#and her vibes are just very refreshing for the series she just brings that PASSION and ENERGY | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tv14pluscartoons · 3 years

Text

BIRDGIRL EPISODE 1: "PILOT" (April 4th, 2021)

Review edited for me by Glenn Rolón

This show contains discussion of parental neglect, non-graphic death and a hidden severed foot in a bag.

So, funny story, 21 years ago I was 5 years old watching the beginnings of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Was I too young for it? Absolutely. But also it was like, the least inappropriate thing on Adult Swim I actively watched all through its run until I was 12 years old, so it's held a special place in my heart ever since.

All of that is to say, having seen that show is kind of unnecessary to understanding this episode. Which I would hope, given this is a spinoff of a show that began 21 years ago, ended officially 14 years ago, and had its last one-off special 3 years ago.

Birdgirl starts us off with Judy Ken Sebben/Birdgirl finishing up her day job, ordering ramen takeout while venting through the call about how her passions are more with her other life as Birdgirl than with her normal life as Judy, which is the perfect set up for the ultimate point of the episode. It then rushes forward into Birdgirl's fast paced action and awkwardness-heavy night, showing how much more excited Judy feels to do that than her lawyer day job. Though it also shows how RECKLESS she is as Birdgirl.

Judy completely ignores the giant signs of her father's death, seemingly out of cluelessness to the audience as its presented.

But longtime watchers of Harvey Birdman will already know he's faked his death multiple times, a point that's brought up when Judy goes to work the next day and is called into the meeting for the CEO Replacement. In which its revealed that her father (who believes Birdgirl and Judy are different people) chose Birdgirl to be the CEO while giving Judy the majority stocks in the company, setting off the real point of the episode, and possibly series: Judy's entire mental disconnect with herself. She feels distraught that her father saw Birdgirl as CEO material and not her more personal, calmer self.

Because she can't bring herself to grieve over her father yet again after the previous times, she goes fully into denial spending more of her time as Birdgirl and neglecting her personal life.

Which brings the concern of the friend she makes with Meredith the Mindtaker, a green telepath played by Negin Farsad.

Meredith is very empathetic despite calling herself "bad at emotions", which might be a side effect of her powers. Speaking of, to make a mental note, I find it refreshing that her powers are treated very intentionally not-invasively as possible, only using them to give therapeutic advice to Judy or physically stopping her to get her to listen. The biggest "misuse" is just her joking to finish Judy's sentences, which while annoying, isn't the same as forcing her way deep into Judy's insecurities she won't admit to herself.

Birdgirl's humor is dry and not scored by music or heavy sounds, aside from the absurdity of Birdgirl's incompetence at fighting crime in denial of her father's death; which is still underplayed compared to other examples I've seen.

The character design feels fitting as a continuation to Harvey Birdman while just being pleasant to look at, while also animating probably better overall than the original or a show with a similar vibe and style like Archer.

I really like how Birdgirl's eyes go from superhero cartoon/comic book white to showing her eyes like a live action adaptation whenever she'll be speaking honestly from the heart while in the mask instead of in denial.

One thing that might become obvious the longer you watch the episode is that, unlike Harvey Birdman, Birdgirl seems like it's not allowed to use Hanna Barbera/MGM/Cartoon Network characters freely, which may explain the abscence of a few old key characters, not showing or mentioning Harvey Birdman, and the fact one of the board members is a cartoon dog that might've been Droopy had they been able to. I don't think this hinders the show at all, but it is noticeable considering the show it spun off from. Might be Warner wanting to keep some characters clean while they try to use them in kid appropriate material like Space Jam: A New Legacy.

Birdgirl is a very calm show, definitely meant for teenagers and older — With the exploration of Judy's personal, mental and emotional struggles brought on by her father's neglect of her when she wasn't being reckless as Birdgirl. However, everything else is very tame; there's fewer than 5 bleeped swears, fewer than 3 mentions of sex and despite there being a people eating machine in this episode, it shows no real gore unlike another show with the same TV-14 Rating.

Birdgirl is for adults not in the sense that it has content inappropriate for children, but in the sense that its story, which seems to be ongoing, deals with issues that are only really relatable to people who are old enough. Despite human waste (heh) being a part of the episode, it doesn't ever feel "immature" in the way that poster child shows like Family Guy or Rick and Morty can feel, or even Tuca and Bertie, which is very mature with an important story, but goes for more crass jokes.

If you're a fan of stories with a woman-centric cast and dry humor, I'd recommend it to you. If you're more into the superhero stuff, I can't say I'd recommend it to you until more episodes have come out for a better gauge of where the show's boundaries will be.

Overall, Birdgirl is an enjoyable superhero empathy ride I hope to see more of and I'm glad I checked out.

#birdgirl #TV14Plus Review #judy ken sebben #meredith the mindtaker #harvey birdman attorney at law #14 and up #Adult Swim #tv series review

70 notes · View notes

mediaevalmusereads · 3 years

Text

Matrix. By Lauren Groff. New York: Riverhead Books, 2021.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: historical fiction

Part of a Series? No

Summary: Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie's vision be bulwark enough? Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff's new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: blood, violence, gore, childbirth, threats of rape

Overview: As a medievalist, I’m admittedly a little picky when it comes to my historical fiction set in the Middle Ages, but because this book was about Marie de France, I decided to give it a go. While I do think that Groff is a talented writer, I ultimately felt let down by Matrix; when I think about Marie de France, I think of her lais and the magic she weaves into them (not literal magic, mind you, but things like the power of women, courtly love, lush atmosphere, etc). This book, by contrast, contained very few of the themes that make Marie’s work so memorable, to the point where the less you know about the real Marie de France, the better. Instead of exploring the mind of the woman who wrote such wonderful, magical tales, we get the story of a nun who brings an impoverished abbey to prosperity. It’s a fine story, don’t get me wrong - it’s just not one I’d associate with Marie de France. Honestly, I think Groff would have had more success writing about her own original character, taking inspiration from mystics like Julian of Norwich or Margery Kempe. Thus, this book only gets 3 stars from me.

Writing: Groff’s prose is beautifully crafted with evocative imagery that is also easy to read. Everything flows well and moves at a quick pace, so readers won’t feel bogged down by details such as the day-to-day work at the abbey or some such. This book also uses present tense to narrate the story, and while I’m not usually a fan of the present tense, I think Groff made it work. The narrative feels energetic and grounded, and I think it combined well with the technique of using run-on sentences from time to time to convey the feeling of being caught up in the moment or lost in thought.

Plot: The plot of this book mainly follows Marie de France as she is yanked from her life at the French court and placed in charged of a poor English abbey. We follow Marie as she rises through the ranks and brings the abbey to prosperity, all while wrangling unruly nuns and doing her best to convince Eleanor of Aquitaine to come for a visit.

I think I would have enjoyed this plot more if the protagonist were someone other than Marie de France. As I said in my intro, the story isn’t an exploration of the inner workings of the mind of a (female) medieval poet; rather, it’s a story about a woman obsessed with her own power and reputation within the Church. The lais themselves get only about 3 pages of mention, and it felt like none of the themes that we associate with Marie’s real-life lais made it into this novel. While I did appreciate the little nods to history here and there (for example, the description of one of the nuns sticking a paintbrush in her mouth and getting lapis lazuli in her teeth), there wasn’t enough in this book to made the story feel fresh or new. Perhaps Groff was working with the theory that Marie de France was Marie, Abbess of Shaftesbury, but even so, the lack of attention to the lais and how they’d complicate our expectations or assumptions about the life of a medieval nun was baffling to me. Personally, I think Groff would have had more success if the book was “about” Marie, Abbess of Shaftesbury, or about an original character, inspired by female mystics such as Julian of Norwich or Margery Kempe.

I also wasn’t enthusiastic about the way Groff chooses to present her “feminist utopia” of an abbey staffed with only women. Despite the desire for Marie to protect her nuns from male violence and power, not much work is put into describing the abbey as a haven. Instead, Marie imposes her own will onto others and replicates the power hierarchies that she is (supposedly) so desperate to escape. I think I would have liked this book better if the author could have looked for the ways in which abbey life could have been a solace to the women. For example, maybe the daily routine provides comfort for those struggling with the chaos of the outside world. Maybe the queer nuns finally find a place that feels safe for them to express their affection for other women. Anything that complicated our modern assumptions about medieval Christianity would have been welcome; instead, I felt like I got a lot of “barbaric Middle Ages.”

I guess I’m being harsh in that Marie explicitly says that she thinks women are only safeguarded by their reputations. Thus, all of her actions are in service to cultivating a particular image of herself and the abbey (imposing, impregnable, protected by magic, etc). I think this could have been more satisfying for me if A.) again, we weren’t reading a story about “Marie de France,” or B.) the novel was very self-conscious about the fact that Marie was manipulating the perspectives of others.

Characters: Marie, our main protagonist, is confusing and difficult to like. Originally, she’s too cool for school; she arrives at the abbey more than a little skeptical of Christianity, and she judges the other nuns around her rather harshly (even though some deserve it, but still - there was this “not like other girls” vibe that I didn’t like). The novel tells us that she was a child crusader, which seems odd for one not invested in Christianity, and then never really does anything with that except use it to instill fear in people who are uncomfortable with her “imposing” demeanor. After a few years, Marie becomes devout to the point where she’s having divine visions, like e medieval mystic. The switch felt fairly abrupt, and Marie’s ruthless pursuit of power and prosperity was admittedly a little tired at times. The only things I liked about her were her queerness and obsession with Eleanor of Aquitaine. Queerness is fairly commonplace, which is refreshing; even though Marie struggles with the idea of whether it is a sin or not to have carnal desires for other women, I did appreciate that wlw relationships were everywhere within the abbey, not just between Marie and a single other nun. Marie’s obsession with Eleanor was also interesting in that it bordered on erotic obsession and made manifest the pains unreciprocated love, mirroring courtly love in real medieval literature. I liked how Marie strove to please Eleanor in everything that she did, and loving the Queen from a distance put an interesting spin on courtly love between two women.

Eleanor, for her part, was intriguing because she was something of a mystery. We mainly saw her though Marie’s eyes, which meant that she was held up as a paragon - of beauty, of intelligence, of courage, etc. When we do finally see Eleanor in the flesh (so to speak), she doesn’t quite live up to Marie’s hype, and I liked the conflict between reality and the lover’s image of the beloved.

Most other characters blurred together for me. There are many nuns at the abbey, and most of them have quirks or jobs that make them unique. In that respect, I liked how Groff made each nun feel like an individual, and that they all came together to form a community. What I didn’t really like, however, was how they always seemed to be in conflict. Aside from a couple characters, it didn’t seem like any of the women had any close relationships; rather, I felt like the women were frequently in conflict or at least consistently incompatible in some way or another. If Groff really wanted to paint the abbey as some kind of haven or utopia, I think having more of the nuns find emotional intimacy with one another would have gone a long way. Even if some of the women didn’t get along, I would have liked to see more positive relationships rather than negative or impersonal ones.

TL;DR: Matrix is ultimately a compelling novel about running an abbey, but a poor imagining of real-life poet Marie de France. While there is much to admire about Groff’s prose and the book would have been a fine work of historical fiction if written about, say, the Abbess of Shaftesbury, the narrative is unfulfilling for those who are familiar with the lais of Marie de France, primarily because none of the core themes from the medieval poems play major roles in Groff’s novel.

5 notes · View notes

fezgician · 3 years

Text

BIRDGIRL EPISODE 1: "PILOT" (April 4th, 2021)

Judy completely ignores the giant signs of her father's death, seemingly out of cluelessness to the audience as its presented.

Because she can't bring herself to grieve over her father yet again after the previous times, she goes fully into denial spending more of her time as Birdgirl and neglecting her personal life.

Which brings the concern of the friend she makes with Merideth the Mindtaker, a green telepath played by Negin Farsad.

Merideth is very empathetic despite calling herself "bad at emotions", which might be a side effect of her powers. Speaking of, to make a mental note, I find it refreshing that her powers are treated very intentionally not-invasively as possible, only using them to give therapeutic advice to Judy or physically stopping her to get her to listen. The biggest "misuse" is just her joking to finish Judy's sentences, which while annoying, isn't the same as forcing her way deep into Judy's insecurities she won't admit to herself.

Overall, Birdgirl is an enjoyable superhero empathy ride I hope to see more of and I'm glad I checked out.

6 notes · View notes

itsjuliak5 · 4 years

Text

Even more YouTubers that are really cool and great since we could all use that right now.

Part 1 and Part 2

Ready To Glare - She is an absolute queen! She brings awareness to a variety of serious issues that are going on in the world. I love her bluntness and how she’s not afraid to hold people accountable when they need to be. Also her aesthetic is amazing.

D’Angelo Wallace - My monotone king! He makes amazingly well done and thought out commentary videos on a variety of topics that are going on in the world, but primarily YouTube stuff. He’s also not afraid to give his opinion even if it’s not the majority, which is really refreshing.

Nick DiRamio - I just discovered him through one of his movie commentary videos and he seems like such a genuine, funny person; He reminds me of Jeremy Jordan for some reason. His movie commentary videos are well thought out because I believe he has a film degree(?). He produces other types of content too, like product reviews and fun food reviews.

Daz Games - Daz is a Vine legend that makes amazing and hilarious videos. His laugh is contagious and his sense of humor is amazing. He also tries to be super mindful of his audience when covering potentially triggering topics to not upset them and it’s really nice.

The Try Channel - They are a bunch of lovely Irish people that try a variety of different foods and react to different types of media. It’s really cool to see the perspectives that people from another country have on different things that you may enoy.

Cut - This channel is most known for their series “Asking 100 People *blank*” and they are intriguing to watch. They discuss a bunch of different topics in an open and conversational way, to make harder topics easier to talk about. I believe they are also associated with the channel HiHo Kids, but I’m not 100% sure ~ That channel is also pretty cool!

Andrew Lowe - Andrew is super funny and posts a variety of content on his channel from cooking videos to arts and crafts type videos. He has an overall super chill vibe that is really nice accompanied with his sense of humor. His prank call videos are hysterical. Andrew and Chris are also roommates so they collab frequently!

Kristina Braly - She is an anesthesiologist that makes super informative videos on the human body and being healthy. Kristina also does really fun reaction videos to popular medical dramas that are not only super entertaining, but also extremely educational as well.

Alizee - She is a British commentary channel and I absolutely love her sense of humor. She’s very blunt and honest, while also remaining incredibly funny and I love that. Alizee does commentary videos on a variety of subjects from remaining sober to typical celebrity drama.

Joe Santagato / Santagato Studios - I cannot express how funny this man is. He frequently collabs with his brother, Keith, and his other friends in a variety of comedic videos from Mad Libs to the gross jellybean challenge. He also has a pod cast called The Basement Yard that is super funny, as well. He’s also a super respectful human being, which is so rare in a man now a days. Whatever you do, don’t watch him while eating because I almost choked once from laughing so hard.

theNewBee Reviews - He does movie reviews of the movies that people are “afraid” to watch, like typically “gross” movies and makes them super entertaining. He also makes it super easy to “watch” and listen to those movies without physically having to do it yourself. He’s very laid back and casual with his jokes, which I find super funny.

Amanda The Jedi - Amanda does a lot of movie and tv show reviews, and will even take the time to do movies or tv shows that not a lot of people have heard of. She has a super fun and relatable personality that makes her easy to watch, plus you can tell she has a lot of passion for what she does!

I linked the channels and/or really funny videos for them all, so it’ll be easier for people to check them out!

65 notes · View notes