read, watched, heard, experience: 2012

[hermetic]

This was a not an especially productive year in terms of new books read. Turns out that having to study for weekly Anatomy and Physiology tests doesn't leave me much time for as much pleasure reading as I'd like. (And I'm finally a sufficiently mature student that I can--with some effort--prioritize the studying.)

TV and movies are less of a time commitment, so those numbers are still fairly high. I tried to curtail my spending on new music--that whole unemployed student thing--so not many there, and likewise with spectacle.

This is all new stuff: I'm not counting rereads (The Doctrine of Labyrinths books!), or the seventeenth time I've watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. For television, I don't include shows that I'm watching in-season--so The Vampire Diaries is not on the list, despite being something I've watched aggressively and critically since season one.


Books:

• A Dirge for Prester John: The Folded World, Catherynne M. Valente (The more Valente I read, the more I am convinced of her genius. This story is beautiful and interesting. I am very saddened by the fact that the third and final book in the series might never be published.)
  
• Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey (Carey back in fighting form, which let me tell you, after the unspeakably awful fantasy hacktasm of those The Sundering books and the mostly *insert jerking off gesture here* Moirin books (I never did read the last one), is really nice to see.)
  
• Graceling, Kristin Cashore (I can see why it's popular, but only when I don't look at it too much. Once you do, everything falls apart.)
  
• Snuff, Terry Pratchett (While I greatly appreciate Pratchett as a general rule, especially his humanity, I don't know how I feel about the way he handles the analogues of abjectly dehumanized indigenous people and the "saving" of them by outside forces--even if that force is Sam Vimes, whom I adore.)
  
• Vortex, Robert Charles Wilson (I really enjoy the heck out of RCW, and I remember thinking that this was a good end to the trilogy, but for the life of me, I don't remember anything more than that right now. Granted, it's been a year... but it didn't stay with me.)
  
• The Kingdoms of Dust, Amanda Downum (While not the stellar effort that the second book in the series was, this was good, and I think better than the first--so, on the whole, not a bad trajectory.)
  
• Thirteen, Richard K. Morgan (Originally titled Black Man in the UK, but Americans apparently can't handle that kind of thing. Morgan continues to be fucking awesome. The usual Morgan caveats apply: here be violence and sex and thinky thoughts, and if that shit ain't your cup of tea, go drink somewhere else. That said, READ IT.)
  
• Range of Ghosts, Elizabeth Bear (I enjoyed this, as I do most of Bear's work. The world she's created is interesting, and it's great to see fantasy analogues of the Mongols and the Tibetan Empire--seriously, how many Western fantasy fans even know that the Tibetans had an (pretty damn big) empire? I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.)
  
• Blue Magic, A. M. Dellamonica (It was very nice to finally read the end of the story. I think I'm going to need to read the duology together sometime to form a definite opinion. It struck me as good, though.)
  
• Lamentation, Ken Scholes (I've already gone off about this book, so I won't belabor the point here. I do appreciate that it got me interested in finishing writing TFHoN, though.)
  
• The Minority Council, Kate Griffin (Okay, I unabashedly love this series. I love the world. I love Matthew Swift and the blue electric angels and the magic and Penny and this London and I utterly want more people to read it and buy it and love it.)
  
• The Secret History of Moscow, Ekaterina Sedia (It was good, I guess, but uninvolving? I wanted it to grab me more, but it didn't.)
  
• The King's Blood, Daniel Abraham (Economics and war and regret and political machinations for the win. This series isn't the sheer utter brilliance of The Long Price Quartet, but that's an unfair expectation, and it's actually quite good. Complications are looming and I'm very excited to see where they're going.)
  
• Zoo City, Lauren Beukes (Interesting and good. I don't know South Africa and its cultures at all, but it seemed to do a good job of not exoticizing folks. I'm looking forward to reading more from Beukes.)
  
• Saffron and Brimstone, Elizabeth Hand (Damn it, she's good. Hand is someone you should be reading. Seriously, if you're not, go pick up her stuff.)
  
• Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (This was lovely. Yes, rape and trauma (and lots of it), but resilience and agency, too. Healing and growth, and lovely clear language--and lots of those, too.)
  
• Harmony, Keith Brooke (Really? Fucking yiminy, this sucked. I've been wanting to rant about it for months now, because it's all this promise, this interesting idea, this fervent, florid imagining, that turns to complete shit going nowhere. Seriously, dude: WHAT. THE. FUCK. Horrible ending, ruined any good will from the interesting stuff going on earlier. Not only that: I lost whatever respect I might have had for the author. Equivalents to "rocks fall, everyone dies" as an ending are cheap, and a cheat, and usually mean that you have no business publishing that story because it clearly isn't ready because you, as the writer, don't actually know how to respect your story and wrote yourself into a corner and don't have the chops to write yourself a window or a door to get the story out okay. And what the fuck were your agent and editor thinking? As I was getting to the end of the book, pages dwindling, I actually told myself, "Oh, I guess this is going to be just book one, 'cause there's no way to get out of this competently in the remaining pages" and I was okay with that--not pleased, but okay. And then, nope. The story ends in the most cheap and hackneyed way possible. Completely unoriginal rubbish ending that ruins the book. DO NOT READ. You don't have the time to waste on shitty books.)
  
• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (This, on the other hand, is a good book that you should read. It's pretty much a straight-up old school fantasy adventure story. It isn't deep, but it's very well done, and it's wonderful to see non-Western fantasy settings, and see them done well.)
  
• I Am Not a Serial Killer, Dan Wells (Eh. Not my cup of tea.)
  
• 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (This was amazing. Not perfect, it's got its issues, but damn. A wonderful read. You should read it. Really, you should.)
  
• The Children of the Sky, Vernor Vinge (Tinesworld! I'm glad to see the story continued, and I'm looking forward to what might happen next, but I really just wanted to beat Ravna with a dead fish for her incredible stupidity and complete inability to play politics. Good book.)
  
• Railsea, China Miéville (This was beautiful and excellent. If envy were my thing, I'd hate Miéville for his ability to write stories like he does, but I'm just glad that he does, so I can read them. He really is a brilliant kids' writer--the books he writes for kids are simpler than his adult works, but no less good. You should read this.)
  
• Pashazade, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Why haven't I been reading Grimwood all along? This is good!)
  
• Effendi, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (So's this! I need to get a copy of the last book in the Arabesk series so I can finish the story. I recommend these books highly, and I love the world they're set in: near-future Alexandria where the Ottoman Empire did not collapse, thus rewriting the 20th century. Very well done.)
  
• The Apocalypse Codex, Charles Stross (Poor Bob. Fun reading, though!)
  
• Blood Maidens, Barbara Hambly (I love Hambly and how she writes her worlds and characters. Shit gets thought out and there are logical consequences. That said, the vampire books aren't my favorites of hers even if I like Don Ysidro, and Doctor Lydia and Mr. Jame Asher quite a bit.)
  
• The Magistrates of Hell, Barbara Hambly (Still, always pleasantly competent.)
  
• A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness (Interesting premise, and I can see why so many people like it, and while I wouldn't say "eh," I am trending that way more than not.)
  
• The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi (Holy bugfuck. Now that's cool. Vividly imagined, interesting world, involving characters, good story. I like a book that expects you to keep up. Go read it.)
  
• The Dirty Girls Social Club, Alisa Valdes-Rodríguez (I'm very happy that there's Latina chick lit out there. I understand why this sold so well. I just wish it were better crafted. It's a good--if not original at all--story, told in prose that's better than workmanlike, but not especially good. I wanted more from it, because while it's competent and worth the read, it's not all that much more than that. It takes a lot of advantage from being novel (in that it's about Latinas instead of white women), rather than from being outstanding in its own right.)
  
