Films and Shows and Interwebs, oh my!
Hey, remember how I deluded myself into believing I could go back to LiveJournal? Let's face it, it's all about my ridiculously short attention span, Twitter and Tumblr are designed for a quick fix, LiveJournal takes commi oh my god look a bunny!! :D
So... I'm committing to at least one update a week. Jesus, let's see how long this will last. Place your bets. I can tell you the odds are never in your favour, since I written this entire post last week and just never came around to posting it until now. Some changes of course had to be made to make you unaware of the fact. I win.
Films:
- Mad Max: Fury Road - I don't think any of you have not seen it but it you haven't - you've done yourselves a massive disservice. Fantastic, exciting, fulfilling, smart, definitely my favourite film this year, possibly one of the best action films I've seen in years, worth every [your local currency] of the admission price. I left the cinema giddy, filled with so much joy and minifistpump energy, that I immediately had to phone my mum and gush about it for 20 minutes. It is possible to make films like that, it is possible to have strong, non-sexualised female characters, it is possible to have practical stunts, we are not sentenced to the eternity of Bays and Snyders, there is an alternative, there is a way out, vote with your money--
- Jurassic World-- because if you don't go see films like Mad Max, we'll be forever and always getting garbage like Jurassic World, currently the second film in history - after The Phantom Menace - I walked out on. I love JP and when I think that this Chris Pratt's shaped pile of shit in that film's legacy, I want to curl in a ball and weep. I left the cinema not angry, just resigned and depressed. I may be too hard on it but consider; I studied biology, I learned and perused a career in science because Jurassic Park inspired me to become a scientist. How many kids will be inspired by Jurassic World? To what can Claire inspire young girls to? Wearing high heels even if you definitely should take them off? Also: dinosaurs had feathers, it's a fact, why was this film so desperate to dumb everything down?
- Pitch Perfect 2 - I had watched the first PP several weeks before the sequel came out, and I admit I liked it a lot. There was a lot of s1 of Glee vibe in it but that's not necessarily a bad thing, since that was before the show's fast and maddening spiral into 'God no, please stop it, just end, no, please, don't touch this character, God, why are you doing this, please, don't, no, no, NO'. PP2, however, was a mixed bag - really good song numbers, but shallow and predictable storyline. Still, not bad just not good.
- SpongeBob the Movie - I was either watching a film or tripping balls. Not sure which...
- Magic Mike XXL - as you may remember, I absolutely hated Magic Mike and gave this film the last place on my list of the films I've seen in 2013. I still feel like I'd been tricked into watching some struggling film student's poor attempt at arthouse under the pretence of being shown strippers, so you cannot blame me for being completely uninterested in the sequel. But then the word came in that MMXXL is nothing but stripping and dancing, so I risked it, forced my best friend to go see it with me and let me tell you - a week later, I still grin and sigh with content when thinking about this film. It's more of a road trip/dance comedy than the drama the first film had been. Channing Tatum is an incredible dancer, he appears to be weightless when he's doing even the hardest moves and I feel this bodes well for his role of Gambit. Oh, the film itself also contains my favorite scene of the year so far - Joe Manganiello's convenience store strip routine. Speaking of Joe Manganiello - this man needs to be made a Marvel superhero ASAP. Matt Bomer too. And Donald Glover. Shit, just do a Misfits-style TV show where they all gain superpowers.
- Ant-Man - seen it, liked it, enjoyed it, got an ultimate proof that Marvel not only doesn't care about making films with female superheroes, they simply don't WANT to. It's not doing the best but it's far from a flop that people, myself included, predicted. It's small (HAHAHA C WHAT I DID THERE?!?!), it's self-contained, it's funny, it's probably the last time we'll get a Marvel film that isn't about massive stakes and end of the world, so enjoy while it lasts. I'd seen it once in 2D and felt it's enough then I heard from multiple sources that this is the one Marvel film where 3D actually helps, so I watched it again, this time in 3D, and can confirm that.
- Age of Ultron - enough time has passed to rank this film on my list on Marvel films and frankly? It's on the second to last place, barely hovering above Iron Man 2. The more I think about it, the less I like it. It was a mess that was, paradoxically, too short and too long at the same time but no, I still don't think that the Black Widow subplot was as bad as people claim it was.
