Aug. 1st, 2017 06:14 pm
July Media
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chicafrom3According to Goodreads, I read 53 books in July. Also according to Goodreads, I currently stand at 329 books for 2017. According to my own record keeping, of those 53 books, 29 were books I read for the first time. My ratio has taken a slight uptick to 55% new. Of those 29 first-reads, 10 were comic books; 14 were Doctor Who related, with some overlap between the two categories.
Of the 24 rereads, 4 were graphic novels; 7 were Animorphs; 6 were The Baby-Sitters Club; 6 were The Saddle Club.
According to my records, I watched 106 episodes of television, a slight increase from June's 92. 67 of those episodes were new to me. There were three new-to-me series, consisting of 13 episodes, a minor drop from June's 16. 73% of my TV consumption was new material, but only about 14% was completely new.
I watched three new-to-me movies and didn't rewatch any.
According to last.fm's 30-day tracker, I listened to 409 tracks in July, an average of 13 tracks per day. The top artist was Alex Lacamoire with 92 scrobbles, followed by Kara Lindsay (55), Andrew Lloyd Webber (50), Flogging Molly (36), and Markéta Irglová (11) -- shockingly, the Pogues didn't make the list this month (tied for 10th), which I can only attribute to the amount of new music I accumulated in July. A total of 76 artists and 26 albums, with The Hamilton Instrumentals being the most-played album (92 scrobbles) and the most-played track being a ridiculously multi-way tie between basically everything I listened to this month with 2 scrobbles. Away from things that last.fm tracks, I've continued to listen to a variety of musicals and am still trying to get fully caught up on the last couple trades I've done.
Individual thoughts:
Books:
My Prime First pick this month was The Sky Below: A True Story Of Summits, Space, And Speed by Scott Prazaynski, a memoir about being a physician-astronaut, being a mountain climber, and generally being a thrill-seeker with an interest in science. It's an interesting read, and I recommend it if you're interested in astronauts or mountain climbing.
The Healing Of America: A Global Quest For Better, Cheaper And Fairer Health Care is a) a book everyone in the US should read immediately, and b) incredibly depressing to read in 2017. I was about halfway through it when the vote on skinny repeal happened. I hate this country's political system. And politicians. And people who voted these politicians into power.
The Girls Of Atomic City: The Untold Story Of The Women Who Helped Win World War II was a little disappointing to me. It felt unfocused and not really very interested in the individual women as much as the more general subject of what it was like for a lot of strangers to be thrown together in this top-secret environment.
The Great Beanine Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion And The Dark Side Of Cute was absolutely fascinating, on the other hand. I not only remember the Beanie Baby craze, I still have several Beanie Babies in my possession, but there's a lot I didn't know about the way the company worked, the degree to which Ty Warner was absolutely batshit insane, and what made the fad snowball the way it did. Bizarre and really absorbing read.
(Also this month, I read Gods And Tulips, a collection of speeches by Neil Gaiman, which touched on the comic book bubble, and Bellwether by Connie Willis, in which the main character is researching the origins of fads and what makes some fads snowball and others fizzle out, and let me tell you those three books have intersected in my head in some really strange ways.)
On the subject of Bellwether, it's not my favorite Connie Willis book and the ending reveal didn't completely work for me but it's a good read and I liked it a lot. (When I say it didn't completely work for me... like, I don't believe the explanation of NDEs that Passage puts forth, but the reveal still works for me because it's such a momentous thing in-universe. With Bellwether, I kind of buy the explanation of fads it puts forth, but the reveal doesn't really work because the characters are acting like it's this big momentous thing but it doesn't feel like one. I'm not explaining myself very well. In other news I'm currently rereading Passage on the side, and that is a Really Good Book.)
The Gracekeepers was a beautiful and strange read let down slightly by the ending but still very much worth the read; I'm not sure I could explain what about it was so appealing aside from the fact that I'm a sucker for selkie/mermaid/fantasy-sea-creature mythos, but seriously recommended.
In Animorphs reread news: The Hidden is the absolute worst book of the series and I will fight you on this. The Alternamorphs books are pointless, The Mutation (also read this month) is stupid, but The Hidden is the absolute nadir of the series, if Scholastic had just decided to skip a month in the publishing schedule we'd all be better off for it.
I posted not long ago about finishing up the Second Doctor's era in my Target readthrough, and I've just started the Third Doctor's era. Liz Shaw, man. LIZ SHAW. That's really all I can say at this point.
And because there's not enough Doctor Who in my life right now, I guess, I've also started reading the Twelfth Doctor comics, and they are a delight. The art's a little hard to take sometimes (I'm not sure the artist knows what Jenna Coleman looks like) but the characterization is wonderful and the plots are really fun.
(I've also sat down and organized the Big Finish audios I have but have never listened to and decided that sometime in the next couple days I will be starting in on the Six-and-Peri era. Because my life should be 24/7 Doctor Who. Obviously.)
