Arrow - "Muse of Fire" - Review

If you have not seen episode 7, "Muse of Fire" of Arrow and do not wish to be SPOILED, leave the blog NOW. I will be starting the review directly after this statement.

I don't really have a lot to say about the bulk of this episode. It was a tool for getting Olly and Helena together, rekindling the relationship thing going on with Olly's mom and Tommy's dad, and for getting Thea and her mother to realize that Olly's changed. That said, I liked it. The rest of my comments are about characters and actors/actresses.

One name popped into my head as soon as the female assassin took off her helmet: Helena Bertinelli. I then spend the next couple of minutes/seconds/however long it was until the reveal telling myself not to jump to conclusions. Turns out, I was right. I've always kind of been a fan of Huntress, mostly because of her connection to the Bat-family and because of the Birds of Prey series that got cancelled. I quite like Helena here, too. The actress reminds me simultaneously of Michelle Ryan and Rachel McAdams. This is a nice take on the Helena Bertinelli character and I hope she sticks around for a while. Olly needs someone other than Diggle to talk to.

Next up, Mr. John Barrowman. I love John Barrowman, as I might have said in an earlier review. However, after years of having him as Captain Jack Harkness through Doctor Who and Torchwood, seeing him play someone Jack could possibly have turned into was a little... weird. It's not that I can't separate the actor from the character, it's just that sneaky thoughts keep sliding into my head. Like I said, Mr. Merlyn could very well have been someone Jack Harkness could have turned into despite the fact that he didn't. And Gah! He's Tommy's father?! That explains how he got into the Queen's house undetected, or rather, unchallenged. That seriously threw me for a loop.

It was also nice seeing Tahmoh Penikett as a bad guy for once. He's quite believable in the role and sort of melted into it. At least I was able to separate him more from Helo and Paul Ballard than I was with Barrowman and his past character...

As for the Helena/Olly romance, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I do think Olly needs someone other than Diggle to talk to, as I said before, I'm just not sure another unstable person is the right choice.

Overall, this episode was pretty awesome, I enjoyed it. I liked the whole Helena with the cross thing and that she wore a purple dress throughout most of the episode. It was almost screaming Huntress. I liked Olly's sudden spring into action when his mother was injured. I liked Tommy and Laurel being cute together. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Housekeeping

I'm almost done with my nephew's dresser project. Got the last drawer detail painted today and uploaded a pic onto DeviantArt, if you'd like to see it.

I am planning to watch The Vampire Diaries tonight, but I'm not sure if that's gonna happen as my mother is just now cooking dinner. May of may not have a review for that up tomorrow... we'll see.

Love ya, Jessie.

It's Okay

I'm feeling a little, I dunno, preachy? Inspirational? I don't know, just bear with me.

One of my friends, an old boyfriend actually, posted a clip from Breaking Dawn Part 2 on his Facebook and essentially said he didn't need the context, nor did he want it. I commented that the clip was creepy in context. He took this to mean I'd missed his point to which I said: Not really, I'm just making it seem that way.

I'm not sure exactly why this got me thinking about how it's okay to be yourself or what I want to say to anyone I'm a role model for, but it did. And because I'm thinking about it, I want to write about it. And because this isn't something I think needs to be sitting around on my computer or in a journal, I thought I'd post it here.

Basically, this amounts to a bunch of random thoughts beginning with "It's Okay To" and some other stuff... so... feel free to read, interpret, share, whatever. I do not want hate-mail or whatever from this because that sort of thing is pointless.

It's okay to talk to people.
It's okay to be shy. It's okay to be scared.
It's okay to be a Brony.
It's okay to like Star Wars. It's okay to not like Star Wars.
It's okay to say "no." It's okay to say "yes." It's okay to say "I don't know."
It's okay to like whatever you like, don't let anyone tell you different.
It's okay to be gay. It's okay to be straight. It's okay to be a gay Republican.
It's okay to go against the grain.
It's okay to cry, even if it makes your eyes feel weird.
It's okay to like Twilight. It's okay to like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. It's okay to like Anne Rice. It's okay to like all of these at the same time. My bookshelf once had a Laurel K. Hamilton novel on top of The Twilight Saga next to a bunch of Anne Rice books all on top of various manga and other random books including Buffy, Doctor Who, X-Men comics, and a few sci-fi titles.
It's okay to be crazy. It's okay to be calm.
It's okay not to "lol" when you type "lol."
It's okay to be a nerd. It's okay to be a geek.
It's okay to love animals.
It's okay to have crushes on fictional characters.
It's okay to have tattoos.
It's okay to paint. It's okay to draw. It's okay to write. It's okay to cover your room in posters and paint.
It's okay to grow your hair out or cut it.
It's okay to have stuffed animals when you're an "adult."
It's okay to play games.
It's okay to like TV shows.
It's okay to mix and match.
It's okay to be weird.
It's okay to like food. It's okay to not like food, so long as you try it first.
It's okay to be an "adult" and still be active in the online communities you were when you were a "kid" or a "teenager."
It's okay to be a little bit obsessive.
It's okay to make references only you get. It's awesome if other people get them, too.
It's okay to say something stupid. It's okay to think about it years later and wonder why you said it.
It's okay to lose your train of thought.
It's okay to continue later.
The only thing it's not okay to do is hate, in any form or fashion. Hatred tears people apart, as corny as that sounds. But it's true, so don't do it.

