Just Gonna Put This Here

Okay so... it's officially TV summertime. Almost all the shows I've been watching are on hiatus until the fall. I really have next to nothing to talk about, for the most part. So... I'm initiating my "quality over quantity" thing that tends to happen over the summer.

This basically means that you'll be getting less from me, but what you do get will be better and likely more thought out than if I posted something everyday. However, if you'd like to keep up with my sparse postings on deviantART, Facebook, and Twitter, feel free to drop by and see what I'm up to outside of posting here.

That said, I did this thing last night... took me about two hours. Here it is:

Love ya, Jessie.

Things That Annoy Me: Internet Stuff

GIANT DISCLAIMER

• This will basically be a rant. A well structured rant, but a rant nonetheless.
• This is what happens when TV shows go on hiatus and I start thinking about stuff.
• I know I'm not going to change anything be writing this, I just feel the need to get it out there.
• Don't send me comments about how wrong I am about this stuff... I don't care and will ignore you.
• All opinions expressed here are opinions. If you don't know exactly what "opinion" means, you need to go look it up.
• There's swearing. Deal.
• There's also some over-explanation just in case people don't know what I'm talking about.

 INTRODUCTION

As stated in the disclaimer, this is what happens when TV shows go on hiatus. I start thinking about stuff that really has nothing to do with anything else I might post about. This time, I started thinking about the internet and how people interact with other people through it... and whatnot.

PAYING FOR PIXELS

What annoys me most about people paying for pixels is that they then get pissed off when whatever they paid for doesn't then pay off for them in turn.

Example: I play OviPets. OviPets uses credits as their currency. There is only one currency. You either spent tons of time "turning eggs" to get credits or you pay for credits. Credits are used to buy traits for your pets. These traits can then be passed on to the offspring of the pets. Credits are also used to generate and research pets. It takes a lot of credits to essentially get exactly what pets/traits you want. Also, unless you pay actual money for credits, you can't do anything with your earned credits but research, generate, and trait your own pets. You can't "buy" pets from other people using credits.

Still the Example: One of my friends on OviPets got annoyed because she spent a lot of actual money to get credits to pay for a "project" and no one was "buying" the results of that project. I saw her complaining about this and thought to myself: "Most players aren't paid players and therefore can't buy your pets. Also, you paid for pixels. Essentially nothing. So... why don't you just stop spending money on the game. It's obviously not worth it."

I didn't articulate this to her, of course, but you get my point, right? Yes, actually paying for pixels supports the webite/game/whatever but at the same time, it's completely within that website/game/whatever's rights to just up and shut down, leaving you with less money and none of those pixels you paid for. I'm not sure if people don't understand this or think their website/game/whatever won't go under or live up to expectations.

My personal feelings: Don't actually pay for something you're not going to get physically if you're the type who's going to get pissed at companies for doing what they do. Or, if you are going to actually pay for pixels, make sure you really, really like the thing you're paying for and that the thing is stable.

OTP FIGHTS

Most people probably aren't familiar with the term: OTP. OTP is an acronym standing for "One True Pairing." The term is mostly thrown around by people in fandoms who write fanfiction or have very strong opinions about which characters should be in a pairing together. I hadn't actually heard it until I started listening to podcasts run by people who were very immersed in the fanfiction scene.

Anyway, OTP fights border very closely to evangelical religious types. "Let's take this thing and shove it down your throat 'til you either get pissed or start agreeing with me."

I just don't understand why people get into fights over them. Granted, I have a few OTPs myself, but a) I have very few of them and b) I'm not going to shove them at you and make you believe they are THE OTP.

HEADCANON WARS

This basically goes along with the OTP thing. A "head-canon" is something your head does to explain why something happened or how something you would like to have had happen in actually canon came to be in your head. Basically: fanfiction.

People get so attached to their head-canon that they will argue with you about it for hours on end until you either agree with them or get the hell out of the conversation. No one wins these things. People walk away with basically the same head-canons they came into the fight with.

Even worse, people create a head-canon that ends up not meshing with what the original content ends up being. Example: Vinyl Scratch/DJ-Pon3 from the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic cartoon. Vinyl Scratch wears these sunglasses all the time. We, as a fandom, had no idea what color her eyes were. We sort of collectively decided that Vinyl's eyes were red, because they looked cool with her white coat and bright blue mane. However, Hasbro had other ideas and her eyes ended up actually being magenta. Hello giant uproar. Hello disgruntled fans.

SHOWING DISABLED CHARACTERS IN CARTOONS

Of course, talking about My Little Pony brings me to talk a little about "The Derpocalypse." And yes, I will be using the not exactly PC term of "disabled" because that's the word I've used all my life and I don't see a problem with using it.

Okay so... there's this pony who started out her life as an animation error. One of her eyes pointed up and the other one pointed down. She's this gray pegasus with a blond mane and gold eyes. The fandom took her and named her "Derpy Hooves" because her eyes are, as the internet has coined, "derped." She appeared in a lot of episodes in the background, as a lot of ponies do. But then there was this episode in which she got to hang out with Rainbow Dash for a bit. Derpy was clumsy, oblivious, cute, and actually got her name. Her voice was done by the same woman who voices Rarity, though she sort of talked in a sleepy drawl that might have made Derpy sound disabled in addition to her eyes being funny and all the clumsyness. Otherwise, Derpy was treated as just another pony. Yes, Rainbow Dash got annoyed when she kept breaking stuff, but she wasn't sent to sit off in a corner with "safety scissors and glitter."

Cue overprotective mothers calling Derpy offensive. Cue the episode being pulled. Cue the episode being slightly re-written and slightly re-voiced. Cue episode being re-released and aired with the new edits. Cue fandom losing their shit.

Derpy lost her name and now sounds like a blond airhead. Yeah... cuz that's not at all stereotypical or offensive or anything. All Derpy merchandise has now been labeled "Best Pony"... not that it was ever labeled "Derpy," but that would have been nice.

My point, I guess, is that there is more wrong with disabled characters not being shown in kids cartoons, or in fact in most TV shows or movies, than there is with them not being shown at all. At most, there's that one kid in Glee with Down Syndrome and a random smattering of people in wheelchairs. I personally have a more realistic expectation of disabled people by being around them than I do from watching TV.

And no, I'm not saying TV is realistic at all, I'm just saying it's ridiculous how upset people get over "offensive" content.

THE END

Okay so... yeah... that last one was only tangentially internet related, but my point is still valid, I believe. But yeah... that's it from me for tonight.

Love ya, Jessie.

 P.S. Derpy Icon by Pix3M of DeviantArt.

I Think This Line's Mostly Filler

Okay so... the end of the TV Spring Season has left me with little to write about. I don't have anything to review today and I spent yesterday watching random smattering of El Cazador de la Bruja, Dollhouse, and Buffy with my best friend. It's her birthday today, by the way. Happy Birthday, H-chan!

Anyway... I thought I'd do a little update-thing for what I've been doing besides watching and reviewing TV. Also, just a little SPOILER WARNING here, just in case. Not sure for what, but be aware that I'm horrible at keeping spoilers to myself.

TV SHOWS

Okay so... I've been watching Fringe on Netflix. I'm currently in the second season, watching some episodes I caught while they were actually airing. I love Fringe. The characters are amazing, the actors are brilliant, and I love the storylines. If you have a chance, I highly recommend checking out Fringe.

I've also been watching Hemlock Grove on Netflix. It's... interesting, to say the least. I'm not at all sure what exactly is going on, but the show's got me hooked on finding out. I will say that if you have problems with some gore, don't watch it. Like seriously, a couple episodes in, there's a werewolf transformation that's the goriest one I've ever seen.

Off of Netflix, I've been watching Orphan Black. I started watching out of curiosity On Demand and got hooked by the second episode. I'm completely caught up and I can definitely say that it's pretty darn awesome. The lead actress, Tatiana Maslany, is superb. She plays Sarah Manning, Alison Hendrix, Cosima Niehaus, Helena, and several other characters and pulls them all off brilliantly. At no point in the show does it seem like any of the characters are the same person. There are points where she kind of looks like Summer Glau, but I only really noticed that looking at screenshots so... yeah. If you're not watching Orphan Black, this is another one I highly recommend.

Yesterday I finished watching El Cazador de la Bruja. That was... not really the most satisfying ending, but I liked it. The entire show is essentially a series of "Monster of the Week" plot lines woven together toward the final couple of episodes where things come to a head. However, the last episode is essentially a time-skip forward a couple of months so... yeah... that was a little weird, but nice. I really liked El Cazador and I think if you're at all interested in a Western/Supernatural/Comedy with a bit of drama thrown in for good measure Anime, you'll like it, too.

MISCELLANEOUS

Outside of watching stuff, I've been keeping up with Hasbro's new Downloadable Paper Doll Ponies. I've got images of the finished products and what I've thought of them on my DeviantArt. Just click the "My Art" button up at the top there and you'll be able to find them pretty easily. They're cute, they're free, and they're more show-accurate than anything else Hasbro's really been putting out so... yeah.

