Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie!

Was it just me, or was Community super weird last night? I missed the first few minutes because I was just getting home from work, and my parents were watching it because basketball was on on CBS, and they were just completely lost. Like, they didn't get a single joke. They haven't watched the show since season 1 (because Big Bang Theory got moved to Thursdays), and the show was just so completely different to them, and it made me realize why Community is a hard show to pick up if you just randomly watch an episode since there are so many jokes that build on past episodes or inside jokes within the fandom, especially in this episode (Brown Jamie Lee Curtis, Britta resembling Michael Jackson, the Dean having a mad crush on Jeff, the Dreamatorium, etc). It was just a really confusing episode for someone who hasn't been religiously following the show, so I think it was smart on the part of NBC to switch the episode order (even though the references to their long break ended up not making sense in this ep). Anyway, I am definitely not a fan of all these cutaway CGI gags. It throws me off, makes the show more cartoonish, and one thing that I've always loved about Community was that no matter how weird a concept was, the show was always somehow grounded in reality. There was some kind of logical explanation for everything. They even had an explanation for making the entire Greendale population into zombies. So, these cutaway gags are just disorienting. The story itself was super dark, and I guess I just don't enjoy this show very much when it goes dark, though I do enjoy the character development that comes from it, so... I appreciate the dark eps, I guess. But, yeah, they are not my favorite, especially when it leaves Troy and Abed in a bad, angsty place (but again, I am enjoying the character development that will come from this). I guess I have mixed feelings on this ep. I wouldn't call it a bad ep, just... a weird one. Stylistically jarring and kind of a downer. Perhaps I'll enjoy it more upon rewatch.

Both eps of 30 Rock were pretty flawless. It is crazy how pleased with this season I am. I think I am finally over Jack/Liz. Maybe? I mean, I would still jump for joy if they ever made out, but... I don't think that's going to happen, and I've finally gotten to a place where I'm perfectly fine with that, especially since Liz is so happy with Criss (and Criss is super easy on the eyes). I did get all giddy over Liz being turned on by Jack's tie, though...

Also, I watched the leaked first ep of The Legend of Korra, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. It's not as nuanced or engrossing as The Last Airbender as of yet, but I think it has great potential. I think I liked The Last Airbender world better, but that's mostly because I enjoy stories based around that time period more than I do the more modernized ones, but Korra's world is basically 1920s China, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with that. Especially since that was a time of revolution and corruption and gangsters ruling the cities. I was sad that Katara seems to be the only one still alive from Aang's era. I especially felt a pang in my heart when she mentioned that her brother was gone. *sniff* And I'm highly interested in Toph's daughter's story. She seems gruff at first, but then we kind of see Toph's influence shining through at the end of her scene. WHO IS HER FATHER? PLEASE TELL ME IT'S SOKKA. If it is Sokka, then all of my Avatar shipping dreams will have come true. (seriously, I did not understand fandom. From my perspective, the ship wars should have been between Aang/Toph and Sokka/Toph, because that was where the good stuff was) Anyway, I enjoyed the show, and I look forward to more. I just hate waiting for new eps. I got to watch The Last Airbender all at once.

As for k-dramas, Dream High 2 ended, and I was sad. I don't know why I loved that crummy show so much. Seriously, there was little to no logical character development, they spent far too much screentime on very unimpressive dance performances, and just about all of the songs were awful. The lead characters weren't even all that likable. WHY DID I LOVE IT SO MUCH? I don't know. For some reason I was a complete sucker for Hye Sung and JB. Don't ask me why. And even though Rian did a complete turnaround, I still couldn't find the strength to care about her, and she mostly just made me wrinkle my nose. Yoo Jin's story with his mother was fantastic and that was basically the only thing that really moved me emotionally. I pretty much bawled during his song to her. I freaking loved the Si Woo/Nana/Hong Joo love triangle, and I love that it was still going strong eight years later and that they are basically a reluctant threesome forever because Nana will never stop stringing them along (though part of me believes that in the future she falls hard for another man and leaves the two boys heartbroken, and they just give in to their bromance and live happily ever after with each other). It was lame that the ending gave us no real closure on the relationship front (besides the rebel couple, as Hye Sung called them), but then again, neither did the first Dream High, so I kind of expected that. It's interesting how both Dream Highs seemed to say that it's not very likely that you'll end up with your epic first (or second) love from high school. Not a lot of teen dramas (Korean or otherwise) will admit to that.

