easy to please -- difficult to impress

Elementary Catch-Up: 3x01 - 3x10

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 15:19:37 GMT

3x01 "Enough Nemesis To Go Around"

ok they got an actual lol out of me with the gas mask helmet
It feels really cheap to have Sherlock join MI6 and then have him leave between seasons. Like, this is a whole huge thing that just happens off-screen and ultimately appears to have virtually no effect on ANYTHING. Very sloppy storytelling. I get that apparently they wanted to have Sherlock and Joan be estranged for a while, but this is such a bizarre way to do it.
This hilariously huge Manhattan apartment that is neither rent controlled nor courtesy of Sherlock's rich daddy!!! faaaaake

3x02 "The Five Orange Pipz"

Kitty is such a good addition to the cast <3

3x03 "Just a Regular Irregular"

Honestly this plot with Sherlock and Harlan is adorable.
Love watching Kitty and Joan navigate their relationship.

3x04 "Bella"

divided custody of Clyde oh my god.
I remember this episode! Sherlock trying to figure out love by taking to an AI through a baby doll is classic.
“Kind of feel like hugging you right now.”
Am I misanthropic and miserable or is it totally weird that Joan surprised her boyfriend by joining him on an overseas business trip? I think I would not be happy if a significant other did it without talking to me about it. Like, I would probably love to have them come! But to have it sprung on me without my input makes my Myers Briggs-J want to absolutely lose it.

3x05 "Rip Off"

The casebook! 474 pages!!
I do not love this stuff with Gregson’s daughter?

3x06 "Terra Pericolosa"

Does this early scene count as passing the bechdel test? They're talking about Holmes but they're also talking about their jobs... always a gray area.
I’m not a survivor so I have no idea how well they’re handling everything with Kitty, but it seems very sweet???

3x07 "The Adventure of the Nutmeg Concoction"

Ms Hudson!!! Now can we have some Alfredo?
Omg Sherlock reading Joan about her dating life is just soooooo House MD.
Kitty is such bangs/hair goals.
I just want Joan to figure out what will make herself happy. The older I get the more I identify with and admire her. Trying multiple careers, starting over, still figuring out romance. I’m seeing her very differently as a 32 year old than I did as a 24 year old.

3x08 "End of Watch"

I give zero shits for this “poor hunted cops” stuff, Ms. Hudson and Alfredo should be regulars that we see in every episode instead of the cops.

3x09 "The Eternity Injection"

Alfredo!!!
“You have your work. You have me.”
Again, I know very little about the addict experience but this is so affecting. What an interesting angle to lean into for an adaptation. They didn’t do it for titillation or for drama like on House, but for an honest look at how addiction affects life.

3x10 "Seed Money"

Lord I am reallllly over-identifying with Joan.
NEVER. TALK. TO. THE. COPS.

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Elementary Catch-Up: 2x15 - 2x24

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 20:31:11 GMT

2x15 "Corpse de Ballet"

Love learning more about Joan and her family history. Love that she shares it with Sherlock. Love that he collects blankets and invites her to distribute them with him!!
Holmes is telling the truth when he says he is not a nice man, but he is a COMPASSIONATE man, and that’s also important.

2x16 "The One Percent Solution"

DOUG Chat instead of TED Talk??? This show makes fake versions of the most random things!!!
How is everyone using their smartphones with latex gloves on hmmmm?
The subtle teasing about getting Joan to say the word cock is so funny? It’s not overplayed and just seems like the kind of genuine stupid shit two friends would do. Holmes and Watson, urban hobby farmers <3

2x17 "Ears to You"

OK it is a hate crime that we have to watch this much Lestrade before getting a reappearance of Ms Hudson.

2x18 "The Hound of the Cancer Cells"

“Misanthropy was so easy. I miss it sometimes.” Hits different in quarantine.
The coffee shop date at the end is cute, love that for Marcus and Sherlock.

2x19 "The Many Mouths of Aaron Colville"

Sherlock inviting Joan on a sunny tropical vacation mmhmmmmm
This frozen reference is bringing home how long ago this was filmed!!
Clyde as a shark <3

2x20 "No Lack of Void"

I hate American television why are there so many episodes in every season ugh.
They’re so chill about someone dying in their custody ugh fuck cops.
“I came here today because I loved you very much.” MY CREYS!!!! God, character driven stuff is so much better than case bullshit.

2x21 "The Man With the Twisted Lip"

Oh good, the ‘previously on’ is all Mycroft. Can’t wait.
Ms Hudson!! A small gift if we also have to deal with Mycroft.
“Did he take liberties with you?”
“She has a very symmetrical face and she will attract a mate when she’s ready.” It’s so douchey but also so cute.
I remember this episode and the next very well, but I’m surprised to see that they aren’t the penultimate and ultimate eps of the season. Could not tell you what happens after this. And tbh I think I’m remembering fic more than the actual next episode, because I love angst and h/c and great stuff came out of this two parter.

2x22 "Paint It Black"

“Call me back and let me know you’re okay.” 🥺
“I think she’s the person you love most in the world.” I’m trash for this character driven angst, sry not sry.

2x23 "Art in the Blood"

They deserved to hug at their reunion!!!!!
Halfway thru the ep and I’m so bored, I want interpersonal reactions to trauma not case stuff!!!
Uuuuugh I remember this now. Such a great scene with Joan telling off Mycroft and then SUCH a disappointment later. 😩 I’m just saying, having Joan forgive Mycroft and sleep with him because Mycroft took extraordinary measures to protect Sherlock.... is still.... very much about Sherlock and Joan.... and like maybe that’s still the point, because the show certainly didn’t develop Mycroft/Joan into a real relationship, but I truly wish they just hadn’t gone there.

2x24 "The Grand Experiment"

the roMANce of the conversation between sherlock and joan!!!!!!! gravity and orbits and change!!!! truly i just want holmes and watson talking to each other, that's all i need from any adaptation. FEELINGS.
These tears over Mycroft! NO ONE CARES! Truly no memory if this is the last time we have to deal with him, but I remember hoping so when this aired.
Reichenbach and overdose: the two tragedies constantly hanging over this adaptation.

Everyone is always whispering in this damn show. When I watch The X-Files I can't see anything, and when I watch Elementary I can't hear anything.

Is the third season the one with Kitty Winter? I think It's the last season I watched all the way through, though I might have made it through the fourth because that's the last DVD set I appear to own. Once I finish the show I'll decide whether to keep those or not--I used to just keep and collect anything Sherlockian on principle, but I've got too much stuff at this point. I can access the show on Hulu for as long as that's a thing anyway.

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'The Secret Commonwealth'

Fri, 24 Jul 2020 18:45:59 GMT

A draft of this has been sitting in the Notes app on my phone for about two months, so I decided to just clean it up and post it here so I can delete it. (Not x-posted to Tumblr.) (TW: rape)

~*~*~

There are some narrative properties/franchises that are so important to me that I completely isolate the main story from any sequels, spin-offs, etc. Harry Potter is an example. I have not read The Cursed Child and I’ve never seen the Fantastic Beasts movies. I never will. I don’t need or want them, and I have a feeling they would significantly affect my enjoyment of HP, which JKR has already done her best to trash. Avatar: the Last Airbender is another. I watched, I think, the first season of Korra and decided it interfered. Never saw the movie. Dropped the comics after like one issue. It’s so important to me that I don’t touch anything else.

