Christmas Eve Eve

I love this day. I love it along the lines of Thursday only MORE so... Tomorrow it STARTS, though not until later in the day... and then next day it happens and is over... but TODAY is all about anticipation. So I thought I'd talk about some of the things I am really anticipating in 2016.

There are several book series that I am waiting for the NEXT one... and like with the Harry Potter series... WAITING for the next allows a lot of anticipation, guessing, wondering... it is different than reading a series you can devour all at once. I think you get more invested.


City of Mirrors, the third and final (I believe) in Justin Cronin's trilogy that began with The Passage and gave a scientific experiment version that resulted in something very vampire-like (and nearly extinguished the human race)... The Twelve was second... both these books were very good, though I have some issue with how they did their chronology—it is partially current day and partially about 100 years from now and I wish they'd intentionally gone back and forth. Instead they are first half now, second half later, so you have to RE “get into a new book”... but the premise and characters are great, so I am eager for the third.

The Next in the Raven Boys series... I fell in love with this series this year. Maggie Stiefvader is my new favorite YA author. She nicely combines somewhat quirky characters with just the edges of magic.

Winds of Winter: 6th in the Song of Ice and Fire Series. This is the biggie... the world I have immersed myself in the theorizing for and have dozens of huge guesses as to what happens next... And I really really want the book before the 6th season of the show starts. BAD...


I am also anticipating Downton Abbey's final season. The third season of The 100. The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie... Allegiant (the last Divergent movie) and turning 50...  Good stuff coming!!! And that isn't even counting Star Wars, which I plan on taking my kids to next weekend.

But until then, I wish everyone a WONDERFUL wind-up of 2015. Happy Belated Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year... I will be back after Christmas with my end of year recaps (how I did, what I plan to do)--nothing like some time off work to get a little blogging in, eh?

Christmas Eve Eve and the 10th Day of Christmas

So historically, this is actually my favorite day... it is the same theory as Thursday... it's all about anticipation... I love ALMOST being on the verge... if you will. Tomorrow it is really on top of us, but TODAY, it is only ALMOST here. I love almost.

This peak of anticipation might be confounded by a family “23rd” thing... My family of origin has a lot of birth dates now, but when I was little, it seemed like most of us had birthdays on the 23rd of SOMETHING. (me included) So ANYWAY, happy Christmas Eve Eve, and Happy Anticipating!!!

It is ALSO the 10th Day of Christmas... and so...

On the 10th Day of Christmas, the Tart's true wish for you is, 10 Quiet Minutes
9 Aches from Laughing
8 Resolutions
7 Nice surprises
6 Inspirations
5 Brand New Books!
4 Old Connections
3 Second helpings
2 Christmas parties
And the patience to shop and stay sane!

This wish comes from the Christmas chaos. Crowds. Shopping. Parties. I hope you get in a little down time so you don't burn out and can still enjoy your holidays.

The Lost Art of Anticipation

We have FINALLY reached the time of year where I can get excited about Christmas. I have a couple friends—my Couch to Keg buddies—who are all into all that early crap. I give them a bad time as they start to get all excited around Halloween. Christmas stuff before December tends to just make me Scroogish. And here is why...

Know how Thursday is my favorite day? I actually enjoy my weekends best, but the BEST part is anticipating all that POTENTIAL fabulousity from BEFORE hand. On THURSDAY, the weekend could hold ANYTHING. It is all-encompassing wonder.

Well see, December leading up to Christmas is like that, but all these nuts are like... getting giddy for the weekend on Tuesday and there is SO MUCH STUFF to do between now and then... It makes all the WAITING harder if there is more of it.


I have a theory...

My buddy Jackie ALSO likes spoilers—she wants to know what is going to happen before it happens. The stuff associated with opening your packages and re-wrapping them in my mind, but it is just how she is. Me, if I know AHEAD it makes the actual experience less sweet... I am back to that POTENTIAL thing... I LOVE potential. These non-anticipators go to the last page of books and they peek when someone says “close your eyes”. I think there may be some fear at the element of surprise.


But now that I am in the holiday spirit, I wanted to share a couple things that are making me happy...

Pentatonix

I ordered their Christmas CD and they are amazing. I fell in love with them last year with their rendition of Little Drummer Boy. These guys won Sing Off in 2012—5 people acapella. From the CD I particularly love their Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and their original Mary, Did You Know. I've really enjoyed listening to these guys a lot.


Pretty Lights

I'm a bit of a nut for sparkly and Christmas Lights fit right in there—I love when all the lights are up.

And I love that stuff like this happens

A Couple Neighborhood Fun Events

We have, as a neighborhood, a caroling night that is a blast—we wander en masse and sing a song for people who are at home. Typically we carry a mug of spiked cocoa or something. We ALSO have a Winter Solstice Party we attend, and a Karaoke party...


How about all of you? Have you mastered anticipation enough to HOLD OFF on celebrating, or do you jump in as soon as possible because you have no self control? Erm... What are your seasonal things you love?

New Boob Fare...

And by boob fare, I mean shows for the boob-tube... Oh, yeah... TV season starts this week for many of my favorite shows...

