January talking meme 1

[dhampyresa]

[Bad username or unknown identity:  ]: What are five shows/books/comics/whatever that you plan to check out but haven't yet?

I only get five? Seriously though, I seem live in a perpetual state of ever-growing To Read/Watch lists. I'll just go with whichever first five I think off (I will probably be forgetting a lot of things) and a bit on why I'm interested in them and haven't gotten to them yet.

TV Shows:

1. Sleepy Hollow: I hear it's good, plus one of the main relationship is between two sisters. (I try really hard not to get involved in shows that don't have at least one good season out.)
2. Arrow: I got recced this show RL and I'm not sure how much I trust the reccer's taste (he likes The Big Bang Theory, I don't) and I've never been a fan of Green Arrow. Maybe if/when Zatanna or the Al Ghuls (I think Nyssa is supposed to be in it at some point?) shows up, I'll check out their episodes.
3.  Xena: Warrior Princess: Women-fronted sword-an-fantasy show and Lucy Lawless is gorgeous. Plus, I'm told it does interesting things with mythology (and that there are lesbians)? I don't know much about this show, but it looks cool. There's a ton of episodes though, and I'm kind of intimidated.
   
4. Avatar: the Legend of Korra: I loved loved (loved) AtlA, so I'm afraid of being disappointed.
5. Hustle: I hear it's a bit like Leverage, only British. Leverage is pretty great as shws go though, so it mightbe disappointing.
6. I would also like to catch up on Lost Girl (urban fantasy with a female duo as main characters and Kenzi is the best), Almighty Johnsons (reincarnated Norse gods in New Zealand) and finish watching Deep Space 9 (I like it so far, but I'm only at the beginning of season 2. I missed having a SF show to watch).

Books:

1. The Art of War (1500 BC - 1600 AD): My brother lent this too me, he got it for super cheap (10$!) a couple years ago while he was in the US. It's massive, about 30x20x5cm and in hardcover. It weighs about 2 bloody kilos (no kidding, I weighed it). It looks interesting, although I think I spotted some bias and the very long time period must act against it, because why no Saladin? And I'm sure that's not the only one they've missed. (I would also like to read the Sun Tzu book of (almost) the same name.)
2. The Ramayana: MYTHOLOGY! But then I look at the title and think 'oh no, this is going to end up exactly like when I tried to read the Kalevala, isn't it?', meaning that I will read 50 pages, stop reading for months, go back 20 pages; read 50, stop for months, etc...
3. Costumes de Bretagne: A book on Breton costumes I got as a gift a couple years ago. It's got very pretty pictures and is extremely detailed, but it's about as massive as The Art of War (1500 BC - 1600 AD), except it's not in hadcover.
   
4. Les Fleurs du Mal: I love Baudelaire and I feel remiss in never having read this poem collection in its entirety. (Tangentially related, I own a Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (10$, same sale my brother got Art fo War at, also massive) and I kind of want to read it too, except I like Baudelaire's translations of Poe better than I like Poe. Oops.)
5. L'armée furieuse: It's the latest Fred Vargas. I like fred Vargas, she writes cool mysteries.
6. I'd really like to finish Théoreme Vivant by Cédric Villani, but so far it's not balancing 'yay maths!' and 'urgh, maths' so well.

Comics:

