Unexpected Hiatus and What's Next on Meg Heymdia!

Wow so this blog has been dormant for longer than I expected! BASICALLY what happened there is that I started a new full-time job, which is a) cool but also b) quite time-consuming, and it's taken me a while to work out how to manage my time around that (.......obviously). 

That time has ALSO been really useful for figuring out what I actually want to do with this blog! On that note, here's a quick update of the Shape of Things to Come:

• I'm going to be taking a break from recapping Vampire Academy. It's making me enjoy the book less, which was the opposite of what I wanted, and I think that would come out int the recaps. Maybe I will pick them up again later! WHEEEE TEEN VAMPIRE BOOKS *_* If you're jonesing for more of my thoughts on books (idk, maybe there is a secret subsect of you out there), you can always follow me on Goodreads!
• BUT I'm going to be starting some TV recaps instead! Starting with the new seasons at the end of this month, I'm going to be recapping Once Upon a Time and Reign. \o/ LET'S WATCH THE PROMOS TOGETHER NOW SHALL WE:

EVERYONE IN BOTH THESE SHOWS SEEMS TOTALLY FINE. IT'S ALL GOING VERY WELL NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.

I'm going to do a brief catch up guide of both of these shows before the new seasons start but other than that it might be a bit quiet again around here until the end of the month. SEE YOU THEN FOR FUN TIMES IN FAIRYTALES AND ALSO TUDOR-ERA FRANCE! 

Until then, here's a raccoon snuzzling a cat:

Why, Reign, What Historically Accurate Pyjamas You've Got

Just started #Reign + 7 mins in I have had to stop to google essentially "WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE PLEASE HELP ME I DON'T KNOW HISTORY"
— Meg (@heymdia) August 3, 2014

I had been wanting to watch Reign for a while and then I stumbled across a Buzzfeed article entitled 21 Actors Offer Their TV Characters One Piece of Advice, in which there was this shining gem:

As I am at all times here for vaguely handwave historical melodrama starring Ladies being Friends with Ladies, and as ladies with thigh daggers are ALSO high on my list of interests, Reign seemed like a good fit! I was thinking of Reign as The Tudors, but, like, the Gossip Girl remix and LO I was SO MUCH MORE ACCURATE THAN I COULD HAVE HOPED. 

Here's the initial trailer from the CW. MARVEL AT ITS BEAUTY:

So, Reign basically follows Mary, Queen of Scots, as a teenager living in the French court. She is there with her four friends/ladies-in-waiting and is engaged to marry Francis, the French prince.  Francis and I are not simpatico in basically any way. REGARD HIS FACE:

Okay, admittedly he looks a lot like Enjolras from the Les Mis movie, who ticks all the boxes re: my male aesthetic type. Angry, blond, curly-haired... actually, wait, let's pause for a gif.

YOU'RE WELCOME, GENTLE READER.

But UNLIKE Enjolras, Francis seems to spend most of his time irritating me and/or pouting. The two don't seem to be mutually exclusive. Mary is understandably a little downtrodden about how marrying him would save her country but he doesn't want to marry her despite their engagement for.... reasons I might not have been listening to that closely BUT IT'S ALL OKAY! And why is that? WHY, BECAUSE OF HER FOUR LADIES-IN-WAITING OF COURSE.

BEHOLD THEIR AWESOME LIPSTICK COORDINATING POWERS:

I still haven't caught all of their names so I am referring to them as (l-r), Kenna (ACTUAL NAME!), Anna Popplewell, Not Hayley Atwell, and The Other Blonde One. Admittedly I've only seen the pilot but this has caused me no trouble so far. Neither has the fact that I know next to nothing about this bit of history but what HAS caused me problems is the fact that the French king and queen are called Henry and Catherine. THAT JUST SEEMS UNNECESSARILY CRUEL, HISTORY. GIVE ME A CHANCE AT LEAST. 

