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Wassup Flist? I've been ignoring humanity again it seems. This time for books and a new show I've gotten into, True Blood. I am enjoying it quite alot and decided to go dl all the books in the series (so far there is nine and a 10th one comes out later this year) which I will start to read....I have no idea when considering I have a backlog of romance novels to read. I cant believe I have a fucking backlog of ROMANCE novels. I spend a lifetime not even looking at the romance section and the last two years thinking my reading fiction novels is now a lost cause. and Suddenly on a whim I pick up a romance novel or two and BAM, I'm a junkie. Shock of my life. I dont count on this being a long term interest though, I have few interests that are ever long term. But eh we'll see? I will be hopefully devoting a whole post about which novels I've read and which ones I like the most so far. and for the record I'm kind of whatever about reading them now and the shame/self consciousness about reading romance has all but dissipated. I adapt quickly. heh (I also think reading "Beyond heaving bosoms" helped)

As for True Blood, I heard good reviews about it for a while but my lord was I ever SO sick of VAMPIRE STORIES. and then hearing it was set in new orleans I was like oh God, it's fuckin Anne Rice all over again, NOOOO. But damn, once again I was forced to eat my words...er thoughts. Cause True Blood is really freaking good. It's a vampire story but it doesnt really romanticize the vampires the same way other vampire stories do, vampires arent the center of the story either like in anne rice's books and nor is the story strictly about the love between bill and sookie ala twilight. Though Bill is for the record NOTHING like Edward, if that puts anyone's minds at ease. The story is really about Sookie a girl with telepathic powers (the how and the why of this is yet to be explained) and her friends and family and their family. So true blood is at it's heart about people and relationships but just to make things a little more spicy and fun, it throws in vampires and elements of gothic horror, a forbidden romance and sets it in the dirty south. The result is one hell of a show. Though the real credit should go to the original author of the books. I do wonder how much has been changed from the books though. I'm amazed that they managed to stretch the entire first book into a 12 episode season, especially since each ep is 50 minutes. Me thinks the family and friends didnt get as much time and attention in the books as they do the show. But I'll find out myself soon enough.
To [livejournal.com profile] ashkt I want to say, I agree, Eric is kind of really hot. I loves me some sexy nordic menz <3 From certain angles he actually looks like kurt kobain. Also I heard apparently the character was the son of a viking, how fuckin COOL IS THAT? Would totally take him over Bill myself any damn day. I'm only sad he did not speak more swedish.
I do not live in new orleans or the dirty south, I live in the upper regions, the "classy" south if you will. *dodges rocks* but I love the portrayal of the bon temps the town in which True Blood is set, it's not often you have so much intense focus on the south or southern people so it's nice to see even if most of the people so far have not been painted with the nicest brush. That said, the cast of true blood is also a complex one which I appreciate, everyone has their dirty laundry and even sweet honest to goodness Sookie isnt perfect, but I'd say she is pretty close to it without ever being grating or annoying. So kudos to you anna paquin! I take back all the mean stuff i said about your acting skills as rogue and you having a faux ass southern accent.

So alas it seems I have yet ANOTHER show to add to my list of shows and fandoms I'm currently following, which for anyone curious include so far: Ashes to Ashes, Merlin, Leverage, The Mentalist, Doctor Who and more recently the spanish Life on Mars aka La Chica de Ayer, which I enjoyed way more than I planned to, this seems to be happening alot lately....if this keeps up I might have to start accepting that my judgment is not infallible and then what will i....aahahhaha JUST KIDDING, as if that would ever happen.
Anyway if anyone is curious about my impressions regarding the Spanish Life on mars. I wrote out my thoughts about the first episode under the cut:

First and foremost, the characterizations were SPOT ON. I was so impressed! The spanish despite the large cultural, geographical and linguistic differences between spain and the UK and even despite the fact that alot of dialogue and plot details were changed, managed to stay far closer in spirit to the show and it's characters, than did the US adaptation. It's sad because I always felt like the biggest problem with the US version was a total lack of effort. They didnt try to give their own original spin on the LOM story, they didnt try to lovingly recreate the spirit and color of the original uk characters, and they didnt try to do much to make the dialogue snap and crackle the way it does in the UK and spanish version (more on that in a bit). But enough about the failures of the US version.

