Things I watched/read recently
Aug. 11th, 2012 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI love all the shiny new vids from Vividcon. Many of them are excellent, I'll make a rec list when I'm back from choir week. There's only so much procrastinating I can do before I have to pack. Here are a few notes about things I watched/read recently, for me not to forget them and for you to see if you're interested in them. Very mild spoilers until otherwise noted.
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes:
I watched this during exam time. Not the smartest choice, maybe, but it was very uplifting and good for morale! The first one and a half seasons are excellent, and I'd definitely recommend you check them out: fun, colorful, with action and teambuilding and sometimes actual plot. My favorites are the Hulk and his relationship with Bruce here (very different than in the Avengers movie!), Clint, T'Challa, Jan, and Natasha, and in season 2 Maria Hill becomes great. Tony and Steve and Thor are great, too, and in season 2 we get the wonderful Carol Danvers. It's sad there isn't more fic for this particular Avengers 'verse. I want the story of Jan, her friendship with Carol, a bit of Hank and Jane, but mostly Jan being awesome.
Spoilers for season 2:
Unfortunately after they defeat the Skrulls the team aspect gets a bit lost because they are too many people. Sometimes people are missing for no apparent reason, they keep forgetting what the Vision is capable off, and it makes them look stupid. The introductions of Yellowjacket and Bucky didn't work for me at all, only Spider-man is great. And the last episode was very strange, "let's get everyone who appeared at one point in the series together to defeat someone who is supposed to be extremely dangerous but only appears and is defeated in this one episode."
The Unusuals:
I watched this short series (only 10 episodes) becauseastridv recced it and recced fics, which I apparently can't resist. It's a good thing I didn't! It's a fun show with wonderful friendships and characters, and even believable and not-constantly-in-the-foreground relationships. And as a bonus, there's just a hint of the supernatural. (There should be a story where Casey becomes a werewolf. Just saying.)
Spoiler:
The only thing I found disappointing is that I wished we'd got more aftermath of Cole's story. What about his wedding etc.?
The Hunger Games:
I hadn't read this yet because I wanted to read it in English and the waiting list at the library is very long, but then when I stayed at my grandparents' I needed something to read and my cousin had it in German. Good books! Bleak, but that was to be expected.
Spoilers for all three books:
The ending fit, but I'm not completely sure how much I liked it. They left open what happened to the children of the Capitol...
What I found interesting is that Katniss is such a passive protagonist. She's like a cornered animal: when she acts it's on impulse or survival instinct (volunteering for the Games, her allies, the berries, the exploding arrow etc.) I loved that that was explicitly mentioned in the third book, where she makes her first informed choice when she has a viable alternative: going off after Snow on her own. (Not that it was especially well thought out, but imo for her it counts.) And it's a failure, everyone else dies and then she watches Prim die. Katniss killing Coin might count, and I feel like it should, because she should at least have choices now, otherwise what have they been fighting for? But when Coin suggested new Hunger Games that choice counted less for me because it was more driven by desperation. Still, at least it's a choice.
I don't have the time to look for fics :( Maybe I'll take a look at some crossovers.
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes:
I watched this during exam time. Not the smartest choice, maybe, but it was very uplifting and good for morale! The first one and a half seasons are excellent, and I'd definitely recommend you check them out: fun, colorful, with action and teambuilding and sometimes actual plot. My favorites are the Hulk and his relationship with Bruce here (very different than in the Avengers movie!), Clint, T'Challa, Jan, and Natasha, and in season 2 Maria Hill becomes great. Tony and Steve and Thor are great, too, and in season 2 we get the wonderful Carol Danvers. It's sad there isn't more fic for this particular Avengers 'verse. I want the story of Jan, her friendship with Carol, a bit of Hank and Jane, but mostly Jan being awesome.
Spoilers for season 2:
Unfortunately after they defeat the Skrulls the team aspect gets a bit lost because they are too many people. Sometimes people are missing for no apparent reason, they keep forgetting what the Vision is capable off, and it makes them look stupid. The introductions of Yellowjacket and Bucky didn't work for me at all, only Spider-man is great. And the last episode was very strange, "let's get everyone who appeared at one point in the series together to defeat someone who is supposed to be extremely dangerous but only appears and is defeated in this one episode."
The Unusuals:
I watched this short series (only 10 episodes) because
astridv recced it and recced fics, which I apparently can't resist. It's a good thing I didn't! It's a fun show with wonderful friendships and characters, and even believable and not-constantly-in-the-foreground relationships. And as a bonus, there's just a hint of the supernatural. (There should be a story where Casey becomes a werewolf. Just saying.) Spoiler:
The only thing I found disappointing is that I wished we'd got more aftermath of Cole's story. What about his wedding etc.?
The Hunger Games:
I hadn't read this yet because I wanted to read it in English and the waiting list at the library is very long, but then when I stayed at my grandparents' I needed something to read and my cousin had it in German. Good books! Bleak, but that was to be expected.
Spoilers for all three books:
The ending fit, but I'm not completely sure how much I liked it. They left open what happened to the children of the Capitol...
What I found interesting is that Katniss is such a passive protagonist. She's like a cornered animal: when she acts it's on impulse or survival instinct (volunteering for the Games, her allies, the berries, the exploding arrow etc.) I loved that that was explicitly mentioned in the third book, where she makes her first informed choice when she has a viable alternative: going off after Snow on her own. (Not that it was especially well thought out, but imo for her it counts.) And it's a failure, everyone else dies and then she watches Prim die. Katniss killing Coin might count, and I feel like it should, because she should at least have choices now, otherwise what have they been fighting for? But when Coin suggested new Hunger Games that choice counted less for me because it was more driven by desperation. Still, at least it's a choice.
I don't have the time to look for fics :( Maybe I'll take a look at some crossovers.
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-11 08:46 pm (UTC)On Avengers, I am with 100% on season 1. I'm still dancing around the rest of season 2 as well... it just hasn't grabbed me as much. But yeah, cool show ;)
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Date: 2012-08-11 08:52 pm (UTC)My favorite A:EMH episodes in the second half of season 2 (after Secret Invasion) are Along Came a Spider, Emperor Stark, and Operation Galactic Storm/Live Kree or Die, if it helps, but my criteria are quite random. I didn't watch them in order either.