Aurora (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
auroracloud) wrote2019-07-08 09:30 pm
auroracloud) wrote2019-07-08 09:30 pm
Entry tags:
Things I've been watching
I'm not overly equipped with brain tonight, but I want to be online-sociable and I also have a few things in the real of watching stuff that I've been wanting to update about. So I'm just going to do a post with a bunch of those things, with what little brain I have now. These aren't in any reasonable order. There be spoilers under the cuts. (Though it varies how much these things really need spoiler cuts. Anyway. Also if people comment on this post, there might be spoilers for any of these, so if you're trying to avoid spoilers for something, maybe don't look at other people's comments. If there are such.)
- A few days ago, my friend who's been getting into French musical spectacles lately introduced me to her DVD of Mozart l'Opéra Rock. I've been aware of it earlier and heard some of the songs, but I guess it wasn't the right time for me back then - however, it turned out to be very much the right time now. OMG, it's so gorgeous and crazy and great. I'm sure Mozart would approve. Basically it's a rock opera about Mozart and Salieri and the people around them and Mozart's music and stuff, with a really catchy pop/rock score (honestly many of the songs are pure pop, but it has more rock in it than these French things usually do), lots of background dancers and singers, and humongous, stupendous, psychedelic costumes. Mozart is a glam rock boy, and Salieri's headspace gets filled with dancers of both sexes dressed in scanty PVC S/M-ish costumes when he hears Mozart's music, and the aesthetics is 18th century meets Gothic meets glam. There's a lot of glitter, the colour scheme is either psychedelic/18th century on acid or monochrome.
The story is... relatively true to basic history, from what I know, but I should point out that my knowledge of Mozart's life is based on at least four different highly embellished adaptations and that one time I took an audioguide tour in the Mozarthaus in Vienna, so I'm not sure how often I average out to knowing actual history. Anyway, it's at least more true to the source material than 1789 - Les Amants de la Bastille, though I also know more about the French Revolution. For a French musical spectacle it does relatively well on having some plot and some content, it rolled along nicely, I generally liked the interpretations of everyone (though I'm not sure how the real Salieri would like his) and nobody's acting ability was hurting my brain, though this is still a French musical spectacle and they have singers, actors and dancers separately to do their separate things. (Though the lady playing Constanze apparently was a real musical actress and could do all three well, which was impressive.)
So, this is clearly the gold of French musical spectacles (they call them that themselves, except in French of course) and I loved it very much. I think I'm going to have to buy the DVD and the CD very soon, judging by how difficult it's to try to listen to the CD on my non-Premium Spotify that I currently have because I'm trying to save money. Also, Mozart and Salieri are very slashable, and this is the first adaptation I've found that allows me to fulfill my long-standing dream of shipping Constanze and Nannerl. Also, Nannerl has a wardrobe to die for and is generally lovely, and she's cute and wears three-corner hats, and I enjoyed the portrayal of Constanze, even if she might be a bit too twee if I'm thinking about it seriously, which is probably not a good idea, anyway. The songs are stuck in my head in a rotating potpourri, except sometimes my head switches into Papageno and Papagena's duet because there are bits of it in one of Salieri's catchy energetic songs. I generally liked how they worked Mozart's music into this, and still keeping true to the pop/rock style of the show's own music.
Is anyone else into this, or at least aware of this?
Anyway! Onto a better known property. I have watched the Good Omens miniseries that has recently taken over fandom, even if I was a little later into it than most other people (I think I finished a bit over a week ago? less than two weeks, at least). It's lovely and I adore it.
It's so feel-good and nice and well-made, and feels true to the book but also is its own distinct version. And Michael Sheen is perfect as Aziraphale and I'll never be able to not see his Aziraphale from now on when I think of the character. And Tennant is quite delightful as Crowley, even if there's a lot in his acting that I recognize fromother things Doctor Who, and OMG they're so in love. Crowley's clearly been pining for Aziraphale always, and Aziraphale takes longer to come around but loves him no less, and they're such an OTP and it's such a shippy interpretation of the book, it's delightful. A lot of it is like fanfic come to screen. Especially that whole part where we go through History With Crowley and Aziraphale, it's just the kind of thing that fanfic writers normally do, rather than the show itself.
