The Reccomendations Post: August 2013 edition

Hi all,

Recently I've been quite lazy with this blog, meaning to update it numerous times, but just finding it difficult to get inspired. However, one of my favourite Youtubers, I Talk To Snakes, has inspired me. She does a video every month to her viewers, recommending the things that she's been into. I thought this was a great idea, and what you see below is the books, music, film, television, anime, graphic novels and various other miscellany that captured my attention over the month of August. I plan to make this a regular feature, but I'm not going to promise anything. Still, for the moment, here is what I thought was awesome.

 

Books

Feed

One of those novels I had to read for Uni, specifically Children’s Lit, I finished this novel off in just over two days. That is not to say it’s a light read. In fact, it’s probably one of the darkest novels I’ve read this year. On Earth in the far future, everyone has been implanted with devices known as the Feed which streams information directly into your brain. We follow Titus and Violet in this post-apocalyptic love affair. Extremely ambiguous in terms of political message, it is not as clean cut as it initially appears. However, this strategy would not work if the characters were not successful in their own right. Titus is such an unlikable (almost hateful) character that it’s amazing the book works as well as it does, particularly towards the end which is like The Fault In Our Stars made even crueller, something I didn’t think was possible. As well as this, there are some truly nasty and gory moments, so it’s probably not for the faint of hearted. Still, it was an incredibly well-written book and possibly up there for the position of best book I’ve read this year.

Music

Midnight City (M83)

Played 14 times. Because of slight withdrawal symptoms in discovering new music, I’ve taken to going to the library and borrowing the sort of CDs that I usually just wouldn’t find interesting. The Triple J Hottest 100 compilations are some of these. This month, I’ve been giving some of them a go and they’re amazing. I’m discovering so much new music, as well as rediscovering some of the music that used to be really big within my life. It’s been great. M83’s ‘Midnight City’ was one of these tracks. I’d heard of the band before through being obsessed by their song ‘Outro (Extended Alternate)’ which featured on the trailer for Cloud Atlas. It’s just one of the best songs I’ve ever listened to (which explains why I’ve played it 106 times). If anything, ‘Midnight City’ is even better. It’s just so damn catchy and dancy. The beat in the background is incredibly good and I’m just obsessed with this song.

About A Girl (The Academy Is…)

Listened 6 times. Watched 6 times. This was one of those things I discovered through Tumblr (happens to me a lot now, see below for the reason). I was just scrolling through my dash when I saw a gif featuring the lead singer of this band belting out the tune. I immediately thought he was possibly the most attractive person I’ve ever seen and searched out the song. That the song itself is also undeniably catchy is just great. I still can’t get this song out of my head. And as for the lead singer, William Beckett? Well, he may or may not be my current phone wallpaper…

 

 

 

 

Wake Me Up (Avicii)

Played 14 times. Yes, it’s Avicii’s new song. I discovered this through an unusual means. It was on a television commercial. I heard the song and became obsessed with it in moments. Again, it’s another of those songs that just gets stuck in your head (there’s an almost oriental tune during parts of the song which is just brilliant), but this month it also had a deeper emotional resonance. Following a bad day, I called one of my friends and I told her of my obsession with this song. She proceeded to play it through her phone and sing it to me, making me feel infinitely. Love you, you’re amazing. Also, this song is great to walk to. Just saying.

Applause (Lady Gaga)

Played 11 times. Yes, only 11. Here’s a confession moment. There’s something of a cliché that to gay men, Lady Gaga is equivalent to some sort of God. My confession is that I’m not obsessed with her. Okay, she is damn amazing when she wants to be (needless to say far better than Miley Cyrus whose transformation hurts my soul and Robin Thicke who I just find wrong on a moral level), but I just find there are some periods where I just don’t listen to her music as much as I should. I’m such a bad gay. Second confession is that when I first heard this song, I didn’t like it all that much. However, emotional attachment makes the heart grow fonder. On a different bad day, this song and it’s music clip were the first thing I saw and it made me feel infinitely better. Now, I’m just so close to being obsessed with it. It reminds me of a fashion show for some reason. Possibly because “the clothes in that video were fierce” (let’s see how many people get that obscure reference). The only problem I have with this song is that I’m finding it difficult to write my thoughts on it, while it’s playing in the background. I just want to get up and dance to it!

