Losing Fandom

[jetpack_monkey]

Some of ya'll may recall that back at the end of 2005, I co-ran a little RP called fandomhigh (and occasionally ran ran, much to the consternation of my stress levels). This was an amazingly huge timesuck and prevented me from doing a lot of the things that I loved to do -- like actually watch fandom shows.

I'm starting to really cringe every Thursday morning after Lost and Veronica Mars have aired, because I haven't caught an episode since early November. I want to know what's going on, but I don't want to run out and just spoil myself, either.

At the same time, what with having the girlfriend and all, I just don't have the time to download and watch the shows. Pretty much, right now, I'm waiting for the seasonal DVDs to come out this summer and I'll catch up then.

But I'll be damned if I'm missing the new season of Doctor Who. No how, no way. No sirree.

Instead, I've been watching a metric crap-ton of films and guiding midnightfae through the wonders of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


Wizard of Oz - Just bought the 3-disc megaset and wow. The detail, the vibrancy of the colors, the wow... The film just zooms by on its broomstick, making everything joyful. I have decided, despite midnightfae's protests, that the Lion does not lack courage, he lacks Straight. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Sense and Sensibility - I don't like Ang Lee. I'll get that out in the open right now. He makes very pretty films that manage to completely distance and alienate themselves from the viewers, typically because they lack humor or at least lack useful humor. Sense and Sensibility is not one of those films, I suspect due to Emma Thompson's amazing attention to the nuance of Austen. This is a brilliant, brilliant film; it's funny, sad, romantic, gleeful... A tad overlong, but really, nothing to be done for that.

Sullivan's Travels - Oh, I love this film. I didn't realize how hard it turned towards the melodramatic towards the end, but Sturges is right there, nodding softly and saying, "No, no. It's okay, really." He makes it difficult to really argue with the switch. Plus, I've always liked Joel McCrea, even though he and Joseph Cotten are almost entirely swappable.

Buffy Season 3 - I really need to write a full review for this, my favorite of all Buffy seasons. All the characters are at the top of their game, and you can literally see them hit the peak that so many of them would fall from in later seasons (only Xander, in my opinion, really gets through what follows a better person -- even if he does take a nosedive into schmuckdom during Season 6).

And in case you were wondering...

The Birthday Haul

From midnightfae:
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (best. girlfriend. ever)

From qkellie:
A virtual balloon and an LJ gift certificate (best. person. who. asked. me. to. usher. at. their. wedding. ever)

From Mom:
Most Dangerous Game (Criterion Collection)
Sullivan's Travels (Criterion Collection)
The Third Man (Critierion Collection)
Eyes Without a Face (Criterion Collection)
Peeping Tom (Criterion Collection)
Carnival of Souls (Criterion Collection) (best. person. to. spend. hours. of. painful. labor. birthing. me. ever)

From myself (read - all the DVDs I bought for myself this month):
Hellboy
Star Wars trilogy
Castle Freak
Return of the Living Dead
Wizard of Oz (3-disc megaset)
King Kong '33
8 1/2 (Criterion, replacing my copy that's missing Disc 1)
Chinatown
Mad Max
The Producers '68
Get Shorty
Summertime (Criterion Collection)
Shock Corridor (Criterion Collection)
Contempt (Criterion Collection)
Alphaville (Criterion Collection)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Wait Until Dark
Hannah and Her Sisters
The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection
Rosemary's Baby
Taxi Driver
Out of the Past (best. addict. ever)