152 insights into my soul

TV commentary:

Orphan Black- One last comment, it kinda blew me away to hear the actor playing Felix's accent during the behind the scenes stuff during the commercial breaks of the season finale. Like I know Tatiana Maslany isn't English either, but at least some of the people she plays don't have English accents. But it was weird to see him talking all non-English. I mean, apparently he was on Degrassi for a few eps, he was involved with Riley, but I do not recall that at all!

Game of Thrones- OMG, how did I not realize Walder Frey was Argus Filch from Harry Potter?! Well, the show finally did that event. ( spoiler cut )

Videos from around the web:

-So these girls are apparently doing music videos for each of the Hogwarts Houses, each to a different song. They have the Slytherin and Hufflepuff ones done so far, and supposedly ones for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are coming soon:

Sorted This Way, for Hufflepuff, based on Lady Gaga's "Born this Way":



We R Slytherin, for Slytherin, based on Ke$ha's "We R Who We R":



I think I like the Slytherin song better, musically. (although that's not saying much)

Since all the network TV I watch has had their season finales, and the summer cable season hasn't fully started yet, there's nothing on tonight. And apparently since its Memorial Day weekend, a few of the shows that are still on are taking a break this weekend.

So, I finally got to watch Imagine Me and You. Its a cute romantic movie starring Piper Perabo and Lena Headey, that I first heard about reading Faberry fanfic, given Piper Perabo's character is named Rachel and Lena Headey's is Luce. (With Quinn's full name being Lucy Quinn, the Faberry fandom latched onto this movie because its a lesbian romance between two girls with the same names as them) Is it weird I'm more into a romantic story between two lesbians rather than hot lesbo action? Anyways, I enjoyed it, it was nice and sweet.

Watching Deathly Hallows Part 2 right now as I type this up. You know, for some reason I was thinking Luna and Neville ended up together a few months ago, but then I remembered in an interview JK Rowling did she had said what had happened to all the characters, and they had married different people. And watching this movie again, I realized I was thinking they were together because they had Neville and Luna share a moment in the movie.

As I prolly said in my entry when I saw this movie in the theaters, while I did enjoy the movies, there were little things from the books I wish they left in. Like Neville also fitting the prophecy, and Voldemort basically choosing which boy would actually be the one the prophecy was referring to by going after Harry rather than Neville. (And Dumbledore later telling Harry its rather telling that Voldemort, himself a half-blood, fixated on Harry, who was also mixed blood, rather than Neville, who was a pure-blood. Given his talk of the superiority of the pure bloods, its interesting he was more threatened by a mixed blood child) Or elaborated on the Lily/Severus stuff when they were kids more. Like the movie has Petunia calling Lily a freak when she first finds out she has magic, but in the books, I thought it was a nice touch to have Petunia write to Hogwarts when she was a kid, not knowing she wouldn't make it in at the time because she was a muggle. I kinda liked it that her distaste for the magical world wasn't fear of the weirdness of it all but rather a deep seated sense of rejection that she wasn't special like her sister.

Anyhoo, I digress. Didn't that come out around the same time as Transformers 3? I wonder if that's coming to HBO soon then? (or did it already?) Because its not on friggin Netflix, nor is it available to rent on Amazon video. Yeah, I heard the third movie sucks, but I'd like to see it for completeness sake!

You know, I realized the other day my love of Glee (and musical numbers in TV shows and movies in general) could prolly be traced to watching Kidsongs growing up. isabel79, 7500centfish and sparkboy know what I'm talking about!

On tumblr yesterday, I saw people discussing the first couple they ever shipped, and thinking about it, I actually want to say it was Rick Hunter/Lisa Hayes and Rook Bartley/Rand on Robotech. (In the back of mind, I want to say I was also actually intrigued by the idea of Lotor and Allura together on Voltron, but that seems kinda crazy) But yeah, after that, I want to say the next couple I was that into was Pacey and Joey on DC. (Maybe Ross and Rachel)

I was complaining about being sorted into Hufflepuff on Pottermore, but thinking about it, it actually makes total sense. Because on most quizzes like that (not just limited to HP), answering the questions honsetly, the two qualities that will flag most for me are loyalty and perseverance. I never get the bad guys because I'm not actually an evil a-hole. A huge pervert? Yes. And I like fighting and violence related things like guns and martial arts and all that jazz, but on such quizzes if I'm answering honestly, if they ask me how I'd deal with someone who wronged me, I'm not going to pick the option that's all, "I beat the ever-loving crap out of him!" Because 1) only a crazy person would pick that, and 2) I'm not directly confrontational. Nor am I vengeful, so nor would I play nice only to do something behind their back to totally screw them over. Plus, I don't actually have the desire to dominate the world, so I'd never answer questions with the option that involves lording things over people or getting them under my thumb. So I wouldn't get Slytherin.

