Links and Updates

I usually write up a special post to mark the end of one year and the beginning of another, but between one thing or another, my goodbye to 2017 slipped past me this year. Kind of like the year itself.

The biggest change for me was that I finally got a job as a library assistant, and though it's only fixed term, I received the training and experience I need to hopefully make the leap to permanent position a little easier. It was a huge year in that respect, and it means I can finally start saving in earnest for a trip to Europe. Will I get there this year? Fingers crossed.

And because I'm an optimist, I chose to look back on 2017 and the good things that happened. Or perhaps not good exactly, but cathartic. The poisonous sexual harassment culture in Hollywood is finally being flushed out, which has ramifications for abused women and men everywhere. Right-wing provocateurs fell like flies, with steps finally being taken to stamp down on hate speech across the internet. And a certain administration is obviously not having much fun, because at the end of the day evil isn't swishing cloaks or menacing music or imposing grandeur – it's greed, incompetence, stupidity and pettiness.

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Though I've mentioned it before, my review for The Last Jedi might be a while yet. Different points-of-view keep appearing on my Tumblr dash, all written with so much passion and/or vitriol that it's enough to make me dizzy. At this stage it feels like the only thing worse than liking this film is disliking it.

More than that, the film itself has become a lightning rod for so many fandom issues that have nothing to do with the movie itself. Stanning villains, shipping rights, Godwin's law – everyone has a strong opinion and I don't really feel like voicing my own until some of the furore has died down.

So until then, let's look forward to what's coming in 2018: more Jessica Jones, more Killjoys, more of The Handmaid's Tale, which is heading into uncharted waters as it surpasses the events of the novel! We’re getting our first female Doctor in Doctor Who, and the long-awaited return of Young Justice to pick up all those loose threads that were left dangling when it was abruptly cancelled five years ago.

I'm also at the point where I watch so many shows that I'm never without a show. As one ends another starts up again: I'm halfway through the latest season of Vikings, Star Trek: Discovery has just returned, and Supergirl is just around the corner...

Marvel has a great line-up with Black Panther, Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp (in that order) and I've also got my eye on The Shape of Water and A Wrinkle in Time. Oh, and have you seen the teaser trailer for Mortal Engines?

I'm a little hesitant about Hester Shaw, as her facial scar is meant to cut across her eye and nose, yet here it's easily covered by a scarf. And what are the odds it'll be just a thin white line anyway? Hollywood just can't handle an unattractive woman.

But there's plenty of reading material to look forward to. Sometime in the near future (hopefully) I'm going to settle down and get through the long-awaited books I received for Christmas: The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman, Goldenhand by Garth Nix, Black Light Express by Philip Reeve, Court of Fives by Kate Elliot and Deathless by Catherynne Valente. I'll wait until a rainy day, wrap myself in a blanket and read all day.

I think that's my favourite thing about life on Planet Earth: that there are always more stories out there.