Catch up time.
This past weekend was sort of epic. Early departure from work on Friday, after being handed a letter of resignation by one of my staffers. Mixed feelings on that one; intensely creative and productive, but seriously high-maintenance and drama-prone. My verdict: for the best on both sides, but it won't be an easy transition.
The early departure was scheduled - I drove down to experience the end of my 10-year love affair with Smallville at serenography's house. Watched with a houseful of fangirls (and one fanboy)... and there will be thinky thoughts about the finale and how it caps a 10-year journey later. When it comes to SV, I always think that the "what ifs" are almost as interesting as the "what actually happened," and while I understand that some fans are upset at the way Lex Luthor's journey ended/began, I have fun thinking about what would have happened if Michael Rosenbaum hadn't left the cast; I think we would have ended up in exactly the same spot, with exactly the same result, except it would have been even more heartbreaking. As I said, thinky thoughts later, because for me, the key to appreciating SV is concentrating on the broad brush strokes, and forgetting the clunky dialog and short-term plot point - and for me, the broad brush strokes were just right, and the ending was perfect.
The day after the finale, more fangirl goodness as serenography, nwhepcat, talitha78 and I headed to a cushy-beyond-belief movie theater to see Thor. And much fangirling was had.
And it led me to another "What if" thought. I've been reading reviews of the new Pirates of the Caribbean, and honestly, the more I read about it, the less I want to see it. I was already a little bit reluctant - I know a lot of people disagree with me about the relative importance/desirability of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly in the Pirates movies, but to me, it's like someone decided to make a spinoff of White Collar about Neal Caffrey going solo, and jettisoned Peter and Elizabeth. It's just not the same without two legs of the OT3. (You could probably write an essay about the similarity of the character dynamics between Neal/Peter/Elizabeth and Jack/Will/Elizabeth, come to think of it.) But even the positive reviews have been pretty damning to poor Rob Marshall as being just the wrong director for the franchise. And now I'm thinking Bruckheimer missed the boat (so to speak) in Kenneth Branagh - I never would have thought of him (how confused was my face when he was announced as the director of Thor!). But after seeing Thor, with its combination of epic grandeur, amazing visuals, and deft lightness of touch with comic elements, I think he would have done an amazing job breathing new life into the Pirates franchise.
The early departure was scheduled - I drove down to experience the end of my 10-year love affair with Smallville at serenography's house. Watched with a houseful of fangirls (and one fanboy)... and there will be thinky thoughts about the finale and how it caps a 10-year journey later. When it comes to SV, I always think that the "what ifs" are almost as interesting as the "what actually happened," and while I understand that some fans are upset at the way Lex Luthor's journey ended/began, I have fun thinking about what would have happened if Michael Rosenbaum hadn't left the cast; I think we would have ended up in exactly the same spot, with exactly the same result, except it would have been even more heartbreaking. As I said, thinky thoughts later, because for me, the key to appreciating SV is concentrating on the broad brush strokes, and forgetting the clunky dialog and short-term plot point - and for me, the broad brush strokes were just right, and the ending was perfect.
The day after the finale, more fangirl goodness as serenography, nwhepcat, talitha78 and I headed to a cushy-beyond-belief movie theater to see Thor. And much fangirling was had.
And it led me to another "What if" thought. I've been reading reviews of the new Pirates of the Caribbean, and honestly, the more I read about it, the less I want to see it. I was already a little bit reluctant - I know a lot of people disagree with me about the relative importance/desirability of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly in the Pirates movies, but to me, it's like someone decided to make a spinoff of White Collar about Neal Caffrey going solo, and jettisoned Peter and Elizabeth. It's just not the same without two legs of the OT3. (You could probably write an essay about the similarity of the character dynamics between Neal/Peter/Elizabeth and Jack/Will/Elizabeth, come to think of it.) But even the positive reviews have been pretty damning to poor Rob Marshall as being just the wrong director for the franchise. And now I'm thinking Bruckheimer missed the boat (so to speak) in Kenneth Branagh - I never would have thought of him (how confused was my face when he was announced as the director of Thor!). But after seeing Thor, with its combination of epic grandeur, amazing visuals, and deft lightness of touch with comic elements, I think he would have done an amazing job breathing new life into the Pirates franchise.