Watching Monday

[brigdh]

True Blood

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<lj-spoiler [...] text"spoilers>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<i>True Blood</i>
<lj-spoiler text"Spoilers for episode 7.06">
Good Lord, there was a not of uninteresting nonsense in this episode. Where to even start?
So, Sookie is carrying Hep-V, and her fairy-blood has totally mutated Hep V into some new, speedier disease. I predict it will not kill Bill, but instead give him awesome super powers. I know a lot of people are upset about the Hep-V = AIDS metaphors (which got even more explicit this episode), but personally it doesn't bother me. Given all the other vampires = gay people metaphors throughout the show, this one seems unsurprising, and not much more offensive.
I am still confused about what is going on with the twice-dead vampire Jesus Tara visions. My new theory is that Lettie Mae's husband is the one who killed Tara, which is why he's trying to keep Lettie Mae from finding out about it.
OMG SARAH NEWLIN IS THE CURE. This is hilarious and I did not at all see it coming. I love her crazy, New Age vague spirituality rant.
</lj-spoiler>

<i>Leverage</i>
<lj-spoiler text="Spoilers for episode 5.12-13">
<i>The White Rabbit Job:</i>
OMG it's the Inception episode! They even named it "white rabbit".
Unfortunately this is sort of a terrible episode, though I like the idea of doing Inception without science-fiction.
Dodgson in a black turtleneck and tiny microphone as he gives the ending speech... I feel like he's suddenly a Steve Jobs metaphor, but I don't know why.

<i>The Corkscrew Job:</i>
It's an episode about migrant farm laborers! Honestly, it's surprising it took this long for the issue to come up on this show.
Awww, Parker knows her worth! That is super cute.
"Let's go steal a bottle!" Sophie really wanted to say the episode's catch phrase.
JICAMA PLUM STOUT??? EW, HARDISON.
"My precious...." *looks at Parker* "Uh, I mean you, you're my precious." Hahaha, he is so cute.
"He's got a very punchable face." / "Yeah, I noticed that." AHHHHH I love how Parker and Eliot understand one another.
"Wine as sweet as my orange soda." HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and also ew.
"So I'm radioactive? Why don't I have superpowers?" / "Babe, we all feel cheated." THIS EPISODE IS AMAZING.
I'm pretty sure 200 (more?) year old wine would actually taste like vinegar, but this is a sweet ending nonetheless.
</lj-spoiler>

<i>Iron Man</i>
Yes! I am just now watching this movie, years behind the rest of fandom. It was very good, particularly the opening, pre-credits sequence. Those few minutes wee <i>amazing</i>. All of the beginning was great, really, though it slowed down noticeably by the middle. (Except maybe for the scene with the reporter-woman. Really? That convinced you to sleep with him?)
Stain is the best villain name ever.
I like the <i>idea</i> of a superhero renouncing the use of weapons, but, uh, the movie didn't really manage to stick to the theme there. To be fair, I'm not entirely sure it's possible to stick to that theme and still have superheros and action sequences.
There is a terrible lack of Tony/Rhodney fic, isn't there? I mean, I liked Tony/Pepper a lot too, but based on what I see people reblog on tumblr, there is lots of attention for that pairing.
Ramin Djawadi did the soundtrack! I feel like he is in everything lately.

Comments

[somebraveapollo.livejournal.com]

THERE DOES EXIST TONY/RHODEY, though yes of course there is a comparative tragic lack of it. I love icarus_chained's fic, she has vampire AUs and soulbonding AUs and a Prohibition AU even.

http://archiveofourown.org/works?utf8=%E2%9C%93&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&work_search%5Bcharacter_ids%5D%5B%5D=30305&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=0&commit=Sort+and+Filter&pseud_id=icarus_chained&user_id=icarus_chained

I haven't read any longfic about them though! There seems to be a lot of Rhodey/genderbent!Tony, which is nice in theory, but I haven't read it, because I have an irrational resistance to the idea of Tony not being a (manic pixie dream) dude.

FYI, they recast Rhodey for the second and the third film, I love him more there because
a. Don Cheadle
b. Don Cheadle's arms
c. slightly different, more mature? characterisation
d. way more screen time.

Anyway, yaaaay you're watching Iron Man! <3 <3. Basically I only loooooooooooove the third one, but I really ~~~~<3LOVE<3~~~~ the third one and have fond feelings for the first and second.

I think the theme of Weapons Are Bad flopped hilariously, yes, but in-text Tony is really only against selling weapons rather than creating them. Like, he has a whole arc about Personal Responsibility And Public Accountability, and also Privatising World Peace (TM). Which, again, doesn't work anywhere outside the, like, superhero narrative world where it isn't an awfully bad idea to leave that much power in the hands of anyone. I mean, superhero narratives give good personal but HORRIBLE political advice, ime

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

cheadle!rhodey >>>>>> howard!rhodey, no lie.

tony doesn't really mind weapons per se, he minds other people who're not him using his weapons towards unspecified evil goals! he's a paragon of protagonist-centered ethics and we love him for it.

(i love him for it, at least, and also for many other things).

[somebraveapollo.livejournal.com]

He is, honestly, the best kinda bearer of the superhero narrative: he learns the consequences of his carelessness, he owns up to his responsibilities but also learns to delegate them, ie. to share his protagonistness with people he loves. And it's interesting that he doesn't, like, answer to any shady governmental or non-governmental organisations, he is literally not constrained by anything except his conscience and the (intentional) public visibility of his actions. It takes a bit of suspension-of-disbelief to, like, assume this setup could ever work, but it is IMMENSELY satisfying if you can believe in it.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

he's a paragon of protagonist-centered ethics and we love him for it.

Haaaaa, well, at least he knows it!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the rec! And ha, I happen to have already read the soulbond one - it was really good, I remember, despite not knowing who anyone was.

Your points a and b are extremely important. I did really like the accountability theme! And I thought that part actually worked out really well - complete with dramatic press-conference ending!

[somebraveapollo.livejournal.com]

Icarus_chained is a treasure, I love that she writes all the popular themes but with a, like, really unique perspectve? Idk, her Tony/Bruce slavefic is v. hot also, you need to read it if you haven't.

There exists a green polo shirt in the third movie which I feel puts adequate emphasis on point b.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's wonderful! I'm not in any big fandoms to be annoyed by them, so I'm always ready for coffeeshop!AUs with daemons or soulbonds or slavefic or whatever other silly tropes I see people complaining about. I suppose I'd get tired of them too, if that's all there was, but right now I love them.