Sorry Not Sorry

I’ll start this by saying I’m not a religious person. I don’t necessarily believe in destiny, but I do believe in the Universe and each of us having an optimal path in life that we can achieve if we work hard enough.

That being said, I’ve been focusing on myself a lot more these days. That may sound funny coming for a self-proclaimed selfish person, but I’ve been thinking more about bettering myself and putting myself on that optimal path. I believe when you open yourself to the Universe, saying you are open and ready for change and the next step, It will deliver.

I’ve started getting back into writing and I’ve started reading again, which has been great. Growing up, if I wasn’t playing video games, I either had my nose buried in a book, or I was writing. It feels good to get back to that place, as I’d lost my way for a while. Typically, I’d read fiction, but I have been stumbling upon non-fiction these days. The most recent, which I just finished a few minutes ago (and started Wednesday or Thursday) as Sorry Not Sorry by Naya Rivera.

Glee was not my thing… at first. I am a rather contrary person. I will not like something solely because it is popular at the current moment. Back when Glee first was on the air, my friends were obsessed. My twenty-something friends. In the show’s defense, I hadn’t given it the time of day, I just knew if there was a bandwagon, I didn’t want to be on it.

The first song I heard from Glee that made me rethink things was “Rumour Has It / Someone Like You.” I loved it and I loved Naya Rivera. A short time later, I was sick around Christmas time (Christmas time tends to be the time of the year I get sick for some reason), and had nothing better to do, so I watched my roommate’s copy of Glee season one. By the time I got to “I Say A Little Prayer,” I was hooked. Santana was naturally my favorite character, as she reminded me of me. By the time I started watching, I believe the show was in season three (if not further), so a bit of the hype had died down, making me more comfortable to become a fan.

Watching Glee always hit some spark in me, as I wish I had the talent to sing and dance as everyone displayed on the show. In another life, with another skill set, I would imagine myself coming on the show to play Santana’s equally sassy, younger brother, or cousin or something (Naya is ever so slightly older than I).

Naya sings a majority of my favorite songs from the show and I instantly became a fan. When I heard she was writing a book, I knew I would read it… some day. Well, that day came this week.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and it found its way to me in a time when I’m going through my own journey of transformation (again, I believe you Universe provides to you what you put out to It.) I remember a time when I started to see more of Naya in things, such as interviews, rather than playing Santana, and I began to wonder if it was just Santana I liked, or if I liked the actress as well. Reading the book helped me realize I liked them both.

Reading about someone’s struggles and triumphs is quite inspirational, as it makes me feel I can do it too. Maybe one day someone will be writing a blog about how my memoir made the feel?

She talks about so many things. Love, childhood, marriage, work. It was entertaining and informative. I recommend it, especially if you are/were a fan of Naya’s. Reading it is yet another push I need towards chasing after my own dreams. One day I want my own version of Sorry Not Sorry. One day.

Big Brother S19 Episode 28

I’m losing interest in this show. I was so excited to get back into it, but seeing Paul control everything isn’t interesting to me.

The past few weeks, it has been the same thing. Someone wins HOH and they say they are ready to make “big moves” and then they vote out their target, who just so happens to be Paul’s preferred target. The annoying thing about it is, other than Jessica and Cody, these targets haven’t even been a threat to the HOH. Rather than strategically voting people out to strengthen their game, the HOHs are voting people out to strength Paul’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up winning, as if he were to go up to someone and tell them he was putting them up for eviction and they were leaving, at this point, I feel they would gladly go along with it.

The only reason I may continue to watch is to see the house finally implode when they have no more outsiders to target. I wish someone had decided to go after the biggest threat (Paul) rather than the weakest targets, as the more I watch, the less interesting it gets, as it feels Paul is being groomed to win.

One last note, I did get a bit emotional when Mark talked about being introduced to Big Brother by his mother, and how she passed away (much as I did when Jessica talked about her dad’s passing and him introducing her to Big Brother), as my mom introduced me to the show (she passed almost a year and a half ago) and watching reminds me of her.

Defenders

I powered through Iron Fist so I could watch Defenders and have it make sense. I’m glad I did, as a lot of what happened in Defenders picked up where Iron Fist left off. Again, I’ll try to avoid spoilers, but this is all stream of conscious, so, there may be some.

First of all, I commend the writers, as I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to blend these four different heroes, all with their own shows that had their own styles. I thought it was done really well.

Second, ELEKTRA!!!! I was very excited for her return. Those who know me know she is my favorite Daredevil character, favorite Marvel character, favorite comic book character, hell, she is one of my favorite fictional characters. I loved the homage to her original costume. I also really enjoyed the Jill Valentine tease (Resident Evil 5) they did with her… and I’m already searching for a black trenchcoat with red lining.

It was interesting to see the characters interact with one another. Up until this point, Claire was the only one (I believe) that knew them all. It felt a little exposition-y at times, them explaining powers and all, (and maybe I just felt a certain way as I had just watched Iron Fist and did not need/want to hear him tell his damn story again) but I was able to live with it.

This is likely my bias, but I felt Elektra stole the show. I couldn’t help but compare her to Harld Meachum. Had she lost part of her soul upon resurrection as he had? I also felt a bit of Illyria tease with her as well. She was a vessel, a weapon. Black Sky was now inhabiting Elektra’s body, much like Illyria infected and took over Fred’s in Angel. I felt so bad for Matt when he realizes she was brought back to life and his efforts to get her to remember him were endearing.

