#2012 summary

Seems I was quite prolific in 2012 (well by my standards, at any rate):37 fics written altogether!

Here's a list of them all grouped by month:

January:

Weaker - (season 5 AU) from 5x03-5x22 focusing on Sam's psychic powers on AO3   on LJ

There Is No Spoon - (season 7) ep 7x07 - who really bent Sam's spoon? on AO3  on LJ

Devil's Own - (season 7) Lucifer is not a hallucination on AO3  on LJ

It Happened Like This - (season 2 AU) This is the short story that inspired 'Burdens, Doublefold'! on AO3  on LJ 

Noch Ein Bier, Bitte - written for worldwise_spn (season 3) The boys go to Bavaria to hunt Wolpertinger! on AO3  on LJ

If You Lead - (season 7) Hallucifer has some advice for Sam on AO3  on LJ

Analyze This - (season 7)Sam talks to a psychologist on AO3  on LJ

February:

Perfect Animal - (season 6) The Alpha vampire said soulless!Sam would be his "perfect animal." He was. on AO3  on LJ

March:

nothing (was busy working on Burdens, Doublefold!)

April:

2083 - (spn future AU) The Demons have an Angel AI too - his name is Lucifer, and Sam Winchester is his Avatar (also Dean pilots Michael's giant battle-mech). on AO3  on LJ

May: The Two Ravens - (spn fairy-tale AU - retelling of 'Die Sieben Raben') Your brother he is, and heir to my throne. He'll feed on the damned and he'll turn them to bone. on AO3  on LJ

The Devil's in the Details (season 4 & 5 AU) Lucifer's grace is all that was trappe din his Cage. This is what happened after Sam took it back. on AO3  on LJ

June:

The Last Days in the Land of Nod - (season 5) End!Verse - 2014 through the eyes of Sam, Dean, Bobby and Castiel. on AO3  on LJ

July:

Burdens, Doublefold - (season 1 &2 AU) - co-written with my beloved quickreaver! What if Dean left Sam at Stanford after the fire, hoping it would keep his little brother safe and make things better? on AO3  on LJ

August:

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - (season 5 AU) - sequel to "Devil's in the Details" - With the return of his grace, Sam remembered his past – his war against the Host, his Fall, and his plans to bring about the End. (GO SEE THE ART by quickreaver)  (especially the Death portrait!!) on AO3  on LJ

September:

Throes of Perdition - (season 5-6) - Sam's time in the Cage. on AO3  on LJ

Lay This Body Anywhere - (season 8 AU) - Sam uses his powers to break Dean out of Purgatory. on AO3  on LJ

October:

If He Be Worthy - (season 8 crack) - Sam really enjoyed wielding Mjölnir (GO CHECK OUT THE ADORABLE by quickreaver) on AO3  on LJ

Oh Death, Come Close Mine Eyes (season 5 AU) - Dean says yes to Michael on AO3  on LJ

Not With a Bang (season 5 AU) End!Verse AU - Sam made Lucifer promise not to hurt Dean before saying yes. on AO3  on LJ

November:

And If I Die Before I Wake -(season 7)- Sam is really sick and calls out to Lucifer. Dean hears. on AO3  on LJ

In the Cards - (season 8 AU) Fate wasn't hers to change. She was an oracle - there to tell them what the future held in store. Nothing more, nothing less. (GO CHECK OUT THE ART by quickreaver)  on AO3  on LJ

Through Me You Go (season 4) - Season 4 through the eyes of Ruby on AO3  on LJ

In the Hall of the…24 hour Supermarket (season 8) -Sam & Dean work undercover at a 24 hour supermarket on a hunt for a Kobold on AO3  on LJ

December:

(The Weather) Outside is Frightful - (season 4) End!Verse - Risa's POV as she spends an afternoon up on the watchtower. on AO3  on LJ

Echo of a Silent Song -(season 8 AU) - The reason Sam didn't look for Dean is that he's had post-traumatic amnesia. on AO3  on LJ

SUPERnatural - (season 1&2 AU) - Superhero AU - Saving people, fighting crime…the family business. on AO3  on LJ

Over the course of 2012 I set myself upon an epic movie watching course, which in hindsight was probably neither healthy nor practical, but was in fact the best bad idea I ever had. It helped me reassess some priorities, refine my time management skills and forced me to approach films in a different light. But ultimately it allowed me to rediscover my love for the movies, which is something that I too often take for granted. And looking at the year on the whole I’d make a couple of observations.

The film industry is currently facing its greatest challenge since the birth of television. In the 1950s, studios came up with Cinemascope, Cinerama, 3-D, Smell-o-Vision, any gimmick possible to lure audiences into the theaters and away from the convenience and accessibility of entertainment that was delivered directly into their home. Now, it isn’t a mere question of convenience as of quality. We are living during one of the best and most creative periods in the history of television. If you want people to give up the time they might spend watching Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Downton Abbey or Homeland. You need to make it worth their while.

