Don't ask me...I'm just a girl!

Glee!

2011-04-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

It's official, Glee has eaten my brain. I've been a viewer since the beginning but resisted getting into yet another fandom...and yet...I give up! I am powerless in the face of this kind of awesomeness:

So I've pretty much resigned my weekend to scouring LJ and Tumblr for awesome/lolarious Glee-related things and thinking about how much of a dreamboat Darren Criss is (because apparently I'm from the '50s like that). Especially as Harry Potter:

(Why haven't I seen this before this week, I don't know. Travesty!)

Also at LJ.

Six Feet Under: "You can't take a picture of this, it's already gone."

2011-01-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still ended up a snooty, blotchy, puffy-eyed mess watching the Six Feet Under series finale. Man, Lauren Ambrose is a screen-crying champ! But I think the thing that pushed me over was old!David seeing dead!Keith as he was in his prime and David realizing he was going to die soon. I don't know why, but that really got the water works going.

And if you haven't watched Six Feet Under, I recommend it.

Also at LJ.

Have some high school photos of me!

2010-12-23T13:39:00.001-08:00

I was sorting through a ream of family photos for a thing I'm doing. There are many "gems", of course, but here are just two for the moment. They are from my high school years, so about 10-ish years ago judging by the fashions I'm sporting.

Here I embody everything late-late '90s.

Pedal pushers: check

Strappy, clunky sandals: check

Ridiculously short t-shirt: check

Pastel 3/4 cardigan: check

Flippy "Rachel from 'Friends'" 'do: check

(Sadly, you can't see my expertly color-coordinated finger nails in this one.)

Why do I look like a drunk dumbass in this photo??

ENJOY.

Also at LJ.

Things Pissing Me Off Today: A List In No Particular Order

2010-12-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

1. Why were you broken, gas pump credit card reader--WHYYYYYYYY??

2. 20 mins. to get from the highway off-ramp to Panera near the mall less than a mile away. SHENANIGANS!

3. AND THEN PANERA DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ANY SOURDOUGH LOAVES LEFT WHEN I GET THERE--WHATFUCKETH?!?!

4. All of the winter storms lately have come through during the morning commute. EXPLAIN, PLEASE.

AND NOW FOR A HAPPY-MAKING THING:

Have a nice night!

Also at LJ.

Things wot I learned from this week's "Boardwalk Empire":

2010-10-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

#1 Apparently dousing your chooch with a Lysol mixture after sex constituted a birth control method in 1920. I'd like to know if that actually worked.

#2 Agent Van Alden, just when I can't think you could possibly get wound any tighter, you start in with the self-flagellation over your "impure thoughts"--literally. I feel sorry for your wife. And also Mrs. Schroeder's (jail bait-y) picture.

If you haven't started watching this show, why the eff not?! Also: you should start watching this show.

Also at LJ.

Knee-high by the 4th of July

2010-06-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

My dad recently pointed out to my mother and me that, in the midst of our patio furniture--our rarely used patio furniture--there was what appeared to be a stalk of corn growing out of the seams of the two concrete slabs that comprise the patio. Wha-huh?! Why yes, that is a stalk of corn, and yes, it is growing up out of our patio. I knew the weed and general vegetation situation wasn't exactly, well, under control at all, but this is just too random not to share.

Also at LJ.

Alright brain, it's just you and me...

2010-06-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

On the way home from work today, I listened to an interview on NPR with Casey Affleck about the new movie he stars in: The Killer Inside Me. It's about this, you know, serial killer and stuff. This is what my brain kept jumping to:

Thanks, TV!

Since my computer at work up and died on me on Monday, they reformatted the hard drive yesterday, which essentially puts the computer back to factory settings. This was all fine--not fun having to re-map the network drives I work off of and manually adding each and every stinkin' printer on the network to my directory, but whatevs--until I discovered that it had reverted to Internet Explorer 6. GAAAAAAHHH!! So effing slow and buggy and just heinous! Shoot me, 2004. Jeebus! Naturally, I didn't have administrator access to update it to the newest version that doesn't completely blow. I don't know how I lived for so long without tabbed browsing, I really don't.

Also at

2010-06-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

This is a new post.

Movie: Shark Attack 3: Megaladon

2010-03-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

So, Shark Attack 3: Megaladon

I threw it in my queue purely because of that scene that's up on YouTube, the one that they showed on Jonathan Ross that time and John Barrowman was straight up that he did it for the paycheck.

Real-time thoughts under the cut.

Right off the bat, they show the "salty seas captain" sub commander with a cigar in his mouth. Aren't there OSHA guidelines against that sort of thing?

Ooh, the first instance of poorly done ADR at 7:00 in. This is going to be fabulous.

9:00 I see how they stayed within budget here: lots of old stock footage. And not even good stuff either.

11:02 John goes diving for lobsters (instead of patrolling the coast like a good employee-naughty, naughty!) and instead of a net full of lobsters named Lunch and Dinner he comes back with a shark's tooth. It's like Jack and the Beanstalk but with less beans and more dangerous killer sharks!

14:00 The night watchman is a leacherous old man! No cliche unturned.

14:51 Stupid female lead! The first rule of computer safety is to not open e-mail attachments from people you don't know; do you WANT to get a computer virus?!

17:11 Next on the menu: sexy nude swimmers. Thanks, gratuitous nudity.

21:35 Blonde female lead has all the on-screen presence of the prop dead shark on the beach.

24:00 Super high-tech computer room straight out of 1987! AHAHAHHHAAAA, "Code monkeys". Even if it had no relation to the JoCo song, it still made me smile.

27:03 I'm watching this and thinking that rereading amand_r's TW/Jaws fic was infinitely more entertaining. I must soldier on.

28:10 First penis joke!

29:45 The music, it's like the "Jaws" theme but different enough to legally not be infringing.

33:34 Shoulda listened to the dog, random dude who is now chum. Now who is going to throw him the doggie frisbee??

35:30 News flash! People lie. Also: the sky is blue and the earth revolves around the sun.

38:15 I have to hand it to the "writers", they do know how to explain the existence of a prehistoric killer shark in short order. Less than 3 sentences of dialog.

41:39 John Barrowman is a good looking man, no doubt, but he suffered greatly from the Dippity Do abuse so common to dudes of the late '90s/early '00s.

44:25 Barrowman gives it a good go, but no one, absolutely no one, can give a "shee-iiit!" like Clay Davis on "The Wire".

47:17 Heehee. Victim #8 or 15 or whatever dies because blonde female lead (BFL) has butter fingers/sweaty palms. *sad trombone music*

52:47 All the main cast is now on the boat headed toward open waters, their date with Danger looms.

54:31 I love in these movies that there's always some kind of stupid-ass sinister business reason why the killer sharks/bears/yetis star attacking people. Here, it's Apex Communications (or something, I didn't pay enough attention nor care to rewind) laying down cheap fiber optic cables that attract the killer shark because of the seeping electrical energy into the ocean or whatever. I suppose a few dead naked swimmers is a small price to pay for transoceanic fiber optic cables that will provide me with high-speed Internet access to all the German leather fetish porn I could ever want.

1:01:39 It is amazing, and by that I mean baffling, that there is absolutely no accurate size reference for this megaladon. In one scene it is small enough to fit mostly inside the galley of a boat, but in the very next scene it swallows a dude in a speedboat in a single chomping gulp.

1:06:05 Ooooh, okay. So the one was a "baby" killer shark but the other one was it's mother. And now Mommy is Pissed. Off. It's a quest for justice now! Angry killer-shark justice.

1:08:01 Teehee, the "grizzled knowledgeable old man" token character said "abso-fucking-lutely!"

1:09:44 The Line!!!! The whole reason probably anyone knows about this movie. Took them long enough. And then the next scene is pretty much poorly shot softcore porn with a distinct lack of John Barrowman eating anyone's pussy.

1:11:15 A boat full of rich fat cats makes for good shark bait.

1:13:55 Barrowman made more sexual noises maneuvering the explosives into position than he did during the previous sex scene. He has more chemistry with the joystick in the sub--insert joystick joke here--than with his female co-star.

1:20:14 The movie is plodding toward the action climax because everyone and their brother is lobbing explosives at the shark and the wised old man character is suiting up for a suicide mission to save everyone.

1:22:56 Yes, there's a giant killer shark with a taste for humans, so let's all jump in the water! And get into flimsy inflatable life rafts, because then we will all be safe.

