January - Rundown & Review

Ahh January.  The first month of a fresh new year in which I invariably fail at my new years resolutions.  Let's rack em up and see

1. Blog More Often: I've managed a month of a short blog everyday as well as several longer ones through the month - WIN
2. Keep up with housework: Weeelll the upstairs of our house that people can see looks really good, but there's still a Christmas tree up in our garage.  - FAIL
3. Save money for New Zealand - WIN (not that it's been that hard so far)
4. Take Holly for a walk more often: I managed to this twice during the entire month of January. Both times I walked to the dog park, let her off the leash and looked at pictures of cats on my iPad for an hour while she ran around. - FAIL

WEARING

At the moment I am wearing this tee to death with my black skinny jeans. Even though it's summer.  That's a whole other thing.    Never been a huge fan of Rose on the show, but I love the design.  Looking forward to some other companions to be released (like Donna).

LISTENING
This month I've been listening to the new Lana Del Ray EP 'Paradise'.  I find her voice really calming which is good because I'm currently extremely sick of 'I Will Wait' by Mumford and Sons.  Please stop playing it for at least the next 4 hours Triple M.  I used to love that song.

WATCHING (small screen)

M and I finally watched The Walking Dead!  We blitzed through it on the Australia Day weekend when there was nothing else to do due to flooding.  I love the show but the gender politics?  Why do all the womens have to do the chores while the menfolk protect the camp?  I was so glad when Michonne was introduced so there was actually a woman doing something cool.  That said, I decided to give you some Daryl love. *sigh* Daryl.

Now we just have to decided what to watch next the choices are:
1) Breaking Bad
2) Boardwalk Empire
3) Fringe
We also watched the awesomely funny Golden Globe telecast.  Seriously, Tina and Amy are just incredibly funny together.  They've really set the bar high for Seth at the Oscars.

WATCHING (big screen)

This month I went to see

Jack Reacher - Way better than I expected.  I really can't stand Tom Cruise generally because I find I am hyperaware that I am watching Tom Cruise play a character.  I love him in movies when the character is so well written that I just forget I am watching Tom and get absorbed.  Jack Reacher was just that sort of a movie.  He was so funny and tetchy, and the action was fast paced and awesome.  The only let down was the typical blonde cypher of a lawyer-y love interest.
Argo - I watched this in a hotel in Sydney but since it's still in the cinemas, I'll put it in here.  This was an incredible movie that really stuck with me.  Ben Affleck is truly coming into his own as a director.  

DATING

The anniversary of the day we first met is on Australia Day so to celebrate 5 years of knowing one other, we decided to fly to Sydney and take in An Evening with Neil Gaiman.  M is only a newcomer to Neil's incredible writing, but he's definitely a huge fan now.   We also went for a trip to Taronga Park Zoo somewhere I remember very find,y from my childhood. It was a really lovely trip.

DRINKING

I have been drinking McDonalds Frozen Passionfruit like crazy!  Just so good.  Even better when they put a scoop of icecream in it & make it a float.

READING
NOTE: I won't bore you with synopsis of these books here as their websites do a far better job of summarising the plots.

Gillian Flynn
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
I discovered this awesome lady last year when I read her novel Gone Girl (if you haven't - it's awesome) but I actually thought she was a first time author at the time.  I read the following quote on her website and I was absolutely hooked before I'd read another word.

women have spent so many years girl-powering ourselves — to the point of almost parodic encouragement — we’ve left no room to acknowledge our dark side. Dark sides are important. They should be nurtured like nasty black orchids.

Gillian has written two other books: Sharp Objects & Dark Places.  I actually preferred both of these to Gone Girl (which I re-read just before reading the other two).  Gillian writes the sort of books you sit up all night reading, and then wonder where all the time went. If I had to pick a favorite though, it would definitely be Sharp Objects.  Fantastic. I regretted any time I didn't immediately devote to reading it and wanted to read it again as soon as I finished it.  Which I did.

Joe Hill
Genre: Horror/Thriller
I read an interview with Daniel Radcliffe where he was describing the book Horns (as he's in the adaptation), and decided Joe might be worth a look in.  I started off reading Heart Shaped Box, which was one of the creepiest books I've read in ages.  Again, I read it one sitting because it was just that good.   I love the idea of a heavy metal singer having his own personal haunting.
Horns was even better if that's possible. I loved the way that the history wasn't spelled out for everyone at the start, that it just cropped up organically as the book went on.  I loved the mystery of the horns and why Ig was chosen to get them. Just a generally awesome book.
Fun fact about Joe Hill that everybody probably knows but me - he's the son of Steven King.  Yup THAT Steven King.  Apparently the ability to scare the bejesus out of me runs in that family.  

Honourable Mentions: Continuing my YA kick, I've also been reading the Mortal Instruments/Infernal Devices series as well as the Caster Chronicles this month in preparation for the movies coming out.  They were both OK - a little too Twilight-y for my tastes, but still quite a bit better.