good vibes only

[marycrawford]

Maru (the Cat who Sits in Boxes) and Hana now have a kitten to deal with.

I'm still watching Lost Tomb Reboot, going very very slowly, mostly because of my fractured attention span but also, I admit it, because I keep pausing to stare at Sir's Face. The best thing about this show is just how much they labor to give Zhu Yilong room to work his microexpression magic and nuanced character acting in the midst of all the action-adventure (he got threatened by clams in the most recent episode, and it was amazing), and to light him beautifully while he does it. They read the label when they bought him, and I really hope other shows will do the same.

I signed up for fandomtrees, which is a really nice little fannish gift challenge that would be especially suitable for anyone who isn't feeling up to the big ones this year, like yuletide. You simply ask for a gift in a fandom of your choice - art, fic, anything. Officially you must request three fandoms, but they can also be non-fannish things like recipes, song recommendations or whatever, so it's suitable for monofannish people like me. And all you need to do to give someone a gift is post a comment under their letter, no need to sign up or anything. It's a 100 word minimum for fic, so it's super low-key, and I will be stalking people's letters to see what tasty things I can offer.

My fandomtrees letter is here, and there are already four Guardian requests!

And the Sundial Exchange signups have started, too, yay! I haven't signed up yet but I plan to, and I'm really looking forward to it. This is for Guardian and Guardian-related fandoms, and there was some spectacular art and fic for it last year.

sakana17 has an inspirational picspam of Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong lounging against walls, floors, windows, etc.

Comments

[laireshi]

I'm still watching Lost Tomb Reboot, going very very slowly
I've just started it! Going not-so-slowly because I'm skipping most of the scenes without a certain someone. He's so pretty *dreamy sigh*

I have to sign up for all those events too, I'm very excited for them.

[marycrawford]

Skipping most if not all of the B plots is the exactly right way to approach this show, congrats! It's not just that they don't have Z1L, but they're also just not engaging and often problematic. I appreciate that I can just be shallow and focus on him and all the good stuff that revolves around him.

[trobadora]

I need to finish my fandomtrees sign-up, so I can start the next sign-up ... but I also need to finish some exchange fic first, oops. *g*

[marycrawford]

I'm glad you pointed out the fandomtrees signup, I like the idea a lot.
I don't have any major exchange fic happening atm, but good luck on yours!

[trobadora]

Thanks muchly!

And I'm really happy fandomtrees seems to be taking off. :D

[naye]

he got threatened by clams in the most recent episode, and it was amazing
I love this show SO MUCH, Mary. So much.

[marycrawford]

I do TOO - they have so much awesome weirdness to unleash and I'm here for it, that plus Sir: Your Face is just exactly what I need right now.

[nnozomi]

The best thing about this show is just how much they labor to give Zhu Yilong room to work his microexpression magic and nuanced character acting in the midst of all the action-adventure (he got threatened by clams in the most recent episode, and it was amazing), and to light him beautifully while he does it.
Excellent way to put it. (Does that mean you're in the episode where he and Xiao Bai have a confrontation over a land mine? I love that scene so much.) I hope he can now pick and choose from projects which will let him shine this way.

[marycrawford]

Yes,correct! And YES that scene is amazing - I was lukewarm on Xiao Bai before, but in the previous episode and here in this scene, she really comes into her own. And Wu Xie's deadly determination, coupled with how compassionate he is to Bai as he finds out that yelling won't make her go away, but giving her a task will...

I may have spent a good 10 minutes going back and forth on a moment in the landmine scene that lasts maybe three seconds (ep 214, 27:04, for ppl as crazy as I am) where he prepares to dismantle the bomb, puts his thumb to his mouth and closes his eyes in what I think is a "for luck, death or glory" gesture. It's almost too fast to see, srsly.

I hope he can now pick and choose from projects which will let him shine this way.

YES, this! I really hope so too. Apparently, from what I've been told, he was cast in this before Guardian, since that was a last-minute replacement for another actor, and this was supposed to be his breakout role. I think nobody could have expected Guardian to blow up the way it did, broken budget and all.

[nnozomi]

(okay, just going to ramble at you for two seconds, please feel free to tell me to shut up or take it to my own journal)
I especially love that scene because it's the second screaming argument they've had, both based on him saying "Do this!" and her saying "Won't!"--the first one was back in Warehouse 11 in season 1 somewhere, "Show me your cell phone!" "No!!". That was based on mutual mistrust of sorts, and here they're doing almost the same thing but it's from the opposite motives, out of trust and care for each other. And while he does think of a task for her, basically she out-stubborns him and he's the one who says "I'm sorry." (And it's still not romantic! And that makes it so much more interesting!) (And he's so beautiful the whole time, omigod.)
I'm looking forward to a nice luxurious rewatch over New Year's, to savor this scene and others.

