We Want It!

[helloladies]

It has been a particularly poor three months for visual entertainment in England and then bam, all of a sudden box sets start to become available right when autumn scheduling is being trailed. Now there is too much for me to consume and process right now. I feel like I need more eyes to take in all the lushness.

Television and DVDs

'Merlin', Season Four: Important aside — are you frickin kidding me BBC, neither Gwen or Morgana are in the cast shot on the front page of the official Merlin site? Just the guys, huh? Piss off.

Despite his serious female character problems I am addicted to Russel T Davis' style of drama. And despite its serious female character problems...wait do you see a theme here...I really love the Arthur mythology. Every time they make something new about this myth I wonder if we need more Arthur canon and every time I am gently reminded that cynicism need not apply when it comes to Arthurian adaptations. I love 'Merlin' especially. It's happily in touch with its emotional side and at the same time it has some great scenes of peril and action. It's kind of deliberately cute and silly, which I like. And the ladies are doing pretty well so far (gah the affair storyline is coming soon isn't it? I don't even know what I will do because I ship Arthur/Gwen like mad.)



'The Good Wife', Season Two: Jenny's Books explains why the first season is fantastic (with some spoilers for the second season which I have happily skipped for now, because I was watching season one on DVD while season two was playing and must now wait for the box set). Essentially it is full of ladies doing things and negotiating complicated situations that have no easy answers. It is family ties and colleague relationships without the simplicity of the traditional villains and heroes. It is Christine Baranski who excels at playing women we are not supposed to like but almost certainly do, changing it up and playing a woman who every feminist can identify with (flaws and all) and worship at different points in the series.



'The Vampire Diaries', Season Two: I think I've made my love for this show pretty clear and I hear mad awesome things about the second series. Of course nothing is going to happen the way I think it should romance wise (Matt/Caroline/Tyler 4EVA) because I have a thing for convoluted, forbidden ships when it comes to vampire media (blame Anne Rice). However I imagine that the non-romantic relationships will fulfill all my 'complicated emotions' criteria, whatever friendship combinations they produce.



'Nikita', Season One: I saw some trailers for this program and automatically discarded it when the main focus seemed to be on ladies fighting in swimming costumes. When My Friend Amy recommended this to me I was dubious despite her television reccing prowess, but she mentioned interesting relationships between female characters (ohho she knows me too well, that one) so I looked into it. From what I can gather Nikita contains elements of 'Dark Angel' (love), 'The Pretender' (oh Jared) and 'Alias' (I must see this soon). My eyes weep for the lack of this program!

Spoilers: Renay is going to talk about 'Sherlock' below, so I won't go on about the imminent second series. Instead I offer you the Cumberbatched tumblr to waste your life upon while we wait for it to appear.

Film

'Jane Eyre' — America why do you hate the UK now? I thought we had something special! Why are you stealing all our stuff and watching it first (we do not speak of Torchwood here)? This is a British made film, of an exceptionally British novel and I have had to wait nine months longer than anyone in America before seeing it. Just saying, 's not cool.

ANYWAY. It’s almost ready for release in the UK! 'Jane Eyre' was a formative book for me, because reading it at university alongside 'Wide Sargasso Sea' really opened up new areas of literary analysis and provided me with two amazing heroines to obsess about. I am very intrigued by the idea that flashback sequences will be used to tell the story. Not gonna lie, I’m also very interested in seeing Jamie Bell play a sexually repressed villain, but mostly I just want to see how the film treats Jane, who is probably one of the most complex characters I’ve ever met.



'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' — I know nothing about the John Le Carre novel behind this film, which probably makes me a philistine. I am going because Tom Hardy will be in a film with Benedict Cumberbatch and I need to see that on a huge screen. Positives: Really hot male cast and as Maree said, even if it’s crap the fic will be amazing. Negatives: What is up with everyone’s hair in this trailer? And oh, right, where are all the ladies?



'Attack the Block' — When the trailer for this first came out I thought it was going to be both culturally gross and artistically bad. The trailer playing in UK cinemas is kind of different to the official one and basically seems to emphasis how keen economically deprived, black teenagers are to kill things for fun, which seems to play into some pretty obvious stereotypes. BUT…then the reviews came out from people I trust like Zetta Elliot and the The Rejectionist. Turns out the trailer is misleading and weird (no, surely not). Another triumph for Film Four would mean they were having a very good year indeed.

