darkreinfly

 Happy New Year, everybody!

Chinese New Year just passed yesterday in a cloud of incense and firecracker smoke. Whoo!

I don't have much going on at the moment, the summer heat has made me extremely lethargic. My days are spent doing house chores and watching the Australian Open. I don't tend to take advantage of the sales after Christmas anymore, but I did do some online shopping just before the new year (that's the January 1st one). I now own several volumes of X: 1999 (though not #3 because it wasn't on sale with its peers haha poor thing), some KHReborn manga, a couple of movies and randomly, some DVDs of the Miss Marple television show. I'd never seen any of it before, but this was Agatha Christie stuff. As soon as I saw it, I bought it without thinking.

My list-making tendencies would like to remind me that I need to start on that catalogue of what random DVDs and books I've already bought so that I can fill in the gaps later. So acknowledged.

In the mean time, I think I'll increase the intensity on the electric fan. Not feeling any coolness here.

Manifest

I completely forgot to write about Manifest last month. Perhaps because there was a distinct lack of rant-ably news-worthiness to the event?

I stuck to the usual routine this year - I attended with two certain friends of mine, on just the one day of the three-day event (always Saturday) and was again only interested in the trading hall. I didn't spare any attention to the video gaming hall (to be fair I didn't realise the building was there to begin with, it was so far away from all the rest), the anime being screened I could always just watch at home, and what dressing up I did see whilst walking about did little to encourage me to seek out the cosplaying events.

So, yes. Nothing much else to say. One highlight though was indulging this year in purchases of the non-print/buttonbadge/poster kind.
I bought, for example, a cubed cushion. A Companion Cube (Portal). Oh lordy, excuse me while I spasm in glee yet again. It's soft and squishy and very companion-y. I shall post up a picture of it when I can be bothered taking one. Here it is with the rest of my purchases:

 

Read-a-thon

The end of August also saw the end to my reading period for the MS Readathon. Donations are still welcome until the last day of September, which is great because I haven't even reached half of my target amount yet. But I clocked in at 20 books read, for just over 96 hours. Tallying up these figures satisfied that little part of me that really likes counting and list-making.

-- Book reviews

I think I'd have to add another category now to the books I've read. BookType04 (BT04) are ones that weren't recommended but that interested me anyway. I went into the library about halfway through last month and stumbled across the biography section. I hadn't stepped foot into that particular library in something like 8 years, and a lot had changed in that time. So, yes, biography section. So many names sprang out at me luring me in to learn about their lives. It was incredibly humanising stuff. With the biographies, I would wonder if they wrote so invasively with consent. With the autobiographies, I would wonder what on earth possessed them to want to share so much detail? TMI. Way TMI.

Dear Fatty by Dawn French was one such autobiography (BT03). I'd never seen any of her comedic work before (not counting her appearance in Harry Potter), but still saw this as possibly like the books I'd read by other comedians. It wasn't. Well, it was sort of like Tony Martin's Lolly Scramble in that there was some wit to be brandished, but the author didn't come across as a very funny person. She tries to be, I think. This isn't just my imposing some weird mandatory rule that funny people generally write books meant to be funny first, informative second. This is more like walking into a Danny McBride film for the first time (Your Highness) and having no one to blame but myself for disliking it/wasting money. In both instances, clearly I just wasn't connecting with their brand of comedy. Dear Fatty was still an interesting read, however, in that small world sense. All these well-known names were popping out as having worked in the same circle and time as her, and these early beginnings are always fascinating to read about. Chatty, but not my cup of tea. ★★

Hugh Laurie: The Biography by Anthony Bunko (BT04) didn't even need to be a great read for me to come away with something positive. The cover art was of a profile image of Laurie - just seeing those blue eyes was enough haha. The book went beyond what was necessary though in that it was a great read. It was somewhat sad to hear of the problems he's been struggling with, yet very much enjoyable to read of the praise/appreciation by people he had working relationships with. Hugh Laurie. Enough said. ★★★★

I liked A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future by Michael J. Fox a lot because I could very well imagine the words spoken in his voice. It was conversational and light-hearted even when dealing with harder issues like encroaching poverty while pursuing a dream, and the downward spiraling emotions that prefaced acceptance of an incurable disease. Duly inspiring. ★★★★

I'll just list a few more of the books I read out of the final 20 for now. Towards Zero, The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Death in the Clouds are all by Agatha Christie. I think Poirot made an appearance in only the latter two. I could not participate in any reading event and forgo any titles by Agatha Christie or Terry Pratchett. I also cannot help but enjoy every Christie and Discworld-related book that I read. Enjoyable as always. ★★★★★