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I posted 79 (!) individual works over at roesslyng over the course of 2016. This is a higher number of fics than I've ever finished in one year. The total wordcount was over 100k, which is also more than I've written in any given year. This year has been great, output-wise.

Final count: Stand Still Stay Silent (35), A Redtail's Dream (22), Hetalia (9), Yuri on Ice (4), Frozen (3), Original Work (3), Mad Max (1), Song of Achilles (1), and Rose of Versailles (1).

( List under cut )

After watching Fury Road, I decided to take a look at the other films in the Mad Max series. Partly it was out of a general interest in where the franchise started, but it was also out of interest in Max's backstory. We get some of that in Fury Road, but it made the most sense to take an actual look at the story. So, I'm watching them in chronological order, starting with the 1979 Mad Max.

Multiple people told me to skip this movie, to not bother with it at all and move straight on to Road Warror. I'm glad that I didn't! It was interesting. As far as I can tell, part of whether or not one will enjoy this film depends on whether they know what they're getting into, and what their expectations are.

( So, about Mad Max 1979 )

I've been listening to the soundtrack for Mad Max: Fury Road, and thought I'd talk about it a little. Overall, I'm not really the best person to talk about what makes a good soundtrack, since I don't listen to a lot of soundtrack music. But I do know what I like, so why not?

I have the deluxe soundtrack, which contains a lot of extended editions. Right now, I'm not able to do any comparisons to the regular editions of the OST tracks, but it would be interesting to see what the differences are.

A lot of the tracks on this OST are ones that serve their purpose in the film, in that they're decent tracks to back whatever is going on in the foreground, but they are relatively unobtrusive and unremarkable and aren't necessarily good for personal listening. There are a few, however, that do stand out really nicely.

( Cut for length )

This whole week was crazy. But... I have tomorrow off, and the sun is nice and bright. Let's focus on the nice things.

☆ I've started re-reading Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, and it's quite an experience. The first time that I read it years ago, I missed so many of the Shakespeare references (and literary/theatrical references in general). I'm not sure how that happened. Anyway, it's nice to pick up on that now. Oh, and this is the novel where Magrat shows up! I've always rather liked her.

☆ As I was re-reading some parts of A Redtail's Dream last night, I realized just how much I appreciate Paju as a character. While she isn't the kind of person that I would want to be friends with, I can see some of myself in her. And her banter with Hannu is just so funny. She would be interesting to write, I think - and feeling that way is good, because I fully intend to take Anon's suggestion and write a canon-divergent AU in which she and Ville need to rescue Hannu. Though I won't start plotting that until the postcanon thing I'm working on is done. ...She'll be a lot easier to write than Hannu is, or at least I hope so. He's such a pain in the ass, I just can't get his voice right.

☆ I don't need a Fury Road t-shirt, but I want one. Maybe this one or this one or this one or -- No. Self, you do not need more nerdy t-shirts.

☆ Last night, I stumbled across some neat Finnish music. Thought I ought to share:

❀ Eriskummainen kantele by Loituma. This is a Finnish folk band that I've heard of before, but I haven't looked into much. I think I should change that. As it turns out, some of the former members of Loituma also did work with Hedningarna, a band that I like very much, particularly on Hedningarna's Trä album, which is my favourite. ... But internet-wise, Loituma is probably best known for the Ievan polkka (the song used in that silly Leekspin meme from several years ago)

❀ Kohtalon oma by Lauri Schreck, vocalist for the band Puhuri. It's a vocal + kantele cover of Chisu's song by the same name, Kohtalon oma, which is also worth listening to - though it has a much different sound. Anyway - I love Schreck's version of it, because the kantele just sounds so pretty. I haven't listened to a lot of kantele music, but the range for the kind of sounds it can make is much different than I expected. He has a nice voice, too - which makes me think that I should check out music by his band. So far, I like what I've heard, though at the moment I've only listened to this solo kantele song and Puhuri's Älä vie.

❀ My Kantele by Amorphis. The song is the same as the one above by Loituma, except this one is in English, and in metal style. I've been meaning to check out Amorphis for a while, because they do a lot of music based on Finnish mythology and traditional stories, but I'm not entirely sure if their style is to my taste - I usually prefer metal with a somewhat lighter sound. Though I must say, I do love the Acoustic Reprise version of this song. Clear vocals? Yes, please, thank you.

☆ So, there's a Dreamwidth Friending Meme over here. Go post if you're looking for new friends! As for me, I'll be checking it over the next couple of days, just to see if there's any later posters with similar interests to mine.

☆ A few days ago I was talking about FSTs. Well, I've put together another one - not the one I'd been talking about, though. This is going to be Hetalia FST. Norway-centric, and all metal. It started off as a pairing soundtrack, but some of the tracks that I wanted to include just didn't fit right - lots of metal, lots of soft folksy stuff, but nothing in between. So I scrapped the idea and decided to do some historical gen with a heavy sound. I'm pretty excited about it, because I've been meaning to do a history-centric all-metal mix for a long time now, but I just couldn't find the right tracks for what I wanted. Think I'll be finished with testing/arranging in a few days... I have no idea what I'm going to do for the cover art.

