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Books and movies of 2016
Dec. 31st, 2016 03:06 pmA fond farewell, okay maybe not that fond, to 2016. It's been a long year. I'm hoping 2017 is a better one.
Of the movies I saw, very few do I recall. And most are relatively recent viewings.
* Florence Foster Jenkins was a delight. It's about an opera singer who can't sing, and gets rave reviews for her comedic style.
* Captain America: Civil War -- turned out to be a deft take on our current political situation in more ways than one. And an interesting character study of Iron Man, not Captain America, which was interesting. It approached the same topic that Batman vs. Superman did, but from a far more interesting angle and with attention to character.
* Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them -- was better than expected, and a nice addition to the Harry Potter franchise. Taking it in a slightly different direction. Also Eddie Redmayne continues to enthrall.
* Zootopia had some interesting moments, and some rather funny bits here and there. Mixed feelings regarding the overall execution.
Of the books? Eh ditto.
* The Mercy Briggs urban fantasy series didn't quite hold up to expectations. Was uneven in places, although enjoyable for the most part.
* Euphoria by Lily King, is more memorable for being the last book the book club I'd attempted to join read. They didn't really want to discuss the main focus of the book, which I found odd. Instead they wanted to discuss religion, which the book didn't talk about much at all. Note to self -- veer away from book clubs that sprout from religious organizations. I'd been warned. So only have myself to blame. I'm not very religious and religions for the most part tend to annoy me. I find them to be more divisive than uniting for some reason. I think it is because people have a tendency to link their beliefs with their egos, and aren't very tolerant of any beliefs that differ from their own. Even my own church, which is about as non-religious as one can get and still believe in God and belong to a church, UU, irritates me at times.
Anyhow, Euphoria sort of discusses that, but mainly it delves into the morality of studying a culture different than your own, as if your own is superior to it. Also about racism and to a degree misogyny. I can see why these topics made the book club ladies a wee bit uncomfortable. But it was, to be fair, supposed to.
* Lots of Zen Buddhist Mindfulness books -- none of which I made it through. Continuing my habit of buying self-help, meditative, philosophical books -- and getting bogged down in the middle of them. I make it half-way through and my critical brain starts questioning the premise and thinking, wait a minute...and damn this is repetitive. Seriously, they couldn't have found a better writer? Eckort Toll's The Power of Now -- I made it to page 100 or so, and began to roll my eyes. He'd got a bit silly and defensive. I preferred "The Mindfulness Workbook" and a Zen Buddhist Monk's book on Mindfulness that I forget the name of -- but in both cases, I questioned the idea that bliss comes from emptying oneself completely of thought and just being. It's possible to just be for about an hour or so, but eventually...you do have to think. Methinks these people have caretakers who take care of all of their needs, so all they have to do is sit and meditate.
Will state reading the books and practicing the technique, if only for an hour or two, lifted my depression and reduced my anxiety greatly without any need for medication. So I do highly recommend meditation for anyone suffering from anxiety or depression. It works by emptying your mind of negative thoughts. Okay, not quite, it's more like you notice the negative thoughts but are able to just look at them the same way you might notice a passing rain cloud. Oh, that's a rain cloud. But there's a nice rainbow, behind it.
It was the only thing that's helped me. Letting go of the thoughts, and focusing on the moment or task at hand. And to a degree the book by the Buddhist monk helped with that, as did Eckort Toll.
But I was also doing it long before I read either. (shrugs)
* Lots of romance novels. Don't remember them very well. They blur together. The Joanna Bourne Spymaster series is among the more memorable and interesting.
I think I have a Good Reads 2016 books I've read...but I'm ignoring it, mainly because I didn't review all the books I'd read on it. And a lot of the books I read aren't worth mentioning.
Of the movies I saw, very few do I recall. And most are relatively recent viewings.
* Florence Foster Jenkins was a delight. It's about an opera singer who can't sing, and gets rave reviews for her comedic style.
* Captain America: Civil War -- turned out to be a deft take on our current political situation in more ways than one. And an interesting character study of Iron Man, not Captain America, which was interesting. It approached the same topic that Batman vs. Superman did, but from a far more interesting angle and with attention to character.
* Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them -- was better than expected, and a nice addition to the Harry Potter franchise. Taking it in a slightly different direction. Also Eddie Redmayne continues to enthrall.
* Zootopia had some interesting moments, and some rather funny bits here and there. Mixed feelings regarding the overall execution.
Of the books? Eh ditto.
* The Mercy Briggs urban fantasy series didn't quite hold up to expectations. Was uneven in places, although enjoyable for the most part.
* Euphoria by Lily King, is more memorable for being the last book the book club I'd attempted to join read. They didn't really want to discuss the main focus of the book, which I found odd. Instead they wanted to discuss religion, which the book didn't talk about much at all. Note to self -- veer away from book clubs that sprout from religious organizations. I'd been warned. So only have myself to blame. I'm not very religious and religions for the most part tend to annoy me. I find them to be more divisive than uniting for some reason. I think it is because people have a tendency to link their beliefs with their egos, and aren't very tolerant of any beliefs that differ from their own. Even my own church, which is about as non-religious as one can get and still believe in God and belong to a church, UU, irritates me at times.
Anyhow, Euphoria sort of discusses that, but mainly it delves into the morality of studying a culture different than your own, as if your own is superior to it. Also about racism and to a degree misogyny. I can see why these topics made the book club ladies a wee bit uncomfortable. But it was, to be fair, supposed to.
* Lots of Zen Buddhist Mindfulness books -- none of which I made it through. Continuing my habit of buying self-help, meditative, philosophical books -- and getting bogged down in the middle of them. I make it half-way through and my critical brain starts questioning the premise and thinking, wait a minute...and damn this is repetitive. Seriously, they couldn't have found a better writer? Eckort Toll's The Power of Now -- I made it to page 100 or so, and began to roll my eyes. He'd got a bit silly and defensive. I preferred "The Mindfulness Workbook" and a Zen Buddhist Monk's book on Mindfulness that I forget the name of -- but in both cases, I questioned the idea that bliss comes from emptying oneself completely of thought and just being. It's possible to just be for about an hour or so, but eventually...you do have to think. Methinks these people have caretakers who take care of all of their needs, so all they have to do is sit and meditate.
Will state reading the books and practicing the technique, if only for an hour or two, lifted my depression and reduced my anxiety greatly without any need for medication. So I do highly recommend meditation for anyone suffering from anxiety or depression. It works by emptying your mind of negative thoughts. Okay, not quite, it's more like you notice the negative thoughts but are able to just look at them the same way you might notice a passing rain cloud. Oh, that's a rain cloud. But there's a nice rainbow, behind it.
It was the only thing that's helped me. Letting go of the thoughts, and focusing on the moment or task at hand. And to a degree the book by the Buddhist monk helped with that, as did Eckort Toll.
But I was also doing it long before I read either. (shrugs)
* Lots of romance novels. Don't remember them very well. They blur together. The Joanna Bourne Spymaster series is among the more memorable and interesting.
I think I have a Good Reads 2016 books I've read...but I'm ignoring it, mainly because I didn't review all the books I'd read on it. And a lot of the books I read aren't worth mentioning.