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clo_againOh dear, why has LJ made my default font when typing an entry into the posting box, so terrible? Didn't it used to be Verdana or Arial or something you know, that didn't hurt your eyes to read? My browser default font is still Verdana. This is most perplexing and I do not approve. I'm typing on the Rich text option just to make the font readable but I know from experience that I tend to forget and put my own HTML tags in and that confuses it terribly. Hhmm.
What I was originally going to say before LJ perplexed me so: did anyone else find Merlin somewhat pointless tonight? I was really looking forward to it and it started so interestingly with the pre-credits opening, only to fall into boredom. I spent most of the second half reflecting on how much my foot itched and it was frustrating that Casper was sitting on me so I couldn't reach to scratch it, which I suspect indicates the extent to which I was gripped by what was happening onscreen. I can't even be bothered to put a cut in because I have nothing really pressing to say about it that deserves spoiler-cutting. Just, oh Arthur. You are not this much of a prat anymore. Why do they keep feeling the need to hit the reset button every series and wipe out all the common sense you've spent the previous series learning?
I also spent much of the episode protesting that they were pronouncing 'Caerleon' wrong, because I've always pronounced it 'Cai-ar-lee-un' as in 'Caerdydd' (Cardiff in Welsh, which I've always heard pronounced as 'Cai-ar-dyth' as in the second pronounciation here) but a swift Google after it ended proved me wrong: according to this, it is actually pronounced Car-lee-un', similar to how Merlin had it (although Bradley James seemed to insist on saying it "Carleeon" or "Care-leeon" depending how much of a hurry he was in). I like it when Merlin proves that it's smarter than I've given it credit for, though it doesn't happen often.
The weekly shout-out to the slash-fans is getting a bit bizarre at this point though. Once or twice, fine. Every week, a bit odd. Seriously. We get it; y'all read the internets. Could you read the bits of the internets that want more of the knights please? Though at least they got lines this week. It was a terrible missed opportunity to not create tension between Elyan and Arthur over Arthur unceremonious dumping of Gwen though. Sometimes I wonder if the show has entirely forgotten that they're brother and sister, because it never gets referenced; it would've added some actual interest to the episode to have Elyan awkwardly threaten to beat Arthur up for breaking his sister's heart because they're knight and king sure, but they're brother and his-sister's-boyfriend too. Fail, show.
Also, give Gwaine more lines ffs. He's the sexiest person at the Round Table since you decided that you couldn't afford to pay Santiago to be a glorified extra and you're wasting him. Give the Knights individual subplots or something won't you? I wouldn't be averse to Leon getting more character development either, because he's adorable in the loyal-puppy sort of way and all he's done this series is deliver messages and be sort of cruel to Merlin in last week's episode (side-note: the constant butt-monkeying of Merlin is becoming very tiresome after three and a half series. Can't one or two of the Knights find out about his magic? Leon's knowingly had his life saved by magic; it'd be marvellous for him to find out and the ensuing moral dilemma over whether or not to tell Arthur would be a lot more interesting than anything that happened in this week's episode. Argh, Merlin. Stop wasting opportunities!)
~
What else did I mean to mention (99.9% of my posts seem to be Merlin-related recently; I'm nothing if not obsessive). It was my birthday this last week for which I took two days off from work to have a four day weekend but I spent the day being stalked by a bad mood brought on by idiotic Parcelforce (this is a polite request to all of you: please, never use Parcelforce. They steal and lie and overcharge you, and generally need to be wiped from existence) and not getting a kitten and argh, I don't know. I like to do things on my birthday, go to new places or fun places or exciting places, but this year with work and general lack of money and the parental working on the day, I sat around at home feeling old and sorry for myself. It was a terrible plan. So, next year I'm going to have to do something pretty spectacular to make up for it I think.
But on Friday me and the parental went to Glasgow, somewhere I've heard many good things about re. shopping but I've never got around to going before. The shopping is most certainly excellent and we got lost in the five-floors of Debenhams and I mourned over the beautiful Desigual shop where I couldn't afford anything (£49 for a scarf!) and I braved the busy horror of Primark to stock up on long-sleeved tops which I desperately needed and generally, a good time was had. Not as good as if I'd actually got the kitten I wanted for my birthday but I finally found a pair of boots I liked enough to buy after looking for about five months. Minor victories! I spent a little more money than I should've but I got paid slightly more than I expected and I had birthday money and oh, it's only money. At some point I'll have enough of it to stop worrying about shopping overspends.
In conclusion
This is the second Scottish statue I've seen proudly wearing a traffic cone (the other one was on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh; I suspect students had a hand in both. English students, take note):
Glasgow has police call boxes, just like Edinburgh:
The train ride up through Cumbria was as beautiful as usual:
And finally, a panorama of the sunrise I took on my way to catch the train to work last week:
~
I am going back to Tamora Pierce's Mastiff now. It's very good but there's something about it that's making me wonder if she's going to kill off characters I love before the end. Just a feeling. (I hope I'm wrong.)
What I was originally going to say before LJ perplexed me so: did anyone else find Merlin somewhat pointless tonight? I was really looking forward to it and it started so interestingly with the pre-credits opening, only to fall into boredom. I spent most of the second half reflecting on how much my foot itched and it was frustrating that Casper was sitting on me so I couldn't reach to scratch it, which I suspect indicates the extent to which I was gripped by what was happening onscreen. I can't even be bothered to put a cut in because I have nothing really pressing to say about it that deserves spoiler-cutting. Just, oh Arthur. You are not this much of a prat anymore. Why do they keep feeling the need to hit the reset button every series and wipe out all the common sense you've spent the previous series learning?
