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So, I haven't posted anything in months, but I'm just going to jump in and do my annual pop culture meme, because trying to talk about anything else is too much. I wish all of you reading this health and happiness in 2020.
Which TV shows did you let go of in 2018? Most of the shows I let go of I let go because they ended - Elementary (which ended very well!) Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (which ended as I expected it would), iZombie (which had a mess of a final season, in my opinion), and Jane the Virgin (which I had mixed feelings about!). I think I’m also done with Legends of Tomorrow after bingeing S2-3, because in S4 they seem to have invested the most in characters I care the least about. In short, I appear to have at least temporarily broken up with the CW.
Which TV shows did you start watching in 2018? I’m just going to list the ones I stuck with, not the ones I watched for a few episodes then dropped: Russian Doll, Stumptown, Schitt’s Creek, and Roswell, New Mexico.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2018? Why? There are definitely shows I’d like to see, but in most of those cases, I don’t subscribe to the right services. I’ll never see Good Omens or the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel or Fleabag because I’ll never subscribe to Amazon. I dropped HBO early in the year, so missed out on Watchmen and His Dark Materials and S2 of Succession. I don’t have have Disney+, so no Manadalorian. The Morning Show and Dickinson both sounded flawed but interesting, but I don’t subscribe to Apple, so ::shrug::
Which TV show impressed you least in 2018? Honestly, if something is not interesting/impressing me, I usually just decide it’s not for me and move on. Like I said above, I thought the final season of iZombie was a mess, full of underbaked plot threads. I really wanted to like the new Nancy Drew series, but wow I did not like a single character on that show, including Nancy (I’ve only watched the first three episodes, so maybe it improves!). Oh, and Perfect Harmony seemed like a show that might fill the cheesy sitcom-loving part of my heart, but…woof. I could talk about The Good Place here, and how I feel like it’s been treading water a lot this season, but I’m hesitant to judge it too harshly until I see how it ends.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2019? …I have no idea. I’m not even sure what’s coming out that’s highly anticipated. Picard, maybe? But that’s on CBS All Access, and guess what, I don’t subscribe!
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2018 unless things significantly improve? The Magicians is the show I’m holding in a limbo state at the moment. I LOVED S2-3, and I haven’t watched S4 but of course know all about the big character death at the end of the season. I don’t know if I’m upset about the death of the character* or just monumentally irritated by the way the showrunners handled some publicity around that character in the earlier part of the season ( ”spoiler” ) Anyway, I keep seeing commercials for S5 and thinking “oooh, I want to watch that,” so I guess I’m kind of waiting to see if it’s going to be worthwhile to continue with, or if I just need to stop while I still have a lot of affection for the show.
*I AM upset about the death of the character! I liked him! I was attached to his story! But if the actor was set on leaving, I’m not 100% sure what other options the writers might have had other than killing him off. But I am also mentally in a place where I just don’t want to see characters I care about die, so. Maybe I’m not feeling completely rational about it.
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get? Nothing is safe from being dropped by me! However, since Bojack Horseman, The Good Place, and Schitt’s Creek are all about to air their final episodes, I’ll probably stick with the three of them until the end. :-)
Your favorite film you watched this year? I only saw three movies in the theater this year: Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame, and Knives Out. The Marvel movies were both enjoyable, but Knives Out was better. I also really liked A Simple Favor, with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, which I watched on Hulu.
Your favorite book read this year? I had a pretty good reading year! Favorites included the memoirs Educated by Tara Westover and Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, and Catch & Kill, Ronan Farrow’s expose about the Harvey Weinstein investigation and the attempted burying of the story by NBC. For fiction, I really enjoyed Daisy Jones and the Six (the rise and fall of a Fleetwood Mac type 70s band) by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts (sort of an adult Westing Game) by Kate Racculia, Nothing to See Here (aimless young woman becomes the nanny to the stepchildren of a high school friend. When the children get upset, they spontaneously combust, so that’s awkward) by Kevin Wilson, and The Starless Sea (big fat portal fantasy, with cats, pirates, and metaphors (the pirate is a metaphor)) by Erin Morgenstern.
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year? I never have an answer to this. Spotify says I listened to a lot of Jenny Lewis and Vienna Teng and songs from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and that all seems about right.
Your favorite TV show(s) of the year? Russian Doll, The Magicians, Bojack Horseman. Schitt’s Creek, once I got past the rocky first season. Roswell, New Mexico, because it has A+ kissing and pining, which not enough television shows have. Stumptown, a procedural detective show with a sense of humor and a likeable damaged protagonist played by Cobie Smulders. Also, I watched many, many episodes of Bob’s Burgers and Friends in syndication, because while I don’t have a million streaming channels, I do have basic cable.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year? I think only someone in a fandom can answer this question.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year? Not a lot of discovering this year.
Your fandom that made an unexpected comeback this year? The only thing I can think of is Veronica Mars, and I was never really in the VM fandom to begin with, though I’ve always liked the first two seasons pretty well. (I’ve never watched the third!) I did watch the fourth season, and that was a thing that happened, huh? I like the idea of Veronica Mars, Grown-Up Detective, but some of the execution fell flat for me, and even as a non-shipper, I thought the ending was some Grade-A bullshit, a lazy and thoughtless way to treat the show's most devoted fans.
The most missed of your old fandoms? I’ll always miss the Buffy fandom, but I’m not sure I’d ever want to go back to feeling that way all the time, if that makes sense.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year? Who has time to anticipate anything, what with the world being on fire (literally, in some places)? Uhh, anyway, Happy New Year!
Which TV shows did you let go of in 2018? Most of the shows I let go of I let go because they ended - Elementary (which ended very well!) Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (which ended as I expected it would), iZombie (which had a mess of a final season, in my opinion), and Jane the Virgin (which I had mixed feelings about!). I think I’m also done with Legends of Tomorrow after bingeing S2-3, because in S4 they seem to have invested the most in characters I care the least about. In short, I appear to have at least temporarily broken up with the CW.
Which TV shows did you start watching in 2018? I’m just going to list the ones I stuck with, not the ones I watched for a few episodes then dropped: Russian Doll, Stumptown, Schitt’s Creek, and Roswell, New Mexico.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2018? Why? There are definitely shows I’d like to see, but in most of those cases, I don’t subscribe to the right services. I’ll never see Good Omens or the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel or Fleabag because I’ll never subscribe to Amazon. I dropped HBO early in the year, so missed out on Watchmen and His Dark Materials and S2 of Succession. I don’t have have Disney+, so no Manadalorian. The Morning Show and Dickinson both sounded flawed but interesting, but I don’t subscribe to Apple, so ::shrug::
Which TV show impressed you least in 2018? Honestly, if something is not interesting/impressing me, I usually just decide it’s not for me and move on. Like I said above, I thought the final season of iZombie was a mess, full of underbaked plot threads. I really wanted to like the new Nancy Drew series, but wow I did not like a single character on that show, including Nancy (I’ve only watched the first three episodes, so maybe it improves!). Oh, and Perfect Harmony seemed like a show that might fill the cheesy sitcom-loving part of my heart, but…woof. I could talk about The Good Place here, and how I feel like it’s been treading water a lot this season, but I’m hesitant to judge it too harshly until I see how it ends.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2019? …I have no idea. I’m not even sure what’s coming out that’s highly anticipated. Picard, maybe? But that’s on CBS All Access, and guess what, I don’t subscribe!
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2018 unless things significantly improve? The Magicians is the show I’m holding in a limbo state at the moment. I LOVED S2-3, and I haven’t watched S4 but of course know all about the big character death at the end of the season. I don’t know if I’m upset about the death of the character* or just monumentally irritated by the way the showrunners handled some publicity around that character in the earlier part of the season ( ”spoiler” ) Anyway, I keep seeing commercials for S5 and thinking “oooh, I want to watch that,” so I guess I’m kind of waiting to see if it’s going to be worthwhile to continue with, or if I just need to stop while I still have a lot of affection for the show.
