What are you watching right now?

[Kaharz]

I'm honestly a slight bit conflicted on stranger things whereas most people I know seem to view it as perfection. Those poeple are all in the same age range as me, people who grew up in the 80s.

If you crossed ET, It, Stand By Me and a smidge of Close Encounters, you would have the feel of ST. The creators set out to mimic / pay homage to early King and Spielberg cinema, and they definitely nailed that. I would say they even outdid early screen adaptations of King and made their characters more identifiable than Spielberg. In that regard, it really is an achievement.

The acting is also fantastic. Ryder is a bit stereotypical for the first two episodes, but that improves dramtically. The child actors are stupendous for child actors.

The story so far is great, and I generally don't like suspense / horror. I just finished ep 5 of 8. It does take to about ep 3 or 4 to really get the ball rolling on the plot though.

My only gripe is they still try a bit too hard on the 80s nostalgia, but they do better than anyone else I've seen try it. It isn't that big of deal in general, but I'm probably a bit oversensitive. The nostalgia is great and all, but I do occaisionally to feel like I'm being played by a gimmick. There is a scene where a Millennium Falcon toy gets dropped on the floor a few times, and it made me wince because it was one of the few 'inside toys' I had and I destroyed it. I appreciate the shared experience, but ultimately it had absolutely nothing to do with the plot of character development.

[smiley_cow]

Is Stranger Things good?

I enjoyed it. I had occasional issues with the writing, which got kind of overly tropey in places, and one big spoilery issue that's mentioned my earlier post, but overall I feel like they did a good job for what it was, and it's definitely entertaining.

And I agree with what Kaharz said above too, the acting is very good. And while I appreciate the fact they chose a setting and made it felt (which is something I feel is important for this genre) it did sometimes feel like they were hitting you over the head with how 80's it was. Especially the earlier episodes.

I'm definitely going to watch the second season when it comes out.

[Astrogirl]

I'm watching Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers and Winter Soldier, which strangely was "translated" to Return of the First Avenger. Also they translated Thor: The Dark World to Thor: The Dark Kingdom. Whyyy? It's not as if Kingdom is easier to understand than World or anyone would not know the word Soldier but understand Return of.

When griping about this on tumblr I learned that in the UK Zootopia was changed to Zootropolis for apparently no reason whatsoever.

[Kaharz]

I finally finished Stranger Things. I mostly agree with Smiley's spoilers most of which aren't actually spoilers. I honestly think the first two episodes were pretty relatively weak and the last two were also, but for completely differently reasons. They are all good though in the grand scheme of things. It is just the nature of TV I think.

One further technical gripe, the way they portray CPR is actually 2005 and later in the US not a huge spoiler, but if you are the type who doesn't want even moderate spoilers, avoid reading that.

[Kimra]

When griping about this on tumblr I learned that in the UK Zootopia was changed to Zootropolis for apparently no reason whatsoever.

So, based on my leet skills of hacking I'm pretty sure I could now find you on tumblr. Would that freak you out if I found/followed you on tumblr? (I like to avoid freaking people out when I can.)

[Astrogirl]

It's fine, Edie knows my tumblr already.
I post 50% Star Trek, 50% social justice and I sometimes reach the daily post limit of 250.
Tell me if you are able to find it.

[Kimra]

Just finished Stranger Things.

The nostaligia thing was a bit gimmicky all the way through it. It could hve as easily been set last week (with some convenient mobile phone's nor working/recording excuses thrown in) with no troubles. They did do the visuals and props pretty well for the time period which was nice, but I didn't actually care. (And yes I'm of the generaiton it's aimed at.)

It was also strongly strongly influenced by the Alien movies.

Lots of things wrong with the plot, lots of really bad choices from characters I thought should be smarter. Didn't come together the way I expected it to, but that's not always bad. It did start slow, which netflix tends to do. It had me by about episode three though.

Anyway, enjoyable all around. Like 7/10 if I had to give it a number.

[Lethal Interjection]

I'm watching what a large percentage of Canadians are watching.
The final concert the Tragically Hip will perform.
The Hip (as we call them) are a quintessential Canadian band. They don't have much following outside our country (and a bit in the northern US), and this is their presumptive last show, aired/streamed live across the country.
The last not because they are 'retiring' (as some bands do) but because the lead singer Gord Downey has inoperable brain cancer.
It's sad. They were never my favourite band. Not even my favourite Canadian band. But they'd probably rank in the top 20 and top 3 in the respective categories.
They've written some excellent songs, many of which are about Canadian history that would otherwise be unknown.
They are really great and I'm glad they arranged it so that the last concert was available to basically everyone.

[Kaharz]

I finally got to finish watching Preacher. I don't have cable, so I had to marathon it at a friend's house between two visits. Fortunately he didn't mind watching it twice. Overall it was pretty good. They changed a lot from the comic, but managed to keep the feel of it. There were a couple of scenes I didn't particularly care for and the story feels a bit schizophrenic after the first season because they have introduced so much without adequate time to explain the back story. I could see how that might throw off someone who doesn't already know the story.

The character development for Jessie and Cassidy were also weirdly paced. I get the get the feeling they were rushing to cram a lot in the hopes it would give them a better shot at a second season.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

Watched the first episode of Stranger Things with dad and brother. I am not an 80s kid by any stretch of the imagination, being born in '93, so I'm not picking up any of the targeted nostalgia, but I like the kids. I'll keep watching for the kickass music and the fantastic child actors.

When it comes to plot holes in shows/movies, I generally don't bother digging too deep.

Kimra is this you:

[Astrogirl]

I have just watched Captain America: Civil War, which is called The First Avenger: Civil War in "German".

[Felstaff]

It was the font that got me hooked on Streynja Tings.

I bought a Bose the other day, specifically this one. I went back to some old Stephen King stories, and found Sometimes They Come Back as an audiobook on YouTube. It doesn't appear to be there any more, which is odd, 'cause I swear it said it'd been uploaded yonks ago, and just listened to the reading in "resilient, crisp tones" according to one review. I'm still trying to find the exact Stephen King cover that uses the Stranger Things font. I could've sword it was Gerald's Game or Tommyknockers, but I found both covers I was thinking of, and each title's definitely more '90s King than '80s.

[Kimra]

Kimra is this you:
youtube

Sure, whatever floats your boat.

[Astrogirl]

I randomly came across one Dr Who episode on TV two years back or so, they were on a planet that was kind of like Wild West or something, and I think there were daleks.

Well that description could probably apply to at least one episode per season from the show's beginnings over 50 years ago.

Was it this episode? Although it has no Daleks.

It was definitely this episode, I'm up to watching this now.

I was watching Dr Who together with an American tumblr friend online, we both started the same streams at the same time and chatted in parallel. She has now (okay, a month ago) moved in with me. Temporarily until she finds a place in the nearby city, where she intends to study. Now we watch them on my Amazon Prime account together on the sofa.

[Muntic0re]

I am watching anime Volleyball 3rd season