...Best Damn Tapper! *Most Smartest*

The controversy over Jennifer Lawrence being cast as Katniss in Hunger Games is confusing the hell out of me.  Basically, people are saying that casting blonde, blue-eyed Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen is Hollywood white-washing at work, but I don't get it.

In the novel Katniss is described as having dark hair, grey-eyes and olive skin, while her mother and sister are described as grey-eyed, blonde's.  The family sounds fairly caucasian to me.  From the vague descriptions in the book it's impossible to tell what exact ethnicity Katniss is, but I think it's safe to say that she's not black, brown, asian or aboriginal, so the rage and indignance that is going on right now about the character being "white-washed" is so confusing to me.

( Click the cut to continue ... )

No one denies that white-washing and race-switching is a problem in Hollywood movies, I just think that the casting of Jennifer Lawrence in this particular movie is a weak example to get into such a large snit about.  This is not The Last Airbender, Prince of Persia:The Sands of Time, or 21.

On pg. 362 of WWBC, Rachel is mixing a spell that goes like this:

"Wine to give life, dust to give substance, ivy to bind, and holly to be sure nothing bad came in on the souls of the dead."

( Is Cock Block McGee trying be Foreshadow McGee here? )

P.S.  The pictures for my other two Hollows rants should be up and working again by tomorrow or Tuesday!

Also, because I just remember this thought I'd had earlier ... is there any reason, Ivy didn't just wish to be able to keep her soul after her first death?  I mean, I know that it wouldn't have helped vampires everywhere, but since the idea of losing her soul tortures her so much, why not just wish to keep it.  Maybe this was addressed, but I don't remember.

Definitely better then the premiere episodes.  I actually stopped using the computer and paid attention to this one.

( thoughts behind the cut ... )

I'm definitely glad to see things that things improved from last week.

Oh, yeah.  Parkman was in it.  See comments about Hiro for my thoughts on that.

Well, except for the epilogue that is (but I'll get through that tomorrow, so I'm not really jumping the gun), and ...

- Edward and Bella can really be a bit much always at times.  I get their conversations the first time, Steph you don't need to have them go on ad nauseum about the same exact thing for 20 pages (and then again 30 pages later, and then again 30 pages later, etc.) 

I managed to tolerate Edward because he can do cool shit, and I saw RPattz in my head while reading.  Bella had her moments (like coming up with the plan to get away from James, and I actually think she handled herself well during the confrontation itself), but for the most part I just wasn't feeling her.  If Kristin Stewart is as moppy looking through the movie as she is in the trailer/publicity shots I'm going to loathe Bella in the film.

- Alice is the shit.  She's dashing, and sweet, and pixie-ish, and psychic.  All win. 

- Rosalie is a bitch who didn't have much to do, but I kind of like her cause she hates on Bella and just gives her the stink-eye all the time.  Plus, her refusal to bullshit is refreshingly Blair Waldorf-esque and we all know how I feel about Blair Waldorf.

- Emmett is like a big giant teddy bear and if a crazy vampire was after me, I would totally want him to protect me.

- Esme = M.I.L.F (although, not so much the film version)

- Carlisle = Confusing name (I mean, I know it's pronounced Carlyle, but when I look at it I have to consciously think about thinking it that way, ya know?)

- I throughly enjoyed that there were some sweet moments in the book between Alice and Bella, and I totally ship them now.  (Esme stroking Bella's cheek and undressing her were also fun).

- The James solution was unsatisfying.  I mean, I guess there wasn't much Meyer could do with Bella having passed out, but still after the build up and all of his talking, I would've liked to see him get his ass kicked a bit (but, it seems like the film will fill that part in).  Also, I kept on picturing Cam Gigandet, so James being smarmy was kinda hot.

- It's a strangely fast read.  I mean, I had that 7 month hiccup where I couldn't bear to pick it up again (OMG, the scene in the meadow with the sparkling and the dazzlement, my 20-something brain couldn't handle it), but I just picked it up tonight and managed to get through some 230 pages or so *head scratch* 
I mean if I add up the time I actually spent reading it, it would only be about 5 days (as opposed to the 7 months it was in my possession but I didn't pick it up)

Overall, I'm wondering what's wrong with me, because despite the fact that it took me about half a year to finish reading this book I'm seriously considering getting the second one *sigh*
- I found it be

So, I've just caught up on the most recent episodes of the show, and while they have been better written than previous outings, with the exception of Jimmy Palmiotti's episode, they've left a bad taste in my mouth. And yes, it goes beyond the Mo is dead and there hasn't been a mention of her. It goes to one of the fundamental parts of the show, the teams mission which I'm beyond disillusioned with and am downright disgusted by. "The Amazing Howie" (episode 14) and "The Healer" (episode 15) highlight exactly what is wrong with the teams mission, and they show that the members of team, or at least Riley and Jane, KNOW that mission sucks but they go along with it anyway. But I'll comment on those in detail when I get to those episodes.

( Thoughts on 1x13 - 1x15 behind the cut )

I'm honestly at the point right now, where I want the neuros to win. To me they've shown very few neuros who are more disgusting and horrible than the 'heroes' of the show. And Team McBride isn't even fun to hate. They're just self-righteous, short-sighted, morally repulsive assholes. I mean, you all know that I love me a well-developed well-written bad guy (*waves at Irina Derevko, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sylar, Renfro, Helena Cain, Callisto, and a ton of others), but Team McBride is the scum of the earth.

And more than odd pacing, bad writing, and badly developed arcs, you have a real problem with a series, when viewers start thinking of the heroes of the show as the scum of the earth.

*sigh*