MERLIN

I mentioned in a post (that was, admittedly, quite a while ago) that I'd started watching BBC's Merlin. Well, I am proud to announce that after a whirlwind couple months spent huddled in front of watchseries and trying to avoid seeing too many spoilers on my tumblr dash I have finally finished Merlin! It was announced shortly after I started watching that the current series airing (series 5) would be the last. This almost made me stop watching because I knew that when/if I ever caught up the show would be over completely. I'm slightly heartbroken, but I'm glad I continued watching til the end regardless.

Excuse me for a moment.

Okay. I'm ready.

There will be NO SPOILERS in this blog post. At least not anything from the last season, but I consider the others fair game, though I'm going try and be very general about it all because it aired so recently and I know people may only now be starting to watch.

Merlin is a show about a young warlock--you guessed it--Merlin. Merlin is the same Merlin you're thinking of, though much younger, sassier, and ganglier than you probably had in mind. He leaves his mother and small village life to go to Camelot and apprentice for his mother's friend, Gaius, the court physician, despite magic being outlawed there by King Uther Pendragon. Almost immediately upon arriving, Merlin saves Gaius' life but reveals his magic in the process. Lucky for him, Gaius used to dabble in magic as well and promises not only not to hand him over for execution, but to guide him magically.

Merlin then accidentally gets on Prince Arthur's badside (the handsome prat) and then even more accidentally becomes his manservant, which is both the best and worst thing that ever happens to him. You might ask why he doesn't just leave, but a great dragon living under the castle told him it was his destiny to be by Arthur's side to protect him and help Arthur bring about the glorious days of Albion united. Seriously, I can't make this stuff up.

From there on out Merlin and Arthur gradually develop from mutual hatred to tolerance to friendship to full out bromance--which could be seen as less BRO and more just ROMANCE if you look closely (and by that I mean if you look at all). Seriously, browse the merthur tag on tumblr and you'll have gay feels comin out the wazoo.

Anyway. The show covers five series in which we follow Arthur on his journey to kinghood and Merlin on his journey of saving Arthur from every magical beast, spell, and ailment known to mankind. We meet several characters that you might recognize from the original legends including Morgana, Morderd, Guinevere, Lancelot, and Gwaine, though they are all adaptations. 

My favorite is Gwaine.

I don't remember why. Maybe it has something to do with how he's such a good friend to Merlin, or how he doesn't fit into the nobility stereotype, or how he is very brave and courageous--no, no, that's not it. I'm sure it'll come to me later.

In all seriousness, I've really enjoyed watching Merlin. It is in turns hilarious, touching, and soul-wrenching. My absolute favorite aspect of the show is just watching the friendship between Arthur and Merlin, and watching them grow up. The show covers a good deal of time with them, and we see them struggle each in their own turns. Merlin struggles with the obvious problem of needing to hide his magic, but also with the guilt he feels lying to his friends and the conflict over whether he should reveal himself to them or not--whether he'll ever be able to. Arthur too struggles to redefine what it means to be a king through his friendship with Merlin, marriage to Guinevere, relationship with the commoners (especially in regards to the knights), and his stance on magic. Laughs and Guinevere's heaving breasts are all well and good, but as a reader I can't love anything more than seeing characters develop, and Merlin provided me with that.

If you needed any more encouragement to watch the show, there's always this:

If that doesn't convince you, nothing will.

In other news:

• I'm back in America. More specifically, I'm back in Clemson, SC getting ready to start school on the 9th. I've moved into my house, which is fantastic because I have my own bedroom and bathroom. yessssss
• I told y'all that I was doing Nanowrimo this year, but I neglected to mention that I WON! I completed 50,000 words on my WIP novel The Island. The book is nowhere near done yet (I would say I'm about 1/3 of the way through) and I haven't touched it since then, but my new year's resolution is to finish it, so there should be more to come. 
• I'm currently reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Practchett, which is delightfully naughty. My other new year's resolution is to complete a challenge my mother has been doing for several years now to read one book for each letter of the alphabet. Of course I'll read more than that, naturally, but I wouldn't normally seek out books that start with the letter X, so it should be a nice challenge.
• Tumblr convinced me to watch Teen Wolf, so I'm in the second season of that now. I can't say I'm too thrilled (I want to shave Allison's hair off and make Scott eat it) but there's only two seasons so nbd
• ONCE UPON A TIME COMES BACK ON TONIGHT AND I'LL GET TO SEE MORE OF HOOK MY BABYYY!!! He and Emma totes belong together. OTP don't bash it.

