152 insights into my soul

Heh, long time no post, as usual, it'll be about TV since that's all I really care about. Since there are a number of musical shows in the past month, like Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, but also stuff that stars folks isabel79 is familiar with, like Scott Porter in Hulu's "Up Here" and Aaron Tveit in the second season of Schmigadoon! on AppleTV, I thought I'd mention them.

Heh, the second season of Schmigadoon is a little weird, because the 1st season was a little more Rogers and Hammerstein, and thus more thematically consistent, with Schmigadoon being a late 19th century small midwestern town. But with Schmigadoon season 2 moving to "Schmicago!", and focusing more on 70s era musicals, its all over the place. So they mix 1920s city themes with Chicago and Annie references, but also actual 60-70s hippie culture with obvious references to Hair and Godspell. So they're like cutting back and forth between a Miss Hannigan type played by Kristen Chenoweth running an orphanage in a city, to Aaron Tveit in a hippie commune. Like this ep right now, he's doing a parable straight out of Godspell, with the hippies dressing in funny costumes and squeezing bike horns and stuff.

Rise of the Pink Ladies is better than expected, I like Jane and Olivia, and to connect it to Grease, Jane's little sister is a pre-teen Frenchie, with her best friend Betty (Rizzo). I like the diversity in this, but that makes it weird since its a prequel, so its like, after they graduate and Rizzo and Frenchie go to Rydell, it becomes super white?

EDIT/b>- One more comment on Schmigadoon!, with them going into plays I'm more familiar with, I'm picking up more references. Like last week they had a song that was basically "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin, Jane Krakowski's court room song includes a breathless run-on sequence straight out of "Not Getting Married Today", Alan Cumming's butcher is basically someone out of Sweeney Todd, and the old rich dude getting angry at Keegan Michael Key being freed by jail is straight up singing like one of the Pharisees from Jesus Christ Superstar.

Long time no post! So after missing HH last year because of the pandemic, went this year. But it was just me, isabel79, her mom, and Tita N. As such, it was weird in that I did the cooking. And because of the whole parking situation, E did all the driving around. It was a good time, though only got to go to the pool twice because of the Elsa weather- Monday and Friday. The rest of the time was rainy, and we even lost power late Wednesday night for a few hours.

But yeah, I say I cooked, but really just scrambling eggs and cooking bacon for breakfast, did burgers, hot dogs, tacos, and spaghetti, not like something fancy. We hit the Crab Shack for my moms b-day (even though she was all the way in NY), I was a little worried we'd be too late and end up having to wait because there was crazy traffic on the way there (it took us an hour to go more than a mile!). But we got there before the rush.

We did also hit One Hot Mama's, which apparently TC had never been to? I mean, I know she doesn't go anymore, but I swear she was there once. Anyways, she made E pick up an order Friday to throw in the cooler when they swung by DC on the way back to NY.

All in all, it was a good trip.

TV commentary:

So new seasons are out for "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime" and "My Next Life as a Villainess" on Crunchyroll, but only subbed so far. But I'm too into both to wait for the dub. I mean, obviously I'll watch the dub when it comes out, but yeah, I don't have the patience to sit on these until then. It sounds like there will be a new season of "The Saga of Tanya the Evil", hopefully dubbed. But they still hadn't dubbed the movie. Though maybe with a new season coming, they will finally front over the cash to do a dub of the movie and the new stuff.

Fear Street- I had heard Netflix was doing this and didn't think anything of it until I saw some posts on tumblr saying the main coupling were lesbians. And this has done its job in fulfilling the void left by Scream getting cancelled before getting my Emma/Audrey final girls endgame.

Never Have I Ever- New season, I binged it in a day! ( spoilers )

Owel, never posted about TG this year, the first time I haven't spent it in NYC. I mean, I zoomed with the fam, but I hated missing out on the feasting. Its funny, because last year was prolly one of our biggest Thanksgiving's ever, what with Uncle C and his family coming since A came down from Cornell in addition to the usual guests.