A very smart move by the spanish writers, was that they didnt try to follow the UK version to a T. I was glad of this, because spain? very different from the UK. and it would be weird of them to try and replicate the the gritty "sweeney" vibe. The cultural landscape is very different and I was glad to see that this was recognized and they didnt make the US mistake of copying whole scenes to the letter and instead gave their own spin and flavor to the same story. What's funny is the spanish version changes ALOT of the details and dialogue, which considering the change into a different language, makes sense. they could have tried to stretch themselves and mimic the english dialogue as closely as possible but they DIDNT and it WORKS. Because as I said earlier the characterizations in lcda are far closer in spirit to the UK versions than the US LOM managed to be. Sam really FEELS like the sam of UK lom but at the same time he's not. Also the spanish gene is called Quin which apparently means King and I decided it was totally the best name they could have given him. I think it's obvious the spanish writers or at least ONE of them was a Life on Mars fan and a Gene follower cause he was definitely in full color in this show, with all his outrageous phrases, cocksure attitude and chaotic harsh style of policing. What's funny is the spanish gene has a bit more of a romanticized edge than the UK version. The Uk one never tried to paint gene as either a good or bad guy, he was ill tempered, out of shape, a chain smoker, a borderline alcoholic, a sexist pig, disorganized, and narcissistic. and Yet he managed to be one of the most dynamic, fascinating and dare I say it?, endearing characters on UK tv in a long ass time. The spanish version paints gene in a somewhat kinder way, he's still a jackass but you get the feeling that underneath the reckless careless exterior is a guy who really knows what he's doing. Not to say that the UK version DIDNT but I got the feeling that he was more likely to just utterly lose his shit on people out of rage, impatience or frustration whereas there seems to be something a bit more calculated in Quin's violence and actions, whether this is fully intentional on behalf of the writers and actor I cant say but it is clear that they chose a pretty good looking guy to play Gene and I dont think it was a coincidence at all. This version of Gene seems to be toned down in alot of ways yet still manages to keep that devilish wit and rather obnoxious personality that Gene had.

I think the scene with Quin and Fuensanta best illustrates the subtle changes between this gene and the one in LOM. For instance in LOM the girl is mostly being obnoxious because she doesnt like the police and gene responds by being more obnoxious and then finally downright violent, though he doesnt hit her and instead topples the table between them both out of shear frustration with her flippant attitude and also to scare her into compliance, which doesnt work as well as he'd hoped but does work somewhat. Yet in LCDA, Quin doesnt topple the table but he seems 3 times as intimidating as Gene did, and gene could be SCARY sometimes, but he speaks to her in more of a low quiet voice and instead uses coercion and threats to convince fuensanta to speak up and fuensanta seems more deeply upset and also nervous than the UK girl did, like she is angry with the police for their persecution of hippies (cause she is one) and so believes he doesnt care about her friend's death. Whereas UK girl's distaste of police seemed to stem more from youthful rebellion against a perceived oppressive authority, fuensanta however seemed to WANT the help of said authority but just simply felt betrayed and ignored by it. She seems to change her tune a bit when Quin has a brief moment of sincerity with her. Though I imagine what really got her to talk in the end was fear, since she seemed pretty freaked out by quin when he suddenly started SHOUTING for Samuel to GTFO of the interrogation room. Which is another interesting change from the original since I do believe in LOM sam simply left out of exasperation with Gene's unsophisticated approach to interrogating a witness and not because he was told, on the whole UK's sam seemed more aggressive and persnickety (he took a swing at gene on several occasions) while samuel I hate to say is kind of Quin's bitch right now, but we'll see how the relationship changes over the series.
Speaking of the Gene/Sam dynamic, it is THIS dynamic that made LOM so enjoyable. Were it not for that I think the show would have lost so much, and that's what happened with the US lom when this dynamic was totally gone and Gene just didnt have his same spark and edge at all. To put the dynamic of their relationship simply: Gene was in a way, chaos personified, just as much as Sam was order and precision. Which is why they worked so well together. Gene used violence and went with his gut feeling, while Sam was more thoughtful and investigative. The two of them combined were truly a force to be reckoned with. Glad to see some of that present here!

Also I have to say, Iove the spanish chris! He's called cristobal (LOL) and is basically just as adorable and unassuming as the english version was, though so far not as moronic but perhaps we shall see how that goes. Spanish Annie, called Ana, is different from Annie in a notable way. Annie was sweet and good natured, but she was a tough girl, it didnt always show because she was painted as the cute girl next door type, but to live in such a rough city and work with such men she would have to have been made of iron. and as the show progresses you can see how resilient Annie really is. Ana on the other hand really seems like a cute cuddly bunny in the shape of an adult woman. So far this does not bother me very much, but we'll see if that lasts or if there's more to Ana than meets the eye.

