Tag Archives: TV Shows

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Again and Again!

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I’m sitting here trying to figure out what to write for today’s post and The Fellowship of The Ring is on tv. I’m not sure if it’s because of Christopher Lee passing away or because the network is about to start playing The Hobbit. Anywho, I’m rewatching it because it’s fantastic and the LOTR trilogy is one of my favorite movie series ever.

I’ve written before about not having a problem with rereading or rewatching TV/movies. Today I’m going to tell you exactly what series I can rewatch over and over again. In fact I’m severely tempted to drop everything that I’m doing right now and start binge watching/reading these.

Books –

Harry Potter


The Chronicles of Narnia

Anne of Green Gables

Little House on the Prairie

Movies –

Lord of the Rings trilogy (sorry Hobbit, you weren’t as good)

Star Wars (I personally can watch all 6, but 4-6 are very good on their own as well)

Indiana Jones (Let’s be honest, we’ll just forget Crystal Skull happened)

James Bond

TV shows –

Doctor Who

Breaking Bad

Lost

Maybe I will again one day. How about you?

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I Should Listen to You More Often

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I have a bad habit of being recommended things by friends and not immediately following up on them only to find out later, they were right. You see, it’s not that I don’t trust my friends. It’s more to do with TIME. There are so many things that I’m discovering on my own that when a friends lends you a book or movie, you’re like….oh thanks, I’ll get to this later. And sometimes later never happens. But then there are times when you just suck it up, make the time and you actually give in to the recommendation. That’s when you find out…HOLY CRAP. YOU WERE SO RIGHT ABOUT THIS. I SHOULD LISTEN TO YOU ALL THE TIME!

The thing with being public about your interests is that your friends who know you well have pretty much figured out what you like and what you don’t. I have gotten the reputation of liking a lot of geek things that most girls I hang around with refuse to touch or if they do, don’t understand it. That being said, a lot of my guy friends have constantly given me tips on things they liked that they think I would enjoy. This ranges from books to TV shows to tabletop games to video games to food and beer. Sometimes I don’t take the advice because I’m a bit wary of it. And then they prove me wrong.

I’ll give three examples of recommendations from friends.

Friend #1 recommended me to read the book Ready Player One insisting that I would enjoy it very much.

Well, have you seen my TBR pile? Plus I work in a library! There are so many books I’m trying to read already that to add another book that I wasn’t intentionally going to read and that I didn’t discover myself seems a bit daunting. I’m ashamed to say that I accepted the book, kept it for a few weeks (months?) and returned it without reading it. I just didn’t have the time or interest at the moment. I felt like a horrible friend but….so many books so little time? But then several months later, I heard news that Steven Spielberg would be directing the movie. And my “book club” decided to read it. So I finally gave in. And guess what? I loved it. One of the most fun books ever. Seriously it was so awesome I didn’t want to stop reading.

I should have listened to Friend #1. Their next recommendation I should take: to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Friend #2 told me I needed to watch Pacific Rim.

I was told that I would enjoy this movie a lot and it was not like Transformers meets Battleship at all which is what the trailers made it look to be. They had claimed it to be one of their favorite movies ever and I needed to go see it. I was like….um no? It looks stupid. Plus no one in the cast I’m a fan of and I’ve never seen any of the director’s other movies. *Yawn*. But then I kept getting ragged on so I finally gave in.

This is the post on Facebook I wrote the day after I saw it.

So to everyone who said to me “Deborah, why aren’t you seeing Pacific Rim? It has everything you like in a movie! And you just lost your awesome, geek and Asian cards with your lame excuses!”, I am officially eating a big fat crow right now. Pacific Rim was quite awesome.

Reasons why it was awesome

10) There was an Asian girl with blue hair! And the young version of herself looked like me growing up.
9) Lack of a romance was a major plus. And no forced kissing that comes out of nowhere. WOOT.
8) While the trailers didn’t do anything for me, I bought the storyline. And got quite invested in the actual story.
7) Humor from scientists. Very welcome. The scene where they shake hands (you know the one) brought well written comic relief.
6) Idris Elba is the mother effin man.
5) Awesome special effects and sound. Much better than Man of Steel.
4) Fight scenes were quite good. Again better than Man of Steel. Heck everything about this movie was better than Man of Steel.
3) There’s a dog!
2) Nothing to do with the movie, but the Alamo Drafthouse in Ashburn is effing awesome. BEST place to see a movie. Best popcorn ever. Unless I absolutely have to, I am never seeing going to another movie theater again.