(My kings and queens knowledge is limited to English kings and queens, and even then it's only as solid as it is because of the Horrible Histories Kings and Queens song, which I learnt by heart as a distraction technique during one essay deadline period. I can still do the whole thing and REMAIN V PROUD ABOUT IT.)

Mary's girl band seem to spend most of their time with Mary in various forms of hilarious/brilliant clothes and they all hug a lot and it's the best:

Exhibit A

Ordinarily, I would be reviewing something on a Wednesday but I've just started a new job and I'm still getting used to the new routine. HOWEVER, something I do feel I can offer a solid review of is THIS SPECTACULAR PIECE OF NIGHTWEAR COSTUMING:

In this BRILLIANT scene, Lola/Anna Popplewell is asleep in Mary's bed one morning when all the rest of the girl band tumble into Mary's room in THESE FABTASTIC NIGHT OUTFITS. Are those.... NIGHT LACE THIGH HIGHS that Kenna is wearing?

WHY, YES, YES THEY ARE.

Reign is full of ladies, who speak to and care about each other. The costumes are SO GREAT (I care less for ~~historical accuracy~~ than I care about, let's say, hypothetically, ladies wandering around palaces in lace thigh highs <.< I mean what). The modern soundtrack works so well and really lends the Gossip Girl meets The Tudors description an extra punch of accuracy. AND there's a scheming older lady! Queen Catherine! She schemeth! WITH NOSTRADAMUS.

YEAH THAT'S RIGHT I SAID NOSTRADAMUS.

\o/ so many things to love about this show and I'm only on episode 2.

Let's Read: Vampire Academy (w/ Meg Heymdia!): Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In which Rose and Lissa continue to be soulbonded, Unnamed Doll Girl GETS A NAME, and Rose is very chill about everything to do with Lissa's safety. (One of those things may be a lie.)

Weekend Link Round Up to Read in a Bed Nest (02/08/2014)

I don't know about you but personally when I have a day off I like to spend as much time as possible in my bed hiding from all responsibilities and the difficult prospect of getting out of my pyjamas and into the clothes of a Real Person who can Accomplish Things. Here's how I achieve this:

STEP ONE: open laptop.

STEP TWO: remain on laptop until biological needs and/or guilt drive you out of bed.

STEP THREE: accomplish all necessary tasks as quickly as possible.

STEP FOUR: return to your bed nest with sustenance. 

STEP FIVE: PROFIT.

Here's a small contribution of things to look at to help you put off being in the actual world for as long as possible/bask in your own glory and pyjamas for as long as you damn well like because you're fabulous.

Links of the Week:

1. Autostraddle: Top Eight TV Female Bosses Who Aren't Afraid to Get Bossy. 

Relevant to my interests in almost every single possible way,  here is a gr9 list of Hot Boss Ladies Being Competent and Hot. Featuring Bette Motherfucking Porter, Lesley Knope, Captain Janeway, and Tami Taylor. I have seen ONE of those shows. <.< I should really do something about that.


More links, tumblr posts, and tweets under the cut!

Let's Read: Vampire Academy (w/ Meg Heymdia!): Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

In which we take so many trips to the Department of Exposition that we should probably have a weekly ticket to save money.

Let's Read: Vampire Academy (w/ Meg Heymdia!): Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In which Headmistress Kirova is Not a Fan of Rose, Dimitri Ponytail is SO MUCH MORE INTO ROSE THAN I SUSPECT HE REALLY WANTED TO BE AT THIS STAGE, and Rose doesn't hit ANYONE AT ALL.

Let's Read: Vampire Academy (w/ Meg Heymdia!): Chapter 1

First post of my first let's read series! Who's excited? I AM EXCITED. You may feel as you wish. (I'm gracious like that.) I picked Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, the first book in the Vampire Academy series. 

