Cats

Watch Movies TV -(G) ★

Director: Tom Hooper.

Cast: Francesca Hayward, Robbie Fairchild, Laurie Davidson, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Rebel Wilson, Ian McKellen, Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift, Mette Towley, Steven McRae, Ray Winstone.

Furrycon 2020 was as weird as you'd expect.

To paraphrase Jurassic Park's Ian Malcolm, the filmmakers behind Cats were so preoccupied with whether or not they could make a heavily CG adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

Maybe it works as a stage production - I haven't seen it but its lengthy runs on Broadway and the West End suggest someone loves it. But as a film it is plotless, repetitive, and soul-sappingly boring. And then there's the occasionally bad effects, annoying camerawork, bizarre tone, and overall horrid look of the whole thing. This is the last film I saw for review in 2019, and it was easily the worst.

The plot, such as it is, involves a group of anthropomorphic cats gathering at a singing contest, with the cat that can sing the best song about themselves getting to be reincarnated. 

In reality, the "plot" of the film goes something like this:

"Who's that cat?"

*a five-minute song about that cat*

"Who's that cat?"

*another lengthy song about that cat*

*some dancing*

*Idris Elba turns up, leaves*

"Who's that cat?"
*another interminably long song about that cat*
"Who's that cat?"
*another song about a bloody cat*
*some more dancing*
*Jennifer Hudson sings a bit of Memories*
*Hey look, it's Idris Elba again... and he's gone*
*Enter Judi Dench dressed as the Cowardly Lion

"Who's that cat?"

*another five-minute long song about that cat*

*Hudson sings a bit more of Memories*

*more dancing*

*competition begins involving cats singing songs about themselves*

*Oh look, here's Taylor Swift*

*Idris is back*

*another bloody song about another bloody cat*

*Hudson sings more of Memories*

*the end?*

*oh no, now Judi Dench is singing down the camera about how cats are different to dogs ffs*

... and so it goes. There's nothing in the way of character development, excepting perhaps meek magician Mr Mistoffelees (Davidson), who has to overcome his meekness and do "real" magic to overcome the dastardly deeds of Elba's evil Macavity. Our nominal heroine Victoria (Hayward) is little more than an audience surrogate and there are no key themes to take away, and those that do exist are murky or ill-defined. 

Given the G-rating, one would have thought there might have been some kind of message, but that's lacking. The tone is also weird and strangely sexual in places (particularly when Swift's Bombalurina turns up) for a family film.

There is so much to dislike about Cats - the jittery handicam work early on, the horrible CG in places, the plotlessness - that it overpowers the good bits, kind of like how off food in the fridge can make the non-off stuff taste bad. Corden and Wilson get a couple of funny lines, the dancing and singing is generally solid, Swift's one scene is a show-stopper, and when Hudson finally lets rip in Memories (the musical's only genuinely good song) it's genuinely impressive.

But these highlights can't overcome the annoyingness of everything around it. It feels like nothing happens in the film, and what little plot there is happens in the space of five minutes. 

I'm glad to have seen Cats only because it made choosing a worst film of the year all the easier.

Word of the Day: BALL

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The word of the day is BALL. Singular. As you should know by now, the word of the day always has exactly four letters.

*Image will be added later*

My word of the day posts should come with a government health warning. If you stare at Ivy's face for too long you'll fall under her spell.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

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My last review of the year in a year with very few reviews (and relatively few good films) - sorry about that (it’s been one of those years for me). 

What to say about The Rise of Skywalker? It has a number of magical Star Wars moments that made me glad I had watched it. These magical scenes invariably involved characters who were neither fighting other characters nor planning to fight other characters. So yes, that only leaves about five minutes for those moments to occur (exaggeration admitted). Sigh.

Among the things I hated most about The Rise of Skywalker was the Stormtroopers. Finn and Jannah (a woman introduced in this film) are former Stormtroopers, conscripted against their will to fight for the evil First Order. They found a way to escape and now fight against the First Order. Finn and Jannah are clearly depicted as beautiful human beings worthy of a long happy life. Not so much the countless thousands of Stormtroopers (and other soldiers) who are still forced to fight for the First Order. They are treated like mindless dehumanized plastic machines who can be killed by our heroes without a moment’s hesitation. It’s as if clothing a human being in plastic makes them worthless objects. The Rise of Skywalker, like so many other similar films, is full of such thoughtless redemptive violence. Very sad.

Other problems with the film include the washed-out made-for-3D cinematography, which occasionally rises above this limitation to create the odd beautiful scene but is mostly mediocre, the many plot holes and the ending (not the last scene, which is one of the magical moments, but the previous twenty minutes or so). 

Speaking of the plot, film critics are particularly critical of what they think is a lame and unimaginative story that is an attempt by the writer/director (J.J. Abrams) to mollify the many viewers who complained about The Last Jedi. I have no quarrel with critics talking about the lack of imagination in The Rise of Skywalker. This final (we can only hope) Star Wars trilogy is, in my opinion, largely a repeat of the first trilogy. The Last Jedi showed sparks of imagination, but the others are certainly lacking in that department. But by the time I walked into the theatre for this final film, this is what I expected, and I found The Rise of Skywalker relatively satisfying in terms of a final instalment for the series (violence notwithstanding). UNLESS, that is, it is true that J.J. Abrams wrote this final story to appease the viewers who hated The Last Jedi. Insofar as that is true, I would have to agree with the critics. But my sense is that this is where Abrams intended to go all along. 

The acting and dialogue remain far superior to the first six Star Wars films. Daisy Ridley is, in my opinion, the best actor involved in the whole series (Sir Alec Guinness excepted, of course). 

So there it is. One of the worst years of this century for film ends with a whimper. But there were some great films this year that I have not had the chance to review, and I’ll be telling you about them over the next two weeks, when I post my favourite films of 2019 as well as my favourite films of the past decade. In the meantime, The Rise of Skywalker gets ***. My mug is up but shaking. 

2019 Year-in-Review

Watch Movies TV -Lots happened in 2019. SO MUCH! And, as it seems I report every year, I am a bit tired. But might as well celebrate as I can. Quick Sip Reviews will be turning five years old in less than a week. And 2019 saw a lot of good, including 2 Hugo nominations for Best Fanzine and Best Fan Writer! So thank you so so much for reading and following and everything!

I already went over a bunch of stuff from 2019 in my eligibility post, so I'd suggest starting there for a general update on me. Otherwise, I also posted the Quick Sip Reviews 2019 Recommended Reading List today, so there's that. Anyway, I won't dally too long (I have to go shovel snow...boo). Below are the stats for 2019 plus some thoughts and updates. Cheers!

