Wrapping It All Up - "Last Christmas," Playlist, Looking Forward

I know, I know, I didn't get a proper review out for the Doctor Who Christmas Special. However, I did a quick-and-dirty reaction post on my Tumblr and I did pontificate about it on this week's Five(ish) Fangirls, so maybe I'll let those stand on their own.

Bottom Line: I loved "Last Christmas." This is the Twelfth Doctor's answer to the Eleventh Doctor's "A Christmas Carol" - right now, I'm not sure which one I prefer (if, indeed, I need to prefer one over the other). I feel like "Last Christmas" tied everything together from Series 8 and provided much-needed closure from that story arc, but it was done in a way that was appropriate for a Doctor Who Christmas Special. I need to rewatch it still, but it was a pleasant end to my Christmas festivities. As has become my own tradition.

I already did my version of looking back at 2014 as well and I'm not going to rehash any of that (you can go read that post if you're curious). However, I am going to indulge in another tradition of mine that I've had going back to... probably 2009. It's something I've tried to improve each year and that is to create a playlist of music that has meant something to me during the calendar year. I used to hammer this out in the waning weeks of the year, but then I realized I was missing some important elements from earlier months, so I started compiling songs as early as 12:20 am on January 1. These aren't necessarily songs that came out this year - they may even be songs that I've had in my music collection for a long time. These are songs that I feel best illustrate the events of the year - whether small or large, good or bad, silly or poignant.

This year was no exception. I have a personal journal entry explaining why these songs were chosen and in the order they were chosen, but this year I think I'm just going to list them off and link to the music. Because everyone has their own interpretation of music and their own experiences and I'd like to keep mine my own. But they're good songs, so here's something to enjoy as 2014 fades into the background and 2015 comes thundering in!

Without further ado, may I present -

2014 Playlist - Sometimes You Reach What's Real by Making Believe

1. "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel (from the Frozen soundtrack)
2. "Stand" by Rascal Flatts
3. "Compass" by Lady Antebellum
4. "Secrets" by OneRepublic
5. "Change" by Taylor Swift
6. "New Sensation" by Train
7. "Try" by Pink
8. "This is Home" by Switchfoot (from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian soundtrack)
9. "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling, featuring Lzzy Hale
10. "A Sky Full of Stars" by Coldplay
11. "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson
12. "Moon Pride" by Momoiro Clover Z (from the Sailor Moon Crystal soundtrack)
13. "I Am the Doctor (Remix)" by somebody on Tumblr (no idea who originally started this)
14. "Happy" by Pharrell Williams (from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack)
15. "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone (from many places, but I got it from the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack)
16. "Let It Go (Vivaldi's Winter)" by The Piano Guys
17. "Coming Home" by Skylar Grey
18. "Timeless" by The Airborne Toxic Event
19. "Ever Ever After" by Carrie Underwood (from the Enchanted soundtrack)
20. "The Last Goodbye" by Billy Boyd (from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies soundtrack)

And - get this - I've already got a couple songs in consideration for 2015's playlist (hopefully the year lives up to expectation. If not... well, at least the music will be good).

A few years ago, a blog that I followed did what were known as "Doom Antidotes." The idea being that there were so many bad things happening in the world and while it was the blog's job to chronicle some of it in the news, the guy who ran the blog made it a point to also actively seek out good things to spotlight. He asked readers to send in their contributions (since they were already sending in the bad stuff too) and tried to keep everyone's spirits up. It's so easy to get stuck worrying about the things you have no control over and freaking out about what you're going to do if and when The Inevitable Worst actually happens. While it's good to be prepared for bad things - you miss out on the good things when the bad is all that consumes you

I feel like I've spent so much time bogged down in the bad things that I've missed so much of the good (unless it came up and metaphorically smacked me in the head - which I did appreciate at the time). I suppose, if I must make New Years Resolutions (which - in all honesty - I started in on a few of mine back in October), then my big one is to find the good in life and focus on that. To complain less and stop adding to the doom and gloom, because that's easy to come by. Maybe I have to cut out certain media that I have heretofore enjoyed (I've already done some of that - it's amazing how much my attitudes and outlook changed when I stopped listening to/reading certain fandom personalities). Maybe I have to start looking for more upbeat and positive things to include in my life (hopefully that aren't too annoying - there was a reason I started down this path of cynicism, after all). It's not going to happen all at once, but it's going to happen over time.

And that's what I've got, isn't it?

Happiest of New Years to you and yours - make 2015 extra special! After all, this is the year we get hoverboards!

I've always been partial to the Pitbull, myself

2013 In Review - The Year of the Fangirl

2013 - The year for some really great memories. And here's hoping 2014 will only add to the pile of good things.

