Diamond life

[gwyn]

As always happens after I do the 31 flavors meme recs, I crashed into not posting again. It was easy because I also had work that came in, and I've been trying to work on the next chapter of the fic no one's reading, Reverie, which is now out for beta, at least, so we'll see when I can slap it up. Two months is a long time between chapter updates, and I feel horrendously guilty.

We've also been busy having Big Snow here--last weekend we had over a foot in some places, which is unusual for Seattle, and it was over multiple days. Took quite a while for it to go away, as well--I still have a bunch in my yard because of the huge high drifts we got the first night when it was very windy, and most of it falls in shaded places where I don't really get much sun in winter. I can't stop obsessively watching news of the disaster in Texas, especially scenes like that FedEx truck slamming into the multiple-car pileup. What a nightmare, and I'm really hoping my friends in Texas and nearby parts are doing all right.

This weekend, I'm doing virtual Escapade. I will be co-modding a panel on Steve/Bucky fandom on Saturday with przed, so I hope if there are still any Cap fans left out there, you'll join us. Registration for new members cuts off tonight, so if you think you'd like to attend a virtual fan-run con--one of the few remaining!--you should sign up! It's a lot of fun, and while I'm monumentally depressed not to be able to get down to LA for some sunshine in February, which I have always loved, at least I'll be able to "see" a few people this weekend I only get to see there. I miss cons so much.

I'm still trying to catch up on entertainment things, but am kind of lapping along way behind everyone, since I have trouble watching anything more than background TV when I have work. I'm watching the show Resident Alien on SyFy: it's cute, if not particularly original, and makes good use of Alan Tudyk's ability to be sinisterly creepy and funny at the same time, and mostly it's nice to have a show that I can watch week to week now that The Expanse is done for the year. (As much as I appreciate The Expanse's move to Prime so Chrisjen's swearing doesn't get bleeped out, the even-shorter seasons are frustrating. I wanted more of the Amos and Peaches show, and for Drummer to see Naomi, and just...there was a lot left out in the open, I felt, and I love the show so goddamn much.)

I'm watching WandaVision thanks to a friend, and it's okay. I'm mostly enjoying the Monica, Darcy, and Jimmy Woo show, to be honest, and since I have no idea who half the characters are that everyone's talking about like the kids or Agnes, it's easier to just ride along. A lot of the modern sitcoms they were doing were a mystery to me, as I never watched stuff like Full House or whatever, and I thought doing a mashup of I Love Lucy and the Dick Van Dyke show was a weird conceit but I will admit their Bewitched was spot-on, though it looks like there's a Modern Family coming up, which I am at least familiar with unlike the '80s and '90s. I really hope the three characters get a spinoff, because that I would watch like hell.

I have a lot of trepidation about Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which I don't think anyone will care to hear about because it seems like everyone is really excited, so I will spare you.

The show I've fallen in love with, though, is The Repair Shop. For a long time I had it on my watch list, and then when I finally had time, the first two seasons were gone and they only have the third on Netflix. I can't find any other resource for it, and I would honestly rather not go out to the torrent sites, but I guess if needs must... I just love it! It hits my competence buttons, like ALL of them, and it is totally nice and interesting and educational and there are no huge stakes and it's just peaceful and soothing and everyone cares so much about what they do. There are some snippets from shows on YouTube, but they often cut off the repair and only show people bringing their items in, or they focus on four minutes of a repair and you don't see the end result. It's infuriating that Netflix took the rest of it away and doesn't seem to be bringing any more of it in. (If you know of how I can get more of the many series they have done, please let me know! I'm desperate!)

Comments

[kore]

I have a lot of trepidation about Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which I don't think anyone will care to hear about because it seems like everyone is really excited, so I will spare you.

OH MY GOD, you can talk to me. Everyone I know seems way more excited about this than WandaVision or other stuff and the trailers just look kind of....drab? And generic action-y? I mean, Marvel trailers are always deceptive, but on the other hand the WV ones were so well-done, and....IDK. I was expecting nothing from WandaVision and wound up watching it out of pure MCU starvation, and actually enjoying it quite a lot, so maybe it's just a case of expectations. I really really don't want them to fuck Sam's show up.

[gwyn]

I meant to come back to this and totally spaced it. My main reservation is that it looks like it's going to be a comedic thing based on Seb and Anthony's road show duo act, and while I adore the two of them and their bromance, I wanted a show about Bucky and Sam, not Seb and Anthony. And I feel like it's making them man children, which is a thing I despise. I hate the whole "hate you" thing so much. I don't want them being manbabies battling Bickersons doing their Seb and Anthony thing. I want a story about Bucky's extreme trauma and PTSD and Sam's trauma as a black man in America, and both of them struggling to carry on with Cap's legacy. I don't want Steve to die and them to keep suffering while making it a joke show. A friend said that the showrunner is a black person, though, so maybe this will be more sensitively handled and it's the whole Marvel sucks at marketing thing. I'm worried but she keeps reassuring me.

