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Apr. 15th, 2010 11:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI have been watching some media recently! Some of them aren't even anime. (I KNOW.)
Alice in Wonderland: I saw this with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
obopolsk on Monday. (Sidenote: this was accompanied by S'Mac mac & cheese and THE MOST AMAZING PIE I HAVE EVER EATEN. Cinnamon Bun pie! Cinnamon-bun-dough base with cheesecake on top with cinnamon and walnuts in the middle. AMAZING. But, uh, I digress.) Anyway, I enjoyed it! It wasn't as Tim Burton-y as I was expecting, which I can't really explain except by saying that I was watching the movie looking for curlicues and stripes, and didn't see very many at all. I thought the actress who played Alice was amazing, although I also had a hard time remembering that she was supposed to be nearly-twenty because her voice sounded to me very much like a fourteen-year-old's. (This isn't a drawback, just a note. I know the actress herself actually is twenty!)
I will put on my meta hat to say this: I've seen a couple comments in other people's reviews by people who were disappointed that Alice didn't stay in Wonderland and couldn't understand why she didn't go back to the 'real world'. But I found myself actually relieved that she didn't stay. Wonderland seemed to be a world where there were two options for female power, as reprsented by the two queens: be feared, or be loved. Iracebeth chose fear and Mirana chose love, and the movie threw its weight behind Mirana - but there were also a lot of hints that Mirana was just as constrained by that role as Iracebeth, and also just as capable of abusing it. (That moment when she dismissed all her all-in-white courtiers so she could run over to the dog instead of doing the exaggerated graceful movements spoke volumes, for me.) Alice got to wield the vorpal sword, but it was pretty explicit that heroic role wasn't Alice, per se - that was the vorpal sword itself. Getting to go home and Be Unconventional and learn about trade instead was - okay, first of all, completely historically implausible, and also historically problematic within the context of imperialism, BUT setting that aside, within the context of the film, seemed to me to be an infinitely better ending for Alice than staying in the White Queen's court.
(But I also sympathized with Iracebeth more than I was probably supposed to, which might be influenced by the fact that I was slightly bitter about all the Queen Elizabeth parody going on. >.>)
The Eleventh Doctor/The Beast Below: I was going to wait and see the new Who episodes with my mom, but then everyone started posting about how surprisingly pleased they were with Eleven and Amy, and I got impatient.
My verdict: I, too, am surprisingly pleased by Eleven and Amy! No doctor is ever going to supplant Eccleston in my heart, but I do already like Eleven more than I ever liked Ten, and I like the dynamic with Amy and that it seems clear already that it's in no way going to be about Eleven Always Being Right and the humans often being dumb. And there is SO MUCH LESS MANPAIN, oh my god, it's fabulous. I also just like Moffat's writing, which is something I knew going in - more from his other shows than from his other Who episodes - but I really had no idea how much of a difference it was going to make. It does. It makes an enormous difference. I haven't really felt excited for Doctor Who in a while, and now I do! It's so weird!
Things I am hoping: that Amy's boyfriend and relationship will get treated sympathetically and respectfully; that Amy's town will continue to get treated sympathetically and respectfully, and will play a continuing role; that Amy and Eleven will continue in a dynamic of relative equality; that they pick up another Companion! (This last is least likely, I know. But much as I like Eleven and Amy already, I am still tired of the dynamic of one Doctor + one cute girl Companion. Give me some ensemble, Moffat! I know you can do it!)
Leverage, 2.10-2.15: It took me forever to catch up on this show, and I think that is mostly because I am overwhelmingly bored by Nate and his manpain. I was hoping we'd have less of a focus on it in s2; when he started drinking again, I felt a great cry of OH NOOOOOOOOO go up in my heart, because I KNEW it was going to be All About Nate, The Heart of the Team, And His Instability, and what do you know, I was right? I saw the season finale last night and my feelings were greatly conflicted, because at first I was full of joy at Sophie turning up and being awesome and saving the day with her mad competence, and then I was full of irritation at Nate ruining Sophie's great moment of awesome with YET MORE manpain. And actual bleeding, I guess, I don't know. But maybe this means there will be less Nate in s3? (Probably not. They've got to rescue him. I suspect I will continue to not care.)
I still want the Hardison-Parker-Eliot-Sophie show. I also still want wacky crossovers with Coupling and Jekyll where it turns out that the roles that Gina Bellman was playing in those shows were just long undercover cons for Leverage. Sadly, I think I am the only person in the universe who knows all three of these shows, so no one will write them for me. ;_;
Durarara!!: My thoughts here are . . . not deep. I thought the half-season ending was kind of amazing; I did not expect all the plotlines to come together so well. My biggest beef with this show is that I actively anti-ship Celty and Shinra. I want her to move out! (She can move in with Shizuo. *_* Best wacky roommates ever!) However, I totally ship Izaya the UberTroll/Namie the Creepy Human Experimentations Lady. I am super curious about where the story is going now that we're into what clearly seems to be a second set of storylines. In which the Big Bad is a ROGUE DANGEROUS TRAFFIC COP. Oh Durarara!!, never change.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: . . . do I really need to state how much I am still loving this show? (For the record, I am reading the manga along with the episodes as they come out; we're now up to around chapter 92.) I don't know how everyone continues getting even more awesome, but they do! You could name literally any character and I would be able to babble extensively about how much I love them. I can even write paragraphs of adoration about Hohenheim now, which is not something I ever expected to happen! And that note of glee seems a fitting one to end on, and so I shall.