And the top reason for why I liked this movie?

1) When Gipsy is falling from a fight in space, they pull out a sword!!!!!!!!! I literally turned to (Friend #2) with a huge grin of glee on my face. That was the turning point for me. (It’s because I like swords) The rest of the movie, I was on the edge of my seat.

Well done del Toro. Well done. I would like to see more of the story fleshed out. Prequels would be most appreciated.

I now reclaim back all my cards. And if you want to talk about it with me in person or online, I will gladly share in fanboy/fangirl appreciation.

Yep I should have listened to Friend #2. Their next recommendation for me: to read Slaughterhouse Five.

Now Friend #3, I’ve actually been pretty good about taking their recommendations. And I’ve actually talked about some of them on this blog like Lizzie Bennet Diaries or (500) Days of Summer. However the one recommendation I was slowest to take was to watch Doctor Who.

Why would I want to watch a silly show about a guy played by different actors that travels through time and space? It looks dumb. And cheesy. And confusing. There are too many episodes. I can’t get invested in this right now.

Hah. hahahahahaa. Yeah these were all my lame excuses. We all know how much I love the show now. Like freakishly addicted to the show and the universe and everything. I binged watched all the episodes that were on Netflix and Amazon Prime in a few months like WHOA.

Yep, I should have listened to Friend #3 right from the beginning. Their next recommendation: to watch What If.

The moral of this long story is that my friends obviously know my tastes. And I should listen to them more.

Feel smug my friends. Know that you were right.

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“Fresh Off the Boat”: It’s About Damn Time

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If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that this week I was SUPER EXCITED for the new show Fresh Off the Boat.

I actually do not cover this show for Entertainment Weekly. I am just damn excited for it on my own. (Though I DO cover The Musketeers and Veronica Mars, if you would like to read up on those, shameless plug)

Why? Because it’s the first show in over 20 years to star an Asian American family on network TV since Margaret Cho’s All American Girl came out in 1994.

Seriously? It’s taken TWENTY years for America to be ok with seeing an Asian American family on TV again?

Sure there have been Asian actors that have had major roles in TV shows.

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John Cho

Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Naveen Andrews

Ken Jeong

Mindy Kaling

Those were just some notable examples. But while Asians have starred in TV shows, there’s only been one show on network TV that stars an entire Asian American family. Which is insane considering that Asians make up 5.3% of the U.S. population. I mean are we STILL that foreign to you?

The only other Asian family I have seen in a TV show over the past few years was Sullivan and Son which featured an interracial family (and coincidentally starring the same mom from All American Girl) where cultures are blended. But that as on TBS and sadly it got canceled last year.

Why did I love the first two episodes of FOB so much? First off, it was actually REALLY funny. And it’s funny right from the beginning and not like Selfie funny where all the better writing happens right before the show gets canceled. Second, the acting so far is great. Constance Wu, who plays the mom, is hilarious and is pretty much my mother. She’s a tiger mom yes (it’s not a stereotype, if you grew up with parents who immigrated to the US, they really are like this) but she also loves her boys and she plays it well. The dad is great too (really the Bill Pullman scene is funny because it’s true) and the boys are adorable.

Also if you’re trying to place where you might have seen Randall Park who plays Eddie’s dad:

Finally, because I could relate so much to Eddie’s character. The story is just like my family with three boys instead of the three girls. The feeling of wanting to assimilate to find my own identity. Being teased because I was different. Being called ethnic slurs. I can’t begin to tell you how many times the scene when Eddie gets called a “chink” has happened to me just liked that when I was growing up. And I’m SO glad that was shown because yeah, this stuff actually happens. The show is not racist or stereotyped because for many Asian Americans: THIS ALL HAPPENED TO US. As long as the show does not go into stock Asian characterization, this should be a breakthrough as more diversity needs to happen on TV because….it happens in REAL LIFE.

I know I’ve been going on a diversity kick lately on my blog but that’s because it’s something that is very important to me. I’ve grown up for years trying to be like everyone else and wanting to be like everyone else because that was what surrounded to me and what was presented to me as the ideal. But then this dialogue from the pilot episode made so much sense:

  • Eddie: Why aren’t chicks giving me soda? Emery: You want it too much.

Ah truth.

I’m not the one one who really enjoyed the first two episodes as ratings were pretty darn good and most of the reactions I’ve seen have been mainly positive. This Buzzfeed article explains everything. Everything is truth, especially 4 and 8. Even if you aren’t Asian, if you’ve ever felt like you wanted to fit it but you stand out because of cultural differences, I think you’ll enjoy the show. And even if you didn’t, I still think you will.

