through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered . . .

First, thanks to everyone for your kind replies to my last post. People are being so wonderful and supportive and it's helping a lot.

Second, have a belated reaction to one of my favorite actors being cast as the next Doctor: HOLY FUCK YES. That was the first weekend after Grandma died, so Capaldi's reign will, I think, always be overshadowed for me, but I'll still enjoy it no matter how hard Moffat tries to fuck it up.

Third, catching up on media consumption. To the surprise of no one, the last two weeks have been very light, and most of what happened the week of the 22nd happened before Grandma's stroke.

(This is life right now. Before and after.)



Week of July 22

Podcasts

Welcome to Night Vale, 13-27

Television:

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, 1-12 (full series)
Corpse Party: Tortured Souls OVA, 1-4 (full series) (Came out the day of Grandma's stroke and improved my mood to no end, lack of subtitles and all.)
Danganronpa: the Animation, 1x03 (I am seriously starting to wonder how they're going to cram the entire story into thirteen episodes. And, considering how rushed it's already been, I am less than excited about finding out.)
Danganronpa: the Animation, 1x04 (A few days later. Apparently the answer to that is that now they've established everything, they are going to barrel right the fuck through the story at top speed. The opening of this episode has like two solid minutes of establishing shots while thirteen offscreen voices make various remarks. What do you mean, you didn't have each character's voice memorized? Too bad, sucks to be you! Here, have a random shot of Sakura spilling her coffee while someone else entirely voiceovers some other event! Bet that won't be important later! If I hadn't read a Let's Play of the game this is based on, I wouldn't have the faintest fucking clue what was going on. I'm gonna keep watching it because it is cool to hear the voice acting, but wow this not how you do an adaptation.)

Week of July 29:

Television:

Corpse Party: Tortured Souls OVA, 1x01 (Now with subtitles!) (And yes, this is a much better adaptation of a game called Corpse Party. It is so not without its flaws, having similar issues with a rushed story, but it's easier to follow for a newbie and has some awesome twists on the game's storyline that make it that much more fun. Fandom, of course, hates it.)

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale, episode 28 (Came out the day Grandma died. Helped me to relax and fall asleep on a night I was sure I wouldn't sleep. Thanks, Night Vale.)

Week of August 5:

Television:

Danganronpa: the Animation 1x05, "Weekly Shonen Despair Magazine" (Sometimes the subs I find translate the episode title, sometimes they don't, and I don't really care enough to go looking. This is definitely the best episode so far, which is a little frustrating, because it's also the one in which the fucked-up gender bullshit with Chihiro comes into play. Whatever, I'm just gonna go with "Monobear is an unreliable narrator" because MONOBEAR. His reactions to Chihiro really do come off as intense transphobia, plus with the whole "making everyone despair!!" thing. It's not even a stretch.)

Two weeks in one post again. Media consumption has been light.



Week of July 8:

Television:

Danganronpa: the Animation 1x01, "Welcome to the School of Despair"
Digimon 02 1-4



Week of Jul 15:

Television:

Danganronpa: the Animation 1x02, "Kill Free or Live Hard"
Sam and Cat, 1x01 and 1x02

Books:

Celebromancy, Michael R Underwood

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale, 1-12

So then I had to move because the landlord is remodelling and then I was, technically, homeless for a few days even though I was just staying in the place that I officially live in now for the next couple of months, so what with one thing and another, I didn't do a lot of media consumption and I definitely missed a week posting. You totally forgive me, right?



Week of June 24:

Linked, Imogen Howson (Look, you can't tell me that your story's civilization is humanity thousands of years in the future and then talk about people eating chicken dinners and wearing jeans. You just - you can't. That is not how worldbuilding works. The story is still good enough to hold my attention, but those details kept throwing me off.)
The Line, Teri Hall
Once a Witch, Carolyn MacCullough
Always a Witch, Carolyn MacCullough (I really enjoyed these two books! Except I don't think they needed to be two books. They're each less than two hundred pages and would have worked just as well as one novel in two parts. The titling scheme is clever, plus of course two books make more money, but from a narrative perspective, splitting them up is unnecessary. That's my biggest complaint, though. Well, that and the boyfriend who insists on being in charge of everything because he hasn't noticed that he's in a story that's mostly about women helping and saving each other. Why must there always be a romance?)
Monument 14, Emmy Laybourne

Week of July 1

Television:

Another, 1-12 (full series) (Because Corpse Party gave me a taste for horror anime, apparently. This series got a touch too symbolic for my taste every now and then, and I found myself yelling at the characters a LOT in the last couple of eps ["So we're just going to stand around discussing the screaming in calm voices, then? Is this a Japanese thing?"], but overall I really enjoyed it. The story was absorbing and I liked the characters. Even the one who inexplicably looked exactly like Morishige from CP, wtf.)