TV:
The tenth season of Doctor Who ended. It's been a full month. I'm still a mess. Less than six months until the Christmas special! (I'm also still flailing over the trailer for the Christmas specialBILL. POLLY. ONE AND TWELVE BEING SNARKY TOGETHER and over the promo vid for Thirteen JODIE WHITTAKER LET ME LOVE YOU .
(I'm also pretty sure I'm going to start a rewatch of the entire post-hiatus Whoniverse soon: Nine through Twelve, plus Torchwood, plus SJA, plus Class, plus the minisodes. Because like I said. My life needs to be 24/7 Doctor Who, obviously.)
Disney started releasing a series of short Star Wars animated episodes under the title "Star Wars: Forces Of Destiny", about the leading women of the Star Wars universe (Leia, Rey, Padme, Jyn, Ahsoka), and they're wonderful. They're all really short and available on YouTube, so if you've got the time and the inclination, I recommend checking them out.
I started watching Will. It is... not great, but it's watchable, and the punk soundtrack is a lot of fun. On a related note, I've also continued watching Still Star-Crossed, which is also not great, but watchable and fun. SSC had already been canceled. I will not be surprised if Will follows suit.
Orphan Black only has two episodes left in its final season and I'm a mess about that, too. The ending of the most recent episode hit where it hurt, let's just say that.
Dark Matter and Killjoys have both bowed to my demands: Six has rejoined the Raza and Johnny has rejoined Dutch and company. THANK YOU FOR THIS. Things on Killjoys are getting intense and are clearly heading for a major battle; on Dark Matter we just had an episode where the crew pretended to be a 21st century American (or Canadian, possibly?) family. So, you know. Balance.
Movies:
Three new-to-me movies in July: Hidden Figures, Queen Of Katwe, and An tAdh. All three of them excellent. I think Queen Of Katwe might be my favorite of the three, but they're all really good and it's hard to rank them.
Music:
Most of the new music I got this month was musicals. Or musical-related.
Possibly the best new acqusition of July was the Hamilton Instrumentals, a karaoke-style album of fully orchestrated instrumental covers of Hamilton. I'm an easy sell for anything Hamilton-related, I know, but it's absolutely gorgeous and I'm going to be listening to it a lot in the future.
Other things I checked out this month and enjoyed: The Decemberists' The Tain, which I'd been meaning to get to for ages; Andrew Galucki's Swift; the Broadway cast recording of Bandstand; the London cast recording of City Of Angels, though on balance I think the Broadway recording of the show is a better album.
I also picked up Punk Goes Pop Vol. 7, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, so look for a review on next month's roundup post. (I love the Punk Goes... compilation albums, okay? I LOVE THEM. The Punk Goes Acoustic ones are my favorites, but there's so many of the Punk Goes Pop and they're generally very good.)
Of the 24 rereads, 4 were graphic novels; 7 were Animorphs; 6 were The Baby-Sitters Club; 6 were The Saddle Club.
According to my records, I watched 106 episodes of television, a slight increase from June's 92. 67 of those episodes were new to me. There were three new-to-me series, consisting of 13 episodes, a minor drop from June's 16. 73% of my TV consumption was new material, but only about 14% was completely new.
I watched three new-to-me movies and didn't rewatch any.
According to last.fm's 30-day tracker, I listened to 409 tracks in July, an average of 13 tracks per day. The top artist was Alex Lacamoire with 92 scrobbles, followed by Kara Lindsay (55), Andrew Lloyd Webber (50), Flogging Molly (36), and Markéta Irglová (11) -- shockingly, the Pogues didn't make the list this month (tied for 10th), which I can only attribute to the amount of new music I accumulated in July. A total of 76 artists and 26 albums, with The Hamilton Instrumentals being the most-played album (92 scrobbles) and the most-played track being a ridiculously multi-way tie between basically everything I listened to this month with 2 scrobbles. Away from things that last.fm tracks, I've continued to listen to a variety of musicals and am still trying to get fully caught up on the last couple trades I've done.
Individual thoughts:
Books:
My Prime First pick this month was The Sky Below: A True Story Of Summits, Space, And Speed by Scott Prazaynski, a memoir about being a physician-astronaut, being a mountain climber, and generally being a thrill-seeker with an interest in science. It's an interesting read, and I recommend it if you're interested in astronauts or mountain climbing.
The Healing Of America: A Global Quest For Better, Cheaper And Fairer Health Care is a) a book everyone in the US should read immediately, and b) incredibly depressing to read in 2017. I was about halfway through it when the vote on skinny repeal happened. I hate this country's political system. And politicians. And people who voted these politicians into power.
The Girls Of Atomic City: The Untold Story Of The Women Who Helped Win World War II was a little disappointing to me. It felt unfocused and not really very interested in the individual women as much as the more general subject of what it was like for a lot of strangers to be thrown together in this top-secret environment.
The Great Beanine Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion And The Dark Side Of Cute was absolutely fascinating, on the other hand. I not only remember the Beanie Baby craze, I still have several Beanie Babies in my possession, but there's a lot I didn't know about the way the company worked, the degree to which Ty Warner was absolutely batshit insane, and what made the fad snowball the way it did. Bizarre and really absorbing read.
(Also this month, I read Gods And Tulips, a collection of speeches by Neil Gaiman, which touched on the comic book bubble, and Bellwether by Connie Willis, in which the main character is researching the origins of fads and what makes some fads snowball and others fizzle out, and let me tell you those three books have intersected in my head in some really strange ways.)
On the subject of Bellwether, it's not my favorite Connie Willis book and the ending reveal didn't completely work for me but it's a good read and I liked it a lot. (When I say it didn't completely work for me... like, I don't believe the explanation of NDEs that Passage puts forth, but the reveal still works for me because it's such a momentous thing in-universe. With Bellwether, I kind of buy the explanation of fads it puts forth, but the reveal doesn't really work because the characters are acting like it's this big momentous thing but it doesn't feel like one. I'm not explaining myself very well. In other news I'm currently rereading Passage on the side, and that is a Really Good Book.)
The Gracekeepers was a beautiful and strange read let down slightly by the ending but still very much worth the read; I'm not sure I could explain what about it was so appealing aside from the fact that I'm a sucker for selkie/mermaid/fantasy-sea-creature mythos, but seriously recommended.
In Animorphs reread news: The Hidden is the absolute worst book of the series and I will fight you on this. The Alternamorphs books are pointless, The Mutation (also read this month) is stupid, but The Hidden is the absolute nadir of the series, if Scholastic had just decided to skip a month in the publishing schedule we'd all be better off for it.
I posted not long ago about finishing up the Second Doctor's era in my Target readthrough, and I've just started the Third Doctor's era. Liz Shaw, man. LIZ SHAW. That's really all I can say at this point.
And because there's not enough Doctor Who in my life right now, I guess, I've also started reading the Twelfth Doctor comics, and they are a delight. The art's a little hard to take sometimes (I'm not sure the artist knows what Jenna Coleman looks like) but the characterization is wonderful and the plots are really fun.
(I've also sat down and organized the Big Finish audios I have but have never listened to and decided that sometime in the next couple days I will be starting in on the Six-and-Peri era. Because my life should be 24/7 Doctor Who. Obviously.)
TV:
The tenth season of Doctor Who ended. It's been a full month. I'm still a mess. Less than six months until the Christmas special! (I'm also still flailing over the trailer for the Christmas special
(I'm also pretty sure I'm going to start a rewatch of the entire post-hiatus Whoniverse soon: Nine through Twelve, plus Torchwood, plus SJA, plus Class, plus the minisodes. Because like I said. My life needs to be 24/7 Doctor Who, obviously.)
Disney started releasing a series of short Star Wars animated episodes under the title "Star Wars: Forces Of Destiny", about the leading women of the Star Wars universe (Leia, Rey, Padme, Jyn, Ahsoka), and they're wonderful. They're all really short and available on YouTube, so if you've got the time and the inclination, I recommend checking them out.
I started watching Will. It is... not great, but it's watchable, and the punk soundtrack is a lot of fun. On a related note, I've also continued watching Still Star-Crossed, which is also not great, but watchable and fun. SSC had already been canceled. I will not be surprised if Will follows suit.
Orphan Black only has two episodes left in its final season and I'm a mess about that, too. The ending of the most recent episode hit where it hurt, let's just say that.
Dark Matter and Killjoys have both bowed to my demands: Six has rejoined the Raza and Johnny has rejoined Dutch and company. THANK YOU FOR THIS. Things on Killjoys are getting intense and are clearly heading for a major battle; on Dark Matter we just had an episode where the crew pretended to be a 21st century American (or Canadian, possibly?) family. So, you know. Balance.
Movies:
Three new-to-me movies in July: Hidden Figures, Queen Of Katwe, and An tAdh. All three of them excellent. I think Queen Of Katwe might be my favorite of the three, but they're all really good and it's hard to rank them.
Music:
Most of the new music I got this month was musicals. Or musical-related.
Possibly the best new acqusition of July was the Hamilton Instrumentals, a karaoke-style album of fully orchestrated instrumental covers of Hamilton. I'm an easy sell for anything Hamilton-related, I know, but it's absolutely gorgeous and I'm going to be listening to it a lot in the future.
Other things I checked out this month and enjoyed: The Decemberists' The Tain, which I'd been meaning to get to for ages; Andrew Galucki's Swift; the Broadway cast recording of Bandstand; the London cast recording of City Of Angels, though on balance I think the Broadway recording of the show is a better album.
I also picked up Punk Goes Pop Vol. 7, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, so look for a review on next month's roundup post. (I love the Punk Goes... compilation albums, okay? I LOVE THEM. The Punk Goes Acoustic ones are my favorites, but there's so many of the Punk Goes Pop and they're generally very good.)
