WHAT! You're prophetic!
Oh my giddy god have all of you been busy. I swear I checked AO3 and the C/N comm before I left on my trip and approximately 8173298720 stories have posted since then. *head spins* Looks like I will not be doing much writing in the coming days, as I have too much reading to catch up on. >.>
Two more deleted scenes from The Avengers have posted, both involving Clint. One is Clint strategizing with Loki (or rather, Loki is asking Clint how to go about taking over the Earth, because he doesn't have any ideas of his own, and Clint is doing all the strategizing -- I swear, if Loki hadn't brainwashed Clint, he'd still be stomping around without a clue), the other is Nick Fury talking to the World Security Council. Both scenes reference the fact that Clint did not kill Fury when he had the chance, shooting him in the chest rather than the head. It's interesting because I've debated with Jade over whether or not he did that on purpose; it's always kind of bothered me that Selvig retained part of himself while brainwashed (by putting in a failsafe to the Tesseract portal), whereas Clint apparently didn't. These scenes prove (or at least suggest) otherwise, and I'm really annoyed that they were both cut. I'm giving up on embedding/linking to the videos, because they keep getting taken down. Instead, I will share transcripts of both scenes.
Nick Fury talking to the World Security Council
COUNCIL MEMBER #1: Director. SHIELD operates under the World Security Council. We should have been informed of all the details.
NICK FURY: The Council's interest in our work has always been about results, not procedure.
COUNCIL MEMBER #1: Agent Clint Barton is intimate with SHIELD procedure, I believe, and now we learn he's working with the enemy? A man whose talent appears to be--
NICK FURY: --killing. But he didn't kill me. He didn't take the head shot. He's been brainwashed, but I won't write him off. We're on Loki's trail and we're scrambling a response team.
COUNCIL MEMBER #2: The Avengers.
COUNCIL MEMBER #1: The Avengers Initiative was shut down, Director. It was a volatile concept at the best of times, which this is not.
NICK FURY: This is just a response team.
COUNCIL MEMBER #2: I suggest you make your response rapid. We all know what's at stake.
NICK FURY: Yes, we do. (Sigh.)
Clint and Loki Strategizing (transcribed by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cybermathwitch)
Selvig: (yadda yadda) it's truth!
Loki: I know. I know. It... touches everyone, differently. What did it show you, Agent Barton?
Clint: My next target
Selvig (chuckling): stick in the mud, he's got no soul no wonder you chose this, this tomb to work in.
Clint (annoyed): Well the Radisson doesn't have three levels of lead-lined flooring between SHIELD and that Cube.
Loki: I see why Fury chose you to guard it.
::Clint and Loki start walking away from Selvig.::
Clint: You're gonna have to contend with him, sir. As long as he's in the air, I can't pin him down. They're going to be putting together a team.
Loki: They a threat?
Clint: To each other, more than likely, but if Fury can get them on track, and he might, they could throw some noise our way.
Loki: You admire Fury.
Clint: He's got a clear line of sight.
Loki: Is that why you failed to kill him?
::pauses, stops walking::
Clint: It might be. ::pauses:: I was disoriented. And... I'm not at my best with a gun.
Loki:(obviously feeling a full-on Shakespearian monology coming on): I want to know everything you can tell me about this team of his. I would... test their mettle.
::Clint nods once::
Loki:I grow weary of scuttling in shadow. I mean to rule this world, not burrow in it.
Clint: It's a risk.
Loki: Oh yes.
Clint: If you're set on making yourself known... it could be useful.
Loki:(positively, frightenly into this): Tell me what you need.
::Clint walks over to his bow case::
Clint: I need a distraction. And an eyeball.
[See? SEE??? All Clint.]
[Also, I really like that Joss noticed and tried to clean up that loose end (as well as provide that hint that maybe Clint retained some of himself even while brainwashed), because many of us did notice that Clint, Mr. Expert With Aimed Weapons, Mr. Never Misses, chose to shoot Fury in the chest rather than the head. In fact, Joss tried to reference it TWICE, even though both instances were cut. -.-]
I have been reading some pretty terrible teen lit. Actually it's generally all pretty terrible, which is why it's such a find when things like The Mortal Instruments or The Hunger Games or even Divergent come along. One of the things that's wrong with modern teen lit is that they have cheesy, guilty pleasure premises, but they don't go with it. They try to make them 'realistic,' thereby ruining any chance for pleasure you might've gotten out of it. If I wanted realistic, I wouldn't read teen lit, and certainly not one with such premises. Obviously people like me choose to read teen lit with cheesy summaries because they want the guilty pleasure of it!!