1:24:20 I think they blew through their entire budget with two of the most spectacularly shitty CGI-ed shots of the shark eating first, a single dude, and then a raft full of people. It was a major letdown. Like the rest of this. And my whole life.

1:27:50 "Torpedoes away, motherfucker!!!" The second "best" line from the movie. Also uttered by the esteemed Mr. John Barrowman.

1:30:12 He lived! And they all lived happily ever after...or did they?!

So I rented this because I love me some John Barrowman and the clips on YouTube were hilariously bad, plus they brought it up on Jonathan Ross and whatnot. And all I can say it that was an hour and a half of my life I will never get back. Ever.

Also at LJ.

TV: Doctor Who, or: Shut Up, Internet, or: The LJ Cut Is Your Friend

2010-01-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

Spoilers under the cut for Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part 2.

It's rare that I get angry about Internet spoilers for the TV shows I watch (and care enough about to steer myself away from spoilers). But there I was doing a search for something in my RSS feed this afternoon and what do I see in the list of results but a TW fic using spoilers from The End of Time part 2. The part about The Doctor giving Jack the note with the guy's name on it in the bar right before the end of the episode. GAH! Less than a few hours until I watched it on BBC America (all legal and everything--that's the last time I do that!) and I get spoiled about a character appearance toward the very end of the episode! Granted, it's all very minor in the scheme of things, but still. I was soooo good at avoiding, as much as I could, anything that was spoiler-ific about the last David Tennant DW episodes, and only to get tripped up right before it aired for me. Wah wah. I know.

AND THEN! To top it off, I was looking up something about Martha Jones while beta reading a fic for someone when what do I see on the DW wiki? Martha and Mickey?! Wuzzah? Not that I was like, invested to a great degree in Martha's relationship-y stuff, but talk about out of nowhere. ALSO: SPOILED AGAIN. Both of these are the most annoying kind of spoilers too, the kind that, when you read them, you know they were meant to be little mini surprises in the episode for first-time viewing and now knowing them negates that tiny little thrill of seeing the characters pop up and you spend the whole time wondering when so-an-so is going to make an appearance and blah blah blah.

Aside from that, I quite enjoyed these final David Tennant episodes. He was fantastic. And good old Wilf!! What's not to love there. I know there will be much kvetching about this and that and RTD "ruining" something or other and all that other fan wankery and BS. But I thought it was great, and I'd put that out into the swirling morass of opinions.

Also on LJ

Warning: Navel Gazing

2009-12-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

Bah. This is just me being really obvious and rambly and not at all insightful about anything really. Just spewing out the shit that's sloshing around in my head so that I don't go crazy.

I have a phone interview tomorrow afternoon for a seasonal park job out near San Francisco. It's great because, hey it's a real interview for a job I think I'm qualified for and good at! If I do get it, I'd get to live for awhile in a place I've never been before, which is cool. And also nerve-wracking and scary.

The last time I relocated was for college and I had the safety net of being a teenager and depending on my awesome parents when I felt I needed the help. And it all ended up great because I graduated with honors. And had a job in a related field upon graduation. That counts as pretty successful, right? Then, I moved back home for a awhile to save up and pay off my car and then finally moved out last year and I've been on my own since. It was all sunshine and puppies until I lost my job in April, and things aren't looking too great right now in the cash flow dept. since I'm about out of unemployment benefits and could have to move back in with my parents if things don't turn around, like, soon. So getting this interview couldn't have come at a more perfect time. My apartment lease is up next month and I was already pretty certain I wasn't renewing (see above re: money, I got none).

But if I do get the job and relocate (at least temporarily, but who knows if that could change to permanently), it will be WAY more complicated than when I moved away for college. For one, I have a lot more shit now. And it's three times as far to drive as it was to get up to school. And I'd be driving by myself in December across a lot of areas where there's, you know, known winter weather and shit. And, like, mountains and stuff. Hi, snow! I know a lot of this stuff I'd be able to deal with, because I know I'm a big girl and all that. And I know my parents would help me however they could--they wouldn't just wave goodbye and wish me luck. I know this. I'm just worrying because I feel like I can't do anything else right now and will probably feel that way until I get through the interview tomorrow. Bleh. I hate waiting.

Also at LJ.

Movie Review: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

2009-12-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

So yes, it's been months since I've done a proper post. Stuff has been going on--and not--and I just haven't had the need or wherewithal to do one. Still haven't found another job since leaving DAAV and started watching Star Trek: TNG through Netflix. That that however you will. I saw "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" yesterday because I needed a pick-me-up. And boy did it work. Such an awesome film!

It's a stop-motion animated movie, so it has that inherent 50s/60s kitschy vibe going for it, which is great since it's a Wes Anderson film and all of his stuff has that kind of vibe in some way or other. The premise, if you don't know what it is, is that Mr. Fox, voiced by George Clooney, used to steal chickens for a living but gave it up when he started a family with his wife, voiced by Meryl Streep. Of course, after a few years he gets the itch again and gets his friends to help him pull of "one last big score", as you do in these things.

Of all the Wes Anderson movies I've seen, this is by far my favorite because all of the things that can kind of grate in one of his live-action movies--meticulously designed set piece upon meticulously designed set piece, populating the cast with quirky and kooky character types just bouncing off each other, a certain out-of-time 60s kitsch by way of current pop culture--works very well here. As I said earlier, just the fact that it's stop-motion animation makes it okay to indulge in all those fab mid-century modern furnishings and fashions because it feels like it fits in this setting. And themes typical of Anderson films--sons seeking approval from their detached fathers in this one especially--feel fresh and new here because they are being explored by foxes and badgers and other woodland creatures instead of the same old humans.

I saw some reviews on blogs complain that George Clooney doesn't do any kind of character at all but rather a more devilish version of himself. I don't know if that's true, and I don't care because I could listen to him read the TV listings and think it was the best, most nuanced reading or the TV listings ever. The crime caper aspect of this feels like "Ocean's Eleven" all over the place, but I loved it and it was kind of unavoidable with George Clooney voicing your main character. The supporting cast is populated with a bevy of Wes Anderson players, including Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Wally Wolodarsky, and Eric Chase Anderson. Anderson himself pops up as Weasel, the realtor who sells the Fox family their prime new house. And in another film I might have complained about seeing the same people in yet another Wes Anderson venture treading the same water. "The Fantastic Mr. Fox", however, makes it all feel genuine and fresh and just plain entertaining.

Also at LJ.

"Do you want me to let him collect me?"

2009-08-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Wee-view: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The quote above is from the movie, and only slightly less creepy when heard in context...

I know there was much fan whine-age when it came about that Michael Gambon had never read any of the HP books, but I never cared about that because he did a great job as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and a spectacular job in this latest movie. Even knowing exactly what was going to happen, I was still a teary mess the whole last act of the movie--from he and Harry setting off for the cave to get the horcrux Voldemort hid there to Harry sitting over his lifeless body after it was all over. Meep.

I don't think that taking Felix Felicis is supposed to make you act borderline comically drunk/high, but watching Daniel Radcliffe miming Aragogg's poisonous pincers was LOLZ to the max. It was nice to see him play something beyond emo/flummoxed.

Jim Broadbent was a great choice as Prof. Slguhorn, even though they forwent to walrus mustache.

And Luna was full of AWESOME as usual.

Many hardcore book fans complain about the massive changes between the source material and final product, but I really don't give a crap anymore. They keep all the important stuff, because lord knows if they kept everything it would be as long as Lawrence of Arabia (which I totes love and own, but it is L-O-N-G.) Treating it as a separate entity greatly increases my enjoyment of the film. And they kept in the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes scene!

PoA is still my fave of the movies so far, though, and not just because of this.

Also at LJ.

Torchwood: Is it a team if there's only one person left?

2009-07-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

Since I'm re-watching Children of Earth on BBC America--because there's something to be said for watching TV the old fashioned way, on the TV--I figured I'd post my original thoughts along with a few new ones.

Here's the original post.

And under the cut are my final thoughts, which I will get to after I join PC Andy in a police meelee...

Addendum for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 5:

"I just stood back, a strategy that's worked all my life." God, Dekker, could you be any more callous?

I remember watching this the first time and being thrown when they revealed the 4-5-6 wanted to get high off of the children. Of all the reasons, I never would have come up with that one.

John Barrowman kills me this whole episode. It's sort of amazing/harrowing/depressing to see the journey they've put this character on since introducing him as a time-traveling conman way back when on DW.

Giving over Frobisher's kids as a PR gesture? Not only do I want to punch Green in the face, I want to whack him a few times with a lead pipe, maybe hit him with my car, and then feed him to Janet the Weevil...if she's still around. If not, Myfanwy will do. Or a Hoix.

Gwen breaks me heart when she's talking to Andy on the way to Rhiannon's. It's the speech she gave in "End of Days" but about 100 time worse, punching-me-in-the-gut-wise.

Of course this being THIS show, we can't have a proper untarnished happy moment, and Rhiannon has to throw it in Gwen's face that if she bought Ianto's stories about his dad then she didn't really know him at all. Torchwood: We're "up" people!

Re: Steven "He'll be fine; the nice kids are safe." Big flashing neon "DED" sign? Just ignore that...

Ianto's superpowers were making a damn fine cup of coffee and knowing everything. Rhiannon's are just being generally awesome and rolling with it. Johnny's is being able to start a riot with no notice. What a wonderfully diverse family.

I can't figure a way to summarize my thoughts better than plagiarizing myself, so this is from my initial thoughts, in case you don't want to bother clicking the link, plus a couple of extra things at the end:

I don't begrudge Gwen getting off with relatively little damage--that's apparent anyways, who knows what kind of PTSD she's gone through between the end of the 456 threat and the "six months later" post script. I have no idea how she got through it, but I know like all the others she would have the strength to pick up and start again, Rhys and the coming baby there to give her love and meaning. I want to hate Jack even more for leaving her there--alone as the last of Torchwood Three--but I do understand some of his reasons. Everyone he has known, knows, and will know in the future will die--either because of him, knowing him, or simply the steady march of time--and he will always be left to keep going. I don't blame him for wanting to leave a planet where love and loss are so intertwined that it feels like he is suffocated by every memory he's ever had of the place. Of course, running away won't magically solve all his problems; it just means he'll have to deal with them on Omicron Persei 8 or wherever the hell instead of Earth. I hate him for being a cowardly bastard, but he was a cowardly bastard before he met the Doctor, and some part of him will always be a cowardly bastard. It's just one part of who he is--nonetheless, it's a shitty part. I hate him for leaving Gwen behind. But I don't hate him as a person. He's done monstrous things and said it was for "the greater good", for "Queen and country", for any number of reasons. Yet, I can't hate him because no matter what he does it is his fate to keep on living no matter what happens, what he does or does not do, whether he chooses to love or not, whether he does good or not. Someone who will live that long, I can't even begin to fathom, to contemplate, what it will do to him. And because of that, I can't help but sympathize, but mourn a bit that every connection he makes, every person he meets, every place he goes, he will outlast them all. The only solace I find is that he will be able to keep connecting in spite of this, that he will keep his humanity, that he will keep fighting for it.

Also at LJ

Torchwood: Our sexy strutting is all the identification we need!

2009-07-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

Since I'm re-watching Children of Earth on BBC America--because there's something to be said for watching TV the old fashioned way, on the TV--I figured I'd post my original thoughts along with a few new ones.

Here's the original post.

And my new thoughts come under the cut after I check all my weapons with security.

Addendum for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 4:

Totally rehashing what I said last night, but the whole 1965 sequence is so disturbing, and not just for the way Jack acts. You can tell he's not all eager to do this but has rationalized to himself the value of it and how that allows him to do what he sees needs to be done. Major props to everyone involved with that sequence--the filming of it, the acting, the music. All perfect and perfectly creepy. And then to top it off, Jack's obvious deep remorse in the present for what he did back then about kills me. He knows "for the greater good" won't placate his people, but it's all he has. And Clem...god, Clem. And Ianto's reaction--*wibble*. I always felt the show worked best when it operated at the individual human level and addressed questions that had no easy answers and didn't pander to the audience by giving one, with episodes like "Adrift" and "Out of Time", and this sequence revealing what Jack did is another example of that.

God, that poor cameraman sent into the chamber. You know he's going to be effed up for life after that, if he survived the gassing/stampede--I don't know if he did or not.

The 4-5-6 are like a more disgusting version of the Slitheen family from DW, if getting more disgusting than that is possible.

The whole cabinet room sequence turns my stomach. Calling children "units". RTD making this such an integral part of the plot is great because it shows the state and it's actions and complicity are just as horrific as the 4-5-6. I think that it's grounded in a reality that's all too possible, the way they treat it matter-of-fact-ly and clinical as a way of distancing themselves from the barbarity of it, is what makes it especially upsetting to watch. Not having any "good" choice but merely bad and slightly less bad choices. Humanity is it's own worst enemy.

Knowing what I know is about to happen to Ianto and Jack makes me appreciate all the more the greatcoat glamour shots waistcoat/sartorial porny goodness.

Haven't said it for awhile: Gwen is AWESOME.

Guh. Ianto's and Jack's last wrods to each other. Ianto's "I love you" and Jack's answering "Don't" choke me up every time. And the ways you could interpret that "Don't"--don't say that, don't love me, don't give up--I can't not love a show that can make you examine the nuances of a contraction.

I didn't actually cry the first I watched this episode--too shocked I guess--but seeing Eve Myles cry like that broke me this time.

I've had time to digest what happened, hear what RTD and the actors had to say about Ianto dying, work through my feelings about it, read countless opinions through the fandom, and I've come to accept what happened for what it is. The very nature of Torchwood, the world in which they operate, means no one is safe for long. Ianto had been living on borrowed time for years and his death at the hands of the 4-5-6 was the bullet with his name finally catching up to him. Of course I hate that he died, and in my fantasies he and Jack get to be together forever and have lots of wonderful adventures. In reality, Ianto was always going to die; we just didn't know when or how. I don't hate RTD or James Moran or any of TPTB for deciding to kill Ianto, unlike some of the more hysterical people in the fandom, I'm just sad that Ianto died. I loved that character. I'll always feel like we never got enough of his story--just because I could never not know enough of his backstory/inner workings, so whether he died at this point or it had been later I'd still feel the same.

Also at LJ

Torchwood: Using advanced alien tech for sexy shananigans!

2009-07-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Since I'm re-watching Children of Earth on BBC America--because there's something to be said for watching TV the old fashioned way, on the TV--I figured I'd post my original thoughts along with a few new ones.

Here's the original post.

New thoughts after under the cut after I do a quick wardrobe change, because track pants really don't do anyone any favors.

Addendum for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 3:

I imagine Jack got a kick out of Gwen suggesting they run cons...and dabbling in his conman past just a little bit for the forces of good. And stealing a flash car doesn't hurt.

"Bloody beans" indeed, Ianto. A fandom collectively cursed Rhys forever for that.

Guh, I can feel Lois' squicky-ness at what she did to get herself into Thames House.

I know there have been lots of complaints in the past about how RTD and co. shoved it down our throats that Gwen was the humanitarian of the crew, and I did feel that was true to a certain extent in the first season; however, during this whole arc, I feel like they've finally struck the perfect balance between her humanity and steeliness.

Ianto + pinstripe = OTP

I know I sort of ragged a bit on the way they showed (or not) the 4-5-6, but watching this a second time all I can think is how fucking creepy and disgusting they are.

I want to punch PM Green in the face. Repeatedly. Until he has no face left.

Of course Ianto knows shorthand, because he does know everything. Even when it doesn't say so at the bottom of the screen.

It's one thing to hear about Jack's less than upstanding past--vague and circumspect those details may be--but it's so much worse to see it play out. To see him so calmly give those children over "for the greater good" and he just gets on with it. As disturbing as it is to see though, I'm glad they didn't shy away from these aspects of Jack's past. Someone whose been around as long as he has, seen what he's seen, done what he's done--you can't just gloss over that.

Also at LJ

Torchwood: Yes, we can operate heavy machinery!

2009-07-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Since I'm re-watching Children of Earth on BBC America--because there's something to be said for watching TV the old fashioned way, on the TV--I figured I'd post my original thoughts along with a few new ones.

The original post is here.

And my extra thoughts are under the cut after I bum a tenner to get some dinner.

Addendum for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 2

I get that BBC America is ad-supported, but having a commercial break every 5-7 minutes is ABC-level annoying.

Knowing what we know about Jack, the government's theory that the Hub is the source of All Power is laughable. And I would like to know what started this whole "kill Torchwood/Jack" thing in the first place--they never did get really clear about that.

