i have had this open in a tab for five hours.

[falulatonks]

1. Three weeks ago - in the middle of my exams, ugh - my iPod hung, and when I finally got my Macbook to recognise it again it had restored itself, i.e. memory completely wiped. My music is divided between stuff I had on my old computer and what I have now on my Macbook but weeding through that stuff is OK - I'll get everything back - but I'm angry now because I had THE BEST PLAYLISTS, YOU GUYS. There was one I had dedicated to sleepy music, which was mostly soft, and there was dedicated to simple music, which was acoustic-type or clean, easy pop, and there was shower music, for the songs I never skip and always sing along to, and rainy music, etc., and now I have over 7000 songs (and counting; there are albums I'm still remembering I haven't added yet) and that's just too much to go through.
   
   This is the worst. I know it's a stupid problem, but I organise all of my things very seriously, and that's four years' worth of organisation that I've lost because I added a corrupted track to my iPod. Grrrr.


2. I'm going through all of my entries and re-tagging them and it's taking a long time. It's also difficult because I do everything in point form and sometimes I mention things in detail, but sometimes I mention them fleetingly either to support something else I'm writing in detail about or just to say dumb things like "ohho I'll catch up on this now!", which basically means I waste a lot of time rereading my entries to figure out whether to tag it for that thing or not to. It's not even important, but I like being organised about this crap, which makes me irritating. (That was not a typo. I am irritating.)


3. I had to take a break from my Vampire Diaries marathon because I was watching too much at a time, but very quick thoughts behind the cut -
   
   
   1. There's this weird thing happening online (uhm, mostly Tumblr) where people seem to enjoy tearing down one of the Salvatore brothers to defend the one they like more. (And there's the other extreme, where people attempt to justify everything that their favourite character does, even when it's so clearly wrong, but I'll probably get into that after I get caught up.)
      
      I find Damon interesting and pretty complex, but he's also done really terrible, frustrating things, which makes me annoyed that I enjoy watching him so much because WHY DO YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO, BOY. I guess that's one of the reasons I like him, though, because I like watching him messing things up and figuring things out against Stefan being calm and Good, which gets a little boring after a while. I like Stefan a lot, and Stefan/Elena are sweet and kind of charming in their own way, because clearly the only obstacle in their Love is all that vampire stuff, but it's a little...bland. I'm not sure how much I 'ship Damon/Elena, but at least their scenes are interesting and they have a back-and-forth that gives their relationship some dynamism. I DON'T KNOW. 'Shipping on this show is really difficult for me because this whole vampire/human thing creeps me out because of the obvious power imbalance, and the human/human relationships are both rare and really boring. Boo! Ugh, or whatever. I'll make up my mind about 'shipping later and tell you all, because clearly you are all as troubled as I am about this.
   
   
   2. (Currently I'm really enjoying Damon and Stefan's relationship because they used to be best friends and now they're angry at each other and they want to try to make each other better and they don't necessarily want to lose each other even when they say they do and stuff like that! I AM ALL ABOUT THE NON-ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS LATELY, you guys should deal with it.)
   
   
   3. Guys, the women in this show are delightfully interesting! I like that Elena was smart enough to figure things out, like figuring out about the Salvatores, or grabbing pencils when she's being chased by a vampire, or noticing that someone observes strange routines around her. She isn't my favourite, but I like her. I like that Bonnie is powerful and a little lost but completely certain of herself, and I love that she's comfortable with letting the Salvatores know she doesn't particularly like them (is this why people don't like her? Ugh.). I really like Caroline being a Popular Person at face value who isn't dumb, who jumps to quick conclusions and makes stupid decisions and gets angsty more than she should, but is warm and friendly and works hard to do things she wants. This - all of this - is awesome. The characters in this show as a whole are actually interesting and I enjoy that a lot, but the female characters are the ones I enjoy the most. Bonnie and Caroline may be my favourite characters in the show, I don't know.
   
   
   4. I like all the characters - including the antagonists, who have great backstories that are revealed quietly and over time without too much exposition, which makes me happy because that's good storytelling and great characterisation!! (geeking out so hard about this, don't mind me) - but Jeremy is getting tiring to me. Please tell me something happens with him soon, because his angsty business got annoying within two episodes and nothing that followed has endeared him to me yet.
   
