Watching things + memes
L and I went to see Wild Robot. We got a trailer for it with Inside Out 2, and L's been interested since then; I was a little on the fence until the very good reviews started coming in, and then I was on board, too. But she's been working more weekends than usual, and we had a lot of social stuff on the days when we were both free, so it got to the point where the number of showings at our local theater had seriously dwindled, and we decided to go on a weeknight while it was still playing nearby at all. And we really enjoyed it, even though there actually isn't all that much to the story -- but the cute critters and the fun dialogue made for a good movie nevertheless.
We got trailers for Moana 2 (L says you can tell it was a TV show turned into a movie, and yeah, I didn't really see anything that impressed me), Wicked (such Galinda/Elphaba vibes), and Dog Man (which looked incredibly stupid -- I know it's not for me -- and also L looked at the art and said, "Is this by the Captain Underpants guy?", because the art style looked similar to her -- and yep, it is). I feel like there has to have been something else, but neither of us can remember it, so it can't have been very interesting.
Movie itself: spoilers!
We enjoyed the voicecast. I had forgotten that Roz the eponymous wild robot was voiced by Lupita Nyong'o -- I think this might be the first time I've heard her in a role that didn't call for an accent. I'm pretty sure I didn't know that the fox was Pedro Pascal; we were both briefly surprised when the credits came up and then, OK, yeah, that checks out. I was waiting to find out which of the "elder statesman" type British actors was voicing Longneck the elderly goose (Bill Nighy) and who was voicing the peregrine (Ving Rhames, whom I apparently have not seen in anything other than Pulp Fiction) and the beaver (Matt Berry; whom I don't think I've seen/heard in anything before, but him being English probably explains why I had trouble placing what kind of accent the beaver was supposed to have -- it seemed to drift). Oh, and Catherine O'Hara as the possum -- L knows her as the mother in Schitt's Creek, but *I* know her as the mother in Home Alone, although the hilarity/appropriateness of having her voicing a possum mother who keeps losing track of her seven children only occurred to me several hours after the movie. Biggest cast surprise, though, was when the title card came up and we learned it had been Mark Hamill voicing the bear -- did not see that coming at all XD
The critter animation was the big star of the movie for us. First, L got rather excited that the movie seemed to be set in the Pacific Northwest, judging by the coastline and critters, specific crab and bird species, lupines, etc. (She looked it up later, and it has to be Washington for there to be a grizzly, so I guess Washington it is.) I couldn't appreciate it as deeply on the ecosystem level, but really loved everything from Roz learning to scale cliffs from the rock crabs in the opening moments of the film to her early encounters with all the animals, especially the raccoons being brazenly raccoon-like rooting around in her carapace. But the rabbits, squirrels, deer, the adorable mice -- everyone was great!
And not critters, but we also really enjoyed the glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge as the geese are flying over it -- and L pointed out the City was underwater, with whales swimming by. And robot company headquarters being in ~Silicon Valley also checks out. Both L and I remarked on it that we enjoyed the way the climate catastrophe (unless it was an earthquake, I guess) sort of happening unremarked in the background, and the few humans we do see not being bothered about it apparently. (Probably that also explains the typhoon off North America in the Pacific Ocean? But possibly I'm overthinking that part.) I also particularly liked the "baby pictures" burned into the wood, starting with the egg, and found the moment where Roz hangs the picture of Brightbeak in flight over the door quite moving.
The story is not particularly original or deep, and even while watching the movie we kept being reminded of other things by what was happening. Both L and I thought "this is basically Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" when it turns out that Brightbeak has to lead the other geese out of the corporate compound using the special skillz he learned from his peregrine falcon teacher, which he had to do because he was an ostracized weirdo. But there's also the sort of reverse Mowgli thing going on with Brightbeak. Story-wise, my favorite part of the movie were the first arcs, where Roz is learning to be a wild robot and then when she and Fink are raising Brightbeak. I would've actually been OK, I think, if the movie had ended with Brightbeak's flight, with maybe just an epilogue of his return and some kind of reunion. I do get that they probably felt like they had to have an action sequence, and (as L pointed out) geese trashing an air transport is completely on brand. I felt like the "everyone spends the winter together in the shelter Roz built" was definitely sweet, but a bit TOO "aww let's hug him again". (L, afterwards: "So basically Roz destroyed that entire ecosystem. What are they going to eat now? They can't eat each other now that they're all friends!" I proposed the hypothesis that maybe the predators will go hunting on nearby islands, where they aren't friends with the prey animals, and L was amused by this idea of viking critters.) I also understand that they felt they needed a beat where Brightbeak saves Roz, and the thing that suggests that her love for him has caused her to evolve beyond her programming to the point where wiping her (mechanical) memories does not lead to her forgetting him -- but. Like, I get that it's a kid's movie and you need a shorthand visual like her carapace lighting up about where the heart would be to show the ~Power of Love~, but actually I prefer my robots to be distinct from humans, and so while I'm of course perfectly willing to believe that robots can feel something like love, that way of showing it was too anthropomorphic for my taste. And on a separate note, Fink's arc of becoming accepted by the other denizens of the island because he had changed, having grown to care for Roz and Brightbeak, didn't really work for me, because I didn't think it was sufficiently well set up why HE was an ostracized loner -- it makes a lot of sense with Roz the mechanical monster and Brightbeak the run raised by a robot, but the Fink part felt completely handwaved. But these are quibbles. I think they prevent Wild Robot from being a Great movie, but it's still a really enjoyable one.
L and I seem to have accidentally developed a tradition of going to see movies with a parental figure/child central story -- Encanto was somewhat like that, but the short that aired with it (the raccoons) was basically just that in spades, and this continues the tradition. We laughed at the opossum's parenting wisdom, but the biggest laugh, which we quoted several times after, was Roz talking about the feeling of "crushing obligation" (L could relate because she feels it for the sidewalk fish). We found the beaver funny, and went "aww" at him and Fink planting a tree after using the other one to save the island from the fire.
The ending, of course, is an obvious sequel hook, and I'm not convinced that a sequel is at all necessary -- I'm not sure Roz leaving the island was all that necessary, although it does make sense that she would want to protect her friends from repeated efforts to extract her. But I'll be curious to see what they make of it eventually.
Anyway, that was a good time, and I'm amazed that I've now managed to see three movies in theaters this year (all three with/because of the rodents -- Inside Out 2 with both of them, and Deadpool & Wolverine with O, so this one restores parity).
