(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. Watched The Amazing Spiderman flick last night, which I enjoyed more than expected. And more than Sam Rami's Spiderman movies, in part because I was never a fan of Tobey McGuire, who ever since The Ice House creeps me out a bit. Also, James Franco is painfully stiff. And William Defo chews scenery.

This version in some respects was better cast and reminded me more of the comic books that I'd enjoyed over 20 years ago. Andrew Garfield was the Peter Parker I remember, quippy, and awkward. Also liked how they kept it in high school and didn't fast-forward to adult hood.
Plus the villain in this one was more interesting and more complex, Dr. Connors isn't a bad guy, he's a good man, corrupted by an experiment gone wrong. A very good echo of Peter Parker's own fears and his fears regarding what happened to his parents. Also rather liked the throw-away line at the end which is the main theme of the film - "All stories at their heart are really just about one thing...and that is 'who am I'?"

At any rate, I recommend it. More enjoyable than expected.

2. Once Upon a Time is that weird series that improves upon re-watching or the early episodes have greater resonance and deeper meaning after you've seen later ones. It's like one of those books that you finish reading and think, wait, I have to go back and re-read that - because now I see that first chapter in a whole new way. Or a movie, like The Prestige, where you want to re-watch, because now that you know the ending, you'll see it completely differently. Buffy was like that, as was Lost and to a degree BSG and Babylon 5. Once Upon a Time really is - I find myself liking the first season better now than I did when I first saw it. And it's like I'm watching a new series at the same time. Very cool.

Also, I rarely ship parental/child relationships on tv (mainly because they are usually insanely dysfunctional and I'm one of those lucky people who was gifted with sane and good parents not well, crazy people), but here I do - because they aren't insanely dysfunctional and somewhat relateable. Also...I rather like the fact that the relationships are unconventional, with fairy-tale/non-fairy tale characters and how we view our parents - in the fairy tale vs. real world sense.

This show is different from everything else on tv. Everything else is either about the murder of the week, spies, conspiracy theories, or sex. I'm bored of these storylines. I can barely make it through this season of Justified. And while The Americans is well-written and strangely compelling, I'm not interested in the story - been there done that one too many times. I know what will happen and I find I no longer care. I guess I'm less interested in execution and more interested in the story itself?

3. Father: Happy Birthday, how was it?
Me: Another year older, not necessarily any wiser.
Father: If you are willing to admit that, you probably are.

4. Book Meme: Day 22 – Favorite book you own

Eh...Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnette.


Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people have read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time


5. TV Meme: Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)

Homeland, Scandal, and possibly Highlander - all of which I keep hearing a lot of good things about - but haven't really seen. Saw bits and pieces of the first seasons of Scandal and Highlander, but I'm told the next season is better. Also the original House of Cards which I bought on DVD.

Also still need to watch Parade's End which I never quite seem to be in the mood for.
Considered Grimm - but I'm not really a fan of horror, gore, and scary monsters. Despite what you may think watching the tv through my fingers is not that entertaining.


Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death.

Comments

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I've actually watched Season 1 of OUAT a couple times through since Season 2 started getting good. Many of the flashbacks in season 2 fit into missing gaps in the season 1 flashbacks, and so illuminate those flashbacks more.

And I'm also enjoying the references to things we know more about now, like flashbacks of young Baelfire, August and his Typewriter o' Mystery, and Emma's lie to Henry about his father, that are fleshed out in Season 2.

And there are many things from Season 2 that you totally forgot were also in Season 1--I'm scrambling for an example, but the one that pops to mind is that's actually where we meet David and James' mother for the first time, early in Season 1.

And there's just a lot of throw-away lines of dialogue that stand out like a sore thumb because they got picked up and turned into an entire plot in season 2.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I'm watching the Cinderella episode, aka The Price of Gold, where Emma is tooling around in the car that Neal gave her, and...this bit of dialogue was interesting:

Ashley/Cind's FiL: What type of upbringing would a kid have on the back seat of the car?
Emma (flinchs): I don't know, it wouldn't be all that bad.

