The air is too fresh, it's disgusting.

[rogueslayer452]

++ So Outlander has premiered and it's being highly talked about, receiving loads of praise and it even was renewed for a second season already. I vaguely know about the series itself from others, including Felicia Day's book club for discussing it, and I also remember when the author caused controversy with her anti-fanfiction rampage a while back (which, while I don't know if her opinions have changed since then, I sincerely hope fanfiction will be written from the show itself, just for the spite factor). I haven't watched it, though I am curious based on the high praise and how many I've seen are excited for this series. Plus, the producer is Ron D. Moore and the composer is Bear McCreary, both of whom are from their work on Battlestar Galactica, and the show also has Graham McTavish (Dwalin from The Hobbit) as part of the cast. How can I not be intrigued?

++ My sister has been binge watching Parks and Recreation, and I've come to the conclusion that while I outwardly seem like Ann Perkins, I connect spiritually with April Ludgate. Also with Brooklyn Nine-Nine my soulmate is definitely Rosa Diaz.

++ Buffy the Vampire Slayer is going to be in HD on Pivot. I hope this means that soon the DVDs will be re-released in HD as well. Like, just imagine S1 and S2 being in high quality.

++ At first I thought the ice water challenge was one of those stupid YouTube challenges that gets circulated around, sort of like the cinnamon challenge, but apparently it's not. It's to help spread awareness about ALS and raise money for the charity. Many people are contributing to it, including celebrities, accepting challenges and challenging others. It's ridiculous and harmless fun, and it's raising thousands upon thousands of dollars for a good cause. Plus, we get certain actors in a wet t-shirt and doing some creative silly things with it, which is quite a positive bonus for many of us. ;)

++ Community rec: metanews. Since the unfortunate demise of metafandom (RIP), there really hasn't been any other compilation community of fandom discussions, at least to my knowledge. The only other place I've seen that is comparable to that would be fanthropology, although it's mostly strictly fanfiction-related these days than just general fandom. metanews sort of fills that void. It's only a year and a half old, but it does a good job at having a nice compilation of fandom-based articles and discussions from a variety of places and websites. As someone who likes reading some good meta and just general discussions about fannish things, I wanted to share this for anyone else who has this interest as well.

Comments

[philstar22.livejournal.com]

I watched OUtlander. I didn't love it in terms of story, but I'm going to keep watching for one reason. It is completely female-focused. The story is all about her. And the sex scenes are from her perspective and not male-gazy at all. There is one particular scene in the first episode that is awesome and hot and says everything about what sets this show apart.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I've read a lot of articles talking about how it's very anti-Game of Thrones in that aspect, that while it deals with some of the same issues it doesn't approach it in the same manner. And that's something I want to see, instead of the blatant disregard of women, both within the narrative and of the audience who watches it.

[mulder200.livejournal.com]

BTVS in HD? Cool!

And I love the ice box challenge! It's so fun!

[silverusagi]

I've watched the first two episodes of Outlander and so far I like it a lot.

I'm all for remastering Buffy, but it's still not going to look as good as if it were shot in HD, not matter what they do to it. I understand the first two seasons were even at a lower frame rate. I'm also not a fan of "correcting" the 4:3 aspect ratio by cutting everyone's foreheads off.

Did you see Misha's ice bucket challenge? He went above and beyond, as usual.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

That's good to hear. :)

Yeah, that's kind of the unfortunate downside. But if they make it workable for BTVS, even if it's a smidgen better than before, I'll take it. I know many graphic/gif makers will be thrilled.

lol, yes I saw it. I've seen some pretty clever and hilarious videos from this whole thing. Chris Evans and some from the cast of Agents of Shield are my favorites so far.

ETA: I just saw Joss Whedon's too, that's another favorite. ;)

[silverusagi]

Have you seen Sir Patrick Stewart's? Different take on it, still very funny. :)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yep. Funny while still being classy. ;)

[hamarakissa.livejournal.com]

I am intrigued in Outlander, but I haven't yet watched it or DL'd it.

It'll be so awesome if BtVS would be re-released in HD in DVD!!! Would buy the whole series again just for that and hopefully a play all episodes feature.

I like the ice water challenge; HOWEVER I think you should pour ice water on your head AND donate, NOT have it be either or - I think that's dumb - it should just be both. I get that it's still raising awareness, but honestly a regular person could donate just $5 and pour water on their head and tag people and all would be just as fun. Watching the celebrities get into it has been lots of fun :D

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

I think it's supposed to be that if you're challenged you either (a) do the ice bucket thing AND donate $10, or (b) skip the bucket but instead donate $100. I'm sure plenty of people are just going for the silly ice water part and skipping even the small donation, but enough are donating that it's raising a lot of funds.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Like what tardis_stowaway has mentioned, the rules are quite specific that donations happen whether you do or don't when upon being challenged. It's just the payment amount within a time limit, hence accepting within 24 hours. But regardless, people who do accept within that amount of time can still donate more than $10 if they choose to, and many of people have. Will there be people who don't understand and will cheat out of the challenge by not donating anything and just acting as this is the latest "fad"? Of course, but it doesn't take away at how much awesome this challenge is done to raise awareness already and all the people partaking in it, from the average person to celebrities and actors to even going internationally.

Plus, the organization has reached over 50 million in donations, and is still growing as the challenges continues. This? Is pretty remarkable and amazing, tbh.

[hamarakissa.livejournal.com]

Right, but I'm saying that in the sense that I know regular people who have done it to get out of donating. Now I know that many people have donated lots and lots to raise money for awareness, but still it makes me want to slap them for switching up the rules and doing the challenge and not donating that $10 that's supposed to go with it.

Yeah the challenge is fun, etc.

[dustofempires.livejournal.com]

Do watch Outlander, you won't regret it =) I haven't read the books so I have no idea what to expect, but I'm really really liking it so far! The editing and the acting is just really good, and the story's of course interesting =)

I love Parks & Rec, I think I'm April too, mostly =P

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I've only been spoiled about some things which are kind of warnings for what happens, and it makes me curious as how the show will be handling that. But otherwise, I literally know next to nothing. Should be interesting.

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the metanews link - I've been missing something like this :)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :)

Yeah, I've missed places where you can read/participate in meta discussions. Tumblr is nice but it's rarely a comparable substitute due to their limited ways of communication. I know LJ has been dwindling over the years but I wish there were more communities for active discussions.

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

I wish there were more active discussion communities as well. I understand why Tumblr is so big as it is in regards to picturs, gifs and the like, but for proper discussions I don't think it's good at all!

[hbics.livejournal.com]

I've heard a lot of good things about Outlander, but looking at the book covers/summaries when I was in chapters, it sounds like... not really my kind of thing.

I suppose I should give it a try since a lot of people who's recommendations I trust are suggesting it.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It normally isn't something I go for either, since it's an adventure-romance. But it is highly recommended by many, and some are already very invested with how the show is being done, so we'll see how it goes.

[silverusagi]

I thought the same thing about Outlander. In fact, I was loling to myself at how horrible the first book sounded after reading the summary on Wikipedia. But I watched it anyway and was surprised at how good it was.

Weirdly, it's one of those things where the show is exactly my kind of thing but the books are not. Though we'll see how it goes, lol. It all could turn into a cracky train wreck, but I've really enjoyed the first two episodes so far.