Stranger than Fiction

So I spent the last weekend of my holiday in the beautiful Hay-on-Wye, town of books (seriously it's a tiny country town with about 50 thriving book shops). I crammed a lot into just two days of the huge literature, philosophy and music festival they have there every year. I also had the pleasure of seeing a lot of great novelists - my hero Patrick Ness, but also Matt Haig, Nick Harkaway and Saci Lloyd. Ness couldn't answer my questions on the Charlie Kaufman adaptation of Chaos Walking for pesky legal reasons (sigh). But Ness is always awesome to listen to and I got to hear him read from his new novel 'More Than This' which is either a story set in the afterlife or a last survivor at the end of the world story. I can't tell yet. I also saw a wonderful gypsy band called Miss Maud's Folly who played a great original set laced with covers of 'Mein Herr' and 'Belleville Rendezvous'.

I'll have to go next year for longer.



I'm back at school now (for seven and a half long weeks) but I can cope with anything because I have my Breaking Bad S5 DVD. This includes the great new missing scene Chicks n Guns: seven minutes of brand new BrBa and I've been starved for ten months so it felt like a feast. Seven minutes of Jesse, Saul and Skinny Peteness! Yay!( Chicks n Guns & S5 DVD spoilers )

I also caught up with Game of Thrones S3 in the holiday. And I was going to make a post about everything that has been happening in S3. But I just watched the latest episode and now I can't remember anything that ever happened in GoT apart from...( ...that last fucking scene *SPOILERS* )

I'll try to catch up with Mad Men S6 next (unless I die of boredom that is).

And if I wasn't juggling enough shows...I've watched the first two episodes of Orphan Black. Ugh. I really need a break from TV too. Why does this show have to be so awesome? Does it stay this good? Who's watching?    

Fandom: Dexter
Characters: Dexter, Lila, Harry, Doakes and Brian.
Music: 'Set Fire to the Third Bar' by Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright
Length: 3.21 minutes
Warnings: Violence, blood and guts. Spoilers for S1 and S2 only.
Description: A character study of Dexter Morgan exploring his relationships with several characters who know or come to learn about Dexter's dark deadly nature. I wanted to capture the fleeting moments of connection that Dexter shares with these people who get to see his inner monster before they are (directly or indirectly) destroyed by it, leaving Dexter alone in the world.
Author's Note: I'm a new Dexter fan and I've only seen the first two seasons of the show so far. So no spoilers in the comments please! This is also my first new fanvid in almost a year. My other fanvids are collected here.
Dedication: I want to say a huge thank you to cylune9 - my beta, my friend and my vidding hero. Do yourself a favour and check out Lune's own collection of fanvids on this link to cylune's master vid list.

Six Feet Under marathon update.( I've only got four episodes left to go in S3. Do I ship Ruth/Arthur? )

Real life update too. I'm adding to my own exhaustion levels by getting involved in TWO local plays. In April I'll be playing Willie in The Curious Savage and in May I'll be playing June in The Forsyte Saga. I think I underestimated how big a commitment these plays would be, but I guess it's fun to be acting again.

I just hope I'll get time to write my novel soon. That and I have another Breaking Bad fic in the works. I might try to finish the latter today in between SFU marathoning.         

1. Six Feet Under, Season 1. Finished Six Feet Under S1. I have absolutely no complaints about this show so far and I'm simply looking forward to experiencing the next four seasons. I'm struggling to think of another show where I love each one of the main characters and enjoy spending time with all of them pretty much equally. I think I'd call Brenda my current favourite if I had to choose, but Claire, David, Nate, Ruth and Rico are all characters I'd want to list as favourite characters too. And Lily Taylor's character hasn't even shown up yet (I really love Lily Taylor from her film roles and can't wait to find out what role she plays in SFU). My favourite moments so far have included David coming out to Ruth, Brenda visiting Billy in the mental institution, Rico's anguish over the dead baby and of course, Claire taking revenge with the foot in the locker. I love the roles played by all the dead characters too and how the show never shies away from death as its central theme, yet never feels morbid or depressing either. The news of Nate's brain condition has me worried for the future but for the present I liked how Nate took the news as a sign that he needs to cherish life in the here and now and encourage others to do the same.

