tag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054Once a StrangerEtrangereEtrangere2022-03-24T17:05:11Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:734738Stuff I've been watching2022-03-24T17:00:26Z2022-03-24T17:05:11Zpublic0Caught up on <b>Shadow and Bone</b> which I enjoyed a lot. It's very Young Adult in vibe, in a way that I found refreshing to see in TV shows format, in that you need to not think too much about the plot and everybody is way too young; but it looks very pretty and is well realized to craft atmosphere wonderfully; and the characters are overall endearing.<br /><br />For context I've read the Six of Crows duology but not the main Grishaverse trilogy (which i've only heard bad thing about) so it was a bit odd to see how the series adapt both stories by mixing them together a bit awkwardly. I love the Crows characters and they did feel like they were a full B plot of the story. <span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/734738.html#cutid1">spoilers</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br />Finished watching <b>Star Trek: Discovery's S4</b>. Overall that was my favorite season. I liked how the stakes were built, how the vein of optimism was worked and how the show has been increasingly using more of its full cast. I've not liked any of the final of the series a lot and while I still had issue with this one finale <span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___2" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/734738.html#cutid2">spoilers</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___2" aria-live="assertive"></div>, it was my favorite finale so far.<br /><br />I've also watched an anime series called <b>Mashiro no Oto</b>, from last year. It's basically a shamisen sport shounen thus proving once more that you can build sport shounen out of everything. It was a lot of fun, greatly helped by the quality of the sountrack. I don't know much about shamisen music, but I enjoyed hearing it immensely. The story is a bit rough and honestly feels more like a first arc to the story (which it probably is, being the adaptation of a light novel) than anything. The characters are fun - I especially appreciated for spirited and sometimes aggressive many of the female characters are. The story had gusto, I really hope there's a second season sometimes to watch. (also I wish I could find an OST for it which I haven't been able to so far).<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=734738" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:733646salinea @ 2022-03-03T20:05:002022-03-03T19:15:15Z2022-03-04T08:39:32Zpublic4I said I wanted to get back to posting here but actually posting is very difficult. I'm all out of habit for blogging regularly in a talking about myself kind of way.<br /><br />Let's try a bit...<br /><br />I've just finishing catching up on <b>The Marvelous Mrs Maisel</b>; which is overall pretty marvelous indeed. I didn't know at all what to get into except that it was kinda Jewish and it's been a delight. Less often laugh out loudly funny than one would except given the premise... more often being amused in the inside kind of funny. Sometimes hard to catch all the references (a friend had to tell me that Lenny Bruce was a real historical person. In my defense, stand up comics are one of the thing that the almighty imperialist American media machine exports internationally very little of, comparatively speaking). Although the most disorientating moment was seeing men and women sit side by side at a fancy synagogue. I found the series weirdly anxiety-inducing but I think that's mostly due to me being in a period of anxiety than really due to the story (depending on one's resistance to people throwing out money in stupid ways). The series is supposed to end this season in the next couple of weeks, so that's something to look forward to.<br /><br />I'm gonna watch the first episode of S2 of <b>Picard</b> tonight; and I continue to enjoy the current Discovery season a whole lot.<br /><br />Otherwise I've been trying to start watching <b>Steven Universe</b> (finally) and so far it's not grabbing me much unfortunately. I'm only 10 episodes in and a friend told me it was supposed to be slow until the 26th episode but still. Not sure if I'll manage to make it that far.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=733646" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:732898salinea @ 2015-12-03T19:21:002015-12-03T18:21:27Z2015-12-03T18:21:27Zpublic4Just caught up with Killjoys.<br /><br />Very nice show, starts good with a bit of cheese and builds up to pretty damn good quite quickly. Great world-building especially, with a very evocative tone of noir and pulp built with the recurrent supportive cast. Definitely makes you want to see more of them and of the back-story.<br /><br />The main cast is good - three characters only, the main one a woman of color with a mysterious past of being trained as an assassin who is extremely badass, and two brother, one a former soldier also with a past, and the second the tech guy / heart of the group. I'm not quite in love, except for the female character being awesome, but they're fun enough.<br /><br />Plotting's decent, and fairly efficient in term of the story moving fast.<br /><br />Definitely scratches a farscape / firefly / cowboy bebop / shadowrun IN SPACE itch that I'd been missing for a while!!<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=732898" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:729752might as well post this here too...2014-09-27T00:02:28Z2014-09-27T00:02:28Zpublic8So to do a recap of this week’s American TV shows:<br /><br />- The Good Wife: Yes, good, show. I still love you the most. Especially you, Kalinda. OMG Eli even got to be COMPETENT. That’s wonderful. Keep on with it. Don’t make me stress too much about Cary though, show, I rather like him, all in all and I don’t watch you to be stressed.