Bad Kiss Rising?

It's the Grimm Season 2 Review post! There are spoilers, you've been warned. And when I say "Season 2 Review" I mean the first three episodes. This is gonna be a bit long so, let's get on with it, shall we?

Bad Teeth

OMG. Was that the WORST "series summary/opening" ever or what? Seriously, the Buffy one was better. However, we're just gonna ignore that and go with this: Was that an awesome season opener or what? We get Mama Grimm (thank you Grimm Podcast), Rosalee and Monroe being cute, an awesome new Wesen, and Renard's brother, all in one episode. I'm in heaven.

Having been left on a cliff-hanger at the end of last season, I was extremely excited for the conclusion. The Grimm team did not dissapoint. I loved, loved, loved this episode, as if you hadn't guessed that already...

The Kiss

So... Renard is at least part Hexenbiest. I did not see that coming. I also didn't realize that's what he was until I listened to The Grimm Podcast (I'm only plugging it because it's awesome) so... hindsight = greatness.

I really enjoyed all of the fight scenes, they were awesome. I was amused by all the scenes with Rosalee, Monroe, and Mama Grimm. So Awkward and Hilarious. Mama Grimm is such a bad-ass and so awesome. I really loved her interactions with... everyone. And speaking of "moms," I'm glad Mama Hexenbiest is dead and Juliette is awake. Pretty much predicted the "She's not gonna remember Nick" part so... that's all I've got for this episode.

Bad Moon Rising

I'm not plugging The Grimm Podcast again, promise.

This episode is essentially: "Let's mix rednecks, crazy orgy-rituals, and Hank finding out about Wesen." That said... Hank accepted the reality of Wesen really easily, almost too easily. I mean, I like that he knows now, but dude! He thought he was going crazy in the beginning! He was going crazy in the beginning. His easy acceptance reminds me, just a little, of Oz's introduction to the supernatural world. Just a little.

The rest of the episode was really creepy and uncomfortable, much closer to home than I like my TV to be. I didn't find the Coyotls creepy -- they were kinda cute, actually -- but their actions...

Anyway... I'm loving the season thus far. I can't wait till next week!

Love ya, Jessie.

PS: The Grimm Podcast is available on iTunes. Go listen, it's awesome.

The Trials of a Best Man - Mini Post

Okay so, I was planning today's Blog post, which will include reviews of all three episodes of season 2 of Grimm, and I realized: This is going to be super long. I don't want it to be super long... so, here's a mini-post for you. ^_^

The Trials of a Best Man by mudbloodproud

     I've recently been listening to MuggleNet.com's audio fanfictions. That's right, listening to fanfiction. Anyway... episode 11 is a reading of "The Trials of a Best Man" by mudbloodproud and it's ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. Read by EquinoxChick, this story takes place on Lily and James Potter's wedding day. Sirius Black absolutely shines as the loveable, caring, and humorous Best Man and best friend. He gets to encourage both Lily and James and do a speech! Near the end of said speech, I was crying. I was awesome. The story was absolutely brilliant. It's short, it's a one-shot, and it's Marauder's Era-ish Harry Potter goodness.

     Links to the readable version of this fanfiction and it's author are in the title of this section. You can find the audible version either through MuggleNet.com or on iTunes in the podcast section, for free. I encourage you to check it out and take a listen.

Love ya, Jessie.

The Adventures of Reztap meets Warehouse 13

Okay so, I finished a book this morning at 2 AM and was compelled to write a review of it. I also had a lot of time on my hands today and so I pre-wrote my Warehouse 13 reviews. So... welcome to the almost entirely pre-written blog post.

The Adventures of Reztap by Artemis Withers - Review

     The Adventures of Reztap is the tale of Tar Reztap and his best friend Gorth. The pair manage to find their way into, and then out of, many a mess. Saying anymore would ruin the story.

