Lathany

A good year, I think, although I would have given a different review back in September or October when we were down a bathroom as well as a kitchen! After all, the second half of the year was somewhat dominated by the building work, but we do now have a shiny new kitchen to show for it. I wouldn't want to do it again any time soon – but also don't have to.

Time-off this year for me went well: I had a couple of relaxing holidays in the South Downs and Long Melford. I also had a number of interesting and entertaining work events. Many of my friend-colleagues are either taking time out or moving on next year and I'm going to very much miss them.

We finished Heresy, She Wrote which I thoroughly enjoyed. There is now Heresy in Paradise scheduled for next year. My 2024 also involved, much Darktide, plenty of SteamWorld Heist II and a bit of Return to Moria as well.

In general terms – overall I enjoyed the year and ended in a good place.

In detail
As per usual, a month-by-month breakdown.

January – It was a chilly, uneventful month. I worked, played Darktide and watched some films.
February – The Hatted One joined the twins and I for the Infinity Mirror Rooms exhibition at the Tate Modern. I had dinner with Liz W at Tas.
March – Uneventful, with a quiet birthday celebration.
April – There was a Kew trip. There was also some gaming: both video and roleplaying.
May – We saw The Kills at the Troxy at the start of the month and Dom ran an awesome, mad game for Alistair's 50th. We spent a week in the South Downs on a family holiday enjoying a castle, Marwell Zoo and Jane Austen's house.
June – We attended Martin and Ebee's civil ceremony day. I had a work awayday in London and at the end of the month Dom and I went to Gymkhana for my birthday meal (organised in March).
July - I watched the General Election online with Alistair. I attended Lesley's retirement do, meeting up with many former colleagues.
August - Visited Kew and saw my first Banksy. This is also when the building work started on the new kitchen.
September – Bea and I got cat tattoos together, I had a work trip to Edinburgh and Bea and I had a long weekend in Long Melford.
October – We celebrated 32 years together at Trinity, we visited Krys and Chris, we completed Heresy, She Wrote after 18 months and... I'm not quite sure how many sessions. At the end of the month I had a hospital appointment, but was declared clear of issues.
November – There was a work AwayDay housed at the Tate Modern. Gem and Olivia came over for board games and Bea and I had a sunny Kew Trip.
December – The kitchen work finally ended, I survived two back-to-back work Xmas dos and my mother stayed a few days over Xmas.


The Lists of Things
As is my tradition, here are my lists of things of 2024.

Twenty-one books read for the first time.
The Midnight Mayor - Kate Griffin
Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz
The Martian - Andy Weir
Moonflower Murders - Anthony Horowitz
Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Airs Above the Ground - Mary Stewart
The Neon Court - Kate Griffin
The Minority Council - Kate Griffin
Stray Souls - Kate Griffin
The Husbands - Holly Gramazio
The Word Is Murder - Anthony Horowitz
The Sentence Is Death - Anthony Horowitz
A Line to Kill - Anthony Horowitz
The Twist of a Knife - Anthony Horowitz
The Bookseller's Tale - Martin Latham
Network Effect - Martha Wells
System Collapse - Martha Wells
Artemis - Andy Weir
The Glass God - Kate Griffin
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Favourites
1. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir: I got this because I enjoyed the Martian and this one is even better. Science-heavy, surprising and with an engaging central character.
=2. Network Effect - Martha Wells: Frankly, the whole Murderbot series has been great, but of the two full-length books, I preferred this one. Engaging, fast-moving and I love the central character. This is more at the space opera end of sci fi.
=2. The Husbands - Holly Gramazio: This is one of the most thought-provoking, yet entertaining books I have read. A magic attic that provides different married life alternatives for the protagonist Lauren and shows how the rest of her life changes. Definitely recommended (and I'm planning to make it my pick for my bookclub).
4. Stray Souls - Kate Griffin: I think the best of her Kate Griffin phase (I met her writing as Clare North). It's something like the fifth book, but the others before it are also well worth it. It's London-based fantasy set in the present day. And there's a supernatural support group in it.
5. Moonflower Murders - Anthony Horowitz: I've read a lot of Horowitz this year, but I like this the best, in part because I like Susan the best of his protagonists. Interesting double detective story switching from a book detective (Agatha Christie like) to a life one (Susan).

Twelve novellas read for the first time.
Demon Daughter - Lois McMaster Bujold
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain - Nghi Vo
On the Fox Roads - Nghi Vo
All Systems Red - Martha Wells
Vermeer to Eternity - Anthony Horowitz
What the Dead Know - Nghi Vo
Artificial Condition - Martha Wells
Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells
Exit Strategy - Martha Wells
Penric and the Bandit - Lois McMaster Bujold
Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory - Martha Wells
Compulsory - Martha Wells

Favourites
1. All Systems Red - Martha Wells: As above, the first Murderbot tale I read.
2. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain - Nghi Vo: Like the Empress of Salt and Fortune this was well-written, engaging fantasy and not quite like anything else.
3. Penric and the Bandit - Lois McMaster Bujold: Solid Penric stuff, if not as good as some of them.