<br /><br />- Sleepy Hollow: <span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/729752.html#cutid1">small spoiler</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br />- Gotham: Well you do the city Gotham pretty good, so that’s a big point in your favourite, and I also I loved baby Selina so far and even baby Bruce. I never like Bruce, wtf. I’m actually not sure what to make of what you’re doing with Renée yet (and Cris) but she’s one of my fav SO DONT MESS UP. I’m afraid your Gordon bores me. I fear this is my white male protagonist fatigue more than anything, cuz he’s not badly acted or anything. Fish Moony is delightful tho, so there’s that. You need to improve on the writing front fast though, otherwise you’ll be as mediocre Agents of Shield.<br /><br />- Agents of SHIELD: Oh show, I’m afraid you’re on a countdown. Improve quickly and stop mistreating your female characters quickly. Stop making Coulson so fucking aggravating, I’m starting to hate seeing him on screen if you keep doing that raising music and it’s so cheesy and I want to throw things at my screen. <span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___2" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/729752.html#cutid2">spoiler</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___2" aria-live="assertive"></div> So basically you have a few episodes to improve quickly or I give up on you. Cheers!<br /><br />- How to Get Away With Murder: Good writing, good plot set up, intriguing characters if not yet quite what I would call sympathetic yet. But I like plotty stories too, I can roll with that rather than character appeal for now. I like the use of male seducing, too, interesting gender reversal in how it was handled. Don’t get too excited with the fancy jumpcut shit, it’s not 2007 any more and it just looks silly. Just, be smart and not too creepy and we’ll be great friends.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />so yeah, hi! Anybody still reading?<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=729752" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:723797Stuff I watched in the last few months2013-01-07T19:37:43Z2013-01-08T14:19:29Zpublic4The last third of 2012, I spent watching a lot of anime with <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://runespoor.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://runespoor.dreamwidth.org/'><b>runespoor</b></a></span>. A lot of those were rewatches for me, and I don't have much to say besides that I still love Utena and Princess Tutu to death, that the lack of Michiko e Hatchin fics is criminal, and that I can't help but love Code Geass to death despite a lot of flaws, also Kaleido Stars was even better than I remembered and I should go seriously hunt for fics some day. And Dark than Black is good. And so's Skip Beat! but it doesn't go far enough into the manga.<br /><br />But there was also some new to me stuff:<br /><br /><b>Puella Magica Madoka</b><br />A deconstructive and dark take on Magical Girls, in a very Faustian way. <span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid1">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha</b><br />Magical Girl meets Science Fiction seinen, with friending everyone for greater justice and also overwhelming weaponry.<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___2" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid2">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___2" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>Sailor Moon S1</b><br />With a skip-the-filler rec list. I was a little bit bored with it at the beginning although it was cute and funny; but it really gets into its groove by the second arc and then you get really attached to the characters and the story and the emotional moment and you realise why it's so iconic a series for so many people.<br />Both <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://runespoor.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://runespoor.dreamwidth.org/'><b>runespoor</b></a></span> and I turned into very big fan of Zoisite. <br /><br /><b>Oban Star Racer</b><br />Actually a French cartoon, albeit one with a lot of anime like visual style and genre convention ;)<br />A Science Fiction racing pod series about a young girl who wants to connect back with her abandoning asshole of a father who gets thrust as a result into the big racing game that will determine the geopolitical balance of the whole Galaxy for the next 10,000 years and thus could save the earth from the evil aliens who'd like to conquer it.<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___3" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid3">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___3" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /> <br />On my own I watched:<br /><b>Chihayafuru</b>: An anime series of this year, about a girl trying to found a club for the obscure Japanese card game of Karita that's she's passionate about, along with her unlucky childhood friend.<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___4" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid4">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___4" aria-live="assertive"></div> <br /><br /><b>The House of the Eliotts S1 & a good 2/3 of S2</b><br />So somewhere on failfandom_anon I saw someone saying they couldn't get into Downton Abbey because they kept hoping for it to be House of the Eliotts. Since my own watching of Downton Abbey I kept hoping for it to be <i>something else</i>, I thought perhaps I could enjoy this more.