I've also been playing/keeping up with several virtual pet games via Facebook. I've been playing Happy Pets and am currently trying to breed a bunch of giant pets. I've started doing OviPets again, which is being a giant time-suck, but there that is. I've been keeping up with PoneyVallee, a French-made game that's currently a little over a year old in it's new incarnation and not exactly the best thing on the planet, but I quite like it. Takes a lot of patience to do really, which I've noticed a lot of people don't seem to like so... yeah.

NEOPETS - ALTADOR CUP UPDATE

Now that the pre-tournament "press" stuff is over, sign-ups have begun. You might have noticed the radical change in appearance for the blog... yeah, that's basically me showing my support for Shenkuu. I'm signed up there so... yeah.

Oh, and another thing... Foltaggio has been replaced by Timu, the Lupe. She was on the team before, actually, but apparently we've re-signed her or whatever. It doesn't actually matter, just, ya know, updating you on that minor thing.

Go Sign Up! Go Practice! The Altador Cup starts next week!

Love ya, Jessie.

Technical Difficulties

Okay so... due to technical difficulties, aka DNS servers not working, I didn't get a blog post out yesterday. However, I didn't really have much except an Altador Cup Update so I'm not counting it as a total loss. Today, it's pretty much the same, though so... on to the update.

Neopets - Altador Cup Update

As of yesterday, the last four teams competing this year have been announced!

• Tyrannia - Had something about their language barrier being a spy deterrent, though apparently they're gonna have to change that since it's not working so well.
• Maraqua - Apparently, stamp collecting is distracting to players.
• Meridell - Gregorio Maille has been replaced by an unknown female player this year.
• Moltara - Replaced their previous goalie, Mor Gollog, with a familiar face, but have yet to actually tell us who that is.

Yeah so... that's all the pre-tournament stuff. Sign-Ups start later today!

Shekuu for the Cup!

Love ya, Jessie.

The Sky's the Limit, Sweet Grimm

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen this week's episodes of Warehouse 13 or Grimm, please leave the blog and come back later. My reviews, more often than not, contain spoilers.

However, if you're the least bit interested, there will be a short Altador Cup Update and Housekeeping section below the reviews.

Warehouse 13 - "The Sky's the Limit" - Review

This episode was fairly lack-luster and standard, as episodes go. The only really big thing that happened was the introduction of Dr. Abigail Cho, the new owner of the B&B. I quite liked her. She was excited, as new Warehouse people usually are, by the artifacts and what they could do. She didn't take crap from Artie, which I liked. It's about time we had someone other than Mrs. Fredric who could actually go toe to toe with Artie.

I thought Monty was kind of cute, for a doddering old magician. That his granddaughter was willing to do what she did, even if she had no idea about the consequences, says that he was every inch the man he seemed to be. I'm glad he got a small glimpse at the Warehouse, even if he did attempt to steal that light bulb.

The Claudia and Jinks storyline was seriously ancillary to the other storylines going on. It wasn't exactly the fleshed out well enough for me to really care about it. I did, however, like Claudia's "fancy getup."

Overall, this episode didn't excite me at all. I'm glad Abigail's on staff now, I've always liked Kelly Hu. I'm glad Artie's finally actually dealing with Leena's death at his hands. But as for the rest... it was just kind of there.

Grimm - "Goodnight, Sweet Grimm" - Review

Another awesome episode from the Grimm team. I was sucked into the episode pretty much from the get go.

I liked all the sweet couple-y stuff at the beginning. I'm really glad Nick and Juliette are back together. I though Rosalee was being ridiculously nervous about her food. The entire scene with Rosalee and Monroe was just as funny and cute as usual.

I liked, but at the same time was somewhat flummoxed by Juliette's inclusion into the "Scooby Gang." I like that Juliette isn't willing to just sit at home anymore, but how she acted in the spice shop was kind of... weird. She didn't and still doesn't strike me as the person to just come out and as "What kind of Wesen are you?" Also the way she was shuffled into the background of the group huddle was a little strange. I mean, I get that Nick, Monroe, and Rosalee aren't exactly used to anyone besides themselves being in those kinds of huddles, but... I dunno, it was weird.

I was really surprised by the Adalind storyline. It twisted in a way I totally wasn't expecting, but I liked it. Frau Pech is clearly incredibly devious, but Adalind and Stefania were just one step ahead of her. I like the the audience wasn't let in on what I perceived as a cunning plan until Stefania's son garroted Frau Pech. I also really liked the effect of Adalind and Frau Pech transforming into one another. It was creepily beautiful, in a way.

I think Eric is shaping up to be a very good villain. He's evil enough to sacrifice his own bodyguard in order to see a demonstration of the Cracher-Mortel's powers. That kind of creeped me out, but in a good way. It's also interesting that Eric didn't make an overt play for Renard while they had dinner together. I was kind of expecting there to be a fight or something, but I liked what was done with that scene.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the ultimate plan of shipping Nick back to Europe. That was partially surprising and partially not. I didn't see any way Nick was going to get out of being "zombified" by the Cracher-Mortel. The only way he was possibly going to get out of that was to shoot him, which he didn't do. In fact, I was really surprised that he went for hand-to-hand combat with the Cracher-Mortel. If a guy can spit stuff in your face, you usually don't go for hand-to-hand.

Finally... the To Be Continued thing at the very end of the episode was cheeky and kind of awesome. I like that not everything was tied up with a shiny bow. I like that the Grimm team is counting on people being interested enough in the conclusion to the story to come back in the fall. I also really like that they're able to get away with that kind of fourth-wall breaking. Personally, I can't wait for Grimm to come back.

Altador Cup Update

The next four teams to be "introduced" in Neopets' Altador Cup Pre-Season Coverage are:

• Kreludor - Apparently, one of the team members, a Grundo, has a thing with lucky gum that he sticks behind his ear. Uhmmm... yeah. Whatever Neopets.
• Terror Mountain - Osielle Lidel, a Buzz, had Blurred Vision during the off season, but is now fine. Luckily she could afford the incredibly expensive Extra-Thick Goggles... *fumes quietly in the background*
• Virtupets Space Station - Weldar Xupenfarb, a Grundo, apparently played last year's Altador Cup with a torn shoulder muscle.
• Brightvale - Reb Weemelatt, a Nimmo I think, is apparently a trash talker and dirty player. Good to know... maybe.

Again, my Altador Cup updates are horrible compared to the ones over at The Daily Neopets. They make up a lot of stuff, but it's kind of fun to read. They also have score counters and game guides. And no, I'm not affiliated with them, I just like them a lot. Also, their coverage of this year's cup hasn't started up yet so... check out other bits of their site, it's kind of awesome.

Housekeeping

Okay so... the rest of this week will most likely be... something. Probably another Altador Cup Update. But other than that, I have no concrete plans. Maybe I'll watch a movie on Netflix tonight and review it. Maybe.

Love ya, Jessie.

Goodnight, Sweet Grimm - Initial Reactions

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's episode of Grimm, please leave the blog and come back later. Initial Reactions, like live Tweets, often contain spoilers.

Grimm - "Goodnight, Sweet Grimm" - Initial Reactions

• Time for the really long recap.
• That room is very red.
• Eric just happens to have a handy test subject.
• Oh yes, incredibly fascinating.
• So they're in pain that entire thing.
• This is true.
• Oh yay, tears.
• Hooray!!!
• W00T, Voodoo rituals.
• Doppleganger?
• Gee Rosalee, way to have some weird food nerves.
• Awkward dinners are awkward. Those two are so cute.
• Romance everywhere tonight.
• Well then.
• So... Renard knows who that is?
• Zombie time. Fun fun.
• Dude, Adalind, you're pregnant.
• See, that's what drinking while pregnant gets you.
• What's she need spinal fluid for?
• I very much missed Nick and Juliette together.
• Chaos makes me dizzy.
• It's always a "shut the door kind of conversation."
• Not no mention, family matters tend to get messy.
• That would probably be the blowfish guy.
• Ah, Wu, ever so fun.
• Where's Hank?
• Oh noes! Wu's been attacked!
• Is that kind of zombification communicable?
• Gotta love random brick walls.
• Hank!
• Nothin' going on here, just sort of stealing a body for weird testing.
• Okay but... does he smell dead? I hate it when people don't use their powers.
• W00T violent behavior.
• That is creepy looking.
• I like that Monroe is totally creeped out by this.
• Yes, yes he could.
• Way to be all weird around the zombie-guy.
• Awkward punch was awkward.
• This was not what I was expecting. Oh Geez, totally not what I was expecting. That's creepifying.
• None of these things are surprising.
• This promises to be at least a little entertaining.
• Yes, that would leave an impression.
• Renard's not going to fall for your crap, Eric.
• Ya'll need to pay attention to what's across the street.
• Good evening, sunshine.
• Go Juliette.
• I'm so happy for them. And I'm not being sarcastic.
• Good girl, Juliette. You're awesome.
• Way to be somewhat creepily happy Stefania.
• Way to tell Pech your plans.
• Stefania is actually kind of awesome, for an evil chick.
• That didn't last long, for which I am very happy.
• Huh. Interesting that Adalind was in on that.
• I do love Monroe's reactions to stuff.
• Lol, Juliette.
• Ah, the awkwardness.
• It's a key, silly. Pay attention.
• Except you know that's not going to happen, seeing as Al said there were a lot.
• Hooray fight scenes.
• Way to spend a lot of precious time talking that out.
• Yeah, that was reassuring.
• I would not go face to face with a guy who spits crap in your face.
• I love cane swords.
• I saw that bit coming, not so much the carting him off to part unknown, but I definitely saw Nick getting Zombified.
• Good thing Nick had Rosalee hide the key.
• Lol, those evil, evil, evil Grimm people!

