(no subject)
First, a thing of no glee:
- The 'Do Not Call' Registery is set to expire?! I didn't know this! Did you know this? Argh!
- I am head-over-heels, crazy-in-love-with Heroes! Sight unseen, I decided to buy the DVD set early last week, and it's WONDERFUL! It's funny how so many people hastened to say "it's flawed" when describing it all through last season, and even up to now, but you know what? I agree with koalathebear: what tv show ISN'T flawed? This one is incredibly satisfying, has kept me on the edge of my seat, and has a terrific cast of charismatic characters. Not to mention a corking-good story.
I'll be perfectly honest: the thing that gave me my push to buy the set and start watching was finally linaerys, who has been writing fanfic that I'd like to be able to read. :) From everyone's description since last fall, it sounded exactly like the kind of show I would enjoy. I am, after all, a big science fiction and fantasy fan, and I love cleverly-written and self-referential genre media (for ex., I adored Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Farscape, both very witty and clever genre programs. Both flawed, but immensely wonderful and stimulating, too.
N and I rarely enjoy the same tv programs, especially when it comes to genre programming. He happened to catch the final aired episode of Firefly and liked it, much to my chagrin, when I had to tell him that it was the last episode EVER. It's probably the only other genre show that we've both liked. So with this one, I really wanted him to give it a chance. We sat down to start watching last Thursday night, and I am now TWO EPISODES from the end. That's right, I still have to finish watching, so please do not spoil me. I'm hoping we get to it tonight, because I'm dying from the suspense. If it had been me watching this alone, I'd have finished it already, but once I started wtih N and discovered that he loves it, too, I want to discover each episode with him, which is so much more fun than on my own. This way we get to bat our pet theories around and react to the surprises together.
I've gone back and read a very tiny bit of posts from my flist about Heroes from last season, all of it about episodes I've already seen. It is so interesting to me that everyone has their favorite characters and that they *gasp* even don't like some of them!
As for me, I love everyone. Yes, even Simone and Ted Sprague (who's annoying, but). I hated HRG guy (Mr. Bennet) for the longest time but of course have since come around and I respect him now. Sylar gives me the biggest creeps ever, as did the horrific revelations at the end of "Five Years Gone." I was aghast to think that Nathan, shark though he is, could possibly consider genocide! So to discover that Nathan was not Nathan after all was a relief.
My favorite character is definitely Peter. Of course, I suppose I was predisposed to like him since I've like Milo Ventimiglia for years now since his first appearance on Gilmore Girls (even though his character on that show annoyed me a lot). I adore good-hearted Peter! But I also love others - like Claire and her father and who couldn't adore Nakamura Hiro! And Ando! And Mohinder! I also love the DL/Nikki/Micah unit for the dysfunctionality that is based on an intense foundation of love.
There are so many things that I love about this show - the production values are high, the effects are good, the show has both solid and clever writing, and it really plays up the comic-book genre beautifully. Visually, I'm so in love with it - the way the titles are laid over each episode, Isaac's paintings, the 9th Wonders comic books that provide a road map for our characters, and also other things, like the filters used for New York City, and for Las Vegas and Texas. The locations and sets are really done well.
I also love how this story is essentially a story about families, and not just in the sense that the special powers must be hereditary, but that the individual stories we're seeing are about siblings and parent/child relationships, husband/wife relationships, about units of people bound together by bonds of blood and/or affection. This is so powerful, and that's partly why I love everyone so much.
I'm very glad that I didn't watch the series last season because marathoning it is so much more fun and satisfying. Generally speaking, I really prefer to watch dramas this way because everything flows together really well and a lesser episode doesn't sting as much when taken in context with the whole. Of course, this means I missed out on all the communal squeeing, but it's worth it to me to enjoy every episode as much as I do and not suffer the pangs of dissatisfaction that inevitably come when you're panting for each new episode of something.
And Hiro's unabashed enthusiasm is one of my absolute favorite things about Heroes: a character after my own heart. *huggles him*
- I watched the finale of Papa to Musume no Nanokakan! And it was wonderful, a very good ending. The best part? That the point of the drama held through to the end: that Papa and Koume achieved a greater understanding of each other and that their understanding doesn't disappear by the end simply because their cirumustances change. But there were other things that I liked - the drama not-so-subtly pointed out how the male hierarchical corporate structure can be really out of touch with the kinds of things that will sell, or the kinds of consumers out there, and that innovation and creativity are key in order to survive. Not new concepts, of course, but I liked the way it was done nevertheless.
- More KAT-TUN in Okinawa tonight! I'm very much looking forward to the second part of last week's adorable cartoon KAT-TUN episode. And on a related note, the weekend's Shounen Club was fab as well, no? I would really love it if they'd just hurry up and decide to release "Six Senses" as a single already.
- My new bento box arrived! :D I like my first one very much (square, black, 2-tiered, with a pretty gold design on top) but this one is definitely cuter. Blue with a dragonfly design, 2-tiered, and it came with a matching carrying bag, chopstick case and even matching chopsticks!
[I did not take this photo]