The Year in Review: 2015
Fitness
2013 Highest Weight 223.8 2013 Ending Weight 211 Lost: 12.8 pounds
2014 Highest Weight 212.5 Current Weight 205.8 Lost: 6.3 pounds
2015 Highest Weight 213.8 Current Weight 210.8 Lost: 3 pounds
Weight Watchers Beginning 224.8 Current Weight 213.6 Lost: 11.2 pounds
Total Loss: 13 pounds
Writing: 18
In Circulation
Abigail Rath Versus Blood-Sucking Fiends: Continues the Agent Search.
Alan Lynx, the Russian Spy, and Me: Comics proposal ultimately for Oni Press.
Ancient Magicians: Serial that will ultimately appear at Patreon or maybe Gumroad.
Cat Emperor. Poem submitted to Strong Verse.
Cookies: At Independent Women Anthology.
Empress Dark: At Upside Down.
The Ground is Full of Teeth. Another goddamn rewrite.
My Time. At Liminal Stories.
One in Four Adults. At Drabblecast.
O-Taga-San: At Ninth Letter.
The Pawn of Isis. NEW Klaereon novel. Very rough first draft done
The Story of the World that Wasn't: At Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores.
True Companion. At Alien Artifact Anthology.
The Two Sisters. At Writers of the Future.
The Vessel of Ra. Pitched at San Francisco Writers Conference and Writers Digest Conference. Making the Agent Rounds. Also at Angry Robot and ChiZine and Curiosity Quills.
The Widow's Run. Trunked.
Witches. At Abyss and Apex.
Reading: 203
Aaronovitch, Ben. Midnight Riot. Truly excellent and VERY British. RECOMMENDED.
Agent Carter. Meh.
All New Ultimates. Meh.
Astro City. Not meh, but not unmeh.
Batgirl. Super meh.
Batman Beyond. Meh.
Battleworld. Meh
Bat Woman. Meh.
Beaton, Kate. Hark! A Vagrant. Incredibly witty and funny. RECOMMENDED.
Black Widow. Meh.
Bowers, Ellen. The Everything Guide to Coping with Perfectionism, Overcoming Toxic Perfectionism and Learning to Embrace Yourself. This was a pretty informative book.
Brett, Peter V. The Warded Man. 3001 fantasy tropes later, I am bored.
Browers, Allie. Hyperbole and a Half. Essays are insightful. Art is, well...I could do that.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Miles in Love. Oh, you know. The usual awesome stuff.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Diplomatic Immunity. Nostalgia and danger for Miles. Pretty good.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. Yeah, this is also pretty good. The best portrayal we've every gotten of Ivan, and we've gotten some good ones. But this is his POV, so that's cool.
Bombshells. I really, really like this.
Cain, Susan. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. Interesting science, history, and thought.
The Calvary. Meh.
Captain America White. Not too bad.
Captain Marvel. As much as I wish otherwise, meh.
Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps. Also, meh.
Cheney, J. Kathleen. The Shores of Spain. The final Portugal book. Excited to read this one. Strong book, really interesting. RECOMMENDED.
Chris and Chia's Zombie Shorts. What you see is what you get.
Connolly, Tina. Copperhead. This book, centering on Helen, whom I sort of wrote off in the last book, was surprisingly good. I'd recommend it.
Convergence. Meh.
Cooking Light. Excellent, as usual.
Cool Mini. Dark Age: Fanatacism. So, it was a gaming supplement.
Cornell, Chris. PCH Roadkill. A very pleasant study in friendship.
Cornell, Chris. Oni Press Proposal.
Craven, Sean. At Risk. A collection of Sean's essays and short stories about growing up dysfunctional. Superlative.
Craven, Sean. Helping Henry. Sean's nice novel about dinosaurs and the people who raise and experiment on them.
Darowski, Joseph J. The Ages of Wonder Woman: Essays on the Amazon Princess in Changing Times.
Datlow, Ellen and Terri Windling. The Coyote Road. Meh.
Datlow, Ellen and Terri Windling. Faerie Reel. Meh.
