Jaye's Musings

Well, making that other post has reminded me of how very long it's been since I've updated this journal and continued this meme...which I WILL finish!

( Day 14. Favorite male character )


Questions are here

So after a very nice vacation to Italy, including a few days wandering around one of my favourite cities, Rome and home to England I've needed to get my writing kickstarted again. This continuing meme has helped in the past so hopefully it will again do the trick.

Day 12. An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times

( Read more... )


Questions are here.

1.Is there a particular historical period or event, anywhere in the world, that fascinates you? Oh, so many. Ancient Greece, Roman Britain, and Medieval Europe would probably be my top three

2. Would you like to visit that time, or live in it permanently, or does the whole idea make you want to run screaming? Visit = Ancient Greece and Roman Britain....Run screaming from Medieval Europe.

3. What's the best piece of historical writing, nonfiction or fiction, you've ever read? Definitely Sharon Kay Penman's books. "The Sunne in Splendour" is a exceptional recounting of the life of Richard III. But my favourite is "When Christ and His Saints Slept" which chronicles the war between King Stephen and Empress Maude and begins her Plantagenet series.

4. What's the worst? I can't remember the author, but I once read a novel about Attila the Hun that was laughably awful. I read about 50 pages and threw it away. Conn Iggulden's "Gates of Rome" was a real disappointment, filled with inaccuracies, which was a shame because I really like his "Conqueror" series.

5.Is there a historical site you would love to visit? Well, I've been fortunate enough to visit quite a few on my 'must-see' list, but still very much on there is Greece (Athens, Sparta, Delphi, and Thermopylae). I would also love to visit Petra.

Day 09. Best scene ever

My favourite hasn't really changed from my original answer. Those two scenes from Highlander are seared into my memory.

But there is another, from Blake's 7 that had such an impact on me from the moment I saw it, and it's probably a major reason why I do enjoy unresolved, shock endings so much. In the series finale, Having found their long-lost leader, Blake, our heroes get surrounded by the enemy Federation. Believing Blake has betrayed them, Avon kills him and stands motionless over his body. The others, Vila, Dayna, Tarrant, and Soolin come under fire from the Federation troopers and one-by-one they go down. The troopers surround Avon, he looks up and raises his blaster, and....

Roll credits (to the sound of blaster fire).

The BBC first broadcast this episode about a week before Christmas, and there was a much larger than normal spike in suicides that Christmas, and the bleak, hopeless ending where the heroes lose was pointed to as a major contributing factor.

Other favourite scenes from my some of my favourite shows are:

Black Sails There are many wonderful, powerful scenes in throughout the series. It took me a while to get into it though for one reason or another. But at the end of the first season Captain Flint kills his quartermaster, Gates, in a wonderfully acted confrontation. Given that the reason I started watching Black Sails in the first place was because Mark Ryan (Nasir in Robin of Sherwood) played Gates, it's rather odd that his death really got me hooked, but again it was because it showed they weren't reticent about doing the unexpected -- which they went on to prove several times -- although it did take me several more seasons before I warmed up to Flint even a little bit.

Speaking of Robin of Sherwood, there are two scenes that are breath-taking, both are from the episode "The Greatest Enemy". The first features Nasir. Several of the Merries have been captured by Gisburne. Nasir steals into the village where they are being held to rescue them. He kills at least ten of the Sheriff's men before he's even discovered, and once he is, kills several more. He is only stopped when he finds the guards have the Merries at swordpoint and, by this time, surrounded by the guards and completely outnumbered, and from a signal from (I think) Will Scarlett he very reluctantly surrenders. It was a brilliant showcase of Nasir's skills and the loyalty that he'd developed for his friends. The second is Robin's death, which is an iconic scene from the series. Standing on a hill with Marian, surrounded by the Sheriff and his men, and down to his last arrow. The Sheriff, fearing a trap has his men ready as Robin fires into the air before being cut down.

ne last one, and for a change of pace, no death in this one! There are so many best scenes and/or wongs in Galavant that it's hard to narrow down to just a few, let alone one. But one of my top ones, just for the sheer novelty value is "Love Makes the World Brand New" sung by Gareth and what makes that astounding is that Gareth is played by Vinnie Jones, noted hardman, always the prone-to-violence brute even before he turned to acting...there was a very good reason he was called Vinnie "The Psycho" Jones when he played football. So, Vinnie singing a love song is just the funniest thing ever!!

Haven't done this in a while, so here's the next one, and maybe I can do this more regularly again! Maybe.

Day 08. A show everyone should watch

Usually I don't mind what people watch, or rather if I want them to get hooked on a show I like. However there are two shows that, yes, I feel everyone should watch and if they try them, I feel -- or at least hope -- they will enjoy them just as much as me.

And it should come to no surprise that I've mentioned both in this meme before.

( Galavant )
( LoT )

Day 06. Favorite episode of your favorite TV show

In all honesty nothing much has changed from my original anwswers

.
I do wish that I could pick some from my current favourite shows, and while I do have favourites, it's also hard to pick out particular episodes. At least not to the same extent as the ones I originally listed.

Day 04. Your favorite show ever

I'll refer you back to my original answer as nothing really has changed. Blakes 7 and Highlander: The Series will probably always be my favourite TV shows. B7 because it was the first show I got really fannish over, long before I knew what fandom was. And Highlander has influenced so much of my writing and roleplaying that I think it will always be central to what ever I write, whether it be about Immortals or inspired by them.

