I found a balloon.
Oct. 7th, 2006 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ship_go_boomHave you ever had one of those days when your alarm goes off, and you wake up and go "Noooo! I don't want to go!"? And then you realize that you just forgot to turn off said alarm the day before, and it's really Saturday morning? Which makes you feel much more awake (relatively speaking) and like you should slither out of bed and go watch some cartoons? That was how today started. Only I didn't watch cartoons when I got up, I did homework instead.
But on the upside? I found a balloon. I was taking a break and wandering outside, when I saw it tangled in some weeds. It's a shiny silver mylar one, with dark blue lettering saying "You simply are the best" on one side, and "CSI Customer Service Week" on the other. It's still got some helium in it, as well, and floats a few inches above the ground when left alone. This makes me happy. I've got a balloon!
Not much else of note going on with me (besides my usual running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, now with late nights), but I felt like writing something anyways. Plus it's been what, two weeks? Since I communed with my keyboard in a blog-type way. So. How've ya been?
Have I mentioned that I have a wonderful Theatre professor? He's such a geek (and his wife even more so). As in, he too owns the entire BtVS series on DVD, and has watched Firefly and Serenity. Plus occasional Star Trek references. And here's the best part: for our second paper, we're supposed to write fanfic.
New Battlestar Galactica last night! Yay!
I finally got around to watching X3 on Thursday. I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the problems with it, in my mind, were the same problems I had with the first two, and the plot actually managed to surprise me in a couple places. But, since in hindsight comics were/are my first fandom, I feel the urge to nitpick. I shall alternate nits and squee so as not to sound too negative.
There may be more, but those are the important bits. And I'm all sleepy now. G'night.
But on the upside? I found a balloon. I was taking a break and wandering outside, when I saw it tangled in some weeds. It's a shiny silver mylar one, with dark blue lettering saying "You simply are the best" on one side, and "CSI Customer Service Week" on the other. It's still got some helium in it, as well, and floats a few inches above the ground when left alone. This makes me happy. I've got a balloon!
Not much else of note going on with me (besides my usual running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, now with late nights), but I felt like writing something anyways. Plus it's been what, two weeks? Since I communed with my keyboard in a blog-type way. So. How've ya been?
Have I mentioned that I have a wonderful Theatre professor? He's such a geek (and his wife even more so). As in, he too owns the entire BtVS series on DVD, and has watched Firefly and Serenity. Plus occasional Star Trek references. And here's the best part: for our second paper, we're supposed to write fanfic.
New Battlestar Galactica last night! Yay!
I finally got around to watching X3 on Thursday. I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the problems with it, in my mind, were the same problems I had with the first two, and the plot actually managed to surprise me in a couple places. But, since in hindsight comics were/are my first fandom, I feel the urge to nitpick. I shall alternate nits and squee so as not to sound too negative.
CON: What the caramel-coated fuck was up with Callisto? moss6886 didn't even realize that's who that was supposed to be until the movie was over and I started bitching (which? pretty impressive, as she's been a fan way longer than I've been alive). I'm pretty sure it was the boobs (and the age) that threw her off. You see, comics-Callisto didn't have any (I'll admit her most recent appearance did, but then she also had many tentacles instead of arms). She also was tall, pale, and blue-eyed. By blue-eyed I mean she only had one, the other was blind and covered in the most kickass patch ever. Plus she had a nose ring, not a chin stud. But these? These are small, superficial problems. Then we get to her powers. For starters, she isn't the one who can sense mutants (that was Caliban). Furthermore, although she was stronger and faster than a normal human, it was only barely. Storm could beat her in a powers-free knife fight. Which I always thought really underscored her role as leader of the Morlocks, because you knew she had the job because the other mutants respected her for her brass balls, not because she could kick their asses. By souping up Callisto's powers, they stripped away some of the most compelling aspects of her character.
PRO: ::gapes:: OMGOMGOMG! Fastball special! Fastball special and the backwards-jumping-off-the-tree thing! Two of the three most immortal Wolverine frames/tricks ever! Perfectly done and in the same movie! OMG! ::hyperventilates with glee::
HMM: I love the (admittedly scanty) portrayal of Colossus in the movies. Daniel Cudmore basically is my Petey (Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin). But whyfor is he not Russian? Or dating Kitty (his Katya)?
CON: I've asked before, I'll ask again: why do casting directors keep thinking that Halle Berry can kick butt? I mean, she's a great actor and all, but when it comes to fight scenes? There's no strength there. She's about as convincing as an eight-year-old playing superheroes in the backyard. Possibly less so. Plus her Storm is nothing like any Storm incarnation that I've ever read (of course, there was a point where the writing got so bad we stopped reading...). Even when the lines as written seem in-character, she doesn't deliver them as Storm, she delivers them as Halle Berry in Action Mode. ::fumes::
PRO: Kitty Pryde. Squee! The physical characteristics are a bit off (she was pretty gawky for a long time - skinny, knobby knees), but... yeah. That's our Kitty. Even if she's not making moon-eyes at Piotr.
