Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock

[st_aurafina]

ETA: By the time that this got posted, we're out of lockdown. Masks only indoors or outdoors where social distancing is impossible. I am stiff and sorry from not being able to get to the hydrotherapy pool, but I'm otherwise doing okay.

We're slamming back into Stage 4 lockdown at midnight. So far, I've felt the introvert's euphoria of legitimately cancelled plans, and the horror of watching a perfectly balanced roster collapse as leave is called off. I saw someone on FB refer to this feeling as riding the coronacoaster. It seems right.

Poor hospitality businesses, who were all primed for Valentine's Day.

I could do without all the sniping at Dan Andrews, also. In the middle of a crisis, sniping and trolling is worse than useless. He's not doing a perfect job, but he's doing okay. Fuck sake.

*deep breath*


The Equalizer
The pilot was delightful!! I cannot believe I get to watch Queen Latifah in a competence porn spy drama with some serious Person of Interest vibes. It's like, re-imagine POI with Queen Latifah as John Reese. It's the best. (Please don't harsh my squee on this!)

The second episode was as much fun! Damn, they really are following the POI formula - this ep is very like S1.05 Judgement, where the judge's kid got kidnapped. Still, I love love love that Robin is so protective of a mother who lost her kid.

I wonder if it's more like POI emulated the original Equalizer and then it all came full circle with the Equalizer reboot? Circles within circles.)

Everyone seems to be having an awesome time on the show. I love the vibe of it. I am enjoying the wait between episodes, and not knowing what's going to happen. New TV is a bit of a novelty for me!



WandaVision
This show is doing exactly what I love with sci-fi, which is messing around with continuity and pulling from canon sources all over the place. I love that it fully expects us to pore over every frame of every episode, and peppers hints and easter eggs accordingly. In that way, it reminds me of The Middleman, where we'd dissect the script to find all the references. (Where Javier Grillo-Marxuach would put the script up for analysis, with references.)

Episode 5 aka "Wanda recast Pietro??" was brilliant and absurd. The show is starting to really cycle quickly between bleak and ridiculous. Episode 6 gelled the threesome team of Darcy, Monica and Jimmy Woo for me. Another show I'm excitedly anticipating. (I thought I was too cynical for such things? Apparently not.)



Clarice
Hmm. I want to like it more than I actually did like it. I don't know if I'm ready for the kind of elegant grimdark this show is promising, not without the bizarre humour that Hannibal brought. On the other hand, the women!!! So many women!! Clarice is living with Ardelia!!! Erin Strauss from Criminal Minds is playing Catherine Martin's mother!! There's a lot of femslash potential here. And I adore Ardelia. How can you not love a woman with a book of people she wants to send to hell?



Hurt Comfort Exchange 2021
I have four tabs open at the moment specifically dedicated to nomination for Hurt/Comfort Exchange 2021. It's a tricky sign-up! A high degree of difficulty! So many freeforms. I'm nominating The Black Tapes, the new Equalizer series and Person of Interest. Maybe WandaVision? Maybe Captain Marvel? Maybe Star Trek: Discovery? Oh, oh, maybe A Simple Favour, which was really incredibly gay and fun.

ETA: welp, since I wrote that, I got my noms in, and I'm working on my letter. It's still a really hard sign-up for me though? I never know if I should start with the tag or with the pairing or what the heck. Also I worry about ending up writing the fic in the request - the tags are so thorough. But this year, I'm going to be ready. I'm going to get that sign-up done. *cracks knuckles*


Festivids
A few that I really enjoyed from Festivids.

Monument Valley
A lovely, ticky-tocky vid for a beautiful game:
Sacred Geometry by findmeinthealps (General)


Mallory Towers
This vid is full of pluck! I haven't seen the series yet, but gosh, I really want to now.
try everything (sometimes we come last but we did our best) by itsanizzyb (General)


The Old Guard
Lovely vid with found-family themes. Oh, I love this movie so much!!
Never Look Awayby kaydeefalls (Teen)


Jelle's Marble Runs
This is marble runs and the William Tell Overture. It's a perfect match, and the timing is spot on.
The Marble Overture by cosmic_llin (General)

The Strange Case of Starship Iris
I love vids for non-visual media, because they're usually so clever. This one uses a particularly memorable scene in Season One, and gives you an external POV that somehow makes you feel like you're inside the cockpit of the Rumor. It's really good and made me love the podcast all over again.
Space Bees by cupidsbow (General)


Repair Shop
Two vids for Repair Shop, a show which was my favourite 2020 reality TV discovery. They're both by odessie which surprised me, because they're very different. The first is energetic and full of movement. The second is full of love for the making of things, and I love it.
Back It Up by odessie (General)
Time to Make Sawdust by odessie (General)


Vids!!