• The Sleeping Partner, Madeleine E. Robbins (I'm just glad to get a new Sarah Tolerance book! Thankfully, it was enjoyable.)
  
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky (I am so glad not to be a teenager. I don't particularly buy the narrative frame, and I don't think that Charlie's issues (and their cause and effects) are well integrated into the story. Given the epistolary device the story employs, that might be forgiven by a less craft-aware reader, but I feel that the writer really needed to step up his game if that's the way he wanted to play it.)
  
• Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, Lois McMaster Bujold (Okay, so is it just me, or is this just Ivan fanservice for like the first half of the book? It didn't start feeling like a LMB book until about halfway through--until then, it felt sort of phoned-in, and that was very annoying. After this and the last few Vorkosigan books, I'm left wondering if the story is played out and LMB just needs to pay the bills.)
  
• A Fistful of Sky, Nina Kiriki Hoffman (I found it pretty, and simple. Worth the read.)
  
• Blackbirds, Chuck Wendig (A nicely fucked up story. I'll probably read the sequel.)
  
• God's War, Kameron Hurley (Gritty Islamic-inspired SF-masquerading-as-military-sorta-fantasy doing a classic gender role reversal but making it fresh and interesting. Looking forward to more from Hurley. Go read it.)

Television:

• Greek, Season 3 (Surprisingly good series. It manages to take the "high school series" formula and make it work in college, which seems--based on the number of failures--to be hard to do. It's fun.)
  
• Greek, Season 4
  
• Greek, Season 5
  
• Greek, Season 6
  
• Notting Hill (I honestly don't remember if I'd actually watched all of this before. I think that perhaps I had, but in any case--it's pretty much what you'd expect. I mean, it's a Hugh Grant romcom. Enough said.)
  
• Carolina (So, I've got a soft spot for Julia Stiles kind of the same way I've got one for Amanda Seyfriend. Which is why I watched this. Can't say that's enough of a reason for you to do so. It's not bad, but it's not good, either.)
  
• White Collar, Season 1 (This is just fun. Also, Matthew Bomer--despite being objectively beautiful--has absolutely zero sex appeal in this for me. Tim DeKay, on the other hand...)
  
• True Grit (Damn, but this is a good movie. The language is perfect, and the acting is extraordinarily good. Hailee Steinfeld was amazing. Everyone was, really.)
  
• White Collar, Season 2
  
• Gabriel Iglesias: Hot and Fluffy (Oh, gordito, you make me laugh.)
  
• Mon Meilleur Ami (My Best Friend) (Charming, but then I tend to find Daniel Auteuil in just about everything I see him.)
  
• La piel que habito (Look, Pedro, this was an interesting failure. And granted, a failure from you is still fairly successful. But no. This didn't really work for me. Also, I think Antonio Banderas is past his acting prime, and that's just sad.)
  
• My Week with Marilyn (My god, Michelle Williams is luminous in this. It's very well done, and Kenneth Branagh is great, but Williams really walks away with this.)
  
• Portlandia, Season 1 (Ha! Yup, that's pretty much Portland, all right.)
  
• Judas Kiss (It was okay.)
  
• Happily Divorced, Season 1 (It's kind of like classic studio sitcom. On occasion, it's funnier than it has any right to be. It's got a good heart, and I enjoy it probably much more than I should.)
  
• Le Fils de l'épicier (The Grocer's Son) (Lovely. A small, delightful film.)
  
• Every Day (You had that cast, and this is all you could do with it?)
  
• 3 (I loved this movie. I need to buy a copy. Great acting, solid script. Yay, bisexuality! Booh, cheating! But okay, I'm a sucker for stories about people finding their happiness in unconventional ways, and yeah, I love me a happy ending. So what?)
  
• Awkward Black Girl, Season 1 (Oh my god, I love this! You should go watch this web series RIGHT NOW. It's smart and funny and true.)
  
• KickOff (I've got a soft spot for Rikki Beadle Blair. I loved Metrosexuality, and he's just so unapologetically himself--and that self is highly talented, very human, and very, very queer--in a lovely early 90's sort of political way (that I kind of miss about myself sometimes). This was fun.)
  
