.... HI EVERYONE OH GOD I'VE BEEN GONE SO LONG /o\
... wow? Uhm. Haha. I don't think I've ever left lj so long without updating? /o\ ugh I'm so behindddd I can't even. Thing is that rl decided to happen worse than usual (ie worse than the first two months of this year) and I pretty much fell behind on everything go me? Okay uhm so, I'm just going to give a bullet points thing of what has gone down?
a) I finished the master's degree exams - which was actually the #1 reason why I ended up falling behind - you'd think I'd have thought of putting an official hiatus on... anyway, I have just the thesis left and then I'm done? Which - seriously, I can't wait. The last finals were the feast of Ican'tgiveashitaboutanyofthis, ew.
b) So as it is I'm working on the thesis, which at least is one thing I actually give a damn about. I'm also done reading Wild Cards and re-evaluating e-readers, if only to read stuff that you should read on the computer as an only alternative.
c) I also figured I'd give an update because from tomorrow I'll have crappy internet access for the entire month and the idea of leaving the journal deserted until September was totally depressing, but anyway - if anyone who's still around wants postcards from either Vienna or Paris or both tell me and if I have your address is good, if I don't then PM me and I'll be more than glad to provide. :)
d) For the first time in years FINALLY they managed to arrive at the last trial degree to condemn Berlusconi, which totally doesn't mean that he's out of the picture knowing the guy, but it's farther than any other trial managed to get, so yay for that?
e) Comprehensive point for fandom - discussion is welcome but as it is I can't possibly catch up with everything I missed so feel free to go at me with months of lateness ;)
1) SPN: I loved everything about the ending of the season. I'm also ridiculously optimistic about it. I'm thrilled that no one important is dead and that Cas is human for good because omg such good possibilities <33333, and I pretty much was 100% behind the plot in the last three/four episodes or so. I'm currently not too much into the fandom killing itself over possible female interests that are stated to be not permanent but that's not related to the show - I'm ridic excited for S9!
2) Vampire Porn: this season was totally meh but picket itself back up in the last two episodes. Also, please keep Alaric ghosting around because he and Damon are still the best thing about this entire show.
3) GOT: the RW legit put me moping for two weeks. Ops. No, seriously, I spent two weeks going around the house on the point of weeping at every stupid thing. Other than that: better than S2 overall, I was WTF about 90% of Stannis's stuff this season, I'm plenty glad they reunited Jon and Sam, Jaime and Brienne were flawless, the Theon stuff killed me ten times overall and I hate HBO for *that* certain change about which part gets sent to his dad and Asha was better in the two scenes she had than a bunch of other people who had a lot more screentime to themselves. Anyway, as a general adaptation it was tons better than S2, even if Cat not getting screentime in favor of shewhoshallnotbenamed was horrible and.. well, the Robb storyline could have been awesome and it wasn't, but eeeeeh.
4) I've actually watched and caught up with the entirety of Breaking Bad in the last three weeks, which is also the reason why I didn't update here before - TOO BUSY CATCHING UP. Anyway, I'm gonna copy my opinion from the post I wrote falafel_musings on tumblr the other day because it pretty much sums it up and I can't be bothered to rephrase it XD
- OMG THIS SHOW IS JUST SO *GOOD* GENERALLY I CAN’T EVEN FDGHDKJGFHJDK totally goes into my top five objectively flawless shows asdfghjkl (probably would get into the top five subjective but I’m probably gonna decide on that when the last season airs
- my favorites would be Jesse, Mike and Skyler (in that order), then… well, if we’re talking about strict *writing* and arcs and technical omgwowthishcharacterisfuckingamazing then I have to bow in front of Gilligan for having come up with Walter White but as things are in the sense of ‘people I really really fucking dislike’ he’s right there at the top of the list. Because I really fucking dislike everything about him right now - I mean, I guess I’m supposed not to be rooting for him by this point, but he started losing me at the second to last S2 episode (when he let Jesse’s girlfriend die - I mean, I didn’t exactly *like* her because srsly last thing guy needed was getting addicted to heroin, but you don’t just LET someone die like that) and from then on it’s been an escalation of ‘can you be more self centered and making me feel bad for everyone that has to