The Angel Awards

There's no Movie Monday post today, because I got distracted by season 2 of Orange Is The New Black and kind of forgot to watch a movie over the weekend. Womp womp.

ANYWAY.

A few weeks ago, we fiiiiiiiiiiiiinally finished recapping Angel over on Snark Squad, as I mentioned last week. And part of our wrap-up process was making videos about our best and worst episodes. Well. *I* made videos about my best and worst episodes. Lor and Sweeney both broke the rules and decided to do their best and worst arcs and moments instead. And seeing as the arcs and moments are FAR more memorable than the episodes, I figured I'd pull together my own list of arcs and moments.

And to make it more exciting, I decided to give awards to the best and worst things, kind of like the Oscars and the Razzies rolled into one only with a TV show that went off the air ten years ago. Makes perfect sense, right? Right.



Did you watch Angel back in the day? Would you agree that the arcs and moments are more memorable than individual episodes??

K xx

Movie Monday: Much Ado About Nothing

So on Saturday afternoon, I met up with a couple of friends for lunch, far too many macarons and a trip to see Joss Whedon's latest piece of genius, Much Ado About Nothing. I'm not going to do a full in-depth analysis of it on account of a) it's still in cinemas so y'all can go see it for yourself, and b) it's Shakespeare, so everyone knows the deal.

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Ten reasons why you should see Much Ado About Nothing:
1. Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker as Benedick and Beatrice. They're both absolutely FANTASTIC, having worked together before on Angel. They've got chemistry in spades, and they're surprisingly good at the comedic side of the story.

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2. It was filmed at Joss Whedon's house, which is absolutely gorgeous. And all the actors wore their own clothes.
3. The swimming pool scene. Priceless.
4. Pretty much every single actor involved has worked with Whedon several times before.
5. Nathan Fillion as Dogberry. Hilarious. Same goes for Tom Lenk.

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6. The whole thing was filmed in twelve days when Joss Whedon had some time off during The Avengers.
7. Clark Gregg as Leonato. I'm a little sad that Anthony Stewart Head couldn't get the time off to play the role, but Clark Gregg is a fabulous replacement.
8. The black and white works brilliantly.
9. The scene in which Benedick overhears Leonato, Claudio and Don Pedro talking about how Beatrice is in love with him. One of the most phenomenal things I've seen in a long time.

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10. It never once feels rushed or amateur, despite most of the actors having little experience in Shakespeare, and having been filmed so quickly.

I totally lied, because here's reason 11: Sean Maher as Don John. He's a surprisingly excellent villain. One who likes cupcakes.

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So. Have you seen it? If not, are you planning to? Because you really should.

K xx

Possibly not the best idea ever

So remember last month how I decided I was going to make a vlog every month? It's that time again.


I apologise in advance for my singing voice. I hadn't warmed up and was too lazy to rerecord it once I realised that I sound awful. And for the length of this. And for the fact that I'm posting this at nearly 1am - I started uploading the video at 7.30 and it's LITERALLY JUST FINISHED.

Have a calorific Easter, y'all. (Yes, I'm taking the piss)

K xx

30 Days of Books - Day 27

First of all, I woke up yesterday morning to an email from Bloggers.com telling me that I was a featured blogger of the day. Wow!! My phone spent half the day telling me that people had added me as a friend on there, so I'll definitely be spending a lot more time on there in the future. And welcome to anyone who's stopped by from Bloggers.com - thanks so much for stopping by! 

Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending

I had a pretty hard time coming up with something for this topic. I don't know if it's my choice of books, or that I'm just not particularly surprised by twists. Originally, I was planning on writing about Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters, because I watched the BBC adaptation before I read the book, so finding out (I don't think this REALLY counts as a spoiler) that Gaskell died before she finished writing the book came as something of a surprise. 

But then while grabbing the next Harry Potter (18 days until I leave Canberra, 18 days to finish Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows!) off my bookshelf, I found this:

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Twilight (aka Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 8, volume 7). Yes, I'm kind of a comic book nerd, although I do try and limit myself to Joss Whedon related comics (BtVS, Firefly, Dr Horrible etc). Anyway, the reveal of the Big Bad's identity actually did come as something of a shock to me. And not in a good way. In a "Oh COME ON!" kind of a way.

I'm really hoping the final volume is an improvement on this one, otherwise I'll be a wee bit crankypants... 

K xx

Day 01 - The best book you read last year

Day 02 - A book you've read more than 3 times

Day 03 - Your favourite series

Day 04 - Your favourite book of your favourite series

Day 05 - A book that makes you happy

Day 06 - A book that makes you sad

Day 07 - Most underrated book

Day 08 - Most overrated book

Day 09 - A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving

Day 10 - Favourite classic book

Day 11 - A book you hated

Day 12 - A book you used to love but don't any more

Day 13 - Your favourite writer

Day 14 - Favourite book of your favourite writer

Day 15 - Favourite male character

Day 16 - Favourite female character

Day 17 - Favourite quote from your favourite book

Day 18 - A book that disappointed you

Day 19 - Favourite book turned into a movie

Day 20 - Favourite romance book

Day 21 - Favourite book from your childhood

Day 22 - Favourite book you own

Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven't

Day 24 - A book you wish more people would've read

Day 25 - A character you can relate to the most

Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about something

Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending

Day 28 - Favourite title

Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked

Day 30 - Your favourite book of all time

30 Days of Books - Day 8

It's been absolutely freaking arctic in Canberra for the past couple of days. Yesterday, it was NINE DEGREES at 5pm. But there was a wind chill, so the apparent temperature was 4 degrees. Jeebus... Anyway, on with the books!!

Day 8 - Most overrated book

As with the last one (which I decided meant "a book everyone should read"), I'm choosing to interpret this as "a book no one should read". I've read an awful lot of crap books over the years, most of which came from the library, thankfully. But most of those were too obscure to be considered overrated. So I decided to go with the most obviously overrated book I could think of (as far as I'm concerned, anyway):

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Twishite and its sequels of doom. (Sorry, Gina. I know you love it!)The writing is awful, the characters are annoying, and comparing someone to marble is generally not considered a compliment... I know some people adore it (my sister-in-law is about to turn 40 and is all "OMG, EDWARD CULLEN IS THE PERFECT MAN!!" *shudder*), but I just don't see the appeal. I mean, Edward Cullen is a creepy, mopey stalker.

And let's be honest - Buffy and Angel did angsty teen vampire-human love WAY before and WAY better than Edward and Bella... (Oh, and for the record? I read all four of the books, and thought they were all universally appalling. I also read them well before the movies came out, so my opinion of the characters isn't because of the terrible acting courtesy of RPatz, KStew and Taylor Lautner. I thought they were crap WELL before that!)

K xx

Day 01 - The best book you read last year
Day 02 - A book you've read more than 3 times
Day 03 - Your favourite series
Day 04 - Your favourite book of your favourite series
Day 05 - A book that makes you happy
Day 06 - A book that makes you sad
Day 07 - Most underrated book
Day 08 - Most overrated book
Day 09 - A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 10 - Favourite classic book
Day 11 - A book you hated
Day 12 - A book you used to love but don't any more
Day 13 - Your favourite writer
Day 14 - Favourite book of your favourite writer
Day 15 - Favourite male character
Day 16 - Favourite female character
Day 17 - Favourite quote from your favourite book
Day 18 - A book that disappointed you
Day 19 - Favourite book turned into a movie
Day 20 - Favourite romance book
Day 21 - Favourite book from your childhood
Day 22 - Favourite book you own
Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven't
Day 24 - A book you wish more people would've read
Day 25 - A character you can relate to the most
Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 - Favourite title
Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 - Your favourite book of all time