Homework Distraction #1

I've been thinking a lot about stories and how they are told lately. My research project that I'm developing for the honors project I'm in at university revolves around storytelling. I've been reading some great books lately (His Majesty's Dragon, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making) that are wonderful exercises in storytelling. And of course, I am using what free time I have to write stories of my own. I used to tell people I love reading--and, well, I still do! If there is any one thing in my life that I love, it's the art of reading and writing stories. But I will also now tell you that I love storytelling. And good storytelling is not confined by the medium the story is told in; I've come to appreciate television, film, radio, art, as well as written text because a good story is a good story no matter how it is told.

I've especially been thinking about television lately, though, partially because my research project heavily involves both Doctor Who and Sherlock, and partially because I've been doing a lot of homework lately and something I really enjoy doing is multitasking! Which is just a fancy way of saying that while I'm typing out that essay I tend to have my favorite episode of Doctor Who or Avatar or Lost playing in a window on my computer alongside it to keep my creative side happy. This thinking about television and watching television while I study has in turn reminded me of a lot of my favorite moments from my various favorite shows. So because I like making lists I've been making up some lists just for fun, like 5 of my favorite TV character introductions or 5 of my favorite funny TV moments. It's fun to revisit those moments that are the visual equivalent of my favorite lines in my favorite books, the moments when storytelling really shines.

And since I've made the lists already I figured I might as well post some here on the blog, to share them with y'all. First up: 5 of my Favorite 'AUGHWHATNO' Moments, which basically just means those moments that made my jaw drop in agonized, delighted disbelief. Aren't those just the best? I'll embed video when I can, and when I can't I'll just have a link to take you to video of whatever scene I'm talking about. Sharing is caring! And we can all use a little break from school sometimes :D

Note: Of course these lists will have spoilers. Shows featured here: Doctor Who, Lost, Sherlock, and Supernatural.

#5: "It's good to see you out of those chains."

Admittedly, this is only one of many, many shocking Lost moments, but I just love FakeLocke and Richard's faces in this scene and Richard was one of my top 5 characters in the whole show so to see him suddenly getting knocked out like that after so many seasons of seeming invulnerability was just awesome. In a terrible sort of way.

#4: "Do we have a deal?"

I was going to put the ending of Waters of Mars here but couldn't find a clip so this'll do fine too. This episode is just a series of WHUT moments, and it's also one of my favorite DW episodes ever. And this moment is just the part where everything gets much, much darker and uh-oh and awesome.

#3: Richard Brook, he's on dvd!

I could probably have all 5 of these be scenes from The Reichenbach Fall, honestly, because I love that episode just that much. But here's one of the two moments that seriously gave me chills and made me scream at the screen, which is not something that I do often, to be honest. Really it's the whole scene that gets me, the escalating panic and fury, but here's one part of it anyway since I can't find the whole thing in one vid on youtube.

#2: Demon semi!!!

My favorite season finale cliffhanger ever, only tied perhaps with Juliet hitting the bomb in Lost Season 5 and Sherlock aiming his gun at the bomb in Sherlock. Heh, guess I have a thing about cliffhangers involving bombs. No bomb here, just AN ENORMOUS SEMI TRUCK THAT COMES OUT OF NOWHERE. When I first watched it I literally jumped and then just stared in incredulous shock for a few minutes. The episode was so full of terror and drama and awesome and then after an extremely nailbiting climatic scene it finally slows down for a second and then BLAM CAR CRASH and now you have to wait 'til next season. So. Good.

#1: "Well, good luck with that."

The other RF moment that absolutely chilled me. This entire episode is a work of art, honestly, storytelling at its superb best. And this was so unexpected and so horrible and so absolutely, completely RIGHT. Even in just this 30-second clip you can get a feel for the stakes here, the tension and emotional devastation this moment meant after the previous 1-hour-plus of exquisitely multi-layered plotting and unravelling the characters and it was just wow. Also the music is exquisite.

