40 years ago a film came out in May that changed the culture and the history of movie making. It had amazing characters and figures, and as I honored Star Trek last year, I decided this year will be all about that film. And what film?
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Yes I am a humongous fan and I could not let the year go by without talking about it.
As we have also lost Carrie Fisher last year, I also want to honor her in this post. Her performance as Princess Leia impacted me in so many ways as I just wanted to be her.
So this is a time to reflect on what the past year held for us, the big posts, what’s new, and what you all seemed to like the most.
This post will only cover a few things, you really should check out the year for yourself. To start at the beginning go here.
The Views
This year I had over 52,000 views!
The most viewed day of the year was October 24th, in which I posted We’ve Seen Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s Monster: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
The Top Five Posts
Here are the top five most viewed posts of the year, although strangely non were posted this year.
I mean you like what you like. I’m just happy people are reading my blog.
5) A Monster Race: Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988) part of Horrorfest’s 31 Days of Horror films (2012)
4) Being Friends is Good Enough: Catching Fire (2013) from Romance is in the Air: Part II‘s 14 days of my favorite romantic moments (2014)
3) A Real Man, quotable post on what it means to be a real man (2014)
2) I Saw Goody Osburn With the Devil: The Crucible (1996), part of Horrorfest II’s 31 Days of Horror films (2013)
1) Fulfilling the List: A Walk to Remember (2002), from Romance is in the Air‘s 14 days of my favorite romantic moments (2013)
The Followers!
So this community has really grown in numbers and I can not describe how pleased I am about that. We have gone from 14 followers in 2012 to 42 followers in 2013, 169 followers in 2014, to 439 in 2015, and now 616
So enough about the statistics and numbers! Let’s move on to what was covered this year and what changes I have made to the blog
1) Star Trek
So as Star Trek turned fifty last year I tried to have it influence the posts. I didn’t do as much as I did the year before with Back to the Future, but I tried.
For Star Trek we have my taste in fashion, A Fashion Statement; my Saint Patrick’s Day post, Wearing of the Green: 17 More Irish Heroes; my Horrorfest V post, “Charlie X” from Star Trek (1966); and ending with my Christmas post Trek the Halls with Bones and Scotty
2) Story of My Life
So every year I like to incorporate posts on just scenes or experiences from my everyday life. This year I shared how I hated traffic court in Runaround Suesanville; how I almost killed myself with my alarm clock in Death By an Alarming Rate; when I heard a strange bumping noise while being home alone in A Bump in the Night; my totally awesome ’80s party in Back to the ’80s; fleeing the stress of finals by my Escape to Alcatraz; dying my hands green in My Favorite Martian; running into the ex in When You Least Expect It, my trip to Nerd Con in Revenge of the Nerds, my bad eye-perience at the eye doctor in Eye Guess I Won’t Be Seeing You
3) Honoring Special People
So every year I try to honor special people who have made an impact in my life, passed away, or are celebrating a birthday. I never get to do everyone I care about, but here are the ones I did: David Bowie with Changes, Turn and Face the Strange; Alan Rickman with A Man of Great Worth and Respectability; Michael Ende and his novel The Neverending Story in A Book Only a Reader Could Write; Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday in Come With Me and You’ll Be in a World of Pure Imagination;
4) You Can’t Keep a Fangirl Down
So these fangirl posts just keep coming. I’m trying to finish them, but we still have a few more things I’m obsessed with to finish.
Last year I reviewed the ABBA, Alias, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Gossip Girl, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Ned and Stacey, One Tree Hill, The Patridge Family, Queen, Ringer, The Rocky Series, Sarah Dessen, Saved by the Bell, Scooby-Doo, 7th Heaven, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes, Sleeping Beauty, Spider-man, Star Wars, Star Trek, Step by Step, Sweet Valley High, Supernatural, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Thorn Birds, Touched by an Angel, Twin Peaks, Xena: Warrior Princess
To read, go to Fan-do or Fan-don’t. There is No Fan-try, The Fan, The Girl, The FANtom Menance, A Study in Fandoms, To Kill a Fangirl, Return of the Fandom, The Strange Case of a Fangirl and Her Fandoms, We Will Fandom You
5) My Marvelous Music
I reviewed less this year than the previous ones, but still took some time out to about some tunes I love. We had: Back in Black by AC/DC; Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen; Crocodile Rock by Elton John; December, 1963 (Oh What A Night) by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons; Hail to the King by Avenged Sevenfold; Old Time Rock & Roll by Bob Seger; Summertime by My Chemical Romance; T.N.T by AC/DC; You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC
6) Jane, Jane, Jane, Janey, Janey, Janey, Janey, Janey Book Reviews
I love Jane Austen, after all its is in the name! This year I reviewed a number of books that were related to or a retelling of her books.
I reviewed a collection of essays in The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen compiled by editors Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster; then the baby versions of Emma, Pride & Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility by Jennifer Adams
I then went over the following retellings: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies #1) by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron, Captain Wentworth’s Diary (Jane Austen’s Heroes #3) by Amanda Grange; Austenland and Midnight in Austenland (Austenland #2) by Shannon Hale, Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James; The Dashwood Sisters Tell All: A Modern Day Novel of Jane Austen by Beth Pattillo, Amanda (The Austen Series) by Debra White Smith Daring Chloe (Getaway Girls #1) by Laura Jensen Walker,
I also reviewed the Emma film starring Kate Beckinsale in Emma (1996) AKA the Kate Beckinsale Version, “Episode One” from Death Comes to Pemberley (2013), and Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade (2012)
And of course continuing to talk about the book Emma; in When You Shockingly Relate to Mr. Woodhouse
And my Jane Austen mashup in Candy Girls
7) Now Gimme That Good Good Lovin’
So we brought back Romance is in the Air, the fourth countdown to Valentine’s Day I’ve done on this blog. Every day I posted a different romantic moment.
The moments I choose this year came from the films: Psycho (1960), How to Steal a Million (1966), Grease (1978), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Casual Sex (1988), Pocahontas (1995), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Borrowed Hearts (1997), and War Room (2015).
I also added in TV show romantic moments this year with “Episode Four” from North & South (2004), “A Trip to the Dentist” from Veronica Mars (2005), “Fateful” from Awkward (2011), “The Bikini in the Soup” from Bones (2011), and “Playing Heart to Get” from Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse (2013).
8) May the Calendar Keep Bringing Happy Holidays to You
So I like holidays…I really, really do. But I can’t always do huge countdowns to honor them, sometimes I have to do one day posts. So here we go.
This year I celebrated Superbowl 50 with a mashup of what teams Jane Austen’s characters would be a fan of. To read, go to Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose: Superbowl 50.
I also celebrated the Chinese New Year’s Year of the Monkey by listing off nine of my favorite primates or primate moments from The Jungle Book, to Aladdin, to Jumanji, The Wizard of Oz, and more. To read, go to A Little Monkey Business: Chinese New Year.
Feb
In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day I listed off 17 more Irish heroes in The Wearing of the Green
For Easter I reviewed the following art featuring Jesus and his path to the cross; Entry into Jerusalem by Duccio di Buoninsegna or Duccio, The Last Supper by Freddy Fabris, The Betrayal of Jesus by Albrecht Dürer, and Pietá by Michelangelo.
Honoring Star Wars on May the Fourth with This Day in History
9) Happy Anniversary to You!
This year I celebrated many anniversaries of films or books. This year my blog turned four in Here’s to Another Year; Star Trek turned 50 in Live Long and Prosper; the Grinch turned 60 in Maybe Christmas, He Thought, Doesn’t Come from a Store. Maybe Christmas…Perhaps…Means a Little Bit More: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Ten Commandments turned 60 in Oh, Moses, Moses;
10) It’s Always Tea Time
I love tea, I really, really, really do. I’ve talked about it in the past, but really focused on the topic this year. First my mistake in being extra-caffeinated tea in The Dark, Dark, Dark Side; how I can’t stop drinking in My Teaddiction (Tea Addiction); how tea always makes me feel better in Better Than Asprin, where I became a loose-leaf tea drinker in My Trip to Teavana; my tea trip around the world in A World of Teas; and my tea party decorations in It’s Always Tea Time.
11) Way to a Person’s Heart is Through their Stomach
We all like to eat right? Well this year I partnered with my sister blog MysteriousEats.wordpress.com and shared some tea time treats, or ones best paired with Jane Austen’s work.
I included the recipe for Crasins Scones, Harlem Tea Room Baking Powder Scones, Harlem Tea Room Cheddar-Thyme Scones, Harvest Pumpkin Scones, and Lemon Scones.
12) Horrors of Horrors, Monsters and Ghouls
This year’s Horrorfest covered movies, TV shows, and more.
I reviewed Blackmail (1929), White Zombie (1932), Night on Bald Mountain (1940), Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Backfire (1950), Dial 1119 (1950), House on Haunted Hill (1959), Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966), When a Stranger Calls (1979), Thriller (1983), Ghostbusters (1984), Clue (1985), Once Bitten (1985), Teen Wolf (1985), Cat’s Eye (1987), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze (1991); Let Me Call You Sweetheart (1997), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Dracula 2000 (2000), Jeepers Creepers (2001), Corpse Bride (2005), TMNT (2007), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), The Cheerleader Murders (2016), The Girl On the Train (2016)
And the TV episodes: “Charlie X” from Star Trek (1966); “A Matter of Loaf and Death” from Wallace and Gromit (2008); “The Death of the Queen Bee” from Bones (2010); “Episode One” from Death Comes to Pemberley (2013)
I also did 31 tips on how to survive a horror film.
13) 30 Day Challenge: Literature Loves
So let’s just get it out there, I failed.
I didn’t finish the 30 day challenge. I only did 21 posts.
Aw, man.
But I’m going to keep going until I do finish it. And until it is finished, I won’t be posting anything else on this blog.
But so far, I have reviewed the following books: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies #1) by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, O Pioneers! (Great Plains Trilogy #1) by Willa Cather, The Secret of Chimneys (Superindendent Battle#1) by Agatha Christie, The Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark, Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, A Christmas Carol: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Five Were Missing by Lois Duncan, Beastly (Kendra Chronicles #1) by Alex Flinn, Book of a Thousand Days and Midnight in Austenland (Austenland #2) by Shannon Hale, Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries #1) by Charlaine Harris, Faking Grace by Tamara Leigh, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1) by L. M. Montgomery, Princess Nevermore by Dian Curtis Regan, How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
So what will this year hold? I don’t know. I guess you will have to join follow me to find out.
And remember:
For 2015 in review, go to To Boldy Go Where No Man Has Gone Before
For 2014 in review, go to Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads
For 2013 in review, go to Looking at the Past, Focusing on the Future
For 2012 in review, go to Looking Back, Moving Forward
For more on Star Wars, go to Black is Best
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