bennet_7

Hey hey hey. Hope everyone had/is having a good holiday. I stayed in London, spending Christmas with friends, preparing and then eating an absurd amount of food.

I should be studying right now but...Yuletide. I am going through the fandoms alphabetically and currently I am somewhere among the H's. Here are a bunch of recs I've got so far.

( Definitely something for everyone here )

GUYS! WHY HAS NOBODY WRITTEN ABED/RORY GILMORE FIC? OR FIC WHERE ABED MEETS LORELAI?

SERIOUSLY, JUST IMAGINE THE POTENTIAL FOR POP-CULTURE REFERENCES. SUCH A FIC WOULD BE SO PRECIOUS TO ME.

If you aren't watching Parks and Recreation you should. I know I've said it before but I honestly believe that you are missing out on one of the best and most enjoyable TV shows I have seen in a long time. It's funny, it's smart, it's heartwarming, and it's consistently awesome. ( Spoilers for latest episode )

I thought this last episode of Community was good but not great. ( Spoilers )

Doctor Who was pretty great! ( Spoilers )

Finally: EUROPE! I AM DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! HOW COULD YOU VOTE FOR ( Spoilers for the winner of Eurovision )

One of my favourite entries, from 2007.



This is what Eurovision should be!

Some things that I watched in the order that I watched them.

The Killing

Another good episode but I'm slightly concerned that ( Spoilers )

Forbrydelsen

I watched the first episode of the original Danish version of The Killing and damn it was weird. So many similarities, not just in terms of the script, but the shot composition and the acting choices as well - particularly Mitch Larsen. I knew before that the two series shared the same composer but it was really jarring to hear the same music cues used. There are some notable differences though, mostly in the structure. You learn something about Stan in the first Danish episode that only comes up in the fourth American one.

I know that the killer is going to be different and that the American version will eventually diverge from the original but for now I'm going to wait to watch the rest of Forbrydelsen until after The Killing is finished as its the latter I'm currently more involved with and I don't want to be spoiled on even the smallest details.

Game of Thrones

I wasn't super psyched for this one because it looked grim, depressing, and incesty and it is all those things but I enjoyed it anyway and am really looking forward to the next episode. ( Spoilers )

How I Met Your Mother

Decent! Loved the credits.

Chuck

Beige! The only bright spot for me was Sarah's impression of Chuck's intersect face.

Cougar Town

Yes, I watch Cougar Town. I swear it's really really good! These episodes were no exception: funny, but with heart. Penny can!

The Chicago Code

I liked how this episode showed that there are people other than Gibbons that Teresa has to fight. ( Spoilers )

The Dan and Blair Show

Feeling remarkably optimistic about this one because ( Spoilers )

Parks and Recreation

Was the best! As always! ( Spoilers )

Community

I enjoyed this episode a lot more than any other of late, even as it pointed out just how formulaic Community can be. ( Spoilers )

The Office

I was whelmed. ( Spoilers )

Doctor Who

I liked a lot of this episode but I think I'm going to need to see the next part to figure out if I love it. ( Spoilers, sweetie )

1. There is a Tumblr dedicated to cats that look like Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation. And then Vulture called up Nick Offerman and got him to comment on some of the posts ("You wouldn't guess it, but that's a look of abject pleasure on both the cat and Ron," says Offerman. "That would be Ron sitting by a burbling stream, redolent of trout."). Oh internet! The random joy that you bring!

2. Speaking of Nick Offerman, I've started my West Wing rewatch and I saw him in episode 1x05 aka "The Crackpots and These Women". He played one of the crackpots, part of the delegation that speaks to CJ about Pluie the wolf and the wolves-only highway they want the government to build. It's just the kind of outdoorsy thing I can see Ron being interested in if it weren't for the fact that he hates to see tax payer's money spent so frivolously. So I have decided that Ron was once an idealistic young man who believed in big government and went to the White House to plead his case, only for him to be rebuffed by CJ's disbelief and thus he became the Libertarian curmudgeon we all know and love (and now compare to cats!). If only he'd known about the position paper CJ went on to write, about the necessity of wildlife protection...

3. Still enjoying The Chicago Code. It's definitely more about the corruption and the politics than it is about the cases, which is good because crime procedurals generally bore me to turning off the TV. One unexpected source of delight is the scenery. They film on location and they really take advantage of it by shooting the streets of Chicago in a very cinematic way: lots of wide pans and overhead shots. I had no idea Chicago was so beautiful.

And it's an interesting when juxtaposed with The Good Wife which is set in Chicago but actually shot in New York and deals with similar subject matter. Already I've gotten a much better sense of Chicago itself in the three episodes of Code than I have from the season and a half I've seen of Wife.

4. I think we're headed for trouble in the Community fandom. I think it'll look like a shipper war but speaking for myself it's actually more complicated than that. I feel that the second season hasn't had the same depth of character as the first, with Abed and Troy being the only characters to grow. Jeff and Annie get most of the focus (him out of all the characters - which, yes, he is the main character, I know - and her out of all the girls) but they keep on playing the same beats: he eventually realises that he does love this rag-tag bunch of misfits, she runs into conflict over her standards/perfectionism, and the ship teasing continues apace. Pierce has actually regressed as a character, becoming more and more unlikeable. Britta and Shirley get pushed into the background far too often for my liking and often come across as one-note (something I attribute entirely to the writing).

Anyway, I've noticed some disagreements breaking out between Jeff/Annie shippers and people who aren't Jeff/Annie shippers. Trouble is on the horizon. We'll see if the next few episodes keep it at a rumble or cause the fandom to splinter.

5. I'm currently drinking wine that cost me $8.00. I'm having a hard time detecting the notes of melon and guava it's supposed to possess, so I guess you get what you pay for.

Wow, The Vampire Diaries just does not let up, does it? I think it's having the best second season of all the returning shows at the moment - it's even got the edge over The Good Wife which has seen Eli hold the idiot ball when he's supposed to be some kind of Xanatos Speed Chess Master (apologies for linking to TVTropes) and has been trying too hard to make fetchBlake happen.

But The Vampire Diaries is consistently excellent across the board in terms of story telling, pacing, characterisation, and acting. Who'd a thunk it from the CW?

( Spoilers )

And Fridays just got even more awesome (because, due to the time difference, I get these shows after lunch on Friday) with the return in the UK of Misfits, also firing on all cylinders. For those not familiar with this show, it's about a group of juvenile delinquents who get superpowers and it's awesome! But not for the faint of heart. It's gritty, realistic, crude, rude, and profane.

( Spoilers )

I loved the first episode back of Community but since then it hasn't quite been gelling for me - perhaps too many high concept parodies too soon after Modern Warfare. But this episode I really liked.

( Spoilers )

I'm still watching The Office but more out of loyalty than enjoyment at this point. I've loved this show for so long that I'm having a hard time letting go but if it doesn't improve soon I might be out.