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Taskmasters:
Taskmaster s18e08 -- No costumes from Andy this episode, but I do like his blue shirt -- it looks abstractly mollusc-y (which is a plus). Also, are those ants on Jack's tie? (I'm enjoying the suit + weird pictures on ties look Jack has been sticking with). And while I'm talking about costumes, Emma's lip-print blouse is also a nice installment. Anyway, spoilers from here
Andy wins a third episode!! With his hotdog still in reserve! And speaking of hot dog, another contestant who has squandered theirs -- poor Emma! (I wonder if the choice to be very lenient with Babatunde's hot dog task -- that was so not a gentle pace -- was partially informed by the knowledge that Rosie had used hers on a task that was a clear DQ and Emma on an objectively-scored task where she had come in last... At this point I'm assuming Andy wore his to the studio for a live task, and could not be taken into account.) Andy has not quite caught up with Jack -- or, rather, Jack Bernhardt's stats say Andy overtook Jack after the special glasses task but then lost the lead again -- but is now really within striking distance -- only 2 points behind. Sadly, after another disastrous episode, I don't think Emma has any shot at winning -- she is 14 points behind Jack, without a joker, and both her team-mates are ahead of her. I don't think Baba is winning either -- he is only 9 points behind, but the only time he outscored Jack OR Andy by 5+ points in an episode, it was with the hotdog. And Rosie is still in last place, although the gap between her and Emma is just 4 points, so I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that Rosie finishes last. But I think the champion race is down to Jack or Andy. (And of the two, I would be very happy to see Andy in CoC, especially in combination with Sam, who is a different kind of odd, and John Robins, who has said Andy's cricket stats role is his dream job.)
Prize task (thing that makes Greg scratch his chin) -- Rosie straight in with crack fanfiction XD (It took less than 24 hours for someone to write a fic referencing it -- though not actually with the head-swap scenario; a couple of hours longer than the first fic titled "The Nexus of Truth", but still impressive XD) Emma's fake acne was horrible and definitely deserved the 1 point. Amazing how well Babatunde did out of a paper plate that he refused to comment on (tie with Jack's book/screwdriver at 3), but, really, Andy and Rosie's were the only interesting ones -- I continue to be delighted by Andy's bizarre made up products and the attention to detail on the packaging.
Special glasses task -- one of those cases where the props were more interesting than the task (I'm with Rosie in being intrigued by the optician's chair as home decor). The winning strategy being to just take the pedestal apart was not very interesting, and Jack, after voicing his optometrist conspiracy theory, was mostly off-screen (and it did seem weird that Alex seemed willing to accept his goggles and stopped the task, but then Jack got disqualified -- as Ed discussed on the podcast, last week's episode had "ring the bell" but any number of bells would've sufficed, so how is one to know that in this case it had to be a specific pair of special glasses?) Anyway, the only interesting thing in this task was the French, and the contrast between Baba mangling it so horribly that his francophone friend asked him to stop and just send him a picture -- that was my favorite moment of the task -- and Emma, who we know has studied languages, reading off the instructions beautifully, but getting stuck on the word pedestal. Oh, and Andy feeling chagrined that he didn't think to read the words right to left, like Hebrew -- though, clearly, not getting distracted by the clues was actually the better strategy, as it turned out.
Barrels multi-part task -- this was my favorite this episode. Partly I generally like the multi-part tasks, but partly it was also Emma's demeanor throughout (and that's without even counting the socks/orgasm talk in the studio, which was hilarious for the men's reaction to it -- well, I say "men's", but it was Baba, Alex, and Greg; Jack was impassive as usual and Andy had his usual Felix Faust smile of twinkly mischief -- and also not counting Emma accusing Alex of being sweet on Jack, and the deep blush from Alex and resulting banter; no fic about this yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time). Poor Emma, though, who had the shortest time to work with, and so was hurrying along -- and probably wasting more time by doing that because she kept forgetting she had another go at the same barrel, or thinking she had succeeded and having to come back, and of course waiting for Alex. Greg's quote about it was spot on -- she had the demeanor of someone who was brilliant at the task while bombing and was speaking to Alex as if he "were getting in the way of her genius". I also thought it was interesting that Rosie called time on herself when she got to barrel 5 -- it's not a bad strategy! Baba accusing the bingo tombola thingy of being rigged and/or racist was also funny (the wording of that task was "select", so I wonder if you could just, like, open it and grab one?) Interesting that Jack attempted to lie about the coffee bean -- but I do think (as Ed says on the podcast) that Emma is on to something, with Alex giving him the opportunity to repent and do over for real, rather than cheating and being disqualified. And Andy just seemed to have smooth sailing all the way through? I guess there are benefits to being a wizard. (The lobster fact, btw, is closer to true than Greg probably thinks it is -- although not actually biologically immortal. And aww at Rosie wanted them to be.) Oh, and speaking of Rosie, her cheering for getting more time for the task because of the palsy was great. (I did wonder, as someone on Reddit did too, whether they could've just gone from 1 to 9, i.e. rotating the other direction. I don't think I heard anything in the task that would prevent this, and otherwise, what's the point of putting the barrels in a circle rather than a line? I would think it was worth at least for Emma to try, when she had 10 seconds left.)
Body part, noise, legs two-parter -- oh nooo, poor Emma, having wasted her hot dog on a one-pointer. Also, man, that was such a tough thing to have to keep doing over and over for 10 minutes. She almost certainly did not need to do the legs thing for 25 seconds each time -- Alex of course did not tell her this, but it seems to be something she herself decided and he just enabled by supplying her with the times when she asked. Ed and Desiree on the podcast pointed out that Emma was probably trying to be extra-elaborate in the first part and then was extra-careful not to be disqualified in the second part -- trying to maximize her points when she thought it was going to be scored on vibes, and then trying to make sure she didn't waste the joker points entirely -- but the result was very unlucky. Despite Emma wearing the hot dog -- which actually did blend into the rest of her costume very well -- the person who looked the weirdest throughout the task was still definitely Andy XD I had guessed that the episode title, "the nexus of truth", had to be something Andy had said, but I was definitely surprised by the context XD And then whatever the hell that interesting action was -- some kind of bizarre mating dance with Alex, possibly from a related species as Bridget Christie's and Greg's stopcock dance. Lol at Jack's Krusty the Klown crack, but while his bicycle kick's were certainly less elaborate than Andy and Emma's actions, I do have to agree with (the once-again-blushing) Alex that this was interesting because it's uncharacteristic.
Live task -- wow, that looks like it must have gone on forever live XD Jack B says this is the first time they had to modify the task conditions after the task had started to wrap things up (they did modify the "correctly put on a tie" task in s2, but that was before the execution of the task began). The only entertaining things from here for me were both down to Baba -- him trying to cheat first thing with "ples" and then running out of white names and asking to tag in Emma.
I didn't think the tasks were nearly as strong this episode as the last one, but the barrel task was really enjoyable,and there were some great studio reactions and banter. Jack B says this is now the closest ever series in terms of total spread (18 points), and one of the tightest in terms of the gap between the two leading contenders (the only ones tighter -- i.e. 1 point between two leading contestants after episode 8 -- were s10 (Richard/Daisy), s12 (Morgana/Alan), and s14 (Dara/Sarah). Jack B says all contestants leading after episode 8 went on to win their series except for Jess in s7... but it's such a narrow lead, and the hot dog Andy still has in his back pocket is like an extra task, so IDK... Jack B also pointed out that the last couple of episodes were very light on the tasks Andy does best at, subjectively judged solo tasks, and he's been pretty steadily gaining on Jack ever since episode 3.
