The Rabbit Hole

First picture of the title character from Marvel's Thor, aka next year's possible May Movie.

I find it hilarious that they've made Thor look as much like Kenneth Branaugh (who is directing it, which never fails to amuse me) as possible. The armor could be better, but the attitude is decent. I've heard rumors about the plot that would explain this sad/mad/bad-ass attitude, and I approve thus far. I also approve of relative-unknown hottie Chris Hemsworth (he played George Kirk in the Star Trek reboot) because you know what the eventual Avengers movies need? More hotties. Between him, Chris Evans as the Cap, and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, they could cast cave trolls in the other roles, and I'd still be happy. Still not sure which other characters they can put into the Avengers, though. They're sorta poo-poo-ing the Hulk (and Ed Norton is definitely out by all accounts), Spider-Man is property of Sony in perpetuity (they're rebooting the franchise already to hold onto the rights!), and since Fox is still making movies about Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, don't expect to see him any time soon. Those are, like, the central Avengers, and even the next most familiar that I can think of--Spider-Woman, Beast, She-Hulk--are all no-gos because, duh, they're derivatives of those same problematic Avengers.

But, still, it doesn't matter if the Avengers is three dudes. Those three dudes? Hot.



(I'd like to rebutt the one poster to that link who's like "Marvel's first caped hero onscreen!?!oneoneone!!" We all may wish to forget how X-Men fell into the toilet, but Storm had a cape. Yes, it was a cape, even if it was attached to her wrists, it was a cape.)

My anticipation of Mass Effect 2 has not diminished the game for me at all. I am still very much in love with its world. It's funny, though--the gameplay can actually bore me, and I've messed up and had to redo parts so I had to listen to conversations over which wasn't fun--but I'm still having a great time.

Part of it is due to my prior investment, of course. I ran into an old friend last night while playing (this is a fictional, in-game, actually-just-a-friend-of-my-character friend), and I nearly let out a whoop of joy. He/she/it came with me, too, which almost made me cry. I remain intrigued, even optimistic about coming to love my first two available squad members, but they're not my old team. I really, really loved my old team. I'd take my least favorite old team member over the new guys thus far. I'm sure that will change, but still. (It might be because they're humans. In the first game, I had a definite bias in favor of the aliens, too.)

Besides my own fangirlishness, I spent a lot of my first night playing just marveling at how huge the world of this game is. There are entire backstories between races of aliens that I'd forgotten and had to read up on again. But the fact that there are volumes of things to learn about each race is so very impressive. It makes it feel like there's a universe that exists and runs and functions and fractures whether or not my player character is doing anything to it. It's not to say all the races are unique snowflakes (the more I watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the more analogues I see), just that their interactions are so richly developed. The alien races, planets, space stations, criminal and lawful elements alike feel so lived in.

I think that makes all the difference--the idea that a place doesn't just start and stop existing as you come and go. I can see the interplay of interspecies politics, why some races have some advances and not others. Of all the races, too, I don't find that any are stupidly designed or inorganically sprung from their native environments. Are individual aspects of their culture heritage maddening? Oh hell yes. Does it make sense that they would think/behave that way? Absolutely.

Better still? Not every member of an alien race believes in the same things! There are prevailing norms, but there are still individuals who buck the system, who are biased by their upbringing but to whom exposure to the rest of the universe was a revelation and a catalyst for individuality. It helps that I'm sort of an unusual player character; it explains why I would attract or else keep running into the exceptions to the rule. But it's the acknowledgment that no society of millions, if not billions, would ever be homogenous that makes this game so mature. (Well, that and the sexing. I'm hoping I get to that soon!)

You might recall our pilgrimage to the future birthplace of James T. Kirk. You might recall that my entire family consists of nerds and dorks and dorks and nerds. But just in case you doubted us, I present to you my fridge:


Hmm, doesn't look too unusual. Calendar, magnets, picture of family...

Wait a tic, what is...? ( NERD-HANCE! )

So far this season, Heroes has not been awful. I credit much of this to Robert Knepper and the uber-creepy inclusion of the Carnival. Everything is better with circus freaks. Everything. Of course, this will all change in another few episodes and I'll regret saying this, but I'm even enjoying parts of this season. (My reviews at Pink Raygun for this season are here, here, here, and here.) There are definitely still problems, much of which stem from the show's loyalty to characters and the actors playing them.