<br />And it is very good. It's certainly much less sentimental than Downton Abbey (which is what I hate most about that series), and while it is still pretty soappy at times, it doesn't feel like it goes completely unbelievable (yet).<br />It's a Brittish series from the '90s. The story is set in the '20s, and focusses on two upper middle class young women as their controlling and overly forbidding father has just died and they have to find out how to live on their own, and finally enjoy their freedom, and set up a fashion house. It's really great in term of development of female characters and their relationships.<br />I don't think they handle class issues any better than Downton Abbey does, though, and possibly worse; though they get more into that in the second season and I'm curious to see where it'll lead.<br /><br /><b>Terriers</b><br />An American buddy private detective show set in San Diego. Excellently well done, a shame it only had one season before cancellation. One of the main character is a recovering Alcoholic who lost his job as a cop and had his marriage broken by his addiction; the other is a former thief.<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___5" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid5">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___5" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>X-Men Evolution S4</b><br />And I finally finished the last season. Had some difficulty with that because I was really getting sick of the bad characterisation of some characters and mishandling of the X-Men themes by the end. Not only did they mess up with Magneto, Pietro, Wanda, Storm and Mystique, but they also managed to fuck up with Gabby and Legion at which point there is just no forgiveness.<br />The second season will remain my favourite part of the series.<br /><br />And for the anime series I watched this Autumn season:<br /><b>Kami-sama Kiss</b>: A very cute romcom about a young highschool girl who just lost her home due to eviction who becomes the new God of the Land (despite being human) at a local shrine, and then has to deal with her new temple familiar, a bad tempered, acidic tongued wild fox.<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___6" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid6">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___6" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>K</b> (may have a second season somewhere down the line): A urban fantasy series revolving around two magical groups skirmiching against one another - one is a gang, the other are rules-bound and uniforms-clad - the mysterious young happy-go-lucky student who may or may not be evil (spoiler alert: he turns out to be a Nazi scientist, but a nice one. Bet you didn't see that coming. Yeah, I'm spoiling you guys because I don't think people want to watch series where the protagonist turns out to be a Nazi scientist, surprise!, especially a nice one) and the samurai who is looking for him in order to kill him (if he is evil).<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___7" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid7">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___7" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>Zetsuen no Tempest</b> (still on going): This one revolves around two highschool student who are childhood friend, one is a reckless, selfish hotheaded, and the other - our viewpoint character - is more levelheaded and somewhat manipulative; as they get involved into a big epic magical showdown that involves Lovecraftian fruits turning whole cities' populations into metal and a Magical Princess exiled on a desert island communicating with out protagonist with a "voodoo" doll. Also there was the hotheaded's sister who died a year ago, and his resulting quest for vengeance, and our protagonist hiding a key fact to him about his relationship with the sister. Oh, and, also, there are a lot of Shaekspeare quotes. Especially Hamlet and the Tempest (at some point our protagonist actually muses that he's trying to shift the story from being Hamlet into being The Tempest, with a happy ending).<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___8" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid8">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___8" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>Psycho Pass</b> (still on going): A distopic cyberpunk series about cops in a society where everyone's Psychological status is constantly monitored for the sake of determining if they're a potential criminal (or, for that matter, to determine what's the best life for them), with a fresh new cop who is a young, idealist, supposedly very smart woman, and one of her subaltern, belonging to the group of the Potential Criminals who do the actual investigation in cases.<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___9" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid9">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___9" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>From the New World</b> (still on going): Another distopic SF story, this one about the society a thousand years from current days, that exist in a world where humans develop telekinetic power. It follows a group of children as they are educated and socialised in a very agricultural and seemingly peaceful world, but where they are taught to fear all sorts of creatures on the outside, as well as the possibility to turn into demons. As they grow up, they find out a lot more about their world and the terrible secrets it hides.<br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___10" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/723797.html#cutid10">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___10" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=723797" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:719555TV shows that I watched lately2012-08-20T21:14:46Z2012-08-20T21:16:04Zpublic2Let's try to get it under order.<br /><br />I don't think I ended up saying what I thought of <b>Community</b> S2 & S3. Basically S2 was brilliant and even had glimmers of characterizations here and there that made me think those were real people, but then S3 was a let down.<br /><br />Then I watched <b>Downton Abbey</b>, which wasn't exactly what I expected it to be. Given the glowing terms in which I had heard spoke of it, I was thinking it would something quite sharper and deeper - Gosford Park or Mad Men it ain't. It was pure sentimental soap and sometimes of a quite conservative bent. However it was ridiculously and additcively entertaining, with solid storytelling, and lots of fun dialogues; so there was that.<br /><br />Finally wrapped up <b>Mouretsu Pirates</b>. It is definitely solid, fun, and sometimes even refreshingly clever, despite the too leisurely for my liking pacing and sometimes overplayed cuteness. I probably wouln'd mind reading some Marika/Chiaki fanfics.<br /><br /><b>X-Men Evolution S3</b> finally gets some more proper plotting on board. And yet still completely miss the beat in term of how it addresses X-Men themes. However some of the stories aren't bad. Definitely liked X-23 showing up. I still hate how they do some of the characters.<br /> <br />Otherwise I've started watching <b>Damages</b>, I gobbled down both first seasons at a ridiculous fast space - that was some delicious mindfuckery and intriguing storytelling. Grounded down to a crawl for the third season however, it just starts feeling too depressing for me, I think. But it is a brilliant show.<br /><br />Started watching <b>Sinbad</b>. So far I am not very convinced. There are a few things I like in the premise - historical fantasy adventures, lots of PoCs in the cast, rag tag band of misfit - but the storytelling is really not up to par. Still, I'd like to give it a chance. Besides, I watch it for the pretties.<br /><br /><br />Anyway, I failed to check on any anime series this season. Did I end up missing anything good?<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=719555" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:717508quick reviews2012-07-06T18:23:03Z2012-07-06T18:29:08Zpublic1<b>Lupin III - The Woman named Fujiko Mine</b> ended up on a high note, actually fixing many of the issues I was starting to have with the narrative. Mind, it's still a very trashy story, but sometimes I love that. And it was stylish and cool, and the voice actress for Fujko Mine was AWESOME and mostly I loved it. I think the main weakness was the lack of cleverness in plotting, too often resorting to a sort of surrealistic plotfiat to drive the ending. Sometimes it was fun, but often I like better thought out stuff from heist/con stories<br /><br /><b>Sakamichi no Apollon</b> was a very good coming of age story revolving on romance polygon + jazz. It was especially very well realised as far as characterization go in a very touching way; and the soundtrack was amazing. I wish the jazz part had been more at the forefront though, because I just didn't have that much interest in the romance triangle, well realized though it might have been. It also kind of felt like some plot threads and themes were just dropped, which was a bit disappointing, good at the anime in itself was.<br /><br />I've also finished watching the second season of <b>X-Men Evolution</b>. The writing quality does take a huge bump, to the point I wonder if they've added a few better writers to their team at this point XD There's a couple of episodes that really work great in term of tension and characterizations. Loved the addition of the second class, especially Boom Boom. However, it does feel like they've stretched thin the stuff they can do without Mutants being public knowledge, sorts of feel they should have gone ahead and out them at the end of S1. Xavier continues being a hilariously creepy headmaster, this time by failing to try to recruit the abandoned brotherhood. >_> Also i continue to hate what they do with Magneto in this series. A LOT. Oh, and Storm finally gets an episode that focused on her and they use it to 1/ damsel in distress her, 2/ get her attacked by a bunch of racist stereotypes. WTF, XmenEv<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=717508" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:716811Legend of Korra S12012-06-24T00:45:40Z2013-01-07T19:38:51Zpublic9Legend of Korra was for me, in the end, largely a disappointment. <span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/716811.html#cutid1">no real spoilers but i'll cut anyway since the finale is so recent</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=716811" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:715857So most TV series I was watching have recently ended2012-06-11T19:36:16Z2012-06-12T07:28:47Zpublic40Lessee... <br /><br /><b>The Good Wife</b> has been very, very good. Not a perfect season still, but I think one of those I enjoyed most. Easily my favorite show currently.