Some things--like Star Wars, Star Trek, of The X-Files--I am happy to consume every piece of it. I don't LIKE or RESPECT all of it, but for some reason a crappy Trek film or the shitty XF reboot finale just don't have any bearing on how I feel about the rest of it. They don't threaten it.

The His Dark Materials saga has never fit neatly into either of these categories, but rather takes up its own strange liminal space. I won't see the show or film not because of opinions about quality but because I am so devoted to the voices and images of the characters that already exist in my head. But I do read all of the additional books Philip Pullman has released, unlike HP or ATLA. Until recently, I had never regretted this.

About a third of the way into The Secret Commonwealth, I made a bad decision. It started out innocently. I was actually enjoying the book much more than La Belle Sauvage, you see, and I was curious if others felt the same. Not that I didn’t like La Belle Sauvage. But Vol II of The Book of Dust trilogy felt much more like home to me. Having Lyra back in a starring role made me sigh and say, “Ah, yes. I remember this.”

So I read some reviews. Both professional and from average readers. I understood the risk of spoilers and I did it anyway. “I’m not in it for the plot or the twists and turns,” I told myself. “I’m here for the themes. The characters. The message.”

To my deep dismay, I read in several places not only about the weird and utterly unnecessary love interest from Dr Polstead (twelve years Lyra's senior, known her since infancy, at one time her teacher) but also about the “ATTEMPTED SEXUAL ASSAULT” against Lyra towards the end of the novel.

With a heavy heart, determined to compartmentalize like hell, I finished the book.

Two things: First of all, there is nothing “attempted” about the assault. Textually.

"...[Lyra] felt other hands--two men's hands--on her wrist, up inside her skirt, fumbling at her underwear, gripping it, tearing it aside, and thrusting fingers at her, and other hands on the stick, twisting it, tearing it out of her fingers..." (page 636)

Pullman wrote a gang rape scene and wants to avoid it by the technically of a two letter preposition. No. Just because he wrote “at” instead of “in” doesn’t let him off the hook. The professional reviewers in particular should be ashamed for getting this wrong and/or glossing over it. Moreover, this is not what sexual assault often looks like particularly in England where Pullman is from, and whose culture and politics he is usually commenting on. It’s not strangers on a train. It’s family members. It’s friends and partners. It’s coworkers and bosses. Why did he move Lyra to the fictional world's equivalent of the Middle East to make it happen, in this particular way, and then have another character suggest she wear niqab?

Let me be clear: What kind of orientalist, colonialist, misogynist horse shit? This review from Vox is the only one I found that gave this crap more than a sentence. That is neglect. Be better at your jobs. I don’t care that Pullman is usually perceived as some nu-atheist (and therefore leftist) big thinker. He’s a white man. He can and will fuck up. He did here, in a manner significant enough to be commented on. Particularly with the prevalence of Islamophobia among big name atheists, this deserved attention.

Second of all... well, this is the personal part. Lyra is a character I have loved and followed since I was nine years old, and I am 32 now. I identified with her. I admired her. I know this is the case for thousands of women and girls. The His Dark Materials trilogy is not an obscure text. In the era before Harry Potter truly exploded, this was a MASSIVE young adult fantasy series, for what that meant at the time.

We, as fans and readers, didn’t need to be reminded that women can be raped at any time, any place. We didn’t need another female Chosen One, of whom we get so so very few, to be raped. (Pouring one out for Buffy Summers.) This simply isn’t something that any of your male Fantasy Savior characters ever has to deal with. WHY DOES SHE NEED TO BE RAPED? Why are you raping and killing and destroying the girls we identify with?? Stop it.

Mr Pullman, this added nothing to your world building. It said nothing about your themes or your blasted theological and political ~Points. It said and did nothing, except harm your female readers that care about this character. Which is very nearly absolutely always the case with men writing the rape of lead female characters.

So, Philip Pullman, as someone who holds the His Dark Materials trilogy to be of incalculable personal significance: go fuck yourself.

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copaganda

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 20:57:53 GMT

My Elementary catch-up marathon has indeed stalled due to having very low tolerance for cop shows at the moment. As part of my self-reflection in these times, I took a moment to think about all the fiction I consider myself to be a fan of that features law enforcement.

Elementary
Sherlock Holmes in general, I'll not list all the other adaptations
Bones
Criminal Minds
The X-Files
The Dresden Files book series
Rivers of London book series
Harry and Ron become aurors/wizard cops in the epilogue of the Harry Potter series
Brooklyn 99
Castle
Almost Human
Arrow/The Flash
Psych
Rizzoli & Isles
Zootopia
The Silence of the Lambs

These are just the properties I'm comfortable saying that I either am a fan of or was a fan at one point. The ones I could think of in like ten minutes, anyway. The list of movies or tv shows or books I've casually taken in that feature law enforcement protagonists would be huge.

So... I found this list surprising. I don't love all these properties the same way. Some I stopped engaging with before they were even complete. Some I followed for years and are really important to me. One I love enough to have a tattoo for. Some are bad and I knew they were bad even when I watched. Some are so far removed from any realistic portrayal not just of law enforcement but of the world that it feels difficult to consider in any kind of nuanced conversation.

But I've been on the left end of the political spectrum my whole life and I like to think I've been actively working on being anti-racist for at least... a decade now? And yet look at that list. Maybe because a lot of these particular franchises also feature women and/or people of color I didn't interrogate them like I could have? I don't think I'm a bad person for liking these things, or that anyone else is a bad person for enjoying some cop shows.

But holy crap look how ubiquitous they are. Look how many different stories got me to say "I am rooting for this/these cops!" My rooting for them often has very little to do with their law enforcement activities. (It is almost always "I want this cop to smash their face together with this other cop." I'm trash.) But... it's interesting.

No lesson. No moral. Just... surprise.

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Elementary Catch-Up: 2x08 - 2x14

Thu, 28 May 2020 23:52:32 GMT

2x08 "Blood Is Thicker"

“I feel that I have thrived here not because of who I am, but because of who I have come to know.” What a good line. I know I joked about when the show falls into House M.D. territory with dialogue just becoming characters aggressively describing one another, but when a character shows SELF AWARENESS and does this about themself, I swoon!
Mycroft is such a fuckweasel!!!

2x09 "On the Line"

I appreciate still getting a Thor Bridge adaptation even though there was already a reference.
“I consider you to be exceptional.” This whole final conversation is so much. You know, this really does feel like watching House did in a lot of ways. Spacing out during case related stuff I really don’t care about and then squeeing over two minutes in a final scene between two leads who are obviously in love but the show wants to pretend aren’t. Takes me right back to college.

2x10 "Tremors"

This cold open is literally the same as the beginning of The Knight Before Christmas 😂
While I agree with Sherlock’s premise that morality and legality are not the same thing, I have issues with his application of this in his work, and this episode is really important for teaching him a lesson about letting the means be worthy of the desired ends.
And I love this final conversation between him and Marcus, because we get to see the sweetness and insecurity of Sherlock trying his best to be a good friend and make amends, but we also get to see the totally valid anger directed at him for his failures.

2x11 "Internal Audit"

that was... fine?

2x12 "The Diabolical Kind"

We love a purple prose voiceover!!!
GOD this painting of Joan, I can’t even.
I’m of two minds about the “give Moriarty a kid thing” but i think they handle it as well as you could, and tbh this episode slaps? JLM and Natalie have great chemistry, and like I said: episodes where characters you love actually have something at stake in the A-plot always hit different than your average case of the week.

2x13 "All in the Family"

more character work and relationship development among the cast, yes show, thank you!

