netgirl_y2k

-Well, I just kind of disappeared for the whole month of January there, didn't I. Er, Happy New Year! This is not my usual end of the month books post, because I haven't read anything this January. I read 89 books in 2018, and so far in 2019 I'm 0 for 12. Jeepers, this feels wrong.

So, instead here is a list of the 10 best books I read last year:

The Radium Girls - Kate Moore
Dogs of War - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Grey Sister & Red Sister - Mark Lawrence
Tell it to The Bees - Fiona Shaw
White Houses - Amy Bloom
The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson
Gnomon - Nick Harkaway
The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
A Study in Scarlet Woman - Sherry Thomas

-Despite it only being February I'm pretty sure I've already seen my two favourite movies of the year; in fact I think I saw them on New Year's Day when my hangover and I took ourselves off to see a double feature of Into the Spider-Verse and The Favourite. Much like how Lego Batman was the best Batman movie I'm pretty sure Into the Spider-Verse is the best Spider-Man movie, and made me want to read all the Spider-Gwen comics. Actually, comics trades might be a good way to get me over the loop of 'haven't read a book in a while, must read a book, any book, too many books' that I've gotten myself stuck in of late.

I'm not sure that being sad that Queen Anne and Lady Sarah couldn't work it out was the right way to watch The Favourite, but insert shrug emoji here. I watched it with my sister and round about the point where I was saying that I thought the final scene was meant to indicate that Anne knows Abigail's feelings for her are as much of a fiction as her efforts to replace her children with the rabbits she looked at me and went: 'Shut up, you giant lesbian nerd.' Ah, siblings.

-I haven't been watching much telly, but I had mixed feelings about this last third season of The Good Place. Jeremy Bearimy was possibly the best episode the show has ever done, but so much of it (the soul squad; they're alive again, now they're not) seemed to be running in circles. And I feel like the finale would have landed more with me if I cared more about Eleanor/Chidi. Like, they're fine, but the show has been dragging them out for so long that at this stage they either need to let them be together or do something new and different. And I'm not saying that the new and different thing has to be Eleanor/Tahani, but. I am glad that Janet/Jason finally came around again as they are the het pairing I really care about on this show.

-Relatedly the best Eleanor/Tahani fic I have ever read is: the pleasure principle by

yasaman

-The reason I haven't been watching much, or reading anything, and have become only passingly familiar with the, you know, outside are these pesky video game things. I finally finished Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, or as I have taken to calling it the Xena: Warrior Princess cum Wonder Woman simulator of my heart. It took me one hundred and forty six hours. Is that a long time? I've lost perspective.

It's funny, because even though I hadn't bought it and as such never have to play it, I found myself really bummed out by the baby plot in the dlc. My mate who got me into gaming pre-ordered Fallout 76, the hundred quid special edition with the complementary shopping bag, so I learned the never pre-order anything until you know what it is lesson by proxy. Maybe I had just been lulled into a false sense of security an/or entitlement by the game seeming to pander so much to me. And, obviously, the line you won't have to role play any romances you're not comfortable with turning out to mean you won't have to play gay if you don't want to is bad. But the thing that was really brain and immersion breaking for me, was the idea of Kassandra being pregnant. Like, does she take a year off from her cult hunting to be pregnant? Does she hand the newborn off to its dad and get straight back to base jumping off mountains? And given that I've spent the game base jumping off mountains, isn't it churlish of me to be miffed at the game for its unrealistic take on the effects of pregnancy and childbirth on the female body? I mean, I never have to play that dlc, but I know about it, and I can't unknow it, and it...niggles at me.

-I'm trying to do this thing in 2019 called mindful drinking. The idea of which, at least the way I'm doing it, is that if I want a drink, if I'll really enjoy it and appreciate it, then I'll have one. But if I'm only having one because everyone else is, or to finish the bottle, or because I always a have a beer when the football's on, and I know in my heart of hearts that I'll be just as happy with a coffee or a coke or being able to drive home then I do that instead.

This is working out pretty well so far. Because I really do enjoy a cold pint or a nice dram of whisky, what I don't appreciate so much, or often really notice I'm having, are all those second, third, and fourth drinks, that add up over time, and so far have not been missed.

-I was thinking that the thing I'm most proud of myself for last year was that I made a friend. I am quite awkward - I'll pause here for you to be shocked - and have always had trouble making friends both online and off. The bloke next door, who I have been on nodding terms with for ten years, turns out to not only be a giant nerd but working for the police he works similar sorts of antisocial shifts to me and quite often we have overlapping chunks of useless time in the middle of the day. And we got to talking a bit, because his family got a puppy and I will overcome all kinds of shyness to meet a puppy.

Anyway, one day he goes: 'There's this webcomic, it's a bit indecent, but...'
And I go: 'OGLAF.'

And now we're buddies. That's how you make a friend, right? Or it's not how you make friends and is why I've always had trouble making friends? Anyway, I have this friend now, and weeks when we're both on backshift we hang out and binge watch Deep Space Nine, we've just finished season two, and it's nice; not midseason two of Deep Space Nine, which was not the show's nadir, but having a friend.

-British politics still an omnishambles that only gets worse every time May comes out with a new plan that turns out to be the old plan in a wig and dark glasses. And, like, I feel trapped between wanting to be informed and engaged, and not being able to bear to watch.

Crossposts: https://netgirl-y2k.livejournal.com/578545.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

slemslempike

My opinion is that that is the EXACT right way to watch the Favourite. I adored it.