Domar, Alice and Alice Lesch Kelly. Being Happy without Being Perfect: How to Worry Less and Enjoy Life More. This is more a book for married/parenting perfectionists, but I did learn some things.
Donoghue, Robert. Fate Tool Kit. Good gaming supplement for magic.
Dr. Strange. Meh.
Earth 2 World's End. Meh.
Eating Well. Pretty good.
Eckert, Win Scott and Matthew Baugh. Honey West and T.H.E. Cat: A Girl and Her Cat. Not very optimistic. And another horribly sexist offering from the universe of Honey West. Not even oblique U.N.C.L.E. cameos can save you.
Ellsworth, Spencer. Harry Potter Fan Fiction. 'Nuf said.
Engstrom, Doug. Gunslinger. I be beta'ing Doug's novel. It is both interesting and slow at the same time. Methinks an edit.
Fables. You can't end soon enough.
Fairest. You can't end soon enough either.
Fickling, G. C. The Honey West Files. Volume One. Oh the sexism! It burns. I doubt very much I can finish this. I couldn't. This was tripe.
Frankenstein Underground. Pretty good.
Fujiwara, Tetsuya. Research Paper.
Fury. Meh.
Gaiman, Neil. Odd and the Frost Giants. Traditional folklore told by a modern author. Definitely for kids.
Galuschak, George. Oni Press Proposal.
Ghost. Solid and intriguing.
Gilbert, Elizabeth. Big Magic. Artistic and positive book about creativity.
Gok, Omar. The Master Yousif Ngor Jock. Edited report about a Sudanese leader.
Goto, Hiromi. Darkest Light: Half World Series. What happened to Mr. Glueskin anyway?
Goto, Hiromi. A Chorus of Mushrooms. Esoteric, interesting, with a kick-ass grandmother.
Grant, Mira. Parasite. Edit the damned book!
Good Housekeeping. Not sure why they're sending me this. I'm reminded a bit of Weight Watchers mag. More appears to be back, however, so I'm hoping I'm done getting this.
Grant, Mira. Parasite. Meh.
Green, Dennis. Traveler. Meh. Not my thing. Bounced off it like teflon.
Guardians Team Up. Meh.
Hairston, Andrea. Mindscape. Meh. Except Lawanda!
Hands On Mosaic. As Catherine gears up for a new hobby.
The Hellboy 100 Project. Loads of cover art.
Herocats: Midnight over Stellar City. Excellent and interesting.
Higgins, Kyle et al. Batman Beyond 2.0. Justice Lords Beyond. Superb. Comic Book melodrama at its finest. Gonna RECOMMEND this one.
Hines, Jim C. Unbound. The best book Jim has written yet. RECOMMENDED.
Hines, Jim C. Fable: Blood of Heroes. Goofy and lightweight, but I knew that going in.
Hood, Bruce. The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity. Very interesting and pop sciency.
Horwitz, Stuart. Blueprint Your Best Seller. Love the voice. This is awesome, awesome stuff. RECOMMENDED.
Horwitz, Stuart. Book Architecture. Not as good as first one, but still pretty good.
Howey, Hugh. Wool. Thought it was really well done and very descriptive.
Invincible Iron Man. Meh.
Johnson, Alaya Dawn. The Summer Prince. Very pretty. Very Brazilian. Strangely compelling.
Jones, Tamar Siler. Spore. Tammy's foray into horror. Okay. Promise to self. No more triggery child molestation books.
Justice League Dark. Meh.
Justice League United. Meh.
Katsushika, Hokusei and Takashi Nagasaki. Master Keaton Volume 1. Pretty much the first series. Excellent and Recommended.
Katsushika, Hokusei and Takashi Nagasake. Master Keaton Volume 2. Keaton stories that I actually haven't seen before! Still liking this.
Kenyon, Kay. A Thousand Perfect Things. Beautiful, lyrical book. RECOMMENDED.
Koufman, Jaimie. Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook and Cure. Pretty much the book you would expect from the title. Heavy on the science.
Kress, Nancy. Dogs. Wow. That was intense.