More about Emma, as I feel like this is the episode in which her champion dreams die. Like, she was doing badly before this also, but building momentum, it seemed, and she still had her joker in reserve. But to get a sub-10 score in the episode where she used her hot dog? That, I think, is the death knell to any possibly victory. Reddit commented that Emma has the intensity of a champion, which echoed my own thoughts -- and specifically someone said, "If John Robins did less well..." -- and yes, exactly! She's got the same "taking this very seriously" leashed competitive energy and sort of earnestness -- which makes it easy for me to see why John thought she would the the most of a threat if he had to face her in CoC.
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Taskmaster Oz s3e06 -- I didn't think this episode was as good as some of the other recent ones... spoilers! HOW is Concetta in the lead again? XD OK, Rhys had their worst episode of the season and slipped behind Concetta and Peter, but still...
Prize (best piece of art <=$50) -- nicely played by Rhys with G.Tom's cover art -- glad that paid off for them. I liked Aaron's idea and thought it deserved a bit more. Meanwhile, I liked Concetta's approach of a Paint Nite thing being paying for art that she (and her boyfriend) drew, but like with Mel's negative payment art that she drew and claimed she got paid for, I thought the art was BAD, and she was way overscored at 4 points. And I couldn't remember what Pete's thing was until I rewatched -- oh, right, the dabbing Mona Lisa shirt. I guess 3 points sounds about right for that, even though it was the most boring prize.
Drop the coffee -- first of all, one of Aaron's lateral thinking ideas actually pays off! The towels + duct tape method was pretty great, and that was a well-deserved 5 points. And everyone else basically did terribly. Between Peter and Rhys, Pete's saving grace was that the kept the bucket for secondary containment and did not aim for too high. Rhys's liter-meter calculation should've been 0.016 x 5.1 m = 0.0816 and not 0.816 as Tom said. Mel's seems to have legitimately been 0.73 x 0.37 = 0.27 and Concetta genuinely managed to do worse than Rhys, though it was close: 0.039 x 1.98 = 0.077. So actually Rhys should've gotten 2 points and Mel 3 in this task. But I'm guessing we're just going to roll forward with the math error. Scores aside, I don't really understand Rhys in this task -- is this like Ed with the duck in CoC, where they just got stuck, tunnel vision-like, on one idea, which they knew to be a terrible idea, and just continued with it to the tragic conclusion? I mean, each good contestant deserves a disastrous task or two, and I guess this is Rhys's...
Taxi driver country song -- that's a harsh stance on the use of generative AI, but I can't fault G.Tom for taking it, though I do feel sorry for Rhys, who did the performance themself, at least, even if they didn't write the song. Not a lot to say about the others, tbh -- I did not find either the concept of the task or the resulting songs very interesting. It definitely seems like the sheep chasing L.Tom was the most memorable part of this task, and, like, that's not a great sign.
Welcome mat -- I agree that Aaron deserved the 5 points for their skateboard-and-knives mat (someone on Reddit said he had built a Home Alone booby-trap, and, totally!), and that Mel's mat itself was not particularly unwelcoming (although her reading negative reviews was a fun addition). I thought Rhys's was underscored, unless there was some logic about the ass-eating that got cut out of the edit -- I definitely thought theirs was better than Pete's. I guess Concetta did deserve decent points, since she actually followed through on HER threat. But this was another task where I thought outside of Aaron nobody did anything interesting.
Live task (spinny debate) -- Meh. It looked ridiculous, but other than the spinny visual, and Aaron not knowing what a "moot" is, I thought it dragged. Team members taking turns saying words towards a common goal gave us what is probably my favorite live task ever, s14's "Which aircraft... crashes more... into mountains" -- but this was a much duller take, because there was no time pressure (quite the opposite, team of 3 at least clearly ran out of things to say before they ran out of time), and also you couldn't see the faces of the other team members reacting to what their representative was saying. So i think this was just a worse take on a task I've already seen done better.
This is continuing to be a very close series -- only FIVE points between 1st and 4th place, and Aaron, Rhys, and Peter are all sequentially separated by 1 point.
Incredibly, next week will see THREE different Taskmasters things, as Junior Taskmaster is also starting, and I intend to at least give it a try. For Mike Wozniak if nothing else, although I'm also curious to see Rose in the Greg role, and judging by the trailer, those kids are going to be fun.
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Memes:
From muccamukk: A reading meme listing authors where you've read five or more of their titles, optionally sorted into categories and/or time period.
Kidlit / stuff you would find in the children's room / junior section of a library (whether I read it as a kid or not):
- K.A.Applegate -- so many Animorphs books XD (which were my brother's, but I enjoyed them on more levels than he)
- Diana Wynne Jones -- Chrestomanci plus some stand-alones
- Tamora Pierce -- I think I've read all the Tortall subseries
- Rick Riordan -- not all but enough of the Percy Jacksons, plus the first Magnus Chase book
- J.K.Rowling -- all the Harry Potters
- Louis Sachar -- Wayside School (including the recent sequel) and a bunch of standalones
- Ursula Vernon (also T.Kingfisher, but I read more titles by Vernon)
- Kir Bulychev -- the Alisa Selezneva books
- Alexander Volkov -- the Russian "Wizard of Oz" books
SFF, of the YA variety:
- Holly Black -- Tithe trilogy + standalones + the beginning of the Cruel Prince books
- Francesca Lia Block -- Weetzie Bat mostly
- Libba Bray -- A Great and Terrible Beauty + standalones
- Sarah Rees Brennan -- two trilogies + In Other Lands
- Cate Tiernan -- those SWEEP books
- Scott Westerfeld -- Uglies series, Leviathan series, Peeps
SFF, that year I was basically reading all Urban Fantasy all the time (plus some older series):
- Ben Aaronobitch -- Rivers of London
- Ilona Andrews -- Kate Daniels and The Edge
- Patricia Briggs -- Mercy Thompson
- Jim Butcher -- Dresden Files and Codex Alera
- Charlaine Harris -- Sookie Stackhouse books
- Kim Harrison -- the Hollows books
- Benedict Jacka -- I ran out of steam on the Alex Verus books, but not before I read 5 of them
- Seanan McGuire -- Toby Daye + Wayward Children
- Sergei Lukyanenko -- the Night Watch books
SFF, everything else:
- Isaac Asimov -- mostly but not exclusively Robots. I even read some of the Lucky Starr books because the library had them
- Elizabeth Bear -- first book or two of several different series
- Terry Brooks -- artefact of my misspent youth; I read a bunch of the Shannara books (because they were there) and Magic Kingdom for Sale, Sold plus a sequel or two
- Steven Brust -- Dragaera (and I dipped into a few stand-alones and co-authored things)
- Lois McMaster Bujold -- Vorkosiverse and Chalion
- Jacqueline Carey -- only the Kushiel books (but there are a lot of them)
- Orson Scott Card -- a lot of both Enderverse and Alvin Maker, and a few standalones
- Becky Chambers -- Wayfarers x4 + A Psalm for the Wild Built
- Cassandra Clare -- I actually did not realize it was so many until I looked at my tags...
