Lol!

[darkelf105]

Thanks to clockwork_hands , we see that the wonderful world of manga has accepted Obama's presidential bid. Lol, I love you Japan. 


In further new's I've read the first two volumes of Apothecarius Argentum and am in love. I mean it's got an apothecary who's just like Fitz and Chade from Robin Hobb's Farseer* trilogy only flabbergasted and more dejected and without the deadly assassin working for the king thing. Plus, his name is Argent. That's so bishounen it hurts. Ah, and the heroine, Lady Primula. She is fantastic. I usually hate the love interest for the first few volumes of a new series until they grow on me, if the ever do. Primula, on the other hand, well the first panel she shows up in, she's swordfighting and kicking major ass. And she admits that she's neither graceful nor smart so she's going to focus her training in the martial aspect of kingship for the time being so at least she'll be strong. Plus she has long braided hair. Did I ever mention that I love long, braided hair. Well, if I didn't, I do (hence the Pip theme for the journal).  Okay, so it's not stimulating, intellectual fare, in fact it's fluffy with lots of angst on Argent's part and awesome on Primula's. I mean, how can I not love a manga in which poison kisses are a major plot point?


I've also  started Dr. Who. The remake from 2005? I dunno. I know there was an old show that was huge before my time and they redid it and that is what I'm watching? Well, anyways, I took home whatever one of my favorite patron's brought back. They raved and folks on the interwebs raved and I thought I should take a looksey. My first impression is, I like it, I think. But I've noted a trend (at least for the first three episodes) that a female character shows up, makes the ultimate sacrifice and dies. I hope this does not continue. It annoys me. I really, really liked the tree chick and I'd like some more recurring characters other than the Doctor and Rose. Also, Charles Dickens FTW! 


BTW, if you have not read Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy, go forth and read it immediately. Now, I believe that there is a sequel trilogy, that I have not read, but have heard it is not as good. It's on my TBR pile, but if anyone thinks that I'm wasting my time, let me know. I have a lot to read and I trust the flist's opinions just not the opinions of reviewers on Amazon.

Comments

[i-renovated.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're going to lurve Rose, give her a chance. And Christopher Eccleston was a fabulous, gritty Who, but...uh. not saying anymore...spoilers. hee.

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Lol, I actually really, really do enjoy her character. And I do like Christopher Eccleston. I wikied Dr. Who and found out that Mr. Eccleston does not play the Doctor for the whole series and was saddened.

[i-renovated.livejournal.com]

lol...as I wanted to say...David Tennant is yummy, and cheeky and does take some time to grow on you also...

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

From the photo in the wiki article he did indeed look yummy and very wind tousled. That made me happy :).

[athousandwinds.livejournal.com]

It's not a remake, more a revival. The Doctor regenerates, so it's just sort of picking up where they left off (except not, because there's a good long space between the Eighth Doctor - Paul McGann - and the Ninth, Chris Eccleston, where we don't know what happened).

The trend of killing off characters in heroic sacrifices is a very strong one - because it has such a small regular cast, it murders characters with abandon and it's a genuine surprise when nobody dies in an episode. I'm not sure it's disproportionately female, though DW does have its gender issues.

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Okay, cool. I was a little confused about what exactly I was watching. Like I said, I really have no idea what I've gotten into :). Um, the Doctor regenerates? Like, he's continuous but not?

[athousandwinds.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it gets explained at one point pretty clearly for new viewers. When the Doctor's body is close to death, it regenerates every cell and he changes into a new actor body. There are often differences in personality between regenerations (for example, the Sixth Doctor is much more bombastic than the quiet Fifth Doctor) and there's about a zillion fan theories around to account for this.

Don't worry - the new series was designed for new viewers, I was one. You don't have to know all the old series canon - they refer back to it occasionally, but not obtrusively. Also, it makes a career out of being batshit insane. Anything goes: Nazi pepperpots, clockwork robots after Madame de Pompadour, killer scarecrows. If you can get over the - silliness is not the right word, nor is cheesiness - whimsy, then mostly everything works.