Blog: The effects of binging (or not) on a televison or book series

(Worry not!  There are no Mockingjay spoilers in this post.  None at all!) 

Two weeks ago, I read HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins.  Last week, I read CATCHING FIRE and MOCKINGJAY.  I enjoyed the series very much, but it's too soon to say whether they are going to stick with me forever.  I do know that  as much as I liked them, I wouldn't have voted them as The #1 Best YA of All Time.

But what if I'd read the series the way that many others did?  Waiting a year between each book?  Would the anticipation of what was going to happen, how it was going to end, have made it have more of an impact on me?

It seems that for me, personally, the opposite is true.   I was really into the first four Harry Potter books, which I read boom, boom, boom, boom.  But I had to wait for book 5.  And then for book 6.  And then for book 7.  By the time the series ended, I still cared.  I did.  But I couldn't even remember a lot of the details of the earlier books.  I just wasn't as engaged as I'd been originally.

The same has held true for television.  I came into Buffy the Vampire Slayer late in the game.  I started watching the Seasons 1-5 reruns shortly before Season 6 aired on television.   Dwayne and I binged on it.  We started with Season 1 and watched two episodes a day, five days a week, for a full hundred episodes.  When that was over and we had to wait for Seasons 6 and 7 to air, I didn't like the series as much anymore.  I'm not sure if it's because the writing kind of sucked (which is what I tell myself) or if the time between episodes let my enthusiasm wane.  I hear of people saying Season 6 or 7 is their favorite season and I am shocked.  Shocked!

Veronica Mars and Friday Night Lights were shows that I quickly watched (and loved) the first season on DVD and then was let down by the second season, which I watched weekly as the episodes aired.  I wasn't sure if the quality decreased substantially (as I believe to be true) or, you know, that other option.  I loved One Tree Hill and Grey's Anatomy until I finally got caught up on the DVDs and then I grew to loathe and eventually quit them.

Battlestar Galactica and Alias were different.  Both series had ended before I got into them.  Which means I watched them both straight through.  Start to finish.  The quality did seem to decrease as they went on, but I wasn't as let down by the finales as many viewers who'd spent years of their lives watching these shows seemed to be.

I have no real conclusion to this entry, by the way.  I tend to think that binging on series can make for a more intense experience in the present.  The characters and storylines occupy my mind for those weeks/months and work their way into my dreams.  At the same time, binging can mean that when the DVDs are over, it's really over.  Everything fades more quickly because the show didn't have all those years to live in my subconscious.

Huh.  I guess I had a conclusion after all.  How about that?  :-)

Blog: Stolen (Book) Meme

I stole this meme from Courtney Summers who stole it from Anna Jarzab. 

All of this stealing! 

Now you should steal it!

5 Books I’ve Read Recently
1. The Hunger Games (and Catching Fire and Mockingjay) by Suzanne Collins
2. Stay by Allie Larkin
3. Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis
4. Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
5. The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff

5 Books I’m Planning to Read (in the near future)
1. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
2. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
3. I Know It's Over by C.K. Kelly Martin
4. You Wish by Mandy Hubbard
5. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

5 of My Favorite Books
1. Mermaids by Patty Dann
2. Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
3. Looking for Alaska by John Green
4. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
5. Guyaholic by Carolyn Mackler

5 of My Least Favorite Books
1. Twilight (If not for the hype, this wouldn't have even been on my radar. Which might be unfair to judge if for that, but it is what it is.)
2. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (Just not my style. Although, it has stuck with me.)
3. Bastard Out of Carolina (I read this over 10 years ago and it messed me up. I might be able to handle it better now.  Maybe.)
4. Rainbow Party (I know! It's a Pulse book. Loved the concept, but not so much the execution.)
5. Seventeen Against the Dealer (I don't hate this book. Not at all. I just think it was a dark ending to a series I really grew to love.)

5 of My Favorite Book-to-Film Adaptations
1.  Fight Club
2.  Beaches
3. The Princess Bride
4. A River Runs Through It
5. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Blog: Back to the Future and doing things over... if you could.

One of my favorite movies growing up was BACK TO THE FUTURE.  Michael J. Fox was so very cute and funny and cool to my eight-year-old adoring self--especially when he played "Johnny Be Good" at his parents' dance.  Swoon!

The DeLorean was the coolest car ever (the doors opened upward!) and whenever I'd play the MASH game in middle school with my friends, I'd make sure it was one of my car selections.  Also, the 50s details were really interesting to me, and my sister and I loved quoting George McFly.  "Gimme some milk.  Chocolate."   "I'm your density.  I mean, your destiny."

