September/October media post
Nov. 5th, 2021 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nrgburstSo here we go again, but this time I'm going to C/P the whole thing to a doc first because it sure is annoying to lose a long post I made all pretty with image links etc.
TV-
Okay, there has been so much great stuff that I have mostly been talking about in other spaces, but that deserve a sum up here, no matter how belated! How much fun was it to watch The Emmys this year too, avidly supporting two shows that were not competing against each other? I almost wish I had watched The Crown so I could root for it too! 😅
TED LASSO S2 - I do find it a bit hilarious that people were complaining about the perceived lack of conflict in the earlier part of the season, as if Ted Lasso has ever been a show written like Grey's Anatomy. WAS THAT ENOUGH DRAMA FOR YOU GUYS IN THE BACK HALF THEN. 😛 And I really respect how they actually tied up most of the narrative threads in the last ep of the season instead of ending with a cliffhanger, hoping to force the audience to tune in for S3. Like, thank you TL for not pulling the classic network TV dick move! I was so pleasantly surprised and I shouldn't have been.
I also really understood the "dark turn" one of the characters took, and yet I don't think the show (or Ted) will give up on him, even though a big part of fandom certainly seems to find his actions irredeemable. Like this is a show about understanding, forgiveness and making amends, not cancelling people? And now that he's basically gone from Anakin to Darth Vader, I expect we'll see him take out the Emperor by the end of S3. 😉 The buzz is that Apple wants S4 even though the creators/producers had originally planned the show as three seasons, and I'm honestly not sure I want more, even though I really love this show and these characters?
Lucifer S6 - I honestly found it disappointing? Especially after 5B seemed so half-assed and had too many bottle eps when it was already a short season. While I agree that Lucifer's final purpose made sense, it just felt really deux ex machina to arrange it all around a brand new character in the final season, and OOC that Chloe would happily resign herself to her "fate" on top of that. At least the Eve/Maze wedding was awesome, and the goodbyes kept making me tear up! 😭
Yuri!!! on Ice - My kiddo wanted me to watch this, so I did. I liked the skating bits and got really annoyed by the character/relationship bits. I just... didn't feel the epic romance of it, and Yuri being clingy and doubting himself for the zillionth time just started getting annoying, IDK.
What if...? - This series should mostly be tagged with Canon AU-Unhappy Ending until the final couple of eps, even though some of the AUs are wacky fun (ZOMBIES and Fun Nebula and Thanos). I really liked the exploration of characters we love in slightly tweaked circumstances, and it was honestly a delight to hear the voices of most of the original cast, especially Chadwick Boseman. 🥺 The voice actors filling in for the others were pretty good too! And I loved how the disparate stories actually all tied together in the end.
Seriously: IT WAS THE ENDING NATASHA DESERVED.( Also I am totally on the Peggy/Natasha train now - has anybody been writing fic?)
Movies-
CODA - DOUBLE MEANING TITLE 🥺🥺🥺 Ahhh, I bawled so much watching this! Absolutely recommend this heartwarming film about a hearing girl born into a deaf family, and how she struggles with the responsibility for always interpreting for them vs. her passion for music. The love and understanding they all feel for each other is so beautiful, as is her voice, and also what illustrates why having to choose between them is so hard?
A League of Their Own - This was one of my rom-com/sports movie leftovers from August. Loved revisiting this one, but this time I totally shipped Dottie/Jimmy by the end too? Like it felt like Dottie had married her husband too young before she'd actually seen who/what else the world had to offer, and she was stiff upper lipping it, going back to being a wife instead of her own person?
Rounders - So I obviously watched this to research the B^2 Rounders AU fic, and I've already re-watched it (and Molly's Game) several times to try to get the lingo right. Just a great look into the poker world in the 90s with Matt Damon being charming as the young underdog main character.
Mamma Mia - Okay, I don't know how I managed to not watch this before but I loved it, especially how COMMITTED all these A-list Serious Actors were to wearing bell bottoms with sequins and Prancing Around Dramatically while belting out Abba songs that reminded me soo much of my mom singing along to the stereo. There is a sequel that I hope is just as OTT ridiculously feel-good. 😘🙌
Books-
I've been having a hard time focusing on books since something hurtful and shocking happened in July. I've been getting back into the swing of reading/writing, but I can still feel how out of my usual mental/emotional groove I still am, especially when I'm trying to get into that quiet kind of mental space required for those two things? Anyway, I've been reading fic again and I've just started a new book (Scythe by Neal Shusterman), so hopefully I'm making my way back.
