24 hours or so of stuff I found on my DVR

[healingmirth]

I watched Latter Days (Mormon missionary meets LA party boy and hilarity and/or tragedy ensues) in my continuing tour of gay-themed movies starring men who vaguely resemble Ryan Reynolds. This one came with a special appearance by a shirtless Brian "Encino Man" Wade. Having survived its mawkish moments, soft-focus shots and increasingly overwrought dialogue, I now have a whole new ridiculous context for all those RPF AUs where Jensen or Jared or Brendon are missionaries.

This movie also features Joseph Gordon Levitt as a vaguely-Texan bigot who nonetheless gets one of my favorite lines in the movie, and two of the least convincing instances of onscreen crying that I can remember.

Also, don't Mormons also not do caffeine? Baby steps, Aaron. Good job.

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I already recorded season one of The Inbetweeners once, and deleted it after it sat there unwatched for a couple of months. BBC America ran a marathon again over the weekend - which my DVR started recording because I told it to last time - and this time I gave it a shot.

It is not damning with faint praise when I say that it wasn't as awful as I was afraid it was going to be. I knew there would be funny bits, but the reason I didn't watch it the first time is that I was afraid that the reason BBCA picked it up was because it would be right at home amidst the teen comedies produced in the US. While there are similarities, insofar as teenage boys the world over are dealing with the same impulses, it had a lot more heart than I was expecting, and a fair bit less American Pie (and I know that's an ancient reference, but that's about when I stopped watching teen comedies) than I was expecting.

Also, I think it's a good thing that I can't name a favorite member of the ensemble, and that I am still not tired of the jokes about Will's mom, or the funny voices, because they're done so sparingly.

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and I'm just going to go ahead and subtitle Surviving the Cut "stuff I would never, ever be able to do." Conveniently, I am also not responsible for the military defense of this or any other nation.

I don't know if it's fair to call Surviving the Cut a reality show, which lumps it in with things like Big Brother. It's closer to the first season of Deadliest Catch. Documentary, I guess? I don't watch shows about military history, and I am not particularly interested to learn about the commanders, but - mostly because of my family - I am always vaguely curious to learn more about the average (or not-so-average) person in the armed forces. This is why I read Making the Corps (finally) a couple months ago, and why I will eventually read the rest of the books I've been stockpiling as they strike my interest.

Anyway, Surviving the Cut. So far we have Combat Diving, Marine Recon, the Army's Ranger school, and ... Air Force Pararescue. And I don't like to hate on the Air Force, even though it is so easy sometimes, but I've got to say, neither their trainers nor their trainees really made a good argument for their supposed eliteness.

Comments

[wishfulclicking]

gay-themed movies starring men who vaguely resemble Ryan Reynolds.

You are so right. I totally forgot that JGL was in that one.

[healingmirth]

Seriously, does Ryan just have an averageish face or was there an agenda that I wasn't privy to?

I haven't done the tour of his roles that seems to follow people falling into Inception fandom yet, so mostly I remember that he's in 10 Things I Hate About You... and sometimes 3rd Rock, so the antagonist Mormon was a surprise.

[wishfulclicking]

I've seen him in Mysterious Skin, 30 Rock, and of course 10 Things I Hate About You. I haven't seen 500 Days of Summer yet and I do want to see the one when he has anger issues. I think he was in Brick too.

I do want to catch RocknRolla too but I've always wanted to see it so it's not really a Tom Hardy influence.

I've fallen into Inception fandom too, I guess I'm just enjoying it while it lasts.

Ryan does seem to have a handsome face/manner on a face that is similar to other minor actors.

[healingmirth]

I just saw RocknRolla not too long ago. I'm not a huge Guy Ritchie fan, so I think most of its appeal was lost on me, but I can see why other people would enjoy it.

I sort of can't stand JGL in interviews - it's not even that I don't *like* him, just something about him is difficult for me to watch - so I haven't watched as many of his movies as I might have, for fear that I'll run into that wall elsewhere.

[wishfulclicking]

I avoid most interviews with actors and other celebrities. IDK, it's not just an embarrassment squick, it's more that I'm not really that interested in what they have to say because I'm watching a character they play; like, I'm having a hard time explaining, but unless they are talking about what it took for them to get into character or their feelings on the character, then I'm not interested just because they're in a movie I like.

[healingmirth]

I wouldn't say I avoid interviews, but for almost everyone I'm pretty ambivalent, unless, like you say, they're talking about something I am interested in: their work. I could not care less about their new car, or the adorable thing their child did, or their debatably-witty banter with the host or interviewer. Unfortunately, I will watch almost anything that's under five minutes and shows up on my reading page, and that's been rather a lot of JGL lately.

Tom Hardy, however, I could still watch for days.