2x14 "Dead Clade Walking"

“It’s not a collage. I don’t do crafts.” LOL
Joan gets to give Sherlock a rude awakening!
I find Holmes’ smutty pen pal thing so charming, in contrast to the girls the show often parades around his apartment. Is it stereotypical to make her older? IDK, but the fact that Sherlock is still sort of shy and in awe of her is sweet and feels less like titillation for the audience and more like a genuine expression of “here’s a character who is unconventional and whose taste is a little bit off the beaten track” than threesomes with hot twins.
The fake 95 Theses ahahaaa. “Those who disagree shall be vigorously tickled!”

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Elementary Catch-Up: 2x01 - 2x07

Sun, 24 May 2020 22:42:26 GMT

2x01 "Step Nine"

I was actually in London when they were filming this episode, and I tried so hard to find the set by following tips on message boards, but I never managed to get anywhere on time. There was one day where I must have run all over the city. Sad!
Wowww I hate this Mycroft so much. Even from this introduction, he is just so smarmy. I’ll save the rest of my complaints for later episodes. My kingdom for a decent Mycroft where the brothers have a good relationship. I know I'm projecting Katie Forsythe onto other adaptations again, but I just love the way she wrote the Holmeses as siblings so much.
How much do I love seeing Joan defend Sherlock and their FRIENDSHIP.
If no one had tested the milk-like substance in order to realize it was acetone... is it just a very 2013 thing to not assume it was a plant or nut milk instead of cow milk? Seeing "milk" in a vegan’s house wouldn’t be weird, it's strange to think that it would capture someone's notice.
Paddington Station! <3

2x02 "Solve for X"

The way Sherlock looks out for Joan in this episode is love. He doesn't want her taken advantage of.
Is this the same classroom as The X-Files' “This?” No, I looked it up, and it's not even close... but they did style the academic ladies the same way.
Omg Sherlock offering to go to the cemetery with her 😭😭😭

2x03 "We Are Everyone"

The fact that they had to make a fictionalized Anonymous is weird... and did they just fictionalize Robert Caro??
“We just need to get creative about how the watch came into our possession” 🙃🙃🙃 this is why I can’t fuck with cop shows!
Sherlock tapping Joan on the shoulder, lol. I hope that was an acting choice with minimal script direction.
“I shouldn’t be the only one who knows you.” They literally go through so much effort to put these little moments in every episode.
And the first appearance of Joan writing the Casebook!!!!

2x04 "Poison Pen"

This case is too heckin sad y’all.

2x05 "Ancient History"

So this is actually one of my ~things about modern Sherlock adaptations. The original stories are such a great mix of mundane mysteries and international intrigue, gruesome murder but also petty crimes. Modern versions lean too heavily on rape and homicide tbh.

2x06 "An Unnatural Arrangement"

“I’ve come to appreciate the premise of partnership. It’s far more intricate than I had previously imagined. The very smallest gesture can speak volumes. You had a partner. Perhaps you still do." THE ROMANCE. I don’t know what to say when you end your episode by mirroring a character and his wife with Holmes and Watson like ??????

2x07 "The Marchioness"

It's fine, whatever. Still don't care about or like Mycroft. Hate Joan/Mycroft a lot a lot a lot.

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Elementary Catch-Up: 1x20 - 1x24

Sun, 10 May 2020 23:45:13 GMT

1x20 "Dead Man's Switch"

This cold open just makes me wish tattoo shops could be open so I could get my next ink 😭
Just to get my one complaint out of the way, I’ll always be sad we got a CHAS adaptation but Holmes and Watson weren’t together holding hands during the murder.
This show does Holmes as an addict sooo well, and I know I always say it but JLM's performance is so great.
THE ROBERT FROST POEM IN A PICTURE FRAME DO U EVER CRY????

1x21 "A Landmark Story"

Thor Bridge reference!
“We are not having a moment.” So classic.
As is this conversation on the bench. I melt.
Moran is so effectively creepy.

1x22 "Risk Management"

“For what it’s worth, he’s not bringing his wife either.” Like HELLO??? You know, I completely understand that the implications would be Bad if they genderbent Watson and then had a proper H/W relationship in this (or any) adaptation, as if they had to manipulate it to be hetero in order to go through with it, but my god please let Holmes and Watson just be in love y’all!!!! Rômançé!!!
“I will not allow any harm to come to you. Not ever.” “You can’t promise that.” “And yet I have.” VOWS!!?!??!?
I am such a SUCKER for male characters trying to ditch their ladies for their protection during their quest, and the female character being like How About No. love that trope yes thank you more please.
Do I ever get tired of praising JLM’s acting? Negatory! He’s so great in this final scene with the Irene reveal.

1x23 "The Woman"

Why did Natalie Dormer have to blow up like she did, good for her but I missed her on the show. That said, try and tell me her American accent for Irene in the London scene doesn’t sound like Jessica Day doing an old timey newscaster in New Girl. You can’t.
“This is your home.”
Remember when I thought this was going to be the show's Reichenbach arc? Lolllll.
What a great Moriarty reveal. Truly an inspired piece of adaptation, probably one of the cleverest things anyone has done with the canon in a long time. Both of the other prominent recent adaptations of the last decade forced Irene to be a minion of Moriarty’s. I like that Elementary went whole hog, just made them the same person. There’s something about taking Holmes' two obsessions and combining them that I enjoy. And Elementary's approach still gives Irene agency. I don’t know how to say this without coming across all #girlboss 👏🏼MORE👏🏼FEMALE👏🏼MURDEROUS👏🏼CRIME👏🏼BOSSES👏🏼 So I don’t want to claim that this is a more Feminist approach, or a more faithful adaptation, it’s just that I genuinely think this idea took one or two more minutes of thought than the devastatingly boring approaches of the Ritchie movies and BBC Sherlock. It almost becomes a commentary on these other adaptations that use Irene mostly as a Holmes no homo love interest. Was Elementary free to do this because it didn’t need to no homo Holmes since it made Watson a woman? I just, I compare this all to Sherlock especially and I’m baffled at the prestige of the one and the CBS procedural-ness of the other. Part of me wishes the writers of Elementary could have had the budget and the format of Sherlock, but there’s something about Holmes stories that almost wants to be a long running episodic procedural, despite the fact that this means that along with the highs comes some real lows. It’s baked into the thing.

1x24 "Heroine"

“Too angry to be afraid.” Joooooooan!
You know what, I actually forgot about this whole fake-out plot until pretty late in the episode. Very nice. They do such a good job setting it up with the fight between Joan and Sherlock and then cutting away.
“Would you have preferred I just killed you?” “Yes.” Gutted!!
Omg this hospital scene is so House. Let’s just have characters read descriptions of one another to one another in an intense voice! Drama!! Now there’s a Holmes adaptation I haven’t thought about in a while. It barely counts tbh. But ohhhhh that House/Wilson hurt so good. Shout out to 2008 when I wore my tinhat proudly and 100% thought that was the actual direction they were going with the show.
Joan is the only other person who can surprise Moriarty. Love to see it.
And he names a bee after her!!! ROMANCE!!!!

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Elementary Catch-Up: 1x13 - 1x19

Sun, 03 May 2020 21:53:56 GMT

1x13 "The Red Team"

Clyde!!

1x14 "The Deductionist"

The case of the week is very TXF "Kitsunegari"
I like the end scene between Sherlock and Ennis, even if it is a little contrived.
What is the difference between this woman analyzing and writing about Holmes, and the traditional Watson role as chronicler? Is it that the essence of one is criticism and the other is... what? In canon, adulation basically.