• The Hunger Games (Really, what's there to say?)
  
• Tropic Thunder (Is that really happening? OMG. It is. Criminy. (And yes, Jewelz, I'll send you your movie soon. Life kind of chewed me up for a while...))
  
• St. Trinian's (I understand that these are a sort of British tradition. Well, then. Carry on. Also: YUM, Gemma Arterton.)
  
• Medianeras (Sidewalls) (I liked this. I think that probably speaks to my optimism.)
  
• The Avengers (Shit goes boom! Hulk smash! Thor pretty! Loki cunning! Stark smarmy! Johansen and Renner hot! And that pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?)
  
• A Summer in Genoa (Well, that was a miserable two hours of my life. Not that it was a bad movie, just not a happy one.)
  
• Black Books, Series 1 (I love this show. Absurd and hysterically funny.)
  
• Louis C.K.: Hilarious (You know, Louis C.K. is actually very funny and smart, and kind of a dick--but in a good way. Also, he's Mexican, and I like that that fact surprises people.)
  
• Allt flyter (The Swimsuit Issue) (The Swedish title, "Everything floats," is much better. It's the story you'd expect about a Swedish men's synchronized swimming team that started as a joke and becomes about teamwork and family. What? You didn't expect that story?)
  
• Suits, Season 1 (This is amazing how. Great cast--seriously, Gina Torres is amazeballs, and she's not even the best thing in it: it's that good of a cast. Fantastic writing: the dialogue is just brilliant. It's smart and funny and just sharp. Watch it.)
  
• Win Win (I thought this was good. Paul Giamatti is his usual awesome, and the rest of the cast is really good, too. It's a small-scale film, and that was nice.)
  
• Todo lo que tú quieras (I'm not a parent, but I am the very much beloved child of one, and even so, I don't think you'd need to be in order to have your heart wrenched by this story of a father's love and devotion to his young daughter. Watch this film, it's lovely, but keep the tissues handy.)
  
• Prometheus (Jesus fuck, I don't even want to talk about it anymore.)
  
• Drop Dead Diva, Season 1 (I acknowledge that this show is ridiculous. That said, it's totally so much fun. The first half of the season had worried that they were going to completely ignore some of the larger plot holes and issues, but they got back to them. Bust out the popcorn.)
  
• Drop Dead Diva, Season 2
  
• Drop Dead Diva, Season 3
  
• Snow White and the Huntsman (Sometimes, all I want is pretty and scenery chewing. Here, Charlize Theron delivers on both. And that's pretty much all you can say about it.)
  
• Longhorns (A great example of early 90's queer cinema... made in 2011. Ay, caramba.)
  
• The Rebound (My take on this is helped by my love for romantic comedies and dramas, and for Catherine Zeta-Jones. It's not a great movie in the slightest, but I enjoyed it.)
  
• Redwoods (Not terribly good, but again--unconventional love stories are something I enjoy.)
  
• Crazy, Stupid, Love. (I think Emma Stone has joined the same club that Amanda Seyfried, Julia Stiles, and (pre-walking disaster) Lindsay Lohan are in. It was a good movie. And yeah, Ryan Gosling does look photoshopped.)
  
• 3-Day Weekend (I think it's an understandable consequence of coming of age in the 90's with the burgeoning queer cinema that makes me willing to watch completely lamentable dreck just because it's got a queer storyline. Bother.)
  
• Immortals (I was just talking about lamentable dreck, wasn't I?)
  
• Brave (Och, this was lovely. Well done. Yes, a couple of issues around it, but not with it. Definitely worth watching if you have not done so.)
  
• Relax... It's Just Sex (Okay, here's genuine 90's queer cinema! On the whole, I thought it worked, and the tonal shift is jarring. But then, that's point, isn't it?)
  