- Lynn Flewelling -- a handful of the Nightrunners and the Bone Doll's Twin books
- Neil Gaiman -- American Gods, Anansi Boys, Graveyard Book, Coraline, Neverwhere, Norse Mythology, plus the Sandman :(
- Jordan L. Hawk -- Whyborne & Griffin and SWEEP
- Robin Hobb -- FitzChivalry books + a few of other books in this universe
- M.C.A.Hogarth -- Earthrise and several others
- N.K.Jemisin -- but I definitely find the Broken Earth books like two levels above everything else of hers I've read
- Guy Gavriel Kay - Fionavar plus a bunch of the historical fantasies
- Mercedes Lackey -- Valdemar, Magic Kingdom, others -- she's very prolific
- Ursula K. LeGuin -- mostly fantasy (Earthsea + others) + Left Hand of Darkness + non-fiction collections
- Ann Leckie -- Ancillary trilogy + Provenance + Raven Tower
- George R.R.Martin -- ASOIAF and the Dunk and Egg stories
- Sarah Monette (Katherine Addision)
- Naomi Novik -- all the Temeraires + the standalones
- Terry Pratchett -- so many Discworld books... (plus a couple of standalones)
- Michelle Sagara - Cast In... books
- J.R.R.Tolkien -- Middle-Earth but also a few other things
- Martha Wells -- Murderbots + one book of Raksura + a standalone from the back catalogue
- Roger Zelazny -- Amber plus some stand-alones
- Brothers Strugatsky -- all of their major works plus whatever I could find at the library or lying around
- Olga Gromyko - Kosmo-oluhi and Volha, plus some stand-alones
Mysteries:
- Arthur Conan Doyle -- I make five if I cound short story collections and/or the Challenger books
- Jonathan Kellerman -- so many Alex Delaware books
- Patricia Cornwell -- the Kay Scarpetta books
- Tess Gerritsen -- not as many of the previous ones, but it looks like I've read at least five of the Rizzoli and Isles books
I also read a lot of Agatha Christie at one point, but not sure that it was enough novels or distinct collections to get to 5 books, so not counting her.
Other:
- Dave Barry -- humor writing
- K.J.Charles -- m/m, but I read more of the non-magical variety so counting that here
- Rainbow Rowell -- both YA stuff like Eleanor & Park and Fangirl and more adult stuff like Attachments and Landline, plus whatever the hell Carry On is meant to be XD
I have a suspicion there are other authors who may qualify but from the days before I started tracking via tags. Like my mother and I went through a phase reading a lot of Sidney Sheldon, and he was quite prolific, so I think it's likely I've read five or more -- at least 5 titles ring a bell for me -- but I'm not sure that I've read at least that many. Similarly, I'm pretty sure I've read at least 5 of my mother's Jackie Collins paperbacks as a teen, but they do rather all run together, so I'm not counting those either.
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Movies meme: same thing I did for 2004-06 a bit earlier, but a compressed version for 2007-09, so it's not just "didn't see it, no opinion" for 80+% of it :P
I looked at the 2007 blockbusters list and there was a total of 3 that I had anything to say about, so I'm just going to list those 3:
Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End: I watched it at home (with the rodents? with B? possibly with both) and did not think much of it, IIRC.
Juno: B and I watched this (at home), because we both like Jason Bateman. We liked it! I thought this was my introduction to Page as an actor, but checking Wikipedia, that must've been X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 (which I guess did not make the blockbuster list :P) as Kitty Pryde -- but the Juno role is definitely the one I remember.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: B and I watched this in theaters. I don't remember if the rodents would've been fans yet... I don't think so? So I think it was just us. This is actually my favorite of the HP films, and I think part of why I like it as much as I do is that the book is one of my LEAST favorite in the series. I feel like the movie improves upon it by cutting down the stuff I found very tedious (CAPSLOCK HARRY and general teenage angst) and handling very well the parts that are better (perfect Umbridge, e.g.)
2008 blockbusters -- even fewer movies, lol, so continuing with this
Iron Man -- watched it with B, not expecting much, but just because we have a tradition of watching superhero movies together dating back to X-Men and the Raimi Spider-Man, and of course I was instantly won over by Tony Stark and RDJ. Tony remained my favorite throughout the MCU, and this is still one of my favorites in the franchise. (Also, I see Tropic Thunder is right behind it on the list. I never watched that one, but what a year RDJ was having!)
Twilight -- nope. It was of course all the rage, but I don't like vampires on the whole, and this sounded aggressively stupid. Nevera watched any part of the franchise, although I did watch quite a few videos ABOUT it, so I've actually seen a bunch of the scenes that way.
Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian: Watched it with the rodents, and I think we mostly made fun of it? It really drove home how much of my enjoyment of the first one was down to Mr Tumnus XD
2009 blockbusters -- OK, I've seen more than 3, so let's do an actual list
Coraline: I had enjoyed the book, so wanted to see the movie, even though it's not my favorite animation style. I liked the movie OK, too (prefer the book), but it's not a huge favorite. I think I might have first watched it on a plaee, but I do remember checking it out of the library to show the rodents, because L says she was traumatized by the button eyes.
The Blind Side: Never saw it, don't know what it is.
Star Trek: Wasn't planning to see it, because I'd never watched any other Star Trek thing and considered myself mildly allergic to the original series. But then we were stuck at a mall getting new tires for the van and had several hours to kill, and there was a theater and it was playing the 2009 Star Trek, so we went to see it as a family. And I loved it! Turns out I'm mildly allergic to William Shatner, not Star Trek as such, and I actually LOVED Chris Pine's Kirk! (and the shippy vibes with Bones were off the charts) Happily watched the other movies and was sad when the franchise petered out.
Sherlock Holmes: Watched it at home, for sure with B but I think with the rodents also. I like Sherlock Holmes, and I enjoy Sherlock Holmes adaptations, and I like RDJ a lot, but this was only mildly entertaining. (I'm not sure I would've bothered to see the sequel if it hadn't been our team builder holiday outing at work.)
Never saw, have nothing to say about: Fanboys, The Lovely Bones, He's Just Not That Into You, the Proposal, Julie and Julia.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: I enjoyed it, though not as much as OotP. Checking back in my tags, looks like this was the first movie we went to see in theaters WITH the rodents, having given up on making them read the books first (and they did, in fact, read the books soon after).
I Love You, Man: I think I watched this on a flight, but I have very little memory of it, so maybe it was something similar instead?
Bride Wars: Never saw it, have nothing to say.
