Kiri ☂ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
taotrooper) wrote2010-12-28 10:23 pm
taotrooper) wrote2010-12-28 10:23 pm
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Your main fandom of the year?
I WONDER? This was kind of a dead year in terms of participation. I've been repeating fandoms from previous years, so there isn't One Fandom To Rule Them All in terms of supremacy.
Your favorite film watched this year?
I did watch quite a few movies, real action and animation. For the former, however, I don't have one I liked better than the others (and I did check popular/good ones, so I must be Broken Inside). From anime, Millennium Actress. From Western animation, tie between How To Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3.
Your favorite book read this year?
Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian. But really, I liked everything I read from Rick Riordan, which did include The Lost Hero, thank you. I also read a lot deal of Diana Wynne Jones books (and I have more to read, yay), so from those I'd say The Lives of Christopher Chant.
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
Kuragehime's opening? Like usual, I just put my player on shuffle.
Your favourite TV show of the year?
If we talk about shows on broadcast for the first time on 2010, then... Doctor Who 5 for real action, Kuragehime for anime (unless they fuck that one up this week), Sym-bionic Titan for animation. Arakawa Under the Bridge and Katanagatari were also good. Now, if we can include older stuff I've watched, Dead Like Me for real action and Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou for anime. I also checked Utena and Le Chevalier D'Eon, which were pretty much a weird but enjoyable experience.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
P-P-Pokémon. Kuragehime is awesome but lacks a real fandom.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
Ace Attorney Investigations. Every time Eshiro opens his mouth or I read an Okamiden spoiler that is made of evil/stupid. Whatever CLAMP is doing (why are they changing Gate7 from the Inception/Paprika one-shot they said it was to a generic cryptic paranormal series?) That Vinland Saga and Historie have been boring or creepy this year when I needed them most.
Your fictional boyfriend of the year?
Your fictional girlfriend of the year?
Dunno. River Song?
Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Fullmetal Alchemist ending, and also the saddest. Ouran Host Club ending, that one was very squee.
The most missed of your old fandoms?
Not having new chapters of FMA and Ouran has left me empty, you guys. I miss playing videogames, too.
The fandom you haven’t tried yet, but want to.
I have Muramasa and Psychonauts gathering dust ever since they took away the Wii from my bedroom. I also want to play the Assassin's Creed series but the 360 is my brothers' and they play all the time. I had Sherlock downloaded and the first season of Merlin, but I lost the former and was lazy for the latter.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?
Pokémon Black/White. Despite of my complaints (or because of them), Okamiden. 3DS and their shiny new games, especially Kid Icarus. 3DS and their silly remakes, especially Ocarina of Time and Tales of the Abyss (bring it to Europe, Japan!). Avatar: The Legend of Korra. The Son of Neptune.
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It;s kind of hard, especially if you are in the anime fandom since all characters are young. Of course I think most of us are past the age where we fangirl because a character is "hot". It is more because we just love the way the character is written. So don't worry I know what you mean. :)
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But either way, I'm into a character because I like the personality. I've surprised myself by fancying a hot guy/gal I didn't expect, not because of their face but their awesomeness.
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Ah, I was just saying because you seemed uncomfortable with posting megaupload links in a public post. I'm very pirate-y in my Interwebs and others could've picked them from here, but I want you to feel safe in my space?
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I pirate and share a lot too but I usually keep it all behind locked posts. I guess it is just a habit formed because that is how it is usually done on LJ communities. But I don't think the BBC would be reading your private journal (kind of cool if they were though). :)
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It's actually scary when they notice. Like the time that an author's agent commented on my LJ because I was sharing an ebook of him. Jesus on a rollercoaster! I did buy that book eventually when it was re-edited here, but dayum.
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I think a lot of people unfortunately overlook international fandom and don't realize people would buy the stuff if they could. Copyright is very tricky.
This. A lot of my friends live in South America, and there's no way they can find many books/manga/DVDs/whatever they want because importing isn't an option to them. I only could when I came here to Europe, and by buying on shipping-free UK stores an English edition. I can't make a habit of that, though.
