I see the skull beneath the skin
Tuesday night TV:
The Flash: Gorilla Warfare
This episode had some serious clunkers - Henry's "I believe in you!" business (I admit, I thought he might turn out to be earth-2!Henry who might turn out to be Zoom, but given the speech about how people looked at him differently at the murder trial - his best moment in the episode - I'm pretty sure he's earth-1!Henry and they were aiming for inspirational and overshot into corny and anvilicous); everything with Patty - but IDGAF because GORILLA CITY HOLY CRAP. Also, while I don't believe 1. that Cisco would run off just because of a vision of Hawkgirl, or 2. that Kendra would accept him back so readily (though I suppose "it was emergency CCPD business" ameliorates things), I thought she looked great in the Hawkgirl costume. HAWKGIRL. Even if she's not Shayera, I'm primed to like her.
Meanwhile, am I crazy or has Patty totally figured it out? Barry needs to tell her, because ugh, she is on the metahuman taskforce! She's involved in the Flash's business whether Barry (and Joe) want her to be or not! I am just saying. (And if she's evil, she probably already knows!)
I thought the episode would do more with Barry's doubts than what it did - showing how the citizens of Central City were (or, preferably, weren't) doubting him would have worked a lot better than a series of random pep talks.
Mostly, though, I enjoyed the homage to King Kong with Caitlin as Fay Wray. I liked that they gave Grodd more nuance, and also that he recognized Harry wasn't his Harrison Wells because he was too nice. That was fantastic. "Father doesn't ask. Father takes." And given the existence of Gorilla City, that's a metric fuckton of gorillas being experimented on. Since the show didn't reference The Middleman, I will: "[...I]f there's one thing I hate more than scientists trying to take over the world, it's scientists who twist innocent primates with computer enhanced mind control to live out their sick and perverted fantasies of criminal power."
And in two weeks' time, VANDAL SAVAGE.
iZombie: Abra Cadaver
While the magician stuff was pretty generic, I loved everyone's reactions - Ravi being totally into it! Clive totally shutting it down! Liv's hilarious goth speeches and Major's reactions! Major really needs to tell her the truth (though didn't she see the picture of Minor in the file? So she should figure it out! Also, I need Clive to figure it out, too. I mean, I'm guessing someone will eventually follow up from the FBI about the report and it will all come out, but I just want Clive to KNOW.)
I also loved everything with Blaine. He's so awful and yet charming. I thought Peyton knew all about him, though, so she shouldn't be charmed! Also, "Zombie Wan Kenobi!" Blaine!
I felt terrible for Ravi's now ex-girlfriend. She seemed cool in her first appearance, so of course they had to make her overeager instead of making Ravi have to make the choice without a push. At least he recognizes that making the move on Peyton right after was terrible. Oh Ravi, I wish you and Liv would get together.
And Wednesday reading:
What I've just finished
The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon by Alex Kershaw, which was interesting, but I didn't realize it was going to spend so much time on the men's time as POWs and that's not really my area of interest so it was kind of a slog.
Star Wars #12 wrapped up the current story arc. So now that they've had Han and Chewie use lightsabers (for certain values of the word "use"), I guess dumbasses on the internet are going to start trying to argue again that Leia's not Force-sensitive, since apparently you don't need to be to use one (just to use one effectively?). (Though I wouldn't mind an icon of all of them with their lit lightsabers.) Those people can preemptively STFU. I will fight them. On the other hand, I did like her, "I always wanted to use one of these." I bet you did, honey. I bet you did. I liked that she went back to save Sana, and that Sana reciprocated by finally being honest. ♥LEIA♥
Vader Down #1. In which Vader gets the ultimate "cool guy" treatment by walking away while everything explodes behind him. (I might also need an icon of that. IJS) He also takes out a ton of rebel pilots before Luke ("Finally, a pilot worth killing." Ha! Be careful what you wish for.) takes him down. and now they're both on the surface of the planet and Vader is going to destroy even more rebels. It's like they don't even KNOW him, I swear. I'm not rooting for him+, but I do enjoy watching him cause mayhem wherever he goes. I'm terrible, I know. I mean, you know he (and the trio et al.) walks out of it alive, so the suspense is more, how does he get out of it? And by what contrivance does he not kill Luke, Leia, and Han, and also not recognize that Leia is also his daughter. (I know I'm a broken record on that point but it's my one big nitpick with the OT.)
