fannish rundown; we be pimpin
Aug. 4th, 2010 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inmyriadbitsEXCITING HAPPENINGS OF THE PAST THREE WEEKS:
Okay, so that's misleading. But here's what I've been watching, fannishly speaking:
1. Seasons 2, 3, and 4 of Ugly Betty
2. The delicious mindfuck of Inception
3. Trying to hook my family on Mad Men
4. Banlieue 13 (aka District B13) and its sequel!
5. BBC's Sherlock miniseries
Thoughts (no spoilers, just cut for length/interest):
- Ugly Betty, I don't know why I ever quit you! We watched 62 episodes in under 2 weeks (!), and I DON'T REGRET IT, because I spent the entire time either laughing my ass off or tearing up or going "AWWWWWWWWWWW!" at the screen (usually because of Betty and Daniel). *happy sigh*
- Oh, Inception. How so brilliant?
- Mad Men + martinis + live swing music last Monday = Lindsey is a very happy, thematically appropriate camper. (New York people: I wish you could've been there! We never did do a martinis-and-vintage-dresses night on the town, and that makes me sad) I apparently danced with a famous person who used to play swing music in company of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and the like.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arielchan and I also ended up talking to an elderly gentleman at our table who used to play in the Army Band in WWII, and told us some fun stories, like about the night Frank Sinatra bought him and his friends drinks during the war.
- Sherlock is a completely awesome modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. I didn't think you could translate them quite so well out of the Victoriana, but it turns out you CAN, and this Watson and Holmes are most excellent. Largely, this is because they're early-canon Holmes and Watson, who I find the most interesting – there's no comfortable routine yet, and Watson is still all messed-up by the war, and everyone hates Holmes instead of being used to him, and Watson's not all married and domestic and moved out, and they don't know each others' ins and outs yet but are still determined to stick together because they each get something from the other they will never get anywhere else. It's fun, and exciting in the way the originals were in their day – it's the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, after all (and now, adventures once again).
On a much shallower note, I am entranced by Sherlock's voice. It's all deep and urbane and precise and intellectual and arrogant and bossy, and when he goes off on the dense explanations of his deductions I am SO much more interested than when reading it in print. :D I can't wait for the third episode, and then I'm going to be VERY SAD that there isn't more immediately coming. I'm sad, but it weirdly works for me; it's oddly similar to the original publishing structure of Doyle's canon, and I like that. As long as there IS more; I don't think poor Steven Moffat realizes he just wrote himself into the same corner as ACD, who literally tried and failed to kill off Holmes so he wasn't always having to WRITE MORE to satisfy the fanbase.
Okay, so...I know I'm alone in this, but every time I see the blood drop in the credit sequence, I find myself saying "It reacts to hemoglobin and nothing else!", and then Katie looks at me like I'm the world's biggest nerd, which I admit in that moment is kind of true. :D
- Last but not least, those of you who have never seen or heard of Banlieue 13 or its sequel, you really don't know what you're missing. I was idly looking for something to watch when I readetben's recent pimp post, and I am SO GLAD THAT I DID. The premise is a bit silly/contrived, and the plots are all kinds of ridiculous, but they're terribly fun anyway, and the two main characters are awesome and hit a lot of my personal buttons.
One of them, Leïto, is played by David Belle, one of the founders of parkour, who did his own stunts. He's one of those athletic, graceful people who are sheer fascinating joy to see in motion on film – like Douglas Fairbanks or Bruce Lee or Fred Astaire. I think it's beautiful, in a very unironic way. Watch even the first thirty seconds of this video, tell me you're not impressed, and I will eat ALL of my hats. Honestly. The man makes things like "climbing into the front seat of a van" into effortlessly beautiful spectacles of grace and hotness, okay; the movie is worth watching just for that.
But it's not all that's worth watching for! Leïto is sort of like a French, dystopian-future Aladdin: all poor-but-roguish-street-rat/punk-with-a-heart-of-gold, complete with the penchant for running away from people in clever ways across rooftops and secretly being an idealist/fighting for the little people, despite a jaded exterior. He's a bit like Bat (as in, Batman/Robin/etc.) in that way; Leïto is all about the uphill fight to make his wrecked, gang-ridden neighborhood into a better place. Plus, you know, the leaping-from-the-rooftops thing. I LOVE this kind of character.
Leïto also appears to be highly allergic to shirts. This is a-okay with me, since David Belle has a fantastic body (see: everything he can do in previously-linked video, hell-o NURSE is he fit):
See? (You can find more pictures like this at this pimp post, or at this one, rrrowr. They're both ten times more attractive in motion, for the record; they're not as photogenic in the stills.)