Which basically means I've apparently got all the thoughts out of my head on this subject so... that's it from me.

Love ya, Jessie.

"Into The Deep" - Review

Just gonna jump right into this and not put in a separating header until the Housekeeping section so... SPOILER WARNING if you haven't seen this week's episode of Once Upon a Time.

I really enjoyed this episode despite it being, as I said Sunday night, really predictable. I did not believe Hook when he told Aurora he was rescuing her, I thought he was going to double cross her, which he essentially did. I knew Charming was going to get stuck in the dream/curse, that was obvious. I figured Henry was going to go to sleep even as Charming was going in... but that didn't happen, which I liked. Henry's being less of an annoying snot than he usually is, which is good.

However, Henry's view on magic is driving me nuts. "Oh magic is bad, but if you're using it to help people, that's okay." Gah! He needs to get off Regina's back about it. If she's truly on the path to redemption she'll do it however she does it whether he likes it or not. Meaning: let the woman use the damn magic already and stop being a judgmental little jerk. Regina was cool during this episode. I like how her character has changed and I think I like where she's going.

I liked Aurora's character a lot in the episode. She was more selfless than she has been and I liked that she'd been planning to go to Storybrooke with Emma and Snow. I really liked her telling Cora off about Phillip. She's been grieving in her own way, that much is obvious. I'm sad that Cora's got her heart now, though. That's going to be heart-wrenching (excuse the pun) when Emma, Snow, and Mulan find out.

Speaking of Mulan, I really wanted to slap her. She seriously thought Emma and Snow were just going to let Aurora stay in Cora's grasp? Really? Has she not been around them since they landed in Fairytale Land? Has she not seen how ridiculously unselfish they are? The fuck, Mulan? Seriously? On another note concerning this... I'm totally shipping Aurora/Mulan. Mulan's actions are more than just a debt to Phillip, I just know it.

All together, this episode was stellar for something so predictable. The character moments were good, everyone was on top form. The only thing (other than Henry) that I'm getting tired of is Snow and Charming and their "You found me. No, you found me. We'll always find each other." shctick.

Housekeeping

Okay so... it's officially the Holiday season and all the shows are either wrapped up or are wrapping up until January. This means I'll have less to blog about... unless you'd like reviews on old TV shows, which I doubt so... I'm going to be cutting back. Instead of Initial Reactions for any remaining episodes of things, I'll just have the reviews. I'm also going to be blogging only a couple days a week for the remainder of the year.

Upcoming Stuff

• The Hobbit Review - Review of the movie after I see it. I'm not a huge Lord of the Rings fan so... yeah.
• My nephew's due next month so there's that.
• Neopets is starting their annual Advent Calendar in three days.
• Christmas... which I probably won't blog on, but it's there anyway.
• Holiday shopping
• Me talking about random stuff because I started a list and don't know how to end it...

Love ya, Jessie

I'm back!

Rejoice, for I have returned! I'm mostly over the sick that was dragging me down last week... hope all my American readers had a great Thanksgiving and possible Black Friday madness. But now, if you have not seen tonight's episode of Once Upon a Time, kindly either skip down to the Housekeeping section or go away entirely. The choice is yours, but SPOILERS abound in tonight's Initial Reactions.

