January 24, 2014

Stuff and Things 1/24/14

Life as I Know it

It's freeeeeeezing here in NJ lately. Record arctic temps, and we got about 10-12 inches of snow in my area. It's the light fluffy stuff, so it wasn't so bad to shovel up, it was just the drive home on Tuesday that was scary. And we closed early.

Of course, this has been my uniform at work lately:
That's me, in a long sleeve shirt, with a sweater over it, in my winter coat and gloves, a fleece blanket on my lap, and a 12ft 4th Doctor scarf. Because someone in HR threw a hissy fit that not having the receptionist in the lobby "isn't professional and doesn't look right." And if you look closely at the revolver behind me, you can even see the gap where the doors are improperly sealed but, according to the landlord, "aren't worn down enough to fix."

Yeah, I'm looking for a new job.
Update: They finally moved me. Because G had a talk with the exec who "controls" the conference center. She got in trouble, but I'm actually able to take off my winter coat. Just the fact that we had to fight to not sit in a 44 degree lobby tells you all you need to know. Plus no one recognizes my 4th Doctor scarf, and that's just unacceptable.

In other news, I got some new phone cases! I went Sherlock-themed, obviously, and I couldn't decide which one I wanted, so I got two. I'm currently using the wallpaper one.
I love the pink rhinestoned cupcake one I've been using, but it's been shedding rhinestones like nobody's business, and it just looks a bit sad. I got them both from Etsy: the wallpaper one is here and the 221B one is here (the image is a little blurry close up on this one)

I'm assuming that you've all heard about Bridgegate and how Gov. Christie and his administration continue to give NJ a bad name. Well, this Born to Run parody by Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen makes the situation a little bit better:
And lest we forget, folks: Bruce Springsteen is NJ's favorite son. So while the media makes us out to be either white trash or mafioso, Bruce is out there representing the rest of us. Because we rock.

And if you watch Sleepy Hollow (if you're not, you should) and saw the finale, this recap from The Mary-Sue is hysterical and also completely accurate.

I'm also beta-ing a novel for a fanfiction author I really love, which is why I haven't had any book/movie reviews lately.

TV- (Beyond this point, there be MAJOR spoilers)

Sleepy Hollow- Okay, I was a couple episodes behind, so I watched the possession episode and the 2 hour finale all in one go. And let me tell you, as a Supernatural fan, the possession episode was really hard to watch. They're all like, "oh, what's that white stuff?" I'm like, "it's salt." And they're like, "whatever it is, it's keeping her restrained." And I'm like, "cause it's salt." And then they don't know how to banish the demon, and I'm like,"dude, exorcism. Duh." But it ended up being this 14th century French lantern, and Sam and Dean should totally get their hands on one because all they did was use it to shine light on Macey (who was possessed) and it was all, bye-bye demon.

As for the finale-- Oh. My. GAH. I thought Henry was acting kind of suspicious, and he was way too pushy about the map to purgatory (Abbie: This is potentially a nuclear bomb which is A VERY BAD THING. Henry: But it totally ended a world war, so it's all good. *Big, innocent grin*), but I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS.

I'm not usually an easy viewer to trick. Someone needing to stay in purgatory so Katrina could leave? I saw that coming. Katrina not able to return so Abbie gets stuck? Obvious. And as I said, I already thought Henry was acting suspicious, so I figured he'd turn on them. BUT THEN IT TURNS OUT HE'S WAR AND ALSO JEREMY, KATRINA AND ICHABOD'S SON, AND I JUST SCREAMED MY HEAD OFF.

But when you have a twist THAT GOOD, the "no hope, everyone's helpless" cliffhanger ending is a little much. Abbie's stuck in purgatory, Death kidnapped Katrina, Jenny's in a very bad car wreck and probably mortally wounded (though, obviously she'll survive. If they were going to kill her, they would have beheaded her), Ichabod's buried semi-alive, and the Captain's in jail. It's a little over the top.

(And now people are complaining that it will be 9 months before the next season and how can they wait so long after such a terrible cliffhanger? And I'm just like, you don't watch Sherlock, do you?)

Sherlock: The Empty Hearse- After a two-year hiatus, and a 19-day wait for it to air in the US, Sherlock has finally returned from the grave, and I kind of felt like the entire episode was just a fanservice. I mean, Sherlock actually dressed in a costume and said, "Not dead" like in the gifs from Shocking Blankets. And there were a lot of things that people wanted to see in Series 3-- Mary Morstan played by Amanda Abbington (Martin Freeman's real life partner), Sherlock's parents, John punching him in the face, Anderson's reaction. The fandom was even kind of represented by Anderson and the rest of the Empty Hearse Society.

I'm not saying I mind, but it was a little light on plot, and when there's only three episodes a season, and we have to wait two years between seasons, that's maybe not the best route. So John was kidnapped and almost burned to death by the nefarious new villain, but that had nothing to do with the actual story. The nefarious new villain was not the culprit of the terrorist plot that they thwarted. Maybe he's connected, but it was never brought up. I don't know, it just felt like too much time was devoted to pleasing the fans and not enough was devoted to the thing that attracted me to the show in the first place: the story and the fact that they don't compromise its integrity to make the viewers happy. I just felt unsatisfied at the end of it. (I am happy about Amanda as Mary, though. She's perfect.)

I'm still not sure if he told Anderson the truth, either. Although a friend said something interesting about that: that it would be just like him to tell the truth to the one person who would never believe him.

Psych- I'm not completely sure what the purpose of this episode was, and I didn't think it was a particularly good one, either.

Castle- Alexis finally came to her senses about Pi(e). Thank god. She's been acting particularly stupid and bratty this season, and hopefully this is a sign that she'll stop.

Supernatural- First of all: Lassie as Cain made me giggle. Secondly: hasn't it already been established that Dean and Sam are descended from Cain and Abel? That's why they were the chosen hosts for Lucifer and Michael. Are they gonna address that? I mean, I thought Crowley had figured it out and that's why he knew that Cain would give the first blade to Dean, but he didn't mention it. Thirdly: Crowley's being all evil and manipulative and is it wrong that I'm kind of loving it? (Also, I totally want him to make a Doctor Who reference while he's hunting with Dean. He can just mention that his host's name was Canton. Or talk about 1969. Please?)

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