Book Review: Lumberjanes [Vol. 1]; Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis & Brooke Allen.

Another graphic novel created by the famed Noelle Stevenson, this time a series! I was quite excited by how much attention this book had received and came away feeling a little disappointed as a result.

SOURCE: Web-Comic
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Lumberjanes [Vol. 1]
AUTHOR: Noelle Stevenson
SERIES: Lumberjanes (#1 - #4)
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Box
PAGES: 128
GENRE: Graphic Novel, Young Adult, LGBTQ+, Fantasy

RATING: 3/5 Stars

Blurb:
Lumberjanes is the hit series from the BOOM! Box imprint that features five rad ladies who fight monster baddies with the power of friendship! Written by Noelle Stevenson (Nimona, Adventure Time) and newcomer Grace Ellis, and illustrated by Brooke Allen (A Home for Mr. Easter), this new series has taken comics by storm and placed on many Best-of-the-Year lists, including Comics Alliance, Entertainment Weekly, and Comic Book Resources.

At Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types, things are not what they seem. Three-eyed foxes. Secret caves. Anagrams! Luckily, Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley are five rad, butt-kicking best pals determined to have an awesome summer together...and they're not gonna let a magical quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way! The mystery keeps getting bigger, and it all begins here.

What I Liked:

• This book was certainly a lot of fun. There's a lot of action and antics to follow, and many humorous situations! I like a bit of comedy, and I recognised Stevenson's distinct style from 'Nimona' here.
• I came into this comic hoping for a lot of inclusion and I certainly got it! And plenty of girl power too! I can really see the diversity in this one and how things could be developed in future issues, and I like that a lot.

What I Disliked:

• Being completely thrown into the middle of a plot, spending ten minutes researching to see if I'd missed an issue, then going back to it and finding that they later explain in just a few panels what happened earlier. It wasn't fun and I didn't really see why.
• This is a series of mini adventures with very limited cohesive plot-line to tie it all together. I'd have liked more focus on the overriding arc.

Overall Conclusion:

Hmm...this was a likeable read with plenty of character and potential. It just lacked the punch I'd been hoping for that would draw me into the world. I'm interested to continue and see if things improve, but right now I'm even struggling to remember character names and everything feels bitty. Hopefully it will get better!

Daily Shenanigans, 14/07/2014: 'Richard III'.

If I could I would go to the theatre every day. I absolutely love it, and today's trip to see Trafalgar Transformed's adaption of Richard III was no exception to that rule. Mat arrived at mine about mid morning and we set about completing tasks before heading off to London. Firstly, Mat sorted out our consoles so that we could set about selling the ones we don't need anymore in preparation for our new flat. While he was doing that I decided to update my CV as it truly needed to be done. We had lunch then headed off to London. We actually spent most of our afternoon back and forth on the tube, travelling first to Stratford before returning to Central London. The intention was to spend the afternoon job hunting before having a nice evening and we were pretty productive. After getting lots done, we headed to a nearby Italian restaurant for some dinner.

After dinner we walked across the road to the Trafalgar Studios, picked up our tickets and then eagerly awaited the show. It was fantastic! I had a faint idea about the synopsis of the play though I actually had not ever seen it performed before or studied it. The first thing I noticed was the really cool set, which looked like something out of a 1970s war film. It was amazingly realistic, it even had lifts which I was so impressed by. The soundtrack was really attention grabbing, ever-present and adding plenty of atmosphere. I loved the costume designs too, it was a wonderful adaption of the play. Martin Freeman as the titular character was just phenomenal (and hilarious) I thought he did a great job at playing the villain. I was pretty impressed by the whole cast actually! 

I'm currently so tired, I'm having a lay in tomorrow before doing more jobs. 

Daily Shenanigans, 27/05/2014: 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past'.

Well today felt like the first actual day off where I've been able to work on blogging and reading without worrying about anything else in ages! I spent the morning working on my Top Ten Tuesday post which as always, I really enjoyed writing. Particularly as this week's topic was a freebie so I could devise whatever list I wanted! I think I chose a topic I've been wanting to get off my chest for a while, page-to-screen adaptions hold a very special place in my heart. Straight after finishing that, I wrote my review of 'The Three' by Sarah Lotz. The book itself I had mixed thoughts on, but I did enjoy the unique style that it was told in. Having finished that, I felt it was important to catch up on all the blog posts I've been missing while I've been busy at Uni because I think it's important that as a community we all take the time to read each other's posts as well as write our own. I did also get a chance to read a little of my next read, Nicola Mar's 'A Red Tale' which I'm enjoying so far.

