Last of 2013
8 AM, Dec 31. I have made the intelligent decision to stay up all night and be utterly trashed and tired for the last day of the year, as well as the small party celebrating it. I feel like the hundreds of open tabs in my browser is a good metaphor for my life right now - try to finish one thing, end up with five more things.
Got this from callunavulgari, and my fucking hell, I have been working on this meme all month. I went back through all my tumblr posts, my library check outs, and my netflix history (which only goes back so far goddamn it) because I got hung up on "this year" and had to figure out what I saw in December as opposed to January :/ Because my brain is a pedantic perfectionist that gets hung up on the littlest things, and I have been hoarding my last thing of meds instead of taking them because my psych retired, my GP is an asshole, and the online insurance process this year has been utterly fucking sabotaged by shit-fucking piss-stained wastes of biomatter who cannot stand to see people benefit from Obamacare, so even after a stressful two-hour trip to the sign-up office in Boston, I don't know if I actually am covered by insurance come January.
So. Year in Fandom meme.
Your main fandom of the year
Pacific Rim. It's amazing.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a close second, though, because it's a consistent place I go for fic and such (and Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 provided ample inspiration).
I also really liked Rise of the Guardians, and from there got into The Big Four/Rise of the Brave Tangled Guardians, a small fandom devoted to Hiccup (How To Train Your Dragon), Rapunzel (Tangled), Jack (Rise of the Guardians), and Merida (Brave) (Personally I'd swap the last for Elsa, Anna, or Eep), and had a renewed interest in How To Train Your Dragon.
Honorable mentions: the Hobbit movies, and Hannibal.
Your favorite film watched this year
You mean in theatres? In order, I saw Django Unchained (pretty good. Really need to see it on DVD), the Croods (cute and fun, even got me tearful), Iron Man 3 (I want fic dealing with the aftermath, not just of Tony and Pepper (and Bruce the Science Bro), but of all those Extremis soldiers. Were they all... psychotic traitors? Did he recruit from mercenary contractors? Didn't any want... to negotiate or something? Talk to me, fandom), Pacific Rim (a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vU7XqToZso">FUCK YEAH. It's not all about America, it's about emotional connections. It's a love letter to anime and I want to hug baby Mako Mori tearfully yet cheer for the grown woman who carves Otachi in half for her family. The movie could have gone even further in some ways, but damn do I like how far they got), Thor 2 (very Loki. much Jane. more science. not enough Frigga.), and Frozen (which I should write more thoughts on, but I like how Disney has expanded on the feminist frontier. With very nice music and the first comedy sidekick in a long time that is actually funny and endearing instead of skin-rippingly awful. Clap it out for Disney!).
I liked them all a lot, but... Pacific Rim, man. Hands down.
If not in theatres... you should know that I have a netflix account with a queue of several hundred, and first shot at the library's new inventory. I guess standouts were the Little Shop of Horrors musical (the music is so fucking infectious and brilliant), Cloud Atlas (six genres in one I'm dizzy. The film could have been better in a lot of ways, but I really liked what it was trying to do, and I'm really looking forward to the book) The Dark Knight Rises (not great, but I do want fanfiction of it), Inglourious Basterds (kinda on-level with Django. I like the ideas, the savvy, the details. Maybe it's just the gore that's a setback *shrug*), The Hogfather (my introduction to Discworld. Time to read the Death books), Red 2 (so fucking ridiculous, but Sarah's enthusiasm is so adorable, and Marvin is the team MVP), and Paranorman (PARANORMAN. MY HEART. MY BABY. Take me, Laika Animation!)
... I can't do favorites, okay?
Your favorite book read this year
Oh god, there are so many books that I've checked out and haven't finished... The few I did were:
- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (there's a reason it won awards. Beautiful historical fiction about two women during WWII. It's dark, clever, haunting, heartbreaking, beautiful, and strong. I can't recommend it highly enough.)
- most of the Parasol Protectorate series (steampunk fantasy, very fun. Check out the manga.)
- the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch (fantastic and quirky urban fantasy series by a guy who worked on Doctor Who, apparently? His prose flows like a screenplay, it's an impressive style. read it on rachelmanija's rec),
- Fuzzy Nation (an adaptation of the novel Little Fuzzy, a courtroom drama about an alien race's sentience that moved me to tears) and The Human Division (a continuation of the Old Man's War series that is probably the second Wham Episode) by John Scalzi (read all his sci-fi. Holy crap)
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year
The only album I bought a physical CD of was The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. All of it is fantastic! I also enjoyed Daft Punk's "Get Lucky," "Try" by P!nk, and various others (I cannot sort what came out when, music-wise. You cannot make me.)