• Black Books, Series 2
  
• Conan the Barbarian (Ha! More enjoyable than it should have been. :) )
  
• Safety Not Guaranteed (I think that this was really good. It was ultimately kind, and it ended in the only way it could given its arc. I wasn't surprised by it, but it was deftly done.)
  
• The Dark Knight Rises (What's there to say, really? It's not the kind of thing where I engage too critically, because sometimes I really do just want to see shit blow up.)
  
• What Happens Next (I like Wendie Malick. That's my excuse. Sadly, I think I need one.)
  
• The Captains (Dear god, Shatner, you really aren't a parody, are you.)
  
• Beginners (Excellent. Just beautiful. Go see it now.)
  
• Parenthood, Season 1 (I really don't know why I keep watching this show, except that I love Lauren Graham. This series is pretty much no better than it deserves to be.)
  
• Parenthood, Season 2
  
• Leslie Jordan: My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (Oh, little gay man, you make me laugh.)
  
• Lip Service, Series 1
  
• (The ostensible lead character is an unsympathetic bitch, and completely wretched person and no, I won't apologize for calling her that. I wanted to like this--and there is a lot to like--but I don't think I'm going to bother watching more.)
  
• Adopt a Sailor (Rather twee.)
  
• Moonrise Kingdom (This was beautiful. I loved it. It's a tad on the monochromatic side, but it's set in New England in the 60's... still, you think there'd be at least one token black kid.)
  
• Cloud Atlas (Gorgeous, but flawed.)
  
• Wreck-it Ralph (It's fun. Some minor issues with the humor as it relates to gay stereotyping and King Candy, but on the whole, I really enjoyed the movie.)
  
• Black Books, Series 3
  
• Revenge, Season 1 (Wow, this is deliciously soapy. It is a surprising amount of fun.)
  
• Skyfall (Bond, yes, but truly: M.)
  
• The Hour, Series 1 (Holy crap, this is good. Watch it! I have such the crush on Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai.)
  
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Dear god. There's enough story for maybe two films, but three is just stretching it even with all the Silmarillion stuff. The Riddles in the Dark scene is amazing, though. I will be there for opening weekends, of course. Obligatory random observation: Lee Pace is perfectly alien as Thranduil, which is great. I mean, elves should be alien.)
  
• Pitch Perfect (Fun. Fairly mindless, but fun.)
  
• Pretty Little Liars, Season 1 (Okay, the show is a complete train wreck of plot logic and everyone makes bad choices that make me literally yell at the television and I think that many of the narrative choices are irresponsible (where not actually dreadful and likely immoral) given the target audience, but it's oddly compelling.)
  
• Les Misérables (Anne Hathaway was marvelously good as Fantine, and that's what I'm holding on to, okay?)
  
• Pretty Little Liars, Season 2

Music:
Apparently, 2012 was the year when I bought albums based on the strength of one song.

• Torches, Foster the People
  
• How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?, Sinéad O'Connor (I love Sinéad, but haven't really followed her music for a long time, but I saw her on The Graham Norton Show promoting this album and she was fantastic. Good lord, that voice! And the album is beautiful.)
  
• Young the Giant, Young the Giant (So much better than I expected, even though I had been completely earwormed by "Cough Syrup." I got to admit--I often blast the album and sing along while I'm driving.)
  
• Fallen Empires, Snow Patrol
  
• Strange Land, Keane
  
• Seasons / Spectres, Alameda
  
• Babel, Mumford & Sons
  
• My Head Is an Animal, Of Monsters and Men (I think this might have been another Graham Norton purchase. Great album.)
  
• Master of My Make-Believe, Santigold (Why did it take me this long to learn about Santigold? Motherfucking awesome album. She is amazing.)

Spectacle:

• Keane (concert) (I may have driven down to California in order to go see this concert. Just saying.)
  
• Alameda (concert)
  
• Hump 2012 (film festival) (Porn! Amateur porn! Oh, Portland.)
  
• Indigo Girls and the Oregon Symphony (concert)

And that was that.