I LOVE Ianto's sister, still don't understand why Ianto's not closer with her.

You know, they never did say what happened to Myfanwy. What happened!? These are the enduring questions.

Seeing Jack literally regrow in the body bag: morbid and creepifying.

Knowing what I know Lois does later in the series, I must say I am a much bigger fan of her than when I first watched this.

Decker, the guy in charge of building the 4-5-6 room, is just CREEPY. No other word.

I know it's such a big plot hole you could drive one of Rhys' lorries through it, but how awesome is it to have Ianto literally breaking Jack out of prison like that?!

Also at LJ

Torchwood: Just look for us by the Bay!

2009-07-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

Since I'm re-watching Children of Earth on BBC America--because there's something to be said for watching TV the old fashioned way, on the TV--I figured I'd post my original thoughts along with a few new ones.

Here's the original post.

And after the cut I'll have a few more once I get a full body scan to see if I've picked up an alien hitchhiker of my own.

Addendum for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 1:

The fact that they don't even really bother to cover their tracks anymore, so you know more people than Kathy Swanson and little grannies on the street are muttering "bloody Torchwood" in their wake. I suppose Ianto is too busy being awesome in other arenas to keep up with the Retcon/Tourist Info subterfuge.

From the brief glimpse of Rupesh before we found out he was a mole and subsequently a dead mole I liked him. Still bummed that was a dead end. Why yes, I did walk right into that.

Okay, dude. Jack's action!man running is freaking hilarious. Like he was part Auton, but only from the waist up.

I love Ianto's family--Ria is AWESOME and warm and why doesn't Ianto spend more time with her, Johnny starts in with the gay jokes but not in a mean way, Mica and David are all "money, kthanxbye".

As I said earlier, I love the strangeness between Jack and Alice. And that to her he is Daniel(?) and it's all awkward silences and putting your foot in it.

As I watch this for the second time, I'm still unclear why the assassin squad wants to demolish all of Torchwood Cardiff if what they really want is just Jack. I mean, maybe it's to make sure they leave no trace, but it's still not really clear at first. And what were they doing trying to infiltrate Torchwood for all those months prior to the 4-5-6--was it just to study Jack? Why is another government agency trying to take down Torchwood if Torchwood was set up to be "outside the government, beyond the police"? WTF. NOT CLEAR!

The super-advanced body scanner is clearly a disassembled photocopier. I mean, seriously props people. Can't you put a little more effort into it?

Also at LJ

"I began to like it, and look what I became...and still, I have lived so many lives."

2009-07-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

SPOILERS for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 5 after I gorge myself on mint chocolate ice cream:

So I gave myself a day to process how Torchwood finished, and I still can't come up with something even sort of coherent, some elegant or erudite summary of my feelings about it. I guess what I feel most is...CONFLICTED. I hated how it ended, for the most part, but I didn't hate it. The writing was bleak and dark and realistic; the acting was top-notch all around. It was horrible and devastating and even though Jack saved the children of the world, he sacrificed his own grandson to do it--which is abhorent. I've never thought Jack more a bastard and never felt more sorry for him than I did at the moment he made that decision. I hate that Ianto died, and that his death wasn't a moment of glorious go-for-broke heroism but simply an attempt to help Jack make his point to the 456. Yet, that grandiosity isn't always how heroes die, and Ianto sealed his fate long ago when he joined up with Torchwood Three. He was lucky to made it as far as he had, and his and Jack's last moments together were heartrendingly beautiful. There was an ugly sort of beauty to those last few seconds. I don't begrudge Gwen getting off with relatively little damage--that's apparent anyways, who knows what kind of PTSD she's gone through between the end of the 456 threat and the "six months later" post script. I have no idea how she got through it, but I know like all the others she would have the strength to pick up and start again, Rhys and the coming baby there to give her love and meaning. I want to hate Jack even more for leaving her there--alone as the last of Torchwood Three--but I do understand some of his reasons. Everyone he has known, knows, and will know in the future will die--either because of him, knowing him, or simply the steady march of time--and he will always be left to keep going. I don't blame him for wanting to leave a planet where love and loss are so intertwined that it feels like he is suffocated by every memory he's ever had of the place. Of course, running away won't magically solve all his problems; it just means he'll have to deal with them on Omicron Persei 8 or wherever the hell instead of Earth. I hate him for being a cowardly bastard, but he was a cowardly bastard before he met the Doctor, and some part of him will always be a cowardly bastard. It's just one part of who he is--nonetheless, it's a shitty part. I hate him for leaving Gwen behind.

I guess that's all I have. I highly recommend this and this--both are reactions to the finale and the second includes a beautiful ficlet starring Ianto. They summed up many of the things I was thinking/feeling.

I still have lots of mixed feelings about it, but this won't sour me on Torchwood forever if they do decide to give it a fourth season--based on the ratings, it's a strong possibility. I'd like to see where they take the story, if there is more to tell.

Just going to be sad for awhile.

Also at LJ.

"Why didn't you tell me; I could have helped...I tell you everything."

2009-07-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

Below the cut are my initial initial thoughts on the episode followed by a few less hysterical observations. I've since had a bit of time to digest, read some other people's reactions, and I have a few more thoughts. But I wanted to preserve what I first typed.

And so, SPOILERS AFOOT for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 4 as soon as I perfect my sexy packin' heat strut.

Don't know if this counts as spoilers for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 4, don't care--right now, I'm whack-a-mole with my emotions.

I can't even......just......I don't even know where to.......GOD!

Why?!

I have you so much right now, RTD. So effing much.

Can't even form a coherent thought.

I NEED to know how this all turns out...

...dammit!!!!!!

Okay, now for some more coherent thoughts:

One of the first things that stuck in my mind were the many shots of Ianto in his waistcoat. Mmmmmm... Is there a such thing as sartorial porn, with a subcategory of waistcoat fetishes? Because, dude....WIN.

I loved Ianto's convo with his sister and how he said he even kinda like Johnny now. Heh.

I kinda dig Lois now, because while she did do what needed to be done, at least her reaction and pants-pissing angst while screwing up the nerve to step up were well played and not all gung ho and annoyingly Mary Sue-ish like I was afraid of.

The whole sequence of the bigwigs discussing how many and which children to sacrifice was disturbing and disgusting.

It was sad to see Clem die, but in the wake of Ianto, I can't really care too much.

The ending scene of the episode was sad and tragic and beautifully played by Eve and John.

There's this part of me that insists that Ianto can be saved somehow--it's stupid, but I refuse to give up all hope until I see the final episode tomorrow. I think part of my distress comes from the fact that his death came so soon episode-wise after Tosh and Owen, even if in the timeline of the show much more time has passed. It still feels like piling shit on top of more shit. And of course there the Jack/Ianto shipper-ness in there too, but it's more than that. I just love the character of Ianto to pieces, and to have him gone form the show would be a real shame.

Also at LJ.

"Just buying essentials...let's not forget the creature comforts. Coffee, obviously..."

2009-07-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

TENSE music is tense!

SPOILERS AHEAD for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 3 just as soon as I get a cup of Ianto's coffee--because it is THAT essential:

A litany of the AWESOME and possibly questionable:

Torchwood: guns, pen knife, laptop (dead), credit cards and phone (traceable), stamps, pair of contact lenses, fifteen quid, plus twenty-five pence

Heh, Rhys getting pissed that Jack knew first--so obvz and telegraphed, but still so funny.

"So one day you'll see me die of old age, and you'll just keep going." Oh Ianto, I want to pet you right now... (and I love his thoughtful/speculative face)

"It should take about twenty minutes--" "Thirty minutes." "--Thirty." And then foiled by Rhys and his beans!

I realize it's pretty preposterous--but in the realm of preposterous things, this is one of the lesser offenses--that Ianto would be able to get, like, an identical greatcoat for Jack, but so NOT CARING about that! Or about Ianto's new pinstripe three-piece. Because the power of the PRITTY and God compels me!

"I mean what's it gonna be, like a spaceship?" "What are you doing in Camden" Oh, Andy. *hug*

I applaud Ianto's brother-in-law's entrepreneurial spirit, but dude...I bet you could have charged 20 quid a kid!

"and who's the queer?" "OI! It's not 1965 anymore." "Queer, I can smell it."

Only on Torchwood: sexy time shenanigans with top-secret contact lenses.

The whole not really seeing the 456 is getting very M. Night Shamylan--not exactly a compliment.