January: 62 stories | 9 poems [71 reviews]
February: 50 stories | 9 poems [59 reviews]
March: 50 stories | 10 poems [60 reviews]
April: 67 stories | 14 poems [81 reviews]
May: 63 stories | 9 poems [72 reviews]
June: 57 stories | 10 poems [67 reviews]
July: 52 stories | 16 poems [68 reviews]
August: 53 stories | 10 poems [63 reviews]
September: 56 stories | 13 poems [69 reviews]
October: 61 stories | 15 poems [76 reviews]
November: 62 stories | 13 poems [73 reviews]
December: 60 stories | 16 poems [76 reviews]* (not all December reviews are out yet)

2019: 693 stories | 144 poems [837 reviews]

Total: 3548 stories | 705 poems | 122 nonfiction [4375 reviews]

So there's that! I think this is my first year in a while that I actually increased the number of reviews I've done. It's not a huge increase, but I do like to see that I'm not losing ground. And it came mostly because I added a bunch to what I review, including a bunch of Serial Box projects, Translunar Travelers Lounge, PodCastle, Escape Pod, and Augur. That's been balanced by some publications closing (Apex, mainly) and some decreasing the amount they put out. But I'm super happy with what I've been able to cover, even if I will never be 100% satisfied. I do still feel that there's a lot of publications underserved when it comes to reviewing (still looking at you, Daily Science Fiction), but I personally don't have more to give. 

Which sadly brings me to the other part of 2019 that's not fun to talk about. The erosion of paid short SFF review opportunities. After a relative boom, a few "big name" review backers (the B&N blog and Apex) stopped paying. Maria Haskins has moved her column to Curious Fictions, which is great to see (though I'm not sure the payment on that end) and A.C. Wise has continued reviewing short fiction on her excellent blog, but it still means that in recent memory we've lost not just those two paid opportunities, but those at The Book Smugglers, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, and more. Strange Horizons hasn't put out a new short fiction review post. What remains is Locus and Tor. And Locus does provide a good range of reviewers, and I like the Tor review/recommendation posts. Plus there are the unpaid bloggers, including Adri Joy at Nerds of a Feather and the wonderful people at SFF Reviews, plus Vanessa Fogg with It's a Jumble. There are many others and I wish I had time to list them all, but even with the passionate people doing reviewing, it still feels like short SFF reviewing is being pushed out of paid markets and back onto blogs that don't typically see as much traffic and that still favor those who can easily afford to put in the time reviewing (which tends to favor the more affluent or privileged). Not sure I have any ideas about how to push back against that, at the moment. I do know that the only reason I can do the reviewing I do is with support from Patreon. So, I mean, if you want to help out what I'm doing, that's always an option. 

I'm honestly not too sure what else to say. My plans for 2020 are up in the air. I know that I probably don't want to continue this kind of reviewing indefinitely. It's incredibly time consuming and emotionally draining and takes most of my "free time" which I could otherwise spend writing fiction. But I believe very much in the work and still love the work. So I'll probably continue and try at least to get to 5000 reviews. That would be something. But for however long I choose to do this, I will give it my all. I'm still trying to be the reviewer I'd like to see in the world. I'm just a mess otherwise and chronically short of time and energy.

Again, though, thank you all for being awesome. Five years is a long time to do this kind of work. Here's to another year! Cheers!

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The Quick Sip Reviews 2019 Recommended Reading List

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2019 is dead! Long live 2020! Well, perhaps not quite. Before I officially pronounce 2019 over and done, there's some business to get to first, namely looking back and taking stock of ALL THE AMAZING STORIES that I read over the year. Hence, the Quick Sip Reviews 2019 Recommended Reading List! Below are 104 works spanning the entirety of the year. I admit, I kind of cheated. This is pretty much a collation of all my weekly recommendations, which I do on my Patreon as my Sip of the Week column. Every Friday I give one Sip of the Week and one Honorable Mention, with a review of the former and brief note on the later. These are patron-exclusive, so if you want to get in on weekly recs (plus lots more), I'd recommend joining.

That said, the Sips and this list have two MAJOR caveats to them. The first is that they reflect my tastes and opinions. I'm not trying to give you the best stories, but rather the stories I liked the most. Secondly, these stories are ONLY taken from venues that I cover in my reviews. This incredibly narrows my field, regardless of how much I try to read. The field is vast and I would totally read more if I could, but circumstances restrict me in what I can get to. I regret not being able to read more and wider, but I do feel that what I read now allows me to get to as much and as wide a sampling of the field as possible. I own that, and while I do make apologies for it, I also stand behind it. This is what I do. This is what limits me. I still think and hope that this list will have value to some, and might help people find some stories they might have missed. The good news is that I have reviewed all of these stories right here at Quick Sip Reviews. You can put the title into the search (at the top left of the screen on desktops...if you're using mobile you can toggle on the desktop mode by going to the bottom of the page and finding the button there). So if you're curious to know more, there will be keywords and notes and all sorts of info. Plus more if you check the posts on my Patreon.

Next some brief stats. These stories came from 26 different publications and 97 different authors (7 authors have 2 stories on the list). Strange Horizons placed the most on the list with 9; followed by Uncanny and Clarkesworld with 8; Beneath Ceasless Skies, Fireside, and The Dark with 7; Lightspeed and Terraform with 6; Apex with 5; Anathema, Fiyah, Nightmare, Tor, and Flash Fiction Online with 4; Diabolical Plots with 3; Escape Pod, GigaNotoSaurus, Glittership, Lackington's, Omenana, PodCastle, and Translunar Travelers Lounge with 2; and Augur, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Mithila Review, and Samovar with 1.

My many thanks to all of the authors, editors, and other people involved with bringing these stories into the world. They are amazing. So, without further delay, the list! Cheers!