The Sky's the Limit - Initial Reactions

SPOILER WARNING

If you haven't seen tonight's episode of Warehouse 13, please leave the blog and return later. Initial Reactions, like live Tweets, usually contain spoilers.

Warehouse 13 - "The Sky's the Limit" - Initial Reactions

• Poor Artie.
• Even depressed, Artie is still amusing.
• Hey, it's that chick again.
• Ow.
• That guy has a very pink gold outfit.
• Good job, Jinks.
• People who say that always have stuff to hid, tho.
• Jinks sucks at lying.
• That was a crappy text-thingy.
• They just happened to have one of those?
• Oh, Pete...
• Pete, Pete, Pete... no strippers for you.
• Mad rush for the chips of a dead person.
• Gotta love old school filing systems.
• Kelly Hu!
• New people. They're so much fun.
• How did they not see that giant glaring sign?
• Huh. Interesting.
• I love Jinks-y.
• Fail accent, Claud.
• All that purple on both everyone in that scene.
• Good job, Claud.
• Ah, Artie.
• Wow, Artie, way to freak out the new chick. That's not going to end well.
• Well that's an interesting thing to happen to a witness.
• It's either the skeesy guy or the valet dude.
• That's the third person wearing purple this episode.
• Okay... that's an interesting way to put it.
• You hand it over to Warehouse agents, though.
• Myka's face there... lol.
• This poor guy.
• Claudia. Poor Jinks-y.
• Hey, it's that chick! And she's the one using the artifact.
• Poor stuck Pete.
• Yep, ignore the really obvious necklace on the assistant.
• Ya'll are slow.
• That's not what's going on, lady.
• Poor horses.
• Well that figures.
• That's nice to know.
• Pete, gets benched by cookies. Go figure.
• Why did you open the sunroof?
• Ouch. Poor Pete.
• It's real, it's just hard to explain.
• Poor Marty.
• No one ever thinks about the murder aspect of things.
• Don't leave the Farnsworth sitting around!
• Hello creepy lady.
• Wha?!
• Marty gets a grand tour?
• Lol, Jinks-y.
• Magically, the plants are alive again!
• Artie, you've made me tear up again!
• H.G. next week!

Doctor Who - The Name of the Doctor - Review

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen the most recent episode of Doctor Who, please leave the blog and come back later. My reviews always contain spoilers.

Also, there's a short Housekeeping section below the review.

Doctor Who - "The Name of the Doctor" - Review

I'm not normally one for contemplation. Usually, I watch an episode once and then review it the next day or a few days later, if I'm being lazy. However, I don't usually think really hard about the episode. I don't nit-pick. I don't think about the entire episode as a whole, opting instead to break it up into character storylines. This episode, though... I can't exactly wrap my head around it and what I think about it exactly.

I mean, I know I liked it. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have managed to rewatch it. I enjoyed all the parts that made up the episode. I enjoyed the characters, even the bad ones. I especially enjoyed the references back to "Classic" Doctor Who. It's just... this was not at all what I was expecting from a season finale.

Season finales usually make me cry for one reason or another. They make me grin. They give me an adrenaline rush I spend hours coming off of. They make me excited for the next season. This one, though... I was frowning at the screen almost the entire time. I didn't have a big adrenaline rush like I usually do. I cried, I smiled, but... it just wasn't at all what I expected. There wasn't really a happy ending there, either. Not that I mind not having a "happy ending," but these things usually get nice and wrapped up at the end with a big, shiny, smiley-faced bow. This ended on an incredibly non-traditional cliff-hanger.

"The Name of the Doctor" also posed some questions that I just can't think around. If someone's timeline is rewritten, they most likely won't end up in the same place. They most likely won't end up meeting the same group of people. Apparently, though, The Doctor managed, even in his distorted timeline, to meet River, Vastra, and Clara. I say this because they were the only ones out of the five companions present who didn't disappear. At least, that's what I think happened. I'm not one hundred percent sure about it at all. I buy Clara being there as the current companion. I buy River being there because she linked herself to Clara. I'm not sure what's so special about Vastra, though, that makes her capable of being there after Jenny and Strax have disappeared. It's just... weird. I just don't know...

Also, there's the whole thing that Vastra said about the Doctor dying all over the place. Yes, Clara fixed it a bit later, but... I don't know, it seemed like he would have regenerated or something since, in the messed up timeline, the 11th Doctor apparently died in Victorian London. That whole thing just threw me for a loop.

Okay, with the thought-provoking problems out of the way we can continue on to stuff I liked. I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved the insertion of Clara into the "Classic" footage. It had my fan-girl heart going berserk. I'd somehow missed on my first watch that the pre-credits bit was Gallifreyan technicians and The Doctor stealing the TARDIS. I was really, really impressed with Gallifreyan Clara. That was amazing. It, and all the rest of the Clara-inserted footage looked great. I really enjoyed all her outfits, too. The only ones I thought were a bit naff were the ones with the leather jacket and the weird hair. What was up with those? Also, the only problem I had with those sequences was the fact that they showed it at the beginning of the episode. It was kind of like reading the end of a book, closing it, and then reading from the beginning.

I loved the conference call. Vastra's letter to Clara had me giggling. I enjoyed that the River we got in this episode was the one from The Library. I laughed at Strax's Victorian Fight Club. I was happy Vastra got totally freaked out when Jenny died and then disappeared later. Those parts made me smile because the pair of them are just awesome. I cried and grinned when The Doctor and River talked and said goodbye. Heck, I'm tearing up over it now.

Lastly, of course, I have to talk about John Hurt. I'd heard about him being cast and seen pictures of him in his Doctor outfit just hours before I saw the episode so I wasn't surprised to see him. My personal theory is that he's essentially the Valeyard. Which was also an fan-girl moment, but we'll just leave that where it is.

I can't wait for November 23rd. It's just such a frigging long time!

Housekeeping

I'll be putting up Warehouse 13 initial reactions in approximately two hours so... look out for those if you read them. For those who don't know, and haven't read my "Read First" blog post, Initial Reactions are what I do instead of live tweeting. People have requested I don't tweet spoilers so... I compromise.

Love ya, Jessie.

Iron Man 3 - Review

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen Iron Man 3, or any of the previous Iron Man movies or The Avengers, please leave the blog and come back later. My reviews always contain spoilers.

Iron Man 3 - Review

As usual for Iron Man movies, this was fricking awesome! It was funny, action packed, and full of surprises.

Was I the only one who didn't realize Tony's bodyguard in the beginning Happy? My sister was like: "How could you not know that was Happy?" I dunno what it was, but I didn't recognize him. I didn't realize that was Happy until he reminded Tony of the incident.

I thought Tony's anxiety was nice. He hasn't really had much of a reaction to what's happened to him beyond getting angry and building more suits. I thought Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of anxiety attacks was over the top. But then, I've never actually had an anxiety attack so... what do I know?

I loved Harley. He was an awesome addition to the cast and very much needed. He gave Tony someone to bounce ideas off of, which he needs about as much as The Doctor needs a companion. His rapport with Tony was just amazing. I really enjoyed his character and I'm glad Tony gave him a revamped "lab" at the end.

It was great seeing Pepper get to do some fighting. She's not just a pretty face, which is awesome for a female in a superhero movie. Speaking of females in superhero movies, it's about time we got a believable female villain. Mind you, Maya wasn't exactly the "Big Bad" but she was believable in her role. It was just really nice to see a female villain, dude.

the best part, by far, was the big battle scene. All 42 suit models were brilliant, even though we didn't get to see all of them. The individual suits we got to see used by Tony were awesome. I thought both Tony and Rhodey were awesome in their own rights without the suits. Their chemistry is awesome and their exchanges amused me to no end. I really enjoyed the villains using their powers effectively. And, of course, I really, really loved that Pepper got to ultimately save the day.

Other random bits I liked: Happy loving Downton Abbey, the giant bunny, suit 42, Jarvis, and Tony's 3D crime scene.

Finally, the after-credits bit. Poor, poor Bruce Banner. For the small amount of time Mark Ruffalo was on screen, he stole the spotlight. I loved, loved, loved how flustered her was over being caught sleeping. I loved his total inability to get through to Tony and then how resigned her is when Tony starts up again. I was grinning the entire scene.

