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I watched Captain Marvel for a second time last weekend because it was fun the first time. Still fun the second time, especially since I was able to see my friend Em react to the surprising stuff. (Goose!)
At some point in the last three weeks I finally watched Ant-Man and the Wasp, which was better than the first Ant-Man movie. That's an incredibly low bar, though. The first one: entertained me in spite of my below ground-level expectations, fell apart as soon as I thought about anything for more than thirty seconds. The second one: more women got to do stuff, so it was better. Although I would have liked at least one more sequence narrated by Luis because those are awesome.
Books: Seanan McGuire continues to be a) prolific, and b) consistent with her eighth InCryptid novel, That Ain't Witchcraft. I highly recommend basically anything by her, and anything written under the name Mira Grant. (She separates her work under those two names because of the different genres. And possibly because she is so prolific? Not sure.)
Anyway: McGuire has the magic elements, Grant has the horror. I tend to think of her writing as fitting into what Stephen King did: write a lot, write well, and entertain the masses. (Minus the repetitive Maine setting and the cocaine-fueled '80s.)
Kiera Cass wrote a YA series that starts with The Selection, and it was Not For Me. I had to skim skim skim my way to the end;boring love triangle in a dystopian setting worked better written by Suzanne Collins, and Collins had more interesting world-building as well.
I finally finished C.J. Archer's Freak House trilogy. It was not entirely boring? I didn't have to skim? Competent prose, a reasonably well-plotted storyline, but... eh. Not that interesting. I may try another book by Archer at some point, but I'm not in a rush.
I re-read The Opposite of Everyone, by Joshilyn Jackson, because I love it so. Modern-day southern drama, but with a character of color in a leading role rather than secondary. Prickly, "unlikeable" female protagonist who finds family in unexpected ways. A romance that doesn't take over the storyline but is still important and written well. You should check it out.
I have a pile of other books to read on my phone. One of them is E.K. Johnston's Ahsoka. I know I said I wasn't going to buy more Star Wars tie-in novels, but there was a sale! And this one isn't tied to the current films, so I should feel less disappointment when it inevitably has no reflection in episode IX. Also, I enjoyed a previous book by Johnston, so... we'll see.
(Yes, I am STILL ANGRY about how Before the Awakening established Finn's pre-film character, and how that was not just ignored, but directly contracted, by episodes VII and VIII. Why are you bothering to create this extended universe if you can't even keep track of your own canon, LucasFilm? It's been six and a half years since Disney bought LF and started the new extended universe; it shouldn't be that difficult to track its own characters.)
At some point in the last three weeks I finally watched Ant-Man and the Wasp, which was better than the first Ant-Man movie. That's an incredibly low bar, though. The first one: entertained me in spite of my below ground-level expectations, fell apart as soon as I thought about anything for more than thirty seconds. The second one: more women got to do stuff, so it was better. Although I would have liked at least one more sequence narrated by Luis because those are awesome.
Books: Seanan McGuire continues to be a) prolific, and b) consistent with her eighth InCryptid novel, That Ain't Witchcraft. I highly recommend basically anything by her, and anything written under the name Mira Grant. (She separates her work under those two names because of the different genres. And possibly because she is so prolific? Not sure.)
Anyway: McGuire has the magic elements, Grant has the horror. I tend to think of her writing as fitting into what Stephen King did: write a lot, write well, and entertain the masses. (Minus the repetitive Maine setting and the cocaine-fueled '80s.)
Kiera Cass wrote a YA series that starts with The Selection, and it was Not For Me. I had to skim skim skim my way to the end;
I finally finished C.J. Archer's Freak House trilogy. It was not entirely boring? I didn't have to skim? Competent prose, a reasonably well-plotted storyline, but... eh. Not that interesting. I may try another book by Archer at some point, but I'm not in a rush.
I re-read The Opposite of Everyone, by Joshilyn Jackson, because I love it so. Modern-day southern drama, but with a character of color in a leading role rather than secondary. Prickly, "unlikeable" female protagonist who finds family in unexpected ways. A romance that doesn't take over the storyline but is still important and written well. You should check it out.
I have a pile of other books to read on my phone. One of them is E.K. Johnston's Ahsoka. I know I said I wasn't going to buy more Star Wars tie-in novels, but there was a sale! And this one isn't tied to the current films, so I should feel less disappointment when it inevitably has no reflection in episode IX. Also, I enjoyed a previous book by Johnston, so... we'll see.
(Yes, I am STILL ANGRY about how Before the Awakening established Finn's pre-film character, and how that was not just ignored, but directly contracted, by episodes VII and VIII. Why are you bothering to create this extended universe if you can't even keep track of your own canon, LucasFilm? It's been six and a half years since Disney bought LF and started the new extended universe; it shouldn't be that difficult to track its own characters.)