Laima, Dalai. How to See Yourself as You Really Are. More Buddhism in every bite.
Lain, Douglas. Billy Moon. Too literary. And weird. I wanted to like it, but I didn't.
Larsen, Michael. How to Get a Literary Agent. Pretty good.
The Legend of Wonder Woman. Pretty old school.
Leigh, Stephen. Immortal Muse. I enjoyed all of the alternate time periods and the immortal war.
Loki Agent of Axis. It's okay.
Luen Ying, Gene et al. Avatar The Rift Part 3. It ended well, and the story hung together. Liked it a lot.
Luen Ying, Gene et al. Avatar Smoke and Shadow Part 1. It's good.
Madrid, Mike. Divas, Dames and Daredevils. A seriously fun super heroine anthology from the 40s. RECOMMENDED.
Mandrake the Magician. Okay.
Max Ride: First Flight. Meh.
McGinnis, Robert E. and Art Scott. The Art of Robert E. McGinnis. I love the way this man's pictures look, and I'm pretty happy to be reading this book.
McKay, Windsor. Little Nemo in Slumberland. Volumes II and VI. Pretty standard Nemo.
Mignola, Mike. Abe Sapien Volume 5. Sacred Places. Man, this is weird. But it ain't zombies!
Mignola, Mike. Lobster Johnson Volume 4. Get the Lobster! This is fun in a twisted Doc Savage kind of way.
Mignola, Mike et. al. BPRD Hell on Earth. Volume 10. More giant monsters and weird possessions!
Mignola, Mike. Hellboy and the BPRD 1952. Well, I liked it.
Mignola, Mike. Hellboy and the BPRD 1953. Well, I liked this too.
Mignola, Mike. Abe Sapien Volume 6: A Darkness So Great. Pretty good.
Mignola, Mike. BPRD Hell on Earth Volume 11. Flesh and Stone. Okay.
Mockingbird. Meh.
Mohanraj, Mary Anne. The Stars Change. A short novel with a lot of sex.
Millitello, Deborah. Thief's Luck. Meh.
Moore, Christopher. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. This was just great. Joshua and Biff learn from the three wise men, and then the crucifixion. Tongue in cheek, but Biff is just an earnest guy. RECOMMENDED.
Moulton Marston, William et al. Wonder Woman Collected Newspaper Strips. Fun to read. Pretty good, actually, if anachronistic.
Moyer, Jaimie Lee. Delia's Shadow. Well done historical fiction.
Moyer, Jamie Lee. A Barricade in Hell. Pretty much the same pattern as the last one. Engaging characters, but nothing new here.
More. The magazine I thought I wouldn't be getting any more, but am. Cool.
Mouseguard: Legends of the Guard. Okay.
Myers, E.C. The Silence of Six. Solid YA Tech book.
Naifah, Ted. Courtney Crumrin: Volume 7. Tales of the Warlock. Awesome, awesome, awesome. And that's all there is.
Nimona. Tongue in cheek web comic that Sean recommended and I enjoyed.
Older, Daniel Jose. Half Resurrection Blues. Excited to read based on a reading I heard at Wiscon, and Salsa Nocturna. Not as beautiful as Salsa Nocturna, except for the sex scenes, strangely enough. Still, very, very satisfying.
Paradise Icon 4 Stories. Getting ready for the workshop this year.
Petersen, David. Mouse Guard--Baldwin the Brave and Other Tales. Sweet, beautiful story telling from the Mouse Guard Universe, with the usual beautiful graphics.
Petersen, David. The Art of Mouse Guard. Fantastic and beautiful. RECOMMENDED.
Petersen, Jed and Michael Koogler. Hades Gambit. Oh man. A poor man's Neal Stephenson, and I don't care for him anyway.
Phua, Gwen. Memmerged: Killer Frag. Manuscript read for a friend.
Pratchett, Terry. The Shepherd's Crown. The last Tiffany Aching book, and the last Terry Pratchett book. And Granny Weatherwax dies, which is a whole mixed kettle of mixed fish.
Pratchett, Terry et al. Darwin's Watch--The Science of Discworld 3. We'd actually read this in 2010 already.