<br /><br />The second season of <b>Game of Thrones</b> I have found disappointing, mostly. It was badly paced (may have been a problem with the books already), and the adaption really focused on stuff I was less interested with in the things they changed. Theon's story is the only part I felt was done really well. Tyrion was okay, mostly, but I'm really not sure about what they're doing with Shae (some of the changes have been interesting in making her more easily sympathetic, <lj-spoiler>but I'm afraid that sets up a worse turn in the end)</lj-spoiler>; Sansa's story (one of my favourite in Clash of Kings) was shamelessly dropped; I hate the changes with Cat and Robb - they are insulting; Arya was good thanks to her actress being great and the chemistry with Tywin's actor but still rather weakened her character. Cersei was also very much weakened. Can't say I'm crazy with the changes in Jaime either (kinslayer, lol); and while Stannis is pretty great, I don't think Davos comes across with enough charisma. The changes with Daenarys are probably the worst - while they needed to buff up her storyline, the way they did it was incredibly weak and boring and barely coherent. Her scenes in the finale had a nice atmosphere to them at least, even if they came very short of the power of the visions in the book.<br /><br />Overall I find that this <a href="http://feministfiction.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/do-most-women-suck-in-game-of-thrones-the-prince-of-winterfell/">post</a> sums up a lot of my feelings.<br /><br /><b>Mad Men</b> was very good this season; although I feel it is a bit aimless, like the main story's already done, and now we're just going on, and it's still interesting to watch, but I'm not sure it's been adding anything of note. I'm not sure I'll be able to watch the show if we don't have Peggy as core cast either, so I'm a little bit dubious about what they're going to do next.<br /><br /><b>Miss Fisher Mysteries</b> was overall a very nice and very fun series. As I got more attached to the cast (and they are very charming) I found myself enjoying it much more. The plots weren't great, and sometimes felt too "issue of the week", but otherwise lots of fun. Dot was my absolute favourite, she is totally adorable and such a fierce one when called on to. I rather feel like she's totally wasted on Hughes, though, who does nothing but irritate me with his bumbling sidekick act. I'd ship her with Phryne if I didn't love Phryne's interaction with Jack so much (he's so cute when he gets flustered and long suffering). Anyway, I look forward to a second season (we do get one, right?).<br /><br />Anime wise, I'm currently watching Sakamichi no Apollon and Lupin the Third - Mine Fujiko to I Onna, which are both very good. Mine Fujiko is a little bit on the trashy/exploitation-y side with how not coy it is with the main character's use of sex & sex appeal to do things - but I don't really mind that - Sakamichi no Apollon is just, very well done. Often I felt I wasn't in the mood for a love triangle / high school romance kind of deal, but it works anyway because the characterizations and storytelling and of course the soundtrack is just that well done. And the OT3 is strong in this one ♥ Also I think I'm going to give <b>Mouretsu Pirates</b> a second chance (I had initially dropped it after the 3rd episode because I found it too slow/boring) since it continues to get a lot of enthusiasm. And, apparently, canon lesbians.<br /><br />Otherwise, I've been trying to watch the kdrama <b>Emperor of the Sea</b>, but I have had troubles getting into it. Not because it's bad or anything, but I don't seem to manage to invest myself in the storyline. I think the problem is I find the main character to be utterly blah. There's an awesome female villain, and the female love interest is also pretty cool, but I'm not sure it's enough to keep me hooked, and i'm afraid I'm going to end up dropping it out of lack of motivation.<br /><br />I've finished watching the <b>X-Men series</b> from the 90's, which, yeah, does get a big drop in quality by the last seasons. Although it continues having a few great episodes and I very much don't regret watching it - it really goes to the heart of the characters and the themes most of the time, I really dig that. And of course all the Magneto episodes are awesome ♥ (I found it hilarious the <a href="http://4thletter.net/2012/05/31-things-that-make-me-happy-part-2/">4th letter did a blog post mentioning</a>: <blockquote>I always found it weird how despite being the X-Men’s #1 bad guy and leading the villain army in the intro, Magneto did shockingly little in the villainy department on that show. He fought them in the third episode (where Xavier defeated him by MAKING HIM RELIVE THE HOLOCAUST, which is extremely fucked for a kid show), but all his subsequent appearances had him fighting alongside the X-Men in some fashion. Granted, there was a lot of reluctance from both sides, but he was there.</blockquote><br />Because I was thinking the same thing XD And he still works great as a foil to the X-Men!<br /><br />So of course I move on to <b>X-Men: Evolution</b>, which, yeaaaaah, doesn't work so much for me. I've just finished the 1st season so for now, besides that I don't like what they do with Magneto, I find it quite a bit too shallow. I don't dislike the high school thing as much as I thought I would (although having both the "good" kids and the "bad" ones in the same school really stretch the suspension of disbelief. What, did they concerted each other for that sake for some... purpose?), their Mystique comes across as wayyy too weak, Kitty feels also like she lost a few levels in badass, Rogue's better than I thought she would be despite how I dislike the goth charadesign; but she still comes very much short from the 90's X-Men series' Rogue, and Storm has yet to really demonstrate a personality (whereas Wolvy has had plenty of focus, grrr). Also Xavier comes hilariously creepy in his methods of recruitment. Scott and Jean are pretty good, and Nightcrawler is absolutely adorable. Oh, and then there's Spyke. He's, errr, there. As for the villain team kids, I reserve judgment; they come across as overly petty in a way that feels hamfisted at times, but they also seem to have potential, so I'll wait and see (at least unless the portrayal of Magneto doesn't make me drop the show before that).