A New Hope

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

When You Shockingly Relate to Mr. Woodhouse

So I never thought I was like Mr. Woodhouse.

I mean he is a hypochondriac who never eats anything rich as it is bad for the digustion. So not me.

He won’t go out and pick strawberries, he is always nagging and worrying, freaks out over the littlest storm, just not me.

But then I reread the book…

And something jumped out at me:

“Mr. Woodhouse was fond of society in his own way. He liked very much to have his friends come to see him…his horror of late hours, and large dinner-parties, made him unfit for any acquaintance but such as would visit him on his own terms.”

Mr. Woodhouse is an introvert, just like me. And some of the stuff he does, I do too.

First of all I don’t really care for big parties.

I always feel awkward and unsure of what to do. Either I end up at the food table:

Or unsure

Or with children…

They just seem easier to relate to I guess.

I’m still a kid on the inside.

I mean if I don’t have a close friend there or if they have left or are too busy talking to someone else I feel awkward and uncomfortable.

Usually I stay as long as I feel is polite and then get out of there.

Getting out of here

If it is a small group or people I know well, I feel much more secure.

Like Mr. Woodhouse I like my group of friends that I know well, not a large group. Plans must be made ahead of time as well. I hate when someone just pops over. Usually I am a mess or I am in the middle of something and find it hard to leave.

Yes, the life of an introvert:

It’s not that I don’t like people, it is just that sometimes I need my time and space.

And other days I want to hang, but I just need time to prepare myself for a party.

For more on Mr. Woodhouse, go to Waiter, There’s Some Disney in My Jane Austen

For more on Emma, go to The Austen Series: Amanda

You’ve Got to Accentuate the Positive

So today is Thanksgiving!

And I love food and this holiday, so I am all about chowing down.

But Not This Year

Majorly

I just had my wisdom teeth out.

So I will not be able to partake in eating tons of food.

And to make matters worse, I am also on my period. So I’m enjoying pain in my mouth and my lower half.

No joke this enters m mind every month

But while it is easy to get hung up on the negatives in life and be unhappy, that is not what Thanksgiving is about. In a world where it seems as if things are getting worse and worse it is easy to get hung up on the negatives, to just hate on everything, be unhappy. And Abraham Lincoln knew this. As he was facing a time of unrest and uncertainty, just as we are, he decided we needed a day set apart to focus on the positives on the good things we have in life.

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come..No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens…”

So I decided I was going to do the same. I am going to accentuate the positives, eliminate the negatives, and latch on to the affirmative.

So here we go, what I am thankful for.

1) My Family + Friends

They are always there for me and support me through everything

2) A Roof Over My Head + Food

I am happy to have a home, and food to eat. There are these all people should have, and not all do. I am thankful to be one of those who do.

3) My Country

I know it is not perfect and there have been problems past and present, but I love living in America where I am given rights that all should have.

Many criticize the pilgrims who came to America to begin with, but these people weren’t coming to destroy a nation, they came so that they could have a little bit of land in which they could worship as they please and live in harmony. They tried to work with the Native Americans, not harm them. The negative things came with later colonies who didn’t share the same ideas, mostly because of the people that were ruling Europe and the politics they were playing.

Anyways, one thing that my country does right is give us a freedom of speech. Something some people are trying to restrain all the time, but is currently still something we have. And it allows me to have this blog in which I can discuss whatever I want.

So know I may not be able to eat everything, but I am going to enjoy and eat the few things I can. Hello mashed potatoes and pie.

And I’m going to focus on all that I am grateful to have.

For more on Thanksgiving, go to I Before E, Especially After P

For more holidays, go to Every Heart Beats True for the Red, White, & Blue

 

You Weirdo

16) Five Weird Things You Like

Here we are with another top five countdown. Here we have five things I think are fine, but others have told me is strange or weird.

1)I Freakin’ Love Basil

I love basil. I think it is the best smell in the world and would totally buy air freshener of it. I love how it tastes! I love cooking with it! I love it’s color! I love everything about it.

For more on basil, go to Pizza Worthy of a Queen

2) I Wear My Clothes in Rotation

I like to wear my clothes in rotation so that I:

1. Don’t wear the same thing over and over again
2. Duplicate the same outfit that week
3. So everything has a turn.

When I wash my clothes or get new ones they all go in the back. I am only allowed to pick from the first 10 items in the front. This is for all the reasons stated above, but also so the things I’m not wearing get stuck in the front and I can give them away as I am obviously no longer interested in them.

It might be weird to you, but makes perfect sense to me.

For more on my fashion views, go to Fashionably Postworthy

3) I Sometimes Sleep on the Floor

So I sleep in strange positions. I lay down like a regular person, but then the next day I’ll be twisted around, facing the opposite direction, etc. Because of this, I can sometimes wake up sore, due to a twisted body. To put everything back in shape, I’ll sleep on the floor. Doing so causes me to sleep like a regular person.

4) I Have to Have My Books Organized by Height

Everything else can be absolutely messy, except for my books. It’s really a compulsion, how much I have to have them in order from tallest to shortest. It just looks so much nicer that way.

The only exception is, if they are in a series. In that case, size doesn’t matter as much as order.

For more bookish posts, go to Considering Lily

5) I Like to Eat Out of the Container

Plates and bowls are nice but I prefer just eating out of the box, tupperware, or container. It’s easier and you don’t get another dish dirty. Besides you eat until you are full, instead of constantly refilling.

Now I don’t usually do this if it’s something I’m sharing, (germs), but if it is something that belongs only to me, I don’t bother with a plate I just eat it.

For more foodie posts, go to Always There for You

To start the 30 Day Challenge from the beginning, go to Musical Madness

For the previous post, go to It’s So Random!

For more on being weird, go to Normal is Boring

For more Mischa Collins, go to GISHWHES Girl

Always There For You

In this life, there are few things we can actually depend on to help when things go bad. One of these is food.

I’m sure you’ve all felt this way at one point. I know that when I get really angry I can scarf done so much, it’s crazy!

After all, food is always there for you.

Yep, food will always be there to help you get a better perspective.

For more of my thoughts on food, go to I Before E, Especially After P

For more Sabrina the Teenage Witch, go to It Doesn’t Exist