As for the new dramas, the only one I've watched is King 2Hearts, and it is freaking amazing. So, so good. Not only are the characters well written and perfectly cast, but the plot is interesting and the drama revolves between being a rom-com and an action thriller, and it's just... SO GOOD. What really gets me though is that the villain is so deliciously evil. For once we get an unapologetically evil villain who doesn't really have a justifiable reason for doing what he does. He just... likes hurting people. We still don't really have his backstory, so I suppose that could change, but I doubt it. They've already made him so maniacal that I can't see the show trying to justify his actions even a little bit. I mean, he's torturing a dude just because the dude's son ruined his magic trick. That look he gave the little kid was really chilling, because you know he actually wanted to kill the kid, but I guess he was satisfied with the next best thing. Anyway, I'm happy that the show has a fascinating villain, because it's amazing how much a great villain can elevate a story. The romance is developing pretty well so far, and I adore the second lead (Kim Byung Gun from What's Up!!!). I have a feeling that this drama may become my new obsession. Haven't watched Rooftop Prince yet, though, and you know I love my cracky rom-coms, so, we'll see which one wins.

So, I've now seen The Last Airbender. It's... not quite as bad as the reviews would lead you to believe, but it was still pretty bad. For one thing, the casting did pull me out of the story a bit. I was trying to be neutral about it, but it's just plain jarring when the main heroes are white and the rest of their culture is either Inuit or Tibetan. And the Fire Nation being Indian was also a little weird seeing as how the costuming and culture was so very Chinese, but other than the mismatch of culture there, I actually thought that the film's most successful point was the Fire Nation. In fact, the one and only thing that this film got right was the Zuko/Iroh relationship, and that was by far my favorite thing about the cartoon, so I was ecstatic that the film at least did them some kind of justice. Zuko was not as rebellious/antagonistic/angsty as he was in the cartoon, so the movie pretty much immediately emphasized the love between them rather than the conflict, so I was pretty pleased with that. And if I'm honest, the only decent performances in this movie came from Iroh and Zuko. I have no clue what the freak they were thinking during the casting of this film, because the acting from Aaang, Sokka, and Katara was AWFUL. Just... terrible. It doesn't help that most of the movie was exposition, and they pretty much took out all the comedy and character moments that made the cartoon so endearing. I simply did not care one bit about the supposed heroes of this film. Not at all. It's kind of hard to care when they have no personality, and we don't actually get to see them all becoming closer, we're just told about their adventures. The scene where Princess Yue died had absolutely no emotional effect whatsoever, because 1) the movie fails to make the audience give a damn about Sokka, and 2) the Princess was just as lifeless as Aang, Katara, and Sokka. And ugh, Sokka's pony tail was so damn annoying. Did they have to make it so big that it's all my eyes ever go to when he's on screen? Eeesh. And what is this about the comet not coming for another 3 years? What the what? In the cartoon, didn't Aang only have less than a year before the comet would hit? <--Never mind, this one makes sense since they have to account for why the actors will age with each film.

More annoying than all of that? The mispronunciations. Aang's name is not Awng, it's Aaaaaaaaang. Avatar is not Awwvatar. Sokka is not SOka, he's Socka. Iroh is not Eeeeroh, he's Eyeroh. OMG, did that bug the crap out of me.

Now, where did the film succeed? The last 25 minutes or so. Basically, this movie doesn't get decent until the epic battle at the Northern Water Temple. The film's strengths are scenery and fighting, and the battle scene utilizes both of these beautifully. Unfortunately, during one moment, the film completely butchers the laws of bending simply to make the scene look more awesome, but oh well. Honestly, at that point, I was just happy that the film was finally getting interesting. Other strong points were, as I said above, Iroh and Zuko. Both together and separately, they were pretty good. I have to admit, aside from his relationship with Iroh, I'm not the biggest Zuko fan when it comes to the cartoon (especially season 1), because I'm just not all that into super angsty characters, but I think the film pulled off making Zuko more of a tragic figure than an immature, short-tempered, angsty angstbag of angst. You can more easily see in him the hero that he'll become. Even during his one little fight scene with Katara, you can see the regret in his face as he ever so gently moves her to a sitting position after he knocked her out. Now, that scene was not nearly as awesome as it is in the cartoon, but considering the fact that this film was so lifeless until that scene, you have to acknowledge that it at least gave us a little bit of tension there and it's the one and only scene where Katara seems to have a personality. And the way that Zuko seemed to soften after he had knocked her out in order to get to Aang, well, that was something, and what's weird is that I think it made me ship Zuko/Katara a little bit? Which I didn't think would happen since Katara looks so damn young in this, and I didn't even ship them all that much during my watch of the cartoon, but seeing as how it was one of the very few tension-filled scenes of the movie, it made me ship it. Even moreso in a following scene where Katara entraps him in ice and gives him this once over as he's frozen in there and she has that same look of regret that Zuko had had in the previous scene.

