a couple of photos, some burros, The Expanse

[asakiyume]

I was so thrilled to be using the old giant bubble maker on Saturday that I took it out early on Sunday morning to use up some of the extra soapy water, and Wakanomori took some photos. Here's one:



Here's a picture of Koffing I drew for L as a thank-you for the Pokemon card he gave me. KOFFING!!



And here's something fun: replacing "Bureau" with "Burro" for federal agencies. I thought they should be illustrated, so I found some images:

Burro of Land Management

Burro of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

Census Burro

Hey, we've been watching The Expanse in very slow time on DVDs from Netflix. I'm in the middle of season 3 right now. I've liked aspects of several episodes a whole lot, but S3 ep. 11 was the first that made me actually cheer and clap. It was when [in white for spoilers; highlight to see] Ashford powers up the Behemoth's gravity-producing drum and then broadcasts to the Earth and Mars vessels, telling them they can bring their wounded there:

I have a message for all the ships in this infernal place. We are all victims of the same catastrophe. But the Behemoth is unique. This ship, my ship, can create spin gravity. So I am able to offer it to all of you. Bring your wounded here so that they may heal. You will be welcome.

SWEET.

(Tangentially, I had never thought about internal injuries in 0 gravity. Interesting/awful!)

Comments

[sartorias]

That is one HUUUUUGE bubble!!!!!

[asakiyume]

Oh it makes huuuuge bubbles! I have a video but I'm too embarrassed to put a video of myself up on the internet. Maybe I'll send it to you.

[sartorias]

I'd love to see it!

[sovay]

I was so thrilled to be using the old giant bubble maker on Saturday that I took it out early on Sunday morning to use up some of the extra soapy water

That's a terrific photo. Also a giant bubble!

I like the Census Burro.

[asakiyume]

:D

I'm glad you like the Census Burro. I was having far too much fun.

And I could play with bubbles all day!

[okrablossom]

I so needed that picture of you and the soap bubble. Thank you so much for sharing it! My heart feels lighter.

[asakiyume]

Hurray--I'm so glad! If we're ever again in a near-to-each-other space, we will have to make bubbles together.

[okrablossom]

That sounds so lovely.

[kore]

BUBBLE

Also Expanse is great! I think the second season is my fave, but a lot of the third season was great too.

[asakiyume]

I've consistently liked all the seasons so far--with minor irritations, because I'm cranky and have to complain about everything, but overall, really am liking it. I really liked how celestial things looked when Miller joins up with Julie Mao; I liked when Chrisjen first talks with Bobby; I like Amos a lot; I like Goth Drummer--which, brief aside: I really love the Belter creole, but WHY is there a Belter creole and no Martian creole?? It doesn't make sense. (This is what I mean by having to complain about things.)

I'm not a big fan of the pastor character, nor was I a big fan Prax (LOL, trying to remember his name I come across a post describing him in its headline as the most likable character.)

I like all the sciency details, and I like the protomolecule and its multifaceted mystery.

[kore]

Heh, whenever people talk about expanse, sooner or later the Drummer fangirls show up just going "....DRUMMER!" Cara Gee is just incredible. And Bobbie and Chrisjen! T watched the first season but I really didn't like it, but Bobbie hooked me in the second one and we were off. Amos is a love, his actor also does a wonderful job. (Unfortunately I don't like Holden but at least he wasn't around much in the middle seasons, lol.) And it feels like the worldbuilding really does hang together, not just in little details, but the overall feel and -- IDK, it's hard to describe, it just feels lived-in, and I really like the cross-section of all the different social strata we get, so it's not just upper-class military officers or space royalty. (I like both of those, they just get a little dull when it's the only thing....)

[asakiyume]

LOL, yeah, Holden is a weak link--he has the worst motivation lurches. If he could only have more to him than just ... feeling things.

And yeah, I like how lived in the world feels! It feels broad and rich and varied. And yeah, absolutely agree that it's great that we don't just see the one-percenters.

[kore]

I remember a lot of discussions in which the main dissatisfaction is the narrative wants us to think Holden is some kind of charismatic leader genius, and the actor just really doesn't project that (compared to Keon Alexander who had scary sexy charisma to burn from the start). Miller for me is sorta-okay as the PI stereotype, but Holden's actor is just....bland.

HOWEVER, there are so many amazing other characters, especially the women, it's easy not to focus on him (off the screen, out of mind, lol). And it's enough of a true ensemble (unlike what happened to, say, Fringe after a while) that everyone does get a chance to shine, repeatedly. I love Chrisjen and Bobbie as the Lady and her Knight and really hope we'll get some of that next season.

