2013: The best bits

As is mandatory for any blogger I have complied a list of my favourite things from 2013. Not all of them are new but they were all new to me and they all made 2013 a little brighter for me so hopefully they make 2014 a little brighter for you.

Enjoy!

Songs
This was so hard! In a week I will have changed my mind but for now, here are my favourite songs of this year.

I Want Crazy - Hunter Hayes
Aint it fun - Paramore
Dust to Dust - The Civil Wars
Drive Darling - Boy
Glory and Gore - Lorde
I Choose You - Sara Bareilles
Young volcanoes - Fall Out Boy
Grown Woman/ Flawless - Beyoncé
Aria - Giovani Allevi
Highway Don't Care - Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban
Done - The Band Perry

Albums
Beyonce, Kacey and The Civil Wars are hands down the best albums of the year. No question. The other 2 are pretty good too though.

 Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer, Different Park
The Civil Wars -self titled
Lorde - Pure Heroine
Beyoncé - Beyoncé
Haim - Days are Gone

Books
This year I read a lot of autobiographies by comedians which were really interesting and funny. I particularly enjoyed Mindy Kahling's book. It was awesome to read Brad Paisley's book this year too. He's one of my musical heroes so it was really cool to read how he started in the music business.

Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg
Bet Me - Jennifer Crusie 
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without me? - Mindy Kahling
Born Standing Up - Steve Martin
Diary of a Player - Brad Paisley

TV Shows
My friends finally talked me into watching Supernatural and they were right, it's awesome. I looooooooove Pretty Little Liars which I wasn't expecting and re watching Outrageous Fortune and McLeod's Daughters has been awesome. Not as awesome as Parks and Rec which has replaced 30 Rock as my weekly obsession.

Pretty Little Liars
Supernatural
McLeod's Daughters
Parks and Recreation
Outrageous Fortune

Movies
One chance was one of the sweetest, happiest movies I've ever seen and I absolutely loved it! Plus James Cordon is in at and he is one of my favourite actors. Django was super violent and disturbing but wonderful and don't even get me started on Catfish one of the craziest documentaries I've ever seen!

One Chance
Django Unchained
Never Let me go
Catfish
The Hunger Games - Catching Fire

Why is Supergirl in a miniskirt? My thoughts on women in comic books.

Now before I get angry comments from comic book enthusiasts. I will openly admit that I'm not ultimate nerd level on comic books. I do however work in a library so everyone just be cool.

I was browsing the library shelves the other day in the adult comic book section and I noticed that almost every depiction of women on the cover of the comic books was borderline ridiculous. Everywhere I looked there were cartoon boobies, cartoon thighs and cartoon butts. I couldn't help but wonder why the hell they're all dressed like that, I mean is it really necessary for Supergirl to be in a miniskirt?

First of all let's talk about practicality. Say you're hypothetically fighting an evil Nazi spymaster as Wonder Woman often did. Are you really going to wear high heels? Of course not! You've got a job to do, ain't nobody got time for that! Don't even get me started on her playsuit. There is no amount of fashion tape in the world that's going to keep those knockers in. I guess my real question is this: Are women in comic books just there to be sexualised or do they have a real purpose?

I will say that from my experience a lot of female characters in comic books are tough and intelligent women and we are defiantly moving away from them being just the love interests and side kicks but isn't it time that we were at least a little realistic about what a woman actually is? Can't we have female super heroes who are  intelligent and awesome without being ridiculously over sexualised? I'm all for a bit of leg meat now and again but there comes a point when they're just there for the sake of their bodies and nothing else.

Now I'm not necessarily pointing fault at libraries for this even though we are the ones stocking these books so yeah, I'll admit it's partially on us but I really don't think there are a huge amount of books available that feature women who aren't nearly naked.

I'd love to see more comic books featuring women who are a tad more practically dressed while being smart and generally kicking ass. Either that or we need a little more of this: 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

There's a chance that some of you may have heard of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and already written it off. I mean the publishers of this book are 'MTV Books' which in itself is kind of gross and you may have seen the many thousands of oh-so-edgy quotes and gifs on Tumblr backed by pictures of snow/flowers/arms and God knows what else. But before you write this off as hipster nonsense; hear me out because it's actually kind of amazing.

Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up. (From http://www.goodreads.com/)

There are several pretty solid reasons why I liked this book and I think you, anonymous reader, may like it for the same reasons so hear me out:

-Charlie is a bit peculiar and awkward that his interactions with other people are either endearingly cute or hilariously uncomfortable. He's odd, and I like that because it makes me feel normal in comparison.

-This book was written in the 90's so it's gloriously free of cell phones and Facebook and the kids actually go outside. Ahh, the good old days.

- While Charlie is a bit of a spaz he has amazing taste in music and books (there goes my attempt at not writing about music). Charlie makes mix tapes featuring The Smiths, Fleetwood Mac, Suzanne Vega and Procol Harum. And reads books such as To Kill a Mockingbird, On The Road and The Fountainhead.

-This September the movie of TPOBAW is coming out and it's directed by Stephen Chbosky himself. Which fascinates me because when I saw the casting I thought 'Emma Watson as Sam is just plain wrong!' then I realised the author did the casting so I've decided to shut up and accept that I don't know anything.

I know you may be thinking 'Laura, you just said that this book mentions The Smiths and Jack Kerouac and you're telling me it's not hipster nonsense?' And I will be the first to admit that this book does have a bit of a cult following but unlike Glee it's actually a quality book that's defiantly worth your time. And I promise that if you find Charlie so annoying you want to push him out of a moving car; then I will watch an hour of Glee to make up for it*.


*I lied, I'm not doing that.