Another World

Links:

Johannes Cabal Cabal Fanart
Johannes Cabal Cabal with Pokemon Fanart
Johannes Cabal Cabal Fanart
Movies: Star Trek: Into Darkness [Video]
Movies: Cats on Film Reviews of movies with cats in them.
Words: Word of the Year 2012

There seems to be a small but devoted JC fanbase on Tumblr, so I decided to get myself one -- GeistWorks.

In other news, I'm finally up to date on Castle. The recent Halloween episode at the convention was superb.

Books:

I decided to actively read the Dresden Files in order to catch up to the very latest book, Cold Days. I'm slowly working my way through Ghost Story right now which is harder to read because my second favourite character hasn't turned up yet, and probably won't.

Anyway, here are my reviews for all the books I've read in the past month and a bit in the order I read them:

Johannes Cabal: The Detective, Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute, M.R. James: The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Ghost Stories, Volume 2, Dexter: Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dresden Files: Grave Peril #3, Dresden Files: Summer Knight #4, Dresden Files: Blood Rites #6, Dresden Files: Dead Beat #7, Dresden Files: Turn Coat #11, Dresden Files: Changes #12, and Roberts: The Dragon With The Girl Tattoo.

Film:

I went to see Skyfall and Argo recently. I imagine that you've already seen Skyfall if you were planning on it. All I have to say is that 1) I liked Q, but I don't ship him with Bond and 2) I felt a little inadequate with Bond going "Omigod, I can only do ten pull-ups and fifty push-ups *sob*."

Argo was really good. Surprising, considering Ben Affleck directed and starred in it. I was already interested in the basic premise, but I was impressed by how taut the final scenes were.

Next: The Hobbit.

Life:

I performed impro at a theatre in front of a paying audience a few weeks ago. Felt good to be back. I'm also close to finishing a novel I've been working on and I don't think it's too bad, for once.

I hope everyone's okay and safe, particularly with things like Sandy hitting the US.

Money: Rewriting Charlotte Bronte
Japan: Relocating The Capital
Theatre: Adapting Mononoke Hime
Reading: Reviewing 50 Shades of Grey
Writing: Writing Thousands of Words a Day...

I'm only online to check the details for squee_fest_uk. Then I'm off to York for Squeefest. Should be arriving around 2:44pm.

Links:

???: How To Approach An Employment Agency If You Don't Really Want A Job I was searching for info on approaching recruitment agencies and found this. Pretty close to home, although I do want a job!
Animals: Lookout Lodge at Whipsnade Zoo I want to do this next year! Has anyone tried it?
The Avengers: The Avengers As Medieval Knights
Earthquakes: 100 Years of Earthquake You can't even see Japan on there under all the neon green indicators of seismic activity. You can't see Britain either, because it's blacked out due to having no indicators.
Game of Thrones: A Man Is Excellent At Disguises Spoilers! :P
Internet: Carreon vs The Oatmeal Comes To An End
Japan: 10,000 or 65,000 or 200,000 People Protest Oi Nuclear Reactor Restart The figure depends on who you ask (the middle figure comes from "local news organisations" in another article).
LGBT: Stats On LGBT Characters In Young Adult Fiction (2011) I'm not sure the data-gathering method is the best, but it's a start.
London: Sh*t Londoners Never Say Involving some of the people I met at improv in London.
Spider-Man: Steampunk Spider-Man
Writing: My Favorite Bit Writers talk about their favourite aspects of their novels.

Today, I'm waiting for the IKEA delivery people to arrive. They were supposed to come two weeks ago, but never showed up. Turns out they tried to deliver it next door, realised no one was in, then just went home despite having our mobile phone number on file. We didn't get an apology or anything.

So today we have to wait all day in the house while the carnival is in town. Stupid, stupid IKEA. I hope they come soon, but we should be able to go eventually since the event goes on until 10pm.

I went to a gym yesterday. It's a pretty good gym, and they have both a boxing ring and an MMA cage. I just had a go on the machines though, for my first time.

Links:

Batman: Police Stop Batmobile
Doctor Who: Photo of The Doctor's New Companion
US Comics: Alleged Poster For The New Wolverine Film ...Set in Japan.
Movies: James Cameron Goes To The Bottom Of The Mariana Trench... And Tweets From It
Movies: Total Recall teaser trailer I've never seen the original movie, but I played the Amiga 500 game. True story.

I need to get back to filling out more applications, but there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Not much more to say there, really, except a character in my new story has started job-hunting too. That's always a bad sign.

Fight Club was on TV the other night, and is still one of my favourites. Even so, I loved the book even more. It's so quotable, with a ton of great lines.