I've also, really taken to the Pacific Rim soundtrack, and Lauren Aquilina's "King" because of this gorgeous tearjerker AMV. Lorde's cover of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" is haunting and actually gets me a little interested in the Hunger Games. Guilty pleasure of the year was probably "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus. Also I've spent a lot of time on the Steam Sale lately, so the trailer music for Bioshock Infinite (also known as "Beast" by Nico Vega) is stuck in my head for a while.
Your favorite TV show of the year
Again, netflix and library. I even have a special project at the library to recommend kids' series to the children's librarian, so I watched a lot of things like Batman Beyond, Batman the Brave and the Bold, Adventure Time, a little Danny Phantom.
But we're talking stuff that's been coming out, being talked about.
- Hannibal (jesus christ, Hannibal. It turned out surprisingly well, but I mainly kept track of it via cleolinda's recaps. So nasty, such a monstrous fucker and so frustrating. But it's beautiful and compelling. Someone please HELP WILL GRAHAM)
- Riders of Berk (a series sequel to HTTYD. It's quite good, actually answering questions about the societal changes implied by the movie's end. That kind of shit, I love.)
- Person of Interest (Jonathan Nolan makes a bet with Chris that he can make his own version of Batman, that's intense, interesting, actually has interesting female characters, and is and not broody as fuck)
- Sleepy Hollow (the premise is so, so, stupid, but Ichabod and Abbie are a brilliant, warm light of snark and comraderie)
- Elementary (oh my god it's so good. I think I like it better than BBC Sherlock in a lot of ways)
- The Newsroom (inspires hope and despair simultaneously. It's so odd how that works.)
Your favorite LJ community of the year
I haven't really joined any new ones, I've spent a lot more time on tumblr :/ But, bitter_nakano for all time.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year
Well, Pacific Rim, as I said. The discussions and observations have been wonderful, and make me appreciate the movie even more. The Hannibal fandom is absolutely adorable (flower crowns help stem the tide of despair). What I've seen of the Person of Interest fandom has also been pretty fantastic. And I really like the idea of the Big Four, not just that the characters would really work well together, but that it's a crossover fandom that just rose up on its own. Very fun.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year
There might be one that wasn't as recent, but fuck it. The mid-season arc to Person of Interest season 3. 3x9, The Crossing. If you watch it, you know what I'm talking about, if not, skip this next paragraph.
The Devil's Share handled the aftermath well and all (I really liked all the characters' flashbacks dealing with death, grief, and vengeance), but god-fucking-dammit, the death was cheap and abrupt, John's revelation to Carter was odd (I didn't mind it at the time, I figured he liked her, but in retrospect it was incomplete, badly phrased, and contradicted a lot of previously established development with Finch, effectively killing the show's casual treatment of male affection by suddenly declaring NO HOMO on a bullhorn. You cowards with your heteronormative romance instead of deep trust and friendship), they could have accomplished the same goddamn thing through other means (considering the show's various Batman comparisons, couldn't she have become Oracle or something?), and most especially, Detective Jocelyn Carter deserves better.
Your fandom boyfriend of the year
... Um. Characters I admire and enjoy watching/reading about? Will Graham, Jack Frost, Hiccup?
Your fandom girlfriend of the year
Joss Carter, Frigga, Beverly Katz, Mako Mori. Sam Shaw, Joan Watson. Dis Queen Under the Blue Mountain
Your biggest squee moment of the year
I can't measure squee. Maybe the moment Mako Mori sliced through Otachi.
The most missed of your old fandoms
I'll always miss Naruto. Sometimes I go back to the fics I was working on, but ugh do I not want to do all the research and catch-up. Also, Obito is the big bad because Rin died? FUCK. THAT.
I should catch up on My Little Pony, though. Finish season 2.
The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to
I've built up a to-watch list out of friends' posts. Attack on Titan, then Orphan Black, Orange is the New Black, Kuragehime. There are probably a lot of anime series I'll hear about :/
Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year
THE BOX TROLLS, I want it now 8] Also Captain America: the Winter Soldier (Bucky? :D), HTTYD 2, the final Hobbit movie (and Desolation, 'cause I still need to see that), and Hannibal season 2. BTW when the hell is Wolf Children Ame and Yuki coming out in the states? I've been looking for the thing for 8 months. Come on!
