Things I Like - January

1) Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Duh.  I mentioned that Matt and I went to see it opening night and it was totally worth the $11 tickets and paying for a sitter and only getting about 6 hours of sleep afterwards.  It was a legit good action movie but obviously more exciting for fans of any of the other movies (mainly the original trilogy since most people seem to want to forget the prequels ever happened although I argue that the originals aren't nearly as amazing and the prequels nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be).  The new characters were all interesting and easy to care about after only two hours (Luke almost daily changes his favorite character but Rey, Finn, and BB-8 are mentioned a lot) and, even as someone who didn't grow up on Star Wars, it was exciting to see the old characters and droids and things.  We've gone twice so far (once without Luke and once with) and are contemplating a third since the DVD isn't out until September (which we might have already pre-ordered).  If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth the eventual rental.  Or really worth seeing it in theaters.  I got chills, multiple times.

2) Secret New York

Adult coloring books are definitely a thing right now.  I know multiple people who got one recently and an employee at Jo-Anns told me they can't keep colored pencils in stock because everyone wants them for their coloring books.  I have this one and it really does help calm me down.  I've spent many a happy naptime this month watching Cougar Town and coloring and I really feel more relaxed afterwards.

Especially when Matt started sharing his good colored pencils (with SO MANY MORE colors than I have) a few weeks ago.  We've had a joint bank account since shortly after getting engaged but he still won't let me combine our colored pencils.  This is serious stuff.

There are many many different ones online and in stores.  I have my eye (wish list) on this Paris one next.

3) The Martian

I mentioned that Matt and I (both!) enjoyed reading The Martian book.  It was interesting and unlike most other books I read (maybe the first sci-fi book I've ever read).  So we pre-ordered the Blu-Ray (got it for less than $10, thanks to AllThingsTarget pointing out a deal) and watched it a few weeks ago.  The book is a little long so obviously a lot had to be cut to make a reasonable movie but it was entertaining and funny and a little tense (even though we knew how the book ended).  My husband has a lovely, not at all annoying, habit of always trying to predict what's going to happen next in movies while I usually prefer to watch in silence in figure it out myself.  But this is one time we actually both kept pointing out things that were different from the book or things that were skipped (you probably wouldn't want to watch this with us unless you had also read the book).  And we both agreed that it was a pretty accurate adaptation.  I got chills at the end which means it was effectively emotional.  Worth a Redbox for sure.

4) Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

We take rather great pride in the fact that we live in a very walkable area, even mentioning in it all three versions of our adoption profile. We often talk about how we prefer vacation lodging in a walkable area: restaurants, shops, etc.  I never really knew it was a thing though, with real people considering it as a problem/solution so this was fascinating!  Downtown has been doing a lot to fix it up, get more people down there, etc. and this book made me feel like a expert and want to go to a city planning meeting and tell them all that they are doing wrong (tons of one-way streets for one).  Not that I am an expert by any means but this pointed out so many solutions and corrected so many wrong assumptions I had as well (free parking is not the answer!).  I don't really know what I'm going to do with all this knowledge now but I feel better for having it.

5) Agent Carter

 

Except not in one week, it started over a week ago.  Agent Carter was Captain America's love interest in the first Captain America movie, before he was frozen and missed his date.  She got her own tv show a year ago and season 2 is now airing.  They are short season, 10ish episodes which doesn't make for a long commitment.  She's definitely tough and more capable than most (all) of her male collegues which makes it fun to watch.  With Rey is getting so much (deserved) praise for being a fully formed female Star Wars character, Agent Carter is the same for Marvel.  Beyond the initial Captain America connection there isn't much holding it to the movies but it's still great fun to watch and the fashion and set decorations are fantastic.  I like it more than Matt but he'll still watch it with me too.  Makes me wish I knew more about self-defense and could kick some (literal) butts myself.  On ABC Tuesdays at 9 (which I wouldn't have known except for that handy picture above.  I LOVE having a DVR.  Seriously life changing.)