How it is now
May. 13th, 2025 08:33 pmI was gonna hide this post entirely. Then I decided I'll just hide it with a cut tag, since it's about my emotional state, as regards tv, and that way it can be skipped as needed. ( Read more... )
TV Question Meme
Nov. 24th, 2024 09:30 pmSeen via ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
argentum_ls and amazingly, finally, a meme I can actually do. Yay for me! And I did scribble my five shows before I read the questions. :)
TV questions: pick your five favourite TV shows (in no particular order) and answer the following questions. Don’t cheat!
I went in the order they sprang to mind, either as firm favorites or as shows which I have written fic for.
( 19 Questions )
argentum_ls and amazingly, finally, a meme I can actually do. Yay for me! And I did scribble my five shows before I read the questions. :)TV questions: pick your five favourite TV shows (in no particular order) and answer the following questions. Don’t cheat!
- Angel (1999)
- Jeremiah (2002)
- Teen Wolf (2011)
- Highlander (1992)
- 12 Monkeys (2015)
I went in the order they sprang to mind, either as firm favorites or as shows which I have written fic for.
( 19 Questions )
Doctor Who Series 6
Jun. 1st, 2024 12:43 pmRory is a continuous delight, as is the Amy/Rory relationship. I was super-happy with 'The God Complex.' My first introduction to the Doctor was 'The Curse of Fenric' when I was thirteen, and the closer the Doctor gets to that alien quality - devious, manipulative, cold enough to tear his companion down when necessary and with enough genuine goodness to build her back up again and earn her forgiveness afterward - the happier I am.
Also, 'The Girl Who Waited' was an all-around tragedy which actually followed through on its logic. I was so sure warrior!Amy was going to perish helping the "real" Amy and Rory return to the TARDIS, handily solving the problem of having two Amys, but no, they really went there. The Doctor closed the door in her face and it was brutal and amazing. Matt Smith is a pleasure to watch even in the weaker episodes, and is closer to my ideal of the Doctor than Tennant ever was.
I am gonna say that 12 Monkeys has spoiled me for a lot of stuff on this show: Time travel twistiness and heroic sacrifice to restore the timeline? Time travelers discovering they are related to each other and learning to be a family? I found it all more resonant on that show. The entire River Song plotline did not work for me at all. Not her, her relationship and chemistry with the Doctor, and not her backstory and the fallout from it, or her motivations for anything. Really antiquated spoilers to follow.
( Read more... )
Also, 'The Girl Who Waited' was an all-around tragedy which actually followed through on its logic. I was so sure warrior!Amy was going to perish helping the "real" Amy and Rory return to the TARDIS, handily solving the problem of having two Amys, but no, they really went there. The Doctor closed the door in her face and it was brutal and amazing. Matt Smith is a pleasure to watch even in the weaker episodes, and is closer to my ideal of the Doctor than Tennant ever was.
I am gonna say that 12 Monkeys has spoiled me for a lot of stuff on this show: Time travel twistiness and heroic sacrifice to restore the timeline? Time travelers discovering they are related to each other and learning to be a family? I found it all more resonant on that show. The entire River Song plotline did not work for me at all. Not her, her relationship and chemistry with the Doctor, and not her backstory and the fallout from it, or her motivations for anything. Really antiquated spoilers to follow.
( Read more... )
Well, there's an idea or two
May. 5th, 2024 07:24 pm(Thinking about this stuff got me through the end of my work week, so possibly the result of being overtired).
My reaction to poly ships encountered in various fandoms generally ranges from "well, that's nice" to "hell no" (on the unfortunate occasions it's really a slash pairing with a girl - usually canonically in love with the lead - merely tolerated because she's there).
But it turns out if you ship A and B, A and C, and B and C... it's only a matter of time before you ship A, B and C. This is probably not news to anyone, but it's the proverbial lightbulb over my head at the moment.
( Read more... )
In unrelated news, my shiny SGA discs have arrived in the mail!
My reaction to poly ships encountered in various fandoms generally ranges from "well, that's nice" to "hell no" (on the unfortunate occasions it's really a slash pairing with a girl - usually canonically in love with the lead - merely tolerated because she's there).