Again, Renay is going to talk about Warrior below, so I will just say OMFG I am so excited! I may have freaked Thea out with my levels of excitement when she said she was looking forward to Warrior. Sorry?

Entertainment Related Clothing

Cleolinda Industries shirt: I am craving the cleolinda Twilight related merchandise. I can't decide which design to get though...

Steampunk Ponies shirt. AHHHHH I defy you to dislike this cutie. And there is more pony goodness available.

---

In the spring when I started back to school I stopped reading book blogs. I wiped them out, except for a few, because book blogs are freaking dangerous. I just want everything to be in my eyes immediately. I've slowly started to add blogs back, and of course now my GoodReads to-read shelf is getting all creaky again and threatening to consume me because I still have all those Stephen King weapons of mass destruction listed.

I also have people who shall remain nameless encouraging me into media I totally don't have time for but really wish I did because I sure would like to mainline several seasons of a certain show so I could legitimately write wingfic, but algebra is standing in my way.

Of course, many of the blogs I followed are gone now...seriously, where are the big SF/F book blogs that update regularly? I already follow Ana and Thea to a ridiculous degree, like, don't look outside your windows, ladies, you will regret it. I have been slowly rebuilding by demanding recs from people, but it's slow going (I am seriously following more than this, I know it). Surely SF Signal can't be the only one and I really hope it's not because if so I am going to cry, forever. OCEAN OF TEARS, followed by a Tsunami of Emotion. Please bring me a lifesaver in the form of SF blog recs.

Reading Challenge!

In late July or early August I demanded recommendations from Ana and Jodie about what I should read now, right now. They chose two books, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and Hex Hall be Rachel Hawkins.

I was really excited to read these but then it was all my worst fears realized: Fingersmith was completely gone from the library shelves (no trace of it existed in the system, even! I suspect a library book sale) and Hex Hall has been declared missing (BOOK THIEVES ARE NOT COOL THIEVES). So now these have gone on my coveting list. Although now that I look at Hex Hall and it's sequel, wow. Jodie, are you attempting to kill me with cliffhangers...do you want me to suffer? Is this all part of some plan? *suspicious*

Books

The 10 P.M. Question by Kate De Goldi: When I first caught sight of this novel I was immediately put off by the last section in the description, which read When a new girl arrives at school — a daring free spirit with unavoidable questions of her own — Frankie’s carefully guarded world begins to unravel, leading him to a painful confrontation with the ultimate 10 p.m. question. To me this screams of manic pixie dust and woe, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Then both Ana and Ana reviewed the book and loved it. This is what you get when you judge a book by its summary, you miss out on awesome novels. No more! If there were manic pixie dream girls in this, they would have told me. All my trust is in their hands! NO PRESSURE AT ALL.



The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer: I was on the hunt for some fantasy that sounded interesting. I've now forgotten where I heard of this title (Fantasy Book Critic, maybe?), but I happily found one that looks interesting (my weakness for thieves and pirates is showing) involving smuggling and borders and dudes having to rely and trust each other. Oh, I am predictable! Is it possible to find fantasy like this where it's not a series but also not epic, long-winded emotion porn like Guy Gavriel Kay? Not that there's anything wrong with his wind or his emotion porn, he's just normally on the lowest rung of Lady Business coverage, although I did enjoy his ladies in Tigana.



Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine: I have a very weird relationship with steampunk. The last I read was Soulless which I loved, but before that was Boneshaker which I was a little lackluster about. But I saw this in Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago when I was not buying books because I had just purchased a nookcolor and The Windup Girl (which I still have not read, ugh, it's HARD I am not worthy, BACIGALUPI, stop being so smart and creative) so I was banned, but I want it! The cover is nifty, which pretty much decided it for me. Is it just me or are there lots of fantasy books about the circus out lately...?

Television

Because Maree likes to make me suffer, she's been twirling about the 16 seconds of Sherlock (BBC) released from the upcoming season two and rubbing my face in the fact that it will take me forever to see it once it airs (okay, not really, it just feels like that). I only saw the first run because of Netflix and the future of Netflix is kind of up in the air, isn't it, what with the fallout from the Starz contract. LONG WAIT IS LONG. I guess I will just read Sherlock fanfic until then and mope when it releases on channels I don't have on cable I gave up on years and years ago. :(



Meanwhile, radish suggested this show to me (we traded, MLP for me and Avatar for her which I swear I am going to bully her into reviewing here). I am a little intimidated. I have memories of My Little Pony and when the Care Bears got rebooted it was like part of my childhood just flopped over dead (whhhy). Apparently this cartoon has attracted a male following, which amuses me. But noooo, men can't like feminine things, says Mass Media. THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE, THAT'S FOR GIRLS, ugh, Mass Media, STFU. I am halfway planning to watch it just for the pleasure of knowing that a majority-female character show is so popular with a demographic that's supposed to scorn everything that might even hint at being girly.

