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May. 24th, 2026 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatIt's a cool rainy day. Been raining for the last three days with no end in sight - to the extent that the days have kind of blurred together, with work wedged in at the front of them. Gloomy. Perfect weather for watching horror television shows. ;-)
I took a brief walk today - stretched the legs, through the drizzle, to pick up groceries. Then cleaned out a portion of the fridge - in order to insert them, along with a portion of the cabinet. All the while listening to an audio book. Then made dinner. Which was comprised of broccoli rabe, zuccini squash, summer squash, and carrots, with chicken on kebob sticks.
Peppermint ice cream, berries, chocolate and whipped cream for desert.
Saw the horror flick Send Help on Hulu, which stars Rachel McAdams, and Dylan O'Brien (the standout from Teen Wolf) - and directed by Sam Rami.
I was curious to see where it went. It surprised me. They didn't follow any of the standard tropes, and kind of skewered a few along the way. There is a hilarious scene that is almost reminiscent of a scene from Misery, but far more twisted. The director does a surprisingly good job of misleading the audience, and allows the audience's imagination to fill in the blanks - to great effect. Not something I'd expect from Sam Rami, who has matured since Evil Dead.
Think Castaway meets Misery by way of Survivor and Office Space?
It's better to go in blind on this one, so I won't say more than that? Except it's a two character piece, and both O'Brien and McAdams sell it.
I have to say horror has gotten a lot more interesting in the last several years? We've slowly moved away from the redundant slasher flicks and serial killers, and into more mischievous territory - with darkly comedic ventures. Mike Flanagan, Sam Rami, Emerald Ferrel, Noah Hawlely, Guillermo Del Torro, The Duffer Brothers, Blumehouse and A24 have managed to revitalize the genre. Inserting humor and focusing on character - also a touch of satire.
Also watched a bit more of Firefly - eh, it doesn't hold up well? I liked it better when it first aired. I loved it when it initially aired - I had the DVDs, and saw the film in theaters. But it doesn't hold up well.
Has anyone else rewatched this recently? The special effects could be a whole lot better. Maybe the difficulty is unlike Buffy, it's had a lot of competition? Or successors that are a whole lot better at the space rebellion game?
Rewatching - made me realize, it really is the Misadventures of Han Solo in space, with Fillion in the Han Solo role, he even has the outfit. Or rather, Han Solo meets Gunsmoke? It reminds me of Gunsmoke and the old television westerns, also Star Wars.
The difficulty it has - is there's a lot better space operas out there, or successors, who have done what is attempting, far including. Including the Star Wars franchise. Maladorian is basically Firefly, and then there's Andor, and well, Boba Fette, and Solo (the movie). Non-Star Wars franchise, has The Expanse (which I think is the by far the most realistic of the Space Opera genre), Farscape, and BattleStar Galatica. Not to mention the animated Cowboy Bebop (which is also similar to Firefly - if you watch Cowboy Bebop, it's hard to imagine Whedon didn't borrow heavily from it).
So, having seen all these space operas (because I have a weakness for space opera), I can see the references and think - damn I liked this better. And the vast majority of space operas are actually "space westerns" like Firefly. The sci-fi genre and the Western genre are more closely aligned than people like to think? Both are about settling the unknown frontier, going out into the wilderness, exploring it, and encountering unknown and potentially hostile cultures. They just handle it slightly differently.
Binged all of the current episodes of Widow's Bay on Apple Tv. It's worth a look. Although my favorite character is the sheriff, who is definitely supporting. He keeps having to put out the fires, often started by the crazy leads - who keep getting themselves in trouble investigating or interacting with the ghosts, sea hags, etc on the island. I kind of fee sorry for him. It's mildly amusing in spots, and has some amusing exchanges.
Mayor: You run the Inn but you refuse to live in it? What happens if a guest needs something?
Innkeeper: They can call me at home.
Mayor: Can you at least bring my bags into the room?
Innkeeper shoves the bags into the room, without stepping inside the room.