*I AM upset about the death of the character! I liked him! I was attached to his story! But if the actor was set on leaving, I’m not 100% sure what other options the writers might have had other than killing him off. But I am also mentally in a place where I just don’t want to see characters I care about die, so. Maybe I’m not feeling completely rational about it.
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get? Nothing is safe from being dropped by me! However, since Bojack Horseman, The Good Place, and Schitt’s Creek are all about to air their final episodes, I’ll probably stick with the three of them until the end. :-)
Your favorite film you watched this year? I only saw three movies in the theater this year: Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame, and Knives Out. The Marvel movies were both enjoyable, but Knives Out was better. I also really liked A Simple Favor, with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, which I watched on Hulu.
Your favorite book read this year? I had a pretty good reading year! Favorites included the memoirs Educated by Tara Westover and Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, and Catch & Kill, Ronan Farrow’s expose about the Harvey Weinstein investigation and the attempted burying of the story by NBC. For fiction, I really enjoyed Daisy Jones and the Six (the rise and fall of a Fleetwood Mac type 70s band) by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts (sort of an adult Westing Game) by Kate Racculia, Nothing to See Here (aimless young woman becomes the nanny to the stepchildren of a high school friend. When the children get upset, they spontaneously combust, so that’s awkward) by Kevin Wilson, and The Starless Sea (big fat portal fantasy, with cats, pirates, and metaphors (the pirate is a metaphor)) by Erin Morgenstern.
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year? I never have an answer to this. Spotify says I listened to a lot of Jenny Lewis and Vienna Teng and songs from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and that all seems about right.
Your favorite TV show(s) of the year? Russian Doll, The Magicians, Bojack Horseman. Schitt’s Creek, once I got past the rocky first season. Roswell, New Mexico, because it has A+ kissing and pining, which not enough television shows have. Stumptown, a procedural detective show with a sense of humor and a likeable damaged protagonist played by Cobie Smulders. Also, I watched many, many episodes of Bob’s Burgers and Friends in syndication, because while I don’t have a million streaming channels, I do have basic cable.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year? I think only someone in a fandom can answer this question.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year? Not a lot of discovering this year.
Your fandom that made an unexpected comeback this year? The only thing I can think of is Veronica Mars, and I was never really in the VM fandom to begin with, though I’ve always liked the first two seasons pretty well. (I’ve never watched the third!) I did watch the fourth season, and that was a thing that happened, huh? I like the idea of Veronica Mars, Grown-Up Detective, but some of the execution fell flat for me, and even as a non-shipper, I thought the ending was some Grade-A bullshit, a lazy and thoughtless way to treat the show's most devoted fans.
The most missed of your old fandoms? I’ll always miss the Buffy fandom, but I’m not sure I’d ever want to go back to feeling that way all the time, if that makes sense.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year? Who has time to anticipate anything, what with the world being on fire (literally, in some places)? Uhh, anyway, Happy New Year!
In honor of the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend finale tonight, my Top 5 Rebecca Bunch songs:
1. Tell Me I'm Okay - This is, in my opinion, one of Rachel Bloom's loveliest vocal performances, and the song is quietly devastating. (Also, her scene partner here is Seth Green.)
2. Strip Away Your Conscience - I love this sexy, silly, Fosse-inspired seduction. Bonus points for slipping the line "choke on your cocksuredness" past the standards & practices department.
( More under the cut )
(Songs that almost made the cut: The Sexy Getting Ready Song, I'm the Villain in My Own Story, Stupid Bitch, A Diagnosis, I Have Friends, a dozen more because I love the songs on this show.)
The thing about CEG is that the cast is stacked with fantastic talent and characters. So, my Top 5 songs by other cast members:
1. Settle For Me - This is possibly my actual favorite song of the entire series.
2. Let's Have Intercourse - Everything about this is fantastic, plus it has maybe the greatest lyric ever written:
"I won't be back to normal till
I see what your nipples look like.
They're probably straightforward nipples"
( More under the cut )
Holy crap, the songs I left off that list! Getting Bi, We Tapped that Ass (which has SUCH great dancing from Santino Fontano and Vincent Rodriguez III), Friendtopia, Don't Be a Lawyer, I Could if I Wanted To, Fit Hot Guys Have Problems Too, Face Your Fears...so many others.
I am going to miss this weird, beautiful, sad, raunchy show, and I'm so grateful to the CW for giving it four seasons, despite the fact that it was consistently the lowest-rated show on TV.
(I'm Team Nathaniel, by the way, when it comes to love interests, but if I had to make a guess about the finale, it would be that Rebecca is going to choose herself and not pick any of the guys, and honestly that's probably the right choice for the show.)
1. Tell Me I'm Okay - This is, in my opinion, one of Rachel Bloom's loveliest vocal performances, and the song is quietly devastating. (Also, her scene partner here is Seth Green.)
2. Strip Away Your Conscience - I love this sexy, silly, Fosse-inspired seduction. Bonus points for slipping the line "choke on your cocksuredness" past the standards & practices department.
( More under the cut )
(Songs that almost made the cut: The Sexy Getting Ready Song, I'm the Villain in My Own Story, Stupid Bitch, A Diagnosis, I Have Friends, a dozen more because I love the songs on this show.)
The thing about CEG is that the cast is stacked with fantastic talent and characters. So, my Top 5 songs by other cast members:
1. Settle For Me - This is possibly my actual favorite song of the entire series.
2. Let's Have Intercourse - Everything about this is fantastic, plus it has maybe the greatest lyric ever written:
"I won't be back to normal till
I see what your nipples look like.
They're probably straightforward nipples"
( More under the cut )
Holy crap, the songs I left off that list! Getting Bi, We Tapped that Ass (which has SUCH great dancing from Santino Fontano and Vincent Rodriguez III), Friendtopia, Don't Be a Lawyer, I Could if I Wanted To, Fit Hot Guys Have Problems Too, Face Your Fears...so many others.
I am going to miss this weird, beautiful, sad, raunchy show, and I'm so grateful to the CW for giving it four seasons, despite the fact that it was consistently the lowest-rated show on TV.
(I'm Team Nathaniel, by the way, when it comes to love interests, but if I had to make a guess about the finale, it would be that Rebecca is going to choose herself and not pick any of the guys, and honestly that's probably the right choice for the show.)
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Which TV shows did you let go of in 2018?
When I first started thinking about this question, I couldn’t come up with an answer. I’m not watching very many shows right now, and as a result, I haven’t really given up on any of them this year. But after thinking about it, I realized that there’s one genre I’ve nearly completely abandoned: late night talk shows. I used to watch Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, and John Oliver all on a regular basis, with a healthy dose of Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah thrown in. Now I don’t watch any of them. I might stumble across a monologue, or make a point of watching a clip if everyone’s talking about it on Twitter, but in 2018, I had a hard time laughing at reality.
Which TV shows did you start watching in 2018? Bojack Horseman was probably my best discovery of the year. I can see from reading my responses to this question last year that I had already watched a few episodes of Younger in 2017 (and wasn’t terribly impressed); I can now say that I’ve watched all five seasons and am ready for S6. Yes, it is a ridiculously plotted show about a fortysomething pretending to be a twentysomething for a job, but the cast is appealing, the setting in publishing is fun, and it’s the only thing - TV or movie - that’s scratched my romantic comedy itch in a long, long time. What else? I’ve watched Superstore on and off since it premiered several years ago, but the season that’s airing now is the first time I’ve really felt invested in it. I tried the Charmed reboot, but it just didn’t grab me the way I hoped that it would. Killing Eve was a little inconsistent for me, but the parts that were good were SO GOOD. A couple of months ago I was craving something genre but not self-serious, so I started watching S2 of Legends of Tomorrow, and it’s pretty fun! (I had seen a few episodes of S1 back when it first aired, and skipped ahead to the second season because they dropped some characters/plotlines that never worked.) I hear S3 is even better, so I’ll keep watching.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2018? Why? Honestly, I had no expectations about getting into anything this year.
