"Hey, Hicks. Man, you look just like I feel."
My fourteen-year-old cousin has been visiting this week, and I've been discovering just how awesome she is (and remembering just how awkward an age fourteen is...) I used the pretense of wanting to share Starship with her and the hermana in order to get another opportunity to watch it again in surround sound instead of holed up in my room. I honestly didn't think it would go over, and neither of them anticipated too much, considering they haven't seen many Space Marine flicks...but my sister has declared her love for Lauren Lopez and Joe Walker, and my cousin changed the wallpaper on her phone to a picture of Bug within 48 hours of watching the second act.
This evening - late this evening, after we had all had a long day - she found out that Aliens was airing on TNT (or TBS? One of those three-letter "T" channels) and, remembering I had said parts of Starship were based on things in the movie, she decided sleep could wait a few more hours. Mum was all worried that she would have nightmares and told her she has to come to _my_ room if she wakes up in the middle of the night since it's my fault she watched it, but she just looked at her and told her she found the movie more amusing than scary. I kinda love this chick.
Three other realizations I had while watching (the edited-for-telly version of) Aliens tonight:
1) There is pretty much nothing about this movie I don't love. I think it may actually be one of my favourites. Even with my Doctor-inspired anti-guns-in-any-situation-other-than-hunting-for-food position and Starship's IPLF* "Look, really, just try talking to them" version of the story to look to, I can still get 100% behind Ripley when she tapes those two BFGs together and straps on a bandoleer of ammo.
2) For all I and others have said about Starship being The Little Mermaid + Starship Troopers, it's really more The Little Mermaid + Aliens with a little Starship Troopers added to taste. I had seriously forgotten all about Paul Reiser being in this movie, not to mention him being Junior. Also, just...dead god love ya, Joe Moses. I must admit to being pretty strongly biased as to who I hoped drew the eyebrows on my Red Vines tray (and, thereby, who my favourite StarKid is), but Krayonder totally leveled the playing field between my top three suspects. And Lauren Lopez... I mean, we all know she's the shit, but some of Taz's mannerisms are taken directly from Pvt. Vasquez's, which was a lovely discovery because it means they treated Vasquez as more than just a butch Latina with a bandanna when they chose to parody her.
3) I really a lot want someone in my life again who understands what I mean when I talk about Lance Henricksen's acid tears.
And some non-Aliens-related StarKid/Harry Potter observations I've had the past few days:
1) Going from Voldemort to Umbridge to Up doesn't mess with my brain at all. Going from Up to Voldemort makes my brain shut down pretty much altogether. I realize how very little sense that makes, but there you have it.
2) How many times do they kill Tyler Brunsman in AVPM? Three at least, and he's still in the final battle scene as...random student? Does Tyler have horcruxes? I just don't trust teeth that shiny.
3) Listening to Order of the Phoenix while in full-on StarKid Love mode is...weird. I keep waiting for Jim Dale to slip in a "huh-der-der-der-der," and I am even more irritated by Ron and Harry conning Hermione into doing their homework than I was before those discussions in AVPM. Plus, Firenze. lolz less than three Oh, and Grubbly-Plank! I have found it impossible to hear her name without giggling.
4) This listen-through of the series has made me appreciate Hermione so much more than I did before. Not that I didn't always love her, just...I have so much respect for her and how she challenges things no one else pays any mind to. Ginny, though, is still my favourite of the main female characters for her diplomacy and open-mindedness. And for being, y'know, _sensible_ most of the time. Plus, she's a Weasley, and there is nothing I love so much as a Weasley - any Weasley; even Percy at his worst, because I'm still, somewhere deep down inside, *that* kid. Well, I say there's nothing. What I really mean is, there's nothing I love so much as a Weasley except a Lupin. Every time I hear Dale's Lupin voice, every time there's even the tiniest reference to him, I catch myself grinning from ear to ear. I will never understand what he was doing hanging out with James, Sirius, and Pettigrew; he is way too awesome for that. In my revisionist Potter history (you know, that one where Lupin was Harry's godfather...or at least a nearby AU), I'm pretty sure I want him, Lily, and Snape to have been best buds in school, because they all need friends who aren't jerkasses.
