month of blogging

A to Z in April Blogging Challenge 2019 Masterpost

Well this is being posted later than expected – what can I say! Time got away from me. That’s another April gone and with it another A-Z in April Challenge successfully completed. This year it was all about my favourite characters in the MCU. It was certainly hard to narrow it down for some days/letters, but I’m happy with the characters I got to talk about.

Sign Up Post
A – Ava Starr
B – James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes
C – Cassie Lang
D – Carol Danvers
E – Erik “Killmonger” Stevens
F – Frigga
G – Goose
H – Happy Hogan
I – Ivan Vanko
J – Jim Paxton
K – Harley Keener
L – Luis
M – Maria Rambeau
N – Nebula
O – Okoye
P – Pepper Potts
Q – Peter Quill
R – James “Rhodey” Rhodes
S – Shuri
T – Tony Stark
U – Ulysses Klaue
V – Valkyrie
W – Wanda Maximoff
X – X-tras (Clint Barton, Michelle “MJ” Jones, Nick Fury, Hela and Rocket Racoon)
Y – Ho Yinsen
Z – Hemlut Zemo
Reflections Post

Reflections on the A-Z Challenge 2019 Edition

Slightly later than planned, but here’s my reflections on this years A-Z in April Challenge.

This was my sixth year taking part and it was my easiest A-Z in April in years. I think that was down to the topic. I love the MCU and its characters, so I found it really easy to write about them. In fact, I found it so easy that I got all my posts written and scheduled before the end of the second week of April! I haven’t been that organised during this challenge for years.

My favourite posts to write were all the ones in the Iron Man fam; Pepper Potts, Rhodey, Happy Hogan, Harley Keener and, of course, Tony Stark. I had so much fun pouring all my thoughts and feelings about Tony Stark into that post and it’s a piece of writing that I’m proud of. I wrote and scheduled all my posts before seeing Avengers: Endgame so I feel like writing about my favourite characters was almost therapeutic as I was so anxious about what would happen to them in that film.

My post popular A-Z posts were the ones for Carol Danvers, Okoye and Goose. I guess people like strong women and an awesome cat!

I replied to all comments pretty quickly (for me anyway) though unfortunately I didn’t visit that many blogs at all. While I got all my posts scheduled ahead of time, day to day life stopped me finding the time to look around other people’s blogs. I’m even more grateful for the people who stopped by my blog, liked or commented on posts, and even hit that follow button as I did little to return the favour last month.

I feel like the last few years when I’ve written these reflection posts I’ve said, “I’m not sure if I’ll take part again next year” and I feel the same way once again. It’s just that as I take part in the A-Z Challenge again and again, I feel like I’m running out of themes of things I could write about – and enjoy writing about too. I think I enjoyed this years A-Z Challenge more than the last couple because my topic was something I am so enthusiastic about and get so much joy from. If I hadn’t written about my favourite characters from the MCU, I don’t know what I would’ve chosen to write about and if I had thought of something I doubt I’d have had as much fun writing it as I did with this theme.

I hope all of you who took part in the challenge had fun and a successful A-Z in April. Thanks to those who stopped by my blog and liked or commented – it always means a lot. For more information on the A-Z in April Challenge visit the website.

The A to Z Blogging Challenge – 2015 Edition

A2Z-BADGE-0002015-LifeisGood-230_zps660c38a0I’ve signed up for the A to Z in April Challenge! It will be my second year taking part and I’m really looking forward to it. The A to Z in April Challenge is when you post every day in April bar Sundays and since there is 26 days in April (when you minus the Sundays) and there’s 26 letters in the alphabet, each day corresponds with a letter of the alphabet. There’s still time to sign up for the challenge here.

Last year I had a lot more free time (I was at University and only have six hours of classes a week) but there was no clear theme – though a lot of my posts were about films or books.

This year I’m going to have a theme! The theme brings together two things that are very important to me – films and feminism. So this year, each day/letter will be dedicated to a woman in film who’s either first name or surname begins with that letter. The women may be actresses, directors, musicians who have worked in film or something else I haven’t thought of yet – though most of them will probably be actresses.

These will be my favourite women in film and while there will be some women whose name begins with the same letter that I love that I’ll have to leave out – I will give out honourable mentions and don’t think I hate one woman because I chose another one instead. Also, I know no one’s perfect and I’m sure if you go back far enough in these women’s history they may have said or done something that’s questionable or possibly offensive – they are human so I’m not going to put them on a pedestal. I’ve already started planning my posts (I hope to have at least ten written before the 1st April) and it’s already really hard to figure out who I’m going to write about.

I hope to feature a diverse group of women of different ages and different backgrounds so if that sounds like something you’d enjoy please come back to check out my blog during the month of April. It’s going to be a crazy month but I’m looking forward to it.

The A-Z in April Blogging Challenge

A2Z-BADGE-0002014-small_zps8300775cI’ve decided to take part in the Blogging from A-Z in April challenge. So from Tuesday expect a lot more blogs from me, in fact I shall be blogging everyday of April bar Sundays. Since there are 26 days in April (not including Sundays), that matches the 26 letters of the alphabet. So, on April 1st, blog about something that begins with the letter “A” April 2nd is “B,” April 3rd is “C,” and so on and so forth.

I don’t really have an exact theme for this challenge but the majority of the blogs will be about films, books, favourite actors/actresses, reviews, and fictional characters.