HMM: Bobby/Rogue. I've never known what to think of this pairing. For starters, Bobby Drake was always a real asshole in the comics (snotty, self-important, patronizing twit), and was about the same age as Cyclops & Jean. But I quite like movie!Bobby, and I'm all conflicted. And Rogue is most definitely not comics!Rogue, but I can see why (comics! got her powers at 11 and was adopted by Mystique, movie! got hers at 16 and was found by Logan), and the underlying personality isn't far off (getting the cure? Totally in character). It's just hard to get invested in her character, and we keep waiting for her to accidentally kill and absorb the powers & memories of some super-duper strong invincible flying hero, and become a tragic schizophrenic badass. Plus I can't really see much in their relationship beyond them being cute teenagers who like each other. There's nothing wrong with pairing them, but incorporating it into the story arc seems a bit arbitrary.
CON: Cut & paste plots. I appreciate seeing some of my favorite arcs come to the screen, but an unfortunate side effect is that the context gets all mixed up. The least problematic example is from the first movie, where Logan's relationship with Kitty was lifted wholesale and applied to Rogue; I didn't bother me to begin with, but now that our Kitty is on screen it grates a little. A more major problem is that although most of the arcs and relationships are old-school X-Men, a lot of the in-scene reactions are written and directed like they were happening in more recent years. The behavior doesn't match the context. The biggest example I can think of is when Professor X dies: in the last few comics!years, Storm and Logan have gotten pretty close, and it makes sense for her to cry on his shoulder. But. In the context of recent comics, they've known each other for well more than ten years. In the movie, he's been around, what? A year? Watching the movie, I didn't get any cry-on-the-shoulder closeness vibes from them before or after that scene (I choose to believe that there's enough of our Storm in there that she wouldn't just break down and hug whomever was closest). That's the most obvious example, but the mixed-context phenomenon was happening all throughout the movie.
PRO: Holy Slashy McSlashersons, Slashman! Um... how did I forget how slashable Xavier/Magneto was? Boy, howdy. And of course Sir Ian was actively playing that angle, as usual. Then there's the matter of Logan/Scot, whom I've never felt much of an urge to pair together (although I can see why others would). Moss thought the encounter in the hallway was pretty slashy (jury's still out with me), but Logan keeping Scot's dropped sunglasses hooked on his belt? Yeah, you could have a Hell of a time with that... (mmm... what an image...)
HMM: They made Multiple Man a bad guy. He was otherwise unchanged. Huh. And they managed to remember that Juggernaut is English, although they somehow made even more two-dimensional than usual (I'm guessing the whole "Xavier's stepbrother" thing was a leetle bit more than they wanted to get into), and I kept wanting Black Tom to show up. Related side note: the Black Tom Cassidy train of thought led me to realize that since Syrin was in X2, that probably (hopefully not) means that Banshee is already dead in the movieverse. ::sniff::
CON: Magneto was just a little bit too powerful. This happened sometimes in the comics, as well. When a character has a scene where he does something like fly the Golden Gate Bridge, it make me wonder... If he's that powerful, why bother fighting the little battles, when he can just crush his opponents?
PRO: The special effects. And I never say that about movies. But wow. For starters, they digitally de-aged Stewart and McKellan so they actually looked twenty years younger. Everyone's powers blended with reality. And Beast! Beast moved like Beast in the fights, it was wonderful! Then all the other stuff, and Phoenix Force at work... The scene at the house was pretty cool, but the one at the big battle... gah. With the wreckage and the flamey phoenix-y backlighting... They really managed to get the Dark Phoenix feel (doesn't hurt that the scene was beautifully played, either). Wow.
ETA: HMM: Did anyone else watch the alternate ending where Logan goes back to Canada and expect/hope to see one of the guys from Alpha Flight to show up? I did. I don't know which one, but one of them should have walked in and sat down on the next barstool over.
ETA2: PRO: Arclight's brief appearance was spot on, I thought. Very cool.
moss6886 didn't even realize that's who that was supposed to be until the movie was over and I started bitching (which? pretty impressive, as she's been a fan way longer than I've been alive). I'm pretty sure it was the boobs (and the age) that threw her off. You see, comics-Callisto didn't have any (I'll admit her most recent appearance did, but then she also had many tentacles instead of arms). She also was tall, pale, and blue-eyed. By blue-eyed I mean she only had one, the other was blind and covered in the most kickass patch ever. Plus she had a nose ring, not a chin stud. But these? These are small, superficial problems. Then we get to her powers. For starters, she isn't the one who can sense mutants (that was Caliban). Furthermore, although she was stronger and faster than a normal human, it was only barely. Storm could beat her in a powers-free knife fight. Which I always thought really underscored her role as leader of the Morlocks, because you knew she had the job because the other mutants respected her for her brass balls, not because she could kick their asses. By souping up Callisto's powers, they stripped away some of the most compelling aspects of her character.PRO: ::gapes:: OMGOMGOMG! Fastball special! Fastball special and the backwards-jumping-off-the-tree thing! Two of the three most immortal Wolverine frames/tricks ever! Perfectly done and in the same movie! OMG! ::hyperventilates with glee::
HMM: I love the (admittedly scanty) portrayal of Colossus in the movies. Daniel Cudmore basically is my Petey (Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin). But whyfor is he not Russian? Or dating Kitty (his Katya)?