- Alien - yup, I've finally watched the original Alien. I can't say I expected to love it, since I knew all twists, plot points and even several scenes via pop cultural osmosis..... Yeah so I was wrong, so very very wrong. Brilliant film, still tense, still exciting.
Games:
- I had played a lot of Diablo 3, finished the single player storymode with the Witch Doctor, then started a new gameplay with the Crusader, when I discovered the multiplayer. That was my downfall. I'd spent a lot of time shaping and building my characters, and the multiplayer just murdered it. I encountered a lot of people with obviously modded characters and items, who'd literally walk in and kill everything on screen just by being there, without any effort. One of these people gave me several item and I, foolish and greedy, picked them up and went on a hunt. In about 10 seconds I gained TWO HUNDRED LEVELS. How can I have any joy or pride in my gameplay when I literally cheated my way into becoming a goddess? And since those levels transfer to all characters, to enjoy my game, I either need to start from the very beginning or play as the ridiculously overpowered murder-machines. I chose neither and stopped playing completely :/
- Batman Arkham Knight. Yeah but no. Preorder cancelled. Sorry, I'm not willing to pay twice for the same game, because the developers/publishers are greedy and decided to cut the game into pieces. I'll get the GOTY edition in a year or so.
- Dragon Age Inquisition Multiplayer - something I want to enjoy and play a lot but EA doesn't want me to like it, they definitely don't want me to play it. Their servers keeps crashing, I get kicked out of the game constantly, I finish about 1/3 of the runs I start. It's incredibly frustrating to a point I stopped playing several weeks ago, after being kicked out of the game in the last minute of a very challenging map. I am deeply in the fandom at the moment, loving the hell out of Dorian ships (with one massive exception, Dorian/Bull is my greatest NOTP ever), championing Mage rights and supporting Anders. Fight me! (please don't fight me, I'm frail and cry even after just being threatened)
Final Fantasy XIV - still waiting for the price of Heavensward to drop but in the meantime, I achieved lv50 with all my crafters and gatherers, as well as all Mage specialisations. Currently working my way up with an Archer. And no, I still haven't finished the main storyline - why would you want to do some stupidass quests when you can MINE ORE FOR THREE HOURS :D
TV shows:
- Arrested Development - started watching it 2 weeks ago and have already finished the entire run and started again - because I had/have nothing better to do. It is one of the best and smartest sitcoms I've ever watched, and I understand completely its cult status. I admit that the fourth season was confusing the he k out of me and wasn't even half as enjoyable and fun as the previous three but I wouldn't say it's not worth a watch. Actually, watch it twice, because I was so confused the first time around and I'm still not sure what the hell happened here (it's made in that "short period of time told from different perspectives where everything comes together at the end" format that's super confusing if you've got 15 episodes of that) It also gave me context to a lot of gifs I've seen floating around ("I don't know what I expected" being the most famous one). But that's not the bit I want to talk to you about, what I want to talk about is *takes a deep breath* BlunderBlunderBlunderBlunderBlunder JFC I WHY WHY WHY NOBODY TOLD ME I'LL END UP WITH A SHIP A CANON SHIP SHOULD SHOULD SHOULD SH-SH-SH THE GIRL IN THE SHOULD SH-SHOULD-- SHIPPING THE BUT BUT SHOULD I'VE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE. [by which I mean the fourth season is worth it even for this one storyline, it takes one of my most hated tropes and subverts in a beautiful manner, bravo, what a great thing to witness unfolding)
- Miss Fisher's Mysteries - one of those shows I've watched because a) I love old fashioned crime shows like Poirot and b) a lot of people on my twitter seemed to be in frenzy over it. I've watched both seasons available on Netflix and cannot wait for season 3.
Internet:
- Blip is dead, long live... whatever replacement will come. Blip's demise annoys me greatly since their app allowed me to see all updates in one place, instead of navigating through 14 different sites to catch up (especially since TGWTG became Channel Awesome, I swear I have no idea what's happening there anymore, I don't know these people).
- RedLetterMedia - all right stop, collaborate and listen. Have you heard about the 90 minutes long review of The Phantom Menace? It's them. If you haven't or haven't seen it yet, please, do yourself a favour and watch it. It's not your usual nitpicky, angry analysis of every frame or plot hole with 0 actual substance but an actual in-depth review written and presented by an actual filmmaker, concentrating on the editing, character development and behind the scenes drama. Their shows, like Best of The Worst and Half In The Bag are some of the smartest and well done Internet shows I've ever seen.