5) It was only in the closing bits of Deathly Hallows that I noticed Harry was Sirius all over again, with the godfather of an orphan and not really being in a position to fulfill that duty and all going on, but the seeds were sewn way earlier than that. It really hit me when Sirius was talking about living with the Potters for a bit and basically doing everything possible to not have to spend time at his family's house...which kind of, in a way, makes Ron James and Hermione Lily. (Is Neville Lupin?)
6) I think the Sorting Hat's song at the beginning of OotP is my favourite passage in any of the books at the moment.
And, last thing before I get much-needed sleep - I didn't really give two thoughts about Pottermore before LeakyCon (since really I was/am at my heart a casual fan and will remember that and come back to reality one of these days, I'm sure). After realizing how awesome a community at least that subset of Potter fandom is**, I figured I would probably eventually check it out, but certainly not worry about it much. But then it dawned on me that, DUH, this is a form of new media, and, crap, I'm all OVER that using-technology-to-explore-new-methods-of-storytelling stuff. Luckily, this dawning happened the same day that 1) I was home sick 2) on the fifth day of the early registration opportunities, when the clue was about the book that happens to be 3) my favourite, 4) one of only two that I personally own in print and therefore have easy access to, and 5) the one I am currently in the middle of listening to...and then 5) I woke up from my drug-induced sleep just in time for the clue to have been posted. So, my Pottermore username is WillowGlow50***, and we'll see what happens from here.
* Again, "Irrational Pinko Liberal Femibitch." Tell your friends; it's gonna be a thing.
** I am really more a fan of the community than the series itself, if that makes sense to anyone? It is 100% the characters that keep me revisiting the stories, because, while I do have some sizable issues with the plot and the world's rules (or lack thereof) and things like that, I deeply love and care about the characters, more than almost any other series I can think of...so I guess it makes sense that it's the fan-made variations and the people I've met along the way that I like most about the experience.
*** The only other option they gave me I would have even considered choosing was ThestralBlood113, but only because it's so wicked awful...and also totally awesome, assuming these things are randomly assembled and some random name generator managed to pull off the ultimate in goth nom de plume.
(Query...would thestral blood be invisible?)
This evening - late this evening, after we had all had a long day - she found out that Aliens was airing on TNT (or TBS? One of those three-letter "T" channels) and, remembering I had said parts of Starship were based on things in the movie, she decided sleep could wait a few more hours. Mum was all worried that she would have nightmares and told her she has to come to _my_ room if she wakes up in the middle of the night since it's my fault she watched it, but she just looked at her and told her she found the movie more amusing than scary. I kinda love this chick.
Three other realizations I had while watching (the edited-for-telly version of) Aliens tonight:
1) There is pretty much nothing about this movie I don't love. I think it may actually be one of my favourites. Even with my Doctor-inspired anti-guns-in-any-situation-other-than-hunting-for-food position and Starship's IPLF* "Look, really, just try talking to them" version of the story to look to, I can still get 100% behind Ripley when she tapes those two BFGs together and straps on a bandoleer of ammo.
2) For all I and others have said about Starship being The Little Mermaid + Starship Troopers, it's really more The Little Mermaid + Aliens with a little Starship Troopers added to taste. I had seriously forgotten all about Paul Reiser being in this movie, not to mention him being Junior. Also, just...dead god love ya, Joe Moses. I must admit to being pretty strongly biased as to who I hoped drew the eyebrows on my Red Vines tray (and, thereby, who my favourite StarKid is), but Krayonder totally leveled the playing field between my top three suspects. And Lauren Lopez... I mean, we all know she's the shit, but some of Taz's mannerisms are taken directly from Pvt. Vasquez's, which was a lovely discovery because it means they treated Vasquez as more than just a butch Latina with a bandanna when they chose to parody her.
3) I really a lot want someone in my life again who understands what I mean when I talk about Lance Henricksen's acid tears.
