FILMS
- Beaver
- Birdman
- Filth
- Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
- Beyond Clueless
(I copied this quote down next to the entry in my notebook, so clearly it was important to me: "It's like he died but forgot to take his body with him, so all he does is sleep."
I was cashing in a cinema-visit birthday promise from Leanne of Jar of Good Things fame, and what a choice, if I do say so meself.
This annoyed me not just because it has the man with the hangdog expression that's in everything and her with the eerily maniacal smile, but because they took an idea I'd been toying with but, y'know, actually did something with, instead of just bringing it up briefly with mates in bars, then killing it with booze. But asides from my completely subjective gripes, it's good, so go see it. Although it came out in 2012 so you probably won't find it in cinemas now.
I saw this with my film-and-music-buff mate Simon at the Duke's. The director, Charlie Lyne, was there to do a Q&A. I thought it was a dogsbody member of the Duke's staff at first because he looked about 12. But I'm not one to talk, still getting ID'd for rizla and forks and you name it. He was a sweetheart.
This is gonna take ages if I keep doing little autobiographical bits, innit. I hope you've made yourselves a cuppa, or a line, or whatever you kids are into these days. #yolo
Can you believe this was the first time I'd seen that? I watched with m'pal Mark who's good at saying who's been in what, because he's trivia mad-like. Most jaw-dropping to me was seeing that Phoebe Cates from Drop Dead Fred had appeared in summat else, and Nic Cage.
It wasn't the Toni Morrison adaptation or the French one. Ant got a clue wtf I watched. But I wrote 'beloved' down so it's going in. It wasn't a review of the previous film seen, that's for sure.
I don't remember watching this, but it sounds good. Jeez, maybe the list I'm cribbing off is actually a list of films I wanted to see. Or random words I like. Fuck knows. I'll plod on regardless.
This was like the acest (not to be confused with Alcest) stoner film, plus you get to see Rihanna swallowed up by the earth.
One of my favourites I saw this year...
...followed by one of the worst. John Cusack, why would you do this.
(Because Jennifer Aniston, that's why)
Christmas present from m'pal Josh, which came with a set of drinking game rules. There isn't enough liquor in the world to cope with Twilight, let alone a documentary about the town where Twilight was filmed. Three of us did the test on this, so you don't have to.
Don't remember this, as I was still 'recovering' from Twilight in Forks.
Plot summary, taken from its Wikipedia page: "Julie, a young woman alone in a room moves her furniture, writes letters, and eats granulated sugar. She leaves her room and finds a driver with whom she eats and drinks. Later, she joins a young woman with whom she has sex."
This is how I balance the scales for things like 'You May Not Kiss the Bride'.
Documentary about people jumping off them. I know how to rock a Saturday afternoon.
This is totally unrelated, but my YouTube mix is currently set to this. JT would've been such a good shag investment*, wouldn't he.
*term I saw bandied around on Twitter about guys that were like HELL NO at the time but are now rawr.
This sticks in my mind for merit of being boring af. Don't go near it.
Yeah, first time I'd seen this as well. Not as in to Johnny Depp & HBC and all that technicolourgoff Tim Burton stuff as people might assume. It was alreet though. Carry on.
Enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. Watching people discover drugs and then dance on them is quite fun.
I like films with Billy Connolly in. It's like someone wrapping you in an old comfy warm dressing gown.
Because anything with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in it. More snuggly dressing gown feels.
70s horrors were better. None of this CGI crap, and spotty actresses not airbrushed to a smooth plastic android finish makes the situations the characters find themselves in all the more believable. S'all been said before, but I'm saying it again because this is my shitty blog and I can do what I want. Also, watch LSJTD. I'd take it over The Babadook, anyway.
this list ended here, and there'd still be salvation for my fingertips
Actually maybe this was the film that had the idea in it that I also had; not Seeking a Friend For the End of the World. Dang these films, confusing me before I've even read to the end of their long clunky titles.
*looks it up* Oh yeah, I liked this one. I'll watch anything with Bill Nighy in.
Which I don't recall, as I was recovering from the previous film.
A lot of these films I don't remember. I never know if that says more about the calibre of the films, or whether it says something about me.
(Thank you Morrissey, contributing author there).
I will watch anything with Joseph Gordon LOVE IT in. Oh boy, imagine him, Bill Nighy, Goldie Hawn, Billy Connolly, and, err, throw in some more people called Bill. Bill Sykes? Fuck yeah. Bill's, that ludicrously pricey restaurant in the North Laine? Fuck NO. I've been coding for hours now and I really need a wee and I'm going slightly insane. Bills Bills Bills.
Great idea, poor execution I thought. I did take to referring to myself as 'Lucy' when I was on a roll with work or whatever though. People didn't really get it. At least I didn't call meself Bill.
Highly enjoyable silly teen flick. Made me miss my Canterbury GBFs. Watch this with your GBF and vodka jelly.
This was part of the local 'Cinecity' season. Three shorts of about twenty mins each, so that counts as a film, right? The last of the three was this art-house b&w dancing mice Eisenstein thing which I didn't understand at all. Which made me feel clevererer. Aren't cinema visits funny like that.
The above two being part of a Christmas film night with the splendid theme of pro-wrestlers starring as the man in the red suit.
First time seeing that.
Like Disney's Robin Hood before him, attraction towards a cartoon leaves me feeling a bit peculiar, to say the least. Especially when watching with Mother at Christmas after many Buck's Fizzes. How to deal. Stop with the confusing sexy animated things, DreamWorks! No...wait...come back here. Don't.
TV SHOWS
- 2014 Wipe
- Penny Dreadful S1
Because David Duchovny, that's why. Perving aside, this is a highly underrated, touching, funny series. Had a better ending than Dexter as well, as I recall.
Yeah, I was asked if I wanted in on a used underwear selling club, as I'm sure most lasses of an 'alternative' nature were after watching this. What's happening with that? Because I got some new pants for Xmas, so the knicker draw is due a clear out...
BOOKS
- Pied Piper of Hamelin - Russell Brand
- Essays in Love - Alain de Botton
- The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
- Black Orchid - Neil Gaiman
- Crooked Little Vein - Warren Ellis
- The Disaster Artist - Greg Sestero
- The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
- Cheeky Walks in Brighton & Sussex
- Dotter of Her Father's Eyes - Mary M Talbot & Brian Talbot
- To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
- Autobiography - Morrissey
- Yukon Ho! - Bill Watterson
- Yes Please - Amy Poehler
- Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth - Chris Ware
- On Writing - Stephen King
- In Between the Sheets - Ian McEwan
- Are You My Mother? - Alison Bechdel
- Bio-Punk: Stories from the Far Side of Research
- The Adulterous Woman - Albert Camus
- Lolito - Ben Brooks
- Briar Rose & Spanking the Maid - Robert Coover
- The Fall - Albert Camus
- Lolita Fatale
- How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran
- The Haunted Life - Jack Kerouac
- In the Stacks: Short Stories about Libraries and Librarians
- Short Walks in Cornwall
- Pricksongs & Descants - Robert Coover
- Death of the Artist - Karrie Fransman
- Vanishing Cornwall - Daphne du Maurier
- Best British Short Stories 2012
- Tick Bite Fever - David Bennun
- Titus Alone - Mervyn Peake
- Thank You for the Days - Mark Radcliffe
- Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - Alison Bechdel
- Iron Man - Tony Iommi
- Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
- The Looking Glass House - Vanessa Tait
- The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
- Vurt - Jeff Noon
- Four Letter Word: New Love Letters - Joshua Knelman & Rosalind Porter
- After the Quake - Haruki Murakami
- How to Leave Twitter - Grace Dent
- Birthday Stories - Haruki Murakami
- Noughts & Crosses - Malorie Blackman (graphic novel version)
- The Atrocity Exhibition - J. G. Ballard
- An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge & Other Stories - Ambrose Bierce
- When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin - Mick Wall
- Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone - Stefan Kiesbe
- Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
- The Sunshine Cruise Company - John Niven
- Doctor Sleep - Stephen King
- The Peripheral - William Gibson
- The Further Adventures of an Idiot Abroad - Karl Pilkington
- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
That fucked me up for a while.
I'm sorry, it's so over-quoted, but I must:
"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."
*bawls*
It's entirely true when they say all wannabe writers should read this.
Coover was definitely one of my favourite discoveries of the year. Briar Rose was so perfectly constructed. It just makes you want to give up writing. It cannot be bettered.
This will forever remind me of meeting this guy.
This was the most 'meh' of the whole bunch. Sorry. Alice fans would be better served by investigating 'Alice in Sunderland', as mentioned in last year's post.
This took an age and a lot of energy drink to get through. But worth it, I'd say.
Also the year I learned Jeff Noon isn't also Jeff Koons.
AKA how to make fast bucks by printing a collection of favourite tweets I've made, favourite tweets from schmoozy meedja dahling fwends, trolls are bad mmmkay, and spoiler alert: she doesn't leave Twitter.
This rivalled the Moonstone for length of time spent reading. And like the Moonstone, was worth it.
Creepy af, this one.
Definitely makes the top five. The book I remind myself of when I think of how The Peripheral (to follow) nearly killed my interest in sci-fi, and in reading in general, for good.
It was no Kill Your Friends or Straight White Male, but it was a jolly good ride.
Because you need something like that after crawling through The Peripheral.
AKA a librarian's shelving nightmare. See also Daphne du Maurier and the arguments which ensue under whether to shelve her under 'DUM' or 'MAU'. I'm adamant it's MAU. How Soon is Mau. Oh gosh I'm getting tired and hysterical again.
Good job I've finally finished, then. Same time next year.