     Now, I'm going to be completely honest... This book was not for me. The plot was... scattered and hard for me to follow half the time. There were four characters (Tar, Gorth, Chuck, and Kalleen) I could pick out of the host of others and that was pretty much it.

     Tar was incredibly immature and hard for me to relate to. He's the unwilling, unwitting hero of the piece, I'll say that much for him. Gorth, the narrator and our guide through the book, seemed oddly stoic for someone who had to deal with Tar on a regular basis. I know I'd be tearing my hair out and slapping him half the time. Chuck... was interesting. Kalleen... well, she made me chuckle a few times, especially when she shot down Tar right out of the gate.

     My overall opinion of this book is that it's not for everyone. If you enjoyed and were able to follow exactly what went on in such books as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, odds are you'll enjoy Reztap. Me, I'll go back to my vampire novels.

Warehouse 13 - First Five Episodes Reviewed

     Again, like with my Alphas review, I'm going to do a bit of a brief review of the first five episodes of Warehouse 13 and then a review of the most recent episode.

     So far, I'm really enjoying this season. I find the thing with Jinks, Claudia, and the Metronome really interesting. The Metronome's downside is quite the dilemma for our intrepid pair and it makes me wonder who died for Marcus Diamond last season. Unless of course I missed that bit somehow... Speaking of downsides, Artie and the Astrolabe have quite the downside. Of course, the monk guy isn't making life easier for Artie. Honestly, that bit where Artie can't tell anyone about what he did on top of stealing Artifacts... that's just ridiculous! Can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the season!

Warehouse 13 - Fractures - Review

     So... I wasn't really a fan of how Warehouse 13 did Alice in Wonderland last time (despite Alice as Myka being hot ). However, I did quite enjoy how the story Alice in Wonderland story held clues to other Artifacts. I'm not a fan of Alice's look. It's like: Hey, this girl's bat-shit crazy; let's make her look like a walking skeleton with hair. The super bruised-looking eyes were NOT necessary.

     Artie and Vanessa were just so cute together! I really love it when Artie gets all flustered and lies to everyone but Myka. I'm sad Artie never did give Vanessa that bell and that he's decided to be a miserable old coot. Okay, actually, I'm angry about that. Here's why: Guys don't just get to decide when things are to dangerous for their girlfriends/relationship. That's .
     Claudia finally knows about Jink's pain-transference! I just hope they don't end up having to kill him again. That would suck and probably damage Claudia beyond repair... probably.
     Overall opinion: Middling. Not the best episode, but pretty awesome anyway.

Okay so... that's the end of today's blog post. Hope I didn't kill anyone with the over-abundance of Emoticons during that last review. They seemed appropriate.
     Anyway... that's it from me.

Love ya, Jessie.

Alphaville and the Great Website Redesign

Hello, my dear readers, I'm back... again. This time, I'm hoping for longer than just the odd post every couple months.

SPOILERS

My original intention with this post was to give a review of the first three episodes of Season 2 of Alphas until I realized... there have been six episodes so far this season. Not sure how I missed that but... meh. So here's my very brief review of the first five episodes: I liked them. They're fun. Dr. Rosen is shaping up to be a much better Professor X than Professor Charles Xavier. And that's without powers. Nina... has issues, but it looks like she's working through them. I like Kat. I think Stanton Parish is going to be a nice counterpoint to the "Government regulated" Alpha squad. Also, Section 6 or whatever reminds me very much of the Marvel Universe's Neverland Ranch...

Alphaville Review

I cannot fully express my joy that Summer Glau got to come back and play a not-crazy person. She's absolutely believable as a mother and I absolutely love little Digit. I also loved Gary in the episode, finding out that he can read more than just the signals of the "civilized" world. I fully believe he would have had problems moving into that cabin he wanted... which makes me glad Alphaville got burned down.

Speaking of Alphaville, I enjoyed the thought of creating a new Alpha-centric town. It's much better than "Mutant Town" of the Marvel Universe which was just a section of New York. I really do hope the team gets an opportunity to visit another Alpha town or community.

