Favorites/Not-So-Favorites

Happy New Year, gentle readers!!

Now that 2011 is all done and I have had a few days to process it, I feel like giving you guys a little round-up of sorts of my favorites and least favorites from last year. Let's begin with music...

*Favorite album: The King Is Dead by The Decemberists. I have always enjoyed The Decemberists but I listened to this CD on repeat. Over and over again. Every song is great and I never ever got sick of it. It's upbeat (with the exception of a couple slow songs) and fun and I just really love it. My favorite songs from it are Down By The Water and Rox In The Box. 


*Favorite Movie(s): Now, anyone who knows Jeff and I, knows that we don't see as many movies as we should. We barely ever go to the actual movie theater unless it's for Harry Potter or a Twilight movie (in my case) or a kids movie that C wants to see. My point is, I'm sure there are a TON of really great movies that came out last year that we were unable to see. I am basing my favorite(s) on the few that we were able to check out. So, without further ado: Super 8 and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 are both at the top of my list. If you have been keeping up with this here blog over the past year, you'll remember I wrote reviews for both. Super 8 was so well done and left me smiling and loving J.J. Abrams even more. Deathly Hallows Part 2 left me emotional and satisfied while wanting more at the same time. If you have not checked out either of these films yet, I suggest you do so.

For favorite TV show, I'll separate these into 3 different categories (come on, with all the TV I watch, I can't just choose ONE, sillies):
*Favorite New Show: Once Upon A Time. You know why I'm picking this one. For the Lost-ness of it, for the magical-ness of it, the creativeness of it and the freshness of it. I love everything about it.

*Favorite Surprise Show: By "surprise" I mean that I was completely unprepared for enjoying it as much as I did. That show is Game Of Thrones. I knew nothing, absolutely nothing about this story. All I knew was that Jeff and Carrie were both excited to watch it. So, i watched it and became completely enthralled by it. Amazing storytelling, amazing acting and an overall amazing production. I can't wait for April to get here so that we can all see if winter really is coming...

*Favorite Regular Show: "Regular" just means that it is already in my TV line up. Vampire Diaries never disappoints me. It's the little CW show that could and the people behind the show and who write the scripts are brilliant. They never, ever drag out a storyline and always, always, always surprise you. So many shows leave their jaw-dropping moments for season finales. Vampire Diaries does it EVERY episode. (If you'd like to start tuning in, the season starts up again this Thursday, January 5th!)

*Favorite Book(s):  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. No, this series did not come out in 2011 but that is when I read them so I am allowing myself to put it as a favorite. I was very, very hesitant about reading these books. I had read the summary on the back of the first book so many times and was never impressed by it, but every single person I know who has read them has loved them. Not just liked them but loved them. Some people even called it "the best book series they ever read". I didn't get it. I saw the trailer for the movie (which comes out on March 23, 2012) and I still didn't get it. So, I read the books. And I totally got it. I read all 3 quickly. I finished the second book  (Catching Fire) in a day and when I finished with the series I immediately started re-reading them. I wasn't finished with the characters and the story had me so completely riveted that I felt like I may have missed some stuff along the way the first time around. I bought the series for my little brother, let my sister borrow my copies and even got my niece hooked on them. Needless to say, I'm real excited to see the movie. You will notice that I'm not giving any details of the story here. I don't want to ruin any aspect of it for new readers. Don't read the backs of the books, just jump into the story. It's smart and creative and it sucks you in. Completely. Also, let me know if you read them because you know how I love to discuss books that I love.

Speaking of books, if you are interested in a sort of nerdy version of Facebook where all you do is discuss, rate and find books to read, check out a site called Goodreads.com. This -----> is my profile. Friend me and you can see what I'm reading and we can be nerdy together!


Favorite Moment(s): Disney World/Islands of Adventure trip. Seeing C's excitement when I told him all the things we would be doing in Disney World was absolutely priceless. Seeing Hogsmeade at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was literally like a dream come true. Being able to spend the trip with Jeffrey, my Mom and Natalie was the icing on the cake. So much fun. Charley still talks about how much he misses Disney and asks every day when we can go back. Some day we will... Some day.

Okay, now let me point out my not-so-favorites of last year...

*The Office- It just doesn't do anything for me anymore. I still love the characters but I don't care for the show. It's not funny and I have completely stopped watching. I miss Michael and I'm sorry, but James Spader creeps me out.

*Glee- Go ahead. You can tell me, "I told you so". I defended this show with all my might in it's first season. I adored it. It made me smile and laugh and sing and I thought it was brilliant. Then the second season came and there was no storyline, songs that didn't make sense and a whole lot of blah. The characters became cartoons and the whole thing became a complete disappointment. I still watch it, I think out of obligation (but mostly for Darren Criss) and every once in awhile there is a gem of an episode but unfortunately, they are few and far between.

*Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris- The 11th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series was not good. It wasn't. You all know what a fan I am of these books and I felt like this one was chalk full of filler stuff that didn't matter and backstories of characters that we have already read about 10 times before. Not to mention the fact that she more or less changed the mythology of the story and that really bothered me. It was a complete disappointment.

Some miscellaneous tidbits:

I saw Wicked over my Christmas vacation. My brother got tickets for a few of us to go to the show as a Christmas present for my parents. It was really great. I loved the set, the costumes (Oh! The costumes were spectacular!), the story was fantastic and the music made my ears smile. Everything about it was brilliant and I totally get why my niece Emily loves it so much. I couldn't decide who I liked more, Galinda (the GAH is silent) or Alphaba (the wicked witch of the West) but both actresses were phenomenal. I would definitely see it again and I would love to have seen Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel in their production. If you get the opportunity to see it, please do. You won't be disappointed.

For my zombie lovers out there, The Walking Dead comes back February 12th. SOPHIA!!