Which TV show impressed you least in 2018? It’s probably not fair to say The X-Files, since after S10 I was under no illusions that it would impress me, but S11 fooled me by having some decent episodes before completely wasting all of that goodwill on a finale so terrible that it might actually be worse than their previous terrible series finale.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2019? I’m gonna keep this simple: I’ll probably check out the Roswell reboot, since I’m a sucker for the CW. What We Do in the Shadows looks right up my alley (I haven’t seen the movie, and it doesn’t appear to be streaming on anything I subscribe to. Hopefully some network or service will start showing it before the series starts). Is the Veronica Mars reboot supposed to air in 2019? I’m sure I’ll watch that. I would love to check out Good Omens, but I won’t pay for Amazon, so I’m out of luck there.
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2018 unless things significantly improve? I don’t think I have any shows on the verge right now. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Jane the Virgin, and iZombie are all ending this year, so I’m going to be letting go of a lot of shows whether I want to or not.
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get? I’m not so deeply attached to anything right now that I wouldn’t let go of it if it became deeply crappy.
Your favorite film you watched this year? I feel like I barely saw anything this year! I liked Searching, which starred John Cho as a dad with a missing teenage daughter. On HBO, I caught up with Game Night, starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, which was waaaaaaaay funnier than I had expected it to be. Oh, and Paddington Bear 2, which was super-duper charming.
Your favorite book read this year? Rebecca Traister’s Good and Mad suited my mood and stoked my rage. The Infinite Blacktop, by Sara Gran, the latest in her Claire DeWitt detective series, satisfied both the parts of my brain that enjoy a good detective story and the parts that love a genre deconstruction. I read - and LOVED - a poetry book: Mary Oliver’s A Thousand Mornings. Those are probably my three favorites of the year, but other standouts would be Far From the Tree, by Robin Benway, Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik, and Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Gran. Romance-wise, I think I most enjoyed Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren and The Governess Game by Tessa Dare.
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year? I have no answer to this question. I listened to a lot of podcasts.
Your favorite TV show(s) of the year? Bojack, The Good Place, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Younger, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I’m not sure I would list it as a favorite, but I did enjoy Elementary this season.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year? I didn’t participate in any online fandom communities this year
Your best new fandom discovery of the year? I didn’t have one
Your fandom that made an unexpected comeback this year? The only response I can come up with for this is that The X-Files did have some good episodes before it cratered at the end.
The most missed of your old fandoms? Buffy’s always going to be the answer to this question
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year? I don’t anticipate anything anymore
When I first started thinking about this question, I couldn’t come up with an answer. I’m not watching very many shows right now, and as a result, I haven’t really given up on any of them this year. But after thinking about it, I realized that there’s one genre I’ve nearly completely abandoned: late night talk shows. I used to watch Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, and John Oliver all on a regular basis, with a healthy dose of Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah thrown in. Now I don’t watch any of them. I might stumble across a monologue, or make a point of watching a clip if everyone’s talking about it on Twitter, but in 2018, I had a hard time laughing at reality.
Which TV shows did you start watching in 2018? Bojack Horseman was probably my best discovery of the year. I can see from reading my responses to this question last year that I had already watched a few episodes of Younger in 2017 (and wasn’t terribly impressed); I can now say that I’ve watched all five seasons and am ready for S6. Yes, it is a ridiculously plotted show about a fortysomething pretending to be a twentysomething for a job, but the cast is appealing, the setting in publishing is fun, and it’s the only thing - TV or movie - that’s scratched my romantic comedy itch in a long, long time. What else? I’ve watched Superstore on and off since it premiered several years ago, but the season that’s airing now is the first time I’ve really felt invested in it. I tried the Charmed reboot, but it just didn’t grab me the way I hoped that it would. Killing Eve was a little inconsistent for me, but the parts that were good were SO GOOD. A couple of months ago I was craving something genre but not self-serious, so I started watching S2 of Legends of Tomorrow, and it’s pretty fun! (I had seen a few episodes of S1 back when it first aired, and skipped ahead to the second season because they dropped some characters/plotlines that never worked.) I hear S3 is even better, so I’ll keep watching.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2018? Why? Honestly, I had no expectations about getting into anything this year.
Which TV show impressed you least in 2018? It’s probably not fair to say The X-Files, since after S10 I was under no illusions that it would impress me, but S11 fooled me by having some decent episodes before completely wasting all of that goodwill on a finale so terrible that it might actually be worse than their previous terrible series finale.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2019? I’m gonna keep this simple: I’ll probably check out the Roswell reboot, since I’m a sucker for the CW. What We Do in the Shadows looks right up my alley (I haven’t seen the movie, and it doesn’t appear to be streaming on anything I subscribe to. Hopefully some network or service will start showing it before the series starts). Is the Veronica Mars reboot supposed to air in 2019? I’m sure I’ll watch that. I would love to check out Good Omens, but I won’t pay for Amazon, so I’m out of luck there.
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2018 unless things significantly improve? I don’t think I have any shows on the verge right now. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Jane the Virgin, and iZombie are all ending this year, so I’m going to be letting go of a lot of shows whether I want to or not.
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get? I’m not so deeply attached to anything right now that I wouldn’t let go of it if it became deeply crappy.
Your favorite film you watched this year? I feel like I barely saw anything this year! I liked Searching, which starred John Cho as a dad with a missing teenage daughter. On HBO, I caught up with Game Night, starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, which was waaaaaaaay funnier than I had expected it to be. Oh, and Paddington Bear 2, which was super-duper charming.
Your favorite book read this year? Rebecca Traister’s Good and Mad suited my mood and stoked my rage. The Infinite Blacktop, by Sara Gran, the latest in her Claire DeWitt detective series, satisfied both the parts of my brain that enjoy a good detective story and the parts that love a genre deconstruction. I read - and LOVED - a poetry book: Mary Oliver’s A Thousand Mornings. Those are probably my three favorites of the year, but other standouts would be Far From the Tree, by Robin Benway, Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik, and Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Gran. Romance-wise, I think I most enjoyed Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren and The Governess Game by Tessa Dare.
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year? I have no answer to this question. I listened to a lot of podcasts.
Your favorite TV show(s) of the year? Bojack, The Good Place, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Younger, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I’m not sure I would list it as a favorite, but I did enjoy Elementary this season.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year? I didn’t participate in any online fandom communities this year
Your best new fandom discovery of the year? I didn’t have one
Your fandom that made an unexpected comeback this year? The only response I can come up with for this is that The X-Files did have some good episodes before it cratered at the end.
The most missed of your old fandoms? Buffy’s always going to be the answer to this question
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year? I don’t anticipate anything anymore
I didn't do a fall TV post this year the way I normally do, because...::shrug:: There's too much TV to fit into a tidy post anymore, and I don't care about most of it anyway. Here is the short list of things that I am watching:
The Good Place!!!!! Feel free to picture a bunch of little heart emojis here. Its warm, humanist vision of becoming a better person through community feels like the most fantastical thing about it these days.
Murphy Brown - I did watch the first two episodes, and I'll probably keep watching for a while at least, because it was one of my favorites back in the day, but man, the political jokes feel hacky and tired in a post-Daily Show/Colbert world. The one thing that they've done exactly right is the casting of Murphy's son, Avery. The two actors have great chemistry and their relationship is easily the best thing about the reboot so far.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend hasn't started back yet. Jane the Virgin is a midseason show this year. I'll check out the Charmed reboot when it airs. I watched about an episode and a half of Manifest, the "airplane goes missing for five years" show, and didn't find any of the characters interesting enough to stick around (say what you will about Lost, but it did a great job of getting you interested in the characters, at least to begin with.) I watch Superstore, and enjoy it, but it has a little too much of that Office-like cringe humor for me to fully embrace it. (CEG also has cringe humor, but the song-and-dance numbers alongside the depth of emotion balance it out for me.)
What else? I watched one episode of Maniac, the Emma Stone/Jonah Hill series on Netflix, and I'll try at least one more, because maybe I was just in a bad mood, but mehhhh so far. The trippy/dreamlike vibe in the trailers seems like it would be right up my alley (if you'll recall, Restless is my fave Buffy episode), but the first episode didn't hold my attention at all. I've gone full curmudgeon: I just don't like much of anything anymore.