A Match Made in High School, by Kristin Walker. Seniors at a high school are randomly selected to be "married" for the year, so they can learn about budgeting and compromising and what not. The hero is right up my alley; the heroine is meh, but OK. But the kicker is: THEY DON'T END UP TOGETHER. He has a girlfriend who he stays with, and she ends up with someone else who she has like, no chemistry with, as it's written. WTF??? And the girl ends up learning that cheerleaders are people too, and just because someone's a bitch on the outside doesn't mean they aren't secretly insecure on the inside. OMG. While both of those things are true, it was just done so CLUNKILY. Such terrible payoff in all ways.
The Selection, by Kiera Cass. It's like, The Bachelor meets Cinderella. In some fictional future society, there's a Prince and it's time for him to pick a wife. The girl has been seeing some guy who's not in her class, and events unfold where she gets chosen to participate in "The Selection," where the Prince hangs out with like 20 girls and has to narrow down to one he wants to marry. The Prince is... OK, way more interesting than her original boyfriend, except the latter comes back toward the end as a guard in the Palace! So then it's all, LOVE TRIANGLE. Ugh. The girl is too sassy and perfect, while both guys are pretty much duds. Will not be reading the others.
Matched, by Allie Condie. I read this awhile ago and really, really wanted to like this one. The characters are better than in the others above, but ultimately the story isn't very well written and got super boring. Basically, again in a dystopian society, this girl gets "matched" to her childhood sweetheart, but for a second the face of another guy flashes, and she slowly falls in love with that guy instead. The book's okay until it gets near the end, then a bunch of things happen that makes it less and less interesting. I skimmed the second book and don't plan to continue.
Hunting Lila, by Sarah Alderson. This one has a pretty good premise, though the heroine gets fairly tiresome because every time her crush shows up she goes into super teen girl mode (which might be realistic, but I don't want to constantly be reading about how much she likes him and how cute he is and blah blah blah). Anyway, the gist of the story is that her mother is murdered when she's just a girl. Her brother and his best friend (her crush) join some mysterious branch of the U.S. military (like Riley, in BtVS) to hunt down her mother's killer. It turns out that the killer(s) are supernatural beings, and neither of the guys know that Lila herself has started to exhibit telekinetic powers. So yeah, it's an interesting premise, imho, and not all guilty pleasure the way the ones above are. HOWEVER, what bothers me about this one, and why I haven't been able to get more than a quarter of the way in, is that it's written by a Brit, about Americans. YET THEY ALL SOUND BRITISH. No American teen calls their mother "mum." We say "mom." American guys don't say things are "lovely." We don't ask if someone would "fancy some tea." It goes on and on. It's SO DISTRACTING. I might be able to look past it more if it were fanfic, but it's not; it's an actual published novel. Seriously, they couldn't find someone to make the characters sound American??? Or like, why didn't she just make them British?! Argh.
I'm also finally reading The Girl Who Played with Fire. I find the writing -- or maybe it's the translation -- kind of annoying, and Salander and Blomkvist are both such Mary Sue/Gary Stus, but it's just one of those series I've always meant to finish. (Of course, I said that about the Twilight series, and yet I've been on book 4 for like 2 years.)
And then there's Breaking Bad, which is like, the one shining beacon of quality in the media I've recently consumed.
Breaking Bad 5x06 'The Buyout'
- OMG, the dinner scene. I know there was a dead kid from the last episode and everything, but I have to start with the awkward dinner scene. HOW LONG HAVE I WISHED FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT??? Jesse was taking Walt Jr.'s place at the table!! Of course, it wasn't really the way I'd hoped it would happen, but better than nothing. I wanted it to come from Walt's surrogate father feelings for Jesse, not because he wanted to prove something to Skyler (and to make Jesse feel sorry for him).
- To my recollection, Jesse and Skyler have not had a scene together since the very first season, when Skyler confronted Jesse about selling pot to Walt. OH HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED. Back then, Skyler was still pregnant, and while I found her confrontation with Jesse a tad annoying, I understood where she was coming from. I hadn't yet developed a strong attachment to Jesse. Now, I'm kind of indignant about her resentment of him and what he represents to Walt. She looks down on Jesse, but he's better than the both of them!