Once Upon a Time - "Into the Deep" - Initial Reactions

• Oh look, it's Cora, how annoying.
• Where'd she get a parasol?
• Lots of flip-flopping there, Hooky.
• Obvious that wasn't going to work, Hook.
• Zombie time!
• She really wasn't lying, that was just not saying anything.
• Poor Aurora.
• Regina would be somehwat skeptical.
• Dun dun dun.
• Lol, extra pickle-y goodness without dark magic.
• Lol, close down the diner for a potential cat-fight.
• Awkward...
• Yeah really, let her be a little badass.
• Yay, little cat-fights are fun.
• It was something very not good was what that was.
• Bandits?
• Nice shooting, Snow.
• Nope, those is some zombies.
• They stole Aurora...
• Owwwwwwwww....
• And now Aurora's in the pit.
• Heroes do strange things sometimes and Cora knows that.
• She might have, and manipulation is fun...
• Your manipulation was super obvious, Cora.
• Geez, Charming. Also, that's the quietest Henry's been in a while.
• Hook's rescuing Aurora?
• Hmmm... I can't help but think about Hook's weirdness.
• Or spend time standing around talking when there's a TIME ISSUE!
• Why are we blaming Regina again?
• Ugh! This ridiculous not using magic crap. Henry's too black and white... oh, but it's okay if she helps people with it. Bah!
• Pretty curse-potion is pretty.
• Henry's gonna try to do it anyway, because he's a pest.
• Spindle!
• Good job the powder didn't drift.
• The room with no doors isn't a room, it's the torch.
• I would've risked Henry, it would have been so much simpler and less risky.
• Pick up the necklace, stupid.
• And I'm wrong, as usual.
• Stop wasting time!
• I'm pissed off at you. - Snow's totally thinking that.
• Whoops. Fail.
• Well now we gotta wait...
• Except stuff has gone horribly wrong, like everyone knew it would, which is why the plan was stupid.
• Where's Mulan?
• Way to not notice, Emma.
• What is it?
• And that was super obvious... wohoo...
• Well that sucks.

After Thoughts

New section I'm starting up that may or may not happen all the time, but I have a little bit of ranting before the review that should be up tomorrow. I predicted the "heart" thing and the "Charming's stuck" thing. Mind you, I thought Cora was going to be the one to grab Aurora's heart, but I still called it! Charming being stuck, well, that was incredibly obvious. You gotta have a kiss OUTSIDE the spell not DURING the spell. Bah!

Housekeeping

So, last week while I was sick I did some painting. One of my little sisters, Robyn, is having a baby next month and he will need somewhere to put his clothes. We have this old chifferobe that was mine and Robyn's when we were kids and that's what he'll be using. I'm currently two drawers away from finishing the project to make it match his room/theme. If you're interested in seeing my progress, check out my DeviantArt via the "My Art" link up in the navigation bar. Or click this handy link RIGHT HERE.

I've made the decision NOT to review the episodes of Arrow, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic that I missed/watched later from the week before last/yesterday. Sorry about that. Might get to them later, might not. You just never know.

Meantime, don't forget to comment down below and follow me on Twitter and on DeviantArt, if you like. Don't forget to be awesome!

Love ya, Jessie.

Vampires, Hexenbiest, and Ponies

I'm going to start out with a big fat SPOILER WARNING for anyone who has not seen last week's Grimm or My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. And also, if you haven't seen Breaking Dawn Part 2, go away. There will be SPOILERS! Also, there is a small instance of profanity. If you'd like, though, you can just skip down to the Housekeeping section to find out what I'm doing these next couple of days.

Grimm - "Season of the Hexenbiest" - Review

I think I forgot how much I liked Adalind running around messing with people. She's a giant slimy bitch, but she's fun to have around. I liked that we got a lot of Monroe this episode, he made me laugh. He also has a semi-permanent room for Nick, which is cool. And speaking of, the whole Nick/Juliette/Renard thing has really heated up and I'm glad we got to see more of Juliette having issues because of it. Her picking at the Wessen thing is nice, I hope she gets to be let in on the big secret soon.

Altogether, I really enjoyed this episode. I want more!

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - "Too Many Pinkie Pies" - Review

I was left with the overwhelming urge to slap Twilight Sparkle, and everyone else for that manner, a few times. It was SO OBVIOUS that the sad Pinkie was the real Pinkie! Twilight even tells Spike "They all say they're the real Pinkie." Only, the real Pinkie didn't so... that's gotta be the real one, duh? I wasn't really enamored with this episode, but it was kinda fun initially.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Review

This was my first time seeing a Twilight movie in a room full of fans and that definitely had an impact on my enjoyment of this movie. Overall, the acting was much improved from the beginning and it was further underscored by my little sister and I having watched New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn Part 1 the night before. I really, really enjoyed this movie.

I love, love, loved the vision Alice shared with Aro. I'd known it was coming, but I got sucked into it anyway. One of the guys sitting behind my sisters and I was like "I was getting into it!" after the vision ended. The action during that scene was awesome and thoroughly satisfying. I think my favorite bit was Alice dragging Jane to Sam to get her comeuppance.