But it turns out if you ship A and B, A and C, and B and C... it's only a matter of time before you ship A, B and C. This is probably not news to anyone, but it's the proverbial lightbulb over my head at the moment.
( Read more... )
In unrelated news, my shiny SGA discs have arrived in the mail!
Fannish songs of the year
Dec. 30th, 2023 11:07 amThese are just some of my favorite or most memorable stuff I heard and watched this year, starting with songs embedded in the stories themselves, transforming their original meaning in all manner of pleasant ways going forward.
12 Monkeys was especially good at this task, and made excellent use of incidental music throughout. 'Arms of Mine' turned into my second favorite Otis Redding song because of it, and 'Don't You Forget About Me' by Simple Minds has been granted permanent rotation in my playlist. More impressively, this show elevated songs I hadn't found more than indifferently tolerable before, like Foghat's 'Slow Ride.' I always thought of it as a dumb hard rock song - not the worst but far from the best. This year, whenever it comes on the radio, it carries the charming image of Cole in sunglasses and a bad 70s shirt. This makes a huge difference in my outlook. Even a song I utterly loathe, 'I've Had the Time of My Life' (by... no idea, and I sure ain't looking it up), has been positively affected, in that while I still think the song is annoying, the last time it came on the radio at work I got a gigantic grin on my face in memory of Ramse.
Those were songs I already knew in other contexts. Meanwhile, Hard Core Logo introduced me to the Headstones (Hugh Dillon's band), and I went cruising around YouTube discovering that I liked the film version of 'Sonic Reducer' considerably more than the Dead Boys original (sorry) and that the Headstones did a powerful rendition of 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' in 2019 which is much faster than the original, and done with great passion and a beautiful music video (also, Hugh Dillon is remarkably handsome without the mohawk).
( Other stuff )
12 Monkeys was especially good at this task, and made excellent use of incidental music throughout. 'Arms of Mine' turned into my second favorite Otis Redding song because of it, and 'Don't You Forget About Me' by Simple Minds has been granted permanent rotation in my playlist. More impressively, this show elevated songs I hadn't found more than indifferently tolerable before, like Foghat's 'Slow Ride.' I always thought of it as a dumb hard rock song - not the worst but far from the best. This year, whenever it comes on the radio, it carries the charming image of Cole in sunglasses and a bad 70s shirt. This makes a huge difference in my outlook. Even a song I utterly loathe, 'I've Had the Time of My Life' (by... no idea, and I sure ain't looking it up), has been positively affected, in that while I still think the song is annoying, the last time it came on the radio at work I got a gigantic grin on my face in memory of Ramse.
Those were songs I already knew in other contexts. Meanwhile, Hard Core Logo introduced me to the Headstones (Hugh Dillon's band), and I went cruising around YouTube discovering that I liked the film version of 'Sonic Reducer' considerably more than the Dead Boys original (sorry) and that the Headstones did a powerful rendition of 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' in 2019 which is much faster than the original, and done with great passion and a beautiful music video (also, Hugh Dillon is remarkably handsome without the mohawk).
( Other stuff )
Twelve More Obscure Pairings
Oct. 17th, 2023 02:47 pmIt was about a year ago that I made this list of obscure ships, and it's time for a second go round, as there are shows I've watched since, or pairings I had not considered before, and a couple which almost made the prior list and were tossed to keep it relatively short. My criteria remain exactly the same, running the AO3 numbers and drawing purely from speculative shows. This time I will be including my sole ardent crossover ship. The list is arranged from least to most obscure. Again, this is mostly me having fun and showering these couples with deserved affection while I wait for my current writer's block to ease. It seems that's an October thing with me.
( Cut for images, old show spoilers and occasionally shamefaced gushiness. )
( Cut for images, old show spoilers and occasionally shamefaced gushiness. )
Favorite Series Finales
May. 29th, 2023 05:59 pmWe've just finished watching Better Call Saul, which I was never invested in to the extent of needing to write about the experience. It was, of course, of inarguable quality once we got past the first season or so, but I don't think I've struggled so much with a show in a long time, partly for personal reasons (the entire Chuck storyline was hellish). I was hoping the ending would turn it around for me the way it happened with Breaking Bad, but it didn't. The finale, though low-key and thematically fitting, really didn't do anything to lessen the pain and discomfort of six seasons of toxic relationships, bad life choices, petty cruelty and cringe-inducing cons.