- I could eat my words, but I think that, despite everything, Jesse will never be at war with Walt. Not only is basic human decency one of Jesse's primary personality traits, but it's especially true when it comes to Walt. He's the father Jesse never really felt he had; for better or worse, Jesse learned from this man, depended on him. Walt is like one of those sucky, abusive fathers who nevertheless has a hold over his 'son.' I mean, yes, Jesse has that moment of disquiet when he hears Walt whistling after faking being sorry about the kid's death, but at the end of the episode he's right back to standing between Walt and a bullet. Clearly there has to be some sort of eventual rift between Walt and Jesse, but I'm hoping that it'll be something Walt will regret (and for an emotional, rather than practical, reason), and will absolve himself by the end of the series. But that probably too hopeful for this show. :/ Most people are predicting a very dark end for Walt/the series.
- I'm glad we finally got Walt articulating a reason why he's continuing on this destructive path, when most sane people would STOP, count their blessings, and try and repair what's been damaged (in this case, namely his relationship with his wife and children, who he was ostensibly doing all this for in the first place). At least he's now outright SAID that he's trying to build an empire, to replace the one he lost (or feels cheated out of -- though really, what did he expect Gretchen and Elliot to do, GIVE him shares in the company? HE SOLD OUT. And he refused to take their charity later. So it's all his own fault. His situation is a direct result of his own choices, so where does he get off being so resentful???) in Gray Matter.
- This begs the question of whether Walt had ever really been happy with his family, as he supposedly seemed at the beginning of the series. It's more important to him to repair his lost masculinity than it is to repair his family, apparently. The big question for me is whether he'll ever come back to his senses, or if the series will end with him still pursuing that empire at any cost.
After I got back from Vancouver, K. wanted to see The Bourne Legacy, so I happily saw it again. I have now seen it FOUR TIMES. Heehee. I don't know if I can get tired of seeing it. They could turn the sound off and I'd still enjoy watching it. >.> Anyway, K. liked it a lot. I'd warned her ahead of time that there was no third act, so that might've helped. She was like, "I don't see what's wrong with the ending." She didn't understand any of the complaints people had, myself included, so maybe she's just easier to please. We also saw the new Spider-man movie, and while I thought Andrew Garfield made a more convincing high school student, and I liked his Spidey personality more than Tobey Maguire's earnest Spidey, I didn't much care for the movie. I didn't think it brought anything original or particularly interesting to the table, the villain was lame, there were too many scenes that lingered too long for no reason, and I wasn't into the romance with Gwen Stacy. I thought Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield had very little chemistry, which might be explained because aren't they involved IRL? Actors who are together IRL have no tension. I learned that from Joey on Friends and IT'S SO TRUE.
Two more deleted scenes from The Avengers have posted, both involving Clint. One is Clint strategizing with Loki (or rather, Loki is asking Clint how to go about taking over the Earth, because he doesn't have any ideas of his own, and Clint is doing all the strategizing -- I swear, if Loki hadn't brainwashed Clint, he'd still be stomping around without a clue), the other is Nick Fury talking to the World Security Council. Both scenes reference the fact that Clint did not kill Fury when he had the chance, shooting him in the chest rather than the head. It's interesting because I've debated with Jade over whether or not he did that on purpose; it's always kind of bothered me that Selvig retained part of himself while brainwashed (by putting in a failsafe to the Tesseract portal), whereas Clint apparently didn't. These scenes prove (or at least suggest) otherwise, and I'm really annoyed that they were both cut. I'm giving up on embedding/linking to the videos, because they keep getting taken down. Instead, I will share transcripts of both scenes.
Nick Fury talking to the World Security Council
COUNCIL MEMBER #1: Director. SHIELD operates under the World Security Council. We should have been informed of all the details.
NICK FURY: The Council's interest in our work has always been about results, not procedure.
COUNCIL MEMBER #1: Agent Clint Barton is intimate with SHIELD procedure, I believe, and now we learn he's working with the enemy? A man whose talent appears to be--
NICK FURY: --killing. But he didn't kill me. He didn't take the head shot. He's been brainwashed, but I won't write him off. We're on Loki's trail and we're scrambling a response team.
COUNCIL MEMBER #2: The Avengers.
COUNCIL MEMBER #1: The Avengers Initiative was shut down, Director. It was a volatile concept at the best of times, which this is not.
NICK FURY: This is just a response team.
COUNCIL MEMBER #2: I suggest you make your response rapid. We all know what's at stake.
NICK FURY: Yes, we do. (Sigh.)
Clint and Loki Strategizing (transcribed by
cybermathwitch)Selvig: (yadda yadda) it's truth!
Loki: I know. I know. It... touches everyone, differently. What did it show you, Agent Barton?
Clint: My next target
Selvig (chuckling): stick in the mud, he's got no soul no wonder you chose this, this tomb to work in.