Life:
- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
- but also I've started doing crochet and have just finished my first blanket, started the second. If you have any projects you'd like to share, please do.
So... I'm committing to at least one update a week. Jesus, let's see how long this will last. Place your bets. I can tell you the odds are never in your favour, since I written this entire post last week and just never came around to posting it until now. Some changes of course had to be made to make you unaware of the fact. I win.
Films:
- Mad Max: Fury Road - I don't think any of you have not seen it but it you haven't - you've done yourselves a massive disservice. Fantastic, exciting, fulfilling, smart, definitely my favourite film this year, possibly one of the best action films I've seen in years, worth every [your local currency] of the admission price. I left the cinema giddy, filled with so much joy and minifistpump energy, that I immediately had to phone my mum and gush about it for 20 minutes. It is possible to make films like that, it is possible to have strong, non-sexualised female characters, it is possible to have practical stunts, we are not sentenced to the eternity of Bays and Snyders, there is an alternative, there is a way out, vote with your money--
- Jurassic World-- because if you don't go see films like Mad Max, we'll be forever and always getting garbage like Jurassic World, currently the second film in history - after The Phantom Menace - I walked out on. I love JP and when I think that this Chris Pratt's shaped pile of shit in that film's legacy, I want to curl in a ball and weep. I left the cinema not angry, just resigned and depressed. I may be too hard on it but consider; I studied biology, I learned and perused a career in science because Jurassic Park inspired me to become a scientist. How many kids will be inspired by Jurassic World? To what can Claire inspire young girls to? Wearing high heels even if you definitely should take them off? Also: dinosaurs had feathers, it's a fact, why was this film so desperate to dumb everything down?
- Pitch Perfect 2 - I had watched the first PP several weeks before the sequel came out, and I admit I liked it a lot. There was a lot of s1 of Glee vibe in it but that's not necessarily a bad thing, since that was before the show's fast and maddening spiral into 'God no, please stop it, just end, no, please, don't touch this character, God, why are you doing this, please, don't, no, no, NO'. PP2, however, was a mixed bag - really good song numbers, but shallow and predictable storyline. Still, not bad just not good.
- SpongeBob the Movie - I was either watching a film or tripping balls. Not sure which...
- Magic Mike XXL - as you may remember, I absolutely hated Magic Mike and gave this film the last place on my list of the films I've seen in 2013. I still feel like I'd been tricked into watching some struggling film student's poor attempt at arthouse under the pretence of being shown strippers, so you cannot blame me for being completely uninterested in the sequel. But then the word came in that MMXXL is nothing but stripping and dancing, so I risked it, forced my best friend to go see it with me and let me tell you - a week later, I still grin and sigh with content when thinking about this film. It's more of a road trip/dance comedy than the drama the first film had been. Channing Tatum is an incredible dancer, he appears to be weightless when he's doing even the hardest moves and I feel this bodes well for his role of Gambit. Oh, the film itself also contains my favorite scene of the year so far - Joe Manganiello's convenience store strip routine. Speaking of Joe Manganiello - this man needs to be made a Marvel superhero ASAP. Matt Bomer too. And Donald Glover. Shit, just do a Misfits-style TV show where they all gain superpowers.
- Ant-Man - seen it, liked it, enjoyed it, got an ultimate proof that Marvel not only doesn't care about making films with female superheroes, they simply don't WANT to. It's not doing the best but it's far from a flop that people, myself included, predicted. It's small (HAHAHA C WHAT I DID THERE?!?!), it's self-contained, it's funny, it's probably the last time we'll get a Marvel film that isn't about massive stakes and end of the world, so enjoy while it lasts. I'd seen it once in 2D and felt it's enough then I heard from multiple sources that this is the one Marvel film where 3D actually helps, so I watched it again, this time in 3D, and can confirm that.
- Age of Ultron - enough time has passed to rank this film on my list on Marvel films and frankly? It's on the second to last place, barely hovering above Iron Man 2. The more I think about it, the less I like it. It was a mess that was, paradoxically, too short and too long at the same time but no, I still don't think that the Black Widow subplot was as bad as people claim it was.
- Alien - yup, I've finally watched the original Alien. I can't say I expected to love it, since I knew all twists, plot points and even several scenes via pop cultural osmosis..... Yeah so I was wrong, so very very wrong. Brilliant film, still tense, still exciting.
