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shadowkatBeen taking it easy today, reading lj, writing on lj, watching marathons of DVR'd tv shows that have been taking up space for months, trying with little success to get rid of whatever it is in my apartment that is making me hack every few hours. A choking cough that I can't seem to get rid of.
Took antiboitics which made it better, less congested, and less frequent. But alas, still there.
Going to try Advair next and if that doesn't work - a trip to an allergist.
Not going to do a round-up of the fannish stuff I posted on lj, because I'm lazy and can't frigging find all of it. Also because I write a huge volumn of non-fannish stuff. The fannish stuff is rapidly diminishing. It comes in waves apparently, along with my interest. Most of it was on the Buffy comics, the vast majority whining and snarking about the Buffy comics. The other bit about fanfic I'd read.
The end of the year wrapping up continues...I tried to do books found memorable, but should have probably done things I've read that were memorable instead - because I've read a lot, just not necessarily all books. And quite a bit forgettable.
What I read in 2010...that I found memorable:
1. a lot of Buffy fanfic, and most likely the last that I shall read for quite some time, since I'm finding my interest in Buffy waning. The most memorable were:
*Influence of Demons (AU- S5 WIP) - by gabrielleabelle.
*Crave (Everybody's Human) by Nautibitz
*Thought You Should Know (S8 - WIP) by angeria
*Necessary Evils, A Raising in the Sun, Confederacy of Demons, and a fic about Spike getting the wrong soul by rahriah.
*assorted dabbles by Beer Good Foamy
2. Buffy meta and comic reviews by local_max, gabrielleabell, rahriah, shapinglight, atp_omn, beer good foamy, aycheb, 2maggie2, angeria, stormwreath, elsi, shipperx.
3. selenak's historical analysis of the Beatles and reviews of LOST along with Doctor Who.
4. The Hunger Games trilogy which oddly handled the same themes Whedon tried in his Buffy comics in a far more digestible and palatable manner, not to mention emotionally satisfying one. This surprised me. I had written off the books as a trend little more, but they do haunt after wards. It will be quite some time before I forget Katniss, Johanna, Finnick, Rue and Peeta and Haymitch.
5. Wishful Drinking - the first book I bought on my Kindle. By Carrie Fisher. An amusing, informational and touching foray into the ups and downs of mental illness. In some respects reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's Bell Jar.
6. Storm of Swords - by George RR Martin, memorable for the Jamie/Brienne arc and Tyrion/Sasha arcs alone. A fine depiction of the moral grayness of war and what people do for power and how they justify it.
7. Changes by Jim Butcher - where the writer literally upturns his entire series and flips it inside out. Dresden is as much hero as anti-hero here, and his actions grayer than usual. The cliff-hanger ending is unexpected and has fans eagerly anticipating the next book, wondering what comes next.
8. Illyria comic...only seen one issue so far and the art surprised me. The writing may or may not live up to it, only time will tell. But Elena Casagrande is a talent to watch.
9. The Buffy comics - well, they certainly were memorable, I'll give them that. Not to mention controversial. Most readers either loved or truly hated these last ten issues, few were ambivalent. And they split the fandom that had invested time and energy in them for the last four years, straight down the middle. Spawning numerous kerfuffles and much rigorous discourse between factions. A free-for-all culminating in at times chaotic farce for both the comics and the fandom reading and writing about them. The fact that folks were so passionate about them - I guess says something about what the writer accomplished, but hey the same thing can be said about Lucas Star Wars prequels.
Mind is blanking on a 10. It does that from time to time.
Would do films, but I haven't seen that many. Best by far, of the one's I have seen are:
1. Black Swan. This film surprised me. It's a psychological horror tale that takes place inside the mind of a professional ballerina who slowly goes mad as she prepares to take on the role of a lifetime. Throughout, the audience is no more sure than she is - what is happening and what is real. Natalie Portman plays the ballerina who finds herself becoming The Black Swan in her mind, destroying the White Swan that she'd been and her identity along with it. A horror tale about the pitfalls of art and the desire for perfection, reminiscent of Moira Shearer's The Red Shoes and Roman Polanski's haunting Repulsion.
2. How to Train Your Dragon. Fun film, and charming. I saw it in 2d not 3d. And at home via netflix.
But was quite charmed by it. About a boy and a dragon.
3. The Fighter. Not your run of the mill boxing flick. It's if anything a character piece, about two brothers - and their different paths, along with their relationship with each other, and their mother.
4. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part I - much like Prisoner of Azkaban, this may be one of the better Potter flicks, and is certainly better than the book - due to it's abridgment. Where the book went on too long in some spots and abbreviated others, this does the opposite. We get more on the key emotional relationships between characters, and less of the preaching that Rowlings fell into in her later novels regarding class and race.
5.True Grit - a touching Western - that is more a character sketch than an action piece. It's about three people - all searching for a bad guy, who is little more than a half-wit. The bad guy is barely on the screen, the heart of the tale is the difficult bonding of the three main characters hunting for him. Told from the perspective of a 14 year old girl, it depicts the West in a manner different than we may be used to.