I also really enjoyed her kicking Iron Fist’s ass multiple times.

Some people had issues with the pacing, but I felt it moved well, especially considering it was only eight episodes. It brought the characters together and got them fighting (something I wish Iron Fist had done more efficiently).

I was a bit confused by The Hand. Their goal didn’t make sense, the more I think about it, and reminded me too much of Buffy, which Dawn being the Key Glory needed to get back home. I wanted to see them do more, as a majority of the time, they just stood around while Elektra kicked ass.

Defenders ending with me wanting more. It’s a catch 22, I enjoyed the series and binged it quickly, but now I have to wait for the next entry, be it Daredevil, Punisher, etc. I’m also excited to see if there will be any other shows, perhaps Daughters of Dragon? I read somewhere that Defenders is looking to big Netflix’s biggest premier, so only time will tell.

Iron Fist

I’ll make this short and sweet. I was not a fan of Iron Fist. It is hard to pinpoint one specific thing, I just wasn’t able to really get into it. I didn’t like Danny, I didn’t like Colleen, for most of the show I didn’t like the Meachums. The characters I liked were characters from the other shows, like Claire and Hogarth (Hogarth’s one liners slayed me), though I really loved Davos and Ward Meachum became my favorite character. I’ll try my best not to put in any spoilers.

It felt like there was a lot of story crammed into one season. Maybe it is my love of Buffy that clouds my judgement, but I like the formula where a big bad is introduced in the beginning of the season and the gang works their way towards the big showdown at the end of the season. In Iron Fist, I couldn’t tell who was meant to be the main adversary, the Meachums? Gao? Bakuto?

I found it hard to relate to Danny or care about what he was going through. A lot of people describe him as whiny, and I don’t know if that’s what I saw. He just seemed juvenile for someone who studied under monks for 15 years. At the beginning, it seemed the season would be about his fight against the Meachums to prove his identity and get his company back, but that was quickly resolved (I’ll dive a bit more into that later). I really, really did not like when Danny was in the hospital. It slowed the pacing down way too much for my tastes.

The season was enjoyable when Danny had purpose, which was to stop Gao. I started to really get invested in the show, and dare I say, start to like Danny and Colleen… and then her sensei, Bakuto, popped up, and I started not liking the show again. It was a sudden change in direction, which made it difficult to determine, ok, who is the real threat here? Things became interesting when Davos hit the scene (his personality is what I expected and wanted from Danny), but at that point, I really just wanted the show to be over so I could watch Defenders and have it all make sense.

The evolution of Ward and Harold Meachum fascinated me. Ward is my favorite character of this series, as he is so complex and I felt he had a great story arc. Harold was interesting because you know he is a villain from the beginning, but the whole thing about coming back from the dead and each time losing a piece of one’s soul was intriguing to me, it made it interesting to watch him interact with other characters, especially those close to him (poor Kyle), as there was so much tension. Would he snap? And if so, how far would he go?

A lot of the character motivations felt confusing, especially Joy’s. She was very back and forth, and it seemed to be for the sake of moving the story forward rather than from her character’s own doing. Example, towards the beginning, there is a scene where Danny confronts her and her brother, she tells him they are not his family and they do not want him there. They are trying to keep the company from him, despite him being the rightful heir. Everything that connects him is gone, except one clay creation Joy has… and she gives it to him… WHY?!? Another time, later in the season, she sides with her father over her brother, which makes absolutely no sense, especially considering the previous episode, she is begging her brother to let her in on what’s going on.

The other three shows had a nice flow to them, and I may not have liked all the characters, but I at least liked the main one. That being said, I’m always willing to give a show a chance, so if there is a second season, I’d be open to watching it.

Being Mary Jane

I stumbled upon this show one night thanks to Ray and Ricky. I heard about it before and heard a bit of controversy about it, but it hadn’t peaked my interested. Truth be told, I was never that big a fan of Gabrielle Union. I always thought she looked mean and angry and she always played mean characters, it is silly to judge an actress by the roles she plays, I know.

However, they were watching an episode as I came home from work one day and I was instantly intrigued. I discovered it was on Netflix and sat down and watched the first season. I fell in love with the show instantly for several reasons.

First, I love Gabrielle Union as Mary Jane. I couldn’t see another actress in the role. To her credit, I only watcher her earlier teen roles, and then Deliver Us From Eva, and wasn’t aware of the great range of emotions she can give to a role. Mary Jane is strong and successful but also vulnerable and, at times, less than smart. I love the complexity of the character.

Second, I love, love, LOVE Mara Brock Akil, the series creator. For those who don’t know, she also created Girlfriends and The Game. Girlfriends was everything to me. It was the black LA answer to Sex and the City. I watched the first three seasons of The Game, all that Netflix has to this day, but wasn’t as big a fan of it as Girlfriends. I love that her shows are about successful black men and women and she weaves in discussions about race and other important social issues in all of her shows.

Third, the show inspires me, just as Girlfriends inspired me. When Mary Jane is helping her niece to eat better and lose weight, it made me think more about the food I put into my body. Seeing Mary Jane bust her ass for her job and her career makes me want to give my all to my writing and the pursuit of my career.

Now, Mary Jane is a bit messy; too messy for some people, but it just makes me love her even more. Even the most put together people, even the most successful, have shit to deal with in their lives. Everyone has issues. It is all about how we work through them.