Fangirl: 2013

Up until now, this domain has been used primarily for a barely-used blog and some dusty old fanlistings. In 2013 that all changes: The new version of Fangirl.co.uk will be slowly populated with the kind of things you’d expect to see on the domain of a fangirl: actual fangirling. Now, don’t worry — I’m not going to share five thousand photos of Tom Hiddleston, or vlogs of me screaming about how utterly amazing Joss Whedon is; instead, I will be sharing what I’ve been reading, what I’ve been watching and just generally what I’ve been doing. I don’t expect any of the content to interest visitors, but that’s never been my goal. I’ve always been shy about unleashing my inner fangirl in front of people — even just on the internet — and it’s finally time to let her breathe.

So from now on, this is her space. As it should have been all along.

Welcome to my Fangirl domain.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

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I have made it my personal goal to make everybody I know watch The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. They’re a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice through the medium of internet (mainly youtube, with twitter and tumblr accounts belonging to the characters) and.. and I love them. I just love them. <3

So here’s the first video, and the whole playlist. Go!

Andromeda

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The titular starship from the television series Andromeda

Andromeda is one of the many shows I loved in 2000, but I quickly got distracted by life and never watched beyond the middle of the second season. I’ve been working my way through the series on LoveFilm for a couple of months now. I’m up to episode seven of season four (“The World Turns All Around Her”) and I love it. Okay, it’s not that good — season three was so astoundingly dreadful that my partner and I read episode guides for about eight of the episodes just so we wouldn’t have to watch them. It felt like the writers had only written about five episodes for that season and then just stole scripts from other shows for the rest of the episodes, with some quick rewrites to squeeze Andromeda and her crew into them, and the occasional semi-important scene tacked on to the end of the episode. Honestly.

But now I’m on season four! And it’s much better! Yay!

I love the characters; the show charms me into watching more episodes by making me love Harper and Trance. I was sad about the thing that happened with Tyr (vagueness to avoid spoilers; though you probably shouldn’t be reading if you’re avoiding spoilers about Andromeda) and how the writers decided to wrap up that big storyline. And what the hell is the deal with the space cat?! I just don’t even know. I wouldn’t be surprised if that thread never gets picked up again.

Grey’s Anatomy

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I’m most of the way through a very long watch-through of Grey’s Anatomy. I kept missing this show when it aired for the first time, and now that I have LoveFilm Instant I can watch up to the end of season seven (season nine is currently airing on TV) for the first time! I didn’t expect to love this show as much as I do, or to completely fall in love with each of the characters. I also didn’t expect my partner to love the show as much as I do: he says it’s because the dialogue is so real and the writing is so clever — there are no patronising moments and any necessary bursts of exposition are realistic instead of transparently tacked on to appease the viewer, which makes it so unlike most of the television we’ve watched.

I’m currently on episode 14 of season seven, and I’m not looking forward to reaching the end. Without subscription TV it’s very difficult to watch this show in the UK, so I guess I’ll be waiting a while for season eight.

Paranormal Activity 2

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I watched Paranormal Activity a couple of years ago, and I was surprised while watching the sequel (on Netflix) by just how much I remembered of the first film. It makes sense: it scared the crap out of me. Subtle is always scarier for me, and the idea that anything could be lurking in your house without your knowledge is pretty much a universal staple of the horror genre. A couple of the scares in this film were of the sudden-jump variety, which is disappointing in hindsight. Jump-scares just don’t last as long as the slow build of an unknown terror: they don’t last beyond the end of the movie like a good horror movie does.

I remember going to a midnight screening of The Grudge with my mother, and walking through a dark underground car park afterwards. That was terrifying. That film scared me for months after watching it: even just typing about it now makes me feel anxious. I had to sell my DVD because the cover image scared me. That’s the sort of scare I want from a film (what the hell is wrong with me?) — not a cheap fright that does nothing but make me jump. There were only a couple of those in Paranormal Activity 2, but I thought the film really didn’t need them.

There were some well done non-jump-scares in Paranormal Activity 2; particularly the final scene which I found terrifying even though there weren’t any startling moments. For me, the scariest part of the entire film was a moving pool cleaner — which sounds utterly pathetic, but it made me cover my face in fear! I really enjoyed the film, despite the two or three cheap scares, and it’s lingering just enough to keep me away from fanfiction because I would like to start forgetting everything about it now please.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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I recently exchanged Christmas gifts with my brother — a bit early, I know. I bought him Saints Row: The Third (and got a copy for myself at the same time) and he bought me Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that I have been waiting for this game since 2006. It doesn’t disappoint. Bethesda have done it again and I would possibly swear my imaginary firstborn to them if that sort of thing were still legal.

I received Skyrim on Saturday and have played thirty hours since then. It’s not enough. Supposedly there are about 100 hours of gameplay, but there are also endless generated quests, so I could (theoretically) play this game forever. The interface is such an improvement on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and even on Fallout: New Vegas (my second-favourite of Bethesda’s games, which I have played about sixty-four hours of, according to Raptr) and I am utterly obsessed. It is such a beautiful game.

Oh yeah, and there are freaking DRAGONS.

This game reduces me to tiny fangirl noises. I am so thrilled by it I cannot even speak.

For those who are also playing: I am a dual-wielding mage/warrior female Imperial badass. Who steals a lot of stuff. A lot.

New Fanlisting: Michael J. Fox

The latest addition to the Fangirl collective is the Michael J. Fox fanlisting. Thank you, Georgie, for letting me adopt it!

I was going to make a quiet exit from the fanlistings scene, but I could not resist this one. I also can’t seem to get rid of any of my other ones! So, I guess I’m still here.

MT @tingedfringe: My partner (@jencarpediem) has just set the CSI Miami “yeaaaah” to a keyboard hotkey. o_O
— Jennifer (@JenCarpeDiem) September 24, 2011

This is basically the best thing I did today.

Rehaul

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Well, I’ve been meaning to do it for a while now but I’ve finally replaced FanUpdate (D-) with WordPress (A+) and imported a few of the entries from my blog at December16.co.uk. That website will ~~soon~~ eventually become a creativity portfolio and this will become my main blog. It just suits me better. December16 may be the only domain name I can never grow out of, but Fangirl is me. I am the Fangirl in question; the name doesn’t only apply to my fanlistings.

There’s some new stuff here, but if you’ve visited December16.co.uk in the past, you’ve probably seen it all before!

Naturally, this is a work-in-progress and you may notice some parts of the website going a bit wonky. Just pretend it’s not happening and everything will be fine!

Movie Weekend

Ellie and Carl

I watched Up on Saturday and fell in love. What a beautiful story, a beautiful movie and a beautiful love played out in its entirety on screen. Really just a wonderful film which has only cemented Pixar as my favourite studio. This film made me cry twice! I can’t say enough about it; just gorgeous.

I also watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 this weekend — it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to catch the very last showing (ever) at my local cinema. I knew I’d regret not going, so I went. It was utterly brilliant; I was thoroughly blown away and I can’t wait for the conclusion this July. Battle of Hogwarts FTW!