The Quick Sip Reviews 2019 Recommended Reading List

"The Devil Squid Apocalypse", Alex Acks (GigaNotoSaurus) 
"Nothing to Fear, Nothing to Fear", Senaa Ahmad (Uncanny)
"The Null Space Conundrum", Violet Allen (Lightspeed)
“58 Rules to Ensure Your Husband Loves You Forever”, Rafeeat Aliyu (Nightmare)
“Where the Rain Mothers Are”, Rafeeat Aliyu (Strange Horizons)
“Early Adopter”, Kevin Bankston (Terraform)
"Flowers on My Face", Geo-Il Bok, translated by Elisa Sinn and Justin Howe, (Clarkesworld)
“Revival”, Lisa M. Bradley (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
"This Is How", Marie Brennan (Strange Horizons)
"Spectrum of Acceptance", Nyla Bright (Escape Pod)
"Elegy of a Lanthornist", M.E. Bronstein (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
"While Dragons Claim the Sky", Jen Brown (Fiyah)
"When the White Bird Sings", KT Bryski (Augur)
"Canst Thou Draw out the Leviathan", Christopher Caldwell (Uncanny)
"No Other Life", Isabel Cañas (Nightmare)
“The Weight of a Thousand Needles”, Isabel Cañas (Lightspeed)
"For He Can Creep", Siobhan Carroll (Tor)
“Abacus of Ether”, Stephen Case (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
"Reunion", Shannon Chamberlain (Terraform)
"A Fistful of Spells", Zach Chapman (Heroic Fantasy Quarterly)
"Failsafe", Tim Chawaga (Escape Pod)
"The Price of Knives", Ruoxi Chen (The Dark) 
“The Plague-House”, Maya Chhabra (Anathema)
"Beyond the El", John Chu (Tor)
“Probabilitea”, John Chu (Uncanny)
"To Catch All Sorts of Flying Things", M. L. Clark (Clarkesworld)
“Local Senior Celebrates Milestone”, Matthew Claxton (Diabolical Plots)
“A Sharp Breath of Birds”, Tina Connolly (Uncanny)
“The Boy Who Loved Drowning”, R.K. Duncan (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
"The Cost of the Revolution in Three Marvelous Confections", R. K. Duncan (PodCastle)
“Sin Eater”, Chikodili Emelumadu (Omenana)
"Cassandra Draws the Four of Cups", Ruthanna Emrys (Strange Horizons)
"Neighbors and Little Thieves", Monica Evans (Flash Fiction Online)
"The Tailor and the Beast", Aysha U. Farah (Uncanny) 
"Aging Elements", Ben Francisco (Fireside) 
"The Boy on the Roof", Francesca Forrest (Fireside)
“The Sun from Both Sides”, R.S.A. Garcia (Clarkesworld)
“Flicker On”, Bishop Garrison (Terraform)
“By the Storytelling Fire”, Jaymee Goh (Fireside)
“The Prison-house of Language”, Elana Gomel (Apex)
“Team Work”, A. T. Greenblatt (Fireside)
"Jim", Malcolm Harris (Terraform)
“Dreams Strung like Pearls Between War and Peace”, Nin Harris (Clarkesworld)
"What Cradles Us But Will Not Set Us Free", Nin Harris (Strange Horizons)
"Gloss", Kola Heyward-Rotimi (Fiyah)
"From Her Mouth, the Ashes", Jessica Jo Horowitz (Flash Fiction Online)
"Our Cousins, Whom We Do Not Use As Directed", Claire Humphrey (Flash Fiction Online)
"As the Last I May Know", S.L. Huang (Tor)
"Loneliness in Transit, Sixty Light Years from Earth", Kurt Hunt (Flash Fiction Online)
"The Staircase to the Moon", M. K. Hutchins (Fireside)
"Flags Flying Before a Fall", Osahon Ize-Iyamu (Strange Horizons)
"When You Find a Dragon, Name Them for Me", Tamara Jerée (Fiyah)
“The Ocean That Fades Into Sky”, Kathleen Kayembe (Lightspeed) 
"Growing Resistance", Juliet Kemp (Translunar Travelers Lounge)
“The Ghosts of Ganymede”, Derek Künsken (Clarkesworld)
"The Crying Bride", Carrie Laben (The Dark)
“Dustdaughter”, Inda Lauryn (Uncanny)
"2086", T.K. Lê (Strange Horizons)
“Moses”, L. D. Lewis (Anathema)
"Signal", L. D. Lewis (Fireside)
"Seed and Cinder", Jei D. Marcade (Uncanny) 
"Death and Other Gentrifying Neighborhood", Sam J. Miller (Terraform)
"Still Water", Ian Muneshwar (Anathema)
“Old Media”, Annalee Newitz (Tor)
"e-race", Russell Nichols (Terraform)
"Tiny Bravery", Ada Nnadi (Omenana)
“Due By the End of the Week”, Brandon O'Brien (Fireside)
"A Song for the Leadwood Tree", Aimee Ogden (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
“Dune Song”, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Apex)
"Logic Puzzles", Vaishnavi Patel (The Dark)
"One Thousand Beetles in a Jump Suit", Dominica Phetteplace (Lightspeed)
"The Idaho Ghost Job", Laura E. Price (Translunar Travelers Lounge)
"Black Flowers Blossom", Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny)
"Replacement", Isa Prospero (Strange Horizons)
“Saligia”, H. Pueyo (Samovar)
"In This Moment, We Are Happy", Chen Qiufan, translated by Rebecca Kuang (Clarkesworld)
"The Etiquette of Mythique Fine Dining", Carolyn Rahaman (GigaNotoSaurus)
"Of Clockwork Hearts and Metal Iguanadons", Jennifer Lee Rossman (Glittership) 
"With Teeth Unmake the Sun", A. Merc Rustad (Lightspeed)
"Burrowing Machines", Sara Saab (The Dark)
“We Sang You as Ours”, Nibedita Sen (The Dark)
“Professor Strong and the Brass Boys”, Amal Singh (Apex)
"Reclaiming Tess", Brittany Smith (Fiyah)
“Tell the Phoenix Fox, Tell the Tortoise Fruit”, Cynthia So (Glittership)
"Promise Me This Is Ours", Omar William Sow (Strange Horizons)
"Heavy Reprises of a Dark Berceuse", Priya Sridhar (Lackington's)
“The One You Feed”, Dennis E. Staples (Nightmare)
"Some Kind of Blood-Soaked Future", Carlie St. George (Nightmare)
"You Were Once Wild Here", Carlie St. George (The Dark)
“The Last Eagle”, Natalia Theodoridou (Clarkesworld)
"The Great Train Robbery", Lavie Tidhar (Apex)
"Who Will Clean Our Spirits When We're Gone", Tlotlo Tsamaase (The Dark)
"The Horrible Deaths of Helga Hrafnsdóttir", Christine Tyler (PodCastle)
"The Problem From Jamaica Plain" Marie L. Vibbert (Diabolical Plots)
"No Folly of the Beast", Wren Wallis (Mithila Review)
“The Crafter at the Web’s Heart”, Izzy Wasserstein (Apex)
“Fury at the Crossroads”, Troy L. Wiggins (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
“What the Sea Reaps, We Must Provide”, Eleanor R. Wood (Diabolical Plots)
“Enchiridion of the Soltite”, Xue Xihe (Lackington's)
"Operation Spring Dawn", Mo Xiong, translated by Rebecca Kuang (Clarkesworld)
"Under Their Wings, These Starving Ghosts", Grace Yang (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
"Fossilized", Jessica Yang (Anathema)
"Windrose in Scarlet", Isabel Yap (Lightspeed)
"Many-Hearted Dog and Heron Who Stepped Past Time", Alex Yuschik (Strange Horizons)

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Quick Sips - Tor dot com December 2019

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Art by Audrey Benjaminsen

I'm actually surprised that Tor had two stories out in December, as in at least some years past they've taken the month largely off. Not that I'm complaining. The two stories here are interesting and find people coming up against some strange and perhaps-unexplainable things. One woman is facing a broken mirror that has effected all of time, that has rewritten reality itself. Another finds herself working for a government she knows better than to trust in a strange place that will push her to her physical and mental limits. Both deal with alternate realities, with dimensions, and both are haunting and cold, well suited for the winter. To the reviews!