However, I will add another show to these. A new one to add to the list. Now I could have added a few different shows from recent years that have really captured my imagination (Once Upon a Time, Lucifer, Vikings to name three), but for one reason or another, while I still enjoy them, by the box sets, once they're off the air I don't get that thrill of deep love.

But a short-lived show that ended in 2016, still makes me smile and laugh, and I always want to go back and rewatch episodes, or the entire series, or play the soundtrack. I've already mentioned it in these 30 Days of TV Meme entries, and no doubt I will again. And I will try and sell it to who ever is willing to listen (and yet, strangely, I don't write or RP any of the characters).


( Attend the Tale of Ga-la-vant! )

Day 02. A show that you wish more people were watching


There are two shows right now that I will always recommend to someone if given the chance, one is Lucifer. I came late to this show, towards the end of the first season, and I admit the premise can be a hard sell, it certainly put me off for a while. Then I heard that Tom Ellis was playing the Devil himself, and then it was "please and thank you, very much!" (to quote the wonderful Miranda, where he first caught my attention). From the first episode, I was then hooked. I didn't see how celestial beings helping out the LAPD could possibly work...but it does! Yes, the procedural, murder of the week stories really aren't my cup of tea, but the cast and characters are brilliant, the writing is great, and well, it can be so funny! I did love Season 2 where the focus landed more on Lucifer and his family as they dealt with Mum. Season 3 did admittedly drag where the Cain story didn't really work (and it could have!) because of the attempt at setting up a love triangle for Chloe. But the Season Finale....one of the best! And I'm so looking forward to it on Netflix for Season 4, and have great hopes that many of the problems will be fixed with a shorter season.

The other show is iZombie. Again, who would think a Zombie working with the Seattle PD and later a full on Zombie outbreak would ever work? It does! Again it's the characters that make it, including the pun on names (Liv Moore, Major Lilywhite, Filmore Graves). It's fun, and Rose McIver who plays Liv gets to be lots of different characters (some that work better than others) due to the fact that a zombie takes on the personality of whoever's brain they've eaten. The perennial bad guys, led by the always great David Anders (as Blaine) are so very good at doing bad stuff (basically brain dealers to the zombie world) and that the same time being very relatable. It's fun, it's suspenseful, and it's a shame that the upcoming season will be its last.

Now, there is one show, above even these, that was cancelled a couple of years ago, that I wish so hard that more people had seen, because it was FAN-bloody-TASTIC! I got both my sons to watch it, even though they don't like "musical extravaganzas" and I tried my best to get gmnoonie to watch it before she became too ill..because I KNOW she would have LOVED it. (And yes, this show deserves RANDOM caplitalization!). It was GALAVANT. A medieval, musical, parody, self-aware, all-around-fun show).

It was about Sir Galavant whose "true love" Madalena is kidnapped by the evil King Richard and forced to marry him. Galavant storms the castle to prevent the wedding (a la "Princess Bride") only to discover that Madalena prefers the wealth and privilege of becoming queen to being Gal's wife. To impress his new wife, Richard invades the Kingdom of Valencia and forces Princess Isabella (by holding her parents hostage) to trick Galavant to try to save Madalena so he can kill him (as Madalena keeps reminding him how much better Galavant is than him). Meanwhile Madalena is banging most of the castle, including the Jester, except for Richard. From there ensues several adventures for everyone...including landlocked pirates, the Monks of Perpetual Refrain, a magician called Xanax...to name a few. And that's just the first season! Again an excellent cast, especially Timothy Omundson as King Richard, Vinnie Jones as Gareth, and Karen David as Isabella and a host of guest stars like Hugh Bonneville, Ricky Gervais, and Rutger Hauer. There's even more in Season 2, including a real, live dragon!

You can find it on Netflix! You're welcome *g*

Ganked from beccadg

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

1) What are you currently reading?
2) What did you recently finish reading?
3) What do you think you’ll read next?

1) Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller I'm really enjoying it. It's the story of Achilles (obviously) as told by Patroclus, and it is a true love story between the two. I do have some quibbles, mainly the fact that she changes tenses all the time. I know it's supposed to be a stylistic thing, but there's not even a defined break, like a chapter but from one paragraph to the next sometimes.

2) The Legion by Simon Scarrow. I still stick with this series even though I am thoroughly sick of what a Gary Stu Scarrow's beloved main character is. I keep hoping they'll improve (the series started out so well that I'm always wanting to give it another chance).

3) Not sure yet. I think I will be downloading several onto the Kindle, so I have plenty to read once I'm in transit, and I think most will be light reading material, perhaps Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series or some of Anne Bishop's other novels. I also want to read the other books in Chris Wooding's "Adventures of the Ketty Jay" series (and would love recs on other steam punk novels).

Fifteen Fictional Characters Meme

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen fictional characters (television, films, plays, books) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

In no order whatsoever

1. Odysseus
2. Nasir Malik Kemal Inal Ibrahim Shams ad Dualla Wattab ibn Mahmud
3. Kerr Avon
4. Servalan
5. Richard Sharpe
6. Harry Flashman
7. Robert Lovelace
8. Attila (yes, an historical figure, but I'm using GB's not altogether accurate film :P )
9. Kronos
10. Methos
11. Daemon Sadi
12. Phedre no Delaunay
13. Number 6
14. The Doctor (all of them)
15. Lucas North