bennet_7

I was going to update yesterday but I got sidetracked on tvtropes.com for, like, 8 hours (not hyperlinking that site for the sake of you guys. It is the best time waster on the entire internet. Once you start reading you can stop but it is seriously difficult). So here's what I've been watching:

- Avatar: The Last Airbender: I started watching this a couple of days before they released the full trailer for the movie adaptation. I watched 2 and a half seasons online in less than a week, burning through my download quota for the month by the 15th of February (I spent the rest of the month trying to convince my mother that the fault for the internet being so slow was anybody but mine). But I got to say: worth it.

I loved this series. All the characters are great but I'm especially taken with the female characters and how the show deals with sexism head-on. The world building and plotting are aces too. If you have any fic recs for the couples Sokka/Suki, Zuko/Mai, and Katara/Aang let me have them. The bad thing about showing up late to the fandom is that you can miss out on those great early fics and the sense of community with other fans; conversely, you avoid all the drama and in-fandom fighting by showing up late, where the only option open to you is acceptance of how it played out. As I gather that there was quite a hullabaloo amongst the fans even before the so-called "racebending" of the film, I think I'm happy I showed up to this party late (to paraphrase Sam Seaborn: let's embrace the fact that I showed up at all).

- Bright Star. I have been waiting for this film for ages and I was not disappointed. The love story between John Keats and Fanny Brawne is one of the most affecting that I've ever come across (this is a good account of it) and it was wonderful to see it handled with such sensitivity and grace - clearly not a product of Hollywood. All the performances were amazing and it's such a shame that Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, and Paul Schneider weren't recognised with any acting awards (not that I expected Whishaw to as his depiction of masculinity was rather more sensitive than most people like, but I'm glad he didn't turn Keats into Byron). It is a travesty that it's not nominated for best picture, director, or cinematography. It's just gorgeous. I really hope it wins best costume design - it had a triple pleated mushroom collar!

- The Winter Olympics. Never really watched them before as the free-to-air coverage here in Australia is never great, but this time we got four dedicated channels on our cable so that was awesome. I discovered that I liked some sports I'd never heard of before (Mogul Skiing), didn't like others (Curling. I tried. It was boring), and I really got into figure skating in a way I never had before (previously, my only educational tool about the sport had been The Cutting Edge (tooooooooeeeeee piiiiiiiiicccck) and my limited experience on the ice itself (I think I've been six times). But now I know the names of all the elements (even if I can't tell the jumps apart - it's all just spinning in the air to me) and I know that there is a difference between figure skating and ice dancing.

Speaking of ice dancing: OMGZ VIRTUE AND MOIR ARE THE CUTEST MOST, ADORABLEST THING EVER AND I WANT THEM TO DATE AND MARRY AND WIN MORE GOLD MEDALS AND THEN HAVE BABIES!!!1!!

Ahem.

That was my reaction to the gold medal winning ice dancers from Canada who are just spectacular. In addition to mad skating skillz they had the best chemistry of all the pairs in competition which is amazing considering that they aren't a couple off the ice (apparently) and several others were (3 pairs were sibling teams and that was just a little bit creepy). You just feel that there's something between them.

I'll definitely be watching the World Championships in a couple of weeks.

And now: icons. Some Virtue and Moir, the first of a bunch of Bright Star, and a few from The Thick of It (mostly Malcolm because he is the best).

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