I will finish with this excellent kitty photo, with big demon/angel energy:

Comments

[solo]

I've felt the introvert's euphoria of legitimately cancelled plans

This is such a great way of putting it. I know the feeling well!

Haha, coronacoaster, also good!

That's a very demonic-looking kitty indeed!

[st_aurafina]

I know the feeling well!
It's a wonderful, guilt-free feeling!

I am very tired of the coronacoaster, and I wish to disembark.

[sholio]

I'm so on the fence about Hurt/Comfort-Ex! Normally it would be a for-sure exchange for me, but I asked for a bunch of h/c in Id Pro Quo and I also want to treat in that one, so I'm trying not to overload myself too much. Maybe I'll just knock down h/c-ex to the absolute minimum of fandoms/relationships to make it simpler on myself ...

Anyway, I'm till dithering on that. This exchange is so completely and utterly RTMI that I hate to skip it, but I also want to leave myself lots of time for treating IPQ. And also I'm thinking about doing Genfreeform as well.

Did you end up nominating Captain Marvel? If so, which pairings were you thinking about? *curious*

[st_aurafina]

I skipped Chocolate Box for similar reasons - things are just too unpredictable, you know? It's weird not to know what the world is going to be up to, week to week.

I didn't end up nominating Captain Marvel - I actually only saw it last month (I think I was last?) because I needed to patch up my knowledge for WandaVision. If I had, though, I'd definitely be going for Maria/Carol. Maybe Carol/Dr Lawson or Supreme Intelligence as Dr Lawson. Or... hm. I did not expect to be shipping her with Talos, but wow, he got sassy towards the end of the move. I could definitely go for Carol/Talos/Soren in a kind of "raising kids on a space ship is tiring" kind of puppy pile.

[vass]

GOBLINS!

[st_aurafina]

Very goblin, wow!!

[china_shop]

*hugs*

That kitty photo is adorable, and now I need to get my hands on The Equaliser. And oh, that The Old Guard vid!! ♥____♥

[goodbyebird]

Darcy, Monica, and Jimmy Woo?? Getting their own show??? GOODNESS. Did not know this. Most pleased I am.

Good luck with the H/C exchange btw :)

[thisbluespirit]

welp, since I wrote that, I got my noms in, and I'm working on my letter. It's still a really hard sign-up for me though? I never know if I should start with the tag or with the pairing or what the heck.

I don't know if I'm doing it this year, because I'm temporarily swearing off exchanges, but yeah, it is, isn't it? Those freeform exchanges are! And that one has all the complicated ship options where you have to specify who gets hurt, which I can't be doing with. Like, isn't that optional details instead of having to nominate at least three different versions of every ship if you don't have a preference?

Good luck. I should nominate something just in case I weaken...

♥

Malory Towers was really sweet! It was a real antidote to everything when the BBC put it up last spring. (See icon of cute wee Mary-Lou).

[smallhobbit]

I'd like to sign up for hurt/comfort, but I can't cope with choosing freeform tags when I'd rather put in my optional details, this is the sort of h/c I like, this I don't in a much more general way. I'll watch out for pinch hits.

[thisbluespirit]

Freeforms are fiddly, but I find them a fun alternative to prompts that saves a lot of letter writing time - once you've got that dratted sign up done!

[corvidology]

I get the introvert bit. Still, I like not having plans to be my choice. :D I hope you can get your schedule sorted.

I'm carefully jumping over the part where you talk about WandaVision because MG decided he wanted to see all 4 of The Avengers films before we continued onward with it. :D



OTOH, cos that's the way fannish things go, I'm really onboard with Clarice and for a lot of things you mentioned, particularly the women (I need that book *g*) while you have reservations. Episode 2 will be broadcast here tonight and I have my fingers crossed.

I'm about to join you in the good fight towards the H/C exchange. My nomination is usually pretty straightforward in that I don't nominate many freeforms as usually there are more than enough to go around. Matching on a tag helps to calm my nerves on that front. I'm humming and hahing about signing up for Smut4smut.

Festivids never fails to produce great fanvids. :D

That kitty pic is amazing!

[walgesang]

Your kitties are always so stunning! :D

I've been considering trying Clarice and you do have my interest piqued! Take care. ♥

[st_aurafina]

<3 The kitties are my precious babies!

