The summer bug

Things I should be doing while I'm home alone in the summertime:
*Posting stuff on my travel and video blogs
*Working on a website I'm supposed to be designing
*Getting ready for VidCon aka watching YouTube channels I've never seen before
*Watching Good Movies!
*Brushing up on technical film stuff. Reading all those film books I have lying around.
*Going outside.


Things I'm actually doing:
*Playing Diablo 3 almost nonstop and getting very excited when I sell something I found (mostly for game gold, but hey, I did sell something for $5.50--real money!)
*Watching Buffy, duh. Also other miscellaneous TV shows.
*Sitting on my balcony and just staring at the pond behind my apartment.
*Making feminist graphics on photoshop.
*Staying inside.

new things

so i know we said we'd be backing off of here and working more on side projects, which is true. but this is still the only place where the two of us post together! that's important to me. so here's a look at some things i have planned for the trope:

1. a buffy chat - lili and i have both started watching buffy the vampire slayer obsessively. we're going to have a pretty serious film-studyish chat about the show, the plot, the metaphors, joss whedon, and the clothes (i have A LOT to say about buffy's clothes) and post it here.

2. more movie (and book) reviews - i definitely have been meaning to do more serious, in-depth movie reviews. i've watched/read so much. and, if you have suggestions, we love suggestions. suggest!

3. youtube reviews - with john and hank green's many side projects and things like the new (weird? i find it weird) show wigs, amongst a ton of other cool stuff, youtube is definitely becoming a medium worth taking seriously. i'll review some of my favorite youtubers, providing you with plenty of links to the greatest videos i have ever seen.

happy summer!

Updates

Hi Tropers!
Erm.. yeah.. so you may have noticed The Trope isn't really an ongoing thing anymore. Sorry about that! The truth is, we had a lot of fun with it, but I guess we've moved on to other things. But don't worry! That doesn't mean you'll be stuck without reading our stuff. We've just sort of branched out onto our own stuff. So here's a nice pile of links for you to read what we're up to now.

Lili-
Videotrope: A tumblr about all things video--movies, tv shows, and even YouTube channels.
Undercover Tourist: A Wordpress blog about travel, with tips on traveling in general as well as restaurant/attraction recommendations.

Mollie-
the osprey: a tumblr of everything i ever wanted to reblog, plus a few posts of random tumblr media
the hybrid animal machine collective: another tumblr, but this time no reblogging! mostly right now it's screenshots from buffy the vampire slayer and a lot of my artwork.

We still love you!

Spring into Spring

Wow, I am really sorry we haven’t posted in so long! I hate to be so cliché, but life kind of got in the way. Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about you guys because we’re having a ball every day (well, actually, that was the case for two weeks, but more on that soon), we’ve just been swamped with a million responsibilities.

Now that we’ve gotten through that apology, let’s move on, shall we?

Happy Spring! It’s officially spring time, and you know what that means… Actually I have no idea what that means, really, but I know this week I’ve been noticing warmer weather, more plentiful sun, summery Starbucks drinks, and lots of people lying down or playing in the park.  It’s that time of year when it seems like *nobody* has a job. I mean, really, what are all these people doing in the park at 2PM on a Wednesday?

For me, I know this means it’s time to let my inner child out to play more often (hey, my inner child isn’t the one with responsibilities! right?).  That = me staying up much later than usual watching movies (last night: “The Goodbye Girl”) or the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, spending more time lying by my window and reading fantasy, and even going to the park and playing with sticks as my friend teaches me how to perform stage combat with a quarterstaff.  And for those of you affected by the seasons, this is your time!  No more dreary winter days and cold, biting winds to get you down.  Just sun, blue skies, and the promise of blooming.

I realize I sound overly energetic and optimistic right now, but this is important.  Because we all have things weighing us down, but the coming of spring is an excuse to let go of that for a day or two, have a good time, and raise our hopes up.  Cities in Spain have a holiday virtually every two or three weeks, and they’ll take advantage of any excuse to avoid work and just *live*.  And, really, I think the U.S. needs to learn a lesson or two from them.  So go!  Take a day trip, feel the sun warm your face, stay in bed with the shades open and read your favorite book.  Give yourself a little slack before the summer starts and the heat becomes a constant reminder of pressure.  This is spring!

A little dorky and serious

train of thought:
zelda's 25th anniversary! --> I'd like to play the very first zelda games --> but I'd have to buy some of the consoles --> I was too young for the NES --> but why didn't I ever get a gamecube? --> I want to have all the nintendo consoles --> but I just bought an N64 --> why did my dad give mine away? I could've just used my original N64; it'd be great --> well at least I have my original super nintendo. that's pretty awesome --> and it's still works and I play with it! --> that's kind of incredible --> but should it be incredible?
--> my iphone didn't last longer than 18 months.

Why is it that technology's getting progressively worse? Or is it that all modern day digitalization has a fast expiration date? Can we put a stop to this? I have two propositions:

1) Let's, as a cohesive whole, push for value in our electronics/technology/products, etc... We don't have the money, landfill space, or a real reason to be switching out all of our electronics every one to three years.  I am curious to see if there is a movement for this already.  It may seem insignificant compared to other issues, but changing our perception of consumerism could form a social unconscious that is generally more aware--of consequences, resources, sustainability, and economic factors, to name a few.

2) Nintendo, please don't ever make a Zelda app.

(For the record, if it seems like I'm targeting the video game industry in particular, I'm not.  Console and game developers such as Nintendo tend to appreciate and strive for longstanding value more than companies like Apple do, though I am hoping Apple's trend does not catch on too much with the gaming industry.)