A question for the modern age: smileys, Y/N?

"No. I gave 'em the kids...1965, I gave them twelve children...as a gift." WTF?!?!?!?!?!

Also at LJ.

"Have you got the penknife?" "Rhys, you are not eating uncooked potatoes!" "We need it to get out!"

2009-07-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

Just a few brain dribbles before I go to bed.

SPOILERS ARE COMING! For Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 2:

Badassery, thy face is Gwen.

I'd like to order a Rhys of my very own, kthnx!

Even all artfully dusted up, no one works a three-piece like Ianto Jones.

Gwen telling Rhys about the baby while in a lorry full of potatoes was just the thing to about break me--and his reaction and all of that was a big mushy ball of why I love this show so much.

I hope they tread carefully with the Lois character (Plucky New Assistant) because I want to like her but not if they make her l33t hax0rz skllz and shove it down our throats.

I repeat, Gwen is AWESOME.

For someone who was buried alive in concrete, Jack emerged looking quite alright. Mmmmm, ass shot....

...and that he takes the coat Gwen give him and just slings it over his shoulder and she's all "not looking there now". Bah!

Also at LJ.

Apparently South Dakots is a massive dead zone with cow poo in it.

2009-07-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

A couple thought on the new Sci Fi--I'm sorry, Syfy, because then maybe they'll fool people who aren't nerds into watching their network--series Warehouse 13:

CCH Punder is made of awesome. She can deliver lines like "How'd you get in here?" "Through the door." with such stone-cold bad-assery that it makes anything sound good.

Why is it that of the intrepid artifact-finding duo, it's always the girl who is the humourless pusbag? In this case, it's lady Secret Service Agent Mika. Partnered with just-quirky-enough Pete. I kind of had higher expectations since I saw this was co-created by Jane Espenson. Here's hoping this situation improves in future episodes.

More Saul Rubinek!

The steampunkiness of the secret warehouse office is pretty awesome, as are the gadgets they use to retrieve the weekly Maguffins. The pilot featured what was billed as a Tesla-designed stun gun and 2-way video communicators that looked like they dated back to the '40s. All glass and brass and wood and awesome looking.

Overall, I enjoyed the pilot enough for me to want to give it a chance. I like the interplay between the three main characters. My only concern is that they might get too dependent on the artifact/Maguffin-of-the-week formula at the expense of continuing story arcs, but I think with Jane Espenson involved there will be enough interesting character developments and snappy dialogue to keep my attention for awhile yet.

Also at LJ

"Heh, 'you two'...it's all a bit new to me, that's all--laser saw?"

2009-07-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

SPOILERS AHOY!! for Torchwood: Children of Earth episode 1

Like I said on Facebook, this was a concentrated dose of all the AWESOME that Torchwood creates when they're not doing episodes that are Weevil Fight Club episodes.

Forthwith, a partial list of AWESOME:

1. Jack and Ianto being all cute and "Now who's calling us a couple?" "You are." "No, you are."

2. Gwen, like the whole episode. Awesome all around, but especially when she's driving across the Severn Bridge and talking to Rhys and when she finds out she's preggers.

3. Rhys! Because he's awesome just by being there.

4. The picture of Tosh and Owen at Gwen's work station, because it was a lovely moment when Gwen said "Good morning" to it and to know that she was slowly getting past that horrific time.

5. Ianto, when he wasn't getting the car stolen. I want to know how those people were able to steal it, since Ianto isn't stupid like Owen and leaves the keys in the ignition. Anyways, Ianto! Being all awkward with his sister and her prying it out of him that he's with Jack.

6. Not necessarily AWESOME, but interesting, that Jack has an adult child, who's not all warm Hallmark greetings toward dear old Dad. Yeah, more like AWKWARD. But that's something I'd love to know more about.

7. Teh hot kissing action before EXPLOSIONZZZZZZ TEIM!!!

Finally, the one thing that was NOT AWESOME:

When Plucky New Assistant wants to know what Torchwood is, she gets an info page that looks like something out of Wikipedia, but not so close as to infringe copyright:

Like, how original, British Government. Why is it on TV and in movies they always insist on dummin' it down by making these computer screen shots RLY OBVS with headings like "Super Sekrit Government Sekrits" or hopelessly lame like "Government Information Network". Yes, yes, I realize this is a nitpick on the level with Comic Book Guy insults but it still stuck out at me to a ridiculous degree.

Okay, that's all for tonight. Only.....22 hours until the next fix!!

Also at LJ.

Where's my Chef Lonely Hearts for One and chocolate for three?

2009-05-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

So there I was at C3 on Saturday, wearing my Frakkin' Toaster shirt and Greg asks why I'm single when there are plenty of equally nerdy fish in the sea. The inner love-lorn 13-year-old in me wanted to blurt out "Because you already have a girlfriend!"

Sigh.

I feel socially inept at an epic level.

I'm going to die alone (since my hatred of cats precludes me from CCL status).

Also at LJ

TV Review: Dante's Cove (season 1)

2009-05-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

"Oh, this is awful. This is nasty. I've got to brush my teeth after this."
--Toby, Dante's Cove (In The Beginning)

Oh Toby, you have no idea how meta that really is.

I'm in a serious funk at the moment. No job + no immediate prospects that don't involve food service + shitty economy + dwindling savings = me on my couch on Friday afternoon feeling a pity party for 1 coming on.

Read on for my thoughts about the hot mess that is Dante's Cove just as soon as I get some lukewarm beer from the haunted cellar.

So I'm watching Dante's Cove season 1 through Netflix--don't ask, it's a long and boring story that wouldn't interest anyone, including me--and it is bad. Like, mind-bogglingly, cringe-inducingly, eye-gougingly, ear-bleedingy bad. BAD. I get that with these kinds of campy soapy melodramas that plots aren't supposed to makes sense, the acting isn't supposed to be award-worthy--I get that. I have appreciated many shows that are complete and utter shit (90% of SoapNet/LMN programming comes to mind). Dante's Cove, however, elevates shitty TV to a level never before seen on my 32" high-def screen. And I can't get enough of it. Is part of that because of the gratuitous boy!sex? Yes. I can't lie about that. It seems that for most of the running time the plot is merely a series of porny set pieces strung together with insipid dialog delivered by wooden actors in some vague semblance of "story". And there's girl/girl and boy/girl thrown in there too--sex for everybody! Even the recently re-corporealized (explanation further down).

The gist of it is: in ye olden tymes in Dante's Cove this witch lady was engaged to a dude (Ambrosious), but one day she finds him boffing the help--the male help--and curses him (by making him look old! Gasp! The cliche curse of every gay man, according to TV) and locks him in the basement. To break the curse, he has to get a hot young man to kiss him. Fast forward to present day (2005) where we meet Toby and Kevin, two crazy kids just having sex on the beach who go to Dante's Cove where Toby works. Kevin, poor stupid Kevin, goes down to the very same basement where Ambrosious is still locked up, and Ambrosious manages to get Kevin to kiss him. Then apparently he can get his boner serviced by Keivn whenever he wants. Or something. Again, logic and plot are only passing acquaintances here. Toby finds out about the curse and is sad, or what passes for sad on this show. Which is more along the lines of frowning a lot and crackling his voice to convey "distress". Toby: master thespian he is not.

There is only one character in the entire series that acts remotely like a normal person and has an emotional range wider than "horny" and "confused": Van, the friendly local lesbian Wicca enthusiast/craptastic painter. She's pretty fuckin' awesome and comes through to save the day (or does she?! Dun-dun-duuuuun!). The two male leads, Kevin and Toby, well....what's to say that's not a string of expletives peppered in with assorted nouns, articles, and the fact that sex is the only thing they can do even semi-believably. Oh dear. Kevin isn't even really that good of a piece of eye candy; he has a square head, horribly trashy highlights, and the fact that he can't cry believably in a soap opera is one of the cardinal sins of televised melodrama. And he can't act. Toby is prettier, but his hair is like an oil slick, his voice has only two main inflections (moderate annoyance and moderate confusion), and his crying sucks only about 15% less than Kevin's. And he can't act.