That having been said, 2012 was one of the best years in recent memory. I have been spared my annual exasperation with critics lamenting about how weak a year it was at the movies, how Hollywood has been sapped of its imagination and the nostalgia about how things used to be. My irritation lies in the fact that even in the weakest of years there are films worth getting excited about and can stand alongside the films from among the best of the nearly 120 years of cinema. Not every year can be 1939. But from summer blockbusters to festival darlings, this was year that left little to complain about. And it’s an appropriate time to step back and appreciate the year that was 2012:

Stolen from stopblinking. Check him out, yeah??

So 2012 is over and looking back it's been a decent year for movies. I thought I would do a summary as I did last year, so here it is.

Overall I saw 26 films at the cinema in 2012; more than 2011 and I will be looking to increase that again in 2013.

To start A quick list of my favourite films of the year.

Top 10 Films 1. Avengers 2. The Hobbit 3. Dark Knight Rises 4. Seven Psychopaths 5. Ruby Sparks 6. Looper 7. The Grey 8. Lawless 9. Perks of Being a Wallflower 10. The Raven

Admittedly I would have struggled to add anymore to this list if it were to extend beyond just a Top 10.  There are films I haven't got round to seeing the past year however, so I am sure I missed a few that could have made it.

At first I couldn't decide whether to put Avengers or The Hobbit at No.1, but I settled on the Avengers in the end. I love the Hobbit, and think it is a brilliant adaptation of the book I have loved since childhood.  I also think Jackson did a great job of bringing in other lore material and trying to tie it closer to LOtR. However The Avengers was such a great film with a brilliant cast, comedic script, over-the-top action and complete with the sheer quality of the 'new' Marvel, that it beats it based purely on comic book fanboy enjoyment.

No.3 on my list was easy to pick. I do have to say though that I have not been as big a fan of Christopher Nolan's Batman films as everyone else seems to have been.  However that is mainly due to me not really being a fan of Batman himself. I have always seen him as a fairly dull character with no truly interesting qualities other than being insanely wealthy. However that aside the Dark Knight Rises was a very well made and entertaining movie.  And it easily beats any other contenders for the 3rd spot.

The rest of the movies I thoroughly enjoyed for varying reasons. I thought Seven Psychopaths to be a clever movie.  it also had a great cast that worked very well together. I wasn't originally intending it to take the No.4 spot, but on reflection for me it deserves it. Ruby Sparks was probably quite a little known release as I haven't seen it mentioned much.  It's a 'rom-com fantasy' starring real life couple Zoe Kazan and Paul Dano.  I thought this movie was a very charming and creative movie that managed to completely avoid the usual rom-com predictability and dullness. The cast was good, and having Kazan and Dano in the lead roles as a couple made sure the chemistry between them felt a little more real. Next up is Looper at No.6.  I really enjoyed this film and it was originally going to be No.4 on my list.  It was clever, very well acted and even though set in the future (time travel aside) it was set in a more believable setting.  There were a couple of small flaws, the telekinesis mechanic seemed there for convenience and if you look deeper then the time-travel aspect can be questioned.  But as it is, it is a solid, well presented, well acted movie that I really enjoyed. The Grey was the first film I saw in 2012 and I knew then it would be in my Top 10 list.  I mainly just went to see it because of Liam Neeson, but the movie itself surprised me at how atmospheric it was. Lawless: This was another brilliant film that felt authentic and was very well presented.  A strong cast and interesting characters kept me gripped, and I really didn't want it to end.  Tom Hardy was as good as he is in everything and Shia LaBeouf was as enjoyable as I always find him to be.  I think he gets an unnecessarily tough time just because of Transformers, but other than those I enjoy his performances. Perks of Being a Wallflower was a film that when I left the cinema I felt conflicted about. On one hand I enjoyed it a lot, I thought the characters were interesting and the storyline was thought provoking to some extent.  However I also had the feeling it was too aimed at teenage girls; backed up by the fact that me and my friend aside, the cinema was full of teenage girls.  While there is nothing out rightly wrong about aiming it at that market as the book is, I thought it could have done more if they hadn't focused so much on making it teenage girl orientated.  After time has passed though looking back I think it was a good film with good acting (Emma Watsons accent aside), and it has gone up in my opinion. The Raven finishes off my Top 10.  I have seen this movie get a lot of criticism with John Cusack getting the brunt of it for his portrayal of Poe.  But I would always disagree with that.  I think he did a great job, and while it didn't have the most interesting storyline ever, it was a well made and atmospheric movie that I really enjoyed.

Moving on now to my worst films of the year.  I will keep this shorter to save the post being much longer.

