Between trips to the bathroom, I managed to complete Mass Effect 3 this weekend. (I typed "4" there by accident at first. Alas, never to be.)
( Absolutely no spoilers, just my opinion on the tenor of the ending, but just in case. )

I am more upset that the franchise is over. I suppose it isn't, really. If I want to try and get different endings, apparently I have to play multiplayer. Or one of two iOS games, which, yes, I've already bought and will put to use with my Renegade Shepard to see if it does diddly or squat. There's always something more you can do, given the way the game has been marketed--more you can buy to get at the cheap thrill version of the fun you had actually playing the game. I've never subscribed to that, which is why I'm annoyed that you can alter your results with things that feel completely extraneous to the game. Multiplayer? Come on now. Are you going to give out codes for reading the comics as well? Might as well, seeing as multiplayer is going to get fuck-all attention from me.

I don't like the necessity of having to pull on more and other media or different genres of video gaming within the same universe in order to achieve within the game you love. If you want more from the game, by all means, have at the comics and the extra missions, but, call me old-fashioned, I believe, for all the choosing of my own adventure within Mass Effect, there was a core story and very little extra was needed or improved it where it was added. It's nice that they are something else I can have if I get too depressed that the story is over. I'm a little depressed, not gonna lie, but it feels cheap to go for those tie-in stories as if they'll satisfy in the same way. I'd almost love to see a trilogy of games that takes place centuries after the ending of Mass Effect 3. Where will the universe be then? That, to me, is more interesting than all the stories of what various folk are doing while Shepard is saving the goddamned galaxy.

No, that's not a fanfic prompt, that has been my life this week. In convincing moonlightalice to read some Discworld this week and trying to explain Terry Pratchett's sense of humor and the way he has adapted his worldbuilding as it's started to have continuity, I told her that it was, in effect, much like Good Omens minus all that Neil Gaiman-y stuff. I could not, for the life of me, explain it better than that. Although Pratchett's work can be meaningful and sincere, it is, at the same time, irreverent. He has a sense of humor about everything, even things he and his characters believe in--if you love it, you should be able to laugh at it. Neil Gaiman, in my limited exposure to him, is very not that person. His work Has Meaning. The difference is perhaps most stark in the two writers' Deaths: Pratchett's Death is the ultimate straight man who may just be in on a joke you'll never get (but that's okay, you're privy to one he'll never know either); Gaiman's Death is personable and relatable and all the more tragic for it, however cute and playful she may be. I really felt like all the funny from Good Omens comes from Pratchett lightening Gaiman the fuck up.

Last night, while pulling out movies I own to suggest that moonlightalice watch with her sister and mother this weekend, I pulled Stardust, which is adapted from a Gaiman work. I find the movie, though completely ludicrous, entirely charming. It's silly, it's fun, it's an adventure story with a happy ending. The book it's based on...is none of those things. It's very Gaiman-y. Things are Serious Business, Usually Involving Magic. The ending is the one that The Story Deserves, Not The Ones That Coddle The Reader. It gets credit for being different, but for something so insubstantial, book or movie, I prefer the confectioner's sugar. He is very much a fantascist who believes in the old school Grimm's fairy tale.

Given my assessment of him so far, you might be surprised to learn that I found the episode of Doctor Who, "The Doctor's Wife," written by Gaiman, to be utterly endearing and really heart-warming. Though there is some of the pervasive, persistent melancholy about it that I associate with all of Gaiman's works, "The Doctor's Wife" threw in a lot of screwball romance that was genuine and sweet and funny. It helped that the episode confirmed some of my own opinions about the relationship between two characters that had, heretofore, never been able to be voiced on the show itself. (Though fanfiction, in what little I've read in Who-fandom, has covered.) So I was predisposed to like it as it agreed with the way I see things, but what I really loved was the setting placing the Doctor at the center of the story. New-Who, more than classic-Who, focuses on the companions, which is fine since that's the audience entry into the fantastic journey. The Doctor moves through most episodes on the periphery of the plot (despite always being in front of the actual action), showing up to poke at things and deliver exposition about why he can/cannot defeat whatever the monsters are. "The Doctor's Wife," on the other hand, manages to get rather close to the Doctor himself, his life, his choices, while simultaneously revealing nothing about him. (This is also a very good summary of the season as a whole.) The episode flirts with exposing secrets without really ever doing so, and it is one of the best teases ever because you really don't care. What matters is the relationship at the center, and it's adorable. Gaiman. Wrote. Something. A. Goddamned. Dorable. I tell you, the world, she is topsy-turvy!


it was one of the most charming episodes of Doctor Who I've seen in a good long while. It was an episode that managed to focus on the Doctor versus his companions. Instead of his moving through a story and mucking about in it, he was the story.  Well, he and someone else.