☆ Remembered today that I've never seen any of the Nightmare on Elm Street films. Considering I watch so many horror movies, this is ridiculous and must be fixed immediately. Fortunately, that's what I'll be watching with the gang tonight! A remake, but hey, it's a place to start.

☆ Actually - honestly, there are a lot of classics that I just haven't seen. I fully intend to get around to them eventually, but there's only so much free time, and there are so many movies in the world. Though it isn't horror movies that brought this to my mind recently, but Mad Max: Fury Road. I've seen people say, "How can you have never heard of Mad Max?!" Well, Beyond Thunderdome came out a year before I was born, and of course it was quite a while before I was old enough to watch that kind of movie. To add to it, action movies were never a big thing in my house, and this series doesn't seem to be that big in my part of Canada among people who like older films, because I literally never heard a single mention of it until Fury Road came out this year. So - when I hear "How can you not have heard of Mad Max", my only response is - easily. ... But since I liked Fury Road so much, it's very likely that I'll see the other films eventually. Possibly soon.

☆ I'll be getting plenty of time to myself this weekend. Should be nice! Though I'll probably spend most of it running around on errands. I told a friend I'd look for a specific doll for them, since they were having trouble getting hold of it, but knowing where I live, I'll have to go to every single toystore in the city before I find it (if I find it). Well, I don't mind - I hear we're supposed to have great weather tomorrow, and since I'll be downtown, I'll be able to pop into Yoshi's for lunch.

☆ Went to see Mad Max: Fury Road today. It was pretty cool! I enjoyed it - and glad that I went to see it in cinema, because it's really the kind of film that benefits from the big screen. Wish I hadn't had to see it in 3D, but eh, I take what I can get. Not sure if it's something I would re-watch - by myself, at least; I'd totally watch it during a movie night with my mates - but it was a fun time. I've never seen any of the previous Mad Max films, but now I'm curious. I found the setting really interesting, not to mention the vehicle design - speaking of which, I found a neat article here about the production design/vehicles used in the film. ... And of course, looking away from the setting and toward characters, I loved Furiosa. She's pretty damn cool. Not to mention all the members of the Vuvalini. Found myself liking Max a lot as well, which was surprising because I generally don't feel much one way or another about male action film protagonists. ... The only downside is that a lot of the time, I couldn't parse the dialogue. I wish the film'd had subtitles. Then again, I usually do wish cinemas used subtitles. Subtitles for everyone, says I.

☆ If you're still on the fence about seeing this movie, I'd suggest giving it a go if any of these things sound interesting to you: post-apocalyptic Australia, cool practical effects, intense car chases in fabulously frankenstein'd vehicles, women in leadership positions, a male protagonist who isn't an asshole to his allies, protagonists with PTSD, prosthetic limbs in post-apocalyptic environment, blood transfusions in this setting, tough old women who drive motorcycles and take no shit. ... But if car chases bore you, then sorry, best to pass this one over. It is totally a two-hour car chase. You have been warned.

☆ Nordipalooza is going well. 8 submissions as of this posting. ... I hope there will be more. I expect there will be. Usually, there are a ton of submissions at absolutely-the-last-minute. So, I fully expect to wake up tomorrow to an inbox with a bunch of email submissions put through at 4AM or something like that. But, that's not a problem. Anyway, I'm going to read the submissions after posting is closed and everything is up. So far, it looks like a few will definitely be relevant to my interests - but of course, I'm going to read all of them, regardless of summary/characters.

☆ ... I have Australia's Eurovision Song stuck in my head. Man, Guy Sebastian gave such a good performance (which is why I link'd the live version). I wish they'd won, but then again, it would be hard to top that - or should I say, it's one tough act to follow? ;) ;) ;) Whatever, Australia is the winner in my heart.

☆ Speaking of Australia in Eurovision, Sweden and Australia exchanging twelve points last night made me want to write some Hetalia Eurovision fic with Sweden/Australia just because. With maybe some Norway and UK on the side being indignant about betrayal from their respective family members. (No 12 points to Norway from the Nordic bloc? No points at all from Australia to UK? How dare you) But, I'll have to think of a way to actually plot it down. It's the kind of thing that would be better as a ridiculous comic than as a fic. ... Oh, hell, maybe I should just write some straight-up Sve/Aussie without the Eurovision connection. It's a pretty cute pair on its own, anyway. Hot/Cold, fun!

☆ Speaking of writing. I WROTE NOTHING THIS WEEKEND. YAY, A BREAK. Well, okay, I lie: I scribbled down maybe 200 words while I was having a coffee in A&W and waiting for it to be time to go see Mad Max. It's for some Redtail's Dream fic, which so far isn't turning out very well, because I can't find a good voice for Hannu for the life of me - but anyway. Point is, I barely wrote anything. It feels so good, which suggests to me that I really really needed a break. I'm happy with the way my Nordipalooza turned out last week, but I pushed myself more than I generally would prefer to do in order to get it finished within good time, and... yeah. Break from hobbies. Sometimes, it's a good idea!