Achievement Masterpost
This post contains a list of completed entries from the Media Masterpost, and will be updated accordingly.
Books
Action Comics #890-893 - Paul Cornell, et al Done! Wow, I read Cornell's run on this title in the most bass ackwards way possible... I jumped in at #894 because I heard about the Death cameo, and then it took me a year to track down all of the previous four issues. But that's okay, because "The Black Ring" is one of the best comic stories I've ever read. I mean, Paul Cornell, Lex Luthor as protagonist, Sandman guest star, Who and Blade Runner references, Joker being frickin' perfect? YES PLEASE. (10 May 2012)
The Annotated Sandman, Vol. 1 - Neil Gaiman, et al Finished it! There were a shocking number of typos and mislabeled notes in this book, particularly considering how comparatively few notes there actually were (somewhere between a third and a half of the pages have no commentary at all, and a lot of the ones that do have notes are just pointing out where ads were in the original printings), and I wound up putting my TPB copies in the middle of the giant Annotated coffee table behemoth so I was reading the annotations along with the TPBs I've had for a while, because the comic is B&W in the Annotated (at least my copy... I don't know if there's one at a higher price point with colour comics?) BUT, the notes that were there were almost all highly informative and enlightening (even if they were often misplaced and could have used an editor), so I will be pre-ordering the second volume just as soon as I get a mailing address for this fall. (11 May 2012)
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures - Aaron Ehasz, et al Finished it! There wasn't anything groundbreaking* here, and most of the comics were too short to have much substance, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't great fun to get a few more (mostly happy!) adventures with these characters. (3 May 2012)
PS: These writers troll Zuko so hard, and that is kind of wonderful to me.
** HAHA OH GOD, the earthbending jokes I could make but won't YOU ARE WELCOME.
Bad Girls - Jan Stradling Done! This book is fascinating, covering a few women I know a fair amount about, about a dozen I had heard a few things about, and a small hand full I didn't know existed. The book suffers slightly from including a bit more speculation than is necessary while simultaneously eschewing scholarly citation, but Stradling is admirably measured in her accounts, putting the most unforgiveable behaviour in historical and biographical context and reminding us of the often-overlooked consequences of the commonly justified actions of the women history remembers more fondly. The book itself is just gorgeous, too, with nice, thick pages, full-colour photos, and a beautifully designed cover. These are things that make me very happy. (13 May 2012)
Batgirl, vol. 1 - Gail Simone, et al MINOR SPOILERS: I came away from this feeling like a bad Batfamily fan. Goodness knows I love Babs and Jim to tiny little pieces, and, despite my relative lack of experience with him, I am rather a big fan of Dick (and I freakin' love what was done with him here). And Gail Simone is just generally amazing. But...I just didn't entirely connect with the story? It usually takes me a while to warm up to a storyline, and I'm pretty excited about where the title appears to be headed, but I guess I still have some residual icky feelings about the whole New 52/magic paralyzation cure thing that prevented me from getting into the book as much as I wanted to? I DON'T KNOW. HOPEFULLY I'LL WORK IT OUT BEFORE VOLUME 2. (19 September 2012)
Batman: Arkham 100-Page Spectacular - Dennis O’Neil, et al Finished it! It probably says something about me that I am so drawn to anything to do with Arkham. I absolutely eat up stories about storytelling, the nature of fear, the limits of sanity, and examinations of the bounds between heroes and villains, too, so this was basically written specifically for me. (8 May 2012)
Batman & Dracula: Red Rain - Doug Moench, et al Done! I bought this entirely on the strength of my on-going love affair with both Batman and Dracula - or rather, with (most) things about Dracula; I am not attracted to the character so much as the idea of the character and the stories that have been told about him - so it was a wonderful surprise to see that the penciler (Kelley Jones), inker (Malcolm Jones III), and letterer (Todd Klein) were all significant presences on Sandman. I suppose it only makes sense, being as this is a darker DC story published in the early 90s... The art is pretty much gorgeous, in that grotesque way that Sandman art usually is, and I absolutely love the look Les Dorscheid's extremely stylistic colours gave the art I otherwise felt very familiar with. Well, seeing Batman with long features and a Sandman-esque cloak was different, and Dracula looked more like Sandman's Lucifer than I would have expected, but it was mostly the colours that kept me from feeling like this was a straightforward Batman/Sandman crossover. The story wasn't the most innovative (Eric Van Lustbader's introduction was a little ambitious in claiming I wouldn't see the end coming, but then, it takes a fair amount of out-of-the-box thinking to surprise me with something in a vampire story), but it was solid, and I will probably look for the other two titles in the Red Rain trilogy. Overall, The Batman vs. Dracula is a better, more thoughtfully rendered story, but this is infinitely better than a lot of the [character] Meets Dracula! dreck I've waded through in the past. (27 May 2012)
Batman Beyond (2011) #1-8 - Adam Beechen, et al I read this sometime last fall, and I'm still having ALL OF THE FEELS. (20 March 2013)
Delirium’s Party: A Little Endless Storybook - Jill Thompson OH. MY. GOD. Could there BE a more adorable book?? I seriously need the other Little Endless book, like, RIGHT NOW. (19 September 2012)
The Dresden Files: Fool Moon #1 - Jim Butcher, et al Eh. The art is nice, but there's nothing too special here that you don't get in the book. I probably won't go out of my way to get the other Dresden comics. (11 June 2012)
Dollhouse One-Shot - Andrew Chambliss, et al Good stuff. Good stuff, indeed. And that final panel was kind of delicious. (11 June 2012)
Dollhouse #1-5 - Andrew Chambliss, et al It took absolutely forever for me to realize that Ivy was a character I had met before. In my defence, I have only watched the show once, and it was seven months ago, but still, wow. It was nice to get this bit of the story, since it's one of the main things I was dissatisfied with in the show (the other being the bit with Langton, and we were given at least some explanation for the holiness of that plot in the letters section of one of these issues). I'm definitely hoping for more Dollhouse comics in future! (20 July 2012)
Everybody’s Dead #1-5 - Brian Lynch, et al Finished it! I guess it's inevitable that I always have impossibly high hopes for anything Lynch has written. This may not have been everything I had hoped for and more, but it was still quite entertaining. And you know I'm a sucker for characters who go against type, so having a cast of frat boys who are actually intelligent, decent human beings and an arse-kicking character like Aurora was wonderful. (7 May 2012)
Fallen Angel: Return of the Son #1-4 - Peter David, et al Finished! It would help me a lot if I had read any of the Fallen Angel series before Reborn, but I am still fascinated by this mythology. And J.K. Woodward's art is just stunning, as always. (9 May 2012)
The Flash 100-Page Spectacular Finished it, though I wondered if I would. Yeah, I'm just gonna have to admit that Silver Age comics and I do not get along and stop trying to force the relationship. (8 May 2012)
The Fracture of the Universal Boy - Michael Zulli I'm pretty sure I don't have faintest idea what I just read, but it was beautiful and clearly an honest work of art that I will come to understand more as I return to it in future. (9 July 2012)
The Guild - Felicia Day & Jim Rugg Finished it! I get Cyd so much it's scary. (29 April 2012)
Huntress #1-6 - Paul Levitz, et al I finished it... Hmm... Well, the art is certainly lovely, and less male gazey than I expected (although there were a few...interesting poses), and there was nothing I found truly offensive. But, for all its attempts to be topical with the Arab Spring stuff and the anti-trafficking plotline (and very brief mention of Italy's largely anti-immigration stance at the momentt), it was one of the most stereotypically brainless action-for-action's-sake stories I've seen in ages. This is pretty much exactly why comics have a bad rep in literature circles, and I really should have expected that, given I knew going in that this wasn't Helena Bertinelli, a character who actually does have a very interesting backstory and perspective and a unique voice. ::sigh:: I just...want more for my female-led titles, y'know? (30 April 2012)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë Jane is such an awesome character, I liked many of the other women and girls in the book, I love that Brontë gave her heroine plenty of female friends who weren't uniformly jealous of her (I'm a bit touchy about this in my fiction these days...), and I thought it was, over all, a very good book. That just makes it even worse, though, that Rochester is the most abhorrent central love interest this side of Edward Cullen and Heathcliff, and that every one of the male characters who wasn't a servant was an awful, awful human being. ::sigh:: (3 July 2012)
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth - E.L. Konigsburg Finished! HOW did I never read this as a kid?! From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was one of my absolute favourite books when I was growing up, and I read everything I could get my hands on that had anything to do with witches (I was basically Jennifer until...well, until about fifth grade, when I became Elizabeth). Anyway, yes, love this book and regret missing out on it until now. (18 May 2012)
Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion - PopMatters A very small handful of these essays were angry-making and/or lacking in academic rigor, but there are some truly enlightening essays, as well. Far and away the most interesting is Don Tresca's "'Fantasy Is Their Business, But It Is Not Their Purpose': The Metaphor of Dollhouse." Definitely recommended to anyone looking for an overview of all of the Whedon-helmed projects to date (shows and movies to which he contributed but was not directly responsible for - Roseanne, Toy Story, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, etc - are mentioned here and there but never truly discussed) from both scholarly and informal perspectives. (23 May 2012)
Lex Luthor: Man of Steel - Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo Well, Lex could certainly make Spike feel better about the number of robots he's boffed... Over all, I think Paul Cornell's Lex Luthor's Action Comics run and certain aspects of Michael Rosenbaum's portrayal on Smallville did a lot of the same things better/more interestingly, but I would still definitely recommend it if you are interested in Luthor's (or David Xanatos', since I feel there are some comparisons to be made there) motivations and misplaced hero complex. (1 September 2012)
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Mark Oshiro Hey, so, yeah. Don't read the second chapter re-read in public. (3 June 2012)
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Mark Oshiro THIS IS NOT A GOOD BOOK TO READ IN PUBLIC. There are a number of doctors' offices in my area that witnessed extended giggling fits and explosive guffaws. <3 (20 January 2012)
Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie Finished! Not-exactly-PC-"redskins"-stuff aside, this book is pretty much brilliant, in a Douglas Adamsy, William Goldman-ish way. (I was delightedly surprised to find that the original book version of Tiger Lily is kind of a BAMF, though, so there's that to mitigate *some* of the cultural insensitivity.) (4 May 2012)
Sandman: The Wake - Neil Gaiman, et al UGH. (What else is there even to say? What a fucking EPIC STORY.) (19 September 2012)
Side Jobs - Jim Butcher Finished it! I've listened to all 13 of the current Dresden books at least once each, but this collection of short stories is the first time I've actually read Butcher's fiction. It was a somewhat different experience, though not so drastically as it can be with other authors (I've found, for example, that I love listening to Stephen King, but I can hardly get through a page of reading [shrug]), and I found it interesting that the voice I wound up "hearing" for Harry shifted quite organically between Marsters', Blackthorne's, and some inner voice of my own devising that seemed to distill the commonalities of Marsters and Blackthorne and amplify them somewhat. As for the stories themselves, I am even more sick to death now of people getting their free-will tampered with, people getting magicked into falling in love with/seducing Harry, and Murphy's nose somehow being relevant every single time anyone describes her (does Harry have a nose fetish?) The two most interesting stories, IMHOE, were the ones told from Thomas' and Murphy's POVs, although I thought it annoying (and not at all unexpected, in hindsight) that, while Thomas has a fairly well-developed voice of his own, Murphy's wasn't really significantly different from Harry's, except that instead of salivating over descriptions of female character's physical attributes, she compared them to her own, generally with more than a hint of jealousy. I can understand how her job would make her see the world in terms of male spheres and female spheres, but I was disappointed to see that the biggest indication that this is Murphy instead of Harry is that the woman has to consciously translate into "Martian" (read: "secret male language consisting of grunts and postures, as though women don't use non-verbal communication, too"). That said, all of "Aftermath"'s shortcomings are forgiven for the simple fact that getting an outsider's analysis of Harry's investigative methods is pretty amazing, and I applaud Butcher for portraying it so very differently than Harry does. I am such a sucker for consciously playing with narrator reliability. (6 May 2012)
Static Shock Special - Matt Wayne, et al Finished it, and then was sad for a long time because DWAYNE MCDUFFIE, and then was angry for a long time because only the first season of Static Shock is available on Amazon, and only the first six episodes have been released on DVD, and this is TRAGIC, because I seriously need to watch this show right this instant. There is nothing whatsoever about a brilliant, kick-ass, electrically-powered superhero whose show stars Phil LaMarr, Jason Marsden, and Kevin Michael Richardson that I don't need in my face at all times. (14 May 2012)
Static Shock #1-7 - Scott McDaniel, et al Finished it! I'm a little annoyed, to tell the absolute truth. I thought the whole point of rebooting DC's ENTIRE LINE was to make the stories accessible to new readers, so they can pick up with #1 in any line and understand everything that is going on because there aren't decades upon decades of history for each character. So, having only seen a few episodes of the show MANY years ago, I figured I could start here at square one and not have to work a bunch of shit out as I went along. Yeah...not so much. I love Static, and I was extremely interested in the cloned-sister plotline and the fact that there are shades of grey absolutely everywhere, but I probably would have given up after the first couple of issues if I had be reading them as they were published because I was so incredibly lost. Now, I would have expected having to do homework if DC hadn't made a huge effing deal about the reboot, but this is kind of unacceptable. I thought the New 52 was a terrible idea from the start because it is, at its core, predicated on the notion that readers aren't bright enough to follow along, which is more than a bit insulting when it comes to heroes like Superman and Batman, whose origins are part of the social consciousness of America (and other parts of the world) every bit as much as...well, more than any other fictional character, really. But if any of the titles COULD benefit from being fully rebooted, it's the less well-known titles, like Static Shock. For it to end up being one of the few that cannot just be picked up at #1 defeats the whole bloody purpose.
Now, having now read all 7 issues that have been released, I think I can pretty well hold on to the plot from here on out, and, if the quality stays where it has been, I'm going to love the ride. Just...what was even the point, DC?!
(Update from the future: Oh, GODDAMMIT, DC. FINE. I don't need any more Static Shock. WHATEVER. [storms off])
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe Finished it! Oh, man, what a tough book... (17 May 2012)
The View from Saturday - E.L. Konigsburg HOLY CRAP I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. (19 May 2012)
Comics I’m only an issue behind on
Demon Knights #8 - Paul Cornell, et al Done! Hey, look, it's already working! I'm officially, as of this moment, caught up on all of my monthly comic subscriptions that I have been actively reading! I'm still very much appreciating Cornell's handling of so many excellent, interesting, diverse characters, and it was very nice to finally get some backstory on Xanadu and Jason/Etrigan (mmm, ambiguity!), but I must admit, I'd be somewhat more into the story if the whole comic was about Shining Knight, the Horsewoman, and Al Jabr - they're who fascinate me most. (29 April 2012)
Saga #2 - Brian K. Vaughn, et al Finished it! I'm...still not sure about this book. I mean, I think there's a lot of really excellent matierial here, I'm very intrigued to see where it's all going, the world-building is top notch (OMG, the Horrors and the Stalk...!), and I love that Alana appears to be based in large part on Amanda Palmer. Just...the uses of the words "cunt" and "bitch" in the Alana/Stalk confrontation worry me. (29 April 2012)
Books on tape/Radio Plays
Dracula - Bram Stoker I've read the book seven or eight times, so I decided to listen to this recording featuring Greg Wise and Saskia Reeves when I found out we would be reading it in one of my classes this semester. There wasn't *that* much added benefit for me, since I've seen virtually every "faithful" English language film adaptation of the novel and therefore don't have a lot of new ways left for me to look at the story, but there were a couple of lines that stood out for me in audio form in a way they never have in print, and Wise brought some lovely humour to Jonathan that no one else has ever really tried. (20 March 2013)
How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell So, I'm a bit annoyed that at least the first few Tennant recordings are abridgements; it seemed to me like the story was a bit sparse, and I assume the unabridged version is less so. But, as good as Gerard Doyle is on the Chrestomanci books, there's simply no way I'm not going with the Tennant ones. He's quite brilliant in this book, and I'm looking forward to getting to the rest of the series eventually. (13 July 2012)
I Am a Pole (And So Can You!) - Stephen Colbert Oh, Stephen Colbert... (3 July 2012)
The Pinhoe Egg - Diana Wynne Jones A little part of me spent the majority of this book hoping for Cat/Marianne smoochies I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU GUYS WHAT IS GOING ON IN MY BRAIN THEY'RE LIKE TWELVE. But, yeah, I like this book a lot. (19 July 2012)
Unfamiliar Fishes - Sarah Vowell I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I want to be Sarah Vowell when I grow up. It was really interesting to learn more about the history of Americans in Hawai'i, given I lived there when I was little and learned some military-dependent-friendly versions of these histories. I definitely recommend this one; season with The Proclaimers and conversation with Irish people if you really want to have strong anti-imperialist feelings. (15 August 2012)
The View from Saturday - E.L. Konigsburg I love this book so much, and whichever actress read for the kids - Jenna Lamia or Jan Maxwell - was absolutely precious. (20 March 2013)
Albums
Animal Love - Charlene Kaye Um, yes please. More of this. BRB, listening again. (4 August 2012)
Assassins - Stephen Sondheim This was perhaps not the best weekend to wind up listening to this, but it was a good way to remind myself how much we need a better system for treating mental illness, and of the fact that people from all different backgrounds are capable of evil acts. Sondheim is a weird dude, but in the best ways. (21 July 2012)
An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer Disc 2 These two are unbearably talented and adorable, and this disc makes me so happy I can't even. (21 July 2012)
Camp - Childish Gambino I recognize the cultural significance of bragadoccio in rap, and I try to embrace it as part of the artform, but it is so counter to my own nature that I feel quite distant from most rap songs. Most of Camp is no different in this regard, but I absolutely love the core idea that other people's expectations of us can have serious negative impacts on our own development, and the final line of the album is one of the more haunting I have heard. There are definitely songs I like more than others, but it is a solid album, and I am glad I bought it on the strength of Troy Barnes' amazingness. (19 September 2012)
Lesser Known Hits - Talk Fine Hm... Perhaps it will grow on me with future listens... I do always appreciate an anti-love song, though, and "Can't Wait to Say No" certainly qualifies. (20 July 2012)
Life in Cartoon Motion - Mika This album will always make me think of the time magpieinthesky's sister drove me to the bus stop in DC, and that is totally okay with me. "Grace Kelly" is kind of a perfect song, isn't it? (4 August 2012)
Recovering the Sattelites - Counting Crows "Long December" is still my very favourite of their songs, but this album didn't come anywhere near to impacting me as much as August and Everything After. But then, few things have spoken to me as much as August and Everything After, so... Still, I've only listened to it once, and I'm sure it will grow on me as I find its poignancies. (29 September 2012)
Some Nights - fun. Well, this is a fun album to pack to... It's very upbeat and catchy, even as it deals with some serious themes. Wee! (19 July 2012)
Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before! - Barenaked Ladies I am just so happy to have new-to-me BNL tracks featuring Steven Page I CANNOT TELL YOU. And getting new versions of Ed ballads will never not be a beautiful thing. (20 July 2012)
The Truth About Love - P!nk I have had this entire album stuck in my head since I first listened to it, and I've only managed to listen to it about half a dozen times all the way through (which is NOT VERY MUCH, compared to my usual MO when I find an album I really dig). Yeah, I pretty much love it. (29 September 2012)
Underwater Sunshine (or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation) - Counting Crows I didn't take to it quite like I did August and Everything After, and the instrumental arrangement aside, their cover of "Amie" just makes me want to listen to the original PPL version*, but it is a solid album with some excellent music. (9 July 2012)
* It's one of my all-time favourite songs, though, so I'm certainly not complaining that it is here.