CON: I've asked before, I'll ask again: why do casting directors keep thinking that Halle Berry can kick butt? I mean, she's a great actor and all, but when it comes to fight scenes? There's no strength there. She's about as convincing as an eight-year-old playing superheroes in the backyard. Possibly less so. Plus her Storm is nothing like any Storm incarnation that I've ever read (of course, there was a point where the writing got so bad we stopped reading...). Even when the lines as written seem in-character, she doesn't deliver them as Storm, she delivers them as Halle Berry in Action Mode. ::fumes::
PRO: Kitty Pryde. Squee! The physical characteristics are a bit off (she was pretty gawky for a long time - skinny, knobby knees), but... yeah. That's our Kitty. Even if she's not making moon-eyes at Piotr.
HMM: Bobby/Rogue. I've never known what to think of this pairing. For starters, Bobby Drake was always a real asshole in the comics (snotty, self-important, patronizing twit), and was about the same age as Cyclops & Jean. But I quite like movie!Bobby, and I'm all conflicted. And Rogue is most definitely not comics!Rogue, but I can see why (comics! got her powers at 11 and was adopted by Mystique, movie! got hers at 16 and was found by Logan), and the underlying personality isn't far off (getting the cure? Totally in character). It's just hard to get invested in her character, and we keep waiting for her to accidentally kill and absorb the powers & memories of some super-duper strong invincible flying hero, and become a tragic schizophrenic badass. Plus I can't really see much in their relationship beyond them being cute teenagers who like each other. There's nothing wrong with pairing them, but incorporating it into the story arc seems a bit arbitrary.
CON: Cut & paste plots. I appreciate seeing some of my favorite arcs come to the screen, but an unfortunate side effect is that the context gets all mixed up. The least problematic example is from the first movie, where Logan's relationship with Kitty was lifted wholesale and applied to Rogue; I didn't bother me to begin with, but now that our Kitty is on screen it grates a little. A more major problem is that although most of the arcs and relationships are old-school X-Men, a lot of the in-scene reactions are written and directed like they were happening in more recent years. The behavior doesn't match the context. The biggest example I can think of is when Professor X dies: in the last few comics!years, Storm and Logan have gotten pretty close, and it makes sense for her to cry on his shoulder. But. In the context of recent comics, they've known each other for well more than ten years. In the movie, he's been around, what? A year? Watching the movie, I didn't get any cry-on-the-shoulder closeness vibes from them before or after that scene (I choose to believe that there's enough of our Storm in there that she wouldn't just break down and hug whomever was closest). That's the most obvious example, but the mixed-context phenomenon was happening all throughout the movie.
PRO: Holy Slashy McSlashersons, Slashman! Um... how did I forget how slashable Xavier/Magneto was? Boy, howdy. And of course Sir Ian was actively playing that angle, as usual. Then there's the matter of Logan/Scot, whom I've never felt much of an urge to pair together (although I can see why others would). Moss thought the encounter in the hallway was pretty slashy (jury's still out with me), but Logan keeping Scot's dropped sunglasses hooked on his belt? Yeah, you could have a Hell of a time with that... (mmm... what an image...)
HMM: They made Multiple Man a bad guy. He was otherwise unchanged. Huh. And they managed to remember that Juggernaut is English, although they somehow made even more two-dimensional than usual (I'm guessing the whole "Xavier's stepbrother" thing was a leetle bit more than they wanted to get into), and I kept wanting Black Tom to show up. Related side note: the Black Tom Cassidy train of thought led me to realize that since Syrin was in X2, that probably (hopefully not) means that Banshee is already dead in the movieverse. ::sniff::
CON: Magneto was just a little bit too powerful. This happened sometimes in the comics, as well. When a character has a scene where he does something like fly the Golden Gate Bridge, it make me wonder... If he's that powerful, why bother fighting the little battles, when he can just crush his opponents?
PRO: The special effects. And I never say that about movies. But wow. For starters, they digitally de-aged Stewart and McKellan so they actually looked twenty years younger. Everyone's powers blended with reality. And Beast! Beast moved like Beast in the fights, it was wonderful! Then all the other stuff, and Phoenix Force at work... The scene at the house was pretty cool, but the one at the big battle... gah. With the wreckage and the flamey phoenix-y backlighting... They really managed to get the Dark Phoenix feel (doesn't hurt that the scene was beautifully played, either). Wow.
ETA: HMM: Did anyone else watch the alternate ending where Logan goes back to Canada and expect/hope to see one of the guys from Alpha Flight to show up? I did. I don't know which one, but one of them should have walked in and sat down on the next barstool over.
ETA2: PRO: Arclight's brief appearance was spot on, I thought. Very cool.
There may be more, but those are the important bits. And I'm all sleepy now. G'night.
