A book, a movie, some bread, and a cat
How are you all? I'm doing ok, nothing really particular. Subbing, taking my FIL to appointments, writing for Yuletide, making poor use of my free time, blah blah blah.
Despite still having several really good books awaiting me from my birthday, I treated myself to a romance novel I'd had my eye on, Vespertine, and finished it in a couple of days (losing some sleep in the process). I doubt anyone else plans to read it, but I'll put comments under the cut anyway.
Part of what had caught my eye about this story was that I've had an original fic idea in the back of my mind for years, about a bisexual Catholic priest who meets his match in his brother's gay friend. My story idea was not REMOTELY plotted out besides a few key points, but since this had a similar sort of premise, at least at the outset, I was curious to see how they'd handled it. (Part of why I've felt hamstrung by my own project is my lack of knowledge about how priests comport themselves throughout the day. It's not like I can ask my best friend's brother, "Can you answer some questions for me so I can write a gay novel?" :-P)
Of course, aside from the priest main character and the gay relationship, Vespertine is otherwise completely different, plot wise. There is a LOT of angst and UST before the two boys finally break and come together, and at that point, I feel like they have remarkably few stumbling blocks to their relationships. Some, yes, and there's some mistaken identity death toward the end, but I still kept wincing, waiting for a real axe to fall, which never did. So, in that sense, I feel like the book could have maybe done a little more to feel more realistic at the end. On the other hand, it was, overall, a very well-written book, dealing with a lot of regret and what-ifs, the plight of LGBTQ homeless youth, the struggle to remain sober for addicts, and, dear God, the sex was hot. *fans self* Anyway, it was just what I needed, as a break from my usual fantasy fare. I would have liked to contact the co-authors and let them know how much I enjoyed their story but, alas, I cannot find contact information on Leta Blake's website, and Indra Vaughn doesn't seem to have a website of her own.
Today we also went to see Frozen 2. Overall verdict: We really enjoyed it. Verdict is divided as to whether it's better than the first one or not. As of my first hearing, I wouldn't say the music is QUITE as catchy, but I really loved the lullaby about the water (even before realizing it was prophetic). I liked the representation they did of the four elements: fire salamander, water horse, leaf-blowing wind, earth giants. The animation was gorgeous. Olaf's way of retelling the events of the first movie (and if you stay for the post-credit scene he retells the second movie, too) was HILARIOUS and, hands down, one of my favorite scenes. Kristoff's lament about being "lost in the woods" was perfectly nice as a lovelorn ballad, but the way they did it, was just so ridiculously over the top - it belongs on one of those sappy late-night radio shows where they play romantic song dedications. OMG, so corny. One of those things that would completely pass kids by, but the adults should find amusing. Also, all I could think, especially in the beginning of the movie, when they showed the different things Elsa and Anna wore, plus the fire salamander, etc, was "They'll be marketing THIS, and marketing THIS, and THIS, and THIS and ... yep, those costumes are already available, those creatures available as stuffed animals, etc. Gotta feed the Disney machine. :-P But, aside from material cynicism, I really did enjoy the movie overall. Keep in mind that while I liked the original, I didn't LOOOOOOOVE it like apparently everyone else in America did. Still, this was a perfectly adequate sequel, even if the whole "Elsa is a elemental spirit" thing didn't make a whole lot of sense, tbh. I'll just have to ... let it go.
On the home front, I recently tried this oatmeal bread recipe which, if you use your mixer to knead, is stupidly easy. Throw everything in the bowl all at once, mix, knead, rise, bake, done. I made my first loaf last night to accompany the chili Rob made for dinner - and the whole loaf was demolished in one night, so I had to make another loaf tonight, lol. Like I said, it's stupid-easy. I didn't even soften or melt the butter - just cut it into small cubes before throwing it into the bowl with everything else.
And, finally, I believe there were some demands to see more pics of our new kitten, Sophie. :-D
Despite still having several really good books awaiting me from my birthday, I treated myself to a romance novel I'd had my eye on, Vespertine, and finished it in a couple of days (losing some sleep in the process). I doubt anyone else plans to read it, but I'll put comments under the cut anyway.
Part of what had caught my eye about this story was that I've had an original fic idea in the back of my mind for years, about a bisexual Catholic priest who meets his match in his brother's gay friend. My story idea was not REMOTELY plotted out besides a few key points, but since this had a similar sort of premise, at least at the outset, I was curious to see how they'd handled it. (Part of why I've felt hamstrung by my own project is my lack of knowledge about how priests comport themselves throughout the day. It's not like I can ask my best friend's brother, "Can you answer some questions for me so I can write a gay novel?" :-P)
Of course, aside from the priest main character and the gay relationship, Vespertine is otherwise completely different, plot wise. There is a LOT of angst and UST before the two boys finally break and come together, and at that point, I feel like they have remarkably few stumbling blocks to their relationships. Some, yes, and there's some mistaken identity death toward the end, but I still kept wincing, waiting for a real axe to fall, which never did. So, in that sense, I feel like the book could have maybe done a little more to feel more realistic at the end. On the other hand, it was, overall, a very well-written book, dealing with a lot of regret and what-ifs, the plight of LGBTQ homeless youth, the struggle to remain sober for addicts, and, dear God, the sex was hot. *fans self* Anyway, it was just what I needed, as a break from my usual fantasy fare. I would have liked to contact the co-authors and let them know how much I enjoyed their story but, alas, I cannot find contact information on Leta Blake's website, and Indra Vaughn doesn't seem to have a website of her own.
Today we also went to see Frozen 2. Overall verdict: We really enjoyed it. Verdict is divided as to whether it's better than the first one or not. As of my first hearing, I wouldn't say the music is QUITE as catchy, but I really loved the lullaby about the water (even before realizing it was prophetic). I liked the representation they did of the four elements: fire salamander, water horse, leaf-blowing wind, earth giants. The animation was gorgeous. Olaf's way of retelling the events of the first movie (and if you stay for the post-credit scene he retells the second movie, too) was HILARIOUS and, hands down, one of my favorite scenes. Kristoff's lament about being "lost in the woods" was perfectly nice as a lovelorn ballad, but the way they did it, was just so ridiculously over the top - it belongs on one of those sappy late-night radio shows where they play romantic song dedications. OMG, so corny. One of those things that would completely pass kids by, but the adults should find amusing. Also, all I could think, especially in the beginning of the movie, when they showed the different things Elsa and Anna wore, plus the fire salamander, etc, was "They'll be marketing THIS, and marketing THIS, and THIS, and THIS and ... yep, those costumes are already available, those creatures available as stuffed animals, etc. Gotta feed the Disney machine. :-P But, aside from material cynicism, I really did enjoy the movie overall. Keep in mind that while I liked the original, I didn't LOOOOOOOVE it like apparently everyone else in America did. Still, this was a perfectly adequate sequel, even if the whole "Elsa is a elemental spirit" thing didn't make a whole lot of sense, tbh. I'll just have to ... let it go.
On the home front, I recently tried this oatmeal bread recipe which, if you use your mixer to knead, is stupidly easy. Throw everything in the bowl all at once, mix, knead, rise, bake, done. I made my first loaf last night to accompany the chili Rob made for dinner - and the whole loaf was demolished in one night, so I had to make another loaf tonight, lol. Like I said, it's stupid-easy. I didn't even soften or melt the butter - just cut it into small cubes before throwing it into the bowl with everything else.
And, finally, I believe there were some demands to see more pics of our new kitten, Sophie. :-D