The movie-watching plans I made last week have, save for a trip to see Priest tonight, mostly fallen apart. I went to visit U Penn's vet school--lovely campus!--and used that as an excuse to drop in on feiran and ecmyers for the weekend. Alas, it was not the best weekend for poor feiran but I had a good time. I ate some truly excellent Korean BBQ for the first time, and that's a pleasure I hope to have repeated often. So tasty! Alas, the incredibly poor performance of Dylan Dog, coupled with no new releases of note being released that weekend meant we missed out going to the movies.

We did, however, finish Smallville. I have surprisingly little to say about it. ( But not SO little it shouldn't still go behind a cut. (No spoilers!) )

I also caught up on Supernatural on my way down to and back from Philly. The direction this season has gone is interesting. I didn't really think there was any point to continuing a show past the literal apocalypse, but they found a credible enough way to examine the aftermath. It's actually really funny because ( minor spoilers for end of season five ). I'm not sure I buy that this was evident from the beginning--the twist that was just revealed before the finale seems a little more sudden than reveals in seasons past--but I actually don't mind the direction it has gone.

One thing that intrigued me: nerd rage over the season finale teaser. ( No spoilers, just some venting. )

Tonight, Priest! I'm so excited you guys. I have only been this enthused so far this summer about Thor, though I haven't got half the expectations for Priest as I did Thor (and, if you recall, my expectations for Thor were decidedly sublevel). I just want to glory in the badness and then go read, finally, glvalentine 's review that will make all the badness even funnier. I may also be in it for Vampire Cowboy Karl Urban. Not gonna lie, that's a draw for me.

It looks like I was right. I blogged about this before, but this really slam dunks the case I was trying to make in a much, much shorter format.

I'd also like to point out the disproportionate loss of women of color from that map. Every season, you lose at least one female character, usually the non-white female character. They tried to compensate, it seems, by putting in two new female characters in, but one of them always leaves and the others are now all white.

The issue of women on this show is a sore one for me. Every season has, in a list of 11-13 central characters, only 4 female characters AT MOST. Of those four, only two have been around since season one, if you fudge the matter and count Ali Larter as being continuous even though her characters have not been. That's a serious imbalance before you begin to consider how marginalized the women in this list are. The three remaining in the fourth season play the very definite roles of maiden, mother, crone, too. Which helps immensely, let me tell you.

Someone remind me why I watch this again?

I assume most of the Supernatural fangirls I know have heard something about an upcoming episode where Sam and Dean go to( not really a spoiler, but just in case ) (I'm still behind on Supernatural, so I dunno if that's the next episode or later down the line or what. Hence, spoiler tag.)

How do we feel about that? ( I'm not convinced fans will come out the better for this. )

This is the most adorable Wall-E poster ever. It's not even so much the picture, which is as adorable as all the Wall-E images are. It's the tagline at the top. It says, in French, "What are you doing for the next 700 years?" ::SQUEEEEEEEE::

(And, to be fair, this one is pretty damned cute, too.)

I also just received one of the most thoughtful and sweet commentaries on an old Batman Begins fanfic I wrote. It's really nice to be appreciated. I wish the umpteen-odd thousand words I wasted on Blade: Trinity were as good or as worthy of such commentary. A little smile to brighten my day. Which I need after the dream I had this morning about driving to a motel at night with my parents and listening to Condolezza Rice campaigning to become a Senator in some Balkan country. ('Cause she missed the election cycle in the states, dontcha know.) Members of the former president's administration are not welcome in my dreams, thankyouverymuch.

I agree with one of the comments on this posting about the latest BSG gay romance: if the friggin Sci-Fi Channel does a godsdamn PRESS RELEASE saying "ZOMG Xxxxx is A GAY!" how the hell can you really say that mentioning it somewhere else is a spoiler?

Of course, I link to my own announcement of that news from some weeks ago, and I realize I did give a spoiler warning, so clearly there is some expectation that even news that is announced and given out to the media is still somewhat sensitive. But really, people: if you're at all plugged in and you're at all behind in a series, you just sort of have to get used to being spoiled. Most magazines will warn you (UNLIKE FUCKING ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY) for anything major. The fact that the Sci-Fi Channel isn't bothering to hide this means this gay romance will probably be as significant to the story as the last one. (Read: not at all.)