Nine computer games finished.
Home Safety Hotline
Ni No Kuni 2
The Case of the Golden Idol
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Firewatch
Tacoma
Steamworld Heist II
Incubus
Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
Favourites
1. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide: This nailed the 40K atmosphere, the multiplayer was solid and fun. Also, not exactly beautiful, but excellent graphics.
2. Steamworld Heist II: Hatted bots saving the world in a turn-based strategy game that was fun, large and didn't require much computer space or power to run.
3. The Case of the Golden Idol: A rather good puzzle game that involves a lot of thinking and clues.

Twenty films I saw this year.
Marry Me
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Orion and the Dark
The Lost City
Dune 2
Tales from Earthsea
The Lego Batman Movie
Paradise
Atlas
The Matrix Resurrections
Inside Out 2
Appleseed Alpha
Beverly Hills Cop Axel F
Glass
Bullet Train
The Adam Project
The Equalizer
Godzilla Minus One
Whisper of the Heart
Carry On
Favourites
1. Orion and the Dark: it had been described as Inside Out meets Being John Malkovich. The description was fitting and the film was great.
=2. Bullet Train: Thriller / comedy about a number of assassins who find themselves on the same Tokyo train. I would say it's not going to be on my best film ever list, but was unexpectedly watchable and entertaining (and apparently based on a book). Brad Pitt is a decent lead and has a good support cast. Also, cameos.
=2. Godzilla Minus One: This starts slowly, but turns into a very good film. Set in Japan around the end of the War and featuring the named massive monster.
4. Dune 2: Epic, cinematic. I didn't like it quite as much as I hoped, but still good.
=5. Inside Out 2: Not as good as the first, but worth a trip to the cinema.
=5. Carry On: Engaging, and I agree not as formulaic as some. Also a Christmas film. Die Hard isn't knocked off its pedestal, but at least this is something worth beating.

Eleven seasons of TV
Shadow and Bone - season 1
Altered Carbon - season 2
The Signal
Bodies
Yu Yu Hakusho
Fool Me Once
Cowboy Bebop
Supacell
1899
Travelers - season 1
Arcane: League of Legends

Favourites/ordering
1. Bodies: It involved multiple interesting characters, various mysteries and time travel. I wasn't too sure for the first two episodes (and there was a lot to follow), but got really hooked on the next two. Five and six were also great, then the penultimate episode was a bit poor but the ending was good. I particularly liked that the four main leads were all police officers in different time periods.
2. 1899: It's weird and has isolated seavoyage / ghost vibes. It was supposed to be three seasons, but was cancelled. It's from the creators of Dark and I would say is better and weirder. I think cautiously recommended - the questions in the first season are mainly answered - but you end up with a set of new questions at the end.
3. The Signal: A German science fiction mini series about an astronaut and her family. It was an interesting premise and good characters. I think it was also the right length for its story, so recommended.
4. Supacell: A British superhero television series set in modern-day South London. It is about a group of five ordinary black people, unified by family history of sickle cell disease. This was the “origins” equivalent of Heroes and quite good – but I found it hard to get into the story initially.
5. Cowboy Bebop: A live action series based on the 1998 Japanese anime television series. Interesting, sadly only ran to one season, but I liked the characters and the atmosphere.


So, 2025? Less kitchen work will be good and I already have several plans and arrangements lined up. I'm feeling cautiously hopeful.

Farewell 2024.

Over the last few weeks, we've been watching Fool Me Once. We found it disappointing as the plot was inconsistent and contradicted itself. Which was a shame as we wanted to know how they would make it all fit together (answer - they didn't).

Friday night we watched the second half of The Signal (four episodes in total). It's a German science fiction mini series about an astronaut and her family. It was an interesting premise and good characters. I think it was also the right length for its story, so recommended.

We've been watching Kaleidoscope over the last few weeks with Bea. It's an eight part series about a heist. You are shown seven episodes in a random order, then the eighth one is always the same.

The eighth episode (White) is the heist itself and the others are: 24 years before (Violet), 7 years before (Green), 6 weeks before (Yellow), 3 weeks before (Orange), 5 days before (Blue), the morning after (Red), 6 months after (Pink).* The seven are billed as random, although I've seen somewhere suggesting that Red and Pink are always the two episodes before White (and were for us).