Next Up in the Marvel Movie Franchise: The Wolverine. I can't wait!

Love ya, Jessie.

PS: Not sure when exactly I'll have up my "The Name of The Doctor" review... sometime this week, hopefully.

The Name of The Doctor - Initial Reactions

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's episode of Doctor Who, please leave the blog and come back later. Initial Reactions, like live Tweets, are full of SPOILERS.

Also, there's a small Housekeeping section after all the bullet points.

Also, also, swearing happened. Sorry.

Doctor Who - "The Name of the Doctor" - Initial Reactions

• That's a really interesting way to put her into old footage. I like it.
• That's an interesting little poem.
• Hooray for insane people.
• Old school Fight Club?
• A mental conference call?
• Which women?
• Yay souffles.
• Weird candles. Lol, poor Clara.
• River! Poof.
• Oh, the awkwardness is amusing.
• She's obviously not right.
• Oh, that's no good at all!
• The kids pulled one over on you, Doctor.
• Space hair?
• Poor Doctor.
• Why hook her to the TARDIS?
• Oh... that's no good.
• She can be a right bitch when she doesn't like something.
• Ouch. Poor abused TARDIS.
• I'm not sure I like knowing about Clara this early in the episode.
• You broke her!
• Poor TARDIS.
• How did they get there?
• Yay! Jenny's not dead!
• No, that's not disturbing.
• Clara's getting really disoriented.
• She's remembering "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS."
• Strax, you amuse me so.
• River, you are rather sneaky, aren't you?
• Oh... poor girl.
• The console room is the same as the present one.
• Poor Doctor.
• 
• That seriously, seriously sucks.
• Got to love those disappearing star systems.
• Baddy Strax is not cool.
• Poor Vastra.
• Why was Vastra not disappeared?
• 
• Seriously, love that redone footage. It's brilliant!
• Because he's The Doctor.
• Reaction shots are fun.
• The frigging feels!
• Oh, River.
• Except not.
• That's kind of awesome. Less awesome than the inserts, but awesome.
• 
• It's the Valeyard.
• Well that solves the John Hurt thing.

Housekeeping

For those who didn't see my Tweet about it, I went to see Iron Man 3 tonight. Planning on reviewing it tomorrow. For now, I will leave you with this:

Poor Bruce.

Love ya, Jessie.

Altador Cup Update 2

Okay so... there's not much really going on today besides the Doctor Who season finale this evening so... I'm just gonna do a short thing on the Altador Cup.

Neopets - Altador Cup

Since the last update, 6 more teams have been given their little updates on the Altador Cup page.

• Darigan Citadel - Apparently they have a reputation for joking around and are still pretty much doing that.
• Kiko Lake - Finished 6th last year and were apparently relaxing during the off-season due to stress.
• Lost Desert - Vonde Cayle, the Cybunny, is apparently excited about stocking up on Altadorian spices while in Altador for the Cup.
• Shenkuu - Finished 16th last year. No word as of yet on who's going to be replacing Foltaggio.
• Roo Island - Has a new, as of yet un-perfected shot invented by "Squeaky" Tressif, the Lupe.
• Faerieland - Seems to have given up on the actual game, using the Altador Cup as more of a social gathering for fans.

All of this information was gathered from the short blurbs on the Altador Cup page. Not really anything substantial, but it's slightly fun. As I said before, I'll still be supporting Shenkuu. Just hope we have a better showing this year than last.

Love ya, Jessie.

The Penultimate and the Season Finales

SPOILER, LENGTH, LANGUAGE WARNING

If you have not seen this week's episodes of Grimm, Arrow, Supernatural, or The Vampire Diaries, please lave the blog and come back later. My reviews are always peppered with spoilers. Also, there are Buffy references in The Vampire Diaries review so... if you haven't seen the end of season three of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, you've been warned.

This is gonna be a long one, folks. If you're uninterested in certain reviews, there's a "Page Down" or "Pg Dn" button on your keyboard and a scroll button on your mouse... assuming you have these things, of course. Reviews will be in the order they aired.

Also, I curse a bit in some of the reviews. I don't really believe in censoring that part of myself while writing so... yeah. It's there. Be aware of it. Or not. Your choice.

Grimm - "The Waking Dead" - Review

As a zombie episode, this one fared a lot better than zombie episodes done by other shows. *cough* Once Upon a Time *cough* It was also a fairly original way to do zombies, in the whole scheme of ways to do zombies. The thing with the puffer-fish Wesen is based off actual voodoo rituals involving making "zombies," if what I learned a long time ago watching Taboo is correct anyway. I was pleasantly surprised to see it used here.

I also thought this episode was surprisingly funny. I somehow didn't expect the Wesen reveal to be amusing at all. Bud's freaking out over showing Juliette made me think he was going to vogue at any moment pretty much from the moment Monroe mentioned it. I liked that Rosalee was both apprehensive and really calm about vogueing for Juliette. I enjoyed all the "No, you'd better go first" stuff regarding Monroe. I agree he's not the best Wesen to see first. I'd somehow forgotten just how freaky Blutbaden are compared to the other Wesen. I also really liked Juliette's reaction to her first vogue. I thought the reaction was completely normal and I didn't think for a second that she wouldn't come back to see more than Rosalee vogue.

Lastly, we've got the Adalind and Eric stuff. Adalind is in way over her head with Stefania. Stefania, by the way, is played by Shohreh Aghdashloa. Ms. Aghdashloa played Dr. Kavita Rao in X-Men: The Last Stand, just like I thought. But anyway... I think the weird interplay between Stefania and Frau Pech is interesting and creepy. As for Eric... I think he's got his shriveled heart set on taking over Portland via zombie apocalypse. Without the apocalypse part, of course. And what was up with his hair in this episode? It was all over the place....

Overall, awesome penultimate episode. I can't wait to see how things go down in the finale next week.

Arrow - "Sacrifice" - Review

Okay so... imagine my surprise when I opened up the Arrow and Supernatural Wiki pages to check the episode titles and found them both the same. Kind of a weird thing to have happen, especially with shows airing the same night.

But anyway, the episode.

We got to see Olly's first kill with the bow. we got to see Olly manage to not blow up a plane just in the nick of time. We got to see Fyers die. All of these things I personally could have done without in this already packed episode. But the Arrow writers have a thing with showing us Olly's backstory straight off and where it doesn't mesh with the rest of the episode so... bleh. I wasn't happy with that.

I thought it was interesting that Malcolm did not tell Moira about Olly's "hobby." Might have been the only good thing he did this episode. I had fun watching John Barrowman yell angrily at people. He really does have the best angry faces. I'm kind of sad to see his character killed off, though I completely understand why. I was actually more surprised by Tommy's death than Malcolm's. I know Tommy's been a royal douche to Olly lately, but I don't think he deserved to die. His sacrifice for Laurel was awesome and heartbreaking. I'm really sad to see him go.

Dry up the tears and move on to Felicity and Detective Lance. Despite their never having met before this episode, I thought they had really good chemistry. I was a lot of fun watching Felicity be not-so-smooth in the interrogation room. Kind of weird after last week's not-a-heist, but I liked it anyway. Her little speech about Olly to Detective Lance had my eyes welling up with tears of "Felicity is awesome." Beyond that, though, both Paul Blackthorne and Emily Rickards had some great scared/panicked faces while they were disarming the device and during the aftermath.

Speaking of which, I was not at all expecting there to be a second device. Good villains have back-up plans. And apparently, decide to come out as villains to their children before they both die. I was really shocked by that.

It's going to be interesting next season to see all the characters dealing with the various backlashes from the Undertaking. Moira's going to be in jail or out on bond. Roy's most likely going to come out of this alive, despite stopping to help the dude stuck between the car and the bus. Olly and Laurel are going to be dealing with Tommy's death. And Thea... is going to be... I don't know, it's going to be interesting.

Speaking of Thea, I must now rant about shoe-horned-in PSAs. I understand that texting and driving is a problem and will get you dead. However, the two seconds spent on the subject in this episode were ridiculous. Roy was not texting. He was looking at a map. Drivers have been looking at maps for longer than cell phones have been around. Yes, it's dangerous. You know what else is dangerous? Distracting the driver by stealing their phone and squabbling about it and coming out with a really stupid, out of character line about how "It's not worth it." Come on, really?

Okay, rant over. It's safe to come out.

I think I've prattled on about Arrow long enough for now. My closing remark: The fight scenes were awesome, as usual.

Supernatural - "Sacrifice" - Review

Most extremely obvious end to a story arc EVER. Supernatural was picked up for a 9th season so there was no way in Hell that the Gates to Hell were going to be slammed shut. The demons, Crowley especially, are just too damn interesting to get rid of. Also, of course Sam was going to die in order to slam the Gates. Had has stuff physically wrong with him that Cas couldn't fix. How was that not a giant red flag to Dean that Sam was going to die finishing the trials? Really Dean? How fricking stupid are you? Also, now that Sam's stopped the trials and Cas doesn't have his powers, how is Sam going to continue living with all the shit that's wrong with him?

