Susan Hated Literature

Thirteen Things Fictional Characters I Love in no particular order, and I know I’ve left out loads. So think of this as a random selection out of all the ones I love. Obviously The Man They Call Jayne. C’mon, you all knew that was coming, right? After all, who doesn’t love a mercenary-type who’d turn you in as soon as look at you? Plus everyone loves that bad guy with the good heart, and as we all know men who wear knitted hats their mammy sends them, and that send money home, are good guys. It’s just well hidden inside that slighty dumb exterior. And then there is the dialogue. If Joss was a fictional character he’d certainly make the list Burrich from Robin Hobb’s Six Duchies books. Okay so he is a moody, grumpy bastard. But he’s great too. Especially once you learn Show Spoilers ▼ that he really didn’t kill the puppy dog And yes he has huge gaping flaws, but still, great character. Ferdia, or Ferdiad from Irish mythology, especially On Raven’s Wing’s version of him. Not the hero of the legend, that’d be Cúchulainn, but I always preferred Ferdia. Plus he gets killed by his best friend, but it is okay, they stay friends[1] And while I’m here can I just say that this sounds horrendous. I mean, The Táin would make a great film, in the style of 300 but that description makes me shudder, and not in an anticipatory manner. Although this user comment is mildly amusing: This film is the quintessential, short-length, ancient-Celtic-Warriors-struggling-with-feelings- of-brotherhood, but-still-having-to-kill-each-other picture. Way better than “The Harp of Cooney-BoozeBain.” Kelby Akin’s performance has been called “unnervingly adequate,” by the Dublin Post Office Film Review. Dolph Paulsen has been hailed as “a pretty good Cuchullain, even though Dolph is actually a Norwegian poo-head.” Timothy O’Neill patented his now famous “more fog, damnit” approach to directing with this film project. Viewers across the globe have marveled at the special effects with comments such as “that was the greatest scene of a man in tartan pants jumping off the tips of flying spears in film history.” Mary Gentle’s Ash, from Ash: A secret history. Good book. Great character. And yet another mercenary type. Commissaire Adamsberg, from Fred Vargas’ novels. I first met him in Seeking Whom He May Devour and thought he was just fabtastic. A detective so very far away from the usual logical deducting Holmes types, but no less effective. ‘Dunno’ was among the frequent of Adamsberg utterances. He fell back on it neither from laziness nor from lack of wits, but because he really did not know the answer and was ready to admit it. The commissaire’s passive ignorance bemused and maddened his deputy, who could not conceive of the possibility of taking any appropriate steps in full ignorance of the facts. Wavering was Adamsberg’s most natural element, however, and his most productive by far. Life On Mars’s DCI Gene Hunt. Now he is a complete bastard and tosser. The most un-pc person on telly at the moment. But somehow, despite his homophobic, racist, misogynistic, generally unpleasant attitude people love him. Sam: If it was to do with football he’d have serious injuries! Gene: He’s dead. That’s quite serious. Vimes from the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett. And I’m totally starting to notice a pattern here, cause Vimes is another anti-everything sort of person. In his own lovable, justice-driven way of course. He is a total cynic, and yet strangely idealistic about how people[2] should behave. Plus, he is the law. Logan, from X-Men. I don’t really need to say any more do I? Chicken. If you’ve a memory you’ll remember that that is Titus Pullo from the BBC’s Rome. I could have picked Lamb either. They’re both great, but I think Pullo is slightly ahead, if only because he is more himself than Vorenus. Plus, Vorenus can be a bit of an arse sometimes, Pullo can be a violent bastard, but not really an arse Boromir from LOTR, the film version, in the books I prefer Faramir. But Sean Bean is just great. And yes, I am aware that that picture is not Boromir, but it is still nice, don’t you think. Darla from Buffy and Angel. Okay so she wasn’t in it all the time, but I loved her when she was. Plus she had some great story lines. Kaylee from Firefly and Serenity. Awww, she’s so cute and bubbly, and okay, so sometimes you wanna duct-tape her mouth, but most of the time you just adore her and her cheerful ways. Elena from Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series. These are lite-horror books, but I’ve really enjoyed the ones narrated by Elena, especially the first one, Bitten. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Opinion Minions April Decheine Everybody lies The Flatland Almanack Too many ideas In the what? (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Related posts