This evening, Mat came round to drop the car off and we decided on the spur of the moment to go to the cinema and watch a film that we have both been extremely excited about! Since attending the premiere, I have been beside myself waiting to watch the latest X-Men film! The trailers gave very little away but it was really fantastic. I felt that Jennifer Lawrence really excelled herself in this one, Mystique seemed to have a whole lot more depth than I've seen previously in the series. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were just wonderful to watch, I hadn't realised how much I'd missed those characters. I also really enjoyed Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy,  they were just great. Someone that really shone (that I wasn't expecting) was Evan Peters as Quicksilver! One word: hilarious. I really hope to see more of him in the future and I'm a little intrigued to see what Marvel's interpretation in Avengers: Age of Ultron will be! As well as the all important acting and the pretty decent storyline,  I did really enjoy the effects,  and I thought the soundtrack was awesome! Well worth a watch!

Tomorrow I'm reading and packing in the morning as I have work in the afternoon, then straight to Mat's house to stay over. 

Daily Shenanigans, 04/05/2014: The 'From Bard To Bookshelf' Event!

I'll start, as I always do, with my rather busy day! I spent most of it with my family visiting my Grandparents (and inadvertently, my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin too)! I haven't seen them for a pretty long time, so it was really nice to get away from the stresses of life and spend some of the day doing that instead! I had a lovely time there and I was allowed to open one of my Birthday presents early, which was a beautiful necklace. It put me in a really good mood for the rest of the afternoon! As soon as I returned home, I wrote my Weekly Wishlist post and then finished 'Hereafter' by Terri Bruce. I posted the review this evening too, so check that out if you're interested! Next up is 'Deep Blue' by Jennifer Donnelly. I know I was originally going straight onto 'Thereafter' but I want a bit of a break from that series and I'm pretty desperate to read 'Deep Blue' before it is released in two days time (eek!)

Onto the main agenda of this post (and the reason behind the title), I have signed up to a rather exciting event! The 'From Bard To Bookshelf' involves me writing a post relating to Shakespeare, particularly on his influence on YA Fiction. My two favourite things combined? Impossible! It is being hosted by Nina at Death, Books And Tea and having read about what it involves, I'm very much looking forward to it. The event itself will be held in August so that gives me plenty of time to get Uni out of the way, and the opportunity to sign up ends in mid-July so get joining if you're a big Shakespeare fan like me. If you are interested, you can find more details here. I would highly recommend it and would love to see some of your thoughts on the idea!

Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday so no Uni for me! Instead I'll be at home, probably working on the essays that I have in for this week. Then some reading and a minute amount of blog posting!

Daily Shenanigans, 02/04/2014: My first review request?

What an exhausting day it has been, I can barely keep my eyes open! Firstly, I didn't end up going into Uni today. Instead I went for an impromptu visit to Mat's because it's the Easter Holidays and I can. Then afterwards, I had work. Never has a shift felt so long in my life, there was a lot to do and by the end of it, I was knackered! Then it was back to Mat's to hand the car over, before finally returning home this evening. I have ended up having a really good evening though, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I found the 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' soundtrack on Youtube and I've been listening to it a lot and it has made me happy. I'm such a geek I know, but Film Scores will always be my favourite thing to listen to, especially when I need some downtime! Mat went to see the film for the second time tonight and I was having withdrawal symptoms! 

Secondly, and perhaps this is the most exciting news of all, I received an email on Goodreads from an Author named Betsy Cook Speer. She wanted to know if I would like to receive a copy of her book 'Demolition Queen - Champagne, Murder & Chaos' for review. Having looked into it, it seems like a really good read! The cover art and title are certainly intriguing! This is a big thing for me actually because although I have reviewed complimentary books before, they were won rather than offered. It is the first time that an Author has actually approached me about a review and I am very excited!