How Come You Don’t Want Me (Tegan And Sara)

Played 30 times. Many of the songs that I find utterly brilliant have inspired some of the most important moments from my novel. If a song in my library has been played lots and lots of times, it usually means it’s inspired many key plots (for example, M83’s ‘Outro’ has been responsible for more plotlines than I’m happy to admit). Look at that count, 30 times. This was a big, big song and the reason is simple. Recently, I realised that my novel is severely lacking in lesbian characters. The main reason was because I didn’t know how to plot for them, what concerns did they have? Well, almost the same as the ones we all have, thick stick. It took Tegan And Sara for me to realise this. I recently became obsessed with their song ‘Closer’ (damn catchy song), so I grabbed their album and it’s been sitting on my computer for ages. This lesbian thing was really annoying me, so I thought I’d go straight to the source. Tegan And Sara are both lesbian performers, so I thought that this would be immensely inspiring. In short, ‘How Come You Don’t Want Me’ has broken my heart over and over again and I found the lesbian relationships pouring out. I now have several lesbian couples which this could be applied to, but many of the couples within the novel could also sing it and it wouldn’t feel out of place. Yeah, my novel’s that angsty. So, yay Tegan And Sara for helping me to solve a monumental problem!

This Is Gospel (Panic! At The Disco)

Played 16 times. Another Tumblr discovery this one. I’d heard of Panic! At The Disco before but I’d never really got into their music. Some of their songs off Vices & Virtues I found quite brilliant, but they had never really stuck in my mind. Then I heard This Is Gospel. God damn, such a good song. I am badly obsessed with this and it’s probably my favourite song that I discovered this month. Lyrically, it’s magnificent (if you ‘love me, let me go’) and the music video is also incredibly memorable. I think I just found a new favourite band.

TV Show

Will & Grace (Season 5)

Oh dear, have I really seen five seasons of this show? Following the adventures of interior designer Grace and her gay best friend Will and their friends Jack and Karen, I will always remember the day that I discovered this show. It was the end of last year and the media teacher had organised a late night for us to re-watch the texts. In between two of the movies, I quickly rushed over to the library and picked up my holds. There was the first season of this, Drop Dead Diva and the film Latter Days. And when I returned to class, I was so damn nervous that someone would see that Latter Days had sex scenes in it and that the other two series couldn’t be more gay. No-one noticed and I shoved them in my bag. That was the same day I realised that we should have later school days (starting at like 12 and finishing at 5 or something. You just feel better later in the day. Friday’s be a killer, though). That night, I watched the first episode and decided that this would be a good show to submit the whole family too. It has become something of a favourite for us, with Mum and Dad both eagerly awaiting the next season. It’s hard to imagine how big this is for me. My parents and I sitting down to watch an openly gay series. These are the people who I showed the first episode of Beautiful People, which had crossdressing, and my Mum was horrified and the episode of Glee where Klaine kiss and said that it was disgusting. Sometimes progress is just beautiful. This season of the show saw major changes with Will and Grace having a huge falling out (with one episode where they’re arguing being so sad, that I almost lost it. There was one line, “so this it? This is how it ends?” just being something that breaks my heart every single, time) and Karen trying to deal with her divorce from (the never seen) Stan. Still, it manages to be extremely hilarious and I can’t imagine living without the show. It’s just had a huge impact on me, making me closer to the family, and helping to understand that being gay is not a choice and that it doesn’t mean the end of the Universe. Okay, that’s the last time I listen to angsty music (Beth Hart’s There In Your Heart, perfect song) while reviewing a comedy.