deal with you’ feelings. Like I’ve had post S2 finale moments when I actually felt for him (IE the fly episode), but whenever he did something that made him gain points he proceeded to do something that made him lose triple the number in the same episode ew :/ (he totally lost me forever when he poisoned Brock in S4 but S5 was just - ewwwww. I’M STILL COMPLETELY IN DENIAL ABOUT MIKE WHY WALT WHY.) Also I’ve had a brief look at the tag here and wow I absolutely don’t get how people dislike Skyler at all because imo she’s a perfectly awesome person and god I couldn’t have lasted married to post-S2 Walt like honestly how do you even take his side is something I’m totally missing here. (That stated, if I were here I’d have tried to sleep with someone less of a tool than Ted, but that’s honestly the only time I couldn’t 100% say I’d have done the same thing as her. xD)
- re the others that aren’t the first two (who need a specific point): bless Hank for existing because seriously, I <3 him and I think he had some seriously awesome arcs - I’m sooo very intrigued for where he goes next, Marie grew on me a lot, Walter jr is honestly too nice for his dad please kid stay with your uncle and aunt forever, as far as I’m concerned Ted is the Daario Naharis of this show and therefore totally useless (well no I get the point for the plot but you get what I mean), Gus was too cool to live I suppose (haha, best death ever though!), and uhm I’m still totally sad about Gale because the guy was kind of genderbent me except with more chemistry knowledge? (Honest - he read Stephen King <3 and Whitman, he made himself tea in the evenings with that adorable kettle and the dispenser thing which is exactly how I do it and listened to stupid italian music though it seems to me that he had a huge collection while he was making tea I mean <3 LISTEN I HAD A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT GALE OKAY POOR BABY). But the thing is that I can’t even be angry about everyone who died up until this point because this show is so well-written that you get why they off them. Also wait I was forgetting but Saul is totally my guilty pleasure - like I know I shouldn’t like him and he’s totally a cockroach-like character but damn he cracks me up too much. I like him, okay, I can’t not.
- Though: CHRIST MIKE NOOOO I HAD NO CLUE DDDDD: like honest okay maybe he was too cool to live as well but DARN WALT if he had lost me before now I actively despise him, HOW COULD YOU D: Mike was awesome. And Cool with the capital C. And he loved his granddaughter. And he actually was a better influence on Jesse than Walt could ever be HAHAHAHAHA OBVIOUSLY LOOK AT HOW IT WENT, and I’m kind of happy that at least he went out like the badass he was but DAMN IT MIKE MY FEELS I HAD A LOT OF THEM CONCERNING YOU. Also I liked that he totally saw through Walt’s bullshit and stood up to it which was refreshing, but HOWEVER. SIGH. Clearly since my favorite had to be one of the main two characters it was the second-fave that had to get offed…
- Okay can we talk about my love story with Jesse Pinkman aka actual Eddie Dean gone wrong, because asdfghjkl I CAN’T WITH JESSE OKAY - the fact that he’s at least 70% Eddie Dean material probably secured him the first place spot but all things considered at least Eddie ended up with a mentor who actually gave a shit about him for real and wasn’t just interested in him as far as *he* was concerned, because christ but the way Walt manipulates him throughout S4/S5 were causing me literal pain D: I mean on top of all the crap this guy had going on (I mean is he this show’s punching bag or what) THAT was… such a level of disturbing that it made the Jane thing in S2 look like child’s play D: also I deeply respect the kid because he actually got through this entire thing with his conscience intact, which.. I’d say it’s more than I’d have given anyone credit for? Also someone needs to stop making kids die in front of him okay, I can’t, he needs to be in scenes where he’s adorable with them damn it D: Actually someone needs to give him a hug and be straight with him for once. And his parents need to… er, okay, I’m gonna stop there because while I get their point I srsly kind of hate them, oops. Then you wonder why he’s that fucked up D: I just love him to pieces okay <3 and I’m seriously hoping he gets something nice at the end because honest guy has earned it…
- Since I’ve marathoned the whole thing from the beginning I don’t even know if I have a favorite episode, but I think my favorite seasons overall were 2 and 4 - 5 has a good chance of being my favorite but I need to see how it ends to decide XD though damn that episode when they robbed the train was singularly made of the special kind of awesome.