Princess Ugh. Really like Naifeh's next thing.
Quake. Meh.
quojing. The Only Child. Beautiful and recommended.
Rat Queens Special: Braga. Cool.
Reiss, Tom. The Black Count. Wow! The absolute true life of Alex Dumas. RECOMMENDED.
Rise of the Incarnates. Meh.
Robinette Kowal, Mary. Valor and Vanity.
Rosenfeld, Jordan E. A Writer's Guide to Persistance: Toolkit for Building a Lasting Writing Practice. I really think this is a solid book with lots of things that line up with my writing philosophy. Thus, recommended.
Rothfuss, Patrick. The Slow Regard of Silent Things. Oh, so slow and overdescriptive. Probably perfect for lit class analysis.
Rowell, Rainbow. Fangirl. FANTASTIC! Recommended! Clever geek romance and fan fiction, the way it really is.
Rubin, Gretchen. Better than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Every Day Lives. I am finding this to be a really useful, helpful book as I reflect my way back to sanity. Like the author, useful, but a little preachy. RECOMMENDED.
Sabrina. Jaysus! This ain't your parents' Archie comics. RECOMMENDED>
Saga. The usual awesomeness. RECOMMENDED.
Samatar, Sofia. A Stranger in Olondria. Beautiful prose. Story is cohesive, but also wanders into other tales, which doesn't work as well for me. Still liked it.
Samurai Jack. Emulates the cartoon nicely.
Sandman: Special Edition. Meh.
Scalzi, John. The Mallet of Loving Correction. A collection from his Whatever site. As usual, a lot of fun.
The Scarlet Witch. We'll see.
Schimschal, J. Iron Messiah. The prose was amazingly purple, and that's about all I can say.
Schwab, V.E. Vicious. I am let down by this. I was expecting angst and connected-ness. This is about as detached as it comes.
Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman. Since this is an anthology piece, the quality of the pieces varies wildly.
Shaw, Nisi and and Cynthia Ward. Writing the Other. You know, it wasn't new news here, but it might have been elsewhere.
She-Hulk. Meh.
SHIELD. We didn't really need this comic.
Shimmer. March, 2015. I like the way that they interview writers as well as have stories. These stories are very, very dark.
Shimmer. April, 2015. Still dark.
Shimmer. July, 2015. Liked the stories in this one better, especially Lavie Tidhar's.
Shimmer, September 2015.
Shimmer, November 2015.
Steinmetz, Ferrett. Flex. Parts really work, parts are really rough. Overall, a reasonable first debut.
Stover, Matthew Woodring. Heroes Die. I am finding the fantasy parts insipid, but the SF parts interesting in terms of their commentary on reality television and virtual reality. In the end, I found this an interesting book that avoided a lot of cliches.
Strong Female Protagonist. Thanks, Sean, for this interesting web comic.
Superior Iron Man. This is an awesome comic. RECOMMENDED.
Suri, Miranda. New Short Story.
Teffeau, Lauren. Blood Courier. Beta read for a friend.
Thors. Meh.
Tidhar, Lavie. The Bookman. I didn't care for it. Too many historical characters crammed into one place.
Toil and Trouble. Kind of a new cool Macbeth.
Tooth and Claw. Perhaps too many disparate elements for me to find this satisfying.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume one. Repeats the anime almost verbatim.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume two. Repeats the anime almost verbatim.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume three. Repeats the anime almost verbatim.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume four. Repeats the anime almost verbatim.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume five. Repeats the anime almost verbatim.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume six. Repeats the anime almost verbatim.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume seven. Repeats the anime almost verbatim.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume eight. Repeats the anime almost verbatim.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume nine. New territory with old characters.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume ten. New territory with old characters.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume eleven. New territory with old characters.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume twelve. Happy ending for Tsubasa and Kazawa.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume thirteen. Arima descends into darkness regarding his abuse. RECOMMENDED through number 15.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume fourteen. See above.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume fifteen. See above.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume sixteen. No, we're back in the crap zone.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume seventeen. See sixteen.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume eighteen. See sixteen.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume nineteen. So, this helped a bit.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume twenty. Getting sentimental.
