Warning: Navel Gazing

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

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?"

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?

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!

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!

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!

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