Wizards and Muggles Rock for Social Justice, Vol. 2 "Pumpkin Juice"!! Oh, gawd, best song ever. I could take or leave most of the rest of this album, but "Pumpkin Juice" is The Best. (4 August 2012)
Movies
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "The Chaney Vase" (1955) Finished it! The guy playing Endicott looked enough like Martin Balsam that I had the Mitchell theme song stuck in my head for the first five minutes or so. And I am hoping it's not just a coincidence that the old ladies in the last two Hitchcock things I've watched have been awesome. Too often, old ladies in horror/thriller type movies are terrifying, and that's kind of unfair to the awesome old ladies in the world. (14 May 2012)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (1962) Finished it! The homicidal, adultrous wife/magician's assistant theme is a little overdone by now (I wrote a story about that in third or fourth grade), as is the story of a treacherous woman taking advantage of a mentally handicapped young man, but it wasn't a bad production of a worn-out story... (29 April 2012)
The Batman vs. Dracula (2005) Finished it! FFFFFFFFFFUUUU YESSSSSS I refuse to believe that this movie wasn't specifically written, designed, animated, voiced, filmed, and released for me and me alone. The Batman vs. Dracula has looked into my soul, and it knows me. (11 May 2012)
Cabin Fever (2002) Oh, Rider Strong, I love you and I want you to be in all of the movies on my shelf... I had seen pieces of this movie here and there, and I kind of ruined the experience for myself by seeing it after both Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and Cabin in the Woods (which are both frickin' fantastic, btw), but it was still largely very enjoyable. (1 September 2012)
The Chatterley Affair (2006) I got this pretty much entirely for the 2 minute segment that David Tennant was in, and, short as the appearance was, it was definitely worth it (he played a Lit professor defending Lady Chatterley's Lover in the obscenity trial; you know I appreciated that). I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the movie as a whole, but there were definitely lots of non-Tennant-related things that I liked a whole lot. (20 March 2013)
The Farmer’s Wife (1928) Done, thank the assorted deities. Am I honestly expected to be happy that the most repugnant protagonist I've seen in ages has conned his housekeeper into marrying him after he has belittled every other single woman in town for not accepting his completely unexpected, unwanted proposal? I know I'm not currently in the right headspace to look kindly on much of anything to do with courtship or marriage, but holy cats. I checked about 30 minutes in to see how long this was going to go on, decided I could last another 68 minutes if it meant I could cross it off my list, and then the godsdamned movie turned out to be over two hours long. JEBUS. I will say this much for it, though - I basically love Louisa Windeatt for laughing in Sweetland's fucking face. You're beautiful, Louisa, and I think *I* might like to marry you. (15 May 2012)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) Oh, Draco. Draco, Draco, Draco. I wanted so much more for you, and still like to think you eventually got your shit sorted... Also, LOLOL, OH YA THERE WAS A WHOLE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE MYSTERY TYPE THING WASN'T THERE???!?!? I feel like this was, artistically, one of the better movies, but - and this could be because I only read the book once when it first came out and didn't really like it - it lacked a certain cohesion and narrative focus. And I apparently still don't give a crap about the end. I will accept my title as Heartless Biznatch Queen of the World, now, thanks. (29 May 2012)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010) Wow, that was way, WAY different than the book. I still don't know how I feel about that... It was an entertaining movie, but certainly not one of my favourites. [shrug] (4 August 2012)
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) Yeah, I basically just like the Flash all the time, no matter what, don't I? YES. YES I DO. Also interesting is the fact that it's apparently totally okay with Bats to strand someone on a desert planet with a world-destroying bomb that is about to go off and absolutely no way of getting off said planet? And Supes is totes fine with conning someone into unknowingly sacrificing himself to save the world? Interesante. Anyway, in addition to loving all things Flash, I also love me some hero/negaverse!villain team-ups, so YES. And the Spectre short included on the DVD is one of the cooler things I've seen come out of DC's AU. (15 August 2012)
Justice League: Doom (2012) You can see five of my thoughts here. (March 20 2013)
The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Finished it! This movie kicks an amount of ass that I'm not sure I can yet comprehend. Sure, it isn't perfect, but Mrs. Froy, Iris, and Gilbert are too awesome for me to particualrly care. (13 May 2012)
The Manxman (1926) Finished! I have a lot of thoughts and feels about this movie, chief among them being that the death at sea thing kind of gets brushed off in this treatment, which drastically changes the point and tone, I think. From the Wikipedia summary of the novel, it looks like that was handled more evenly in the original. (16 May 2012)
Pearl (2012) Well, that was kind of beautiful, in a way only a short film adapted from a poem can be. There was something vaguely (but not quite) Neil Gaiman-y about it, really...or maybe I only think that because I've been reading so much Gaiman of late. (18 May 2012)
Rango (2011) It is not without its flaws, but I kind of love it, and I know that future viewings will prove beneficial from a literary point of view. Metanarratives are just the best. (16 July 2012)
Rich and Strange (1932) It's very interesting how some of the conventions of the silent era were still in effect in early talkies... I saw this movie the night after I watched Vertigo for the first time. There are several reason why I prefer Rich and Strange to Vertigo, but one of the main ones is that Hitchcock seems to have been much better at directing authentic, likeable, believable female characters in 1932 than in 1958. Of course, a lot of that is down to the writers, but the point remains. Rich and Strange may not be the stunning piece of artwork that Vertigo is, but I would watch it again, and the same can't be said for Vertigo. (1 September 2012)
The Space Tour (2012) I thought briefly that it would turn out to have been a mistake to watch this, thus tarnishing my front-row memories of being there in Silver Spring, but having the show intercut with interviews was a nice little surprise and well worth any slight memory tarnish.
Sunday Punch (2010) Huh. (18 May 2012)
Television seasons
All Creatures Great and Small: The Specials I just love this show so much... (1 September 2012)
The Batman: Season 4 Finished it! This was, hands down, the best season so far. This is my excited-for-Season-Five face. (29 April 2012)
The Batman: Season 5 Done! Overall, Season Four was better, but there were some truly delightful things that happened in Season Five, too. Yup yup yup. (10 May 2012)
Boy Meets World Season 5 BMW Season 5 will forever be the season that gave me the Eric Hypothesis and then yanked it away from me. And for that, I thank/curse it. Seriously though, there are so many things in this season I can't believe I never saw before...and mid- to late-S5 Cory makes me appreciate the character so much more in the previous four seasons. (21 June 2012)
Boy Meets World Season 6 WHERE IS MY ERIC MATTHEWS? I've had an innocent Eric crush long enough that it wasn't a creepy age difference back when it got started, and I realized this time through Season 4 that "Uncle Daddy" was the first time I became aware of my attraction to guys who are good with children, but, despite a small handful of episodes that were not kind to his characterization, it was Season 6 that put Eric at the top of my fictional boyfriend list*. I wanted more Angela and Rachel (and more Rachel as something other than the object of the guys' affections), but what I did get was good. And then there was Shawn...** Let's just marvel at my thoroughly pummelled heart for a moment... (19 July 2012)
* Don't worry, Ben, Parks and Rec will be back on my television screen soon enough, and you can take the title back then.