I’ve already written a few of my blogs so I’m ahead of the game there, and have an idea for most of them. To be exact I have written 10 blogs but unfortunately they aren’t necessarily the first 10 days, they’re from all over the alphabet.

This should be fun! I did enjoy blogging every day in January but didn’t really expect to do something crazy like sign up to a blogging challenge so quickly. At least after January I know I can blog every day, this time it’s just got the added difficulty level of having to be in relation to a subject starting with a certain letter.

There’s still time to sign up if you’re interested in the Blogging from A-Z in April challenge – I do believe sign-ups are open till the first of April.

Now I’m going to knuckle down and write more of my blogs

31 Days of Blogging – Completed

South Bucks-20140131-00791I’ve succeeded in one of my New Year’s resolutions! I have now blogged every single day of January – 31 days of posts from me about whatever interested me that day. I’ve covered films, awards, things that happened to me that day, reviews, theatre, my many DVD’s, TV, and music. During these past 31 days I’ve learnt a lot about myself and also blogging so here’s the main things that I’ve discovered.

I have the time to blog everyday

I do have the time to take half an hour or so out my day to write about something that interests me. At the start of the month I was posting my blogs at about 11:53pm and only just managing to get in there before the day was over but I soon learnt how to manage my time. After the first few days I easily figured out when was the best time for me to blog – sometimes it was early in the morning, others it was the afternoon. It was all down to managing what I’d got on that day, for instance I’d post a blog in the morning if I knew I was going to be out most of the day/evening and was unsure if or when I’d have the time later on that day to get that blog post up. I’ve always been pretty good at managing my time but this has month has definitely helped me perfect that skill.

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What I’m going to be spending the next 8 months working on

For my Masters I’ve got to do a 12,000 to 15,000 word dissertation on any subject on my choosing relating to Media and Public Relations. The plan for this piece of work is due a week on Friday and for the last few weeks I’ve been trying to figure out what I’d like my dissertation to be on.

I had an idea that could be applied to both comic books and Young Adult novels so it was just a case of figuring out which one I wanted to do more. The basic jist of both ideas was looking at how the marketing materials and techniques differ for comic book/YA books film adaptations when targeting the fans of the source material and the general cinema going audience. So it’s the same area just different focus points.

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The Bechdel Test in Real Life

For some reason (I’m honestly not sure what brought this on) I’ve been thinking about how the Bechdel test relates to my everyday life. The Bechdel test is a simple way to determine how well women are represented in media, whether that’s in books, films or TV shows. The three rules of the Bechdel test are that 1) there are at least two named women that 2) talk to each other 3) about something other than a man.

Now many forms of media fail the Bechdel test but when you think about your everyday conversations – how can media fail such a simple test?!

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My thoughts on the X-Men: Days of Future Past Empire character covers

Untitled7Over the last twenty five hours Empire Magazine have revealed twenty five covers of their magazine staring twenty five different characters from X-Men: Days of Future Past. This is kinda exciting – it the first chance really to take a look at some of the new characters that weren’t featured in the teaser trailer and to have a closer look at those who were.

So what did I think? Generally all characters who we’ve already seen either in the original X-Men trilogy or X-Men: First Class look pretty good and what you’d expect from them being in the 70’s or in an apocalyptic future. I did get a bit confused as to why Young!Charles is standing up since he lost the ability to walk at the end of X-Men: First Class and also where does younger!Wolverine with his bone claws fit in the timeline with X-Men: First Class, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men. Seriously I love these films and the characters (the various X-Men TV shows was my gateway to everything superpowered and I love the movies a ridiculous amount) but trying to figure out their timeline is enough to give you a head ache.

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Slowly reading Winter’s Tale

BdnyZlyCMAA6Pp-.jpg largeDo you ever read a book that you don’t really love but you don’t really hate either, and your just reading it and for the most part it’s enjoyable enough but nothing to shout about till a certain line appears? Yeah, that’s happening to me right now.

I’m currently reading Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin and it’s one of those books that’s incredibly long but just when I feel like it’s not for me or I feel a little bored something pulls me right back in.

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Living in a Bubble

When I’m at university I often finding myself living in a bit of a bubble – I’m very much focused on my course and the reading and writing that comes with it and my various jobs around campus. Every now and then I realise that I have no real idea about what’s going on in “the real world”. I just don’t know if there’s been a natural disaster or a political crisis or even what’s going on in my own country whether that’s new policies or what any of the big news stories that are hitting the front page of the newspapers are.

I try and rectify this when I realise how long it’s been since I’ve watched or read the news – usually I realise when Have I Got News For You is on and I realise that I don’t get the jokes because I don’t know what’s been happening in my own country (that being said Have I Got News For You does actually inform me a little bit). I check out the BBC News website and I try and make it a habit to always have that page open when I’m on my laptop. I somehow always seem to know about a celebrity’s latest antics thanks to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, especially thanks to top trending hashtags. But really, no matter what the world’s media may think, a celebrity doing something incredibly stupid shouldn’t be the most important news story.

I think the main reason I don’t know what’s going on in “the real world” is that at University I don’t have a television – mainly because it would be another way for me to procrastinate. At home we always have the TV on for the six o’clock news so I see what’s happening near enough every day. And then there’s the newspapers my mum takes from work every day she’s in so I can flick through them and get to see what’s going on. At university I don’t buy newspapers – four days of the week out of seven I go nowhere near a shop that actually sells newspapers.

I just feel incredibly bad and selfish when I realise how much I don’t know about “the real world.” I’m a part of this world so I should really pay more of an interest in it.