Qi (Seasons 1-3)

Oh, Qi, I love you. Having watched this show sporadically, one of my friends is obsessed with the show, so I thought I’d give it a proper try. Season 9 was the first one I saw and it’s just become such a personal favourite. I managed to get the first three seasons in a box set at the library and much of this month’s evening entertainment was filled with Qi. Stephen Fry is funny, verbose and clever, Alan Davis is his perfect sidekick and many of the guests are just great. One of them was smarter than Fry which was a wonder to behold, but my personal favourite guest is Jo Brand. You just know it’s going to be a good episode when she’s on. But then again, this is Qi, it’s always a good episode.

 

Land Of The Lost (Season 1)

From the sublime to the ridiculous, this Sid And Marty Krofft series (yes, the people behind H.R. Pufnstuf) belongs to the so bad its good category. A kids show from the 70s about a dad and his two kids transported to an alien land with dinosaurs, its quality veers wildly. The effects are shoddy (the opening sequence has to be seen to be believed), but being a Doctor Who fan I can forgive this. It’s the stories themselves that really hurt my soul. Basically, any episode that focusses on Cha-Ka (a caveman of the time) or the dinosaurs is stunningly awful, but any episode with the Sleestak (green creatures that hiss at you) is in another league. And then on the second disc, we meet Enik in an episode that is almost good. This rapid change in quality is still one of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen. By the end of the first season, the program-makers seemed to realise this rule and the stories begin to focus on time travel and the like which is far more entertaining, making me desperate to see the second season. It’s the perfect television show to watch when you just can’t be bothered thinking (although the last episode of the season has an enormous paradox that just hurts my head even thinking about).

 

 

The Great Australian Bake Off

I’m not really a fan of reality television. At all. I try to avoid it at all costs, but this one looked far more interesting. Based on a British program and featuring a colourful design, I decided to give this one a whirl. Put simply, it’s been wonderful. Much of the food has been mouth-watering and it even inspired me to do my own baking, which is something of a minor miracle. It’s so sad that it’s finished. May there be a second season soon.

Doctor Who (x20)

Recently, I’ve been trying to get all of the Doctor Who stories reviewed in time for the 50^th. This month saw steady progress with 20 stories completed. I’ve either viewed 127 stories or 88 depending on which list I look at. Still, either way is so far off getting it done by November 21^st. Fingers crossed I complete it!

Film

A Tale Of Two Sisters

This was a film I’d heard really good things about and had been desperate to watch, so I was filled with joy when I was finally able to pick up a copy from Video Ezy. The worst decision I made in regards to this movie was watching it late at night in complete darkness, in bed all alone. Seriously, sometimes I doubt my own intelligence. Needless to say, I freaked out more times than it’s probably sane to admit. Seriously, this is one scary movie. However, this film has far more going on than terrifying its audience. This is an intelligent film with more twists than you can imagine and one stonking great one at the end which made me want to watch it all over again. If you have any interest in horror, big twists, character, Korean cinema or just films in general you have to see this movie! Just not late at night.

Princess Mononoke

This was another film I had to view for Children’s Literature. In fact, it was a major reason I decided to do the unit. After suffering through Avatar one week, I was so thankful that we got to watch this brilliant movie. I had seen it before a couple of years back and I’d always remembered it as being a truly stunning and perfect movie which was not proved wrong. It’s still one of the best movies I’ve ever seen (well deserving of its rank at No. 19 last count, but should be higher), beautifully animated and with complex characters whom you understand completely, meaning that there are no real baddies and no Hollywood ending. It’s just a great film, truly demonstrating what Japanese Anime is capable of. Oh, and the dubbed voice of Lady Eboshi (Gillian Anderson) is great, one of those silky voices you hear about but never really hear in real life.