** No, wait, sorry, that was last season, wasn't it?
The Dresden Files Finished it! It would be a lie to say this show wasn't deeply flawed - Is this version of the Chicago PD the worst group of cops you've ever seen on stage or screen? If wizards aren't allowed to tell "civilians" anything at all about magic, why the hell does Harry openly advertise himself as a wizard? Since Bob appears human in this version, wouldn't it be easier for everyone if Harry just introduced him to Murphy as his germaphobic associate who doesn't like touching people or things instead of trying to hide him? Why did they make some of the seemingly pointless changes, like re-writing every single thing about Murphy except her last name and occupation? - but there are things to recommend it. I really do like Paul Blackthorne a lot, Valerie Cruz grew on me quite quickly, I'm a little bit in love with Conrad Coates' voice, some of the effects looked pretty neat... And I'm a big fan of the fact that they diversified the cast, despite my irritation that one of the few POCs in the books was made a blonde in the show. All in all, there are many far worse shows that have more than 12 episodes, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm upset that this one didn't get renewed. (3 May 2012)
Fruits Basket This show has it's flaws, and I'm coming at this as my first proper anime series after spending a quarter of a century surrounded by Western ideas of how stories should be told and characters should behave, but I very much enjoyed it, and I'm a little bit in love with Shigure (with some rather big reservations about the gross fascination with "high school girls"), Yuki, Hana, and Kisa. (3 July 2012)
Husbands Season 1 I love it when shows give me a character who is clearly my type (Brady) and then manage to make me love a character who is clearly not my type (Cheeks) at least as much. The fact that Husbands managed to do this in just over 20 minutes is absolutely amazing to me, and I'm so glad I decided purely on the basis of Jane Espenson's involvement to contribute to the Season Two Kickstarter. (9 July 2012)
InuYasha Season One It took a lot longer for Sango to show up than I remembered... I can't NOT see Kikyo and Inuyasha as Buffy and Spike at this point in my life. It's not possible. And, lest I forget, Kirby Morrow. SO MUCH LOVE, even though Miroku is kind of a tool a lot of the time. (19 September 2012)
Johnny Bravo: Season 1 Finished it! This show is not without its problems, but it is also quite amusing at times (I adore "Cookie Crisis" and "Johnny Meets Adam West," and nothing will take that from me). This DVD set also gave me the pleasure of hearing Mae West gush about Jeff Bennett, and Jeff Bennett recount the story of how Adam West rendered him incapable of recording his lines because he was laughing too much. Also, there's a video clip of Bennett doing a pretty spot-on reading of West's "Johnny, let's go find your mama" line that pretty much killed me. I may actually be dead. (19 May 2012)
Additional: Things I Need to Reread/Listen to/Watch Before the LeakyCon Presentations in August
Brave I love this movie kind of a ridiculous amount. (22 July 2012)
Cabin in the Woods (YES. I WILL WORK THIS INTO THE DISCUSSION. JUST YOU WATCH ME.) Rewatched! UGH THIS MOVIE. (I spent an inordinate amount of time focused on the fact that Dana and Jules were both wearing ballet flats though the whole movie. I really hate ballet flats, and I imagine they did, too, considering how ill-equipped they are as footwear for life-and-death struggles in the woods.) (15 May 2012)
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins HOLY CRAP, I could not have picked a worse time in my life to be rereading this (and Changes; mustn't forget how much THAT book effs me up), but I'm done, and there's just Mockingjay left. It's probably going to be years before I am able to watch the movies after this, isn't it? (10 June 2012)
Changes - Jim Butcher I am so completely in love with Butters, Sanya*, Murphy, Thomas, and the Leanansidhe... But my love for the five of them (and pretty much all of the other main characters in this series) doesn't completely negate the fact that THIS BOOK IS INTENSELY HEARTBREAKING. Between finishing this and reading the middle third of Mockingjay - coupled with some significant Real Life emotional trauma - I am kind of a wreck tonight. If you can listen to Marsters' delivery of the end of that one chapter toward the end without feeling utterly heartsick, you have obviously mastered some form of emotional detatchment that I am not all that interested in learning. It's not the end of "The Gift"**, but it might as well be, for all it matters to me tonight. Good thing I've still got a BMW episode to watch before bed. (18 June 2012)
* SANYAAAAA! I seriously just want a series of books told from Sanya's point of view. And obviously I'll be needing James Marsters to go ahead and record audio books for that series, as well. (My gawd, could I *survive* such an experience??)
** But really only because I care a little more about the BtVS characters in question than I do the Dresden Files characters.
Conrad's Fate - Diana Wynne Jones Dammit, I listened to this whole book today while tidying the house and working on my Sandman cross stitch, and I took some relatively detailed notes in a text file...and then the battery fell out of my laptop and I lost the notes. CRAP. Ah well. I'll probably be able to recreate enough of them tomorrow to get what I need for the presentation. If not, it's not a long book and I can listen to/read it again, if it's absolutely necessary... (29 May 2012)
Ghost Story - Jim Butcher This book is the BS6 of the Dresden Files in many ways, and yet it is probably my favourite, for what it necessarily does to the main character's outlook on and understanding of the world and the people that inhabit it. This is the book that took me from a casual fan listening to the audio books for Marsters' narration to a true (if reserved) fan who greatly appreciates Butcher's craftsmanship as a storyteller. I'm quite looking forward to Cold Days in a way I didn't think I would be prior to revisiting the series. (9 July 2012)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets This movie is so much better than I remember it being. I thought I had seen it a billion times, but it seems that I've seen it *on* a billion times, then almost instantly changed the channel. This is probably only the second time I've seen it all the way through, and certainly only the third or fourth time I've watched large portions of it. Branagh is so much more amazing than I remember him being, and I could watch Alan Rickman as Snape all day long, another fact of life I seem to have forgotten along the way.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I thought I was going to have a hard time with Cedric, given the Patinson baggage, but I still love the way he played him, unsure exactly what to do with Harry from moment to moment. And my brain must be addicted to happy surprises, because it keeps blocking out the memory that David Tennant is in this movie, so I get that little "Wait...I know that voice!" realization every time. Thanks, brain! (4 August)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I JUST LOVE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH. Great book, great message, the series could stop here, AND I WOULD BE OKAY WITH THAT. <333 (4 August 2012)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Finished! There is exactly one reason to ever watch this movie. (4 May 2012)
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins Reread complete! So, this is weird... Because, see, I decided not to go see the movie because ALL OF MY EMOTIONS, and then I had to basically force myself through the first two chapters of this reread because ALL OF MY EMOTIONS...but then somewhere between the sticky notes and the Serious Literature Student* frown, it became no big thing. I got the tiniest bit choked up at "My thanks to the people of District Eleven," but was otherwise DEVOID OF EMOTIONS. But now I'm done, and I'm all, "Do I seriously have to reread Catching Fire? UUUUGH NO. ALL OF MY EMOTIONS." (1 May 2012)
* Who reads while dangling her feet in the pool... Shut up. Just pretend I was in a dimly-lit library with my hair in a bun, pushing my glasses back up my nose after each page turn, like you're supposed to do when you're a Serious Literature Student.
"I Robot...You Jane" HAHAHAHA THIS EPISODE IS SO TERRIBLE. (18 June 2012)
The Legend of Korra: Season 1 ::sigh:: Here's hoping the next seasons actually accomplish what I want for this show...
Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins I AM SO GLAD I'M DONE WITH THIS REREAD OH MY GOD. My copy is about half again as thick now that I've filled it with sticky notes. And I managed to keep from having an emotional reaction (other than ever-present, low-level anxiety) all the way until the bit with that damn cat. (22 June 2012)
"Primeval" Done! David Fury commentaries are always quite interesting. (17 May 2012)
Storm Front (opening chapters) - Jim Butcher Harry is such a bitter little troll in the early part of the series... (18 June 2012)
Small Favor - Jim Butcher Finished it! Between Sanya, Molly, and Thomas, this book is an absolute delight, despite the fact that I totally checked out during the climax this time (I am exhausted like you wouldn't believe for some reason). I basically need Sanya to be in all of the books. Not just all of the Dresden books, all of the books, period. SANYA!!! (WHY is my brain so exhausted, and will I manage to stay awake long enough to watch the Community finale(s) tonight?) (17 May 2012)
"Smashed" I think this may be one of my favourite commentaries of all time. Drew Z. Greenberg hits just the right combination of insight into the writing process, explanation of the themes, amusing stories about shooting, and stream-of-consciousness commentary on the finished episode. (19 July 2012)
Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling The Dumbledore commentaries in this book are some of the most interesting things in all of the Harry Potter series, IMHOE. But I'm a huge dork like that... (25 July 2012)
Time of Your Life - Joss Whedon, et al This book is so good, but it HURTS MY SOUL. (23 May 2012)
Turn Coat - Jim Butcher This book is SO FUCKED UP AND HEART BREAKING. Everything hurts...but I know it's all going to hurt even more in the next two. I'm seriously glad I was cleaning my room while listening to this book, so I was distracted for a lot of it. (27 May 2012)
White Night - Jim Butcher Finished! I think this is probably my favourite Dresden Files book, overall. That said, and as much as I adore Thomas (and I do, so much WHO ANTICIPATED THAT?), I would really appreciate it if all this "Tee hee! Thomas and Harry are gay! Tee hee transvestite vampire! Tee hee!" were offset by some *actual* LGBT characters. Okay, we get a little bit with Andi and Marcy, but only in "Aftermath," and brushed off as an "experiment in college" before Andi and Kirby hooked up. ANYway, yeah, I like many things about this book. [nods] (7 May 2012)
"The Women of Avatar" Not exactly what I was expecting, but there's some interesting stuff here. The fact that Toph would have been a guy if not for Aaron Ehasz proves to me that LoK would be a stronger, more innovative series if it had a full writers room; let's hope we get that soon. (4 August 2012)
Books
Action Comics #890-893 - Paul Cornell, et al Done! Wow, I read Cornell's run on this title in the most bass ackwards way possible... I jumped in at #894 because I heard about the Death cameo, and then it took me a year to track down all of the previous four issues. But that's okay, because "The Black Ring" is one of the best comic stories I've ever read. I mean, Paul Cornell, Lex Luthor as protagonist, Sandman guest star, Who and Blade Runner references, Joker being frickin' perfect? YES PLEASE. (10 May 2012)
The Annotated Sandman, Vol. 1 - Neil Gaiman, et al Finished it! There were a shocking number of typos and mislabeled notes in this book, particularly considering how comparatively few notes there actually were (somewhere between a third and a half of the pages have no commentary at all, and a lot of the ones that do have notes are just pointing out where ads were in the original printings), and I wound up putting my TPB copies in the middle of the giant Annotated coffee table behemoth so I was reading the annotations along with the TPBs I've had for a while, because the comic is B&W in the Annotated (at least my copy... I don't know if there's one at a higher price point with colour comics?) BUT, the notes that were there were almost all highly informative and enlightening (even if they were often misplaced and could have used an editor), so I will be pre-ordering the second volume just as soon as I get a mailing address for this fall. (11 May 2012)
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures - Aaron Ehasz, et al Finished it! There wasn't anything groundbreaking* here, and most of the comics were too short to have much substance, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't great fun to get a few more (mostly happy!) adventures with these characters. (3 May 2012)
PS: These writers troll Zuko so hard, and that is kind of wonderful to me.