Also some nice jump scars. It's not violent though. And doesn't result in nightmares. I'd say mildly scary? It's not like Alien: Earth - which I couldn't get through, it was too violent and too gory and too scary for me.
(I admittedly can't do body horror. And Alien:Earth is heavy on body horror and parasites, two things that I don't handle well. I'll leave it to the true horror aficionados on my correspondence list.)
Then I jumped over to a contemporary romance movie on Prime entitled "Regretting You" - I think it's adapted from a Collen Hoover novel (?) - and it's horrible. I made it a quarter of the way in and gave up out of boredom. You know the movie has issues - when two major characters are killed off and you do not care. Worse? You can't really tell the difference between the four major characters because they all look alike.
Do they just hire people from models inc for these sorts of movies?
One actress isn't bad, the rest, sigh. It's about a woman who discovers her sister and her husband were having affair, after they die in a car accident, and she rebuilds her life, with her sister's fiance/baby daddy.
It's poorly paced, drags, and has bad dialogue.
Skippable.
I gave up on it. And will most likely go back to watching either Midnight Mass or Citadel. There is a zillion television shows and movies on. Honestly, I feel the same way about activities in NYC or things to do (which unfortunately all require a subway ride or car ride or ferry ride or bike ride). I feel overwhelmed and in sensory overload? Anyone else feel this way?
Maybe I need a life coach to keep from shutting down.
I've moseyed back to the science fiction novel I wrote. Which I may write the prequel to. Dumped the contemporary romance novel - which I couldn't make work. Too problematic. Some stories just don't work no matter what you do. Best to let them lie dormant. [And, it's just possible that I'm not cut out to be a contemporary romance writer? I don't even really like the genre? And barely read it? So it's kind of hard to write a genre that you don't like. I like horror better, actually. I could write horror. Every time I try to write contemporary romance it turns into horror or a thriller, with a convoluted plot - because I get bored easily.]
And, I'm considering taking a sketch book with me when I do jury duty (whenever that is - I postponed it to August, and they told me it could be any time after August depending on need...so I've no idea.) and just sketch people. Maybe my travel watercolor book? They may take exception to that?
I took a brief walk today - stretched the legs, through the drizzle, to pick up groceries. Then cleaned out a portion of the fridge - in order to insert them, along with a portion of the cabinet. All the while listening to an audio book. Then made dinner. Which was comprised of broccoli rabe, zuccini squash, summer squash, and carrots, with chicken on kebob sticks.
Peppermint ice cream, berries, chocolate and whipped cream for desert.
Saw the horror flick Send Help on Hulu, which stars Rachel McAdams, and Dylan O'Brien (the standout from Teen Wolf) - and directed by Sam Rami.
I was curious to see where it went. It surprised me. They didn't follow any of the standard tropes, and kind of skewered a few along the way. There is a hilarious scene that is almost reminiscent of a scene from Misery, but far more twisted. The director does a surprisingly good job of misleading the audience, and allows the audience's imagination to fill in the blanks - to great effect. Not something I'd expect from Sam Rami, who has matured since Evil Dead.
Think Castaway meets Misery by way of Survivor and Office Space?
It's better to go in blind on this one, so I won't say more than that? Except it's a two character piece, and both O'Brien and McAdams sell it.
I have to say horror has gotten a lot more interesting in the last several years? We've slowly moved away from the redundant slasher flicks and serial killers, and into more mischievous territory - with darkly comedic ventures. Mike Flanagan, Sam Rami, Emerald Ferrel, Noah Hawlely, Guillermo Del Torro, The Duffer Brothers, Blumehouse and A24 have managed to revitalize the genre. Inserting humor and focusing on character - also a touch of satire.
Also watched a bit more of Firefly - eh, it doesn't hold up well? I liked it better when it first aired. I loved it when it initially aired - I had the DVDs, and saw the film in theaters. But it doesn't hold up well.
Has anyone else rewatched this recently? The special effects could be a whole lot better. Maybe the difficulty is unlike Buffy, it's had a lot of competition? Or successors that are a whole lot better at the space rebellion game?