1x15 "A Giant Gun, Filled With Drugs"

This episode is such a classic. From the canon references, to the JoanxSherlock h/c, it's just satisfying to watch.
Procedural episodes where your protagonists have a personal stake in the case just hit different.
The end scene with going to the meeting and he puts her coat on for her!

1x16 "Details"

"What is your dramage!!!" XD
"If anything happened to you I'm not sure I could forgive myself." He's trying so hard! He just rushes past that line, but it's so deep ;___;
Brothers!
Joan and Sherlock going back and forth regarding vigilance, and knocking over the locks. And uuuugh this scene where they come clean about how their relationship has grown and they want to try being PARTNERS uuuuugh <333 ROMANCE. SORRY NOT SORRY. HOLMESES AND THEIR WATSONS.

1x17 "Possibility Two"

Sherlock's mocking little "Jerry" ooooo jealous

1x18 "Deja Vu All Over Again"

How dare they tease us with violin and have it not be Holmes.
Alfredo and Joan together is such an inspired dynamic.
I feel like after this intervention scene one of Joan's friends went on Reddit and made an AITA post about it. FWIW, I don't think they're assholes. Maybe a little. But from their perspective, Joan has been engaging in risky behavior after a major trauma, and they don't have the benefit of seeing everything we the audience do. The intervention was maybe a bit much, but I feel for them in this situation.
I like how the jail scene is a little call back to the pilot.

1x19 "Snow Angels"

I always remember this episode as a true classic from the first season as well.
Ms Hudson!!! She should have been much more of a regular.
I love a good Nor'easter, everything about the storm is such a ~mood. Sherlock's little fort!! I miss snow. I only live four hours south of where I grew up and I'm in a completely different climate zone, and I don't like it.

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Elementary Catch-Up: 1x09 - 1x12

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 00:51:56 GMT

1x09 "You Do It To Yourself"

I don't have any deep thoughts about this one, I just like the whole thing between Joan and Sherlock about the tea.
Oh shoot I forgot about this ending scene. "If there's someplace else you have to be..." "Not tonight, Watson." I am such a sucker for characters silently supporting each other with their presence. He's not there 'cause he wants to meet the ex, he's there for her. ;___;

1x10 "The Leviathan"

ugh the sisters thing. did they tone down this stuff later in the show? it's so tedious.
CASTERLY ROCK SECURITY. Is that an ASOIAF reference or is casterly rock something else too?
Sherlock is so pushy but so sweet, and so sincere underneath the bluster!

1x11 "Dirty Laundry"

You know, I had forgotten about (or my memory underplayed) the show's penchant for letting Sherlock be a sexist dickhead but allowing Joan to comment on his misogyny, thereby having their cake and eating it too. My tolerance is not as great as it was in 2012.
In general I find that I have less patience for cop procedurals now than I did in my early- and mid-20s. (Says the girl who got an X-Files tattoo last year...) Maybe I just OD'd on Bones and Criminal Minds? But even B99 exhausts me a little these days. As my politics have radicalized, I genuinely do have a harder time sitting through ~*copaganda*~. TXF is so far removed from any semblance of real-life criminal justice that it doesn't feel the same, but sometimes I watch all these police characters talking to each other and I just instinctively want to turn them off. IDK, it's a complicated feeling.
Crossover of this episode with The Americans, tbh. (Which I never did finish...)
My dear Watson. <3

1x12 "M."

"Reflection is for mirrors, can't you just hand me a report card?" Oh man I wish I had used this while working on my masters.
Random appearances from therapists is such a weird procedural staple. Well, actually lazy. "I need to have my main character verbalize or realize something, and I can't come up with an organic way to make it happen in the story. Time for a counseling scene!"
"I'm gonna miss this. Working with you. I think what you do is amazing." His shocked face!!
"I go where he goes, remember?" Wahhh!
I have no attachment to the revenge thing for Holmes, but kudos as always for JLM's performance.
haaaaaands and the "I'm gonna miss this" callback, that's good tv!!!

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'her satanic majesty' MY ASS

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 16:40:51 GMT

Dany had no wish to reduce King's Landing to a blackened ruin full of unquiet ghosts. She had supped enough on tears. I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way Viserys said they smiled for my father.

But before she could do that she must conquer. [...] How could she hope to overthrow such men?

-Danaerys, A Clash of Kings

I've been slowly reading through the Song of Ice and Fire books since April, and I literally screamed at this.

(I'm actually listening to the audiobooks, and I had to hit pause and give myself a chance to yell in my car.)

(The audiobooks are okay, except they go out of their way to make people's names incomprehensible and ~*fantasy*~ worthy. Petyr, instead of Peter, is pronounced P'tire. Brienne--which is obviously just... Brienne? It's a normal name??--is pronounced Br-eye-een. It's a crime.)

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Elementary Catch-Up: 1x02 - 1x08

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 01:27:54 GMT

1x02 "While You Were Sleeping"

Oh heyyyyyy, Detective Bell. <3
Always much love for this credit sequence.
Uuuuuugh, I love Holmes the violinist. I can't remember whether his musicianship gets totally dropped after this or not. I don't remember it ever being brought up again before I dropped the show (circa season 4).
Joan is so earnest and so structured in these attempts to get to know Sherlock, and yet he balks every time. How do her attempts change style and manner over the rest of these early seasons?
This scene where Holmes recommends Hemdale to the guy from the case is just SUCH a good illustration of his empathy wrapped in awkward brusqueness.
The case in this episode is tighter than in the pilot. All the breakthroughs come from believable moments. I like the tension between the sisters. And the emotional beats for our regular characters are more consistent.
MIND THAT BIG HEART
"You always know it. If you didn't, it wouldn't be penance." This episode really brings the Sherlock that I have always loved from the original stories and from fic and from other adaptations. Creative. Impatient. Empathetic. Scarred. Intelligent.

1x03 "Child Predator"

Is this the first ~rude awakening~ for Watson? D'awwww.
When Sherlock thanks Joan for accommodating him, and he admits that he knows he's difficult, I just end up with hearts in my eyes. Self awareness! Her willingness to help him stay up not only helps them bond, but it's also an indication of her interest in detecting. And yet at the end of the episode, she still insists he get some sleep!
This is not a standout episode, but it is a solid one. Once again, the case is solved by reasonable observations and deductions.

1x04 "The Rat Race"

I love kidnap fic. I love kidnap stories.
(This Mark Ruffalo lookalike that Joan gets set up with, lol.)
"I loathe bankers. They rigged the roulette wheel of commerce, very nearly destroyed the world economy, and they still think if they wear suits they'll be treated like respectable folk instead of the crooks that they are." COMRADE SHERLOCK! REDISTRIBUTE THAT WEALTH!!!
marital records dot com lol (it redirects to CBS's website fyi)
JLM is honestly so good in this scene with Gregson

1x05 "Lesser Evils"

The way "I go where you go" starts off as an obligation, almost a threat in order to remind Sherlock someone is with him to monitor his behavior and sobriety, and later on turns into a statement of solidarity, just, ugh.
Joan and Carrie and their sapphic dalliance <3
David Harbour! I spent most of the episode trying to place him and finally had to look it up! S'up, Hopper.

