Retrospective is a monthly post to rewind all of the happenings, thoughts, and discussions here at thoughts and afterthoughts.
A Rewind Of:
May // 2015
Reviews:
The Alex Crow – Andrew Smith
Boy Nobody – Allen Zadoff
Think Aloud:
#14 – “I Let Out A Breath I Didn’t Know I Was Holding”
#15 – Not All Fictional Men Smell Like The Great Outdoors
#16 – Freedom of Speech in the Book Blogging Community
Alternatives:
Movie Review – It Follows
Movie Review – Mad Max: Fury Road
Memes (Top Ten Tuesday):
#58 – Books I Will Never Read
#59 – Authors I’d Love To Meet
#60 – YA Cliches We Love/Hate
#61 – Books In My Beach Bag
Miscellaneous:
Tags: The Burrito Bowl Book Tag
Tags: The “I Am More Happy Than Not” Tag
Events: Armchair BEA – Day 1: Introductions
Events: Armchair BEA – Day 2: Visual Expression
Events: Armchair BEA – Day 2: Social Media
Events: Armchair BEA – Day 3: Book Blogging 101
Other Feels:
Television (Not a full list of what I watch):
(If you love to talk television, hit me up on Twitter and we can share feels together!) Because it’s May…it means season finales have approached, so this list is going to be longer to recap. Shows are listed alphabetically.
Arrow S3: …Is it the Flashpoint arc now?! Also, the ending was very reminiscent of Furious 7.
Between S1: Tried out the pilot. It was a derp fest.
Criminal Minds S10: Bring back Prentiss.
Game of Thrones S5: HOLY BANANAS AT YESTERDAY’S EPISODE (Jon Snow’s story arc).
iZombie S1: That. One. Episode…ugh, I hate you.
Marvels: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S2: OH MY GOD THAT FUCKING CLIFFHANGER. The feels…they’re real. (More feels than S1.)
Mr. Robot: This is one of the best pilots I’ve seen recently. It premieres on television on June 24 but USA Network released the pilot online. It’s hella good. Highly recommended.
Orphan Black S3: How could one show be so exhilaratingly funny in one scene then bleak as shit and tears my heart out like 30 seconds later? What the scorpion.
Reign S2: With Reign being moved to Friday, it’ll probably last one more season.
Stalker S1: Sorry to see it get cancelled.
The Blacklist S2: The writing in the season finale arc was really well executed. I ship Tom and Liz hardcore.
The Flash S1: Well done, CW, Flash had really solid showing of a first season (although Grodd was a bit flimsy at times). I do not appreciate Gustin not being the Flash in the movie.
The Vampire Diaries S6: The finale culminates four years since I started watching this show. At this point, I think this is a good spot to end on. There’s closure where it needs to be.
Wayward Pines S1: This is weird.
Shows Dropped (does not include those I’m just behind on):
Big Brother Canada S3: I found production had way too much influence this year.
CSI: Cyber: Sorry, Patty Arquette, it just isn’t working. I don’t even know how it got renewed.
The Messengers S1: I just didn’t feel like it was going anywhere.
Films:
Mad Max: Fury Road: See my review here.
Tomorrowland: Skip this movie. It’s pretty bad. (Review pending.)
Jupiter Ascending: This was worse than Tomorrowland.
Pitch Perfect 2: Here’s the problem: I enjoyed this movie (more than the first) and all of its discriminatory jokes but deep down you know these jokes shouldn’t be laughed at. (Review pending.)
Music:
Tritonal & Cash Cash – Untouchable: This track just makes me feel good.
Luke Shay – Up and Away (feat. Jeremy William): Ditto to the above.
Jessie J – Flashlight (Pitch Perfect 2): On repeat for days.
(Note to self: catch up in Eurovision tracks)
Afterthoughts:
A solid blogging month spurred by the culmination of season finales. The only thing daunting is the fact that now I feel that there’s a higher ceiling benchmark for discussion writing. Ack. Self-inflicted blogging injuries, I tell ya.
But I cannot overlook the push towards greater things this month has proved mainly through Armchair BEA; essentially encouraging me to get on social media (or just Twitter) more. Tumblr is just a fading thought because I have no idea what I’m doing with it LOL.
Cheers,
Joey
connect: afterthoughtAn // twitter | anotherafterthought // goodreads
(disclaimer: retrospective banner textures from topwalls)
thoughts and afterthoughts. 
I had too many TV commitments this year to watch Reign. I was planning on binging season 2 whenever it comes to Netflix. Do you think it’s worth it? I’m also really intrigued by Wayward Pines though I’m only 2 episodes in (well technically I watched all 3 but the third episode I was also reading while watching it so I think I need to re watch it again with my full attention.
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I have this love/hate thing with new shows where I’ll basically try everything and see for myself (but sometimes I give it more than one episode and it often leads to the entire season).