But people from non-contiguous states need to quarantine, and obviously I didn't have time to do that. Plus, I'm not gonna be on a metal tube for a couple hours with a bunch of people and possibly get something and spread it to a bunch of 70 year olds.

Anyways, did get to do some feasting since I went to the ex-roomie's. I don't go anywhere and he doesn't go anywhere, so we figured it was pretty safe it was just the two of us. And he's a great cook. Man, his turkey was great, the skin was melt in your mouth buttery. But yeah, had lots of good fixins and got to take some home.

Alas, won't make it to NYC for Christmas either. Which again, I'm not going to get on a plane and then potentially bring disease with me and risk the fam. But it sucks not to be there and there won't be a feast. I mean, even if I was up there, its not like there's anything to do since everything is closed. So no shows to see. Not that we did anything last year.

Which is a perfect segue to Netflix's "The Prom". I think the reviews are scattered, but I really enjoyed it. I know the biggest complaint was Corden leaned a little too heavy into the gay stereotype, which he did, but it wasn't as off putting to me as it was to others, so it didn't ruin the experience.

Also, what's up with them having an Ashley Garcia Christmas Special when the show is canceled? Its just cruel and mean. They don't even address the cliffhanger, everything is fine and hunky-dory. So when Ashley hit her head and imagined herself in the future and asked Brooke why Tad and Stick weren't talking to each other, I laughed. Like the answer on the ep was she left and their friend group fell apart, but I couldn't help but think of the cliffhanger and be all, "Ida know, maybe because you were dating Tad and Brooke was dating Stick and everything was cool between everyone, then your recording where you admit you had feelings for Stick before he started going out with Brooke accidentally got leaked to all of them?!"

More TV commentary:

Man, I am loving the end of the week lately, with Star Trek Discovery on Thursdays and the Mandalorian on Fridays. I'm enjoying the current Discovery season. But heh, something just occurred to me yesterday. ( spoiler cut )

And man, the Mandalorian bring all the cool guests and great action. I know some people are upset at the deep dive into all things Star Wars. ( spoiler cut )

Also binged the Hardy Boys on Hulu this week. I enjoyed it. I think its the show people were hoping they'd get when CW's Nancy Drew was announced, and it turned out to be friggin crazy. Now as much as I like that show, its pretty out there, people are just like, "Oh, hauntings and ghosts and vengeful spirits, sure, that's a thing!" But yeah, the Hardy Boys is way more grounded- now there is a slight supernatural element, but otherwise its pretty much just two young brothers and their friends trying to figure out a big mystery.

Other stuff I've been watching? Been watching some Anime- Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka, and Gate: Thus the JSDF fought there, and all of the Certain Magical Index/Certain Scientific Railgun/Certain Scientific Accelerator stuff. Which, I really like that universe. And thankfully its dubbed on Funimation. But I'm so used to being late on this that I was shocked that the dub for the latest season of Railgun hadn't been done yet, so I had to wait a week or two to see the last ep in English.

Same for Fire Force. I'm on the second season of that, and while the second season is done, its only up to ep 14 in English. The dubbed ep 15 should be out today though.

Then there's hallmark, binged a whole lot of those. I think my favorites so far are "One Royal Holiday" with Aaron Tevit and the cute Laura Osnes, Holly and Ivy where Mona Van Der Waal resolves to fix up the house she bought with the help of Winn Schott so she can adopt a dying Hermione Lodges' kids before she croaks. Then there's "Christmas With the Darlings", where Nyssa Al Ghul helps her boss' brother with a N'er Do Well Reputation take care of their orphaned nieces and nephews.

Oh, I guess I also liked "A Timeless Christmas", where the Pink Time Force Ranger helps a dude who was thrust forward a century in time.

Heh, this past week's "A Little Christmas Charm" with Ashley Greene, it was a little frustrating because the manufactured drama was because she overheard the main guy's texts because he had it set to dictate them when they came in. Like, who does that? Granted, he was cooking, but at the same time, he also had a guest coming, so I would think to avoid awkwardness, you wouldn't turn that feature on.