Stories:

“The Time Invariance of Snow” by E. Lily Yu (3075 words)

No Spoilers: This story begins with an explanation of the Devil’s mirror, which has shattered through time and space and become something through which a great many people see the universe. That distorts things, that makes some see only the good in themselves and others see only the bad. It bolsters corruption and abuse, simultaneously encouraging those who harm others by giving them an inflated sense of importance and pushing others to shrink from the grea things they can do because they are convinced they are worthless. What follows after is a kind of fairy tale or myth, of a woman who is aware of these shards of the Devil’s mirror and who remembers that they have not always been present. It’s a strange and slightly haunting piece about distortion and oppression, and it rings to me as tired but defiant and determined.

Keywords: The Devil, Mirrors, Fairy Tales, Dimensions, Relationships, CW- Rape

Review: In some ways the piece works as a large extended metaphor. The Devil’s mirror is a kind of modern misogyny that in asserting itself also asserts itself infinitely back in time and into the future, by insisting on gender roles that are immutable, timeless, and universal, despite the fact that different cultures and times have had wildly different structures and social norms. But the Devil’s mirror stands for a certain way of seeing the world. Capitalist, colonial, and using the ends to not only justify the means, but write them as law. It’s something glaringly obvious for anyone who can see it, but because all it takes from those this benefits is to deny that it’s the case, there often feels like there’s nothing that can be done about it. Because this very system also insists on its own immutable dominance and rightness, it’s not something that can just be logically argued. As the story shows, this is something that has to be battled, and has to be battled in different ways, although first and most it must be battled with the truth. That the visions seen through the distorting lens of the mirror are not, in fact, indicative of objective reality, but rather show a very skewed picture of people’s selves and motivations. And the main character of the piece, G., goes about trying to banish these shards, to undo the damage that has been done and return a vision of the universe that isn’t tainted with this corruption. She works through community and through cooperation, and she works by not succumbing to the temptation to give into the power of the mirror, to use it for profit and personal betterment. She maintains her drive to doing something good, to exposing the lies of the mirror, and I love how the piece imagines that it’s possible. That Devil, for all he will say he’s invincible and forever, is a liar first and most, and can be defeated by those determined enough to do it. It’s a compelling read, strange but impacting, and definitely worth checking out!

“Dislocation Space” by Garth Nix (11568 words)

No Spoilers: Aleksandra is a former WWII sniper, turned assassin for Stalin, turned prisoner. She’s been rotting in a Siberian prison camp for four years, almost literally on ice in case the government should have use of her particular talents again. And it turns out they do, in the form of a mysterious mission where she’ll have to put her small stature and contortionist training to use to navigate an extremely tight squeeze to reach...something. The details are kept as need-to-know, and most of what she needs to know is that if she refuses, her family will be killed. It’s a slow and tense read, the pacing matching in some ways the crawl she has to make, full of twists and turns and a few dead ends, reaching for something unknown but certainly better than the bleak situation Aleksandra’s found herself in this time.

Keywords: Portals, Military, Prisons, Contortions, Alternate Dimensions, Assassins

Review: This is a neat story following a woman who is essentially a super soldier, a genius when it comes to killing, who is held in check mostly because she’s been told that her family will be hurt if she disobeys or tries to turn on her masters. So she mostly plays by the rules, even when these new orders come down that don’t really make any sense. She’s taken out to Tunguska to the blast site there and but through a sort of obstacle course. One that will require her to crawl through an incredibly narrow opening toward...something. And that’s really the thing, that no one is sure what exactly is waiting within or beyond. Just that probably there is something. But the corridor has some tricks, and some secret, as do the men who have collected Aleksandra. And really it’s a story that operates mostly as a mystery. What is the tunnel? What is the military hiding from Aleksandra? It turns out quite a bit, and there’s a solid emotional punch as she learns that her whole reason for obeying, for not turning on the government that abandoned her, has been lost to her for a long time. And there is the wild hope the tunnel represents, the “there’s nothing left to lose so might as well try for the impossible” spiteful reach for this alien world. A true escape from the system that will not rest until she is dead. And it’s a fun twist at the end, one filled with relief and an almost magical joy. One that’s a bit difficult to quantify except to say that for Aleksandra it represents something she’s never known, something she’s never even thought to hope for, and it’s suddenly handed to her. Which makes for an entertaining and satisfying read!

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The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for December - Final Post of the Year

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December is often a quiet time for horror and this year was no exception. The sole cinema horror film was Black Christmas which I actually never got around to watching. By all accounts I didn't miss much but I wish I had bothered to see it. It's the end of another year and this blog keeps on moving forward. I have recently split my site index into two halves, as always this can be found at the top right hand side of my blog. My never ending quest to go through my old posts and correct spelling and grammar, replace broken image links, and link to other posts is ever ongoing (not even past 'A' yet so a lot to do). I just need to win the lottery basically, so that I can quit my bill paying job and do this full time!

A quick look at my to-do list and apart from my embarrassing list of eBooks waiting to be read for people (some dating back 7 years) it isn't too bad. There is a podcast to be listened to for review, though I am waiting until every episode is out before doing that. On the film front I have a couple due for reviews in January, and waiting to hear back on a few more. In the world of TV I have quite a few shows that I need to get around to watching, everything from Fear the Walking Dead to the final season of Ash vs Evil Dead and Z Nation. Then with video games I have lots of horror games I started many years back but never got to a point where I could review them. Ones such as Dead Rising 2, Outlast 2 and Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted. Also with video games I still have yet to play the DLC for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Fallout 4 and Layers of Fear. With physical books I have literal drawers full of horror books collected over the years from second hand bookshops and so maybe I will get around to reading some of those in 2020.

One last thing before getting onto the news, my 'bests' of the year. Now these are based on media that has been released this year, not ones that I have only experienced for the first time this year:

Best Horror Video Game - Blasphemous
Best Horror Film - Shed
Best Horror Novel - Cannibal Nuns from Outer Space! (Tik in very close second)
Best Horror TV Series - Stranger Things: Season 3

British horror novelist Shaun Hutson has a new book out called Testament. This is a direct sequel to Renegades and takes place thirty years later. Sean Doyle is working as an advisor in Iraq when he learns his old nemesis, David Callahan has returned to life, and he is not the only one to mysteriously be resurrected. The novel is published by Caffeine Nights and is £20.oo in hardback.