Anyway, since this one didn't pull a rabbit out of a hat and Breaking Bad oddly enough did - transforming my experience of the entire show which came before - I got to thinking which other shows actually pulled such eleventh hour victories and went ahead and made a spoilery list of the endings which have most impressed me for one reason or another.
( Read more... )
Anyway, since this one didn't pull a rabbit out of a hat and Breaking Bad oddly enough did - transforming my experience of the entire show which came before - I got to thinking which other shows actually pulled such eleventh hour victories and went ahead and made a spoilery list of the endings which have most impressed me for one reason or another.
( Read more... )
No wonder I liked this show so much...
Apr. 25th, 2023 01:45 pmA checklist:
Wanderers in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, who trust each other with their lives, join an organized, hidden facility. One of them comes to embrace the mission and the future it stands for, but the other never really gets it and develops an obsession with a missing family member alongside a revenge-fueled death wish, causing a falling-out between the two. Despite this, they still love each other. (Cole and Ramse vs. Kurdy and Jeremiah).
A genuinely very nice person hears messages from Time and/or God, driving said person crazy. Despite being the most important member of the team, gets looked down on by just about everyone for their condition. (Jennifer Goines vs. Mister Smith).
A visionary leader of the secret facility, who is emotionally distant and a philosopher at heart. Seriously given to making speeches. Deeply invested in one half of the wandering team, and has a complicated relationship with a woman in a box. (Katarina Jones vs. Markus Alexander).
A woman in a box, a virtual lab rat who carries a virus that could end the world, and whom the villains successfully seek to gain control of. They probably regret that decision when she starts killing them all off. (Olivia vs. Meaghan).
Boring megalomaniac organization which wants to destroy the world. (Army of the 12 Monkeys vs. Valhalla Sector).
Charismatic mass murderer who quotes Shakespeare/San Juan De La Cruz in casual conversation and survives a laundry list of situations that would kill a normal person. (Deacon vs. Sims).
Dangerous, well-organized enemy who decides to toss in with the facility team and becomes one of the visionary leader's most unlikely, yet perceptive supporters. (Deacon vs. Theo - Deacon is versatile).
Pretty faced, oddly hollow love interest who dies horribly right after betraying the heroes. (Aaron vs. Libby).
I can't figure out who the Cassie or Hannah equivalent is. Whitley is sort of a less consistently loyal Erin and/or Lee? At this point it all breaks down, but this ingredient list still explains a lot.
ETA: Upon discussion of these points, I must add this.
Trusted head of security who takes a strong dislike to the scavenging pair, ends up betraying the visionary leader despite his deep seated loyalty and nevertheless gets his job back once the dust settles. (Whitley vs. Lee).
The leader's most trusted advisor and right hand woman who must nevertheless leave the hidden facility to fulfill a mysterious destiny elsewhere. (Hannah vs. Erin).
A gentle, civilized woman who patches up one of the wanderers when he's injured and with whom he falls in love at first sight. Despite her demeanor, has great inner strength and a need to face the villain who hurt/killed someone she cared about. (Cassie vs. Elizabeth, though complicated by Cassie's considerably longer and darker arc).
Wanderers in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, who trust each other with their lives, join an organized, hidden facility. One of them comes to embrace the mission and the future it stands for, but the other never really gets it and develops an obsession with a missing family member alongside a revenge-fueled death wish, causing a falling-out between the two. Despite this, they still love each other. (Cole and Ramse vs. Kurdy and Jeremiah).
A genuinely very nice person hears messages from Time and/or God, driving said person crazy. Despite being the most important member of the team, gets looked down on by just about everyone for their condition. (Jennifer Goines vs. Mister Smith).
A visionary leader of the secret facility, who is emotionally distant and a philosopher at heart. Seriously given to making speeches. Deeply invested in one half of the wandering team, and has a complicated relationship with a woman in a box. (Katarina Jones vs. Markus Alexander).