Now I don't watch much TV... in fact I watch NO TV while the shows are ON TV... but I run a fair bit via Hulu, Netflix, abc.go, Nbc online, CW.... yeah... actually I've probably got 10 or 12 shows I watch on any given week...

I mean my summer wasn't awful without new stuff. I watched all the recent generation of Doctor Who and Torchwood... Crossing Jordan, too... all in all, not a bad trio of serieses (seri?) But there are some shows I've been waiting for and about half of them are back this week, perhaps because I lean toward ABC.

Castle

This is especially hot now that I am watching more carefully for Firefly references. I mean I got the costume one—that one was pretty obvious. But having it confirmed the writers and Fillion like to stick 'em in there... I'm also curious to see whether they can maintain the chemistry now that Castle and Beckett have officially hooked up [<--spoiler warning—highlight if you want to see].

I am also a huge fan of whodunnits, though, and I love the pattern of one suspect seems obvious, alibi comes through but gives another clue... I mean in a book you wouldn't want it so linear, but I think this is a good show for me on the mystery writing front... suspects related not just to the victim, but often each other... motives coming from different angles. I just really enjoy it.

Revenge

Man, I can't WAIT to see this one. Of the seriesesi I follow in real time, this is probably my favorite. I normally don't care about the woes of rich people, but I LOVE this pseudo-Count of Monte Cristo plot—the father framed and young daughter sent to juvy... daughter finally given her share by a young billionaire the father believed in—she uses her wealth to plot the ultimate slow revenge--and by plot... I mean PLOT... taking the time to become a sharpshooter and martial arts specialist... learn languages... get degrees... this girl has DONE IT, and as she sets herself up to do it, gets raveled in the twisted plot herself... it's good stuff.

Once Upon a Time

This one sometimes lives up to its potential and sometimes not so much, but I love some of the characters and when they get it, they get it really good. I like the Rumplestiltskin strand best. That and the parallel stories in Storybook with the fairytales. I wish I could invest a little more in Snow White, but I don't think they invested quite enough in making Charming seem tricked into marrying his wife, so it makes Charming and Snow seem a little rotten. I like Emma and Henry, though, and the Wicked Queen is done well.


There are other shows... Grimm already started its season... the CW shows I watch start in a few weeks... and the REALLY painful waits: Downton Abbey won't start again until January in the US and Game of Thrones 2nd season isn't on DVD yet (we don't have HBO).


You hooked on any TV that is starting up again?

Hunger Pangs (no spoilers, just whining and fangirl squees)

So Hunger Games started at midnight, eh? And I LOVED these books. And I can't go until NEXT WEEK! (need to wait for pay day *pouts*)

BAH!

So I'm going to tell you what I THINK I will love about it. How's that?

1st I loved these books. But more importantly, I think these books are more easily translatable to film than say... Harry Potter... The reason being they are more linear. JK Rowling had so many peripheral details that were in it for the LONG pay off... that the movie-makers kept wanting to drop because they didn't know why it mattered...

These books were ALL out before the movie-making started, so THAT helps—they KNOW the long payoff. But it just is a more straight-forward story. There is no slight of hand needed to make them as compelling as they are, probably because at its core, Harry Potter is a series of mysteries.

I don't really feel like I should compare these books because I will never love ANYTHING like I love Harry Potter, but I think when we are talking book-to-movie translation, it is apt. And the Hunger Games BOOKS really are only about the 2nd series to get me super excited since Harry Potter...

2nd They could not have DONE BETTER than casting Jennifer Lawrence. I've only seen her in Winter's Bone, but that character has the same 'tough because I have to be, not because I want to be' that is both admirable and sympathetic—that gets at the subtle difference between a badass and true hero. Don't get me wrong--there are times Katniss is a real badass, but the reader KNOWS this is a show, and I think Lawrence has the chops to pull that off.  A hero is AFRAID and DESPERATE and pulls something out of their core that they didn't know they had. PLUS, I've seen several interviews with her—she was a huge fan of the series before she even knew they were MAKING movies of them. Holy cow, every time I see that trailer where she jumps out and yells, “No, take me! I volunteer!' I cry... sheesh... I'm crying just THINKING about it. The squeak of desperation to save her sister... That girl both CAN ACT and really GETS this role.

Not positive, but I think I'm underwater

3rd I read what Suzanne Collins had to say about where the movie embellished and she was thrilled at how they had carried forward the WORLD building stuff. This is not an 'other world' movie, so as narrator in the book, Katniss is a little sparse until she gets to Panem. Suzanne Collins sounds like she loved the interpretation and I am excited to see it. This is OUR world, a generation or two into the future where natural disasters have really limited population and resources (note what is now under water) that has been restructured in a totalitarian way--with a central government, circa Denver, and then districts that each provide a kind of 'good' that the central government distributes (keeping enough for itself and leaving all the other districts short)

4th My kids and neighbors (the couch to keg team) and maybe even my friend Patti are going with me. Patti and I have never met in person, but through a mutual friend have become good friends online and she lives just two hours from me... she thought it sounded like fun!

So I am really looking forward to this, but I have to wait for freaking PAY DAY!


Anyone go to the midnight showing last night? Are you excited about this one? When will you see it? Have you read the books?