It's not like they announced who the last Cylon was. (HA HA HA, IT IS GOING TO SUCK WHEN THEY DO, THOUGH AND I KNOW IT AND I DON'T CARE, A-HA HA...sigh)

And I'm 2/3 of the way done with this last season of Doctor Who! ::cheers::

I watched "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" and all I could think was, "Jesus H., why didn't they let Stephen Moffat write the last three seasons entirely!?" Seriously now, he scripted a tense, well-paced thriller of an episode that kept me absolutely riveted. His Doctor keeps David Tennant in line, too, which Ohthankyoufuckinggod, because that man is about three xanaxes short most days. I like wild and crazy Doctor. I'm pretty sure, however, that Ten has rabies. Stephen Moffat writes him so brilliantly that you don't forget he's the Doctor--he's still funny and silly and full of self importance. But he makes him so much more.

( Just some thoughts on this and other seasons. )

Still not finished though! Four more episodes to go. NO SPOILERS!! However, if I don't stop reading fandomsecrets, I might get spoiled out of enjoying it. I've nearly done it to myself already. Stupid LJ com. I should stop reading it if only to avoid hearing twenty times in one post about The Dark Knight. Listen you crazy-obsessed freak fucks: THE JOKER DOES NOT WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU. The fact that they are fantasizing wildly over a fictional character? Fine. Over one played by an actor who is now deceased? Doesn't bother me. (Ask me about my Brandon Lee crush some time.) REPEATEDLY TALKING ABOUT HOW A PSYCHOPATHIC, DISEASED, HOMICIDAL CLOWN MAKES YOU CREAM YOUR SHORTS IS THE QUICKEST WAY TO MAKE ME KILL YOU. Actually, second quickest. The quickest way to death-by-stupid-fangirling is to be this person.

Amidst my shame for having had ivy03's DVDs forever, I started to watch the second season of Supernatural, so far to greater success than my trip through the first one. I maintain that the ending of the first season was damn funny, yet I was still pulled into the drama of the season opener that built on it. Well done, show. It helps to conference with viridian about these things, too.

( Ah, girls. )

Through completely legal means (I swear I live in Canada), I have seen BSG 4.08 "Sina Qua Non," which will air in this country on Friday. My reactions are basically "Um?" Most of the episodes this season have had a profound "WTF!?!" level to them, usually because they startle me with the awesome or at least the harshness. I have disliked a lot of developments--( (spoilers) )--but on the whole, I've swallowed my objections in the name of the great things that would happen immediately after. Yay show!

But this? This is not happening. I'm fairly sure that everything that happens in this episode is going to be revealed as an alternate universe episode or something. Every bad fanfic decision that could be made about any character, any development is made. And, godsdamnit, ( ARGH, SPOILER ) Worse, ( The spoiler that makes TV want to die. )

What puzzles me is that awards for which BSG wanted to be nominated all picked performances out of this one. I didn't see too many overtly fabulous performances other than the one put in by Lee Adama's hair. Dude looks like he walked off the set of a Pantene commercial where his fluffy, shiny, sleek hair got expertly blown around. What the F? Remember your stupid faux-hawk in the miniseries, Lee? I won't forget that now that you seem to have discovered conditioner. I WON'T.

I apologize for the posting of incredible seriousness just now. I make it up to you all, okay? Have a new Iron Man trailer!

In the words of a certain Flash animation, "I DECLARE IRON MAN TO BE THE NEW COMMISSIONER OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL."

Seriously, great trailer, with even new stuff from the last one! Only concerned that they're giving too much away at this point, but a lot of Robert Downey Jr.'s lines still crack me up and I've watched the trailer a hundred times. I can only imagine the things I'm not seeing will also be awesome. Jon Favreau has proved to be nearly bulletproof with his marketing technique for this. He gives the right amount of suggestion, promise, and awesome in everything he's put out for this so far. His marketing guys better be really, really well paid, too, because their work has been stellar.

Also, how cool is it that on the homepage, they have a section devoted to fan art? That's love, baby. Fan-love. It's an example of what I would call the Rowling Principle--show your fans respect, and they will love you. Mega-love you. I already do. At this point, I'm pretty sure the film could be at least as bad as Spider-Man 3 and I'd still like it.