A woman in a box, a virtual lab rat who carries a virus that could end the world, and whom the villains successfully seek to gain control of. They probably regret that decision when she starts killing them all off. (Olivia vs. Meaghan).
Boring megalomaniac organization which wants to destroy the world. (Army of the 12 Monkeys vs. Valhalla Sector).
Charismatic mass murderer who quotes Shakespeare/San Juan De La Cruz in casual conversation and survives a laundry list of situations that would kill a normal person. (Deacon vs. Sims).
Dangerous, well-organized enemy who decides to toss in with the facility team and becomes one of the visionary leader's most unlikely, yet perceptive supporters. (Deacon vs. Theo - Deacon is versatile).
Pretty faced, oddly hollow love interest who dies horribly right after betraying the heroes. (Aaron vs. Libby).
I can't figure out who the Cassie or Hannah equivalent is. Whitley is sort of a less consistently loyal Erin and/or Lee? At this point it all breaks down, but this ingredient list still explains a lot.
ETA: Upon discussion of these points, I must add this.
Trusted head of security who takes a strong dislike to the scavenging pair, ends up betraying the visionary leader despite his deep seated loyalty and nevertheless gets his job back once the dust settles. (Whitley vs. Lee).
The leader's most trusted advisor and right hand woman who must nevertheless leave the hidden facility to fulfill a mysterious destiny elsewhere. (Hannah vs. Erin).
A gentle, civilized woman who patches up one of the wanderers when he's injured and with whom he falls in love at first sight. Despite her demeanor, has great inner strength and a need to face the villain who hurt/killed someone she cared about. (Cassie vs. Elizabeth, though complicated by Cassie's considerably longer and darker arc).
12 Monkeys Season Four Deleted Scenes
Apr. 13th, 2023 02:03 pmFinally made time to watch these, which retained all the quality of the previous batches. ( Read more... )
Been trawling YouTube the past couple days, looking at 12 Monkeys fanvids. A lot of them are of the spoken word style, which is not really my favorite, I guess, but I must be an outlier because the style seems ubiquitous. After much clicking, I found a cache of song-driven ones. Here's my favorite of those so far, for very obvious reasons:
I was completely unsuccessful at locating any type of fanvid for Cassie/Ramse or Cassie/Deacon. Still, for my shipping tastes, one out of three is not bad!
Meanwhile, my brain insists that this song fits the show perfectly:
On a different note, given a week for the film to percolate I have indeed become fannish about Hard Core Logo - which mostly means dreaming up really dubious crossover ideas, but someone made an absolutely amazing John Oxenberger vid that breaks my heart and deserves to be showered with praise. A Bad Dream
Also, duh, that phrase "breaks my heart" is exactly what the unrecognizably different Sims, Cullen and Oxenberger have in common. Mystery solved.
This whole post is just me practicing my embedding skills, basically.
I was completely unsuccessful at locating any type of fanvid for Cassie/Ramse or Cassie/Deacon. Still, for my shipping tastes, one out of three is not bad!
Meanwhile, my brain insists that this song fits the show perfectly:
On a different note, given a week for the film to percolate I have indeed become fannish about Hard Core Logo - which mostly means dreaming up really dubious crossover ideas, but someone made an absolutely amazing John Oxenberger vid that breaks my heart and deserves to be showered with praise. A Bad Dream
Also, duh, that phrase "breaks my heart" is exactly what the unrecognizably different Sims, Cullen and Oxenberger have in common. Mystery solved.
This whole post is just me practicing my embedding skills, basically.
Wrote a Highlander story - final thoughts
Mar. 27th, 2023 06:33 pmSo I have now written for Highlander, which means I've produced fic for two of my top five beloved fandoms. It's a wonderful feeling, sort of like collecting in reverse. ( Here's my random thinking post to celebrate its completion. )
12 Monkeys Finale: The Beginning
Mar. 22nd, 2023 09:48 pmMy DVDs have this featured as one block, so we watched it all in one go and then I watched the whole thing again, like any sensible person. I will say it all here. The first half is all action and adoration. The second is an art house question mark which nevertheless answered my most pressing question about this story. Lots of thoughts, and then some... ( Read more... )
And so it ends. It has truly been a pleasure.