All that said, the whole fallen angels thing was a surprise. It's actually pretty clear in my Initial Reactions that I actually felt sorry for Metatron until I realized he'd used Cas. The effect of the angels falling was pretty cool. Sucks for them, but it looked cool. I'm now wondering how the Winchesters and Cas are going to find each other now that Cas' angel-juice is gone.

Abbadon was fairly disappointing. I sincerely thought she'd have a bigger role here. Like, actually stop Sam from being able to finish the trials instead of Dean. Apparently, Abbadon got broken out of her boxes to end up dying pretty spectacularly as a tied-up loose end the next episode. I'm extremely disappointed because I thought she was fun to have around.

I thought the extremely convenient way in which the Winchesters caught Crowley was fun. I stress the extremely convenient part because it was just that. I'm also wondering what will happen to Crowley now he's a) stuck in a devil's trap and b) mostly cured. I don't want him to go away or stop being evil because Mark Shepherd is awesome and Crowley's one villain that actually makes good on his threats.

Overall, this season finale was a fun ride. Not particularly full of substance 'till that last bit, but fun nonetheless.

The Vampire Diaries - "Graduation" - Review

Buffy did it better. That is to say, "Graduation Day Part One" and "Graduation Day Part Two" were much more exciting and fun and filled with less cameos that "Graduation" was. Most of "Graduation" was epic, poignant speeches that mostly failed to jerk a tear from my eyes. I much preferred the giant demon snake to cameo-palooza.

Okay so... the only parts of the episode that made me cry even a little were the Rebekah/Matt parts. I loved that Rebekah basically wants to do with Matt what Klaus wants to do with Caroline, except she doesn't have any ulterior motives. I loved that she essentially sacrificed herself for Matt, even if she didn't die permanently. I'm also really glad they're going to go on a road trip together. Good for them.

I enjoyed Alaric getting to be a "bad ass vampire," though I again forgot that he'd been turned into a vampire during his last episodes. when he showed up at the Grill to whisk Connor away, I was like "What? What? How? Ooooohhhhhhh. Duh." I'm really gonna miss Alaric now.

I'm not sure how I feel about Jeremy being alive again. On the one hand, I'm really happy because I like Jeremy. On the other hand, if he'd have stayed dead, it would have made his death in the first place more poignant. So there's that.

I was really surprised to see Klaus back. I was also really surprised that he's allowing Tyler to return to Mystic Falls. He was certainly less of a brat this episode, though there was less of him as well.

The fight between Elena and Katherine was awesome. I'm sure Nina Dobrev had a wonderful time filming that. That fight's been a long time coming and I'm glad they were both mostly able to hold their own. It's going to be interesting seeing Katherine be human again. I wonder if she'll end up in New Orleans with Elijah while Klaus uses her blood to make more hybrids... nah, she wouldn't stand for that.

The rest of the episode, as I said, was just kind of... meh. Elena loves Damon. Obvious declarations from both of them were obvious. Bonnie's dead. Hooray for that. She annoyed me to no end. The rest of the supernatural "living dead" weren't much of a threat at all. All attempts to create a threat with them fell flat. The only weird/interesting thing was at the very end with Stefan and Silas. But, since I have no fucking idea what any of that actually means nor do I think you can kill a vampire by drowning... I'm not touching it. Gonna just let that sit and fester 'til next season.

Housekeeping

Not really much to say here... over the summer I'm hoping to catch up on some shows, keep watching others, and do some actual reading. Stay tuned to find out what's next... well... Saturday should see Doctor Who season finale Initial Reactions so... there's that.

Love ya, Jessie.

Mirror of Erised Question

So I'm rereading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've gotten to the chapter "The Mirror of Erised" and to the part where Harry discovers the mirror. The following excerpt is what my question is about.

"The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them."

Okay so... why just the Potters? Why not also the Evans-es? I mean, it's revealed a little later in the book that what Harry desired was his family so that's the the mirror showed him. But... it just showed him the Potters, not the Evans-es.

I have no explanation for this, only a small theory: Harry already thought he knew what his mother's side of the family was like so he didn't really want to see them.

I'm pretty sure Lily and Petunia's parents were dead before Harry was born and so he never got to meet his grandparents. I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Evans wouldn't have been as nasty to Harry as Petunia and Vernon were. That's why I say Harry thought he knew.

Anyway... that's my random tangent for today.

Love ya, Jessie

Thoughts On Upcoming Fall Shows

Okay so... first thing's first, I'm not going to be doing Initial Reactions for The Vampire Diaries this evening.

Secondly, my reviews for the season finales of the CW shows and the Grimm Season 2 penultimate episode will most likely be done on Friday. Tonight I have babysitting to do and I won't really have time to review anything today. Not to mention, I'd rather review things in a mindset that's not distracted by other things.

I would also like to take a little time to talk about a few shows I'm looking forward to this fall. First, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I've never really been a big fan of S.H.I.E.L.D. but Joss Whedon's at the helm of this things so... I excited. I seriously can't wait for this thing to come out. I know people are going ape-shit over Agent Coulson being in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but a) they need to get over themselves, b) this is the Marvel universe and people don't have to stay dead, c) there's this lovely thing called a prequel, d) why the heck would Coulson NOT be in it? I guess my point here is: I'm excited to see Coulson back and I don't have a problem with the fact that he is back.

• Official Site
• Wiki Page
• Trailer

Second show I'm really looking forward to: Once Upon a Time In Wonderland. I saw the trailer yesterday and it's just amazing. I love Once Upon a Time and I love Alice in Wonderland, despite that it was written by a guy who was high on LSD... so... yeah... getting more of a take on Wonderland from the perspective of the Once Upon a Time crew should be excellent.

• Official Site
• Wiki Page
• Trailer

Third show: Dracula. To those who read my blog on a regular basis, my fan-girl-y-ness over vampires should come as no surprise. I have read the original Dracula novel and though I didn't love it, reinterpretation is a big thing with vampire stuff so... yeah. Also, there's the fact that I only recently found out about Dracula and who was in it. Jonothan Rhys Meyers of Tudors fame is going to be playing Dracula. He's an awesome actor and I can't wait to see how he portrays the... well... King of Vampires, I suppose. The other actor I'm really excited about is Katie McGrath of Merlin fame. She was excellent as Morganna and I can't wait to see what she does with the otherwise annoying character of Lucy Westerna. I've got mixed feelings on Jessica De Gouw playing Mina Murray. It might mean her character on Arrow, The Huntress, won't be coming back, which is sad, because I kinda liked Helena.

• Official Site
• Wiki Page
• Trailer

I will also, of course, be watching The Originals, if only to see whether or not I like it. My thoughts on that can be seen: HERE.

But yeah... that's pretty much it for that. My TV-watching, initial reactions schedule-y thing is gonna get a bit of a shake-up this fall. I know for a fact that Once Upon a Time In Wonderland is gonna be on at the same time as The Vampire Diaries so... yeah...

Love ya, Jessie.

Sacrifice - Initial Reactions

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's episode of Arrow or Supernatural, please leave the blog and come back later. The following initial reactions, like live Tweets, will most likely contain spoilers.

Arrow - "Sacrifice" -Initial Reactions

• Flashback to the raft?
• So Merlyn's decided to torture Olly?
• I'm sure there are fangirls going crazy cuz Olly's shirt's off... again.
• Yeah, the two times you guys fought.
• Oh joy, island flashbacks.
• This is why you don't make noise when you're killing people.
• Bye bye plane.
• I would not survive that, I don't think. That looked like it hurt a lot.
• Hey, Diggle.
• This would be when Felicity gets picked up by Detective Lance.
• Suddenly, daylight.
• Well this all kind of sucks for Felicity.
• Go Felicity! You're totally gonna make me cry.
• Well hello, Tommy.
• Well duh.
• Yeah, that was a good plan, Tommy.
• And that's what breaks Tommy completely from Olly.
• Good thing you're there than.
• Why had no one come up behind Slade?
• Yay, they saved the plane. And blew up the camp. Nice.
• Okay, not so much hating on Detective Lance anymore.
• Got to love it when the superiors don't listen to you.
• Poor Moira... having to hear that all of a sudden.
• Of course he did. The bad guys always get impatient at the last minute.
• Well hello, Laurel.
• No, no he won't.
• Well that's a nice way to put it. This music is not necessary.
• Got to love those CW dramatic kisses with the sunlight blurring out the shot.
• Go crying back to Daddy, Tommy.
• Yeah, Tommy, your father's a gigantic jerk.
• Why is that in a weird bowl?
• Uhmmm... there's no evidence people were walking by.
• Gotta love John Barrowman acting angry.
• Well DUH. Of course it's gonna be underground.
• Go Moira!
• Well that was a lovely reaction to her outing you.
• There you go, annoying Lieutenant.
• Go Thea.
• Time for Tommy to see the Black Archer outfit.
• Ouch.
• He broke a bow.
• Dude, who else is gonna take on Merlyn?
• So who's gonna track down the device?
• Tear-jerking moment, there.
• Not who I thought Olly was gonna call in, but it makes more sense than who I thought.
• All the feels!
• There's Roy.
• Mass panic is extremely scary.
• Diggle needs his own costume.
• Yup, let's break up the crazy with some superfluous flashback.
• Well, there's Slade, being a jerk as usual.
• Except no one really wants to listen to you, Fyers.
• Good boy, Olly.
• Hello weapons cache and Merlyn.
• Those boys really needed to work on their team fighting skills.
• It  looks kind of like the central column of the TARDIS console.
• Looting is in full swing.
• Go Roy.
• Hi, Thea.
• Cute.
• Ouch. Gotta love those trick arrows.
• That's really very not good.
• T_T
• The only thing I hate about season finales are the tears.
• Also, gotta love the no-texting-and-driving-thing.
• This is why Roy's gonna be a hero someday.
• Good going, Diggle.
• Owwwwww...
• Shut down!
• That seriously sucks and was really unexpected.
• And of course Laurel would get trapped and be covered in debris.
• Tommy to the rescue!
• Okay, so now Tommy's dead. Lovely.
• Rebar through the chest, never a good thing.
• T_T
• All my feels, damnit!