+okay, maybe I'm rooting for him to GET A CLUE a little sooner.
And then there's Leia, focusing on the big picture of destroying Vader and taking away an advantage for the Emperor, while Han just wants to rescue his bro, Luke. I sense an awkward family reunion in the near future!
And now I am going to rant a little about Batman and Robin Eternal (with spoilers through this week's issue). I'm still really angry about how Harper Row - who in and of herself is fine, I like her, whatever - is taking Steph's place: as Cass's friend, as a member of the Batfamily, just in every regard Harper was accepted and trusted with minimal effort while Steph was shot down and excluded over and over from knowing anything or being trusted with anything and arrgh, it just pisses me off endlessly, even as I enjoy the rest of the story.
I guess the awful Tim's parents business pays off here with Jason trying to get Tim to open up to him (also, "Punching Dick in the face is my dream date." Oh, Jason, never change). Reboot Tim is still a complete mess in regard to backstory and sometimes characterization, but I enjoyed that. I also enjoyed Cass at the ballet. Oh ♥Cass♥
What I'm reading now
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I understand why there are so many raves, but the whole thing just fills me with terrible foreboding. Which was fulfilled when Donato Sarratore assaulted our narrator. I imagine this must have been a really interesting translation job, given the baroque nature of Ferrante's sentences. The language is pretty spare, but the sentences are frequently structured in very interesting ways, which I'm guessing is from the original. Anyway, unless the ending is a little more upbeat than what's gone on so far (I'm about 2/3 of the way through), I don't think I'm going to rush out to read the next one(s), though I may put them on my for-later list at the library.
What I'm reading next
I should probably get started on yuletide source review. Sigh. I know what I want to write, but there is rereading and research involved first. And then we'll see what's on my iPad that strikes my interest. *hands*
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/795047.html.
people have commented there.
The Flash: Gorilla Warfare
This episode had some serious clunkers - Henry's "I believe in you!" business (I admit, I thought he might turn out to be earth-2!Henry who might turn out to be Zoom, but given the speech about how people looked at him differently at the murder trial - his best moment in the episode - I'm pretty sure he's earth-1!Henry and they were aiming for inspirational and overshot into corny and anvilicous); everything with Patty - but IDGAF because GORILLA CITY HOLY CRAP. Also, while I don't believe 1. that Cisco would run off just because of a vision of Hawkgirl, or 2. that Kendra would accept him back so readily (though I suppose "it was emergency CCPD business" ameliorates things), I thought she looked great in the Hawkgirl costume. HAWKGIRL. Even if she's not Shayera, I'm primed to like her.
Meanwhile, am I crazy or has Patty totally figured it out? Barry needs to tell her, because ugh, she is on the metahuman taskforce! She's involved in the Flash's business whether Barry (and Joe) want her to be or not! I am just saying. (And if she's evil, she probably already knows!)
I thought the episode would do more with Barry's doubts than what it did - showing how the citizens of Central City were (or, preferably, weren't) doubting him would have worked a lot better than a series of random pep talks.
Mostly, though, I enjoyed the homage to King Kong with Caitlin as Fay Wray. I liked that they gave Grodd more nuance, and also that he recognized Harry wasn't his Harrison Wells because he was too nice. That was fantastic. "Father doesn't ask. Father takes." And given the existence of Gorilla City, that's a metric fuckton of gorillas being experimented on. Since the show didn't reference The Middleman, I will: "[...I]f there's one thing I hate more than scientists trying to take over the world, it's scientists who twist innocent primates with computer enhanced mind control to live out their sick and perverted fantasies of criminal power."