And then there's Ambrosious. Where to begin with that hot mess. Perhaps with the accent of a thousand origins--is it English? Welsh? Australian? South African? South Carolinian??? We don't know?!?!?!? His hair is an affront to the visual center of the brain too. Likie, does the dude have stock in Dep, because he must have been single-handedly keeping them in business while filming this. Blech. As with pretty much everyone else, he couldn't believably act his way out of a community theater production of "Our Town"; add to that his face, which is an advertisement for everything that's wrong about plastic surgery (no white man has lips that full without a little help), and you get me itching to fast-forward through every scene he's in. And since the first 15 minutes of it heavily feature him and the cougar-lady-witch bitch, I'm amazed I didn't shut it off and put it in the mailbox without finishing.

Plot holes you could steer the Queen Mary through, wretched student-film level editing (you know it's bad when you can notice the editing), dialog that's only dialog in the sense that the characters say words--not that it means anything or has any punch or zing or moves the plot along at any other speed that glacial, "stormy" special effects that wouldn't be out of place on a Vincent Price-esque Halloween special. It's an epic level of badness that I don't think I've ever seen in all my years of watching TV. Ever.

I already pushed season 2 and 3 to the top of my queue.

Also at LJ

A Girl and Her Computer

2009-03-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

I will be posting my ramblings/reactions to the final episodes of BSG sometime this week--but in sum, I loved almost every second. I just haven't been able to formulate my thoughts into coherent enough sentences, not even for this thing.

The following is me waxing poetic about my personal computer history.

I've always been a desktop computer user. I grew up on ye olde beige CPU towers of yore, battling my brother for precious after-school computer time (mostly playing Sim City and then later logging on to AOL/CompuServ--eesh). My first very own computer was a blueberry iMac--all glossy polycarbonate clear and blue plastic, taking up over half of my desk real estate. I loved that computer fiercely for over seven years(!) thanks to my dad's computer know-how and upgrade-happy tendencies. Then I got a new iMac for a graduation/birthday present after college, and it was instant love. A huge 20" screen, DVD/CD burner, bazillions of ports, and it didn't take 20+ minutes to sync my iPod anymore! I was in love all over again. At that point I still didn't see why I would ever want to have a laptop as my main computing/entertainment device. Such small hard drives! Smaller screens! Less horsepower!

Then I got my iPod touch in Sept. 2007, and things started to change. Now, it's not like I hated laptops or anything; I just didn't see the point in making that my main means of computing. My dad was always leaving his work laptop at the kitchen table, and more than once I made use of it checking email, browsing, and whathaveyou. But my iPod gave me a sweet, sweet taste of what it's like to be able to get a hit of that internet anywhere there is an available wi-fi connection. Suddenly, checking email became exponentially more fun when done from the comfort of my own bed. Now when my mom and I had a pop culture factoid dispute, I could whip out my iPod and know in seconds who was right (usually me, heh).

But as much as I loved and continue to love my iPod, I can't help but realize that even though Apple claims you get the "whole internet in your pocket" with the iPod touch, you really don't. No flash video support means No Hulu watching in bed for me. And as nice as it is to be able to read poorly written fan fic right before I drift off to sleep, sometimes no matter how much I zoom in, it's still a bit hard to read. And scrolling down every two seconds gets to be a right pain in the ass after awhile.

This week my dad gave me a refurbished iBook G4 that he found at my mom's work just as something to noddle around with and use as a secondary computer--finally, the full, real live internet in my bedroom! And I have to say, that it is awesome. Even though the computer runs a bit slow when I'm browsing on Firefox and watching a video at the same time on VLC, I'm willing to forgive because this thing is, like, 5 years old and not in pristine condition. Still, pretty frakkin' cool. All of this to say that I've decided that my next computer purchase will be a Mac laptop of some kind (duh, would I get any other kind?)--whatever the latest permutation of the Macbook is depending on my computing needs/requirements. Now, it feels like overkill to have all that computing horsepower when the bulk of my time is spent browsing the web, listening to music, watching video, and sometime doing some photo/video editing. I will miss the gigantic screen because it is kind of like having a second TV in my living room--only this one has internet access. But I'm now willing to sacrifice a few inches of LCD real estate to be able to reduce some of the computer clutter/detritus and sit and type wherever the hell I want. It just makes sense.

Also at LJ

Because the best thing about being underemployed right now is going to the movies on a Friday morn..

2009-03-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

...I saw Watchmen today, all by myself. Literally. I was the only person in a 300+ seat theatre. My spoilerific thoughts coming up afer I guess Adrian Vedit's computer password.

The best thing about it, and conversely the worst thing, is that it changes/exorcises some key plot points from the graphic novel. They wisely changed the part of the ending where Veidt's evil plan to unite people in fear--and therefore avert WWIII between the USSR and USA--was unleashing an alien on NYC and killing millions of people. In the movie, they altered the means from alien to framing Dr. Manhattan, which was a wise move in my opinion because I found the alien reveal to be somewhat cheesy and having Veidt frame Dr. Manhattan has more emotional resonance and less giant alien-brain-mutant-tentacle-thing. So props for that.

On the flip side, they still had to exorcise large-ish chunks of the graphic novel in order to not have the movie clock in at 5+ hours in length. A lot of this is at the expense of character development, specifically Silk Spectre and Rorschach. I found the truncated Rorschach backstory hurt his character because it didn't give a clear enough explanation of why he became the sort of uber-crime-and-punishment vigilante-justice-wielding borderline sociopath he became. There were only a couple of flashes to his childhood--at least they kept the part where he bites off a piece of one tormentor's face (charming)--and no mention at all of the infamous Kitty Genovese indecent in the mid-sixties that spurred him to don his Rorschach alter-ego. All that said, Jackie Earl Haley was a superb choice to play Rorschach. Even though most of the movie has his face covered in the Rorschach mask, his physicality and his raspy-gravelly voice is exactly what you'd imagine Rorschach's to be.

As for Silk Spectre, the reveal of her bio-dad (Comedian) and her acceptance of it is so slam-bang fast as to almost give me metaphorical whiplash. Her truncated backstory did nothing but hurt the character. And of all the Watchmen, she comes across as the flattest, which seems counter intuitive since she got more screen time than most. I think a lot of that had to do with Malin Ackerman herself. She just looks too young to be playing someone in her mid-thirties, and unfortunately her performance didn't do enough to overcome that. I had the same problem with Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias). He just looks too young and too--I don't know, slight?. He's a good looking man, no doubt, but the character is someone who is sort of classically handsome, a kind of all-American ex-football jock type. He has brains and brawn. Goode really only has brains working for him at the level he needs for this role. And the weird, vaguely German/English accent did nothing to help. That was probably the most distracting thing in the whole movie for me.

As for the rest of the Watchmen, Jeffrey Dean Morgan brought just the right amount of sadistic glee to the Comedian, Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl proved it is possible to make a pretty man look convincingly schlubby with prostheses, and Dr. Manhattan's almost complete detachment from humanity is right in Billy Crudup's wheelhouse. And yes, you do get several shots of Dr. Manhattan's glowing blue junk. And his fine, fine derriere.

As adaptations go, this was a pretty good one. Director Zack Znyder is a professed fan, and you could tell. There were many scenes in the movie lifted directly from the pages of the novel, right down to each "a" or "the" from the original dialogue. Film is a different medium that comics. It just is. Where in the comic you can linger on a panel or page and have pages and pages of extra material not directly tied in to the action in the panels, a movie is always moving forward to the finish--and will get there in under 3 hours, preferably. As I understand it, much of the extra stuff from the comic--the comic-in-a-comic, the magazine excerpts, news clippings etc. will be included as extra features in the DVD. Which is nice, because it does a great job of putting the action in a much richer, colorful context. It's just too bad there couldn't have been more of it in the actual movie itself. But you could tell he wanted to cram in as much as possible, which resulted in some very compelling visual story telling. Perhaps the best example comes right at the beginning when we get an introduction to this parallel universe by way of a montage of significant historical events from the '40s-'70s if superheroes had been there. This was adaptation at its most effective.

I enjoy the graphic novel quite a bit--it's long and dense and begs repeat readings to peel back the payers. The same is true of the movie version. There is simply too much going on to be able to absorb it all in a single viewing. I'm just concerned people will decide it's not worth their time--it's about an AU where not-very-popular superheores are real and just as fucked up as normal people--or they'll see it and be disappointed that the ads misled them into thinking it was going to be a nonstop action-fest bloodbath. And that would be a shame. Because as comic movies go, this was definitely one of the more original and interesting takes on the genre and I would hate for this to been seen an epic fail (a steep drop-off in second weekend ticket sales will tell) and result in more dreck like fucking Spiderman 4.

