girlofprey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
girlofprey) wrote2012-09-08 11:39 pm
girlofprey) wrote2012-09-08 11:39 pm
(no subject)
It's my sister's birthday tomorrow and my ESA assessment the day after that. Ughhh.
I've been replaying Infamous 2 lately, mostly because I'm still upset about the lack of Cole/Bertrand slash. Also the lack of any fandom at all for Infamous, as far as I can tell, so I can't even go look at it and pretend I might talk to people someday. ALSO THAT. Mostly I have figured out, or rediscovered, that the reason I probably find them so slashy is because- bizarrely - they keep Cole's dialogue the same for all his cutscenes whether you play him as good or evil. So they give you a lot of reasons in-game for why Cole might hate Bertrand in either case, but they don't actually talk about them ever, so it ends up seeming like Cole is just fixated on him for no good reason. As though he ends most of his cutscenes thinking "Bertrand. What's his deal, anyway?", and then staring moodily off into the distance, thinking about what IS his deal.
Also I relearned that Bertrand is despicable. Pretty much completely. BUT I DON'T CARE. Here the scene where Cole and Bertrand first meet, found on Youtube. The actual (short) conversation doesn't start till about 5:04, but if you care it's worth watching all of it just to see what Cole - and the player - has to do just to catch him. Also it's a Let's Play, so you do have deal with the player talking over it. But other than that.
AN ELECTRIC SUPERHERO CHASED HIM ALL THE WAY ACROSS TOWN AND JUMPED ON TOP OF HIS CAR, AND ALL HE HAS TO SAY IS "I don't care. Freak." AND THEN LOOKS OUT OF THE WINDOW. I KIND OF LOVE HIM. And Cole.
Also, in my ongoing obsession with Southern accents in videogames, I have noticed that the only accents that seem to get a reprieve are Texan accents, or other similarly 'cowboy'-ish ones. Apparently they are okay. Everyone else = evil.
Also I've learned that I really do quite like Kuo and Nix. It's a shame the game is so racist is about them. It's a shame the game is so racist. Note: Infamous 2 is in many ways a terrible game. You shouldn't buy it. Sadly I already bought it and sort of love the gameplay, graphics and a bunch of the characters. Also the music. But I do not really recommend anyone else get into it.
But anyway. In non-Infamous 2 related news, I also went to the cinema this week. I was trying to see Ted before it goes out of cinemas, but the next showing of it was too late for me, so I went to see The Watch instead. I'd sort of wanted to see it because of Vince Vaughn and Richard Ayoade, and I quite like the sound of the plot. But I'd heard it was pretty terrible. And it was...pretty terrible. It had some nice moments and some quite funny lines, but so much of it just seemed like dreadful, immature and not that funny adlibbing. Apparently it was quite affected by the Trayvon Martin shooting, which made the screenwriters rewrite a bit so it was more about the alien plotline than the overzealous Neighbourhood Watch antics. Which was probably the right decision, but you can see how it might have affected the story. But on the other hand, they still ended up making a finished film, and that finished film was this one. And, unfortunately, it was also racially sort of appalling.
And partly the twist about Richard Ayoade's character was really annoying because I totally assumed - as I guess the film meant me to - that Evan's creepy neighbour was an alien when he showed up, and I was TOTALLY HAPPY to be maybe watching a slightly terrible film about a bunch of homoerotic sort-of douchebag aliens infiltrating a little suburb, and a Neighbourhood Watch team knowing about it but not really being able to do anything about it, because no-one would believe them. But no. The black guy was an alien instead.
So yeah. I mean a lot of the film is set from the main characters' perspective, and they are set up as kind of idiots and toolbags, so you could argue that some of it was because of that. And hipster racism, and all of that. But I don't think that accounts for all it if, if it even accounts for some of it, and I still think it was generally just appalling.
So yeah. It was a weird film. Vince Vaughn had some lovely moments though. I KNOW HE'S NOT THE MOST RESPECTED ACTOR OUT THERE, BUT I JUST THINK HE'S SO BEAUTIFUL WHEN HE'S SERIOUS. I want to make GIFS of how his eyes move. He was best in The Cell. He doesn't seem to make films like that anymore. Sadly.
