Variations on the same theme

- Ashes to Ashes is being mildly disappointing. I love Keeley Hawes, but she doesn't have John Simm's charisma, and the time period is much less endearing, I find. Still, I'm looking forward to next episode entirely too much. Stephen Campbell Moore, here I come.

- I still haven't gone and seen Cloverfield, and it's Ultimate Drew's jump to the big screen. I'm a bad, bad minion. I might go after class today. After six hours of classes, straight. Good thing the four hours (I'm in the middle of) are computer classes I don't really need, or my brain might go splodey. It's not used to such long hours in one go anymore.

- Lost is being really interesting. I blame the future flashbacks, that was in fact a good move. Supernatural is also rocking my world, I feel for the boys so much. The L-Word is being unexpected fun. And I'm digging the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Yay Summer!

- I want this t-shirt. Can Threadless please be having a sale before it's sold out kthx.

- With the resolution of the writers' strike, dare I hope Alan Tudyk's lawyer show with Andrew Lincoln might get picked up? Pretty pleaaaase. I'm also desperately waiting for 3:10 to Yuma to be released in France so I can see it on the big screen and everybody else in my country can join in on the Yuma love.

- I've been watching everything with Marc Warren I could get my hands on. Even a Miss Marple episode in which he only appears for the whole of five minutes. With a moustache. And hardly any lines. Maaaaarc. I have such a crush.

- I'm starving. Yes, everybody should care about my hunger, thank you very much. I hate Excel, I want to eat something.

Updating at long last! Several items today.

1) ( Robin Hood. )

2) ( Jamie Cullum. )

3) ( The latest SPN. )

4) ( Alan in CSI. )

5) ( Rudebox. )

6) ( Lost. )

7) ( Grey's. )

8) ( Family weekend. )

9) ( The Pianist. )

10) ( Troy. )

So, pretty much? I love Jamie Cullum. I love my family. And I want to be watching Torchwood already!

( Lost non-finale. )

Right. Well. The good thing? I definitely won't be holding my breath until next season week.

( As for Alias... (spoilers for this week's, obviously) )

I wanna climb onto Logan's lap and cling to him. That said, where was Weevil this episode? But gods, Logan. Jason is just too good at looking tortured and in agony and in need of some major cuddling. The use of the name "Iceman" in precisely this episode? Made me giggle like the geek I really am.

Lost wasn't bad, either. Really. I liked it!

That said, flist! What have you been doing? I'm still waiting for you people to tell me which LotR I'm most like, which Firefly character I'm most like, and now also which Sorkin character. Pretty please?

First off, J. Michael Straczynski's statement about Andreas Katsulas. It makes my heart break a little.

I'll move on to Lost. ( Spoilers up to One of Them. )

And good news for Lost! There is still hope. They've signed on Drew for two years. I love my master: "There's a simple formula to the kinds of scripts I write," he told Daily Variety. "Basically, people talk about their feelings, something explodes and/or a fight breaks out, more talking about feelings, someone bleeds to death and then everyone makes jokes about their pain."

He's also writing the 100th Alias episode, for those who care. Hopefully it'll make up for what-was-it-called, the absolutely BORING last episode he wrote on that show. Was it Mockingbird? Might have been. In any case, it was a let-down coming from him. Drew, you're capable of greatness. Help them put Lost back on track! And don't screw up Alias, kthx.

Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang) - not the recent one, but the one with Stellan Skarsgard, Chris Penn and Paul Bettany. It's a very weird little film, but Stellan and Paul are... well, they're Stellan and Paul. Stellan has a compelling quality to himself, it's odd. I need to watch Dogville again, which I've been meaning to do for a couple weeks now, but you don't just watch Dogville. That film breaks me too much. As for Paul, well, he made me cry. Which, you know, is what Paul does. Entirely too easily. But still.

Speaking of which. shadesofbrixton and I were talking the other day, and wouldn't Paul make the freakiest, creepiest Blue Glove ever? Meep. It's very scary. (Possibly you don't realise how creepy Paul gets. That would be because you haven't seen Gangster Number One. Which you should.)

Lost, spoiler-free - the Analucia ep was good enough, though I found her whole flashbacks entirely too clichéd. Same goes for Kate, although she wasn't as annoying as she could've been, which was a nice surprise. And Sawyer's chest is pure SIN. Just sayin'.

Also, I love Eko so fucking much. ( Not-really-spoilerish-but-you-never-know quote. )And do not want anybody to be nice and offer him another shirt, because the ripped one? Suits him so well. Oh yeah.