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
I really liked this generational story, moving between POVs of the different family members until we get back down to the two that are left. Wonderfully written with such empathy and understanding for the different characters.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
I didn't really like this because all the characters felt so oddly flat? Like why are any of them doing the (sometimes bizarre) things they do? Hmm, it's hard to fathom when they seem to be about as emotional about the other characters as cardboard cutouts, though I could understand the attachment the female character had for her research and for the others to the mechanical octopus, which was very pet-like. Otherwise this was a bit of a disappointment. (Not bad, just not good. Tepid is probably the best word?)
His Secret Illuminations by Scarlett Gale
I was recced this in the Gendrya server because one of the members thought the warrior lady/timid monk Fantasy Romance thing might appeal to the rest of us, and wow, yes, this was right on the nose with me. 🙌🥰😍 (Not that Gendry is timid at all, but we all like how he follows when Arya decides things and how impressed he is by her physical badassery.)
It's funny because I've recently had a conversation about how some believe Queer Characters Must Thoroughly Explain Their Queerness to be Considered Actually Queer in a narrative, and now that I'm typing this up, I've realized a couple of the books I read recently fall into that category! 😅 Anyway, this is one of the ones that Spell It Out, so I can see why this intrusive authorial voice explanation thing is a woke writing trend instead of say, writing characters just showing who they are? But the main plot is quite a nice fantasy quest and the sexytimes of the clueless couple and feelings finally being requited was very satisfying, so I'm looking forward to the next book!
A Woman is no Man by Etaf Rum
I like narratives where women reclaim their stories, but this is a rather tragic one. The rampant culturally enforced misogyny -- especially from other women -- and linguistic/cultural isolation as a form of domestic control especially ring true.
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Okay, I guess those spoiler averse won't be able to read this one. 😅 (That title is not just faking you out, FYI.) But the journey is still the reason I read this one, and Mateo and Rufus finding each other and falling in love on their death day is all sorts of tragically lovely. I didn't actually choose this book; my kiddo did, but I'm glad I read it. I think it gets loneliness and how much it matters to matter to somebody totally right.
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
This book was adorable, IDEC. These two were so blunderingly sweet, although at some point I was thinking to myself, "Okay, but what if OCD guy weren't Rich, White and Hot?" (Which is probably uncharitable and this a romance novel, but still.) 😅 Despite a rather large amount of barfing (there is a lot of barfing in this book, which I did NOT expect) this love story totally got me. And I'm totally rooting for the new Princess to find love in the new season even though I don't even watch reality TV. 😛
Hopefully this posts okay! Let me know if you guys have any recs or different thoughts about any of these!
TV-
Okay, there has been so much great stuff that I have mostly been talking about in other spaces, but that deserve a sum up here, no matter how belated! How much fun was it to watch The Emmys this year too, avidly supporting two shows that were not competing against each other? I almost wish I had watched The Crown so I could root for it too! 😅
TED LASSO S2 - I do find it a bit hilarious that people were complaining about the perceived lack of conflict in the earlier part of the season, as if Ted Lasso has ever been a show written like Grey's Anatomy. WAS THAT ENOUGH DRAMA FOR YOU GUYS IN THE BACK HALF THEN. 😛 And I really respect how they actually tied up most of the narrative threads in the last ep of the season instead of ending with a cliffhanger, hoping to force the audience to tune in for S3. Like, thank you TL for not pulling the classic network TV dick move! I was so pleasantly surprised and I shouldn't have been.
I also really understood the "dark turn" one of the characters took, and yet I don't think the show (or Ted) will give up on him, even though a big part of fandom certainly seems to find his actions irredeemable. Like this is a show about understanding, forgiveness and making amends, not cancelling people? And now that he's basically gone from Anakin to Darth Vader, I expect we'll see him take out the Emperor by the end of S3. 😉 The buzz is that Apple wants S4 even though the creators/producers had originally planned the show as three seasons, and I'm honestly not sure I want more, even though I really love this show and these characters?
Lucifer S6 - I honestly found it disappointing? Especially after 5B seemed so half-assed and had too many bottle eps when it was already a short season. While I agree that Lucifer's final purpose made sense, it just felt really deux ex machina to arrange it all around a brand new character in the final season, and OOC that Chloe would happily resign herself to her "fate" on top of that. At least the Eve/Maze wedding was awesome, and the goodbyes kept making me tear up! 😭
Yuri!!! on Ice - My kiddo wanted me to watch this, so I did. I liked the skating bits and got really annoyed by the character/relationship bits. I just... didn't feel the epic romance of it, and Yuri being clingy and doubting himself for the zillionth time just started getting annoying, IDK.