That might be about to change, however. If you still care about spoiler warnings, don't read what's under the cut.( Who am I kidding? I'm the only one still watching this show. )

( And did I mention the racefail? )

Better than the usual offerings, even.

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trinityvixen: I have had a random thought brought on by watching too much sci-fi/fantasy at your place. I think being in the same place has scrambled my brain for ideas and the weirdest things occur to me as a result.
trinityvixen: This morning I was thinking about Star Trek III for whatever reason, and it occurred to me to ask myself, "Hey, does McCoy get to have his soul saved by the Vulcans because he held onto Spock's? Is it like being a ring-bearer and you get to go to the Grey Havens?"
trinityvixen: I then realized how INCREDIBLY NERDY that was to think.
moonlightalice: Don't think so
trinityvixen: But I am still really curious.
moonlightalice: Nah, they save the collective memories of the Vulcan people.
moonlightalice: McCoy was more like FedEx--you throw out the box when you're done.

I haven't even been able to think about catching up to LJ yet, so forgive me, I'll get there, but I have some trip-related updates. I'll be brief. There's really only so much I can say about a trip of four days where two were spent in the car. (I kid you not: 18-20 hours on the road both ways.)

First, non-trip-related: it was an electrical fire. All appears to be well now, though I have not been outside to see what the situation is on the street just yet.

Trip-related:
-Holy crap, I hate Rte. 80. The downside of a trip whereby your starting and ending destinations are on the same highway is that there is NOTHING to do. I will never be so ungrateful for exits, turns, and route changes ever again. The other reason to hate Rte. 80 is that it is, for every state except New Jersey (I have never been so glad to be in New Jersey as I was last night), a two-lane highway with a lot of trucks on it.

Oh, and they frequently close down one lane for MILES to do construction. On the way out, I took over driving near Joliet, Illinois and the traffic was so bad, I had time to paint my nails at the wheel. (Two coats! Both hands!) On the way back, my youngest sister (not the graduate; she's staying in Iowa) got stuck in Pennsylvania so I offered to switch. We were able to open our doors and get out and walk leisurely around and take up our new positions. As soon as it opened up, I did 80 mph from there until I got back to NYC.

-I had to actively try to take more pictures of graduation than I might otherwise have bothered doing (since I am a shitty photographer and there were plenty of cameras) because I didn't want to have fewer pictures of my sister's graduation than of my family and I at the future birthplace of James T. Kirk. (More on that later.)

-Though we weren't quite there at planting season like we were last year, a good part of Iowa still smells like manure.

-People are super friendly in the middle of the country. It is a nice change but a weird one. I'm still not quite sure how to react when people at Wal-Mart are like earnestly wishing me a great day and inviting me to have a root beer float.

-I got to go on a waterslide! There was one at our hotel! This is apparently something hotels have now? Whatever: indoor water slide!

Now with spoilers!

So, indeed, I ended up going to see Star Trek again with my mother on Mother's Day. Although she definitely was game to see it again (she'd already seen it! I love her), we were really making an excuse to take my dad. He was very adorably put out that my mother and my sister had gone without him. So we trundled off to the IMAX near their house on Sunday. As I was telling alizzy, the fact that he liked it a lot baffled me in the extreme. Not because I didn't think he should, just that I'm used to my dad and I never agreeing on movies we like. I'm so used to be defensive and being ready to fight with him about why I'm totally justified in liking a movie, that I was stuck in this abortive protest mode when he had only good things to say about it. I still kinda wanted to fight--I had prepared arguments in my head--and no one was going to fight with me. It's a very weird feeling.

Anywho, seeing the film twice solidified some things for me. After picking apart the film with moonlightalice, I had a lot to look for in a second viewing. I think the fact that we had different opinions of the same movie really helped me to focus on what I wanted to see from the film beyond just being entertained. (Which I still was.) Her review is up at Tor.com, with all of her reasonable criticisms. (Spoilers in that link!) And give darkling1's review some love, too.

One thing I looked for especially were instances of racism in the movie.

( Not surprisingly, I found plenty )

Yay, I got that meta out of my system! Now I can go read fanfics!