And right now...we have the deal being struck between Gold and Swan, he'll let Ashley have her baby if Emma owes Gold a "favor" - which turns out bringing his son ("Bae" aka Neal) to him. Which is ironic considering the whole reason he went after Cindy's kids in the beginning was to replace his own.

Nice tid-bits.

It's one of those shows that almost works better on DVD. And by the way, right now, I'm shipping Emma/Henry incredibly hard. Harder than any other romantic ship. I keep wanting to smack Regina. LOL!

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Hey, Emma/Henry is an awesome 'ship.

And I love the echoes re: Emma sleeping in the yellow bug before she starts rooming with Mary Margaret.

I am watching the genie episode (one of my least favorite episodes of the series), but it has the awesome gem by Mr. Gold, who warns Emma and Sydney, "Be careful. Emotional entanglements can lead us down very dangerous paths."

He'd know more than anyone, wouldn't he?

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Would agree.. the genie episode was my least favorite as well - we won't see the genie again, the actor is a regular on Revolution. Great actor, not a great role...or rather disappointing one at any rate.

The Rumplestilskin episodes tend to be better than the Regina centric ones for some reason - or it may just be certain writers?

Love the ironic Rumple gems. Just finished watching the Dr. Hopper episode - Time of Mind? Where Hopper makes a deal with Rumple to take care of his parents, but his parents pull a fast one on him and switch the vials - so that Gepetto's parents are turned into wooden dolls taken by Rumple, not Dr. Hopper's. Rumple was forever splitting parents from their children, just like Regina. It happens a lot in the first season.

Also Regina provides the gem to Emma at the end of the second or third episode - "There's no worse hell than being left without anyone at all." I think that may well end up being Regina's fate.

I'm wondering if Rumple's fate is getting Baelfire back in the same twisty way that he's broken up father's and their kids over time?
I think the twist is Henry being his grandson. But he doesn't see that as his second chance.

There's a lot of buried gems in here. Another favorite is Dr. Hopper projecting his parental background onto Henry even though he doesn't remember it. He tells Henry at the end of the episode I just saw on Hopper's origins, that he thinks it takes strength to push past one's parents view of who you are and to become your own person.

Hopper ironically had the same problem Regina did - he had parents who tried to turn him into a crook and con-artist, his only way of escape was to become a cricket. Regina's mother is trying to control and turn her into another version of herself. (And Snow for that matter as well.) Hopper tells Henry that he doesn't have to be what Regina wants, that he can make his own choices. And that his belief in the fairytaleland is in a way - Henry's way of pushing back against that control. Not untrue - but it is an obvious projection of Hopper's parental issues and what psychologists often do.

What I love most about the Henry/Emma ship is it is not your typical mother/son ship. Emma is more in the father role here - she's protector, not nuturer. She's Deputy Sheriff/Sheriff. She rescues him from the mine. And his struggle to find her and her decision to stay in storybrook is traditionally a male role in stories. Here that role is given to a female. Bae, oddly, is given the traditional female role in this story, as is Rumplestilskin. Normally it is the opposite. Right down to the weaving. I love that gender switch.

It also helps that I like cinnamon in my chocolat too. ;-)

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

All magic comes with a price, and Rumplestiltskin moved heaven and earth to find his son. And now that son has given him a grandson who will be Rumplestiltskin's undoing. I agree with SelenaK that the "undoing" will be Rumple losing his powers, rather than his life. But I don't think it will necessarily be this season.

Henry has a ways to go before he becomes a genuinely prophecy-fulfilling agent of change. He took a bold step when he ate the apple turnover, but it was done in an act of childish faith.

In Season 1, he only really loses faith once, in the episode after the sheriff dies and he worries about losing Emma because he knows Regina did the deed. I love his simple faith in season 1, the way he believes in Emma and his role in helping her learn her destiny. The way he just sort of shrugs off being born in prison (but didn't you want to growl, "Emma was framed! Pinnochio and Baelfire set her up!").