Asian American families. WE DO EXIST. And now the whole country will know.

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The Year of Enjoying What I Like

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This week, my posts will be taking a look back at 2014 and looking forward to 2015.

This was a rather good year geeky wise for me.

Movie wise: I saw 18 new movies in theaters (plus a few older ones thanks to the Alamo Drafthouse) including Guardians of the Galaxy five times. Yes this ties the record with The Avengers for most time seen in theaters. No I did not spend a ton of money doing this. One highlight was seeing Interstellar in real IMAX at the Smithsonian. Definitely worth it.

TV wise: All my shows I watched were great. Gracepoint was good enough for me that I want to switch to Broadchurch (this is a compliment). Peter Capaldi was wonderful on Doctor Who. The Walking Dead was gross and wonderful and will the next half please get here soon?

The shows I watched for Entertainment Weekly were quite good (ok, Metal Hurlant Chronicles wasn’t a fave). It’s a crime Selfie was canceled (it really was) but The Musketeers will be returning later this month. I’ll also be recapping Veronica Mars from the beginning as I watch it for the first time.

Book wise: I read a lot this year. I surpassed my goal and read 229 books in 2014. Here’s a breakdown of what I read.

(Numbers are a bit off because I kept losing track when counting repeatedly)

Christian Fiction 135

General Fiction 17

YA 37

Graphic Novel 19

Picture Book 1

Non Fiction 10

Diversity – 34 books written by males (All White Males)

3 books written by POC authors

Diversity wise I failed horribly. Most of those 34 books books were graphic novels so a lot were by the same authors. Also this just shows that Christian fiction is written almost exclusively by white females because that is their target audience.

But graphic novels in general are outside of my normal reading habits so I’m hoping to read more in the future.

Goals for next year?

Reading wise: I’m going to read a lot again next year. I still have a goal to read at least 200 books but I’d like to go outside of my normal reading for a change. I want to read more non fiction and I want to read out of my normal reads. This doesn’t mean less Christian fiction but more intentionally finding books outside of that genre. My “what books have you been reading” posts are quite popular so be sure to keep an eye out for those.

Movie wise: Oh 2015 is the year of two Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (including new Avengers?), Hunger Games, James Bond, and a new Star Wars movie you say? Well you know where I’ll be.

Blog wise: I want to do something different on my blog this year. While I still want to keep my schedule of what I post on MWF, I’d like to incorporate a new feature for Geekness Fridays. I don’t want to plan out a set schedule of what I’m going to post every Friday because I do enjoy spontaneity. But for this year, I’d like to try something new with my favorite band ever.

Once a month I’m going to listen to a Beatles album and spend a Friday talking about it. I’m not a music expert by any means, just a huge fan. There are twelve studio albums so I’ll be talking about one once a month. It’ll be fun to try something different and I’m looking forward to listening to all the albums in their entirety again.

So yeah. That was 2014 and those are goals for 2015.

2014 has been a good geeky year and I have no doubt that 2015 will be just the same if not better.

Because I do not need these to be a geek: 20140919_162811

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Fall means ALL the TV, ALL the time

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It’s that time of year when ALL the new TV shows are coming out. It’s a good year to be a geek when it comes to TV shows.

This time for Entertainment Weekly, I’ll be recapping Selfie on ABC.

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It stars Karen Gillan (Amy Pond/Nebula) and John Cho (Harold/Sulu/MILF Guy #2) and is an updated version of My Fair Lady and Pygmalion. I know that the name and premise of the show turns people off but it’s actually not that bad. Though I watched the pilot online and then rewatched it when it aired this past Tuesday. And well…they changed things which I’m not sure why because I thought that they did not help the story. But we’ll see what happens. My first recap is up and if you’re watching it too, follow my Facebook page to get links to all season (or however long this show manages to stay on) as I recap the show. I will say that I DO love John Cho and think he’s fantastic.

I would totally like to watch Gotham but as I have already have Monday nights busy, I can’t watch it live. Hopefully I can catch it on On Demand. I would also really love to watch The Flash on the CW but I haven’t even gotten around to watching Arrow yet so that will probably have to wait.

