#cutlerbeckettt

[terribleoldwhitemen]

URL change guys!!!

Not guaranteed I’ll keep it, but after being half-dared to change my url to something a bit more representative of my interests (heh), I decided to go for it. Now cutlerbeckettt --> terribleoldwhitemen

[joons]

I wasn't aware that you, too, are a fan of the Pellinor books! I would love to hear your thoughts on them if you'd like to share; I've actually been threatening to reread them myself a lot lately.

Mmmm, I just love them so much. I think my favorite thing about the series is how well it captures all these different moods of high fantasy. The first book is very hero’s journey, and the second one gets into introspective wasteland travels and erotic villains, the third one is a grim war story, etc. I love how the universe is so cohesive but it never just feels like an extension of what came before. And the frame of the story is the best–ancient unearthed texts being translated for a mass audience? YES CROGGON.

I love every character, and the main reason I’m rereading it is to refresh my memory of Cadvan, since The Bone Queen (CADVAN PREQUEL) is coming out next year. (I think it’s already out in Australia, but I’m waiting for the Candlewick edition so hopefully it will match the old covers.)

The Crow is my favorite book because it’s just so dark and grim, and I feel so much for Hem and Zelika. The Riddle was also instrumental in making me realize how much I loved hero/villain bullshit, because the second we got to the Winterking, I was GLOWING. I’d never just had it HAPPEN to me in a book without it being on the tin, you know. :)

[hegodamask]

So I looked Utopia up on imdb, and the summary is vague and unsatisfying. Could you tell me what exactly this show is about and what attracts you to it so strongly? All your posts have made me very curious/interested :)

ohmygosh i’m so glad my posts have caught your interest! i’m always encouraging people to get into utopia i’m terrible

i’m not surprised about the vague imdb summary. utopia has lots of big twists that are heart of the plot, and you don’t discover the true motivations of some characters until later on in the series. the vagueness is probably intentional, because spoilers and all that.

i don’t know how you feel about spoilers (the show last aired about 2 years ago so my posts haven’t been spoiler free). but in case there’s anyone else reading this who might be interested, i’ll try to focus more on how i discovered utopia and why i like it so much (hope that’s okay!). 

if you don’t fancy reading my ramblings and want something that’s a bit more to the point, here’s this great power point summary. it’s not spoilery and was made before series 2, but it offers more detail. 

if you’ve got time to read about how ended up in hell loving this show. carry on reading….

*gulp* here goes apologies for my grammar/bad writing

weirdly enough, i found out about utopia through my other main fandom, star wars. one of my favourite star wars actors is ian mcdiarmid. so like any fan of an actor, i kept an eye on his career.

in spring of 2014, i found out he’d joined the cast of utopia for its second series. the site that made the announcement labelled the show a sci-fi. but wait…..i like sci-fi……… i watch british tv. why haven’t i heard of this before?

so i look utopia up and find the same vague summaries you came across. still, i thought i’d check out the first episode, see what kind of show ian mcdiarmid had signed up to.

anyways, long story (not so) short, utopia took me completely by surprise. it literally grabbed me and refused to let go. i’ve enjoyed plenty of movies and tv shows in the past, but only few had captured my interest like this before. i’d never really binge-watched a show before utopia (even if that binge-watch was only 6 episodes at the time)

i think what initially hooked me was just how bold utopia was. from the colour grading, to the cinematography,  to the humour one second and genuinely shocking violence the next. everything about it was just so strong and unique to the world of british tv, i fell in love instantly. 

as you probably know, utopia is a conspiracy, fugitive/”life on the run” type of drama (with a bit of sci-fi) but it’s written in such a way that makes it really amazing to me.

i remember the creator/writer dennis kelly once said that most of these types of shows have very “capable” main characters; they’re usually detectives, journalists, or just naturally investigative people. kelly said he wanted utopia’s protagonists to be “a bit shit…like me” in the sense that they’re not prepared to face the real conspiracy of “the utopia experiments”. they have to really adjust to life on the run. it also means they make plenty of mistakes and are really flawed, brilliant characters with great story arcs.

on the other hand, utopia’s “antagonists” are just as fascinating. anyone who’s followed me for a while knows i love me my baddies! in utopia however, morality is not so black and white. you’ll find yourself sympathising with characters who have done terrible things, you might even agree with what some of them are trying to achieve(!). I’ve also gotta say some of the bad guys’ Looks are so on point (see: lee) and who doesn’t love a well dressed killer? (anyone….? oh, maybe just me then…)

the only downside is that this amazing show was criminally cancelled after 2 series and left on a frustrating cliffhanger. but it’s still so worth it. i promise.

there’s so much more i could write about utopia but i’d end up spoiling and we’d be here all day. so tl;dr if you want to watch something that is bold, takes you on a wild ride, breaks your heart, has complex, morally ambiguous characters and pretty colours: watch utopia.

[joons]

Hi, so I saw your reply about hero/villain ships and totally agreed with you, especially wrt Rumbelle. I was wondering if you've seen The Blacklist and what, if any, your opinions are on the relationship between Liz and Red? Even w/out (1/2)

a romantic context, do you think Red fits the "villain" archetype, and do you think the show adequately handles the clash in morality b/t Liz and Red? (I lean towards no, but I'm curious to hear your opinion, that is if youve even seen it lol)

Shoot, I wish I had watched it so I could answer, but I haven’t. I’ll say that the people I know who watch it have not been satisfied, so there must have been a lot of missed opportunities there.

[pileofsith]

Senator Palpatine - ‘Trust me’

Just a Palpatine doodle because I had been exchanging messages with cutlerbeckettt and it brought me into a supreme mood for my old fandom fixation - stuff about Naboo politicians!

[joons]

I know Grievous is your Star Wars fave, but last week I accidentally fell into a shallow Palpatine dumpster. Do you have any EU book recs? I may want to put a tentative toe into that ocean, but it's a lot more daunting than the Trek verse because I'm not as familiar with it as I am with ST. Plus I think you have gr9 taste in books so. (Doesn't have to be Palpatine tbh; basically anything decent that will feed my strange new SW infatuation; I hear a lot of EU stuff is shite)

No, I have next to no knowledge of the books! I’ve reblogged reference posts just for my own reference, but the only book I’ve read was Labyrinth of Evil, which I didn’t even get to finish! That one was set in the Clone Wars, though, right before Episode III. 

Here’s what I know from my brother and what people have told me: you can’t really go wrong with authors Matthew Stover or Karen Traviss. From the excerpts I’ve read, both those authors have great prose and character work. 

[grumpyelf]

@cutlerbeckettt said: Wow these pics look professionally done… 0_o I’m vicariously happy for you and glad it was such a great experience :D

whoa really?? the majority of my pictures came out fuzzy and/or blurry because my phone camera quality isn’t that great but i’m glad at least these came out ok! but thank you, dear!! i’m so happy that i went

[joons]

The more your Clara/Twelve obsession kills you, the more it gives me life. Just saying. (And I'd 100% be on that ship with you if I weren't too lazy to watch the seasons in between 9 and 12)

So you admit to revelling in my pain, I see how it is. :)

I don’t know if anyone’s just started with 12′s season, so I couldn’t say if it was a good starting point or not. I feel like there are more Classic Who references than to earlier New Who storylines, though. But he’s fantastic, and they’re fantastic, and I’m slain.