The Legend of Korra

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was watching The Legend of Korra, the much-anticipated sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. I wrote a post about Avatar where I pretty much talked about how amazing it was and that you should go watch it. I stand by this opinion with Legend of Korra. It is fantastic for a children's show--something that can be entertaining and accessible to all ages. I will admit that I wasn't as whole-heartedly thrilled with LoK as I was with Avatar, but I enjoyed it.

The main premiss of Legend of Korra is to follow the next avatar, Korra, and her adventures in the future. It seems to be set in Republic City around a 1920's-esque time period, with cars newly emerging and jazz etc. What this means is that we get to know a whole new cast. The only really familiar face we see is Katara, the only surviving member of the gaang. I actually preferred this to continuing with the characters we know. I feel like Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Zuko's story was done and that any more story dealing with them would have felt cheap.

That's not to say we leave the old crowd behind entirely. Korra ends up living with Tenzin, one of Aang and Katara's sons, to learn airbending. From their house she can see a huge statue of Aang looming over Republic City. We also get to see a statue of Toph, and meet her daughter Lin Bei-Fong. Lin is the police chief of Republic City, enforcing laws by using metal-bending--a nice connection to her mother.

The producers actually put a lot of little things in LoK that you can just tell are purely for the fans to feel nostalgic of ATLA--and I'm grateful for them.

I came across this picture on Pinterest the other day and it just about made me cry. I feel like Katara must have a very conflicted but strong relationship with Korra. On the one had, Korra is the reincarnation of the love of her life. But on the other, she is a constant reminder that Aang is really dead and gone. I feel like these two images are too similar for the artists not to have done it intentionally. They're beautiful.

Another cool moment was in the finale, after General Iroh II jumps out of a plane and manages to hang onto a rope attached to the statue of Aang's glider. Iroh says something along the lines of, "Thanks for looking out for me, Aang." This is such a tear-jerking moment because, while it's the General who says it, he is voiced by Dante Basco, the actor who voiced Zuko in ATLA. Sooo goooddd.

Avatar and Legend of Korra are different though. LoK is considerably darker than ATLA. The villain is Amon, a mysterious, masked man who somehow can take people's bending away. Only the avatar is supposed to be able to take people's bending away, which makes Amon truly scary. He uses this power to pursue his dream of creating a bending-free world. His Equalist movement is supported by lightning-fast chi-blockers, reminiscent of Tai Lee in ATLA. I found it really interesting that Amon and the Equalists used technology to fight against the benders, kind of like a metaphor for traditional old values being beaten out by technology.

My only real problem with LoK is how rushed it felt. I'm not just talking about the finale (which was much too fast-paced IMO) but the season as a whole. From what I understand, LoK was initially supposed to be a 12-episode mini-series, meaning that the creators had to set up character development, plot, conflict, and resolution all in 12 episodes. This is made even more challenging by the fact that, apart from the finale, the episodes are only 30 minutes long including commercials. Considering that, the producers did a fine job, but now that we know there will be a second season, I would have liked for things to have slowed down and been fleshed out more.

For instance: the romance. Anyone who watches this show can tell you that romance is a major part of the plot line. This makes sense because the characters are in their late teens so are obviously...romantically inclined *coughcough* horny little bastards. But there's just so much romance for 12 episodes! I think what mainly frustrated me was that it appears all the conflict, both romantic and otherwise, has been resolved with the end of the season. Normally producers like to leave you with a little something to push you into watching season two, but we don't get that in LoK. All the characters are left in a pretty good place (I'm trying to do this with minimal spoilers, y'all, but it's hard as fuck) more in line with a series finale than a season finale. It disoriented me, I guess you could say.

I think that how rushed the season was definitely impacted the character development. Without going into details, we learn a lot about Amon very quickly without really having time to process it before the season is over. Other than Amon the characters are reasonably well-developed even though I still want more. But I don't think I'll ever stop wanting more.

Overall I had a lot of fun watching the first season of Legend of Korra and will definitely watch the second. I hope the second is a little more spread out, and I pray that there will be a third season. I feel like they could do a third season because the fandom is so loyal and friggin' amazing that they would watch it forever.

SPEAKING of the fandom, I have some recs for you of awesome people doing awesome things in the ATLA/LoK realms.

First, I believe I've mentioned her before for her Harry Potter fanart, but Viria13 is a lovely artist who also has a few ATLA/LoK drawings. They are amazing and you should go check them out!

I've mentioned the youtuber sawyer7mage before too, but he's worth mentioning again. He reviewed every episode of LoK nicely. I agree with pretty much everything he says and I strangely want to rub my nose up against his. Don't judge me.

You should also check out the myriad of fan-made youtube videos that are out there for LoK. Below is one of my favorites by RoseKnightingale. it combines the  series ATLA and LoK and throws in some Anastasia music to boot. Watch it please! You can check out WooperRevival134 as well. His videos are hilarious!!