And now it's 1 AM Jan 1. Time to wind down, and sleep. Happy New Year everybody :D May 2014 treat us better.
Got this from callunavulgari, and my fucking hell, I have been working on this meme all month. I went back through all my tumblr posts, my library check outs, and my netflix history (which only goes back so far goddamn it) because I got hung up on "this year" and had to figure out what I saw in December as opposed to January :/ Because my brain is a pedantic perfectionist that gets hung up on the littlest things, and I have been hoarding my last thing of meds instead of taking them because my psych retired, my GP is an asshole, and the online insurance process this year has been utterly fucking sabotaged by shit-fucking piss-stained wastes of biomatter who cannot stand to see people benefit from Obamacare, so even after a stressful two-hour trip to the sign-up office in Boston, I don't know if I actually am covered by insurance come January.
So. Year in Fandom meme.
Your main fandom of the year
Pacific Rim. It's amazing.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a close second, though, because it's a consistent place I go for fic and such (and Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 provided ample inspiration).
I also really liked Rise of the Guardians, and from there got into The Big Four/Rise of the Brave Tangled Guardians, a small fandom devoted to Hiccup (How To Train Your Dragon), Rapunzel (Tangled), Jack (Rise of the Guardians), and Merida (Brave) (Personally I'd swap the last for Elsa, Anna, or Eep), and had a renewed interest in How To Train Your Dragon.
Honorable mentions: the Hobbit movies, and Hannibal.
Your favorite film watched this year
You mean in theatres? In order, I saw Django Unchained (pretty good. Really need to see it on DVD), the Croods (cute and fun, even got me tearful), Iron Man 3 (I want fic dealing with the aftermath, not just of Tony and Pepper (and Bruce the Science Bro), but of all those Extremis soldiers. Were they all... psychotic traitors? Did he recruit from mercenary contractors? Didn't any want... to negotiate or something? Talk to me, fandom), Pacific Rim (a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vU7XqToZso">FUCK YEAH. It's not all about America, it's about emotional connections. It's a love letter to anime and I want to hug baby Mako Mori tearfully yet cheer for the grown woman who carves Otachi in half for her family. The movie could have gone even further in some ways, but damn do I like how far they got), Thor 2 (very Loki. much Jane. more science. not enough Frigga.), and Frozen (which I should write more thoughts on, but I like how Disney has expanded on the feminist frontier. With very nice music and the first comedy sidekick in a long time that is actually funny and endearing instead of skin-rippingly awful. Clap it out for Disney!).
I liked them all a lot, but... Pacific Rim, man. Hands down.
If not in theatres... you should know that I have a netflix account with a queue of several hundred, and first shot at the library's new inventory. I guess standouts were the Little Shop of Horrors musical (the music is so fucking infectious and brilliant), Cloud Atlas (six genres in one I'm dizzy. The film could have been better in a lot of ways, but I really liked what it was trying to do, and I'm really looking forward to the book) The Dark Knight Rises (not great, but I do want fanfiction of it), Inglourious Basterds (kinda on-level with Django. I like the ideas, the savvy, the details. Maybe it's just the gore that's a setback *shrug*), The Hogfather (my introduction to Discworld. Time to read the Death books), Red 2 (so fucking ridiculous, but Sarah's enthusiasm is so adorable, and Marvin is the team MVP), and Paranorman (PARANORMAN. MY HEART. MY BABY. Take me, Laika Animation!)
... I can't do favorites, okay?
Your favorite book read this year
Oh god, there are so many books that I've checked out and haven't finished... The few I did were:
- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (there's a reason it won awards. Beautiful historical fiction about two women during WWII. It's dark, clever, haunting, heartbreaking, beautiful, and strong. I can't recommend it highly enough.)
- most of the Parasol Protectorate series (steampunk fantasy, very fun. Check out the manga.)
- the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch (fantastic and quirky urban fantasy series by a guy who worked on Doctor Who, apparently? His prose flows like a screenplay, it's an impressive style. read it on rachelmanija's rec),
- Fuzzy Nation (an adaptation of the novel Little Fuzzy, a courtroom drama about an alien race's sentience that moved me to tears) and The Human Division (a continuation of the Old Man's War series that is probably the second Wham Episode) by John Scalzi (read all his sci-fi. Holy crap)
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year
The only album I bought a physical CD of was The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. All of it is fantastic! I also enjoyed Daft Punk's "Get Lucky," "Try" by P!nk, and various others (I cannot sort what came out when, music-wise. You cannot make me.)