1x06 "Flight Risk"

Yo it really feels like the writers have read Katie Forsythe what with this broken arm/abusive Daddy!Holmes backstory.
JLM's face at this first mention of Irene, I dieeeeeee

1x07 "One Way to Get Off"

Nnnnnnnnnot here for the implicit justification of law enforcement fabricating evidence. See! He was guilty! Good thing the coppers are looking out for us!

1x08 "The Long Fuse"

Alfredo is SUCH a fantastic addition to this show and such a good example of its ethos of adaptation. Translating the "bohemian lifestyle and habits" of the Victorian setting means that Elementary's Holmes is going to value anti-establishment people and opinions, associate with social outcasts, and have little respect for--well, respectability. Having a Black ex-con recovering addict as a sponsor is a good way to show how Sherlock lives into this. Ya girl has only seen a couple of BBC Sherlock episodes many many years ago, but I don't recall much effort made to interrogate class or respectability in that show, when really it should be a pretty upfront factor in any adaptation. Having the BBC's Sherlock be an asshole doesn't interrogate respectability--that's personality not politics. It's about what Holmes wears, with whom he associates, etc. I mean, this Sherlock is still living off daddy's money but at least it goes further in its attempt.

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Elementary Catch-Up: 1x01

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 17:53:55 GMT

I've been saying for literal years now that I was going to re-watch and catch up on Elementary. I didn't intentionally walk away from the show, I just sort of lost track of it because of grad school and never found a good time to jump back in.

Well, at this point I've been pretty thoroughly spoiled by gifsets on tumblr, but they've also really inspired me to commit to catching up. If I blog it, I know I'm more likely to actually accomplish this catch-up. So away we go:

~*~

From the very first scene with Joan jogging, I love this show’s commitment to a sense of place. You can tell they actually shoot in NYC unlike most shows that take place there. Building a strong sense of place is a way of staying true to the Holmes stories. The books are HEAVILY rooted in Victorian England (specially London most of the time). They are a mood. They are almost the quintessential example of the setting. To honor that, you don’t have to stay in Victorian London, but I think a good Holmes adaptation should place a high priority on really sinking the characters and the audience into wherever (and whenever) they are.

This intro between Holmes and Watson is unfortunately not very strong. Holmes is not making a deduction, he’s making a prediction, and it’s just… not realistic. Guessing a long line of a show's dialogue verbatim is not a matter of observation and logic. Plus, it's inconsequential. And they’re making their female lead, their POV character, uncomfortable via unexpected and unwanted romantic advances. By all means discomfit your lead! That's not a bad thing to do in a pilot! But it’s the male gaze that makes it take this particular form and I don’t like it! Thank god the show gets better.

(JLM looks hot tho. Sry not sry.)

I love how taking Holmes’ beekeeping hobby out of the context of his rural retirement turns it into just one of his weird idiosyncrasies. Like… “Urban beekeeping. Sure. Why not.”

HE IS SO ENCHANTED ALREADY BY HER INTELLIGENCE. HE LIIIIIKES HER.

“You’re done here. Go wait in the car.” Seriously, seeing a Watson who doesn’t fawn over their Holmes, making excuses for them, is so cool. Starting out with an antagonistic relationship is a unique take that I like. Their association is involuntary, also contrary to most adaptations. They move pretty quickly to getting along both personally and professionally, but this moment (and also the scene where Watson refuses to be charmed by Holmes’ deduction of her past) are important.

The fact that Watson thinks the car crash was all part of a plan is *chef’s kiss* humor. His abashed face!

This scene where Watson discovers a break in the case because a file happened to spill open is sloppy writing.

Alas and farewell, Detective Abreu. We hardly knew you.

Joan and her Mets hat <3333 Holmes puts her coat on for her <333333

Overall, if I’m being honest, this was kind of an uneven debut. There’s not much in the writing that brings it beyond most police procedurals. In my opinion, JLM and Lucy Liu’s performances are what elevate this. They both bring a fantastic vulnerability and yet... tartness? to Holmes and Watson. They are committed to making this a character study as much as a serial mystery show. And of course there’s the way they’re playing with the Holmes mythology by altering the setting and casting Lucy as Watson. I’m also remembering now how much I lamented the show’s decision not to have Watson be a practicing doctor. As I go through the re-watch I want to see how I feel about having her become a detective, because I don’t remember much about how that played into the show and her character, and it's another unique piece of this adaptation.

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Fic: Tokka Week 2018

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 18:58:51 GMT

avatar: the last airbender fic | tokka week day 1: family outing | [coastal]

the beach somehow feels like them: water meets land, not really one or the other, but encompassing the best of both: the gentle tug of the tide and the sturdy malleability of the earth.

both stubborn and both giving–it’s not a matter of who shapes who but a matter of mutual give and take.

the hot sun makes sweat run down both of their necks, and they laugh as they take turns splashing one another; her world is fuzzy and his is extra focused, but their joy is worth any effort it calls for.

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Fic: Untitled Jim Kirk Character Study

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 18:57:28 GMT

Title: Untitled Jim Kirk Character Study
Fandom: Star Trek [AOS]
Rating/Warnings: General Audiences/none (one bad word)
Summary: Jim finds a home in Starfleet.
Notes: Originally posted on Tumblr in December of 2015 and written as a small gift for itwas-invented-in-russia during a Star Trek fandom Secret Santa exchange. Word count: 155

Jim knows what it means to be cold. Officially, there is no poverty, there is no homelessness anywhere the United Earth banner flies, but reality often looks different than the ideal. There had been nights when he’d worn out his welcome on his friends’ couches and been too drunk to find a way to one of the limited number of assistance shelters that were maintained in rural-as-fuck Iowa. So Jim knows what it means to sleep under the unforgiving stars, shivering and nauseated and alone.

It isn’t like that anymore, though. Bones says space is cold and dark and diseased, but when Jim looks out the viewport in his quarters, all he feels is a sense of home. All he sees is adventure and possibility. James T. Kirk knows what it means to be cold, but surrounded by a ship he adores and a crew he loves like family, he could almost manage to forget.

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Fic: Flinch

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 18:51:22 GMT

Title: Flinch
Fandom: The X-Files [Mulder/Scully]
Rating/Warnings: General Audiences/none
Summary: A little friendly competition never hurt nobody.
Notes: Originally posted on Tumblr in December of 2015 as a gift for gazeatscully during an X-Files Secret Santa exchange. Word count: 177

They only had one rental car, and they couldn’t pursue both of their leads at the same time; the couple Scully wanted to interview was in the opposite direction from the state park Mulder wanted to search. Both had crossed their arms in front of their chests, making their trench coats squeak, and they acknowledged that they were at an impasse.

“We could have a staring contest,” he suggested. Excuse me?, her raised eyebrows asked. “First to blink has to agree to follow the other’s lead.”

“We’re not five,” she protested, but she could already feel her eyes itching as she became conscious of trying not to let them close. He smiled and shifted his weight in a way that brought him ever so slightly further into her personal space. There were a few long beats of silence before Scully suddenly–but gently–blew a puff of air into Mulder’s face. He flinched and took a step backward, then gaped at her in mock betrayal.

“You blinked,” she said, grinning impishly, and held her hand out for the keys.

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Fic: Lazy Saturday

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 18:44:30 GMT

Title: Lazy Saturday
Fandom: The X-Files [Mulder/Scully]
Rating/Warnings: General Audiences/none
Summary: Domestic, revival-era fluff.
Notes: Originally posted on Tumblr on August 24, 2017. The photo was taken on set during the filming of season 11 and posted on Twitter by David Duchovny. Word count: 419

Scully was curled up with her back against the sofa armrest and her toes shoved into the crease between the cushions, trying to read the small print of an X-File through the brown smudges and particles that kept appearing on the report. She clicked her tongue and then shook out the folder over the floor to her left, finishing with a strong swipe across its pages.

