New Taylor Swift Video

So, a few things.

First of all, quick update on the writing, because I've been posting a lot of "fluff" lately and I don't want any readers to think I'm off the wagon as far as progress on book 5 is concerned. I'm not! Progress on Dawnrise continues to go well; I'm currently working through Part II of the novel (of four parts). I'm hoping to cross the midpoint threshold before May is out, and then get the rest of the book done in June. So far, I'm feeling very confident about the book. It's a bit surreal to be ending the series I've been working on pretty exclusively for the past six years, but it's awesome, too.

(Also, brief side note, I'm hoping I have some more stuff to announce relatively soon. I've got a number of balls in the air in regard to future projects after the Chaos Queen Quintet, and I'm hoping one or more of them finds a nice home very soon.)

Secondly, Avengers: Endgame was, just, WOW. I'm still sort of reeling from it, but my first impressions are that it was a worthy "ending" to the franchise. Or, at least, to the first four phases of the MCU or whatever. I'd honestly be happy if they called it here, but they're not going to kill they're golden-egg laying goose, you know? Anyway, I thought it was very good. I might post more thoughts on that here later, and it's possible my opinion will change (my opinion of Star Wars VIII went from "that was pretty great!" to "this is not as good as I thought it was" to "this is a dumpster fire of missed opportunity occasionally spattered with great moments" each time I watched it, so all bets are off I suppose). But, right now, I thought it was incredibly well done.

Ok, and now for the whole reason I'm writing this post.

Taylor Swift is back, ya'll!

Okay, slight context: I'm a reasonably hardcore swiftie. Been a fan of her music since Fearless, been a fan of her fan community (seriously they're a bunch of Sherlock Holmesian detectives over there, just spend some time in the TS subreddit if you don't believe me) for slightly less time. I'm not going to go into the details of the how's and why's as to why I like Taylor Swift and her music (I mean, is that even necessary?), but, you know, it's just an FYI thing. That's one of my corners of geekdom, if you will (the subject of a blog post I've been meaning to write for a while, actually, and one I might even get around to one day).

So. TS fans have been going nuts over the past couple weeks (past couple months, really) at all of the alleged hints and clues that TS may or may not have planted (some she definitely did), and it all led to the midnight release of "ME!," her new track and music video. (I was initially worried when I heard the track featured Brandon Urie of Panic! at the Disco--that band is hit and miss for me, and even their hits have never been that memorable imo--but he nails his part, his voice is perfect for the track, and it blends well with Taylor's.

It's pretty great, honestly.

Clearly the era of TS7 will take a brighter turn than TS6 (Reputation), which I'm okay with. I love me some darkness, and while I loved a lot of aspects of the Reputation era, this is certainly more true to form for her. My main criticism of Reputation was actually that TS occasionally seemed...uncomfortable in the darkness. When she did it well it was awesome, but sometimes it felt a bit forced. Either way it was a step out of her comfort zone, which I think is praiseworthy, and for the most part she nailed it, but I'm excited to see what she'll do as she comes back to a more familiar tone--and how she changes and innovates it, hopefully.

Yikes. This is just scratching the surface of my TS fandom, and I'm going to leave it there for now. One day I might write a big long thingy about how I feel towards all of TS' discography, but that is not this day.

Today, let me just show you this:

In anticipation

Little known fact about me: I dabble in sketching and drawing. I do it on occasion during the day to take a break from writing. Did this one in anticipation of, well, you know:

Captain Marvel

As far as I'm concerned, the MCU has been on fire lately--and definitely the good kind of fire. 🔥 

Things really took a turn for the better with Thor: Ragnarok, which is probably my favorite MCU film to date. Black Panther continued that trend, and is right up there in my top 3, if not directly in the #2 spot. Avengers: Infinity War, while flawed, did a phenomenal job combining dozens of headlining characters into a single story, mostly by focusing on the villain as the protagonist--and Thanos is a truly creepy villain, and a delight to watch in that film. Ant Man & the Wasp did exactly what it set out to do, which I think, in addition to telling a fun story, was to lighten the mood jut a tad after the incredibly bleak ending of A:IW.

And now, the next Marvel film on the docket is Captain Marvel--see the recently released trailer above.

Ya'll, I simply cannot express to you how excited I am for this film.

I've been excited to see Captain Marvel on the big screen since the day it was announced. For one, it's basically Marvel's first attempt at a female-led MCU film. I think that is awesome. But, far beyond that, I find Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers a fascinating superhero. Add to that the stinger at the end of A:IW, and, well, I LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT ZOMG.

Honestly, I'm so excited, I'm actually terrified--mainly that the film will be bad in one or more major ways. The only thing DC seems to have done right recently is the Wonder Woman film, and that definitely set the bar high. Don't get me wrong; I loved WW, and I'm happy the film did so well, and was made with such quality in just about every aspect. I want the bar to be high for Captain Marvel.

But damn do I hope Captain Marvel just blows WW out of the water--or, at least, was as awesome, emotionally engaging, and entertaining to watch as WW.

Yeah, I have high hopes for this one. And try as I might, I can't lower them. But, you know what? I don't think I should have to. Give us a stellar Captain Marvel film, Marvel. You've shown us you can do it. You're already on a roll. Keep that going.

And, if the Captain Marvel film crushes it the way I'm hoping, it'll make the next Avengers film that much better.

I can't wait until 2019--even if I'm terrified.