Tsuda, Masami. His/Her Circumstances. Volume twenty-one. Oh, the maudlin! It burns!
Velvet. Brubaker's spy thing. RECOMMENDED.
Wild's End: The Enemy Within. Very good.
Ultimate End. Meh.
Ultimate Spiderman. Awesome! You go, Miles Morales! RECOMMENDED.
Vance, Stephanie. Quizzical. A beta read of a short story for a friend.
Vintage Made. An unusual find at Hy Vee.
Wallace, Sean. The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk. A load of short stories about Dieselpunk.
Walsh, Jessica and Brianna Lawrence. Seeking the Storyteller. Eh.
We Stand on Guard. Okay.
Wecker, Helen. The Golem and The Jinni. Seven years in the making. Quite lovely, if a touch too conscious of itself. RECOMMENDED.
Wiebe, Kurtis J. et al. Rat Queens Volume 2. Excellent.
Weight Watchers. Pretty good.
Wein, Elizabeth. Code Name Verity. Strong, nicely written beautiful book about friendship. I just found it to have too many planes in it.
Wendig, Chuck. The Comorant. That was intense. VERY well done. RECOMMENDED.
Wiesner, Karen S. Writing the Fiction Series: The Complete Guide for Novels and Novellas.
Wild's End. VERY HG Wells.
Wodehouse, P.G. Code of the Woosters. Getting close to finishing this. The complicated Wodehouse comedic set up is quite good.
Wodehouse, P.G. Joy in the Morning. Well, at least it wasn't Gussie Fink-Nottle.
Wodehouse, P.G. The Mating Season.
Woodard, Colin. The Republic of Pirates. A fascinating read. Life is so cheap at this time. Go, pirates! Um...okay. Everyone is reprehensible. Go, no one.
Watching: 126
Agent Carter. Season 1. Recreates the 40s beautifully. If DirecTV doesn't get channel 9 negotiated, I will have to kill someone. The writing is incredible. RECOMMENDED.
Agents of SHIELD. Season 2. It's back on, and it isn't nearly as good as Agent Carter. Just sayin'.
Agents of SHIELD. Season 3. Liking it this season.
The Agony and the Ectasy. It's okay. I was expecting more.
Ant Man (X2). Enjoyable Marvel new film. Nice to see the Wasp have 10 seconds of fame.
Ant Man Shorts. Informative.
The Aristocats. Childhood nostalgia.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron (X3). One dense movie. I thought that they did the Vision and the Scarlet Witch spot on, and I enjoyed it overall. It is not without its faults, but they are few.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron Support Materials. All the stuff on the DVD.
Back to the Future. A rewatch.
Back to the Future II. A rewatch.
Batman Adventures: Gotham Knights. A good Christmas episode of the cartoon.
Being Julia. Surprisingly good and clever.
Believe. Watched it again on the boat.
Birdman (or the Surprising Virtue of Ignorance). Intense and a bit full of itself, but Michael Keaton did a superb job, and the acting was excellent.
The Book of Life. A charming rewatch.
Box Trolls. Love me some smart British stop animation. RECOMMENDED.
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier. A rewatch.
Catch Me If You Can: DiCaprio and Hanks bank fraud film. Finally saw that!
Chi-Raq. Spike Lee's take on Lysistrata. Go, Aristophenes.
Cinderella. The new remake. Pretty in the costume department, and not unpleasant.
Code Geass Season 1. A rewatch. And still fan-f'ing-tastic.
Code Geass Season 2. A rewatch.
Cowboy Bebop. A rewatch. Only made it in two episodes before Bryon decided not to watch it.
Crimson Peak. You know, this was okay, but I wanted to like it more.
Daily Show. The last episode. The usual.
Daredevil. New Netflix series. Wow. Fantastic. All the support characters, and the complicated layers. RECOMMENDED.
Dead Like Me. Season 1. New exercise rewatch.
Dead Like Me. Season 2. Yup, rewatching.
