Sunday, December 6, 2015
Dec. 6th, 2015 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyHappy Hanukkah to all who celebrate!
We lit the electric candles today (didn't want to risk actual fire around a toddler), listened to Hanukkah songs on the radio party the classical station had, and I made potato pancakes or draniki (it's a Belorussian word for potato pancakes or latkes, one of the few Belorussian words I still use). They were pretty delicious. Draniki with sour cream is one of my favorite foods. I don't make them a lot - grating is annoying - but I sure love to eat them. Tanya had one today too, although she mostly wanted to lick the sour cream off.
I finish my semester on Friday, so this week will be pretty busy as I need to finish all the grading. My students are writing a two day final exam and I already put together the question, so I will just have to sit there and grade. I should have graded more this weekend - I only managed a few papers - but my mind was just not cooperating. I'm hoping to have about 5 or 6 done tomorrow. Maybe even up to 8.
Last week went by pretty fast. We put together the mortgage application on Thursday - I spent all Thursday morning photocopying. So many documents. The Board Application next month will be even more paperwork. On Saturday, my parents, Tanya and I went to visit the apartment we are buying again to take some measurements for the possible renovations. There are just so many hoops to jump that I'm not getting excited or planning until we get approved by the board but my parents want to pick a lot of stuff now like possible appliances and tile. The board might decide we don't make enough or something and turn us down, although we have no problem paying our rent now, and the new amount will be pretty much the same. Because our Realtor lives in the building and know the president of the board, it will probably be fine, but still I don't want to overthink it. I was very good about contacting people for references as soon as I printed the board requirements - I usually get anxiety when I have to ask and put it off, but not this time. Yay.
I wrote my fanfic story for RS Small Gifts - right on time for my extension, so I do feel I had a productive week overall.
I did get to watch a bit of TV last week. I watched first three episodes of Jessica Jones, and episodes of Supergirl , Supernatural and Grimm .
TV
Jessica Jones S1E1-3
I saw the first episode of Daredevil a few months ago, and while I recognized the good quality of the show, it was a bit dark for me. I did not feel compelled to watch more and I still haven't, putting it off. I like my superheroes with some hope (incidentally, someone I read on Tumblr complained that the Supergirl was too wholesome with no edge. But that is why I actually like that show, sometimes I want uncomplicated, and not a dark, tortured superhero that seems to be the norm lately). I wasn't very excited over Jessica Jones because all the early chatter made it sound pretty dark and depressing as well. But I kept reading about many watching it, plus David Tennant plays the villain, so I gave it a shot. I'm so glad I did.
As I finished the first episode, I realized why I vastly prefer this show to Daredevil and just want to keep watching. Daredevil is the show about mafia and corruption and is fairly depressing. I'm not a big fan of mafia stuff. But give me a super creepy villain who controls minds and I'm so there. And I like the character herself - she feels like a real person to me. She fights despite the trauma. And this show has a lot more women - in fact, most of the main characters are women, which I think also appeals. And it doesn't hurt that Luke Cage is a very gorgeous, gorgeous man and I do have a weakness for that upper body. But I just want to know what will happen. Kilgrave is one of the scariest villain I've seen and I'm curious to see how he will be brought down.
Supergirl S1E5-6
Seeing episode 5, which meant to air before 4, certainly helped explain some thing in Episode 4 like James and Lucy's relationship. But I did like Episode 6 better. I enjoyed Supergirl's anger and in particular the conversation between Cat and Kara about how women can't get angry at work because of underlying sexist - I really like that the show is really examining the ways women superheros are forced to contend with issues male superheros don't have to address. The show is drilling the point home too much yet, but I do like that they raise the points. Sometimes there are continuity issues - Kara tells Cat that editing will cut into game night, which she gets berated about but then next scene is game night. And I keep wondering when they all get their work done with hanging out at cafes at 9am and with super projects - but I know I'm just nitpicking. The show is keeping my interest and I do enjoy it and all the characters.
The scene at the end of Episode 5 between Supergirl and Maxwell Lord was very reminiscent of the scene between Lext Luthor and Superman at the end of Lois and Clark pilot episode.
Supernatural S11E8
At work, my students were reading an article about an imaginary friend this week so it was a bit weird to watch this right before class discussion.
I enjoyed this episode. It was not the best this season but it was pretty good nonetheless. I'm really liking Season 11 so far. All the imaginary friends were ridiculous and interesting and there was enough ridiculous hilarity in this episode. I liked Sam's relationship with Sully but I didn't think the flashbacks were really necessary. I get that they were meant to push Sam into seriously considering going back to the cage but that was clear before. I'm really looking forward to seeing Lucifer again.
Grimm
This episode felt like a placeholder. The case wasn't that interesting. And I was wondering why Nick didn't put a guard on Trouble. And I'm still confused about all the allegiances of Meisner and Trouble etc. I think Chavez was working with the resistance to prevent those wessen from exposing themselves to the world and Trouble is helping in that regard. I'm really glad that Meisner and Nick finally met. They really need to start working together more. The only secret left seems to be that Meisner has Diana now. So not very exciting episode but hopefully the season will pick up soon. I hope the writers will be smoother with inserting that mayor election plotline and give more storylines to Renard too.