Rachel's ability being turned up a notch was interesting... but I really don't see why the production team decided to do that. Rachel seems like an odd choice for a power-up. I did love the fire-starter guy, though. His souped up power was amazing.

All in all, I loved this episode. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Can't wait to see what these guys come up with next.

Housekeeping

So... Webs has decided they need a new website builder. I'm not sure I like it, at least as far as blogging goes. Therefore, the blog section of the my website will be going dormant as of... well, today. I'm going to link any and all parts of my "Reviewed" page to their respective Blogger blog posts instead of the Webs ones. The rest of the site is getting a bit of a redesign, which Webs' new format makes it a tad easier to do.

I guess that's pretty much it so...

Love ya, Jessie.

Wolf Stone Jewelers

I know, I know, it's been ages and I'm a horrible blogger. However, I've got a new fanfiction review for you so... here ya go:

Wolf Stone Jewelers by picascribit
     A follow-up/sequel to picascribit's Highland Fling. This is a very short little bit of fluff that was a very nice little window into non-magical Sirius and Remus' lives after they FINALLY got together. It features Sirius as a jeweler and Remus... very little, but it's short so all is forgiven.
     I quite enjoyed this little fic, except for a certain pet-peeve of mine: Things People Say While Asking Someone To Marry Them. Maybe it's just me, but the things people either actually say or fanfiction authors put into character's mouths are often corny, short, and altogether annoying in their repetitiveness. Picascribit doesn't dissapoint in making me cringe a little internally, but, all things said, it wasn't a long, drawn out speech concluding in "Will you marry me?"
     Anyway, go read it. It's cute, at the very least. If you haven't read Highland Fling, the link is above where it's mentioned. You should definitely read that first. I don't think you'll enjoy Wolf Stone Jewelers otherwise.

Housekeeping
     Yeah, I'm not going to wax lyrical about how I'll try to post more regularly, because I know I won't. However, I will definitely post when I actually have something to say. Quality over quantity and all that.

Love ya, Jessie.

Dear Bronies

Bronies, we need to have a talk. It's about our wonderful ponies and the tendency to graft human problems onto them. Sure, that's sort of what they are there for, but we need to draw some lines.


Line 1: Scootaloo the Chicken

No, I have no problem with us calling dear little Scoots a chicken. What I have a problem with is grafting her with a handicap and sad story of not living in Cloudsdale. I bring this up because of a Brony panel (which was not actually a panel, by the way) that took place at Comicpalooza. The Philosophical and Sociological Aspects of My Little Pony consisted of a single guy who spent WAY too much time talking about how Scootaloo's eing size prevents her from flying and therefore is a handicap. He also told us about his head-cannon where Scootaloo and her parents had to live in Ponyville because Cloudsdale is unsafe for poor, flightless Scootaloo.

So... what if it turns out Scootaloo just has flightless parents, like Pound Cake. What then? What if, the next time we see her, she manages to take off and fly? This would completely destroy all of that. But no, apparently, Scootaloo is handicapped be too-short wings.

And then there are the sad stories about Scootaloo being an orphan. They're just... unnecessary. Seriously. The reason these stories popped up were because Scootaloo's parents haven't showed up in the show. Which, if you notice, is true for 99% of the ponies in the show. We might as well just brand all the ponies orphans, if that's the only reason Scootaloo is an orphan.


Line 2: Ditsy Doo/Derpy Hooves

First, let me say this: Derpy is Best Background Pony. However, just because she is a walleyed and clumsy does not mean she is sad or has a sad life.

This, I bring up, because I listened to BaldDumboRat of YouTube's reading of "Bubbles." It was cute, for the most part. However, I have a gigantic objection to the abusive mother portrayed in the story. "Hey, I think it's a good idea to poison my daughter and then leave her alone in the forest." Stop. Just... seriously. Stop it!