So, basically, all I really enjoyed about this film was its scenery, the epic battle scene at the end, and Iroh and Zuko. Zuko especially, which surprised me. What baffles me the most about this film though is that it really didn't deviate from the original story at all, and yet it managed to leave out everything that made the original story so exciting/addicting.

Oh, also, I took my nephew to see Toy Story 3 yesterday because he's been wanting to see it for weeks now, and we both really enjoyed it. I was never a big Toy Story fan, but this one made me laugh, it had exciting action scenes, and it made me cry, so, I really enjoyed it. I think I was just too teenagery to enjoy the first two films.

OH MY GOD. That was epic. EPIC. Particularly the Azula/Zuko showdown. Oh man, Azula. Her decline into insecure psychopath was kind of heartbreaking to watch. But that fight, good lord was it beautiful with the slow-mo and the music and the red and blue and just... everything. It was awesome. And I loved how Aang managed to save the world while still being able to retain his Buddhist philosophy. None of the ships worked out how I wanted them to, but I didn't particularly care since I was more into the family relationships than the romantic ones. Well, I did care about Sokka/Toph, but, you know, obviously that one couldn't happen within canon. But anyway, during season 3 Zuko/Katara became kind of epic, to the point where I finally saw why so many people thought it would actually end with them as the romance. But, of course, Aang had to get the girl, because he's the hero (and he really grew up there in the end, so that eliminated a lot of the mother/son feeling that Aang/Katara used to have). The ending, minus the Aang/Katara kiss, was utterly perfect (but even the kiss got me a little. It was the music! And the romantic lighting! I am a sucker for such things, as my reaction to the Arthur/Gwen kiss in Merlin will attest to). My only real complaint is that they didn't show us what happened to Azula, or Zuko's mother. WHAT UP, SHOW? COME ON! Other than that, the show was pretty damn near perfect from start to finish. I cannot get over how invested I got in this silly cartoon, but it contained so much of what I love about martial arts cinema, with the added bonus of a magnificently told story. It was awesome. And now I am sad that the ride is over. *sigh*

Okay, it's official, Sokka/Toph is my Avatar OTP all the way. SO FREAKING ADORABLE. Aang/Katara is just getting annoying now (seriously, why did they have to turn all angsty? I loved them when they were being fluffy and adorable! Angsty Aang is not a fun Aang to watch, much like angsty Jack Harkness and angsty Shawn Spencer). Zuko/Katara is infinitely more interesting than Aang/Katara but then Zuko went and decided to be stupid and now I can't see how Katara could ever like him that way, or any way at all for that matter. So, what I'm saying is, I went from shipping no one to shipping everyone to now only shipping Sokka/Toph. CRAZINESS. And I still dream of the epicness that could have been Iroh/June. But anyway, Sokka/Toph is my romantic OTP, and Iroh/Zuko is still my non-romantic OTP (yes, even after the season 2 finale. But Iroh/Zuko is allowed to be angsty and full of betrayal because Zuko is the definition of angst and BAD DECISIONS and we know that Iroh will always love him).



This pic really has no relevance to anything, but I felt that it needed to be shared.

The Tale of Iroh is officially one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.