Games:
- I had played a lot of Diablo 3, finished the single player storymode with the Witch Doctor, then started a new gameplay with the Crusader, when I discovered the multiplayer. That was my downfall. I'd spent a lot of time shaping and building my characters, and the multiplayer just murdered it. I encountered a lot of people with obviously modded characters and items, who'd literally walk in and kill everything on screen just by being there, without any effort. One of these people gave me several item and I, foolish and greedy, picked them up and went on a hunt. In about 10 seconds I gained TWO HUNDRED LEVELS. How can I have any joy or pride in my gameplay when I literally cheated my way into becoming a goddess? And since those levels transfer to all characters, to enjoy my game, I either need to start from the very beginning or play as the ridiculously overpowered murder-machines. I chose neither and stopped playing completely :/
- Batman Arkham Knight. Yeah but no. Preorder cancelled. Sorry, I'm not willing to pay twice for the same game, because the developers/publishers are greedy and decided to cut the game into pieces. I'll get the GOTY edition in a year or so.
- Dragon Age Inquisition Multiplayer - something I want to enjoy and play a lot but EA doesn't want me to like it, they definitely don't want me to play it. Their servers keeps crashing, I get kicked out of the game constantly, I finish about 1/3 of the runs I start. It's incredibly frustrating to a point I stopped playing several weeks ago, after being kicked out of the game in the last minute of a very challenging map. I am deeply in the fandom at the moment, loving the hell out of Dorian ships (with one massive exception, Dorian/Bull is my greatest NOTP ever), championing Mage rights and supporting Anders. Fight me! (please don't fight me, I'm frail and cry even after just being threatened)
Final Fantasy XIV - still waiting for the price of Heavensward to drop but in the meantime, I achieved lv50 with all my crafters and gatherers, as well as all Mage specialisations. Currently working my way up with an Archer. And no, I still haven't finished the main storyline - why would you want to do some stupidass quests when you can MINE ORE FOR THREE HOURS :D
TV shows:
- Arrested Development - started watching it 2 weeks ago and have already finished the entire run and started again - because I had/have nothing better to do. It is one of the best and smartest sitcoms I've ever watched, and I understand completely its cult status. I admit that the fourth season was confusing the he k out of me and wasn't even half as enjoyable and fun as the previous three but I wouldn't say it's not worth a watch. Actually, watch it twice, because I was so confused the first time around and I'm still not sure what the hell happened here (it's made in that "short period of time told from different perspectives where everything comes together at the end" format that's super confusing if you've got 15 episodes of that) It also gave me context to a lot of gifs I've seen floating around ("I don't know what I expected" being the most famous one). But that's not the bit I want to talk to you about, what I want to talk about is *takes a deep breath* BlunderBlunderBlunderBlunderBlunder JFC I WHY WHY WHY NOBODY TOLD ME I'LL END UP WITH A SHIP A CANON SHIP SHOULD SHOULD SHOULD SH-SH-SH THE GIRL IN THE SHOULD SH-SHOULD-- SHIPPING THE BUT BUT SHOULD I'VE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE. [by which I mean the fourth season is worth it even for this one storyline, it takes one of my most hated tropes and subverts in a beautiful manner, bravo, what a great thing to witness unfolding)
- Miss Fisher's Mysteries - one of those shows I've watched because a) I love old fashioned crime shows like Poirot and b) a lot of people on my twitter seemed to be in frenzy over it. I've watched both seasons available on Netflix and cannot wait for season 3.
Internet:
- Blip is dead, long live... whatever replacement will come. Blip's demise annoys me greatly since their app allowed me to see all updates in one place, instead of navigating through 14 different sites to catch up (especially since TGWTG became Channel Awesome, I swear I have no idea what's happening there anymore, I don't know these people).
- RedLetterMedia - all right stop, collaborate and listen. Have you heard about the 90 minutes long review of The Phantom Menace? It's them. If you haven't or haven't seen it yet, please, do yourself a favour and watch it. It's not your usual nitpicky, angry analysis of every frame or plot hole with 0 actual substance but an actual in-depth review written and presented by an actual filmmaker, concentrating on the editing, character development and behind the scenes drama. Their shows, like Best of The Worst and Half In The Bag are some of the smartest and well done Internet shows I've ever seen.
Life:
- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
- but also I've started doing crochet and have just finished my first blanket, started the second. If you have any projects you'd like to share, please do.