Instead of a spirited young Arabian princess, B13 gives Leïto some insanely good buddy-cop slashiness with Damien, our other protagonist. He's an incorruptible, highly competent Parisian cop who Believes In The Law and Helps The Citizenry and Is Very Earnest and Unironically Quotes The National Motto of France. Bless him. Damien goes undercover a lot (haha JUST WAIT UNTIL THE SECOND MOVIE), and is capable of taking out like, thirty highly-armed people in five minutes – in a very believable fashion, too, because he's played by Cyril Raffaeli, who ALSO performed his own stunts, in addition to choreographing the fight sequences. The result is some very creative, very impressive fights, with that lovely touch of realism you only get when you know the person onscreen can actually do those things. I went into this movie expecting to love Leïto best, because I know I'm a sucker for his character type (I enjoyed Prince of Persia for that very reason). But the introductory scene with Damien is completely awesome, and he's such a do-gooding, casually-badass guy that I found myself immediately fond of him. And then he meets Leïto, and they are even more fun together than they are separately, with the banter and the mocking and the intense sociopolitical arguments with their faces held inches apart and the joint ass-kicking. They're both smart and capable and quick on their feet, and that makes for a great time.
So what I'm saying is, you should all see these movies! There's awesome fight sequences! Parkour through Paris! Manly eye candy! Dystopian future setting! Idealism! Buddy-cop-like saving of the day! Breaking people out of prison! Handcuffing each other to things! Hugging! Fighting back-to-back! Crossdressing! (no, really)
Seriously, just watch them. The first is on Netflix instant viewing, if you have it (and I'm willing to lend out my account if you don't, plus *cough* help you find the second if you like).
*cough* Okay, enough of that. /pimp
Okay, so that's misleading. But here's what I've been watching, fannishly speaking:
1. Seasons 2, 3, and 4 of Ugly Betty
2. The delicious mindfuck of Inception
3. Trying to hook my family on Mad Men
4. Banlieue 13 (aka District B13) and its sequel!
5. BBC's Sherlock miniseries
Thoughts (no spoilers, just cut for length/interest):
- Ugly Betty, I don't know why I ever quit you! We watched 62 episodes in under 2 weeks (!), and I DON'T REGRET IT, because I spent the entire time either laughing my ass off or tearing up or going "AWWWWWWWWWWW!" at the screen (usually because of Betty and Daniel). *happy sigh*
- Oh, Inception. How so brilliant?
- Mad Men + martinis + live swing music last Monday = Lindsey is a very happy, thematically appropriate camper. (New York people: I wish you could've been there! We never did do a martinis-and-vintage-dresses night on the town, and that makes me sad) I apparently danced with a famous person who used to play swing music in company of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and the like.
arielchan and I also ended up talking to an elderly gentleman at our table who used to play in the Army Band in WWII, and told us some fun stories, like about the night Frank Sinatra bought him and his friends drinks during the war.- Sherlock is a completely awesome modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. I didn't think you could translate them quite so well out of the Victoriana, but it turns out you CAN, and this Watson and Holmes are most excellent. Largely, this is because they're early-canon Holmes and Watson, who I find the most interesting – there's no comfortable routine yet, and Watson is still all messed-up by the war, and everyone hates Holmes instead of being used to him, and Watson's not all married and domestic and moved out, and they don't know each others' ins and outs yet but are still determined to stick together because they each get something from the other they will never get anywhere else. It's fun, and exciting in the way the originals were in their day – it's the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, after all (and now, adventures once again).
On a much shallower note, I am entranced by Sherlock's voice. It's all deep and urbane and precise and intellectual and arrogant and bossy, and when he goes off on the dense explanations of his deductions I am SO much more interested than when reading it in print. :D I can't wait for the third episode, and then I'm going to be VERY SAD that there isn't more immediately coming. I'm sad, but it weirdly works for me; it's oddly similar to the original publishing structure of Doyle's canon, and I like that. As long as there IS more; I don't think poor Steven Moffat realizes he just wrote himself into the same corner as ACD, who literally tried and failed to kill off Holmes so he wasn't always having to WRITE MORE to satisfy the fanbase.