“Mulder, where is this dirt coming from?”

Her partner briefly looked up at her over the top of his glasses from the other side of the couch before returning his gaze to his own file. “The blanket’s probably still dirty from when we watched the eclipse.”

She glanced over at the offending throw and for the first time noticed the little pieces of grass that were clinging to the plaid. She picked one off and held it between her fingers as she asked, “You put the blanket back on the couch without washing it?”

Mulder hummed in absentminded and unconcerned affirmation. Of course he did, she thought. Scully rolled her eyes and raised them to the ceiling as if beseeching it for an excuse for this domestic lapse.

Daggoo, no doubt roused from a lazy afternoon nap by his masters’ voices, wandered into the living room and leapt onto the sofa between them. Always eager for attention, the dog climbed into Mulder’s lap–giving no mind to the files and reports–and started licking Mulder’s face. Mulder tolerated Daggoo better than he ever had Queequeg, but getting to second base with the mutt wasn’t on his list of favorite things to do. Scully forgot her exasperation and had to laugh as he tried to push Daggoo away from him without shoving the dog off the couch. “Okay, down. Down, boy.”

“Daggoo, no kisses for Mulder,” Scully said. “Let’s go get dinner. Dinner time!”

She got up and Daggoo finally jumped down in order to follow her to the kitchen. As she passed by Mulder, he reached out and grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Do you have any kisses for Mulder?” he asked with an eyebrow waggle.

Scully smirked and pecked him on the forehead as he looked up at her. “Not until you brush your teeth, loverboy.” He spanked her lightly in retaliation as she continued on to get the dog’s food. The sound of cabinets opening and closing kept him company as he turned his attention back to the page in front of him.

Eyewitnesses reported strange lights in the sky around midnight….

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Fic: Ashes to Ashes

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 18:34:23 GMT

Title: Ashes to Ashes
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating/Warnings: General Audiences/none
Summary: Dana Scully cannot die.
Notes: Originally published on Tumblr on February 13, 2018. Word count: 346

Genesis lied. Ecclesiastes lied. She would never have the chance to return to dust; instead, she was forced to watch everything and everyone she ever loved crumble around her while she prayed to be a sand dune, prayed to curl into a barrow over the bodies of her families and friends.

Over the ages she tried with increasing desperation to share the gift as it had first been given to her, but it never worked. She concluded that an offering without charity must always be doomed. A self-serving gift is no grace at all.

Her existence here is dry. Water is life. Water is baptism and fertility, and all she has is this parched solitude, endless wilderness. She lies on the ground to be close to the bones of her love, no matter that it’s been centuries and his atoms have surely scattered in the wind to become trees and grass and flesh for all manner of new creatures great and small. She wonders what would happen if she sliced off a limb and let it decay; would it be a way for their molecules to mingle once more?

Sunshine chills her–only starlight can keep her warm now, greeting the souls of her beloved dead, wishing she knew how to join them in their pilgrimage. She would never want to be an anchor weighing them down, so she opts to bless them on their journey. Traveling mercies, my dear ones, she thinks.

The Word became flesh, and see! The home of God is among mortals. Does she still count? Does an undying wraith have any need for resurrection? Her lungs may still draw breath and her heart may still pump blood, but she’d testify that she knows death as well or better than anyone could.

To everything there is a season, but even Christ felt forsaken on the cross, and she will not carry guilt for her feelings of impatience and betrayal; the grief is heavy enough as it is. For God alone my soul waits in silence. Alone, her soul waits in silence for God.

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a softer world: x-files remixes (tumblr repost #3)

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 14:36:10 GMT

--> infinity does not have your picture in its locker.

-->but it is a house you can build.

-->I wish I knew what you were missing.

-->That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise.

-->'How could anyone be so blind?' The blindest question of all.

-->not all who wander are decent human beings

-->well, really I wish you didn't want so much.

-->Look at you.

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Fic: Tokka Week 2015

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 14:18:57 GMT

Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Rating/Warnings: General Audiences/none
Summary: A collection of three sentence fics for each day of Tokka Week, inspired by the prompts provided by the organizer(s).
Notes: These ficlets were originally posted on my Tumblr, and can also be found on AO3 here.

day 1: taste | [ferrous]

the tang of metal on his tongue might be blood, might be shrapnel, might just be something that floats in the air in this desolate, forsaken part of the world, and sokka would give anything in this moment for the familiar crisp salt breeze of the south pole.

but everything is stagnant–even time stops, and the only thing moving is toph’s tiny hand as it slowly slips out of his; when she inevitably falls, his body is contorted in a way that won’t even let him do the honor of watching her go, and he hates himself for feeling glad that he won’t have to see it.

there are no more swords, no more boomerangs, no more weapons or skills or anything that can overcome his fractured leg, her failing grip, and the cadre of soldiers ready to burn two children in order to uphold their dream of sovereign dominion: “it looks like this is the end.”

( Read more... )

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a softer world: elementary remixes (tumblr repost #2)

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 14:10:35 GMT

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More HP7 Reflections

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:37:44 GMT

I don’t enjoy being a Negative Nancy, honestly. Although my impression of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was not favourable as a whole, there were things that I liked in it. In fact, there were things that I liked very, very much. So, partly to make my review of the book a bit more balanced, and partly to try to convince myself to like it a little more, here’s a list of the things that I think Jo got right in DH.

1. Sexual innuendos. Fans have been making inappropriate jokes about wands and broomstick handles for years, and I was extremely amused to note that Jo included some. Not only were they hilarious for readers, but they are exactly the kinds of jokes I can imagine seventeen- and eighteen-year-old wizards in Harry’s world making. They were subtle enough that children reading the series wouldn’t understand them, but dirty enough that those of us who could got a good laugh out of them.

2. Hermione moving her parents to Australia. The passage about Hermione Obliviating her parents and moving them to Australia was sooooo sad. It was exactly the kind of thing Hermione would do, and I thought it was a very good touch from Jo.

3. Ron’s return and destruction of the locket. I still don’t know how I feel about Ron leaving in the first place, and I’m definitely not a fan of the deus ex machina way he found Harry and Hermione by using the Deluminator, but everything about his return was triumphant and heart-warming. I was so pleased that he saved Harry, that he overcame the temptations of the Horcrux, and that an honest and frank conversation with Harry about Hermione finally took place. (PS: I totally thought we were in for a corny, teen-movie type kiss with Hermione when he arrived back at the camp, and it was just perfect that she starts punching and slapping him instead!)

4. Dobby’s death and funeral. Jo managed to spend just the right amount of time on Dobby, even when every other death was either glossed over quickly or else dragged on unbearably. Imagining Dobby standing there with the knife stuck in his chest, raising his arms to Harry… And then reading as Harry dug the grave and carved the headstone… It was beautiful and poignant, and definitely got the most tears out of me in the book.

5. Percy’s redemption. It was sweet, and just a bit awkward, exactly as it should be. I still think it would have been better off a bit earlier in the story, but I’ll take it!