Music group Psychostick have done a parody cover of Rob Zombie's Dragula that they have titled Zombie Claus. The comedy metal quartet have changed the lyrics to include nods to traditional Christmas literature and music. After watching it for myself I have to admit it is pretty hilarious.



Emo/post-hardcore quintet When I Say Jump have released a new music video of their latest single King of Thessaly. This video, that was produced and directed by Jaiden Frost is about a cannibal cult that lures its victims in with promises of wealth. The band are currently working on their sophomore record.



Captured is due for release on 1st January 2020. I have previously mentioned this before, but to recap this is about a weekend getaway to shoot a music video that turns into a nightmare when an obsessed escaped convict targets the female leader of the rock band. It stars Kirsten Prout (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), Brittany Curran (13 Going on 30) and Jasper Cole (Westworld, American Horror Story).



Small Town Monsters have released a trailer for their new miniseries On the Trail of UFOs which is set to take an in depth look at America's relationship with the subject, and is hosted by Shannon Legro and features Seth Breedlove. This series will include Area 51, and filming locations include New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.



The final news of the year, and indeed the decade is that horror anthology An Hour to Kill is now available on DVD thanks to Alpha Video. I said of this film in my review last year that it "worked pretty well".

And that is it for 2019, I hope everyone reading this has a great 2020 full of horror and mayhem (in the fictional sense). See you on the flip-side.

Mini Retro Review: American Kickboxer 2 (1993) #badmovies

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American Kickboxer 2
1993
Martial Arts Action

The daughter gets kidnapped/goes missing and the mother (softcore actress Kathy Shower) hires two guys she used to have a relationship with to get her back. Sounds familiar? Well, this is a martial arts version of the Robin Williams/Billy Crystal film, Fathers' Day, which has the same plot - only American Kickboxer 2 has minus the comedy... although some of the scenes here may come across as unintentionally funny. Like the terrible Kickboxer 3: The Aggressor, the so-called follow-up to American Kickboxer 1 has nothing in common with the previous entry in the series, as it functions as a typical action movie, rather than being it a tournament-based one. The little girl's voice is clearly not an English sounding girl that when I hear her voice it sounds like a woman pretending to be the little girl. It also has Tackleberry from Police Academy in it. Though the story is set in the U.S, this one was actually filmed in the Philippines. Lots of bad dubbing and hammy acting and overacting, heavy grunting. As a martial arts film, it's ineffective; though the fights are mostly sub-standard, the production is bottom of the barrel low- budget variety and the writing is weak. Still, I'd take this over Kickboxers 3 & 4. Just about.


Is It Worth Watching?

Meh


Overall:

Mini Retro Review: 12 Rounds (2009) #badmovies

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12 Rounds 
2009
Action 

A low budget Die Hard With A Vengeance meets Speed meets the original Taken, but has little of their integrity, smarts and cool explosive action sequences to go with it, 12 Rounds is brought down for being derivative, bland and so pedestrian. A cop's girlfriend is kidnapped by the villain out of vengeance after his lover got run over by a car, several years ago. The action itself generic and isn't all that great and had it gone down the Crank route, it might have worked like a charm. No standout performances with a B/Z-list cast, & WWE's John Cena tries but arguably he is vanilla; the actress who plays the love interest looks stilted with her one-note turn, whilst Brian White's role is suspect. I enjoyed this far less than 12 Rounds 3, which is saying something as I kept my expectations low for that instalment. Reny Harlin's best work is when he isn't confined to the PG-13 vein (Die Hard 2, The Long Kiss Goodnight), and here, whilst this should be approached as a 'leave your brain at the door' type of movie, 12 Rounds has so little good action, most of it riffs on Speed & Die Hard, with a story that becomes more and more schlocky and tiresome. The film opened in March 2009 but it wasn't screened for the press. Watching this I can see why: shaky cam and choppy editing at times & the sheer boredom of it pretty much killed my interest in this, it's too dull for words.


Is It Worth Watching?:

Watch Speed, Die Hard 1 and 2 instead


Overall:

General: Top Films of 2019

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This is my personal list of the 10 best films of the year. Before you read it and angrily write that I shouldn't have omitted <fill-in-the-blank>, let me make a few remarks:

To qualify for the list I must have seen the film in the cinema in 2019. Any film that I didn't see will not be included. Maybe I decided not to see a film. Maybe I missed a film because I was sick in bed and couldn't go out. Maybe a film wasn't shown in my local cinemas. Whatever the reason, if I didn't see a film in the cinema it won't be in the list.

By the same reasoning, it's relevant when I see the film. If a film is shown over the New Year period from December to January the film might be included in one year or the other, depending on when I go to see it. In the same way, some films, particularly the Oscar contenders, are released in the USA in one year but not shown in other countries until the next.

1. Avengers: Endgame

This is the film that the MCU has been building up to for 11 years, the climax of 23 films. There was so much potential for it to go wrong. I'm glad it didn't.

2. Joker

For me this was the surprise hit of the year. It was much better than I expected. Let's hope it gets a few awards at the 2020 Oscars.

3. Ip Man 4

This is a last minute addition, just when I thought my list was finalised.

4. Happy Death Day 2U

A brilliant sequel that changes the direction set by the first film. "Happy Death Day" should have been in my 2017 top film list, but I didn't appreciate it until I watched it on disc a year later.

5. Once upon a time in Hollywood

This is one of Quentin Tarantino's weakest films, but as I've said before, Tarantino's worst films are better than the best films of other directors.

6. One Cut of the Dead

Technically, this is a 2017 film, but it took a long time for it to arrive in German cinemas.

7. Rocketman

I like the music in "Bohemian Rhapsody" more, but this is a better film.

8. Green Book

This was the winner of the Best Film Oscar at the 2019 Academy Awards. It's the best film to win the award for years, in my opinion.

9. Fighting with my Family

It's possible that this film should be higher in my list. I'll watch it again soon, but my list is final, I shan't change it any more.

10. Lords of Chaos

That's interesting. This year there are four true stories in the seventh to tenth positions in my list. I've always had a weakness for true stories.

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That's my list for this year. I went to the cinema 130 times, and I've seen 121 films. (The films that I saw twice were "Avengers Endgame", "Captain Marvel", "Green Book", "Joker", "Once upon a time in Hollywood", "Parasite", "Rocketman", "Spider-Man Far From Home" and "Yesterday").

I welcome top 10 lists from my readers. Please leave them in the comments.

Office Uprising (2018) - Comedy Horror Film Review

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It is currently one of those rare times when I have enough space free in my schedule that I can watch a film of my choosing rather than one I have been sent. A quick scroll through my huge Netflix list and I came across director Lin Oeding's zombie horror comedy Office Uprising. It immediately seemed pretty derivative but would it improve over time?