Clint (annoyed): Well the Radisson doesn't have three levels of lead-lined flooring between SHIELD and that Cube.
Loki: I see why Fury chose you to guard it.
::Clint and Loki start walking away from Selvig.::
Clint: You're gonna have to contend with him, sir. As long as he's in the air, I can't pin him down. They're going to be putting together a team.
Loki: They a threat?
Clint: To each other, more than likely, but if Fury can get them on track, and he might, they could throw some noise our way.
Loki: You admire Fury.
Clint: He's got a clear line of sight.
Loki: Is that why you failed to kill him?
::pauses, stops walking::
Clint: It might be. ::pauses:: I was disoriented. And... I'm not at my best with a gun.
Loki:(obviously feeling a full-on Shakespearian monology coming on): I want to know everything you can tell me about this team of his. I would... test their mettle.
::Clint nods once::
Loki:I grow weary of scuttling in shadow. I mean to rule this world, not burrow in it.
Clint: It's a risk.
Loki: Oh yes.
Clint: If you're set on making yourself known... it could be useful.
Loki:(positively, frightenly into this): Tell me what you need.
::Clint walks over to his bow case::
Clint: I need a distraction. And an eyeball.
[See? SEE??? All Clint.]
[Also, I really like that Joss noticed and tried to clean up that loose end (as well as provide that hint that maybe Clint retained some of himself even while brainwashed), because many of us did notice that Clint, Mr. Expert With Aimed Weapons, Mr. Never Misses, chose to shoot Fury in the chest rather than the head. In fact, Joss tried to reference it TWICE, even though both instances were cut. -.-]
I have been reading some pretty terrible teen lit. Actually it's generally all pretty terrible, which is why it's such a find when things like The Mortal Instruments or The Hunger Games or even Divergent come along. One of the things that's wrong with modern teen lit is that they have cheesy, guilty pleasure premises, but they don't go with it. They try to make them 'realistic,' thereby ruining any chance for pleasure you might've gotten out of it. If I wanted realistic, I wouldn't read teen lit, and certainly not one with such premises. Obviously people like me choose to read teen lit with cheesy summaries because they want the guilty pleasure of it!!
A Match Made in High School, by Kristin Walker. Seniors at a high school are randomly selected to be "married" for the year, so they can learn about budgeting and compromising and what not. The hero is right up my alley; the heroine is meh, but OK. But the kicker is: THEY DON'T END UP TOGETHER. He has a girlfriend who he stays with, and she ends up with someone else who she has like, no chemistry with, as it's written. WTF??? And the girl ends up learning that cheerleaders are people too, and just because someone's a bitch on the outside doesn't mean they aren't secretly insecure on the inside. OMG. While both of those things are true, it was just done so CLUNKILY. Such terrible payoff in all ways.
The Selection, by Kiera Cass. It's like, The Bachelor meets Cinderella. In some fictional future society, there's a Prince and it's time for him to pick a wife. The girl has been seeing some guy who's not in her class, and events unfold where she gets chosen to participate in "The Selection," where the Prince hangs out with like 20 girls and has to narrow down to one he wants to marry. The Prince is... OK, way more interesting than her original boyfriend, except the latter comes back toward the end as a guard in the Palace! So then it's all, LOVE TRIANGLE. Ugh. The girl is too sassy and perfect, while both guys are pretty much duds. Will not be reading the others.
Matched, by Allie Condie. I read this awhile ago and really, really wanted to like this one. The characters are better than in the others above, but ultimately the story isn't very well written and got super boring. Basically, again in a dystopian society, this girl gets "matched" to her childhood sweetheart, but for a second the face of another guy flashes, and she slowly falls in love with that guy instead. The book's okay until it gets near the end, then a bunch of things happen that makes it less and less interesting. I skimmed the second book and don't plan to continue.
Hunting Lila, by Sarah Alderson. This one has a pretty good premise, though the heroine gets fairly tiresome because every time her crush shows up she goes into super teen girl mode (which might be realistic, but I don't want to constantly be reading about how much she likes him and how cute he is and blah blah blah). Anyway, the gist of the story is that her mother is murdered when she's just a girl. Her brother and his best friend (her crush) join some mysterious branch of the U.S. military (like Riley, in BtVS) to hunt down her mother's killer. It turns out that the killer(s) are supernatural beings, and neither of the guys know that Lila herself has started to exhibit telekinetic powers. So yeah, it's an interesting premise, imho, and not all guilty pleasure the way the ones above are. HOWEVER, what bothers me about this one, and why I haven't been able to get more than a quarter of the way in, is that it's written by a Brit, about Americans. YET THEY ALL SOUND BRITISH. No American teen calls their mother "mum." We say "mom." American guys don't say things are "lovely." We don't ask if someone would "fancy some tea." It goes on and on. It's SO DISTRACTING. I might be able to look past it more if it were fanfic, but it's not; it's an actual published novel. Seriously, they couldn't find someone to make the characters sound American??? Or like, why didn't she just make them British?! Argh.