From:

netgirl_y2k

It were great. I was less enamoured of Mary Queen of Scots. Although I think I am going to be miffed at all historical dramas now for not being The Favourite; the next series of The Crown will be a particular disappointment.

From:

kith_koby

Gaming is very harmful to reading. I discovered that long ago, and have made my peace with it. I suggest alternating - finish a game, spend a month on books, start a new game. That was basically my system when I played heavily (today I sometime dabble).

The Batman Movie was the best Batman film, and Into The Spider-Verse was not only the best Spiderman film, I am seriously considering whether it's also the best Marvel/Superhero film. It is definitely one of the best, of that there is no doubt. They're already talking about a sequel, and I hope it is just as awesome.
I have not yet seen The Favourite, but I plan to do so (oddly enough, with my sister as well) and I can't wait.

The Good Place... Yeah, I'm waffling on it as well. I love Janet, she's amazing, but I want more movement where it matters. I was hoping that maybe Janet, Jason and Tahani could get into a menage a trois situation, since it seems pretty clear to me Tahani/Eleanor isn't going to happen. On the other hand, I was cheered by this idea of a Sailor Moon/The Good Place crossover: http://keyofjetwolf.tumblr.com/post/182357925577/tahani-voice-i-havent-been-this-embarrassed-for
I will definitely check out that fic, though, thanks for the rec!

I will never make sense of the DLC, so I will forever ignore it, and much like a lot of media I don't like, it will not exist.

Mindful drinking sounds great! I hope it keeps working for you!

Very happy to hear about your friend. I completely empathize, and I think that's totally normal. I made my best friend in much the same way. I remember it like it was yesterday (it was 8 years ago). I walked into the computer lab in college (back before everyone used their own laptops) and saw him reading something on fanfiction.net, so I went up and asked him 'Are you reading fanfic?'. We've been best friends ever since, and much of our early bonding was done over webcomics and fandom.

Is there a way to replace the government that doesn't involve the Tories or the Labour winning? You know, times like these make me miss Cameron - he was clearly intelligent enough to at least realize what a clusterf*** this was going to be and got out while the getting was good.

EDI: I saw you asked for prompts on Tumblr... I've been too busy to think much on it, but here's a few: Modern AU, Aspasia/Kassandra. Kassandra as the mercenary/assassin who takes out politicians, Aspasia as a politician facing a big problem (maybe a Brexit type situation?).
Also, Modern AU, Kassandra/Aspasia, Kassandra as the cop/detective trying to pin down Aspasia's husband a corrupt politician, and discover how deep Aspasia is in.
Also also, aSoIaF, Modern AU, where the daughters of the main houses (Arianne, Margaery, Sansa, Myrcella, etc) join up in order to bring down the established (business? politics?) order their parents are keeping up.

Edited Date: 2019-02-03 12:20 pm (UTC)

From:

netgirl_y2k

Oh, the month off between games is a cracking idea, especially as my next game is probably going to be The Witcher III which I'm guessing will be another huge time suck. And, actually, I think that gaming and drinking less have been going hand in hand, after all it's hard to get far in Dark Souls if your reflexes aren't sharp, not that I've been getting that far anyway.

Ugh, Cameron. He called a referendum that he was under no obligation to call, didn't bother to really campaign or call Leave out on their blatant lies because he was so sure he would win, and then fucked off to make silly money in the private sector and left the little matters like, you know, making sure that we don't run out of insulin to other people. The list of people who deserve to be horsewhipped with a horsewhip for this debacle is not short, but David bloody Cameron is near the top.

There is the vanishingly small possibility of Scottish independence, but that gets more distant by the day.

From:

kith_koby

I blame Cameron for a lot of things, including the Referendum and arrogance, but I can't help but feel he was more intelligent than May. Not that that's such a great comfort... But of course, I don't want Corbyn to become PM either, so, as Vizzini says, we are at an impasse... Although Scottish independence might be the only way out, at least for Scotland.

There's another version of the fic prompts I wrote above, though. Arianne leading Wales and Sansa leading Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom following a Brexit orchestrated by Cersei.

From:

netgirl_y2k

Cameron was the very embodiment of "if he had a brain he'd be dangerous."

But Corbyn is unelectable (less because of his politics, as because he's bad at being a politician), May is a malfunctioning robot but at least she's not Boris, and Scottish independence receded ever further with the accusations (that I for one believe) that the architect of the last independence referendum is a pervert.

What's a girl to do but bury herself in video games and fandom.

From:

kith_koby

Yes, well, as I said, being more intelligent than May isn't saying much, rather a low bar to clear, isn't it?

I find Corbyn unelectable for his politics as well as his (lack of) political skills. The man's a raving anti-semite, as a Jew I categorically can't trust him.

Write, read and play wish fulfillment stuff, I guess?

From:

netgirl_y2k

Yikes, yes. I was thinking of the let's re-nationalise the railways stuff when I mentioned his politics. Speaking from a place of unthinking privilege. Obviously, his anti-semitism renders him entirely unfit. I apologise.

I wish Yvette Cooper were Labour leader.

Diving headfirst into fandom is how I got through the US election.

From:

kith_koby

Oh, no worries. In general he sucks, so it's not a surprise people pay less attention to his anti-semitic rhetoric, especially since he usually manages to disguise it.

Well, if wishes were horses, we could probably start a horse farm or something.

Fandom is the only answer, I find. If I could vote for some fictional characters, I would feel a lot better about the future.