Anyone out there who's seen these scenes before? Do you agree with me in my assessment of them? What other scenes do you think are superbly AUGHWHATNO? Share them in the comments!

Posters!

The new poster for John Carter was released today and it's absolutely gorgeous, very retro-scifi-feeling in all the best ways and super brightly coloured (a joy compared to all the dark and pretentious posters out there). Just like how I have this weird love for movie trailers I love a good poster. My favorite poster of 2010 is probably the one for War Horse, a film I can barely wait to watch:

Colors, composition, the contrast between the emotion on the boy's face and the serenity of the horse, the beautiful amber lighting . . . it's beautiful. My runner-up would have to be the poster for The Artist, another film I've been eagerly anticipating for over a year now:

I guess I have a thing for dramatic lighting. But look at it! It's gorgeous, I love how elegant and classical it looks. And I love profiles of any kind, so that too. I'm seeing both of these movies over Christmas break, it's going to be wonderful!

After only 3 hours of sleep last night

I dragged myself out of bed to rush to my 830 AM class only to remember as I walked into a completely empty classroom, that class had been cancelled today. AUGH.

And now I have a paper to write so I can't spend any more time blogging but I registered for classes today and STILL was unable to get into the creative writing class before it filled up. This is ridiculous, I mean I'm a Junior already and still can't get in. AUGH AGAIN.

Seriously the only thing keeping me going right now is the knowledge that the first Hobbit trailer comes out in December. And that I can get the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell audiobook from the library in December.

And caffeine. Copious amounts of caffeine.

Top 10 Books that I want to see turned into (awesome) Movies

1. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (One of my newest reads but oh my Silmaril it would make an amazing film. Actually, arguably more amazing would be if the BBC made a miniseries out of it--imagine the previews. They start out looking like the usual British costume drama and then BAM! re-animated corpses and evil faeries and pineapples growing out of people's mouths. That'd be perfect.)

2. The Silmarillion (Okay, this is only half true. I want a Silmarillion miniseries. No kidding. I might be the only person on the planet who would watch it, but imagine how epic it would be! A Beren and Luthien episode? The Kinslaying? The Fall of Gondolin? EPIC, I TELL YOU.)

3. The Bartimaeus Trilogy (One of my favorite trilogies ever. Ever ever ever ever ever.)

4. The Mark of the Horselord (One of the less likely titles on my list to actually become a film, as hardly anyone knows about it, but that's a crying shame because it would be fantastic. Sutcliff is such an unbelievably visual writer anyway.)

5. The Once and Future King ("Camelot" just doesn't cut it. This would have to be like a Trilogy or something--Part I would be The Sword and the Stone/The Queen of Air and Darkness, Part II The Ill-Made Knight, and Part III The Candle in the Wind. And it would be beautiful.)

6. The Thief/The Queen of Attolia/The King of Attolia (I know another girl who'd be first in line to these films, but I'd be second. A very close second.)

7. The Last Unicorn (As much as I adore the animated film, I really wish there was a proper live-action version. There's been rumors about one being in the works for years, but so far nothing really has happened.)

8. A Tale of Two Cities (Like The Last Unicorn I love the film we already have (Ronald Colman is LOVELY) but it is from the 1930s and so suffers a bit as an adaptation in terms of editing the story. We need more Dickens in the cinemas again!)

9. The Hero and the Crown (Fantasy with strong female lead, visually impressive setting, and lots of eventful magic happenings. Why hasn't this been made yet? Same goes for The Tombs of Atuan which, I admit, could be a bit dull since half the time it would have to be set in pitch-darkness, but it'd still be cool.)

10. The Charwoman's Shadow/The Worm Ouroborous) (Another couple of great fantasies hardly anyone knows about. The Old Woman with a Young Shadow is such a great image, and Eddison's tale of Mercury-dwelling Demons and Witches is just gloriously weird.)