Supernatural - "Sacrifice" - Initial Reactions

•  I quite honestly hate this song.
• Season long recaps are kind of boring for those of us who've watched all season.
• Okay... this is just kinda really weird.
• Because he's the King of Hell with a bunch of books!
• He's gonna kill you now like.
• Why is that their ringtone?
• Ah, Dean. Ever the diplomatic one.
• Of course, Supernatural finales make me giggle...
• That was an interesting place to hide it...
• Get real, Kevin's never going back to that.
• A bit of a sexist? A bit?
• Of course the contract is ridiculously long.
• Where have you been, Crowley? There's always trouble in "paradise."
• That's fun. I like it.
• That reveal probably would have been more fun if it wasn't in all the previews.
• So checking the personals was a good plan?
• He never has been.
• Ouch.
• Well that's a nice place for some torture.
• How many times have you said that, Sam? Or Dean for that matter?
• Okay, that's why you don't ever ask Dean for advice.
• Oh, I do love that turn around-ness.
• Nothin' like a creepifying confessional.
• Do not surprise people who are fixin' to load guns.
• Of course he'd show up just then.
• Forgot the incantation there, Sammy.
• No one's ever out, Kev.
• Geez, Cas.
• That worked?
• Cas, you are hilariously inept sometimes. It's hilarious.
• Dude, Dean's always been drinking on the job.
• And of course Cas doesn't get that reference.
• Lol, of course he'd be gay and Cupid would be a girl.
• Well that traps been sprung.
• Hello Abbadon.
• Ow. Poor Sam.
• Bye bye Abbadon. Or not. Of course not.
• Poor Metatron.
• That was totally not what happened, Crowley.
• That's Crowley's humanity showing.
• I seriously love Mark Shepherd.
• Of course it is.
• Well duh. Of course he was gonna die doing that.
• Seriously?
• Well then, I take back what I said about "Poor Metatron."
• Dude, knock it off. Well OBVIOSULY.
• I agree with Sam. It's fracking worth it.
• Well that seriously sucks for Cas.
• Metatron is batshit crazy.
• Never thought Dean would move me to tears.
• It's really not good when all the electronics go off at once.
• So pretty but so very, very bad.

The Waking Dead - Initial Reactions

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen tonight's Grimm, please leave the blog and come back later. The following Initial Reactions, like live tweets, will invariably contain spoilers.

Grimm - The Waking Dead - Initial Reactions

• Evil castle of evil!
• This is all well and good until he finds out she's pregnant.
• What "proposal" is this?
• Dude, just let the girl apologize.
• You'd better have a chance! Having you and Nick apart was just heart wrenching.
• Yay smooches!
• Angry Blutbat is angry... if that was a Blutbat.
• And my cable cut out. That's wonderfulness.
• So... is that guy Wu's partner?
• This woman's voice reminds me of some character from an X-Men movie... I think.
• Ouch. That is an entirely painful way of signing a contract.
• The ME guy has purple gloves...
• It's actually nice to see Hank still on crutches. Continuity is awesome.
• Okay... who's the guy in the hat?
• Zombies. Thanks previews, you suck.
• No, that wasn't weirdly creepy at all...
• These favors are gonna get more and more awkward.
• Monroe doesn't want to show her.
• And it gets more awkward.
• Bud!
• Lol, if Bud freaks out, he might just vogue for her.
• I love Bud.
• Go Monroe. Bud's freaking out over nothing, I think anyway.
• Monroe's face during that whole scene... priceless.
• Nope, weird guy with top hat.
• Yes, because the guy under the hat doesn't matter as much...
• Poor Rosalee, getting dumped on by everyone.
• But of course, Rosalee is also the voice of reason. Also, calmer than everyone else.
• Oh, this episode. I'm totally loving it.
• Nope, that's not creepy at all.
• Rosalee's so cute!
• Dude, she needs some air. That's it.
• Lol, this is hilariously awkward and awesome.
• Yes! You're totally prepared to vogue. Lol, Bud.
• Lol, this scene is so ridiculously awesomely funny.
• Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh rawr. Blutbats are definitely creepier than everything else... everything else being Rosalee and Bud.
• Knew that was coming.
• Obviously she'd know that.
• Well that was definitely an adverse reaction.
• They're way ahead of you, Wu.
• Isn't that Renard's friend?
• Pech creeps me out.
• She looked a lot like Famke Jensen in that shot.
• Well obviously she's not there.
• Yeah... because nothing can happen in 15 minutes. (SARCASM)
• Hmmm... so what's Renard going to do?
• Ah, Wu, you have no idea.
• Huh. Was not expecting a pufferfish Wessen.
• Okay, now where's Juliette?
• Puffer-dude on a rampage.
• Well hello Prince Crazy-Hair Eric.
• What is Puffer-dude up to?
• Of course he'd be keeping them in a shipping container.
• Renard's spy is soooo gonna get caught.
• I'm interested, Bud!
• Keep tellin' yourself that, darlin'.
• They're so cute!
• Why are you having this discussion in the doorway?
• She's okay!
• Oh goodness, Eric. Really?
• Puffer-guy's working for Eric. Lovely.
• Evil laughs all around!

The Big Snag - Review

Spoiler Warning

If you have not seen last night's episode of Warehouse 13, please leave the blog and come back later. The following review will contain spoilers.

However, there is going to be a short Altador Cup coverage section below the review and another short update on The Obelisk War.

Warehouse 13 - "The Big Snag" - Review

This episode was quite brilliant, I have to say. I really enjoy when shows do something unconventional, which is probably why I love Warehouse 13 so much. 

Now for the A Plot. While I was shocked to find the author of the story was actually in the manuscript, I was not shocked to find out he was the one who stole the elephant. Every other story point was just kind of... there, as far as I'm concerned.

The best part about the A Plot was the way it was done. I liked that Myka got to essentially be the detective while Pete kind of floundered around. I loved that Myka got so into the role. All her dialogue was brilliant. I'd watch a mystery movie with Joanne Kelly in it any day. I thought the 1940's outfits were brilliant. I thought it was a good idea to have the story told in black and white, especially because of Myka's dress in the club. That thing looked like it would have been gaudy in color.

I was somewhat amused by the Claudia/Jinks acting at the beginning of the B Plot. Jinks was amusing and I think Claudia not giving him props the acting job was funny. I'm not sure why Claudia was surprised that Artie named his car. Lots of people name their cars. My sisters' cars are Speckles and Narnia. Scarlet isn't that bad. I thought it was interesting and actually kind of cool that the artifact user was a girl. Yes, she was getting back at her boss, but having a female interested in cars is a good thing, in my opinion.

Now, Artie's recklessness in this episode was kind of... odd. I didn't really have a problem with him jumping in front of the car to try and "save Claudia." We knew the thief had to be using something to steal the cars so it wasn't really that big a leap to the whole "intangible" thing. I also didn't really have a problem with him playing chicken with the thief. How the heck else were they supposed to stop her? Yes, both things he did were technically reckless, but... I'm not sure something drastic needs to be done at this point... which is what I think the Regents might be planning despite Jinks' protests.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode more than I did the last two. I'm really hoping the rest of the season gets better from here.

Neopets - Altador Cup Coverage

Altador Cup season is finally upon us!

For those who don't know, this is the one annual event that most every Neopian takes part in. It's very similar to the World Cup for football/soccer in real life only... it's centered around a game called Yooyuball. If you're not into playing Yooyuball, there are some side games to participate in. Each "land" of Neopia has their own team, with the exception of Neopia Central itself.

This year, I will be supporting Shenkuu again. I initially chose this team a couple years ago specifically because Shenkuu is based on Asian culture, which I like.

Now, prior to the Alltador Cup starting signups, we get a short intro to this year's teams and what the Yooyuball players have been doing in the off season. This started yesterday and so we've been introduced to four teams so far:

• Altador - This team has apparently been traded a player who was on Shenkuu's team last year: Foltaggio the Mynci.
• Krawk Island
• Haunted Woods
• Mystery Island

I'll keep you updated as to what other teams have been introduced and what players have been traded. The rest is basically nonsense so it won't get reported on here.