I've watched this song at least 5 times now, and I cry harder every time. OH MY GOD. IROH. I wish the entire sequence was on YouTube, because to get the full impact you need to see how utterly wonderful this man is, but even just that little bit is still wicked heartbreaking. He's just so sweet and open and peaceful and ridiculous and aware, and the short showed us all of that, but then it all leads up to this scene that is so beautiful and tragic in its simplicity. I can't get over how successfully this cartoon pulls off Iroh's brokenness in such a subtle way. This was probably the most overt it's been, and GOD was it beautiful. I would certainly rank this with the Carl/Ellie sequence in Up that makes me bawl every time I watch it. Anyway, when the "In honor of Mako" showed up, it hit me that Iroh is probably going to die considering the show went through 2008 and Mako died in 2006. He's going to die, isn't he? And I will probably cry even harder than I did with this scene, won't I? *sigh*

Momo's tale made me cry, too, which is ridiculous, but I never quite realized the depth of his love for Appa until we got that glimpse of his life. The Katara/Toph one also made me tear up a little bit. Oh, Toph. I love her so very much (also... I think I've started shipping her with Sokka? Ack, what is with me and inappropriate ships? But seriously, their banter is epic. I am still in love with Aang/Toph too, though. And Aang/Katara. And Zuko/Katara. And Mai/Zuko. Basically, I went from shipping no one to shipping everyone).

---

Meme time! Because it has been too damn long.

Comment to this entry and I'll give you a letter. List ten things that you love that begin with that letter and then post that list on your journal.

otempora42 gave me "H"

( Take a wild guess at what #1 is )

Meme #2

Comment on this post. I will choose seven interests from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so that others can play along.

She gave me: buffy/giles, dead like me, ed helms, howard wolowitz, robin williams, will ferrell, and xander/dracula

( Oh, Howard, you are getting so much love from me tonight )

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

---

In other news, I have started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender after many years of resisting it (I've just finished season 1). I am not an anime fan at all, and so I had always concluded that I wouldn't like Avatar. Wrong. Wrong on so many levels. This show is adorable and hilarious and simply amazing. The fight scenes are so, so wonderful. Every single character (so far) has been super lovable. The story is surprisingly compelling and a nice twist on the coming of age theme. I am embarrassed to admit it, but there have been two or three moments that actually made me cry (the moon spirit episode in particular). Is it weird that the Zuko/Iroh relationship is the one that is getting me right in the heart? I mean, they are sort of the bad guys, and the fandom for this show is notorious for its ship wars, and here I am loving on the story about a misfit uncle who loves his stubborn nephew with his entire soul. And Zuko puts up with Iroh's antics because he knows that Iroh is the only person in the world who loves him and he can't lose that. Their love is kind of beautiful, is what I'm saying. That moment where Iroh actually expressed his love out loud to Zuko, OMG, tear city! I am such a weirdo. But it was a sweet moment!

As for romantic OTPs, I don't have one yet. Based on the Katara/Zuko showdown alone, I'm pretty sure I'll end up shipping them... even though they keep trying to almost kill each other. But this show is all about balance, and fire and water are the yin and yang to each other. Plus, the random UST is kind of ridiculous (the necklace scene, the fight at the north pole, the way June kept calling her his girlfriend). But, at this point, I'm not exactly invested, and I know that Katara ends up with Aang (I think?), which makes sense since Aang is the main character and has had a crush on her from the beginning, but at this point she mothers him so much that the idea of them turning romantic is kind of weird, and Aang seems so young, and it doesn't make sense when looking at how important balance is both physically and symbolically, but... I suppose they balance each other in other ways. It's just that you would think the avatar would end up with a non-bender, because a non-bender would be the direct opposite of someone who can bend all four elements (and, I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of hoping the little girl in pigtails would come back later and end up winning his heart). Then again, all of the different element benders seem to stick with their own culture in the romance department, so... I don't know. But I can honestly say (right now) that I don't get the fierceness in the shipping department. The only ship that I would have been fierce about was Iroh/June. OH, HOW BADLY I WAS HOPING THEY WOULD BE A THING! I had to research whether June was just a one-off character or a recurring one, and apparently she's only in two episodes? TRAVESTY. She was awesome. And Iroh/June could have been freaking epic. EPIC.

ETA #2: OKAY, NEVER MIND, TOTALLY SEE THE APPEAL OF AANG/KATARA NOW. Just watched ep 2x02. CUUUUUUUTE. Apparently I don't mind uber cute ships when they are children. Also, Zuko totally broke my heart in ep 2x01 when he lashed out at Iroh. NOT COOL, ZUKO. NOT COOL. Uh... I think it's pretty clear that Iroh is my favorite.

ETA: [sidenote: You all left some wonderfully thinky comments on my Psych entry, and I totally plan on answering you all soon. I just had a bunch of real life stuff to deal with these past few days and am kind of burned out, but I will get back to you! Because I love griping about the fail of Shawn/Juliet with the best of them!]