Things I disliked: the length and pacing, the lack of music, the stubble on samuel's face, how samuel looks older than quin which is a bit odd since quin is supposed to be the big dog/papa bear to everyone so it made sense that he was the eldest of everyone, save of course phyllis. but it's not really a big deal in the end. it seems that the visuals are not as strong in general in the Spanish version. The writers put a good emphasis on dialogue and plot but a big part of LOM was as I mentioned earlier the music and also the visuals. there are alot of strong images in LOM. One of them being when annie helps ssam off the roof he was about to jump off of in ep 1. this scene is left in here, and rightly so, cause it is an important scene. however in lcda samuel ends up on the roof for different reasons than in the lom. but the problem is, the visuals completely lacked the beauty and intensity that was found in the UK version of that same scene. Alot of it had to do with camera angles and lighting, it's possible that the spanish production lacked the money to replicate this but I think unlike the music this was less a matter of money and more simply that they didnt see the need to replicate the angles to make the scene powerful. But for me I felt it was a loss. because it was filmed in a very plain straightforward way but that's how most of the show is filmed. all in all though, these are very minor complaints and hardly ruined my enjoyment in fact, i would say samuel's stubble annoyed me way more than any of their filming deviations did. Seriously, that stubble is fugly, worse it doesnt make sense. Sam is so neat and orderly normally, you'd think the spn counterpart would think to SHAVE before going to work!

In conclusion: La chica de ayer is Muy Caliente and better than the US adaptation of Life on Mars by miles. I cant wait to see the rest of the series! It's really like discovering life on mars all over again.

Date: 2009-05-26 03:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nekokonneko.livejournal.com
I've been doing the same thing. And I haven't even been immersing myself in anything more interesting either [though I am somewhat addicted to Mafia Wars on facebook].

True Blood sounds like the first good vampire story [do not get me started on Twatlight and Anne Rice is just meh >:P]. I've heard people at school talk about it, but damn I feel so lazy and uninspired to even immerse myself in anything. :{ I can has hugz?

Date: 2009-05-26 04:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
Oh geeze Elle! I forgot to tell you, I have a facebook now. If you want the link I'll PM it to you, it's my full real name and i dont exactly want that all out in the open. I'll add you back too of course ^^

*hugs* I could use some myself too but unlike you I would never ask, which is a shame cause I'm sure hugs are really nice when your feeling down, not that I would know ahahahha.
Anyway I would really give true blood a shot, you can find eps on megavideo very easily. and you can also dl the books from torrents super quick too since ebooks are very small file sizes and dl in the blink of an eye normally.

Date: 2009-05-27 02:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nekokonneko.livejournal.com
OMG you're on facebook. XD Yay~ link me. What made you finally give in and sign up?

Yeah megavideo has their annoying 72 minute policy so I'll probably torrent the e-books. I'm currently skimming through Deathly Hallows, but that's not doing it or me :p How many books are there btw?

Date: 2009-05-27 03:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
The policy is easier to deall with if you alternate between streaming and torrenting, since both methods alone can be tiresome but together is much more effective. it helps me too that dad recently upped our internet speed.

There are nine books in the series and a tenth one comes out this october. Basically the series is still running and I havent heard the author lay down any plans for ending it soon so, it stands to be a long series. I should say though, the books and the tv show are VERY different, they are techinically the same story but they are executed in very different ways. and alot of things from the book didnt make it to the tv show and vice versa.

I'll pm you my facebook ^^ i was convinced when a childhood friend told me to get one. though i never use it and i doubt we'll actually communicate with it but i wanted to go along with it anyone. optimism is nice.

Date: 2009-05-28 01:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nekokonneko.livejournal.com
I don't actually use facebook to communicate, but it's a great way to look at and share photos between friends. A couple of the applications are interesting, like the one I'm currently fixed o,n Mafia Wars.

Oh wow, that's quite long. And yeah the stream/torrent strategy does work out. Well that is if you can find both. For the first time in a long while I'm watching an anime, and I can only find torrents so it's slow watching. And I can only id a few chapters of the manga. Meh.

