Further reviews of stuff during break week

[petronia]

Black Lagoon 20-23: we didn't have time to watch the last episode, but I'm going to write about it now because I have no idea when we'll actually get to the finale (various RL scheduling issues). Um... yeah, this continues not to pull any punches. There're series that are all "we have crossed the line into darkness and can never have a normal life" in a basically cliched way, and series that are about ye olde existentialist crisis, but not all that many that critique the existentialist crisis as basically a despicable bourgeois luxury. XD Or I can't think of any.

The language thing they're trying to do here would be a lot cooler if the VAs could uhh remotely pull it off, but the actual script is kind of awesome. "Hey Jumbo, I brought you your prom date!" (Also T was like, "Balalaika's wearing the same school uniform I had in the third grade!")

Mononoke 1-5: since this is 13 eps I thought it was going to be more episodic, but instead it's story arcs like Black Lagoon so I watched nearly half the series before I realized. XD (Tune in next week for And Then Sabina Got Four Hours Of Sleep, part 755,210 in our continuing series!) It could stand to be as long as Black Lagoon too, but probably no one has money for 26 episodes of this kind of art budget. XD Or I should think of it as a continuation of Ayakashi, maybe; I watched a couple of eps of that ages ago but it didn't have the same feel to it insofar as I remember. Mononoke is seriously sort of scary, for one, at least at 4AM in a dark room, and also I just get freaked out by "women's work" horror, like the zashiki warashi arc, A Tale of Two Sisters (GOD THE TRAUMA, it's not even so much that it's scary as the plot of this movie is the worst nightmare I don't have the imagination to dream come to life), and so on.

Scott Pilgrim vol. 1-2: speaking of video games and indie Toronto... but yeah, everything everyone says about this comic is spot on! It really is like real life only with extra awesome! From the Catholic high school uniforms to the bobo vegan cook-a-thons to the SUDDENLY SNOW, did I mention SUDDENLY SNOW, Montreal was like DIDN'T YOU GET THE MEMO ABOUT WINTER this week. Has anyone volunteered this series for Yuletide? Or like, whatever it is people do for Yuletide?

Also watched Match Point a few days ago, randomly. I have this theory that all good-looking leading men sort of actors have a specific type of asshole they're born to play, and this is probably Jonathan Rhys-Meyers'.

OK BACK TO TO-DO LIST.

Comments

icon very related

[drmoonpants.livejournal.com]

YESSSSSSSS SCOTT PILGRIM. ...yeah, I have nothing of value to add, except that I just read book 4 and it was wonderful, seriously, just you wait, and also I have to tell you that that comic is what I have to imagine that Canada is like all the time. If I didn't I don't know what hope would be left for me.

Re: icon very related

[petronia.livejournal.com]

The real Canada smokes more pot UH I MEAN it looks a lot like my Canada, at least! Seriously, the settings and stuff are spot on, and basically it's a portrayal of my extended social circle, if you replace "being in a band" with "going to Japan/Korea/China".

[astrael-nyx.livejournal.com]

Ok, it seems like I have to read Scott Pilgrim now.

Also, Rhys-Meyers plays a pretty good asshole as Henry VIII -- at least from the 5 minutes I saw of The Tudors because that's how long I could take the CBC version.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured either one or the other - but then I thought, I bet it's actually the same type of asshole innit XD (I haven't watched The Tudors).

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

SQUEE MONONOKE. ♥♥♥

The last three episodes of Ayakashi have a pretty different feel than the first arc of it (assuming that's what you saw a couple of episodes of.) It's pretty close to the feel of the Mononoke series, except the art isn't quite as stylized, and the direction and writing aren't really quite as good. (Although it contains so much Medicine Seller being awesome that you can't bring yourself to care. Or at least I couldn't. XD)

Incidentally earlier today I had the sudden idea that a Mononoke/Etched City crossover would be really cool. Cough.

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

Eh, the zashiki warashi arc is horror? ("Women's work"?)

(Of course, I watch movies like Arang for the sense of comfort I derive from them, so, hm. I wonder if that's "women's work" horror. XD)

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

Hm. Okay, after coffee, I'm at the conclusion that Arang fits that category. So, also, you should definitely watch Arang if you haven't, then. XDDDDD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I totally just made that up 5min before I posted. XD I mean, horror stories that involve menstruation/pregnancy/birth/abortion/lactation/babies/motherhood, that sort of thing. I don't find it scary per se in the sense of getting goosebumps and needing the lights on, but it really gets under my skin.

I put a moratorium on Asian horror after that one Fantasia season where I watched like ten of them and developed PTSD flashbacks. XD;

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Whereas, I've apparently internalized the association, because it just seems natural to me that those sorts of things would be included. (Ghosts and fertility, not to mention that sort of thing being fatal to men, and sometimes women. XD)

Maybe you shouldn't watch Arang then. But I'd love to see you watch it. XDXDXDD

[helvetius.livejournal.com]

XDDDDDDDDDD

Have yet to finish watching the last Arc, but Umibōzu is the one that really creeped me out with the scratching.

[oneill]

Am downloading Mononoke now. Should be interesting to alternate between it and Gintama. XD;

[marej.livejournal.com]

i hear one more freaking joke from montreal about calling in the army I WILL... I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I WILL BUT I WILL SURE SOMETHING! humpf it's freaking COLD, okay?

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

<3 That's what I love about Black Lagoon. Despicable bourgeois luxury indeed.

Yeah, the language thing is a problem. Levy is supposed to be a native speaker, so it's rather jarring.