And everyone else is great, too. It did feel weird that Anathema was suddenly American, but I understand that has to do with the way this is a joint British-American production, and besides that, she was really good. She had just the right quirkiness combined with competence and intelligence, and she was lovely with Adam. And she and Newt were cute, though that didn't surpass the book the way Crowley/Aziraphale did. Adam was great and the Them were just perfect, where do they find these kids? I really enjoyed Adam's story and his struggle with figuring out who he is and what he's going to do, and the Dog was adorable (and yay for slow motion for a dog!). And Pepper was fabulous, I want Pepper icons. With quotes.
Uh, what else? Shadwell was a bit over the top and annoying, but he's so in the book as well, the actor did well enough with the character, and Madame Tracy was adorable so she made up for it. Aziraphale's bookshop was perfect, and I loved the way the angels were characterized, and the Four Riders, and I liked how they put female actors in some of the supernatural parts that could be any gender but would traditionally be cast as male. And the Voice of God being Frances McDormand and providing some of the delightful book narration was just perfect. And I kind of what to read the detailed adventures of Aziraphale the Jolly Gardener and Crowley the Sinister Nanny. I mean, not as much as I want to read all the lovely Aziraphale/Crowley fanfic, but anyway.
So yeah. Loved it. Am so going to watch again very soon.
Also, in my Classic Doctor Who watching, I've continued with the Fourth Doctor and Leela, whom I love lots. Especially Leela. She continues to be fabulous. I finished watching The Horror of Fang Rock, which I really enjoyed. It was a nice, atmospheric closed-room murder mystery meets aliens. Leela was especially fabulous. I also appreciate that she wore some warm clothes this time! And hey, there was another female character, even if she wasn't particularly likable or anything.
Though I wonder: Why are slimy alien creatures so often green and glowing? (My guess, without actually looking this up, is that the effect used to be cheap and easy to make, and then it grew associated with certain kind of stories, so it stayed.)
Anyway, good story, don't have particularly deep and detailed thoughts now, especially as it's been a few weeks!
I've now started watching The Image of the Fendahl and am two episodes in. I'm running out of brain now, so not really saying anything much. Except that I really enjoyed it so far, and yay three female characters! Leela is wearing very little again, which doesn't make sense in the setting because it looks like it'd be cold. Admittedly she is hot, even if they probably didn't have me in mind when they did that bit of fan service. On the other hand, there's a science lady and she's actually wearing reasonable clothing, woo! And also a tough old lady, I'm always so happy to see tough old ladies on the show, even if I haven't yet found out quite what her role's going to be.
- A few days ago, my friend who's been getting into French musical spectacles lately introduced me to her DVD of Mozart l'Opéra Rock. I've been aware of it earlier and heard some of the songs, but I guess it wasn't the right time for me back then - however, it turned out to be very much the right time now. OMG, it's so gorgeous and crazy and great. I'm sure Mozart would approve. Basically it's a rock opera about Mozart and Salieri and the people around them and Mozart's music and stuff, with a really catchy pop/rock score (honestly many of the songs are pure pop, but it has more rock in it than these French things usually do), lots of background dancers and singers, and humongous, stupendous, psychedelic costumes. Mozart is a glam rock boy, and Salieri's headspace gets filled with dancers of both sexes dressed in scanty PVC S/M-ish costumes when he hears Mozart's music, and the aesthetics is 18th century meets Gothic meets glam. There's a lot of glitter, the colour scheme is either psychedelic/18th century on acid or monochrome.
The story is... relatively true to basic history, from what I know, but I should point out that my knowledge of Mozart's life is based on at least four different highly embellished adaptations and that one time I took an audioguide tour in the Mozarthaus in Vienna, so I'm not sure how often I average out to knowing actual history. Anyway, it's at least more true to the source material than 1789 - Les Amants de la Bastille, though I also know more about the French Revolution. For a French musical spectacle it does relatively well on having some plot and some content, it rolled along nicely, I generally liked the interpretations of everyone (though I'm not sure how the real Salieri would like his) and nobody's acting ability was hurting my brain, though this is still a French musical spectacle and they have singers, actors and dancers separately to do their separate things. (Though the lady playing Constanze apparently was a real musical actress and could do all three well, which was impressive.)