Dear White People. Indie film with thought provoking content.
Disney Shorts DVD. Some excellent shorts.
Don Jon. A very good indie film about a man's addiction to Internet porn. There's a lot of Jersey humor and a surprise at the end. Joseph Gordon-Levitz deserves accolades for acting, writing, and directing.
Downton Abby Season 5. The melodrama just keeps on coming!
Dr. Who Holiday Special. Meh. Honestly, Steven Moffat?
Ever After High: Spring Unsprung. Oh, Monster High. Do not worry about the competition. What if Strawberry Shortcake and Monster High had a love child? This is your result.
El Hazard The Magnificent World. A rewatch.
Fiddler on the Roof. A rewatch.
Frozen Short. Charming little short.
The Golden Mickeys. Watched it again on the boat.
The Good Dinosaur. Which we should really call The Slow Dinosaur. Yawn.
Grace and Frankie. New sitcom with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. Two women deal with life after their husbands come out and want to marry each other.
His/Her Circumstances: The first anime rewatch of 2015.
The Hogfather. Rewatch for the Christmas season.
Home. It had its moments, but mostly was an average film. Of course my sentimentality is out of hand now that I'm 50.
Horton Hears a Who. Wow. That took me back.
House of Cards Season One. Looks promising. You go, Kevin Spacey. Wow. Mr. and Mrs. MacBeth go to Washington. Ouch. RECOMMENDED.
House of Cards Season Two. Frank becomes vice-president. God help us.
House of Cards Season Three. The awful people just keep getting more awful, but I can't look away.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas. A rewatch.
Inside Out (x2). Pixar's psychological film.
Iron Giant Remaster.
Jessica Jones. This is a Hell's Kitchen you can see.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Bruce Timm returns to direct a fairly good alternate universe film.
Justice League episode Comfort and Joy. A yearly rewatch.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Very faithful adaptation. Nice special effects too.
The Kingsman. Wow. That was over the top, but I did enjoy it anyway.
The Knights of Badassdom. A lot of fun for this former LARPer. Bad, but in an enjoyable way.
Krampus. Oh, you'd better not pout. RECOMMENDED.
Leroy and Stitch. Argh. Kind of a wrap up of the Pokeman-ish cartoon.
Letters from Iwo Jima. The flip film that accompanied the American Iwo Jima film. Very good.
Lilo and Stitch (X2). Wonderful and sweet. A rewatch.
Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. (X2) Made me cry, the sentimental thing.
Madagascar 3. A rewatch.
Mad Men Season One. The sexism still burns, but there's interesting stuff here to watch as well.
Man Men Season Two. This is better, but it's a cruel show.
Mad Men Season Three. Still very cruel.
Mad Men Season Four. Not only cruel, but complicated and interesting.
Mad Men Season Five. The hits just keep on coming. But it's a good show. People do change for better and worse. I'm kind of falling for Lane Price. And so he kills himself.
Mad Men Season Six. Wow. You kinda like Betty again. Don is losing it. Complications and complications and complications.
Mad Men Season Seven.
Man from UNCLE. (X4) Somewhat different, somewhat the same as the original material. Enjoyed it and would recommend it. The Collins Road crowd really liked it, and they showed some old UNCLE stuff too, so the 4th time is the charm.
Mary Poppins. The musical. Theater Cedar Rapids did an okay job. The kids and Banks were awesome. It was very community theater, neither in a good or bad way.
Master Keaton. My first time through this quirky animated series. I'm liking the main character very well, as well as the interesting plots. RECOMMENDED.
Merry Madagascar. A rewatch.
Minions. Better than I expected. Funny, and Sandra Bullock does good work. Plus, it's in the British 60s.
Mission Impossible: Season 5. It just keeps going! Actually no. It's over. Probably the worst season yet. I blame Lesley Warren.
Mission Impossible: Season 6. Fast becoming Mission Implausible. Lynda Day George is a much better actress than Lesley Warren. Leonard Nimoy is gone. They just crossed a line, because Barney killed one of the bad guys, and the team has never done that before. Sure, they've set up bad guys to kill each other, but this is new. I don't like it.