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Random link, courtesy of Bujold's blog: LMB linked this "songvid" (her term) on YouTube. I don't know that I would call this a songvid -- it's more of a songmix (one song for each of a bunch of Vorkosiverse characters) with samples of each song, and with fanart of the character as the image while the song clip plays. The song choices were interesting, but even more interesting to me were the fanart pieces, some of which I hadn't seen before. (And there's bonus fanart at the end.)
We got trailers for Moana 2 (L says you can tell it was a TV show turned into a movie, and yeah, I didn't really see anything that impressed me), Wicked (such Galinda/Elphaba vibes), and Dog Man (which looked incredibly stupid -- I know it's not for me -- and also L looked at the art and said, "Is this by the Captain Underpants guy?", because the art style looked similar to her -- and yep, it is). I feel like there has to have been something else, but neither of us can remember it, so it can't have been very interesting.
Movie itself: spoilers!
We enjoyed the voicecast. I had forgotten that Roz the eponymous wild robot was voiced by Lupita Nyong'o -- I think this might be the first time I've heard her in a role that didn't call for an accent. I'm pretty sure I didn't know that the fox was Pedro Pascal; we were both briefly surprised when the credits came up and then, OK, yeah, that checks out. I was waiting to find out which of the "elder statesman" type British actors was voicing Longneck the elderly goose (Bill Nighy) and who was voicing the peregrine (Ving Rhames, whom I apparently have not seen in anything other than Pulp Fiction) and the beaver (Matt Berry; whom I don't think I've seen/heard in anything before, but him being English probably explains why I had trouble placing what kind of accent the beaver was supposed to have -- it seemed to drift). Oh, and Catherine O'Hara as the possum -- L knows her as the mother in Schitt's Creek, but *I* know her as the mother in Home Alone, although the hilarity/appropriateness of having her voicing a possum mother who keeps losing track of her seven children only occurred to me several hours after the movie. Biggest cast surprise, though, was when the title card came up and we learned it had been Mark Hamill voicing the bear -- did not see that coming at all XD
The critter animation was the big star of the movie for us. First, L got rather excited that the movie seemed to be set in the Pacific Northwest, judging by the coastline and critters, specific crab and bird species, lupines, etc. (She looked it up later, and it has to be Washington for there to be a grizzly, so I guess Washington it is.) I couldn't appreciate it as deeply on the ecosystem level, but really loved everything from Roz learning to scale cliffs from the rock crabs in the opening moments of the film to her early encounters with all the animals, especially the raccoons being brazenly raccoon-like rooting around in her carapace. But the rabbits, squirrels, deer, the adorable mice -- everyone was great!
And not critters, but we also really enjoyed the glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge as the geese are flying over it -- and L pointed out the City was underwater, with whales swimming by. And robot company headquarters being in ~Silicon Valley also checks out. Both L and I remarked on it that we enjoyed the way the climate catastrophe (unless it was an earthquake, I guess) sort of happening unremarked in the background, and the few humans we do see not being bothered about it apparently. (Probably that also explains the typhoon off North America in the Pacific Ocean? But possibly I'm overthinking that part.) I also particularly liked the "baby pictures" burned into the wood, starting with the egg, and found the moment where Roz hangs the picture of Brightbeak in flight over the door quite moving.
The story is not particularly original or deep, and even while watching the movie we kept being reminded of other things by what was happening. Both L and I thought "this is basically Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" when it turns out that Brightbeak has to lead the other geese out of the corporate compound using the special skillz he learned from his peregrine falcon teacher, which he had to do because he was an ostracized weirdo. But there's also the sort of reverse Mowgli thing going on with Brightbeak. Story-wise, my favorite part of the movie were the first arcs, where Roz is learning to be a wild robot and then when she and Fink are raising Brightbeak. I would've actually been OK, I think, if the movie had ended with Brightbeak's flight, with maybe just an epilogue of his return and some kind of reunion. I do get that they probably felt like they had to have an action sequence, and (as L pointed out) geese trashing an air transport is completely on brand. I felt like the "everyone spends the winter together in the shelter Roz built" was definitely sweet, but a bit TOO "aww let's hug him again". (L, afterwards: "So basically Roz destroyed that entire ecosystem. What are they going to eat now? They can't eat each other now that they're all friends!" I proposed the hypothesis that maybe the predators will go hunting on nearby islands, where they aren't friends with the prey animals, and L was amused by this idea of viking critters.) I also understand that they felt they needed a beat where Brightbeak saves Roz, and the thing that suggests that her love for him has caused her to evolve beyond her programming to the point where wiping her (mechanical) memories does not lead to her forgetting him -- but. Like, I get that it's a kid's movie and you need a shorthand visual like her carapace lighting up about where the heart would be to show the ~Power of Love~, but actually I prefer my robots to be distinct from humans, and so while I'm of course perfectly willing to believe that robots can feel something like love, that way of showing it was too anthropomorphic for my taste. And on a separate note, Fink's arc of becoming accepted by the other denizens of the island because he had changed, having grown to care for Roz and Brightbeak, didn't really work for me, because I didn't think it was sufficiently well set up why HE was an ostracized loner -- it makes a lot of sense with Roz the mechanical monster and Brightbeak the run raised by a robot, but the Fink part felt completely handwaved. But these are quibbles. I think they prevent Wild Robot from being a Great movie, but it's still a really enjoyable one.
L and I seem to have accidentally developed a tradition of going to see movies with a parental figure/child central story -- Encanto was somewhat like that, but the short that aired with it (the raccoons) was basically just that in spades, and this continues the tradition. We laughed at the opossum's parenting wisdom, but the biggest laugh, which we quoted several times after, was Roz talking about the feeling of "crushing obligation" (L could relate because she feels it for the sidewalk fish). We found the beaver funny, and went "aww" at him and Fink planting a tree after using the other one to save the island from the fire.
The ending, of course, is an obvious sequel hook, and I'm not convinced that a sequel is at all necessary -- I'm not sure Roz leaving the island was all that necessary, although it does make sense that she would want to protect her friends from repeated efforts to extract her. But I'll be curious to see what they make of it eventually.
Anyway, that was a good time, and I'm amazed that I've now managed to see three movies in theaters this year (all three with/because of the rodents -- Inside Out 2 with both of them, and Deadpool & Wolverine with O, so this one restores parity).