The one new-to-me show that I have been enjoying? Bojack Horseman. I've just started the fourth season. I had watched the pilot at least a year ago and not really liked it at all, but a couple of critics I read on Twitter were talking about it and reading them convinced me to try a couple more episodes, and now I'm hooked. It's very funny, but also dark, dealing with situations like addiction, depression, suicide, and, uh, just very poor decision-making by the titular horse. Man. Horseman.
Other than that, I'm rewatching episodes of Brooklyn 99 and Daria on Hulu, and in the mornings, after the news fills me with rage (approximately three minutes into any broadcast), I usually turn the TV to the ION channel, which airs reruns of Leverage for three hours Mon-Thurs. For some mysterious reason, I find its vision of telegenic thieves dismantling corporate capitalism a soothing contrast to the news. (On Fridays, I turn to FXX, which shows Parks & Rec every morning, but the hopefulness of that vision of government is actually pretty heartbreaking to me right now.)
The Good Place!!!!! Feel free to picture a bunch of little heart emojis here. Its warm, humanist vision of becoming a better person through community feels like the most fantastical thing about it these days.
Murphy Brown - I did watch the first two episodes, and I'll probably keep watching for a while at least, because it was one of my favorites back in the day, but man, the political jokes feel hacky and tired in a post-Daily Show/Colbert world. The one thing that they've done exactly right is the casting of Murphy's son, Avery. The two actors have great chemistry and their relationship is easily the best thing about the reboot so far.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend hasn't started back yet. Jane the Virgin is a midseason show this year. I'll check out the Charmed reboot when it airs. I watched about an episode and a half of Manifest, the "airplane goes missing for five years" show, and didn't find any of the characters interesting enough to stick around (say what you will about Lost, but it did a great job of getting you interested in the characters, at least to begin with.) I watch Superstore, and enjoy it, but it has a little too much of that Office-like cringe humor for me to fully embrace it. (CEG also has cringe humor, but the song-and-dance numbers alongside the depth of emotion balance it out for me.)
What else? I watched one episode of Maniac, the Emma Stone/Jonah Hill series on Netflix, and I'll try at least one more, because maybe I was just in a bad mood, but mehhhh so far. The trippy/dreamlike vibe in the trailers seems like it would be right up my alley (if you'll recall, Restless is my fave Buffy episode), but the first episode didn't hold my attention at all. I've gone full curmudgeon: I just don't like much of anything anymore.
The one new-to-me show that I have been enjoying? Bojack Horseman. I've just started the fourth season. I had watched the pilot at least a year ago and not really liked it at all, but a couple of critics I read on Twitter were talking about it and reading them convinced me to try a couple more episodes, and now I'm hooked. It's very funny, but also dark, dealing with situations like addiction, depression, suicide, and, uh, just very poor decision-making by the titular horse. Man. Horseman.
Other than that, I'm rewatching episodes of Brooklyn 99 and Daria on Hulu, and in the mornings, after the news fills me with rage (approximately three minutes into any broadcast), I usually turn the TV to the ION channel, which airs reruns of Leverage for three hours Mon-Thurs. For some mysterious reason, I find its vision of telegenic thieves dismantling corporate capitalism a soothing contrast to the news. (On Fridays, I turn to FXX, which shows Parks & Rec every morning, but the hopefulness of that vision of government is actually pretty heartbreaking to me right now.)
The world is a garbage fire, so here are reviews of a few things I've read so far this year. ( Read more... )
That's enough for now. I hope you're all well, and, if nothing else, at least finding good books to read.
That's enough for now. I hope you're all well, and, if nothing else, at least finding good books to read.
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Since I posted about the Buffy reboot in the first place, I feel duty-bound to post the follow-up information: It looks like the Buffy revival will focus on a new Slayer
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iZombie wrapped up its fourth season last night, and even though I assume there's only, like, three people reading this who care (out of the possibly six people reading this at all), I'm going to go under a cut for spoilers. ( Read more... )
Okay, now that I'm done blathering about iZombie, did anyone else watch Killing Eve? I'm not usually a fan of the "Aren't psychopaths fascinating?" genre, but there was so much humor and sexiness and odd little quirks strewn throughout the season that, even though the plot is the kind of thing I've seen before, it still felt completely original. Sandra Oh (as investigator Eve) and Jodie Comer (as psychopath Villanelle) are both GREAT in their roles, and it's kind of refreshing to watch a show where most of the women are hypercompetent and brilliant, while most of the men fumble around, always at least one step behind them.
I also finally finished watching the first season of Younger on Hulu, and am now into S2. The premise is dumb (Sutton Foster is a 40 year old divorcee re-entering the workforce and pretending to be 26 because of the ageism in the publishing industry), but the actors are all charming and it's a fun show to put on when I want to watch something light before bed. I also like how specific it is about publishing and books as a workplace setting. It's a lot more interesting than if it were set in a generic office, and as far as I can tell, they get the details right.
I'm also watching Elementary right now, and really enjoying it for the most part. ( Spoilers )
Okay, now that I'm done blathering about iZombie, did anyone else watch Killing Eve? I'm not usually a fan of the "Aren't psychopaths fascinating?" genre, but there was so much humor and sexiness and odd little quirks strewn throughout the season that, even though the plot is the kind of thing I've seen before, it still felt completely original. Sandra Oh (as investigator Eve) and Jodie Comer (as psychopath Villanelle) are both GREAT in their roles, and it's kind of refreshing to watch a show where most of the women are hypercompetent and brilliant, while most of the men fumble around, always at least one step behind them.
I also finally finished watching the first season of Younger on Hulu, and am now into S2. The premise is dumb (Sutton Foster is a 40 year old divorcee re-entering the workforce and pretending to be 26 because of the ageism in the publishing industry), but the actors are all charming and it's a fun show to put on when I want to watch something light before bed. I also like how specific it is about publishing and books as a workplace setting. It's a lot more interesting than if it were set in a generic office, and as far as I can tell, they get the details right.
I'm also watching Elementary right now, and really enjoying it for the most part. ( Spoilers )
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The X-Files S11 died as it lived: ( SPOILERS )
Other things I am watching: Brooklyn 99, The Middle, iZombie, blackish, UnReal (sort of; sometimes I get fed up with how awful everyone is), We the People (new Shonda Rhimes lawyer show), Jessica Jones S2 (slooooowly), and Jane the Virgin, which is a delight. Oh, and I watched the first episode of Rise, aka Gritty!Glee, aka that show in which Ted Mosby is now a pretentious high school teacher instead of being a pretentious architect.
Other things I am watching: Brooklyn 99, The Middle, iZombie, blackish, UnReal (sort of; sometimes I get fed up with how awful everyone is), We the People (new Shonda Rhimes lawyer show), Jessica Jones S2 (slooooowly), and Jane the Virgin, which is a delight. Oh, and I watched the first episode of Rise, aka Gritty!Glee, aka that show in which Ted Mosby is now a pretentious high school teacher instead of being a pretentious architect.
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So, the current season of The X-Files is actually...good? I know, I can't believe it either! I would put episodes two and four up with some of the best of the series, especially ep 4, written by Darin Morgan. Episode three was a little rougher around the edges, but still enjoyable, and included ( spoilers ).
BUT (you knew there had to be a "but," right?) there was also the first episode, which was a nonsensical narrative hot mess. And Chris Carter has an obsession with ( ragey spoilers )
In other TV news, I am so sad that the next episode of The Good Place is the season finale. What will bring me joy every week once it's gone? Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's season will be ending soon too, and then I'll have to find new things to watch, because my two current faves will be on hiatus.
BUT (you knew there had to be a "but," right?) there was also the first episode, which was a nonsensical narrative hot mess. And Chris Carter has an obsession with ( ragey spoilers )
In other TV news, I am so sad that the next episode of The Good Place is the season finale. What will bring me joy every week once it's gone? Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's season will be ending soon too, and then I'll have to find new things to watch, because my two current faves will be on hiatus.
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Which TV shows did you let go of in 2017?
Arrow. I had become increasingly bored with how it seemed to become grimmer and darker every year, and when the new season started, and Oliver’s son was living with him full-time, I decided that I was out. Also Riverdale, which I watched the first season of but found myself drifting away from after the first few episodes of S2.