Today, as I was walking to campus to use the internet, I came across a duck placidly emerging from the grass. I stopped so as not to startle it, then waited for it to notice me and flee anyway. This did not happen. Just as I was starting to wonder why, she came out far enough into the clearing for me to see the line of ducklings tumbling after her. A mother duck and her ducklings, right in the middle of the city. (A grassier part, but also not far from some very busy streets.) And yes, the ducklings really do walk in a line. I stood there and watched them until I couldn't see them anymore and thought about the miracle of timing: a minute sooner or later and I never would have known they were there.

And now for stuff wot I have consumed.



Week of June 10 :

Books:

* Afternoon of the Elves, Janet Taylor Lisle
* The Profiler: My Life Hunting Serial Killers and Psychopaths, Pat Brown and Bob Andelman (I never realized how many books have subtitles until I started keeping track of my reading. This particular book is interesting but obscurely annoying; I find Pat Brown to be an intelligent woman and an irritating human being whom I would probably not like very much, even if she is good at what she does. I could use a lot less of the word "psychopath" being thrown around, for starters. That is not an accurate technical term! The people she's applying it to sound generally like they have Antisocial Personality Disorder, which is better described by the word "sociopath," which is also not a valid technical term, but it is more accurate than "psychopath." I would have liked to see an explanation for her choice of words here, because otherwise it comes off to me as choosing a word guaranteed to evoke the emotional response Brown is obviously going for here, which I find inherently sketchy. It definitely doesn't encourage me to trust in her professionalism! Also, I'm sure there is a word other than "effeminate" that could have been used to describe the potential pedophile. ALSO also, you're not gonna get a medal for homeschooling your kids, lady, okay, so stfu about how awesome you are for doing it already.)
* Quiet, Susan Cain (Hey, guess what? Introverts are awesome! And if extroverts don't get that, they are missing out on our awesome and that is totally their problem and not ours. . . . is probably not exactly what Cain is going for here, but I'm tired of feeling like being an introvert is something I need to make up for, so that's part of what I decided to get out of it.)

Television:

* Hannibal 1x11, "Roti" (SPEAKING of sociopaths. Helping, Hannibal: you're doing it wrong.)
* Warehouse 13 4x15 (Basically a perfect forty-five minutes of television. The A plot was great, the B plot was great, the pacing was perfect, the character development for HG and Claudia was beautiful, Abigail is a worthy replacement for Leena, and the appearance of Tuc Watkins brought back fond memories of when he played my very favorite soap opera serial killer on General Hospital like fifteen years ago. This might actually be my favorite episode of this show.)
* Warehouse 13 4x16 (And this might be my second favorite, alarmingly hallucinogenic appearance of Garrett Jacob Hobbs notwithstanding. Steve got his turn in the Romantic Storyline spotlight! Artie and Claudia! And I'm really glad I got around to watching The Runaways a couple of months ago, because otherwise I would have had no idea of how awesome the ending was. If the show stays this strong, it's going to have a really fantastic send-off.)
* Hannibal 1x12, "Relevés" (WORST. AT. HELPING.)

I forgot to post this last week, so, two-for-one!



Week of May 27:

Television:

Scott and Bailey 3x02 - 3x06
Hannibal 1x09, "Trou Normand" and 1x10, "Buffet Froid"

Movies:

Clueless (I stopped by a friend's house while I was out for a walk to see if she was home, and in the course of things discovered that she had never seen Clueless. Thanks to Netflix, this was easily remedied.)
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (Maybe it's because I was biased by positive reviews from the flist, but I have to say I was quite charmed by the way this movie cheerfully does not give a fuck, and invites us to do the same. "You don't really care that the setting makes no sense whatsoever, do you? You're just here to see Hansel and Gretel kill the fuck out of some witches." Okay, movie. You win.)
Sleepaway Camp
Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers
Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland (I have my reasons.)

Books/Short Stories:

* Geekomancy, Michael R Underwood
* "San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats," Mira Grant (A short story set in the Newsflesh verse, during the time of the Rising. It's set at Comic-Con, so there are extra layers of geekhood and meta, and because of its length, there isn't time for some of the flaws I've complained about in the trilogy itself to show up. And everybody dies, which you already know if you've read the trilogy, so it's harder to grouse about all the female characters who get killed off. So instead I'll grouse about their deaths being so specifically showcased, because oh my god. It's a good story, though, with emotional impact that the trilogy tries for and doesn't always quite manage.)
* Hello, Cruel World, Kate Bornstein
* The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Titanic Tragedy, William Seil (YEP. Holmes and Watson on the Titanic. And this is not the weirdest Holmes pastiche I have read.)
* Séance for a Vampire, Fred Saberhagen (Dracula/Holmes crossover! Still not the weirdest Holmes pastiche I've read. It's actually not very weird at all, because this was always going to happen and I would be shocked if Saberhagen were the first to have done it. The honor of weirdest pastiche goes to Saberhagen's The Holmes-Dracula Files, to which this book is a sequel, because of the hilarious manner in which Saberhagen contrives to have Dracula and Holmes be actual, legit cousins. God, I love pastiches. And not just because they are basically professional fanfiction.)
* Stories from the anthology A Study in Sherlock: "You'd Better Go in Disguise," Alan Bradley; "As to 'An Exact Knowledge of London'," Tony Broadbent; "The Men with the Twisted Lips," SJ Rozan

