Luckylyn

Claimed took time to get going. I liked it but got a little frustrated waiting for a werewolf to finally appear. It’s the beginning of a new series so the ending resolves some things but has a cliffhanger. I do like it more than the prison camp spin off. In the Black Dagger books I feel like this book is branching off the series into a interesting direction.

I’m reading Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. This book involves characters at a magic school with danger and political intrigue with a focus on the character Simon and his roommate/nemesis Baz. The chosen one sets on a course to solve a mystery but his magic skills are wildly inconsistent. He’s powerful but his spells have the potential to cause more damage than help. I’m getting a “What if Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were roommates vibe.” I’m finding it very entertaining.

I thought it was his way of pointing out the online support for Burton to take over Jeopardy like how online fans supported Reynolds becoming Deadpool.

I think Mike Richards hiring as host was shady to begin with since he was already working as Executive Producer when he essentially hired himself for the job. I was so confused when this guy I never heard of was selected. There were other people who were better suited who got passed over.

I don’t mind some angst for couples. I just don’t like the ones that act almost like they hate each other. Ups and downs in relationships keep things interesting but writers need to remember the characters are supposed to love each other. Then there are couples that are toxic but compelling to watch. sometimes drama is entertaining. Also there are couples that aren’t toxic but the writer’s play the “will they/ won’t they” game too long and I don’t care anymore about if the couple get together anymore.

Arrow was a show I loved but then got worse. Too many characters added in that I didn’t care about, Oliver doing stupid things unilaterally and screwing over Felicity and Diggle, and bad writing. I feel like once spin offs started too much became about using Arrow as a springboard for the next show rather than developing Arrow well.

Gary on Parks and Rec becoming mayor after years of his coworkers treating him terribly.

I loved watching Hart to Hart. That’s a great example of a happy couple. Couples who acted like they loved each other and didn’t do the miserable couple trope: -Parks and Rec : Leslie/Ben, April/Andy, Ron/Diane, Donna/Joe(Donna almost broke up with Joe because of the lack of drama but then ends up happily married to him) . Ron telling Donna not to confuse drama with happiness was one of my favorite lines. -Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman - Scully/Mike -The Good Place - Chidi/Elenor, Jason/Janet -Growing Pains - Jason/Maggie -Friends- Monica/Chandler (I hated the Ross/Rachel drama and grew to hate that pairing by the end) -Living Single - Overton/Sinclair

I saw a spoiler on YouTube that Jason is going to miss his wedding to Carly because Britt gets kidnapped to test if the Jason/Carly marriage is real. Sounds like a stupid test. Even if Jason was madly in love with Carly and only had platonic feelings for Britt he would miss is wedding to rescue Britt. The show’s established a nonsensical “Jason the mob hitman is hero” pattern. It’s always Jason to the rescue 🙄

I’m reading Claimed by JR Ward. It’s a another spin off from The Black Dagger Brotherhood. She’s adding werewolves to that universe. Wolves were referenced in one of the prison camp books. So far I haven’t liked the prison camp books as much as the Black Dagger books. I am enjoying Claimed more than the prison books. It’s slower paced but I feel like the romance is developing better. For this book, a woman who works at a nature preserve is determined to protect the wolves who live there while dealing with threats from people endangering the animals. A new employee with his own secret agenda works with her to protect her from those targeting her . There’s also a subplot featuring Xhex from the Black Dagger Brotherhood. One thing I appreciate about the series is that the characters don’t stay static after they fall in love. Ward revisits the characters as they experience ups and downs. They continue to evolve throughout the series.

I love Morticia and Gomez. So many shows have spouses act contemptuously towards each other. Morticia and Gomez adore each other and it’s great to see. Ten and Donna are a great platonic pairing. I really enjoyed that friendship so much. Donna’s my favorite companion on Doctor Who.

I like shipping and don’t see anything inherently wrong with it. I like romance. But it’s a problem when people take things to extremes. I don’t like that shippers who aren’t bothering anyone are lumped into the same group as those you do harass people.

Here’s another video about Pro-shippers vs Anti-Shippers that’s a great follow up to the one I posted before. It’s long but worth a watch because it really deep dives into a lot of fandom issues. I really appreciated one person in the comments saying “There shouldn’t be limits over what can exist but nothing is free of good faith criticism.” You are free to enjoy what you like but others are free to express opposing opinions. Nuance should be allowed. Harassment isn’t okay. I will never understand the argument that “I am harassing this person online to stop harassment online.” Why can’t people disagree without threats and name calling? Supporting or not supporting a ship shouldn’t be taken to the extreme of being a mark against your character as a person. There are things someone might find compelling in fiction that they would never support in real life. I support speaking out about content you think is problematic but don’t support the vitriol. Problematic content is allowed to exist and people’s opinions positive or negative about it should be allowed too. Also what is considered problematic isn’t set in stone. Two people can have very different opinions on what’s offensive. “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one and thinks everyone else’s stinks.”

