Spontaneous Musings

Some of my old posts on this thing are cringe-inducing. (I'd gotten into the habit of calling my mother "momster" because for some reason or other it amused me at the time? I want to go back and smack myself.)

Anyhow, slept a good portion of the day, because I didn't get to sleep until 1 am last night, and woke up at 7 am. So I was tired. Partly from the work week, etc. And partly from lack of sleep the night before. As a result, I passed out in my arm chair while attempting to archive around 10:30 am and woke up around 1PM. I did have banana chestnut flour pancakes in there - which is probably why I crashed. Pancakes also put me to sleep for some reason or other. I only have them on the weekends, and only once.

My brother is insanely healthy - he had granola, fruit and yogurt for breakfast and that was big enough that he skipped lunch. Also he worked out - lifting clothing bags, and gardening. No wonder he's 6'5 and 175 pounds.

Church tried to call me regarding Dad (I know because their names popped up on my television set - I didn't want to talk to them, so ignored the calls). Actually it may have been to get a pledge. Either way, I didn't want to deal with them. Did talk to mother and Wales, though.

Binge watched Ms Marvel which I'd given up on, but was told that there was a great spoiler in the finale. So, I decided to give it another chance. I'm glad I did, unlike Moon Knight and Loki - it actually improves with latter episodes. Moon Knight kind of fell apart at the end of the series - when it jumped into "Legion" psycho-babble territory. (That trope got old after Legion, and only worked in Legion S1). Loki had the same problem - it kind of got defused towards the end, and convoluted. Ms. Marvel for the most part doesn't fall into those traps.

Also, it surprised me. I've seen a lot of these things, and honestly thought it was going down the whole annoyingly repetitive Spiderman/Flash/Naomi/Stargirl/Supergirl route. But it didn't. Instead, it veered completely away from the "superhero" vs. "supervillain" crap, and delved into Pakistani and Persian history and mythos. It also has a great line by Nakiti: "Five weeks on the Greeks, and only five minutes on Persia. The Oppressors always get all the time. Typical."

Agreed. It was my difficulty with history and how it's taught in the American School System in the US. The focus is on European history, and the emphasis on how great the Europeans were - they weren't, they were assholes and pretty much deserved all the blow-back they've received in the 20th and 21st Centuries as a result of their collective actions in the 18th and 19th centuries. Asian cultures or Eastern Cultures, along with African get short shrift. Why? The Europeans are writing the history books at the moment.

The main focus of Ms. Marvel is on the Pakistani heritage, and her family and friends, the super-powers are kind of secondary, which is a nice change of pace. It was kind of like that in the comics as well, although being comics, there was a bit more focus on the super-powers.

I'm on the fence on how the super-powers were relayed in the series. Although I think it worked better - than what they did in the comics, which was a bit too similar to Mr. Fantastic, also may not have been conveyed as well in live action. This was a cheaper F/X treatment than what the comics would have demanded.

My only quibbles with the series are:
( Read more... )

What I liked was pretty much everything else. The back story into Ishtar, and how Ms. Marvel manages to save the life of her grandmother, and meets both great grandparents was rather moving. I also liked her relationships with her mother, grandmother, father, and friend Nakiti. Those worked. I wanted a bit more with Bruno, who felt a little too much like the cliche geeky fanboy best friend with a crush on the hero. He does however serve a purpose to the plot, and was a bit more than a plot device, also they make him wickedly smart, which helps.

The final two scenes - the one before the fun credits, and the one directly behind them are worth the wait.

( spoilers on those two scenes )

Overall, a good series.

**

Off to bed or something.