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About Us: Josie Kafka

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy New Year, Happy Gurnenthar's Ascendance!

We usually do something fun every December, mostly in the way of year-end "Best of" posts (and we're still doing a few of those). But since we have a lot of new writers this year, I thought it might be fun to ask them some silly questions and get to know them better.

Except I'm starting with one of our old veteran writers – Josie Kafka!

What area of the world do you live in, and what do you do in real life? (Because we all know you don’t make any money doing this.)

I live in Southern California. I'm a cat servant and rogue demon hunter, which pays pretty well despite the housing crunch.

What show or shows are you covering for Doux Reviews? Why those particular shows?

Right now, I'm just a pinch-hitter for The Good Place, but I've reviewed such varied fare as Game of Thrones, The Vampire Diaries, Twin Peaks, and Fringe. I'm proudest of my Fringe reviews, but my favorite review to ever write is this one, for the terrible show Under the Dome.

Ever since I cut the cord (and tied myself to an Amazon Fire Stick), I've been watching shows after they air: the result is a watching schedule that doesn't match up with an ideal reviewing schedule. I used to love The Flash, but I don't love it enough anymore to pay for it.

Which TV character do you identify with the most, and why?

I'm going to give exactly the same answer to this as I did eight years ago, because I am nothing if not consistent: Wesley from the Buffyverse in all of his incarnations. Well, I aspire to be as cool as he is in “Reign of Fire.” But we all need to have dreams, don’t we?

If you could have any superpower, what would it be, and how would you use it?

Invisibility. I'd use it for laziness: I would love to be able to run errands without changing from my pjs into real pants.

Oh, and I'd totally use it for good, too. I have no idea how, but somehow I'd do good. In pajamas.

What’s your favorite television show of all time? (Okay, top few will do if you can’t narrow it down to one.)

This is a tough question, and getting tougher with all the quality TV we have to watch these days. Angel is probably still my favorite. Daredevil (only the first season!). I'm completely hooked on Legends of Tomorrow; I enjoy each new episode and rewatch the old ones when I need background noise.

What is your favorite reality show, and why?

The Great British Baking Show. It's food porn for the gluten-free and balm for the stressed-out soul. And, much to my surprise, I like the new hosts (especially Sandi) as much as I loved the earlier ones.

Marvel or DC?

Marvel movies, DC TV shows. Although Wonder Woman did make me cry.

Cats or dogs? Or is there some other animal involved?

Cats! However, after learning about the hedgehog's dilemma, I've started to identify with them quite a bit. Oh, and this video:


What random skill would our readers be surprised to know you have?

I really like untangling knots, but I'm not sure I'd call it a skill, as I don't always succeed.

What is your most wished for holiday gift?

More books. Always more books. Oh, and–in unrelated news–I also need a new bookcase.

Josie Kafka is a full-time cat servant and part-time rogue demon hunter. (What's a rogue demon?)

14 comments:

  1. 'I used to love The Flash, but I don't love it enough anymore to pay for it.'

    I know I'm a real adult because it physically pains me to love a show enough that I want to pay for it.

    Also, I have some necklaces that could use your special skill. Have you thought of going pro? There might be a market right now for untangling Christmas lights.

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  2. Indeed, Laure. I'm currently thinking about having to pay for Star Trek: Discovery soon. It's just wrong.

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  3. Yeah, paying to watch television is a hard fact of life. I'm lucky most of the stuff I watch congregates on Netflix and Amazon. Plus, yes, Discovery on CBS All Access, but my local Star Trek fan club watches it together and everybody pitches in for one subscription, so that's not so bad.

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  4. I also have some jewelry for you to untangle, Josie. I don't mind doing Christmas lights, but for jewelry I have to take out my contacts and use tweezers and then I end up being angry at myself for letting it get tangled in the first place and it's just a vicious cycle.

    Hate to say it, but I'm so over DCTV. Legends...I may catch up on Legends, but the rest of them are...let's just say I don't enjoy them the way I used to. Plus I just have superhero fatigue in general.

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  5. The Under the Dome review is truly a masterpiece.

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  6. Yes, it is. It is one of my favorite reviews on the entire site. Definitely Sam T. Cat's best.

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  7. It's always a lot of fun when an episode or movie is so bad that the reviewer goes into full sarcastic mode because there's no better way to make 'This is really terrible' interesting to read. Ebert did that a lot, and Jammer, my favorite Star Trek reviewer, did it very well for one particularly atrocious Voyager episode. Definitely up there with my favorite reviewing tactics.

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  8. Here's that Jammer review if anyone wants to read it: https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-voy/s4/demon.php

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  9. "Wesley from the Buffyverse in all of his incarnations. Well, I aspire to be as cool as he is in “Reign of Fire.” But we all need to have dreams, don’t we?"

    There aren't any Buffyverse episodes by that name. Did you mean "Apocalypse Now-ish" (there are a lot of Wesley being cool episodes to choose from).

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  10. Another of my favorite reviews of all time is Roger Ebert's absolutely scathing review of the movie, Battlefield Earth. I mentioned it in another comment recently.

    https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/battlefield-earth-2000

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  11. Here's another good scathing review, of Atlas Shrugged III:

    "The performances are just shy of human rights violations, but I don’t fault the actors. I fault the sun and the moon for not going dark, I fault the heavens for not crying out, I fault the firmament for insufficient firmness in failing to stop this kind of thing from happening in the first place. . . .

    "Oh, and the torture scene wasn’t as funny as it could have been."

    https://home.isi.org/node/68600

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  12. Televisionandotherrantings: If I recall correctly (I read this years ago), the original title for "Apocalpyse Now-ish" was "Reign of Fire." I've always thought of it that way. Just one of my adorable pretentious quirks.

    It sounds like I should start marketing my knot-untangling online! Hooray for the gig economy.

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  13. Josie - It was your reviews of Fringe and the fact that you also posted them on the Fringe Television site that led me to this wonderful internet rabbit hole called Doux. Thank you thank you for both!

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  14. I think what I loved most about Wesley is how much he grew on those two shows! In fact, he and Cordelia were the ones who I came to admire the most, all the more so considering how much I disliked them when they started!

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