<br /><br />So sad that <b>Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes</b> has been canceled. Although the second season has been weaker and especially uneven, it was still a very entertaining show, and I loved getting Ms Marvel on the team. Depressing that all of Marvel's good cartoons seem to get canceled so easily x_x<br /><br />I've also watched the <b>Archer</b> cartoon series (for those who don't know, it's a flash animated parody of spy stories with a very dark & sarcastic sense of humour. Think South Park like. Everyone in the cast are assholes.) which is absolutely hilarious and well done. If in a frequently horrible way (and sometimes offensively, though I think they got better on that as they went).<br /><br />And I've started watching <b>Community</b>, which is also very funny and well written, but in neat contrast with Archer, I don't feel at all anything for the characters. Which is funny considering Community actually tries to do some heartwarming scenes/characterizations and I feel like they all fall patheticaly flat. But still an entertaining show to watch, especially for Abed.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=715857" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:712789Shows I've watched recently2012-04-28T19:26:38Z2012-04-28T19:26:38Zpublic19<b>Heroic Legend of Arslan</b> <br /><br />This is an oldish anime OAV series, military historical fantasy in a setting inspired by Persia, with lots of bishounen (and a couple of bishoujo) and gorgeous backdrops and lovely direction. Very good overall except that it has no ending. See <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://shimizu-hitomi.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://shimizu-hitomi.dreamwidth.org/'><b>shimizu_hitomi</b></a></span>'s <a href="http://shimizu-hitomi.livejournal.com/410608.html">picspam</a> for it (which is what made me want to watch it) and <a href="http://shimizu-hitomi.dreamwidth.org/421406.html?">her project of translating the light novels it was adapted from</a>.<br /><br /><br /><b>Homeland S1</b><br /><br /> This is a spy drama about a marines coming back home after years of captivity in the middle-east, and the CIA analyst persuaded that he's been turned and is now preparing a terrorist plot. I had a very weird reaction to this one. I really loved the texture of it, the acting (it has Clare Danes and Morena Baccarin in it), the direction and cinematography, the jazz soundtrack, the overall paranoid atmosphere; and it has a few absolutely brilliant scenes along those lines (every scene of interrogation are marvelously well done for example) and it has a lot of very interesting subtleties. And it totally lost me in term of the long term storytelling and plotting, about which I found the story deeply unconvincing and kind of <i>really</i> annoying to the point that I don't want to watch the second season <i>at all</i>.<br /><br /><br /><b>Sanctuary S1</b><br /><br />Some time ago I asked for recs of engrossing TV shows, and <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://st-aurafina.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://st-aurafina.dreamwidth.org/'><b>st_aurafina</b></a></span> suggested Sanctuary and even kindly provided a <a href="http://salinea.dreamwidth.org/687594.html?thread=8738538#cmt8738538">list of episodes to watch to get into without seeing less good episodes</a>. I'm not entirely sure what I think of it. The pilote was mostly crap - as expected - and i wasn't crazy about the finale either; but otherwise the episodes were overall mostly good. The direction/writing especially shines in huis clot episodes, which they are able to do with a lot of tension; but on a long term level, the show hasn't really earned my trust that they are tell an interesting story. Character wise the biggest draw (and the biggest draw of the story overall) is Helen Magnus, the boss of Sanctuary, brilliant scientist and stonecold badass (who I have a hard time not to think of as the daughter of Charles & Erik >_>;) who will be the most awesome middle aged female character to grace your screen since Roslyn. Also she's kind of creepy pretty often - and I mean that as a compliment. The rest of the cast is not quite to part. Our mandatory white male protagonist who serves a PoV character and is Helen Magnus' protégée (yup, female mentor & male protégée. How often do you see that?) isn't too bad if a little bit bland, but sympathetic enough - he's pretty low key and analytical in a way I dig. There is also action girl and daughter of Helen Ashley, whom I took a weird instant dislike to (I think it's the hair. She has really terrible hair). And then there's a couple of guys who have not a lot of personality or at least charisma so far; Errr, there was a Black guy in the pilot who was killed in the next episode I watched which, asides from the race fail is sad because he was the only male character I found attractive. There's a handful of more charismatic recurring characters, who feel very League extraordinary gentlemen in a way that, at this point, I find more tiresome than anything but in themselves are pretty interesting characters besides the fact that they kind of feel like Helen's reverse harem from her Victorian shoujo manga days or something.<br /><br />The big weak point of the show however is the lack of attention paid to worldbuilding. The premise is simple enough : there are weird creatures out there, and the Sanctuary's goal is to study them - and provide a haven for them, or a prison, depending on their threat level. The execution though is really not convincing so far. The Sanctuary is this ridiculously huge, gothic, baroque, building apparently in the middle of a big city (not sure which one) and yet nobody knows about it. And the lack of forethought for me is emphasized in the way in the first episode Helen primly corrects the PoV character (who had a name, I just don't remember it :p) when he says "monsters" by saying they prefer to call them "abnormals", as if "abnormal" isn't a term as a pejorative and othering if not more as "monster" is.