So, this is clearly the gold of French musical spectacles (they call them that themselves, except in French of course) and I loved it very much. I think I'm going to have to buy the DVD and the CD very soon, judging by how difficult it's to try to listen to the CD on my non-Premium Spotify that I currently have because I'm trying to save money. Also, Mozart and Salieri are very slashable, and this is the first adaptation I've found that allows me to fulfill my long-standing dream of shipping Constanze and Nannerl. Also, Nannerl has a wardrobe to die for and is generally lovely, and she's cute and wears three-corner hats, and I enjoyed the portrayal of Constanze, even if she might be a bit too twee if I'm thinking about it seriously, which is probably not a good idea, anyway. The songs are stuck in my head in a rotating potpourri, except sometimes my head switches into Papageno and Papagena's duet because there are bits of it in one of Salieri's catchy energetic songs. I generally liked how they worked Mozart's music into this, and still keeping true to the pop/rock style of the show's own music.
Is anyone else into this, or at least aware of this?
Anyway! Onto a better known property. I have watched the Good Omens miniseries that has recently taken over fandom, even if I was a little later into it than most other people (I think I finished a bit over a week ago? less than two weeks, at least). It's lovely and I adore it.
It's so feel-good and nice and well-made, and feels true to the book but also is its own distinct version. And Michael Sheen is perfect as Aziraphale and I'll never be able to not see his Aziraphale from now on when I think of the character. And Tennant is quite delightful as Crowley, even if there's a lot in his acting that I recognize from
And everyone else is great, too. It did feel weird that Anathema was suddenly American, but I understand that has to do with the way this is a joint British-American production, and besides that, she was really good. She had just the right quirkiness combined with competence and intelligence, and she was lovely with Adam. And she and Newt were cute, though that didn't surpass the book the way Crowley/Aziraphale did. Adam was great and the Them were just perfect, where do they find these kids? I really enjoyed Adam's story and his struggle with figuring out who he is and what he's going to do, and the Dog was adorable (and yay for slow motion for a dog!). And Pepper was fabulous, I want Pepper icons. With quotes.
Uh, what else? Shadwell was a bit over the top and annoying, but he's so in the book as well, the actor did well enough with the character, and Madame Tracy was adorable so she made up for it. Aziraphale's bookshop was perfect, and I loved the way the angels were characterized, and the Four Riders, and I liked how they put female actors in some of the supernatural parts that could be any gender but would traditionally be cast as male. And the Voice of God being Frances McDormand and providing some of the delightful book narration was just perfect. And I kind of what to read the detailed adventures of Aziraphale the Jolly Gardener and Crowley the Sinister Nanny. I mean, not as much as I want to read all the lovely Aziraphale/Crowley fanfic, but anyway.
So yeah. Loved it. Am so going to watch again very soon.
Also, in my Classic Doctor Who watching, I've continued with the Fourth Doctor and Leela, whom I love lots. Especially Leela. She continues to be fabulous. I finished watching The Horror of Fang Rock, which I really enjoyed. It was a nice, atmospheric closed-room murder mystery meets aliens. Leela was especially fabulous. I also appreciate that she wore some warm clothes this time! And hey, there was another female character, even if she wasn't particularly likable or anything.
Though I wonder: Why are slimy alien creatures so often green and glowing? (My guess, without actually looking this up, is that the effect used to be cheap and easy to make, and then it grew associated with certain kind of stories, so it stayed.)
Anyway, good story, don't have particularly deep and detailed thoughts now, especially as it's been a few weeks!
I've now started watching The Image of the Fendahl and am two episodes in. I'm running out of brain now, so not really saying anything much. Except that I really enjoyed it so far, and yay three female characters! Leela is wearing very little again, which doesn't make sense in the setting because it looks like it'd be cold. Admittedly she is hot, even if they probably didn't have me in mind when they did that bit of fan service. On the other hand, there's a science lady and she's actually wearing reasonable clothing, woo! And also a tough old lady, I'm always so happy to see tough old ladies on the show, even if I haven't yet found out quite what her role's going to be.