television

Singing the Praises of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Heyyyyyy… Remember when I made a New Year’s Resolution to write up at least one blog post per week and then didn’t put one up in the first week after said resolution was made??  Classic! 😛

At any rate, this past Sunday night was the Golden Globes ceremony.  I don’t put much stock into awards shows, and Sunday’s fare was pretty boring, in my opinion. But I did get super excited when Rachel Bloom won Best Actress in a Television Series Musical/Comedy for her work on The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend!

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Crazy-Ex Girlfriend is a strange little show that seems to have flown underneath most people’s radars since its debut last fall.  Bloom –who co-created the show along with The Devil Wears Prada writer, Aline Brosh McKenna — stars as Rebecca Bunch, a New York lawyer who struggles with depression and a sense of unfulfillment in life despite her successful career.  When she randomly runs into an old childhood sweetheart named Josh Chan (played by Vincent Rodriguez III), she impulsively decides to move to his hometown of West Covina, California.  …But not because Josh lives there!  It’s totally just a coincidence.  Yeah…

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Status

PSA: The First 4 Episodes of The Expanse are Online NOW!

SAY WHAAAT?!? O_O

You heard that right, folks.  The first FOUR episodes of Syfy’s The Expanse are now available for streaming on Syfy.com!

Some theorize that the episodes are now being released officially by Syfy in response to them being accidentally leaked early on Comcast.  So that’s kind of a shame.  But on the other hand, this might lead to an early swell in viewership, creating a steady fanbase right off the bat.

But whatever.  The important thing now is that they’re here.  I’ve been looking forward to this series ever since I picked up the first book last year, and really loved the pilot episode.  Can’t wait to see the rest of it!

Now if you will excuse me, I’m off to binge-watch! 😀

 

Aside

A Post-Thanksgiving Ramble

Hello all!  My brain is still in vacation-mode coming off of Thanksgiving, so I’ve yet to regain any motivation to write a “real” blog post this week.  I’ll try to put something out in the next few days, but until then, here are some stream-of-consciousness rambles about my extended holiday weekend:

  • I had a wonderful Thanksgiving (and hope you did too!)  Had dinner at my cousin’s place, watched the Bears-Packers game (As a born and raised Cheesehead, it was pretty depressing), and played some Bang! and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.  Overall, it was a great time with my immediate & extended family.  I love them all dearly and was happy to spend time with them all on Thursday!
  • For the next few days, I stayed over at my brother’s apartment in Chicago.  We watched movies, played Rock Band 4, and just lazed around.  It was fantastic 🙂
  • While my brother played DOTA 2 at various points throughout the weekend, I read through several Image comics I had picked up recently:
    • Lazarus (Vol 1-3) – I had only recently heard of Lazarus, but it had been highly recommended and sounded to be right up my alley.  And boy is it!  I’m still very much a comics noob, but this series is already one of my faves.  The worldbuilding is just so great.  I’ll probably do a review of the series thus far after the fourth trade comes out in January as that book will finish up the first main story arc.
    • Saga (Vol 1-3) – I re-read Volumes 1 & 2 to read Volume 3 since it had been awhile since I first picked them up.  Saga is all the rage right now, and justifiably so.  Everything about it is fantastic.  I’ve been taking my time reading this series since I’m so far behind and a trade-waiter anyway 🙂  Can’t wait to get my hands on Volumes 4 and 5.
    • I Kill Giants – I picked up this graphic novel at the recommendation of the Image Comics subreddit. (I haven’t posted anything on that thread.  But nice try, would-be cyberstalkers!  😛 ) I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I definitely enjoyed it.  A truly unique and interesting read.
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Forever Carlyle from Lazarus ❤  (Art by Michael Lark.  via Greg Rucka’s blog)