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I PRACTICALLY CRY MYSELF TO SLEEP EVERY NIGHT BECAUSE OF THIS :(
I had Sherlock downloaded and the first season of Merlin, but I lost the former and was lazy for the latter.
Sherlock is nice, but for me it had a really dull second episode (and they're too long imo). As for Merlin, I wouldn't rec it even if it was the last TV show left on the planet lol. I mean, I've watched about 5 full episodes between all three seasons, but it's pretty bad at the beginning and I swear to god it only gets much much worse. I believe it's SO BAD it's offensive even for its target audience (ie. kids). Sarah Jane Adventures was pretty good this season, on the other hand.
Also, I'd rec Phineas & Ferb if you want some quality children's TV ;)
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More omakes, Arakawa.Despite of the pacing and amount of episodes, I'm truly curious about Sherlock as I like detective novels and Benedict Cucumbersomething's face is so alien. With Merlin, here's the thing. Some of my flist loves it, some of my flist hates it (i.e, you and Zau), some of my flist likes it but still pokes at the flaws. It's so YMMV and mixed feelings that the only way to know if I'll like it is by watching, just like with Ten's run*. I'm tired of running away from shows because there are opposite points of view between my friends, and someone will eventually judge me anyway. And I always forget about SJA, dammit! I have to write it down somewhere.
Phineas & Ferb doesn't sound bad, but lately I'm looking for more action-adventure cartoons with a plot a la Avatar instead of pure comedy. I guess I'm trying to fill the void from a lack of decent shounen to follow, LOL. I miss the more cracky-but-coherent humor similar to Warner Bros comedy cartoons from our time, so this age's cartoons don't feel so funny to me. I'm complicated, shut up.
* For the record, I dropped him after 5 episodes of S2 because I couldn't get into his personality and plots. I didn't give him time to ruin the series for me (like it happened with you), or to see all his companions having shitty endings (my flist is also very YMMV re: post!Nine!Rose and re: Martha and re: Donna, but everyone got cheated by the end), or get drowned on more of his emo.
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Well, if you try it you might like it but IT IS NOT A GOOD SHOW. Which is not to say you cannot enjoy it (I enjoy bad shows, occassionally, and I watch Merlin still). As you say the only way to know if you like it is watching it but whoever says it's a good show it's lying. I don't think quality is a subjective concept and Merlin is a very badly done tv show. That's the only honest advice I can give you - that it is very poor, quality-wise. You might love it, anyway.
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I've seen the first three or four episodes and thought they were cheesy and cheap like any fantasy show from the 90's, but I still pointed and laughed at the silly shit. I can't really judge its quality from that little because nothing important has happened yet.
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All of it? The plots are very simple and not in a good way -characters make stupid decisions only to serve the plot. Characterization is very basic and often makes no sense and relationships are forever stucl (Arthur and Merlin have had the same conflict-resolution arch in every episode since the beginning of the show and you can't tell that any time has passed because there's no coherent development). Writers have no idea how to handle moral issues, and character often cross the Moral Event Horizon. Bad guys always do bad things and if the good guys does something ambiguous it is never seen as something bad because it's the good guy. The writing is simplistic and the writers more often than not TALK DOWN to the audience. There's an alarming lack of subtext. Information and character archs are often re-used and repeated (there's repeated dialogue,even). The general plot has been stuck for three years without any sign of ever moving along. That for the writing.
For the acting, only poor Angel as Gwen does something that could be considered as "acting". Colin Morgan used to do okay but the last season and a half he's become absolutely horrible. Katie as Morgana is simply embarrassing -& not just because the character of Morgana is embarrassing herself but the quality of acting is less than professional. Bradley James is very bad but at least he tries and gets marginally better. Tony Head and Richard Wilson don't try & they are in the show to cash their cheques. Not that I blame them, cause the dialogue is simply appalling: simplistic, clichés and completely artificial.
As for the production values, they are quite poor: not something I normally worry about, cause other shows I like (Sarah Jane, Sanctuary) have very limited budget but they get away with it cause the writing and the acting and the directing is decent. But since EVERYTHING ELSE in Merlin is horrible the lack of budget also stands out. The special effects are ridiculous and badly used. And the historical setting... well, let's not go there. The production team doesn't make much of an effort on that front. And the directors (unlike in Sarah Jane) are at best meh.
