... in which I'm not the only one believing there's an easier way
I'm back. My trip was lovely, and now it's business as usual. This calls for kicking things, especially as business as usual currently means that the world has it out for the nice people. Gah. So, I'm going to geek a little about some of the weekend's nerdy stuff.
1. I saw Bend It Like Beckham! This is lovely; I've been wanting to for ages, and while it's pretty much a fluffy romantic comedy, there are some great moments and it's got so much more depth to it than most films in the genre. What with this and Wimbledon, we're spoiled for good romantic comedy sports films. Mmm, yay. It was delightful: the people in it were pretty, there was actual characterisation ohmygod, and it was geniuinely funny - especially given that half the people I went to school with were exactly like that. Hee. Even better, it was all LONDON with chippies and currys and football that's actually football and the actual Match of the Day presenters and Cockney accents and the guy from Goodness Gracious Me (but not the one who just married Meera Syal). This made me say things like "check out the rasmalaiiiii!" and "we want the blandest thing on the menu, yah" and generally make a huge dork of myself. Even if I still think the title is pretty shit, the film itself is way better than it sounds. This, incidentally = YAY.
Plus, I would like to say a big WHOO for a film that actually had the relationships between women as being important. Even the hotness that is Jonathan Rhys Meyers, unlike pretty much every other romantic comedy EVER, didn't stop the fact that these were girls who cared about each other and had lives and concerns way beyond getting a boyfriend. To the extent that the boy got left behind at the end while the girlies went off to better things together, even. Thank freaking fuck, seriously. I suspect most filmgoers don't get nearly as pissed off about this as I do, but oh it's nice to have a mainstream film where the man isn't automatically more important and successful than the woman.
And if this also means there are lots of possible femmeslashy interpretations to geek over, well, I can't deny that's a bonus. :D
2. We re-watched the original British version of Queer as Folk and I still think it's one of the best pieces of television ever made. Every single time, you can see other stuff in it. For instance, on the surface Stuart's a really obvious person to understand - he wants to get laid and rich, and that's about it. But this time, what really hit me is just how complicated he really is; he cares about his kid, and the Lesbians, and Alexander, and Hazel, and even Nathan in a weird way, and as for Vince, I suspect entire books could be written about the psychological mess going on there. Vince is his mother and his best friend and the love of his life and the person who pisses him off most all at once, and how he wants and hates that at the exact same time and how that comes through in the whole palaver at Vince's 30th birthday party with Rosalie is just... guh. If Russell T. Davis wasn't, y'know, the real life Vince and hence incredibly gay, I just might consider proposing to him for that alone.
I also discovered that Vince works at ASDA, which is absolutely freaking hilarious. Vince, an Aldi or Netto guy if ever there was one. That really shouldn't amuse me as much as it does. Heeeeee. Also, his little pretence that he's with Stuart and they're going to buy a house in Didsbury together makes me want to cry. I love these people.
3. I bought Fables! Bill Willingham, creator of said awesome comic series in which the characters from fairytales have set up a new town in New York, is awesome. Not Neil Gaiman, maybe - his dialogue, while good, doesn't sparkle like Neil's, and he doesn't have Neil's awe-inspiring grasp of every aspect of the comics medium - but it's still damn good. It's an honestly interesting idea being dealt with well, and I can totally see why people are fussing about it. Comics are all too often a load of shite, and to see them being used to tell good stories is wonderful. I want to find more now, dangit. Now I know that I was right about what happened to Rose, I want to find out what happens with Snow and Bigby and meet all the other Fables and see how long it takes for somebody to finally punch Prince Charming one properly and and and and...
Poll Son of the Mask
In other news, apparently there is going to be a Lord of the Rings musical. I suspect it's kind of sad that my instinctive reaction is "but it's already a musical!" They sing a LOT; mostly good songs, too, as well as being, y'know, actually written by Tolkien, dangit.
