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1. My only statement on the OTW elections: when I saw who was running, my immediate reaction was "But we can't lose Atiya Hakeem or Matty Bowers to the board! They do too much good!" Later, when I was reminded of who Alex Tischer, Aline Carrão, and Katarina Harju are (names are confusing) I had the same reaction to them. Take from that what you will.
2. I started listening to the Hamilton soundtrack (Hamilton is the just-opened-on-Broadway hip-hop musical that all of musicals fandom is freaking out over right now) but I got as far as the bit where they start rapping about how if you want to change the world, first you need to get your financials in order, and I just couldn't. Take from that what you will.
3. This week's movie-and-crafts was The Great Escape! It was. A really good movie. So, okay, I can't really be objective about this? Because when I was in high school, I found a copy of the book in the school library. What a high school library in the late '90s was doing with a first edition of that book I don't know, but I stumbled on it, and. A book about a band of brave, heroic, competent, dedicated people secretly working against the arbitrary authorities of the small POW camp they were trapped in for years, through no fault of their own, doing what they could with the limited freedoms and resources they had in order to escape and sow confusion, as they slowly disintegrated from boredom,stress and cabin fever, which celebrates them as heroes regardless? That was exactly what I needed to read in high school. And when I have re-read it since it lives up to the memories.
All I knew about the movie was that there was an American dude in a turtleneck who wasn't in the book, and also Steve McQueen is an American dude who rides a motorcycle who isn't in the book, so for a long time I was really confused as to what Steve McQueen looks like. And also really afraid that the movie hollywoodized it to the extent that it would ruin the book. But no! I mean, having to stick Americans in there for no reason was annoying, but other than that the first half of the movie was a really good adaptation of why I liked the book so much. ...After the escape happened it diverged a lot more, but I didn't mind as much as I expected; it was well done and it didn't go against the spirit of the book at all. And I appreciated who egalitarian they were about including all possible forms of transportation in their intercut chase scenes. Of course by that point I was REALLY HOPING they had changed the ending, because PLEASE, but no, they kept that. Which is good, they needed to keep the true ending for so many reasons, but ;_;.
Anyway, say what you will about the geopolitics of it, but if you are the sort of person who would be interested in three hours of nothing but sheer uncut competence porn set during WWII, you should watch this movie. Also you get to look at David McCallum in an RAF uniform a lot, which is a nice bonus.
4. The main reason I haven't been excited about the new Man from Uncle movie is that you can't do MfU without David McCallum as Illya. Which is a weird thing for me to be hung up on, because I haven't even watched any of the original series. But! I have watched a lot of vids of it. And. David McCallum, ok I know I don't usually get shallowly invested in looking at actors. But look at David McCallum. He looks even better in handcuffs than John Sheppard and I don't say that lightly.
5. AAAGUH Yuletide noms are almost ready to close, run in circles, scream and shout, wave your arms and flail about.
2. I started listening to the Hamilton soundtrack (Hamilton is the just-opened-on-Broadway hip-hop musical that all of musicals fandom is freaking out over right now) but I got as far as the bit where they start rapping about how if you want to change the world, first you need to get your financials in order, and I just couldn't. Take from that what you will.
3. This week's movie-and-crafts was The Great Escape! It was. A really good movie. So, okay, I can't really be objective about this? Because when I was in high school, I found a copy of the book in the school library. What a high school library in the late '90s was doing with a first edition of that book I don't know, but I stumbled on it, and. A book about a band of brave, heroic, competent, dedicated people secretly working against the arbitrary authorities of the small POW camp they were trapped in for years, through no fault of their own, doing what they could with the limited freedoms and resources they had in order to escape and sow confusion, as they slowly disintegrated from boredom,stress and cabin fever, which celebrates them as heroes regardless? That was exactly what I needed to read in high school. And when I have re-read it since it lives up to the memories.
All I knew about the movie was that there was an American dude in a turtleneck who wasn't in the book, and also Steve McQueen is an American dude who rides a motorcycle who isn't in the book, so for a long time I was really confused as to what Steve McQueen looks like. And also really afraid that the movie hollywoodized it to the extent that it would ruin the book. But no! I mean, having to stick Americans in there for no reason was annoying, but other than that the first half of the movie was a really good adaptation of why I liked the book so much. ...After the escape happened it diverged a lot more, but I didn't mind as much as I expected; it was well done and it didn't go against the spirit of the book at all. And I appreciated who egalitarian they were about including all possible forms of transportation in their intercut chase scenes. Of course by that point I was REALLY HOPING they had changed the ending, because PLEASE, but no, they kept that. Which is good, they needed to keep the true ending for so many reasons, but ;_;.
Anyway, say what you will about the geopolitics of it, but if you are the sort of person who would be interested in three hours of nothing but sheer uncut competence porn set during WWII, you should watch this movie. Also you get to look at David McCallum in an RAF uniform a lot, which is a nice bonus.
4. The main reason I haven't been excited about the new Man from Uncle movie is that you can't do MfU without David McCallum as Illya. Which is a weird thing for me to be hung up on, because I haven't even watched any of the original series. But! I have watched a lot of vids of it. And. David McCallum, ok I know I don't usually get shallowly invested in looking at actors. But look at David McCallum. He looks even better in handcuffs than John Sheppard and I don't say that lightly.
5. AAAGUH Yuletide noms are almost ready to close, run in circles, scream and shout, wave your arms and flail about.
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One may not agree with or like Alexander Hamilton's attitude, but one rather has to... admire is probably not the right word... be awestruck by how consistent it is :)
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Last time I watched I was watching with a friend who was completely unspoiled. 3/4 of the way through, she was like "Yeah, but, I mean, they're all totally going to get out, right?" and I just sat there CONSUMED WITH GUILT.
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...until David McCallum got shot, anyway.
(I think the ending is actually more of a shock in the book, because you spend more time in the POW camp where you get used to the idea that the cooler is the only consequences, and then suddenly, it's REALLY not a game anymore. They telegraphed it more in the movie.)
...and I don't know what it is about him because I don't even have the excuse of this movie but being formative but. David McCallum, man. I really should watch some original MfU sometime and see if he lives up to his gifsets there.
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And Illya gets tied up and handcuffed a lot. Okay, so does Napoleon, I swear, someone on this show thought bondage was very pretty.
But no, seriously David McCallum as Illya is amazing, you won't be disappointed.
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