Mission Impossible: Season 7. Finally! They continue to fight the mob. Let's get this over with. I finished this bastard. Give me my merit badge.
Monster High Haunted. Sure, it's predictable, but it wasn't too bad.
Monster High Boo York! Boo York! The Musical. Oh, children. Why must your musical tastes be so suspect.
A Monster in Paris. Very well done French animated feature, featuring the talents of Julian Lennon, among others. RECOMMENDED.
Mr. Holmes. Another Sherlock Holmes retelling.
Mrs. Henderson Presents. Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins run a theater.
Music and Lyrics. Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore do light romance in a retro movie.
Once Upon a Time Season One. We'll see. Writing is uneven, but there is enough cool stuff to keep me watching.
Once Upon a Time Season Two.
Onegin: Russian novel adapted by Brits again.
Paddington. Pitch perfect in some ways. Awkward in others. Overall, uneven in tone, but I liked it still.
Peabody and Sherman. Captures the spirit of the original very well. Sorry we didn't support it in the theater.
Peanuts Movie. Much like Peabody and Sherman, it captures the true essence of the original, plus updates it into a more compassionate vision of Charlie Brown. RECOMMENDED.
Penny Dreadful Season 2.
The Penguins of Madagascar. A rewatch at the cheap theater.
Pixels. Cute premise, poor execution.
Porco Rosso. Man, this is slow. I did not find it a charm fest, nor a brilliant feast.
Read or Die OAV. Rewatching.
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Never seeing the sun is a little maudlin, but the father's journey is pretty good. Also, excellent practice for my Japanese.
The Road to Perdition. Moody, dark, and brilliantly executed. RECOMMENDED.
Rome Season One. The new blue ray with pop ups!
Rome Season Two. Again, with pop ups!
Salem Season 1. Cheese, as in Velveeta.
Salem Season 2. More cheese. Enjoyable, soothing, coats everything cheese.
Scott Pepper. Magic show on the boat.
Secret of the Kells. A rewatch. I had forgotten how pretty this is.
Silver Linings Playbook. More crazy easterners finding each other. Okay.
Solomon Kane. Accurate recreation of the gritty comic. Not the best of movies.
The Sound of Music. A rewatch. Very interesting to see what I pick up that is different now, when I am close to 50. Also, the movie is as old as I am, exactly.
Soylent Green. ...is people. The end.
Space Pirate Captain Harlock. That was really, really boring.
Spring. Normal American kid falls for an ancient Roman monster. Starts out cheesy and rough, ends beautifully and magnificently. I'd RECOMMEND this. Just skip the first 15 minutes. You don't need it.
Strictly Ballroom. Strange Australian film about ball room dancing.
Star Wars--The Force Awakens. Meh. Can't get out of the Star Wars box.
Supergirl. Kind of grows on you. And Martian Manhunter.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Slow presentation of the old Japanese Bamboo Cutters tale.
Terminator Genisys. Well. :) Arnold doing what he does best, which isn't governing California. I liked it. If you don't like Arnold, you won't. Lots of good effects too.
The Tiger and the Snow. Didn't expect much at first, but this film turned out very well. Italian rescues his wife in Iraq. Off beat and quirky, but not too sentimental. I can recommend this.
Titus. Titus Adronicus for the Bellini crowd. Shakespeare's most panned play done both macabre and over the top. I don't know if I can recommend, it, but I can say that I earned some English prof street cred by watching.
Tomorrowland. It's not as bad as everyone says. As a matter of fact, I liked it.
Troll Hunter. A rewatch.
The US Versus John Lennon. An interesting documentary about the rock star, Nixon, and the subversive 60s.
Villains Tonight. Watched it again on the boat.
Volver. Complicated foreign film about a Spanish family and the abuse they endure from the men in their lives. Like the mother is dead but not dead plot very much.
What Marnie Saw. Predictable, but a beautiful tale. The last of the movies from Studio Ghibli.
What We Do in Shadows. The fake vampire reality show. Loved it. RECOMMENDED.