I did see some trailers though. Judge Dredd looks wicked. I don't know why his female trainee has to fight in gunfights without a helmet though. Perhaps they explain it in the film.
Other than that, last week on Tumblr I was searching through a tag, and I found a video that led me to a Youtube account, which seems to deal exclusively in making multifandom songvids for villains. It's called EvilVillainsStudio. Mostly they do bad guys, and a series of same-fandom and cross-fandom pairings for them. It's a little bit like some is making Youtube vids just for me. So I have been watching my way through their videos for the past week or so. A lot of them are really good. This one I watched last night for example, called Sail, which seems to be about what it's like to be a villain and kind of a badass. It does have a lot of quick-cutting of clips, and effects that deliberately make the clips look the wrong colour, or more grainy or scratchy than they are, which is annoying, though I assume it's to cover up the various sources being used, and their filming styles. It's still good though. And if you can ignore a few rubbishy Doctor Who clips, so can I.
I think that's it mostly. Also I've been watching more Poltergeist: The Legacy, which continues ridiculous. I genuinely think it got a bit better in the middle, but we're at the end of Season 1 now, so it's all got a bit more ridiculous and Derek-filled. Also it's my sister's birthday tomorrow. Arrrrrrgh.
I've been replaying Infamous 2 lately, mostly because I'm still upset about the lack of Cole/Bertrand slash. Also the lack of any fandom at all for Infamous, as far as I can tell, so I can't even go look at it and pretend I might talk to people someday. ALSO THAT. Mostly I have figured out, or rediscovered, that the reason I probably find them so slashy is because- bizarrely - they keep Cole's dialogue the same for all his cutscenes whether you play him as good or evil. So they give you a lot of reasons in-game for why Cole might hate Bertrand in either case, but they don't actually talk about them ever, so it ends up seeming like Cole is just fixated on him for no good reason. As though he ends most of his cutscenes thinking "Bertrand. What's his deal, anyway?", and then staring moodily off into the distance, thinking about what IS his deal.
Also I relearned that Bertrand is despicable. Pretty much completely. BUT I DON'T CARE. Here the scene where Cole and Bertrand first meet, found on Youtube. The actual (short) conversation doesn't start till about 5:04, but if you care it's worth watching all of it just to see what Cole - and the player - has to do just to catch him. Also it's a Let's Play, so you do have deal with the player talking over it. But other than that.
AN ELECTRIC SUPERHERO CHASED HIM ALL THE WAY ACROSS TOWN AND JUMPED ON TOP OF HIS CAR, AND ALL HE HAS TO SAY IS "I don't care. Freak." AND THEN LOOKS OUT OF THE WINDOW. I KIND OF LOVE HIM. And Cole.
Also, in my ongoing obsession with Southern accents in videogames, I have noticed that the only accents that seem to get a reprieve are Texan accents, or other similarly 'cowboy'-ish ones. Apparently they are okay. Everyone else = evil.
Also I've learned that I really do quite like Kuo and Nix. It's a shame the game is so racist is about them. It's a shame the game is so racist. Note: Infamous 2 is in many ways a terrible game. You shouldn't buy it. Sadly I already bought it and sort of love the gameplay, graphics and a bunch of the characters. Also the music. But I do not really recommend anyone else get into it.
But anyway. In non-Infamous 2 related news, I also went to the cinema this week. I was trying to see Ted before it goes out of cinemas, but the next showing of it was too late for me, so I went to see The Watch instead. I'd sort of wanted to see it because of Vince Vaughn and Richard Ayoade, and I quite like the sound of the plot. But I'd heard it was pretty terrible. And it was...pretty terrible. It had some nice moments and some quite funny lines, but so much of it just seemed like dreadful, immature and not that funny adlibbing. Apparently it was quite affected by the Trayvon Martin shooting, which made the screenwriters rewrite a bit so it was more about the alien plotline than the overzealous Neighbourhood Watch antics. Which was probably the right decision, but you can see how it might have affected the story. But on the other hand, they still ended up making a finished film, and that finished film was this one. And, unfortunately, it was also racially sort of appalling.