- I also feel completely flabbergasted at how much you actually pay in the US for cancer treatment - like honest if this show had been set in the EU (or here for that matter) I’m pretty sure that Walt would have gotten 90% of the therapy for free. If not completely. And same re Hank’s physical therapy - I’m still not wrapping my head around the concept and I don’t think I ever will, but alllriiight.
- overall: ASDFGHJKL THE WRITING FOR THIS SHOW IS A++++ EVERYTHING, the characterizations are brilliant, I haven’t been bored once and I just love how everything fits together and how everyone even from early seasons worked organically into the story (ie Tuco’s uncle or Gale etcetera). Also how they did the opening of the episodes with the flashbacks/flashforwards in S2 and S3 was genius tho the S3 openers were honestly the most disturbing thing pretty much… and i SO TOTALLY CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THE LAST EIGHT I’m so glad I don’t have to wait too long! (Well, I’ll probably have to wait a week to see the first and then good luck to me downloading the rest because I’m out pretty much all month except some random days in between, but I’ll manage somewhat XDD) this show I LOVE IIITTTTTTTT.
Hopefully when I'm back from the various places I'm going to this summer I can post about the last season along with everyone else. I'm so excited for it omg.
5) Pacific Rim was awesomecakes. I'm totally stalking fic for it on ao3 though I'm not planning on writing it anytime soon since I already am behind on fic I should finish and I'll be for years at the rate I'm going /o\, but anyway it was pretty much the only monsters vs humans action movie shot after the fifties that I've seen and actually really fucking liked - not to mention that it was a hell of a lot smarter than 99% of movies in that genre.
6) I have no clue of how I'm doing Gishwhes this year since I'm in Paris for a fifth of that week, but I'll manage to come up with something in that timeframe... (anyway, Misha = ♥ I CAN'T WITH HIM LATELY)
7) Oh, Under the Dome is also pretty cool, but if you read the book imo you can't enjoy it fully since they made two huge changes I'm not exactly down with. (Aka: my favorite character changed job and is stuck outside the dome so he has no role and Julia is too young for that part. I liked that she was older than the usual leading lady, damn it.)
d) Concerts-I've-seen-this-summer speaking: Bruce Springsteen was outofthisworldfuckingawesome as usual, Bon Jovi round two ended up in Dry County + These Days AGAIN which would have been enough but seriously asdfghjkl they were awesomecakessssss, the National were WOW (though seeing them the day after BJ after a three hour train ride put a hamper on my ability to stand up XD), the Patti Smith one I caught in April was outofthisworldexcellent but then again I think I've seen her more times than anyone else I've seen (except Bruce maybe) and I wasn't exactly surprised on that side. Also I ended up going with my parents to an Inti Illimani concerts that was for almost free in a park and while they definitely were more schooled on the songs than I was it was pretty damn good too.
e) Books I've read: Wild Cards as a whole is great but I'm not gonna go do a twenty one books series review in detail in a post that is already ridic crowded - suffices that I loved it. xD Considering that reading twenty books in a row took me five months and that I was doing the last finals I haven't read much other than that and my school books, but for something different: the last King (Joyland) is also pretty great and DOESN'T have a fucked up ending (!!!), though the last twenty pages made me scream in rage for different reasons - and I kind of cried at the end even if it was a book about killings in an amusement park. I'm completely beyond any kind of dignity. Saramago's Blindness (which I should have read years ago, in my plans..) is a total masterpiece as far as I'm concerned - probably I won't read a better one this year but then again we're talking about stuff that is waaaaay above average level. Coming down to less exquisitely literary deals, Fifty Shames of Earl Gray is hilarious. And you don't even need to read the original to have a crack, as long as you know the general plot and the basic character traits you're good. Honest, I spent a train ride trying not to read hysterically out loud.