And in two weeks' time, VANDAL SAVAGE.
iZombie: Abra Cadaver
While the magician stuff was pretty generic, I loved everyone's reactions - Ravi being totally into it! Clive totally shutting it down! Liv's hilarious goth speeches and Major's reactions! Major really needs to tell her the truth (though didn't she see the picture of Minor in the file? So she should figure it out! Also, I need Clive to figure it out, too. I mean, I'm guessing someone will eventually follow up from the FBI about the report and it will all come out, but I just want Clive to KNOW.)
I also loved everything with Blaine. He's so awful and yet charming. I thought Peyton knew all about him, though, so she shouldn't be charmed! Also, "Zombie Wan Kenobi!" Blaine!
I felt terrible for Ravi's now ex-girlfriend. She seemed cool in her first appearance, so of course they had to make her overeager instead of making Ravi have to make the choice without a push. At least he recognizes that making the move on Peyton right after was terrible. Oh Ravi, I wish you and Liv would get together.
And Wednesday reading:
What I've just finished
The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon by Alex Kershaw, which was interesting, but I didn't realize it was going to spend so much time on the men's time as POWs and that's not really my area of interest so it was kind of a slog.
Star Wars #12 wrapped up the current story arc. So now that they've had Han and Chewie use lightsabers (for certain values of the word "use"), I guess dumbasses on the internet are going to start trying to argue again that Leia's not Force-sensitive, since apparently you don't need to be to use one (just to use one effectively?). (Though I wouldn't mind an icon of all of them with their lit lightsabers.) Those people can preemptively STFU. I will fight them. On the other hand, I did like her, "I always wanted to use one of these." I bet you did, honey. I bet you did. I liked that she went back to save Sana, and that Sana reciprocated by finally being honest. ♥LEIA♥
Vader Down #1. In which Vader gets the ultimate "cool guy" treatment by walking away while everything explodes behind him. (I might also need an icon of that. IJS) He also takes out a ton of rebel pilots before Luke ("Finally, a pilot worth killing." Ha! Be careful what you wish for.) takes him down. and now they're both on the surface of the planet and Vader is going to destroy even more rebels. It's like they don't even KNOW him, I swear. I'm not rooting for him+, but I do enjoy watching him cause mayhem wherever he goes. I'm terrible, I know. I mean, you know he (and the trio et al.) walks out of it alive, so the suspense is more, how does he get out of it? And by what contrivance does he not kill Luke, Leia, and Han, and also not recognize that Leia is also his daughter. (I know I'm a broken record on that point but it's my one big nitpick with the OT.)
+okay, maybe I'm rooting for him to GET A CLUE a little sooner.
And then there's Leia, focusing on the big picture of destroying Vader and taking away an advantage for the Emperor, while Han just wants to rescue his bro, Luke. I sense an awkward family reunion in the near future!
And now I am going to rant a little about Batman and Robin Eternal (with spoilers through this week's issue). I'm still really angry about how Harper Row - who in and of herself is fine, I like her, whatever - is taking Steph's place: as Cass's friend, as a member of the Batfamily, just in every regard Harper was accepted and trusted with minimal effort while Steph was shot down and excluded over and over from knowing anything or being trusted with anything and arrgh, it just pisses me off endlessly, even as I enjoy the rest of the story.
I guess the awful Tim's parents business pays off here with Jason trying to get Tim to open up to him (also, "Punching Dick in the face is my dream date." Oh, Jason, never change). Reboot Tim is still a complete mess in regard to backstory and sometimes characterization, but I enjoyed that. I also enjoyed Cass at the ballet. Oh ♥Cass♥
What I'm reading now
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I understand why there are so many raves, but the whole thing just fills me with terrible foreboding. Which was fulfilled when Donato Sarratore assaulted our narrator. I imagine this must have been a really interesting translation job, given the baroque nature of Ferrante's sentences. The language is pretty spare, but the sentences are frequently structured in very interesting ways, which I'm guessing is from the original. Anyway, unless the ending is a little more upbeat than what's gone on so far (I'm about 2/3 of the way through), I don't think I'm going to rush out to read the next one(s), though I may put them on my for-later list at the library.
What I'm reading next
I should probably get started on yuletide source review. Sigh. I know what I want to write, but there is rereading and research involved first. And then we'll see what's on my iPad that strikes my interest. *hands*
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/795047.html.
people have commented there.