a vintage year for scoundrels

Happy 2014, everyone! Here is a 2013 roundup post. (Warning: this is post one of three for today.)

2013 was on balance pretty good to me, I think, despite some bad stuff that happened. I finished my masters (with distinction! *smug*), I went on some good holidays and to some excellent conventions, and spent time with lots of lovely people. ♥ Last year's resolutions-wise... I in no way finished all my knitting projects. I HAVE SO MANY KNITTING PROJECTS. But I made soup and went to improving lectures and cleared out some stuff and finished some of the books on my "currently reading" pile, so hurrah. This year's resolutions are basically the same: to be better, and not to beat myself up too much when I fail. Sometimes people fail at things. It's ok.

(ETA I just remembered that I'll be turning 30 this year! V. exciting. I don't usually do anything for my birthday but maybe this year should be an exception. It would involve me having to organise things and being the centre of attention though so maybe not.)

2013 was also great because I got back into vidding! I love creating stuff and I've been really blocked fic-wise basically for years, so I'm so happy that I've been able to make fanworks again. And I'm happy with what I've made, too. Come Over is probably my least favourite of the three, but I do like it a lot and it was a great way to get back into vidding. Close to Home I am pretty proud of on a technical/artistic level, and also being involved with the Vienna Teng vidding project along with a lot of people who are a) awesome and b) great at vidding was a really good experience. Into the Blue is just the vid of my HEART, and it pretty much worked out exactly how I wanted it too. And now I am working on [festivid] and gently poking a vid project that's been percolating for years and am overall v. excited about a new year of VIDDING. ♥

I still have three topics left in the December posting meme! I will get to them this month, honest. Also since I've really enjoyed this meme, if anyone has any more topics they want to throw at me, now or later, feel free!

I hope you all have wondrous 2014s full of good things. ♥

Back from Barcelona! I had a lovely time seeing the sights and also my family. Among other things, we went into the Sagrada Familia, which was spectacular, and also to the Fundacio Joan Miro, which I went to on a school trip in 2000 and wanted to see again. It was definitely worth it: I particularly liked seeing these three untitled pieces, which sadly don't look nearly as good in photos, and Morning Star: I've had a poster of this since 2000 and yet I still found myself standing in front of it for ages, just looking at it. Also it was sunny! I don't really know how to deal with that. (I was going to link to my photos here, but sadly Facebook seem to have taken away the option to let you do that, because it is the worst.) Then I came back to England and it was freezing cold and raining and I didn't have a coat, and therefore I plunged instantly into the Slough of Despond. Oh well, at least it's nearly Vidukon.

Here are some miscellaneous comics things I felt like posting about:

- Should I be reading FF? Because it looks adorable.

- I have been slightly worried about the Captain Marvel/Avengers Assemble crossover, because the whole "female lead is seeing things that aren't there" aspect has the potential to be unfortunate, but I bought the introductory issue and liked it a lot, mostly because it's basically a bonus Captain Marvel issue. ( not actually spoilers really ) It also made me think about the similarities between Captain Marvel and Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl (whyyyyyy doesn't anything about that book exist any more? *wails, gnashes teeth, rends garments*): they both star a tough blonde woman who has recently taken on a new identity that used to belong to someone they respected; they both have a large female heavy rotating supporting cast of excellent people, including a tiny fangirl; they are both delightfully quiptastic... I think we may have found my formula for a perfect comic. Obviously they're not identical - Steph and Carol are at very different stages of their superhero careers, for example, but even so, the similarities please me.

- Here is a thing that is both good and frustrating: superladiesmissing, cataloguing superhero merchandise that has forgotten to involve any women (something I particularly hate because I like stuff but also like superheroines). Particular offenders seem to be the Avengers film stuff and Justice League merchandise. Dear people making Justice League stuff: YOU NEED TO PUT WONDER WOMAN ON IT. THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE. Ideally other women too, but Wonder Woman is ESSENTIAL. WeLoveFine seems to be better than most at having superheroine merchandise, though their "put it all out in men's sizes only then add women's sizes if enough people ask" policy is a little frustrating, but sadly shipping to the UK makes it prohibitively expensive. :( I have ended up resorting to making my own Steph!Batgirl t-shirt but this is by no means an ideal solution.