f) On to the rest: WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOU FLIST? ;_; I can't possibly catch up to... five months of missed entries especially when I'm leaving again tomorrow and I still have to finish packing so catch me up with what's been going on with you? At least when I'm back I won't be TOO MUCH out of the loop. <3
Aaaand okay I'm going to finish packing - I'll answer eventual comments in the evening :) (if I don't, I will at some point next week when I actually have time to do it from my outdated phone, ops.) ♥
[service communication: if I'm not around here, I'm definitely around on twitter - handle is always janiedean]
a) I finished the master's degree exams - which was actually the #1 reason why I ended up falling behind - you'd think I'd have thought of putting an official hiatus on... anyway, I have just the thesis left and then I'm done? Which - seriously, I can't wait. The last finals were the feast of Ican'tgiveashitaboutanyofthis, ew.
b) So as it is I'm working on the thesis, which at least is one thing I actually give a damn about. I'm also done reading Wild Cards and re-evaluating e-readers, if only to read stuff that you should read on the computer as an only alternative.
c) I also figured I'd give an update because from tomorrow I'll have crappy internet access for the entire month and the idea of leaving the journal deserted until September was totally depressing, but anyway - if anyone who's still around wants postcards from either Vienna or Paris or both tell me and if I have your address is good, if I don't then PM me and I'll be more than glad to provide. :)
d) For the first time in years FINALLY they managed to arrive at the last trial degree to condemn Berlusconi, which totally doesn't mean that he's out of the picture knowing the guy, but it's farther than any other trial managed to get, so yay for that?
e) Comprehensive point for fandom - discussion is welcome but as it is I can't possibly catch up with everything I missed so feel free to go at me with months of lateness ;)
1) SPN: I loved everything about the ending of the season. I'm also ridiculously optimistic about it. I'm thrilled that no one important is dead and that Cas is human for good because omg such good possibilities <33333, and I pretty much was 100% behind the plot in the last three/four episodes or so. I'm currently not too much into the fandom killing itself over possible female interests that are stated to be not permanent but that's not related to the show - I'm ridic excited for S9!
2) Vampire Porn: this season was totally meh but picket itself back up in the last two episodes. Also, please keep Alaric ghosting around because he and Damon are still the best thing about this entire show.
3) GOT: the RW legit put me moping for two weeks. Ops. No, seriously, I spent two weeks going around the house on the point of weeping at every stupid thing. Other than that: better than S2 overall, I was WTF about 90% of Stannis's stuff this season, I'm plenty glad they reunited Jon and Sam, Jaime and Brienne were flawless, the Theon stuff killed me ten times overall and I hate HBO for *that* certain change about which part gets sent to his dad and Asha was better in the two scenes she had than a bunch of other people who had a lot more screentime to themselves. Anyway, as a general adaptation it was tons better than S2, even if Cat not getting screentime in favor of shewhoshallnotbenamed was horrible and.. well, the Robb storyline could have been awesome and it wasn't, but eeeeeh.
4) I've actually watched and caught up with the entirety of Breaking Bad in the last three weeks, which is also the reason why I didn't update here before - TOO BUSY CATCHING UP. Anyway, I'm gonna copy my opinion from the post I wrote falafel_musings on tumblr the other day because it pretty much sums it up and I can't be bothered to rephrase it XD
- OMG THIS SHOW IS JUST SO *GOOD* GENERALLY I CAN’T EVEN FDGHDKJGFHJDK totally goes into my top five objectively flawless shows asdfghjkl (probably would get into the top five subjective but I’m probably gonna decide on that when the last season airs
- my favorites would be Jesse, Mike and Skyler (in that order), then… well, if we’re talking about strict *writing* and arcs and technical omgwowthishcharacterisfuckingamazing then I have to bow in front of Gilligan for having come up with Walter White but as things are in the sense of ‘people I really really fucking dislike’ he’s right there at the top of the list. Because I really fucking dislike everything about him right now - I mean, I guess I’m supposed not to be rooting for him by this point, but he started losing me at the second to last S2 episode (when he let Jesse’s girlfriend die - I mean, I didn’t exactly *like* her because srsly last thing guy needed was getting addicted to heroin, but you don’t just LET someone die like