Which TV shows did you start watching in 2017?
Not much of anything, to be honest. I watched all of The Defenders one weekend, even though the only redeemable thing about it was some of the interactions between the characters, particularly Luke/Iron Fist guy and Jessica/Matt (the only other Marvel show I watched all the way through was Jessica Jones, so I probably wasn’t the ideal audience.) I watched a few episodes of Younger on Hulu, which I might go back to at some point, but wasn’t compelled to stick with it. I also will probably go back to Runaways on Hulu, which I’ve only watched one episode of so far, even though, as I’ve said for years, I am sick of comic book shows/movies. Everyone knows that James Marsters plays an Evil Dad in that, right? I haven’t seen a peep about it on LJ/Dreamwidth.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2017? Why?
I wanted to want to watch The Handmaid’s Tale, but real life is depressing enough.
Which TV show impressed you least in 2017?
Arrow. The Defenders. I don’t really have anything new to add here.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2018?
I’m kind of intrigued by what I’ve heard so far about American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. And Alias Grace has been recommended to me by both real-life friends and Internet friends, so I might give it a try sometime.
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2018 unless things significantly improve?
Since I’m not watching that much right now, there’s really not anything that I feel on the verge of dropping. At the same time…
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get?
Oh, I’ll drop anything. I’ll stop watching things that I like! I’m very fickle. But at the moment, I would say there’s little chance of me giving up on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend or The Good Place.
Your favorite film you watched this year?
Probably The Big Sick or Get Out. Oh, or Hidden Figures, which I saw at the very beginning of the year.
Your favorite book read this year?
I don’t know that I had a clear favorite, but I enjoyed/sobbed over Hillary Clinton’s memoir. Fiction-wise, I liked Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero, which is a riff on Scooby-Doo, except in this case the teen detectives accidentally uncover a genuinely paranormal plot involving a Lovecraftian demon and as adults have to return to the small town where it all happened to put things right. I also liked Krysten Ritter’s debut novel, Bonfire, which reminded me quite of bit of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which is a breakout teen novel about the Black Lives Matter movement.
For the first time, I set myself a reading goal last year on Goodreads, because I wanted to read more in 2017. My goal was 30 books, and I read 31 (Goodreads says 32, but when I actually count the titles it comes to 31, so, I’m not sure what that’s about), so yay, I made my goal! I’m going to do it again this year with a goal of 35.
My 2017 in books
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year
I am never in the loop with regards to music. I continued to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack a lot.
Your favorite TV show(s) of the year?
The Good Place and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I also enjoyed Stranger Things and iZombie. I'm not sure I would call it a "favorite", but Twin Peaks did get under my skin and invade my dreams.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year?
Political twitter? I don’t know, I would love to find a fandom to embrace, but nothing has grabbed me this year.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
By now, it should be clear that I am a fan without a fandom
Your fandom that made an unexpected comeback this year?
Twin Peaks. I had some seriously mixed feelings about the revival as a whole, but I can honestly say that the final four or five episodes of the season had me riveted, and the more I sit with the ending, the more I…maybe not “like” it, but see it as inevitable.
The most missed of your old fandoms?
Always Buffy, of course, and with the 20th anniversary this year, there were a lot of nostalgia pangs.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year?
I hope The X-Files has some good episodes (reviews suggest that there are some decent ones coming.) I don’t know, there’s nothing I’m especially looking forward to, but I’m always hopeful that something will sneak up on me and make me fall in love.
Arrow. I had become increasingly bored with how it seemed to become grimmer and darker every year, and when the new season started, and Oliver’s son was living with him full-time, I decided that I was out. Also Riverdale, which I watched the first season of but found myself drifting away from after the first few episodes of S2.
Which TV shows did you start watching in 2017?
Not much of anything, to be honest. I watched all of The Defenders one weekend, even though the only redeemable thing about it was some of the interactions between the characters, particularly Luke/Iron Fist guy and Jessica/Matt (the only other Marvel show I watched all the way through was Jessica Jones, so I probably wasn’t the ideal audience.) I watched a few episodes of Younger on Hulu, which I might go back to at some point, but wasn’t compelled to stick with it. I also will probably go back to Runaways on Hulu, which I’ve only watched one episode of so far, even though, as I’ve said for years, I am sick of comic book shows/movies. Everyone knows that James Marsters plays an Evil Dad in that, right? I haven’t seen a peep about it on LJ/Dreamwidth.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2017? Why?
I wanted to want to watch The Handmaid’s Tale, but real life is depressing enough.
Which TV show impressed you least in 2017?
Arrow. The Defenders. I don’t really have anything new to add here.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2018?
I’m kind of intrigued by what I’ve heard so far about American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. And Alias Grace has been recommended to me by both real-life friends and Internet friends, so I might give it a try sometime.
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2018 unless things significantly improve?
Since I’m not watching that much right now, there’s really not anything that I feel on the verge of dropping. At the same time…
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get?
Oh, I’ll drop anything. I’ll stop watching things that I like! I’m very fickle. But at the moment, I would say there’s little chance of me giving up on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend or The Good Place.
Your favorite film you watched this year?
Probably The Big Sick or Get Out. Oh, or Hidden Figures, which I saw at the very beginning of the year.
Your favorite book read this year?
I don’t know that I had a clear favorite, but I enjoyed/sobbed over Hillary Clinton’s memoir. Fiction-wise, I liked Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero, which is a riff on Scooby-Doo, except in this case the teen detectives accidentally uncover a genuinely paranormal plot involving a Lovecraftian demon and as adults have to return to the small town where it all happened to put things right. I also liked Krysten Ritter’s debut novel, Bonfire, which reminded me quite of bit of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects, and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which is a breakout teen novel about the Black Lives Matter movement.
For the first time, I set myself a reading goal last year on Goodreads, because I wanted to read more in 2017. My goal was 30 books, and I read 31 (Goodreads says 32, but when I actually count the titles it comes to 31, so, I’m not sure what that’s about), so yay, I made my goal! I’m going to do it again this year with a goal of 35.
My 2017 in books
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year
I am never in the loop with regards to music. I continued to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack a lot.
Your favorite TV show(s) of the year?
The Good Place and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I also enjoyed Stranger Things and iZombie. I'm not sure I would call it a "favorite", but Twin Peaks did get under my skin and invade my dreams.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year?
Political twitter? I don’t know, I would love to find a fandom to embrace, but nothing has grabbed me this year.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
By now, it should be clear that I am a fan without a fandom
Your fandom that made an unexpected comeback this year?
Twin Peaks. I had some seriously mixed feelings about the revival as a whole, but I can honestly say that the final four or five episodes of the season had me riveted, and the more I sit with the ending, the more I…maybe not “like” it, but see it as inevitable.
The most missed of your old fandoms?
Always Buffy, of course, and with the 20th anniversary this year, there were a lot of nostalgia pangs.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year?
I hope The X-Files has some good episodes (reviews suggest that there are some decent ones coming.) I don’t know, there’s nothing I’m especially looking forward to, but I’m always hopeful that something will sneak up on me and make me fall in love.
This is the time of year when I would normally do a "what's new this fall on TV" kind of post, but, to be honest, this year there's not a single new show that has me excited. I would be interested in the new Star Trek series if it weren't going to air on the CBS streaming network, but I'm not paying for another streaming service right now. I'm sure I'll be watching The Mayor, which sounds as though it fits right into my sitcom wheelhouse. Beyond that, there's nothing that interests me very much.
The three returning shows that I'm most looking forward to are The Good Place (which is already back), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Stranger Things. I like all of these shows A LOT, but I wouldn't consider myself fannish about any of them. I kind of miss being fannish about something.
The three returning shows that I'm most looking forward to are The Good Place (which is already back), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Stranger Things. I like all of these shows A LOT, but I wouldn't consider myself fannish about any of them. I kind of miss being fannish about something.
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I've been going to the movies this summer!
