Binge-watch: Sherlock

Welcome to my next binge-watch segment, in which I thank Netflix for the many hours of entertainment it provides me. This time around, I gave Sherlock a try and I'm so glad I did.

To be honest, I am not sure why it took me so long to get into BBC's Sherlock. It had been recommended to me and I was fairly sure I could get some enjoyment out of it.  It might have been because it's a BBC show and therefore I was less constantly reminded to do so, or because both of the actors were relatively unknown to me, and this type of procedural didn't scream WATCH ME NOW. I started watching with my friend David, as we make our way through various shows (I've gotten him through Community, he got me through Ray Donovan, and we keep up on shows we've both already seen like Parks and Recreation.) 

The first thing I noticed about the first episode of Sherlock was that I struggled to adjust to its pacing. My attention span has been shaped by sitcoms and 40 minute shows. This is something I've encountered even when watching movies these days, especially if I'm only semi-interested in them. My mind wandered during explanations regarding the case, but my interest and enjoyment was also consistently brought up again by the humorous banter of Sherlock and Watson. By the third episode, I had fallen in love with those two and their bromance (I'm a true sucker for bromance, and this one reminds me of Peter and and Neal from White Collar) and this was enough to make me love the show as a whole. I also found myself adjusting easier to the longer format, although I'm still having my mind blown by the short seasons (series, as they call them in the UK). I feel like I just met these two characters but they've already been through so much, unlike in American shows where you'll see the trivialities of what you can assume is every major case they work on or the day to day life in sitcoms. Sherlock has already spanned more years than we ever got to see.

The end of series 2 was incredibly moving and powerful and sad, and I jumped into series 3 with my whole heart. I am now completely caught up on the series and facing a hiatus unlike any I've faced before (movie-length episodes need movie length shooting schedules). In the meantime, I'll be jumping into fandom like no other (I've already drawn Sherlock and Watson and am soon to hit the tumblr obsession) and wait like the rest of the rabid Sherlock fans. In any case, I am so glad I have this new show to enjoy and talk to others about and look forward to for an uncomfortably long time.

The Fault In Our Stars Review

A friend recently recommended a download of Adobe Digitial Editions so that I can have access to more books.  While it's certainly not my favorite way to read, it has given me a chance to get cheaper books which fit in my current budget, and anything that lets me read more is a great thing. One of the first things I read in this manner was The Fault In Our Stars.

This was a book that I kept hearing about in various ways, from friends and various must-read lists.  I heard about it so much that I started to assume that it was vastly overhyped.  How could it possibly live up to all of that?

Honestly, it mostly did.  The story is about Hazel Grace, a sixteen year old girl with terminal cancer of the lungs and how she copes with the idea of dying, having to leave her family, and making friends and relationships with people that her loss will most likely hurt.  Through group therapy, Hazel meets Augustus Waters.  She's immediately attracted to him and they form a friendship with hints of much more.  They share books with each other, and both take great enjoyment from An Imperial Affliction, a fictional book which ends mid-sentence without providing closure for any supporting characters.  Hazel's dream has always been to find out what happened to the characters, but the recluse author has never responded to any of her fan mail. Through Augustus's efforts, she may learn the answers and live her dream.

What Hazel and Augustus share is a young love always meant for tragedy -- Hazel's health is poor while Augustus's cancer is in remission.  This is the status quo for most of the book, and really shows what kind of hardships such a battle entails.

Unlike other cancer/terminal illness books, this one isn't about overcoming the obstacles.  It's about facing them together, and knowing the realities of fighting cancer are not one of "being strong" but having it take you over and eventually letting go.  It's very insightful, and I admit that I cried quite a bit towards the end.

This isn't my favorite book ever, and it does tend to stray a little too girly for my usual taste, but it got me to care about the characters.  I do understand the hype now, and I am glad I read it.  I will happily look for more books by the author in the future.

The Conjuring

I recently watched The Conjuring with a couple of friends and I can honestly say we had a great time.  The film was pretty much everything you could ask for in a horror movie.  The story itself is nothing new; a family looking for a new beginning moves into a new house, family meets demon but can't move because they sunk all their money into the home, and in any case the demon has attached to them and would follow them anyway.  All your standard horror plots, but what really made it good was all the build-up and suspense.

Most of the movie was like a tease -- something glass would break or a door would open and you would expect something to be there but it'd be nothing.  In this way, it really put you in a realistic position of the family.  Things happen and you rationalize, tell yourself there's nothing there, that everything is fine.  It was the wind, or just the house being creaky, or your eyes playing tricks.  That's what really built up the horror of this film until finally it all snapped and the true horrors of the house are revealed.

Definitely recommending this for fans of the genre, and here's a trailer for those interested!

Community is Back -- Really Back

When a show begins to fizzle and lose the magic, it's hard to recapture it.  Community season 4 seemed to be the beginning of the inevitable decline, with the creator Dan Harmon being fired and the on-set drama between Harmon, Chevy Chase, and pretty much everyone else.  Season 4 was by far the worst season, with forgettable and mostly laugh-less episodes. There were a few gems, but it mostly missed the point of everything that made Community great and was instead a cheap imitation trying to live up to something it just couldn't pull off.

By some weird miracle, the show still managed a season 5 pick-up.  I didn't have high hopes for it, even after it was announced that Dan Harmon would be returning.  Chevy Chase was gone, Donald Glover was announced to be leaving shortly. How could it possibly return to its former glory with all odds against it?

Well, I'm here to say I was wrong. Last night's episodes cleverly entitled "Repilot" and "Introduction to Teaching" proved it is possible to reclaim the road with the right driver at the wheel.  There's no doubt in my mind that Dan Harmon's kind of a jerk, but absolutely brilliant.  He fixed and excused season four by subtly writing dialogue that mentioned that last year there was "a gas leak in the school."  He reminded us why we love these characters, and how those one-liners are gold, and simultaneously moved the characters forward into new roles and conflicts.  I laughed so hard I cried, just like the good ole days with the Greendale Human Beings, those lovable losers we missed dearly.

Still, we haven't seen episodes without Troy yet and it's too early to tell if they can hold up this quality without both him and Pierce, who I'll also miss despite my distaste for Chevy. Meanwhile, the season 5 premiere had record low ratings though I blame that on whoever decided to schedule it on January 2nd against new episodes of ratings-hog The Big Bang Theory.  It is also possible that even a number of loyal fans skipped out because of the rough season 4 and were waiting to see what critics would have to say before they invested their time into it.  Community has never been a ratings winner though, so I'm gonna just thank the tv gods that have allowed it to run this long.

Can't wait to see the rest of this season!