I'm also finally reading The Girl Who Played with Fire. I find the writing -- or maybe it's the translation -- kind of annoying, and Salander and Blomkvist are both such Mary Sue/Gary Stus, but it's just one of those series I've always meant to finish. (Of course, I said that about the Twilight series, and yet I've been on book 4 for like 2 years.)
And then there's Breaking Bad, which is like, the one shining beacon of quality in the media I've recently consumed.
Breaking Bad 5x06 'The Buyout'
- OMG, the dinner scene. I know there was a dead kid from the last episode and everything, but I have to start with the awkward dinner scene. HOW LONG HAVE I WISHED FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT??? Jesse was taking Walt Jr.'s place at the table!! Of course, it wasn't really the way I'd hoped it would happen, but better than nothing. I wanted it to come from Walt's surrogate father feelings for Jesse, not because he wanted to prove something to Skyler (and to make Jesse feel sorry for him).
- To my recollection, Jesse and Skyler have not had a scene together since the very first season, when Skyler confronted Jesse about selling pot to Walt. OH HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED. Back then, Skyler was still pregnant, and while I found her confrontation with Jesse a tad annoying, I understood where she was coming from. I hadn't yet developed a strong attachment to Jesse. Now, I'm kind of indignant about her resentment of him and what he represents to Walt. She looks down on Jesse, but he's better than the both of them!
- I could eat my words, but I think that, despite everything, Jesse will never be at war with Walt. Not only is basic human decency one of Jesse's primary personality traits, but it's especially true when it comes to Walt. He's the father Jesse never really felt he had; for better or worse, Jesse learned from this man, depended on him. Walt is like one of those sucky, abusive fathers who nevertheless has a hold over his 'son.' I mean, yes, Jesse has that moment of disquiet when he hears Walt whistling after faking being sorry about the kid's death, but at the end of the episode he's right back to standing between Walt and a bullet. Clearly there has to be some sort of eventual rift between Walt and Jesse, but I'm hoping that it'll be something Walt will regret (and for an emotional, rather than practical, reason), and will absolve himself by the end of the series. But that probably too hopeful for this show. :/ Most people are predicting a very dark end for Walt/the series.
- I'm glad we finally got Walt articulating a reason why he's continuing on this destructive path, when most sane people would STOP, count their blessings, and try and repair what's been damaged (in this case, namely his relationship with his wife and children, who he was ostensibly doing all this for in the first place). At least he's now outright SAID that he's trying to build an empire, to replace the one he lost (or feels cheated out of -- though really, what did he expect Gretchen and Elliot to do, GIVE him shares in the company? HE SOLD OUT. And he refused to take their charity later. So it's all his own fault. His situation is a direct result of his own choices, so where does he get off being so resentful???) in Gray Matter.
- This begs the question of whether Walt had ever really been happy with his family, as he supposedly seemed at the beginning of the series. It's more important to him to repair his lost masculinity than it is to repair his family, apparently. The big question for me is whether he'll ever come back to his senses, or if the series will end with him still pursuing that empire at any cost.
After I got back from Vancouver, K. wanted to see The Bourne Legacy, so I happily saw it again. I have now seen it FOUR TIMES. Heehee. I don't know if I can get tired of seeing it. They could turn the sound off and I'd still enjoy watching it. >.> Anyway, K. liked it a lot. I'd warned her ahead of time that there was no third act, so that might've helped. She was like, "I don't see what's wrong with the ending." She didn't understand any of the complaints people had, myself included, so maybe she's just easier to please. We also saw the new Spider-man movie, and while I thought Andrew Garfield made a more convincing high school student, and I liked his Spidey personality more than Tobey Maguire's earnest Spidey, I didn't much care for the movie. I didn't think it brought anything original or particularly interesting to the table, the villain was lame, there were too many scenes that lingered too long for no reason, and I wasn't into the romance with Gwen Stacy. I thought Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield had very little chemistry, which might be explained because aren't they involved IRL? Actors who are together IRL have no tension. I learned that from Joey on Friends and IT'S SO TRUE.