• Rocky Balboa (7)
• Celebrate! (5)
• you came and you gave without taking (20)
• You ain’t so bad, you ain’t so bad, you ain’t nothin’. C’mon, champ, hit me in the face! My mom hits harder than you! (5)
• TT#8 (10)

Writ & Dir: Sylvester Stallone

• Sylvester Stallone - Rocky Balboa
• Burt Young - Paulie
• Milo Ventimiglia - Rocky Jr.
• Geraldine Hughes - Marie
• James Francis Kelly III - Steps
• Antonio Tarver - Mason ‘The Line’ Dixon

It isn’t often that you describe a boxing film as sweet. It isn’t often I describe a film as sweet and mean that in a positive light, but if I was asked for a one word review of Rocky Balboa, then sweet would be it. And that is sweet in an “awwww” sense of the word, not the Col. O’Neil from SG type sweet.

Honestly, I think this is my favourite film of the year so far.

I know, it is only January, and the films I’ve seen so far haven’t been great, but I really, really enjoyed this film. I’m not saying it a great piece of art or anything, it is what it is, a Rocky film.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who greeted the news that Stallone was making a new Rocky film with a snort of laughter. I enjoyed the first film, and have seen a few of the others, RTE had a Rocky season at some stage, but I never loved any of them. And I fully expected this to be a piece of drivel. But then I saw some of the trailers, and began to want to see it. And, lo, it was great.

You know the basic plot, Rocky, in his fifties starts to think about making a comeback in a small way. Fighting in local, small bouts, because a fighter is all he has ever been. But the current undisputed world heavyweight champ isn’t too popular. He wins all the time, and his opponents don’t offer much, so the public begins to turn away. His promoters are worried about the lack of revenue, so when a tv show uses a computer simulation to find out who would win, Mason “The Line” Dixon or Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa in his prime, and Rocky wins, they get very interested.

Can I say again I really enjoyed this film. From the little flashbacks and echoes to the earlier films, that music, everything was just right.
Is it clichéd and full of cheese? Yes, but in a good way. In a way Rocky has pretty much the same message as The Pursuit of Happyness, but it lacks the selfishness that I think was at the heart of my problem with that film. Instead of trying to succeed at anything in particular Rocky is about being true to yourself. Taking all the knocks life has to offer and still moving on.

This’ll be one I add to the dvd collection, I may even buy the earlier films, even the ones I know are trash. No pain no gain afterall.

IMDb | First Showing | Cinematical | Flimsy.com | Word of Mouth (scroll down for Rocky)

_{Image source}

Related posts

• You ain’t so bad, you ain’t so bad, you ain’t nothin’. C’mon, champ, hit me in the face! My mom hits harder than you! (5)
• Celebrate! (5)
• Yo! (6)
• We3 (0)
• TT #10 (16)

Went to see Rocky Balboa this evening and I totally loved it. It may just be nostalgia, or the way the audience reacted, but Rocky really is one of the greatest fictional characters in movie-land. Anyone catch that dragon film, what was it called, you know where dragons came back and decimated the world and the poster seemed to promise us fighter planes v dragons, but the film didn’t bother to deliver. Reign of Fire! That was it. Okay, if you’ve seen it, remember where they re-enact classic scenes from Star Wars as entertainment for the children? Well I bet they did Rocky too

Okay, so I missed Robbie Burns day, and St. Dwynwen’s Day but better late than never. And while I’m here, happy Australia Day, and Republic Day in India

Related posts

• Rocky Balboa (7)
• TT #10 (16)
• you came and you gave without taking (20)
• You ain’t so bad, you ain’t so bad, you ain’t nothin’. C’mon, champ, hit me in the face! My mom hits harder than you! (5)
• Yo! (6)

I’m watching Leinster being beaten by Edinburgh^[1] Tis quite annoying, especially cause the commentators on Setanta Sports are Scots, and so obviously enough up for Edinburgh. Can’t blame them, and they aren’t unfair or anything, but they are slightly biased. Still, first match of the Magner’s league for Leinster, and none of the internationals are playing, and they will improve… Plus, Connacht beat the Ospreys, so that’s great news.

Anyways, over at Random Burblings, Alan has a meme to join in. Name your top 25 tv characters and explain why.