Last year I started watching Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. but then I got busy on Tuesday nights and missed the second half of the season. Which is a bummer because I know there was that whole tie in with Captain America: The Winter Solider (Hail Hydra!) Therefore sadly I cannot watch new episodes until I catch up from last year. Luckily one of libraries ordered the first season on DVD so I’m on the holds list for it. I’m annoyed this isn’t on Netflix or Amazon Prime. I hope I can catch up because I DO want to watch this show as well as the Peggy Carter spin-off that is coming.

I WAS able to catch the premiere of Gracepoint on Fox last night.

I haven’t seen the original show that it’s a remake of, Broadchurch, so I can’t compare but so far I am planning on watching as much as I can. I will admit, David Tennant’s American accent was the real reason why I tuned in but the show is actually good. I am trying not to look at spoilers of the original series.

I’m still watching Doctor Who. Peter Capaldi is GREAT as the Doctor and the episodes have been pretty good so far. He’s VERY different from Matt Smith but I think that’s a good thing.

The other show I can’t wait to come on again is The Walking Dead. I’m both geeked and terrified at what is going to happen in this season. It also doesn’t help/hurt that with the news about the Ebola virus coming to America that the zombie apocalypse might very well become a real thing one day…..


So yeah. That’s what I’m watching on TV this fall. What about you?

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All For One: Recapping The Musketeers

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Two months ago I posted about how I was going to be covering The Musketeers for Entertainment Weekly. I was a bit excited yet apprehensive about covering the show. The first show I had done was kinda meh and did not have a large audience at all. This new show I thought would be more enjoyable and with a slightly bigger audience but was it really people’s cup of tea? Would anyone really be interested in it? Would I really enjoy it?

Two months later as we approach the season finale on Sunday night, I’m going to miss this most awesome show until next year.

MusketeersSwords

 

If you’ve been watching the show (or even if you haven’t), feel free to catch up on my recaps on Entertainment Weekly. I also really enjoy comments (hint hint) so if you’re catching up, even ones on older episodes would be great!

A lot of people don’t have BBC America (which is going to be a pain when Doctor Who starts up again on Saturday) so I know that it’s not as accessible as shows on network stations or basic cable. Which makes me quite sad because IT’S SO GOOD that I feel a broader audience would be great for it.

However after talking with folks on Twitter and Facebook, I have yet to come across a person who started watching this show and disliked it. Everyone I know who has had the chance to raves about The Musketeers.

Why have I enjoyed this show?

  • It’s a historical action-adventure drama. Period pieces are my favorite genre to watch.
  • There’s humor. When the writing is on point, there is some incredibly witty and hilarious dialogue.
  • There’s sword fighting. Which is the best kind of fighting.
  • There’s hot guys. And all so very different so you can and choose!
  • It’s a lot of fun. It’s really one of the best shows out there that you can sit back and just enjoy yourself.
  • You don’t have to think TOO hard while watching but you don’t have to sit there and feel like you lost brain cells after it’s over.

Because I enjoy the show so much, it’s been actually a bit hard to recap it properly. I fangirl so much while doing it that I have to leave things out and not do so much OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes my recaps are too long but it’s because there’s so much that’s happening and it seems hard to leave things out. My notes are mostly illegible even to me because I’m constantly having to write down everything and then going back to see how something isn’t really that important.

Peter Capaldi is leaving the show because he’ll be starring on Doctor Who which makes me a bit sad because I’ve really enjoyed his character. He plays him to perfection and I’m going to be wondering what they’ll do to him on Sunday night to replace him. This is a video of him, not acting, but I laughed a lot when I watched it.

If you’re a fan of the men, then you’ll definitely enjoy this video.

It’s been a bit hard to interact with the show and actors on Twitter even though I’m recapping it. The show originally aired in the UK earlier in the year, and while BBC America is promoting it heavily, since you CAN look up to see what happened most of the anticipation is gone. Plus three of the 4 Musketeers (plus Capaldi) don’t have Twitter so that’s been a bummer. I have been retweeted and favorited by several of the actors so that’s been encouraging. Though to be honest, I’m not sure they actually read my recaps. Still I’ll take what I can get.
MusketeersTwitter

There are some issues in the show that I find a bit troublesome. I’m not a fan of some of the historical anachronisms such as Milady walking around in public or that some of the female costumes seem a bit too modern. Also, while I know that having affairs was commonplace during that time period, I really am not a fan of how Constance handles her relationship with D’Artagnan and also with her husband. I think (as I said in my recaps) it’s more to do with how they’ve portrayed (or rather NOT portrayed) their relationship and I feel like there’s a lack of a story. It’s also really funny that there are other relationships that I (while again I don’t condone adultery) the chemistry of the characters makes that relationship so much better.