Well, that's it for me! I hope you'll give Legend of Korra a shot if you haven't done so already!

Let's Catch Up

I've been working on a Top Ten Disney Heroines post to get back in the swing of things, but I've decided to do an update-y type post first. I told myself when I started I'm Falling With Style that I wouldn't get to in depth in my personal life, but I think we can all agree that that has gone down the drain.

The Heroines list is taking much longer than I anticipated (How do you judge them, really? They're all so great!) and the fact that my summer abode is without wifi isn't making it go any faster. As I mentioned before I have an internship for the summer. I won't tell you doing what, except that it's for the government, which isn't nearly as exciting as it sounds. I'm living with my aunt and uncle for the summer in Middle of Nowhere, Virginia. I've never thought of myself as being much of a city girl--my biggest fear is crossing streets--but I will admit to being a little flummoxed out here in the country. There are cows everywhere.

Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful. There is so much green, and  I can see the mountains, and there are ever-present popcorn clouds in the sky. It's lovely. But I miss the water, the ocean, and I miss my family. I  won't see them again until August, and then that is only for a week before I go off to Italy. Is this adulthood?

I have about a week and a half before I start my internship, so for right now I'm just...chilling. My aunt works most of the time, my lovely cousin who is the same age as me is spending her summer taking classes at college, and the younger boy cousin is busy studying for his last week of exams as a high school student. My uncle works from home, so I constantly hear him talking about who knows what. Sometimes I think he sells cars, other times cds. I don't really know what he does. The gist is that I'm alone most of the day, which is fine. I'm a naturally introverted person, so I've actually been enjoying the rest. It does lead to awkward situations though.

My aunt worries that I'm bored. I don't know how to politely tell her that she doesn't need to worry and set up play dates and horseback riding lessons without straight up saying that I don't mind not being around people all the time.

Have you ever noticed that the first time you talk after an extended period of silence your voice is scratchy and unintelligible until you cough? Yeah, introvert problems.

So I've been doing a lot of reading. I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and have since moved on to The Girl who Played with Fire. My mom got me the trilogy for my birthday--20, don't you know. expect a more detailed post on the trilogy as a whole when I'm done, but for now just know that I'm reading them.

I'm at the library right now. I haven't ventured out of the house much, but I went to Walmart on Monday and the library today. It's a beautiful library.  I say that now, but I haven't even explored it yet. I just walked in, found a comfy chair by an open window facing a pond with an outlet close by, and sat. I'm in a corner right behind the magazines and the graphic novels--not much traffic. There's one man at a table close by to me, but he's working, Maybe studying as he's going back to school or something. I don't mind him, and the view is great.

So, what else have I been doing in my extended absence? The answer is: not much. But I've had fun. Here's a little bulleted list. Judge if you want; I'd judge me too.

• I watched seven seasons of The Office. I enjoyed it, but it rarely made me laugh out loud (lol) like Friends still does on the ninth go around. I mainly watched it to procrastinate studying for exams and to make use of my Netflix account. I don't think I'll bother to watch season 8 (not on Netflix) anytime soon.
• I've purged my closet. Half my clothes are now on their way to Goodwill in preparation to make room for more "business appropriate" attire. Am I...growing up?
• I had a lovely, quiet birthday spent mostly with a recalcitrant cat named Tiger.
• Our iguana, Marley, has passed. My father almost immediately replaced him with a ball python whose name is Monty Juan Carlos Javier. My little brother Andrew was in charge of naming him. I've held Monty, and he isn't as scary as you would think until you see him strangle his dinner to death.
• Grady Bubba (my turtle) has also passed. I left him with my roommate, Whitney, over spring break and he died. She replaced him, which I told her afterwards was unnecessary, but now I've grown rather fond of Sadie Lou. She's much more active that Grady ever was, and eats almost twice as much.
• I drove on the highway for the first time ever, and no one died, so I count that as an accomplishment. Driving scares me. Pretty much anything to do with cars scares me. If I wanted to be analytical, I would guess it had something to do with the minor car crash my family and I got in when I was younger. But I don't really want to be analytical.
• I am going to watch Downton Abbey next, followed by Sherlock. Any suggestions after that?
• I am watching The Legend of Korra, the Avatar sequel, as it airs, although I'm behind an episode now that I don't have wifi. I plan to write an in depth post on the show when the season is finished, but for now let's just say that the fact that I'm still watching it speaks for itself...but so does the fact that I haven't gone crazy trying to find wifi to watch the latest episode. Do with that what you will. I watch the reviewer sawyer7mage who reviews every episode. I both agree with his opinions and find him attractive. He also reviews Naruto and other shows like that, but they don't hold my interest. I'm strictly LoK.
• I got all A's last semester. Be proud.