What if...? - This series should mostly be tagged with Canon AU-Unhappy Ending until the final couple of eps, even though some of the AUs are wacky fun (ZOMBIES and Fun Nebula and Thanos). I really liked the exploration of characters we love in slightly tweaked circumstances, and it was honestly a delight to hear the voices of most of the original cast, especially Chadwick Boseman. 🥺 The voice actors filling in for the others were pretty good too! And I loved how the disparate stories actually all tied together in the end.
Seriously: IT WAS THE ENDING NATASHA DESERVED.( Also I am totally on the Peggy/Natasha train now - has anybody been writing fic?)
Movies-
CODA - DOUBLE MEANING TITLE 🥺🥺🥺 Ahhh, I bawled so much watching this! Absolutely recommend this heartwarming film about a hearing girl born into a deaf family, and how she struggles with the responsibility for always interpreting for them vs. her passion for music. The love and understanding they all feel for each other is so beautiful, as is her voice, and also what illustrates why having to choose between them is so hard?
A League of Their Own - This was one of my rom-com/sports movie leftovers from August. Loved revisiting this one, but this time I totally shipped Dottie/Jimmy by the end too? Like it felt like Dottie had married her husband too young before she'd actually seen who/what else the world had to offer, and she was stiff upper lipping it, going back to being a wife instead of her own person?
Rounders - So I obviously watched this to research the B^2 Rounders AU fic, and I've already re-watched it (and Molly's Game) several times to try to get the lingo right. Just a great look into the poker world in the 90s with Matt Damon being charming as the young underdog main character.
Mamma Mia - Okay, I don't know how I managed to not watch this before but I loved it, especially how COMMITTED all these A-list Serious Actors were to wearing bell bottoms with sequins and Prancing Around Dramatically while belting out Abba songs that reminded me soo much of my mom singing along to the stereo. There is a sequel that I hope is just as OTT ridiculously feel-good. 😘🙌
Books-
I've been having a hard time focusing on books since something hurtful and shocking happened in July. I've been getting back into the swing of reading/writing, but I can still feel how out of my usual mental/emotional groove I still am, especially when I'm trying to get into that quiet kind of mental space required for those two things? Anyway, I've been reading fic again and I've just started a new book (Scythe by Neal Shusterman), so hopefully I'm making my way back.
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson I really liked this generational story, moving between POVs of the different family members until we get back down to the two that are left. Wonderfully written with such empathy and understanding for the different characters.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha PulleyI didn't really like this because all the characters felt so oddly flat? Like why are any of them doing the (sometimes bizarre) things they do? Hmm, it's hard to fathom when they seem to be about as emotional about the other characters as cardboard cutouts, though I could understand the attachment the female character had for her research and for the others to the mechanical octopus, which was very pet-like. Otherwise this was a bit of a disappointment. (Not bad, just not good. Tepid is probably the best word?)
His Secret Illuminations by Scarlett GaleI was recced this in the Gendrya server because one of the members thought the warrior lady/timid monk Fantasy Romance thing might appeal to the rest of us, and wow, yes, this was right on the nose with me. 🙌🥰😍 (Not that Gendry is timid at all, but we all like how he follows when Arya decides things and how impressed he is by her physical badassery.)
It's funny because I've recently had a conversation about how some believe Queer Characters Must Thoroughly Explain Their Queerness to be Considered Actually Queer in a narrative, and now that I'm typing this up, I've realized a couple of the books I read recently fall into that category! 😅 Anyway, this is one of the ones that Spell It Out, so I can see why this intrusive authorial voice explanation thing is a woke writing trend instead of say, writing characters just showing who they are? But the main plot is quite a nice fantasy quest and the sexytimes of the clueless couple and feelings finally being requited was very satisfying, so I'm looking forward to the next book!
A Woman is no Man by Etaf RumI like narratives where women reclaim their stories, but this is a rather tragic one. The rampant culturally enforced misogyny -- especially from other women -- and linguistic/cultural isolation as a form of domestic control especially ring true.
They Both Die at the End by Adam SilveraOkay, I guess those spoiler averse won't be able to read this one. 😅 (That title is not just faking you out, FYI.) But the journey is still the reason I read this one, and Mateo and Rufus finding each other and falling in love on their death day is all sorts of tragically lovely. I didn't actually choose this book; my kiddo did, but I'm glad I read it. I think it gets loneliness and how much it matters to matter to somebody totally right.