[kore]

it looks like it's going to be a comedic thing based on Seb and Anthony's road show duo act, and while I adore the two of them and their bromance, I wanted a show about Bucky and Sam, not Seb and Anthony. And I feel like it's making them man children, which is a thing I despise. I hate the whole "hate you" thing so much. I don't want them being manbabies battling Bickersons doing their Seb and Anthony thing. I want a story about Bucky's extreme trauma and PTSD and Sam's trauma as a black man in America, and both of them struggling to carry on with Cap's legacy

I don't want to be all just "YES THIS" but, well, YES THIS, all of it, especially on wanting Bucky and Sam, not the Seb and Mackie show (especially since I love Sam and find Mackie honestly kind of annoying). The "hate you" thing feels like it's out of bad fanfic. I loved Sam being so grounded (heh) and honest in TWS, being sympathetic but calling Steve on his issues and still being his own person, and if that gets eclipsed by LOLOLOLOL I just don't want to watch it. Especially since an interview quote I saw sounds like they're going to be focusing way more on Bucky's trauma than Sam's. And while I hated the Snap, I'm enjoying Wandavision because while it's set post-Snap it's not really about that. But I LOATHE the MCU canon ending for Steve, and Sam and Bucky were both there for it, so they can't just think he's dead along with everyone else.

[ratcreature]

Is Resident Alien okay to watch for somebody with an embarrassment squick? I considered checking it out, but it seemed to have potential to feel really cringey.

And fwiw, I'm still following Reverie, and am looking forward to a new chapter, so it's not *nobody* reading and cheering for new parts...

[gwyn]

Sorry it took me so long to reply--I honestly don't know if I can give you an answer, since everyone's embarrassment squicks are so individual, you know? Like, I squirm over a lot of things, but most of them are the kinds I can sort of handle with a lot of avoidance for that part, but that may not work for you. There's a lot of oddness and attempts at quirkiness, so it's like most of the other SyFY shows in that they try really hard to appeal to a guy audience, and I think have that puerile sense of humor for that reason. But it occasionally makes me laugh out loud, which is rare. And it centers stories about American Indians a lot, which is also rare. For that reason, I'm enjoying it.

[dine]

dude, your thoughts on The Repair Shop completely mirror my own! I'm gonna track comments to this, just in case someone comes up with pointers on where to find more episodes.

[aurumcalendula]

I almost forgot Escapade is this weekend - I'm looking forward to it!

I'm still behind on a lot of shows I've been meaning to watch/catch up with.

[kass]

Oh I love The Repair Shop!

[mackiemesser]

I'm enjoying WandaVision more than I thought I would, tho I'm glad the episodes are short. I don't think it would hold together all that well if they were going for 44-60 minute episodes. It's just entertaining enough to keep me mildly engaged but not good enough that I really care what's going on. Other than the Monica, Darcy and Jimmy Trio (they need a catchy name): them I would watch on their own show as they really click and they need to have a show that combines Scooby-Doo with the X-Files backed by MCU $$$.

I'm with you on Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It's a very narrow line to walk to keep it action-y and mostly fun while still acknowledging the heavy shit these characters have been through. I also worry that it will be very easy for the show to fall into a routine.

[kore]

The trio could be Agents of SWORD! ....I really hope SWORD isn't going to be infiltrated by AIM the way SHIELD was by HYDRA, that would be a little repetitive.

The most recent trailers for Falcon and WS did look very....routine-y. I wasn't fond of that dynamic in CW and I hope they're going to tone it down more for the show.

[mackiemesser]

I mean, Monica is already an Agent of SWORD so I'm thinking something else that doesn't negate Jimmy as FBI and Darcy as, well, Darcy. And the show is kind of pointing at SWORD as being, if not corrupt, then under some corrupt leadership. No need to belong to that!

I would really like Falcon and WS to edge more into "political thriller with action scenes" rather than "action show with quips and occasional story."

[kore]

And the show is kind of pointing at SWORD as being, if not corrupt, then under some corrupt leadership. No need to belong to that!

I'd like to think they wouldn't do the "AIM has infiltrated SWORD" which is very similar to "HYDRA has infiltrated SHIELD" back in TWS -- my guess is Hayward will be an easily disposable symbol of corruption, especially since we saw Fury at the end of FFS possibly coordinating something like SWORD. SWORD would fit in more with cosmic MCU too. But I have no idea really.

I would really like Falcon and WS to edge more into "political thriller with action scenes" rather than "action show with quips and occasional story."

YEAH, seriously. MCU trailers are notoriously deceptive, and we're probably not seeing about 50% of the action, altho the trailers for the shows seem a little less deceptive. Maybe. And wasn't FATWS supposed to be released in tandem with BW, too, which is also supposedly more thriller-like. (Altho the promos for that also showed it had MCU "jokes." Sigh.) (I dunno who it is who apparently goes through MCU scripts and inserts the fat-shaming &c &c, but whoever it is they need to be fired yesterday.)

[mackiemesser]

I don't think Hayward has to be AIM or anything like that. He doesn't seem much different from the regular military-industrial assholes who gravitate to those agencies. I mean, Eric Prince exists, after all.

The second trailer has a much more serious tone, which is more appealing to me. But, yeah, it's impossible to really tell from the trailers; and who knows how much of the trailer will actually be in the show - another MCU standard. My hypothesis is they put those bullshit jokes in for "the male audience." Because dudes won't watch otherwise, right?

[lessonsinescapology]

I have a lot of trepidation about Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which I don't think anyone will care to hear about because it seems like everyone is really excited, so I will spare you.

Same. I enjoyed their dynamic in small doses and with Steve there but it will degenerate quickly if it's just the two of them.

[spikedluv]

I have passed on WandaVision for now (it felt too mind blowy for me), but I've been reconsidering after seeing some Darcy GIFsets.

I'm enjoying Resident Alien, too!