"what kind of a name is STOVE?"
Right, okay. Rundown of some things that gave me serious feelings in the last two months. We should talk about them at length in the comments!!
There was going to be Parks and Recreation feelings but that’s probably better for another post, this one is too long as it is!
However, TV I am watching this season - Parks and Recreation, Castle. The Good Wife, Happy Endings. The Office (but why. damn it, self), Downton Abbey. Up All Night, Suburgatory, Pan Am, Prime Suspect. Fell hard for the main ‘ship in Free Agents, but it was cancelled and everything sucks!
I don’t know where I’m getting the time for all this, other than all that travelling I’m doing to and from classes, but wow, Rachna.
I think I shall watch Thor soon. and catch up with Fringe, but I’m worried I’ll love the show too much without Peter, yikes.
-- rachu
- Captain America
Favourite superhero movie in years? I think they focused on all the right things and all the good things and everything really, really worked for me. I was a little worried about Captain America himself because I thought maybe the movie and the character would lean towards over-the-top patriotism and "in the name of America!" war cries, but I ended up adoring the fuck out of this character because the root of his character is him, the fact that he is good and kind and honest, the fact that he defies military orders to save his best friend, the fact that his choice of "weapon" is a shield. I generally have a weird soft spot for good people, as long as they're written well and aren't preachy or over-the-top or uninteresting, and as long as we understand that this goodness isn’t reflexive or something that’s rooted in innocence and idealism but that is a choice - they are aware of easier things, but choose to be better. Leslie Knope is one of those people. Steve Rogers registered that way for me pretty quickly, too. It helps that I think Chris Evans was kind of fucking perfect as Steve, because he could’ve been naive and simple, but there was always a hint of steel to him, and I adored it. (Also Chris Evans is a charming bastard.)
Other positive feelings, though: Peggy Fucking Carter, magnificent and smart and wonderful and good at punching idiots and shooting. Hayley Atwell was wonderful, and Peggy, oh Peggy, I love you so much. Steve/Peggy, brilliant and simple and still heartbreakingly effective. I am not over how hard I came to 'ship them. Steve-Bucky, friendship!! Friendship!! Old-school effects, simple stories, intelligent and competent minority representation (multilingual black dude!!).
The last five minutes felt rushed, but what made it worse was him waking up IN A DIFFERENT CENTURY. I mean it’s depressing enough that I’m losing so much of what got me invested in this movie and these characters (PEGGY, will I never see you again!?!), but Steve Rogers is a person who loves and is loved and imagine how much he lost in those seventy-odd years. fucking breaks my heart, you guys. I didn’t think I’d feel this strongly, but this movie did so much good for that. I hate it. and by that I mean I love it so much.
What do you mean, what about The Avengers? That's not a thing. - Bridesmaids
Around forty minutes into this movie this movie made me cry - not cry laughing, like it had been doing, but actually crying? Something about Kristen Wiig’s character Annie and her friendship and her jealousy and her rage and how terrible she was being to herself struck me, and it stung. Clearly I’ve never been where she was but she was weirdly relatable to me, and I adored that.
My feelings about that one shitty scene that nearly everyone talks about is that it needn’t have happened, but the climax of it did actually make me cackle. I’m a little annoyed that Paul Feig urged Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo to put the scene in, though, because yeah, I’m sure that was something dudes found funny, but in terms of comedic set pieces that worked in the movie weren’t therescenes like the one at the bridal shower and (my absolute favourite) the one in the plane? EVERY LINE in the scene on the plane was fucking fantastic, you guys. Every line.
A lot of things made me laugh a lot, though!! And I thought it was emotionally effective without being manipulative, and I thought the movie gave all the ladies something ridiculously funny to do without being unkind, and I adored the hell out of Annie and Lillian’s friendship (and their awesome scene during breakfast talking about needing to fix their teeth), and I also liked Annie and Nathan the Cop a lot? I was worried Nathan would lean towards Nice Guy and I think he kind of did because I still don’t know if I’m supposed to be annoyed with him or with her during that morning-after scene (I’m annoyed with him, mostly) but at the same time I think we got a decent amount of them both being stupid, so. AND THEY WERE CUTE. villainies did this annoying thing where she made me ‘ship Annie and Helen and you guys, think about it, do their characters not work perfectly together?!
Other positive feelings: Melissa McCarthy!!! but also ALL OF THIS CAST! Kristen Wiig! Rose Byrne! Maya Rudolph!! magnificent ladies whose names I don’t want to list because I’d have to arrange them if it were a list and I don’t want to rank~ them.