We lit the electric candles today (didn't want to risk actual fire around a toddler), listened to Hanukkah songs on the radio party the classical station had, and I made potato pancakes or draniki (it's a Belorussian word for potato pancakes or latkes, one of the few Belorussian words I still use). They were pretty delicious. Draniki with sour cream is one of my favorite foods. I don't make them a lot - grating is annoying - but I sure love to eat them. Tanya had one today too, although she mostly wanted to lick the sour cream off.
I finish my semester on Friday, so this week will be pretty busy as I need to finish all the grading. My students are writing a two day final exam and I already put together the question, so I will just have to sit there and grade. I should have graded more this weekend - I only managed a few papers - but my mind was just not cooperating. I'm hoping to have about 5 or 6 done tomorrow. Maybe even up to 8.
Last week went by pretty fast. We put together the mortgage application on Thursday - I spent all Thursday morning photocopying. So many documents. The Board Application next month will be even more paperwork. On Saturday, my parents, Tanya and I went to visit the apartment we are buying again to take some measurements for the possible renovations. There are just so many hoops to jump that I'm not getting excited or planning until we get approved by the board but my parents want to pick a lot of stuff now like possible appliances and tile. The board might decide we don't make enough or something and turn us down, although we have no problem paying our rent now, and the new amount will be pretty much the same. Because our Realtor lives in the building and know the president of the board, it will probably be fine, but still I don't want to overthink it. I was very good about contacting people for references as soon as I printed the board requirements - I usually get anxiety when I have to ask and put it off, but not this time. Yay.
I wrote my fanfic story for RS Small Gifts - right on time for my extension, so I do feel I had a productive week overall.
I did get to watch a bit of TV last week. I watched first three episodes of Jessica Jones, and episodes of Supergirl , Supernatural and Grimm .
TV
Jessica Jones S1E1-3
I saw the first episode of Daredevil a few months ago, and while I recognized the good quality of the show, it was a bit dark for me. I did not feel compelled to watch more and I still haven't, putting it off. I like my superheroes with some hope (incidentally, someone I read on Tumblr complained that the Supergirl was too wholesome with no edge. But that is why I actually like that show, sometimes I want uncomplicated, and not a dark, tortured superhero that seems to be the norm lately). I wasn't very excited over Jessica Jones because all the early chatter made it sound pretty dark and depressing as well. But I kept reading about many watching it, plus David Tennant plays the villain, so I gave it a shot. I'm so glad I did.
As I finished the first episode, I realized why I vastly prefer this show to Daredevil and just want to keep watching. Daredevil is the show about mafia and corruption and is fairly depressing. I'm not a big fan of mafia stuff. But give me a super creepy villain who controls minds and I'm so there. And I like the character herself - she feels like a real person to me. She fights despite the trauma. And this show has a lot more women - in fact, most of the main characters are women, which I think also appeals. And it doesn't hurt that Luke Cage is a very gorgeous, gorgeous man and I do have a weakness for that upper body. But I just want to know what will happen. Kilgrave is one of the scariest villain I've seen and I'm curious to see how he will be brought down.
Supergirl S1E5-6
Seeing episode 5, which meant to air before 4, certainly helped explain some thing in Episode 4 like James and Lucy's relationship. But I did like Episode 6 better. I enjoyed Supergirl's anger and in particular the conversation between Cat and Kara about how women can't get angry at work because of underlying sexist - I really like that the show is really examining the ways women superheros are forced to contend with issues male superheros don't have to address. The show is drilling the point home too much yet, but I do like that they raise the points. Sometimes there are continuity issues - Kara tells Cat that editing will cut into game night, which she gets berated about but then next scene is game night. And I keep wondering when they all get their work done with hanging out at cafes at 9am and with super projects - but I know I'm just nitpicking. The show is keeping my interest and I do enjoy it and all the characters.
The scene at the end of Episode 5 between Supergirl and Maxwell Lord was very reminiscent of the scene between Lext Luthor and Superman at the end of Lois and Clark pilot episode.
Supernatural S11E8
At work, my students were reading an article about an imaginary friend this week so it was a bit weird to watch this right before class discussion.
I enjoyed this episode. It was not the best this season but it was pretty good nonetheless. I'm really liking Season 11 so far. All the imaginary friends were ridiculous and interesting and there was enough ridiculous hilarity in this episode. I liked Sam's relationship with Sully but I didn't think the flashbacks were really necessary. I get that they were meant to push Sam into seriously considering going back to the cage but that was clear before. I'm really looking forward to seeing Lucifer again.
Grimm
This episode felt like a placeholder. The case wasn't that interesting. And I was wondering why Nick didn't put a guard on Trouble. And I'm still confused about all the allegiances of Meisner and Trouble etc. I think Chavez was working with the resistance to prevent those wessen from exposing themselves to the world and Trouble is helping in that regard. I'm really glad that Meisner and Nick finally met. They really need to start working together more. The only secret left seems to be that Meisner has Diana now. So not very exciting episode but hopefully the season will pick up soon. I hope the writers will be smoother with inserting that mayor election plotline and give more storylines to Renard too.