that) and from then on it’s been an escalation of ‘can you be more self centered and making me feel bad for everyone that has to deal with you’ feelings. Like I’ve had post S2 finale moments when I actually felt for him (IE the fly episode), but whenever he did something that made him gain points he proceeded to do something that made him lose triple the number in the same episode ew :/ (he totally lost me forever when he poisoned Brock in S4 but S5 was just - ewwwww. I’M STILL COMPLETELY IN DENIAL ABOUT MIKE WHY WALT WHY.) Also I’ve had a brief look at the tag here and wow I absolutely don’t get how people dislike Skyler at all because imo she’s a perfectly awesome person and god I couldn’t have lasted married to post-S2 Walt like honestly how do you even take his side is something I’m totally missing here. (That stated, if I were here I’d have tried to sleep with someone less of a tool than Ted, but that’s honestly the only time I couldn’t 100% say I’d have done the same thing as her. xD)
- re the others that aren’t the first two (who need a specific point): bless Hank for existing because seriously, I <3 him and I think he had some seriously awesome arcs - I’m sooo very intrigued for where he goes next, Marie grew on me a lot, Walter jr is honestly too nice for his dad please kid stay with your uncle and aunt forever, as far as I’m concerned Ted is the Daario Naharis of this show and therefore totally useless (well no I get the point for the plot but you get what I mean), Gus was too cool to live I suppose (haha, best death ever though!), and uhm I’m still totally sad about Gale because the guy was kind of genderbent me except with more chemistry knowledge? (Honest - he read Stephen King <3 and Whitman, he made himself tea in the evenings with that adorable kettle and the dispenser thing which is exactly how I do it and listened to stupid italian music though it seems to me that he had a huge collection while he was making tea I mean <3 LISTEN I HAD A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT GALE OKAY POOR BABY). But the thing is that I can’t even be angry about everyone who died up until this point because this show is so well-written that you get why they off them. Also wait I was forgetting but Saul is totally my guilty pleasure - like I know I shouldn’t like him and he’s totally a cockroach-like character but damn he cracks me up too much. I like him, okay, I can’t not.
- Though: CHRIST MIKE NOOOO I HAD NO CLUE DDDDD: like honest okay maybe he was too cool to live as well but DARN WALT if he had lost me before now I actively despise him, HOW COULD YOU D: Mike was awesome. And Cool with the capital C. And he loved his granddaughter. And he actually was a better influence on Jesse than Walt could ever be HAHAHAHAHA OBVIOUSLY LOOK AT HOW IT WENT, and I’m kind of happy that at least he went out like the badass he was but DAMN IT MIKE MY FEELS I HAD A LOT OF THEM CONCERNING YOU. Also I liked that he totally saw through Walt’s bullshit and stood up to it which was refreshing, but HOWEVER. SIGH. Clearly since my favorite had to be one of the main two characters it was the second-fave that had to get offed…
- Okay can we talk about my love story with Jesse Pinkman aka actual Eddie Dean gone wrong, because asdfghjkl I CAN’T WITH JESSE OKAY - the fact that he’s at least 70% Eddie Dean material probably secured him the first place spot but all things considered at least Eddie ended up with a mentor who actually gave a shit about him for real and wasn’t just interested in him as far as *he* was concerned, because christ but the way Walt manipulates him throughout S4/S5 were causing me literal pain D: I mean on top of all the crap this guy had going on (I mean is he this show’s punching bag or what) THAT was… such a level of disturbing that it made the Jane thing in S2 look like child’s play D: also I deeply respect the kid because he actually got through this entire thing with his conscience intact, which.. I’d say it’s more than I’d have given anyone credit for? Also someone needs to stop making kids die in front of him okay, I can’t, he needs to be in scenes where he’s adorable with them damn it D: Actually someone needs to give him a hug and be straight with him for once. And his parents need to… er, okay, I’m gonna stop there because while I get their point I srsly kind of hate them, oops. Then you wonder why he’s that fucked up D: I just love him to pieces okay <3 and I’m seriously hoping he gets something nice at the end because honest guy has earned it…
- Since I’ve marathoned the whole thing from the beginning I don’t even know if I have a favorite episode, but I think my favorite seasons overall were 2 and 4 - 5 has a good chance of being my favorite but I need to see how it ends to decide XD though damn that episode when they robbed the train was singularly made of the special kind of awesome.