And that's it for movies. Like I said, didn't see that many.
Took antiboitics which made it better, less congested, and less frequent. But alas, still there.
Going to try Advair next and if that doesn't work - a trip to an allergist.
Not going to do a round-up of the fannish stuff I posted on lj, because I'm lazy and can't frigging find all of it. Also because I write a huge volumn of non-fannish stuff. The fannish stuff is rapidly diminishing. It comes in waves apparently, along with my interest. Most of it was on the Buffy comics, the vast majority whining and snarking about the Buffy comics. The other bit about fanfic I'd read.
The end of the year wrapping up continues...I tried to do books found memorable, but should have probably done things I've read that were memorable instead - because I've read a lot, just not necessarily all books. And quite a bit forgettable.
What I read in 2010...that I found memorable:
1. a lot of Buffy fanfic, and most likely the last that I shall read for quite some time, since I'm finding my interest in Buffy waning. The most memorable were:
*Influence of Demons (AU- S5 WIP) - by gabrielleabelle.
*Crave (Everybody's Human) by Nautibitz
*Thought You Should Know (S8 - WIP) by angeria
*Necessary Evils, A Raising in the Sun, Confederacy of Demons, and a fic about Spike getting the wrong soul by rahriah.
*assorted dabbles by Beer Good Foamy
2. Buffy meta and comic reviews by local_max, gabrielleabell, rahriah, shapinglight, atp_omn, beer good foamy, aycheb, 2maggie2, angeria, stormwreath, elsi, shipperx.
3. selenak's historical analysis of the Beatles and reviews of LOST along with Doctor Who.
4. The Hunger Games trilogy which oddly handled the same themes Whedon tried in his Buffy comics in a far more digestible and palatable manner, not to mention emotionally satisfying one. This surprised me. I had written off the books as a trend little more, but they do haunt after wards. It will be quite some time before I forget Katniss, Johanna, Finnick, Rue and Peeta and Haymitch.
5. Wishful Drinking - the first book I bought on my Kindle. By Carrie Fisher. An amusing, informational and touching foray into the ups and downs of mental illness. In some respects reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's Bell Jar.
6. Storm of Swords - by George RR Martin, memorable for the Jamie/Brienne arc and Tyrion/Sasha arcs alone. A fine depiction of the moral grayness of war and what people do for power and how they justify it.
7. Changes by Jim Butcher - where the writer literally upturns his entire series and flips it inside out. Dresden is as much hero as anti-hero here, and his actions grayer than usual. The cliff-hanger ending is unexpected and has fans eagerly anticipating the next book, wondering what comes next.
8. Illyria comic...only seen one issue so far and the art surprised me. The writing may or may not live up to it, only time will tell. But Elena Casagrande is a talent to watch.
9. The Buffy comics - well, they certainly were memorable, I'll give them that. Not to mention controversial. Most readers either loved or truly hated these last ten issues, few were ambivalent. And they split the fandom that had invested time and energy in them for the last four years, straight down the middle. Spawning numerous kerfuffles and much rigorous discourse between factions. A free-for-all culminating in at times chaotic farce for both the comics and the fandom reading and writing about them. The fact that folks were so passionate about them - I guess says something about what the writer accomplished, but hey the same thing can be said about Lucas Star Wars prequels.
Mind is blanking on a 10. It does that from time to time.
Would do films, but I haven't seen that many. Best by far, of the one's I have seen are:
1. Black Swan. This film surprised me. It's a psychological horror tale that takes place inside the mind of a professional ballerina who slowly goes mad as she prepares to take on the role of a lifetime. Throughout, the audience is no more sure than she is - what is happening and what is real. Natalie Portman plays the ballerina who finds herself becoming The Black Swan in her mind, destroying the White Swan that she'd been and her identity along with it. A horror tale about the pitfalls of art and the desire for perfection, reminiscent of Moira Shearer's The Red Shoes and Roman Polanski's haunting Repulsion.
2. How to Train Your Dragon. Fun film, and charming. I saw it in 2d not 3d. And at home via netflix.
But was quite charmed by it. About a boy and a dragon.
3. The Fighter. Not your run of the mill boxing flick. It's if anything a character piece, about two brothers - and their different paths, along with their relationship with each other, and their mother.
4. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part I - much like Prisoner of Azkaban, this may be one of the better Potter flicks, and is certainly better than the book - due to it's abridgment. Where the book went on too long in some spots and abbreviated others, this does the opposite. We get more on the key emotional relationships between characters, and less of the preaching that Rowlings fell into in her later novels regarding class and race.
5.True Grit - a touching Western - that is more a character sketch than an action piece. It's about three people - all searching for a bad guy, who is little more than a half-wit. The bad guy is barely on the screen, the heart of the tale is the difficult bonding of the three main characters hunting for him. Told from the perspective of a 14 year old girl, it depicts the West in a manner different than we may be used to.
And that's it for movies. Like I said, didn't see that many.