1. Alix (and Alix Senator): This is not cheating, since Alix Senator is technically supposed to be in the same continuity as Alix, except, you know, much later, when Alix is a Senator. (I'm kind of surprised he lived long enough, to be honest.) From what I remember of the couple of albums I read when I was a kid, it's mostly spy/adventures stories set in the very beginning of the Roman Empire. There's a lot of Alix, so I probably won't read all of it if I ever do, but my dad bought me a stack of six random ones for cheap, so I want to at least read those ones. Alix Senator has two volumes out.
2. Murena: More Romans. I'm on a Roman kick, apparently. I hear it's a really good look at the whole Claude and Nero part of the Roman Empire. We'll see.
3. Masqué: It's by the guy who wrote La Brigade Chimérique and I loved that series and this one also deals with superheroes, except in Paris*! Plus, it concluded recently. (4 volumes) *Yes, La Brigade Chimérique took place in Paris, but Paris was never the point, while I hear it is for Masqué.
4. Le Troisième Testament - Julius: More Romans, I know. In fairness, I want to read this one because of the art. That's it, I am that shallow, I literally give zero fucks about the story at all. I read all of Le Troisième Testament and all of Siegfried and I honestly never get tired of Alex Alice's art.
5. Olympe de Gouges: A biography of one of the earliest French feminist thinkers, how could I pass this up? It's also 400 pages long.
6. The latest from: Sillage (last human in spaaace is badass and has adventures, plus there's politocs and spying. The heroin is also unique, in that she's unreadable by telepaths, unlike every other species in knwn space), Freak's Squeele (superhero school shenanigans, I love the characters), De Cape et de Crocs (cloak-and-dagger capers in 17th century France with talking animals and at one point a swordfight where all the dialogue is in alexandrins!), Nävis (Sillage's prequel comic, kind of cute), Yoko Tsuno (franco-japanese electrical engineer has adventures, sometimes in time, sometimes in space and subtext with pretty much every other female character she meets), Alter Ego (it does cool things with the concept of doppelgängers), Seuls (one day a bunch of kids wakes and every other human in the entire world has disappeared and then it gets weirder), Les Légendaires (heroes fuck up, get everyone turned into kids. I've been following this for years, somtimes mostly out of inertia), Les Quatre de Baker Street (BEST SHERLOCK HOLMES ADAPTATION BAR NONE but I've read all of it so far and the next one only comes out in April, woe)...

I read a lot of comics, okay? I really love the medium.


Wait, you probably meant US comics:

1. Saga: I like the art and I hear it's quite good. I really didn't like the ending of Y: the Last Man, though.
2. Batwing: I was under the impression that Tam Fox was in it. She's not, but I've liked the couple issues I've read so far.
3. Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment: Magic duels! And redemption quest thingies.
4. Economix: Economy is boring, but maybe this can make it interesting to me.
5. Rachel Rising: It looks intriguing. dead girl comes back to life!
6. There's a bunch of ongoings I want to catch up on.

I might as well do manga while I'm at it:

1. Drifters: It's by the guy who did Hellsing, but I hear it's got Hannibal and Scipio in it. What, like I need a better reason?
2. Thermae Romae: I'm told it's hilarious. Roman bath architect keeps getting sent to modern Japan and taking inspirations from the baths there. In a more serious take on this, there's also Jin where a Japanese neurosurgeon gets thrown back into the past. I would also like to read this one.
3. Vinland Saga: I loved this back when I read it regularly, but I might as well pick it up again  from the beginning, because I don't remember much else about it. It's got Vikings? And somebody punches a horse att some point.
4. Black Butler: I've the first few volumes sitting on a shelf. I should read them.
5. Liar Game: Mind games! The story sounds awesome but the art looks a bit wonky.

Movies:

1. Some like It Hot: It's a classic.
2. Hunger Games - Catching Fire: I saw the first one and I liked it.
3. Pacific Rim: Robots vs Giant Monsters!
4. The Hobbit: I'm a completist and I saw the Lord of the Rings movies, so. On the other hand, they look kind of meh.
5. My Neighbour Totoro: It's one of a very few Ghibli movies I haven't seen.

That got long, sorry.

There are still a bunch of days open, in case anyone wants to ask me anything.

Comments

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

I only have specific responses to the TV and movie sections, but all of the lists are interesting!

Sleepy Hollow and Arrow are both on my to-watch list. And Korra is...not as good as ATLA. I really like a lot of the characters, and a lot of things about the worldbuilding are interesting, but the writing and character development leave a lot to be desired. All that said, I don't regret watching it, and will presumably watch the third season too when it comes out.

And Totoro is one of my two favorite Ghibli movies (the other being Whisper of the Heart. It's just wonderful. *^^*

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

I didn't expect anyone to have much comments on "dhampyresa babbles on about bande déssinée", lol.

I have to ask, re: Korra, how annoying is the love triangle?

Consider it moved on to the top of my to-watch list.

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the love triangle is really annoying most of the time, and completely unnecessary. IMO it's one of the show's biggest weaknesses. :/