Here are some of my favourites, in roughly alphabetical order:

Akira (Nagi's seiyuu plays and out-of-control telekinete in this. COINCIDENCE??)
Blade Runner: The Director's Cut
A Clockwork Orange
Fight Club
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
Inception
Mayonaka no Yajisan Kitasan
The Ninth Gate
Pi
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Shichinin no Samurai
Speed Racer (Seriously!)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tonari no Totoro
Trainspotting
The Usual Suspects

For the record, the worst film I have ever seen is Transformers 3. And this is coming from someone who saw North in the cinema.

Sleep now.

Links:

Card Gaming: Vanguard Gets Live Action Ahh, this takes me back to playing Friday Night Magic in Kichijouji, surrounded by posters for this CCG.
Film: Benedict Cumberbatch Vs. Zachary Quinto in Star Trek [Spoilers?]
Magic: Teller Reveals His Secrets
Pop: Adam Lambert On Some Magazine Bow ties are cool.
Random: The Simpsons Do Game of Thrones Quick, before Fox takes it down. This looks amazing. (via daegaer)
Random: Five Hundred New Fairy Tales Discovered in Germany (daegaer again)

I'm heading to my first Squeefest this summer, job permitting. I've already put forward the idea of running an improv workshop, so I hope that gets approved.

I watched Inglourious Basterds and The Machinist, both of which were shown on TV the other night. I liked Basterds and it felt like I was watching a well-directed, stylish movie with each frame having been carefully planned. You might say "Oh, but of course -- it's a Quentin Tarantino," but you should be able to say that about ANY director filming a Hollywood movie and you can't. The script was snappy from the start, with nothing stated too directly. Any problems I had with it came down to who I wanted to survive and didn't.

I was eager to see The Machinist as it's one of those films that people often recommend if you like other specific movies (such as Fight Club). Well, this is not Fight Club, although it does screw around by looking at things from the protagonist's perspective. I actually liked the way I could guess what was going on through well-placed clues unlike, say, Mulholland Drive. It needed a Werewolf Break though.

Also on TV was The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. I'm not sure how many episodes it's supposed to run for -- the official website describes it both as a four part series and says the last episode was third of three. I loved the setting and concept (comedic Dickens pastiche), although the comedy is a little hit and miss.

I was in an advert break when a trailer for a show came on that seemed to be taking the success of Sherlock and trying to tap into it. There was this brilliant-but-abrasive private detective and his long-suffering partner trying to solve a case. I wasn't very sure about it at first -- I want to see more programmes like Sherlock, but only if it's not completely bleeding obvious what they're doing -- then I saw the title. Dirk Gently. That is, the character created by Douglas Adams. Well.... that's more excusable, right?

Based on the first episode (they filmed a pilot over a year ago -- I didn't see it), I am cautiously optimistic. I'd be far more positive if I'd never seen Sherlock. But I do like it very much. Watch it if you can.

Links:

Anime: Winter 2012 Anime (via sharona1x2)
Goth: Goths Up Trees
Japan: More On That Fuckin' Sale The freakiest thing about the original photograph is that people from all different life segments shared it on Facebook. People I act with, people I see musicals with, people I goth with... Truly viral, I guess.
Sex: Channel4's UK Sex Survey Results
Tiger&Bunny: Tiger&Bunny CD Tracklisting Yuri has a song!
Weiss Kreuz: weisskreuz Whichever site you're on when you click this link, it will take you to the nearest one as it's available on both DW and LJ. I think.

Still packing. We put some furniture outside about five hours ago, decorated with special garbage labels bought from the city hall.

They've already been taken.

Of course, this is great. It means someone's putting our perfectly okay furniture to good use. Plus, this is how we got some of it in the first place. But... what if we put the rest out without paying for the stickers? It's tempting.

One thing I did do today is go with J to meet up with a friend for lunch. I gave her a bag of goth/wool clothing, much of it from Scotland. She's a big fan of Scotland (and the rest of the UK!) as her band often tours there. I made her promise to send me a photo if she wears any of it at a concert. :)

I also sent off my first job application. Funny, when I first started, I was really excited and hopeful that I'd get an interview. By the time I hit 'send' on my e-mail program, I was convinced I'd never even get a reply. Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?

