(December 17 – 23)
This week is all about that final run up to Christmas: that day that always lurks right near the end of the year, and then suddenly appears around the corner even when you think you’ve been watching out for it.
This time around I’ve mostly had two things on my mind: have I bought all the presents I need to get? And how long till my Christmas break starts? Preston buying this year has been a fluid and organic process. I’ve mostly been on top of it, but there’s constantly just ‘a few more presents’ to buy. Even when those presents are bought, there’s the wait for the last few deliveries to come. And when all the presents have come, then there’s the wrapping. But it all eventually leads to the giving, which is the really fun part.
Meanwhile, this week is also the last week of work for the year, and I feel more ready for a break than ever. I believe this is mostly because of what the break offers, than for any particular work-related sentiment. Not only do I get a weekend with my New Favourite Person, but I get to catch up with most of my friends, I have the traditional Christmas Eve viewing of Die Hard, I have Christmas Day, and then I have the best part of a week where I don’t have to get up and go to work. It’s one of my favourite weeks of the year; where normal routine is dropped and you can just do whatever you want.
Watching
After failing to keep up with The Good Place for several weeks, I sat down with the Elderbeast at the start of this week to wrap up series three … only to find that we’re still three episodes away from the end. Oh well, it was good to get caught up and I’m constantly impressed at the way the show manages to reinvent and reinterpret its premise.
I’m also continuing to make my way through The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina which, while filling a Buffy-shaped hole in my life, is very much its own thing and very enjoyable for it. I remain intrigued by the blurry camera effect. All I’ve been able to learn about it so far is that it bugs the hell out of a whole bunch of people on the internet. I don’t mind the effect too much myself, but I’m keen to understand the rationale behind it. It’s most obvious during scenes that involve magic, but then also appears during other, completely everyday scenes.
For Fridate we watched Bird Box (thanks, Netflix). As you’ll see below I also finished the book. Overall I found the film did a better job with the story than the book did. It’s fascinating to compare the two: the plot is broadly the same, a lot of the same beats are in there. However, the film has tweaked a few things, changed characters, moved a few plot points around, and general told a more satisfying story with a lot of the same pieces. Perhaps the most effective change is to add in
Reading
I managed to finish Bird Box this week, as I set out to do. It was a perfectly fine book, but probably not one I’ll be recommending to anyone. While the premise was intriguing, there was an overall lack of substance and the ‘interesting idea’ behind the story remained nothing more than an interesting idea.