[asakiyume]

I was not a fan of Miller in the first season tbh. He was SO sadsack and SUCH a stereotype. He was clearly [highlight to reveal] marked for death from the very start so it was a relief when FINALLY that was out of the way (and as I say, I liked that scene a lot--it kind of made up for everything else about him). And yeah, Holden's actor is bland. He starts out as a bit childish ("I'm going to do this right thing, against orders, because I've got MORALS, okay, not like you other slobs . . . but I also won't tell you right away because having morals doesn't mean having courage"), and then manages to pivot to tortured suffering soul, and I'm like... where's the part where he's a good leader making good decisions again? I'm glad they didn't make him a testosterone-overdrive kind of a guy (I'm glad no one on the Roci is like that), but I wish he wasn't such a limp noodle.

But we have tons of other great characters, including, as you say, some really excellent, depthful female ones. And I too really like how everyone is given a chance to shine.

[asakiyume]

Weird, somehow I froze my own comment. Not sure how I did that. You can respond to it here (or you don't have to! But I didn't mean to freeze it)

ETA: never mind; I found a way to unfreeze it

[dark_phoenix54]

And now I have this picture of intestines floating around an abdominal injury... a kidney or two floating all the way away.....

[asakiyume]

It was horrifying in the show when they described how the body won't reabsorb blood. I don't know if that's actually *true* or not, but it seemed pretty logical the way they explained it.

[threemeninaboat]

I love that Koffing!

[asakiyume]

HURRAY!! Thank you very much; that's very gratifying ^_^

[osprey_archer]

Loving the Burro of Land Management! A very sweet donkey who deserves another carrot probably.

[asakiyume]

I agree. MORE CARROTS FOR THE BURRO OF LAND MANAGEMENT! (Even a deadlocked Congress should agree on that one.)

[umadoshi]

GIANT BUBBLES. *^^* That's a great photo.

[asakiyume]

I could have played with bubbles for the rest of the morning if we didn't have places to go and things to do. THEY ARE SO FUN.

[gingicat]

Yes, TV Ashford is amazing, but not as amazing as Drummer.

I've just read through to the end of book 8, and reading the first five books after having seen the series was slightly surreal.

[asakiyume]

I love Drummer very much too! I really liked her pushing back on his realpolitik--it felt really important to have her doing that.

And I really couldn't predict how that episode was going to end re: the two of them. The way it did end seemed believable enough, but I could easily have seen it play out with her the one in the position to make that speech.

[asakiyume]

Re: book v. TV, I think I'd have a hard time going from seeing the dramatization to reading the books--are they very different?

[gingicat]

Mainly that Ashford and Anderson Dawes are remixed for the show, as well as Drummer and Michio Pa.

There's also an expansion of Bobbie's time on Earth which is really cool in developing the relationship between her and Avasarala.

(Also, the casting of Bobbie turns out to be amazing - they held out for the giant Pacifica goddess that she is in the books. Avasarala is also perfectly cast.)

Book 7 and 8 take place 30 years later. I have no idea if they would recast or call it quits.

[asakiyume]

I really love both Bobby and Avasarala! And Bobby's time on Earth was one thing I was going to mention above as something I really liked in the show so far. And it was just so great for worldbuilding that we got to see what life was like for the 99 percent, since most of the time we spend with Earth characters is with the 1 percent. Her character feels so **consistent** (which not all of them do--sometimes I feel like motivations are free-floating on the Rocinante and land on a character depending on what's convenient for an episode). I love how stubborn and committed she is. And smart and strong.

And Avasarala is just Wow! Magnificent in every sense.

In both cases, my very first impressions of the characters was negative and then I did a 100 percent about-face and decided I loved them.

[gingicat]

Another difference in the book is that Bobbie doesn't come into the slow zone at all! She stays with Avasarala.

[kore]

There's also an expansion of Bobbie's time on Earth which is really cool in developing the relationship between her and Avasarala.

Oh, which book is that? (I got through about half of the first one, which I liked okay, but it just seemed....such a long series. It's hard for me to commit to long stuff nowadays :-/)

[gingicat]

The second one. (Bobbie and Avasarala don't show up in the first book at all, which focuses entirely on things going on with Holden at al.)

[queenoftheskies]

Dang that's a BIG bubble. You look like you're having so much fun. :)

I love your Koffing.

[asakiyume]

I was having so much fun :-)

[gale_storm]

Like the Koffing one, as well as the Census Burro. Dunno if that burro can really make it to two-digit numbers, though… 8^S

[asakiyume]

Perhaps for the Census Burro's purposes, it's a one-two-three-many situation ;-)

[wayfaringwordhack]

An entry chock-ful of goodness and smiles!

[asakiyume]

Yay--glad you found it so ^_^