Monday 30 March 2015

March Wrap Up


Favourite things:

  • Young Justice. Over the past month or so I’ve marathoned both seasons, I really loved it. The show was great fun and just a awesome mindless distraction from everything. Plus it’s made me really want to read up on Nightwing and the Martians (Miss Martian & Martian Manhunter). I’m turning into a real DC fangirl here.
  • Maybelline Colossal. I’ve fallen in love with it all over again, it’s my current go to mascara.
  • /r/holdmybeaker Scientists doing stupid stuff. Welcome (occasionally) to my life.
  • The Last Podcast on the Left Every week Ben Kissel, Henry Zebrowski, and Marcus Parks explore the horrors of the world both imagined and real.” If you want to know more about monsters, murders and the occult this is a fantastic podcast. It can be offensive at times, sometimes it can get a bit too much for me, but as far as the topics go I haven’t found a better regularly updating podcast.
  • Letterboxd I just made an account to track the films I've been watching this year. I need to go through and add them all when I get a free moment to breathe but it's pretty useful.


Things which sucked:

  • PhD work kicking my ass, especially over the last week I’ve been getting into the office at 9, leaving at 6/6:30 then working at home until 1 or 2 am. My dark circles have dark circles and I feel like I’m about to drop dead, the long Easter weekend and hopefully freedom cannot be here soon enough!
  • Eating crap and not going to the gym. See above. Well, the eating junk I really shouldn’t have been doing, but the gym stuff… eh, I’m sure someone out there will be thinking “just get up earlier and suck it up”. The junk is the worst though, I feel so gross and flabby and with a con coming up I’m sure April will end up being the month of water and lettuce.


Awesome words:

pantoglottism, n.
Knowledge of all languages.

nescient, adj.
Ignorant. Freq. with of.

oppugn, v.
trans. To attack or oppose with words, action, influence, etc.; esp. to call into question, controvert, or dispute the truth or validity of (a statement, belief, argument, etc.). Now rare.

dysphemism, n.
the substitution of a harsh, disparaging, or unpleasant expression for a more neutral one. 

prestidigitator, n.
A person who practises sleight of hand or legerdemain; a conjuror; a juggler. Also in extended use

beamish, adj.
bright, cheerful, and optimistic.

emportment, n.
A spell of anger or strong feeling; a fit of passion. Also as a mass noun: anger, fury.

  

Things I Read:

  • Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse - David Mitchell  4/5 cynical and funny
  • Elizabeth is Missing – Emma Healey 4.5/5 I loved this book, LOVED IT. It was a little hard to follow sometimes but that added to the feeling and theme of the book. Dementia makes things hard to follow. Sometimes it hurt to read as my grandparents (especially my grandfather) have dementia, but that's a credit to how well and accurately written it was. I recommend this to anyone!
  • Goodbye Paper Doll – Anne Snyder 2/5 dated language and attitudes towards anorexia, I didn't like the protagonist, generally not a book I enjoyed.
  • Seed – Ania Ahlborn 4.5/5 really creepy, the creeping psychological horror and general slow pace really work in this books favour. Usually I hate slow books but the emotional turmoil and slowly increasing tension made this worth it.
  • Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon – Matt Fraction & David Aja 5/5 great collection of stories, I liked the artwork which helps greatly when it comes to graphic novels, and I loved the insight into the kind of person Clint Barton is. He’s a good man, he’s just not always the nicest man. I’m going to buy the next one soon.
  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – Alan Moore 4/5 I loved the story, hated the art. This was basically the same storyline as the film, which I know a great many comic lovers hated but I loved it (perhaps because I hadn’t read the graphic novel first?). Either way it’s an enjoyable read, but because I personally couldn’t get along with the artwork I won’t be buying Volume 2.
  • Hellblazer – I finished my 300 issue Hellblazer readthough (the one I started in November)! I won’t write any spoilers, and as it’s been an ongoing project I won’t be giving any ratings since there are so many writers, artists and story arcs that I can’t quite pick out which of them I read this month and which were last. I will say as a whole I do love the series, it has its ups and downs like anything that runs so long, and there are some artists that worked on the series I really couldn’t stand, as well as some arcs that bored me. Overall I really recommend the series and unlike many I liked the way it ended, I thought it was fitting. Very John Constantine.
  • A Brief History of Me – Stephen Hawking 3.5/5 – Audiobook. Hawking is a fascinating man, and as I haven’t yet seen the film made about him that did so well at the awards this year it was great to learn more about him. But, a brief history this certainly was, the audiobook was only two parts and only lasted a couple hours. And the later chapter on time travel while fascinating, did delve a little deep into equations and science. Even for someone who knows a bit about physics it got a little hard to follow. Maybe this would have been easier if I was actually reading and not listening
Links and more info can be found on my 2015 Reads page on Goodreads


Things I Watched

  • Honeymoon 4/5 I really enjoyed this, it was a fairly unique take on the genre with some pretty gross and spooky moments.
  • Fear Clinic 3/5 kind of clever albeit confusing at times, generally not a bad film.
  • Spawn 4/5 thoroughly enjoyable but dear lord the special effects look so bad and dated, like a really old video game. They were seriously some Spyro the Dragon or Crash Bandicoot level stuff.
  • I, Frankenstein 3/5 eh, it wasn't bad but it never really captured me. Alright for a party movie that you can put on in the background while not needing to pay a massive amount of attention.
  • The Only Lovers Left Alive 5/5 this was just amazing and perfect, Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston are just such amazing actors and the film just told this really beautiful story.
  • R.I.P.D 4/5 this was just fun. It wasn't an amazing plot, it wasn't the greatest film ever, but damnit it was a fantastic popcorn film. Or one to play at a party. I did enjoy this a lot more than I, Frankenstein - it had more fun action. On the down side it had Kevin Bacon and every time I see him I want to punch his stupid face, with a brick.
  • The Maze Runner 3/5 it was interesting but it kinda felt like it was going nowhere, probably because it's part of a series the ending didn’t feel like any kind of conclusion.
  • Oculus 4/5 – trippy and spooky, I really enjoyed this one!


Considering how busy I’ve been that seems like a lot of stuff I’ve read/watched, but a lot of the watching was done tandem to working and with several of the shows I usually watch on hiatus for a few weeks this month it freed up an extra 4 or 5 hours I’d have spent watching other things. Plus I tend to read while at my grandparents (two nights a week) and waiting for appointments. 

2 comments:

  1. You read and watched loads! Jealous!

    Corinne x
    www.skinnedcartree.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. i so love those roundup posts! thank you for that (and adding new books/movies to our lists XD) hope you will be able to take a nap from time to time O_O

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment, I really appreciate everything you guys have to say and I shall endeavour to reply as soon as I can! If you need a swifter reply please feel free to email ohtofeelpretty@gmail.com or contact me on twitter @katiefrank_x