Desmond (Brenton Thwaites - Titans TV series) is a lazy slacker who works in the accounts department of Ammotech; which is a major weapons manufacturing firm. With an urgent report needed by his boss Adam (Shazam!) Desmond decides to leave work early with the intention of writing it at home. Arriving at work the next day he realises far too late a great change has occurred. After he had left, a shipment of a new energy drink called Zolt had been delivered, and everyone who drank that drink has changed into a rage infected psycho. Teaming up with his co-worker Mourad (Karan Soni - Deadpool 1 & 2) and his half infected friend Samantha (Jane Levy - Evil Dead, Don't Breathe) Desmond must now find a way to escape the office block...

It seems anyone who is going to make a zombie comedy horror nowadays is obliged to copy Shaun of the Dead, and that is on show here from the get-go. Desmond is similar to Shaun in how they are both wasting their lives away by not putting effort into anything they do. Shaun gets drunk and plays hip hop music, Desmond gets stoned and plays live action Mario Kart with his house mates. Also like that film the protagonist is shown initially wandering through chaos without noticing anything is wrong, the whole plot for this character starts because of this borrowed idea. Shaun isn't the only comedy Office Uprising borrows from, much like Zombieland there is even a moment when CGI rules pop up on screen as a character walks around. This lack of new ideas is one way in which this film really suffers. As a whole, boiling it down to its basic components this is Shaun of the Dead crossed with Office Space and The Crazies.

The rage infected victims of the energy drink here are in no way zombies, despite characters referring to them as such (and the very misleading cover that features actual undead). These are not even like the ones from 28 Days Later, instead I was much more reminded of The Crazies, but with more self control from the infected. They may be taken over by rage, but the assailants here are able to talk, work together, and even have moments of clarity. I did like how even though everyone is infected they are still doing their jobs, such as a salesman later on shown screaming into a phone at a client. Make-up effects are minimal, with victims of the energy drink having some veins showing a bit on their necks and lower faces, but that's it. The special effects for the many action scenes are a bit better, there are decapitations, and limbs getting ripped off, and due to the crazies using office stationary as weapons there is lots of opportunities for comic violence, which includes a late appearance of the head antagonist suited up in a robotic suit which resembles an end of game boss.

For the comedy, at least it wasn't sex and bodily fluids based, the humour is often ok but never really hit the mark for me. Some parts were kind of amusing, such as pacifist Mourad's apologies everytime he inadvertently hurts anyone he is fighting (such as when infected keep accidentally impaling themselves on the scissors he is holding), and there was a nice dark moment when he kills an uninfected co-worker, thinking the guy had been attacking Desmond. The smattering of uninfected throughout the colleagues led to some not half bad scenes. There was a bit of tonal dissonance with Desmond in particular mowing down a whole load of infected with no remorse at all, though it does make for some entertaining sequences. There is a constant attempt to create humour but there was nothing on show here that made me crack a smile. None of the characters stood out as anything but stereotypes and so I struggled to care whether anyone lived or died.

I expected Office Uprising would be an average film but I did hope at least some of the comedic elements would win through. Unfortunately though there is nothing here to make this stand out as a film worth a watch. It is all done competently enough, but when there are far better films of this type out there this just felt a little bit pointless.

SCORE:

Most anticipated movies in 2020

Watch Movies TV -Before I start publishing my best and worst of 2019 lists, here's that time of year again to get excited about what's coming in next year. There's so many wonderful movies on the horizon, including several very anticipated sequels. And my top pick already feels like potential best Christmas gift ever. Here we go:

17. Bill & Ted Face the Music / August 21
16. Emma / February 14
15. The Secret Garden / April 15
14. Death on the Nile / October 9
13. The Gentlemen / January 24
12. The Witches / October 9
11. A Quiet Place: Part II / March 20

10. Eternals / November 6
Director:  Chloe Zao
Cast:  Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani
Plot: The saga of the Eternals, a race of immortal beings who lived on Earth and shaped its history and civilizations.
Why I'm waiting for it? Richard Madden in a tight costume is enough for me. And I'm assuming it's also enough for most of my female readers. But this being another female-led CBM is also making me wanna watch that, plus the fact they are shooting on actual sets and not with plenty of green screen gives it a chance to be first decent looking MCU movie outside of Guardians of the Galaxy films.

9. Morbius / July 31
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Cast:  Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Tyrese Gibson
Plot: Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.
Why I'm waiting for it? This is gonna be a mess. Leto isn't willing to make fun of himself like Hardy did in Venom and that was the thing that not only rescued Venom, but made it so much fun. Tyrese and Leto playing it serious in a premise like this is gonna make it an absolute laugh riot.

8. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It / September 11
Director: Michael Chaves
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson 
Why I'm waiting for it? The main Conjuring movies never failed and even though the director of the biggest shit in 2019 - The Curse of la Llarona - is directing this one I trust somehow things will go well. But I'm not overtly optimistic. 

7. The Many Saints of Newark / September 25
Director:  Alan Taylor
Cast:  Michael Gandolfini, Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Billy Mangussen, Ray Liotta, Corey Stoll 
Plot:  A look at the formative years of New Jersey gangster, Tony Soprano.
Why I'm waiting for it? It's the Sopranos prequel starring Vera Farmiga and Jon Bernthal. That's just awesome.

6. Tenet / July 17
Director:  Christopher Nolan
Cast:  Robert Pattinson, John David Washington, Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor - Johnson 
Why I'm waiting for it? Well, Nolan rarely fails. And hopefully this time his female characters are more than the dead wives. But knowing him, they probably are.

5. Black Widow / May 1
Director: Cate Shortland
Cast: Scarlett Johannson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz
Plot: A film about Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War.
Why I'm waiting for it? I like all the actors except for that hag who supports Woody Allen and unfortunately plays the lead in this. So if it fails, so be it. MCU doesn't deserve an automatic million for waiting for TWENTY MOVIES until they gave us movies led by women. But it's Pugh, Weisz and Harbour and for their sake I hope it is actually good.

4. Venom 2 / October 2
Director:  Andy Serkis
Cast:  Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Stephen Graham, Naomie Harris, Michelle Williams
Why I'm waiting for it? The first movie, while a giant mess, was one of the most entertaining and rewatchable movies of 2017 and that's all thanks to Tom Hardy's amazing and very, very fun performance. With better director this time around and Woody Harrelson playing the main villain - hopefully that ridiculous wig returns - things can only get better.

3. Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn / February 7

Director: Cathy Yen
Cast:  Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Chris Messina
Plot:  After splitting with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins superheroes Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord.
Why I'm waiting for it?  The marketing for this has been huge fail on WB's part with the movie being released 5 weeks from now and the final trailer STILL not being released. But I hope in spite of that, this will do well. Robbie gave us wonderful Harley in Suicide Squad and while her pairing with Birds of Prey is peculiar, without Robbie's efforts we wouldn't be getting that movie at all. And McGregor looks like he is having a lot of fun playing the villain here.

