It’s 2013, can you believe it? I guess I have to believe it, but I’m not ready to accept it just yet. Whether or not I want it to or not, 2013 is happening so I may as well embrace it. To get pumped for the year to come I have compiled a list of 13 things I’m looking forward to in 2013. Despite my problems with the speed of time there are actually quite a few things to get excited about this year including a bunch of blockbuster movies, some discussion worthy television and a couple of books. Right well I should stop procrastinating and get on with the list already then we can all get on with making 2013 the best year yet.
13: Young Adult fiction:
You may or may not be aware of my love for YA fiction, well if you
weren’t then you are now. Anyway if you share my love for this underappreciated
genre then you will be excited about a few things in 2013. There are some
adaptations happening – Cassandra Claire’s City
of Bones (August 2013) has been made into a film starring Lily Collins,
Jamie Campbell Bower and Robert Sheehan (while I don’t love this series I’ll
still give the film a look). Also Beautiful
Creatures (February 2013) and Stephanie Meyer’s The Host (March 2013). In the world of books the third novel in Veronica
Roth’s Divergent series is due out
this year, as is Cassandra Claire’s Clockwork
Princess, Meg Cabot’s Awaken (the
third book in the Abandon Trilogy)
and Keira Cass’s The Elite (The Selection book #2). I’m going to
need to set aside some reading time.
12: Classics reimagined:
Last year a little You Tube appropriation of Jane Austen’s classic
novel Pride and Prejudice stole me
heart and you can’t over estimate how excited I am to see the second half of
the story play out on The Lizzie Bennett
Diaries. Then we have Joss’s movie in a month adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (June 2013),
which is not only stars all the very best Whedonverse actors but also happens
to be my favourite of Shakespeare’s plays. This movie is probably the best
thing to happen ever. And don’t forget about Baz’s latest offering The Great Gatsby (May 2013), let’s hope
it gets the bad taste that Australia
left out of our mouths. I’m slightly skeptical because I have yet to see a
decent adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel but I think that Baz’s
chaotic style is actually perfect for this story so I’m looking forward to
seeing how it works out.
11: The End of the World…
is hilarious:
No, I’m not talking about the failed Mayan apocalypse of 2012, I’m
talking about two hilarious comedy films that are ready to make light (and yet
also pay homage to) one of my favourite film genres – apocalypse movies. First
off we have This Is the End (June
2013) and if you have not heard about this film you need to check out the
trailer right away. Basically it’s all your fav Apatow alums playing fictional
versions of themselves trying to survive an apocalypse. From across the pond
comes the final film in Edgar Wright’s “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy” – The World’s End (August 2013). Okay so The World’s End is actually about a
pub-crawl but it’s an EPIC pub crawl for humanity (and possibly the last pub
crawl ever) and anything from the team that gave us Spaced calls epic is going to live up to its name.
10: Award Season Fun:
Who doesn’t love award season – if you say you don’t then you’re
lying. It’s not as though I actually put any weight behind who actually wins
the awards (unless it’s Leonardo DiCaprio because someone needs to get that guy
an Oscar stat). I could care less who wins (although it’s nice when someone I
like gets it), it’s all politics anyway, but I do love to watch all my fav
celebs get dolled up and go out on the town. This year what I’m really excited
about is the Golden Globes (I always liked the Globes better than the Oscars
because TV) because Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are hosting. I know it’s all
heavily scripted and organized but with my two fav ladies at the helm you know
we’re going to have a good time. I’m also super excited for the People’s Choice Awards because this is where the things I care about might actually win plus
Jensen and Jared are going to be there… in suits. YUM!
9: Zombies:
Zombies have been popular for a while now, but I think that 2013
might be this fads final peek before it begins to fade away. The zombies are
going out with a bang though. Next month
sees the release of an adaptation of Isaac Marion’s YA novel Warm Bodies (February 2013) – which is
basically a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet except with zombies. As silly
as it sounds the novel is actually hilarious, endearing and the film looks as
if it’s captured the quirky sense of humour perfectly. This year also sees a
high profile remake of the zombie classic Evil
Dead (April 2013) and of course one of the most anticipated zombie movies
ever, World War Z (June 2013). I’m
not even deterred by the fact that Brad Pitt is in it, I am just uber excited
to see a big budget epic zombie movie; it’s going to be awesome.
8: Science Fiction:
Prometheus was a massive disappointment but that doesn’t mean Sci-Fi
is dead, nope this year holds quite a bit of promise for the genre. There is Star Trek into Darkness, which I’m
pretty sure most Sci-Fi fans are peeing in anticipation of. Neil Blomkamp who
gave us the magnificent District 9 is
back with Elysium (August 2013)
starring Matt Damon. There is also Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim (July 2013), which has giant robots fighting giant
monsters from the sea (also Idris Elba is in it). I pretty much hate Tom Cruise
but a lot of people are still pretty excited about Oblivion (April 2013). For
me though the most exciting Sci-Fi release of 2013 has to be Ender’s Game (November 2013). Ender’s Game was one of my favourite
novels as a teenager and I have been waiting for them to turn it into a film
since I read the book… so this film has been quite a while coming. There is
probably no way it can live up to my expectations but until it disappoints me I
shall sit here and squee with anticipation.