** HAHA OH GOD, the earthbending jokes I could make but won't YOU ARE WELCOME.
Bad Girls - Jan Stradling Done! This book is fascinating, covering a few women I know a fair amount about, about a dozen I had heard a few things about, and a small hand full I didn't know existed. The book suffers slightly from including a bit more speculation than is necessary while simultaneously eschewing scholarly citation, but Stradling is admirably measured in her accounts, putting the most unforgiveable behaviour in historical and biographical context and reminding us of the often-overlooked consequences of the commonly justified actions of the women history remembers more fondly. The book itself is just gorgeous, too, with nice, thick pages, full-colour photos, and a beautifully designed cover. These are things that make me very happy. (13 May 2012)
Batgirl, vol. 1 - Gail Simone, et al MINOR SPOILERS: I came away from this feeling like a bad Batfamily fan. Goodness knows I love Babs and Jim to tiny little pieces, and, despite my relative lack of experience with him, I am rather a big fan of Dick (and I freakin' love what was done with him here). And Gail Simone is just generally amazing. But...I just didn't entirely connect with the story? It usually takes me a while to warm up to a storyline, and I'm pretty excited about where the title appears to be headed, but I guess I still have some residual icky feelings about the whole New 52/magic paralyzation cure thing that prevented me from getting into the book as much as I wanted to? I DON'T KNOW. HOPEFULLY I'LL WORK IT OUT BEFORE VOLUME 2. (19 September 2012)
Batman: Arkham 100-Page Spectacular - Dennis O’Neil, et al Finished it! It probably says something about me that I am so drawn to anything to do with Arkham. I absolutely eat up stories about storytelling, the nature of fear, the limits of sanity, and examinations of the bounds between heroes and villains, too, so this was basically written specifically for me. (8 May 2012)
Batman & Dracula: Red Rain - Doug Moench, et al Done! I bought this entirely on the strength of my on-going love affair with both Batman and Dracula - or rather, with (most) things about Dracula; I am not attracted to the character so much as the idea of the character and the stories that have been told about him - so it was a wonderful surprise to see that the penciler (Kelley Jones), inker (Malcolm Jones III), and letterer (Todd Klein) were all significant presences on Sandman. I suppose it only makes sense, being as this is a darker DC story published in the early 90s... The art is pretty much gorgeous, in that grotesque way that Sandman art usually is, and I absolutely love the look Les Dorscheid's extremely stylistic colours gave the art I otherwise felt very familiar with. Well, seeing Batman with long features and a Sandman-esque cloak was different, and Dracula looked more like Sandman's Lucifer than I would have expected, but it was mostly the colours that kept me from feeling like this was a straightforward Batman/Sandman crossover. The story wasn't the most innovative (Eric Van Lustbader's introduction was a little ambitious in claiming I wouldn't see the end coming, but then, it takes a fair amount of out-of-the-box thinking to surprise me with something in a vampire story), but it was solid, and I will probably look for the other two titles in the Red Rain trilogy. Overall, The Batman vs. Dracula is a better, more thoughtfully rendered story, but this is infinitely better than a lot of the [character] Meets Dracula! dreck I've waded through in the past. (27 May 2012)
Batman Beyond (2011) #1-8 - Adam Beechen, et al I read this sometime last fall, and I'm still having ALL OF THE FEELS. (20 March 2013)
Delirium’s Party: A Little Endless Storybook - Jill Thompson OH. MY. GOD. Could there BE a more adorable book?? I seriously need the other Little Endless book, like, RIGHT NOW. (19 September 2012)
The Dresden Files: Fool Moon #1 - Jim Butcher, et al Eh. The art is nice, but there's nothing too special here that you don't get in the book. I probably won't go out of my way to get the other Dresden comics. (11 June 2012)
Dollhouse One-Shot - Andrew Chambliss, et al Good stuff. Good stuff, indeed. And that final panel was kind of delicious. (11 June 2012)
Dollhouse #1-5 - Andrew Chambliss, et al It took absolutely forever for me to realize that Ivy was a character I had met before. In my defence, I have only watched the show once, and it was seven months ago, but still, wow. It was nice to get this bit of the story, since it's one of the main things I was dissatisfied with in the show (the other being the bit with Langton, and we were given at least some explanation for the holiness of that plot in the letters section of one of these issues). I'm definitely hoping for more Dollhouse comics in future! (20 July 2012)
Everybody’s Dead #1-5 - Brian Lynch, et al Finished it! I guess it's inevitable that I always have impossibly high hopes for anything Lynch has written. This may not have been everything I had hoped for and more, but it was still quite entertaining. And you know I'm a sucker for characters who go against type, so having a cast of frat boys who are actually intelligent, decent human beings and an arse-kicking character like Aurora was wonderful. (7 May 2012)
Fallen Angel: Return of the Son #1-4 - Peter David, et al Finished! It would help me a lot if I had read any of the Fallen Angel series before Reborn, but I am still fascinated by this mythology. And J.K. Woodward's art is just stunning, as always. (9 May 2012)
The Flash 100-Page Spectacular Finished it, though I wondered if I would. Yeah, I'm just gonna have to admit that Silver Age comics and I do not get along and stop trying to force the relationship. (8 May 2012)
The Fracture of the Universal Boy - Michael Zulli I'm pretty sure I don't have faintest idea what I just read, but it was beautiful and clearly an honest work of art that I will come to understand more as I return to it in future. (9 July 2012)
The Guild - Felicia Day & Jim Rugg Finished it! I get Cyd so much it's scary. (29 April 2012)
Huntress #1-6 - Paul Levitz, et al I finished it... Hmm... Well, the art is certainly lovely, and less male gazey than I expected (although there were a few...interesting poses), and there was nothing I found truly offensive. But, for all its attempts to be topical with the Arab Spring stuff and the anti-trafficking plotline (and very brief mention of Italy's largely anti-immigration stance at the momentt), it was one of the most stereotypically brainless action-for-action's-sake stories I've seen in ages. This is pretty much exactly why comics have a bad rep in literature circles, and I really should have expected that, given I knew going in that this wasn't Helena Bertinelli, a character who actually does have a very interesting backstory and perspective and a unique voice. ::sigh:: I just...want more for my female-led titles, y'know? (30 April 2012)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë Jane is such an awesome character, I liked many of the other women and girls in the book, I love that Brontë gave her heroine plenty of female friends who weren't uniformly jealous of her (I'm a bit touchy about this in my fiction these days...), and I thought it was, over all, a very good book. That just makes it even worse, though, that Rochester is the most abhorrent central love interest this side of Edward Cullen and Heathcliff, and that every one of the male characters who wasn't a servant was an awful, awful human being. ::sigh:: (3 July 2012)
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth - E.L. Konigsburg Finished! HOW did I never read this as a kid?! From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was one of my absolute favourite books when I was growing up, and I read everything I could get my hands on that had anything to do with witches (I was basically Jennifer until...well, until about fifth grade, when I became Elizabeth). Anyway, yes, love this book and regret missing out on it until now. (18 May 2012)
Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion - PopMatters A very small handful of these essays were angry-making and/or lacking in academic rigor, but there are some truly enlightening essays, as well. Far and away the most interesting is Don Tresca's "'Fantasy Is Their Business, But It Is Not Their Purpose': The Metaphor of Dollhouse." Definitely recommended to anyone looking for an overview of all of the Whedon-helmed projects to date (shows and movies to which he contributed but was not directly responsible for - Roseanne, Toy Story, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, etc - are mentioned here and there but never truly discussed) from both scholarly and informal perspectives. (23 May 2012)
Lex Luthor: Man of Steel - Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo Well, Lex could certainly make Spike feel better about the number of robots he's boffed... Over all, I think Paul Cornell's Lex Luthor's Action Comics run and certain aspects of Michael Rosenbaum's portrayal on Smallville did a lot of the same things better/more interestingly, but I would still definitely recommend it if you are interested in Luthor's (or David Xanatos', since I feel there are some comparisons to be made there) motivations and misplaced hero complex. (1 September 2012)
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Mark Oshiro Hey, so, yeah. Don't read the second chapter re-read in public. (3 June 2012)
Mark Reads Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Mark Oshiro THIS IS NOT A GOOD BOOK TO READ IN PUBLIC. There are a number of doctors' offices in my area that witnessed extended giggling fits and explosive guffaws. <3 (20 January 2012)
Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie Finished! Not-exactly-PC-"redskins"-stuff aside, this book is pretty much brilliant, in a Douglas Adamsy, William Goldman-ish way. (I was delightedly surprised to find that the original book version of Tiger Lily is kind of a BAMF, though, so there's that to mitigate *some* of the cultural insensitivity.) (4 May 2012)
Sandman: The Wake - Neil Gaiman, et al UGH. (What else is there even to say? What a fucking EPIC STORY.) (19 September 2012)
