This blog will no longer be updated

Two and a half weeks ago, I signed on to Fansided to write for their new blog, Culturess, which is the new version of the blog I was already doing Dancing with the Stars recaps for, and just went live today.  I will also be doing figure skating posts for them, recapping events, starting with this weekend’s opening Junior Grand Prix event, talking about other major news, and doing some other posts like this one.  I may also occasionally contribute to their Marvel blogging and other topics.

Which takes out a lot of the material I wrote about here, and also, takes up a lot of my time.  So I have made the decision to let this blog go.  Photoblogs, singing videos, and other similar materials will now be posted directly to my tumblr.

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So at the Olympics so far

This was pretty:

So was this:

And also, I was happy to see Andy Murray carrying the British flag, but there’s a bit of gloom about it too, because you have to wonder what flag he’s going to be walking in under in Japan in four years time(won’t be the Scottish one; I don’t think they could get an NOC together in time, but it might be the Olympic flag).
Meanwhile, Koreans are scarily good at archery, but we already knew that one, and the bicycle race went a bit crazy. So just your typical Olympics really. So far.

A DWTS Showmance Actually Makes it to the Altar!

There have been a number of cases over the years where couples on the ballroom floor of Dancing With the Stars have become couples off it, albeit not quite as many as the rumours would have us believe, but most of those haven’t lasted too long, and I do believe Robert Herjavec and Kym Johnson are the first ones to tie the knot.  No surprise, perhaps to those of us who watched them compete last spring, when their clear connection to each other was their biggest strength on the floor, and tonight, let us celebrate by reviewing the stronger half of their ten dances:

Star Trek: Beyond

Wasn’t able to see Star Trek: Beyond last week, so I went yesterday instead.  By which time the showtimes at my local place had decreased enough there was no 2D showing at a convenient time, so I went to the 3D version.  I’m not entirely sure why they bothered with one; they seemed to make little use of the technology during the movie itself, fully utilizing it only during the end credit sequence.

As for the movie itself, I’m still not sure what to make of it.  It was an enjoyable ride, that’s for sure.  But the plot was a touch incoherent at times, the script juggling a lot of balls and maybe trying to juggle them too fast.  Or maybe that was just Justin Lin.  I’ve never seen any of the Fast & Furious movies, but I suspect they might feel a good deal like Star Trek: Beyond did, and I still question the appropriateness of that.

On the other hand, they did at least rid themselves of many of the ills of Into Darkness.  Kirk is much less of a sleazeball, the over-cynicism of the last movie has given way to a much more optimistic vision of the eventual future of humanity, if less so of its near-future, and if it seems they will keep this Spock/Uhura nonsense, at least it took up relatively little of her screentime.  In fact, the movie made good use of the entire cast, especially with a little Spock & McCoy show to flesh out an important dynamic of the original show, and the writer having lots of fun with Scotty(and I do hope Jayla shows up in the next movie).

All in all, I think this is a case of a franchise realizing it veered down the wrong path and so is now trying to retrace its steps.  Who knows, maybe it’ll be fully recovered by the next movie.  Even if losing Chekov’s going to be a hard blow.

So What Do We Know Now That We Didn’t Before Comic Con?

Trying to get one’s head around all the news that dropped at Comic Con isn’t easy when more of it keeps coming out!  Especially when I’m still anxious to hear that we won’t have to wait until 2019 for that third season of Daredevil.  Sadly, it is now confirmed it’s not coming next year, but it sounds like Matt and Jessica will both have seasons in 2018, while The Punisher may be the one that waits longer.  Which might be smart; it’ll give them time to figure out how to center a series around a character like Frank Castle, since that’s not the easiest thing to do.

Meanwhile:

Two Shows at Wolf Trap

For both of the past two weekends, mom and I have gone to Wolf Trap for some classical music.  The first weekend, we went to the Barnes to watch the obscure 18th century comic opera L’Opera Seria, which was about a company trying to put on a serious opera that parodied much of the conventions of the genre.  Then this last Saturday night, we went to the Filene Center to see the National Symphony Orchestra play a concert, which followed a symphony from Sergei Prokofiev and a suite by Maurice Ravel with the main event: Stravinsky’s The Firebird, accompanied by a show by the South African  Handspring Puppet Company telling through puppetry and dance the history of their country over the last twenty years.

Defenders! Lots of Defenders!

If one was looking for a distraction from our possible impending doom last night, Marvel & Netflix certainly provided it.  I may have yelled in relief when I heard Daredevil is indeed getting its third season, right before all the trailers suddenly started dropping.

Reading more about the panel this morning, it seems, unfortunately, that the clip we’ve gotten of Luke Cage is actually the least informative of the ones shown as Comic Con last night.  Luke wrecking havoc with a car door is all well and good, but I’d have rather seen Misty Knight.  Although we do at least now have it confirmed that we’re getting Luke’s backstory, and it’s sounding pretty similar to the one from the comics.  Likely we’ll get a more informative trailer sometime next month.

The Defenders teaser, on the other hand, told us a surprising amount for a clip where the only actual footage was a single voiceover line.  But between that voice being Stick’s, and the outline of the Hand, it’s pretty obvious who the villains for the teamup are going to be.  I suspect we may be getting Elektra back too, though whether she will be still around or truly gone for good at season’s end is another matter.

I suppose I should be getting excited over Iron Fist, but…

And meanwhile we have both of those now confirmed for 2017, which means we’re left with three series seasons floating around with no release date yet, and one of will have to wait until 2019, unless they decide to start releasing more per year.  They may have to, if their dance card gets much more crowded.  Given how excited people are getting over Luke Cage, I’d be surprised if we don’t also eventually get a second season of that, and the other upcomings series also have good chances of it.  I hope they do it.  I do not want to wait two and a half more years for the third act of Daredevil…

Citi Open with some rain

This year, having endured a week and a day of metro track work extending my commute by half an hour in the morning and much more in the evenings, on hearing it was still going on this Monday decided I would take the afternoon off and go with my sister to the Citi Open, to at least escape half the ordeal.  When we agreed on this, there were storms predicted for today, with some chance they would hit yesterday instead.  But if one wants to go on a certain day, one will always subject oneself to the weather of that day.

Finding Dory (& Piper)

In the thirteen years since Finding Nemo was made, Pixar’s animation has advanced considerably.  We got a reminder of that before Finding Dory even started playing, in the form of the short in front of it: Piper, a charming little movie about a sandpiper chicklet, which uses the newest techniques to make CGI birds look so realistic, you have to remind yourself they’re computerized, especially they’re wandering through sand and waves that look like they came straight out of a live-action movie.  The story is one that might have just carried an obviously animated short, but the filmmaking turns it into an awe-worthy one.

Can we have more of this, guys?

Seriously, when I saw this on the long bus detour home this evening, I was suddenly back in grad school and loving these two boys so much:

Let's tango @JohnnyGWeir!! pic.twitter.com/j5TUNAwVgA

— Stéphane Lambiel (@StephaneLambiel) July 13, 2016

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And really, boys, we need all the joy we need right now. I don’t know if you’ve noticed(the Swiss guy might not), but things are pretty miserable in the world right now(just like they were back in the Bush era). We need you to finally to a proper number together, with costumes and full length and everything. Please?