I enjoy Reign, it’s generally well-cast and has some moments in acting that really pretty decent. But in terms of the story, you really have to look at it like a hist-fic that sort-of-not-really follows the actual historical events. On top of that, just think of it like “historical fiction meets high-school setting without the schooling but with all the cliques and arranged marriages and drama”. Maybe that’s a bad analogy LOL. If anything, just give the pilot episode a try.
Wayward Pines is so “wtf” to me right now too and kind of unpleasant to imagine living in.
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Sharing the feels right now with criminal minds , on marathon just got to season 6. I just finished watching the flash finale , I finally agreed with a decision made by this Barry Allen and I totally ship Tom and Liz ( giving me this Bonny and Clyde vibe) . Supernatural has been on a downward spiral except for Rowenna , Revenge was a cop out .You’ve been busy Joey ! Just look at that list. Wow.
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I don’t watch Supernatural but dang I’m still curious how it has all that content to last 10+ seasons. I sacrifice reading for television–and I’m not sorry about it at all haha.
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That scene from Game of Thrones was almost enough (almost, but not quite) for me to forgive the deteriorating quality of the show. My mind was blown, especially since that scene wasn’t in the books at all. (Spoiler?)
Aargh! So many TV shows I need to watch! I’ve limited myself to watching Got and The Graham Norton Show only in the hopes that I can actually, finally get shit done. ‘Tis not working.
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Maybe it’s a divergence but I’ll never know since I’m a devoted viewer. Are you just sticking by the show just because? It sounds like you’re sticking to it despite not enjoying it :(.
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I’m a harsh critic; my opinions are meaningless 🙂 the show’s good in it’s own right, and if you love the show I’d actually even recommend never reading the books (or at least not until the show’s run its time), but it’s a poor adaptation.
Also, there is only so much misogyny and poor writing of gay people I can take. This was bad in the books but it’s much worse in the show. But I’ll shut up now and stop making everything into a conversation about gaystuffs :p
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I really need to catch up on Game of Thrones! I agree about Prentiss needing to come back in Criminal Minds. It’s not the same as before!
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Yeah, these new ” Prentiss replacements” aren’t cutting it.
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You had a pretty busy month ^_^ I totally agree with you on Pitch Perfect 2. There was a lot more- A LOT MORE- discriminatory “jokes” made in that movie. The one that I can still clearly remember is the one about women & college -.-‘ like seriously?!
Good month though!!! Hope you have another good one this month ^_^
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BLOGGING GOALS, THEY ARE.
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I love iZombie and Agents of SHIELD! I’m waiting until season 1 of iZombie wraps up so I can binge the 4 episodes I have to watch. I still have to see the second half of season 2 of AoS and my friend has been bugging me about it, but I hear it’s going to be on Netflix this month, so I will finally get to see this cliffhanger that everyone has been talking about. I NEED to watch Orphan Black. I’ve been meaning to for years but never got around to it. I will do it sometime this year!
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dude, that episode you technically stopped at on iZombie.. IT’S THE LOWELL ONE ISN’T IT MY FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS :((((( </3.
I thought the S1 AoS finale was pretty cliffy but man S2 was even more so for reasons that you'll understand after you watch it.
And yes Orphan Black is an awesome show; if not for the plot, then for the stellar acting from Maslany!
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I actually just discovered Mr. Robot a few days ago, but I absolutely loved it! I can’t wait until the next episode. And I’m looking forward to Reign season three, too. Catherine and Elizabeth will make an interesting team…
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RIGHT? IT’S [Mr. Robot] SO LEGIT.
And I’m hoping Reign survives the Friday timeslot because it typically has been the death of shows that make it to that day.
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YEAH~ Holy creepiness GOT!
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I was like “oh cool, new friends–wait, what’s happening–wuuuuuuuuut?!”
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Yeah, the now infamous, bring it bro!
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Ah! That’s what it reminded me of LOL.
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iZombie – which episode are you talking about? There have been a few episode endings where I’ve been like ‘omg noooo!’
And yes GoT was EPIC this week! xD
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THE LOWELL EPISODE FOR iZOMBIE. Totally unexpected until that minute before it happened. Like. WTF WHY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH MY FEELS LIKE THAT?
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I know! I was SO shocked by that episode! I was like ‘CW are really stepping out of their traditional story arc zone!’ xD
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Awesome!! I really need to catch up on these TV shows! I’m missing so many good things on TV lately!
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This year has seen a lot of good television! I’m excited for what Summer will offer.
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I wish my man found TV shows he’d like as easily as you. He’s SO picky! One time it took him two hours to pick out a movie to watch (not even kidding) and we ended up getting something I had absolutely no interest in because I was just so sick of waiting!
Also, glad you did BEA. That twitter party was fun- I saw you there but didn’t get to talk to you much. I’d like to go to more parties. What did you think of it?
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Haha, having particular interests isn’t a bad thing. I think I’m just open to watching anything that I’d end up finding some enjoyment in and committing to.
BEA was an interesting experience! I’m not super engaged in the Twitter side of the blogging community. So to have that opportunity to build those bridges with others from outside my small WordPress community–well, that was fun! I wish they were longer though.
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