And some non-Aliens-related StarKid/Harry Potter observations I've had the past few days:
1) Going from Voldemort to Umbridge to Up doesn't mess with my brain at all. Going from Up to Voldemort makes my brain shut down pretty much altogether. I realize how very little sense that makes, but there you have it.
2) How many times do they kill Tyler Brunsman in AVPM? Three at least, and he's still in the final battle scene as...random student? Does Tyler have horcruxes? I just don't trust teeth that shiny.
3) Listening to Order of the Phoenix while in full-on StarKid Love mode is...weird. I keep waiting for Jim Dale to slip in a "huh-der-der-der-der," and I am even more irritated by Ron and Harry conning Hermione into doing their homework than I was before those discussions in AVPM. Plus, Firenze. lolz less than three Oh, and Grubbly-Plank! I have found it impossible to hear her name without giggling.
4) This listen-through of the series has made me appreciate Hermione so much more than I did before. Not that I didn't always love her, just...I have so much respect for her and how she challenges things no one else pays any mind to. Ginny, though, is still my favourite of the main female characters for her diplomacy and open-mindedness. And for being, y'know, _sensible_ most of the time. Plus, she's a Weasley, and there is nothing I love so much as a Weasley - any Weasley; even Percy at his worst, because I'm still, somewhere deep down inside, *that* kid. Well, I say there's nothing. What I really mean is, there's nothing I love so much as a Weasley except a Lupin. Every time I hear Dale's Lupin voice, every time there's even the tiniest reference to him, I catch myself grinning from ear to ear. I will never understand what he was doing hanging out with James, Sirius, and Pettigrew; he is way too awesome for that. In my revisionist Potter history (you know, that one where Lupin was Harry's godfather...or at least a nearby AU), I'm pretty sure I want him, Lily, and Snape to have been best buds in school, because they all need friends who aren't jerkasses.
5) It was only in the closing bits of Deathly Hallows that I noticed Harry was Sirius all over again, with the godfather of an orphan and not really being in a position to fulfill that duty and all going on, but the seeds were sewn way earlier than that. It really hit me when Sirius was talking about living with the Potters for a bit and basically doing everything possible to not have to spend time at his family's house...which kind of, in a way, makes Ron James and Hermione Lily. (Is Neville Lupin?)
6) I think the Sorting Hat's song at the beginning of OotP is my favourite passage in any of the books at the moment.
And, last thing before I get much-needed sleep - I didn't really give two thoughts about Pottermore before LeakyCon (since really I was/am at my heart a casual fan and will remember that and come back to reality one of these days, I'm sure). After realizing how awesome a community at least that subset of Potter fandom is**, I figured I would probably eventually check it out, but certainly not worry about it much. But then it dawned on me that, DUH, this is a form of new media, and, crap, I'm all OVER that using-technology-to-explore-new-methods-of-storytelling stuff. Luckily, this dawning happened the same day that 1) I was home sick 2) on the fifth day of the early registration opportunities, when the clue was about the book that happens to be 3) my favourite, 4) one of only two that I personally own in print and therefore have easy access to, and 5) the one I am currently in the middle of listening to...and then 5) I woke up from my drug-induced sleep just in time for the clue to have been posted. So, my Pottermore username is WillowGlow50***, and we'll see what happens from here.
* Again, "Irrational Pinko Liberal Femibitch." Tell your friends; it's gonna be a thing.
** I am really more a fan of the community than the series itself, if that makes sense to anyone? It is 100% the characters that keep me revisiting the stories, because, while I do have some sizable issues with the plot and the world's rules (or lack thereof) and things like that, I deeply love and care about the characters, more than almost any other series I can think of...so I guess it makes sense that it's the fan-made variations and the people I've met along the way that I like most about the experience.
*** The only other option they gave me I would have even considered choosing was ThestralBlood113, but only because it's so wicked awful...and also totally awesome, assuming these things are randomly assembled and some random name generator managed to pull off the ultimate in goth nom de plume.
(Query...would thestral blood be invisible?)