Alice in Wonderland: I saw this with
obopolsk on Monday. (Sidenote: this was accompanied by S'Mac mac & cheese and THE MOST AMAZING PIE I HAVE EVER EATEN. Cinnamon Bun pie! Cinnamon-bun-dough base with cheesecake on top with cinnamon and walnuts in the middle. AMAZING. But, uh, I digress.) Anyway, I enjoyed it! It wasn't as Tim Burton-y as I was expecting, which I can't really explain except by saying that I was watching the movie looking for curlicues and stripes, and didn't see very many at all. I thought the actress who played Alice was amazing, although I also had a hard time remembering that she was supposed to be nearly-twenty because her voice sounded to me very much like a fourteen-year-old's. (This isn't a drawback, just a note. I know the actress herself actually is twenty!) I will put on my meta hat to say this: I've seen a couple comments in other people's reviews by people who were disappointed that Alice didn't stay in Wonderland and couldn't understand why she didn't go back to the 'real world'. But I found myself actually relieved that she didn't stay. Wonderland seemed to be a world where there were two options for female power, as reprsented by the two queens: be feared, or be loved. Iracebeth chose fear and Mirana chose love, and the movie threw its weight behind Mirana - but there were also a lot of hints that Mirana was just as constrained by that role as Iracebeth, and also just as capable of abusing it. (That moment when she dismissed all her all-in-white courtiers so she could run over to the dog instead of doing the exaggerated graceful movements spoke volumes, for me.) Alice got to wield the vorpal sword, but it was pretty explicit that heroic role wasn't Alice, per se - that was the vorpal sword itself. Getting to go home and Be Unconventional and learn about trade instead was - okay, first of all, completely historically implausible, and also historically problematic within the context of imperialism, BUT setting that aside, within the context of the film, seemed to me to be an infinitely better ending for Alice than staying in the White Queen's court.
(But I also sympathized with Iracebeth more than I was probably supposed to, which might be influenced by the fact that I was slightly bitter about all the Queen Elizabeth parody going on. >.>)
The Eleventh Doctor/The Beast Below: I was going to wait and see the new Who episodes with my mom, but then everyone started posting about how surprisingly pleased they were with Eleven and Amy, and I got impatient.
My verdict: I, too, am surprisingly pleased by Eleven and Amy! No doctor is ever going to supplant Eccleston in my heart, but I do already like Eleven more than I ever liked Ten, and I like the dynamic with Amy and that it seems clear already that it's in no way going to be about Eleven Always Being Right and the humans often being dumb. And there is SO MUCH LESS MANPAIN, oh my god, it's fabulous. I also just like Moffat's writing, which is something I knew going in - more from his other shows than from his other Who episodes - but I really had no idea how much of a difference it was going to make. It does. It makes an enormous difference. I haven't really felt excited for Doctor Who in a while, and now I do! It's so weird!
Things I am hoping: that Amy's boyfriend and relationship will get treated sympathetically and respectfully; that Amy's town will continue to get treated sympathetically and respectfully, and will play a continuing role; that Amy and Eleven will continue in a dynamic of relative equality; that they pick up another Companion! (This last is least likely, I know. But much as I like Eleven and Amy already, I am still tired of the dynamic of one Doctor + one cute girl Companion. Give me some ensemble, Moffat! I know you can do it!)
Leverage, 2.10-2.15: It took me forever to catch up on this show, and I think that is mostly because I am overwhelmingly bored by Nate and his manpain. I was hoping we'd have less of a focus on it in s2; when he started drinking again, I felt a great cry of OH NOOOOOOOOO go up in my heart, because I KNEW it was going to be All About Nate, The Heart of the Team, And His Instability, and what do you know, I was right? I saw the season finale last night and my feelings were greatly conflicted, because at first I was full of joy at Sophie turning up and being awesome and saving the day with her mad competence, and then I was full of irritation at Nate ruining Sophie's great moment of awesome with YET MORE manpain. And actual bleeding, I guess, I don't know. But maybe this means there will be less Nate in s3? (Probably not. They've got to rescue him. I suspect I will continue to not care.)
I still want the Hardison-Parker-Eliot-Sophie show. I also still want wacky crossovers with Coupling and Jekyll where it turns out that the roles that Gina Bellman was playing in those shows were just long undercover cons for Leverage. Sadly, I think I am the only person in the universe who knows all three of these shows, so no one will write them for me. ;_;
Durarara!!: My thoughts here are . . . not deep. I thought the half-season ending was kind of amazing; I did not expect all the plotlines to come together so well. My biggest beef with this show is that I actively anti-ship Celty and Shinra. I want her to move out! (She can move in with Shizuo. *_* Best wacky roommates ever!) However, I totally ship Izaya the UberTroll/Namie the Creepy Human Experimentations Lady. I am super curious about where the story is going now that we're into what clearly seems to be a second set of storylines. In which the Big Bad is a ROGUE DANGEROUS TRAFFIC COP. Oh Durarara!!, never change.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: . . . do I really need to state how much I am still loving this show? (For the record, I am reading the manga along with the episodes as they come out; we're now up to around chapter 92.) I don't know how everyone continues getting even more awesome, but they do! You could name literally any character and I would be able to babble extensively about how much I love them. I can even write paragraphs of adoration about Hohenheim now, which is not something I ever expected to happen! And that note of glee seems a fitting one to end on, and so I shall.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-04-15 03:39 pm (UTC)And then when we realized that there was a plot and therefore tried to pay more attention, we couldn't understand anything they were talking about. ^^; ("Oh okay so Johnny Depp's...Scottish all of a sudden...for some reason.")
...that, and our constant mental comparisons to The Looking Glass Wars.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-15 03:56 pm (UTC)One of these days I'll get around to reading The Looking Glass Wars!
no subject
Date: 2010-04-15 04:10 pm (UTC)You could read the first one if you wish. The second two...not terrible but I wasn't as enthralled I suppose? Meh, to each his own.
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Date: 2010-04-15 04:20 pm (UTC)