I enjoyed this movie a lot, basically. Maybe some of the tearing up came from getting fantastic, funny, smart, ridiculously talented ladies be exactly all of those things, all at once. - Castle
I don’t know when it happened (it started near the end of S3, probably) but everything about this show slotted into place in the most glorious way and I adore it so fiercely now. I love it so much. I love the characters and I love their stories and I love their chemistry and friendships and I love their feelings and the feelings I get because of those feelings, but also, most of all -
Castle/Beckett, holy fuck, when did you become maybe my favourite ‘ship of all time? My (mildly hysterical) tagging on C/B posts on tumblr has started to include “everything otp”, because every aspect of them works so beautifully for me. every aspect.
On one level, shallow-type: They are attractive together and clearly find the other attractive. They like flirting with each other. They share a sense of humour!
Next level: they enjoy each other’s company a lot. And they don’t bother hiding the fact that they enjoy being with each other. They don’t have all the same interests, but they do share some, and even when one of them doesn’t get what the other is excited about, they enjoy seeing them really loving something (and that is one of the most functional parts of them, to me). They both get crazy-excited when they’re on the same wavelength and are getting into something, especially when it’s a case, and that’s not just about them getting closer to answers, but also about them talking someone who gets it and is just as fucking thrilled to be there.
Both of them call each other by their first and last names!! And with usual procedural-like shows it feels so strange, and I think it’s because the first and last name divide usually separates two sides of one character, the professional from the personal, but with Castle the shifts feel so natural, not just because their first names aren’t complex (back when I liked Bones I looked for fic and reading about them calling each other “Temperance” and “Seeley” while making out or doing it was a major turn-off, what.), but because I feel like both Kate Beckett and Richard Castle know both sides of each other so well?
And then finally: they ground each other. Nothing about either of them overtly fixes each other’s flaws, I don’t think, but they pull each other back enough that they become more aware of these flaws and try harder to step away - they guide them out of it. And they’re not weaker or less than without the other, but there’s a gorgeous, quiet support system there. I think it's significant to note that neither of them are broken, which means neither of them are incapable of being themselves fully, but what this relationship does for them is that it changes both of them so much (though so gradually!) that they'd rather be with each other than not? And maybe I'm being sappy, but is that not love? I don't need huge transformations and their lives don't need to revolve around each other's. I like the smaller changes - being willing to change parts of yourself to fit someone else's and being better for it.
And then I take this glorious 'ship and fix them within canon, within all of these stories, and everything about them is about progress - about relaxing into each other, about not just feeling for each other but knowing it and acknowledging it. about talking to each other sometimes about what they are and trying to be firmer about where they stand with each other. I love every move they make towards each other because watching them get there is fantastic (another thing I love - every move they make towards each other is so permanent - there’s never any moving back), but they’re also already there, somehow?
It helps a lot that I think both parts of this ‘ship are fucking wonderful - Kate Beckett is magnificent and fascinating and I love how strong and intelligent and funny and warm and brave and still crazy she is, and I love that she’s a fierce badass lady cop who is powerful and adored and still likes wearing heels and looking good because why the fuck not. I love that she can be sharp and stubborn and wrong. I love that her mother’s case both drives her and shuts her down, but it’s okay. She’ll be fine. She’ll get there. She is fantastic.
And the fact that I love the man in the ‘ship as much as I love her is significant because I tend to love the fiercest ladies the most, but I honestly haven’t loved a fictional man the way I love Richard Castle. CHARACTER PROGRESS - charming proud rich boy who is first a novelist who loves parties and having fun, to charming proud man who hasn’t changed completely (which is the best part) but is smarter about what he does and fiercer about the people he loves, who is becoming more of a cop? Emotional maturity! Taking relationships seriously. Throwing himself into things he loves (as he always has) but also starting to fight for them. He’s funny a lot, he gives us comic relief, but there is so much more about him! He is a total guy but he also surrounds himself with strong ladies, because he does adore them. And he is a good person, and a good friend, and his mother is right, she raised a good man. And I love good people!! All of you know this!!
S4 for them as a ‘ship has been fucking great so far because it’s been all about them knowing they’re getting somewhere, and getting ready for it. And the assurance and confidence in that has led to me weeping by the end of each episode so far, so, you know.
Basically: I don’t know what to do with my feelings, because I’ve started feeling too much for this show for me to be able to deal with anything.
Everything is great. OK, done.
There was going to be Parks and Recreation feelings but that’s probably better for another post, this one is too long as it is!
However, TV I am watching this season - Parks and Recreation, Castle. The Good Wife, Happy Endings. The Office (but why. damn it, self), Downton Abbey. Up All Night, Suburgatory, Pan Am, Prime Suspect. Fell hard for the main ‘ship in Free Agents, but it was cancelled and everything sucks!
I don’t know where I’m getting the time for all this, other than all that travelling I’m doing to and from classes, but wow, Rachna.
I think I shall watch Thor soon. and catch up with Fringe, but I’m worried I’ll love the show too much without Peter, yikes.
-- rachu