I also spent much of the episode protesting that they were pronouncing 'Caerleon' wrong, because I've always pronounced it 'Cai-ar-lee-un' as in 'Caerdydd' (Cardiff in Welsh, which I've always heard pronounced as 'Cai-ar-dyth' as in the second pronounciation here) but a swift Google after it ended proved me wrong: according to this, it is actually pronounced Car-lee-un', similar to how Merlin had it (although Bradley James seemed to insist on saying it "Carleeon" or "Care-leeon" depending how much of a hurry he was in). I like it when Merlin proves that it's smarter than I've given it credit for, though it doesn't happen often.
The weekly shout-out to the slash-fans is getting a bit bizarre at this point though. Once or twice, fine. Every week, a bit odd. Seriously. We get it; y'all read the internets. Could you read the bits of the internets that want more of the knights please? Though at least they got lines this week. It was a terrible missed opportunity to not create tension between Elyan and Arthur over Arthur unceremonious dumping of Gwen though. Sometimes I wonder if the show has entirely forgotten that they're brother and sister, because it never gets referenced; it would've added some actual interest to the episode to have Elyan awkwardly threaten to beat Arthur up for breaking his sister's heart because they're knight and king sure, but they're brother and his-sister's-boyfriend too. Fail, show.
Also, give Gwaine more lines ffs. He's the sexiest person at the Round Table since you decided that you couldn't afford to pay Santiago to be a glorified extra and you're wasting him. Give the Knights individual subplots or something won't you? I wouldn't be averse to Leon getting more character development either, because he's adorable in the loyal-puppy sort of way and all he's done this series is deliver messages and be sort of cruel to Merlin in last week's episode (side-note: the constant butt-monkeying of Merlin is becoming very tiresome after three and a half series. Can't one or two of the Knights find out about his magic? Leon's knowingly had his life saved by magic; it'd be marvellous for him to find out and the ensuing moral dilemma over whether or not to tell Arthur would be a lot more interesting than anything that happened in this week's episode. Argh, Merlin. Stop wasting opportunities!)
~
What else did I mean to mention (99.9% of my posts seem to be Merlin-related recently; I'm nothing if not obsessive). It was my birthday this last week for which I took two days off from work to have a four day weekend but I spent the day being stalked by a bad mood brought on by idiotic Parcelforce (this is a polite request to all of you: please, never use Parcelforce. They steal and lie and overcharge you, and generally need to be wiped from existence) and not getting a kitten and argh, I don't know. I like to do things on my birthday, go to new places or fun places or exciting places, but this year with work and general lack of money and the parental working on the day, I sat around at home feeling old and sorry for myself. It was a terrible plan. So, next year I'm going to have to do something pretty spectacular to make up for it I think.
But on Friday me and the parental went to Glasgow, somewhere I've heard many good things about re. shopping but I've never got around to going before. The shopping is most certainly excellent and we got lost in the five-floors of Debenhams and I mourned over the beautiful Desigual shop where I couldn't afford anything (£49 for a scarf!) and I braved the busy horror of Primark to stock up on long-sleeved tops which I desperately needed and generally, a good time was had. Not as good as if I'd actually got the kitten I wanted for my birthday but I finally found a pair of boots I liked enough to buy after looking for about five months. Minor victories! I spent a little more money than I should've but I got paid slightly more than I expected and I had birthday money and oh, it's only money. At some point I'll have enough of it to stop worrying about shopping overspends.
In conclusion
This is the second Scottish statue I've seen proudly wearing a traffic cone (the other one was on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh; I suspect students had a hand in both. English students, take note):
Glasgow has police call boxes, just like Edinburgh:
The train ride up through Cumbria was as beautiful as usual:
And finally, a panorama of the sunrise I took on my way to catch the train to work last week:
~
I am going back to Tamora Pierce's Mastiff now. It's very good but there's something about it that's making me wonder if she's going to kill off characters I love before the end. Just a feeling. (I hope I'm wrong.)
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 12:30 am (UTC)The TARDIS' (TARDISI?) are still stalking you then?
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 11:45 am (UTC)Apparently so! Though oddly enough, only when Doctor Who isn't on TV. Maybe they're too busy to stalk me when they need to put in an appearance on BBC 1 every week. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 11:48 am (UTC)Did I tell you I saw one at the British Library as well? As part of the scifi exhibition they had on at the time.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 12:03 pm (UTC)No, I don't think you told me. I totally should've gone to see that, it sounds awesome! (I will actually make it to the British Library at some point. >_< )
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 07:41 am (UTC)I wasn't a big fan of the episode because the dialogue felt oddly wooden to me. Every so often an episode comes along in which Merlin makes eloquent speeches without using contractions and it's just weird.
(Also, happy not-your-birthday-any-more!)
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 12:01 pm (UTC)I wonder how much Colin Morgan's attempts to be non-Irish affect his speeches? He's been doing it for almost four series now though so surely it should be easier to make the words sound natural. Dialogue-wise it did feel an awkward episode. I think there must be some Merlin writers who're much better than others; I should really start paying attention to the writer's credits each week.
(Thank you! :D)