Holy cow, where has the time gone?! I’m writing this post the day of instead of earlier and scheduling it so it clearly sneaked up on me! Since I’m doing this last minute I don’t have anything elaborate planned, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who has stuck with me… through my hiatus, my sporadic posts since then… the support of my readers is truly what keeps me chugging along. To all my loyal readers…
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is a Valentine’s Day themed freebie! Two years ago I did the top 10 book romances that make me swoon, but I have several new favorites now so I wanted to do it again. In no particular order…
(Excuse me while I go cry my eyes out now.)
(Though Rachel Hartman proceeded to crush my heart in Shadow Scale.)
All photos that are not from movies are from Unsplash
Who do you feel are the most swoon-worthy book couples?
As my husband and I are going through our second full watch of Star Trek as a couple, I thought it would be fun to report on the highlights along the way. So I decided to copy the same format as Charlene at Bookish Whimsy, who is going through her first-ever run of Star Trek and sharing her favorite episodes for each season. To compare, see her favorite episodes of Voyager season one.
The first season of Voyager is a short one, so I was going to do a top 3, but then I found it was actually pretty easy for me to come up with a top 5. After the huge significance of the pilot, not a lot happens in this season; the best is yet to come for Voyager.
This is the Doctor’s first real episode and first time experiencing life beyond sick bay. It was good to see him wrestle with, and then embrace, this new experience.
This hedonistic planet (that is not Risa) is interesting to me, but what gets me most in this episode is the end! I don’t want to spoil it, but let’s just say a character makes a surprising decision!
This is another plot twist episode where you find out someone isn’t all that he or she said they were. Dun dun DUN!
2. Caretaker
Now that I have rewatched every Star Trek pilot except Enterprise’s, which bored me to tears the first time, I think I can stand by my opinion that it is the best pilot in Star Trek. I don’t love everything about it, but it raises the stakes a ton and really sets the tone of the show from the get-go.
I really like this episode and I don’t know how to pinpoint why. I mean, you know they’re not actually going to make it home, but there’s the angle of hope that maybe they’ll get to send out messages. I won’t go any further about the plot, but will also add that I really like the Romulan character in this one. Everything in Star Trek was often overblown with Klingons, or in DS9 Ferengi, but I always want more Romulans (thanks Enterprise for finally indulging me). They fascinate me.
If you’ve seen Voyager, what your favorite episodes of the first season?
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Historical Settings You Love/ Ten Historical Settings You’d Love To See or Top Futuristic Books You Love/Ten Futuristic Societies I’d Love To Read in Books. I wanted to do a mix of historical settings and futuristic ones, so I wasn’t sure how best to sum this up in a catchy title. But here are ten settings I’d like to see from other periods of time in books… be it past or present. And if you know of something in said settings, please feel free to recommend them to me!
1. The 1950’s
Thanks to a fifties dress up day at school once upon a time, I fell in love with poodle skirts and become obsessed with the 1950’s for a while. While my love for it isn’t quite as strong now, I still find it an interesting time period and would love to read a YA novel set in 1950’s America!
2. Future a la Gattaca
There are two things I love about the movie Gattaca in terms of its futuristic setting. One, it’s about a time in which society only views those who have been genetically engineered as capable of taking on the larger roles of society, while those who have not been engineered are doomed to a life of servitude. It’s a fascinating concept and Gattaca only scratches the surface with it. The second is that it has such a classic, timeless feel to it even though it’s set in the future. It’s a mix of, ironically, a 1950’s classic style with the sort of sleek/steel looks we often associate with the future. I don’t want to see a book completely rip off Gattaca and I’m not looking for a novelization of it either, but something that draws inspiration from it would be interesting to see.
(FYI, if genetic engineering and its consequences fascinate you I would recommend the YA duology For Darkness Shows the Stars and Across a Star-Swept Sea. It’s set in a different world and the consequences are surprising!)
3. French Revolution
I never had an interest in the French Revolution until I watched the movie Les Miserables. Something about watching Marius and these other young men and boys risking their lives for their cause in such a ragamuffin way was really interesting to me. Now I would love to see a YA book where the French Revolution served as the backdrop of the story.
4. Space Station/Spaceship Living
I have read a couple of books with spaceship living, and my WIP actually has a space station setting for part of the book, but I want to see more YA books that feature families living in space.
5. World War II
There are already a lot of WWII books out there, but it’s period in time that fascinates me. And with these three books above, they explore three very different experiences and there’s so much more to be told.
6. Alternate History of any Time
The only alternate history I have read so far is the Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld and it was interesting! It’s fun to explore “what if” scenarios when it comes to events in our past.
7. Spy Story 1960’s Style
I presume because of the Cold War, spy stories were big in the 1960’s. Last year I randomly wanted to see/read some spy stuff a la the 1960’s, though I never got around to seeking it out (I would have probably watched The Man from U.N.C.L.E. but I wasn’t pleased with how it looked like the woman’s role was going to play out). I still would be intrigued to see something of this nature in YA format.
8. Clones
I know there have been books with clones, but very few have actually appealed to me (though if you have any recs, please share). This is another interest I have had for a while in science fiction though and would love to see it well-done in the YA world, something probably akin to Orphan Black (though I haven’t actually watched the show so I can’t say for sure, but the idea seems right)!
9. American Revolutionary War
Any other American Girl fans out there who remember Felicity? She lived during the Revolutionary War, and I think it would be interesting to see a YA novel set during the time period. There would also definitely be a forbidden romance between a Loyalist and a Patriot.
10. A Future of Technology Dependence
This is a theme that has been explored before, and in this day and age I think it’s worth continued exploration. We live in a time where toddlers can operate smart phones. How will this affect them as they grow up? What will future generations glued to their screens mean? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-technology (clearly since I have a blog), but it’s important to consider the ramification of technology with moderation. Free to Fall did a pretty good job of this, and I’d be interested in more YA fiction with similar themes.
What time settings, past or future, would you like to read about?
I only saw nine 2015-released movies last year, but I’m sure I’ll pick up a few more along the way. I wanted to rank the ones I saw and share a few sentences about my thoughts on them. The rankings are based on an unscientific mix between the movie’s subjective likability for me personally, and my as-objective-as-possible feelings on the strength of the story.
9. Tomorrowland
I really wanted to like this one more. First the good: the concept is interesting, and I really loved the main character. I would read a book series that followed her for sure. But the story fell flat and this movie had no clear target audience. Sometimes it felt like a kid’s movie, sometimes it felt a little older, but it certainly never felt consistent. I expected more of Brad Bird with The Incredibles and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol under his belt, but I guess they can’t all be hits. 3 stars
8. The Peanuts Movie
I am a big fan of The Peanuts, so I wanted to be sure to catch the new movie. My husband and I went and saw it in theater I believe the second weekend, and we were the only people in there who neither a child nor had a child. Not the target audience, I guess. However, it was very cute, and felt very true to the original content while still feeling fresh. It didn’t change my life but I enjoyed it. 3.5 stars
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Even though I think I enjoyed Peanuts more, I decided to rank this one higher because I think in the grand scheme of things this will be more enduring both for me and in general. At least I hope one day I will look back at this and see why everything happened the way it did. The first 2/3 of this movie was great for me, so solid; I was really into. The only thing I felt a little meh about during this part was when Kylo Ren took off his mask because (1) mystery gone and (2) hello you do not look like Han or Leia at all. But in the last third it just fell so flat for me. There are various reasons, but let’s hope this is a set-up for something greater, because considering how much time and money was devoted to this movie it could have been more epic. And I love BB-8 forever. 3.5 or 4 stars? Time will tell.
6. Cinderella
Unlike Star Wars, I probably won’t rewatch this movie until if and when I have a daughter, but I thought it was very well-done, especially for its genre. It’s definitely very fairy-tale; this isn’t some gritty, more realistic version, but I think there needs to be a place for this sort of story, especially for young girls. And Cinderella isn’t helpless; she is courageous and just as beautiful on the inside as she is outside, and ultimately that’s why the prince falls for her. I was very pleased with this adaptation. 4 stars/My review
5. Avengers: The Age of Ultron
It’s the Avengers back together again, and with that comes quips and action and yeah, I liked it. But it did have its flaws and it’s not my favorite. 4 stars/My review
4. Ant-Man
Ant-Man was so fun, and it really pleasantly surprised me. It’s not perfect either but I really enjoyed it. 4 stars/My review
3. Inside Out
Pixar, you’ve finally done it again: making me laugh and cry and feel things and be amazed at your original ideas. 4 stars/My review
2. Mockingjay: Part Two
I don’t understand the hate that the Mockingjay movies have gotten by some. They are not easy movies to watch, they’re not as exciting as the previous two, but they are SO IMPORTANT. The themes of war and PTSD and all that are so prevalent. I think I like Part One a little better, but I’ll have to rewatch them back to back to know for certain. I just wished the ending of Part Two had played out slightly differently (not changed the story, just been shown differently, if that makes sense). But overall, I thought it was really good. 4.5 stars/My review
1. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
I rewatched this one recently and even though it didn’t have near the suspense of the first watch, I still loved it so much. I don’t know what it is about these newer MI movies but I am just all about them. They’re interesting action movies with very likable characters. 4.5 stars/My review
What was your favorite movie that was released in 2015? Do you have any recommendations for ones that I missed?