And while I do think using discretion and thinking before acting is wise, I'm not really the intellectual type, so I wouldn't flag as Ravenclaw. Also, while I like to think I'm a nice, good guy at heart, I also don't see things in black and white. If I see someone doing something wrong, I'm not going to immediately turn them in. One, I'd like to know more, and don't want to force them down a certain path when maybe things can be worked out without involving the authorities or punishment. And secondly, I don't want to be seen as a narc, I don't want to be pigeon holed into being seen as a goody goody or bad seed, because I don't want either to not associate with me, because I couldn't stand being cut off from that source of information!

But if there is something I will answer consistently, its not quitting, and being loyal to those I think of friends and family, so overall, my answers would put me in Hufflepuff. Still, they are kinda the boring loser house, so I'm still miffed.

Oh, I forgot, things I was scandalized by in church yesterday- the priest talking about Doubt being such a great movie that everyone should see, given the plot of the movie. I mean, not that I have a problem the movie (though I myself haven't seen it), just incredibly surprising to hear a priest recommending it to his parishioners. Of course, things were already awkward when he made a statement about the Hispanic mass that could be taken as an insult- that the Hispanic mass is full of crying babies, but that's fine because they're used to it, that's how they roll at that mass, but at the non-Hispanic mass, some people may not like the sound of crying babies during the church service. Well, that and he also did a vaguely racist imitation of a Japanese person- he was talking about when Jesus will tell the people, "When I was hungry, you fed me, visited me in jail, clothed me, etc etc" and they'd be all, "When did we do these things?" And then he starts speaking this weird gibberish followed by him playing the part of the person asking Jesus when they did those things and saying, "Oh, that was you, I didn't know you could speak Japanese!" I was like, did he just say that?!

Saw the final Harry Potter movie this morning by myself, since the ex-roomie was entertaining out of town friends and C-note figures he can wait until it comes out on Redbox. Its ridiculous that the theater was packed even at the 1030am showing. But I guess its an extremely popular franchise.

It was pretty good, though I think of all the movies, its the one least able to stand on its own. They definitely had to split up the last book for a reason, because even splitting it into to two 2 hr+ movies, there are still a couple of things cut or they had to go over really briefly. I know some people are thinking they just split it into two to make more money, but I don't think they could have satisfyingly done the last book in just one movie (unless they wanted to make it ungodly long).

But yeah, this movie is basically the climax of the last movie, so you definitely can't see this one without having seen the previous one, though I doubt anyone would do that anyways. Its pretty telling when the first half covered several months, and this movie covers only a couple of days. It didn't hit me until Harry was all, "Oh, the other night..." and was referencing something that had happened in the previous movie.

Heh, I did hear a spoiler that I'm glad was actually a foiler and not true, because I would've been so pissed! ( spoiler cut )

Owel, its the end of an era. But dang, I had said the world better not end before Lost ended or the last Harry Potter movie came out. But now what is there for me to want the world to keep on going? Actually, I'd be annoyed if the world ended before the Song of Ice and Fire series ended. Both the books and the show!

Also, it was weird to see some people in the FNL forums talk about how sad they were about both FNL and Harry Potter ending this weekend. But since I saw the end of FNL a few months ago when it first came out on DirectTV, I've considered FNL over for a while!

Anyhoo, after the movie, drove down to psyched_out's new house to pick him and his wife up and take them to the airport. They just moved in, and its a really awesome place. Like if I were his kids' age, I would be totally jealous of them. Because not only will they have their own bedrooms growing up, those rooms are friggin huge!

Saw the latest HP movie with the ex-roomie earlier today. Pretty awesome, definitely the best of the films so far. ( spoiler cut )

Supernatural- You know, soulless Sammy is kinda hilarious. And what's Dean so pissy about, having found Sam screwing some random chick instead of looking for where he had disappeared to? I mean, Sam did bring up a good point, if he had no more leads, was he just supposed to sit in the dark and mope? What better way to not get sucked into despair than by banging some hippie hottie? One could argue Sam was seeking solace or something! And really, Dean is getting onto Sam for banging some hottie when it wasn't appropriate? Dean used to be getting tail all the time, even in the direst of sitches!

Looks like the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 is out. So that's this November, and part 2 is July of next year. So I've gotten past the Lost finale, now these two movies need to happen before I can be okay with the world ending. Well, I'll never actually be okay with the world ending, but I'd be less pissed about it. In any case, thinking about that last HP book, I'm kinda curious where the movies will split. For the life of me, I can't think of where a good place for the first movie to end and the second movie to begin, but maybe I don't know the last book as well as I should.

TV Commentary:

Secret Life- As I've said before, it really surprises me how many people actually guest star on this show. Particularly when they play radically different characters. Like its weird to see Adrian's mom as Boris' Cuban doctor chick on Royal Pains, but its totally jarring for Pam on True Blood to be Jack's mom. I mean, from snarky bi-sexual vamp chick to religious mother?