Also at LJ

Spoiler alert.

2009-03-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

This post contains spoilers for the most recent episodes of BSG and Lost, so click through at your own risk.

TV Thoughts: BSG "Someone to Watch Over Me"

I would have more to say, but when I watched the episode, I was nearly falling asleep and knew I had to be up about an hour before the asscrack of dawn the next day. So just a few thoughts this time, though I really did enjoy the episode. It was certainly one of the best Chief showcases of the series, and I loves me some Chief. I really felt for him when he found out he'd been played by Boomer. And man, is Boomer a manipulative bitch. I don't think I've ever truly hated her, but this episode really made me hate her--emotionally screwing with Chief like that, taking advantage of Helo's susceptibility to the Eights like that, and making Athena watch! Bitch! As far as the Starbuck stuff goes, that was also good. I felt pretty confident by the end of the second act that the mystery piano player was ghost!Dad or whatevs, but I enjoyed their chemistry anyways because at this point, I don't care much about the plot as much as spending time with these characters before it's all over. I love that they are really incorporating the musical score into that character's lives. The Gershwin-influenced score this week was really an auditory treat; plus, I felt a cut above average for being able to identify that even before I read Bear McCreary's blog post on the episode.

TV Thoughts: Lost "LeFleur"

I'm loving Lost these days--LOVING! IT! This Sawyer-centric episode was by far one of my favorites of the season, and possibly the series. Last week's Locke-centric mission to reunite the Oceanic 6 band was great, as many Locke episodes are, but this was had that extra something that kept me glued to my sofa. Sawyer screen time has been in short supply recently, so maybe that's why I loved it so much--Sawyer clearly gets the best dialogue, and as a bonus we got to see him with clean hair--something we haven't seen since sometime in season 3. This episode really felt like a breather--there really wasn't a whole lot of plot momentum, other than getting an extended look at life in the Dharma Initiative during their heyday in 1974, until the end, and the rest of the hour was filling in blanks and spending time with the no longer time-traveling-sickened left-behinders. There wasn't a lot of Daniel, but what there was packed a wallop; Jeremy Davies really knows how to sell distraught and quasi-catatonic. Miles got to be a smart-ass and just generally be Sawyer 2.0. Jin's English improved! As did his hair. But the heart of the episode belonged to Sawyer and Juliette. They are teh cute! I really like them together. Of course, as soon as he gave that spiel to Horace about how three years is enough time to get over someone, it was obvious that the next development was going to be Kate & Co. getting zapped back to the island. All of that being said, the gaspiest part for me was getting that frustratingly brief glimpse of the Four-toed Statue (I'm just guessing but come on, that's pretty much a gimmie) back when it was A Whole Statue. Cuselof, you bastards!!

Also at LJ

Eat it, tax man.

2009-02-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

Nothing makes me feel as frustrated, pissy, rageful (as in full of rage--it's a word now, damn it!), old, or mentally deficient as filing my tax returns. Especially the R.I.T.A. part; if you have to that where you live, you know what I mean. I hate that they makes you pay based on what your estimated income is for the next year or some such bs like that. HATE. The rest of it isn't so much evil as it is loooooong.

Also at LJ

Shooting the shit. Not eating it.

2009-02-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

This may be of interest only to me, but I figured I'd share it here because extra publicity never hurts. My cousin--well, cousin-in-law or first cousin by marriage or whateverthefuck--Kelly and her friend Kristina are starting their own humor blog: Two Girls, One Site. Their first real post will be an Oscars liveblog tomorrow. I know, I know, who needs yet another Oscars liveblog, but I can personally vouch for Kelly's comedy cred. And if her friend is anything like her, I'm sure she is awesome too. They don't have any full posts up yet, but if you want a taste of their styles then read their bios--good stuff.

Yay Kelly! You are going to be internet famous one day, and I can say I knew you when. Before you were just crazy, now you are crazy and publishing it for all the English-speaking word to see. I think I'm getting a little verklempt. Tear.

Also at LJ

TV Thoughts: BSG "Deadlock"

2009-02-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

Previously on BSG: Downloading makes Ellen tens times more awesome than she ever was.

Hi, Hoshi! I still want to give you a hug.

Now that Ellen is back, I think things might get a bit uncomfortable in the Tigh household.

I love that Ellen uses alcohol as a way make the others feel comfortable with her. Hee.

The president's face says it all: must get out of here!

Eww, did not need to see the eye socket.

Look who comes skulking back, good old Gaius. And at least one of the harem is skeptical of him. Good.

Abandoned--who,wha? I'd never say anything like that...pshaw!

Mental porn! Awesome.

"Just don't anybody unplug anything." Doc Cottle, I think I will miss you most of all.

Aww, poor Ellen. No baby mama-ing for you.

It is reassuring that those two are just as snipe-y now as they've always been.

Hot and vulnerable lady, sing! Regularity, Gaius, regularity.

Good thing Laura didn't want to be a PI because subtle she ain't.

I just love how ridiculously human the cylons are.

It's getting all Oedipal up in this bitch, what with the robot ladies and creator/created relationship.

They may be taking away the food but at least he managed to snag a couple beforehand, Gaius that bastard.

Tigh times two with Bill and Saul now. Jeeze, I think between the two of them they'll deplete the alcohol reserves fleetwide.

Saul's drunk laugh is all kinds of hilarious.

Good thing the resource shortage doesn't extend to votive candles and decorative tapestries.

"And guns! Bigger guns!" Best line of the so.

I guess the baby will keep Saul from answering to Ellen's accusations that he had a bigger (metaphorically speaking) boner for Bill and the ship than either of his ladies or baby. How convieeeeenient.

Not show related: I think the Snuggie had gone from bad to awesomely bad to ironically awesomely bad and is now just plain annoying and hideous.

Quit fighting, Daddy and not!Mommy !

Oh Saul. Wibble.

You do good deeds and you are rewarded--with guns!

It is criminal that Michael Hogan hasn't at least been nominated for an Emmy. And he likely never will. Which just sucks.

And today's lesson is skinjobs are people too. Warm fuzzies.

Also at LJ

TV Thoughts: BSG "No Exit"

2009-02-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Previously on BSG: no more possibility of Geata and Hoshi saving the world with math. Woe.

Ellen's transition from losing her shit to calmly getting out of the goo tub--I think I have a bit of whiplash.

"Its a bit cold in here." "I'll get you some clothes; I've seen it all before." Mwah!

There's brain surgery all over the damn place this week on TV--Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and now BSG.

Just thinking of all the layers: Ellen made Cavil to look like her father and then she was screwing him on NC even though she had no idea what she really was and...gah! That gray matter is my 'sploded brain.

"What about the swirl? Had he taught you that?" Ellen, you still a saucy bitch!

Oh Lee, the lady doth protest a bit too much.

Eww, was it too much to ask a cleaning crew to clean up the arterial blood spatters?

So is Kara the heretofore nonexistent 13th cylon?

My brain hurts!

Man. Cavil's hatred of humanity is so thick and viscous you could drizzle it over pancakes and eat it up.

Boomer: who would I want to love?
Slambang to the chief. Mmmm. Anvillicious.

Eeeee! John Hodgeman awesomeness! He totally had the aura of a fanboy having his dreams come true and it was a kick to see.

Who was Daniel?! Gah!

Obvious: Cavil is a cold bastard.

Poor Galactica, old girl.

I don't know but I have this bad feeling about Anders' surgery--maybe it's because he hadn't had this much screen time since last year.

Yay, Boomer got a backbone!

Nurse needs to learn some bedside manner.

I would say Adama needs to ease up on the liver abuse, but there's only a handful of eps. left, so who cares!

Also at LJ

TV Thoughts: BSG "Blood on the Scales"

2009-02-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

Previously on BSG: Aaaaargh! There be mutiny!

"Blood on the Scales"

(This ep. was written by Michael Angeli, so there's a 50/50 chance it could psychoanalyze itself into suckitude, but I have hope since the previews looked nice and action-y.)

Hey, it's Kelly, who was last seen getting all on sabatoge-y on Galactica's ass!

Dude, Adama could pwn your ass six ways to Sunday, Felix.

And Romo Lampkin makes an appearance--wouldn't be an Angeli episode without him, and looking about 25% less crazy than the last time we saw him.

Awesome line: Adama to Felix: "Shove it up your ass." If only all arguments could be solved that way...