Side Jobs - Jim Butcher Finished it! I've listened to all 13 of the current Dresden books at least once each, but this collection of short stories is the first time I've actually read Butcher's fiction. It was a somewhat different experience, though not so drastically as it can be with other authors (I've found, for example, that I love listening to Stephen King, but I can hardly get through a page of reading [shrug]), and I found it interesting that the voice I wound up "hearing" for Harry shifted quite organically between Marsters', Blackthorne's, and some inner voice of my own devising that seemed to distill the commonalities of Marsters and Blackthorne and amplify them somewhat. As for the stories themselves, I am even more sick to death now of people getting their free-will tampered with, people getting magicked into falling in love with/seducing Harry, and Murphy's nose somehow being relevant every single time anyone describes her (does Harry have a nose fetish?) The two most interesting stories, IMHOE, were the ones told from Thomas' and Murphy's POVs, although I thought it annoying (and not at all unexpected, in hindsight) that, while Thomas has a fairly well-developed voice of his own, Murphy's wasn't really significantly different from Harry's, except that instead of salivating over descriptions of female character's physical attributes, she compared them to her own, generally with more than a hint of jealousy. I can understand how her job would make her see the world in terms of male spheres and female spheres, but I was disappointed to see that the biggest indication that this is Murphy instead of Harry is that the woman has to consciously translate into "Martian" (read: "secret male language consisting of grunts and postures, as though women don't use non-verbal communication, too"). That said, all of "Aftermath"'s shortcomings are forgiven for the simple fact that getting an outsider's analysis of Harry's investigative methods is pretty amazing, and I applaud Butcher for portraying it so very differently than Harry does. I am such a sucker for consciously playing with narrator reliability. (6 May 2012)
Static Shock Special - Matt Wayne, et al Finished it, and then was sad for a long time because DWAYNE MCDUFFIE, and then was angry for a long time because only the first season of Static Shock is available on Amazon, and only the first six episodes have been released on DVD, and this is TRAGIC, because I seriously need to watch this show right this instant. There is nothing whatsoever about a brilliant, kick-ass, electrically-powered superhero whose show stars Phil LaMarr, Jason Marsden, and Kevin Michael Richardson that I don't need in my face at all times. (14 May 2012)
Static Shock #1-7 - Scott McDaniel, et al Finished it! I'm a little annoyed, to tell the absolute truth. I thought the whole point of rebooting DC's ENTIRE LINE was to make the stories accessible to new readers, so they can pick up with #1 in any line and understand everything that is going on because there aren't decades upon decades of history for each character. So, having only seen a few episodes of the show MANY years ago, I figured I could start here at square one and not have to work a bunch of shit out as I went along. Yeah...not so much. I love Static, and I was extremely interested in the cloned-sister plotline and the fact that there are shades of grey absolutely everywhere, but I probably would have given up after the first couple of issues if I had be reading them as they were published because I was so incredibly lost. Now, I would have expected having to do homework if DC hadn't made a huge effing deal about the reboot, but this is kind of unacceptable. I thought the New 52 was a terrible idea from the start because it is, at its core, predicated on the notion that readers aren't bright enough to follow along, which is more than a bit insulting when it comes to heroes like Superman and Batman, whose origins are part of the social consciousness of America (and other parts of the world) every bit as much as...well, more than any other fictional character, really. But if any of the titles COULD benefit from being fully rebooted, it's the less well-known titles, like Static Shock. For it to end up being one of the few that cannot just be picked up at #1 defeats the whole bloody purpose.
Now, having now read all 7 issues that have been released, I think I can pretty well hold on to the plot from here on out, and, if the quality stays where it has been, I'm going to love the ride. Just...what was even the point, DC?!
(Update from the future: Oh, GODDAMMIT, DC. FINE. I don't need any more Static Shock. WHATEVER. [storms off])
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe Finished it! Oh, man, what a tough book... (17 May 2012)
The View from Saturday - E.L. Konigsburg HOLY CRAP I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. (19 May 2012)
Comics I’m only an issue behind on
Demon Knights #8 - Paul Cornell, et al Done! Hey, look, it's already working! I'm officially, as of this moment, caught up on all of my monthly comic subscriptions that I have been actively reading! I'm still very much appreciating Cornell's handling of so many excellent, interesting, diverse characters, and it was very nice to finally get some backstory on Xanadu and Jason/Etrigan (mmm, ambiguity!), but I must admit, I'd be somewhat more into the story if the whole comic was about Shining Knight, the Horsewoman, and Al Jabr - they're who fascinate me most. (29 April 2012)
Saga #2 - Brian K. Vaughn, et al Finished it! I'm...still not sure about this book. I mean, I think there's a lot of really excellent matierial here, I'm very intrigued to see where it's all going, the world-building is top notch (OMG, the Horrors and the Stalk...!), and I love that Alana appears to be based in large part on Amanda Palmer. Just...the uses of the words "cunt" and "bitch" in the Alana/Stalk confrontation worry me. (29 April 2012)
Books on tape/Radio Plays
Dracula - Bram Stoker I've read the book seven or eight times, so I decided to listen to this recording featuring Greg Wise and Saskia Reeves when I found out we would be reading it in one of my classes this semester. There wasn't *that* much added benefit for me, since I've seen virtually every "faithful" English language film adaptation of the novel and therefore don't have a lot of new ways left for me to look at the story, but there were a couple of lines that stood out for me in audio form in a way they never have in print, and Wise brought some lovely humour to Jonathan that no one else has ever really tried. (20 March 2013)
How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell So, I'm a bit annoyed that at least the first few Tennant recordings are abridgements; it seemed to me like the story was a bit sparse, and I assume the unabridged version is less so. But, as good as Gerard Doyle is on the Chrestomanci books, there's simply no way I'm not going with the Tennant ones. He's quite brilliant in this book, and I'm looking forward to getting to the rest of the series eventually. (13 July 2012)
I Am a Pole (And So Can You!) - Stephen Colbert Oh, Stephen Colbert... (3 July 2012)
The Pinhoe Egg - Diana Wynne Jones A little part of me spent the majority of this book hoping for Cat/Marianne smoochies I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU GUYS WHAT IS GOING ON IN MY BRAIN THEY'RE LIKE TWELVE. But, yeah, I like this book a lot. (19 July 2012)
Unfamiliar Fishes - Sarah Vowell I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I want to be Sarah Vowell when I grow up. It was really interesting to learn more about the history of Americans in Hawai'i, given I lived there when I was little and learned some military-dependent-friendly versions of these histories. I definitely recommend this one; season with The Proclaimers and conversation with Irish people if you really want to have strong anti-imperialist feelings. (15 August 2012)
The View from Saturday - E.L. Konigsburg I love this book so much, and whichever actress read for the kids - Jenna Lamia or Jan Maxwell - was absolutely precious. (20 March 2013)
Albums
Animal Love - Charlene Kaye Um, yes please. More of this. BRB, listening again. (4 August 2012)
Assassins - Stephen Sondheim This was perhaps not the best weekend to wind up listening to this, but it was a good way to remind myself how much we need a better system for treating mental illness, and of the fact that people from all different backgrounds are capable of evil acts. Sondheim is a weird dude, but in the best ways. (21 July 2012)
An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer Disc 2 These two are unbearably talented and adorable, and this disc makes me so happy I can't even. (21 July 2012)
Camp - Childish Gambino I recognize the cultural significance of bragadoccio in rap, and I try to embrace it as part of the artform, but it is so counter to my own nature that I feel quite distant from most rap songs. Most of Camp is no different in this regard, but I absolutely love the core idea that other people's expectations of us can have serious negative impacts on our own development, and the final line of the album is one of the more haunting I have heard. There are definitely songs I like more than others, but it is a solid album, and I am glad I bought it on the strength of Troy Barnes' amazingness. (19 September 2012)
Lesser Known Hits - Talk Fine Hm... Perhaps it will grow on me with future listens... I do always appreciate an anti-love song, though, and "Can't Wait to Say No" certainly qualifies. (20 July 2012)
Life in Cartoon Motion - Mika This album will always make me think of the time magpieinthesky's sister drove me to the bus stop in DC, and that is totally okay with me. "Grace Kelly" is kind of a perfect song, isn't it? (4 August 2012)
Recovering the Sattelites - Counting Crows "Long December" is still my very favourite of their songs, but this album didn't come anywhere near to impacting me as much as August and Everything After. But then, few things have spoken to me as much as August and Everything After, so... Still, I've only listened to it once, and I'm sure it will grow on me as I find its poignancies. (29 September 2012)
Some Nights - fun. Well, this is a fun album to pack to... It's very upbeat and catchy, even as it deals with some serious themes. Wee! (19 July 2012)
Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before! - Barenaked Ladies I am just so happy to have new-to-me BNL tracks featuring Steven Page I CANNOT TELL YOU. And getting new versions of Ed ballads will never not be a beautiful thing. (20 July 2012)
The Truth About Love - P!nk I have had this entire album stuck in my head since I first listened to it, and I've only managed to listen to it about half a dozen times all the way through (which is NOT VERY MUCH, compared to my usual MO when I find an album I really dig). Yeah, I pretty much love it. (29 September 2012)
Underwater Sunshine (or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation) - Counting Crows I didn't take to it quite like I did August and Everything After, and the instrumental arrangement aside, their cover of "Amie" just makes me want to listen to the original PPL version*, but it is a solid album with some excellent music. (9 July 2012)
* It's one of my all-time favourite songs, though, so I'm certainly not complaining that it is here.
