An encyclopedia of weirdness

The other day bittersweettwit lamented the fact that he doesn't have enough Grimm icons and since Grimm is one of my favourite shows at the moment, I gladly offered to remedy that situation. I didn't really play around with icons lately - or any art, really - so I feel a bit rusty, but I think they came out okay. These icons are mainly from the episodes Face Off and Mr. Sandman, but they are not really spoilery.

Teaser

( Of Grimms, Blutbaden and Fuchsbaus )

Hi all! I know I have been MIA these last couple of weeks, and I wanted to apologise for the lack of activity at my journal during this summer. I had many fandom related plans for the hiatus, but unfortunately my finale fuelled energy and motivation died a violent death after ComicCon and all my attempts at resurrecting it, just failed miserably. Now, to comfort myself, I decided to watch a couple of episodes of that other show that revolves around two entirely co-dependent characters who are fiercely protective of each other, aka The X-Files. And what do you know? A couple of episodes somehow turned into 120 episodes (and counting) and the first movie. I never expected to become so immersed in the show again, but it provided a good distraction for my Supernatural woes. Of course, watching the bonus material on my DVDs and seeing all those interviews and commentaries with Kim Manners makes me really nostalgic and just reminds me how much I miss him on Supernatural.

Hey everybody! A belated Happy New Year to all my f-list! Sorry about my longer absence, but I was away over the holidays and then sick for quite a while and didn't really feel like arting or doing anything else for that matter! *g*

Over the last couple of weeks, while Supernatural torments us with another long hiatus, I watched all 5 seasons of Queer As Folk (US) and I became quite intrigued by its main character Brian Kinney, at least fascinated enough to tickle my muse. It's funny, during my 2 years of SN obsession I only managed to make 3 wallpapers that are related to other shows. I'm artistically very monogamous, so this is more or less an exception! *lol*

I have a batch of ideas for SN wallpapers on the back burner and my next post will surely be SN related again!

( eye candy )

So, the lovely llywela13 got me hooked on the BBC show Life On Mars. The premise of the show is a simple one but as so often with simple things, they develop an intriguing and complex structure: 2006, Detective chief inspector Sam Tyler has a severe accident and mysteriously wakes up in 1973. While he tries to figure out how he came into this bizarre situation, he not only has to struggle with the question if he is possibly insane or in a coma, but also has to come to terms with the life and work situation he finds himself in.

The show is a curious mix of David Lynch meets The Professionals and draws a lot of its appeal from the constant suspense it holds the viewer in: It likes to pull the rug out from under Sam’s (and the viewer's) sense of reality every time he acquires some feeling of security or contentment within his situation. His common sense tells Sam that the situation can’t be real, but on the other hand he perceives it as so real and full of details he can’t figure how he could possibly imagine it. In the area of conflicts between his self-consciousness and the world he is confronted with, he needs to pursue his every day police work and deal with the people around him.

Theoretically we all know how enormously the world changed in the past 30 years, heck I even experienced these changes since I grew up in the 70ies, but this show makes it tangible in a way you could never feel it by simply watching an authentic 70ies show, because everything is reflected through a modern point of view on the times. Due to the main character's line of profession, the focus naturally is on how much police work and forensics changed over the decades, but you also get a good glimpse into every day life and the general attitude of the time.

This show ranges from hilariously funny to disturbingly creepy. The sets are fantastic, created with much love for details. The characters are great, they are kind of stereotypical, but more as a means of emphasis than out of lack in writing. It draws a lot of comedic potential out of the contrast between Sam and his partner Gene, who is a typical bad cop bully-type of his time but proves to be some sort of friend over time (not finished with the show yet, but I think it gets there). And let’s not forget the music, that features the classic rock and pop of the time, so much fun!

So, a highly recommendable show, for anyone interested in something really unique and original :)

Now, I started watching 'Heroes' because it became such a buzz and I wanted to see what it's all about and I find that this show irritates me. As you might know, it's a show about a bunch of people, discovering they have some sort of superpower and are probably destined to save the world together. Now, I am not saying the show is bad in any kind, in fact it has a neatly developed seasonal arc going for it, with slowly linking the characters together episode for episode. Now, what irritates me is that the show feels so 'unreal' to me, presumably because I can't relate to the characters at all.

I came to think about how interesting it is, that two shows (Supernatural and Heroes) can root in a supernatural background but the one feels completely real and true to me despite of vampires, shtrigas and shapeshifters while the other feels completely unreal to me although it's set in a matter of fact world only with some Superheroes in it. Shouldn't both shows arise the same initial disbelief in me?

Sam and Dean feel completely genuine to me, tangible, characters I can relate to and that I respond to on a very emotional level. Even with Sam having 'superpowers' of his own with the visions, he never looses his authenticity as a person to me, while the characters in 'Heroes' although being normal humans as well, come off as figures from a comic and have something oddly sketchy to me. That's probably intended but I can't quite put my finger on it, where the difference is between Sam and for example Isaac, the painter who paints visions about the future.

I wonder if this is just a personal issue, something that simply derives out of the fact that I am not able to relate to the characters in the way I do with Sam and Dean or if it is something in the writing/story itself. *is confused*