Film

I am ridiculously excited about the film even though I don't...really like MMA fighting...or visual violence in general, or testosterone-fueled whoop-ass movies filled with emotion porn as if there can only be emotion porn if there's also violence and explosions to cancel out the fact that dudes might have emotions. So seeing this movie will be interesting! Although if I can make it through For Colored Girls (ahahaha ow, that film, oh my heart) without fleeing the theater, I imagine I can make it through this film to see Tom Hardy getting the crap beat out of him and watching him beat the crap out of others. I really don't know what to make of his accent in this film. What I really want to know is how he's going to sound in The Wettest County in the World. If this movie is a preview of his accent work, um. I am pretty picky with Southern accents, so we'll see. *g*

This comes out in September and Jodie has already agreed to co-review it with me. \o/ Exciting. :D

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Jodie! I can't wait until you watch TVD S2 and we can discuss Caroline and how awesome she continues to be and also Nikita. I just bought both DVD sets and I'm hoping to rewatch all my fave epis before the new season starts. But UGH to that cover on Nikita! I mean I get Maggie Q is gorgeous with an amazing body but I promise it gets better, even if she still does fight in heels. (but I love fighting girls anyway)

--Amy of MFA

[renay]

When I was pulling up the images for this post, I stopped and GAPED and triple checked that it was seriously the image they were marketing it under.

STAY CLASSY, MARKETERS.

[bookgazing]

Gah I hadn't seen that Nikita pic!

[bookgazing]

Someone is potentially going to burn me Series 2 if they can, but if not I'm placing my order at the end of the week. Sarah Rees Brennan has some interesting things to say about the changes made to Elena's character in the tv series (I can't remember if I saw it online, or in that VD essay collection). She said Elena had to be changed to make her more unsure to make her more sympathetic, because in the book she's v confident and shocked that any boy might rebuff her attentions (must read) which audiences might not respond well to. That makes me love Caroline all the more, because although she has serious insecurities she's always putting herself out there and trying to cover up how wobbly she is by thorwing out an 'I am awesome' vibe in public. So happy she gets to exist like that in the program.

Fighting girls rock it. I'd love to theme some kind of dvd party around ladies kicking people in the stomach.

[irisonbooks.wordpress.com]

Let me know how you feel about season 2. I just.. don't know. I think the season might be better when you see everything right after another and without the months wait in between, but I think they tried to do too much and didn't accomplish what they set out to do.

Also, let me know how you feel about the Damon/Elena thing. I think Amy left ship :P

[krait]

Awwww. I, too, am hopelessly yearning after MOAR SHERLOCK which I will not get for a million years. D:

[renay]

We can suffer together. *clings*

I have rewatched episode one and three so many times that it's ridiculous. I am picturing my ISP sending me a very stern note about Internet usage with angry faces. >.>

[krait]

I am picturing my ISP sending me a very stern note

Uh. ... I bought it on DVD. ...Yes, that's how desperate and suffering I am. I may have fallen asleep holding the DVD box.

*clings to you* You understand!

[renay]

I need to really give in and buy it, it's true, that way I can fall asleep holding my DVD box. :D We're just running out of storage space for media (I have really got to purge some books and find them new homes) so I am picky with what I buy. But I feel like Sherlock is worth it.

[bookgazing]

Ooo look you found a Merlin picture featuring Morgana *beams*.

Circuses are begining to trend. Coleen at Chasing Ray mentioned it the other day and I made a trends post mentioning it, which I have been too lazy to post :( I am really excited for this trend (especially as merpeople is going to go so bad, so fast).

[renay]

That's the image that cropped up the most when I searched for "Merlin Season Four" so perhaps it is official-like? I am not sure, I stopped watching Merlin after the first season.

I have seen a few books with circus themes, the one I mentioned above and then The Night Circus, although I know I have heard of some others. I'm not sure they're new releases or just getting a boost from the topic.