And I believe that is enough for now. I'm sorry for my leave of absence, but then again, I'm not. It was rejuvenating. 

Dork Alert

I've given it quite a bit of thought and done hour after hour of research, and I've decided that I'm a waterbender. For those of you who don't get the reference, this is my way of saying I've just finished watched the Avatar the Last Airbender series! Woo!

I'm going to go ahead and warn you here that there are SPOILERS!! But I figure if you haven't watched the series by this point then you don't really care too much anyway...just be warned.

Yes, I realize how dorky this is. I saw bits and pieces of the first season years ago when I lived back home with two younger brothers and always wanted to watch it. So, I went to college, got a Netflix account, and a year later I decided to actually watch the show! Oh boy.

Let me start off by saying that I think this show has so much potential, and that I think the producers do a reasonably good job of fulfilling that potential. This is designed as a children's show, so they obviously can't go quite as in depth as I would have liked, but they do well. When I say that Avatar the Last Airbender has a lot of potential, I mean in the characters and the story. FOR INSTANCE!

The Bending: The idea of people being able to manipulate the elements, that they build cultures and societies around these elements, and that one special person can wield them all is fascinating. I especially liked that each element had its own bending style, such as the firebenders using a lot of sharp, punching movements that looked to me like a mix of martial arts and boxing, and the airbenders using more sweeping, arching motions. I also liked that the different elements the characters bended was reflected in their personalities--it was just cool and rang true to me.

I also liked that there was more to discover about the bending and all the different forms of bending within  an element. For instance, I loved the swamp benders and the sand benders. I also loved how Toph learns she can bend metal (something we're initially isn't supposed to be able to do) and, though scary, how Katara learns she can bend blood. Bending in itself is just cool. I mean, it's basically a super power, and who doesn't want super powers?!?

The Characters: I found the characters surprisingly well-developed. It started out rough, (the dialogue in the first few episodes killed me) but eventually the actors and writers found their groove. I felt like each characters' psychology, past, motivations, goals, weaknesses, and strengths were all laid out very well, especially for a children's show. I especially liked Zuko. He was attractive, which didn't hurt, but I liked that even from the beginning he was a bad guy we could love. He was sympathetic, his motivation and past were explained, so you didn't automatically write him off as evil, as black, as dark. The shades of gray about what is right and what is wrong in Avatar are very well done (I know I keep saying it but I'll say it again) especially for a children's show.

Katara is my least favorite character. I don't quite know why, but I didn't find her very likable. I really started not to like her the moment she stole the waterbending scroll from the pirates and chose to believe/trust Jett over Sokka. She's such a little whore too, isn't she? If George R.R. Martin wrote Avatar she'd be having sex left and right. She doesn't deserve Aang.

One of my favorite characters (besides Zuko and his uncle--I'm such a sucker for good-bad guys!) was Toph, but she also disappointed me. I felt like her character was the least developed. She had a few episodes where she was given a large emotional part to the story, but other than that she is just the sarcastic little blind girl. But I loved her! I thought she was so strong, and so talented, and I definitely thought she deserved to end up with someone--Aang, prefereably. I think they would have been good together.

The Story: My favorite season was the 2nd (Book Two, as they call it) because it was just so plotty. I love political intrigue kind of stories, so the whole spiel in Ba Sing Se with the Dai Li (spelling?) was really interesting and creepy to me. I felt like a lot was happening in this season as opposed to the third season. I felt like apart from the super long battle episodes, Book Three was pretty much all filler. Like that episode with the play--I could have done without that.

I really wish Avatar the Last Airbender was a series of books--adult books, or at least books that can bridge the gap like Harry Potter. Because, as I said, I feel like there is so much potential in the story and characters that just can't be fully realized in a children's show. I also feel like Season Two would make an awesome book--everything would be nice and spread out with lots of detail.

Now, as I said before, I've cast myself as a waterbender. Preferably to replace Katara. I chose waterbending very carefully and for several reasons.

1. I'm not strong enough for earthbending. I get scared at pretty much everything, I don't like rocks, and I definitely don't like rocks flying at me.
2. I'm not controlled enough for firebending. I wouldn't be able to handle the destructive power of firebending.
3. I want something a bit more substantial than freaking air to fight with. Also, I hate flying--all those bugs in your teeth!
4. Blue is my best color.
5. I've always wanted to go to the south pole.
6. I love the healing aspect of waterbending (fyi, if I had to pick a superpower, it'd be the regenerative power like Hayden Panatierre's on Heroes).

So there you have it! Whoo--JUST getting this in on my self-imposed Friday deadline. *pats self on back*