These are in no particular order, just the way they popped into my head.
1. Firefly’s Jayne, played by Adam Baldwin. Obvious, I know to any regular readers As for why, well he could so easily have been a clichéd muscle-no-brains character, but while Jayne was the muscle with the lack of brain he also had wonderful comedy moments. Violence and humour. Who could want for more.
   “Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don’t you think?”
2. Titus Pullo from Rome, played by Ray Stevenson. Hmm, a similar type of character to Jayne. Only instead of being a mercenary-type he’s a soldier. And a hero, sortof.
   “I’m going to drink all the wine, smoke all the smoke, and fuck every whore in the city!”
3. And also from Rome I can’t leave Lucius Vorenus played by Kevin McKidd. Vorenus is a great character, so devoted to the Legion and honour. But at the same time gradually becoming more and more disillusioned with life and the reality of Roman politics.
   “Fortune pisses on me once again!”
4. Darla, played by Julia Benz, in Buffy and Angel. Nothing but a bit character in Buffy, she returned in Angel to be so much more and so important. She was just cool.
   “Whatever pain he caused to your daughter was momentary, over in an instant or an hour.”
5. Life On Mars’ DI Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister. Just a great character. Blunt, insulting, violent, a crooked cop, a man with a thousand and one great lines.
   “DCI Gene Hunt: I’m not a Catholic me’self Mr Warren, but isn’t there something in the Bible about “Thou shalt not suck off rent boys”?
   Warren: How dare you come in here!
   DCI Gene Hunt: You could have said that to the boy.”
6. Stewie from Family Guy voiced by Seth MacFarlane. I really seem to have a load of foul mouthed character here don’t I?. But who doesn’t love a kid who want to kill his mother, who turned into a weird mutant squid thing and tried to take over the world?
   “Damn you, vile woman, you’ve impeded my work since the day I escaped your wretched womb”
7. Gary Cole as Sheriff Lucas Black in American Gothic. He’s just plain evil. Evil I tells you.
   “All guilt is relative. Loyalty counts. And never let your conscience be your guide”
8. Sean Bean as Sharpe in the various Sharpe tv specials. Okay, mainly for the Sean Beanliness, but also because Sharpe is a great fun adventure/action character. Yes, the actual plots are a little repetitive, but Sharpe is always entertaining.
   “And what the hell do I care what you and the lads want, eh? You think the British Army’s a bloody dem… dem…
   Harris: Democracy, sir. Comes from the Greek word “demos” and means “rule by-”
   Sharpe: Shut up, Harris!
9. Will Scarlet, in Robin of Sherwood, played by Ray Winstone. First off because the TV show itself is great. Secondly because Winstone is a fantastic actor and third, because Scarlet is a wonderful character here. Not the brightly-dressed dandy of other versions but a violent little thug^[2] With a heart, otherwise he wouldn’t be one of the good guys, would he?
10. Another Firefly character, Alan Tudyk’s Wash. And look, he breaks the pattern. Cause he is as far from a bad-boy as it is possible to get.
    “Sweetie, we’re crooks. If everything were right, we’d be in jail.”
11. Oz, played by Seth Green in Buffy. Another non-bad boy. Oz was the coolest of the cool. And none of that fake acting cool crap, he simply was cool. And so monosyllabic, but still so verbal. If that makes sense?
    “[thinking]I am my thoughts. If they exist in her, Buffy contains everything that is me and she becomes me. I cease to exist. Huh”
12. Wesley, played by Alexis Denisof in Angel. He just had such a great arc. From being the annoying lite-Giles, to becoming one of the heros on Angel. And then all that wrestling with good and bad. And his love for Fred.
    “Y’know, back in my days as a rogue demon hunter, I once used that very spear to pin down what I thought was a small Rodentius demon. Of course, the poodle’s owners weren’t very happy.”
13. Back to the bad boys with Veronica Mars‘ Logan Echolls, played by Jason Dohring. Just cause he is such an interesting, twisted, fucked up character.
    “If I donate to the United Latino Pain-in-the-Ass fund, will you shut the hell up?”

And I’m running out of characters. either that or I want to name the entire cast from certain shows which is a little unfair. So I’m going to post this list as is, incomplete, and if more pop into my head I’ll add them.

Related posts

• Week 201 (6)
• In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey (0)
• The only laying down they did was as a prelude to rolling over and succumbing to the Ospreys’ second string. (3)
• Sail away with us, on a boat to Wales (11)
• Paul O’Connell sleeps with the lights on because the dark is afraid of him (7)