Date: 2009-05-28 01:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nekokonneko.livejournal.com
By the way, I love the layout. Very Yasu-poi <3

Date: 2009-05-26 03:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ashkt.livejournal.com
The fact that TB is set in the bayou of the South is really cool and makes it different. I love the gothic horror, and at times the show is totally hilarious. XDDD Like for eg Longshadow spurting blood on Sookie.

Eric speaking Swedish *dead* He said something like "our little zoo is expanding." Actually I ddin't really like Eric until I read the books.

I used to devour romance novels when I was younger. Now I just read suspense novels. I like Anne Stuart a lot. She writes gothic romance so u might like it.

Date: 2009-05-26 04:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
lol nice icon. I've been thinking I need a nice true blood icon myself but damn I cant find the fandom at all XD I'm sure it's around lj somewhere, but I figure I'll really need to look and it just wont walk into me the way other bigger fandoms might.

I agree as attractive as the actor is, tv!Eric is kind of a tremendous douche. I was shocked at how cooly he watched sookie nearly get STABBED and then got on bill's case about saving her. I do wonder where the author is going with eric and sookie in the actual books, I read up on it and they seem to have an...interesting relationship those two, despite sookie it seems preferring bill over him (what IS it with heroines always taking the boring ones over the badass ones. buffy/angel anyone? -_-)

I have heard of anne stuart I think! I am sadly not a fan of gothic....anything normally so this is another reason my enjoyment of true blood is odd. but then it's not that gothic and it's southern gothic which i was always way more open to. but thanks for the rec dear

Date: 2009-05-26 06:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ashkt.livejournal.com
[livejournal.com profile] ontd_trublud has moderated membership, but there's some interesting discussion there. There's download of book 9 too. XD And I got my icons from [livejournal.com profile] truebloodicons :)

Which book have u read until? I like the banter between Eric and Sookie and I ship them. Yeah...the show is kinda different from the book, they change some of the plot when it comes to Eric. ): Haha BILL IS BORING. u are so right. I would rather take a badass Viking!Vampire rather than the bore. I hope I see more of Eric/Sookie in the 2nd season. Bill is beginning to bore me with his "Succcky is maaahn".

Date: 2009-05-26 12:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
oooh linkies! thankee kindly <3

book! sookie and eric have BANTER? Clearly I need to hop to that shit. but for now I havent read anything yet, since I mentioned I have a backlog of romance, not to mention japanese studies and math studies to take care of so my reading list is rather full atm :( I definitely wanna read the books though which is why I dled all of them. The ninth one too ^^

Bill is too damn dour and serious for my tastes, while tv!eric isnt much more lively and pleasant, the book one sounds a bit more colorful and energetic but perhaps that is my misunderstanding? what do you think? the only thing I really love about bill right now is his accent, tis sexy i must say. that being said bill isnt so bad, he's less useless and bland than angel and....alright that's all i got. XD lol suckky is maaaaahn. makes me think you are saying "sookie is a MAAAAN"

Date: 2009-05-26 01:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ashkt.livejournal.com
lol sorry for getting over-excited. book!Eric actually has a great sense of humor. Has been trying to seduce Sookie since book two or three actually. Calls her "my future lover". I skimmed through the books tho but yeah Eric left a deep impression on me. XDD In fact alot of TB fans ship Eric/Sookie. Bill did something in the books that turned alot of people off. I'm not sure whether that plotline will appear in the show tho.

Yeah even tho Bill is gentlemanly and all that, I find him very dour especially if u're hanging out with him for the long run. haha I just find Bill repeating "Sookie is mine" very funny.

Good luck with all those studying. :)

Date: 2009-05-26 02:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
ehhh dont apologize! It's nice to have people to discuss my shows with. Ooooh he does? that's so awesome, he sounds like a trickster which I love. A mischevious guy, super srs angsty dudes like bill dont cut it for me. I'm like CHEER UP EMO VAMPIRE. oh and what did bill do? I dont mind spoilers at all so you can tell me.

the sookie is mine was fine the first time but everytime after that i had the giggles when i heard it, it's SUCH a cheesy line XD

I'm trying but so far i spent the last few days reading fiction and watching true blood XD I'm a bad girl ;_;

Date: 2009-05-26 02:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ashkt.livejournal.com
oh so u dun mind spoilers. I was kinda wary cos some pple hate spoilers. XD I din read the books that carefully but Bill was actually sent to Sookie by his maker (the person who made him the vampire) cos the vampires want Sookie for her telepathic powers. So in a way, he lied to Sookie and actually he still has a relationship with his maker. He says he falls in love with Sookie in the process but....I guess alot of pple just got turned off. And in the books, Eric is alwis there for Sookie when something goes wrong, blocked a few bullets for her too so I guess that's why majority likes E/S.


