Reading/Watching Log #38

I churned through so much stuff this month, no doubt due to the fact that I took some time off work for my birthday and ended up having my first holiday in years. I flew up to Auckland for three days in order to see Broadway's Aladdin at the Civic Theatre, and it was fantastic: not only for itself, but in reminding me of how much I loved the Disney movie as a kid. 

I took the rest of that week off, and naturally spent most of my time catching up on shows and reading as much as I could. Despite my huge TBR pile (including those from my Treat Yo Self stack) I ended up churning through three quintessential "beach reads".

I've also decided that this is the year I actually finish the shows I've started before jumping into anything new - so unless something actually gets released in 2019 (because there's no way I'm missing out on Stranger Things or Young Justice) I'm sticking strictly to my back-catalogue of unfinished shows.

And yes, I did see the third instalment of How To Train Your Dragon this month, but I'm going to hold off on a proper review for a while - I want to do what I'm currently doing with the Toy Story trilogy and watch/review them all in a row. 

Links and Updates

Well, I begin my new job tomorrow which means that my already-limited free time will be whittled down even further.

But that doesn't mean I'll disappear entirely. I'm going to keep on reviewing Vixen (which is thankfully short and sweet) and am currently writing up a review on Indian Summers, and I'm itching to get onto season two of The 100 (so many tantalizing GIF sets on my dashboard). As well as that, my TBR book list is stacked halfway up the wall, and I've got another Polytech assignment to finish by the end of the month.

So it's all on at my place at the moment; but honestly – I'm pretty happy about it.

Woman of the Month: Lagertha

Lagertha from Vikings

So over the past three days I have gorged myself on the History Channel's Vikings. Marathoning twenty-one episodes (two-and-a-bit seasons in total) seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it's impossible to think about anything else.

And of course, the highlight of the show was Lagertha.

As one of the rare cases of a female character who seems to be totally beloved by all of fandom, Lagertha can be best summed up by King Ecbert's rapturous praise: "She is unlike any woman I have ever met. There are no Saxon women like her. A shield maiden. A warrior. A farmer. A mother. She is incredible."

And he's right. Lagertha is a loving mother and a fierce warrior; she accompanies the men on raids, divorces her first husband because she refuses the indignity of sharing him with another woman, kills her second husband when he becomes abusive, becomes jarl of his community and rides at the head of its army, displays consistent solidarity with other women (especially those that need her protection), leads her people to England to establish a new farming settlement, and currently has a powerful king completely smitten with her.

Pretty much everything she does is awesome. And it's awesome.