I first heard about Vampire Academy on tumblr when the movie trailer was released. In case there are any doubts about exactly why I was instantly and irrevocably sold on it, here is that trailer:

High school vampire story by the director of Mean Girls, featuring a BUNCH of more than mildly (if potentially only platonically) in love ladies, and a TEACHER/STUDENT ROMANCE? FRIENDS, I AM SO HERE FOR THIS. I wanted to at least read the first book before seeing the film and then the film either got a v limited UK release or went straight to dvd BUT I own BOTH the first book AND the movie now so LET'S GET CRACKING.

Chapter 1

In which we meet our super not bro heroines and they immediately run into trouble. 

Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Under the Crimson Moon demo (w/ heymdia!)

Big Fish Games and I have the sort of relationship where I never cancel my membership and also they keep sending me emails when I have spent all my credits to tell me that a game in a series I love has just come out and then what choice do I even have except to buy it at once ha ha ha etc. To set the scene, I graduated this week and on the day I arrived back at my flat in my university town after having been away interviewing in London, my girlfriend and I had this exchange:

ME: Ooo, my post is here! I'll just go get ready for graduation and then look.

LAL: WAIT there's a parcel! 

ME: Cool, I'll just be a second and -  

LAL: IT'S FROM BIG FISH GAMES

RECORD SCRATCHING SOUND EFFECT: *would have been used in a comedy at this point*

(It was a Felix the Fish toy for being a BFG member for a whole year, because I'm AWESOME.)

ANYWAY the point is after graduating I also packed up all my stuff and moved to London properly AND had three interviews in the same four day time period so as you might imagine I have spent today mostly lying around on various soft items of furniture mainlining high quality low brain engagement entertainment. It's all hotting up in s9 of Grey's Anatomy, I can tell you! (I am terribly behind, I know, but I AM STILL THE MOST INVESTED.)

But this is not about Grey's Anatomy, or how much I just want to punch Derek Shepherd in his stupid smug face. It's about how I checked my email and this had happened:

SO LET'S TALK ABOUT SHADOW WOLF MYSTERIES: UNDER THE CRIMSON MOON.

Restaurant Story: Riverboat Quest Update (part 1)

So I started playing Restaurant Story really recently after being Into Bakery Story for.... time and just while I was deliberating about how I wanted to decorate my restaurant, the new riverboat update arrived! It's SO beautiful *_*

TeamLava's blog post about the update says it comes with a new floor tile, table, and decoration and also lists the new riverboat decoration that I assume is the end reward for all the new goals that also came with this update:

Isn't it LOVELY? I can't wait to put it in my restaurant. I'm thinking of putting it in the middle like a centrepiece maybe. But we shall see! I also really like the floor tile and wallpaper, both of which you can see in TeamLava's picture up there, and I've kept them around in my restaurant even past the goal to have certain numbers of them. A TRUE SIGN OF LOVE. As you can also see in that picture, there are new stools, a new wall decoration sign saying "fresh fish", and a new oven with a WHEEL ON IT (it is possible I am the most delighted by the oven, oh my god, it goes so well with my steampunk-adjacent restaurant theme yessss). There's also a new riverboat themed divider and a new matching counter with a little .... what are they called oh my god how have I forgotten this?? Rubber ring? LIFESAVING RUBBER RING? Anyway. ANYWAY. ONE OF THOSE. I like the counters fine but I probably won't keep all of the ones you're prompted to buy by goals. 

(My girlfriend and I differ v slightly on how we play Restaurant Story. She isn't following the new goals because the rewards aren't something she wants this time around whereas I am DOGGEDLY AND HUFFLEPUFFLY doing ALL THE GOALS from my dual Slytherpuff motivations of HAVE ALL THE THINGS and DO ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS. Sometimes when Lal wakes up in the morning and looks over to see me clutching my phone with a slightly manic air, she just gets to be like:

LAL: Still not done?

ME: *awful sibilant hissing*

LAL: I see that you are not.)

Under the jump I'm going to go into how I'm getting on with the new goals, what the new oven has to offer, and how I'm using the new items.