And that really makes up my news, which has put me in an astoundingly good mood. I'm doing good with 'Tithe', review should be up tomorrow or Friday depending on the time I get to finish it. I'll be with Mat for a lot of tomorrow (I'm staying at his), but I will need to post my 'Life Of A Blogger' post, and who knows, we may even go to the Cinema or something! 

Daily Shenanigans, 01/02/2014: 'Out Of The Furnace'

Well I'm going to keep this pretty short and sweet because It's quite late, and not an awful lot happened today. In fact, most of my day involved me making some massive headway with 'Cloud Atlas' (review will be up tomorrow) and waiting for my partner to finish work. When he had, that's where the interesting part of my day really kicked in. Firstly, his family have decided that they might be getting a dog. They picked a lovely Springer Spaniel up today named Bella and I think they are rather taken with her. She's very energetic (to be expected, she's only seven months old and in a new place with new people) but very lovely. My boyfriend is head over heels and I really do hope they decide to keep her because she is so so sweet!

After a quick visit to the new dog, we had dinner and then headed out to the cinema to watch 'Out Of The Furnace', in a deluxe screen no less! There will be spoilers here so don't read if you haven't seen it yet and want to wait until you have. Admittedly the trailer never really appealed to me (except for the song they used. I spent so long trying to find it, Heart Of Gold - Demarest) but I heard many good reviews, particularly for the acting and so I gave in and decided to give it a go. The film itself I found to be a strange experience, and I came out not quite knowing where I stood. The story centres around two brothers. Rodney (Casey Affleck), who constantly gets himself in a lot of trouble, and Russell (Christian Bale) who is honest and hard-working and is desperately trying to make his brother see reason. In some strange and cruel irony, Russell seems to have the worst of luck as tragedy after tragedy seems to strike and I felt deeply sorry for him.

I was completely blown away, I would like to note, by Christian Bale's acting. I had read many a review stating that it was his best so far and honestly I can say those comments are justified. Affleck too took me by surprise, and the relationship between Rodney and Russell was just perfect, they hit the nail on the head wonderfully. Of course, what would a film be without a good villain, and let me tell you Woody Harrelson as the evil Harlan DeGroat was fantastic! He gave me such shudders with his unwavering cruelty that, without giving too much away, his end was well deserved. I came away feeling strangely empty though, totally unsure of how I should feel. On the one hand, justice had prevailed. On the other hand our poor hero was left with quite literally nothing and no one. The final shot described the feeling perfectly, showing clearly Russell sat in a dimly lit room, vacant and speechless. It was a haunting image to leave the cinema with. Overall, an emotionally harrowing film filled with a lot of violence (watch out if you don't deal well with a lot of blood) and a lot of beauty at times. I am glad that I did see the film in the end, despite it not normally being something I would watch. It was worth it just to see Bale do that. If you're a fan of his work then this is a must see.

I'm off to bed now as I'm tired and a little grumpy. I got the car back today and had a bit of a faff trying to park so I think I need to sleep before I have a fit.

Where I've been: 'Coriolanus' and 'The Phantom Of The Opera'.

So, in a solid attempt to get this blog up and running again, I feel it's time to let you know what I've been doing with my time instead of this! Obviously, University has taken up a large portion of it. As mentioned in my previous post, I am in my final year and so am working on my end of year project, a Multimedia Performance that centres on the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. I won't be performing, instead I will be directing and scripting the entire thing, as well as sorting out the programming for the multimedia aspect of it. I am so excited about this project, and have drafted in a good friend of mine to work on the art for it. As well as this for my other modules I am both Company Managing and providing Sound/Lighting Design for two separate nights of shows so as you can imagine I have been a bit of a busy bee!

I have however found time to do other things that I will share with you because I am so excited about them and need somewhere to vent this excitement. Firstly, on the 16th January 2014, a friend and I traveled up to London to see the Donmar Warehouse's adaption of 'Coriolanus' (currently running up until about Mid-February). It starred Tom Hiddleston as the lead, and other famous faces included Mark Gatiss (Mycroft from the hit TV series 'Sherlock') and Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas in the 'Harry Potter' film series). Readers I don't think I can quite put across just how excited I was to see this. I have always been a huge lover of Shakespeare, but to me, Tom Hiddleston is currently one of the finest actors of our generation and I have been a huge fan of his since watching him as Loki in Thor and The Avengers. Having watched his fantastic interpretation of Prince Hal/Henry V in the BBC TV Series 'The Hollow Crown', I knew I needed to see him in this, be it live or in the upcoming broadcast in worldwide cinemas. I was very lucky to get tickets to see him at the Theatre, as they sold out fast every time they were released.

