skew_whiff (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
skew_whiff) wrote2012-12-27 06:47 pm
skew_whiff) wrote2012-12-27 06:47 pm
Entry tags:
State of the Skew, Christmas Edition
So somehow it's six days into the holidays already (I'm counting weekends), and it's just flown by in a vague haze of relatives and cake. So many relatives. So much cake.
The day itself turned out to be a bit underwhelming, which was entirely my own fault for spending so long getting all hyped up and also for never getting round to telling anyone what I might like, so present-wise all I really got was chocolate and money. Not that I'm complaining about either, mind you. It wasn't unbearably awkward and Christmas dinner was delicious, and that's the main thing. (At least as far as I'm concerned.)
Asides from that...
- Yuletide! I've barely even got started on reading and commenting on the bulk of what was posted, but I got really lucky and received three lovely stories this year - two for the Thin Man, one with zombies and one with Time Lords, both with all the wit and charm and sparky dialogue you'd expect, and also a wonderful, subtle, thought-provoking character piece involving Faiza Hussain, my favourite character from Captain Britain and MI:13 (plus some cameos from the Avengers!). All well worth your time, if you've not seen them yet.
- Christmas TV! Doctor Who was good fun (especially the Sontaran) and I'm intrigued by what's going on with this new companion, though bits of it very much seemed like things we'd seen before. Victorian London, check. Much-loved secular Christmassy thing turns bad, check. Unusually attractive, intelligent and fearless woman leaves Doctor bemused, check. Not that this last one is pre-emptive character bashing, I'm sure Clara/Oswin/whatever her name turns out to be will have facets that distinguish her from Amy, River and, indeed, Irene Adler (there's the souffles, for a start) - it's just Moffat certainly has a type, doesn't he?
Downton was, well, the usual mixture of nostalgia, charm, wry humour and shaking one's fist at the television that it usually is. WHY WILL YOU NEVER LET ANYONE BE HAPPY, FELLOWES. At least there was Thomas's continuing progress towards being a decent human being and Molesley's drunk dancing to make up for things.
And other than that, I don't think I've caught much TV, though I did watch The Nightmare Before Christmas and How To Train Your Dragon. Underwhelmed by the former, I think because I know so many people who love it and so went in with unduly high expectations; really liked the latter, though I was unnecessarily distracted by the fact the kids have American accents and the adults have Scottish accents. And they're meant to be Vikings. Okay, Hollywood...
- Hobbits! So I've seen the Hobbit. Twice, due to different friends wanting to see it with me. And, well... it's not LOTR (and what could be), but despite its silliness and CGI-heaviness and the fact it could really do with being half an hour shorter, I really did love it, and along with the LOTR rewatch I did in the weeks leading up to the release, it's rekindled my love for Tolkien and fantasy fiction in general in a big way. I'll no doubt talk about this more later, because right now I'm mostly still in a 'cheerfully incoherent flailing' sort of mood about the whole thing. (It's also nice that for once my mood appears to be falling pretty much in line with that of fandom, in that I loved Fili and Kili to bits, and Bofur kind of came out of nowhere and stole all the scenes he was in with his snark and ridiculous Derek Smalls-esque facial hair. Loved Thorin, too, although thanks to Robin Hood, I just can't quite ever take Richard Armitage seriously in anything.)
I'd like to write some fic, some time in the nearish future, but nothing's come to mind as yet, other than a faintly ridiculous WWII AU, and a few casual doodles I have of warrior dwarf Harry Welsh and elven bard Hillbilly Jones. But give it time, we'll see how it goes.
...right, that's about it for now, I think. And how have you all been?
The day itself turned out to be a bit underwhelming, which was entirely my own fault for spending so long getting all hyped up and also for never getting round to telling anyone what I might like, so present-wise all I really got was chocolate and money. Not that I'm complaining about either, mind you. It wasn't unbearably awkward and Christmas dinner was delicious, and that's the main thing. (At least as far as I'm concerned.)
Asides from that...
- Yuletide! I've barely even got started on reading and commenting on the bulk of what was posted, but I got really lucky and received three lovely stories this year - two for the Thin Man, one with zombies and one with Time Lords, both with all the wit and charm and sparky dialogue you'd expect, and also a wonderful, subtle, thought-provoking character piece involving Faiza Hussain, my favourite character from Captain Britain and MI:13 (plus some cameos from the Avengers!). All well worth your time, if you've not seen them yet.
- Christmas TV! Doctor Who was good fun (especially the Sontaran) and I'm intrigued by what's going on with this new companion, though bits of it very much seemed like things we'd seen before. Victorian London, check. Much-loved secular Christmassy thing turns bad, check. Unusually attractive, intelligent and fearless woman leaves Doctor bemused, check. Not that this last one is pre-emptive character bashing, I'm sure Clara/Oswin/whatever her name turns out to be will have facets that distinguish her from Amy, River and, indeed, Irene Adler (there's the souffles, for a start) - it's just Moffat certainly has a type, doesn't he?
Downton was, well, the usual mixture of nostalgia, charm, wry humour and shaking one's fist at the television that it usually is. WHY WILL YOU NEVER LET ANYONE BE HAPPY, FELLOWES. At least there was Thomas's continuing progress towards being a decent human being and Molesley's drunk dancing to make up for things.
And other than that, I don't think I've caught much TV, though I did watch The Nightmare Before Christmas and How To Train Your Dragon. Underwhelmed by the former, I think because I know so many people who love it and so went in with unduly high expectations; really liked the latter, though I was unnecessarily distracted by the fact the kids have American accents and the adults have Scottish accents. And they're meant to be Vikings. Okay, Hollywood...
- Hobbits! So I've seen the Hobbit. Twice, due to different friends wanting to see it with me. And, well... it's not LOTR (and what could be), but despite its silliness and CGI-heaviness and the fact it could really do with being half an hour shorter, I really did love it, and along with the LOTR rewatch I did in the weeks leading up to the release, it's rekindled my love for Tolkien and fantasy fiction in general in a big way. I'll no doubt talk about this more later, because right now I'm mostly still in a 'cheerfully incoherent flailing' sort of mood about the whole thing. (It's also nice that for once my mood appears to be falling pretty much in line with that of fandom, in that I loved Fili and Kili to bits, and Bofur kind of came out of nowhere and stole all the scenes he was in with his snark and ridiculous Derek Smalls-esque facial hair. Loved Thorin, too, although thanks to Robin Hood, I just can't quite ever take Richard Armitage seriously in anything.)
I'd like to write some fic, some time in the nearish future, but nothing's come to mind as yet, other than a faintly ridiculous WWII AU, and a few casual doodles I have of warrior dwarf Harry Welsh and elven bard Hillbilly Jones. But give it time, we'll see how it goes.
...right, that's about it for now, I think. And how have you all been?
no subject
Please share these immediately omg.
I'm glad you had a nice Christmas!
no subject
And thank you - I hope you had a good one, too. For all that it's been uneventful, the time's really flown by. I'd like to think I'll make the most of my last weekend before I return to work, but I know I won't and inevitably end up doing everything at the last minute as usual.