For more interesting Altador Cup coverage, complete with fake news stories, I recommend checking out The Daily Neopets. They aren't up and running yet for this year's Cup, but their coverage later will be pretty awesome, as usual.

Neopets - Obelisk War Update

A little over 24 hours to join a faction and claim some boons for the next skirmish. I've joined The Order of the Red Erisim again, though I probably won't be doing much to actually help out.

Love ya, Jessie.

And Straight On 'Til Silver

So... slightly behind on reviews, but only slightly. I didn't get the time to blog yesterday because, well... there was shopping to be done. However, that means that today, I've got two reviews for you. One for last Saturday's Doctor Who and one for the season finale of Once Upon a Time. If you have not seen either of these episodes, please leave the blog and come back later. My reviews are always lousy with SPOILERS. However, if you'd like to skip down to the Housekeeping section, that will be free of SPOILERS.

Doctor Who - "Nightmare in Silver" - Review

To be honest, I didn't find this episode to my liking. There were too many things about it that had me rolling my eyes.

First, Angie. Angie, Angie, Angie. I get that she's supposed to be being a typical "teenager," but that was just annoying. It was obvious you were having fun two seconds ago. Lying about it does not fool anyone. Being a brat about stuff is stupid. I hate to say this, but she kind of deserved to be kidnapped.

I had issues with a pair of older children being put down for a nap. They're too old for naps and that was a crap way to attempt to get them out of the way and then easily kidnapped. Also, telling people not to run off, especially contrary "teenagers," only makes them want to run off more. Again, easily kidnapped by the bad guys.

I sort of liked but at the same time didn't like the "punishment detail" or whatever. Ridiculous military people not acting very much like they're military annoys me. Then again, I tend to hate on the military mindset... but that's a whole other thing. I thought the individuals were kind of amusing, though really stereotypical for what they were supposed to be.

I really enjoyed Matt Smith's performance as both The Doctor and "Mr. Clever." "Mr. Clever" sent chills up my spine. Also, no one should ever be allowed in The Doctor's mind. It's not a very nice place, though the design was kind of cool. I thought the way The Doctor defeated "Mr. Clever" both times he did it were clever, though extremely contrived. It was lucky the neither entity could tell what the other was doing with each half of his body.

I thought Clara's portrayal was... interesting. She was very good doing the commanding but that bit when she found out the kids had been taken over by Cyber-bits... a little weird reaction. As someone who was a live-in nanny, I would have been much more concerned about what the "children" were up to and especially concerned when it turned out they'd been taken over. I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that Clara wasn't that concerned. It seems she trusts The Doctor much more now, I suppose. What with her concern dissipating after he reassured her the kids would be fine.

Finally, Warwick Davis was awesome. I haven't really seen him in anything where he wasn't in heavy makeup so seeing him in this episode looking more-or-less like himself was nice. I'm not sure how I feel about him being the emperor, though I sussed it out before anyone else did, including Angie. Gah! That girl annoys me.

Overall, "Nightmare in Silver" was... strange. It wasn't scary. It wasn't awesome. It was just kind of there.

Once Upon a Time - "And Straight On 'Til Morning" - Review

I'm not sure what I was expecting here, but a cliffhanger at the end was not it. That said, I don't like the cliffhanger. I'm not and never have been a fan of Henry. He bugs me for a lot of reasons, which, if you look back over my reviews or initial reactions, you might see. I don't like that he's apparently more important than magic or that "The Shadow" wants him.

But, as for the rest of the episode... there were heart-wrenching bits and not-so-heart-wrenching bits.

As I said before, I'm not a big fan of Henry so him kicking up a fuss over Regina bugged me a bit. Yes, she's been his mom for all of his life, but he spent the entire last season hating her guts. As for Regina herself, I'm glad she got to do some hero stuff. I think it would have been better if she'd died doing the hero stuff, like she meant to, but it was nice. The reason I say that, before anyone jumps down my throat about it, is because she's been so ridiculously characterized during this season. I won't go into that here, because I've already ranted the heck out of it in other reviews. However, I will tell you what I wrote in my notes: "And of course Regina has to die for this to work. All I can say is, that means there'll be no more funky characterization for her."

I thought Hook was quite interesting in this episode. The backstory bits he had with Balefire were... weirdly interesting. I would have thought that he'd have realized from the off that Balefire was also Mila's kid and therefore want to help him. So I was quite surprised when his immediate reaction was "Use him to get to the Dark One." I also thought it was interesting that he just gave Bae up to the "Lost Ones" when Bae decided he needed to leave. Present day, I liked that Hook decided to help Emma & Crew. I also quite like that he'll be working with them next season.

I thought it was very nice of Grumpy to give Rumple a dose of the potion for Belle. Mind you, it was for Belle's sake and not for Rumple, but there it is. I thought the scenes we got with Belle and Rumple were heartbreaking. I teared up for them. I also thought the way Rumple took the news of Bae/Neil's death was interesting, especially directly on the tail of almost killing Henry.

Other random things: Why is Henry so dang important? It was really obvious that Hook wasn't going to give Emma the bean right off. Granny guarding Henry was kind of awesome, even if she didn't really do anything. Archie was back for two seconds! Rumple's apparently afraid of "The Shadow." Peter Pan is creepy. And finally, Neil ended up somehow where Phillip, Aurora, and Mulan are. I really hope we get the story of how they got there during next season.

Housekeeping

Sorry again about the lateness. There was stuff.

Tonight, I am planning on watching Warehouse 13. As things are going right now, I'm in a lot of pain and so I probably won't be doing initial reactions for it. Sitting up right now is just not in the cards, I don't think.

Love ya, Jessie.

Nightmare In Silver - Initial Reactions

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen this evening's Doctor Who, please leave the blog and come back later. The following Initial Reactions are like Live Tweeting and therefore contain spoilers

Doctor Who - "Nightmare in Silver" - Initial Reactions

• That's a new thing...
• It's really obviously not the moon.
• Imperial Order?
• That was just weird.
• Disappointed kids are going to be annoying.
• Of course he is.
• Yeah... not that creepy.
• Hey, I recognize that bit of fringe.
• Warwick Davis!
• Okay, those little things were creepy.
• It's nice to see Warwick out of tons of makeup.
• Yay anti-grav.
• Typical teenager.
• He's curious.
• Yup, it's a brilliant idea to leave the kids in a room by themselves.
• And Rule #1 comes into play again.
• And it's alive again.
• Oh God, that's terrifying.
• Of course the kid wanders off. Of course she does.
• It looks like an eye.
• I recognize the chick with the big hair from Sherlock, I think.
• And of course Angie gets in trouble with the soldier people.
• Cyberman attacks.
• You did blackmail her into bringing you along.
• A really fast Cyberman. That's new.
• But why take Angie?
• Lol, "Stay alive until I get back."
• That's a good order.
• Okay, that was slightly creepy.
• What is going on between those two?
• You, Doctor, are such a dork.
• Cyber-Silverfish, more like.
• Got to love those transmats.
• Why did they need children?
• Clara's got him sorted.
• Ah yes, that inifinite potential.
• That looks rather painful.
• Ooooooooo... that's cool.
• Matt Smith is truly awesome.
• The Cyber Planner is jumping about just like The Doctor. It's a little weird.
• This is not going to end well.
• Except there's a small problem, The Doctor will win. Or something will happen that makes The Doctor stay The Doctor. So... there goes the tension, because I thought about it too much.
• Yes, that's incredibly intimidating...
• And detachable hand... that's not good.
• Hooray power structure fights.
• Well that's not suspicious at all...
• Must bring up the gold thing.
• He's the emperor?
• Uhmm... that was weird.
• That is very obviously not the whole Cyberman.
• Yeah... that is a very not good thing there.
• I really love Clara.
• Got to reference the Tenth Doctor.
• That would not be The Doctor. The Cyberplanner is annoying.
• Clara is really clever and awesome. Totally "The Boss."
• That's a lot of Cybermen, and that shot reminded me of "New Earth."
• Don't tell him that!
• Lies
• Cyberplanner is in his head, though. That's not a good thing.
• Well there goes that.
• Well crap-tastic.
• Yup, knew that wouldn't work.
• Clara is surprisingly good at commanding a makeshift army.
• Okay, that was slightly cool.
• The Time Lord invented chess? Color me surprised.
• Wha huh?
• Don't celebrate yet, Clara.
• Ouch.
• Figured that was going to happen. Well... not exactly that, but close enough.
• I think there's a podcaster out there who's going to be very annoyed that Angie knew who he was before anyone else.
• Time to go to the TARDIS.
• What about the TARDIS?
• Ah yes, there you go.
• Bye bye planet.
• Saw that coming about two seconds before he said that.
• "Proper" Emperors are ridiculous and annoying.
• The little one is awesome.
• Give the kid a phone, get on her good side.
• Really? Had to throw that in?
• How did you miss the ping-y thing?