I've also, really taken to the Pacific Rim soundtrack, and Lauren Aquilina's "King" because of this gorgeous tearjerker AMV. Lorde's cover of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" is haunting and actually gets me a little interested in the Hunger Games. Guilty pleasure of the year was probably "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus. Also I've spent a lot of time on the Steam Sale lately, so the trailer music for Bioshock Infinite (also known as "Beast" by Nico Vega) is stuck in my head for a while.
Your favorite TV show of the year
Again, netflix and library. I even have a special project at the library to recommend kids' series to the children's librarian, so I watched a lot of things like Batman Beyond, Batman the Brave and the Bold, Adventure Time, a little Danny Phantom.
But we're talking stuff that's been coming out, being talked about.
- Hannibal (jesus christ, Hannibal. It turned out surprisingly well, but I mainly kept track of it via cleolinda's recaps. So nasty, such a monstrous fucker and so frustrating. But it's beautiful and compelling. Someone please HELP WILL GRAHAM)
- Riders of Berk (a series sequel to HTTYD. It's quite good, actually answering questions about the societal changes implied by the movie's end. That kind of shit, I love.)
- Person of Interest (Jonathan Nolan makes a bet with Chris that he can make his own version of Batman, that's intense, interesting, actually has interesting female characters, and is and not broody as fuck)
- Sleepy Hollow (the premise is so, so, stupid, but Ichabod and Abbie are a brilliant, warm light of snark and comraderie)
- Elementary (oh my god it's so good. I think I like it better than BBC Sherlock in a lot of ways)
- The Newsroom (inspires hope and despair simultaneously. It's so odd how that works.)
Your favorite LJ community of the year
I haven't really joined any new ones, I've spent a lot more time on tumblr :/ But, bitter_nakano for all time.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year
Well, Pacific Rim, as I said. The discussions and observations have been wonderful, and make me appreciate the movie even more. The Hannibal fandom is absolutely adorable (flower crowns help stem the tide of despair). What I've seen of the Person of Interest fandom has also been pretty fantastic. And I really like the idea of the Big Four, not just that the characters would really work well together, but that it's a crossover fandom that just rose up on its own. Very fun.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year
There might be one that wasn't as recent, but fuck it. The mid-season arc to Person of Interest season 3. 3x9, The Crossing. If you watch it, you know what I'm talking about, if not, skip this next paragraph.
The Devil's Share handled the aftermath well and all (I really liked all the characters' flashbacks dealing with death, grief, and vengeance), but god-fucking-dammit, the death was cheap and abrupt, John's revelation to Carter was odd (I didn't mind it at the time, I figured he liked her, but in retrospect it was incomplete, badly phrased, and contradicted a lot of previously established development with Finch, effectively killing the show's casual treatment of male affection by suddenly declaring NO HOMO on a bullhorn. You cowards with your heteronormative romance instead of deep trust and friendship), they could have accomplished the same goddamn thing through other means (considering the show's various Batman comparisons, couldn't she have become Oracle or something?), and most especially, Detective Jocelyn Carter deserves better.
Your fandom boyfriend of the year
... Um. Characters I admire and enjoy watching/reading about? Will Graham, Jack Frost, Hiccup?
Your fandom girlfriend of the year
Joss Carter, Frigga, Beverly Katz, Mako Mori. Sam Shaw, Joan Watson. Dis Queen Under the Blue Mountain
Your biggest squee moment of the year
I can't measure squee. Maybe the moment Mako Mori sliced through Otachi.
The most missed of your old fandoms
I'll always miss Naruto. Sometimes I go back to the fics I was working on, but ugh do I not want to do all the research and catch-up. Also, Obito is the big bad because Rin died? FUCK. THAT.
I should catch up on My Little Pony, though. Finish season 2.
The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to
I've built up a to-watch list out of friends' posts. Attack on Titan, then Orphan Black, Orange is the New Black, Kuragehime. There are probably a lot of anime series I'll hear about :/
Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year
THE BOX TROLLS, I want it now 8] Also Captain America: the Winter Soldier (Bucky? :D), HTTYD 2, the final Hobbit movie (and Desolation, 'cause I still need to see that), and Hannibal season 2. BTW when the hell is Wolf Children Ame and Yuki coming out in the states? I've been looking for the thing for 8 months. Come on!
And now it's 1 AM Jan 1. Time to wind down, and sleep. Happy New Year everybody :D May 2014 treat us better.