(no subject)

[sideways]

• Dark Matter season 1 ended up being a pleasant run if not an immediate, overwhelming favourite. The character moments were the big highlight, with some very warm fuzzy found family feels kicking in quickly, but it was a little undone by a weirdly bland setting as far as sci-fi goes and some scripting decisions that felt very... late 90s / early 2000s and not always in a good way. I'll probably watch the following seasons at some point.

• I have had the attention span of a gnat when it comes to video games lately. Sort of restlessly settled into trying a Mass Effect franchise replay currently, which is sometimes very fun and sometimes a reminder that the ME1 combat was tolerable at best.

• I'm not very good at podcasts as a rule, but since I had to sit through 13 odd hours of travel early in March I thought it would be a good time to take a stab at The Penumbra Podcast, which anneapocalypse has been blogging about so enthusiastically! I've been sticking with the Juno Steel storyline: a loving noir replica with a private investigator lead and all the best clichés, but set on Mars and queered through the roof. The voice-acting is sharp and the dialogue has had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion; the 'homme fatale' romance threaded through the storylines is also extremely charming. It has its flaws though, because what doesn't, and it's not one to pick up if you need to be surprised by the plot. I actually started struggling around the middle of season 2 because there were "twists" dragged out across multiple episodes that had been painfully obvious from the start, and it was starting to hurt the narrative - characters making bad decisions because they're messed-up is delightful, but characters making bad decisions because that's what the plot needs to function is a pain, especially when the lead is meant to be making a moderately successful living off his observation skills. Anyway. By the end it started picking up again, and I'm looking forward to what season 3 brings!

• Patrick Ness' "The Knife of Never Letting Go" has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time, so I finally pulled it down and gave it a go. For the first half I thought I might have found a new favourite; then I had to agonisingly claw my way through the second half, so, maybe not. Weirdly, yet another case of "revelations" being spun out for longer than the actual content justified (among a couple of other things). I'm not asking to be shocked, really, I just... want to be curious. I can't maintain interest if the narrative is expecting a large portion of that interest to hinge on wanting to find out The Answer when The Answer was, uh, pretty apparent a while back.

• Supposedly HBO is giving up 500 hours of free TV. Hoping that carries across the ocean, because I've never watched The Wire but I'd like to try.

• Rewatched Gone Girl (still great) and The War of the Worlds (not great, cannot really justify why I still like it anyway).

Comments

[unavee]

if the narrative is expecting a large portion of that interest to hinge on wanting to find out The Answer
I saw a discussion the other day about creators pulling the trigger on obvious climactic events instead of saving them up (here), and it really is so refreshing when that happens in stories.

Although I guess it does come down to personal preference a lot of the time. I just want all the stories I consume to linger on the moments I care about and skip the parts I don't!

Supposedly HBO is giving up 500 hours of free TV. Hoping that carries across the ocean
I hope so! I loved The Wire and would love to hear what you think about it.

[sideways]

Thanks for the link - that is EXACTLY the frustration I've been feeling, I think, the sense of having this card dangled over my head like a promised reward when I can already see what's on it, haha. "Explore what happens next instead" - yes, please.

Of course, as you say, a slow build to a preordained conclusion isn't always a bad thing if the journey is done well. Or at least to our exacting personal tastes ;)

[amovingtarget]

Mass Effect franchise replay currently

Every year, I quietly hope they will announce a remaster of the original trilogy so I can play this again on a newer console with less of the weirdness. It's a real take my money situation.

And I hope you enjoy The Wire! I watched it a couple of years ago and it a really good work.

[sideways]

Oh man, right?? I keep thinking an ME reboot would have to be the easiest money BioWare could get, though admittedly I may be underestimating the time and cost of remaking a game.

I've heard nothing but good things about The Wire, which is impressive because I otherwise know almost nothing else about it! Something something... crime?

Edit: UGGHHHH nevermind, HBO in entirety does not exist in Australia, apparently. Nice :/

[amovingtarget]

I forgot HBO is Like That -___-