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!

Here is that meme about TV that's been doing the rounds. Yes, it has indeed taken me approximately forever to fill in. There are many questions and much wittering was required.

( lovely telly )

Hurray, it is December the first! I can open the first door in my advent calendar when I get home. Also when I get home I shall be getting my heater out and switching it on, because it is getting ridiculous: I spent yesterday evening curled up on the sofa, wrapped up in three layers, a blanket and my spare duvet, wearing fingerless gloves and feeling a bit like a Victorian miser.

Tonight the BBC will be giving me a program in which Delia teaches us how to do Christmas cooking. YAY! I have a bit of a soft spot for cooking programmes, especially ones involving a) Christmas and b) Delia. (I also like Nigella and the Hairy Bikers (this is what I am calling my band, I have just decided), in case you were wondering. My parents like Rick Stein but I saw the one where he grates his finger on a mandolin (the slicey kind, not the musical kind), swears a bit and teaches us all about why cooks should wear brightly coloured plasters (so if they fall into the food, they'll be easy to spot) at an impressionable age, which put me off a little. Though now that I have typed all this I am not entirely sure that that was him. It is possible that I am talking even more nonsense than usual.)

On a similar festive note, I was looking up the last posting dates today to put them into my Google calendar (*is a nerd*) and it seems that the overseas ones are soonish. So if you are on my flist, would like a card from me and would also like it to arrive in time for Christmas, I recommend leaving your address on this post asap. :)

I'm not going to be this obnoxiously Christmassy all December, honest...

- Merlin was much better this week, I thought, apart from two things. One wasn't their fault; it was the massive banner plastered over the top of the screen informing me that if I am over 75 I can get help upgrading to digital TV before the switchover. Alas, there was no way of telling it that a) I am not over 75 and b) I have a digibox, it just chooses not to acknowledge the existence of the BBC at this time. The other was their fault and is spoilery: ( Read more... )

- I was IMDBing Idris Elba last night, as one does, when I suddenly stumbled upon the fact that Vampire Bill from True Blood also played Jack in Ultraviolet (the TV series, not the film. I have not seen the film but I JUDGE IT for not being the TV series). Possibly everyone but me already knew that, but I did not recognise him even a little bit! In my defence he had very different hair ten years ago. Anyway, I also found out that Idris Elba is going to be in a BBC 1 thriller type thing with Paul McGann and Indira Varma. DO WANT.

- The Unbelievable Truth was excellent last night, I had to stop eating a few times because I was laughing so much. Highly recommended. Sadly it was the last one in the series but happily next Monday the new series of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue is starting.

- I only have one Anji EDA left, woe! I've been trying to string them out by going back and reading the early Eight 'n' Sam ones which I skipped, and to that end I read The Bodysnatchers a while ago: quite fun, but it got a bit unnecessarily gory, grr. And I am trying to like Sam, because I feel guilty about hating her so much and I know I'm going to warm to her later on, but she was still quite annoying. I assumed she was joking when she asked, of Victorian Londoners, something along the lines of "haven't they heard of global warming?", but from the context... possibly she wasn't.

1) Re. Home Team: I have decided that what I really want is EPIC FIC of the Elite Eight teaming up to fight Skynet. *waits patiently for the internet to provide*

2) This week's Bang Goes The Theory was particularly entertaining, they tied a little plastic man to some helium balloons and sent him into spaaaace. Also they investigated the magneticness or otherwise of cows, and Doctor Yan's Al Fresco Skience bit was filmed in Cheltenham, hurrah.

3) Also I watched a programme on BBC4 about the history of the Girl Guides, which was very good: I loved seeing that the Guide movement got started because girls saw how much fun the Scouts were having and demanded to join in and to have their own movement. My one complaint was that it was narrated by a man; given that it was about women's lives and voices, it seemed a bit inappropriate to have their words framed and presented by a male voice. But other than that, I recommend it.

4) I am off on holiday tomorrow, so again, anything you think I should see/want me to comment on, leave me a link and I shall do so! I am going to South Devon, one of my favourite places, with some friends from uni. We have booked to go SAILING on Monday, so I gloomily predict that the weather will probably be horrendous, but never mind. I've never sailed before (and am in fact a bit scared of water) but I've read all the Swallows and Amazons books loads of times, which is more or less the same thing, right? Right.