rose_griffes

Getting closer to the end of the semester, and I AM SO TIRED. Particularly tired of grading papers, but also just generally tired.

Anyway. Aside from the problems of having one character named Jennifer and another character named Jessica (why?! they're too similar and I get confused!), I enjoyed the romance novel Beard Science by Penny Reid. Too many sex scenes near the end, but then again I'm the type of reader who often skims sex scenes anyway. I very much enjoyed the character growth in the heroine and hero, and the humor usually worked for me. So consider this a moderately enthusiastic recommendation. (I bought it because it was one of the deals of the day. So my recommendation includes not having paid full price.)

I watched a short series of character trailers for The Witcher; its first season is available December 20 on Netflix. It looks like a fairly standard fantasy epic set in fantasy Europe: the people are pretty and mostly white. I am curious enough to give the first episode a try during Winter break. After the grading... and grading... and grading...

Season four of The Expanse is now on Amazon, but I'm still rewatching season two. I think that's what I'll continue to do, at least until Winter break. I probably won't rewatch all of season three; just the first half.

Unrelated to the rest of this post: I deleted my tumblr account almost a week ago, and then remade an account with the same name. I hated the idea that my online name of 13 years might be taken and used by bots. Anyway, it's sitting there doing nothing, which is fine.

---

I'm still rewatching The Expanse. ( the talented Florence Faivre makes awful men a bit more palatable )

So who's excited for season four of The Expanse?! BECAUSE I AM. ( spoilers for season three )

Five minute sneak peak of episode 4.1:


"Official" teaser trailer for season four:

---

I also watched the first half of episode one of an Amazon show called Patriot and decided that quirky + grim is not necessarily a combo for me. But here's the trailer if you want a sense of what it's like. Warning for blood and a brief but violent death.

3.06 to 3.07 feels like a case of whiplash. ( spoilers, natch )

Fan-made character study videos! Warning for blood, violence, swearing, etc.

First up, my favorite bodyguard/spy, Cotyar:


Amos Burton--an appropriately unsettling music choice makes this a haunting look at a violent pieced-together man.

AAAAH, THE EXPANSE 2.07 IS STILL SO EXCITING! AND JARED HARRIS WAS BACK AS TOM ZAREK ANDERSON DAWES, AND HE'S SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH! Also, I'm really feeling the Diogo appreciation right now. I honestly thought we'd never see him again when he got spaced in season one. Hooray for recurring characters who add to the plot and atmosphere of a show.

Amazon has been playing promos for their upcoming original show Carnival Row. Orlando Bloom is a lead; I'm interested in seeing him again. It's been a while. Jared Harris has a role, which is another reason to tune in, and Indira Varma, who is always a delight.

I've gotten behind on season six of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not sure why I'm mentioning it; this seems to happen every season, except season four. As a show it has enough flaws that binge-watching works better than waiting a week for a new episode.

I've mentioned some of the things I've been working on during summer vacation: a lot of cleaning and organizing, a little bit of crafting--mostly sewing. So far that's been alterations and repairs, rather than sewing original items. Anyway, a sewer doing a lot of tedious tasks must be in want of background noise TV, so I tried Whiskey Cavalier again. It works just fine as a show that I can mentally tune out as needed.

But here's how lackluster it is otherwise. I forgot that I was watching it for background noise, and ended up starting the new version of Charmed for the same reason. It also works well as something to watch or listen to while multi-tasking, and it's apparently less forgettable than Whiskey Cavalier is.

Season two of The Expanse has had a great start. I'm excited to finally meet Bobbie Draper. Chrisjen is working the politics angle, and it is fascinating. Jules-Pierre Mao is still around, just for the purpose of maintaining his title of "worst father ever".

Unrelated to that last sentence: Have I mentioned how many gorgeous brown-eyed people are on this show? It's a lot. *swoons*

---

I'm going to be really busy with various travel and family activities in July, so my time online will be sporadic. So... in fact, it's time to finish packing right now.