7: The rise of Slash:
2012 was a good year for slash – it saw the mainstream media
actually start to take notice of the phenomenon. While most of the time they
still don’t get it, it’s pretty awesome that people outside of fandom are
talking about slash. With the Star Trek
into Darkness (aka Spacehusbands: The Movie) coming out and the
anticipation surrounding Teen Wolf
season 3 and Sterek there is little doubt that people are going to be talking
about slash this year. We can only hope that what they’re saying it more
positive and open-minded than it has been in the past. I’m pretty optimistic
through, what with the way MTV talk about Sterek and AfterElton’s The ShippingNews it looks like slash is going to have a good year.
6: …on the next Arrested Development:
It’s been six years but it’s still stings when I remember that this
television series was cancelled (it doesn’t hurt quite as much as Firefly but it’s pretty close –
seriously fuck you Fox). Arrested
Development is television at its best and it’s a testament to the show’s
cast, creators and fans that there will be new Bluth family adventures coming
to us in 2013. All your favourites are back in over 10 new episodes and I can
only imagine what kind of shenanigans my all time favourite television family
will be up to this year. If you have no idea what I am talking about it’s okay
because you still have time to rectify the situation. No really you need to go
watch this show right now, it’s embarrassing.
5: Superheroes:
Sure 2012 was a good year for superheroes, but 2013 could be even
better. First off we have the much anticipated Man of Steel (June 2013). Although I’m a Marvel Girl through and
through I’m still excited to see how this gritty Nolan inspired version of
Superman turns out. Then of course we have the next cycle of Marvel movies, Iron Man 3 (April 2013) looks awesome of
course and we can only hope that The
Wolverine turns out better than the disaster that was Wolverine: Origins (not even naked Hugh Jackman could save that
film). Finally at the end of the year there’s Thor: The Dark World (November 2013) – and as Thor was my favourite of the last round of Marvel films (apart from
The Avengers of course) I’m really
excited to see how the sequel turns out.
4: The Red Wedding:
Fans that have read George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire will know what I
mean when I say the “Red Wedding” is coming. Those of you that are watching Game of Thrones spoiler free are in for
something special. Generally I’m just excited for season 3 of this fantastic
show but let’s face it the “Red Wedding” is what I’m really hanging out for.
Sure there are other awesome things to happen (oh Jaime, Sansa, Arya my
lovelies), and you never know what kind of changes the writers will make but
one things for sure, the “Red Wedding” is happening. It’s moments like these
that make me realize how much I love HBO’s excessive use of fake blood; it’s
certainly going to be one hell of a party.
3: The Journey Continues:
Following on from the last couple of years we have a bunch of
sequels coming to theatres in 2013. The most anticipated it probably Star Trek Into Darkness (May 2013), the
second installment in JJ Abrams reboot of the classic sci-fi series (now with
added Cumberbatch). There’s also The
Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 2013) – part 2 of Peter Jackson’s
latest Tolkien trilogy. Although reviews of the first film were mixed I’m still
super excited to watch this story unfold. The second Percy Jackson film – Sea of Monsters (August 2013) is due out
too. Personally though I’m most excited about the filmic interpretation of the
second book in Suzanne Collins The Hunger
Games series. The first film surprised me with how well it was done and I’m
excited to see what they do with Catching
Fire (November 2013) because this is where things really get interesting.
Also I’m just super excited about new Jennifer Lawrence interviews.
2: Teen Wolf Season 3:
Season 2 of Teen Wolf won
me over (and pretty much everyone else that watched it as well) this year we find
out if it can live up to its potential. Honestly I’m far to involved in this
show already so I’m pretty much going to watch no matter what happens but I
can’t express just how disappointed I will be if it lets me down. While I have
faith in Jeff Davis and the rest of the team I have to admit that I’m a little
bit worried because not only do they have to fill twice as many episodes this
year but they also have to contend with everyone’s increased expectations. At
the start of Season 2 Teen Wolf was
pretty unknown and it really could have gone either way but now there is no
hiding. Add to this the pressure of the popularity of Sterek (shit is going to
hit the fan) and I just really hope that they don’t choke. Come on Teen Wolf, I believe in you.
1: Doctor Who turns 50
It’s been 50 years since the Doctor’s first adventure was broadcast
on the BBC and the world has definitely been a brighter place since he entered
it. Fittingly the BBC has decided that something as amazing as Doctor Who deserves one hell of a
birthday party and they are going all out to celebrate… at least we think they
are because they have been insanely closed lip about the whole thing. Last year
we were only given half a series in anticipation of the anniversary
extravaganza so it better bloody be good. Let’s be honest, I would have been
excited for Doctor Who anyway, then
you have the added excitement of a new companion (hello Miss Clara Oswin
Oswald) so the whole 50th anniversary special thing is almost too
much for me to handle. With Moffat at the helm no doubt we are in for some
headache inducing paradoxes, but whatever it is you know it’s going to be epic…
I’m just going to start stocking up on the tissues now.
There you go – that’s my 2013 for you! I’m excited to see what lives
up to expectations and what turns out to be a major disappointment. Only time
will tell.
What about you lonely reader? What are you excited for in 2013? Let
me know in the comments or on the Facebook page.