   
   5. Loving the hell out of the stories on this show. I hit the sixth episode and couldn't stop watching, because I adored how they used plot movement and development to detail vampire mythology, and then it only kept getting better. I watched Fool Me Once (S1E14) and when I finished I was thinking how much that was, how many things had happened in it - then I started the next episode and I remembered a storyline that had been introduced but hadn't been fully explored yet, and I got so excited. And then Anna and Mrs Pierce came back and I got excited again. THERE'S SO MUCH HERE! As I understand it things only get more interesting, and I love it.
      
      After a lot of Fringe I've started to really enjoy stories that have been planned and are complex but still manage to be engaging and interesting, and TVD does a lot of things right with that, I think. The writing isn't flawless, and some of the beats, especially with the relationships, are repetitive and last too long for my taste, but I love how defined everything is and how well things are explored without becoming draggy or self-conscious or boring. And as someone who angry-faces through a lot of Merlin, I find TVD's use and manipulation of already-existent vampire mythology kind of brilliant.


4. This week's Community was wonderful.
   
   
   1. Sepinwall said this episode was sad, and while that's not unnatural (because I think good comedy captures humanity and pathos in a way that drama isn't always able to), I did find the extent of it a little surprising - it veered quickly into something a little more bitter and dissatisfied, but once I got used to that I adored it. Someone on Tumblr mentioned that it felt like a birthday celebration in real life, where people gradually veer off into their own trajectories, which is a nice way of putting it. I liked that a lot.
   
   
   2. Guys, the study gang had a Boggle and fondue night. And when Jeff and Britta found out Troy was turning 21, they deemed their party unacceptable. I know it’s partly just another way to put off studying, but ahhh, they enjoy spending time with each other! I LOVE THIS GROUP SO MUCH. They lovveeee each other. When Pierce dies they’ll take his house and they’ll all live there together. (Actually I hope they don’t (but only kind of (here’s another thought in parentheses)).) This ensemble is kind of perfect, especially when they're all thrown into the same situation.
   
   
   3. On those same lines, I loved that after Annie went, “OK, guys, have fun,” and looked a little sad, they all stopped at the door and Jeff nudged Britta before Britta sighed and went, “FINE.” I ‘ship them all, you guys, like nobody’s business. (This is why them living together forever is appealing to me (except not really).)
   
   
   4. More funny bits: "Pierce, what is this, what are you doing, explain yourself." Jeff's annoyed "ugh" from off-camera when Tyra Banks was mentioned. Jeff and Britta being obnoxious and annoying no one but each other (because the others are used to not getting it). Poor Abed only wanting to discuss TV. Jeff hitting Abed in the eye when trying to take off Britta's jacket and Abed going, "I'm not a coat rack." Greatest.
   
   
   5. Briefly - I actually do feel terrible for Abed, who must be so lonely. He finds someone to talk TV with, except he didn't really want to talk TV with him, and no one in the gang gets it, either, and sometimes they completely ignore him. Oh, Abed.
   
   
   6. Troy and Annie are the sweetest characters on the show, and their scene in the hallway made my heart sing and my eyes tear and my face look crazy. I 'ship them all, but after this I may be 'shipping these two just a little bit more, and I'm so glad the writers are getting back to them. Community tends to be more cynical than most TV shows, I feel, but both of them together are warm and delightful. Delightful. The equivalent of rainbow-coloured puppies. I had such a strong reaction to that scene, I can't even explain it without babbling. Ugh, my heart.


5. FRINGE!
   
   
   1. Anna Torv was phenomenal here, more than in any previous episode. Usually I remember she's playing two characters, but this week I went through the entire episode and had my usual two-minute reaction-break (which I usually spend swearing and hyperventilating) and only after that I remembered there was one actor behind these two characters, and shit like that is thrilling for me, okay. And oh god, I adore Olivia - her steeliness and intelligence combined with her warmth and her goodness and how, like she said so early in the series, she lets her emotion motivate her. I've complained about how the Warrior Woman character usually involves fitting women to be a man - like being a fighter always goes along with emotional distance and physical strength - but Olivia defies that completely, and she's one of my favourite female characters because of it. I love her very much. Can you tell?
   
   
   2. NO, PETER DIDN'T KNOW, THIS IS THE WORST. That said, agh, Joshua Jackson was great in this episode - he isn't given it enough, but clearly he's able to pull off depth like this. And I loved Peter throughout this episode - rational, calm, but whenever he allowed himself to pull back from the situation at hand he looked tired and conflicted and guilty, and that came through so much in the final scene in the hospital, which broke me a little bit. His "I'm sorry" was quiet, but he sounded kind of wrecked. And their haaaaandssss. oh.
   