Wonder Woman - Of course I saw this! It was really good. My biggest criticism is that the climactic battle at the end goes on for too long, to the point that I was getting bored with it, but everything up until then was great. Honestly, beyond whether I liked the movie or not, I'm just thrilled that a female-directed, female-led, superhero movie broke though in a huge way with audiences, critics, and at the box office.
The Beguiled - During the Civil War, wounded Union soldier Colin Farrell is taken in by the women and girls remaining at a Virginia boarding school, led by Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst. With a fox in the henhouse, trouble, naturally, ensues. This was very atmospheric and beautiful to look at, and the actors are all great. There's been some criticism leveled at the movie for nearly completely eliding over the existence of slavery, and I agree that it's a weird, off-putting, choice that makes the story feel completely disconnected from the reality of history. Having said that, I did like this movie while I was watching it, though I'm not sure it amounts to much in the end.
The Big Sick - The real-life love story of comedian/actor Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily Gordon, who meet after one of his stand-up shows and fall in love, but break up after Emily realizes that Kumail doesn't see a future for them because his devout Muslim Pakistani parents are trying to arrange a marriage for him and he's afraid they'll disown him if he admits to them that he's dating a white, non-Muslim woman. Shortly after they break up, Emily becomes very ill and ends up in a medically-induced coma, causing her parents, played by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano, to come to town. This was really good, very funny and sweet. It does suffer from third-act sag, where a few minutes should have been trimmed off to make the movie tighter and sharper, but overall I really liked this one.
Baby Driver - Baby (Anson Elgort), is the genius getaway driver for crime boss Kevin Spacey. Baby just has to work on one more big score, then he'll be out of debt to Spacey and able to drive off into the sunset with his waitress girlfriend. Naturally, things go sideways and he ends up running for his life. First, it must be acknowledged that this is a terrible title, one that makes it sound like a kid's movie, like Boss Baby. I saw this because the reviews were nearly universally positive, making it sound like a fun, unique, action-comedy. And parts of this movie ARE a lot of fun; the car chases are staged almost like musicals, set to the music that Baby is constantly listening to through ever-present earbuds. But in the last third, everything devolves into a hyper-violent climax, and...meh. I can't get into all the reasons this movie fell apart for me without getting into spoiler territory, but I walked out feeling unsatisfied by the whole thing. However, on the plus side, it was both filmed in and set in Atlanta, and it was fun to see some familiar sights, including a chase through the Peachtree Center Mall, home of the food court everyone eats at during Dragon*Con.
Because I saw all these movies, I also saw a lot of movie trailers recently:
Atomic Blonde - Charlize Theron kicks people in the face. Looks good!
Pitch Perfect 3 - Answering all the questions left by Pitch Perfects 1 & 2.
Home Again - Reese Witherspoon plays a 40 year old divorced mother, who, on the night of her birthday, picks up a young twentysomething guy for a one-night stand. Somehow, he and his two friends end up living with her and her kids? Then her ex-husband reappears, wanting his family back. Without seeing this movie, I am going to predict that it will end with Reese and her ex reuniting, which is the most boring and predictable way that it could end.
Thor: Ragnorak - I've seen this trailer several times now, and doubt that I'll see the movie until it hits Netflix, but I have to admit, I laugh every time when Thor sees the Hulk and says "We know each other from work!"
Flatliners - Apparently, the world needed a remake of this 1990 Julia Roberts/Keifer Sutherland thriller. I've seen the original a couple of times and remember absolutely nothing about it.
American Assassin - I watched two seasons of Teen Wolf, and I absolutely did not recognize Dylan O'Brien (Stiles) as the actor playing the main character in this trailer. The plot of this movie hinges on the death of O'Brien's girlfriend.
The Foreigner - Jackie Chan seeks vengeance on Pierce Brosnan. The plot of this movie hinges on the death of Chan's daughter.
The Dark Tower - Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey star in this adaptation of the Stephen King novel. No women speak in this trailer.
IT - Also based on a Stephen King novel. You know, the one with the clown. I don't remember any women or girls speaking in this trailer, but Beverly has to be there, right? Either way, I'm not going to watch it again to find out.
The Kingsmen 2 - Sequel to the movie from a few years ago about British spies. No women speak in this trailer (though, to be fair, music plays over most of the trailer).
Dunkirk - WW2 war movie. No women speak in this trailer (though, to be fair again, it's mostly battle scenes and there probably were not many, if any, women present at the Battle of Dunkirk).
Daddy's Home 2 - The ace comedy team of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg reteam for more dad-based hijinks, this time with their own fathers, played by John Lithgow and Mel Gibson, who we're apparently allowing to be a movie star again. There is a little girl with a short line of dialogue in this trailer. The only other woman who says anything is a a mother who says "No, no, no," when Gibson starts to tell the kids a joke that starts out "Two dead hookers washed up on a shore." So, Gibson doesn't just get to star in movies again, he also gets to tell violently misogynistic jokes in them. Cool. Cool. Cool.
Wonder Woman - Of course I saw this! It was really good. My biggest criticism is that the climactic battle at the end goes on for too long, to the point that I was getting bored with it, but everything up until then was great. Honestly, beyond whether I liked the movie or not, I'm just thrilled that a female-directed, female-led, superhero movie broke though in a huge way with audiences, critics, and at the box office.
The Beguiled - During the Civil War, wounded Union soldier Colin Farrell is taken in by the women and girls remaining at a Virginia boarding school, led by Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst. With a fox in the henhouse, trouble, naturally, ensues. This was very atmospheric and beautiful to look at, and the actors are all great. There's been some criticism leveled at the movie for nearly completely eliding over the existence of slavery, and I agree that it's a weird, off-putting, choice that makes the story feel completely disconnected from the reality of history. Having said that, I did like this movie while I was watching it, though I'm not sure it amounts to much in the end.
The Big Sick - The real-life love story of comedian/actor Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily Gordon, who meet after one of his stand-up shows and fall in love, but break up after Emily realizes that Kumail doesn't see a future for them because his devout Muslim Pakistani parents are trying to arrange a marriage for him and he's afraid they'll disown him if he admits to them that he's dating a white, non-Muslim woman. Shortly after they break up, Emily becomes very ill and ends up in a medically-induced coma, causing her parents, played by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano, to come to town. This was really good, very funny and sweet. It does suffer from third-act sag, where a few minutes should have been trimmed off to make the movie tighter and sharper, but overall I really liked this one.
Baby Driver - Baby (Anson Elgort), is the genius getaway driver for crime boss Kevin Spacey. Baby just has to work on one more big score, then he'll be out of debt to Spacey and able to drive off into the sunset with his waitress girlfriend. Naturally, things go sideways and he ends up running for his life. First, it must be acknowledged that this is a terrible title, one that makes it sound like a kid's movie, like Boss Baby. I saw this because the reviews were nearly universally positive, making it sound like a fun, unique, action-comedy. And parts of this movie ARE a lot of fun; the car chases are staged almost like musicals, set to the music that Baby is constantly listening to through ever-present earbuds. But in the last third, everything devolves into a hyper-violent climax, and...meh. I can't get into all the reasons this movie fell apart for me without getting into spoiler territory, but I walked out feeling unsatisfied by the whole thing. However, on the plus side, it was both filmed in and set in Atlanta, and it was fun to see some familiar sights, including a chase through the Peachtree Center Mall, home of the food court everyone eats at during Dragon*Con.
Because I saw all these movies, I also saw a lot of movie trailers recently:
Atomic Blonde - Charlize Theron kicks people in the face. Looks good!
Pitch Perfect 3 - Answering all the questions left by Pitch Perfects 1 & 2.
Home Again - Reese Witherspoon plays a 40 year old divorced mother, who, on the night of her birthday, picks up a young twentysomething guy for a one-night stand. Somehow, he and his two friends end up living with her and her kids? Then her ex-husband reappears, wanting his family back. Without seeing this movie, I am going to predict that it will end with Reese and her ex reuniting, which is the most boring and predictable way that it could end.
Thor: Ragnorak - I've seen this trailer several times now, and doubt that I'll see the movie until it hits Netflix, but I have to admit, I laugh every time when Thor sees the Hulk and says "We know each other from work!"