Of the new characters introduced, I enjoyed Benjamin and Garrett the most, just like I did in the books. Benjamin was just a blast of fresh air into an almost entirely uptight cast of newcomers. Favorite bit with Benjamin: his first appearance. That was just epically awesome. Garrett totally made my day in the few scenes he got to be in. He was funny and entirely genuine. My favorite part with him was around the campfire as he commended Liam on an awesome revolution. I laughed.

I really liked that we didn't stay home with Bella and Edward like we did in the books. Traveling with the others and even getting a glimpse at what the Volturi were doing made the story feel just that much more epic. Favorite part of traveling: Emmett and Rosalie picking up Garrett. Garrett telling his prey to shut up had me loving him instantly.

There were a couple of things that bug me about the movie versus the book, though. First off, Bella twigged about the Merchant of Venice book immediately in the book, but here it seemed to take forever. Second, there wasn't enough interaction between Bella and Renesmee. Kristen Stewart seemed kind of fake in a couple of the scenes she had with Renesmee simply because the interaction wasn't there. I was especially sad Renesmee wasn't in the scene where Kate, Garrett, Emmett, and Edward were teaching Bella to shield properly. The entire reason Bella got her shield extended in the books was because Renesmee was in "danger" from Kate. Another niggle: Seth didn't break any bones. When he leapt between Bella and Jacob, her was supposed to have gotten his shoulder broken. But no, he just shook it off like being thrown really hard into a tree was nothing. What?

Anyway, I do believe Breaking Dawn Part 2 is my favorite in the series. I will definitely be watching it a few times after it's on DVD.

Housekeeping

Uhmm... yeah... I was gonna watch Arrow last night but my computer decided it didn't like Flash Player for no reason. I should be getting both Arrow and The Vampire Diaries watched in the next couple of days. Meantime, I'm going to be painting my nephew's chifferobe and working on redoing/doing some fanfiction covers for my stuff on fanfiction.net. I've already redone the one for Heat Wave, if you wanna go have a look...

Love ya, Jessie.

I'm Such A Bad Blogger

Okay so... hi.

I realize I haven't been around at all this week... ya know, after Monday. I also haven't watched Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, and probably won't watch Grimm tonight. Part of this is due to food being prepared at my house at odd times. Part of this is due to a cross-stitching project I started. And part of it is watching tons of Sea Quest DSV.

This weekend, my littlest sister is coming into town. We're having a Twilight Saga marathon in preparation for going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2. I'm pretty excited about it. I also probably won't be blogging about it until way after the fact.

So... that's it from me right now.

Love ya, Jessie.

Once Upon a Time - Child of the Moon - Review

SPOILER WARNING and also a bit of profanity, because things made me angry...

Once Upon a Time - "Child of the Moon" - Review

I am firmly of the belief that if the fairy tale villians would just stop trying to get revenge, they'd be a lot happier. Take King George, for instance. Had he not been a complete asshole to James/Charming after the marriage to Abigail fell through (and a bit before that) he would currently have an adopted son, daughter in-law, granddaughter, and great grandson. He might even have gotten on splendidly with Charming's mother. But instead, he decided to be an asshole bent on ruining the life of someone who essentially did nothing to him. It's not Charming's fault George's wife died/was barren. It's not Charming's fault James was murdered. It's not really Charming's fault Abigail was in love with someone else. I'll grant that it's Charming's fault Abigail didn't marry him, but that shouldn't have resulted in a beheading and rescue by Regina! The only thing Charming did after that was take back the kingdom with Snow. And we're not even sure if that was Regina's kingdom or George's kingdom!

But anyway... I really enjoyed this episode. Ruby/Red has always been one of my favorite characters and it was great to see an episode all about her. I'm not so fond of the younger Red, but she was okay. The CG wolves were the best I've seen on TV, despite being crap when you look at other CG examples. I was okay with Red's mother until she turned on Snow. I'm kinda glad she's dead, though they could have done something more with her. I liked Gus for all of the short amount of time we got to see him for. Gus was my favorite of Cinderella's mice friends in the movie.

Other important plot bit time! Henry and Aurora's dream thingy. I find it interesting that Henry got burned but Aurora doesn't seem to be injured by the dream. I also find it suspicious that Rumple is taking the price for Henry's little amulet/potion necklace. What's so special about Henry that Rumple's willing to do that? Maybe Henry reminds him of Balefire or something...

Anyway, awesome episode. Lots of stuff to chew on and mull over until next week.

Love ya, Jessie.