nor so wide as a church door

Christmas was lovely, and I hope everybody had a lovely Friday, no matter what they were celebrating or not celebrating. I got books! And movies! And more books! :D I haven't actually read any of the books I was given yet; I've been too busy reading the ones I gave to other people.

The one I feel like blabbing about specifically is ( Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Technically, spoilers within. ) It was reasonably fun to read, and there were portions that I genuinely loved, but the changes to the book's universe could have been handled much better than they were, IMO. As I was reading, I kept catching myself thinking that any one of a handful of fandom people could have done a much more awesome job with it.

As for movies, well. My family and I went to go see Avatar. I had queasy and hesitant feelings about this movie the first time I heard what it was about, and actually seeing the movie ... ( did not really alleviate those feelings. Definite spoilers, in here. ) The bottom line is that it was a very pretty movie, and that's just about the only positive thing I can say. Neytiri, Grace, and Trudy were all wonderful characters who did not get to do nearly as much as I wanted them to; and the whole thing was filled with undercurrents of racism, sexism, and ableism that really drove me crazy. Thinking about it now, it reminds me a little of 300 - if I could turn off the analytic part of my brain that is concerned with unfunny business, the part that fandom turned on and that I am extremely grateful for, it was decent enough, if still painfully unoriginal. But I can't turn that part off, and I don't really want to.

Sherlock Holmes, I liked infinitely better. My family was planning to see it Christmas Day, but those plans fell through because my sister got sick and didn't feel much like going out. So I saw it with my friends a few days later, and hopefully will be seeing it again with my family. And, my god, ( the slash. Spoilers here, too, natch. ) I reeeeeeeally hope at least a few people do some fic in this 'verse; it may not have been the best movie in the entire world, but it was reasonably solid and fun and struck me as a welcoming sort of source when it comes to fic. (Not that book canon or other adaptations haven't been - although I am pleased by a young and clever and competent Watson, some Holmes sources kind of shortchange him. Didn't hurt that he was Jude Law, either. :D)

The most significant event aside from that stuff would be that I somehow managed to blow through the rest of the terrifying HP AU, and now it's ... done. Book 1 of it, at least. Of course, I need to edit it before I can even consider putting it up anywhere; but being finished with the first draft is still a pretty awesome milestone. I'm not sure it's even really sunk in yet. Thank goodness there's a Burn Notice marathon right now, or I don't know what I would do with myself. ^^