Games

None

Anime

Is This A Zombie? (Season 1)

Sometimes it’s quite difficult to be a gay man. You’re expected to act and dress a certain way (it always annoys me when my friends point out my lack of fashion sense) or you’re not particularly popular. Thankfully, I’ve managed to find a group of friends that will accept me no matter what (thanks, you guys!), but even then I think a few of them would raise a few questions if I were to admit the amount of fan-service anime I watch. This is the anime which is made to target a male audience watching and thus we have far too many up skirting moments, sexual situations and things which are occasionally just wrong and insulting. I don’t really know why I watch this. I feel extremely guilty while watching and I usually just end up discovering these via the fact that they’re sitting at the library while I’m waiting for some of the better animes to come in. I thus had low expectations for this series. It’s the best way really. As I’m not getting distracted by the sheer amount of discussion about breasts, I tend to focus on the characters and the plotline. As such, I was shocked to discover that Is This A Zombie actually wasn’t that horrible. Completing the 13 episodes over a weekend, I found myself oddly endeared to these characters, falling in love with all of them. For once in a harem anime, they actually feel like characters, particularly the lead male (who is actually quite attractive and in order to become a magical girl, has to wear the bright pink outfit… I refuse to explain this) and the major grey-haired woman he fantasises about. She has a tragic past and I found myself oddly moved towards the conclusion of the series to the point where I was almost in tears. During the Christmas episode, late in the series, I realised that this was one of those series that I was not looking forward to its conclusion. These people had become my family and I loved them. It broke my heart to finish this series. Okay, it’s not very good. It’s a harem anime (although part of what makes it less disturbing is that the sexuality occurs through the lead character’s head), and should be viewed as such. But if you keep your expectations low and accept it, you’ll find an anime that’s surprisingly moving with memorable characters. Almost despite myself, I’m now desperate for the second season.

Earth Maiden Arjuna

Another anime that I found conflicted me when I first viewed it. Again, marathoned over a weekend this was something I was actually looking forward to. Having seen an awesome trailer for this, I was terribly excited to view it. It was always going to be a disappointment I suppose. It’s not that the series is boring, it’s just that I took problems with it’s stance on certain issues. Obviously about concerns over environmentalism, it sometimes makes some really very good points (there’s one scene where the lead character, Arjuna, is talking to her teacher and you realise just like her how much of the Earth’s problems are caused by the desperate desire to make things easier, which actually horrified me). This is the series’ greatest strength, but it’s also its worst weakness. At first, I was turned-off by it’s delivery of information which felt extremely preachy and attacking (you are doing everything wrong, everything you should be done this way). It offers some solutions which is a good thing, but these are explained by one of the most hateful characters in any anime I’ve watched in the form of Chris who acts as Arjuna’s spirit guide. Apart from going on about the fact that she chose to be mentor of the environment (which she didn’t. Well, she did, but she was dying at the time and this was the only other option to remain alive), he just won’t stop criticising Arjuna, constantly complaining about why she is killing things (which are destroying the Earth and her friends. That’s why she’s killing them). It was a struggle to finish this anime and one of the episodes was so mind-bogglingly stupid and boring that I read a book while it ran in the background. However, time has been kinder to this serial than it ought to have been. A few weeks after viewing this, I studied environmentalism in my Children’s Lit class (I swear I do more classes than this, it’s just one of the most oddly relevant) and was surprised at my own knowledge of key concepts and how serious these concerns were, all of which was due to Arjuna. It has grown in my affections, but I cannot get past its overly preachy nature. It makes me wonder if this was the reason so few people have heard of this anime?

