J: Catching up!

So, it's been over a year since I last posted! A lot has happened -- most notably, I got married and bought a house, which has kept me pretty busy and not terribly up on the pop culture, unfortunately...

TV
I haven't had cable or even broadcast TV in a long time, so my TV sources are solely Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus. My husband and I watched the first seasons of Orphan Black (so awesome, will season 2 ever come to Amazon Prime??) and Defiance (fun, also waiting for season 2 to hit streaming), and are slowly starting to go through Fringe from the beginning. We also got hooked on MasterChef Junior and recently started Agent Carter which we're enjoying so far. On my own, I'm keeping up with Downton Abbey, of course, and Jane the Virgin, which is crazy but really funny and addictive. I'd like to go back and catch up with Parenthood and Parks and Recreation and The Mindy Project and such, but just haven't had time...

Books
I really do wish I devoted more time to reading. Most of the time I borrow books from the library, renew them as many times as possible, and still have to return them unfinished. Some that I did manage to finish and liked were:

• The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman  - last book in the Magician's trilogy 
• For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund - crazy young adult dystopian retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami -  much shorter and "lighter" than his last book, 1Q84, but still very enjoyable.
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed -  listened to the audiobook. Want to watch the movie!

Music
Every once in awhile I latch onto a new band, but I just don't listen to a lot of music anymore. I listen to All Songs Considered every week, and that's kind of it. I don't think I've been to a single live show either. Do podcasts belong in this category? I too was obsessively listening to Serial and still keep up with This American Life and Pop Culture Happy Hour.

Movies
My husband is a movie fan, so I think this is the one area I've actually picked up on! For 2014:

• The last Hobbit movie - um, boring?
• Interstellar - A little overwhelming in true IMAX, but I thought it was very well done.
• The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 1 - Not much happened in the book, so not much happened in the movie...
• If I Stay - Watched this on the plane. Adam was perfect, but I liked the book better.
• Big Hero 6 -  Cute!
• The Maze Runner - Surprisingly fun, I'm looking forward to the sequel.
• Step Up: All In - Ha, of course I saw this.
• Guardians of the Galaxy - Should probably watch this again since I dozed off in the middle, but it was fun. Really like Chris Pratt and Groot. And Baby Groot!
• The Fault in Our Stars - I didn't cry like I thought I would, but it was cute. I'm not sure if I'm really a Shailene Woodley fan though.
• X-Men: Days of Future Past - I thought this was very smart.
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are growing on me. I guess it helps that they're dating in real life...
• Veronica Mars - I streamed this day of release as a Kickstarter backer and didn't watch it in theaters. It was kind of just a long episode of the show, but it was satisfying. 
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier - I think Captain America is my current favorite of the Marvel universe. Scarlett Johansson was surprisingly likable here.
• Divergent - This was ridiculous, but pretty fun.
• The Lego Movie. Ummm this might have been my favorite movie of the year...