- The film starts with Ben Stiller's character, who's basically established as overzealous and uptight, talking about his suburb and how diverse it is, making a point of the fact he's friends with an Indian man, but isn't friends with a black man yet, although he's always open.
- He's also friends with the night security guard at his store, who's a Latino man who just, THAT DAY, passed his Citizenship exam, and got a tattoo about being American with an eagle on it to celebrate. He then immediately dies, giving Ben Stiller's character (Evan) some angst and motivation to investigate his death, kicking off the main plot of the film.
- Richard Ayoade turns up to join the Neighbourhood Watch. When Evan sees he's black, he tells him he's a great person to join the Watch, in fact he's 'the best kind of person' to join.
- Richard Ayoade's character claims part of the reason he wants to join up is because he's hoping for a sexual fantasy of his about an specifically Asian housewife will come true.
- Later in the film, it doesn't happen exactly how he pictured it, but overall his sexual fantasy involving an Asian woman does come true.
- Vince Vaughn's character comes up with a logo for the Neighbourhood Watch which is a tiger's head with wings and on fire. Later, he and Evan argue about it, and he starts randomly yelling and saying the underlying message of it is Chinese, and he understands the Chinese.
- One of two main cops in the town is Latino and is called Chucho. He never speaks, and at the end of the film when the two cops finally get involved in the main plot, he gets killed, causing his white partner quite a lot of angst.
- But it's okay, because it opens the way for one of the white characters in the Neighbourhood Watch to join the police, and become the white cop's new partner, and best friend.
- And as I sort of guessed and started fearing about halfway through the film, Richard Ayoade's character - the only main non-white character, and I think the only non-white character who doesn't die - turns out to not actually be human. And to have been planning to betray them all along. He ends up on their side and being their friend in the end, but y'know. Still.
And partly the twist about Richard Ayoade's character was really annoying because I totally assumed - as I guess the film meant me to - that Evan's creepy neighbour was an alien when he showed up, and I was TOTALLY HAPPY to be maybe watching a slightly terrible film about a bunch of homoerotic sort-of douchebag aliens infiltrating a little suburb, and a Neighbourhood Watch team knowing about it but not really being able to do anything about it, because no-one would believe them. But no. The black guy was an alien instead.
So yeah. I mean a lot of the film is set from the main characters' perspective, and they are set up as kind of idiots and toolbags, so you could argue that some of it was because of that. And hipster racism, and all of that. But I don't think that accounts for all it if, if it even accounts for some of it, and I still think it was generally just appalling.
So yeah. It was a weird film. Vince Vaughn had some lovely moments though. I KNOW HE'S NOT THE MOST RESPECTED ACTOR OUT THERE, BUT I JUST THINK HE'S SO BEAUTIFUL WHEN HE'S SERIOUS. I want to make GIFS of how his eyes move. He was best in The Cell. He doesn't seem to make films like that anymore. Sadly.
I did see some trailers though. Judge Dredd looks wicked. I don't know why his female trainee has to fight in gunfights without a helmet though. Perhaps they explain it in the film.
Other than that, last week on Tumblr I was searching through a tag, and I found a video that led me to a Youtube account, which seems to deal exclusively in making multifandom songvids for villains. It's called EvilVillainsStudio. Mostly they do bad guys, and a series of same-fandom and cross-fandom pairings for them. It's a little bit like some is making Youtube vids just for me. So I have been watching my way through their videos for the past week or so. A lot of them are really good. This one I watched last night for example, called Sail, which seems to be about what it's like to be a villain and kind of a badass. It does have a lot of quick-cutting of clips, and effects that deliberately make the clips look the wrong colour, or more grainy or scratchy than they are, which is annoying, though I assume it's to cover up the various sources being used, and their filming styles. It's still good though. And if you can ignore a few rubbishy Doctor Who clips, so can I.
I think that's it mostly. Also I've been watching more Poltergeist: The Legacy, which continues ridiculous. I genuinely think it got a bit better in the middle, but we're at the end of Season 1 now, so it's all got a bit more ridiculous and Derek-filled. Also it's my sister's birthday tomorrow. Arrrrrrgh.