I guess it’s that magical time of year when we look back on the calendar year and (as long as nothing massive happens in the next three days) consider all the huge events that occurred.  I usually don’t do this because, well, it’s just a cheap way to make content.  The news media does it all the time as long as there’s (hopefully) no great natural disaster in a third-world country to do their fake hand-wringing about (come on - is there anything more insincere than a TV news anchor?)  Besides, there’s usually not much that I really want to discuss or even dig up from my past because it’s just too rage-inducing.  Plus, I never feel very connected to national or world events because I have such a low opinion of humanity in general and I know they’re all going to be idiots no matter what I do or say, so better to let them get on with the business of being idiots and maybe they’ll make enough rope to hang themselves with and I won’t have to do a damn thing about it (just because you may see feral dogs ripping each other’s throats out in public doesn’t mean you have to get in the middle of it to try and stop them. Words of wisdom, right there).

But you know, 2013 was one of my better years in recent memory - mostly because I decreed it to be the Year of the Fangirl and here’s the tweet to prove it:

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!! #YearOfTheFangirl #HappyNewYear
— Chrissy (@wildcat_media) January 1, 2013

Meaning that I was going to indulge in fannish delights and let the world sort itself out (or blow itself up - whatever it decided it wanted to do).  I guess since 2012 was such a colossal disappointment, I was tired of having high expectations for the year and I was envious of the people who didn’t seem to care that things were going to hell - so I decided to be one of those people.  The result: The Most Fun I’ve Had In a Good Long While.

(People talk about how pessimism is so damaging and terrible, but I think it was the best thing I ever did!  What’s the phrase? Now that I’ve given up hope, I feel much better).

Giving Reality the finger, one fanfic and Tumblr reblog at a time.

Anyway, I didn't start this to talk about how horrible the world is and how much faith I've lost in humanity.  I started this to talk about how ignoring all that shit helped me find the good things in life and enjoy them more fully.  So, here is the myriad of ways 2013 - The Year of the Fangirl - was the best year in recent memory -

- I started out as part of the Yule Ball committee, in which the library system I work for hosted a Harry Potter Yule Ball for teens.  It was basically a Prom for the literary minded and I found myself wishing there had been such things for me when I was a teenager (and I have no idea how this happened, but I have no pictures of it, sorry about that). In fact, that kind of dovetails into something else cool that happened this year - ToshoCON. Admittedly, I was more involved in ToshoCON than Yule Ball, but it all served the same purpose to show me how my hobbies and my day job combine to be something really spectacular and just a lot of fun.  I’m in my element with fellow geeks (even if they are younger than me - hey, they help me keep my priorities straight) and we’re just having a fun old time. So, yay library life!

- Speaking of conventions - this year I went to not one, but TWO conventions! The first I’d had planned for nearly a year previous and that was Gallifrey One in Los Angeles.  Meeting best friends I didn’t even know I had along with meeting stars of my favorite TV show - what could be more fun? (maybe going two years in a row would do it - fingers crossed!)

Oh, I know! Having the announcement a month later that Salt Lake City would be getting its very own Comic Con!  And after all the success and fun of that initial con - it turned into two! Recently, they announced that Salt Lake Comic Con would be expanding into two annual events, FanXperience in April and the regular Comic Con in the fall.  After being kind of an anomaly in this little niche culture we have in Utah, it’s nice to be recognized and appreciated for the growing demographic we are (and telling the scrapbooker, the outdoor retailer, and bridal conventions to suck it doesn't feel too bad either).

- Movies and books are always a hot topic in my life and 2013 was no exception.  A Memory of Light closed out “The Wheel of Time” in spectacular fashion. I took on the Goodreads Challenge to read (and review on Goodreads) 100 books by the end of the year (which I accomplished in October - clearly, I need to set a higher mark for myself) and I found some lovely little reads (and some not-so-lovely, but that’s part of the fun).  But another book I discovered this year was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (quite appropriate, don’t you think?)  And it’s all about fandom and being in a fandom and finding your way through real life while hanging onto fandom.  It’s perfect!

On the movie front - Marvel had some stellar entries with Iron Man 3 (shut up, it was good) and Thor: The Dark World. And count me as someone who actually enjoyed Star Trek Into Darkness (I guess I don’t have all the fanboy history to get all up-in-arms about whatever the problems were) and I did enjoy Man of Steel as well. Ender’s Game and Catching Fire were great too.

- Okay, so the BIG event of 2013 (and one that I spent extensive time talking about - not just here, but on Tumblr, Twitter, and on Traveling the Vortex through feedback) was the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who.  Between episode reviews/recaps and Librarian in the TARDIS and general geeking out over all things Who - I think that was a huge part of why 2013 was so great.  And the future of Doctor Who seems to be secure for the foreseeable future, so there will be plenty of wonderful delights to take part in soon - but the look back to the past this year was more fun than I can express.  Honestly, The Year of the Fangirl would not have been such a personal success without Doctor Who and for that I am extremely grateful.

So now, 2014.  I haven’t had a great track record with even-numbered years lately, but I’m ready.  The fangirling won’t stop and neither will the snark. So if you're expecting any of this to taper off... sorry - not happening!