<br /><br />So I'm still not sure if I want to watch more or not. It's definitly not bad; but I have a hard time motivating myself. Does it get better?<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=712789" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:712126Monday is such a busy day2012-04-23T20:35:04Z2012-04-23T20:35:04Zpublic19<span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/712126.html#cutid1">reaction shot for A:EMH - very lightly spoilery</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br />Otherwise Games of Throne is even more VIOLENT even more SEXUAL and even more GRITTY (and even more RACIST >_>) than the books and much, much, much less subtle because of it. I'm starting to get really unimpressed about it.<br /><br />Also The Good Wife and Mad Men are awesome as usual.<br /><br />(So is Legend of Korra but for once I watched it on sunday.)<br /><br /><br />and I still need to do the newsletter. *sighs*.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=712126" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:708926salinea @ 2012-03-02T19:03:002012-03-02T18:05:07Z2012-03-02T18:05:07Zpublic4Watched the first episode of Miss Fisher's Murder Musteries, as recced by <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://st-aurafina.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://st-aurafina.dreamwidth.org/'><b>st_aurafina</b></a></span> <a href="http://st-aurafina.dreamwidth.org/168444.html">here</a>, which was very adorable - not very subtle - but very cute and very femslashy; and now I'm feeling much better ^^ It was exactly what I needed.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=708926" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:707220salinea @ 2012-02-10T22:01:002012-02-10T21:02:54Z2012-02-10T21:02:54Zpublic4Finished watching the second part of <u>Dae Jang Geum</u>, in which Jang Geum trains up as a doctor in order to get back to the palace and get revenge. The show kept up being very good story-wise without being annoying repetitive or overly stretched despite length, a bit stock character-wise, and mostly very entertaining and enjoyable. It was perhaps even more riveting story wise despite the loss of food preparation porn XD and while it did feel some of the ending was just a little bit too pat, well I guess it overall fit the mood of the story, as a pretty upbeat girl goes and is awesome thanks to hardword and willpower and also the power of friendship and the support of her perfect boyfriend. Not that it hurts that she's also very, very smart and inquisitive.<br /><br />Much like with Hwang Jin Yi, one of the thing I really appreciated was being in a story centered on female characters and female relationships, from friendships to rivalry to mentorship and patronship, as well as women seeking self realisation and fulfilling their own ambition. There's just something very refreshing to that that even with how much feminism criticism one does, one does not really realise before one gets a counter example.<br /><br />Not sure which drama to watch next. Emperor of the sea perhaps?<br /><br />(sorry, I'm reposting this because I failed at crossposting this on both DW & LJ the first time)<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=707220" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:707018salinea @ 2012-02-10T21:59:002012-02-10T21:01:04Z2012-02-10T21:02:31Zpublic13so well, should I continue watching Once Upon a Time?<br /><br />I can't make up my mind :/<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=707018" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:706741salinea @ 2012-02-03T21:12:002012-02-03T20:15:10Z2012-02-03T20:15:10Zpublic21. Started posting recs for the Thor fandom on <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='http://sequentialcrack.livejournal.com/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif' alt='[livejournal.com profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='16' height='16'/></a><a href='http://sequentialcrack.livejournal.com/'><b>sequentialcrack</b></a></span>, woot. Catch it if you're in the fandom (or in other comics fandom, the always awesome <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='http://lilacsigil.livejournal.com/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif' alt='[livejournal.com profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='17' height='17'/></a><a href='http://lilacsigil.livejournal.com/'><b>lilacsigil</b></a></span> is providing x-men recs and <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='http://rallamajoop.livejournal.com/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif' alt='[livejournal.com profile] ' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' width='17' height='17'/></a><a href='http://rallamajoop.livejournal.com/'><b>rallamajoop</b></a></span> will be giving Cable & Deadpool recs, and there are a few other fandoms I'm less familiar with also provided for).