December in Review

Books Acquired:
Akira boxset (Vol. 1 – 5) by Katsuhiro Otomo
Artemis by Andy Weir
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis

Books Read:
Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence
Ayoade on Ayoade by Richard Ayoade
Get Jiro: Blood and Sushi by Anthony Bourdain
Law School by Benjamin Law, Jenny Phang
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

Happy New Year! If you had time off during the holidays, I hope you’re coming back well rested. I was feeling relaxed and re-energized, and then I came down with a cold on New Year’s Eve – 2017’s last kick in the ass as I stepped out the door.

We had a great month here. There was talk of spending Christmas in Hawaii, which would have been fantastic, but I was incredibly excited to spend Christmas in town for the first time in a decade. I didn’t enter a single airport this December, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. Also my entire family was in town here, and Lee-Ann was home for Christmas for the first time since we began dating, so it was really nice.

We’ve had a BBQ in our living room for the last two months, as our building is undergoing some balcony maintenance, and we live in a small condo with nowhere else to put it. The work was scheduled to finish in two weeks, so we were a little bummed that it carried on through December. We thought instead of letting it hamper our holiday spirit we’d stick a small tree on it and cover it with decorations, and it worked quite well actually. Nearly forgot we had a giant appliance next to the couch. It was our little ‘when life gives you lemons’ moment, like a bad sitcom holiday special.

I had planned to do some Christmas-related reading, but that didn’t happen. I have a collection of classic Christmas travelogues from the Folio Society, but Christmas crept up so quickly. It just doesn’t seem right to read those after the 25th. I had also planned to listen to Dickens’ The Chimes, but my Audible account is in a weird state and wouldn’t allow me to buy anything new. There’s always next year, I suppose.

Movies watched:
Chappie (2015) – I loved District 9, and was hoping to love this just as much, but it fell a little short. I still enjoyed it, but it could have been so much better. Hugh Jackman’s character was so over-the-top corny and so many of the characters’ actions seemed completely illogical. It really had potential, though.

No, I haven’t seen Star Wars yet.

TV watched:
Outlander: Season 3 (2017) – I enjoyed parts of this season, but some episodes had me scratching my head. I can believe that jewellery and pagan rocks can send you back in time, fine, but continually losing consciousness at sea only to find yourself waking up on or near land? The number of wild coincidences that occurred this season drove me crazy. The writing in general didn’t seem quite as strong, actually. Lee-Ann still loves it, though, and for whatever reason, I keep sitting down to watch it with her.

Games played:
Divinity: Original Sin 2 (2017) (PC) – I was avoiding this for the last couple of months, finding the length of the game a bit too daunting, but I decided to just give it a try. I’m still in the first act, but I played it quite a bit during my time off and am loving it so far. Great writing, deep character customization, and fun combat.

What have you been reading/watching/playing this month?