Still kicking!

[holdouttrout]

Real Life, Including Vague Christmassy Things
Okay, so I know most people get really busy this time of year, so I'm not actually surprised about that. What I am surprised about is that this has meant practically no online time. I think that's more of a reflection of my priorities than it is any actual time--though since I've been working out early, that cuts into my later evening time, too.

Last night was our work Christmas dinner, which was good but not as good as I hoped--it was a really fancy Italian restaurant, but most of it wasn't quite to my taste. I enjoyed everything a little, but not as much as I wanted. Except for the dessert, which was called Cimabue--chocolate and hazelnuts and cream. SO yummy.

Digital Cameras and the manuals that help you make them work
So I have a digital camera. I've been using it as a point-and-shoot camera, which it is, mostly, but today I found the manuals for it. I still don't have any idea what I'm doing, but I can make it do stuff now! Stuff that made pictures of my dining room turn out better! Yay! (Now I just need to replicate said results.) I'm hoping this will mean decent pictures for my trip to London.

Babylon 5
I finished season four, which was awesomesauce. I was supremely upset when it looked like Ivanova would die, so I put off watching the next episode for a while--and then something struck me as suspicious about the whole thing, so I kept watching. And then I flipped out over Marcus. I mean, how unbelievably WEIRD AND AWFUL would it be to know that this guy who you know loved you but you weren't quite sure about SACRIFICED HIMSELF for you? SO WEIRD.

I might also ship Delenn/Lennier, even though it's totes John/Delenn 4Evar. Yeah.

Um. In a non-shippy vein, it was really, really fun? I really don't have many deep thoughts about it, actually. Maybe because season four went so fast compared to one through three, even though I watched it much more slowly. The compression of all that stuff into one season really showed, and while it was still really good, there wasn't as much of the fun detail-level.

Plus, that last episode was really weird.

I haven't put in season 5 yet. I'm kinda wondering if I should.



Stargate Universe:
So. It's canceled. I'm really not sure what I think. It's Stargate, so even though it didn't ping for me, I somewhat enjoyed it. Except for the characters I wanted to toss out an airlock (Most of them, at one point or another, but mainly Rush and Young).

I have to catch up on: Sanctuary, Fringe, Leverage. Eeps.

Comments

[thothmes]

Yeah, Stargate Universe didn't really ping for me either. Mostly I think I'm a mite irritated that it will end on a cliffhanger, and sad for those of my flist (and a few in my family) who really enjoyed it. It's too bad that this looks like the swift and ignominious end to the whole francise.

Yay for the continuing exercise! Are you seeing changes you like as a result?

I can guarantee that by the time you are my age (I'm 52) it will be clear to all that you have been nice when you gather with your peers who have been naughty and exercised not! I was at a college reunion this summer, and the regular exercisers were all visibly healthier.

[holdouttrout]

I have been really enjoying walking and lifting weights, and can even feel tiny muscles in my arms... yay!

[thothmes]

What the icon say.

Running &/or and lifting is what I do too.

I was a swimmer in college, and swimming was always the exercise I loved the best, but when I needed to exercise seriously and without fail, I found that the dull sameness of lap after lap after lap irritated me, it was hard to get psyched to do it in the cold Vermont winter, and the membership fees were expensive. And we won't even bring up the 45 minute drive to get there. I soon discovered that walking was free beyond the annual cost in shoes, and dumbells were inexpensive and available at all hours when the gym wasn't.

I don't like the lifting so much, but I stopped for a while, and for a couple of years I was "getting away with it". Suddenly I wasn't. I could really see the difference. But I'd gotten away with it for two years! WTF? Then it occurred to me that my youngest kid had finally gotten too large at 7 for me to be lifting her in and out of the grocery cart, in and out of the car, up into my arms for a hug and down... I'd been lifting those two years. I'd just substituted a small child for the dumbells.

So now I'm back to the lifting. I like what I see and how I feel when I lift, so I guess I'm in it for the long term. The benefits outweigh the passing irritation.

[gabolange.livejournal.com]

Season 4 of Babylon 5 is epic and awesome, but I'm not sure there's a lot of meta to be had about it. It's just epic and awesome.

As for season 5, well, mixed feelings about that. The series finale, "Sleeping in Light," is easily my All Time Favorite Series Finale Ever. It was filmed at the end of the fourth season when they thought they wouldn't get a fifth, and it's . . . kind of completely perfect. So, don't miss that. The rest of season 5 is uneven at best and has some seriously unfortunate moments, but I'd say it is generally worth watching for the continued evolution of the plotting and a few key characters (Londo, G'Kar, and Lennier).

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

Did we just comment simultaneously saying much the same thing? Oh yes, yes we did. :P

[gabolange.livejournal.com]

Of course we did.

*twirls you around*

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not missing a major opportunity for meta! :-)

I think as long as I get some more of Lennier, I'm there. *g* (I really enjoy seeing Londo and G'Kar, too, so... yeah.)

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

It's such a shame that B5 didn't know they had all of season 4 and 5 to finish telling their story. (And it's a shame that Claudia Christian left, because Ivanova would have made season 5 immeasurably better than it was.)

As long as you know that season 5 will inevitably be a let-down, there are a few aspects that make it worth watching. Or rather, Londo and G'Kar are worth watching, and pretty much all the other elements of season 5 are not. There are a few "omg, I can never un-see that, can I???" moments in season 5. But I mostly don't regret having watched it because I love Londo and G'Kar like whoa.

Either way, though, watch the finale, which was actually filmed as the season 4 finale, when that was supposed to be the series' end, and which ranks high on the list of best series finales ever.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Well, I AM glad you warned me about Ivanova, because I would have been crushed otherwise. Eeesh.

And I love Londo and G'Kar, too, so I'm there. *g*

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those people who doesn't really like the B5 season finale. It was all right, but nothing to write home about, and didn't really do much to finish out the plot threads that I cared about from s5 (they should have put it at the end of s4 and done something else, honestly)

I don't like portions of s5, though I do like Lochley a lot (Poor thing, she was stepping into some heavy-to-fill shoes. :/)

Some of the storylines are absolutely awful. Some are good. None of them are quite the same speed as 1-4's stuff.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

That's kinda the sense I had gotten from people, so... I'll probably still watch it, but prepare for disappointment.

[phdelicious.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen a minute of SGU and I still PISSED about the cancellation - more because of the way it was "announced" than anything else; the rest I'm resigned to. I thought the SG1 announcement at the 200th ep party was a pretty dick move - but the fact that the SGU cast found out from fan and critic tweets!!!!!!!!!!!!???????? As soon as Eureka and Sanctuary end I'm done w/ SciFi until they get new management.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Oh, TPTB... they never change, do they?

[annienau08.livejournal.com]

LONDON!!!!!!


That is all.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

LONDON!!!!

:-)