- I really need to stop reading about Batman Inc #8, it's only making me unhappy. And I'm finding the way DC's been hyping it pretty distasteful - ( spoilers, though anyone who cares probably already knows ) The other frustrating thing is it's putting me off other comics - I was going to read the last volume of Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman run, which I KNOW is going to be both awesome and right up my alley, last night, but I just couldn't work up the enthusiasm. (Since DC has been having trouble with the word, I feel I should point out that this is what "toxic" really is: liable to put me off even largely unrelated comics, not "character with a fanbase that won't shut up about how poorly the said character has been treated".)

- Lack of posting recently is due to the fact that I have to do All The Things in the next few weeks, but am going to be away for a couple of weekends, oh dear. It's all doable, I've just got to get on with it and stop flapping around. (Oh, and I have a somewhat epic "things read in February" post on its way tomorrow...)

- One of the things is my Vidukon vidshow! It's getting there, though I'm having a surprising amount of trouble picking a Star Trek vid. Does anyone know any that are particularly spacetastic? (Or alternatively, does anyone fancy looking at my shortlist and giving me a second opinion? :D?)

- INFORMATION. Here is an excellent post on Blake's 7 and why you should watch it (spoiler: BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME) by thisbluespirit!

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!

I think I am winning? I wanted to get it mostly finished before I go on holiday (tomorrow! straight from work to the station! then a five hour train journey, oh dear), and I think I might have done? Though either it is The Worst Literature Review Ever, I don't know what I am doing, my brain is just WIRED WRONG for this sort of thing... or the Impostor Syndrome Hamsters have been nibbling on my brain again. I hope it is the latter.

Unrelatedly, I can't stop staring at this Mars panorama and going "that's another planet! ANOTHER PLANET! ♥_♥"

- I read some Leverage spoilers and they made me VERY HAPPY. (Spoilers for casting and the basic premise of two episodes at that link.) Specifically, the bit that made me happy was: ( spoilers )

- On the Doctor Who front, I never got round to posting about "The Doctor's Wife" and the moment has now passed, but suffice to say that I really loved it. ♥ This week's I loved slightly less, though. ( spoilers ) I also feel the need to note that the first ten minutes or so of the Confidential, in which Our Heroes struggle on despite Adverse Weather Conditions (TM), were entirely adorable.

- I watched the first five episodes of The Vampire Diaries at the weekend! ( spoilers )

- In non-TV related news, this week is a busy week! (The good sort of busy, not the too-much-work sort.) Today I had a lovely lunch with fallingtowers, and tomorrow The Mother is coming down for lunch and shopping. And on Thursday I am going to visit The Sister in Spain! Er. Ash cloud permitting. I heard on the radio last night that it's supposed to be over Northern Spain "later in the week". NO THAT IS NOT WHAT I WANT. Also the forecast is for the temperature where The Sister is to drop from 32C to 14C between Wednesday and Thursday. *frowns at nature*

halfamoon is running at the moment, and it is full of awesome! Two multifandom vid recs first: Tightrope by such_heights and She's A Rebel by kaydeefalls, both of which make me v. happy. Also, the Unpopular Woman Love Post is going again (I am tracking it so my inbox is FLOODED WITH LOVE) and there is a female character friending meme too! \o/

I have some new friends as a result of that last one (yay!) so here is an introduction thing: I am Jenni, I like stuff. When I am not on the internets, I work full time in an academic library, and also I am studying part time for a Masters in Information and Library Management, so if I am not around much from time to time it is probably because I am reading ALL the things. I also like to knit; here is a picture of the last thing I made, one of a pair of cabled handwarmers which I am mostly wearing inside at the moment, because my flat is cold. And here is what I am making at the moment - Knitty's Spoke. Fandom-wise, I moderate amongthedeadmen, a Benny Summerfield community (and if you don't know who Benny is, I recommend getting to know her, especially if you like time travelling archeologists who have adventures), edit soniclipstick on Mondays and edit who_daily every other Friday. I heart vids the most, though I don't know how to make them, and I am going to vidukon this year, which I am VERY excited about. :D Other places where I am: twitter, librarything and ravelry! I am also on tumblr as usuallyhats, but I haven't quite got the hang of it yet.

And now I am off to look at halfamoon some more. :D

(subject line courtesy of me reading Quotable Star Trek at 2am because I couldn't sleep.)

HELLO WORLD. I went to Nottingham for the weekend and saw lots of university friends, it was ace. Here are some pictures. (Not pictured: watching Enchanted, which I had never seen before and now love a bit.) Then I came home and was STRUCK DOWN by a cold, which was less good. I am mostly better now, but have probably missed stuff on the flist due to lack of brain, so do tell me about things I may have missed!

