In Which I Talk About Webseries and Get Excited When They Have Hispanics

So I wasn't productive today. Monday night I finished my Three of Swords chapter (Vol. III, Chap. 11, for the curious), which I've been working on FOR MONTHS, and then re-started working on when I finished school at the end of May. So yes, I'm lame and take forever, but all in all, it was a tough chapter and it was hard not to make it corny (it ended up being corny anyway). Yesterday I pretty much just watched Parks & Recreation (the BEST) and re-read chunks of Eclipse (don't be hatin') and then gave up and succumbed to lying on the floor of my air-conditioned-room while making up a bizarre new story about a paraplegic. But TODAY....I still wasn't productive. BUT!! I watched two web series and read about 700+ pages of a web comic.

A minute ago I found this image on Google and I realized HEY "extraordinary" doesn't begin with an X!!! eheheheheh.

LXD (not be confused with LSD or LDS), which I watched while eating breakfast is really rather corny. Basically, it's about the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. Stop laughing. I'm not joking. Also, I'm not about to totally knock this show, because it's got great cinematography and the dancing is pretty cool. The LXD is a secret organization that's invites-only for amazing dancers--and here, dancing isn't just the usual deal. It's gravity-defying and is essentially a super-power. Each episode begins with some bald black dude who looks like a toad talking about super-powers like Professor X does in the beginning of the X-Men movies.

All bald dudes are the same to me.

This dude is like a cross between Prof. X and Morpheus so you KNOW you can trust him (but he's gonna get you killed probably if he thinks you're 'special'). LXD features a lot of used plot points--like the unpopular boy who likes the pretty girl w/ the jerk popular boyfriend (if she's so great, whyyy is she dating a jerk??). But the characters were sort of charming, and I love that it's not all white people in the cast, you have a lot of Hispanics and Asians and heyo! it's directed by Jon Chu, an Asian director. So I guess I'll be watching, because I think it has the potential to be kind of cool in a weird way (they showed a few seconds of people fighting with dance moves and THAT was epic). Also, the villain is quite handsome--but the actor has the same name as my honors philosophy professor.

He doesn't LOOK like my philosophy professor! In fact, this guy was that guy who dances with Madonna in the "Hung Up" music video I used to watch on MTV a lot. I liked that guy, despite his taste for older women in leotards. He's Hispanic. yayz

O_o Anyway...new episodes of LXD are posted every Wednesday on Hulu all summer! If you like SYTYCD, Step Up, and that kind of thing, and maybe like X-Men and all...it's fun.

Exile is less popular and on a smaller budget than LXD, but it's kinda awesomer. It's definitely more original. It's a bit more artistic and all, and is just generally rougher and not as smooth and glossy as LXD. But enough comparing. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it, because it's a zombie thing, and while I like Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later, and Resident Evil (games, not movies, except Degeneration), I hate Dawn of the Dead and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and pretty much most other zombie things. But Exile isn't gratuitous zombie shots. There's blood and flashes of things, but it's not about the zombies. It's about people, and I liked that.

There's only 4 episodes online, and they're all from Arc 1. The general plot centers around a group of people holing up in a movie theater, while zombies roam outside. I don't think they ever say the word zombies in the show itself, but it seems that the things outside are zombies, so I'm calling them that. There aren't too many characters. Jake and Jenny are brother and sister and their parents are dead, and Jenny is really cute. She wears a wonderful scarf that belonged to her mother and she acts pretty realistic, which I liked. Of course, what's a post-apocalyptic world without people forging relationships that they would never forge under normal circumstances? Charles is a lot older than Jenny, and they develop a relationship I didn't expect but that I loved immensely. 

Those of you who know about my soft spot for these kinds of relationships won't be surprised that I loved this so much.

The characters in Exile are strong and likable and what makes the show so real. The interviews Charles conducts using his video camera were just great, as he asks the other survivors random questions like "what food do you miss most?" The answers are so good and believable...that made me laugh. Also, the fact that Dunkaroos were mentioned is such epic win. But what really makes Exile is the dialogue. There were some scenes where I wasn't sure how I felt about the delivery of lines, but not matter what, I liked the lines themselves. The script is tremendously good, and is what really kept me watching, more than anything else. My favorite line was Jake talking to Charles about Jenny: "You're like the 'Lost Boys' to her 'Twilight'." I really like double-references, ok? *Edit: Also, I meant to mention this but I forgot...the actress who plays Jenny seems to be Hispanic. As always, this pleases me. We are getting closer to taking over the world, amigos.*

The music is really good and I actually know the composer so I feel cool! haha. Additionally, the cover of Bob Dylan's "Shelter from the Storm" is so very good. I want an Exile soundtrack pronto. (Do they exist?) I know a couple of the people who worked on it, so that was why I checked it out, but I kept on with it because it is actually quite good. As I said before, all 4 episodes of Arc 1 are up, and Arc 2 is supposed to be released at some point, though I don't know when.

Okay I wanted to blog about a webcomic, but I am tired and giving up on this fan and going to my room to embrace my AC.

Categories: dance, exile, legion of extraordinary dancers, lxd, super powers, web series, zombies