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Taskmasters:
Taskmaster s18e08 -- No costumes from Andy this episode, but I do like his blue shirt -- it looks abstractly mollusc-y (which is a plus). Also, are those ants on Jack's tie? (I'm enjoying the suit + weird pictures on ties look Jack has been sticking with). And while I'm talking about costumes, Emma's lip-print blouse is also a nice installment. Anyway, spoilers from here
Andy wins a third episode!! With his hotdog still in reserve! And speaking of hot dog, another contestant who has squandered theirs -- poor Emma! (I wonder if the choice to be very lenient with Babatunde's hot dog task -- that was so not a gentle pace -- was partially informed by the knowledge that Rosie had used hers on a task that was a clear DQ and Emma on an objectively-scored task where she had come in last... At this point I'm assuming Andy wore his to the studio for a live task, and could not be taken into account.) Andy has not quite caught up with Jack -- or, rather, Jack Bernhardt's stats say Andy overtook Jack after the special glasses task but then lost the lead again -- but is now really within striking distance -- only 2 points behind. Sadly, after another disastrous episode, I don't think Emma has any shot at winning -- she is 14 points behind Jack, without a joker, and both her team-mates are ahead of her. I don't think Baba is winning either -- he is only 9 points behind, but the only time he outscored Jack OR Andy by 5+ points in an episode, it was with the hotdog. And Rosie is still in last place, although the gap between her and Emma is just 4 points, so I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that Rosie finishes last. But I think the champion race is down to Jack or Andy. (And of the two, I would be very happy to see Andy in CoC, especially in combination with Sam, who is a different kind of odd, and John Robins, who has said Andy's cricket stats role is his dream job.)
Prize task (thing that makes Greg scratch his chin) -- Rosie straight in with crack fanfiction XD (It took less than 24 hours for someone to write a fic referencing it -- though not actually with the head-swap scenario; a couple of hours longer than the first fic titled "The Nexus of Truth", but still impressive XD) Emma's fake acne was horrible and definitely deserved the 1 point. Amazing how well Babatunde did out of a paper plate that he refused to comment on (tie with Jack's book/screwdriver at 3), but, really, Andy and Rosie's were the only interesting ones -- I continue to be delighted by Andy's bizarre made up products and the attention to detail on the packaging.
Special glasses task -- one of those cases where the props were more interesting than the task (I'm with Rosie in being intrigued by the optician's chair as home decor). The winning strategy being to just take the pedestal apart was not very interesting, and Jack, after voicing his optometrist conspiracy theory, was mostly off-screen (and it did seem weird that Alex seemed willing to accept his goggles and stopped the task, but then Jack got disqualified -- as Ed discussed on the podcast, last week's episode had "ring the bell" but any number of bells would've sufficed, so how is one to know that in this case it had to be a specific pair of special glasses?) Anyway, the only interesting thing in this task was the French, and the contrast between Baba mangling it so horribly that his francophone friend asked him to stop and just send him a picture -- that was my favorite moment of the task -- and Emma, who we know has studied languages, reading off the instructions beautifully, but getting stuck on the word pedestal. Oh, and Andy feeling chagrined that he didn't think to read the words right to left, like Hebrew -- though, clearly, not getting distracted by the clues was actually the better strategy, as it turned out.
Barrels multi-part task -- this was my favorite this episode. Partly I generally like the multi-part tasks, but partly it was also Emma's demeanor throughout (and that's without even counting the socks/orgasm talk in the studio, which was hilarious for the men's reaction to it -- well, I say "men's", but it was Baba, Alex, and Greg; Jack was impassive as usual and Andy had his usual Felix Faust smile of twinkly mischief -- and also not counting Emma accusing Alex of being sweet on Jack, and the deep blush from Alex and resulting banter; no fic about this yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time). Poor Emma, though, who had the shortest time to work with, and so was hurrying along -- and probably wasting more time by doing that because she kept forgetting she had another go at the same barrel, or thinking she had succeeded and having to come back, and of course waiting for Alex. Greg's quote about it was spot on -- she had the demeanor of someone who was brilliant at the task while bombing and was speaking to Alex as if he "were getting in the way of her genius". I also thought it was interesting that Rosie called time on herself when she got to barrel 5 -- it's not a bad strategy! Baba accusing the bingo tombola thingy of being rigged and/or racist was also funny (the wording of that task was "select", so I wonder if you could just, like, open it and grab one?) Interesting that Jack attempted to lie about the coffee bean -- but I do think (as Ed says on the podcast) that Emma is on to something, with Alex giving him the opportunity to repent and do over for real, rather than cheating and being disqualified. And Andy just seemed to have smooth sailing all the way through? I guess there are benefits to being a wizard. (The lobster fact, btw, is closer to true than Greg probably thinks it is -- although not actually biologically immortal. And aww at Rosie wanted them to be.) Oh, and speaking of Rosie, her cheering for getting more time for the task because of the palsy was great. (I did wonder, as someone on Reddit did too, whether they could've just gone from 1 to 9, i.e. rotating the other direction. I don't think I heard anything in the task that would prevent this, and otherwise, what's the point of putting the barrels in a circle rather than a line? I would think it was worth at least for Emma to try, when she had 10 seconds left.)
Body part, noise, legs two-parter -- oh nooo, poor Emma, having wasted her hot dog on a one-pointer. Also, man, that was such a tough thing to have to keep doing over and over for 10 minutes. She almost certainly did not need to do the legs thing for 25 seconds each time -- Alex of course did not tell her this, but it seems to be something she herself decided and he just enabled by supplying her with the times when she asked. Ed and Desiree on the podcast pointed out that Emma was probably trying to be extra-elaborate in the first part and then was extra-careful not to be disqualified in the second part -- trying to maximize her points when she thought it was going to be scored on vibes, and then trying to make sure she didn't waste the joker points entirely -- but the result was very unlucky. Despite Emma wearing the hot dog -- which actually did blend into the rest of her costume very well -- the person who looked the weirdest throughout the task was still definitely Andy XD I had guessed that the episode title, "the nexus of truth", had to be something Andy had said, but I was definitely surprised by the context XD And then whatever the hell that interesting action was -- some kind of bizarre mating dance with Alex, possibly from a related species as Bridget Christie's and Greg's stopcock dance. Lol at Jack's Krusty the Klown crack, but while his bicycle kick's were certainly less elaborate than Andy and Emma's actions, I do have to agree with (the once-again-blushing) Alex that this was interesting because it's uncharacteristic.
Live task -- wow, that looks like it must have gone on forever live XD Jack B says this is the first time they had to modify the task conditions after the task had started to wrap things up (they did modify the "correctly put on a tie" task in s2, but that was before the execution of the task began). The only entertaining things from here for me were both down to Baba -- him trying to cheat first thing with "ples" and then running out of white names and asking to tag in Emma.
I didn't think the tasks were nearly as strong this episode as the last one, but the barrel task was really enjoyable,and there were some great studio reactions and banter. Jack B says this is now the closest ever series in terms of total spread (18 points), and one of the tightest in terms of the gap between the two leading contenders (the only ones tighter -- i.e. 1 point between two leading contestants after episode 8 -- were s10 (Richard/Daisy), s12 (Morgana/Alan), and s14 (Dara/Sarah). Jack B says all contestants leading after episode 8 went on to win their series except for Jess in s7... but it's such a narrow lead, and the hot dog Andy still has in his back pocket is like an extra task, so IDK... Jack B also pointed out that the last couple of episodes were very light on the tasks Andy does best at, subjectively judged solo tasks, and he's been pretty steadily gaining on Jack ever since episode 3.