And so it ends. It has truly been a pleasure.
12 Monkeys S04E09: One Minute More
Mar. 20th, 2023 11:11 amI am vindicated and walk tall. Also, wow, the shifting of the goalposts herein is vast, yet it makes sense and doesn't feel like pulling a rabbit from a hat. ( Read more... )
12 Monkeys S04E08: Demons
Mar. 15th, 2023 10:40 pmSpinning plot wheels within wheels while an evil computer is literally stuck on a loading screen. This one goes from lightweight to merciless in minutes. ( Read more... )
12 Monkeys S04E07: Daughters
Mar. 14th, 2023 09:23 pmAlright, a return to character-driven material and dizzying twists that made my brain implode. Consequently I had to do some memory jogging for this one. ( Read more... )
12 Monkeys S04E06: Die Glocke
Mar. 14th, 2023 05:46 pmPower cord arrived! After a full day charging, all systems are go. It's like Christmas, and not a moment too soon. So, on to recreating my thoughts on the past three 12 Monkeys episodes.
The first time I watched Angel fan favorite 'Smile Time,' I don't think I laughed even once. My skin was too busy crawling off my body. It wasn't until rewatch that I was able to respond to the comedic elements, and I expect the same will hold true for 'Die Glocke.' It wasn't on the same level of visceral horror as 'Smile Time,' but I still mostly found it really hard to watch. ( Read more... )
The first time I watched Angel fan favorite 'Smile Time,' I don't think I laughed even once. My skin was too busy crawling off my body. It wasn't until rewatch that I was able to respond to the comedic elements, and I expect the same will hold true for 'Die Glocke.' It wasn't on the same level of visceral horror as 'Smile Time,' but I still mostly found it really hard to watch. ( Read more... )
So I had my whole write up of 'Die Glocke' ready when my power cord gave up the ghost. Ordered a new one and am now several days into waiting for it to arrive. I don't feel up to recreating all those thoughts on my phone (it was a mixed bag), so that's gonna wait until I have my laptop working again. Provided some catastrophic loss did not occur, it's sitting in a wordpad document that I saved but didn't bother to back up. This is all very frustrating.
This speed bump also coincides with my final draft of my Highlander story, which I was geared up to obsessively edit into shape for posting. Those projects always get saved to an external drive, so I have borrowed my boyfriend's laptop where possible to make some small headway on the task of reading through 11,000 words. With luck (mine anyway), this will see the light of day sometime this month.
And yes, as placeholders for greater thoughts when my laptop is back in action:
Die Glocke - Too many Nazis and tonal whiplash, but Deacon and Katarina were great.
Daughters - So many questions about Hannah. Olivia has really gone downhill as a compelling villain.
Demons - Damn. Now I've lost both of my guys...
Still enjoying the show immensely.
This speed bump also coincides with my final draft of my Highlander story, which I was geared up to obsessively edit into shape for posting. Those projects always get saved to an external drive, so I have borrowed my boyfriend's laptop where possible to make some small headway on the task of reading through 11,000 words. With luck (mine anyway), this will see the light of day sometime this month.
And yes, as placeholders for greater thoughts when my laptop is back in action:
Die Glocke - Too many Nazis and tonal whiplash, but Deacon and Katarina were great.
Daughters - So many questions about Hannah. Olivia has really gone downhill as a compelling villain.
Demons - Damn. Now I've lost both of my guys...
Still enjoying the show immensely.
12 Monkeys S04E05: After
Mar. 7th, 2023 09:03 pmIn which it turns out the best time traveler isn't a time traveler and someone should seriously have won an award for the creation of this episode. ( Read more... )
12 Monkeys S04E04: Legacy
Mar. 4th, 2023 10:14 am12 Monkeys goes Weird Western, Soap Opera and What the Actual Fuck. ( Read more... )
12 Monkeys S04E03: 45 RPM
Feb. 27th, 2023 06:17 pmA mixed bag of great concepts and things I am beginning to really struggle with, although possibly that's just my mood. This was mostly an Olivia episode, with the Raritan group missing. The Olivia stuff was good. It was the B plot I had trouble with, along with the overarching (overwhelming?) motif of fate. ( Read more... )