Blips aside, I know that I can’t wait til next year when the second season comes out. I hope I’ll still be covering the show but at the very least I’ll be watching as well. If you’re going to be watching the season finale on Sunday night and are on Twitter, come find me (@beatccr). Hopefully I’ll be livetweeting while watching or at the very least tell me what you thought!

Also…if you’ve read down this far, you’ll be the first to know that the next show I’ll be covering for EW will have another Doctor Who connection. I’ll be recapping Selfie starring Karen Gillan and John Cho. More coming on that soon!

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Jumping on the Bandwagon

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We already know I’m a late bloomer for everything. One of those things is that I get into late after the game is fandoms where everyone there has been fans for years.

It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s geek stuff, music, or sports. When it comes to those categories, I never seemed to be around right from the beginning. The one exception is maybe books but even then sometimes I’m late to the game too.

I came across this article on Cracked the other day: 3 Fan Communities That Hate Their Own Members. And it’s something that I’ve noticed whenever I (or anyone new) starts liking things well after the fact of it being established: how much people hate on other fans who all like the same thing.

I just started watching Community this past week. When it first premiered, I was at a stage in life when it didn’t appeal to me. As the years have gone by, I’ve been recommended by several people insisting I would like it. I’ve been meaning to watch it for a while but I never had access to the DVDs and it’s not streaming online. I don’t do the whole torrent thing so basically I was at a disadvantage to watching.

But once I started watching it, I loved it. I was mad at myself for not discovering it earlier. Sure I was late to the game but I could share my love about it others who did because then we’d all be fans together, right? WRONG. While I did get some positive reaction and happiness that I too now was a fan, a lot of reaction was “Late to game!” “Duh, we told you about this for years.” “Fair weather fan”. And I’m like seriously? You’re not happy for new fans?

It wasn’t as if I watched one episode, or read one comic, halfheartedly watched a game, listened to the ONE hit song a band had. When I start liking a fandom, I do my research and I go full force into it. I want to prove to myself that I can be there and so I study up. So to be told that I wasn’t really a fan because I started super late ticked me off. It also made me feel like I had to hide the fact of my excitement of discovering new things that I really enjoyed.

I remember when I went to go see New Found Glory in 2002. I had been a fan of them for about a year and a half at that point. There had been fans who liked them before I did. I’m not sure how they found out about them (find the one CD in their local record store? saw them on stage when they first started) but I know that I got into them because of other people’s enthusiasm. At that last concert, there were several young teens that only new their latest album. They didn’t know any of the old songs at all. Did it peeve me a little? Yes. Especially since they didn’t know “Hit or Miss”. But was I going to get all angry at them and tell they to get out because only true fans deserved to be there? No. Because I wouldn’t have fit that definition anyways.

I guess I’m just trying to figure out this kind of behavior. Whenever someone starts liking something that I’ve liked for years and they genuinely like it (not liking for dubious reasons), I’m excited for them. If anything I want them to like it as much as I do, though I know that overloading them too early can be fatal. I would never mock someone for being a new fan nor would I try to discourage them. Even if they ended up changing their minds and not liking it, I know they that gave it a try and I could respect that.

What makes you better than someone because you discovered it first? Does it mean you’re a better fan? Does it mean you’re a better person? Are you annoyed that you’re not the only one anymore? Is it an identity issue? Do you just hate new fans jumping on the bandwagon? What makes a true fan and why are you one and not someone else?

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Musketeering and Odysseying

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Two fun things to talk about this week!

My next show that I’ll be blogging about for Entertainment Weekly starts next this Sunday. I’m really excited that I’ll be covering The Musketeers on BBC America. The show is not just another adaptation of the classic novel but instead takes the characters and puts them into new situations. Basically I’m really geeked because I love anything the BBC does, it’s a costume drama, there will be sword fighting, AND it stars Peter Capaldi, the new twelfth Doctor.

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Since the show airs on Sunday nights, my recaps will be either be posted late Sunday night or early Monday morning. My first post however is up. To get in the mood for the show, I take a look back at previous adaptations of the Musketeers and includes bonus GIFs of Man in the Iron Mask Leo. Click here to read my post!