Rewatching - made me realize, it really is the Misadventures of Han Solo in space, with Fillion in the Han Solo role, he even has the outfit. Or rather, Han Solo meets Gunsmoke? It reminds me of Gunsmoke and the old television westerns, also Star Wars.
The difficulty it has - is there's a lot better space operas out there, or successors, who have done what is attempting, far including. Including the Star Wars franchise. Maladorian is basically Firefly, and then there's Andor, and well, Boba Fette, and Solo (the movie). Non-Star Wars franchise, has The Expanse (which I think is the by far the most realistic of the Space Opera genre), Farscape, and BattleStar Galatica. Not to mention the animated Cowboy Bebop (which is also similar to Firefly - if you watch Cowboy Bebop, it's hard to imagine Whedon didn't borrow heavily from it).
So, having seen all these space operas (because I have a weakness for space opera), I can see the references and think - damn I liked this better. And the vast majority of space operas are actually "space westerns" like Firefly. The sci-fi genre and the Western genre are more closely aligned than people like to think? Both are about settling the unknown frontier, going out into the wilderness, exploring it, and encountering unknown and potentially hostile cultures. They just handle it slightly differently.
Binged all of the current episodes of Widow's Bay on Apple Tv. It's worth a look. Although my favorite character is the sheriff, who is definitely supporting. He keeps having to put out the fires, often started by the crazy leads - who keep getting themselves in trouble investigating or interacting with the ghosts, sea hags, etc on the island. I kind of fee sorry for him. It's mildly amusing in spots, and has some amusing exchanges.
Mayor: You run the Inn but you refuse to live in it? What happens if a guest needs something?
Innkeeper: They can call me at home.
Mayor: Can you at least bring my bags into the room?
Innkeeper shoves the bags into the room, without stepping inside the room.
Also some nice jump scars. It's not violent though. And doesn't result in nightmares. I'd say mildly scary? It's not like Alien: Earth - which I couldn't get through, it was too violent and too gory and too scary for me.
(I admittedly can't do body horror. And Alien:Earth is heavy on body horror and parasites, two things that I don't handle well. I'll leave it to the true horror aficionados on my correspondence list.)
Then I jumped over to a contemporary romance movie on Prime entitled "Regretting You" - I think it's adapted from a Collen Hoover novel (?) - and it's horrible. I made it a quarter of the way in and gave up out of boredom. You know the movie has issues - when two major characters are killed off and you do not care. Worse? You can't really tell the difference between the four major characters because they all look alike.
Do they just hire people from models inc for these sorts of movies?
One actress isn't bad, the rest, sigh. It's about a woman who discovers her sister and her husband were having affair, after they die in a car accident, and she rebuilds her life, with her sister's fiance/baby daddy.
It's poorly paced, drags, and has bad dialogue.
Skippable.
I gave up on it. And will most likely go back to watching either Midnight Mass or Citadel. There is a zillion television shows and movies on. Honestly, I feel the same way about activities in NYC or things to do (which unfortunately all require a subway ride or car ride or ferry ride or bike ride). I feel overwhelmed and in sensory overload? Anyone else feel this way?
Maybe I need a life coach to keep from shutting down.
I've moseyed back to the science fiction novel I wrote. Which I may write the prequel to. Dumped the contemporary romance novel - which I couldn't make work. Too problematic. Some stories just don't work no matter what you do. Best to let them lie dormant. [And, it's just possible that I'm not cut out to be a contemporary romance writer? I don't even really like the genre? And barely read it? So it's kind of hard to write a genre that you don't like. I like horror better, actually. I could write horror. Every time I try to write contemporary romance it turns into horror or a thriller, with a convoluted plot - because I get bored easily.]
And, I'm considering taking a sketch book with me when I do jury duty (whenever that is - I postponed it to August, and they told me it could be any time after August depending on need...so I've no idea.) and just sketch people. Maybe my travel watercolor book? They may take exception to that?