Being ill meant I have listened to a fair bit of Big Finish in the last few days. First I listened to the latest one, "The Crimes of Thomas Brewster", which I rather liked: ( mild spoilers ) Next up was a Benny audio, "The Crystal of Cantus". I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. Currently debating whether to buy season seven straight away or wait and see if it's in the summer sale. (Season six was in last year's! It's possible!) Seventy pounds is a lot of money to spend all in one go, but on the other hand it is pretty good for six audios and three books. Anyway. Then there was "Nekromanteia"; I dozed through some of disc one which may account for my not really liking it. The fact that I woke up properly just in time for the scene where ( spoilers ) Then I tried to listen to "The Guardian of the Solar System", but kept falling asleep, which was very annoying as the bits I did hear sounded awesome. Will have to try again when I have more brain.

I've also been working my way through this year's Festivids! (Didn't have enough brain for vids on Monday, which was a little distressing.) I'm not very far through the list, but here are some recs anyway:

- We Won't Run (Children of Men)
- Never the Same (Narnia)
- There Is a Boy Who Never Goes Out (Dead Like Me)
- Both Eighth Doctor vids: One Day Like This and New Shoes
- Amnesia (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
- Friends (How I Met Your Mother)

Recs for fandoms beginning with the letters I-Z may be forthcoming at a later date. I hear there is an excellent DS9 vid in there somewhere which I am looking forward to. Speaking of DS9, ds9_rewatch is happening! I missed the live watch last week but am hoping to jump in for some later episodes. Hurrah!

Hmmm, I think I may not be as better as I thought I was, my typing today has been even more terrible than usual. Today is UWE day, so I am at work til 1, then I have to get the bus up to UWE for lectures from 2.30 to 4.30 and 5.30 to 7.30. Will I make it all the way to 7.30 without giving up and going home? Tune in for the next exciting installment!

A belated happy birthday to hoshinekoyasha, and a very belated happy birthday to ghost2! Hope you both had lovely days.

Sorry, have been rather absent recently, due to feeling a bit hide-under-the-desk-y. I've been reading and thinking of comments and then... not actually leaving them. Whoops. Will try and be better in future! Also, I went away for the weekend. Well, to Cheltenham, where I met up with Izzy, Jess and Vanky and we all went to see the Everyman Youth Theatre's production of Carpe Jugulum. It was a lot of fun, and one of the Nanny Oggs (the cast was huge, so halfway through a lot of the extras became main characters and vice versa) in particular was smashing. ("We'll all be killed in each other's beds!") Both the Oatses were really good, too, and changing the actor actually worked in terms of his characterisation. It was in the studio theatre, and we sat right at the front, which is a little alarming as I worry that the actors can see me and that I therefore have to make appropriate faces. Also once when I sat at the front I got jenga bricks kicked all over me. Anyway. It made me want to go home and reread all my Discworld books, but they wouldn't fit in my rucksack so I settled for just A Hat Full of Sky, as I bought that one just after the last Great Discworld Reread.

And then I came back to Bristol, baked a cake and watched Giles and Sue Live the Good Life, which was a delightful farrago of incompetence, innuendo and cosplay, and I am looking forward to part two tonight.

My restore-from-saved-draft was some stuff about Spooks, which is no longer terribly timely, but I shall finish and post it anyway. ( spoilers )

1) Happy birthday to brewsternorth and black_rider!

2) In my continuing quest not to be in Bristol for long enough to do any housework, I went to Bath at the weekend! I met up with some schoolfriends and we went lion hunting (nb not real lions. Pictures here on facebook!), then played Settlers of Catan until about 2am. This it turns out is an excellent game, and I am not just saying that because Izzy and I won first time, honest.

3) My digibox seems to be working again; it let me watch all of the extended Doctor Who at the Proms on Friday night! And then it let me watch the red-button Backstage at the Proms extra, which was particularly great as I was in it a bit. They did some interviews with people in the queue, of which two were with people I'd met (I can't remember either of their names because I am rubbish, but one was a really good Amy cosplayer and the other was a girl with a fantastic Dalek t-shirt) and there I was in the background, sitting on a wall with my knitting and trying to a) sit up straight and b) look nonch'lant. Exciting stuff!

4) Meh, I think I am pretty much finished with Merlin. ( spoilers for 3x01 ) I did want to keep watching it because of casting spoilers; ( spoilers for later episodes ) I think I shall just look at the pretty pictures on tumblr instead.

5) 30 days of Who meme, also in ranty mode... ( Day 27 – An Episode You Wish Hadn't Been Made )

( all the days )