If you want to join in on the fun, the show premieres this Sunday on BBC America at 9/8C. I’m hoping that this show is more mainstream and has a bigger audience than Metal Hurlant Chronicles. While that eventually became an interesting show, it was very niche-y and I was having trouble finding people to talk about it with, even online. This one I think I won’t have that much trouble and I’m already excited that the official Twitter accounts for BBC America and The Musketeers have already retweeted me. The show runs for ten weeks and I believe it’ll lead up to the premiere of the next season of Doctor Who. The show has already been aired in the UK and has been renewed for a second season though Peter Capaldi won’t be returning because he seems to have another show he’s already committed too. Silly him.

Once again, I probably will not be posting links to my articles every week on this blog, so follow me on Twitter or like my Facebook page (links are in the sidebar) to find out when I got new stuff or info. Let me know too if you’re watching!

Also in other fun news, I’m pretty geeked to be chosen as part of the promo blog team for the new Odyssey Adventure Club.

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I listened to Adventures in Odyssey growing up and it has fond memories for me. It’s a radio drama produced by Focus on the Family so there is a Christian slant to it which is a focus of most of the earlier episodes. However as the years went by, the focus of the writing becomes more focused on  the storyline. There are some solid episodes that are just as good as any book I’ve read because I got so involved with the plot and characters. Also there’s a bunch of jokes that are for adults that the kids just won’t get. It’s been really cool to rediscover these and see how different it is for me to listen to it as an adult vs when I was a kid. While the target audience is still the 8-12 year old range, I find these very enjoyable for long commutes for adults as well. The production level is stellar.

The Odyssey Adventure Club is great because I have been wanting to listen to all the episodes but it was too costly for me to buy all the albums or my library didn’t have everything. With the club, you can stream all the episodes online. I have three months to try to listen to EVERYTHING. This will be a challenge because there are over 750 episodes at about 30 minutes each. I’m currently finishing up album 5. I’ll probably be blogging again about this throughout the summer.

Here’s more information about the club and activities for users:

-Unlimited streaming of Adventures in OdysseyLibrary (740+ episodes) retail value more than $1,500. (You can also download the OCA app on your iPhone or iPad and listen to up to 5 episodes without streaming.)
– New monthly exclusives episodes
– Monthly web quests
– Daily devotions based on Adventures in Odyssey episodes
– OAC exclusive blog posts
– OAC Monthly Member Newsletter
– OAC exclusive video stories
– Other Odyssey content (Last Chance Detectives and more!)
Summer is officially here! Don’t let your kids’ boredom run rampant. Adventures in Odyssey is here to save the day. Below are some must-try ideas for summer fun! Want even more summer fun? For the month of June, you can join the Odyssey Adventure Club for only $5! More details can be found here.

Summer Activities

As a parent you are probably a big proponent of reading. Encourage your kids to dig into a book or two this summer with Adventures in Odyssey’s On Your Marks Summer Reading Challenge. Bonus points if YOU create a reading challenge for yourself as you read along with your kids!

Looking for something hands-on? Create Matthew in 3-D! Invite a few of your kids’ friends over for a play date, print off the activity sheet, and let them have at it for the afternoon (with the promise of cookies and lemonade once they’ve finished constructing Matthew).

Maybe your kids aren’t into reading, but they love math. If that’s the case, have them solve Eugene’s Sudoku!

The laundry needs to be done; the dishes need to be put away. But your kids are begging you to take them out to the zoo. Let them take a whack at Matthew’s Decoder in the morning, then make an agreement that if they figure out how to use the decoder, you’ll take them on an afternoon adventure. That’ll give you the morning to finish up your to-do list!

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All the blog stuff you can handle today

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So two milestones today: First this is my 100th post since I started this blog almost 7 months ago. Woo! Other than a break during the Christmas holidays, I’ve posted 3 times a week, every week since then. This is pretty awesome simply because I’m amazed that I’ve been dedicated enough to keep posting even when I can’t think of what to post. And that I’ve somehow managed to come up with 3 different types of topics each week. Woot.

And second: If you follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, I know you’ve seen me keep talking about this and you’re probably sick of it and want to be like “You already told us! Go away!” But for the rest of you, as I mentioned previously, I am a contributor to the newest blog on Entertainment Weekly‘s website, The Community. And this was the first week that my post was up!

To recap (heh), I’m currently recapping the show Metal Hurlant Chronicles on the SyFy channel. The show airs on Monday nights at 10pm.

