I’m doubling up this time around because I completely forgot to put up January’s monthly wrap-up. Not that much happened in January. I mostly took pictures of food and books, or, well, you know, busy doing nothing much?
Books Read
Well, a double feature of monthly wrap-ups makes it look like I did a ton of reading at least…
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier || Speak Easy by Catherynne M. Valente || Interstellar Cinderella by Deborah Underwood || Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente || Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper || Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza || She Captains by Joan Druett
Currently Reading
Tamora Pierce did a signing last month for Tempests and Slaughter! I’ve been looking forward to this book for a long time, and I’ve totally pushed back on all my other books to read this. Yeeep.
Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch || Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce || Tortall: A Spy’s Guide by Tamora Pierce || Ghost Slayer by Majanka Verstraete || Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl || The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
Writing
So I’m sitting and listening to music on my way home, and something came to me. I might actually write it down.
Movies
The Academy Awards are tonight, actually, so it’s only appropriate that I highlight my Oscar-movie bingeing for the past two months! I’m only sad that I didn’t get through all the movies on the list, but for the most part, I got through all of the Best Picture nominations at least (well, the last one I’ll be watching last minute).
Mudbound || The Breadwinner || The Big Sick || The Shape of Water || Boss Baby || The Post || I, Tonya || Molly’s Game
I absolutely loved The Shape of Water so much that I might actually buy myself a copy to keep (and I haven’t done that in a while). I, Tonya and Molly’s Game are longshots, but I really liked how they scripted the dialogue in Molly’s Game and I thought Margot Robbie and Allison Janney was fabulous in I, Tonya. The Breadwinner was really good, but it’s honestly Pixar’s category to lose as usual.
Dunkirk || Coco || Get Out || Darkest Hour || The Phantom Thread || Lady Bird || Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri || Victoria and Abdul
I’m normally a period piece kind of gal, but even Victoria and Abdul bored the shmat out of me. I didn’t like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and honestly I hope Get Out wins for screenplay in that vein, because it was definitely well-written. I’m respecting Dunkirk for cinematography, but I honestly couldn’t tell you what the movie was about; I’ve totally forgotten already.
Television
I pretty much binged my shows, though most of my focus has been on movies.
Supergirl, Season 1 – After my general misgivings about how good Supergirl was going to be, I’ve gotten hooked since. Once past a certain number of episodes, it definitely got tons better. Also, I CALLED IT ON THE MARTIAN.
The Royal House of Windsor – This was something I watched after I ran out of The Crown episodes. Again. It wasn’t bad, I suppose, but definitely NOT The Crown.
Video Games
Injustice 2 – I don’t normally play fighting games, but for the Injustice franchise and its superb CG animations, I’m game for anything. This was a fabulous continuation of Injustice, and if there’s a third, I’m looking forward to that, too!
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider – I honestly consider this a spinoff of Dishonored 2, and while it was shorter as far as gameplay, it still packed a wallop. The story was straightforward and contained much less conspiracy, but if this was how Arkane Studios wanted to completely tie up the Dishonored series, it’s definitely a strong finisher.
Fooding
I ate and baked a lot of things, okay? What more do you want from me?!
Florentines || Chicken Gyro || Artichoke and spinach mac n’ cheese || Medovik || Chocolate covered frozen fruits || Chocolate mousse || Banana nutella crepe || Waffle fries
The end of March is going to be interesting, because, um, I’m headed off to a far away place (aka PARIS YAY!), so we’ll see how I’ll fare as far as updates go.
Story and Somnomancy 