It's repetitive & unoriginal -they haven't come up with a good original idea in three years. I think I enjoyed season 1 despite how bad it was because I didn't know that was what was going to come would be exactly the same, only with more airs or "ambition" or drama (insert laughter here). Worst of all is the lack of consequence of the events in the show: because the characterization never develops nothing that happens in the show has any effect on the world of Merlin. Unless it's in a very simple, black-and-white, random way. Re:Morgana.
People saying canon pairings are YMMV... lol. People hate Arthur/Gwen but let me tell you this, considering how awfully all relationships are done in the show (ESPECIALLY Arthur-Merlin) Arthur/Gwen is easily the best written relationship in it. This is not shipping bias (I really don't care that much about them) this is my honest critical opinion. In any other show the Arthur/Gwen relationship would be a cliché and mediocre but in the universe of badness that is Merlin it's the only thing decently-written as in, it's coherent, it develops and changes, what happens in one episode affects the next, & you can tell the writers have put a lot of effort into it. Merlin-Gaius is actually also pretty decently written but it hasn't had any development in 2 years.
So basically, everything about Merlin is completely under the standards of acceptable tv quality (seriously, I pay tv license so that BBC can produce this piece of shit? That makes me angry). At its best it's mediocre and it's not often that it's at its best. I mean, Robin Hood was amazingly bad but it was slightly better, at least they tried to make some sense out of the characterization (sometimes) and the characters weren't complete plot-devices (well, in the last season they were...).
The first season of Merlin was sort of endearing despite the badness (or because of it) but the next two seasons have only left me enraged and appalled. Because children's tv doesn't need to be this stupid.
Does this help at all?
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If it's so bad in everything, then why are you still watching? Just wondering, because you seem to hate most of it with a passion that I expect that doesn't bring wank in this formerly cheerful end-of-year squee post.
lol, where are my Merlin icons?
Actually the first thing I've said is that I think you should watch it. I wasn't trying to discourage you or anything.
I don't hate Merlin with a passion or have vitriol or anything. Its lack of professionalism appalls me - but many tv shows do that to me. I watch it because after three years I kinda got used to the characters, and because I really love Arthurian legends and it's fun to see any interpretation of it, and because there are a lot of guest stars I love and because Angel Coulby is very pretty. That's why I watch such a poor product (then again I watch a lot of poor tv products, so Merlin is not that special - I'm the person who watched every episode of Robin Hood, after all).
So yeah, sorry if my comments sounded angry or anything. I blame the late hour and the sucky Christmas time. Though I don't think I said anything about the show I cannot argue competently if you give me a bit of time to dig up my examples.
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Sorry about the tone. Really rough week. This post has been too surreal, too.
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Dunno. River Song?
I LOVE YOU FOR THIS ANSWER.
The most missed of your old fandoms?
Not having new chapters of FMA and Ouran has left me empty, you guys.
Empty is the word. THERE'S A HOLE IN MY HEART.
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I don't even notice anymore when a month has begun or ended. FMA was my calendar, too :( My other monthly manga are sucking right now and it makes it worse.
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I squeed like a sad fangirl, ha ha.
FMA was my calendar, too
Tru dat.
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Y sob, yo sé que Okami Wii ha salido aquí, pero en mi ciudad y tiendas de internet nunca lo he visto. De todas maneras, tengo mucho juego pendiente y los de consola moderna son cariñosos.
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Yo lo encontré de pura casualidad, una sola copia y a la mitad de precio que los demás juegos de Wii. Fue como AHORA O NUNCA. (Igual no lo puedo probar hasta que vuelva a casa...)
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porque soy evil: los mejores BFFs de Percy son un sátiro comedy relief ecologista, un hermanito cíclope apapachable, y una heroína smartass cuya vocación en la vida es ser arquitecto. A que te dan más ganas? :DYa me dirás si los controles son más evil o más fáciles, que he oído cosas contradictorias. Sí sé que los colores son más vibrantes en la Wii porque no le pusieron los mismos filtros de papel o algo.
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Ya en febrero te cuento =D
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Lo de Quirón sí me habías dicho, yup.
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