bennet_7: (Bright Star: La Belle Dame sans Merci)
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).

01 02 03

9 more )

13 14 15
22 more )

38 39 40
21 more )

Updating

Dec. 31st, 2009 01:40 am
bennet_7: (GW: Does it say no smoking?)
I have not updated in ages because I've done so much writing for uni that I got a bit sick of it. But I've been watching a heap of great TV shows lately that I want to talk about even if I don't quite have time to go into detail.

Totally and completely love:

- The Thick of It. Imagine The West Wing except it's only half as long, British, a dark comedy, and monumentally profane. Like, I am not even joking about the language but it's funny because most of the f-bombs are dropped by a mad Scottish version of Rahm Emmanuel and everything is just funnier when said with a Scottish accent. You don't really need to know anything about British politics, but an appreciation for Machiavellian schemes would certainly help.

- Misfits. Everyone describes it as Skins meets Heroes and that certainly works. It's about a group of juvenile delinquents who, while doing community service, are caught in a thunder storm that gives them abilities or powers that are somehow related to their personalities. There's Kelly the punchy chav who can suddenly hear people's thoughts, Alisha the good time girl whose touch sends people into a sexual frenzy, frequently ignored Simon who can become invisible, and disgraced runner Curtis turns back time. Only the obligatory psychotic jackass Nathan appears to be unchanged but we find out eventually and it would spoil the finale to tell you.

The show is intelligent and real and because it's British it's not populated with former models. These kids can act and a couple of the characters are genuinely weird or disturbed.

Quite like:

- Cranford Revisited. Just a two part Christmas special with most of the characters returning plus a few new ones. It started out a little fluffy but then the Gaskell March of Death started up so I wouldn't be surprised if half the town died in the next episode. Still, if you have longed to see Andrew Buchan holding a small infant (and I know I have) then you get your wish.

- Doctor Who. I have such low expectations for RTD penned episodes that I generally like them ok. As usual, a rubbish plot was buoyed up by great performances. Bring on The Moff!

Good but probably won't ever watch again:

- The Thorn Birds. I bought this mini-series for my mum and we watched it all on Boxing Day and as it's 400+ minutes long and I hadn't seen it before, my mind was fried after. I thought it was good despite the fact that I didn't like most of the characters. I had no idea the relationship between Meggie and Ralph was so squicky (for those who haven't seen it, they meet when she's a child and he's in his late 20's and he acts as a father figure to her. So inappropriate!) Despite the fact that it was set in Australia, it was actually filmed in California and featured only one Australian actor so it didn't feel at all Australian to me. There was only one kangaroo! Still, my favourite part of it all is that Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown (that lone Australian actor) met on the set in 1983 and have been married ever since. The chemistry between them does sizzle.


Hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoy the New Year!

Profile

bennet_7: (Default)
bennet_7

November 2020

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15 161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 18th, 2025 10:29 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios