Review Wednesday No. 2

This post is a little late in the day but as per usual I’ve got a reason for that; it was all in the name of research! I’ll continue with this in my first review…

- Ugly Betty Season 1 Box Set

I rented out last Friday the Ugly Betty S. 1 Box Set thinking it would be a good idea to rewatch and try to get myself up to speed and after finishing all of the episodes I’m glad I did.

For those of you who don’t yet know about this series (though you’d have to be a complete recluse to have never heard of it) it follows the at first clumsy, desperate and determined Betty Suarez as she attempts to get her foot in the door to pursue her dream of one day owning her own magazine. After a few unsuccessful attempts (which aren’t seen) she tries Meade publications and after an initial turn down is recruited to be the assistant to the new Editor-in-Chief of Mode, a high-class fashion magazine, Daniel Meade.

As the series progresses we see Betty develop into a more confident person trying to balance out her personal and professional life as well as delving into the, at times, murky depths of the lives of the people around her.

The show itself is fast paced; constantly shifting between people and places so trying to watch episodes back to back can become tiring. If possible it would be best to try to rent the box set for at least a couple of weeks or just buy it.

I don’t want to give any spoilers here for the series so I’ll keep this as cryptic as possible but the whole series is worth watching to see the cliffhangers and the moving final scene.

Overall I found the series a thrill to watch once again as the storylines never grow old however my only complaint would be that sometimes it feels unnecessary for other characters to shoe-horn Betty into a conversation where she really wouldn’t have been needed to emphasise a point.

Entertainment rating: 4 and ½ stars!!!!

- Internet Distraction: Sign of the Times 2009

So another distraction review, I hope you’re not too busy! This time I’ve been checking out the hilarious photo galleries from the Times website where readers have sent in pictures of odd signs. It might sound like a weak idea but I guarantee that you’ll be amused for at least a lunch break just by flicking through.

Link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/travel_images/article6814134.ece

Run time: Depends on how fast you flick through.
Distraction rating: 3 out of 5
Work distraction: Fine for work.

- Internet Distractions: Diarrhea

After hearing about a TV show abroad which teaches some very odd English phrases I noticed that Weebl’s Stuff has a remix of it to a beat. Quite funny, a bit distasteful at times though but the man’s face near the end of the loop just has me in stitches every time.

Link:

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Diarrhea/

Run time: Less than 1 minute
Distraction rating: 2 out of 5, funny but not hilarious
Work distraction: NSFW mostly due to the topic itself.

- Internet Distraction: Unreckoned

I have a confession to make before I start this review, this review is of a friend’s work so it may seem like I’m plugging the link but I feel that it is worth a review regardless and you’re all free to agree or disagree with what I say.

Before I review this I have two warnings. Firstly this is a review of a collection of fanfiction so if you don’t like it then you’re free to skip over this. Secondly the fanfiction is slash so if you’re not interested or don’t like romance between two men then you really should skip ahead now, you really won’t like this.

So Unreckoned is a collection of Fanfic based on the TV series Smallville. It is written by a fan that didn’t like the way that the show was heading and so rewrote it how she wanted whilst trying to keep within some of the show’s boundaries. The fiction itself is well written with very few mistakes whilst the story, pacing and characterisation are fantastic.

As to the mention of slash it does start off as a ‘will they won’t they’ romance but the writing does get quite steamy a lot later down the line.

Currently the series is on hiatus and it is as of yet undecided whether or not it will be continued but for now there is a lot to read.

Link:

http://community.livejournal.com/unreckoned/

Run time: Days can be spent reading through the whole collection
Distraction rating: 4 out of 5 for excellent characterisation and interaction
Work distraction: Safe at first but as I’ve said before it will get steamy.

So that’s the end to this weeks Review Wednesday, see you all on Friday! (Which again might be a late post but this time it should be because a colleague is leaving work and we’re having a party)