*goes off singing "Gil-galad was an Elven king, of him the harpers sadly sing, the last whose realm was fair and free, between the Mountains and the Sea..."
1. I saw Bend It Like Beckham! This is lovely; I've been wanting to for ages, and while it's pretty much a fluffy romantic comedy, there are some great moments and it's got so much more depth to it than most films in the genre. What with this and Wimbledon, we're spoiled for good romantic comedy sports films. Mmm, yay. It was delightful: the people in it were pretty, there was actual characterisation ohmygod, and it was geniuinely funny - especially given that half the people I went to school with were exactly like that. Hee. Even better, it was all LONDON with chippies and currys and football that's actually football and the actual Match of the Day presenters and Cockney accents and the guy from Goodness Gracious Me (but not the one who just married Meera Syal). This made me say things like "check out the rasmalaiiiii!" and "we want the blandest thing on the menu, yah" and generally make a huge dork of myself. Even if I still think the title is pretty shit, the film itself is way better than it sounds. This, incidentally = YAY.
Plus, I would like to say a big WHOO for a film that actually had the relationships between women as being important. Even the hotness that is Jonathan Rhys Meyers, unlike pretty much every other romantic comedy EVER, didn't stop the fact that these were girls who cared about each other and had lives and concerns way beyond getting a boyfriend. To the extent that the boy got left behind at the end while the girlies went off to better things together, even. Thank freaking fuck, seriously. I suspect most filmgoers don't get nearly as pissed off about this as I do, but oh it's nice to have a mainstream film where the man isn't automatically more important and successful than the woman.
And if this also means there are lots of possible femmeslashy interpretations to geek over, well, I can't deny that's a bonus. :D
2. We re-watched the original British version of Queer as Folk and I still think it's one of the best pieces of television ever made. Every single time, you can see other stuff in it. For instance, on the surface Stuart's a really obvious person to understand - he wants to get laid and rich, and that's about it. But this time, what really hit me is just how complicated he really is; he cares about his kid, and the Lesbians, and Alexander, and Hazel, and even Nathan in a weird way, and as for Vince, I suspect entire books could be written about the psychological mess going on there. Vince is his mother and his best friend and the love of his life and the person who pisses him off most all at once, and how he wants and hates that at the exact same time and how that comes through in the whole palaver at Vince's 30th birthday party with Rosalie is just... guh. If Russell T. Davis wasn't, y'know, the real life Vince and hence incredibly gay, I just might consider proposing to him for that alone.
I also discovered that Vince works at ASDA, which is absolutely freaking hilarious. Vince, an Aldi or Netto guy if ever there was one. That really shouldn't amuse me as much as it does. Heeeeee. Also, his little pretence that he's with Stuart and they're going to buy a house in Didsbury together makes me want to cry. I love these people.
3. I bought Fables! Bill Willingham, creator of said awesome comic series in which the characters from fairytales have set up a new town in New York, is awesome. Not Neil Gaiman, maybe - his dialogue, while good, doesn't sparkle like Neil's, and he doesn't have Neil's awe-inspiring grasp of every aspect of the comics medium - but it's still damn good. It's an honestly interesting idea being dealt with well, and I can totally see why people are fussing about it. Comics are all too often a load of shite, and to see them being used to tell good stories is wonderful. I want to find more now, dangit. Now I know that I was right about what happened to Rose, I want to find out what happens with Snow and Bigby and meet all the other Fables and see how long it takes for somebody to finally punch Prince Charming one properly and and and and...
Poll Son of the Mask
In other news, apparently there is going to be a Lord of the Rings musical. I suspect it's kind of sad that my instinctive reaction is "but it's already a musical!" They sing a LOT; mostly good songs, too, as well as being, y'know, actually written by Tolkien, dangit.
*goes off singing "Gil-galad was an Elven king, of him the harpers sadly sing, the last whose realm was fair and free, between the Mountains and the Sea..."