More about Emma, as I feel like this is the episode in which her champion dreams die. Like, she was doing badly before this also, but building momentum, it seemed, and she still had her joker in reserve. But to get a sub-10 score in the episode where she used her hot dog? That, I think, is the death knell to any possibly victory. Reddit commented that Emma has the intensity of a champion, which echoed my own thoughts -- and specifically someone said, "If John Robins did less well..." -- and yes, exactly! She's got the same "taking this very seriously" leashed competitive energy and sort of earnestness -- which makes it easy for me to see why John thought she would the the most of a threat if he had to face her in CoC.
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Taskmaster Oz s3e06 -- I didn't think this episode was as good as some of the other recent ones... spoilers! HOW is Concetta in the lead again? XD OK, Rhys had their worst episode of the season and slipped behind Concetta and Peter, but still...
Prize (best piece of art <=$50) -- nicely played by Rhys with G.Tom's cover art -- glad that paid off for them. I liked Aaron's idea and thought it deserved a bit more. Meanwhile, I liked Concetta's approach of a Paint Nite thing being paying for art that she (and her boyfriend) drew, but like with Mel's negative payment art that she drew and claimed she got paid for, I thought the art was BAD, and she was way overscored at 4 points. And I couldn't remember what Pete's thing was until I rewatched -- oh, right, the dabbing Mona Lisa shirt. I guess 3 points sounds about right for that, even though it was the most boring prize.
Drop the coffee -- first of all, one of Aaron's lateral thinking ideas actually pays off! The towels + duct tape method was pretty great, and that was a well-deserved 5 points. And everyone else basically did terribly. Between Peter and Rhys, Pete's saving grace was that the kept the bucket for secondary containment and did not aim for too high. Rhys's liter-meter calculation should've been 0.016 x 5.1 m = 0.0816 and not 0.816 as Tom said. Mel's seems to have legitimately been 0.73 x 0.37 = 0.27 and Concetta genuinely managed to do worse than Rhys, though it was close: 0.039 x 1.98 = 0.077. So actually Rhys should've gotten 2 points and Mel 3 in this task. But I'm guessing we're just going to roll forward with the math error. Scores aside, I don't really understand Rhys in this task -- is this like Ed with the duck in CoC, where they just got stuck, tunnel vision-like, on one idea, which they knew to be a terrible idea, and just continued with it to the tragic conclusion? I mean, each good contestant deserves a disastrous task or two, and I guess this is Rhys's...
Taxi driver country song -- that's a harsh stance on the use of generative AI, but I can't fault G.Tom for taking it, though I do feel sorry for Rhys, who did the performance themself, at least, even if they didn't write the song. Not a lot to say about the others, tbh -- I did not find either the concept of the task or the resulting songs very interesting. It definitely seems like the sheep chasing L.Tom was the most memorable part of this task, and, like, that's not a great sign.
Welcome mat -- I agree that Aaron deserved the 5 points for their skateboard-and-knives mat (someone on Reddit said he had built a Home Alone booby-trap, and, totally!), and that Mel's mat itself was not particularly unwelcoming (although her reading negative reviews was a fun addition). I thought Rhys's was underscored, unless there was some logic about the ass-eating that got cut out of the edit -- I definitely thought theirs was better than Pete's. I guess Concetta did deserve decent points, since she actually followed through on HER threat. But this was another task where I thought outside of Aaron nobody did anything interesting.
Live task (spinny debate) -- Meh. It looked ridiculous, but other than the spinny visual, and Aaron not knowing what a "moot" is, I thought it dragged. Team members taking turns saying words towards a common goal gave us what is probably my favorite live task ever, s14's "Which aircraft... crashes more... into mountains" -- but this was a much duller take, because there was no time pressure (quite the opposite, team of 3 at least clearly ran out of things to say before they ran out of time), and also you couldn't see the faces of the other team members reacting to what their representative was saying. So i think this was just a worse take on a task I've already seen done better.
This is continuing to be a very close series -- only FIVE points between 1st and 4th place, and Aaron, Rhys, and Peter are all sequentially separated by 1 point.
Incredibly, next week will see THREE different Taskmasters things, as Junior Taskmaster is also starting, and I intend to at least give it a try. For Mike Wozniak if nothing else, although I'm also curious to see Rose in the Greg role, and judging by the trailer, those kids are going to be fun.
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Memes:
From muccamukk: A reading meme listing authors where you've read five or more of their titles, optionally sorted into categories and/or time period.
Kidlit / stuff you would find in the children's room / junior section of a library (whether I read it as a kid or not):
- K.A.Applegate -- so many Animorphs books XD (which were my brother's, but I enjoyed them on more levels than he)
- Diana Wynne Jones -- Chrestomanci plus some stand-alones
- Tamora Pierce -- I think I've read all the Tortall subseries
- Rick Riordan -- not all but enough of the Percy Jacksons, plus the first Magnus Chase book
- J.K.Rowling -- all the Harry Potters
- Louis Sachar -- Wayside School (including the recent sequel) and a bunch of standalones
- Ursula Vernon (also T.Kingfisher, but I read more titles by Vernon)
- Kir Bulychev -- the Alisa Selezneva books
- Alexander Volkov -- the Russian "Wizard of Oz" books
SFF, of the YA variety:
- Holly Black -- Tithe trilogy + standalones + the beginning of the Cruel Prince books
- Francesca Lia Block -- Weetzie Bat mostly
- Libba Bray -- A Great and Terrible Beauty + standalones
- Sarah Rees Brennan -- two trilogies + In Other Lands
- Cate Tiernan -- those SWEEP books
- Scott Westerfeld -- Uglies series, Leviathan series, Peeps
SFF, that year I was basically reading all Urban Fantasy all the time (plus some older series):
- Ben Aaronobitch -- Rivers of London
- Ilona Andrews -- Kate Daniels and The Edge
- Patricia Briggs -- Mercy Thompson
- Jim Butcher -- Dresden Files and Codex Alera
- Charlaine Harris -- Sookie Stackhouse books
- Kim Harrison -- the Hollows books
- Benedict Jacka -- I ran out of steam on the Alex Verus books, but not before I read 5 of them
- Seanan McGuire -- Toby Daye + Wayward Children
- Sergei Lukyanenko -- the Night Watch books
SFF, everything else:
- Isaac Asimov -- mostly but not exclusively Robots. I even read some of the Lucky Starr books because the library had them
- Elizabeth Bear -- first book or two of several different series
- Terry Brooks -- artefact of my misspent youth; I read a bunch of the Shannara books (because they were there) and Magic Kingdom for Sale, Sold plus a sequel or two
- Steven Brust -- Dragaera (and I dipped into a few stand-alones and co-authored things)
- Lois McMaster Bujold -- Vorkosiverse and Chalion
- Jacqueline Carey -- only the Kushiel books (but there are a lot of them)
- Orson Scott Card -- a lot of both Enderverse and Alvin Maker, and a few standalones
- Becky Chambers -- Wayfarers x4 + A Psalm for the Wild Built
- Cassandra Clare -- I actually did not realize it was so many until I looked at my tags...
