Life Viewed Through an Amber Focus

Anyone else watch Stranger Things on Netflix? This show was amazing. It really put me in mind of The Goonies, only darker. And with more time period inappropriate swearing from kids aged eleven and twelve. I mean, I was twelve and thirteen in 1983, so that's my time period and my age. Even the bad kids didn't talk like that very much. Kids today, yes. Kids then, no way. If a child swore they were immediately chastised by any adult around (which happened once in the show). In fact if a kid said crap they were chastised. And while kids did swear, it was on occasion and only in times of great stress or to try to impress other kids. It wasn't used the way they used it here or casually like it is today. It only bothers me so much because every other detail of the 1983 setting felt so right, the clothes, the music, the hair styles, the tape decks, the grocery store worker uniforms, the school, and the cars.

They cast well, too. Really well. Not only was the acting amazing, the families looked like families. They cast Mike and Nancy so well I actually thought they could be brother and sister. Same with Jonathan and Will as brothers and their mother Joyce all had physical similarities. Each boy resembled the mother in different ways, resembled each other less except at the eyes, but enough to see what looked like a blood tie. Siblings in shows and movies often look so different that it is hard to see why any casting director would try to pass them off as family. (The cast of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, while a wonderful cast, is a prime example of casting people who resemble each other in no way whatsoever, making it much harder to believe they are a family).

It was a grand adventure in the sci-fi/fantasty realm. Alternate reality, a monster, nerdy (but a little too attractive to be true nerds) kids who overcome, mind powers, a big bad government entity doing shadowy unethical things, a good cop with a bad attitude and a mother on the edge of mental illness who isn't wrong about the crazy going on around her. It was so well written.

I ship Nancy and Jonathan (even if there was a bit of questionable stalkerishness there in the beginning). Steve can go off himself. Last minute redemption so does not count. Also Eleven and Mike, but on a chaste level, because of their ages.

I think I am going to rewatch the season and maybe do an in-depth review of each ep. It is only 8 episodes and definitely worth a second whirl.

Also, can I just say, Winona Ryder, welcome to your comeback. Also something from the 1980's I am happy to see again.

( Spoilers )

Does anyone know of LJ comms for the new Doctor? Or if anyone is making icons yet?

I finally was able to see the Haven season finale. What is this five week waiting period Syfy and why do you do this to me? Anyway, right now my heart is about broken.

( Spoilers )

Well...so..huh. That's it then.


( Spoilers )

I liked both of these episodes in a vaguely non-specific way. I was not moved enough by either of them to do full-on reviews. But hey, each ep had a beginning, a middle, and an end, and proceeded in a fairly linear fashion. And they made sense, more or less. Although I did feel like there was quite a bit of "bad guy is going to get you, no he's not," over and over in ep 3. Still, I liked them both way better than the first two eps of this season.

*sighs*

( Spoilers, if you haven't watched it yet, which I think everyone probably has, but whatever )

Drop Dead Diva has been in turns a funny, charming, heartbreaking show and the first three seasons have been incredibly awesome. The concept seems so vapid, the idea of a model dying and a lawyer dying at the same time and the model accidentally coming back in the lawyer's body, but the execution of it has been so wonderful. It could have been very insulting in so many ways, since Jane is overweight and Deb wasn't exactly brilliant, but they have handled it very well. Jane is never treated as anything other than amazing. Each character has been so fully developed and Brooke Elliott simply shines as Jane/Deb. And the shows occassional musical numbers starring this Broadway girl may be somewhat odd (tend to be dream sequences), but are so very well done that they just add to this quirky, off-beat show. So, yes, big, big fan here.

( Spoilers for Season 4 )

I think I'm going to live. Which I wouldn't even have thought of saying before today. Now I am by no means over this stupid illness, but my left ear is no longer clogged up and my right ear is no longer crackling, which goes a long way in helping to restore my sanity. I think actually sleeping helped. I slept from 1:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. in one stretch and then I got a two hour nap in today, so even though I am still exhausted I am not tired, if you can tell the distinction between the two. Hey, it's progress. My cough is almost gone, my temp is down to 98.9 (my normal is like 97.4 so still a low grade fever for me, but better!), and I do not feel like my entire cranium is full of gunge. Still some sinus pressure and a lot of lethargy, but yes, I really do believe I am going to live now.

I am also eating real food again (i.e. stuff I cook that does not come out of a can or a box).

I even wrote a little. I didn't finish anything, but I wrote a little. Today was early release from school so not a lot of time to write anyway that was not spent napping instead. I may take my laptop with me tonight to tae kwon do. T has sparring and then he has his belt test after (the makeup test since he was sick during the regular one) so we will be there over an hour. I might be up to writing some then, especially seeing as the only book I have to read right now is The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is grossing me out right now and making me more determined than ever to buy an organic, grass-fed half of beef this fall. I really need to go to the library some time soon and find something science-fictiony to read in parking lots and waiting rooms that have no wi-fi.

( In which I ramble about The X-Files and Love )