Warning: so many pictures. SO MANY WORDS.
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theatre 2011
This was a good theatre year for me. I can honestly say that I enjoyed everything that I went to see, but clear favourites were
Richard III and
Di and Viv and Rose.
Shrek: The Musical will forever have a soft spot in my heart because I went with my many cousin sisters to see it, and afterwards we sort of ambushed the cast.
All the Shakespeare I saw was excellent. Richard III is probably one of my favourite productions I have ever seen, and Much Ado was hilarious; Othello was wonderfully staged, which I think is a testament to the whole of its cast, because sometimes it can be a tricky one in terms of coherency.
I left Rock of Ages with glitter in my bra. I left Death and the Maiden stricken. After Pygmalion the Ex-Flatmate and I went to a pub and subsequently missed our trains home.
Good times.
(Children's Hour; Our Private Life; In a Forest, Dark and Deep; Much Ado About Nothing; Pygmalion; Avenue Q; Shrek the Musical; Betrayal; Butley; Top Girls; Richard III; Rock of Ages; The Playboy of the Western World; Othello; Di and Viv and Rose; Death and the Maiden)
television 2011
Having done this pictorially it seems like a great deal more than I remember watching, but only four of these are 22-24 episode series, whereas the rest are...British.
Zen was a three-part miniseries that I enjoyed immensely for its direction. It felt like an old-school detective show, and was quite relaxed. The cinematography was lovely; the absence of any real female presence on the show was not.
Being Human is something I am not sure why I watch year after year except that the finale always hooks me. Nina and Annie continue to be my favourites, and Nicola Walker's guest turn was typically brilliant.
Forbrydelsen was a surprising but much- welcomed addition to my schedule. Dark and Danish, I am surprised by how willing I am to go back and re-watch it. Sarah Lund is a brilliant driving force in both series, but I also loved the rest of the cast.
Engrenages is French and insane, and I loved Proust and Roban. My favourite, of course, is Joséphine Karlsson. No-one believes me, but they should: this is secretly a show about angry French lesbians!
Agony and Ecstasy was a three-part documentary about the English National Ballet. Note to self: go see a performance, ffs.
United States of Tara finished this year, and did so in the best possible way. The fantastic guest spot by Eddie Izzard and the slow-unravelling of Tara's many selves were sweetened by Charmaine's new motherhood, and Marshall's growing pains. Brilliant show; very sad to see it go.
Justified made me cry in public on more than one occasion; the close to the penultimate episode of the series made me startle so loudly that a fellow commuter asked me if I was okay. It was great to see more of Rachel and Tim, and I felt Art's burgeoning disapproval of Raylan keenly. The guest guest this series outdid themselves, from the Crowders' messed up relationship to Helen and Mags' long-standing peace pact. Really excited to see the third season next year. Can I count
Game of Thrones as something that I watched? I only really remember Arya Stark, Dany Targaryen, and the weird (and gross) joy that was the many Lannisters. I...didn't really watch the series. Don't ask me what happened.
Fringe continues to be the best that American prime time has to offer;
Bones...not so much, but as long as Camille Saroyan's wardrobe continues to be fantastic, I will keep watching. I don't watch
Glee so much as skip to the parts with Naya Rivera, but everything in that storyline means that I have paid more attention to this show than to
Game of Thrones. Burn.
It's been an excellent year for British TV. Admittedly I missed The Shadow Line and the Charlie Brooker show that was on a couple of weeks back, but I paid attention to pretty much everything else. (Not Downton Abbey, though. No, thank you.) Hipster Who is really awful at storytelling, but the cast is delightful, and I enjoy watching it. Also: all the River Song, yes please. Luther was much tighter with its reduced run, and I loved the addition of Jenny Jones. The first two episodes made me flip out. The Hour is the real achievement of the year. Six episodes of neatly-written, beautifully produced, and wonderfully performed drama that I have since sat through twice-more. Thank you, Abi Morgan, for the whole thing, but especially for Lix Storm. Lady, I salute you. Merlin, despite being fucking terrible at times, is still a balm to me, though I hope the final year is a vast improvement on series 4. Spooks beat me up for ten years and did as much damage in its final series as it did in the nine preceding. (Ugh, Tariq.) It ended miserably: OF COURSE IT DID. So long, and thanks for all the tears. I watched all of Miranda over the course of two days and fell in love with it; it's so odd-ball, but I love those moments when you think, oh shit, I would definitely do that. Scott and Bailey is my second-favourite after The Hour. Ladies! Being ladies! And also being smart and capable and FRIENDS. Gosh, it's so rare that it's disgusting. I loved it.
Both Would I Lie to You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks need to be mentioned. Like most of Britain, I love panel shows, but I'm awful at keeping up with them. I love both these shows, though, and it wasn't a hardship to iPlayer them. (Yeah, I never remember when they are on.) Especial thanks to David Mitchell and Phil Jupitus' raucous laughter which, in itself, is enough to crack me up. More lols!
Two things not here, because I haven't finished them yet, are Case Sensitive (only two episodes long...still haven't mowed through, but I do love Olivia Williams) and Misfits which I will be watching as 2012 rolls through Britain.
Shows I ditched: Outcasts; Camelot; The Killing US; Weeds (sadface); Hidden; Homeland (which I'm told was excellent; will try again in 2012, but I hold an intense dislike for the two lead actresses, and that's a lot to overcome).
film 2011
This is the first year I've made any attempt to record what I've watched, mostly because I do watch a lot of films every year and don't always talk about them. I'm certain I'm missing a handful of things on this list that I will later remember and be annoyed about. Most of those will probably be foreign-language films I caught on BBC4 late on a Sunday night. That's just how it goes. Going to film fest this year was really important to me in a way that I haven't been able to articulate. I don't know much about film, and listening to people talk at film fest was really sort of revelatory to me. Highlights included Abi Morgan's masterclass,
Et maintenant, on va où?, and
Weekend. Next year I hope to watch more European cinema (I have a few Danish films I need to get caught up with and I absolutely have to sit down and watch
Applause) and I need to book my tickets for some Woody Allen screenings at the BFI. I am not embarrassed by my list, because other than
Hereafter and
The Awakening (and maybe
Trishna), there's nothing on that list that I didn't enjoy, and that's often more important to me than quality. Should probably keep a better record next year.
(True Grit; Tangled; Never Let Me Go; Hereafter; Elsker Dig For Evigt; Efter Brylluppet; Kvinden Der Dromte Om En Mand; Flammen Og Citronen; Vildspor; Gnomeo & Juliet; X-Men: First Class; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Glorious 39; Page Eight; Cars 2; Hanna; Shame; Weekend; Where Do We Go Now?; Oslo, 31st August; The Future; Midnight in Paris; Wreckers; Martha Marcy May Marlene; Trishna; The Awakening; The Three Musketeers; Jane Eyre; The Adjustment Bureau; We Need to Talk About Kevin; Immortals; In Time; Centurion; Melancholia; Cowboys and Aliens; Red Riding Hood; The Eagle; Kung Fu Panda 2; Tintin; Parked)
me 2011This year has gone past incredibly quickly. Last thing I remember, it was April, and suddenly it's almost 2012? Summer felt like a hiccough. Good things happened, for which I am grateful, but time zipped past.
I decided I would be a person who does things! Hence the massive list of theatre productions at the top of this post. I'm glad I did it, regardless of monetary concerns. I'm glad I didn't talk myself out of doing these things.I met a lot of people this year. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daygloparker twice! hestia8 MANY TIMES! fizzawrites for a few days! I also met up with twincy whilst I was still in Cambridge, and spent a couple of days with noorie whilst in Edinburgh. Good times. I hope to have more. Relatedly: I don't often do anything particular for my birthday, or with many people, but I won't forget going out to dinner with friends this year. It was weird to bring the many different groups that I know together - RL, uni, school, eljay etc. - but I had the loveliest time, and I'm so pleased that I decided to do that, despite my trepidation. Probably won't do it again next year, but the occasional gathering has not killed me yet. (Hurrah!)Seriously, I have been so social this year! London, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield! New people! Old people! Music gigs, plays, film festivals! Yay me! I'm aware that there is a distinct lack of books on this list, mostly because I didn't read nearly anything this year. I think Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Great Gatsby, and something else that I can't even remember right now. I started a lot of things* which I intend to finish eventually, but much like last year, I read a shittonne of poetry, a great deal of which you can find at motherground. I would feel bad about this except I don't know why I should feel guilty for ready more poetry than prose. So. Of course, this is also because I read a lot of fanfiction this year, most of which I failed to note or rec. Weirdly, I'm sort of pleased about reading again. It's the only real interaction I get with fandom these days.
*) Death at Pemberley, the Luther novel, a couple of short story collections, some Kazuo Ishiguro ...other things.My cousin got engaged! My friend had twins! No-one killed themselves! 2011 proved to be a vast improvement on 2010 in this regard.I finally - FINALLY! - passed my driving test. Whilst it's not the boon most people (aka every male I have encountered) indicated it would be, it has been useful in some respects. I just drove my parents to a NYE function; that's the downside.I got a new job. Five months later, I am still working out how I feel about this, especially as it seems like everything happened very quickly. It was a necessary thing, and I'm glad of it, and though it brings its own issues, there are many rewards. I'm enjoying working in London; the commute is much less stressful physically (though it will soon be more stressful fiscally); it is a much less cynical environment than the one I left. I miss my old co-workers quite a bit, but I get on well with my new ones. It was a very good thing that happened to me, and I'm pleased I didn't flake on myself or self-sabotage at any point in the recruitment process, despite my anxiety about everything.Next year I need to find somewhere to live in London; be optimistic, but also sensible about saving so that I can go on the NYC trip, even though it currently seems impossible; get those bloody ducks out there; stay positive, and not get rail-roaded by a) my own expectations and b) bad, seasonal habits. The way to chuck those is to do my utmost to forget about them, which is intimidating because I have used habits and patterns to regulate my anxiety. New things are not necessarily bad things, y'all.
Happy New Year, everyone. Here's to 2012.
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delga
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Date: 2011-12-31 09:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 10:49 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-01-02 08:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 10:56 am (UTC)I KNOW. I nearly died at my desk, it was so loathsome.
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Date: 2012-01-02 02:03 am (UTC)(Another aside: OMG YOU WROTE FORBRYDELSEN FIC FOR YULETIDE! And I can't read it because I'm only halfway through series 1! Arghhhhhhhh)
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Date: 2012-01-02 10:27 am (UTC)Wait, what am I saying, of course you do. J, Danish media has swiftly become my favourite. SARAH LUND.
(Your post to the comm was queued for moderation because of the AO3 links. I've fixed that now, so no-one should have any trouble in the future. I didn't even know LJ did that.)
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Date: 2012-01-02 12:05 pm (UTC)