Author: Metacrone

Lifelong film, television and theater enthusiast. Choose love.

Mozart in the Jungle Season 3 Review: Why Are There So Many Dramatic People?

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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My husband and I spent Friday and Saturday evenings this weekend binge watching the new season of Mozart in the Jungle. God, I love this show. I don’t think there’s any other show currently on TV that makes me hit the pause button repeatedly as often  during an episode so that I can sit there and just laugh for a few minutes. And it’s often just because of a reaction look from one character to another. Of course, that reaction has been set up over three well-written seasons now, and played beautifully by the stellar cast, but still. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the only other show that comes close. (Shameless plug. Go watch it if you don’t already.)

This season finds the symphony in the middle of an ongoing strike/lockout, with the characters scattered around the globe. Hailey is touring Europe with Andrew Walsh, the egotistical cellist she slept with last season. Rodrigo is in Venice to work with Alessandra, also known as La Fiamma, an opera diva who suffers from severe anxiety, depression and stage fright, but is trying to make a comeback. Gloria and Thomas are having an affair, while Thomas continues composing and Gloria tries to keep the symphony from bankruptcy. The rest of the characters have taken on various odd jobs, some musical, some not, while they wait out the lockout, or figure out what to do next.

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No Tomorrow Season 1 Episode 9: No Truer Words Recap

~ Metacrone

This Is What You’d Call an Ironic Episode Title

There’s an epidemic of fibs, little white lies, and straight up, bald-faced lying going around Seattle this week. Everyone is hiding something. It could be something large or small, or something ultimately meant to protect themselves or someone else, or for less selfless reasons, but everyone has at least one thing that they’re hiding. Most of the characters have multiple secrets.

Deirdre has the biggest secrets that we are made privy to, since she’s been hiding a hot ex-husband (Broadway star Will Swenson), a dancing hobby, and several dance championships. Hank and Kareema go under cover to discover what Deirdre is hiding and lying to Hank about. They attempt to compete with Deirdre and Pete, but the plan backfires when Deirdre agrees to marry Pete for a third time after they win another championship together.

Deirdre is obviously going for the safer choice with Pete. She knows exactly how he’ll break her heart again, and she’ll be ready for it. She tells Hank as much. Hank would require too much risk, and after he didn’t put himself out there for her during the strike, she’s no longer willing to go for it. Hank’s going to have to work hard to win Deirdre back. She was crushing on him for a while before she found a safe way to approach him to begin with. She’s obviously got a history of heartbreak, and has learned to protect herself. Hank can’t half-ass their relationship the way he does a lot of things in life and expect that’s going to work. On the other hand, Deirdre’s clearly in love with Hank, and Pete isn’t really going to cut it any more. I’ll be shocked if she goes through with the marriage.

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Paula Proctor, Mom, Wife, Friend, & Best Stalker in West Covina

~ Metacrone

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A Character Analysis of Rebecca Bunch’s Best Friend and Partner in Crime

Paula, Paula, Paula. I love her so much, I know her so well. She’s one of those middle-aged women who followed the rules and did what they were supposed to do. They got married, had kids, sent them to school, worked at an ok job to help support the family, married a decent guy, and it was all fine. She didn’t have much in common with her kids, but she loved them. Her job wasn’t fulfilling, but they needed the money. She loved her husband, but life was too busy for them to actually connect much anymore. And as she reached middle age, she felt like life was passing her by, like she needed something more, just for her. Happens to us all right around 40. But she didn’t want to admit that to herself out loud yet, didn’t want to be selfish and upset the family order. Enter Rebecca Bunch, exciting young single woman, the potential daughter she never had, with an exciting life Paula could live vicariously through.

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For Your Viewing Pleasure: Avengers Fireside Holiday “Yule Log” Videos

~ Metacrone

 

From Marvel and Coca-Cola, a peak inside the Avengers’ apartments during the holidays as we hang out by their fireplaces.

These Marvel Fireside Heroes videos are like a Yule log video, but instead we’re sitting in Steve Rogers’ apartment, listening to swing jazz versions of Christmas carols for an hour as we watch his fire, or on the Guardians of the Galaxy’s spaceship watching Baby Groot dance next to the fire. They’re filled with tiny details, like the pictures of Bucky, Peggy and his mom that Steve has next to the fire, and his original USO tour shield hung over the mantel. One chair leg is held up by a stack of books, because Steve is still a thrifty Depression era guy at heart. The apartment furnishings look like they could be straight from the forties, just like Steve himself. It’s a lonely looking place, from a lonely time in his life, but we could totally join him and make it better, right?

Captain America’s Brooklyn Apartment Fireside video. The close up version is above:

Under the cut: Thor, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, the Guardians & Deadpool

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Episode 7: Who’s the Cool Girl Josh Is Dating? Recap

~ Metacrone

This week, we all learn some lessons in relationship maintenance and proper pet care. Neither exes new girlfriends nor pets should be followed too closely with a car.

