The lyf so short

First off, Happy belated birthday, juno_magic!

Second, STAR WARS TRAILER. So far, I wasn't that excited by the franchise revival, but now I really am! See, I knew that the EU was no longer canon, but of course it was still what I had in my head as "that's what happened after RotJ". The trailer suggests that things went completely differently, and I can't wait to find out how and why. Well done! And the visuals are back to the old Star Wars feeling! X-Wings! OLD HAN AND LEIA! WHO ELSE IS EXCITED, HUH?

Third, The Last Kingdom! Jörg is disappointed that they quickened the pace so much, compared to the book. I'm OK with that. It is a bit rushed, but the changes they made are (so far) consistent. I guess they had to grow Uhtred up and send him on his quest within the first episode (i.e., one hour). Uhtred is waaay too pretty, in an Orlando Bloom kind of way. I also imagined Ragnar the Older completely differently. Ragnar the Younger, on the other hand, is spot-on. And the acting is fine. The intro is fantastic. The costume design, on the other hand, is awful. Completely fantasy and not in a particularly good way. That's really a pity. (On the other hand, I thought the costume design for the first episodes of GoT was pretty shoddy, too, and nobody else seemed to have a problem with that.)
It really is damn violent, though. I mean, the books are violent and I knew what I was getting into, but good grief, they're not pulling punches. *shudders a bit*

Fourth, NaNo is approaching. I'M NOT READY. *flails*

for which I apologise to everyone whose birthday I missed.

As I was planning to start a long, rambling and probably not entirely sensible post anyway, I figured I might as well congratulate two lovely people on my f-list whose birthday is actually TODAY, first:

Happy birthday, cowboy_r!

and

Alles Liebe zum Geburtstag, elfy!

Hope you enjoy your special day, and all the best for the future.

Long, rambley post may come later. Unless real life raises one of its many heads again first, of course...

Hope you have a lovely birthday and a year full of health, joy, happiness and other good things ahead.

Alles Liebe zum Geburtstag, lainvess!

Hab einen tollen Tag, auch wenn er mitten in der Woche liegt.

Happy belated birthday, silver_trails!

and

Happy birthday, ellynn_ithilwen!

I hope you both have/had fantastic days with friends, family, gifts and feasting! Wishing you all the best for the new year in your lives.

Herzliche Glückwünsche zu euren jeweiligen Geburtstagen,
zorn und joyful_molly!

Ich hoffe, ihr habt keinen klassischen Montag, sondern einen richtig schönen Geburtstag, lasst es euch gut gehen und feiert ordentlich (nach)!

... because it's your birthday, juno_magic! Have a happy birthday and many happy returns!

Also Happy belated birthday to kaneda, lene_de, flower_star, jokergirl and everybody else I may have neglected!

Happy birthday, lindahoyland!

I hope you have a lovely day full of sunshine, flowers, good food, nice reading and purring kittens!

Happy birthday, ladyelleth!

Of course, I still haven't managed to even start the story I meant to have written for your birthday. Go me. There's aways next year, and next, and next, right? :þ

... oder aber du hast es trotz Regenwetter schön!

So oder so:
Alles Liebe zum Geburtstag, al_pha!