Worst 10 Films 1. Prometheus 2. Prometheus 3. Prometheus 4. Amazing Spiderman 5. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 6. Jack Reacher 7. Skyfall 8. Bourne Legacy 9. Wrath of the Titans 10. Dictator

I hated Prometheus, but what I hate more than the actual movie is that fact I get told by Ridley Scott fans that it was a good movie. Obviously people are allowed to enjoy what they want that goes without saying, but you cannot say a film was well scripted, directed and produced when it so very obviously wasn't. And Prometheus was plain bad in nearly every aspect. Full of errors, lack of answers and conflicting scripting.  And it is such a shame, because I still stand by saying Michael Fassbender gave one of my favourite performances of the year in it. Other movies to make my worst list are the Amazing Spiderman.  This was such a poor version and it should not have even been made.  The characters felt off, the storyline was all over the place; Are Parkers parents important, are they not? Who knows... The script writers obviously didn't.  Made purely for money and with no true thought put into it, a terrible movie. I usually enjoy Nic Cage's movies even if they are bad, he is one actor who can make the bad watchable.  But Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was a shockingly poor movie.  I near enough fell asleep most of it. Jack Reacher was so bloody awful. Terrible dialogue, bad acting for the most part, nonsensical situations, a really really poor and not thought out at all conclusion, no effort put into a consistent storyline, the plot was a mess and there were so many glaring errors.  Yeah, a bad bad movie. Skyfall was enjoyed by a lot of people, not me however. I hated the guy they picked to play Q, he just came off as an annoying 'hipster', picked solely because young people will like him playing the stereotypical Hollywood 'geek'.  A terrible casting choice. The acting was beyond bad half the time and Naomie Harris was embarrasingly poor.  The dialogue was no better than the acting and I find it disappointing that the good old puns from past films are long gone, only to be replaced by horrific attempts at humour that are plain bad and unfunny. I also thought it payed homage to the old movies far too much and I found these attempts at linking it to past films cringe-worthy. And finally the main reason I disliked the film immensely: The bad guy had the potential to be really interesting in a creepy Joker kind of way. But they completely missed that opportunity and he wasn't embellished enough at all. I stand by my long term opinion that Daniel Craig is not, in any way a good Bond. He is constantly grumpy, has no witty charm or smile and pouts like a tosser most of the time. Bourne Legacy was very disappointing, and while I usually like Jeremy Renner the plot was not at all interesting until the very end of the movie when it ends completely abruptly.  I was shocked how badly it ended. Wrath of the Titans and Dictator are in there mainly because they were boring.  I expected more from Sacha Baron Cohen with the Dictator, but in the end it was uninteresting.  And Wrath of the Titans was a mindless CGI action affair that left no impression on me at all.

To finish off I found myself with a few films I didn't want to put into either category, and yet felt as though they should be in one of the two.  So I have made this little section for them.  Basically they are badly made films, that I enjoyed so much they didn't deserve to be put on the worst 10 list.

Top 5 'Fun Factor' Films 1. Battleship 2. Silent Hill Revelation 3. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 4. Resident Evil Retribution 5. Men in Black 3

JANUARY: I applied for federal student financial aid. I got nothing out of it, but at least I applied. I wrote ten different letters to my future self, the 45 years into the future on Jan. 1st, 2057. I began the second half of my last year of high school. Became a vegan.

FEBRUARY: I completely and utterly ignored Valentine's day. Got the idea to write a paper about Batman and Robin. Still haven't written it.

MARCH: I turned eighteen, gaining the ability to vote, smoke, gamble, and buy porn. The only one of those four I have done is vote. I didn't even really celebrate.

APRIL: I think this was Spring Break? Doesn't matter anyway, I didn't do anything during it. I tried to participate in Script Frenzy but just didn't get it done.

MAY: Saw the Avengers, absolute fell in love with the movie. Didn't get to see it again for months. Visited Boston with my Aunt Wendy, had an awesome, incredible time seeing and doing everything.

JUNE: Graduated from high school. Got a ton of awesome stuff for graduation presents, including my laptop. Blew all my graduation money before college started.

JULY: Took a solar-powered, one-person vehicle that I and my team had created down to Texas, raced it against about 20 other teams around the Texas Motor Speedway. One of the most exciting times of my life. Saw The Dark Knight Rises in theaters opening night, wearing my Robin costume and completely embarrassing the Solar Car team I'd dragged with me to watch. Saw Arches National Park on the way back home, started creating alien worlds, which started me creating languages.

AUGUST: Packed for college, realized I didn't need as much as I thought I did. Said goodbye to my family. Began orientation at college, and wow. Best college ever. I'm so glad I came.

SEPTEMBER: Joined RPG group at college, probably my best college experience so far. Started my language Ksak-tuthasho without knowing just how big it would become and how important the world, history, and culture would be to me.

OCTOBER: I spent an entire month sitting on the idea for my NaNo and feeling as though it was going to burst out of my skin at any moment. Only the second time in my entire life I have NOT participated in Halloween. Also, forgot my best friend's birthday. Voted in the Presidential election two weeks early because I had an absentee ballot.

NOVEMBER: Wrote about 50,000 words of my NaNo, entirely by hand, and still wasn't even halfway through it. Watched Doctor Who for the first time. Watched the Lord of the Rings movies for the first time. Watched Men in Black for the first time. Had my first Thanksgiving away from family, still loved it.

DECEMBER: Watched Inception for the first time. Failed at least one of my college courses. Saw the Hobbit, fell in love with Martin Freeman as Bilbo. Got a tablet for Christmas. Got Itunes for the first time. Got my best friend an awesome Christmas gift.

A show I wish more people were watching: Nikita.