Wizards and Muggles Rock for Social Justice, Vol. 2 "Pumpkin Juice"!! Oh, gawd, best song ever. I could take or leave most of the rest of this album, but "Pumpkin Juice" is The Best. (4 August 2012)
Movies
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "The Chaney Vase" (1955) Finished it! The guy playing Endicott looked enough like Martin Balsam that I had the Mitchell theme song stuck in my head for the first five minutes or so. And I am hoping it's not just a coincidence that the old ladies in the last two Hitchcock things I've watched have been awesome. Too often, old ladies in horror/thriller type movies are terrifying, and that's kind of unfair to the awesome old ladies in the world. (14 May 2012)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (1962) Finished it! The homicidal, adultrous wife/magician's assistant theme is a little overdone by now (I wrote a story about that in third or fourth grade), as is the story of a treacherous woman taking advantage of a mentally handicapped young man, but it wasn't a bad production of a worn-out story... (29 April 2012)
The Batman vs. Dracula (2005) Finished it! FFFFFFFFFFUUUU YESSSSSS I refuse to believe that this movie wasn't specifically written, designed, animated, voiced, filmed, and released for me and me alone. The Batman vs. Dracula has looked into my soul, and it knows me. (11 May 2012)
Cabin Fever (2002) Oh, Rider Strong, I love you and I want you to be in all of the movies on my shelf... I had seen pieces of this movie here and there, and I kind of ruined the experience for myself by seeing it after both Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and Cabin in the Woods (which are both frickin' fantastic, btw), but it was still largely very enjoyable. (1 September 2012)
The Chatterley Affair (2006) I got this pretty much entirely for the 2 minute segment that David Tennant was in, and, short as the appearance was, it was definitely worth it (he played a Lit professor defending Lady Chatterley's Lover in the obscenity trial; you know I appreciated that). I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the movie as a whole, but there were definitely lots of non-Tennant-related things that I liked a whole lot. (20 March 2013)
The Farmer’s Wife (1928) Done, thank the assorted deities. Am I honestly expected to be happy that the most repugnant protagonist I've seen in ages has conned his housekeeper into marrying him after he has belittled every other single woman in town for not accepting his completely unexpected, unwanted proposal? I know I'm not currently in the right headspace to look kindly on much of anything to do with courtship or marriage, but holy cats. I checked about 30 minutes in to see how long this was going to go on, decided I could last another 68 minutes if it meant I could cross it off my list, and then the godsdamned movie turned out to be over two hours long. JEBUS. I will say this much for it, though - I basically love Louisa Windeatt for laughing in Sweetland's fucking face. You're beautiful, Louisa, and I think *I* might like to marry you. (15 May 2012)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) Oh, Draco. Draco, Draco, Draco. I wanted so much more for you, and still like to think you eventually got your shit sorted... Also, LOLOL, OH YA THERE WAS A WHOLE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE MYSTERY TYPE THING WASN'T THERE???!?!? I feel like this was, artistically, one of the better movies, but - and this could be because I only read the book once when it first came out and didn't really like it - it lacked a certain cohesion and narrative focus. And I apparently still don't give a crap about the end. I will accept my title as Heartless Biznatch Queen of the World, now, thanks. (29 May 2012)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010) Wow, that was way, WAY different than the book. I still don't know how I feel about that... It was an entertaining movie, but certainly not one of my favourites. [shrug] (4 August 2012)
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) Yeah, I basically just like the Flash all the time, no matter what, don't I? YES. YES I DO. Also interesting is the fact that it's apparently totally okay with Bats to strand someone on a desert planet with a world-destroying bomb that is about to go off and absolutely no way of getting off said planet? And Supes is totes fine with conning someone into unknowingly sacrificing himself to save the world? Interesante. Anyway, in addition to loving all things Flash, I also love me some hero/negaverse!villain team-ups, so YES. And the Spectre short included on the DVD is one of the cooler things I've seen come out of DC's AU. (15 August 2012)
Justice League: Doom (2012) You can see five of my thoughts here. (March 20 2013)
The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Finished it! This movie kicks an amount of ass that I'm not sure I can yet comprehend. Sure, it isn't perfect, but Mrs. Froy, Iris, and Gilbert are too awesome for me to particualrly care. (13 May 2012)
The Manxman (1926) Finished! I have a lot of thoughts and feels about this movie, chief among them being that the death at sea thing kind of gets brushed off in this treatment, which drastically changes the point and tone, I think. From the Wikipedia summary of the novel, it looks like that was handled more evenly in the original. (16 May 2012)
Pearl (2012) Well, that was kind of beautiful, in a way only a short film adapted from a poem can be. There was something vaguely (but not quite) Neil Gaiman-y about it, really...or maybe I only think that because I've been reading so much Gaiman of late. (18 May 2012)
Rango (2011) It is not without its flaws, but I kind of love it, and I know that future viewings will prove beneficial from a literary point of view. Metanarratives are just the best. (16 July 2012)
Rich and Strange (1932) It's very interesting how some of the conventions of the silent era were still in effect in early talkies... I saw this movie the night after I watched Vertigo for the first time. There are several reason why I prefer Rich and Strange to Vertigo, but one of the main ones is that Hitchcock seems to have been much better at directing authentic, likeable, believable female characters in 1932 than in 1958. Of course, a lot of that is down to the writers, but the point remains. Rich and Strange may not be the stunning piece of artwork that Vertigo is, but I would watch it again, and the same can't be said for Vertigo. (1 September 2012)
The Space Tour (2012) I thought briefly that it would turn out to have been a mistake to watch this, thus tarnishing my front-row memories of being there in Silver Spring, but having the show intercut with interviews was a nice little surprise and well worth any slight memory tarnish.
Sunday Punch (2010) Huh. (18 May 2012)
Television seasons
All Creatures Great and Small: The Specials I just love this show so much... (1 September 2012)
The Batman: Season 4 Finished it! This was, hands down, the best season so far. This is my excited-for-Season-Five face. (29 April 2012)
The Batman: Season 5 Done! Overall, Season Four was better, but there were some truly delightful things that happened in Season Five, too. Yup yup yup. (10 May 2012)
Boy Meets World Season 5 BMW Season 5 will forever be the season that gave me the Eric Hypothesis and then yanked it away from me. And for that, I thank/curse it. Seriously though, there are so many things in this season I can't believe I never saw before...and mid- to late-S5 Cory makes me appreciate the character so much more in the previous four seasons. (21 June 2012)
Boy Meets World Season 6 WHERE IS MY ERIC MATTHEWS? I've had an innocent Eric crush long enough that it wasn't a creepy age difference back when it got started, and I realized this time through Season 4 that "Uncle Daddy" was the first time I became aware of my attraction to guys who are good with children, but, despite a small handful of episodes that were not kind to his characterization, it was Season 6 that put Eric at the top of my fictional boyfriend list*. I wanted more Angela and Rachel (and more Rachel as something other than the object of the guys' affections), but what I did get was good. And then there was Shawn...** Let's just marvel at my thoroughly pummelled heart for a moment... (19 July 2012)
* Don't worry, Ben, Parks and Rec will be back on my television screen soon enough, and you can take the title back then.