It was... disappointing. It's rather predictable, difficult to empathise with anyone (I liked Stan, but that was about it) and rather too many people die (including various bystanders). Nice idea, but this isn't the right series or plot to showcase it.

* Our viewing was Green, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Violet, Red, Pink, White.

I've been watching the Lockwood & Co series on Netflix. The first season covers the first two books and I've generally enjoyed it and hope they make more. I'm not as keen as I am on the books though. That said, I really loved the books.

Things I liked included Lucy's origins story, I was happy with the cast changes (fewer are white and there are a couple more women) and I generally thought it was well cast. I also liked how they had presented ghosts.

Things I was less keen on included that Lucy's ability seemed far too debilitating and I wanted more Combe Carey Hall. And I'm not yet sure about how they've done the skull.

But generally a plus. And bonus points when I realised it was developed by the Attack the Block guy.

I've just finished watching the first season of Russian Doll. It had good reviews and involved a time loop so sounded as though it could be my sort of thing.

I wasn't sure at first. I didn't immediately take to Nadia, the central character, and I struggled to remember - or care about - the other characters in her repeated celebration night. However, I slowly changed my mind as events unfolded. By the final episode, I loved it and thought the ending was excellent.

Definitely recommended.

We watched the first (currently only) season of Alex Rider and finished it on Friday. It's about a teenage spy and adapted from a Young Adult book series (which I have not read). The first season is Point Blanc. It's OK. It's nicely paced and with a decent cast. The tech is unrealistic and so are Alex's skills, but if you take that as read it's a lot more watchable than some things.

Three years ago, we watched Aldnoah Zero: Season One. It became my TV series of the year. It was about a battle between VERS (Mars) and Earth where VERS had a technology advantage because of of a first settler finding the advanced technology "Aldnoah" on Mars (basically it took one look at him and went "Daddy!"). The story begins with the VERS princess arriving on Earth to promote peace and being assasinated. VERS blames Earth, a group on VERS are actually responsible because they want war and... it goes from there (first episode stuff). It following the fortunes of three characters - the princess (Asseylum Vers Allusia) who is rather less dead than expected, her Terran (Earth) tutor (Slaine Troyard) who is still in VERS and treated as a second class citizen there and an earth student (Inaho Kaizuka) who turns out to be a master tactician and works out how to defeat the superior technology. It has a rivalry theme as well between Slaine and Inaho who both befriend Asseylum. In general, the first season was interesting with a good story line and had some lovely, consistent tactics in it involving Mechs. Also the contrast between Slaine and Inaho - the romantic and the pragmatist - worked well.

The second series isn't as good as the first, but is still worth watching. The first series is primarily on Earth and most of the supporting characters are on Earth (although you get a fair few VERS as well). In contrast, the second series is primarily set in space and most of the secondary action falls to VERS. I can see how they are supposed to be the mirror image of each other. However, the first season had some lovely character development in the supporting cast and the second season doesn't. The second season is pretty much focussed on the three main characters, Inaho and Slaine are way over-powered, still rivals for both the war and Asseylum, and only Slaine has much in the way of further character development. That said, it's still enjoyable, the tactics are still there, and the ending works - answering the main questions.

For my birthday this year, Martin bought me Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. We started watching it, at about three episodes a week and finished it recently.

I thought it was excellent. It is a detailed, compelling story about the Elric brothers, their use of alchemy and those they know and meet. The story begins with a personal tragedy, which they make into a disaster, and goes on to be how they try to recover from it. What I particularly liked is that, being a manga-based series, it was complete when they made it, so it's very consistent (too many series, you can tell, are written a season at a time). That said, it does still have slight elements of "as we went along" - I assume because the manga was created that way.

I really liked Edward himself, Greed, Hawkeye, Mustang and Sloth. Bea loved the panda (or cat, as it was so often called). The number of character arguably expanded a bit too much and some of the early ones disappeared when it would have been nice to see more (the librarian, for example). Also, it slowed down a lot at the end and the last quarter must have taken place within 24 hours.

Overall, though - a lovely series.

Over half-term, I arranged time out with Bea and Ryan. In Bea's case, this was breakfast at Ole and Steen", some shopping and the Natural History Museum. My main take-home from the latter was to never go in the school holidays again. Although the sea cows were good.

Ryan and I went to Kew.



It turns out that the Orchid display had just started, so we queued for that.



We also went to the cinema - a rare outing of all four of us - and saw Alita: Battle Angel. This was set in the future and based on an anime series. Alita is a cyborg and the film follows her reawakening and interactions with the human society now around her. It's a decent film - but I felt that it didn't finish. It just stopped. There will be sequels - this was not a surprise to me.

Finally, we finished the third season of Agents of Shield. This was watchable and fun. I don't think I liked it as much as the first season, but it did finally finish some arcs that have been open for a while.