Hils's journal

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
11. Beyond Evil - Absolutely brilliant! I spent the first few episodes being Very Confused but once things start clicking into place it's absolutely fantastic. A strong early contender for the best thing I've watched this year
12. Loki - Loki has never been my favourite MCU character, and I don't particularly like Owen Wilson either so I wasn't expecting to enjoy this. It was actually pretty decent. It was an interesting story, and the two leads were great. Owen Wilson actually wasn't bad either. I definitely enjoyed it enough to want to watch the next season of it.

My promotion was made official this week, and my boss emailed everyone to tell them.

It was nice, a lot of people emailed me to say congratulations, but at the same time I felt very Seen and I didn't like it. I do prefer to keep a low profile at work. I'd have been happier just to carry on in my new role and update my email signature. No need for a big fanfare.

I've posted the second chapter of my idol AU. It's going well, I think. I'm still enjoying writing it at least and I'm nearly halfway through the first draft.

Title: Juxtaposition - Chapter 2
Fandom: The Lost Tomb Reboot
Pairing: Currently Wu Xie/Wang Pangzi, eventually Wu Xie/Wang Pangzi/Zhang Qiling
Rating: Teen
Summary: Wu Xie doesn't think life can get much better than this. He gets to use his architecture degree to design buildings for a living and he gets to work with the love of his life who helps make his designs a reality. He's certainly not going to let something small like an attempted mugging disrupt his world. The mysterious man who saved him, on the other hand...

I totally forgot until a couple of days ago that achray was coming down to York for a work thing and that we said we'd meet up.

Coincidentally Tuesday is the night of our Vincenzo group watch so we're going to watch together in person, eat Korean food and drink wine.

A much nicer idea than going out to a restaurant or whatever where the covid rules are now...well, there aren't any rules anymore.

Excited. She's not due in for another hour or so, so I'm going to edit some of my fic until it's time to set off.

It's funny I was looking up where her hotel is this morning and it's literally on the same street where my housemate works. I've driven past it loads of times when dropping Jacqui off at work and never even noticed.

Should be fun. It'll be nice to meet up with a fandom person in the flesh. I think the last time I did something like this was when achray and elenothar came over last summer.

After talking about it for a few weeks I have finally started posting my DMBJ idol AU. It's still weird to me that it's gone from 'here's a random idea that I pulled out of my head for snowflake_challenge to being a thing that exists.

I'm on a small break at the moment while I write a quick thing for Wu Xie Week next week but then I will be back to it until I get my DMBJ Gen Exchange assignment.

I've had some positive feedback from my betas, one of whom read all of the 6 chapters that I've finished and one who read at least to chapter 2, as well as some suggestions of things to tweak.

I'm feeling happy about this one. Initial engagement has been slow, but that's to be expected given the first chapter doesn't include one of the members of the OT3 and the two who are in it aren't a popular ship.

I'm having fun writing it though which, to me, is the only thing that matters.

Title: Juxtaposition
Fandom: The Lost Tomb Reboot
Pairing: Currently Wu Xie/Wang Pangzi, eventually Wu Xie/Wang Pangzi/Zhang Qiling
Rating: Teen
Summary: Wu Xie doesn't think life can get much better than this. He gets to use his architecture degree to design buildings for a living and he gets to work with the love of his life who helps make his designs a reality. He's certainly not going to let something small like an attempted mugging disrupt his world. The mysterious man who saved him, on the other hand...

1. Tokyo Godfathers - I knew nothing about this before we watched it for tonight's movie night. I didn't even realise it was animated until it started. I loved it! Nice to see a trans character who not only lives but also saves the day.
2. Ghostbusters Afterlife - I absolutely loved this! It managed to capture all the joy and nostalgia of the first two movies while feeling fresh at the same time. You can tell a lot of love for the franchise went into this.
3. Hamilton - I'm not sure this counts as a movie because it's just a recording of the broadway show, but it's as long as a movie so I'm including it here. When this dropped on Disney+ in 2020 I was right in the depths of lockdown depression and when I was feeling better I just never got around to it. I listened to the soundtrack obsessively back when it was at its most popular, and I've seen the show in London, but never with the original cast. I loved it! The show in London was fine, but there's no denying the original cast was something special.
4. Mystic Nine: Qing Shan Hai Tang - I've been looking forward to this ever since the trailer dropped and it did not disappoint. Full of nonsense, Zhu Zanjin and Liu Chang both looked great, sexual tension through the roof, big cgi monster at the end. Everything I wanted and then some.

Nephew is now free of covid. He was apparently fine while he was testing positive. Just a bit quieter because he was worried but no actual symptoms. I facetimed with him on Friday because it was his last day of isolation so I couldn't visit and he was his usual happy self. We played Animal Crossing together which is what we usually do when I visit.

In fandom news my idol AU is now at 12k and I've just started chapter 6/16. Going to take a bit of a break from writing this week and get the first chapter edited so my betas can look at it before I post at the end of the month. Still having a lot of fun writing it but I suspect the editing will be where the real work is.

I've got tomorrow off work for a nice long weekend so the plan is to get some editing done before I chill out and play some PlayStation. I'm trying really hard not to feel guilty about spending my day off not being productive.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!

Got out of the shower this morning to find multiple missed calls from my BFF. A couple of minutes later the phone went off again. It was my 9 year old nephew wanting to tell me he's just tested positive for Covid :(

He's fine. Not really any symptoms. He was mostly bothered about the fact that I possibly won't be able to visit next week if he's still positive.

We chatted for about 10 mins and then he handed me over to his mum. She said he had a bit of a cough last night so they tested him this morning just as a precaution. Her and her husband have both tested negative.

Since I was with him on Friday I took a test this morning too and mine was negative as well. Going to keep testing for the next few days just to be on the safe side because I don't want to inadvertently take it to work with me.

But, fingers crossed, my vaccines and booster are doing their job and I've managed to escape it.

Exciting news in the DMBJ fandom. A spinoff movie is coming out next week staring none other than Zhu Zanjin who will be familiar to those who have watched The Untamed. Also featuring Liu Chang with some amazing face tattoos as what looks like one of the antagonists. Liu Chang is doing well for himself. He's signed with the DMBJ author's entertainment company which means he shows up in a variety of the drama adaptations, not always as the same character.

Anyway, this promises to be pulpy and ridiculous and I can't wait

I'm really getting through them at the moment

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.