A Game of a 100% DONE WITH THIS

   Thank the Gods it's over and done with now.
   A Game of Thrones has finally aired its last episode and it was, just like previous episodes of this last season, a great mess of "MEH..."
   Congratulations to Benioff and Weiss for making the conclusion to the great epic that was GoT uninteresting and bland. I've never felt so rushed through the story before. Ugh.
   #DISAPPOINTED

If we wish hard enough, do you think G.R.R. Martin can fix any of this in the next book?

Bernard Black for President

#mood

Welcome to Disaster Area 20-17

Wow. This year. 

   The bar was set so low you would think it's impossible to fuck it up, wouldn't ya? 

   I love how Hollywood suddenly realised that the greater majority of people on this planet is neither white, nor in fact male. Funny, huh? Somehow the realisation that diverse films earn more money than whitewashed crap came as a shock to them. Like... seriously?!

   It's infuriating to realise just how much the powerful men of Hollywood can keep quiet about when it's 99,5% women who end up the victims of these predators in their midst. They knew Harvey Weinstein was abusing and assaulting women and did nothing... until we found out.
   And for anyone calling this a witch-hunt; yes, we're witches and we're finally hunting the predators down. This is something we should have done ages ago with the likes of Roman Polanski and Woody Allen too. Make rapists afraid again.
Put them out of their jobs.
Don't trivialise their actions.
Or our experiences. #metoo

   I mourn the deaths of both of my grandfathers, as well as my paternal grandmother, while the rest of you can join me in mourning of Bill Paxton, John Hurt, Gösta Ekman, Nelsan Ellis, Rikard Wolff, Chester Bennington, Tom Petty, Harry Dean Stanton...
   Moreover:

• I entered singledom again.
• I went to a The Rocky Horror Picture Show audience participation showing and IT WAS SO AWESOME.
• I went to Budapest with my sister for a spa weekend in April. Not only was I told by my massage therapist that I had to work on my anger issues (I do, but what the hell...) but I also caught a severe cold that lasted me for a fortnight and stole my voice.
• I celebrated Towel Day hobbit style.
• After waiting for over a year and a half after buying the ticket I finally got to experience Russell Howard!
• I had one helluva midsummer. Magical. Just wow. I still can't believe how much fun I had.
• I got to try and be the boss-woman at work for two weeks. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong for me to try and fix. But as it turned out I learnt a lot in the process.
• After a brief hiatus of one year I went back to the Medieval Week on Gotland, with new silks no less! I had a blast. And got home with ulcers, a hangover and a fever.
• I lost three out of four grandparents in a span of four months. Rough as fuck.
• My asshole roomie Sengir moved in. Soon all of my possessions were covered in a fine layer of his ginger hair and everything is as it should be. I am become a Crazy Cat Lady.
• I had Ben and Jerry's Non-Dairy Ice-Cream and for a moment all existence was awesome.
• I made sure to make my intentions clear at a huge demonstration against Nazism here in my city. We won this round. Lets keep fighting.
• I finalised the process of getting myself sterilised. There are no critters ever crawling out of this uterus. #notyourincubator
• I celebrated Halloween decadently, with gusto.
• I got myself that tattoo I've wanted since I was thirteen years old.
• I've been to see movies at the cinema no less than ten times this year.

   If you feel like this Year Review is getting you a bit down, I'm terribly sorry since that wasn't my intention at all, but it's been a shit year hasn't it? Good thing it was over quicker than it takes to pull a band-aid. We'll simply have to end the review on a lighter note!

Favourite Picks of 2017
Movies: Moonlight, Logan, Get Out, The Handmaiden, Trainspotting 2, Logan, Thor: Ragnarok, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, and did I mention Logan? 

Books: Isaac Asimov didn't disappoint with his 'Caves of Steel'. 'Revolution' by Russel Brand (!!!) turned out to be much better than I expected. 'The Fall of the House of Cabal' by Jonathan L. Howard left me pleasantly bewildered. 'Flowers for Algernon' by Daniel Keyes was a thrill-ride over too quickly. 'Redshirts' by John Scalzi grew on me. 'The Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham was good ol' classical scifi at it's very best! The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was emotional as hell, especially with everything that's going on politically at the moment. The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling. For a closer look on what I've read this year there's my Goodreads profile.
TV shows: I added this category because we need to talk about 'Westworld'. Like, we really do. Because Thandie Newton ❤. Also: 'Dear White People'. I thought I enjoyed the movie but hoo boy, how I must have been mistaken because I loved every second of the show to the point that I never wanted it to end (there will be a second season, some champagne please!). Speaking of things that never end; the thirteenth Doctor is a woman! THE DEFENDERS, FUCK YEAH. I finished the Defenders in two binges and want more. More Daredevil. More Jessica Jones. More Luke Cage. More Claire Temple. MORE! The 2nd season of Stranger Things was way too short and I need more, STAT.
Events: Moonlight winning Best Picture at the Oscars the way it did (OH MY GODS!!), Wonder Woman made a killing at the box office once again proving that we're truly starving for both female heroes and female creators. THE BEES ARE COMING BACK! HIV/AIDS is no longer the number one cause of death on the African continent. We outed so many predators in Hollywood. Good job. Scientists have come up with a way to regrow the Great Barrier Reef. My new buddy Sengir moved in with me.

Just like last I year I will not be making any resolutions for the new year but instead wish, and hope, for more kitty snuggles, more human touch, and more tasty food and drinks.

And remember:

"It's Chaos. Be Kind."

I want to forget about the Dragon

   Well. That's a whole lot of hours of my life I can never get back.
   I speak of course about Iron Fist. Fucking hell, what a load of garbage.
   Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are all shows I could get behind and enjoy (especially Jessica Jones). Despite the criticism I've read against Iron Fist some of my friends liked it so I had to give it a chance. I was hoping it might be easier for me to wrap my head around all of the characters once The Defenders premiere. Again; what a load of garbage, so in retrospect I would rather not have.
   I have never fully understood martial arts films with white dudes in the lead, so it should come as no surprise this was incomprehensible to my sad little brain. There is no larger motive. No grand plan. No great principles of life governing our lead man.
   It's slow and tedious.
   Claire Temple is the only 'pro' in a long list of 'con's.

Filed under X

In the last week I've binge-watched over three seasons of the X Files.
I haven't seen any of it before (except that one episode I accidentally watched when I was wee little that traumatised me for life) but still felt like I should be a good lil' nerd and at least give it a chance (and make it easier for myself as I watch the new recently released episodes). So I have. And as far as I can tell it's about two FBI agents of which one constantly gets in trouble (Mulder) and the other cleans up the mess whilst rolling her eyes exquisitely (Scully).

I'm here for this.

Six more seasons to go.

The Hutt Recommends: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Many years ago I read a novel by the title Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I found the first chapters hard to get through because of the unsympathetic nature of one of the main characters, one Mr Norrell. After having put down the book for several weeks I finally found patience enough to continue the story. And I loved it. All thanks to Jonathan Strange and all that happened after the petty Mr Norrell finally took residence in London following the disbandment of The York Society of Magicians.

The story takes place in 19th century England during the Napoleonic Wars but with the added assumption that magic is real but haven't been in use by human kind for hundreds of years. We follow the two men Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange and the relationship between the two as they turn to their quest to return magic to England, each with their own goals. And consequences. An arrogant hoarder vs a naive yet seeking mind.

The reason to why I'm writing about this is that the BBC production of the novel is very close to the source material and has therefore been a true delight to watch. Rarely do I get to enjoy an adaption so close in both narrative and feeling to the original text.

Please enjoy either of them, both if you can and wish.

Favourite obsessions

Game of Thrones is on tonight. Not that I can see it tonight. I'll have to wait until tomorrow which means that I'll watch it after work.
Sorry for the GoT posts but it's my favourite pastime as none of my plans are going as well as I hoped.
What's happening in my life? Not much.
I've tried watching some new tv shows to keep my mind off things. Luther, Jericho and The Dresden Files are those I will want to keep watching (Dresden mostly because I've read some of the books - entertaining but not amazing). The others I've simply forgotten all about after watching some tedious pilot which didn't catch my attention at all. 
I've also tried out a new piercing. This time: nasal septum. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would and as I look back at the last four weeks of healing it feels good. Now, not only do I have short hair and a certain love for hats, shiny shoes and plaid shirts but also a facial piercing. I'm so hipster it hurts. Dammit. Too bad I can't grow a moustache to go with my incredible glasses.
On the other hand, I've miscalculated the amount of fabric I would need for a dress I was making for The Medieval Week which means that I don't have enough to actually finish it which sucks. Balls.
Tonight someone stole my booked laundry time and I didn't even have the energy to fight so I just gave up and went for a walk. Not like me in the least.

I live for my own cooking - I'm an excellent chef but have also realised that enjoying food is so much easier when I'm treating someone else to dinner.

We Do Not Sow

Oh dear Lord, after last night's episode of Game of Thrones I'm having all these Theon Greyjoy feels and nowhere to put them. Poor, poor little Theon.

Going crazy for more Sherlock

Dear Sherlockians, our wait is coming to an end. The production of season three of BBC's Sherlock is finally coming to a start with the read-throughs and Benedict Cumberbatch is growing his Sherlock hair back.