shadowfireflame | 2011 Year In Review

*see user picture* For me, this year has been one of ~~SHERLOCK!~~ expanding fandoms. I really got into learning more about Kpop (so much so that I started a blog) and issues of feminism, and I became less shy of venturing outside my happy Harry/Draco zone in fanfic. I also watched many more TV shows in various genres than in previous years (thanks to my living with my bf instead of being in grad school) but unfortunately read almost no novels (except in fanfic), and certainly no ones published this year except for The Demon's Lexicon series by

sarahtales. So please take these awards with a grain of salt.

Best Novel: Thanks to the gloriousness that is BBC Sherlock, I was in a very Holmesian mood and loved The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King, which was published in 1994. It's about a young genius named Mary Russell who quite literally stumbles across Sherlock Holmes in his retirement and becomes his apprentice (and, it's later hinted, his equal). The book is the first in a series, and I'm currently on the second, A Monstrous Regiment of Women.

Best Live-Action Movie: This one's easily Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. While there were lots of movies I generally enjoyed (i.e. X-Men First Class, In Time, Captain America, Drive, Limitless, the fourth Pirates of the Carribbean--hey, what can I say, I liked it--and of course Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), there weren't really any that I fell head-over-heels in love with, unfortunately. Maybe I'm becoming too cynical in my old age. :) I'm not sure I've completely come to terms with the fact that there will be no more HP movies anytime soon, either...

Best Animated Movie: This is between Rango and Gnomeo and Juliet, and Rango wins even though, again, I'm not in love with the movie. But I appreciate that it didn't push being in 3D, as those movies give me headaches.

Best TV Show: This is the category where I put BBC Sherlock, right? Only...four episodes at the moment (soon to be two more!). Despite the sexism and racism in some episodes, this really is the best thing I've seen in a long time, something that really made me excited and gleeful. This show also made me excited to see John (Martin Freeman) as Bilbo in The Hobbit and completely catapulted Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) to being one of my favorite actors, which means I will go to great lengths to watch everything he's in (including War Horse, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and a streaming version of his theater performance of Frankenstein). That there have been so many incredible fanworks created off of (until a day ago) three one-and-a-half hour episodes just shows what a wonderful world Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have created. (I also watched *deep breath*: A Game of Thrones, White Collar, Merlin, House, The Office, South Park, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Glee, Community, the eleventh Dr. Who, the new episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and most of Being Human.)

Best Anime: For me it was Nabari No Ou (older, but I only saw it this year). An interesting plot, characters with unexpected depth, and, oh, sickly Yoite. I love him so.

Favorite OTP: Man, John/Sherlock (from BBC Sherlock) are really working on edging out the Harry/Draco this year. Not succeeding yet, though coming very close...

Favorite H/D Fic: I so enjoyed Then Comes A Mist and a Weeping Rain by

faithwood, a lovely story about Draco and his cloud (see my full rec here). I am not nearly finished reading all the wonderful treats in

hd_holidays, however, so I may get back to you with more fics in this category. :)

Favorite BBC Sherlock Fic: Impossible. There are too many lovely ones. But I have to say that the collected works of

etothepii are some of the best reading I've done all year. Every story, no matter how initially implausible, grabbed me and kept me slavering for more. This is an author who time and again makes me desperate to read more of scenarios I didn't realize I wanted--like a Sherlock crossover with His Dark Materials or The Addams Family. How awesome is that?

Thanks to my bf for the Kindle! I hope to be reading lots of fanfic on it in 2012! :)