Since we just finished Voyager, my husband (who started this whole madness by insisting I watch TNG) is FINALLY letting me introduce him to TOS (which I watched without him last year and which ruined my life). We watched the first few episodes tonight and it’s been great, except he likes to read trivia about things while he watches them...
H: Did you know that (starts TOS fact)
Me: YES (finishes that fact) and (spouts much more obscure related TOS fact)
H: Also, did you know -
Me: YES (finishes that fact) and (three more obscure facts)
H: And -
Me: DO YOU THINK THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT TOS THAT I DON’T KNOW
H: Uh -
Me: DO YOU STAR TREK? BECAUSE I STAR TREK
H: Yes Ma’am.
Me: THAT’S RIGHT.
H: (scrolling) Oh, Julie Newmar was in an episode?
Me: I love you. Watch the show.
Today in Extremely Niche Interests Of Mine Overlapping in Wonderful Ways:
I just finished watching Abbas Kiarostami’s Where is My Friend’s House? (1987)-- I’d caught the beginning a few years ago when TCM was doing that “Story of Film” documentary series, and meant to track it down for a long time. It’s a very sweet, simple movie about a young boy in rural Iran who is trying to return his classmate’s notebook. Now for the interesting part-- it has a repeated musical motif that sounds extremely similar to the song above, which is one of the earliest ‘popular’/secular European songs we have any kind of musical notation for (and which I first heard in a music-theory class in college). Bernart de Ventadorn was a 12th-century troubadour from southern France, and this song is in the Occitan language. I doubt the similarity is anything but coincidence, but it made me really happy.
So because I am a giant nerd, I've been rewatching POI 4x09 to collect as much information as possible. Please tell me no one is surprised by this.
So first things first: the code! Thanks to figmentof and davidvalcin (!?!!!!) for the answer: "Date of “The Rumble In The Jungle”- Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman. Ali used the “Rope-A-Dope” to defeat the heavily favored champ Foreman." That is SUCH a POI writers reference, lol.
Second: Elias' birthdate makes no sense, but we've known that for a while. He goes from being three in 1973 (finding his mother dead), to being born in 1965, which is really talented of him, I feel. Either Elias is secretly a Time Lord (...kay, now I need THAT fic, oh god.) or it's another classic case of Writers Cannot Do Math. Now, me personally, I just go with the first one--say he's born in either 1969 or 1970. I was just curious if anyone else had come up with their own solution to this. :)
Third: Elias says Anthony spent "the better part of his childhood" in juvie for killing his father before transferring to the group home. This is heartbreaking on so many levels. It either implies he was EXTREMELY YOUNG when he killed his father (like, seven or eight, seriously, and he was there til age 15 or 16) or that being in juvie was preferable to living with his parents. Either way, bb!Scarface needs a hug, stat. I'm thinking I'll go with him entering juvie at age 10 and transferring at age 14 or 15, so it's a more ~metaphorical interpretation of that line, but still one that fits, I think. Anyone else have thoughts here?
Fourth: that picture. Anthony is easy to identify--he's the boy on the left, given the scar and all. The other two are trickier. My inclination is to say Elias is the boy in the middle, because he is the natural leader of the three, and also that boy looks the oldest, which I peg Elias to be. Granted, I am terrible at estimating ages, but my brain seems to have settled on him being 16-17 there, Bruce being 15-16, and Anthony being 14-15, so about a year between each. Once again, I am curious if any one else has come to a similar or different conclusion.
Fifth: from what I can make out of Finch's diagram in the episode, the building has six floors. It miiiiight be five, it's kind of hard to read the diagram, but it looks like six 'panels', as it were, with a big cluster of yellow dots on the top of the top panel, making for six floors in all. Anyone who might have access to a better definition shot of this bit, does that sound right?
Sixth: the 'secret passage' door in the penthouse was a holdover from the "old owners." That's disturbing. What the hell did you need THAT for, you bastards? The punishment room is on the third floor, and this JUST hit me, but it is DIRECTLY ADJACENT to that rec room type area Reese and Elias walk through first. That is so many different levels of fucked up, I can't even. What was the planning for this building even like? "I know, let's put the 'fun' and 'relaxation' room directly next to the room that's going to give all these boys PTSD!" / "...calm down, Satan."
Seventh: the shot of the article at the end of the episode. I can't make out much, but I am pretty sure it says it opened in 1948 and stayed open for 43 years, putting its shutdown in 1991. Depending on which birth year you go with, Elias was either ~21 or ~26 when it closed. Either way, totally old enough that I wouldn't bet against him having had something do with it.
Eighth: the damn name of this place. I can't see well enough to figure out spelling, but it looks like it could start Wh. I don't think there's a y, so my guess is Whalen or Whelan. I've seen 'Wayland' floating around, but when Reese says it, I don't hear a D sound, so I'm not sure. More thoughts?
Aaaaand I think that's all I've assembled for now. Does anyone have anything to add?
I haven't made a text post about Criminal Minds in a while...
And that is because I paused in my catch-up watch in order to go allll the way back to the beginning and log, in each episode, who, if anyone, kills (or attempts to kill) the unsub or any other suspect.
I am mostly doing this because my friends and I have long suspected that Hotch is secretly a highly-disciplined serial killer. =P
(I've still got half of S8 and two-thirds of S9 to go through, but so far, I can safely say our hypothesis is looking good.)
Just wait, you guys. I am going full-scale, high-caliber you thought I was a GIANT NERD before now? well you ain't seen nothin' yet! on this shit. There are going to be CHARTS and GRAPHS, and at least one will be pie-shaped!
I am reading one of those really excellent books that are so rare and that I am halfway through but am already bummed knowing it'll end. I really want it to be a series because I relate so much to the main character it's ridiculous, but it's not, so I guess I'll have to settle for reading everything the author's ever written and hope it stacks up (library puns!) But UGH I'm really enjoying it and I want to read it constantly and I'm pissed off about life getting in the way but at the same time I don't want to keep going because that'll bring me closer to the end. A book like that is so rare, you know?
I'll admit, I collect and listen to soundtracks from MMO's. More often than not, especially in more recent games, the music is incredibly well done and provides a pleasant background even when you're not slaying digital baddies. So you can imagine the girlish squeak of glee that I let out when I found out that BioWare made all of the ambient background music for Star Wars: The Old Republic available for download in the weeks leading up to the game's release... I've been looking for the music for Hoth and Alderaan and I now finally have it.
I also dropped a hint that may or may not have been a hint to the girlfriend that, since there is now a free-to-play option on SWTOR, I totally wouldn't mind seeing her online in that regard. It's not like either of us have a full class load or anything (sarcasm, and my class hours are from noon to five in the evening, WTF mate?), but I think it would be fun.