- Lynn Flewelling -- a handful of the Nightrunners and the Bone Doll's Twin books
- Neil Gaiman -- American Gods, Anansi Boys, Graveyard Book, Coraline, Neverwhere, Norse Mythology, plus the Sandman :(
- Jordan L. Hawk -- Whyborne & Griffin and SWEEP
- Robin Hobb -- FitzChivalry books + a few of other books in this universe
- M.C.A.Hogarth -- Earthrise and several others
- N.K.Jemisin -- but I definitely find the Broken Earth books like two levels above everything else of hers I've read
- Guy Gavriel Kay - Fionavar plus a bunch of the historical fantasies
- Mercedes Lackey -- Valdemar, Magic Kingdom, others -- she's very prolific
- Ursula K. LeGuin -- mostly fantasy (Earthsea + others) + Left Hand of Darkness + non-fiction collections
- Ann Leckie -- Ancillary trilogy + Provenance + Raven Tower
- George R.R.Martin -- ASOIAF and the Dunk and Egg stories
- Sarah Monette (Katherine Addision)
- Naomi Novik -- all the Temeraires + the standalones
- Terry Pratchett -- so many Discworld books... (plus a couple of standalones)
- Michelle Sagara - Cast In... books
- J.R.R.Tolkien -- Middle-Earth but also a few other things
- Martha Wells -- Murderbots + one book of Raksura + a standalone from the back catalogue
- Roger Zelazny -- Amber plus some stand-alones
- Brothers Strugatsky -- all of their major works plus whatever I could find at the library or lying around
- Olga Gromyko - Kosmo-oluhi and Volha, plus some stand-alones
Mysteries:
- Arthur Conan Doyle -- I make five if I cound short story collections and/or the Challenger books
- Jonathan Kellerman -- so many Alex Delaware books
- Patricia Cornwell -- the Kay Scarpetta books
- Tess Gerritsen -- not as many of the previous ones, but it looks like I've read at least five of the Rizzoli and Isles books
I also read a lot of Agatha Christie at one point, but not sure that it was enough novels or distinct collections to get to 5 books, so not counting her.
Other:
- Dave Barry -- humor writing
- K.J.Charles -- m/m, but I read more of the non-magical variety so counting that here
- Rainbow Rowell -- both YA stuff like Eleanor & Park and Fangirl and more adult stuff like Attachments and Landline, plus whatever the hell Carry On is meant to be XD
I have a suspicion there are other authors who may qualify but from the days before I started tracking via tags. Like my mother and I went through a phase reading a lot of Sidney Sheldon, and he was quite prolific, so I think it's likely I've read five or more -- at least 5 titles ring a bell for me -- but I'm not sure that I've read at least that many. Similarly, I'm pretty sure I've read at least 5 of my mother's Jackie Collins paperbacks as a teen, but they do rather all run together, so I'm not counting those either.
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Movies meme: same thing I did for 2004-06 a bit earlier, but a compressed version for 2007-09, so it's not just "didn't see it, no opinion" for 80+% of it :P
I looked at the 2007 blockbusters list and there was a total of 3 that I had anything to say about, so I'm just going to list those 3:
Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End: I watched it at home (with the rodents? with B? possibly with both) and did not think much of it, IIRC.
Juno: B and I watched this (at home), because we both like Jason Bateman. We liked it! I thought this was my introduction to Page as an actor, but checking Wikipedia, that must've been X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 (which I guess did not make the blockbuster list :P) as Kitty Pryde -- but the Juno role is definitely the one I remember.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: B and I watched this in theaters. I don't remember if the rodents would've been fans yet... I don't think so? So I think it was just us. This is actually my favorite of the HP films, and I think part of why I like it as much as I do is that the book is one of my LEAST favorite in the series. I feel like the movie improves upon it by cutting down the stuff I found very tedious (CAPSLOCK HARRY and general teenage angst) and handling very well the parts that are better (perfect Umbridge, e.g.)
2008 blockbusters -- even fewer movies, lol, so continuing with this
Iron Man -- watched it with B, not expecting much, but just because we have a tradition of watching superhero movies together dating back to X-Men and the Raimi Spider-Man, and of course I was instantly won over by Tony Stark and RDJ. Tony remained my favorite throughout the MCU, and this is still one of my favorites in the franchise. (Also, I see Tropic Thunder is right behind it on the list. I never watched that one, but what a year RDJ was having!)
Twilight -- nope. It was of course all the rage, but I don't like vampires on the whole, and this sounded aggressively stupid. Nevera watched any part of the franchise, although I did watch quite a few videos ABOUT it, so I've actually seen a bunch of the scenes that way.
Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian: Watched it with the rodents, and I think we mostly made fun of it? It really drove home how much of my enjoyment of the first one was down to Mr Tumnus XD
2009 blockbusters -- OK, I've seen more than 3, so let's do an actual list
Coraline: I had enjoyed the book, so wanted to see the movie, even though it's not my favorite animation style. I liked the movie OK, too (prefer the book), but it's not a huge favorite. I think I might have first watched it on a plaee, but I do remember checking it out of the library to show the rodents, because L says she was traumatized by the button eyes.
The Blind Side: Never saw it, don't know what it is.
Star Trek: Wasn't planning to see it, because I'd never watched any other Star Trek thing and considered myself mildly allergic to the original series. But then we were stuck at a mall getting new tires for the van and had several hours to kill, and there was a theater and it was playing the 2009 Star Trek, so we went to see it as a family. And I loved it! Turns out I'm mildly allergic to William Shatner, not Star Trek as such, and I actually LOVED Chris Pine's Kirk! (and the shippy vibes with Bones were off the charts) Happily watched the other movies and was sad when the franchise petered out.
Sherlock Holmes: Watched it at home, for sure with B but I think with the rodents also. I like Sherlock Holmes, and I enjoy Sherlock Holmes adaptations, and I like RDJ a lot, but this was only mildly entertaining. (I'm not sure I would've bothered to see the sequel if it hadn't been our team builder holiday outing at work.)
Never saw, have nothing to say about: Fanboys, The Lovely Bones, He's Just Not That Into You, the Proposal, Julie and Julia.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: I enjoyed it, though not as much as OotP. Checking back in my tags, looks like this was the first movie we went to see in theaters WITH the rodents, having given up on making them read the books first (and they did, in fact, read the books soon after).
I Love You, Man: I think I watched this on a flight, but I have very little memory of it, so maybe it was something similar instead?
Bride Wars: Never saw it, have nothing to say.
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Random link, courtesy of Bujold's blog: LMB linked this "songvid" (her term) on YouTube. I don't know that I would call this a songvid -- it's more of a songmix (one song for each of a bunch of Vorkosiverse characters) with samples of each song, and with fanart of the character as the image while the song clip plays. The song choices were interesting, but even more interesting to me were the fanart pieces, some of which I hadn't seen before. (And there's bonus fanart at the end.)