I'm trying to get better about posting things in a more timely manner - today is apparently Good Intentions Day!

Gen V season 2 I'm still impressed by the quality of this. I honestly had zero expectations for a late teenaged spin-off of The Boys, but the writers are doing a great job. Beneath the deliberate silliness and grossness, the characters continue to be complex, all with their own story arcs and issues - none of them evil, none of them good, all just kids with problems who can go either way. There was an interesting narrative twist to the season's main plot, and the plot threads of Gen V and The Boys are now coming together in a way that makes upcoming series potentially very interesting indeed. I'm fully on board.


Castlevania Nocturne I took a while to get into this Castlevania sequel. The basic set-up is the same - a Belmont, a magic-using female alongside him and some other characters adding to the mix. I initially missed the banter, though - I'm always up for a series where the main characters bitch each other out in the most affectionate of ways, and this sequel doesn't have that the way the original did. These main characters are a little younger and more idealistic and vulnerable. The plot was interesting, though, and the historical references behind it (I have to feel bad for Maria, knowing where her beloved revolution is going - and Annette when her Saint Domingue revolution is going to get ripped apart and dragged down into chaos too).

I loved the return of Alucard - an older Alucard, embittered by so many years of caring for mortals. He was so happy when he saw him at the end of Castlevania, surrounded by his newfound village and playing with the kids, but how many times could he watch them all live and die without it wearing him down? Olrox was a great character, too - introduced up-front as the series villain, but far more layered than that. And I really liked the way this series used music and Edouard's singing. I've read some complaints that his singing wasn't that great at first and then it suddenly got better, and why couldn't the actor have done better from the start? But have those people considered it might be deliberate? That Edouard the boy from a Caribbean island might have been considered a good singer locally but maybe not so great on the world stage? And maybe when he becomes a supernatural creature, that might enhance his voice as well as his strength? I thought he was a delight.


Person of Interest season 4 Pros and cons here. I didn't like it as much as season 3, but that's mainly because I MISS SHAW DAMMIT! Shaw was so good - she added a lot to this ensemble, and suddenly having her gone sucks. I'm coming around to Root a little more as the show progresses and so does her character, but she's definitely not replacing Shaw.

I'll miss Elias too - he was devious and conniving and Very Much Not Good but also not exclusively evil, which is always a fascinating mix. But I can also see that the show had played out all the possibilities with him and was coming back full circle, so maybe best to draw a line under that. The problem is we now seem to be left with a straight fight against Samaritan, and the Samaritan people are just not interesting or charismatic. None of them. It might be a good thing that season five is half the length...

I finally got around to editing the video from the Silfra dive in Iceland. It only took 8 months 🤪

https://youtu.be/5CZhf-NdpRo

You're diving the no mans land between the European and North American plates at Thingvellir National Park in Iceland. The water clarity is transparent. It's insanely blue - I actually reduced the amount of blue in the video to make it look a little less fake, but it barely helps! There's not much alive down there - some algae on the rocks, and I saw a few small fish, but it's really just about the geology and the experience.
Much of the dive is in a narrow channel. A couple of spots get wider and very shallow. Apologies for the camera work there - it's hard to hold it straight when you're crawling over the rocks with your tank sticking out!
The water is cold - 2-3C, and that doesn't improve if you dive it in summer since it's melted snow. I wore my heated undergarment, which I was extremely glad about. I didn't notice the cold during the dive itself, though I could feel my lips going a little numb around the reg. When I got out and had to change in the driving wind and lightly falling snow, that was frigid! That part at least might be a little better in summer 🤪