a vintage year for scoundrels

Happy December, everyone! Thanks for all the December talking meme prompts - I did this whole thing where I couldn't decide whether to reply to all of them or just some of them, and ended up replying to none of them, but they are all great and I am looking forward to talking about them! (Also, still taking prompts, if anyone wants to add anything. :D)

I am going to start off with this one from chaila: Books/comics/media you're looking forward to in 2015?

(Possibly I should have saved this one for the end of the month, when it'll be nearly 2015, but I do what I want, Thor.)

Books-wise, I'm never really aware of what's coming out when! /o\ I thought Sarah Rees Brennan's A Tale of Two Cities retelling, Tell The Wind and Fire, was out next year, so I could flail about that, but apparently it's not til 2016? So mostly what I'm excited about is series that I'm already reading that I presume will have new books next year: Seanan McGuire's Incryptid and Toby Daye series (the latter I will probably read in a giant racing tumult of FEELINGS), the last of the Raven Boys Quartet (...ok, technically I haven't read the third one yet, but I loved the first two SO MUCH), Ancillary Mercy (again, haven't read Ancillary Sword yet, but Ancillary Justice was basically everything I ever wanted).

Comics! Next year's Peggy Carter series is definitely something I'm looking forward too, mostly because I LOVED Kathryn Immonen's work on Journey Into Mystery. The Spider-Gwen one-shot was really fun and I'm excited to see it be expanded into a full series. G. Willow Wilson is writing... four issues, I think, of X-Men, so that should be a good time. I'm trying to start trade waiting more stuff (leading to the "should I start cancelling stuff off my pull list?" dilemma), so even though they've technically already started I'm looking forward to getting Captain America and the Mighty Avengers and Thor. I am looking forward to Marvel having so many female-led solo titles that I don't feel the need to buy them all! Though given She-Hulk is definitely for the chop and things are looking dicey for Elektra and Storm, this is of course not actually a given.

DC-wise, I am (possibly unjustifiably) pretty suspicious of Convergence, but given that Greg Rucka and Gail Simone are involved in the two-issue minis I think they're probably safe? So I'll probably get The Question (GREG RUCKA WRITING RENEE AGAIN AW YEAH! Also I really like Cully Hamner's art) and Batgirl (not convinced by the summary for this one, but Batgirl!Steph and Black Bat!Cass ACTUALLY INTERACTING YESSSSS), and possibly some more - I'm vaguely tempted by the all-female Justice League one, though the art is pretty eh. Sadly I am deeply uninterested in Dick/Babs, so probably won't bother with Nightwing/Oracle despite my love for both those characters. :/

Other media! STAR WARS STAR WARS STAR WARS. Other than that, it's superheroes all the way: Age of Ultron, Agent Carter, the Teen Titans and Supergirl TV series if they get going next year... I really love superheroes and none of the current TV ones are particularly appealing to me, so I have my fingers crossed for those two!

Plus all the other cool stuff coming out next year that I've forgotten about! (Another reason I should probably have waited to post this: other people's lists to jog my memory. OH WELL.)

Here is a year in review post, sort of thing. I have probably forgotten most of the things that should have gone into it.

( Things I liked in 2012 )

( Things I am excited about in 2013 )

( 2012 In Fanworks )

( 2012 In General Life Stuff )

Happy New Year!

This entry was originally posted at http://shinyjenni.dreamwidth.org/194206.html.

I have been working my way through various female led action/superhero films! Here are some of the things that I have watched:

- Resident Evil: bizarrely, this was the second film in as many days to contain Unexpected James Purefoy (the other was Bedrooms and Hallways), well done there, film. I enjoyed it a lot, although it is rather gorier than my usual fare: it turns out I am fine with zombies but very freaked out by ( possibly getting into spoiler territory? )

- Next up was Elektra, which is not a good film, but overall I feel very positive about it as it contained one element that I really loved: ( spoilers )

- Also I watched Aeon Flux, which was... odd. ( not really spoilers but I have got into the habit of using cut tags now, so )

- After that was Supergirl; I've been trying to get into the Supergirl comics recently (because of how she and Batgirl fought vampires that time), but they are SO CONFUSING, so I was a little dismayed to see a whole other backstory for her that wasn't the one I knew. But that issue aside, I liked it a lot - not necessarily a good film, but an entertaining one. Overall I would characterise it as "deeply cheesy, but nevertheless rather charming". I am thinking particularly of the scene where ( vaguely spoilery, maybe )

- And finally, Milla Jovovich again in Ultraviolet! I was expecting to enjoy it based on the fact that she had a sword on the DVD cover, but I was rather put off by the fact that everyone looked oddly smooth and glowy for some reason. Step away from the effects box, people! I was also unimpressed by the almost complete lack of female characters who weren't Violet, grrr. On the plus side, it did pick up a fair bit when the swords eventually came out, and I enjoyed the final fight scene a lot: ( spoilers! )

I feel like I should have some concluding thoughts here, but I don't. Well, nothing beyond "make more superheroine films! And make them better!", but I had that one before I started. Actually, thinking about it, I would like superheroine TV serieses even better, since I prefer TV to film as a medium. GET ON THAT, PEOPLE WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF THESE THINGS.

(I typed most of this out in Google Docs, which has helpfully corrected a selection of my straight quotes to curly quotes. Why do you hate me at the moment, Google?)