( spoiler cut )

Saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince today. I enjoyed it, though it is one of the longer ones (two and a half hours!) Its odd though, there are things, that I'm guessing because of the translation from the book to the movies, that they have to explicitly spell out for those in the audience who may not have read the books. But at the same time, it seems like there are tiny things, that if you hadn't read the books, you might not get. I heard one reviewer complain of this, being someone who hasn't read the books. It sounded like they needed a couple of things explained to them.

Ida know, for me, its always the little details and the seemingly inconsequential subplots that stick with me, because as I've said, it makes the story (whether it be in print or on the screen) more real and thus more engaging to me. Like to me, I'll pick up and know the backstory of some secondary or tertiary character or some minor little plot, but when I try to talk to people about it, they'll be "who?!" So for something like this, where I've actually read the source material, I can't make an objective judgment on whether something was lost in translation because my mind automatically fills in the blanks.

Of course, there were several things in the movie that I'm not sure if I just don't remember the books right, or if its a little thing added just for the movie. ( spoiler cut )

Getting out of the cut, is it ghey that the main differences I notice are those things involving the shippy-stuff? But that's one of the things that interested me about the series the most! I was also fascinated by the similarities between Neville and Harry, Snape's backstory, and the entire Black family and how they connect to so many different characters. As I said, I find those relationships more edifying than any of the Voldemort stuff. Nor did I find Dumbledore so great. He's just some old queen! (Its not really a spoiler if JKR never outright said he was a poofster in the books but admitted it in later interviews!)

But getting back to Snape, again, I know what's up with him, but I wonder if the movie does a good job of conveying things to non-readers. ( spoiler cut )

Cool, the teaser for the next HP movie is out. I didn't realize Half Blood Prince was coming out this November. But I guess with two more movies to go after this (since they're splitting up Deathly Hallows into two movies, or so I hear), they have to be cranking them out right quick. Owel, as long as they cover a few key plot points (in my opinion, and those that know me could prolly correctly guess what I want to see them cover), I'll be satisfied.

But heh, if some orphan kid has magical powers, and you want to get him to come to your school to learn how to use those powers, showing him magic is real by setting something on fire with your mind is prolly not the best approach. Either you'll totally freak them out, or they won't bat an eye, indicating they're a sociopath, and you just showed a crazy dead eyed psycho the potential they have for destruction! Interesting though, the trailer is mostly Harry, Dumbledore, and a young Voldemort, but there are brief flashes of the youngest Weasleys, Ron and Ginny. No Hermione though. I wonder if there's some tension between Emma Watson and the movie folks since she wanted to leave the role that made her famous before all the movies were made. Then again, I don't recall her figuring that prominently in the last two books. I mean, she's by Harry's side the whole time, but she's practically a glorified sidekick.

Is it me, or are gaming worlds getting more and more refined in what you can do in them? One need only look at the most recent demos of Assassin's Creed and Metal Gear Solid 4 to see the amount of interaction and freedom you're allowed in these next generation games. I mean, look at the new GTA IV. Well, literally looking, one sees its visually pretty cool. But it seems every iteration of the GTA series lets you do more stuff in the world. The latest additions- new combat system that allows you to take cover like these squad based shooters, the ability to hail cabs to drive you places if you can't be bothered to drive yourself. And it even has its own internet! Looks like they kept the eating/exercising from the previous game as well. Geez, pretty soon the worlds in these games will be close to real life as you can get.

That's fine and all, as long as the world doesn't take precedence over the actual gameplay. I never understood the appeal of Second Life. Interacting in a close to real virtual environment is neat and all, but to what end? To live a second, virtual life? I want action, a story! So in these new games, having a character extremely fleshed out with the ability to do so much (even mundane things!) and a hugely interactive environment is cool and all, just as long as he (or she!) still gets to get into cool adventures. What's the point if you're just gonna sit around and shoot the bull the whole virtual day?

Speaking of games, since geek fun fell through on Sunday, but I was already at zarathrustra94 and turdburgler's, C let me try God of War. Now, I have God of War, I just never got around to playing it for some reason. Its definitely a fun game, and I like the amount of ultra violence you can do. Though reading the FAQs, I remembered one of the reasons I was hesitant to start the game. Since the number of enemies is mostly fixed, and even in places where they infinitely spawn, they stop giving red orbs for a while, its entirely possible to not power up everything by the end of the game! cliffV('What's up with that?!') Not being able to reach your maximum potential?! That's total BS! There are tricks though to get enough orbs, which I of course I shall be doing, because not having my character fully maxed out, that's crazy talk! But I'm going to have to bring my memory card over to copy the progress I made Sunday afternoon then finish the game at my leisure at home.

Now, some Harry Potter discussion. ( Under the Cut )