   
   3. I enjoy the implication that Walternate didn't actually consider killing Olivia before sending her back, and that Brandon is REALLY EVIL OVER THERE. What a perfect team.
   
   
   4. I seriously did not expect alt!Broyles teleported back to our 'verse and I wailed. I love what comes behind that, though - technically cutting up the body was mostly a method to bring him down to Olivia's mass for the universe transfer, but it's also a warning message to Olivia. And then I realised that because of his tracker, alt!Broyles must have known his death was near inevitable, which makes the choices he made and his clear indecision so much more effective. You are a hero, sir.
   
   
   5. That said, I'm glad how in-charge Olivia was of her own rescue - she needed the doors unlocked, but everything from that point was all her.
   
   
   6. I cannot wait to see how both sides deal with the changes resulting from this episode. The fallout next week is going to be especially interesting, yay.
   
   
   7. Other moments that got to me: Walter touching Peter's hand when Peter's recovering from the paralytic. Olivia lying upside down in the tank and hearing chaos right outside - there was a build-up near the end and I took a deep breath just as she did and the scene cut away, and I loved how that was edited. Olivia's face when she turned around back in our 'verse and smiled at Astrid. The silence in the bar Over There during the news report of the first sign of destruction in that universe. How creepily effective it is to have markings on Olivia's body to mark what she could have lost. Brilliant.
   
   
   I'm beginning to realise I'm incredibly biased when it comes to talking about Fringe - I love it too much. So this is how it feels to not want to talk about things that annoy you about shows you love!


6. The Office this week looked like it was going to be frustrating and annoying, but the Michael-Oscar storyline was inspired, and the Pam-Dwight storyline made me both laugh and sniffle. Thank you, thank you, show, for addressing the things Pam has lost or has done wrong - and I loved that it wasn't the focus of a storyline, but just a motivation of the actual story, and I loved that it was short. Actually I liked a lot about how this episode was edited/put together. Sometimes I feel like this show uses the excuse of a documentary to be a little lazier about this sort of thing, which I guess works and it suits its old style, but the jokes worked better because of where certain shots were cut or certain scenes were shot, I think, which really helped.


7. I'm going to be making a list of all the movies I want to be getting through (and in order!) and then I'll start on it properly.

This entry is really long, I'm sorry.

-- rachu

Comments

[zombie_boogie.livejournal.com]

Yaaaaaay The Vampire Diaries! One of the most pleasant television surprises I've ever experienced. But oh the fandom -- the fandom is the worst. I like both Stefan and Damon for different reasons. If I'm honest I find Damon more interesting, but I am able to acknowledge that he can be really, truly awful sometimes and I like when the show reminds us of that. There are efforts towards redemption there, but he is not there yet. I like that Stefan isn't a cookie cutter vegetarian vampire - there's some depth there that I appreciate. I also appreciate that Stefan and Elena's relationship is relatively healthy. It's a bit too vanilla for my tastes, but they're sweet. I ship Damon/Elena mostly because I find their dynamic interesting, but I'm not focused on them as endgame and again I can acknowledge there are some deep ~issues with the pairing.

Jeremy becomes a bit more palatable in S2, I can tell you that much. And Caroline becomes fifty times more awesome than she already is. I love Bonnie and I'm glad to see someone who likes her as well. She gets a lot of haterade from fandom for her "attitude", but her character is needed on this show to serve as a counter-check to the vampires and their sympathizers. There is a strong sense of character there, and I love that about her. Bonnie Defense League for life!

only after that I remembered there was one actor behind these two characters, and shit like that is thrilling for me, okay.

You said this with regards to Fringe, and I TOTALLY AGREE but I also wanted to mention that this very thing comes up on TVD with almost equally thrilling results.

I am deeply upset that Peter didn't know, but I agree that Josh Jackson really sold Peter's reaction - just the mixture of quiet rage, guilt, and panic was magnificent. AND OLIIIIIVIA. SAVING HERSELF (with assistance from Alt!Broyles) LIKE A BAMF. God, I didn't realize how attached I had become to Alt!Broyles. Having him be the focus of last week's episode and showing his heroism in this episode - it killed me.

