#randomosity

[brisingirl]

House of David - season 1

To spare my poor friends my hours of rambling, I will instead afflict all of tumblr with my Thoughts. 

Firstly, I started this series with some scepticism. I love the story of David. It’s one of my favourite parts of the Bible (along with the story of Esther) and I think it might be one of the easiest parts to adapt into a historical drama series. It has epic fights, politics galore, murder, betrayal, revenge, prophecies and romance. So naturally, I don’t trust anyone to actually adapt it. But after episode 1, I was slowly buying into it. And by the time David is anointed I was fully invested.

Now, there are some flaws. Some of the shots look as though they’ve had a smoothing and a sharpening filter applied simultaneously and aesthetically they just don’t work for me. But they did do some really cool things with lighting and beautiful sunset/sunrise backgrounds. There are some definite deviations from the source material, but it manages to fit into ‘The Prince of Egypt’ category - not 100% accurate, but a very good story and stays true at heart. 

(The only major quibble I have about the changes is: why did they spend so much time on the giants’ backstory? It doesn’t add anything narratively and I just don’t care about the giants.)

There are also some things that I wonder where they’re going with. Like everything to do with Eshbaal - who as far as I can tell is a completely made up character. And also Joab. (I need to write a whole essay about Joab because he’s one of the most complicated figures in David’s story). 

Moving on to things that I absolutely loved: Samuel. He’s fantastic and I love every single scene he’s in. He reminds me of pastors I know - dedicated to doing God’s will in spite of his personal desires. Also, really funny. My whole family was laughing throughout his fight with Jonathan. On that note, I loved their relationship and how Jonathan continues to respect Samuel in spite of what his father says. 

The confrontation between Samuel and Saul in the first episode was also really good and one of the first scenes that made me think ‘wow, this is really good’. 

Apart from the fact that I think Saul should have been taller, I have no criticism of the actor who plays Saul. He’s brilliant. A perfect mix of the noble and fatherly king of Israel and a man descending into evil and madness. Also, the way they leaned into Saul’s madness adds an interesting layer to him sending David to fight the giant that I hadn’t really considered before. It makes it seem like a choice born of pure insanity if you don’t know the full story. 

It took me a while to warm up to David and I’m not a huge fan of his romance with Michal (I’ve read the book; I know how that ends). But, like I said, the annointing scene got to me. I also felt that the whole ‘bastard son of Jesse’ thing was kind of unnecessary. But man, if there wasn’t something poetic and grace-filled about “God claims you as a son” when his own father kept hiding him away. 

Samuel’s conversation with Jesse about giving the best to the Lord was also brilliant. 

And the final fight with the giant… amazing. Obviously, canonically it lasts like two sentences and the giant is dead by the second one. But the speech David gives was great and I love how determined he is to fight from the moment he arrives. Like he admits to being afraid, but fear never figures into his actions and I love that about how they portrayed him. 

That’s something that he and Jonathan share. They both have visions of what God has decreed and that dictates their actions rather than their fear. 

While we’re on that subject, I loved the contrast between Jonathan and Eliab. Where Eliab tries to protect David but does it in a way that’s actually harmful and denies Samuel’s prophecy, Jonathan supports him because, again, they share the same vision. 

I did not expect to like Eliab. Have I considered his rebuke of David prior to the fight with Goliath in the light of an older sibling being protective? Yes, but I didn’t expect them to take that route and do it in such a fascinating way. The conflict between Eliab and David feels very Reuben and Joseph-esque. He loves his little brother. And he hates him. And he wants to protect him and hit him over the head with a rock. He’ll kill him, but he’ll also kill anyone who tries to harm him. It’s this exquisite mix of contradictory emotions. (Also, his “I suppose Samson thought he was just talking to Delilah” has not ceased to make me laugh and smile since I first heard it.)

[af-fanblog-jelli]

Got bored, made the Randomosity shirt graphic into a real thing. Artemis would hate it.

[rembrandtswife]

Random list of interesting things I've seen lately

Turkey vulture soaring and then, ridiculously, flapping over my neighborhood

a Black guy on the bus, a grown man, with a little Sam Wilson as Captain America plush clipped to his backpack

young Black woman on the bus with springy-curly hair dyed moss-green (or maybe lichen green? olive green?)

first daffodil blossom this morning

also a snowdrop

tiny nest from last spring in one of the trees in front of my library

have heard but not yet seen mourning doves

[sleepy-shipper]

Ahhh guys @randomosityposts made me a spacesona !!~ ✨☁💜☁✨

[tardis-stowaway]

If trees wore clothing, they could never mass-produce shirts. Think about how much variation there is among trees in the number and placement of their limbs. Branches can stick out in any direction and even within a species the height they begin at and the total number can vary wildly. All shirts for trees would have to be individually tailored for their idiosyncratic sleeve needs. It's not like with humans, where there are variations in size and proportion but you can pretty much count on two limbs emerging from the shoulders. Occasionally there might be one missing, but extra arms are an extraordinarily rare condition in humans. So we can pretty much stick with one pattern type that comes in a range of sizes. Sure, it would be nice to have more customization of proportions than the fashion industry gives us, but even that would just be small alterations of the same basic design. So, in conclusion, the fashion industry as it presently functions doesn't meet the needs of trees, but that's ok because trees seldom wear clothing.

[jedihafren]

This afternoon, I was thinking, and I had to go back to my other blog to track it down, but I’ve shipped Kylux, and been wandering around the fandom for a year now. This photoset was one of the first things I reblogged and that was February 20. The first thing I wrote was published earlier in February.

I feel like it’s probably safe to say that if it weren’t for Ceasefire I wouldn’t have fallen into this dumpster. Quotes like the one in the set above, reblogged by people and showing up in my dash, were apparently the little candy pieces that made me click on a link into a fic for a ship that I had no intention of falling into and certainly no intention of falling into as steadfastly as I did.(Hux & Ren are equal with Buffy & Spike in my Ao3 tags now, and I suspect they will surpass them soon enough).

But I love Solo kids, even the problematic ones. And I apologetically prefer to see characters redeemed rather than not. And hurt/comfort is kind of one of my preferred fic tropes, which Ceasefire delivers on in abundance. So perhaps all of this was somewhat inevitable when combined with careful, slow character development, in an atmospherically beautiful setting, that quietly and believably managed to redeem both Hux and Ren, without ever sacrificing or glossing over the atrocities either of them had committed.

Weirdly, I still haven’t finished Under the Ruins of a Walled City. I have chapter 25, and I’ve been putting it off. For a better portion of last year, the weekly chapter updates gave me something to look forward to and I don’t want it to be finished. But I guess since the fic series started this whole journey, it’s a good fic series to end off the first year with. And then maybe do some writing of my own. :)

[brisingirl]

While discussing what to name my car, my friend says, “Who’s that tortured soul you’re always telling me about?” And my brain immediately starts cycling through tortured souls. Pet? Athelas? Kaladin? Fox? Maedhros? Malcolm Bright? Murtagh? Anne Elliot? You need to narrow it down - I have many tortured souls. 

[brisingirl]

The Apothecary Diaries to City Between pipeline - it’s about people who have the vaguest idea of what healthy relationships look like, but very clear ideas of what is not healthy, and who may not always have the tools to be perfect, but they are trying so, so hard.