I want a Fosse/Sondheim Mashup for Season 2. Bonus if we somehow also get a Starlight Express reference. It doesn’t always have to be about romance either. They could tackle family strife. I could see a whole family or maybe just siblings getting stuck in Schmigadoon. I really think this premise could go a long way.

I really loved this and got a little teary eyed at “You Make Me Wanna Sing”. I hope we get another season but a new story. I think this format would work well as an anthology series where each season parodies different musicals and has a new story while keeping the cast as new characters.

I’m reading Billy Summers by Stephen King. It’s a about a hitman who specializes in only bad people performing one last job which ends up being more complicated then any job he’s had before. There’s tension because I can’t help anticipating that things are going to go horribly wrong. This job requires

Say Yes to the Marquess is a really good one. I liked it even more than book 1.

Autumn Reeser and Andrew Walker are favorites of mine so I was looking forward to The 27 Hour Day. They had chemistry, but I found I was a bit bored. I fast forwarded through parts of it. Maybe my expectations were too high because I am a fan of the actors?

I have started the historical romance Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare which is the second book in her Castles Ever After series. In each book, a woman inherits a castle. For this book, Clio has been engaged for eight years to a Marquess who has shown no interest in actually going through the wedding. When she receives an inheritance she sees it as an opportunity to end the engagement. Her potential brother in law Rafe objects to Clio’s efforts to get out if the marriage. While trying to push for the marriage Rafe is forced to deal with his repressed feelings for Clio.

Most of the time I don’t like them. I burst out laughing when she shut down the ballet before it would start. But I found myself kinda disappointed not to see it.

She is so invoking the Baroness from Sound of Music

Having famous family members or friends doesn’t guarantee success, but it does provide access that can make getting that first opportunity easier. Just getting a foot in the door is an advantage. I remember an interview where Gwyneth Paltrow wanted to show her parents didn’t maker her career happen. She talked about going behind her mother’s back to call her mother’s agent who secretly helped her get an audition. She said her mother didn’t know anything about it until she got the role which was supposed to show her mother didn’t help her. The flaw with her example is that a regular unconnected person wouldn’t have the name and phone number of an agent and if they did their phone call wouldn’t necessarily even get the agent to even speak to them. Her parents are the reason Gwyneth knew who to call and got that call answered. What happens at the audition itself is on Gwyneth’s shoulders but getting into the room for the audition at all was aided by her family connections. Pointing out someone’s connections doesn’t mean that they aren’t talented. It just shows they had an advantage over total unknowns without connections. Sissy Spacek only got the audition for Carrie because she had worked for Brian De Palma before as a set dresser and was dating a friend of his. He had already an actress in mind for Carrie and only auditioned Spacek as a favor with no intention of hiring her. He actively tried to talk her out of the audition strongly hinting that his choice had already been made and tried to nudge her towards a commercial audition he thought she was more likely to get. But Spacek insisted on being giving the shot at an audition and what she did in the audition was so good De Palma was won over and gave her the role of Carrie. Any other actress couldn’t have pushed for that audition but because of her personal connection to De Palma he gave her a chance he would have refused a stranger. Regardless of how Spacek got the role, no one questions how good she was in that movie. Hollywood is a tough competitive business. I won’t fault someone for using a connection they have to get a leg up, but they shouldn’t pretend the advantage they have doesn’t exist. Don’t leverage your connections and then act like those connections didn’t have any impact on your career.

The Winston/CC friendship didn’t get going until the show was on for several seasons. Eventually they became very close to the point that they had “Winston/CC Mess Arounds” where they would team up over something. Winston hilarious kept pushing the the Mess Around phrase to be a thing. She asked Winston to be her bridesman for her wedding.

Regarding the Sister Rosetta Tharpe biography, I wanted to recommend the audio book. Leslie Uggams is the narrator but other voices are used for various men and women quoted. The thing I am really enjoying is that periodically they will play a sample of her music so I get to hear the music being referred to. Normally I go back and forth between listening to the audio book and reading on my paperwhite but for this book I am happy to exclusively listen to the audiobook.