...what does Lana have to offer?

Comments

[edie22.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha!! Tell them two of the crazy peopleyou met in florida actually met and got married online.


And Lana offers pink sweaters full o'boobs.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

I could almost get behind the idea of Lana being boobs in a pink sweater if she wasn't such a ....well, a boob.

[xica-s.livejournal.com]

Question one: It usually depends on whose doing the asking. My friends are well aware of my SV obsession so why even bother trying to hide it. Family however is another story. I usually just fudge the question. My family is old skool Catholic, the DO think that everyone on the internet is a rapist/muderer/neighborhood pervert.

2. Lana provides....a test subject for the Super!sperm? Clark wouldn't really want to drill a hole in Lex...at least not in that way.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

Heh, good point. Okay, onto the Clana boinking! Then we'll know for sure that the hot gay sex between Clark and Lex is safe sex.

[evangelene.livejournal.com]

does Lana have to offer?

Hot hand-holding action.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, those hand-holds are the stuff of legend.

[pun.livejournal.com]

The one time I told my mom I was going to meet some internet friends I got a similar freak out. Since then I've only been in a situation where I had to tell someone something one other time (I was visiting my RL very good friend and wanted to meet up with Rhi as well). I basically told the truth (I said I met her on MBTV, I didn't detail the porn), and it went fine. This weekend I actually think I will be facing a situation where I have to say something again. I'm going to say online again cause I hate to lie. We'll see how it goes.

Ok, I don't like Lana. And at first all I could come up with were sarcastic answers like, she teaches Clark that lots of people he saves will be ungrateful and whiny.

But, upon further reflection, I think what we're supposed to see Clark learning from Lana is that his special abilities are always going to prevent him from just being any other guy. He'd have gotten with Lana ages ago if he weren't Super. Think of all the times he's let Lana down cause he had to run off to save somebody. That's about putting his obligation to humanity above his own desires. And then there's the RedK incidents where because he has to protect his secret, and the people close to him, he can't explain himself to get out of trouble.

For Clark, Lana is about wanting what he can't have. Not for any simple, human reasons, but because who he is is bigger than his own wants.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

Your point is a good one. But I guess one of the reasons I don't like Lana is that she is such a passive character. It just seems to me that what she teaches Clark isn't because of anything she's doing except being pretty - everything else is up to Clark.

Ow, my brain doesn't have enough caffeine yet to explain my thoughts clearly. I guess I shouldn't have tried to be all smartlike so early in my day.

[bunglegirl.livejournal.com]

I don't usually bring up meeting people online. It depends on the people. I have a couple of friends who fancy themselves supercool and made fun of me. I don't tell them anything anymore. If people press me I usually say it's people I talk to about Smallville (since most people know I'm a Smallville freak). My parents would definitely freak, I usually just say I'm going out with friends they don't know and hope they won't press.

RE: Lana, I agree with what Pun said above. I think Lana serves to remind Clark that he's different. That he's an alien. Even before he knew he was one she (and the necklace) made him feel like an outsider, looking in at the life he really wants. I think Chloe and Lex would be interested in alien Clark, see him as a mystery or discovery. I think Clark could deal with that. Pete see alien Clark as cool, like a toy with cool powers he can play with. Lana is wary of alien Clark. We saw how she reacted to Clark tossing the 3 frat boys in her defense, she was fairly outraged at first. She was scared of him. Lana serves to remind Clark of what most of humanity/society is like. It reminds him that people will be scared of him and ultimately teaches him why he has to have a secret identity.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you reminded me of the tossing of the 3 frat old dudes, because her outrage was a more active instance than normal. As I mentioned to Pun, one of the reasons I dislike Lana so is that she's so passive.

Of course, right now my brain is coming up with more instances of times when she's been more active. Guess I'm going to have to keep working at learning to like Lana, or at least respect her.

Now if only the writers would help me with that.

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

So, my first question of y'all tonight: what do YOU say when people ask you where you met your online friends?

Usually, I just say "oh you know, the internet." For times when I want to feel less dorky, "mutual friends."

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

I've been saying the internet, but lately seem to be getting nothing but guff back. I'm about to start using a really snarky line like "prison pen pal program."

[kstanley.livejournal.com]

So, my first question of y'all tonight: what do YOU say when people ask you where you met your online friends?

I just tell the truth.

what does Lana have to offer?</i. Well I think she is supposed to represent the life that Clark can't have. As the series progresses, Lana will begin to represent Smallville and everthing that Clark has to leave bhind when he becomes Superman. TPTB are handling it clumsily of course, but I believe that is the intention of Lana.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

I just tell the truth.

I did tell the truth to Mom and Favorite Sister, and even tried to suggest that with how much people use the internet at work, it's not all that unreasonable to end up making friends there too. They just weren't having any of that, though.

I can tell you for certain that the Canadian customs officials always send you to a secondary screening if you respond "from the internet" when they ask you how you know the friends you're visiting. By the third trip to Canada, I had trained myself to say "from college" instead. Maybe next time I'll remember to say "we met at a convention in Boston".

Re:

[kstanley.livejournal.com]

They ask you how your met your friends when you leave? Huh. Well I haven't been out of the country in a while...