** No, wait, sorry, that was last season, wasn't it?
The Dresden Files Finished it! It would be a lie to say this show wasn't deeply flawed - Is this version of the Chicago PD the worst group of cops you've ever seen on stage or screen? If wizards aren't allowed to tell "civilians" anything at all about magic, why the hell does Harry openly advertise himself as a wizard? Since Bob appears human in this version, wouldn't it be easier for everyone if Harry just introduced him to Murphy as his germaphobic associate who doesn't like touching people or things instead of trying to hide him? Why did they make some of the seemingly pointless changes, like re-writing every single thing about Murphy except her last name and occupation? - but there are things to recommend it. I really do like Paul Blackthorne a lot, Valerie Cruz grew on me quite quickly, I'm a little bit in love with Conrad Coates' voice, some of the effects looked pretty neat... And I'm a big fan of the fact that they diversified the cast, despite my irritation that one of the few POCs in the books was made a blonde in the show. All in all, there are many far worse shows that have more than 12 episodes, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm upset that this one didn't get renewed. (3 May 2012)
Fruits Basket This show has it's flaws, and I'm coming at this as my first proper anime series after spending a quarter of a century surrounded by Western ideas of how stories should be told and characters should behave, but I very much enjoyed it, and I'm a little bit in love with Shigure (with some rather big reservations about the gross fascination with "high school girls"), Yuki, Hana, and Kisa. (3 July 2012)
Husbands Season 1 I love it when shows give me a character who is clearly my type (Brady) and then manage to make me love a character who is clearly not my type (Cheeks) at least as much. The fact that Husbands managed to do this in just over 20 minutes is absolutely amazing to me, and I'm so glad I decided purely on the basis of Jane Espenson's involvement to contribute to the Season Two Kickstarter. (9 July 2012)
InuYasha Season One It took a lot longer for Sango to show up than I remembered... I can't NOT see Kikyo and Inuyasha as Buffy and Spike at this point in my life. It's not possible. And, lest I forget, Kirby Morrow. SO MUCH LOVE, even though Miroku is kind of a tool a lot of the time. (19 September 2012)
Johnny Bravo: Season 1 Finished it! This show is not without its problems, but it is also quite amusing at times (I adore "Cookie Crisis" and "Johnny Meets Adam West," and nothing will take that from me). This DVD set also gave me the pleasure of hearing Mae West gush about Jeff Bennett, and Jeff Bennett recount the story of how Adam West rendered him incapable of recording his lines because he was laughing too much. Also, there's a video clip of Bennett doing a pretty spot-on reading of West's "Johnny, let's go find your mama" line that pretty much killed me. I may actually be dead. (19 May 2012)
Additional: Things I Need to Reread/Listen to/Watch Before the LeakyCon Presentations in August
Brave I love this movie kind of a ridiculous amount. (22 July 2012)
Cabin in the Woods (YES. I WILL WORK THIS INTO THE DISCUSSION. JUST YOU WATCH ME.) Rewatched! UGH THIS MOVIE. (I spent an inordinate amount of time focused on the fact that Dana and Jules were both wearing ballet flats though the whole movie. I really hate ballet flats, and I imagine they did, too, considering how ill-equipped they are as footwear for life-and-death struggles in the woods.) (15 May 2012)
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins HOLY CRAP, I could not have picked a worse time in my life to be rereading this (and Changes; mustn't forget how much THAT book effs me up), but I'm done, and there's just Mockingjay left. It's probably going to be years before I am able to watch the movies after this, isn't it? (10 June 2012)
Changes - Jim Butcher I am so completely in love with Butters, Sanya*, Murphy, Thomas, and the Leanansidhe... But my love for the five of them (and pretty much all of the other main characters in this series) doesn't completely negate the fact that THIS BOOK IS INTENSELY HEARTBREAKING. Between finishing this and reading the middle third of Mockingjay - coupled with some significant Real Life emotional trauma - I am kind of a wreck tonight. If you can listen to Marsters' delivery of the end of that one chapter toward the end without feeling utterly heartsick, you have obviously mastered some form of emotional detatchment that I am not all that interested in learning. It's not the end of "The Gift"**, but it might as well be, for all it matters to me tonight. Good thing I've still got a BMW episode to watch before bed. (18 June 2012)
* SANYAAAAA! I seriously just want a series of books told from Sanya's point of view. And obviously I'll be needing James Marsters to go ahead and record audio books for that series, as well. (My gawd, could I *survive* such an experience??)
** But really only because I care a little more about the BtVS characters in question than I do the Dresden Files characters.
Conrad's Fate - Diana Wynne Jones Dammit, I listened to this whole book today while tidying the house and working on my Sandman cross stitch, and I took some relatively detailed notes in a text file...and then the battery fell out of my laptop and I lost the notes. CRAP. Ah well. I'll probably be able to recreate enough of them tomorrow to get what I need for the presentation. If not, it's not a long book and I can listen to/read it again, if it's absolutely necessary... (29 May 2012)
Ghost Story - Jim Butcher This book is the BS6 of the Dresden Files in many ways, and yet it is probably my favourite, for what it necessarily does to the main character's outlook on and understanding of the world and the people that inhabit it. This is the book that took me from a casual fan listening to the audio books for Marsters' narration to a true (if reserved) fan who greatly appreciates Butcher's craftsmanship as a storyteller. I'm quite looking forward to Cold Days in a way I didn't think I would be prior to revisiting the series. (9 July 2012)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets This movie is so much better than I remember it being. I thought I had seen it a billion times, but it seems that I've seen it *on* a billion times, then almost instantly changed the channel. This is probably only the second time I've seen it all the way through, and certainly only the third or fourth time I've watched large portions of it. Branagh is so much more amazing than I remember him being, and I could watch Alan Rickman as Snape all day long, another fact of life I seem to have forgotten along the way.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I thought I was going to have a hard time with Cedric, given the Patinson baggage, but I still love the way he played him, unsure exactly what to do with Harry from moment to moment. And my brain must be addicted to happy surprises, because it keeps blocking out the memory that David Tennant is in this movie, so I get that little "Wait...I know that voice!" realization every time. Thanks, brain! (4 August)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I JUST LOVE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH. Great book, great message, the series could stop here, AND I WOULD BE OKAY WITH THAT. <333 (4 August 2012)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Finished! There is exactly one reason to ever watch this movie. (4 May 2012)
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins Reread complete! So, this is weird... Because, see, I decided not to go see the movie because ALL OF MY EMOTIONS, and then I had to basically force myself through the first two chapters of this reread because ALL OF MY EMOTIONS...but then somewhere between the sticky notes and the Serious Literature Student* frown, it became no big thing. I got the tiniest bit choked up at "My thanks to the people of District Eleven," but was otherwise DEVOID OF EMOTIONS. But now I'm done, and I'm all, "Do I seriously have to reread Catching Fire? UUUUGH NO. ALL OF MY EMOTIONS." (1 May 2012)
* Who reads while dangling her feet in the pool... Shut up. Just pretend I was in a dimly-lit library with my hair in a bun, pushing my glasses back up my nose after each page turn, like you're supposed to do when you're a Serious Literature Student.
"I Robot...You Jane" HAHAHAHA THIS EPISODE IS SO TERRIBLE. (18 June 2012)
The Legend of Korra: Season 1 ::sigh:: Here's hoping the next seasons actually accomplish what I want for this show...
Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins I AM SO GLAD I'M DONE WITH THIS REREAD OH MY GOD. My copy is about half again as thick now that I've filled it with sticky notes. And I managed to keep from having an emotional reaction (other than ever-present, low-level anxiety) all the way until the bit with that damn cat. (22 June 2012)
"Primeval" Done! David Fury commentaries are always quite interesting. (17 May 2012)
Storm Front (opening chapters) - Jim Butcher Harry is such a bitter little troll in the early part of the series... (18 June 2012)
Small Favor - Jim Butcher Finished it! Between Sanya, Molly, and Thomas, this book is an absolute delight, despite the fact that I totally checked out during the climax this time (I am exhausted like you wouldn't believe for some reason). I basically need Sanya to be in all of the books. Not just all of the Dresden books, all of the books, period. SANYA!!! (WHY is my brain so exhausted, and will I manage to stay awake long enough to watch the Community finale(s) tonight?) (17 May 2012)
"Smashed" I think this may be one of my favourite commentaries of all time. Drew Z. Greenberg hits just the right combination of insight into the writing process, explanation of the themes, amusing stories about shooting, and stream-of-consciousness commentary on the finished episode. (19 July 2012)
Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling The Dumbledore commentaries in this book are some of the most interesting things in all of the Harry Potter series, IMHOE. But I'm a huge dork like that... (25 July 2012)
Time of Your Life - Joss Whedon, et al This book is so good, but it HURTS MY SOUL. (23 May 2012)
Turn Coat - Jim Butcher This book is SO FUCKED UP AND HEART BREAKING. Everything hurts...but I know it's all going to hurt even more in the next two. I'm seriously glad I was cleaning my room while listening to this book, so I was distracted for a lot of it. (27 May 2012)
White Night - Jim Butcher Finished! I think this is probably my favourite Dresden Files book, overall. That said, and as much as I adore Thomas (and I do, so much WHO ANTICIPATED THAT?), I would really appreciate it if all this "Tee hee! Thomas and Harry are gay! Tee hee transvestite vampire! Tee hee!" were offset by some *actual* LGBT characters. Okay, we get a little bit with Andi and Marcy, but only in "Aftermath," and brushed off as an "experiment in college" before Andi and Kirby hooked up. ANYway, yeah, I like many things about this book. [nods] (7 May 2012)
"The Women of Avatar" Not exactly what I was expecting, but there's some interesting stuff here. The fact that Toph would have been a guy if not for Aaron Ehasz proves to me that LoK would be a stronger, more innovative series if it had a full writers room; let's hope we get that soon. (4 August 2012)