Cooties

My friends know that I'm not a fan of romantic comedies, romantic dramas, or anything were romance takes center stage.

So why do I find myself watching clips from Company?

No, that's not right. Company is incidental. I'm watching clips of Raul Esparza.

Once again, I'm late to the pop culture party. The guy I know as DA Barba from Law and Order SVU is a long established Broadway and TV star, with a big-deal role on Hannibal (another program on my ever-growing eventual watch list).

This dude MUST be a bigger deal than I realized. He sang with Lin-Manuel after all! And a song traditionally sung by women! From one of the two iterations of Romeo and Juliet I actually like!

 The other is Warm Bodies, btw.

And...if he isn't a huge mega-star...and I'm not twenty years late on my pop-culture as usual...then I'm just enjoying an actor in a genera I usually despise.

Why am I willing to stretch my interests for actors I like? It's not without limits. I love Chris Evans, but I'm not seeing that sad little girl movie he's got coming out. Same for Sam Rockwell and the Poltergeist reboot. As much as I love crappy horror, that one is too close to my heart (and the top of my favorites list).

Maybe it's the magic of youtube. I can watch bite-sized chunks of familiar media, without investing the 2+ hours in a show I'm medium on. I love Sondheim, but it isn't as fun as Sweeny Todd, or as wild as Into the Woods. I like Company as well as I can like something about relationships.

I'm just past this stage when it comes to romance stuff.

Maybe its because, regardless of my deeply unromantic soul, if the story is good enough I can still enjoy things. I'm not inflexible. While that doesn't mean I'm going to run out and rent Love Story, it's good to bear in mind.

Ecch, feelings blog. Blech, I enjoy reposting memes and anime reviews more than this. At least I can end this by watching Esparza sing Willkommen from Cabaret, one of the least romantic things I know of.  Enjoy!

Though this will make it harder to see him as a credible DA.

Okay, so we're doing this

Whelp, I was gonna have a meaningful post about Raul Esparza and personal growth today, but then the Death Note trailer dropped.

 

Tomorrow, you treasure.

Ohhhhhh boy. It's gonna get UNCOMFORTABLE UP IN HERE.

So, Death Note was the last anime I finished before Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It's about a charming, intelligent, totally sociopathic high schooler Light Yagami (yes, his real name, I suspect it doesn't translate well) that gets the power to kill anyone who he knows the name and face of.

This guy is a douche.

Naturally, the police are WTF when criminals start dropping dead. Enter L (real name withheld, because he doesn't wanna die) the world's greatest detective.

Our hero!

There's a LOT of details I'm leaving off, like the rules, death gods, familial entanglements, love triangles, etc, but the story at it's most basic is a cat and mouse game between L and Light to discover each others identities so Light can kill L or L can catch Light.

I'm going to avoid spoilers, since the series is pretty good and you should watch/read it. It's so good, there have been a few live-action movies in Japan already.

And while this trailer looks like it's been lifted right from the anime, there are several major plot threads that were totally changed as the films went on, resulting in prequel movies, and an overall overhaul of the story. I'm not as familiar with these movies, but from my understanding, people accepted the changes and they were very successful.

Enter the American trailer.

To put it simply, people are not happy about it.

There's a lot to unpack here, and I can still do it while avoiding spoilers. First off, a LOT of people are pissed that Light is white. Also now named Turner/ The setting has been moved from Japan to America (apparently Seattle, if the space needle is any indication). I'm unfamiliar with the actor playing Light, but if he's good, that's something. Still, should have been an equally good Asian dude.

Also, L is now black. L was distinctly not-Japanese before, so I think this is causing less tension. Granted, he looks nothing like his counterpart either. People don't seem to be as mad about that, for whatever reason.

Who is the smoking cheerleader? There's only 1 major female character that I can think of offhand, and that's a 180 from her look.

Misa. I am not a fan. You know what you did!

Second, there seem to be some action set pieces that aren't related to the show; that whole Ferris wheel thing? No idea where that came from.

There are some things that are unchanged; the look of the notebook. The use of Kira as an alias for Light (originally derived from Japanese mispronunciation of the English word 'killer'. Not sure how that's supposed to play here).  The shot of the notebook falling from the sky. The apple. All very important elements.

On the positive side, Willem Dafoe as Ryuk, the god of death that provided the killer notebook, is already being hailed as a great choice.

Perfect.

I'm reserving judgement until it airs, since I'm a pretty recent fan, and have only seen the show once. But, if people want a more authentic version, at least in this case it exists. Unlike some franchises...

Just why?

Strangest Thing

So, I've finished watching the first season of Stranger Things.

This is one of those rare series where not only does it live up to the hype, but it speaks to MANY things I love. Stephen King, IT, The Thing, Poltergeist, E.T., The Evil Dead, Spielberg coming of age films, D&D, 80s horror, practical effects, responsible use of CGI, realistic characters, alternate universes, and just good writing.

I'm still reading through fan theories, references, and other "we're waiting for Halloween" fan ramblings. I'm sure I'll add to them myself, given enough time. But, in the meantime, here's some cool stuff I found on Reddit, Buzzfeed, and other internet hidey-holes.

We still have months until my favorite holiday rolls around, and with it the next season. So, we'll leave things on this note...

A new adventure (and by adventure, I mean not that)

After finishing Puella Magi Madoka Magica I found myself without an anime for a bit. Lucky for me, The Devil is a Part Timer! is back on netflix.

Time to go to MgRonald's to celebrate.

This is one of those shows where I watched a few episodes, then Netflix dumped it. It's only been a little while, so I didn't need to rewatch the first two episodes again to recall the premise; The Dark Lord Satan (not our satan, seems to be more of a title) his demon first officer, and the hero who's trying to kill them, are expelled from their fantasy world into modern day Japan. Satan, now a human teen must get a part time job at a fast food joint to survive. Oh the hijinks!

Surprisingly, there's not a lot of 'I'm Satan, bow before me!' humor going on. The Devil, now called Sadao Maou, is just interested in working hard to rise in the world. Granted, this is so he can get back to the other dimension and take it over, but he's nice to his lieutenant/roommate, the coworker crushing on him, and even the hero who's still pursuing him.

It's not what I expected, and that's part of the fun. The joke of 'I'm so much better than you.' would wear thin pretty fast. The 'WTF, he's literally satan, why is he just being a normal dude?' is pretty fun.

Satan is adorable!

I'm only three episodes in, but this is another anime with few episodes (13) so I'll get through the rest in a week or so.  No idea what I'll watch next. Maybe they'll bring back 'My Bride is a Mermaid...'

Makes sense in context.

The IT Spot: Breath in that Derry air! Plus, Dark Tower

Some really cool pictures of the models of Derry and the sewers below have been released. Drink in this gorgeous 50's exterior:

The are some iconic and important places in Derry, and I hope the actual film looks this good. But we've also got a glimpse at the sewers, where the real action is!

The most important thing, aside from how grim and gross the sewers look, is the graffiti. If they're actually going to discuss The Turtle in the movie, my hopes are considerably heightened. This is a being that ties heavily in to King's multiverse,with specific importance to both IT and The Dark Tower.

Speaking of which, we got a poster!

After a long look, I find myself happy with the poster. It doesn't really give us much to go on, but implying the multi-verse is a good start. I would have liked the desert background, but it's more than acceptable.

Can't wait for a trailer!

*UPDATE!* We also have the poster with the colors flipped for an awesome reveal.