- I also feel completely flabbergasted at how much you actually pay in the US for cancer treatment - like honest if this show had been set in the EU (or here for that matter) I’m pretty sure that Walt would have gotten 90% of the therapy for free. If not completely. And same re Hank’s physical therapy - I’m still not wrapping my head around the concept and I don’t think I ever will, but alllriiight.
- overall: ASDFGHJKL THE WRITING FOR THIS SHOW IS A++++ EVERYTHING, the characterizations are brilliant, I haven’t been bored once and I just love how everything fits together and how everyone even from early seasons worked organically into the story (ie Tuco’s uncle or Gale etcetera). Also how they did the opening of the episodes with the flashbacks/flashforwards in S2 and S3 was genius tho the S3 openers were honestly the most disturbing thing pretty much… and i SO TOTALLY CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THE LAST EIGHT I’m so glad I don’t have to wait too long! (Well, I’ll probably have to wait a week to see the first and then good luck to me downloading the rest because I’m out pretty much all month except some random days in between, but I’ll manage somewhat XDD) this show I LOVE IIITTTTTTTT.
Hopefully when I'm back from the various places I'm going to this summer I can post about the last season along with everyone else. I'm so excited for it omg.
5) Pacific Rim was awesomecakes. I'm totally stalking fic for it on ao3 though I'm not planning on writing it anytime soon since I already am behind on fic I should finish and I'll be for years at the rate I'm going /o\, but anyway it was pretty much the only monsters vs humans action movie shot after the fifties that I've seen and actually really fucking liked - not to mention that it was a hell of a lot smarter than 99% of movies in that genre.
6) I have no clue of how I'm doing Gishwhes this year since I'm in Paris for a fifth of that week, but I'll manage to come up with something in that timeframe... (anyway, Misha = ♥ I CAN'T WITH HIM LATELY)
7) Oh, Under the Dome is also pretty cool, but if you read the book imo you can't enjoy it fully since they made two huge changes I'm not exactly down with. (Aka: my favorite character changed job and is stuck outside the dome so he has no role and Julia is too young for that part. I liked that she was older than the usual leading lady, damn it.)
d) Concerts-I've-seen-this-summer speaking: Bruce Springsteen was outofthisworldfuckingawesome as usual, Bon Jovi round two ended up in Dry County + These Days AGAIN which would have been enough but seriously asdfghjkl they were awesomecakessssss, the National were WOW (though seeing them the day after BJ after a three hour train ride put a hamper on my ability to stand up XD), the Patti Smith one I caught in April was outofthisworldexcellent but then again I think I've seen her more times than anyone else I've seen (except Bruce maybe) and I wasn't exactly surprised on that side. Also I ended up going with my parents to an Inti Illimani concerts that was for almost free in a park and while they definitely were more schooled on the songs than I was it was pretty damn good too.
e) Books I've read: Wild Cards as a whole is great but I'm not gonna go do a twenty one books series review in detail in a post that is already ridic crowded - suffices that I loved it. xD Considering that reading twenty books in a row took me five months and that I was doing the last finals I haven't read much other than that and my school books, but for something different: the last King (Joyland) is also pretty great and DOESN'T have a fucked up ending (!!!), though the last twenty pages made me scream in rage for different reasons - and I kind of cried at the end even if it was a book about killings in an amusement park. I'm completely beyond any kind of dignity. Saramago's Blindness (which I should have read years ago, in my plans..) is a total masterpiece as far as I'm concerned - probably I won't read a better one this year but then again we're talking about stuff that is waaaaay above average level. Coming down to less exquisitely literary deals, Fifty Shames of Earl Gray is hilarious. And you don't even need to read the original to have a crack, as long as you know the general plot and the basic character traits you're good. Honest, I spent a train ride trying not to read hysterically out loud.
f) On to the rest: WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOU FLIST? ;_; I can't possibly catch up to... five months of missed entries especially when I'm leaving again tomorrow and I still have to finish packing so catch me up with what's been going on with you? At least when I'm back I won't be TOO MUCH out of the loop. <3
Aaaand okay I'm going to finish packing - I'll answer eventual comments in the evening :) (if I don't, I will at some point next week when I actually have time to do it from my outdated phone, ops.) ♥
[service communication: if I'm not around here, I'm definitely around on twitter - handle is always janiedean]