The Charm Offensive by Alison CochrunThis book was adorable, IDEC. These two were so blunderingly sweet, although at some point I was thinking to myself, "Okay, but what if OCD guy weren't Rich, White and Hot?" (Which is probably uncharitable and this a romance novel, but still.) 😅 Despite a rather large amount of barfing (there is a lot of barfing in this book, which I did NOT expect) this love story totally got me. And I'm totally rooting for the new Princess to find love in the new season even though I don't even watch reality TV. 😛
Hopefully this posts okay! Let me know if you guys have any recs or different thoughts about any of these!
no subject
Date: 2021-11-05 09:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-06 06:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-05 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-06 06:52 am (UTC)Ted Lasso & Mama Mia
Date: 2021-11-05 08:53 pm (UTC)I love Mama Mia so much! I saw it in the theater, but not intentionally. I had gone to the theater planning to watch something else and due to complications ended up arriving late and I didn't want to walk into a film that had was just starting so I made the impulsive decision to watch Mama Mia instead. I'm so happy I did. It was such a fun movie to watch in a theater full of people laughing (and occasionally gasping in horror, just the collective giggle-cringe at various moments). I also now own the DVD and have re-watched it several times.
I share the unsettled concern about a season 4 of Ted Lasso. The show is so perfect as is, and I worry about network meddling. Apparently, season 2 was only supposed to be 10 episodes and Apple TV ordered 12 so they had to come up with two extra episodes. When you realize which two episodes, they stand out as "filler"... like, still good because the show is still good, but definitely unrelated to the overall story arc. (It was the Christmas episode and the Coach Beard episode.) I fear that an extra season will just muddle up the pacing.
I also agree about expecting a redemption arc in season 3. And I've actually circled back to rooting for it. In the moment, I was like "screw him!" I think the reason fandom has had such a visceral reaction is that we KNOW people like this in real life. It's easier to forgive an over-the-top villain because the betrayals feel less personal. But now that I've calmed down I'm much more willing to forgive. We've already seen redemption arcs for characters who have done worse things (and to the very character we're struggling to forgive now).
Re: Ted Lasso & Mama Mia
Date: 2021-11-06 07:32 am (UTC)Yeah, I prefer things to be written according to the plan long set out beforehand. Like you can see a lot of foreshadowing for S2 even in S1, if you look back. (And yes, I knew about the extra eps even before ep 4. Apple asked for 12 eps after they'd already broken the season into 10 eps, hence why they felt like bottle ep add-ons. S3 they know is going to be 12 eps going into the writers room, so it's not going to be the same!) I'm not sure whether this particular writer's room will compromise the integrity of their story just because Apple is throwing money at them for a possible S4? It would be pretty off brand unless they came up with something amazing, I think. Like Jason has talked about his concerns about how much making TL takes from his family. I do really like having a weekly dose of serotonin when it airs though! LOL
Yeah, I mean, I was also there with #thenatewehate because personal betrayals are truly the worst. You expect an attack from somebody like Rupert, not from behind, from somebody you care about and trust (and that you believe cares for you!) 🥺 And you're absolutely right, we have all been in that position before and the reflexive reaction is FUCK NO, LOW BLOW WTF. 😭 But Ted never gave up on Jamie or Rebecca, did he? This is going to be a lot bigger of a Dark Forest though, IMO, because it was a personal attack, not one based on judging Ted before they truly knew him. (And there are a lot more people he's hurt, like Will.) I still believe in Believe though! 🥰
Are you in the TL sub on Reddit or discord server? I was mostly on the latter reacting live as soon as the new ep dropped, and I expect filming spoilers etc. will start getting discussed once the show starts shooting in January! Let me know if you want an invite link! 😁
Re: Ted Lasso & Mama Mia
Date: 2021-11-07 02:17 am (UTC)The handful of times I've tried Discord (for other things) I've ended up weirdly anxious and quietly slunk away. I don't do well interacting with other humans in real time.
Re: Ted Lasso & Mama Mia
Date: 2021-11-07 07:46 am (UTC)Re: Ted Lasso & Mama Mia
Date: 2021-11-07 03:37 pm (UTC)Exactly. I always end up feeling dumb as conversations whiz by. I'm fine with one other person (online or in real life) and mostly okay with two other people. But as soon as there are more people than that talking, I can't keep up with the overlapping phrases.