2. Wonder Woman 1984 / June 5
Director: Patty Jenkins
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal, Kristen Wiig
Why I'm waiting for it? The first movie is one of my all time favorite films. Gal is perfect in the role, they are bringing Pine back and their chemistry was one of the best things about the first one, we are all excited to see Cheetah and Pedro Pascal clearly had an absolute blast playing Maxwell Lord. And that trailer will be very tough to top by any trailer for 2020 movies.

1. Dune / December 18
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Reebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem
Plot: Feature adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel, about the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the galaxy.
Why I'm waiting for it? Who's my favorite man in the world? Oscar Isaac. Who is my second favorite man in the world? Jason Momoa. They are going to share scenes here which means I will probably go absolutely insane trying to decide where to look. I'll probably look at Oscar. But I'll definitely have to go again to look at Jason. And I will rewatch it so many times. You guys remember how I went to see Aquaman three times and it crossed a billion in the box office? Denis, your movie is going to make so much money.

Quick Sips - Escape Pod #710 & #711

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The two stories from Escape Pod's December both deal with space, and isolation, and loneliness, and cooperation. Given, they do so in two very different ways, one unfolding on a station that is (now) devoid of human life, but which has also seen the "birth" of something new. The second is very much filled with humans. Too many, perhaps, for the colony they're on, given the series of accidents that threatens everyone. Both find people reaching out to people, though, despite the risk and despite the people involved largely being people who sought a kind of solitude. And the works are at turns heartwarming and wrenching, with a great holiday touch for at least one of them that makes them very appropriate for the season. To the reviews!

Stories:

“Requiem Without Sound” by Izzy Wasserstein ( words)

No Spoilers: Evie is an AI created by Chavez, a woman living in the outer solar system all by herself following a string of personal tragedies. Evie was supposed to help Chavez deal with the loneliness of being the sole human on a station very far removed from other people. Instead, Chavez died in an accident before Evie became fully sentient, and so when they “woke up” it was to the same isolation and loneliness that Chavez was trying to escape. Further, because of the history in the piece, AIs like Evie who possess full sentience are viewed with suspicion, fear, and hate, and it’s unlikely, if they’re discovered, that they’ll be allowed to live. It’s a wrenching and devastating piece that looks at distance and grief and hope, and it’s beautiful and dark and deep.

Keywords: AIs, Loss, Queer Characters, Isolation, Music, Loneliness

Review: This piece levels some rather heavy emotional artillery and really doesn’t hold back. The early premise, that this AI is alive and their creator, who wanted them so badly to break the loneliness of living in deep space, is dead, is such a strong, aching thing. One that forms the core of Evie’s person. Because they have to learn about themself, learn about humanity, learn about everything, on their own. Without a living guide, just the ghost of their creator preserved in the logs left behind. A creator who was plagued by despair, by pain, who fled Earth and all its problems thinking that they wanted nothing to do with anyone. But who, in time, changed her mind. Healed enough that she was ready to reach out again, only to find she had put herself too far outside of human reach. And Evie’s journey, their time considering what to do and finding out more about themself and about Chavez, is powerful and painful. It opens up this space that I kind of love where a supposed outsider to humanity experiences something that, imo, gets at the heart of what it is to be human and instead of reacting in anger or violence decides that they want to do something to connect people. To help people. Just not the people Chavez (or even Evie themself) expected. And I love that because of the hope I feel it have about humanity, that despite this rather troubled back story, despite Evie knowing that humans would probably kill them rather than let them be, Evie sees past those elements and to the humanity that Chavez represented. Full of pain and anger, wanting nothing but the void, but still finding herself capable and wanting to love. To reach out. To build and create. And it’s a lovely and beautifully rendered story, full of emotion and grief and that sparkling edge of hope. Definitely make time for this one. An amazing read!

“Carols” on Callisto” by Deborah Davitt (5980 words)

No Spoilers: Rebecca is the owner of a hotel/spa on Callipso, orbiting Jupiter, in the run up to Christmas. Not that the Earth calendar has too much relevance on the distant colony, but a lot of the people, Rebecca included, like it. And it gives people something to do, some way to celebrate in an environment that isn’t exactly hospitable to humans. It’s a point that’s underlined when a series of minor problems threaten to become a large scale catastrophe that might do more than dampen holiday spirits. But Rebecca is determined not only not to let on how much the emergencies worry her, but to make sure that everyone at her hotel and in the whole of Calipso has reason to celebrate this Christmas. It’s a fun, tense piece that focuses on managing people, expectations, and morale in a place where humanity is living in space with a razor-thin margin for error.

Keywords: Space Colonization, Energy, Emergency, CW- Pregnancy/Childbirth, Family, Holidays

Review: This is a heartwarming story, all about the “spirit of Christmas” pretty much completely divorced from the religious connotations. And maybe it’s really about using the holiday and the celebration, the way that it promotes peace and love and giving, in order to make life a little more bearable in a situation that is hostile and fragile, everything holding onto the thin lines of support that could fray and snap at any moment, especially when resources are already stretched and maintenance isn’t always top priority. For me, really, this is a story that, despite taking place in a colony in the harsh realities of space, really speaks to what’s happening on Earth, too. Not that we’re a minor malfunction away from space flooding in and killing us all, but there is a sense I feel that most people are just one disaster away from ruin, just one series of unfortunate events from being completely knocked out. It’s something that is becoming more and more common, I think, and it’s something that I feel very much is captured by this story, by the situation, by the feel of it. By the way that it takes so many people coming together to help each other, so many people with a bit more willing to give to those who have less, in order to avoid outright tragedy. And there’s a wonderful diversity to the piece, a way that there are no fracture lines between religions or skin colors. Where everyone is coming together, and can take a moment in all of that to celebrate the fact, to celebrate the kindness and resolve of people to help people, to bond over a shared vulnerability, and to push back against the dark encroaching at all sides. It’s a story that seems to understand what it is to be tired and keep going, and that imagines a reward for all of it. If you’re looking for a sci fi Christmas read, definitely take the time to check this one out. A wonderful story!

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My New Years Goals For 2020 (& Ideally Beyond)

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By Waiching

As I write this, January 1st 2020 is just around the corner: the year of the summer Olympic games held in Tokyo, Japan is amongst several other notable events in the calendar. It is also the last year I spend in my thirties as I hit the big 4-0 in 2021 (though I don't feel like I am almost in my forties). 

It is said that people continue to make resolutions at the beginning of January, - only to procrastinate & perhaps not follow them through as the months pass by. But simply wanting to change is just not enough; rather than change is by making it happen for real, and thus persevering with it. 

