Land of the mildly insane

So I am up-to-date with SHIELD and SPN.

Was that the finale of SHIELD? In any case, oh, it left me a flailing flapping mess of emotion. I screamed, I cheered, I sobbed. Ah, the happiness of the fulfilled nerd. Roll on Season 2 - I am ready.

( SPOILER-y reaction points for SHIELD... )

SPN. Well, as always tends to happen they pull it together in time for the finale. Yes of course the show has its shortcomings, but for the moment I'm happy switching off my brain and watching my favourite characters chew up scenery and generally be epic.

Just one spoilerly comment about SPN: ( I will admit... )

In conclusion: who else is pinging off the walls about Peggy Carter getting her own series :) Given the revelations of Winter Soldier/Agents of SHIELD, they have plenty to play with. Rock on.

(Just totally miswrote that first time as 'Angels of SHIELD' - now there's a thought).

So yes, this week was like Christmas come early with my two shows back after leaving me for varying amounts of time on cliffhangers.

Agents of SHIELD: continues to leave me asd;flkjadsf;lkj. Bring it on.

SPN: I screamed. Leave it at that. :)

Right.

That's it. I'm ready.

I am now going to go and catch-up on the last two episodes of Agents of SHIELD. I'm still feeling slightly fragile after Captain America: Winter Soldier (can we say 'Game changer'?) and I hit the first post on Tumblr and frankly I think I need to be up-to-date before I'm majorly spoiled...

Wish me luck.

Yes I know Hiddleston is the voice of young James in Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy.

Yes I am aware that he sings. And that they have released a behind-the-scenes vid of him singing with typical Hiddles abandon.

And no. No I will not watch it. I value my sanity and also my ears (because whichever way the coin falls, one of those will be shattered). For those of you who do brave it, safe sailing :)

Alas I can yet again tell my attention is drifting with SPN. I'm still enjoying it, but I'm already spotting myself letting episodes slide if they lack any of my favs (currently Cas, Crowley, Kevin, etc.) Still, when they do refocus on the plot they have had some killer eps in there, so no fear I won't be here come finale-time.

Good old HMS Destiel also continues to sail true in my fannish heart. It's nice having a ship that is actually still alive and on TV (and hasn't, for example, had one half die in the other's arms in a sobbing wreck of feels on Christmas Eve, you b*****ds - yes, Merlin, I still haven't forgiven you). *ahem*

Which is why this post does tickle me. On the one hand: oooh! New 'Coldplay' album! And on the other hand: Ahahahaha... Yes, the whole thing, from coverart to track names, does feel like a Destiel fanmix :)

Also: I think the time has come that I probably need to invest in a proper Dean/Cas icon. If anyone knows a good place to look, please point said places out!

It's been a while since I had anything to say about Top Gear. All in all it was a slightly odd ep, or perhaps it's just that it's been a while since I watched. Though for once I was in utter agreement with Clarkson because what other soundtrack could there be when your quadbike turns into a jetski and you go haring off across a lake in the Italian mountains.

And of course, they'd somehow managed to pin Hiddleston down as their 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car'.

Short reaction: GLASSES!! :)

Longer reaction: Yep, though he was as cheerful as ever, he did also sound quite tired. The comment was made that the interview was (apparently) kept relatively brief as he had to dash off for that day's Coriolanus. Anyway, trust Hiddles to as always find a way to stick a few impressions in, his Hopkins one was quite entertaining. And yes, they did show a bit of the Jaguar ad. Interesting to know that he was in fact being asked to lean out of the open door of an airborne helicopter, I'd just assumed it was greenscreen! His reaction to when they said 'CUT!' would have been my reaction from the start...

So, I have returned! From the live NT screening of Coriolanus. I took with me some mates from work. Two had seen Shakespeare before and also had a fair inkling who Hiddleston was. The third member of our troupe had never seen Shakespeare before in her life, had no idea who any of the cast was, and spent the past few days bouncing into the office excited over the fact she was going to see her first ever 'live' Shakespeare and wondering if she would even understand a word of it.

In short: it was glorious. I will admit I was most interested in hearing our Shakespeare newbie's views as she was probably the last biased of us all. And she loved it, I feel happy and vindicated :) Good job and kudos to you, Donmar and all the cast and crew, you have another Shakespeare convert.

On a critical level, all the actors acquitted themselves superbly.

On a shallow level: yes you have a very attractive male cast in some very tight leather trousers, and yes my group commented on it. Also due to the angle of the camera and the reflected light, Coriolanus' gown of white muslin humility was rendered pretty much completely transparent. It gave me flashbacks to Merlin and that scene as I looked stoically at the background and tried to focus on the plot and the dialogue. My companions had no such qualms and told me afterwards that yes, it did indeed hide absolutely nothing whatsoever. Good to know.

Oooh.

Given that all the advance tickets went within 20 minutes of going on general sale, and that the first 3 rounds of 'Front Row' tickets took out their website, I suppose it's no surprise that the Donmar have decided to extend Coriolanus by 6 extra performances.

Tickets for this aren't going on general sale, but can be won by entering a draw: details on the Donmar website.

Part of me is tempted to give it a go, because it is, fangirling aside, definitely a play that easily justifies second viewing. However, I will be good and stay out, and good luck to those who've been unlucky getting tickets so far :)

Workwise a major deadline was passed last week and I've dedicated every spare minute since to catching-up on lost sleep. And of course, catching-up on film and TV.

So I've now seen Day of the Doctor, I may have had something in my eye by the end. Yes I will be rewatching. I also have An Adventure in Time and Space to watch at some point too.

Filmwise I went to see Philomena. A lovely if bittersweet film. As an adoptee myself (thankfully in much, much happier circumstances) it was interesting to see the view from the other side of the fence, as it were. Beautifully acted by all, I do recommend it if you have the opportunity. There was also Red 2. Which was awesome, obviously, because 1) Helen Mirren, and 2) "No grasshopper. It is not."

My first free weekend I also had a princess_s with me. I won't say I "hosted" as, again, I was mainly catching-up on lost sleep, but we did do a marathon of Agents of SHIELD. And you know what? I liked it a lot, lot more on second viewing (it was the first for her). I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where we go from here post-Thor 2.

I'm also working my way through Sleepy Hollow. I'm on ep 4 and enjoying it immensely so far!

Oh, and this weekend? Might be sauntering along to some little play called Mojo. Just because. Who knows, if we're lucky we may even recognise a member or two of the cast :)