Here are a few of my other favourite things from this year that I can't believe I omitted from the first list.
Modern Family. When I first saw the ads for this mockumentary comedy, I cringed. Here we go again, I thought. Another ham-fisted American attempt to pigeonhole characters into sexual stereotypes. I watched it and loved it. Cameron and Mitchell, the gay characters, do fulfil some cliches - they live a cloying modern lifestyle, in a committed relationship with their adopted baby. But who cares? They are also hilarious, as is just about every other character on the show, from the patriarch's exuberant and much younger second wife Gloria, to her wise-cracking son, to the more conventional nuclear family of Phil, Claire and their three kids, who are just as dysfunctional. What I love about Modern Family is that for all its "wacky" genre tropes, the way in which everybody interacts is incredibly realistic.
Modern Family. When I first saw the ads for this mockumentary comedy, I cringed. Here we go again, I thought. Another ham-fisted American attempt to pigeonhole characters into sexual stereotypes. I watched it and loved it. Cameron and Mitchell, the gay characters, do fulfil some cliches - they live a cloying modern lifestyle, in a committed relationship with their adopted baby. But who cares? They are also hilarious, as is just about every other character on the show, from the patriarch's exuberant and much younger second wife Gloria, to her wise-cracking son, to the more conventional nuclear family of Phil, Claire and their three kids, who are just as dysfunctional. What I love about Modern Family is that for all its "wacky" genre tropes, the way in which everybody interacts is incredibly realistic.
This Rolling Stone cover: How on earth did I forget this? Sookie, Bill and Eric, naked and drenched in blood. It sums up everything that is great about True Blood - gratuitous sex and violence. I have often joked that this show is good porn with a good story. Which is why I can't praise it enough. For something to be as sexually provocative as it is satisfying in terms of character and plot is a huge achievement for any writer. Which leads me to my next item..."Sweet Tooth" by Philip Ellis. A friend recommended this ebook of short stories to me, and I sped through it. These pieces range from short and sweet pieces such as Nine Lives, in which a cat and dog reminisce about the good old days, to much more adult fare, like Toffee, a cautionary tale about talking to strangers, and The Girlfriend, a funnier tale about a man and his imaginary fancy woman. My personal favourite was Black Rabbit, which is told from the perspective of a magician's assistant who finds herself replaced by a younger model.
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Glee, Season 2. Gwyneth Paltrow singing Cee-Lo Green. I was so baffled and charmed I fell over.
Glee, Season 2. Gwyneth Paltrow singing Cee-Lo Green. I was so baffled and charmed I fell over.
Jemima Valentino. A writer I stumbled across on the Twittersphere who I can genuinely say is very talented. The first story of hers that I read, "Broken", sent shivers down my spine. She keeps teasing me with suggestions that a novel may be on the cards in the New Year. I live in hope. You can follow Jemima at http://jemimavalentino.blogspot.com - I would recommend spending a little time in her virtual company.
And there we have it, folks. My entire year, condensed into a blog post and a half. I've excluded some of my favourite episodes as they are quite graphic and will probably work their way into my Little Black Blog sometime in the New Year in the form of "Red Shoe Diaries"-style vignettes.
In the meantime, have yourselves a merry little Christmas. Make the Yuletide gay. That pun is so obvious I won't even make it rude for you.
J. x
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