The Walking Dead - Review

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen this week's episode of The Vampire Diaries, please leave the blog and return later. The following review will contain spoilers.

If you came here expecting a review for The Walking Dead, I'm sorry to disappoint. I stopped watching it after it gave me nightmares on two separate occasions... which is sad, because I was enjoying it.

There is a short Housekeeping section after the review, so feel free to check that out.

The Vampire Diaries - "The Walking Dead" - Review

This episode was a whole lot of insane Elena, cocky Bonnie, and cameo appearances. It was less fun than previous episodes, but had me smiling almost all the way through. I think it was mostly down to the cameos.

Okay so... as predicted, Elena got a lot less fun with her "humanity switch" turned back on. Her obsession with finding and killing Katherine was more annoying than I thought it was going to be. It didn't even have a good payoff because Katherine was tied to Bonnie and therefore had to be kept alive. And then we got grieving Elena again. Joy.

I actually found it amusing when Katherine found out she was linked to Bonnie. The super annoyed look on her face and all her struggling just made me grin maniacally. The rest of the Bonnie stuff, though, was annoying. Bonnie flip flops too much between being a very hateful character to extremely cocky. This time it ended in her death, which I'm actually happy about. It's about time she have some consequences she can't actually overcome.

I found Silas a lot more interesting this episode. It's about time a telepathic character actually uses their powers to their full effect. I liked the reveal that Caroline had been in the back room of The Grill the entire time. I liked that Silas made Bonnie believe she couldn't breathe. But that was essentially the extent of his interesting-ness. His petrification was too easy, though. I would much rather have had Damon manage to get Silas' head off.

Speaking of Damon, I was actually really surprised to see Alaric back. I guess I forgot the part where he became an "Original." It was nice to have him back and I just couldn't stop grinning when he and Damon were interacting.

As for the other cameo appearances... Kol pretty much ruined the lovely Rebekah/Matt stuff that was going on. I thought Jeremy should have shown up a lot sooner than he did, especially as Kol could have killed Elena much sooner than he tried to. I'm actually really tired of Grams coming back all over the place. And last, but not least, all the Hunters coming back at the very end. I do wonder how the Mystic Falls crew is going to get out of this one.

Housekeeping

Sorry about not getting this out yesterday, I was babysitting and then I was just too exhausted to get my thoughts together. Tonight I should be posting Initial Reactions for Doctor Who "Nightmare in Silver." I'm not sure at which airing I'm going to be watching it, but I will be watching it tonight.

Love ya, Jessie.

Kiss of the Clip Show on the Edge of Town

Preamble-y-Stuff

I have not been feeling well the last couple of days. My head's just not where it usually is or would like it to be. That's why there wasn't a review of Tuesday's Grimm or Initial Reactions for last night's Arrow put up yesterday. By the time it was time to do these things, my head was off in la-la-land. Or actually, it was closer to being in what I recognize as my "writer's funk." But did I do much writing then? No, I didn't. I did, however watch Arrow and Supernatural so there's that, at least. Without further ado, I give you:

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen Tuesday's episode of Grimm or last night's episodes of Arrow and/or Supernatural, please leave the blog and return later. I'm horrible at giving non-spoiler-y reviews of individual episodes.

Grimm - "Kiss of the Muse" - Review

"Kiss of the Muse" was interesting, to say the least. It was mostly about getting Juliette and Nick back together, mostly by having Nick act like a hormonal teenager because of interactions with a particular Wesen. No one else really had much to do besides act like they were playing a game of Telephone, passing messages back and forth and freaking out.

I quite liked both the new Wesen introduced in this episode. The Luisant-Pêcheur was kind of cute in his, and I'm not even sure how to spell this, volged form. The otter face was just so cute. The character, however, could have been a younger, Muggle, rocked-out version of Severus Snape for all that's worth. I thought the Musai was beautiful in the volged form. The way her powers worked was interesting, though I'm really coming up confused on her characterization. She seemed really into using her powers at some points but freaked out when she realized Nick was a Grimm and she'd used it on him. Maybe it was just the Grimm thing, though... I don't know, she was pretty.

I'm glad Juliette and Nick are apparently back together now. Having them apart saddened me since they're both so right for each other. I really enjoyed the parts where Juliette was talking to Monroe and Rosalee in the shop. The looks exchanged between the couple during the conversations made me laugh. I also liked that Juliette has now pretty much accepted what Nick had been trying to tell her at the end of last season. It makes me so happy! Looks like next week she's going to be seeing the Wesen she knows in the volged forms so that should be even more interesting.

The very end of the episode had me grinning. Captain Renard pulling out the "Hexenbastard" as a threat was just awesome. I wasn't expecting that to happen, but it's handy.

Arrow - "Darkness on the Edge of Town" - Review

Let me just say how much I loved this episode. It was fun without being overcrowded, which I liked. It was great getting to see everyone interact as they individually investigate The Undertaking. And by "individually" I mean the individual groups, not individual people. Although watching them all individually was fun, too.

The not-a-heist at Merlyn Global was amazing to watch. I really felt for Felicity when she was climbing through the walls/elevator shafts with Olly. I'd be freaked out, too. Though I did think it was weird that she didn't have a backpack of something for her tablet. Carrying it while climbing around inside a building didn't really seem like a good idea to me. Also, she seemed strangely comfortable playing her role through that whole sequence. Made a big change from her gambling thing last week. I thought Diggle was amusing in his security role. Any time he gets to kind of let loose is great.

And speaking of Diggle letting loose, I'm sure it felt good to punch Olly in the face a few times, even if he was pulling his punches. I was completely taken in by the ruse of Olly and Moira getting kidnapped, too. Like, I didn't realize it was Diggle under the hood until he asked about The Undertaking and they showed him about to hit Olly. For some reason I thought it was Malcolm under there... which would have been weird, but that's where my brain was at.

I thought Roy and Thea's bit was both cute and heartbreaking. Thea's quite the con artist with the police... though that bit might have been last week. My head's a little weird so it's hard to remember. That the storyline is blurring together from episode to episode that much is a good thing, I think. Olly threatening Roy had me grinning. Roy breaking up with Thea made me want to slap him, especially seeing the look on her face when he said what he did.

Which then brings me to the relationship things going on. I completely understand how angry I perceived Tommy to be at the end of the episode. Olly just got done telling him he was free to get back together with Laurel and then goes and sleeps with her. Tommy has every right to be angry about that. Moira and Walter's impending divorce took me by surprise, actually. I'm not entirely happy with it, but it makes sense why Walter's delivered the divorce papers.

Lastly, I'm wondering what's going to happen as Detective Lance starts to investigate Felicity. I'm assuming he will, seeing as she seems to be his only lead on the Merlyn Global thing at the moment. I do kind of wonder how his computer guy got Felicity's name off of that hacking stuff. Knowing nothing about hacking myself and having a few assumptions about it makes me wonder how her name would be attached to it at all.

Supernatural - "Clip Show" - Review

I have to say, there's a reason in-universe fiction about the main players in the universe is never a good thing. I do kind of wonder why the Supernatural books haven't been picked up by Crowley or someone like him before now. As it is, I'm glad they're being used for something other than hilarity, even if that does mean characters we met way back when are getting killed off. That said, there's also a reason Crowley is my favorite villain on TV right now. He's no-compromising about actually being a bad guy. There's no "redeeming qualities" about him at all. I really, really like that in a villain and especially on Crowley.

On to... Cas. Cas is back! Yay! He's always good for a bit of random comedy, which this show needs a lot of. My favorite part from "Clip Show" was Cas freaking out the cashier guy over the pie. It was clear he's trying to get back in Dean's good graces. The way he's going about it amused me to no end. That said... I'm not so sure about Cas teaming up with Metatron and closing Heaven. There are several reasons for why I have a problem with this. First, locking the angels up together to have them argue things out is clearly not going to end well. That sort of problem solving rarely gets anything done, even when we're not talking about angels. Secondly, Cas completing the "First Task" seemed to me more out of interest of saving Metatron's life than Cas actually doing it to do it... if that makes any sense. I don't think Cas would have killed the Nephilim if she hadn't been trying to kill Metatron. Also, what the hell Metatron? You come out of hiding and your first thought is to lock all the angels in Heaven?

On a side note: the Nephilim gave me Charmed flashbacks. Whitelighters are essentially angels so... Chris and Wyatt was Nephilim. I don't know why, but it made me laugh a little.

Lastly, Abbadon being free and not immediately going to kill Sam and Dean was a little suspect to me. She could totally have sneaked up on them. If I'm guessing correctly, though, she's going after Crowley now... or something. She was really surprised when she found out he was the King of Hell now so I just figure that's what she's going to be doing.

Housekeeping

I am planning on watching The Vampire Diaries tonight. Not sure if I'm gonna be doing Initial Reactions for it as of right now so... if I do them, they'll be up. If I don't, I'll just review the episode tomorrow.

Love ya, Jessie.