Links:

BGLT: Best LGBT Movie Characters of 2011 ....Really??
England: Darklands Gothic Club Night (York)
Film: Trailer for Ridley Scott's Prometheus Everything from the way the title appears to the alien spaceship screams a connection to 'Alien'. There isn't, apparently.
Japan: The Yomiuri Shinbun's Top News Stories of 2011 [Japanese]
Photography: The Story Behind The Navy First Kiss
Stage Shows: Samurai 7 Makes A 2012 Comeback If this is anything like the show I saw first time around, it's going to be amazing. If you're in Japan, you should definitely go to see it.
Stage Shows: CODE GEASS STAGE SHOW DO WANT. Here are some cast photos from some random blog. This should be epic. But it's almost four months after I leave Japan. 絶望したぁ～！
Steampunk: Steampunk Photo Gallery
Teaching: Preventing Gender Bullying (via nuraya)
Travel: Surprise: There Are Germs On Planes Just when I'm getting ready to fly back to the UK...
Wikipedia: Wiki: Abe no Seimei I think he's an interesting character, part John Dee, part Merlin. Here's his Wiki page.
Writing: China Mieville on Genre-Blending

Here's a 2011 meme stolen from thedogstar, with some questions deleted because I didn't have anything interesting to say.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

Performed comedy on stage. I never considered doing anything other than watching previously, but all my favourite shows/books are either sci-fi or comedy, preferably both. It just took me a long time to realise it.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

This is what I wrote last year:

1. Send out more query letters.
2. Work on my photography.
3. Write more, read more.
4. Gym. Verb left unspecified.
5. Do more Stuff.

I did (1) and sent out more query letters, but that still wasn't very many.
As for (2), I took more photographs, posted them publicly more often and attended a meeting of a local photography club.
(3), I wrote more and I have no idea if I read more. Probably about the same.
(4) was a complete failure. I stopped going after March 11th as I just didn't feel like it anymore.
(5) was the biggest success. I did More Stuff! I performed and attended workshops. I tried stand-up. I volunteered up north and marched in a protest. I've found so many things I want to do in the future.

Here are this years:

1. Get a job.
2. Write more, send more query letters.
3. Do at least one open mike night.
4. Form an improv troupe.
5. Keep doing More Stuff.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

Less existential angst.

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

March 11th.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Performing as team captain at our final improv performance of 2011 and completing a week of volunteer work in one of the hardest-hit cities in Miyagi prefecture.

11. What were the best things you bought?

Nothing really stands out. I mostly bought tickets to events and workshops rather than physical items.

13. Whose behaviour appalled you?

TEPCO. TEPCO. TEPCO. Everyone at that whole damn company, with the possible exception of Yoshida and those unnamed engineers he oversaw, but he was (probably) part of the problem to begin with.

14. Where did most of your money go?

On theatre and workshops.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Improv.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Covenant's Lightbringer. I listened to it a lot, but it was actually released in October 2010.

After the earthquake, I stopped listening to music entirely for a long time. Since I like industrial and EBM, it was either genuinely depressing or insincerely dark. I've since made a Grooveshark playlist called "Happy But Dark" which features songs that have a dark sound but lighter lyrics. Which are frequently about orcs.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? Yes.
ii. Thinner or fatter? Thinner.
iii. Richer or poorer? Richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Stand-up comedy.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

Well, it's past Christmas now. I spent it with J, playing Magic and eating pizza. We went for our Christmas meal on Christmas Eve and have one more "Christmas" lined up in January, when we're back in the UK.

21. Where did you ring in 2011?

I... I can't remember. I even went back to check and I'd written nothing about it.

24. What was your favourite TV programme?

Ignoring anime and animation (which is not what I think of when someone says "TV programme"), I guess it would have to be Doctor Who and Mock The Week.

Here's the anime I watched:

Love: Deadman Wonderland, Madoka Magica, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Tiger&Bunny.
Awesome: Venture Brothers.
Not Bad: [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control, Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi, Thundercats.
Whatever: SKET DANCE.
I Don't Know: Ao no Exorcist, X-Men.
Horrendous: I reviewed the first episodes of every single summer anime here. Probably the top three horrendous titles would be MayoChiki!, R-15 and Ro-Kyu-Bu.

"I Don't Know" is a pretty strange category, but it usually means that the series had some really, really great things about it and some terrible things that let it down. "Whatever" means the series was too generic for me to form an opinion.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

TEPCO.

26. What was the best book you read?

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I didn't really listen to much new music in 2011. Every time I think of a band, I remember I listened to them first in 2010.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?

Awesome: Captain America, Kokuriko-zaka Kara, Red, Suteki na Kanashibari, Tangled 3D, Thor, The Three Musketeers.
Not Bad: Gantz (1&2), Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. Solid State Society 3D, PotC: On Stranger Tides, X-Men: First Class.
I Don't Know: Cowboys & Aliens, Genji Monogatari: Sennen no Nazo.
Horrendous: Transformers 3.

If you were wondering, both Red and Tangled were released in 2011 in Japan.

31. What did you do on your birthday?

Made garlic toast and tea for lunch, according to my journal. But about a week later, E took me out for crepes and chai in Shibuya. It was all fairly low-key.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

No earthquake and getting a story published.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?

Waistcoats.

34. What kept you sane?

My Little Pony and beer.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Everyone at improv.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

You're going to die. Really. Really-really. And it could happen any day now.