firecat

Movies

Black Widow (Disney+) - I liked it. Largely because it wasn’t pitched as silly as a lot of the Marvel movies. And because now I have some new f/f ships. And because I like how this film [almost?] failed the Reverse Bechdel Test (to pass, a movie has to have at least 2 men, who talk to each other, about something other than a woman. It had more than 2 men but they didn’t do much talking to each other.)
Constantine: City of Demons (HBOMax) - I noped out after about 30 mins because I didn’t like the animation style or the type of horror it is (heavy on the gore). I haz a sad because I love the character Constantine and so much of what he’s in just doesn’t work for me (DC’s Legends, this) and now I might have to start considering GRAPHIC NOVELS, dun dun dunnnn. (I’m so resistant to branching out into media I don’t usually consume such as video games and comics and web series. There’s already too muuuuch!)
Gladiator (2000) (Netflix, but not for long) - Decided on the spur of the moment to watch it because it’s leaving Netflix on December 31. Had never seen it before. What a gorgeous, beautifully made, classically styled movie about “masculine” values and redemption through violence. If I taught a class that included such things I’d assign it for sure. It’s also deliciously shippy in many different directions. Will be offering in exchanges.
[redacted because they’re for an upcoming exchange, heh heh heh]

Audiobooks

Started The Warlord Wants Forever, by Kresley Cole, because I saw it recommended in an intriguing way on the Exchanges After Dark discord. It’s exactly what I’m in the mood for, a smutty story about feuding immortals. I gather it’s the beginning of a very long series.
Torchwood, various audiobooks
- “Another Life” (nar. Barrowman, 3.5 hr) (2007)
- “Slow Decay” (nar. Burn Gorman, 3.3 hr) (2007) — content warning for a weight-loss-related plot. These are both narrated kind of flat.
- Torchwood Tales, (multiple nar. 18.5 hr) (2008–12). Ten made-for-audio stories. Each story has a single narrator, and the narrators act (use different voices for different characters). It’s funny to hear them voice each other and Jack (some try to sound like Barrowman, some don’t…Garett-David Lloyd does the best job of it, IMO). Narrators include Burn Gorman, Eve Myles, Garett-David Lloyd, Kai Owen, Tom Price, John Telfer. I liked the narration except for Kai Owen’s — and his wasn’t bad, but for no particular reason it didn’t hold my attention. Most of the stories don’t have too much background sound. They all feel kind of the same, unfortunately — not just because they’re all “monster of the week,” but also because the “human enabler of the week” are somewhat samey too, in a way that the TV episodes weren’t.

Blake's 7 (Britbox) - discussed in previous posts
The same ep of Earth at Night in Color (AppleTV+) that I saw another time, about elephants. Mmm, Hiddles.
Star Trek: The Original Series (Amazon) - “Who Mourns for Adonais?” (didn’t age at all well..but it does include the most devastating example of negging ever), “Amok Time” (my id, let me show you it), “Mirror, Mirror” (mirror Kirk’s woman is the greatest)
Finished Locke & Key season 2 (Netflix) - discussed elsewhere. I didn’t get very invested in the characters, but it kept my interest while I was watching it.
Finished Katla (Netflix). I like how they wrapped it up.
Starsky & Hutch (Tubi, I think) - I’d never seen anything other than clips of this, so I watched a random episode. It was better than I expected, but I’m not going to rush out and watch more right away.
Fantasy Island (Tubi) - I remember watching the occasional episode of this with my mom, and I was writing a fic with a Ricardo Montalban character, so I watched a random episode. It did not age AT ALL well. If you wanna see vintage 70s Montalban, watch the Columbo episode “A Matter of Honor” instead.
Good Omens (Amazon) - rewatching, it’s better the second time around because there’s so much going on in every ep. every time I rewatch this I enjoy all the fic for it a little bit more.
Lupin (Netflix) - finished my first rewatch, it’s better the second time around, this is another keeper.

Music

This is a fun song with a great horn riff and the video has very queer/gender diverse vibes (maybe the song does too but I didn't look up the lyrics). I found it via the Lucifer playlist on Spotify.

Watch on YouTube
Also from the Lucifer playlist (apropos, because it's how I feel about the show).

Watch on YouTube

Other

I had a virtual membership to DisCon III and I watched / listened to some panels. They were a mixed bag, of course, but the best ones reminded me of how much fun panels can be when the panelists are smart and respectful of each other but feel free to express differing opinions and in general just click. I am very glad they had captioning because the captions to most of the virtual panels were still online after the con and I downloaded them to read later. Ones I enjoyed included “Future Meat” (some serious expertise on that panel, IMO) and “The future of work” (it didn’t stay quite on topic but the panelists clicked and I enjoyed so much of what they said even when I didn’t agree with it). I thought more than once as I listened to panels that it was so much better listening in while lying in bed with my iPad than sitting in those darned uncomfortable hotel event rooms and their nasty folding chairs. I didn’t participate but chat was available.

tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers