Currently...

Um. Hi. Remember me?

Yeah. There are times when I miss the days of unemployment, and blogging is a big part of that. Although given that I got my first full time pay cheque today, I can safely say that the money makes up for my lack of time to blog these days!!

So, rather than just disappear into a black hole due to lack of time and topics, I figured I'd do a "currently" post to give you guys a bit of an update on life in general...

Watching:
Essentially, the stuff I'm watching for Snark Squad - Dawson's Creek, Doctor Who, Supernatural - and occasional episodes of Criminal Minds and Bones. I desperately want to get back to watching Daredevil, but that means giving up something else, and...yeah. It just hasn't happened yet.

Listening to:
Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon is on INCREDIBLY high rotation. It's basically my time-to-start-my-90-minute-commute song, so I listen to it twice a day, minimum. And a hell of a lot of stuff that makes up Body Combat and Body Pump set lists, because I'm doing about three or four classes a week online.

Planning:
A trip to Dymocks tomorrow after work. WHEEEEEEEE, BOOKS!! Also planning a trip to Canberra during the July school holidays. Because, you know, the middle of winter is totally the best time to go to Canberra...

Thinking about:
How I should really be going to bed, but I really want to finish this episode of Criminal Minds. The fact that tomorrow's Friday. Little Miss A's birthday party on Saturday. How I really wish the vlog that's been uploading since 9pm would hurry up and finish so that I can go to bed when Criminal Minds ends.

Looking forward to:
Sleeping in on Saturday morning OMG IT WILL BE AMAZING. My little brother coming home for a visit at the end of the month. Orange Is the New Black season 3, although God knows when I'll have time to watch it. Going to Canberra, even though it's forever away.

Reading:
ALL THE THINGS, just for a change. I'm nearly done with Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and it's pretty damned fabulous. And this weekend, I'm planning on diving into the first volume of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye, which a friend very sweetly sent me for my birthday.

Making me happy:
The fact that I've lost over 6kg on the 12WBT. That it's casual clothes day at school tomorrow so I get to wear jeans to work. That there's a Lego game of Jurassic Park coming out. The forthcoming Jurassic World movie. The new display that I put up at work today. And my nightly hot chocolate. Sure, it's not as healthy as Greek yoghurt and a teaspoon of honey. But it's way too cold for yoghurt at the moment, so hot chocolate it is!

What's new with you guys?

K xx

Mysterious absences and what causes them

You may have noticed, friends, that I haven't been around these here parts as much as usual in the past few weeks.

The reasons behind this are threefold:

1. 12WBT
Sometimes I feel like exercising and cooking and exercising some more takes up all my time, and by the end of the day? I kind of just want to collapse in a heap and not use my brain.

2. VEDA
Yeah, I don't even know how this happened. I uploaded a video on April 1st, and then a bunch of my friends were all "WE'RE DOING VEDA!!" and I figured that I'd unintentionally started doing VEDA anyway, so I may as well keep going. Of course, given that I'm also on the Snark Squad channel every week for Segue Magic, this means I'm currently posting EIGHT videos a week. Hahahahaha ohgod. It's a lot of videos. And between shooting and editing and watching other people's videos? Yeah, it eats into what little time is left once I finish all that exercising and cooking nonsense.

(But, like, if you want to see me wibbling about books even more than usual, you should probably check out my VEDA videos...)

3. I GOT A FREAKING JOB!!!!!!!!!!
That's right, friends. I found the Holy Grail - a full time job in my field. Okay, so it's only a 12 month contract, but STILL. I start tomorrow morning, and I'm kiiiiiiiiiiiind of terrified because it's been forever since I've had to be a responsible adult on a full time basis. But it'll be FINE. In a terrifying but-I-already-don't-have-time-to-blog kind of a way.

And hey - I have an insanely long commute to get to work, so maybe if I can reach a point where my brain in capable of constructing sentences at like 7.30am, I'll write blog posts on my phone instead! Maybe. We'll see.

I'll get back into the swing of adulthood eventually, so this definitely isn't goodbye. Hell, VEDA will be over in another week and a bit, which will give me at least an extra hour a day to play with. But if I'm not around for a little while? That's why.

What's new with you guys?

K xx

Any more and I'll have square eyes

I was originally planning on doing Top Ten Tuesday today, as per usual. But after spending the past hour looking for inspiring quotes and coming up with a whopping two possibilities, I decided that it wasn't worth spending the entire afternoon looking for others. And I've been talking about books a LOT at the moment anyway, so I figured I'd update you guys on what I've been watching lately. Because why the hell not.

Snark Squad stuff
We're getting towards the pointy end of series 2 of Doctor Who, and I've finally finished recapping season 3 of Supernatural (although I'm way ahead of schedule on that one at the moment). It's been a while since we got a Dawson's Creek recap up, but we're somewhere in the middle of season 3 with that one too.

Friday Night Lights

Source

I'm nearly done with season 5, but I've been putting off watching it because I'm not sure I want it to end... Although thankfully, it's on Netflix Australia when I inevitably feel the need to revisit Dillon.

Criminal Minds

Source

I'm half way through season 5, and I'm LOVING it. Although it's been on the backburner over the past week because I really can't watch it when I'm home alone or I rapidly become convinced that I'm going to be murdered.

Bones

Source

For some reason, when I put Criminal Minds on the backburner, I thought it would be a good idea to start rewatching Bones. And somehow, I'm already half way through season 2. I honestly don't know how this happened, but I'm so busy squeeing over Hodgins and Angela being adorable that I barely even notice the disgusting rotting corpses...

Daredevil

Source

I watched the first episode on Friday night and really enjoyed it. But then I spent the weekend catching up on Snark Squad stuff, and I haven't gotten around to watching any more yet. SOON. Because the opening credits are totally awesome, and I love the little nods to the Marvel movies, and I'm just really intrigued to see how it pans out, even though I don't care that much about Matt Murdock.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Source

I've watched the first two episodes of this, and to be honest? I'm not sure about it. It definitely has its funny moments, but there's also been quite a bit of stuff that's squicked me out. I was never a huge fan of Ellie Kemper on The Office, which probably isn't helping. Because it sort of feels like an entire show about Erin, except not... I feel like I should give it a few more episodes before I decide, but at this point? I'm just not sure...

How To Get Away With Murder

Source

I think I've seen the first four episodes of this?? I was watching it as it aired in Australia, and then I sort of...forgot about it. So now there are a bunch of episodes that I've missed and at least one is no longer on Channel 7's catch up TV site and I'm not sure if I care enough to keep watching?? Because I was enjoying it. But it also felt really repetitive, with the same shots of the bonfire in every single episode...

Brooklyn Nine Nine

Source

Sweet baby Jesus, I am in love with this show. The first season is on Netflix Australia, and I basically marathoned the entire thing. It's absolutely glorious from start to finish. Two of the three female characters are Latina. Two of the four major male characters are African-American, and one of those two is also gay. None of the characters ever feels like a stereotype, with the possible exceptions of Scully and Hitchcock, who are very much the old school, slightly inept cops. But they're there for comic relief more than anything. And it's kind of great to have the middle aged white men be the stereotypes for a change!

Basically, Brooklyn Nine Nine is a gift and it's quite possibly the funniest thing I've seen in years and I absolutely adore it and yes, I totally ship Jake and Amy. Because of reasons.

I really need to catch up on Castle and Elementary and Sleepy Hollow and Outlander and the current season of Supernatural. But there are only so many hours in the day, you know?

What are you watching at the moment? And should I keep watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt?? Tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

K xx

2014 - Year in Review

And so we come to New Year's Eve. Another year over, as John Lennon would say in one of the most depressing Christmas songs of ever. And I honestly have no idea what I've done with this year. Other than reading 275 books, that is.

It's been a pretty mixed year for me. Yes, I travelled and read and hung out with my niece. But I also spent a lot of time feeling useless and rudderless and getting absolutely nowhere with my quest to find a job in my field.

But let's focus on the good stuff, because even I don't want to think about the bad stuff. I went to England and Portugal and Canberra (one of these things is not like the others). I not only completed but coordinated (along with Emily) VEDA. I gave up on Vlogmas half way through because other things got in the way, but I coordinated that too.

I successfully completed NaNoWriMo, although I have yet to actually finish the novel I wrote 52,000 words of during November.

I got to spend a couple of weeks with my little brother, several days with my BFF Sara, and I got to meet Willie and hang out together in London. And yes, I will eventually get around to telling you about the rest of my trip.

I cemented some fabulous friendships with wonderful people that I've never met before.

We finally finished recapping Buffy and Angel over on Snark Squad. We started recapping Dawson's Creek and Doctor Who. And I convinced Anna to join me in recapping Supernatural, a thankless task that I'm regularly on the struggle bus with.

I learnt that Phantom Eye is a thing, and that Alice In Wonderland syndrome is oddly fascinating. And I survived without seeing any pictures of eyeballs with pencils/arrows/whatever hanging out of them, for which I am eternally grateful.

I saw Les Miserables and The Book of Mormon live on stage.

I finished (sort of) my 101 in 1001.

I joined Mediavengers (which I promise I'll write more content for in the new year).

I hung out with this dork a lot, and it was fabulous.

And I had a job, albeit part time, for the entire year when I was expecting it to only last for first term. Plus, I'll be back there next year, which was unexpected but pretty exciting.

So it wasn't the best year ever. But it still had plenty of highlights. Here's to a 2015 that features lots of fun and good times, at least a little bit of a travel, and the end to my job hunting woes.

Happy New Year, friends.

K xx

Tag, you're it!

Two of my favourite people, Ashlea and Angie over at Disquietus Reads, have tagged me in the Sisterhood of the World award. Thank you, you fabulous creatures!

Guidelines:
1. Thank the blogger that nominated you and link back to their website.
2. Post the award’s logo on your blog.
3. Answer the ten questions you have been asked.
4. Nominator ten other bloggers and ask them ten other questions.

The Questions:

1. What is one book or series that you would make everyone read if you could?
WILFAIR. Always and forever the Wilfair series. I just love it so much. So, so much. Also the Throne of Glass series. But mostly Wilfair. Have I mentioned how much I love it??

2. Who is your favourite book boyfriend/girlfriend?
I don't really do book boyfriends/girlfriends. I can never manage to turn off my critical side, so I always end up seeing the flaws in the characters that everyone else flails about. That said, Gomery Overbove from the Wilfair series has a special place in my heart.

3. What are your favourite book covers?
I tend to like really simple, minimalist book covers, like The Fault in Our Stars or Eleanor & Park. I prefer covers that don't feature people, solely because then I can imagine the characters for myself. That said, I LOVE the covers for Throne of Glass, These Broken Stars, and The Lollipop Shoes. I mean, LOOK:

4. Name 3 fictional places you would move to in a heartbeat.
Can I say Hogwarts three times? No? Okay, fine. Hogwarts, the Wilfair Hotel, and the Discworld.

5. What books are you looking forward to most in 2015?
Ellie Marnie's Every Move, Gail Carriger's Prudence, and anything that Sarah J. Maas deigns to grant us with, even if it's just a post-it note. Also Libba Bray's Lair of Dreams, solely because it was meant to come out early this year and IT STILL HASN'T.

6. Name your favourite and least favourite books of 2014.
Favourite? Probably Heir of Fire. Holy crap, I loved that book so hard. Closely followed by Fairwil. My least favourite? Possibly The Selection, which made me indescribably angry. Or Erin McCarthy's entire True Believers series, which was utter tripe from start to finish.

7. Who is your most owned author?
Somewhat embarrassingly, it's Janet Evanovich. I have 42 of her books, even though I very rarely read her stuff any more. After that, it's Terry Pratchett, which is somewhere in the mid 20s.

8. When and why did you start blogging?
I started blogging in October 2009. I was living in Canberra, all my friends and family were in Melbourne, and I found myself telling the same stories over and over and over again every week in emails and phone calls. So I decided that I should set up a blog, direct everyone to it, and save myself hours of talking on the phone, which is one of my least favourite things to do. Except I ended up spending all that time blogging instead. OH WELL.

9. What is your favourite thing about blogging?
Getting to know amazing people and having friends all over the world. Coincidentally, my least favourite thing about blogging is getting to know amazing people and having friends all over the world BUT NEVER GETTING TO SEE THEM BECAUSE THEY LIVE REALLY FAR AWAY.

10. What hobbies do you have besides reading?
Recapping ten year old TV shows for Snark Squad. Baking. The occasional bit of photography. Sporadic obsessions with the Lego games for XBox...

I tag the following people:

- Cait @ Paper Fury
- Willie @ Lazy Happy Bored Happy Sad
- Alysia @ Wilfair
- Kelley @ Diva Booknerd
- Emily @ Love Woke Me Up This Morning
- Gina @ This Is Not Your Blog

Aaaaand anyone else who wants to do this tag.

Your questions are as follows:
1. What's your favourite Harry Potter book? (Come on, everyone has one)
2. What's the book/series that everyone raves about but you just didn't get?
3. Which real world places do you want to visit because of a book?
4. What bookish merchandise are you dying to get your hands on?
5. What's your most anticipated book of 2015?
6. Which book character do you wish you could be best friends with?
7. What's the last book you gave five stars to?
8. Which secondary character do you wish would get their own book?
9. Which author, alive or dead, do you wish you could meet in person?
10. How many books do you own?

K xx

Goodbye, VEDA

Back in April, my 101 in 1001 came to an end, and I put together my Life List. One of the things on that list was to complete VEDA again. Not only did I do that yesterday, but Emily and I organised the whole stinking thing. So I think it's safe to say that I kicked that goal's arse.

Once again, I have a VEDA hangover. Except this time, it comes with oh-God-I'm-like-ten-days-behind-on-watching-videos, and considering I was VEDA co-captain this year, I feel...obligated??...to finish watching everyone's videos. God even knows how long it's going to take me...

ANYWAY. That's why I haven't been around a whole lot over the past month. That, and I was working on backlogging about 20 posts for Snark Squad...

I think my editing and camerawork improved between last year and this year, as evidenced by the fact that when I went back and watched my videos from last year, at least half of them were out of focus. Well done, Past Kirsti. Well done... As always, you can check out the entire playlist here (you know, if you have a spare hour and eleven minutes. Which is a vast improvement on last year's hour and twenty-eight minutes). Or, if you'd prefer to just watch me make a fool of myself for three and a half minutes, you can watch my outtakes video. You're welcome, internet.


K xx

Vlog ALL the vlogs!

That's right, kids. Tomorrow is 1 August, and that means precisely one thing: It's VEDA time!!

For those of you who weren't around these parts this time last year, VEDA is Vlog Every Day in August, and it has a tendency to take over my entire life. And it's been even worse this year because Emily and I ended up organising it, which means that we've spent the past few weeks developing forms and spreadsheets and topic ideas and liaising with our truly fabulous web development team to reboot the website.

All of this probably makes VEDA sound far more big and important than it really is, because there's only about fifty people involved. But still, we've put a fair whack of work into it already and it's not even August yet!

ANYWAY.

All of this is a really long-winded way of saying that I may be a little absent around these parts over the next month. But it's not because I don't love you guys. It'll just be because I've fallen into the Youtube black hole and I can't get out.

If you want to join us, it's not too late! You can read more about VEDA and/or sign up here. Or if you want to subscribe and watch all the ridiculous videos I'll be making over the next month, you can do that here. And if you want to see me writing stuff, you should probably know that I'll still be posting at least twice a week over on Snark Squad, so you should check that out too. Because of reasons.

Otherwise? Things should get back to something resembling normality in September.

K xx

TTT - Top Ten TV Shows

It's time to link up with the Broke and the Bookish again!

This week, just for something different, we're not talking about books at all. We're talking about our favourite movies or TV shows. And let's be honest - TV shows are far more fun to talk about because you don't have to pick something else to watch after two hours. You just move on to the next disc/season/whatever. WIN. 

1. Orange Is The New Black

A recent addition to my list. I've been hearing great things about it for the past couple of years, but never got around to watching it. I think I was hoping that it would air down here and save me the trouble of locating it, seeing as Netflix isn't a thing in Australia. But unfortunately it's only screening on Foxtel at this point, which I don't have. So I caved and tracked down a copy instead. And it is PHENOMENAL. Every single character is utterly incredible (except Larry, who's a douchebag), it's brilliantly written and brilliantly acted, and it's equal parts hilarious and moving. Not to mention being one of the most diverse shows on television. Basically? You should watch it.

2. Orphan Black

Same actress three times, yo.

Look, Tatiana Maslany is a freaking powerhouse, okay? She plays half a dozen completely unique characters, all with their own speech patterns and mannerisms and styles of movement. And sometimes, she even plays one of her characters impersonating another and you're able to tell that it's Rachel impersonating Sarah or Sarah impersonating Alison or Helena impersonating Sarah impersonating Beth. It's incredible. Plus, you know, great stories, great supporting cast, great writing. 

3. Veronica Mars

I wasn't so keen on the third season of VMars, partly because it ended on such a vague note, but the movie earlier this year made me fall in love with the show all over again. It's funny and sassy and heartbreaking and just really, really good. And yes, I ship LoVe like there's no tomorrow. 

4. Sleepy Hollow

Admittedly, there's only been one really short season of this so far. But I absolutely loved every second of it. I mean, the fact that basically only ONE of the half dozen major characters is a white guy is pretty incredible. It's fun and creepy and the acting is great. And there's so much attention to detail with historical accuracy - the way Ichabod stands, how he fights, what he wears, his terms of address is all historically accurate and it makes my inner historian so very happy. Plus, Orlando Jones is AMAZING at interacting with the fandom. 

5. Firefly

Yeah, yeah. I said recently that I was breaking up with Joss Whedon. Despite his problematic aspects, Whedon's shows are still massively entertaining. And Firefly, by merit of only having just over half a season worth of episodes, exists in its own little special bubble wherein Whedon didn't get too much time to do things that made me stabby. While it was a massive flop on TV thanks to Fox showing it totally out of order, it's now achieved cult status, and with good reason.

6. Fringe

I was a big fan of The X-Files back in my high school days, and this fabulous show fitted neatly into that hole. And it's an ideal show for marathoning - I really struggled to watch it on TV because there were so many wibbly wobbly timey wimey elements to keep track of from week to week, but when you marathon it, everything suddenly slips into place. The characters are amazing, there's more of that Tatiana Maslany playing-multiple-versions-of-the-one-character stuff going on for most of the cast, and it's surprisingly funny and moving for a show about supernatural weirdness and fringe science. 

7. Elementary

I've talked before about how I really didn't enjoy Sherlock and how I loved Elementary from the get-go, so it's probably no surprise that it's made this list. Despite it airing on TV here, I've been a bit forgetful of late and still haven't finished watching all of season 2. But Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu (and the supporting cast) are so fantastic that I couldn't not include it in my top ten. Plus, the credits are fabulous.

8. Community

Yes, it wavered during its fourth season when Dan Harmon wasn't involved. But this show is just so much fun. Amazing characters, hilarious scripts, and far more feels-tastic moments than you'd expect from a comedy. And so many completely amazing themed episodes. 

9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy and I have had a rough road recently, due largely to recapping every episode for Snark Squad and the crap that we dealt with in the comments. But I'm pretty sure that sometime in the relatively near future, I'll start to feel the urge to revisit some of my favourite episodes again. Because it's so much fun and there are so many incredible characters and storylines.

10. Doctor Who

This is at the bottom of the list because while I love it a lot, I've had a lot of issues with the way Steven Moffat's been running/writing the show over the past few years. There've only been a handful of episodes that I've enjoyed since David Tennant left, but I'm hopeful that Peter Capaldi and his ability to throw his weight around a bit more than Matt Smith could will help in the new season! 

So. What are your top ten TV shows??

K xx

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

Update all the updates

Sooooo. It's been a while since I've talked about anything besides books and movies, huh? I guess that means it's time to give you guys a few updates on some stuff that's happening...

1. WE FINISHED ANGEL OMG
Yes, a couple of weeks ago, we officially posted our very last Angel recap over on Snark Squad. Since then, we've wrapped things up and, while I still have one more video to make on my own channel because Lor and Sweeney were dirty cheaters and changed the rules after I'd made my wrap-up videos, we are FINISHED with the Buffyverse. Which is crazy exciting.

But don't fret - you'll still see plenty of me over on Snark Squad. We're nearing the end of season 1 of Supernatural, and I'm working on TWO super secret projects over there as well. One will launch next week, while the other won't go live until October. But we've already started writing because we're weirdos like that.

2. I'M GOING TO ENGLAND OMG
That's right, I've booked a plane ticket and I'm heading to Old Blighty for three weeks in September! Well. More like two and a bit weeks in England and five or six days in Portugal, but whatever. It's pretty damned exciting either way. There will be all kinds of family shenanigans, and I plan on catching up with/meeting some of my favourite people. It's going to be pretty interesting, I suspect. Especially as I haven't been to the UK in 12 years, and on that particular occasion I spent all of about six hours in London!

3. I JOINED MEDIAVENGERS OMG
So after an increasing amount of weirdness and insanity on Tumblr, my BFF Kim decided that she was going to move MediAvengers to Blogger and reinvent it. And she asked me to join her, which UM DUH. So you can now find me over there on the regular, being all meta about the media pieces that Kim creates around Marvel Cinematic Universe events and characters wheeeeeee. No, but seriously. Check it out. It's pretty cool.

4. I'M GOING TO CANBERRA OMG
Not QUITE as exciting as some of the other news in this post, but Mum and I are heading up to Canberra next weekend for a few days to catch up with people and meet new babies and probably freeze to death. And to go to the bakery in Holbrook, because that's pretty much the only reason to spend seven hours on the Hume Highway...

5. I HAVE A JOB UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR OMG
Admittedly, it's only one day a week, but that's better than zero days a week! And a year working in the one place definitely looks better on my CV than two months or four months, so YAY.

6. I FINALLY FINISHED WATCHING CHARMED OMG
It only took me the better part of seven months to get through eight seasons!! And one of these days, I'll actually get around to blogging about seasons 4-8 to fit in with the ones I've already done... But for now? I've very happily moved onto Friday Night Lights. Although I don't think I'll be sharing All The Thoughts about that one. Mostly because it seems far too much like hard work!

So. What's new with you guys?

K xx

Movie Monday - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

It's no secret around these parts that Buffy is (was?? It's hard to tell post-Snark Squad) one of my favourite TV shows. But some of you may not know that Buffy actually started way back in 1992 with a truly so-bad-it's-a-little-bit-good movie. And yesterday morning, we watched it for Snarkathon (which you should totally join us for).

Reasons why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is awesome:
1. Kristy Swanson. Sure, she's no Sarah Michelle Gellar, but the sass is strong with this one.
2. Lefty's death scene. AMAZING.

Source

3. The training montage. Who doesn't love an inspirational training montage?!
4. Killing a fly with a thumbtack.
5. Paul Reubens. OMG.
6. All the "before they were famous" moments, including Hilary Swank, Ben Affleck, Ricki Lake, and Seth Green (although almost all his footage ended up on the cutting room floor).
7. Luke Perry. By far the best romantic choice Buffy's ever made.

Source

8. David Arquette. Hilarious.
9. The amazingly 90s costumes.
10. The prom dress-leather jacket-boxer's boots outfit that Buffy wears during the big fight at the school dance. (And apparently the guy she's kicking in the face is the only bit of Seth Green that we actually see)

Source

11. Rutger Hauer.
12. The principal issuing detention slips to the dead vampire students.
13. Donald Sutherland. He's paedo-tastic for the vast majority of this film, but it should not be forgotten that a critically acclaimed actor starred in something this bad.
14. The cheerleading uniforms. They feature CULOTTES.

Source

15. The scene on Pike's van. AMAZING.
16. The fact that Buffy gets cramps when vampires are nearby. Hilariously useless Slayer power.
17. The ridiculous "choosing a theme for the dance" scene.
18. It's Joss Whedon (or at least it's his idea. He left the project part way through because they weren't going the way he wanted them to)

Plus, the following quotes:
- "Pike's not a name, it's a fish."
- "Are you...calling me...a man?"
- "Dribble dribble, shoot shoot, get that ball through the hoop hoop!"
- "You bear the Mark of the Coven." "What, that big old hairy mole? Ew, I had that thing removed."
- "You're floating! Come on, man. Get away from here."
- "This is a naked place!!"
- "You ruined my new jacket! Kill him a lot."
- [after losing an arm] "We're immortal, we can do anything!" "Oh yeah? Clap."
- "You got a C-plus? I can't believe I cheated off of you." "Excuse me for not knowing about El Salvador, like I'm ever going to Spain anyway."
- "Okay people, they're psyching you out. Let's not be so defensive out there, Okay? Now what do we say on the court, repeat after me; I *am* a person, I have the right to the ball."
- "All I want to do is graduate from high school, go to Europe, marry Christian Slater, and die."
- "Great. My secret weapon is PMS. That's just terrific. Thanks for telling me."
- "Get out of my facial!"

Have you seen it? What did you think?

K xx

TTT - Top Ten Popular Authors I've Never Read

It's time to link up with the Broke and the Bookish again!

Today's topic is about popular authors that we've never read. I struggled with this one, because I'm usually willing to give pretty much anything a go. So there aren't a lot of popular authors that I haven't read. Sure, there are some I WISH I could put on this list, but that doesn't quite fit the criteria, does it? 

Anyway, here's my top ten:

1. E.L. James

Nope, I've never read any of Fifty Shades books, and I don't plan on reading them either. I read the recaps over on Snark Squad, and that was more than enough. 

2. Nicholas Sparks

Really not my thing. I know there are millions of people out there who love his books, but based on the blurbs and the movie trailers, they just seem really recycled plotwise. You know, boy meets girl, they fall madly in love, something comes between them, they overcome it, someone dies. Rinse and repeat. 

3. Virginia Woolf

One that will be changing fairly shortly as I have two of her books on my list for Classics Club! 

4. Rick Riordan

I'm not quite sure how the Percy Jackson series slipped past me, but they did. And now I sort of feel like I'm too old to be reading middle-grade fiction. Sigh. 

5. Stieg Larsson

I've had at least ten people tell me to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo over the years. But it just doesn't even remotely appeal to me. Sorry not sorry.

6. Steven King

I have this vague memory that at some point in the dim dark past, I tried to read Salem's Lot. But I don't remember anything of the story, so I'm guessing I probably picked it up at the library, read the first page and put it back. I'm still going to count it as not having read Steven King. What can I say - I'm a wuss.

7. Richelle Mead 

You'd think her stuff would be right up my alley. I mean, it's YA, paranormal, urban fantasy-y stuff. And yet, I've never read anything of hers despite having seen it at the library and at bookstores on numerous occasions.

8. Jodi Picoult

I don't know why, because her books seem to be more crime-centric, but I always put her into the same category as Nicholas Sparks in my head...

9. Alexander McCall Smith

I've heard a lot of good things about his books. One that I keep meaning to read and that just keeps on slipping my mind.

10. Veronica Rossi

I've heard good things about the second and third books in the Under the Never Sky series, but decidedly mixed things about the first book. Which makes me hesitant, regardless of how many times it pops up as a recommendation from Goodreads or Amazon... 

Have you read any of these authors?

K xx

On finishing something big

A rather momentous thing happened on Snark Squad this morning: we published our VERY. LAST. BUFFY RECAP.

It's been a long time coming - our first Buffy post went live on 1 July 2012, so there are children in the world that can walk and sort of talk now that were still foetuses when we started this adventure. But it started a couple of weeks before that with an email from Lor that said (among other things) "So. I'd like to work on a project with you for the Snark Squad if you have some free time in the upcoming weeks."

See the part where it says "weeks"? Yeah. There was a follow up email in which we discussed what style we were going to use, and Lor wrote "Episode by episode, LOL, no." We went in planning to recap three episodes per post. That plan lasted approximately two minutes, and we rapidly reached the point where we were writing somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 words PER EPISODE. Multiply that by 144, and you're talking about far more words than were in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix...

It wasn't always an easy process. There were days when we had colds, work deadlines, assignments, and Real Life Trauma to deal with. There were days when we were on holidays and had to go out of our way to locate internet access in order to comment. There were days when the episodes were painful to watch and we procrastinated as much as possible over writing/commenting on posts.

And then there was the conflict that came from certain portions of our readership disagreeing with the way we saw the actions of various characters. I already commented on that in vlog form, but things got to the point where we were forced to block someone from commenting. It's not something we wanted to do, but it's something that unfortunately became necessary. It's had ongoing fallout, where we've been called petty and immature and no better than kindergarteners stamping our feet for attention. And all for not seeing a fictional character in the same way as someone else.

Source

At the end of the day, people are entitled to think whatever they want about fictional characters. Ship what you want, love who you want, hate who you want. But expecting others to see things exactly the way you do is ridiculous. Instead of name calling, engage in a discussion. Tell me why you love the character, why you see their actions in a different way, why you think a scene is brilliant that I thought was ridiculous. I might not come around to your point of view, but I'll respect it infinitely more if you Use Your Words and explain things in a rational way than if you just tell me that I'm wrong.

The way I see it, everyone's opinion is worthy of my time and respect, and everyone has a right to express their opinion, whether or not you agree with it. That includes Lor and Sweeney and I.


Luckily, the positives far outweighed the negatives. For the most part, this project was a phenomenal experience. I got to work with two of my favourite people on the planet. I got to rewatch what is still one of my favourite TV shows, even if the project caused me to see events in a different light. I got to interact with the most incredible community, many of whom I now consider friends.

It seems appropriate that on the day we published our last recap, Sarah Michelle Gellar did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. A huge number of the questions she was asked were about Buffy, and it warms my heart to see that after all these years, she's still so passionate about the show and the role that she played and, indeed, the impact that the show had on HER life.

Whatever you think of the show or its characters, the fact remains that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a huge impact on an entire generation, and that while the costumes and the make up may date, many of the concepts that the show deals with do not. This project moved Snark Squad into new territory. It took us a while and a few battles, but we found our Scooby Gang and have come out the other side smiling at the giant gaping hole before us with the knowledge that now we're free.

Source

So to any of you who've ever read or commented on a Buffy post, THANK YOU. We honestly couldn't have done it without you, and I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am to have been a part of this experience. Here, have a tackle hug:

K xx

Stuff. And things.

I had plans for writing a proper post today, but it's 7.10pm on a Friday and it was a million degrees today, so my brain has melted into a useless puddle. So here, have some random bullet points of stuff I haven't mentioned instead. YAY.

• I got to work this morning and the heel fell off my sandal. Thank God school libraries are basically craft supplies central, because it meant I could pull out the hot glue gun and fix the problem.
• You can now get a browser extension that replaces Tony Abbott's face with kittens. Not his actual face. Or actual kittens. (Which is highly unfortunate) Pictures of his face. Replaced by pictures of kittens. Whatever, it's genius. Now if only there were a puppy version...
• I've been watching Siberia over the past few days, and I genuinely can't decide whether it's genius or completely bizarre. 
• Little Miss A phoned me earlier to tell me that she's finished a 348 page book. I had to fight the urge to high five the phone, Barney Stinson style.
• We got a copy of the Thor: The Dark World novelisation at work today. It includes Thor and Loki bookmarks. Not gonna lie, my Library of Congress bookmark seems a little lame in comparison. 
• This morning on the bus, my knee got stuck to the seat in front, thanks to someone else's old chewing gum. I'm still a little grossed out. 
• I'm pretty sure R.L. Stine is just writing Goosebumps books for Tumblr based on this title:

"EVERYTHING was giant. I can't even".

• I've somehow been sucked into watching My Kitchen Rules. I kind of hate myself for it, because it's pretty freaking awful. But some of the contestants are so vile about everyone else's cooking that I have to keep watching to see them get torn to shreds by the judges when they inevitably make a trainwreck of THEIR dishes. 
• The National Multicultural Festival is on in Canberra this weekend, and I really wish I was there. Because OMG EAT ALL THE DELICIOUS FOODS. 
• We have a whopping FOUR EPISODES of Buffy left to cover on Snark Squad, and I am terrifyingly excited about finally being done. 
• Speaking of Snark Squad, this happened this morning. Excuse me while I use "Shut up, John Green said we're great" as a comeback to things for the rest of forever:

Tralalala!

So. How are things with you guys?

K xx

Another year over. What?!

I honestly can't even begin to process the fact that it's the 31st of December already. RIDICULOUS. Anyway, instead of doing my usual year in review post with a million links to a million posts that no one will actually bother to click through to, I figured that I'd do this year's wrap up in vlog form.


Happy New Year, y'all. I'll catch you in 2014!!

K xx

Ranty McRanterson

Being a fan of things is great. But sometimes, dealing with other fans? Is really not. In the past year, I've ended up dealing with a lot of fans of two shows in particular. And as a result, my feelings towards those shows have changed quite dramatically. I vlogged about it, because it seemed easier...



Has fandom ever ruined something for you? Were you able to love it again down the track??

K xx

101 in 1001 #1

Well, hello! I had every intention of starting to tell you guys all about my trip on Wednesday, and then I ended up spending a hundred years writing selection criteria responses and the next thing I knew, it was 10.30pm. And then I was going to do the same yesterday, but I ended up spending the afternoon Hulk smashing the planet because of the Buffy episode that we were covering on Snark Squad today, which has been the cause of many MANY ranty "WTF IS THIS EPISODE???" emails between Lor, Sweeney, and myself.

ANYWAY. As it's now after 6pm on a Friday night, I'm too lazy to start telling you about my trip in detail. So instead, I shall tell you this: that my trip crossed off the very first thing on my 101 in 1001 list(!!) - to visit a new country. Sure, I've flown through Auckland a bunch of times, but I'd never actually left the airport or cleared passport control. And now I have! Not that I have the stamp to prove it... *sad panda*

I promise I'll start telling you about my trip really soon. But in the meantime, here's some purdy pictures to prove that I actually left the country:

Auckland

HOBBITON!

The Champagne Pool

Mt Ngauruhoe

Wellington

Have good weekends, y'all.

K xx