I've been considering trying Clarice

It's beautifully shot, (even the bodies, eeeee), and I'm hoping it's not quite as grim as the pilot laid out. At least, I hope there's a lot more Ardelia! She was fantastic.

[kore]

Oh, these are all such good links! I LOVE Monument Valley and had no idea someone had done a vid.

I have to figure out how to see new Equalizer and Clarice without having broadcast TV -- of course there's just aheming the shows, but I'd somehow like to count as part of the audience. Hmm.

I have to swear off exchanges for a while because I had to default on two I really wanted to do (Chocolate Box, Black is Beautiful) and that was such a bummer. H/C looks so fun though -- and I might not be able to resist treating WandaVision if people are already requesting it....

[st_aurafina]

I know Monument Valley has fic most Yuletides, if that's something you're interested in? It's such a lovely, peaceful game. And so beautiful.

I have to swear off exchanges for a while because I had to default on two I really wanted to do

Yeah, I am treading carefully this year because it's only February but I've learned that things can off the rails very quickly these days. There's a big co-ordinated H/C effort on the POI discord though, so I am keen to ride along with that.

I hope there are WandaVision requests!! I mean, I'll request things, but I don't want to be that one weirdo.

[kore]

You will just be....unusual! //laugh track

I AM going to be that weirdo writing fix-it fic with Monica and Wanda if the show doesn't go I want it to, heh.

I had never even thought of AO3 and Monument Valley....which is weird, because it's the one video game I have ever played. Other than Tetris or Myst. I should investigate!

[kore]

I just heard Equalizer got renewed for a second season!

[redfiona99]

Wait, nu-Equalizer is going back to doing it properly?! (I have unnecessarily strong opinions about the Equalizer film because I like the tv show so much.)

[st_aurafina]

Yes! It's case-of-the-week style helping people, Robin is ex-CIA - did they every confirm who Robert worked for in the original? I can't remember.

There's a shady Control-like character played by Mr Big from Sex in the City. And Robin has a sniper friend called Mel who I'm placing as the Mickey character, though she's not like Mickey as such. (I really liked Mickey!)

It's got a modern aesthetic, and there's obviously more tech because, well. We have computers now. But it's very much in the spirit of the original.

[kore]

I do not want to tell you HOW MANY Equalizer reruns I watched on, I think it was, A&E (they had all the Law and Order reruns too).

[st_aurafina]

It was the best!! It had all the good feels, plus Edwaaa Woowaa being hypercompetent.

[redfiona99]

High pitched squeaky excitable noises. (Also because there is a woman as the hyper-competent character with a mysterious past)

I don't think it was ever officially officially the CIA but yes.

Mickey was also my favourite. And I am happy actor playing Mel is getting something because her character was done so wrong in a previous TV show she was in (left vague for fear of spoilers).

One of the things I liked about the original was that it did have then-hi-tech in it, without being a tech show so I am glad they're keeping that.

[rachelmanija]

I just watched Malory Towers, and I loved it. I found it here:
https://www.byutv.org/show/9a9c961d-6281-4e3c-8fa5-a2ae4a533f8f/malory-towers

Have you read the books? I thought it was faithful in the important ways and mostly the ways it was unfaithful were either fine or improvements (WAY more diversity).

[st_aurafina]

Ooh, thank you!

I have read the books - I read them to pieces as a kid. And St Clairs, and The Naughtiest Girl in the School, and pretty much any school book I could get my hands on. Mallory Towers was the best, though. (Though, Trebizon is a close second for me.)

mostly the ways it was unfaithful were either fine or improvements (WAY more diversity).

I am so here for that - the books needed it very much.

[rachelmanija]

I hope you report back when you watch it!

I am about to get six chicks and I'm naming them after Malory Towers girls.

[st_aurafina]

Oooh!!! How exciting! I hope there's a Gwendoline Mary chick and that she's blonde and terrible!

Don't let Darrell push Sally over!!

[senmut]

KITTIES!

[st_aurafina]

They are the best medicine!

[mab_browne]

Coronacoaster is indeed a thing, after we had our wee Auckland upset. I've bought a big box of masks. We don't often go on public transport but if we do we will be prepared.

Those are very handsome kitties.

[adafrog]

Wait, they started lockdown, then let it up not too long later?

Devil cats!

[st_aurafina]

It was a short, sharp lockdown to allow the government to catch up on contact tracing for this new extra contagious strain - we didn't have many cases, but they didn't want them to spread.

Apparently it worked, but oof, it really was short notice.

[adafrog]

That's great that it worked.

[redfiona99]

Equalizer is finally on UK TV (on one of the harder to find channels), I have just seen episode 2 and it is made of joy.