2. Shameless, The Sins of My Caretaker. Probably my favourite S3 episode so far. I loved Carl's adventures at cancer camp last week, but this week's episode had so many great moments. I loved Lip's 'Fuck you' phone call to Karen followed by Lip finding Liam still digging in the garden. Also, the scene with Fiona talking to Debbie through the bathroom door made me tear up. Emmy Rossum has always been excellent in this show but Emma Kenney is becoming a wonderful young actress in her own right. Then there was the lovely spontaneous Ian/Mickey kiss and Ian telling Lip off for treating his BFF Mandy so badly. I loved Frank's no-nonsense explanation of homosexuality to Carl. I'm still entertained by Sheila/Jody's experimental bedroom adventures. Oh and Molly cracks me up every time he/she gets a line. And I'm also really liking the Fiona/Jimmy drama for the first time ever. Inequality has always been the root problem with this relationship but for two seasons it was the issue of Fiona being poor and burdened while Jimmy is rich and unattached. I like that they are now dealing with the 'other' inequality in the Fiona/Jimmy ship; that being how Jimmy endlessly supports Fiona and her family through their troubled lives but Jimmy doesn't get the same support for his problems because Fiona doesn't have time to take care of anyone else. And yeah, I did lose some sympathy for Jimmy when he eventually sought comfort in Estefania's bed, but then Jimmy's been forced into that fake marriage at gunpoint and I suspect that's the real thing stressing Jimmy out. It's just easier to fixate on his parent's divorce and his dad being gay. A lot of fans have been asking why the hell Jimmy didn't just tell Fiona that Este's dad came back, murdered her lover in front of him and then made Jimmy help to dispose of the body. I think this episode did a good job of showing why Jimmy didn't feel like he could confide in Fiona. Oh also, what happened to Jimmy's minder character? He was hilarious. I hope he'll show up again soon. I'm glad they finally picked up the thread of Frank calling child services. I was really starting to think that rather important piece of continuity had been forgotten.

3. Black Mirror, White Bear. So is anyone outside of Britain watching the latest episodes of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror? Because OH MY GOD. Last night I was scared to go to sleep after watching the latest installment. Not breathing a word about this episode because you have to watch unspoiled and experience the twist of doom for yourselves. Like one critic put it "White Bear is possibly one of the most grim and psychologically disturbing viewing experiences to have been witnessed on British television this year". Yup, pretty much. Last week's 'Be Right Back' was equally frightening and traumatizing in a very different way. If you've not heard of Black Mirror before it's a TV series consisting of standalone narratives (so different characters and settings each week) on the theme of dark dystopian futures. Finally a show that justifies my hatred of Smartphone culture. It's really excellent conceptual scifi storytelling. Here's the trailer, which is a conceptual piece in itself not containing preview clips from any of the S2 episodes.



4. Nick Cave, Push the Sky Away. New album! New album! But even better than the new album, my best friend in the world got us tickets to see Cave live in Manchester. OMG!! OMG!! This is perhaps second only to someone getting tickets to see Tom Waits for me. I'm so grateful and I really can't wait even though the gig isn't till October *sigh*. I will be plugging my ears with Cave songs until that time and just imagining how epic it is going to be. I mean, OMG!

[Poll #1864185]   

My one disappointment with this episode (well, S5 in general actually) was lack of Jesse. But I'm prepared to forgive that because I feel certain Jesse will come back strong in the final episodes and DAMN, they at least had last intense Walt/Jesse scene to tide me over. So Jesse is locked in his desolate house with no phone, a little havest of beer and drugs, a gun in his back pocket and his nightmares about the day that Heisenberg is going to come and kill him. Then old Mr White drops by just to say hello and have a random nostalgic chat about the good old days in their bullet ridden RV. And just...stop! I loved the RV. I cried more when the RV got crushed than I've cried over any character death. I can't cope with this. Walt misses his Jesse! *sigh*

Then Walt tells Jesse he's left a gift in some bags on his doorstep. Jesse approaches the bags in terror. They do not explode. They do not contain severed body parts of innocent children. They are full of money! Heisenberg just wants to give you love and money, Jesse! And Jesse (understandably) has a nervous breakdown. Man. I could not love this relationship more.

And finally...Hank knows!!! Hank knows, bitches! And Walt doesn't know that Hank knows! Even better. This is going to be sooo good. Gale gets his revenge! Through poetry!! I can't wait. What? 10 months you say?? 10 MONTHS!!

*yo, somehow we'll make it, mofos*

Till 2013 I guess...