So I’m slightly at a disadvantage than most people when it comes to watching and reviewing TV shows because well…this is my TV:

smalltv

Yep. That’s right. I have the tiniest TV ever. And obviously it’s not HDTV. And I don’t have a DVR either. (Heck at this point, I don’t even have a DVD player that works.) So if I want to watch a show, I HAVE to watch it live and I can’t pause, rewind, or fast forward. So this makes things challenging. Luckily for me the show comes on at both 10pm and midnight so if I didn’t catch something the first time around, I can wait an hour and rewatch. Now if I miss it the second time, then I’m just screwed.

Since I didn’t know exactly how I’d be writing this or what was expected of me, I ended up staying up all night trying to write my recap. I haven’t done an all nighter with this much pressure on me since grad school. I ended up going to bed at 6:30 am. The next day was very rough. I think I’m getting too old for this type of thing.

Anywho this is very exciting to see this!

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You can click here to read my entire post! Don’t worry if you haven’t watched it or it makes no sense to you. That’s how I felt the first time I watched the episode as well.

For the next four weeks, I’ll be recapping two episodes a week. As I said, the show airs on Monday night so my recaps will be up sometime Tuesday morning. Since I’m pretty OCD with my posting schedule on THIS blog, I probably won’t keep posting when I do have new posts up, so be sure to follow me on Twitter or on my Facebook page (links are in the sidebar to your right) to find out exactly when they do go up.

So yeah, allow me one last geek out about this and woo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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How to Win and Lose at Series Finales

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WARNING. THERE BE SPOILERS IN THIS POST. YOU WERE WARNED! THIS IS ALSO A REALLY LONG POST!

Unless you just avoided social media and entertainment this past week or you just don’t care, you may have seen that How I Met Your Mother ended this week after nine years. You also probably saw that the series finale had very mixed emotions from viewers ranging from “Great!” to “WORST THING EVER”.

Series finales are tough to do. How do you end a show for good after it has become loved and adored by millions of viewers? It’s really hard to try to answer every question, wrap up ever story line, or make everyone happy. Should you cater to the fans and give them what they want or do what you as the creator/writer wanted to do from the beginning?

Disclaimer: I’m one of the few who did like the series finale of Lost. I felt like that needed to be said.

I’m one of those people who has issues with continuity. I realize that sometimes it is hard to keep track of everything that happens. But what I don’t understand is when writers (of books, movies, and TV shows) just ignore everything that happens in the past and just tries to write around it and pretend it never happened. I’m not talking about a remake or a reboot. I’m talking about kids disappearing halfway through the show only to show up in the finale like it never took place.

There are the shows that end up getting cancelled way before the creators intended it to. Sometimes it’s right in the middle of a story line that leaves major cliffhangers. Other times the show gets cancelled abruptly and the last episode is not a farewell episode at all and is pretty bland. An example of the latter is the series finale of Full House. Sure Steve comes back in a cameo appearance but the rest of the episode doesn’t tie up series loose ends (Will Danny ever remarry? Will Jesse and Becky stay in the house forever? Why is Michelle still there?) and just leaves the viewers thinking that next year everything will be the same. Except there wasn’t a next year. There have been series finales when it turns out everything was just a dream (St. Elsewhere, Newhart) and ones where it turns out to just be a backdoor to another series (Andy Griffith Show). Then there’s the series finale of M*A*S*H which is the mother of all series finales because everyone and their mother in the US was watching it as its STILL the most watch series finale in history, and until Superbowl XLIV, the most watched television broadcast show in American history.

Let me give two examples of what I thought were good series finales to me.

1) Breaking Bad – As someone who had only started (binge) watching in the last few weeks of the show, I hadn’t been invested for a long time period as others from the beginning. But still there was great anticipation for how everything was going to play out. And as the weeks kept going by, the shows creators and writers managed to fulfill every thing I could think of. By the time the end credits rolled, I was completely satisfied. I did not need a spin off, I didn’t want to throw my remote at the TV, I was able to be like “Yes, this is how its done.” Loose ends were tied up, questions were answered, what I wanted to happened did, there was pretty much no other way it could have ended. Well done. Yes there’s going to be a prequel but the story is essentially done.

2) The Office – I was a big fan of The Office, until Steve Carrell left the show and then I stopped watching for several years. To me, Michael Scott WAS the show and without him, it wasn’t the same. But when the series finale came, since I had invested several years into it, I tuned it. And it was lovely. Even though I didn’t know who some of the people were, even though I didn’t know what some of the subplots were about, even though I still need to update myself with my favorite characters’ lives, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I even cried. I felt that the writers realized that old fans were going to return and made the episode a good bit of nostalgia mixed with the current trajectory of the show. (They even added in David Brent!) And it was a great sendoff and good closure.