I mean, really, what wasn't there to love about this movie?

As I got older, though, the ending started to bother me.  I mean sure, Marty saves the day, gets his parents together just like they always should have been, and comes home to his life where Biff can't bully them and his family isn't just a bunch of screwups.  It's awesome to see that the choices that were made back in 1955 carried over into 1986 and they were all happier for it. 

BUT.  That means that Marty's life and all of his memories aren't real anymore.  There is a new reality and even though it's the true reality to everyone else, Marty and Doc are the only two who know what life would have been like if they hadn't unintentionally meddled in the past.  It's kind of sad, I think.

Over at The Contemps this week, we put together a short video (please watch it . . . if you wanna!) where a few of us (including me) finished the sentence, "If I could do over one day from my teenage years, it would be the day . . ."

For mine, I said, ". . . When I asked out a guy who later trashed my reputation and tried to slip me a roofie."

The thing is, there were a lot of bad days for me during my teen years.  A lot of bad choices I made, a lot of choices other people made that affected me adversely.  I chose to talk about that particular day because I was feeling like it was the one crappy thing that if I really could travel back in time, it wouldn't change the overall course of my life.  Asking this guy out caused me a lot of stress and grief for a long time.  But if I hadn't done it, I felt like I would still be me and have the life I have now.

I realized, though, in the weeks after filming my part in that video, that I was wrong.  The awful experiences I had with that guy (very, very, very, very) loosely inspired a subplot with Kendall in Freefall.  If I hadn't asked him out, I would not have written Kendall the way I did.  Who knows, really, how important my fictional character is in the scope of my life or the world at large?  Maybe not very.  But I am glad that I had those experiences because they might matter and make a difference to someone out there.  It could happen.

I've decided now, if I could do over one day from my teen years, it would be the day during spring break (I was 17) when I chose not to play Bingo with my grandma.  I'd always loved going with her when I was a kid, but that night I didn't feel like it.  She died a couple of weeks later.  I have no regrets; I spent that  whole week doing lots of fun things with her and even called and talked to her the night she died--not having any idea that it would be our last conversation.  Still, I would love to have just one more Bingo memory of her. 

I received copies of FREEFALL! Yes, the actual book!

Last night I alluded to an Unexpected Package that appeared on my porch.  Now that my camera battery is charged, I can show you what that package contained!

Oooooooh. Ahhhhhh. Ohhhhhh. It's finished copies of FREEFALL! Yay!!!!!!  These are identical in every way to the books that will be going on bookstore shelves in just...nineteen days (give or take).

So, there are a few differences between the Advance Reviewer Copy (ARC) and the real book. One is that the image on the front cover wraps along the spine and is mirrored on the back. (My thumb is kind of blocking the way, but you get the idea.)  On the ARC, the back cover didn't have the shattering glass and is just black with lettering.

Another difference is the look of the spine.   The book (which is on top) has a black spine, huge lettering for the title, and my first and last names.  I always liked the look of the light blue on the ARC's spine because I thought it stood out on the shelf beside other books.  (Not that my ARC was ever on a shelf.  I kept in near me at all times, which you probably see by how beat up the spine is.)  But I actually like this much better. It's kind of fancier and makes more of an impact, I think.

One thing I never liked much about the ARC is that the cover is glossy.  Which means that every time someone touches it, fingerprints galore!  Also, there was always so much glare when I took pictures of it!  (Ha.)  But as you can see, the book itself has a non-glossy finish, which I adore.  It was a surprise, too, because I'd gotten it in my head that the book was going to be glossy. 

One more thing:  the tagline (which reads:  Sometimes the edge is closer than you think) is larger on the book.  Another excellent adjustment!

So, as you might guess, I really love all the changes in the look of the Book vs. ARC.  I'm so very, very excited and can't wait for everyone else to be able to get their own!

I have to say, though, I am desperately attached to my ARC.  We've been together for so long, just me and my ARC, and now these new and improved finished copies are here, looking way snazzier and trying to steal my attention.  I need to pick one of the books to be My Personal Copy and finally move my ARC to the bookshelf so it won't get beat up further.  But I'll never forget all the times we've shared. ♥

Unexpected Package*.

Today has been a very stressful roller coaster day.  I'm not kidding.  Lowest lows. Pretty high highs.  I'm exhausted.  I feel (and look) like hell. But!  I came home to a package on my porch!  From my editor!

I would show you what was inside, but my camera battery is DEAD and I'm now charging it. 

Tomorrow, though.  Tomorrow I will post fabulous pictures of the items I received today.

*Heh.  I said, "Package."