Flatliners - Apparently, the world needed a remake of this 1990 Julia Roberts/Keifer Sutherland thriller. I've seen the original a couple of times and remember absolutely nothing about it.
American Assassin - I watched two seasons of Teen Wolf, and I absolutely did not recognize Dylan O'Brien (Stiles) as the actor playing the main character in this trailer. The plot of this movie hinges on the death of O'Brien's girlfriend.
The Foreigner - Jackie Chan seeks vengeance on Pierce Brosnan. The plot of this movie hinges on the death of Chan's daughter.
The Dark Tower - Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey star in this adaptation of the Stephen King novel. No women speak in this trailer.
IT - Also based on a Stephen King novel. You know, the one with the clown. I don't remember any women or girls speaking in this trailer, but Beverly has to be there, right? Either way, I'm not going to watch it again to find out.
The Kingsmen 2 - Sequel to the movie from a few years ago about British spies. No women speak in this trailer (though, to be fair, music plays over most of the trailer).
Dunkirk - WW2 war movie. No women speak in this trailer (though, to be fair again, it's mostly battle scenes and there probably were not many, if any, women present at the Battle of Dunkirk).
Daddy's Home 2 - The ace comedy team of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg reteam for more dad-based hijinks, this time with their own fathers, played by John Lithgow and Mel Gibson, who we're apparently allowing to be a movie star again. There is a little girl with a short line of dialogue in this trailer. The only other woman who says anything is a a mother who says "No, no, no," when Gibson starts to tell the kids a joke that starts out "Two dead hookers washed up on a shore." So, Gibson doesn't just get to star in movies again, he also gets to tell violently misogynistic jokes in them. Cool. Cool. Cool.
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Twin Peaks returns tonight! I...still don't know how I feel about this. I'm not really on board with this whole trend of reviving old shows; next season we get the return of both Will & Grace and Roseanne. Was anyone clamoring for either of these? Didn't both those shows have final episodes that fans hated? Why can't we, as a culture, just let things END? What I liked best about the X-Files revival (which is also happening again, sigh) was the pre-season publicity, seeing Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny hanging out and being adorable together. The actual episodes I found mostly forgettable. I wouldn't say they tarnished the greatness of the series, but they didn't add to it either.
But Twin Peaks IS different, if only because David Lynch has a truly singular imagination. It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but my biggest concern isn't that I'll find the new episodes boring or unnecessary, but that there will be at least one scene that is so terrifying (BOB at the foot of Laura's bed or crawling over the couch, Maddy's murder, basically every single moment of the Black Lodge in the finale, etc.) that I won't be able to sleep tonight when I have to be at work at 7:00 in the morning. Yes, I am a big chicken. Yes, I'm going to watch anyway because I am super curious and Twin Peaks was one of my first real fannish obsessions.
This is normally the time of year when all of my shows are wrapping up, but this year it feels like most of my shows are just getting started. The second season of Sense8 just dropped a few weeks ago on Netflix, and new seasons of Master of None and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt were also just released. I haven't watched any Kimmy Schmidt yet, but after watching the first two (three if you count the Christmas special) eps of Sense8, what I can say is that Sun is THE BEST (except for when Lito is the best). I am not certain that Sense8 always makes, uh, sense, but it sure is fun to watch. Everyone is beautiful, and the travel porn is also beautiful, and the action scenes are as exciting and kickass as you would expect from the directors who made The Matrix. It is also, in my opinion, the sexiest (and most sex-positive, at least of things I've been watching) show on TV.
I've also watched the first three episodes of S2 of Master of None. I kind of had to power through the first two, which I found slow and not funny enough (it's a comedy, I want it to be funny, dammit!), but the third one was great and made me feel a lot more interested in watching the rest of the season. I feel like no one else is watching this show? But it's really good, and worth your time if you're looking for a new comedy. Aziz Ansari is charming in it, and making it so much about the experience of being a second generation immigrant gives it a perspective that's fresh and different from most sitcoms.
I'm also still really enjoying iZombie, though I'm not sure if the arc this year is as great as last season's Max Rager arc. Also, I spent a few episodes being very disappointed in Ravi, when normally Ravi is one of my favorites.
To try and encourage myself to post more often, I paid for a year at Dreamwidth. I'll continue to cross-post to Livejournal, but I'm going to let my paid account lapse when it runs out next month. The times they are a-changing.
But Twin Peaks IS different, if only because David Lynch has a truly singular imagination. It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but my biggest concern isn't that I'll find the new episodes boring or unnecessary, but that there will be at least one scene that is so terrifying (BOB at the foot of Laura's bed or crawling over the couch, Maddy's murder, basically every single moment of the Black Lodge in the finale, etc.) that I won't be able to sleep tonight when I have to be at work at 7:00 in the morning. Yes, I am a big chicken. Yes, I'm going to watch anyway because I am super curious and Twin Peaks was one of my first real fannish obsessions.
This is normally the time of year when all of my shows are wrapping up, but this year it feels like most of my shows are just getting started. The second season of Sense8 just dropped a few weeks ago on Netflix, and new seasons of Master of None and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt were also just released. I haven't watched any Kimmy Schmidt yet, but after watching the first two (three if you count the Christmas special) eps of Sense8, what I can say is that Sun is THE BEST (except for when Lito is the best). I am not certain that Sense8 always makes, uh, sense, but it sure is fun to watch. Everyone is beautiful, and the travel porn is also beautiful, and the action scenes are as exciting and kickass as you would expect from the directors who made The Matrix. It is also, in my opinion, the sexiest (and most sex-positive, at least of things I've been watching) show on TV.
I've also watched the first three episodes of S2 of Master of None. I kind of had to power through the first two, which I found slow and not funny enough (it's a comedy, I want it to be funny, dammit!), but the third one was great and made me feel a lot more interested in watching the rest of the season. I feel like no one else is watching this show? But it's really good, and worth your time if you're looking for a new comedy. Aziz Ansari is charming in it, and making it so much about the experience of being a second generation immigrant gives it a perspective that's fresh and different from most sitcoms.
I'm also still really enjoying iZombie, though I'm not sure if the arc this year is as great as last season's Max Rager arc. Also, I spent a few episodes being very disappointed in Ravi, when normally Ravi is one of my favorites.
To try and encourage myself to post more often, I paid for a year at Dreamwidth. I'll continue to cross-post to Livejournal, but I'm going to let my paid account lapse when it runs out next month. The times they are a-changing.
Tags:
I only just realized that there were a bunch of people on Dreamwidth whose journals I THOUGHT I was subscribed to, but apparently I wasn't. So, if you just got a notification that I subscribed or granted access to you, it's because I thought I had already done so. D'oh.
As we all know, 2016 was a garbage fire, but there were at least a few things that made it a little easier to bear.
TV Shows
1. Stranger Things – I don't care if it was nostalgia, this just hit my buttons in exactly the right way.
2. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – No joke, this is the lowest-rated show on network TV, proving once again that my taste is not in sync with the rest of America. America is wrong (America has been wrong a lot lately), because this show is funny, sad, weird, and smart. And there’s singing and dancing!
3. People of Earth – This is an underrated little gem. Wyatt Cenac (who used to be a Daily Show correspondent) stars as a journalist who goes to a small town to do a story about a group of people who claim to have been abducted by aliens…only to be abducted by aliens himself. The show is funny without being mean-spirited – the characters really were abducted, so there’s never any mocking “look at those weirdos” kind of humor – and there’s a kind of mythology building up about the abductees , why they were chosen, and an upcoming alien invasion. The aliens themselves are hilarious and kind of poignant. I don’t want to oversell it; there are flaws. But in the cold dark days of November and December, it was a delightful escape from reality.
4. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee – I didn’t realize how much I needed a woman hosting a show like this. I find her anger cathartic. Here she is talking about “identity politics.”
5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – I really liked the way this show dealt with Kimmy’s trauma while still being hilarious.
Other shows I’ve enjoyed over the past year: The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Arrow, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Speechless, blackish, The Middle, iZombie, Person of Interest, probably something else that I’m forgetting. In the run-up to the election I spent a lot of time watching MSNBC during the primetime hours, which, in retrospect, was maybe a mistake.