But I am SO GLAD he is now having to grow up, and see the shades of gray in the world around him. It's not fun for the 'shippyness to see him hit this bump in the road where he must realize his mother is a fallible person, but it's necessary.

Iconing the mom half of another mother/son 'ship of mine.

[liliaeth]

Actually you're wrong about Grimm, so utterly wrong. Grimm isn't about horror, gore and scary monsters at all. It's about people, who happen to be different, the 'wesen' in them is just an expression of their personality-types, far more so than about anything else.

Also the show's hero, he's not your usual monster fighting guy like Buffy or the Winchesters. He's first and foremost a cop, a good cop, who lives to serve and protect.

And Monroe is adorable, so's Roasalee, and Bud, and...

Grimm does right, what Buffy did wrong, in that it treats it's 'creatures' as people first. And that the mythical hero myth gets turned over, in that Nick's ancestors the Grimms, weren't always the good guys. In fact to the Wesen, they were the monsters under the bed.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I was going to compare Grimm to Buffy as well, except less emphasis on Horror-trope stories and more leaning towards morally ambiguous super hero.

And political intrigue.

Although still with the soapiness.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Yikes, now I am watching "Heart of Darkness", where Snow White temporarily "loses her love" and goes bad and tries to kill Regina. And Rumplestiltskin tells Charming, "If she kills the Queen, she becomes as evil as the woman she tried to kill."

Of course, Charming intervenes and prevents her from doing the deed, and really, she's under a spell from the forgetfullness potion (that Rumplestiltskin gave her).

Not like this time, where she makes a choice, and it causes Regina to kill the Queen of Hearts her enemy.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Double yikes! In Heart of Darkness, when Emma is desperate to save Mary Margaret from being railroaded by Regina but doesn't have solid proof Regina is framing MM, she goes to Gold. He reminds Emma she doesn't approve of his methods, then asks her, "Are you willing to go as far as it takes?" and Emma says, "Further!"

He seems delighted at that. Tell me Rumplestiltskin isn't going after another mother-daughter pair in his devilish schemes of corruption.

[liliaeth]

Since watching Grimm, I have to say that a lot of the worldbuilding that worked on either BtVS or Angel didn't come from Whedon, but from Greenwalt. Greenwalt knows how to create an entire universe for his characters to live in, which is something that Whedon just sucks at.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

The world-building on Grimm is one of those things that might breeze past you if you just watch week to week, and miss occasional episodes. I bought both seasons on Google Play and did some rewatching, and now have a lot more appreciation for it. A lot of it is a iceberg--all under the surface still--and promises some byzantine complications, but that's cool.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Rumplestilskin and Cora have in some respects been set up as mirrors of each other...Cora was manipulating Snow to go to the dark side in FTL as a child, and she did it with her daughter as well. Rumple is likewise manipulating, Henry, Emma, and to a degree Snow.

It goes back to control issues...Rumple realizes Emma has power, that she could break the curse, that she can travel between FTL and LandWithoutMagic (LWM) without problems. Now he's found out Henry is his grandson, and that his "son" Bae has feelings for Emma and is protective towards her. I wouldn't put it past him to use Emma to manipulate Bae.

Cora was doing more or less the same thing - she was using Snow and Henry to manipulate Regina - and was incredibly successful at it.

Both Rumple and Cora want power, both saw themselves as weak and poor and trampled upon without it. Regina, Snow and Emma don't want power for that reason - they want to hold on to what they love or protect it as the case may be.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I just don't want to see an extended Dark!Snow or Dark!Emma plot line. Temptation is fine, screwing up and failing at temptation once in a while is fine, but I also want my BigDamnHeroes.

Which is why I'm conflicted about Neal/Rumple. I want their relationship to stay close, but I also want Neal to see through his father's manipulations. Without Neal accepting him the way he is. And without Rumple redeeming himself too much.

*sigh*