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lady_ragnell ([personal profile] lady_ragnell) wrote2020-01-01 02:53 pm
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Non-Book Media Catchall Post

 I really need a more catchy title for these. Anyway, for the last quarter of the year, since my last was in late September! I'll try to do these quarterly in 2020, especially since last year I tried and failed quite badly at keeping a paper record of movies and TV that I watched (it works for books but not for TV episodes, I guess!), so this will help me keep track of things.

Music

I mean, I listen to music all the time, but I haven't run across much that's new in the past few months! Been listening to long instrumental compilations or the same song on repeat for several hours (when I wasn't listening to ABBA for two months solid while being involved in a production of Mamma Mia), and haven't tried any new albums in a while! I need to check on some favorite artists of the past, see when they've got new albums coming. I feel like it's been a while since we got new Vienna Teng! What's she up to?

Movies

I saw "Charlie's Angels," which I was looking forward to in the last post, and I loved it so much! Like, was it deep? No it was not. But it was exactly what I needed it to be, all our three main angels are girlfriends now, and it was so much fun and an absolutely delightful way of spending an afternoon. Plus it was a way to hang out with a friend while I had laryngitis (I was not contagious by then, don't worry!) so badly that I had to shout to whisper.

"The Rise of Skywalker"! Look, my bar for Star Wars is low. It would have taken a lot for me to not love it, and I did! I really wish I could have watched it divorced from the edges of things that had crept in and everyone's negativity about it. Like, there were legit critiques that I was super excited to engage with after I saw the movie! But when I told a co-worker I was going to see it he said "I hear it's trash, critics have been walking out of it" and that is just not the kind of negativity I want when I say I'm excited about something! Especially because critics are bullshit. Anyway, there was one moment where someone in the audience made a retching noise and HARD AGREE, that is my main non-OT3 take from this movie. (I mean, I have others, but many of them I am not the best person to talk about them so that's my personal take on things.)

"Barbie Star Light Adventure" was my favorite movie I saw this year. I mean, would it have been better if the storytellers had been freed from corporate marketing to just tell the story they were clearly excited about? Sure! The pet animal was horrifying, the music was poorly lip-synced and obviously not sung by the voice actress, whatever. But also? Optimistic sci fi! With no real villain! And bright colors and fun costumes and an engaging heroine for young people to identify with and PLOT SIGNIFICANT MUSIC!!!! Also Barbie and her friend Sal-lee are GIRLFRIENDS and you cannot convince me otherwise. Look, if you can get past the corporate stuff and have Netflix ... this was such a comfort watch for me. Cannot recommend enough.

Also I watched a bunch of cheesy holiday films on Netflix and "The Knight Before Christmas" and "Santa Girl" are both groundbreaking and amazing, I will not be taking questions at this time.

TV Shows

A bunch of the end of this year was me watching a whole lot of "Great British Baking Show" and "Making It," because I find them both soothing, the former more than the latter. Another soothing TV show that I've been watching solely through the YouTube channel uploading episodes one by one is Taskmaster, a British comedy series where comedians are given ridiculous tasks and ranked on how they did at them. I literally cried laughing in the first episode, and I REALLY needed it at the end of this year, when I have been feeling kind of tired and beat down.

Um, what else? I watched "The Expanse" up to where it was in October but haven't come back for season four yet. That was all a friend of mine wanting a buddy to watch it with, really, but I was happy enough to indulge him. On the surface it looks like something I'd love because Killjoys! In practice it's so much darker and I find the main character so much less compelling that it was way more of a slog than I wanted it to be, tragically. I'm still going to keep going, for friend chats, but not a heart show by any means. Though I am amused that I went from the Green Goo Alien Show to the Blue Goo Alien Show.

I've started "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" ages after everyone else and it's fun so far.

And then I'm just keeping up with some sitcoms! I dropped "Superstore," it's feeling more embarrassing and meaner than before this season, but I'm still keeping up with "Single Parents" and "The Good Place" and am having fun with "Perfect Harmony," which is new this year.

D&D

After all the stress, our characters went on vacation, where they remained, having conversations and hanging out on the beach and doing some experimental necromancy, for quite some time! Now we're in a different character's backstory, and we're level 13 (12? I am suddenly brain cramping and I'm too lazy to check so it's a mystery to us all), so a whole lot of plot threads are starting to come together.

Things I'm Looking Forward To

(I don't have any new "Other," really, and I'm going to do a separate wrap-up post on creative projects I've done in 2019, so we're skipping those.)

I mean, there are a lot of books coming out this year that I am so excited about, but this isn't a book post. I don't know! I'm waiting for some new canons to grab me, and none of the movie trailers I've been seeing lately have particularly excited me, and I don't know much about upcoming TV (and binging things takes so much effort, I really want a few more things I can be fannish about week by week, like Killjoys, and not have all the enthusiasm there and done within a week. Like, I kind of want to watch The Witcher, but I know it's not going to stick!).

So on that note, anyone have any recommendations about upcoming TV and movies they're excited about, albums I shouldn't miss out on, or Youtube channels to take a deep dive into? What shall my media consumption look like in 2020?

chestnut_pod: A close-up photograph of my auburn hair in a French braid (Default)

[personal profile] chestnut_pod 2020-01-02 07:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I just went to see Vienna Teng at her annual Bay Area concert in Berkeley, and she is, it seems to me from her patter, a) enjoying her work, b) having a baby in a few months, and c) not working on music very much, alas. But good for her! She seemed very well and sang, as ever, like an angel.

I discovered a really gorgeous album connected to Robert MacFarlane's The Lost Words collection/art piece: The Lost Words: Spell Songs. It is lovely and folky and has interesting instrumentation and very fun lyrics.

(Anonymous) 2020-01-03 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope one day you can! If you’re ever in California in wintertime, that seems to be her most reliable stomping ground.

Really glad you enjoyed Spell Songs!
writerproblem193: A foggy grey lake, with the horizon line invisible. On the left is an island with a pine. (Default)

[personal profile] writerproblem193 2020-01-04 06:28 am (UTC)(link)
Vienna Teng tends to livestream the small concerts she does, I ended up watching one and it was lovely. If you subscribe to her on YouTube you might catch one! For music recs, you recced a Thea Gilmore album a while back, but if you haven't listened to her back catalog I super, super love The Counterweight. And I'm sure you've heard about Hadestown before but the music is so so, good. The album Lease of Life by Errors is also one of my favourites, though ymmv.

In term of grabby canons, I've found The Adventure Zone podcast to be a grabby one for me (specifically the second arc / show Amnesty) but ymmv. It's certainly a very specific form of entertainment. I saw Star Wars a few days ago and there was a trailer for the next Wonder Woman movie that looks like it's going to be lots and lots of fun.

I also have no idea what I'm going to be doing, fandom wise in the next year. Daredevil showed up out of nowhere to shake me down this last few months and I have no idea when that's going to fade or what might surface from my past to haunt me. Or if I find something new to watch / consume! If only Star Trek: Discovery wasn't... what it is. I think I'll keep watching it somewhat but there's been a lot of :/ stuff that's killed off my transformative energy.