Okay, so...I know I'm alone in this, but every time I see the blood drop in the credit sequence, I find myself saying "It reacts to hemoglobin and nothing else!", and then Katie looks at me like I'm the world's biggest nerd, which I admit in that moment is kind of true. :D
- Last but not least, those of you who have never seen or heard of Banlieue 13 or its sequel, you really don't know what you're missing. I was idly looking for something to watch when I read
etben's recent pimp post, and I am SO GLAD THAT I DID. The premise is a bit silly/contrived, and the plots are all kinds of ridiculous, but they're terribly fun anyway, and the two main characters are awesome and hit a lot of my personal buttons. One of them, Leïto, is played by David Belle, one of the founders of parkour, who did his own stunts. He's one of those athletic, graceful people who are sheer fascinating joy to see in motion on film – like Douglas Fairbanks or Bruce Lee or Fred Astaire. I think it's beautiful, in a very unironic way. Watch even the first thirty seconds of this video, tell me you're not impressed, and I will eat ALL of my hats. Honestly. The man makes things like "climbing into the front seat of a van" into effortlessly beautiful spectacles of grace and hotness, okay; the movie is worth watching just for that.
But it's not all that's worth watching for! Leïto is sort of like a French, dystopian-future Aladdin: all poor-but-roguish-street-rat/punk-with-a-heart-of-gold, complete with the penchant for running away from people in clever ways across rooftops and secretly being an idealist/fighting for the little people, despite a jaded exterior. He's a bit like Bat (as in, Batman/Robin/etc.) in that way; Leïto is all about the uphill fight to make his wrecked, gang-ridden neighborhood into a better place. Plus, you know, the leaping-from-the-rooftops thing. I LOVE this kind of character.
Leïto also appears to be highly allergic to shirts. This is a-okay with me, since David Belle has a fantastic body (see: everything he can do in previously-linked video, hell-o NURSE is he fit):
See? (You can find more pictures like this at this pimp post, or at this one, rrrowr. They're both ten times more attractive in motion, for the record; they're not as photogenic in the stills.)
Instead of a spirited young Arabian princess, B13 gives Leïto some insanely good buddy-cop slashiness with Damien, our other protagonist. He's an incorruptible, highly competent Parisian cop who Believes In The Law and Helps The Citizenry and Is Very Earnest and Unironically Quotes The National Motto of France. Bless him. Damien goes undercover a lot (haha JUST WAIT UNTIL THE SECOND MOVIE), and is capable of taking out like, thirty highly-armed people in five minutes – in a very believable fashion, too, because he's played by Cyril Raffaeli, who ALSO performed his own stunts, in addition to choreographing the fight sequences. The result is some very creative, very impressive fights, with that lovely touch of realism you only get when you know the person onscreen can actually do those things. I went into this movie expecting to love Leïto best, because I know I'm a sucker for his character type (I enjoyed Prince of Persia for that very reason). But the introductory scene with Damien is completely awesome, and he's such a do-gooding, casually-badass guy that I found myself immediately fond of him. And then he meets Leïto, and they are even more fun together than they are separately, with the banter and the mocking and the intense sociopolitical arguments with their faces held inches apart and the joint ass-kicking. They're both smart and capable and quick on their feet, and that makes for a great time.
So what I'm saying is, you should all see these movies! There's awesome fight sequences! Parkour through Paris! Manly eye candy! Dystopian future setting! Idealism! Buddy-cop-like saving of the day! Breaking people out of prison! Handcuffing each other to things! Hugging! Fighting back-to-back! Crossdressing! (no, really)
Seriously, just watch them. The first is on Netflix instant viewing, if you have it (and I'm willing to lend out my account if you don't, plus *cough* help you find the second if you like).
*cough* Okay, enough of that. /pimp
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-05 07:41 pm (UTC)There's probably at least a little collateral damage, but...yeah. Five bombs wouldn't wipe out a whole neighborhood; it'd likely be more "London Blitz" than "Hiroshima."
...but at the same time, I can totally imagine Leïto giving up his apartment for other people and then being all "...well, MERDE."
HEE. I can totally see that, too! OH LEITO. :D But he's also so very "I have to stay in B13, to fix things!" so idk.
Be more stupidly OTP, please, OH WAIT YOU CAN'T.
I think my favorite little scene is the one where Damien's all "My bible is the law!" and Leïto laughs at him and Damien doesn't understand why what he said is so funny. The ONLY reason to have that scene is their banter; it starts with them running for cover, and then it just randomly ends when they decide to run for it. ♥
(and, yes, I totally made Jai watch the first one - she's refusing to watch the second one until we have more beer, which is fair, I suppose. BUT I WILL WIN HER OVER.)
LOL. I guess that's fair! You could maybe tell her there's crossdressing; it might help. :D
Email is on its way!