TV commentary:

Walking Dead- Heh, there was a recap that I did think have a point about Daryl's "He's Nobody!" comment. ( spoiler cut )

Star Trek: Lower Decks- The last few eps have been really solid, and the season finale keeps it up. ( spoiler cut )

Supernatural- Heh, it is amusing they came back from the hiatus with a filler episode. ( spoiler cut )

The Boys- Great season finale. Nice wrap up to things and set up for the next season. ( spoiler cut )

TV commentary:

The 100- Heh, its hard not to think they're purposely thumbing their nose at Bellamy fans. ( spoiler cut )

TV commentary:

The 100- Heh, while I am avoiding the fandom, I am curious how they reacted to Clarke's reveal to Octavia and Echo? ( spoiler cut )

TV commentary:

Julie and the Phantoms- Randomly stumbled across this on Netflix- a Kenny Ortega helmed series based on a Brazilian show of the same name. Its about a band that tragically dies, and years later there's a girl who can see them. And when they play music together, so can the rest of the world.

Anyways, its a nice series, the music is pretty good. Lots of heartfelt songs and scenes in this. Though I wish they didn't try to be funny on how the boys died, because it kinda ruins it when you think about it. So the band died after eating some bad street dogs. Which its funny on the surface, but if they did of extreme food poisoning, that was probably not a great way to go. It would prolly have been painful and messy.

So while you do get a laugh of them being all, "hmm, this hot dog tastes funny", the flippant nature of their death can sometimes downplay the heartfelt parts of the show. Like during "Unsaid Emily", when we see the flashbacks of him and his parents. Like they show when his parents got the news of his death, wordless of course since its during a song. And its sad, but then I think of the police telling them, "Your son died of a bad hot dog!" Its a 25 year time jump, and you see his parents are still devastated by his death but the whole poisoned hot dog thing kinda detracts from that.

But yeah, all in all, its a cute show. And interesting set up for a season 2!

( spoiler cut )

So, since I finished up the latest eps Ted Lasso and the Boys before dinner yesterday, got around to starting Hannibal. I didn't know Marina from The Magicians/Kojo Sledgehammer from Arrow was a major character in this, or at least the first season. (Or if I did, I promptly forgot) Its interesting so far, I did not expect Hannibal to be taking such... an active role in things right from the start. I assumed he would be like a mystery, or playing things low key. But he's just like killing people left and right!

Heh, I also remember people joking about him making puns while tricking people into eating people and making veiled threats about them being a later meal. I just didn't realize how overtly ridiculous they were about it.

TV Commentary:

The Boys- I'm sure these first three eps is a roller coaster for folks particularly concerning Stormfront. ( spoiler cut )

TV commentary:

Teenage Bounty Hunters- Just finished Teenage Bounty Hunters, and I'm going to need this show to have a 2nd season. I'm a little worried, since it doesn't seem to have as much buzz going it debut weekend as Never Have I Ever, Warrior Nun, or Cursed. Its saddled with an unfortunate name, which probably makes people think its one kinda show and making them shy away from it.

But I really enjoyed it, it is a good mix of comedy, procedural, and teen drama. Like the closest parallel I can think of is maybe Veronica Mars, but slightly less serious? But only a little. I mean, Blair and Sterling's weird telepathic twin conversations make things kinda fanciful. But otherwise the show isn't too out there.

Anyways, so much to unpack in the last half of the season, and I'm going to be really disappointed if that's where it ends! Where to begin?! ( spoiler cut )

Heh, I'm amused the last few things I've enjoyed on Netflix are shows/movies with phrases for the titles, "I Am Not Okay With This", "Never Have I Ever", "The Half of It" that feature lesbian couplings. I really hope the former two get second seasons, because you really can't end IANOWT where it did. And I can't wait to see that Devi/Ben/Paxton love triangle on NHIE. (See, I still ship straight folks too!)

A sequel to "The Half of It" would cheapen it though, but I would really love an epilogue where Ellie and Aster do meet back up in a couple years, and Paul is a successful restaurateur.

But heh, that movie did not disappoint, and there were some nice twists. ( spoiler cut )