Week of June 3:

Television:

Scott and Bailey 3x07 and 3x08

Books/Short Stories:

The rest of A Study in Sherlock, a short story anthology edited by Laurie King and Leslie S Klinger (A pretty decent collection; I only ended up getting bored and skipping two stories, which is better than I usually get with short story anthologies.)

So today I told my shrink that I watch Hannibal, and it turned out that she'd tried and had to give up after a Certain Scene in episode two. Then we made jokes about me becoming a cannibal for the rest of my appointment. My shrink is awesome.



Week of May 13:

Television:

Hannibal 1x01, "Aperitif" (To get my sister started. She was less than pleased when I happened to mention afterward that the show was in danger of cancellation. I guess I can't really blame her.)
Warehouse 13 4x12, "The Big Snag"
Doctor Who 7xwhatever, "The Silver Thing That Neil Gaiman Wrote" (So glad the finale is next week. Or was last week, by the time I post this. It's going to have to be mindblowing to make me actually care.)
Hannibal 1x08, "Fromage"
Elementary 1x23 and 1x24, "The Awkwardly Wielded-Together Finale Episodes That Have Two Separate Names Instead of Just Being One Long Episode WTF" (But that was the only bad thing about it. Also, I would just like to say that for once, I totally called it. I am a genius. And I am totally going to gloat because I never, ever see the twists coming, no matter how obvious.)

Books:

Blackout, Mira Grant

My entire circle is having a really shitty week. Seriously, it's just post after post of awful things happening in your lives.

So I just wanted to make this post to remind you that you are all fantastic and all loved, and that you will get through this and someday it will get better.

Group hug?

I have an Elementary prediction!

( I have not read any spoilers! This is pure speculation. )

This week I played some catch-up with Elementary, which I'd been neglecting for far too long. Also important: Warehouse 13 is back tonight! Yay!

Week of April 22:

Television:

Doctor Who 7x08, "Hide" (I am totally getting the numbering wrong and I give no fucks. Also, this episode is a vast improvement. I actually got caught up in the story and forgot to keep checking how much of the episode was left, which is something I can't say for any of the last few eps.)
Elementary 1x12, "M"
Elementary 1x13, "The Red Team"
Elementary 1x14, "The Deductionist"
Elementary 1x15, "A Giant Gun, Filled With Drugs" (You know what, I don't think they're taking the episode titling very seriously on this show.)
Elementary 1x16, "Details"
Elementary 1x17, "Possibility Two"
Elementary 1x18, "Deja Vu All Over Again"
Hannibal 1x01 (Holy shit, no wonder I know so many people who are already in love with this show. I was in love with it about ninety seconds in. I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of what's out so far.)

HI. I am so excited about the books I've read that I'm not even gonna wait till my next media consumption post to talk about them: Ultraviolet and Quicksilver by RJ Anderson, the first two books of what looks to be a trilogy or a series, I'm not sure.

Here is what I wrote last night before I went to bed and failed to sleep because I was so wound up with glee:

So do you like YA lit with characters who feel like real people, exciting plots, and authorial sensitivity in spades toward things like mental hospitals and their patients, and OH MY GOD YOU GUYS AN ASEXUAL CHARACTER IN QS!!!! AN ASEXUAL CHARACTER WHOSE SEXUALITY IS TREATED WITH RESPECT THROUGHOUT THE BOOK!!!!!! um and good stuff like that? Then you should read these books. Oh my god, you should read these books. Anderson writes with respect for her characters and her stories and her readers and it shines through. It gives these books a sense of realness that is so often missing from the recent spate of genre YA lit. I can't remember how many times I thought, Wow, that sounds like something a real person would say/think/do. I can't tell you how many times Ultraviolet subverted my expectations about what would happen simply because the characters act like real people instead of like characters acting out the plot. [And the only reason Quicksilver didn't is because I knew to expect better.] I can't tell you how grateful I am to see an asexual character period, let alone one who is written with such care and understanding. I want to read everything this woman has ever written.

Here is a SPOILERIFIC SERIOUSLY SAVE FOR AFTER YOU READ THE BOOKS essay Anderson wrote about the asexual character. (Seriously, there's a reason I'm not using this character's name. That in itself is a spoiler.)

You may also be aware of her from this essay about disablism in children's literature, which seems like something I've seen before but can't remember where. This attitude definitely shines through in the way she deals with the psych patients in Ultraviolet, treating them as kids first and mentally ill kids second.

What's not to love?