[marycrawford]

okay, just going to ramble at you for two seconds

Please feel free! The fannish conversation is what I want from Dreamwidth. :)

I really like that you drew that parallel between those two scenes, that hadn't occurred to me but yeah, they went through such a big arc between the first and the second moment!

nd while he does think of a task for her, basically she out-stubborns him and he's the one who says "I'm sorry." (And it's still not romantic! And that makes it so much more interesting!) (And he's so beautiful the whole time, omigod.)

Everything about this! Yeah, I appreciated that he apologized, a LOT. And I also appreciate that the relationship is never romantic, despite her one-way crush, and that Xiao Bai gets her "fourth sister" spot.

And yes DAMN he is so beautiful - the whole time I'm rewinding just to boggle over how amazing he looks and how well they light him, frame him, etc.

[frith_in_thorns]

I so much enjoy Lost Tomb! *cough* most of it. I'm now slowly rewatching with my wife, who does not take TV seriously at the best of times (i.e. when you at a VERY EMOTIONAL space battle in a space show having someone next to you quietly whispering "pew pew!" is something of a mood killer :P) and rewatching it is frankly hilarious because I can just settle into enjoying Zhu Yilong's face and not stressing over whether certain plotlines will turn out okay or not. We're currently in the season 1 warehouse Extreme Filing sections.

Fandomtrees sounds lovely! I have added it to my endless pile of opened tabs I hope to eventually do something with. And of course sundial is great, I am an unbiased source :D So glad that you're going to sign up again!

[marycrawford]

*cough* most of it.

Hahaha, understood, and same! I just take it as read that we all either skip past the awful B plots or just suffer through them for Science, because that is not where the gold is. And hee, your wife sounds like the perfect companion for this show! (LOL @ the emotional space battle moment - yes, maybe there are some shows where you wouldn't want to watch together...)

We're currently in the season 1 warehouse Extreme Filing sections.
Heee, yes, I have been calling it the world's worst Amazon warehouse but I like your version. It just gets weirder and weirder and I love that.

I hope you do sign up for fandomtrees, I would love for many Guardian people to sign up! And Sundial is the big event for me this year.

[sakana17]

Your description of Tomb Reboot is absolutely perfect. It is all about his face. (And arms. And bruises. And fingerless gloves. Siiiiiiiigh.)

[points to icon by the talented tinny which features The Pen]

Thank you for the tip about kitten Miri! I had fallen behind in my Maru and Hana watching, and I spent most of this afternoon catching up. The cuteness! <3

[marycrawford]

Siiiigh indeed! And oh, that is a lovely icon, I can't believe you have a Pen Icon (I am so tempted, oh no, I deliberately chose to keep to one icon only but sometimes I have second thoughts).

I haven't really kept up with Maru & Hana either, just watched a small episode occasionally, but the KITTEN just got me to subscribe to their youtube account. <3

[grayswandir]

The best thing about this show is just how much they labor to give Zhu Yilong room to work his microexpression magic and nuanced character acting in the midst of all the action-adventure

They really do, and it's amazing. 100% agreed on your comments about hoping he'll get to do a lot more projects that put his talents to equally good use.

I'm still watching Lost Tomb Reboot, going very very slowly

Oy, exact opposite here apparently... I finished S1 like three days ago, and then promptly binged all of S2 and finished it yesterday. >_> No spoilers, but I've got to say that even though I kind of hated the secondary-character subplots in the first season, I actually ended up liking almost everyone by the end? Some more than others, obviously -- but I was honestly impressed that they managed to ultimately make me care what happened to most of their cast of characters, even some of the really minor ones. (Though, to be fair, watching Wu Xie care about all of them probably contributed more to that than the actual script/plot did...)

[marycrawford]

Oh I can totally see the case for just speedlining the whole thing, and as long as it made you happy then all's well. It's a good binge show, for sure.

I admit, I cheerfully fast-forwarded through the B-plots in season 1 and also mostly (so far) in season 2, and I don't care about most of those people, but I am still mad about what the show did to Piao Piao and uh...Glasses' love interest whose name I don't remember. But I'm glad you found affection for so many of the characters, and this is giving me good vibes for the rest of season 2!

[grayswandir]

I can totally see the case for just speedlining the whole thing

It wasn't really intentional, honestly. It just seems like any time I get really into something, I have no desire to do or think about anything else until I finish it, so binging is kind of inevitable. But! Now that I've finished, I can rewatch the scenes I liked and pay more attention to Zhu Yilong's face, instead of worrying about keeping up with the subtitles. :)

I am still mad about what the show did to Piao Piao and uh...Glasses' love interest

Aaagh. Yeah, those bits were awful, both in themselves and in the way they created a very unfortunate running theme where our male leads have trauma over having sort-of-caused the deaths of women who wanted to be with them. Like, I know they wanted to spread the angst around a little and not just pile all of it up on Wu Xie, but they really needed to come up with some sources of secondary-character angst besides "expendable girlfriend." :(

this is giving me good vibes for the rest of season 2!

I hope you end up enjoying it!