1) There was going to be a reaction post for "Amy's Choice" here, but I wanted to watch it again and make notes and things, and so far neither the iPlayer nor my digibox are co-operating. Maybe later. Anyway, the short version is: I LOVED IT. I laughed, I cried, I flailed my arms with glee a few times. I love Amy, I love Rory and I love Eleven. I had forgotten what this was like!

2) I also watched the first episode of Legend of the Seeker, which was pretty fun, though I really hope they lay off the slo-mo in later episodes.

3) And I also saw Iron Man 2 at the weekend! I was a little worried about it, because I really loved the first one and I'd read some bad reviews, but after a slow start I thoroughly enjoyed it. ( spoilers )

1.) I watched Terminator: Salvation last night; I was half expecting to hate it (as previously established, I am judgy at bits of the Terminatorverse that don't contain Sarah), but I didn't, so... yay? ( spoilers )

2.) Also I watched Image of the Fendahl, which was pretty great, though I was v. pleased when Leela changed back into her old outfit and hair at the end. ( brief thoughts, as most of this was watched a while ago )

3.) FINALLY the weather has got a bit warmer. Any day now I will be able to stop swapping my coat for a massive cardigan when I get home every day.

I watched the first three episodes of Leverage last night! I'd been reluctant to watch it first because I'd heard it described as the US version of Hustle, which I don't like, but then I saw this vid and the two clips of Sophie made me think I would rather like it. And, well, now I have that "shiny new thing to love!" feeling that is so great and the inside of my head looks a bit like this: LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE. It is just so much fun! I love all the characters (my favourite is definitely either Hardison or Parker or Sophie or Eliot - sorry, Nate!) and I love how much fun they're obviously having. I am even half-hoping that my next rental DVD from lovefilm won't have arrived when I get home tonight, so I'll have an excuse to watch MOAR LEVERAGE.

Also from the department of "things I saw yesterday and loved": Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Fun times! (Though I was one of only three people in the cinema, and the youngest by several decades, which is always a little weird.) It was made with such obvious and infectious enthusiasm, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. ( mild spoilers ) And now I have the first of the books reserved at the library, since I hear they're even better.

I finally got round to watching Terminator 3! I sort of had negative expectations for it, which helped me not hate it. Also I kept being distracted by the internets (they were right there!) so I didn't really watch all that much of it, heh. Obv. it is not a patch on T1, T2 or SCC.

( anyway here are some spoilers )

Now I go to finish trek_news and answer comments and such.

1.) Happy birthday, littledarkvoice!

2.) I got back to Bristol today, after spending Christmas at my parents, to find a lovely pile of cards waiting for me, so thank you to agapi42, oxymoron67, rosalind_wang, cosmic_celery (I love the art! ♥) and ghost2 (eee, such a cute picture inside!). I also had a mysterious unsigned card from someone somewhere in the UK (postmark sadly indistinguishable), so if that was one of you, thank you too!

3.) Cannot stop listening to Ben Lee's Awake is the New Sleep, it's so catchy!

4.) Apparently there is going to be a film of Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth. I heard about this a while ago and thought it had died a death, but it seems not. I am afraid I am incapable of being rational about this turn of events and can only keep going "WAH MY CHILDHOOD NO". The Romans are going to have American accents! They will not sound like what they do on my tape! Sadface! No, no, none of this. I shall be sensible and hope that it is any good at all and people read the book because of it. (MARCUS NOOO! They haven't even cast Cottia yet! D: Look, at least I know I'm being irrational, right?)

5.) So far 2010 has involved games, nice food, books and playing Beatles Rock Band. I approve.

1.) Happy birthday, littledarkvoice!

2.) I got back to Bristol today, after spending Christmas at my parents, to find a lovely pile of cards waiting for me, so thank you to agapi42, oxymoron67, rosalind_wang, cosmic_celery (I love the art! ♥) and ghost2 (eee, such a cute picture inside!). I also had a mysterious unsigned card from someone somewhere in the UK (postmark sadly indistinguishable), so if that was one of you, thank you too!

3.) Cannot stop listening to Ben Lee's Awake is the New Sleep, it's so catchy!

4.) Apparently there is going to be a film of Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth. I heard about this a while ago and thought it had died a death, but it seems not. I am afraid I am incapable of being rational about this turn of events and can only keep going "WAH MY CHILDHOOD NO". The Romans are going to have American accents! They will not sound like what they do on my tape! Sadface! No, no, none of this. I shall be sensible and hope that it is any good at all and people read the book because of it. (MARCUS NOOO! They haven't even cast Cottia yet! D: Look, at least I know I'm being irrational, right?)

5.) So far 2010 has involved games, nice food, books and playing Beatles Rock Band. I approve.

- Happy belated birthday, stoplookingup! Hope you had a great day.

- Oh dear, I really am terrible at posting during the holidays. Here are some things what I have been doing:

1) Saw Sherlock Holmes. Loved Sherlock Holmes. ( only minor spoilers )

2) Had lovely people round last night, played games and also watched the first three episodes of Maid Marian and her Merry Men (apologies to anyone who will now have the theme tune in their head for the rest of the day). This is by far the best version of Robin Hood ever and I defy anyone to tell me otherwise. YES.

3) Working on stuffs for fandom_stocking, somewhat hampered by my inability to write ficlets without getting carried away and going on and on and on.

4) I have done other things but either I have forgotten about them or they are uninteresting to people who are not me, so there we go.