Basically it’s like when I close a book. If I am satisfied with the story and I don’t need more, when I feel like I can let the characters or their legacy live on without more episodes, without spinoffs, or even a prequel, then that’s when the show has closed out for good for me. It doesn’t have to end happily. People do not even need to be alive. But I don’t want to see sloppy writing or rushed events or to play with the viewers’ emotions just for the sake of ratings or other things.

And in my personal opinion: How I Met Your Mother did not have a good series finale. I did not enjoy it. I’m not going to argue with you if you liked it. I’m not going to try to convince you to NOT like it nor are you going to be able to convince me on why I SHOULD like it. For me, personally it hit a little too close to home. You can read here about my love for the show. Basically I started watching it because I was in a Ted/Robin situation and I had to find a way to distract myself when things didn’t go as I planned. And it kept mirroring my life and I grew heavily invested in the show and the characters’ lives. To me the ending was basically the creators fulfilling a slap bet with me and delivering one to MY face. And the best part? There are so many people who felt the same way.

You can argue against me all you want and completely disagree with me and that’s fine. It’s not going to change my mind. It was a personal experience and we’re all going to think differently. But I’m just going to state why it was not good for me.

Barney and Robin get divorced within 15 minutes of the show’s opening. We just spent AN ENTIRE SEASON having their wedding shoved down their throats. We were forced to witness this wedding hour by hour. WE INVESTED TIME IN THIS WEDDING. Only to have it casually end as soon as the broadcast starts. I’m not denying that this doesn’t happen in real life. But I’m thinking the only reason why the wedding weekend lasted so long was because the writers weren’t sure that Season 9 was going to happen at all, and when they were granted the opportunity they had to find some way to milk it out. And so they did, forcing the viewers to become emotionally invested in something and then just act like it didn’t matter at all.

Ted finally meets the mother. And it was glorious. I loved their meeting. It was everything I wished it would be. Except. They don’t get married for 5 years, even after two kids. In what world, does Ted Mosby NOT marry the mother of his children? Don’t tell me that Ted finally learned what love really is. No. If you love someone, you will want to commit to them and marriage is that. And PLUS: during the episode “Trilogy Time” in 2015 while Ted is holding baby Penny, HE IS WEARING A WEDDING RING. It’s not that hard to go back and check on this!!

The mother dying. Honestly I’m ok with this. It’s sad and I would have loved a happy ending but it happens. No, what my issue is we never see Ted mourn. We grew to love the mother with the mythology and build up over the years and then Cristin Milioti was just fantastic. But we never see get to really see Ted with her. Had the show done it right, I feel like we would have at least had time to process and then not gotten our hearts stomped on and be forced to accept that….

THE MOTHER WAS A RED HERRING ALL ALONG. The show has always been how Ted and ROBIN were meant to be together. Because in the last few minutes, we find out that Ted has basically told the story to his kids and it’s really asking their permission to ask out “Aunt Robin” which the kids give because “Mom was barely in this story!” (The scene with the kids was taped before season 2. So all along they were going to kill the mom and have Ted end up with Robin. I despise this. I feel like they forced themselves into this.) The entire series we’ve been so sick and tired of Ted and Robin, will they, won’t they? Because Robin made her decision. She has shown over and over that she only wants things when she can’t have them. Robin is the girl every guy dreams of. No emotional crisis, drinks Scotch, smokes cigars, loves sports, and is super hot. In this sense she is perfect for Barney. But that even couldn’t last. Ted was willing to be everything she wanted and needed and she still didn’t want him. So he FINALLY lets her go. They made Robin LITERALLY float away. Ted meets the mother.

Tracy (the mother) is basically the woman who gave Ted kids because Robin could never do this. Yes, she is the perfect woman for Ted but not the love of his life. Ted is a suburban dad with two teenagers. Robin is TV anchor who travels, lives in the city by herself, with 5 dogs and is independent. Is she really going to drop all that for Ted’s life? Ted has been holding onto a hope for Robin ALL THESE YEARS. I got out of this, “Hey! That guy I’ve been in love with for years that I keep waiting and hoping on? I’m going to let him go literally and figuratively. Then I’m going to meet the guy who is going to be the perfect guy for me. And we will be happy for a few years. And then he’s going to die. But there’s a happy ending because I will still get to end up with the first guy!”

I have other issues but I will leave you with this Buzzfeed post which other than number 14 (mixed emotions? no, I know how I feel) is exactly how I view this situation.