Mostly random observations and meta this time, because most of my week has been taken up with musical theater fun (Hedwig!). Next time, a review and analysis of the first half of season 2. I’ll try not to linger on Greg’s departure too long, or embed every song he sang.

Josh is really needy, desperate, and looking for love. He’s in awe of Anna, who just might be taking advantage of the fact that he thinks she’s out of his league. I still don’t trust Anna, even if she’s not a drug dealer. What does she need from Mexico? But she’s Brittany Snow, who I’m preprogrammed to want to keep around as long as possible, so this sets up mixed feelings about their relationship in my mind.

Poor kitty. Bad owner, leaving the door open.

Frida Kahlo foam drawings. Coffee made from mixing individual beans. I think my son goes to that coffee shop. The metawitches drink more tea than coffee. We’ll compare chai blends with you anytime.

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Nashville Season 5 Premiere Sneak Peak Reaction: Ladies Night

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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In The Wayfaring Stranger We Check in with Our Four Leading Ladies

Nashville is back! And it remembers it’s a show about country music and the women who produce it! This episode was everything I was hoping for from the new showrunners. We spent a long time with Juliette and Rayna, giving them each time to figure where they are in their lives and where they want to go next. They had an amazing heart to heart talk together, the kind of scene I’ve always wished the show would give them more of. The scenes were allowed to breathe, with long pauses for reaction shots. Dialogue is obviously important, but body language can be just as important to character and relationship development. With less racing from scene to scene and fewer characters to service, the episode allowed us to sit back and watch people cuddle, or have awkward pauses in conversation.

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A Brief History of Romantic StuckyNat: An MCU Canon-Compliant Headcanon Part 1

~ Metacrone ~ 4 Comments

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Steve, Bucky, and Natasha’s Perspectives, Following the Canon Timeline

This is my headcanon for what would be going on in Steve, Bucky, and Natasha’s minds during the Avengers and Captain America movies if StuckyNat were canon. “StuckyNat” is the ship name for all 3 characters being in love with each other and wanting to form a relationship together. I’ve stayed within the timeline and plotlines of the movies. This could also work as a headcanon for each individual pairing (Stucky, SteveNat, BuckyNat) with only minor changes.

We follow the 5 movies Steve is in: the 3 Captain America movies, and the 2 Avengers movies. I have serious issues with Joss Whedon’s versions of Steve and Natasha, but I’ve done my best to reconcile them with the Russos’ superior versions. I treat the Russos’ versions as the true canon versions when they conflict.

This is part 1 of a 5 part series. Natasha shows up next week in part 2 which covers 1945-The Winter Soldier.

Part 1- Captain America: First Avenger

Bucky Barnes had been in love with Steve Rogers for as long as they had known each other, which might as well have been forever. Oh, sure, he liked girls just fine, too, went on lots of dates, but Steve was the love of his life. There was no getting around that. Bucky was no innocent, he knew it was possible for men to love and have sex with each other just the way they could with women. He’d accepted this about himself as he’d gotten older and figured out the birds and the bees, because, what else could he do? Steve was ingrained in his bones and heart; there was no getting him out. Bucky was a practical man, and he was the way he was.

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Nashville Season 5 Premiere Sneak Peak Airs Tonight (12/15) on CMT Network

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

The CMT network, Nashville’s new home starting with season 5, is giving fans a reprieve from the long wait to find out what happened to Juliette’s plane (or so we hope!). The network is airing the first hour of the two hour season 5 premiere a few weeks early, specifically tonight, Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 9:00 PM ET. The entire premiere will air on Thursday, January 5, 2017 at 9:00PM ET when the show begins its season 5 run. This episode, and all season 5 episodes, will be available to stream on Hulu the day after they air.

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See Euan Morton Transform Into Hedwig (Through Time-Lapse Video)

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

 

Hannah Corneau Slips in for a Quick Hello, Too

Thanks to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, where Euan played Hedwig last week, we can watch Euan’s full transformation, from eyebrows to wig, in a little over a minute.

This week, the tour has moved on to Seattle, Washington. Next week, they’ll be in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, visit HedwigBroadway.com.

Under the cut, a short video interview with Euan and Hannah, also in Denver.

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George Takei’s Allegiance: Post-Screening Thoughts

~ Metacrone

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I went to the Fathom Events screening of George Takei’s Allegiance at my local theater this evening. This actually wasn’t the first time I’d seen Allegiance, but I hadn’t seen the show since it was in previews. It’s been tightened up and improved a lot since then. I’m so grateful to Fathom and the Allegiance creators for giving us all a chance to see the Broadway version of this show with the original Broadway cast, and with the best seats in the house.

The cast were all amazing. Lea Salonga was no surprise, of course. George Takei was both moving and funny in his Broadway debut. Katie Rose Clarke  was charming as Nurse Hannah. Christopheren Nomura was especially powerful as the demanding, unforgiving father in the Kimura family, Tatsuo. Michael K Lee and Greg Watanabe also gave strong performances.

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