[falulatonks]

I'm loving that TVD is fine with presenting characters with deplorable characteristics without having to explain them away - people are flawed! let that be!! - but fandom is ruining that for me a little bit. God. And your thoughts on the 'ships are mine! - Stefan/Elena is bland, but sweet in that way, and I enjoy watching Damon/Elena a lot more, even though there are some things wrong with that.

her character is needed on this show to serve as a counter-check to the vampires and their sympathizers
Precisely! Is Bonnie hated because she's willing to keep herself apart from the vampires? That's ridiculous. I think she's great - as well-characterised as most of the people on this show.

How brilliant was it to focus on alt!Broyles the week before HE DIES? God, the storytelling on this show. Fringe, you are too good to me.

[imprinted-soul.livejournal.com]

There's this weird thing happening online (uhm, mostly Tumblr) where people seem to enjoy tearing down one of the Salvatore brothers to defend the one they like more. (And there's the other extreme, where people attempt to justify everything that their favourite character does, even when it's so clearly wrong, but I'll probably get into that after I get caught up.)

ERGO, THIS IS SUPERNATURAL AS WELL. EXCEPT WITH VAMPIRES. THE SAM VS DEAN WILL NEVER EVER END.

[falulatonks]

IT'S RIDICULOUS, IS IT NOT? I see it with Sam and Dean too and I'm just - GOD, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Both characters are content with liking each other, why must fandom ruin it for us all!?

[imprinted-soul.livejournal.com]

what a wonderful icon!

as much as i am all DEAN IS AWESOME BECAUSE JENSEN ACKLES OWNS MY HEART, i gotta say i like sam just as much. plus and minuses, i guess. besides...everyone knows that you can't pick one over the other. they're like...together. you want one, you get both!

vampire diaries. don't think i really even want to consider starting on that when i have psych!

[hmsharmony.livejournal.com]

Love, love, LOVE the Damon and Stefan relationship. It's by far the most interesting! I agree that all of the female characters are amazing. I think I have a soft spot for Caroline. I originally didn't like her, but WHOA did she grow on me quite quickly. Every single character on this show is three-dimensional -- even the villains. It's so rare!

[falulatonks]

Damon and Stefan are wonderful together! It helps that there's decades and decades of problems and "good times" that we have to wade through - that relationship is just rich with interesting things that I love being able to dig through.

And Caroline didn't get to me right away - probably because of how much she fit her stereotype at first - but she grew on me quickly, too! I like her a lot now. She's fascinating and fun.

It really is so rare, isn't it? I love TVD already for it. Even the one-time characters have some background to them and I like that very, very much.

[jessm.livejournal.com]

That's when my "tv: general" and "film: general" tags come in handy. I don't always write about TV shows at length, but when I mention a few of them in one paragraph, they need to be tagged somehow.

Will you be making a post about those movies? *hint, nudge*

[falulatonks]

I have a TV (general) tag for when I ramble about things in general and mention a few in passing, but I want to be able to get my reactions to actual episodes after they air, even if they're only a couple of sentences long, which is probably kind of ridiculous of me.

Are you encouraging the rambles that will come out of watching these movies? Yes, I will be, though, obviously; blabbering about things is one of my favourite pastimes.

[mollivanders.livejournal.com]

Wow, a lot of thoughts :) Are you finished with the first season of TVD now? Because Caroline gets even MORE awesome in S2 and her friendship with Bonnie is one of my favorite things. The other-brother bashing is getting pretty old and yeah, I think a lot of people don't like Bonnie simply because she treats vampires as things that should be destroyed and are dangerous and man if vampires were real and I was faced with that decision, it would be a no brainer. Team Bonnie for the win. Look at how much damage has been caused just having two vampires around! Death! Destruction! All around, guys. At least kick them out.

Friiiiiinge. God, Peter not knowing really solidifies how much I do not like him this season. Idiot. But yet, Anna Torv continues to be made of win. This show actually wins at subtlety and humor in strange places - like Astrid realizing Olivia was back and Walter's comment about 'vagenda.' Yup yup. I'm excited for the next episode :)

iPod sadness! :(

[falulatonks]

I'm not done yet! I'm pacing myself a little more, and I can't wait to see Caroline getting more awesome (as I've heard she does). And yes, Team Bonnie! I find it refreshing that a character realises the full extent of the consequences of the vampires' presence in the town, and that she doesn't flinch away from it - she gets it.

Peter really is an idiot, but I kind of get it, I guess? I'm frustrated, so frustrated, but I can see how he fumbled. And yes! I love how this show slides in random, absurd humour in between the massive amounts of adrenaline-fueled epicness.

Thank you! D: My poor iPod.