Movies
I saw very few movies in 2016 until November-December, when I suddenly saw several things in a row. Hmmm, I don’t know what could have happened in November that made me want to escape from the TV and Internet and lose myself in fiction! It’s a mystery! Anyway, I started to do a post about movies a week or two ago, then abandoned it, as I do most of my potential posts, so I’ll just paste it in here:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – It was fine. The plot basically hinges on the fact that the main character is terrible at his job of keeping the fantastic beasts safe and secure. The beasts themselves were fun. I still find Colin Farrell very handsome and have few complaints about watching him stalk around snowy cityscapes in a nice coat.
Doctor Strange – I wish I could remember where on the internet I saw this movie described as “woo woo Iron Man,” because that’s exactly what it is. That’s not really a criticism, just a statement of fact. I enjoyed it while I was watching it and forgot 90% of it the next day. The cape is the best character.
Arrival – Loved it. Smart, thoughtful, and sad. I loved the alienness of the aliens and the competency of the main character. It’s the first movie I’ve seen in a while that I was still thinking about days later. (Which probably says a lot more about me and the movies I choose to see than it does about the state of movies). Easily my favorite film of the year.
La La Land – This movie is gorgeous to look at, bursting with color and vibrancy. Unfortunately, for me, at least, nothing else on screen matched how pretty it was. There are moments I genuinely loved, but I thought most of the music was lackluster (which is probably the worst criticism you can give a musical) and that the story was something I’ve seen a hundred times before - which would actually be fine if the dialogue had been sparkling or the music had been catchy, but I just didn’t feel that it was. I do think it’s probably worth seeing if you love musicals or love Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, or just want to support movies that aren’t based on comic books. There’s been a lot of critical acclaim for it, so my experience with it is definitely not universal.
Speaking of musicals
I was really late to the Hamilton phenomenon, but I spent most of August through November listening to nothing but the soundtrack in my car. See, now those are some catchy songs! A Christmas present I bought for myself was the Hamilton: A Revolution book (otherwise known as the Hamiltome) about the making of the show, which I am mentioning only to say that it might be the most beautiful book I’ve ever owned. There’s something about holding it in my lap and flipping through the pages that is aesthetically pleasing. There’s literally nothing I can say about Hamilton that hasn’t been said more eloquently by many other people, so I won’t try.
TV Shows
1. Stranger Things – I don't care if it was nostalgia, this just hit my buttons in exactly the right way.
2. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – No joke, this is the lowest-rated show on network TV, proving once again that my taste is not in sync with the rest of America. America is wrong (America has been wrong a lot lately), because this show is funny, sad, weird, and smart. And there’s singing and dancing!
3. People of Earth – This is an underrated little gem. Wyatt Cenac (who used to be a Daily Show correspondent) stars as a journalist who goes to a small town to do a story about a group of people who claim to have been abducted by aliens…only to be abducted by aliens himself. The show is funny without being mean-spirited – the characters really were abducted, so there’s never any mocking “look at those weirdos” kind of humor – and there’s a kind of mythology building up about the abductees , why they were chosen, and an upcoming alien invasion. The aliens themselves are hilarious and kind of poignant. I don’t want to oversell it; there are flaws. But in the cold dark days of November and December, it was a delightful escape from reality.
4. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee – I didn’t realize how much I needed a woman hosting a show like this. I find her anger cathartic. Here she is talking about “identity politics.”
5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – I really liked the way this show dealt with Kimmy’s trauma while still being hilarious.
Other shows I’ve enjoyed over the past year: The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Arrow, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Speechless, blackish, The Middle, iZombie, Person of Interest, probably something else that I’m forgetting. In the run-up to the election I spent a lot of time watching MSNBC during the primetime hours, which, in retrospect, was maybe a mistake.
Movies
I saw very few movies in 2016 until November-December, when I suddenly saw several things in a row. Hmmm, I don’t know what could have happened in November that made me want to escape from the TV and Internet and lose myself in fiction! It’s a mystery! Anyway, I started to do a post about movies a week or two ago, then abandoned it, as I do most of my potential posts, so I’ll just paste it in here:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – It was fine. The plot basically hinges on the fact that the main character is terrible at his job of keeping the fantastic beasts safe and secure. The beasts themselves were fun. I still find Colin Farrell very handsome and have few complaints about watching him stalk around snowy cityscapes in a nice coat.
Doctor Strange – I wish I could remember where on the internet I saw this movie described as “woo woo Iron Man,” because that’s exactly what it is. That’s not really a criticism, just a statement of fact. I enjoyed it while I was watching it and forgot 90% of it the next day. The cape is the best character.
Arrival – Loved it. Smart, thoughtful, and sad. I loved the alienness of the aliens and the competency of the main character. It’s the first movie I’ve seen in a while that I was still thinking about days later. (Which probably says a lot more about me and the movies I choose to see than it does about the state of movies). Easily my favorite film of the year.
La La Land – This movie is gorgeous to look at, bursting with color and vibrancy. Unfortunately, for me, at least, nothing else on screen matched how pretty it was. There are moments I genuinely loved, but I thought most of the music was lackluster (which is probably the worst criticism you can give a musical) and that the story was something I’ve seen a hundred times before - which would actually be fine if the dialogue had been sparkling or the music had been catchy, but I just didn’t feel that it was. I do think it’s probably worth seeing if you love musicals or love Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, or just want to support movies that aren’t based on comic books. There’s been a lot of critical acclaim for it, so my experience with it is definitely not universal.
Speaking of musicals
I was really late to the Hamilton phenomenon, but I spent most of August through November listening to nothing but the soundtrack in my car. See, now those are some catchy songs! A Christmas present I bought for myself was the Hamilton: A Revolution book (otherwise known as the Hamiltome) about the making of the show, which I am mentioning only to say that it might be the most beautiful book I’ve ever owned. There’s something about holding it in my lap and flipping through the pages that is aesthetically pleasing. There’s literally nothing I can say about Hamilton that hasn’t been said more eloquently by many other people, so I won’t try.
So, it looks like the time has come to move fully to Dreamwidth. I know I'm already following several of you on DW, but if you're reading this and we aren't friends over there, please let me know your user name! And if you don't have a Dreamwidth account, please consider getting one, even if you only post occasionally (like me!).
There's not much I'm excited about this fall when it comes to TV, but here are the shows I'll probably check out at least once, along with the returning shows that I'll probably continue to watch.
( Time travelers and baseball players and unnecessary remakes, oh my! )
( Time travelers and baseball players and unnecessary remakes, oh my! )
This summer I've been watching Person of Interest, which stars Michael Emerson as a genius who built a supercomputer that can anticipate when people are going to be in danger and Jim Caviezel as the guy he sends to save the people in danger. ( More POI talk, with mild spoilers )
The other thing I watched this summer, along with, it seems, most Netflix subscribers, was Stranger Things. I loved it. It's nostalgic comfort food in a way, but it's loving nostalgia, not lazy or cynical. As I think every review of it in existence points out, it's kind of a mash-up of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King, and if you haven't watched it yet and that sounds like the kind of thing you might be interested in, I highly recommend it. The pacing is so tight (it's just eight episodes) that it actually felt more like a movie than a TV series to me, and I enjoyed it more than I have any movie in recent memory. I just so happened to watch it during the week of the Republican National Convention, and it was the perfect escapism from the vitriol that seemed to be everywhere that week.
The other thing I watched this summer, along with, it seems, most Netflix subscribers, was Stranger Things. I loved it. It's nostalgic comfort food in a way, but it's loving nostalgia, not lazy or cynical. As I think every review of it in existence points out, it's kind of a mash-up of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King, and if you haven't watched it yet and that sounds like the kind of thing you might be interested in, I highly recommend it. The pacing is so tight (it's just eight episodes) that it actually felt more like a movie than a TV series to me, and I enjoyed it more than I have any movie in recent memory. I just so happened to watch it during the week of the Republican National Convention, and it was the perfect escapism from the vitriol that seemed to be everywhere that week.
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