6. Luna. I’ve always enjoyed Luna, but seeing Evanna Lynch in Order of the Phoenix gave me a whole new way of looking at her, and I think she might be one of my favourite characters now. At the very end when she offers to distract everyone so Harry can talk to Ron and Hermione, and just shouts out something about one of her ridiculous creatures, I realized how incredibly fun, loyal, and generally amazing she is. Another awesome part? The way Ravenclaws have to answer a riddle to get into their Common Room instead of giving a password. It makes so much sense that Luna would be good at that! I <3 her.

7. Ginny carrying on the DA. I love Ginny as a character, and I felt like she really got shafted in this book (“Hey, Harry, I forgot to get you a birthday present. Come into my room and let’s have wilde, craisy secks before you totally leave me for 600 pages.” “Epilogue!Ginny: I’ve been really badass for three books now, but since my b/f didn’t die, I am content to just pop out the kiddies in gratitude!”), but it was totally believable to me that she would carry on Dumbledore’s Army and be subversive in Hogwarts. It was off-screen, so to speak, but it was daring and perfect.

8. MCGONAGALL. I wish she could have been in the book more, ‘cause I absolutely adore her, but I thought her scenes were brilliant. “Professor Snape has done a bunk!” The way she Transfigured all of the statues, suits of armor, desks, etc. to help fight was fricking awesome, and even though she had no idea what was going on she was willing to trust Dumbledore and Harry that there was a plan. Her scream when she thought Harry was dead almost got tears out of me, even in the midst of my disappointment about how the book was going. McGonagall is really the way I imagine a grown-up Ginny: powerful, trusting, disdainful of corrupt authority, badass, and loyal, but with this hilarious sense of humour if you know exactly what to look for.

9. Harry saving Draco. I know some people who are displeased that Draco looked like a complete fool in the Room of Requirement scene, but honestly, re-read HBP. Malfoy gained a lot of ‘tude and cred’ in that book, but in the end he was still too much of a… wimp… to do anything truly evil like kill Dumbledore. Obviously he was going to chicken out in a big confrontation with the Trio. But I’m extremely glad that Jo let Harry sorta-kinda forgive him, at least enough to save his ass. By this point we’d had Harry performing Imperiuses and Crucios, been influenced by the locket, etc, and I thought for a moment that Jo would let Harry let Malfoy die, and I’m very happy that he didn’t. Their semi-reconciliation was well done. (And I loved when Ron punched him!)

10. Dudley's reconciliation with Harry. Dudley really tugged my heart-strings in this book. I thought the cup of tea outside of Harry's door was genius. Of course he would have no clue how to articulate his feelings for a cousin that he has always loathed, yet who saved his life. But when confronted with the fact that he would never see Harry again, he managed to force it out by saying, "I don't think you're a waste of space." The funny part is that I actually had a kid in one of my families at Convo/SHC once who had trouble verbalizing, and affirmed their sibling at the end of the week by saying, "Getting to know you wasn't a waste of my time." You're taken aback at first, but when you realize what it really means to the person saying it, it's incredibly sweet. Dudley was well written in DH. (As, btw, was Petunia. She wrote to Hogwarts begging for a spot, but didn't know how to tell her sister how jealous she was? *tears up*)

11. Harry finding himself unclothed so often. He strips to go after the Sword of Gryffindor, he’s constantly changing disguises, he’s in his birthday suit in King’s Cross… PLZ O PLZ KAN DANIEL RADLCIFFE GIT NECKID IN TEH MOOVY???

12. Voldemort Spears.

This shouldn’t be something I liked about the book, because it made me completely incapable of taking Voldy seriously, but I had this image in my head throughout the entire thing, and frankly it’s one of the funniest things ever. So, it goes on the list.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Making that manip is another thing that should send me to hell. They just keep piling up, don’t they? =)>

13. AS/S. Ah, the fandom’s way of giving the finger to JKR for the Crapilogue! Harry/Draco shippers may have to live with the disappointment of their ship never leaving port, but there’s always the next generation ship of Albus Severus/Scorpius! Seriously, Jo, after all these years how did you not realize that you were walking right into that one?

This is another thing that technically shouldn’t be on the list, but it makes me feel more fondly about the book, so I think that it has earned its place! This ship was already being talked about only hours after the book’s release, and I doubt I’ll ever know who first came up with it, but they deserve lots of cookies.

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It's actually over...

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:31:58 GMT

I guess somehow I didn't really think last weekend would ever come. It was just so completely surreal.

I know I said I'd have my reaction to the book up on Sunday, but I got started and just couldn't stop. This post is sixteen freaking pages long in Microsoft Word, so I'm going to do my best to break it up into smaller chunks with LJ cuts. It's really written mostly for myself, but if you want to read it to know how I felt about the book, then by all means go ahead.

( Why I Think People Who Spoiled the Book For Others are Douchebags - spoiler free )

( Harvard Square Party and Concert Memories - also spoiler free )

( Grading My Predictions - VERY DEFINITELY NOT SPOILER FREE )

( My Overall Reaction - ALSO TONS OF SPOILERS )

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Tomorrow

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:27:25 GMT

I've made it this far and only sort of half been told one tiny spoiler by my dad (whom I thoroughly informed how little I appreciated that). Since the whole book has been on the net for several days I'm really worried about getting spoiled at the concert and while I wait in line for the book, but I've been excited for this concert for months, so I'm not going to let some petty people who get their kicks by ruining the joy of others kill the experience for me.

I have a lot of things I'd like to say about the various news outlets that have been reporting spoilers (I'm looking at you, New York Times), but I'm going to save all those thoughts for the undoubtedly massive post that I will be making after I finish the book, probably on Sunday. I'll discuss why I'm so thoroughly disgusted with the Times et al, I'll recap the concert and party, and I'll probably post my gut reactions to the book.

Eight years of speculation and anticipation end tomorrow night at midnight. Bring it on.

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HP5 Movie Review

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:22:32 GMT

I have processed, I have contemplated, I have compared, and I have come to the same conclusion that I did last night: Order of the Phoenix was the best Potter film yet.

*spoilers*

I have soooo many incoherent thoughts about this movie that I don’t think I’ll really be able to organize them into a cohesive review, but please bear with me!

THE GOOD

The HP films usually do a pretty darn good job with their casting (the only characters they’ve gotten grossly wrong in my opinion are Lupin and Wormtail), and the new characters in Order of the Phoenix were no exception. Evanna Lynch as Luna was absolutely magical. She was Luna, seriously. She was ethereal, weird, disconcerting, and sweet all at the same time. I am so happy that the part went to someone from the fandom who loves the character as much as we all do. She did an amazing job with it. She and Dan had great chemistry, perhaps even a little too much, because I was really getting a Harry/Luna vibe from the flick (well, I was picking up vibes between Harry and someone else, too, but we’ll get to that later).

Imelda Staunton in the role of Umbridge was also perfection. People always yell at me when I admit that Umbridge is one of my favourite characters, but it’s because I just love to hate her. She infuriates me, she amuses me, and she scares me, and Staunton managed to get all of that into the movie, so brava. Similarly, Helena Bonham Carter was great as Bellatrix, even with only three lines. I’m not sure how much acting she had to do, since I’m pretty sure Bonham Carter is a little crazy herself, but it was great to watch.

Michael Gambon will never replace Richard Harris for me as Dumbledore (I was rooting for Donald Sutherland to replace Harris), but he was oh so so so much better in this than in GoF. Whoever slipped him some Prozac gets a gold star. Gambon’s Dumbledore this time around was calm, cool, and collected, just like he needed to be, even if that slight twinkle of eccentricity was still a bit beyond his grasp.

