It’s always difficult to come back after a small break. I took a two week break from blogging, because I was unable to sit down long enough to concentrate on writing. And it felt wrong, yet, I couldn’t push myself through that rut and here we are. Two weeks later, with almost no posts, no lists, no reviews and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. Trying to catch up with everything before 2017 arrives is going to be a challenge, but I will try my best. So this Commercial Break will be quite short, since I want to get to that long list of other posts as soon as possible!
LIFE
Tired. That’s pretty much the key word I would use to describe my state of mind these past couple of weeks. I haven’t been getting enough sleep, my free time has been stolen away by going for my treatments each week and doing some extra things for work as well. I don’t mind any of these things though, I want to get healthy and I wanted to do those extra things for work. I just over thought everything and didn’t get enough sleep, so I just felt a little down at the beginning of this month.
That being said, I do hope for a really good second half of the month! I have a lot more free time, I’m spending my Christmas back at home, and I plan to binge watch so many great shows, that it’s going to melt my brain! Also, I’m definitely going to read at least one or two more books this month, even though I’ve already succeeded with my reading challenge. And one of my biggest plans for this month, is to plan out my blog posts in January. Now, I know this might sound a little crazy, but I do want to get freakily organised with my blog. I feel like I can do it, I might fail a little every now and then, but I think planning ahead and being organised, is something I need to be consistent and productive.
That’s also like my biggest goal for 2017, to just keep track of everything, money, expenses, word counts, posts, thoughts.. I even have a really beautiful Daily Planner I got ages ago, and I’m eager to start using it. So if anyone has like good recommendations or reading materials on how to be more organised and more prepared, let me know because the more I know the better.
MOVIES
Not much has happened in my life in terms of movies or at least nothing good. I saw Office Christmas Party last week and it was horrible. There were some good jokes, and I actually enjoyed some aspects of it, but overall, totally pointless. The premise and the main plot were ridiculous, and the final act of the movie was completely stupid. I didn’t like it at all, and I’m not really surprised, because comedies aren’t my thing anymore.
The movie that I need to see soon is Moonlight. Not because it got a lot of nominations at the Golden Globes but because I have been wanting to see it for so long! The sad thing though, I don’t think they will show it at my local movie theater, which means I have no idea, how long I have to wait for it.
TV SHOWS
Now, I’ve been not so good with shows as well. I’m caught up with No Tomorrow, which got cancelled!!! And I’m pretty much caught up with Conviction, which got cancelled!! So, I have nothing new left to be excited about, except This Is Us, which got renewed (duh). Though, actually, Timeless got renewed the last time checked, so yes, a show with Matt Lanter in the lead is doing better than Hayley Atwell with her shows. At this point, I think Atwell is TV-cursed because she gets these pretty decent roles, and then she gets cancelled.
So I watched Westworld a lot in the beginning of the month and I’m happy with it. I’m not loving it on a high level, like I did with Stranger Things, but I like it, and I will watch it while rooting for the hosts! I think, since I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago in my Thursday Movie Picks post, I’m not a western person. I like sci-fi, I love it actually, but the western part of Westworld is not my favourite thing in the world. That’s just me, and I’m okay with it.
This week I do plan to finish watching The Night Of.. which I have been putting off for so long! Now that Riz Ahmed is a Golden Globe nominated actor for his role in that said series, and he plays in Rogue One, I feel like I’ve put off watching The Night Of… too long. I started, and then for some reason stopped, and I don’t know why because I love crime shows and Ahmed’s performance was exciting from scene one. And don’t even get me started on Atlanta.. like, I’m such a bad fangirl right now, it’s not even funny.
BOOKS & MUSIC
Took my time with picking up a big chunky high fantasy book but now I’m reading one, and it’s The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It’s his debut novel and it has a sequel, and I’m a little over 100 pages in, and I like it a lot! I’m waiting for that moment when I just can snuggle into my blankets, drink tea and read it while I have no obligations what so ever! I hope to finish it before Christmas, but I’m not sure. BUT if I get my hands on Crooked Kingdom, I will put The Name of the Wind down for a while, but I don’t see that happening either because my local bookstores seem to hate me and there’s no Crooked Kingdom!