This is a kid's show for Pete's sake! Postpartum Derpy's mom we do not want or need. It's annoying and makes me cry. I watch ponies and do pony stuff to brighten my day and smile. I don't need depressing stuff. Yes, I found "Bubbles" depressing. I found it more depressing than sad "Derpy-pocalypse" art. And don't even get me started on that.


Line 3: Cupcakes/Rainbow Factory

Haven't read them? Don't. No, seriously, don't.

Read them? Stop talking about them. Me included.


I guess what I'm trying to say is this: STOP taking cute, cuddly, smile-inducing things and making them resemble human everyday.

I believe ponies are meant to educate about friendship and acceptance. They don't need to be burdened with our crap. We all know they've got their own crap to deal with. Party of One, anyone?

Fandom

Hello again. So sorry I haven't posted in over a month... comes from being distracted by other things. However, I had this little thing niggling at me at 1 AM, so I wrote it down and here it is:

So, I've had a few people scoff at me for liking certain things -- one of which was My Little Pony. Instead of just walking away from what was sure to turn into an online confrontation, I asked them if they'd ever seen an episode of the afforementioned My Little Pony. A couple of them answered in the negative. I've only ever had one person say they'd seen it and didn't get it.

     My next question was "Why not?" Okay, actually, I sent them something that essentially said "don't knock it till you've tried it." But I did eventually get around to discussing why they either hadn't seen it or why they're come to decide not to even try it.

     The answer, to my surprise, had to do with the fandom. Us Bronies are apparently too crazy or something. The reason this surprised me was my own experience with fandom. The Brony community is generally not made up of crazed individuals. In fact, a prevailing mantra we have is to love and tolerate.

I'm not saying there aren't those of us who aren't a bit crazed, but those are the minority.

     This then led to other discussions with other people about other things. One person I talked to had never read any of the Harry Potter books nor seen any of the movies. When I asked why this was, they cited fandom as the reason. Nothing specific about their personal tastes, just that fandom puts them off the entire thing. Not reading the books because they don't want to be associated with the fandom.

     As a memeber of multiple fandoms (including but not specifically limited to, My Little Pony, Harry Potter, Twilight, and Doctor Who) this citing of fandom as a reason not to get into things has me confused. I find pretty much all of the fandoms I'm in have such nice people as members. We're not like some exclusive club or anything. We're just people who like something and want to share and discuss it. There's a place for everyone. And yes, that includes the crazy contingent.

     But really, is that small minority what puts people off? Is the fanbase a valid reason not to give something a try? I don't get it. It's not like liking something means you have to actively participate in fandom. I generally don't.

     Okay, yes, I have written fanfiction in the past. I do draw ponies for people and post them to DeviantArt. But for the most part, my fan-participation badges only include listening to podcasts, listening to music, looking at art, and reading fanfiction. I'm a fairly passive fan. I don't even do all of those things for every fandom. Heck, some of my fandoms don't even have any of those.

     Personally, I don't feel like fandoms are represented in a good light by outsiders. Take the Bronies, for example. Boys, grown men, and grown women liking pastel colored ponies aimed at little girls. They're weird. There's something wrong with them. Right? Wrong. Bronies are just people who like this brilliantly animated, brilliantly written cartoon. We make wonderful art. We write some of the best music I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. Hell, we even contribute to charity. What is so wrong with that?

     The real answer is this: NOTHING.

     Society has these things they call "norms." "Norms" basically take people and shove them into ill-fitting boxes. If you don't fit in your box, you're automatically an outcast. But people don't fit into "norm" boxes and never have. If you think you do, you're wrong. We're all different and we all want to be accepted for who we are and what we like. That's where fandoms come in. We take a group of people who like something and we turn that group into a community. Everyone has a place. We share, we make friends, we have fun! That's what fandom is all about.

     So maybe you're afraid to get into something because of fandom. I encourage you not to be. There's a place for you, even if you choose not to participate. Try it anyway. Who knows, you might find something you like.