Looks like foppish Sagitaron rep. grew a backbone too late. Nasty business, this civil war.

Hi, Feelix's latent idealism! Long time since we've seen you.

Awesome lines 2 ans 3: "I'm too frakkin' tired to get up, so why don't you just shoot me." and "I'm just a machine? What does that make you, dumbass?" Both by Chief, because he's starting to be awesome again.

Yay, Helo's conscious!

Oh noes, Anders!

More magical cylon transdpondster tech--what will they reveal next.

Lampkin decides to help Kara and not-dead-yet Anders--like you couldn't see that coming from across the fleet. Thanks for not letting me down, Angeli.

No one writes anvillicious self-awareness like Angeli. At least he shifts characters each time, with Gaius being this week's verbal victim.

Tricia Helfer looks pretty bangin'--as Jonathan Antin would say--with the Hollywood hippy hair.

Chief in the bowels of the ship--I know there's some kind of deep metaphor or something but my brain is too mushy to come up with one.

When are you going to learn Tom, not to piss off Laura to the point where she gets trigger happy? Honestly, have you not seen this show?

The ad for the Cylon detector iPhone app: I may have to download that.

Felix has done so much mental waffling that you could drizzle sweet grade A maple syrup all over it. mmmmm.

Awesome line: "I just hope that one day people will know what I was." Oh Felix, has there ever been a more meta line on this show?!

Felix finally lets go of his anger and his stump stops hurting--oh the levels you bring to the drama, Angeli.

Of course Zarek and Felix had to get ded, there would be no end if they didn't. I'm just sad to see them die because while what they did ended up being all kinds of bad for the survival of the fleet, they actually were grounded--at least Felix was, maybe Zarek not so much--in correct principles. It's too bad things had to end the way they did, but it wouldn't be BSG if at least one known and semi-beloved character didn't get deep sixed every so often.

As far as Angeli episodes go, this was one of the better ones. This is mostly because the plot dictated lots of ass-kicking action, leaving precious little time for dithering and obvious introspection, something Angeli seems to have a huge boner for but for which he lacks the necessary nuance to carry off much of the time. Of course, this is just my opinion as one of a million BSG fans who are also internet jackasses.

Also at LJ

TV Thoughts: BSG "The Oath"

2009-01-31T15:36:00.000-08:00

Previously on BSG: Some people in the Feel Bad Gang were starting to get mutiny fever, and Zarek might finally get to be prom queen!

"The Oath"

Follow the bouncing Zarek for spoilers!

Oh Laura, methinks the lady does protest too much!

On the one hand Zarek makes valuable points--and is right from a purely principled standpoint, but on the other hand I find him to be personally reprehensible. Mixed feelings!!!

Felix is a freaky good liar. And poor Hoshi--you deserve better.

Kara is really scary when she's pissed--you know, just stating the obvious.

I knew something bad was going to happen to Helo/Sharon/Hera because it's been awhile since anything has happened with them.

Evil Pegasus dude, you did not just threaten and pistol whip my Helo.

Kara and Lee in the shit just like old times. I'm getting misty.

Poor dead Jaffe. He never got a first name.

Of course Gaius is ditching his harem in the name of safety/self-preservation. Good old Gaius.

Do not mess with the admiral or the colonel for they will fuck your shit up. Good.

Maybe Laura and Gaius could start a support group for religious flip-flippers anonymous.

I like how the sickly green lighting in CIC really hammers home that the fleet is not well. Yes, that's sarcasm.

Looks like Laura got her groove back! Yay.

This had nothing to do with the ep. but the preview for Wyvern looked fucking hilarious in a bad way.

Bill and Laura: it's almost too hard to watch. *sniff* But Lee's and Kara's awkwardness was perfect.

What an image to end on--two crusty old dudes with machine guns.

Also at LJ

This is why I love Toothpaste For Dinner:

2009-01-24T18:29:00.001-08:00

toothpastefordinner.com

Also on LJ

TV Thoughts: BSG

2009-01-23T19:03:00.001-08:00

Previously on BSG: The Feel Bad Gang got depressed because Earth was an irradiated shitball. O yeah, and Ellen is totally the Fifth. Like, duh!

"The Disquiet That Follow My Soul"

--News flash: Zarek still doesn't want the cylons in the fleet. In related news, the cat's breath smells like cat food.

--Man the ship looks exponentially shittier than usual.

--More Felix=yea! Oh, to remember the halcyon days of the first exodus when all he did was spout technobabble on his two good legs.

--On one hand, Zarek does make valid points about the flip-floppiness of the human/cylon relationship. On the other hand, he's using the current situation to his political advantage. On another hand--yes a third hand--maybe it's just the hair and ill-fitting suits, but he always comes across as at least 45% skeazy d-bag.

--Two teeth brushings in one ep.! RDM, is this epi underwritten by Crest or what?

--It's comforting to know that as the remnants of the human race drift toward destruction, Baltar won't let his megalomania go with it. And he knows when to get a haircut.

--Dayum, Hotdog. Dayum, Chief. I feel bad for both of you.

--"There are days I really hate this job." William Adama: king of the understatement.

--"It sucks, except for the parts that don't." Galen Tyrol, father of the year.

--Ooh, Zarek is a lefty, so you know he's evil! Go antiquated stereotypes!

--Adama, they should just call you The Gambler since you know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em!

--No Felix, I don't want more screen time to = you going to the dark side! Nooooooooo!

--Bill and Laura deserve so much more than what little time they've had together. Weep. But they are teh cute.

Next on BSG: More bad shit goes down. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Also on LiveJouranl

I stab at thee!

2009-01-23T15:35:00.001-08:00

Today didn't begin as a bad day. You only wake up in a sweat once--thanks thermostat situated in the living room which is always the coldest room in the apartment!--and you stuff and seal over 100 manila envelopes for info requests for the park without a single paper cut. It's the little things.

Little things.

The little things that can piss you off too. Like trying to alarm one of the buildings at closing time only to get repeated error messages that the side door is ajar when it clearly is not. Not!

And discovering an accident on the highway as soon as you merge on. So you decide to get off right quick and take surface streets to the next on-ramp past the accident only to get caught in traffic because the light cycle is seriously 15 seconds. Seriously. 15 m-fing seconds.

So you finally get back on the highway and everything's copacetic until, like, three people in a row cut you off right before your exit. And then when you finally get home (20 minutes later than usual), you almost run over one of those GD stray cats the neighbor insists on feeding every day.

Le sigh.

...

...

...

...much better now.

Also at LiveJournal.

America, Fuck Yeah!!!

2009-01-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

I missed seeing it live on TV because I had to work, but the civics geek in me can't help but wax poetic about peaceful transfers of power and democratic republicanism and our Constitution and all those wonderful things that make me glad I live in this wonderful imperfect country.

PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

x-posted on LiveJournal

2009-01-17T15:53:00.000-08:00

this is a test.

TV Thoughts: BSG

2009-01-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

I have some ramblings about the newest--and last *sob*--BSG premier under the cut.

So Roslin basically goes back to Galactica and goes catatonic and I was like "holy shit".

We find out that the unsecret-special-cylons all lived on Earth before, you know, shit went down, and I was like "Holy shit."

Then, Dualla kills herself and I was like "Holy Shit!"

And Starbuck discovers that she's dead in her viper on nuked!Earth, a development even Leoben finds unsettling, and I was like "Holy SHIT!"

And then we find out that Ellen is the fifth cylon and I was like "Holy! Shit!!!!!" *falls over*

This show is an impossible blend of Debbie Downer (re: Dualla), and "oh no, they did not just do that?! I mean, they did, but still. WTF?!?!" (re: Ellen). I was never a huge Dualla fan--I liked her enough in the first season, but they never really got me to care a lot about her later on to justify the amount of screen time she got--but her suicide was a figurative gut punch to be sure. I think most of that is because of Lee's reaction to it--his absolute confusion and despair of it and not ever being able to understand. Lee's always been a not-and-cold character for me, but I really felt for him here. The whole Ellen being a cylon is perfect because they introduced her under a cloud of suspicion anyways and then they killed her off so I was all "that's that then". And then they do this? WTF in the best way.

x-posted at LiveJournal

Christmastime is here...only a few weeks late.

2009-01-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

Well finally, it's really winter here! Better late than never I guess.

Cross-posted over at LiveJournal

Test Post

2009-01-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

This is just a test post. More to come later.