Gakked from the very talented yahtzee63, iTunes talks about me. In very mysterious ways, sometimes. ( Read! )

Ok, and now with the actual pointy things. Saw A History of Violence and was completely blown away. Viggo Mortensen was absolutely amazing. I mean, seriously. That man can act. And the film itself was fascinating, so many things said in silences, and so real too. The character of the son I particularly liked and felt for. He made me feel more than Viggo's character, actually. In terms of "how far are you willing to go for your family." And that ending, oh that ending.

Also saw Red Eye, and thank Joss for Cillian otherwise I would have really wondered what the point was. The script was so expected, from beginning to end, no subtleties, nothing. That said, Rachel - McAdams, is it? - is very cute. And makes me think of Neve Campbell. Except I like Neve Campbell better.

As for Ralph, also very expected. It's good on the emotions, but there was nothing surprising about it. In the case of both these movies, it was all in the trailers.

That said, also saw Beetlejuice, which means I've finally seen all of dear Tim's movies. I think BJ's my least favourite. It shows that it was just the beginning for him. Although Michael Keaton was impressive! Wow.

And finally, ( Lost 2x06. )

( Lost 2x04 - the Hurley ep. )


( Alias 2x03 - 'Boring boring boring.' )


Unrelated, but I've just chatted with Etienne on MSN - Etienne was the other French assistant at the school where I worked near Manchester last year. He's going back to visit everybody in January. Oh how I longed to be able to say "wait, I'll book the same dates! I'm coming too!" *heaves a deep, deep sigh* I miss this place and those people so much. It's all the harder to turn my back on it that I had a bloody job over there, and I liked it, and Etienne and I both wish we'd stayed on another year. But regrets are hardly constructive. I need to look to the future.

So, I've been pretty silent lately, but I've been watching things. Like The Brothers Grimm, wherein Heath Ledger redeemed my faith in his acting skills. ( More on that and on the film. )
( And now a bit with spoilers. )
( And now for something completely different, Keane. )

What else... Oh, yes. Supernatural, the pilot. Jensen Ackles = teh pretty. But apart from that? Well, his brother's cute too, I'll give them that. But, while I have only seen the pilot, it still feels like there isn't much but that to the show. It seems so very... unsurprising.

Oh, and I haven't actually shared my thoughts on the second episode of Lost. ( Let's remedy to that. )

And, oh yes, the Alias pilot. Which totally fascinated me, not. I was very much not into it, and that was fairly annoying. But, well, Elodie Bouchez. And Victor Garber, as always. So I'll wait and see.

And, finally, about Serenity. I feel a bit disconnected from it all, since it's not like we here can go and improve the numbers. But while I was at first really annoyed that it wasn't doing that good, I've cheered up since. We shouldn't have had a film to start with, that's a small miracle already. We got to see our Big Damn Heroes once more. I'm gonna stick with being happy about that. Even if we don't get anything more, we'll have had more than Fox let us. What do you mean, the goal wasn't to screw Fox over all along?

So - Charlie/Dom is dubbed by the same guy that usually does Jensen Ackles and it's ridiculous and he's not even funny, all accents are non-existent (I wouldn't have expected Claire's or Charlie's to translate, but Sayid's would have been nice), most some of those dubbers cannot act (or at least cannot dub), Locke's dubber was probably cast from just the script of the pilote because he sounds all Indian Wise Man Cliché, and... the worst so far? Kate and Sawyer say "vous" to each other, which is a mark of respect or distance. *snorts* As if.

But it's not as bad a dubbing as Buffy or Firefly. Which isn't much of a compliment, but it's still something.

Also, another good thing. The oral acting is sometimes so poor that you (or, well, I) naturally pay much more attention to the silent acting. Their faces, their eyes, their body language... Foxy's never been that good! (Well, that's a lie because I think he's been that good and then some in later episodes. But you get my point.)

(  Spoilery concern about the dubbing, for those of you who haven't watched tonight. )

And Kate is even more annoying in French. Or maybe I'm biased.

That said, I had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine (Klem, for those of you who know him) about fate vs. chance. And now that i'm watching Lost, I realise that if the two of us were on the island? He'd be Locke, and I'd be Jack. Well, he's not into hunting and knives, and I'm not big with the heroics and the leadership, but... still. It's a scary thought.

*perks up* Oh, it's The House of the Rising Sun... and thus the flashback is in its original version! Guys! We've got V.O. on TF1!! Imagine someone who doesn't know about Lost just switching channels onto TF1... enough to give anyone a heart attack.