Azumanga Daioh

Oh, where do I even start when discussing this anime? It’s been something I’ve been watching throughout the entirety of the year (as it was originally released on DVD over 6 volumes, which I’ve been ordering, one at a time) and when I realised in June that this series was going to end, I may have lost it slightly. Not since Clannad has an anime had such a profound effect on me. Set in a high school and concerning the lives of six girls and two of their teachers, it’s quite simply one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever seen. I’ll never forget the moment when I first saw Chiyo-Chan (the little orange haired one) cooking and singing her little song, or the many, many battles Sakaki had with that evil grey cat. The fact that it’s set over three years means that the strength of the friendship between the characters is realistic and emotional and it also means that several key events are repeated. There’s three athletics carnivals, summer holidays and two culture fests. I have never been more endeared to an anime and I was genuinely scared to finish off this series. I wanted to delay watching the last volume as long as possible, but then it was due, overdue at the library and had to be watched. So I sat down, with a box of tissues next to me and watched as my favourite characters said goodbye. There was the exams and the resolution of that pesky cat problem and some genuinely funny moments, but then that last episode came. They’re all strong, until the moment when Chiyo-chan loses it, and I lost it at exactly the same time. I was reminded of the end of high school, the odd mixture of joy and sadness (which still affects me more than it probably should). But then it ends with this beautiful, beautiful final scene. It’s no big revelation, no final twist, or painful goodbye. It’s just a celebration and realisation of what’s really important. Damn you, Azumanga Daioh, you’re gonna make me cry again. Needless to say, I loved this anime and you have to watch it, preferably as soon as possible. You will take these characters into your heart. I miss them already.

Graphic Novels

Fables Volumes 3-6

Storybook Love

I began my reading of the massive Fables saga during July and was captivated by the epic, awesome storytelling and wonderful characters. It was a major deciding factor in me continuing with this graphic novel lark. But then I read Storybook Love. Never have I been more disappointed. It’s extremely important, getting two of my favourite characters together, but it does in such a perfunctory and clichéd manner, making this an entirely unmemorable part of the Fables story.

March Of The Wooden Soldiers

March Of The Wooden Soldiers is where things begin to pick up again. It’s clearly going to be massively influential down the line, but it’s an amazing story in it’s own right, exciting and brilliant, making me more excited than I should be about the inevitable war with the Adversary. And the final page of the volume is so heartbreaking and stunning that I had to read it three times. It’s just perfect.

The Mean Seasons

Initially, this seemed to be a disappointment with an unnecessary murder mystery feeling like padding for the upcoming Adversary arc, but it’s also key because it introduces North, Bigby’s father, who is just awesome. Plus, you will never guess the murderer, but all the clues are there and the moment of revelation is one of the most darkly beautiful things I’ve ever read. Things are on the up.

Homelands

And then it falls down just as quickly. The introductory story featuring Jack in Hollywood is boring and doesn’t make me excited to read his spin-off. Then, once the story proper kicks in, it looks like it’s going to be awesome. We’re back in the Homelands! And the Adversary’s identity is finally revealed! The entire story is set up on that final revelation, but because I’d had this spoiled (by the official Vertigo encyclopedia of all things), it became clear how stunningly boring the rest of this story really was. There are a couple of nasty moments later on, but ultimately this story should feel a lot more awesome than it does. Still, Fables is amazing for the majority of the time and that’s enough to keep me reading for a long time yet.

Y: The Last Man Volume 1

Unmanned

As I waited impatiently for the fourth Fables volume, I discovered a few new comics, one of which was Y: The Last Man. It’s a stunningly awesome story and exciting, taking an interesting concept and using it really well (so far). It’s also drawn by Pia Guerra who did the Doctor Who strip, The Forgotten which means that Yorick (the last remaining male) looks quite a bit like the Tenth Doctor (which makes the fact that Yorick is damn hot slightly disturbing for me). Still, I was so excited about the prospects of this story that I ordered the remaining nine volumes, so expect more thoughts on this story next month.

Attack On Titan Volume 1

Attack On Titan is taking over the internet (and has been for a while) in its anime incarnation, which I have watched a few episodes of (it is better than everything you’ve heard), so I was excited to see this at a new library I visited. I borrowed it eagerly and decided to read it on the bus on the way to Uni. Bad idea. I was so freaked out by reading this manga (particularly the full double page shot of the Colossal Titan appearing behind Eren) that I struggled to control my desire to run the other way. I don’t even know why it freaks me out so much, it’s just terrifying. So far, it is the only thing that I’ve watched/read that I’ve had nightmares about (the Earth had been taken over by them in the dream. I was about to get free in a rocket with my loverboy, but the Titans dragged me back down to Earth and ate my partner. Yeah, I’m weird) The manga itself is stunning, by the way. But now, I face a problem. The first volume of the manga covers up to episode 5 of the series and I haven’t seen past this point. I’m trying to decide whether to watch the anime or read the manga. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big problem, but a major part of Titan’s appeal is that you never know what’s coming next. I cannot decide, damn it. I’ll have decided by next month. I hope. (I’m leaning towards the anime, but I’m not sure).

The Sandman Volume 1

Dreams & Nocturnes

I’d heard of this one before because, well, I don’t live under a rock (contrary to popular belief). It has an enormous reputation, written by Neil Gaiman (who wrote the awesome Doctor Who episode The Doctor’s Wife and the awful Nightmare In Silver) and I was a little concerned about its reputation being undeserved. This view was supported by the fact that everyone badmouths it in the editor’s note at the start of the text and at the end. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was actually really good. The first couple of issues aren’t spectacular, but it picks up later with one issue in particular, being incredibly horrifying (it depicts a madman with control of people and their emotions controlling a small café over a short period of time. It’s claustrophobic and it’s really, really freaky). Of course, I’m excited to read the rest of this series, because part of me wonders; how can it get better than this?

Doom Patrol Volume 3

Down Paradise Way
Doom Patrol was a surprisingly exciting discovery when I read the first two volumes last month. I was shocked at its weirdness and awed by its stunning visuals, particularly in The Painting That Ate Paris which was just damn weird, art history and terror mixed in one. Plus, it introduced Mr. Nobody who is just awesome. Another of the stories featured God as a psychopath. C’mon, that’s just cool. But it’s the characters that keep you sane through some really very strange experiences, although they themselves are quite odd in themselves, yet they’re truly endearing. However, the third volume was something of a disappointment. It was less weird than the first two and suffered as a result. I never got the alien feeling that the first two stories elicited and there just seemed to be something lacking in this one. Shame, really. But Mr. Nobody comes back in volume five in a Christmas suit which is reason enough to continue.

Other

Welcome To Night Vale

God, how do I explain Welcome To Night Vale? In its simplest terms, it’s a radio show narrated by a guy called Cecil who describes the strange events of his town. But it’s so, so much more than that. Another thing I discovered through Tumblr, this has possibly taken over my life. I prefer to listen to it in complete darkness with a hot chocolate and it’s just perfect. It’s sometimes immensely creepy, targeting primal fears of the Unknown and that thing which keeps you up at night. It’s also something of a permanent existential crisis with huge life questions raised in it albeit incidentally. For example, at Uni, I’ve noticed some of its ideas have cropped up in a few of my classes and in Children’s Lit (yes, again), I ended up starting something of a class discussion with my discussions about how a video sounded like the creepy serial. But it’s also wonderfully insane. In the first episode, Cecil does a five minute monologue on the perfection of scientist Carlos’ hair and this is such a wonderful pairing. There are whole websites dedicated to the two of them because they’re amazing (when I got to hear Carlos’ voice in Episode 16, I was overjoyed). Then there are the supporting characters. A five-headed dragon wants to be leader of the town (Hiram McDaniels for mayor!), an ominous glow cloud threatens citizens and Station Management wants a piece of Cecil. It’s hard to see why, because he’s just doing his job, reporting community news (many people think that he’s a psycho, but I’ve always thought that he’s been forced to and uses his joyous attitude to critique the system, but I make up so many theories about this show. I’ll finally have my own internal headcanon as to what is going on, before something happens which stuffs it all up, but that’s Night Vale for you). My favourite of the 18 episodes I’ve seen so far (there’s 30 so far, the others I’ll be watching next month) has to be A Story About You. The normal format of the show is suspended to focus on you. Told entirely in second person (you did this), it works perfectly, involving you in the story and making the poignant ending surprisingly moving. It’s one of the most stunning and exciting experiments I’ve ever seen. But then again, I wouldn’t expect any more from a show as truly wonderfully radical as Welcome To Night Vale.

Previews

Graphic novels are a bit of a pain really, because there’s so many of them. I can never keep track of which ones are coming out, but the last time I was in the City I solved this problem. It was simple really, all I did was purchase a magazine called Previews. Containing over 300 pages (with an extra Marvel insert), it displays every comic released in two months’ time. In essence, it’s a catalogue, but for people like me (ie; supernerds), it’s like a godsend. But it not only lists comics, it tells you when all the Doctor Who audios and books are coming out, as well as loads of other merchandise. The manga listings are also extremely helpful, as is the section on DVDs (of which anime features prominently. You can even get little anime models which are just beautiful. There’s one from Steins; Gate which I needed to know existed). It’s a one-stop shop and I managed to find a comic book store locally that stocks it. The only problem with this magnificent publication is that I just want to read and watch everything in it. Damn it. So many things, so little time! Note, as an American publication, a lot of the DVDs and graphic novels release dates are different, but this is what eBay was invented for.

Tumblr

And so I finally come to it. The thing that has taken over my life. Oddly enough, I got Tumblr a few years back, but never really used it (I do it with all the big websites. I was on Facebook, gmail, Gallifrey Base and Blogger for a long time, but never used them). That is until I saw one of my friends in Uni (Lit Studies, this time!) scrolling through her tumblr feed on her iPad. The multitude of Dylan O’Brien, Andrew Garfield, The Hunger Games, Doctor Who and Supernatural images was a heady mix. Seeing my excitement, my friend asked me why I didn’t use my Tumblr. As usual, I told her that I couldn’t use it at home. She explained the queue function. Never before have I felt so enlightened. That night, I got on Tumblr and haven’t looked back since. I used it at first to find Alexander Rybak and Eric Saade gifs (I will explain this, but this post is over 5,000 words. I need many, many words to describe their explosive impact on my life. They’re bigger than Glee and almost as big as Doctor Who. That’s huge. Anyway, what was I saying) before discovering the anime section, and then the recommendations came thick and fast. Thanks to Tumblr, I have discovered (in no particular order) Welcome To Night Vale, the Sherlock fandom (they’re amazing, just saying), numerous animes (AnoHana, Attack On Titan, Danganronpa, Kuroko No Basket, Persona 4, Tsuritama, Watamote and more), Dramatical Murder (a boys love video game), Free! (extremely slashy anime which is hugely important to me. It’s almost as big as the Azu), Supernatural (Must. Watch. Now.), Hannibal, True Blood, William Beckett, Panic! At The Disco and many, many more. Tumblr is like the place where you meet all of your friends who then say, watch this now and then you discover more and more. Tumblr’s like an addiction. It’s taken over my life to a certain extent, but it rules. I can’t imagine my life without it now. Almighty respect for Tumblr and in the following months, it’s going to be mentioned a lot. Shame about the porn, though. The yaio stuff is occasionally quite cute, unless it’s overly sexual, but then you just scroll past. And then the computer freezes, and you pray that none of the librarians walk past, lest they see a blue-haired guy and his red-haired friend making out. Life’s just a wonderful embarrassment sometimes.

And that's it. Over 5,800 words on what I found great this last month. Sorry about the length, but I like to go on a bit. I find while reviewing or recommending something that it just becomes a springboard for me to talk about my life and all of the wonderful people in it. Anyway, it was a pretty awesome month and as Tumblr continues to control my life, I am sure there are many truly great things to discover, but that's all coming soon. For the moment, I'll leave you with a quote from Welcome To Night Vale:

Sometimes you go through things that seem huge at the time, like a mysterious glow cloud devouring your entire community.

While they're happening, they feel like  the only thing that matters, and you can hardly imagine there's a world out there that might have anything else going on.

And then the glow cloud moves on.

And you move on. 

And with that, I bid you farewell. Goodnight, readers, goodnight.