  • My siblings, cousins, and some friends have our own Turkey Bowl each Thanksgiving weekend.  We’re all pretty out of shape, but it’s still a lot of fun.  We played on Sunday morning, and as of today (Thursday morning), my leg muscles are still kind of sore.  I seriously need to exercise more 😛
  • Saw two movies in theaters this weekend and both were fairly disappointing.
    • The Good Dinosaur – As far as Pixar films go, this was one of their weakest entries.  It all just seemed so rote and color-by-numbers.  There was apparently a lot of trouble behind the scenes during the movie’s production, and it shows.  Though it tries really hard to convince you that it does, the film just doesn’t have that Pixar heart.  On the positive side, the visuals were stunning, and I liked the hints of the western frontier theme.  Now I wish they had doubled down on that and made a cowboy dinosaur movie.  At least that would’ve been something new instead of the bland film we got instead.
    • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 – aka Speeches: The Movie.  I swear, at least a third of this movie was spent by characters pontificating.  I remember enjoying Part 1, but haven’t rewatched it since.  Still, I imagine Part 2‘s failings could’ve been avoided by keeping Mockingjay as a single film.  But them’s the breaks.  Definitely the weakest of the series, which is a shame since it ended the movie franchise on a low note.
  • Watched the early-released pilot episode of The Expanse and loved it!  I’ll write up a formal review when the show formally debuts on SyFy in a few weeks.  But I just wanted to say that the show does not disappoint.  I loved Leviathan Wakes, and the television adaptation seems incredibly faithful and very well produced.  (Also, they included a Belter version of Tighten Up by The Black Keys.  Amazing.)
  • I ate sushi twice this weekend.  I love sushi 🙂

Now I’m back at work, and with this post, gradually easing back into writing.  Alongside making progress on some other creative endeavors, I hope to get some more blog posts out by week’s end.  So until then… See you, space cowboys!

Jessica Jones Binge-Watch & Blog-Along (Part Five: Ep 13 & Post-Mortem)

Well, it’s official.  I survived my Jessica Jones marathon.  I started at 4 am Friday, November 20th and finished around 1:30 am Saturday, November 21st.  Considering I took time to write a blog snippet after each episode and took breaks to run errands, eat meals, etc., I made pretty good time!  Still counts as a #OneDayJJ success 😉

But enough patting myself on the back.  Let’s get to the good stuff…

Welcome to the the fifth and final part of the Jessica Jones Binge-Watch and Blog-Along!  This post will cover Episode 13 and some thoughts on the series as a whole. You can find reviews & reactions to previous episodes in Parts One, Two, Three, and Four.

Warning: Spoilers below!  (Also contains mild spoilers & discussion for the Jessica Jones comic, Alias.  Ye be warned!)

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Jessica Jones Binge-Watch & Blog-Along (Part Three: Eps 7-9)

Welcome to Part Three of the Jessica Jones Binge-Watch and Blog-Along!  This post will cover Episodes 7 through 9.  You can find reviews & reactions to previous episodes in Part One and Part Two.

Warning: Spoilers below!  (Also contains mild spoilers & discussion for the Jessica Jones comic, Alias.  Ye be warned!)

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Jessica Jones Binge-Watch & Blog-Along (Part Two: Eps 4-6)

Welcome to Part Two of the Jessica Jones Binge-Watch and Blog-Along!  This post will cover Episodes 4 through 6.  You can find reviews & reactions to previous episodes in Part One.

Warning: Spoilers below!  (Also contains mild spoilers & discussion for the Jessica Jones comic, Alias.  Ye be warned!)

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Jessica Jones Binge-Watch & Blog-Along (Part One: Eps 1-3)

Welcome to the Jessica Jones Binge-Watch and Blog-Along!  I am your host, Wise the Simple, and I totally took off work today just to watch Netflix. #geekpriorities 😉

Jessica Jones first appeared in the Marvel comics universe via the Brian Michael Bendis-penned series Alias.  I just finished reading the omnibus earlier this week, and loved every moment of it.

All 13 episodes of Jessica Jones were released on Netflix today, so I thought I’d do a “binge-watch and blog-along.”  What does that mean exactly?  Well, I will watch the show and type up my reactions immediately after watching each episode.  So theoretically, we’ll see how my thoughts about the show change throughout this series of posts.  I’ve tried it before with sense8, but I watched that show in chunks over the course of a week instead of trying a binge-watch marathon in one day.  Odds are I’ll stop and pick it up later if/when I need a break.  (Practice safe binge-watching, kiddos!)

At any rate, there will obviously be spoilers ahead!  This first post will include reviews and reactions to the first three episodes.  But enough with the preamble —  Let’s get to the show!

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A sense8 Binge-Watch and Blog-Along (Part Four: Eps 10-12)

Welcome to the final installment of the sense8 Binge-Watch and Blog-Along!  This blog post will cover episodes 10-12 of the new Netflix series.  Fair warning, it’s a long one!  You can find reviews of previous episodes in Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.  This Blog-Along will also be followed by an overall Season 1 Review.  Stay tuned!

(via Collider)

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