It's ok. True Blood is really addictive. It alwis ends with a cliffhanger too. XDD I finished it in like 2 days. S2 is starting soon. *does happy dance*

I had to roll my eyes at some of the lines in the drama. like u said, cheesy.

Date: 2009-05-27 03:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
I finished it in 2 and a half days and now I wish it was June already XD I saw promo clips for Season 2 and omg it looks so epic *___* I wonder who Mary anne is, I hope she's a witch, I love witches <3

Date: 2009-05-26 08:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nira-chan.livejournal.com
... Jesus, you've been watching La chica de ayer? It's like... subbed? I can't believe it LOL I haven't watched the original series but the spanish version is... just as Spanish people would be back then LOL

Date: 2009-05-26 12:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
Yes I have! :D I loved the original english version so much that I would watch adaptations of that show in every other language imaginable. I WOULD WATC THE ESTONIAN VERSION OF LIFE ON MARS IF I COULD. and Yeah it's subbed, sadly despite comprehensive spanish education in my country I wasnt very diligent or attentive and effectively learned very little spanish :( so subs I need. I dont need them to follow the plot cause even without hearing words at all I can tell what scenes they are on since they follow the original close enough, but then I'd miss all the fun of Quin's lines! So kei-chan, are you watching it too then? XD or are you just amused I'm watching a spanish program? (admittedly not something I normally do lol)

Date: 2009-05-26 12:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cranberrysheep.livejournal.com
I love True Blood, it's so much fun. Honestly, I could do without all the graphic sex, because I really don't think the show needs it. And after SO MANY it just gets kind of ridiculous, but it's HBO so I guess I have to take the good with the bad. I'm excited for it to return!

Date: 2009-05-27 03:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
It really is! I finished watching the first season today, after obssesive marathoning since sunday night. and the sex didnt bother me when it was actually relevant to the plot, but most of the time this was rare and it felt like they were putting them there cause HBO has a minimum sex and swearing quota to fill, and of course to take up time, since they only based the series on the first book, so they probably had to fill in alot of stuff to make it last THAT long though they did add in Tara who supposedly doesnt appear till book 2.

I saw a promo with clips from the second season and it looks EPIC, cant wait for june! Leverage returns then too :D

Date: 2009-05-26 02:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] iceuck.livejournal.com
what romance novels are you into? :P
there were times during high school that i didn't just to finish judith mcnaught novels. XD i like those really mushy ones that make me cry, not the profound ones lol
ah so corny.

Date: 2009-05-27 03:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sisterjune.livejournal.com
I'm not sure which ones i'm into, is that weird to say? XD But i dont have a particular genre of romance novel I focus on, I do generally avoid paranormals and military stuff but I'm open to it if I find a really good rec for one and the plot sounds interesting. Most of the Romance novels i've read so far are historicals though, in particular regency england setting.

In particular the titles I've read so far are: The Spymaster's Lady, To Have and To Hold, Lord of Scoundrels, Sugar Daddy, Blue Eyed Devil, The Last Hellion, Captives of the Night and I'm starting on yet another Loretta Chase book called "Mr Impossible".

Date: 2009-05-27 07:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] iceuck.livejournal.com
Most of the Romance novels i've read so far are historicals though, in particular regency england setting.
HOMYGAWD my favorite kind! XD lol ahhh natsukashi...

i swear you'll enjoy judith mcnaught's so go read one of hers. she's all dukes and earls and such lol i think my favorite of hers would be..... until you. and a kingdom of dreams. okay, i like everything she's done. lol go check her out!

Date: 2009-05-26 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stormingflower.livejournal.com
[Didn't read your whole entry, rushing through my flist right now] But, before I got sick back in late October, I was watching "True Blood" and I really loved what I watched of it. However, the first episode was my favorite and the rest didn't quite compare to it, in my opinion.

I've never read the books; kind of unsure if I want to read the books. I'm not a book snob but some things about the author seemed to turn me off. But, right now, I'm unable to read books because of my neck so meh.

Sorry, crappy comment.

Date: 2009-06-01 12:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] everanangel604.livejournal.com
hmm, let's see... what good shows does the U.S. have anyway? The US seems to be more into reality shows than series this past decade.

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