One definition of a new years resolution is: ''When a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behaviour to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve their quality of life''. Simply put, it is a promise s/he makes for the new year to improve their lives and themselves. 

These resolutions come in many forms: from quitting smoking, exercising more, spending less time on social media to finding and securing a new job, spending more quality time with friends and loved ones & taking up a new hobby or pastime. The possibilities are endless. Yet ideally, resolutions should be an ongoing process -, rather than something that ought to be achieved in under one year. 

This is the first time I've made these new year resolutions, well, make that 'aims', as these are the things I want to fulfil: before then, I didn't care much for them, but given the challenges, problems, issues, as well as the happy times 2019 have posed, by reflecting on each of these, it has given me food for thought in regards to what I want to possibly & ultimately achieve next year and doing my utmost best in my efforts to make sure that this becomes a far more prosperous, happy and fulfilled one. 

I can't go back and undo the mistakes of the past of 2019, - if anything, by looking ahead to next year with promising intentions it can be a way of making up for the errors and mistakes of the past year. 

I'll be entering the beginning next year with a clean slate, starting things afresh with the intention of gradually seeing, or be it accomplishing each one of these goals through. 

Throughout 2020, I will be focusing on each of these intentions or be it goals, one at a time as they serve as my personal road map of (hopefully) progress, triumph, self-fulfilment and achievement for the next 12 months; that & I chose a set of goals that were and are a) manageable & doable, b) achievable within my limits & based on my work strengths, skills, performances, as well as according to how important these were to me for the duration of the following year. 

The SMART goals model entails relatively concise, target-specific and challenging objectives that enable you or me to define precisely what it is that I want to accomplish out of it. This should be in as much detail as possible, as well as what the end result will be or look like, who needs to be or is involved for you to reach your goal & why you want to accomplish it. 

By utilising the SMART goals concept: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-sensitive, I have thought long and hard about my goals, which are both reasonable and clear, and what I want to gain out of next year within that exact timeframe. These are: 


- To develop and foster better working relations with my work colleagues as of December - so that we can all work together as a department and within the store as a whole, to achieve what needs to be done on the day. When times are busy, we and I need to work to the fullest and to produce positive and encouraging results. 


- I want to try to better understand people on an empathetic level by the end of the year - with certain colleagues at work, they can prove challenging, difficult to work, deal with and to understand. But I am usually someone who can be forgiving; I can't change these people, rather I want to be 'on their level' by being understanding, objective, mindful, patient and understanding of their intentions, whatever those might be and who they are, individually. By doing so, I minimise any potential and major arguments, fallouts and disagreements. & even if I may not fully agree with them or not see eye-to-eye, I hope to be more conscious of him/her. 

- To learn and let go of grudges as of New Years Day onwards - holding onto things that were negative experiences and by dwelling on them is pointless, as we can't undo them. I have to move on, live and fight another day and remain hopeful the next one is better.


- To stop saying ''I'm sorry'' unless I genuinely meant it starting from New Years Day - I am a very apologetic person and feel bad when I do something wrong; very often I utter this phrase, not just because I feel terrible but I do so as an immediate response. We all make mistakes and saying sorry is a way of acknowledging we are and can be wrong... but it would be far better if we take steps to ensure we don't make a mistake or do something entirely wrong, just by asking the person if we or I am not sure of something. 


- Learn to better control my emotions by June - I need to gain control of my feelings before my feelings overwhelm me, so I can keep a level head and think more rationally, particularly in such highly emotionally charged confrontations and conflicts. When times are rough and the going gets tough, I must remain sane, calm, collective, not rush into things and think them through and then act upon them. 


- To let go of and forget about people who aren't making my life better


- Quit being aggressive and irate beginning January 3rd when I return to work - If something goes wrong, s/he says something that annoys, irritates me, I must ignore it and focus on doing my work. I can take constructive criticism, but when someone is nitpicking and focusing on my flaws and errors, it can be offputting. I guess I need to focus on being positive and knowing what I can do and to work hard, whilst curbing my emotions. 


- If I am completely or entirely unsure about something, I need to ask to make sure, rather than dive in and end up making a mistake - very often I do something and when I make a mistake, I'm like ''oh no'', and so I want to halt this. This is due to the idea of asking for help is a sign of weakness, - when in reality, this is the complete opposite. I need to speak up when I am having a problem or issue, so s/he can help me and this benefits myself as well. 

- To be more adventurous and to have fun - too often this year I would have a serious look on my face, rather than to let go, smile and laugh, which I did so, but not very often. I want to do a good job, but also I want to see the lighter side to things, relax and enjoy making fun banter with my colleagues by speaking up more & stepping outside of my comfort zone of being quiet and shy. There is a positive side of my character that I literally want to bring out and express to others. I don't consider myself a comedienne, yet once in a while, I try to brighten up people's moods by being playful, saying things that make them laugh & smile. 


- I need to establish my self-worth at work and to continue to give 110% in terms of effort - as well as cleaning the tables, sweeping the floor, changing the bins, replenishing cutlery and sauces and syrups for the soda machines, I aim to be more proficient and knowledgeable at the back by filling things up, making items, as well as possibly getting till trained. 


- I have to learn how to prioritize my work - too often I undertake numerous tasks, without giving consideration to, nor assigning each of them in order of importance first & foremost. By dealing with the most vital one first and getting it out of the way with, I can then concentrate on and move onto the next set of tasks. 

- To improve my Spanish speaking skills (ongoing) - I don't think I'll be as fluent in Spanish as I'd like to be, but I want to be able to say more than just '!hola!', 'adios' and 'Buenas notches'. 


- To put out at least 3 blog posts a month


- Practice self-care (whenever I have had a bad day or I don't feel so good) - self-care is an activity that we undertake deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, physical health. Whenever I am feeling low, burned out or low on stamina, I should listen to upbeat music, think positive thoughts or do something to make me feel good on the inside, even after a bad day at work to replenish my energy for the next working day


- Take a trip to New York - I want to visit our countries and cities during my holidays, and New York is on my bucket list of places that I am eager to go to. My sister has been there several times and it is a firm favourite destination of hers. 


- If I am not happy with something, I must do something to change it to make me happy - whatever that may be, the longer I leave it, the worse I might probably feel and so it is important for me to take steps to counter this


- To be kinder to myself - at times, I was harsh on myself, only because I wanted to do better and strive for success. Now, when I think about it, whenever I do something good or positive, or when someone gives me positive feedback to be gracious, grateful for it & to owe it to myself by rewarding or treating myself. Sometimes, I push myself too hard or can overwork myself to the bone. Although I am a fast worker, I need to slow down at times when it is necessary and to give some thought to what I am about to do next, and then how to best approach it.