The performance itself was stunning. The set was simple, yet effective and I found myself unable to draw my eyes away from the action for even a second, so lost was I in every cast member's performance. Deborah Findlay was every inch how I imagined Coriolanus' overbearing mother Volumnia to be played and I found her exceedingly entertaining. Gatiss was, as I imagined his Menenius to be, hilarious making his later emotional grief all the more difficult to bare. Hadley Fraser too struck me with his excellent and very brave portrayal of Coriolanus' sworn enemy Aufidius and I would very much like to see him act again. Finally, Tom Hiddleston's representation of the titular character, Caius Martius Coriolanus was quite frankly a breath of fresh air and showed fully Hiddleston's amazing ability to play a broad spectrum of emotions, and in doing so, create a complex character that an audience can instantly connect with. He made me laugh and cry many times as I watched Coriolanus' pride and passion draw him deeper into his inevitable fate. I have loved his many onscreen characters but to anyone reading I will say, if you ever get a chance to watch him act on stage then take it and don't look back. You won't regret it. All in all this adaption, directed by Josie Rourke, was a wonderful interpretation of a Shakespeare that is not often performed. Well done to all cast and crew!

After the Matinee performance, my friend and I decided we would go and eat, and then queue to meet the actors after the performance so that we may tell them face to face that we enjoyed it. We did manage to get an autograph from Alfred Enoch, who was also wonderful to watch, and he was lovely to chat to. Sadly, there was no sign of Mark Gatiss, who I suspect had snuck out of a different door. After much waiting (in the pouring rain I might add), Tom finally came out. My friend and I were at the front of the queue, along with a lovely girl from Latvia with whom we were sharing an umbrella, and I instantly felt terrible that the poor man was coming out to sign for us after two exhausting shows. His voice was a little hoarse but he was very friendly and seemed in fairly good spirits. I told him that I had really enjoyed the show, though I wish that I could have talked to him properly rather than having my mind go blank (yes, I was a little starstruck) but to be perfectly honest I'm just glad I managed to say anything at all in an existing language. He was very gracious and thanked me for my compliments. To be honest, it's all a bit of a blur, but I came away from it happy that I had finally got to meet someone that I really respect and admire and I hope I do get an opportunity to meet him again in the future.

I will also briefly mention (well, probably not briefly) that last week, on Monday 20th January, my boyfriend took me to go and watch 'The Phantom Of The Opera'. I was so, so excited about doing this because it is the show that got me interested in Musical Theatre, and subsequently Theatre in general, and I have been wanting to watch it since I was eleven and have never had the chance! I was so overwhelmed by it that during the Overture, I cried because my dream was quite literally coming true. But I managed to compose myself enough to say that it was a wonderful performance, definitely worth a watch. The costume, set, lighting, and sound were all beautiful and it was clear that a lot of work had gone into the whole production. The singing was just perfect,  and I came out of the Theatre with a huge smile plastered across my face and unable to stop singing. A true classic of the London 'West End'.

So there we have it, a general update on what I've done over the past couple of weeks. It's a bit Theatre focused, but other than Uni work that is really all I have been doing. With regards to the book reviews, my current reads are Stephen King's 'It' and David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas' which I shall definitely be reviewing so stay tuned for those when I finish them. I have a Goodreads account now so check that out if you want to see what I'm planning to read next and what, after I have gone through the books that I own, I want to buy. To fill any gaps, I'll also be letting you know each day, with a short blog post, what I've been up to and keep you all up to date with my future plans for this blog. For example, today's activities really involved sorting out my new Goodreads account and this blog, as well as doing a few bits and bobs for Uni, as this morning's lecture was cancelled. I hope you all enjoyed reading this rather long catch-up of my life, please do follow me on Bloglovin'!