<br /><br />2. I'm halfway through the historical kdrama <u>Dae Jang Geum</u>, centered around a young girl working among the palace servants as a cook. It's been very good so far, given how long it is (70 episodes of about 45 minutes) I'm surprised at how they manage not to be overly repetitive and to pace the tension well (there are a couple of reveals between characters that were drawn out for a long time, but they didn't tease us too much with it like Damo did so I didn't mind it so much). The characters are just a little bit stock, but overall manage to bring us our dose of melodrama and fun very well. The big fun is the whole courtly intrigues from the point of view of servants, which is very refreshing and interesting. Sadly there are also all those scenes of people cooking which made me very hungry very often :p Anyway the plot took a pretty sudden turn in the lattest episode and I'm curious to see how it'll develop now. Overall very enjoyable.<br /><br />3. Hmmm, trying to think of a third thing to talk about. It is very very cold here. My cooking plates are shortcut (are they regularly are every couple of years or so >_>) I dunno.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=706741" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:704242randomisity2012-01-16T15:38:47Z2012-01-16T15:38:47Zpublic10I think the Sherlock fandom has managed to mostly spoil most of my enjoyment of the series. Yay.<br />Also it would be really nice if it stopped spoiling me for the Sherlock Holmes movies grrr (then again given how spoiling happy thye are about Sherlock itself it was probably too much to ask).<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/704242.html#cutid1">slight spoiler for this week's The Good Wife</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br />Also for <span style='white-space: nowrap;'><a href='https://hamsterwoman.dreamwidth.org/profile'><img src='https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png' alt='[personal profile] ' width='17' height='17' style='vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;' /></a><a href='https://hamsterwoman.dreamwidth.org/'><b>hamsterwoman</b></a></span>, from tumblr:<br /><a href="http://demoiselledefortune.tumblr.com/post/15948017518/meganphntmgrl-demoiselledefortune">http://demoiselledefortune.tumblr.com/post/15948017518/meganphntmgrl-demoiselledefortune</a><br /><blockquote><br /><b>Meganphntmgrl</b>: This just ended up leading to an entire GoT AU Sueniverse before I even started reading the books, though for logic’s sake I think we (Ska and I) decided Loki would have been like an acknowledged Lannister bastard or something (because if his dad is any variation on movie!Odin he would have been rescued or something still). And then we realized the Sueniverse cast is mostly Lannisters oh joy.<br /><br />Me: Thor is so Baratheon tho :p<br /><br /><b>Meganphntmgrl</b>: yeah but are you really gonna object to Adrian Veidt » Adarian Lannister<br /><br />Me: … I could see him as Targaryen, alternatively.</blockquote><br /><br />Wouldn't be surprised if you'd already sorted the Watchmen cast in ASOIAF houses though? XD<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=704242" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:702564Series which are not anime which i watched in 20112012-01-09T18:44:14Z2012-01-09T19:56:02Zpublic24err, yeah, I guess that's the best encompassing descriptors for them?<br /><br /><b>The Awesome</b><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/702564.html#cutid1">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>The Good</b><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___2" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/702564.html#cutid2">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___2" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>The Okay / Average</b><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___3" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/702564.html#cutid3">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___3" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><b>Mixed Feelings</b><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___4" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://salinea.dreamwidth.org/702564.html#cutid4">Read more...</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___4" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=702564" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2009-05-04:283054:683673Stuff I've watched recently2011-09-15T21:22:29Z2011-09-15T23:55:56Zpublic16Finally finished watching <u>Misfits</u> (the British TV series about a bunch of community service convicted to young people suddenly getting superpowers). I'd watched like, half of the first season, a year ago; and I went through the rest of it and all of S2 a few weeks ago. Overall a very good series, with some pretty good storytelling and directing though it occasionnally comes close to aggravating either by having the protagonists be a little bit too much to the antipathetic side; or with weirdness in the long term storytelling (the last episode, especially was filled with weird things in regard of other stuff it had set up in previous continuity). But lots of fun overall.<br /><br />Also watched <u>Hwang Jin Yi</u> in a few weeks, a Korean Drama about a 16th Century Gisaeng (Courtesan and Artist) which was pretty much awesome. There were a little bit too much drama; but I think that goes with the territory, and I found the first part of the story a bit slow and repeatitive, but asides from that the story is superb, the acting very good, and the play of thematics (art vs love, suffering and how to sublime it through art) wonderful. Loved the amount of relationships between women playing in a variety of very intriguing ways, from friendship, and mentorship to rivalry. I need to watch more kdrama (actually this is the first one I finish watching, I haven't even finished watching Capital Scandal in years despite loving it, I think I'm afraid it might have a downer ending XD).<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=salinea&ditemid=683673" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments