January In Films, Books and Music

I was going to write a really long and gushy post about how much I love films, books and music, but then I was struck by a rare attack of guilt at not having done any work this weekend and plans changed. So I'm going to save the gushy post for some other time and instead begin a series of twelve blogs that I will (hopefully) be writing towards the end of each month, to tell you which bands/movies/authors held my attention during the month. My reasons for this being that I always find it interesting to revisit past interests and I am now officially bored of Cromwell's Seventeenth Century Foreign Policy (shocking, I know).

Films
I must have mentioned that I am a complete and utter film-nerd, and this month has been....an interesting one, in movie terms. I go to the cinema a LOT, and am not ashamed of this because it is literally one of my absolute favourite things to do. Seriously, if I wrote a list of 'Favourite Pastimes', going to the cinema would probably be just behind 'Cyber-stalking celebrities who don't know I exist' and 'watching re-runs of BBC dramas'. Anyway, these are the films that have stood out to me in January: -
1. The King's Speech - this was absolutely WONDERFUL. I'll admit to being a bit of a Colin Firth fangirl (not obsessively though...I mean I've only YouTubed the wet shirt scene about six hundred times.....), but in this he demonstrated an absolute masterclass in acting, Geoffrey Rush is always good value and I have a bit of a girl-crush on Helena Bonham-Carter. It was also just a compelling, emotional and poignant story that I simply adored.
2. Season of the Witch - normally when a professional movie critic tells me a film is God-awful I take it with a pinch of salt, and very often enjoy the film they slated. This was an exception. It really was God-awful.
3. Black Swan - I didn't really want to see this, but thought I should because it's tipped for a bunch of Oscars and got amazing reviews and blah de blah de blah....anyway, I spent two hours feeling tense, very impressed with Natalie Portman's performance and flinching. So to repeat what I've said to the many people who've asked me about this film: it was very good, Natalie Portman was amazing, but I did not enjoy and will never watch it again. A bit like The Shining.
4. The Mask of Zorrow - obviously this wasn't at the cinema, and it exploits pretty much every tired movie cliche in the Hollywood book, but I just don't care. Lovage.
5. Tim Minchin's Ready For This? - not technically a film, but it was a DVD, so it sort of counts..... Anyway I used to hate this guy, but recently discovered that this was because I just hadn't heard the right songs. Now I think the man's a lyrical, pianical (so not a word) and comedic genius; this literally blew me away.

Albums
1. Charlie McDonnell - This Is Me. This is reaching the end of it's run with me (by that I don't mean that I'll stop liking it, just that I'll stop listening to it obsessively and take it off my 'current' playlist), but I have thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Quirky, funny, easy to listen to and just very sweet. Favourite Songs: A Song About Monkeys, Melody For Melody, This Is Me.
2. Alex Day - The World Is Mine. Again, I've stopped listening to this as much recently, but still really like it. It was one of those chalk-and-cheese albums; instead of quite liking all of the songs on it, there were some I adored and some I really wasn't keen on, but it was still ultimately a great album. Favourite Songs: Heart On My Sleeve, Time Of Your Life.
3. Kate Rusby - Awkward Annie. A new discovery for me, this angel-voiced, guitar-geniused, folk-singing Yorkshire gal, and oh how I love her. Seriously, I can't describe the beauty that is her voice - I think you'll be hearing me gush about her a lot as the year goes on. Favourite Songs: Village Green Preservation Society, Awkward Annie, The Old Man
4. Take That - Progress. This album surprised me. I was only a kid when Take That had their first go round, and thus don't really know their old songs, but I own all three of their new albums and they all stand out as very individual to me. The first was one I initially thought was rubbish and steadily grew on me, the second maintained but didn't increase my general liking for Take That, but this third one took me by surprise; it's really very different. Much more dance-y, with more backbeats and drums, and less warbling. To begin with I was hesitant, but now I'm really getting into this new sound (though I still don't care whether or not Robbie's in the band...they managed perfectly well without him and will probably manage perfectly well with him). Favourite Songs: What Do You Want From Me?, The Flood.
5. Will Martin - Inspirations. This guy really isn't well-known, but he's a classically-trained Kiwi with an incredibly beautiful voice whom I once accidentally saw live and have been in love with ever since. His first album was full of classical-crossover songs (think Katherine Jenkins, style-wise), but this second one contains covers of his (much more accesible, to me at least) inspirations; people like Elton John, Billy Joel, Simon and Garfunkel, Phil Collins...it's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Favourite Songs: The Boxer, In The Air Tonight, Lately, I Just Can't Stop Loving You.

Books
Rather embarrassingly, this is probably going to be a shorter list because I haven't been reading much lately. I have no justifiable excuse for this, I've just reached that point of work-related exhaustion where I can't seem to go home and read a book. I have to collapse onto a sofa and stare blankly at a screen for four hours, soaking in nothing and gently drooling. Thankfully though, my mum won't let me install a TV in the bathroom, so bathtime reading is still keeping me vaguely literate.
1. The Fry Chronicles - Stephen Fry. I love Stephen Fry, I love interesting people's autobiographies (comedians tend to write the best ones, in my, admittedly limited, experience) and I love books that reaffirm my belief that it's cool to be a nerd. Though this is a bit too intellectual at times and has whole sections that the editor should have given a brutal chop, it's still fascinating and witty and just generally wonderful.
2. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth - Jules Verne. I started this on holiday because I literally had nothing else. And I mean nothing. Desperation is the only circumstance in which I would have turned to Jules Verne, but it turns out that this discrimination was a mistake. Far from being stuffy, boring and unnecessarily wordy, it's witty, compelling and surprisingly easy to read.
3. The Ring Of Solomon - Jonathan Stroud. This was an unexpected prequel to my absolute favourite YA trilogy of all time - The Bartimaeus Trilogy. Fast-paced, hysterically funny, gripping and moving with superb characters, I was expecting this to disappoint and it so did not.

So, there we are January 2011 in books, films and albums.
It would have been quicker and easier to write the gushy post, wouldn't it?