Took my time to listen the entire albums by The Weekend and Childish Gambino, but Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book has been on replay for a week! I know I’m pretty late to the game but I’m glad I finally arrived! For me, at the moment, the stand out song is All Night because with such an emotionally and physically exhausting beginning of the month, the tempo of that song gives me energy!
LINKS
Cinematic Corner’s review of the Westworld season finale
Nocturnal Animals review by Rambling Film
Dan the Man’s take on Christmas Office Party
What to anticipate book wise in the beginning of 2017? Big City Bookworm shares a total of 10 must reads
FlixChatter shares her musings on this year’s Golden Globe nominations
yet another amazing list! I’m sorry that you have been feeling overwhelmed and tried lately. I know that feeling all too well and it isn’t fun. I hope you start to feel better soon! It may seem intimidating to plan and organize your blog posts in advance, but the second I started doing it, I felt way more productive! I had a funny feeling Office Christmas Party was going to be terrible, I could just tell from the trailer haha! I wish Westworld blew my mind a little more than it did. I saw too many fan predictions online and they were basically all right so there was a lack of shock there for me. I wish I hadn’t seen as many theories online as I did. Thank you again for featuring one of my posts! 🙂 <3
I do feel a bit better and if I survive until Monday I’m good because the worst of this month is over. Thank you for the support! Did you read any posts or books about being more organised ? I’ve been looking into bullet journals but they seem too much work and I can’t even fill out a daily planner so I think I’ll start with something small! So we’re in the same boat with Westworld, phew, I’m not the only one. And the online theories did shadow the final episodes a bit for me as well! And you’re welcome! 😉
I also looked into Bullet Journaling, but it definitely looks like a lot of work and I probably wouldn’t keep up with it unfortunately 🙁 I do have an agenda though that helps me plan things out! Once I started using that I couldn’t stop. Agendas/planners are definitely the way to go for me personally!
Hey Getter, thanks for the link!
I hear ya… I feel a little overwhelmed as well and I’m still trying to catch up on writing posts for TCFF back in October! It’s been super cold here in Minnesota (temps in the minus and single digits Fahrenheit, ugh) so that adds to the fatigue feeling I’ve been having.
I honestly don’t know how long I can keep up w/ blogging, as my attention has shifted to screenwriting now. Well at least there’s my script reading in January I’m looking forward to, and I’m also hoping to binge on Westworld around Christmas break.
Conviction got full on cancelled? lololololol
(sorry, I’m bitter AF for ABC cancelling Agent Carter, so I wanted that show to fail)
Thanks for the link!
“On November 8, 2016, ABC announced there will be no back-order for more than the 13 contracted episodes;[5] however, the remaining episodes will air.”
So yeah, it’s done.. it isn’t critically loved and so on, but I did enjoy Manny Montana so I’m a bit sad for him. I hope I see him soon enough! (The man has a killer jawline!!)
You don’t know how happy it makes me to see you’re reading The Name of the Wind! It’s my favourite book ever, and the author is such a lovely guy. The sequel is just as good and there’s a third book coming, too 🙂
– Allie
Omg, a third book! I looked at both books with wild eyes back when I bought the first one, and then it was in my TBR for the longest time. Now I’m half way through and I love it! I think I will treat myself with the second book soon and start 2017 with that one. And then I have tons of other big books for 2017 I need to get to. Plus, a bigger reading challenge. Oh boy, I’m really putting myself up for a failure this year. 😀
I like sci-fi part of Westworld but as a huge fan of Deadwood the western angle is just the best for me. My favorite scenes are all the ones where Ed Harris has his gun out 😛
I still haven’t watched Deadwood.. I think it’s the western aspect that is putting me off though I don’t see no reason it should. I guess it’s just the matter of preference. My favourite is the scene where I realised it was Hector was Karl. :’D
Happy you were able to enjoy your break! It was disappointing to hear about Convicted, and I really want to get back into Timeless. Sorry to hear about Office Christmas Party. Kate McKinnon is hilarious on SNL but I hope she doesn’t get sucked down a road of making crappy comedies. Hope you get a chance to see Moonlight too!
Nah, McKinnon was the best part actually because she had some sort of character development! And I do hope she’s not the next Melissa McCarthy with movie roles.