Did anyone watch Ginny very carefully in this one? She was breaking my heart! They always made sure to have her in shots with Harry and Cho and stuff, and they would linger on her just a bit as she looked hurt and sad, and it was great! I can’t wait for Half-Blood Prince now. I hope that Dan and Bonnie have enough chemistry to make Harry and Ginny’s love believable.

Other amazing things include Fred and George’s escape, the Wall of Decrees, that adorable scene with Fred and George comforting the little boy after a detention, the initial DA interest meeting, and the Black family tree/tapestry room. Way to make sure that there were tons of people whose names started with A in the shots, Newell. Crafty. I still don’t think RAB is Regulus, though.

I loved the political undertones in this film, even if they were a bit heavy-handed sometimes. Donating long scenes to speeches written just for the movie that go on about how, “fear makes people do things, Harry, it’s fear that rules people’s lives and allows them to be taken advantage of, blah blah blah,” bothered me just a bit. Believe me, I’m all about making political connections to Harry Potter, and these were points that I agreed with, but a bit more subtlety could have been used.

Speaking of subtlety, Dan Radcliffe simply amazed me this time around. Let’s pretend for the next paragraph or so that I’m not pre-disposed to worship everything he does because I find him ridiculously attractive. Dan had CAPSLOCK!HARRY down pat, with maybe even more subtlety and nuance than Jo wrote him with. Had the movie been written a little better to include a few other key scenes (*cough*smashing*dumbledore’s*office*cough*), then Dan could have shown off even more. As it was, I thought his scenes were brilliant, especially when he finally loses it with Dumbledore, his reaction to Sirius’s death, and the possession scene.

Speaking of Sirius’s death and the possession scene, let’s talk about the entire Department of Mysteries sequence. There are things about it that I adored, but also things that annoyed me. Overall, though, it left me feeling absolutely elated, so most of it will be discussed here, and the things that bothered me in the next section.

I loved the way they did the Hall of Prophecy. It wouldn’t have hurt them to include the entire contents of the prophecy, but when all those shelves came crashing down as the kids ran I was just soooo excited. I had no problem with the segue to the Death Chamber, and the fight there with all the Death Eaters was equally brilliant. As I said before, Dan’s reaction to Sirius was heartbreaking, and I loved the way they removed the sound and slowed everything down.

The battle in the Atrium between Dumbledore and Voldemort was equally incredible. It could have used a break or two for some of the dialogue in the book about there being other ways to destroy a man than to kill him, but I’m extremely happy with it. The Snake of Fire, the smashing windows, the water chamber… It was just as badass as the book. Harry’s possession was great acting on Dan’s part, and it definitely got the job done making the point about love being Harry’s best weapon (I adored the montages of scenes from the other movies), and overall I loved it, but it could have been written so much better.

THE BAD

I’m no book purist, trust me; I’m all about cutting things and changing things so that the movies can be the best they can be. But I really really wanted to see Voldemort tell Dumbledore to “kill the boy”, and then hear Harry beg for death. It is an extremely important theme in the books that, yes, there are things worse than death: suffering, selfishness, pain, and the deaths of loved ones. The movie completely avoided bringing up this theme, and I’m sort of disappointed. Also, no way in hell does Harry say that he feels sorry for Voldemort. He wouldn’t even say it in HBP after watching the crap upbringing that Tom Riddle had.

The next thing that totally irked me was the Veil. Um, wtf, David Yates? You guys couldn’t even get a piece of fabric right? You decided that “tattered curtain” meant “wall of smoky, watery, vapor kind of stuff”???? An AK killing Sirius wouldn’t have even bothered me if he had still fallen through a nice, normal, curtain kind of Veil. But having him stand there like a mannequin while tendrils of vapor crawl out and pull him in? Not cool, WB. It was awkward and weird and just wrong. Grrrrr.

I obviously already mentioned that the omission of the scene where Harry smashes Dumbledore’s office really disappointed me (because I really really love me some angsty Harry), but believe it or not, the next thing that bothered me a lot was the inclusion of a certain plot-line.

Grawpy, Grawpy, Grawpy. Grawp is to the Harry Potter fandom as Jar-Jar Binks is to the Star Wars fandom. Pretty much no one likes him. His scenes in the movie were adorable, but what in the world do they do for the plot? It would have been so easy to cut him and then have more time for other things (more on time in a bit). The only thing that the fandom has been able to think of is that Grawp must have a big role to play in Deathly Hallows. Otherwise, his existence is more or less completely unjustified, lol.

Before I discuss the length of the movie as the last thing that I disliked, I have to ask a question. I said earlier that I felt a lot of Harry/Luna chemistry in the movie, but I have to admit that I felt even more between Harry and Sirius. Am I tooooooootally off base in seeing a creepy amount of sexual tension between the two of them in this flick? I hate when people ship Harry/Sirius in the books, because I never saw any implications of that kind of relationship (plus there’s, you know, like 30 years of age difference!), but the amount of winking and hugging and private smiles in the film got a bit out of hand, in my humble opinion. I was uncomfortable watching it.

So, the last thing I will discuss is my usual complaint about the running time of the films. They’re too damn short, WB! This was the SHORTEST movie, for the LONGEST book in the series! Where are your brains??? I saw maybe five kids under the age of 13 last night at the theater. Nine-year-olds do not make up the majority of the fandom any more, and even if they did I guarantee you they would happily sit through a 3-hour Potter film. It will not affect your ticket sales. So please, I BEG YOU, give us the movie we, Jo, the actors, and the books deserve by allowing for a longer running time. Maybe then they wouldn’t feel like $300 million PowerPoint presentations at times.

And with that, Harry Potter Week is officially underway for me. Only eight days until the book. =/ I really hope the fandom continues strong at least until the last movie. I went to see OotP last night with my dad and sister, but ended up sitting next to a group of girls and we all laughed together through the whole movie and talked about it afterward. We didn’t need to know one another’s ages, or names, or anything, we were just happy to talk together about HP. That’s what the fandom is like. It doesn’t matter if you’ve ever met before or will ever see one another again; you’re instantly friends because you have HP in common.

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HP7 Predictions

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 13:18:23 GMT

This is a very long post. Due to its verbose nature, I will provide a quick summary for those who would rather not read it. (Seriously, I don’t blame you if you don’t.) If you choose to actually look at the whole thing, I must warn you again that this entry is essentially nothing more than a really huge geek-out (which is like a freak-out, but way more nerdy).

Summary: OMG, so, HP and the Deathly Hallows is like almost here ZOMGWHOALOLZ. I’m totally bummed because, like, I love Harry Potter and the fans and I just can’t believe it’s going to be over soon, and I know the one thing that’s totally been missing from your life is a three page history of how I came to love HP so much, so, like, here it is! And I’m, like, so totally a genius, so I’ve included a list of what I think’s going to happen in the book, cause, like, duh, obviously I’m way smart and I want to be able to laugh in all your faces and say, “I told you so!” Like, totally.

It is now July, boys and girls, the month of the end of Harry Potter. The release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is only nineteen days away, and I’m feeling all kinds of emotions. Sometimes I’m more excited than I’ve ever been for anything, but other times I dread reading the book and wish it could be put off for another year or two. HP has been a part of my life for so long that I can’t believe it’s ending.

( The History of My Potter Fandom )

( Divination Practice: What I Think Will Happen in Deathly Hallows )

That's about it I guess. I dunno, I had a nostalgia attack. Don't judge me. =)

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