TV Shows - October 2020 - April 2021(Part 1)

It might have been a while since I've done an update on the shows I've been watching, but I have been experiencing a real mix of things on television. Since I was only really watching one thing at a time, I didn't really have enough to do monthly updates, and then after that I didn't really know where to start! So over the next while I'll give you some mini-reviews on what I've been viewing so that we can get all caught up.

radiotimes.com

Bridgerton - Season 1

I devoured Bridgerton. Did I like it? Absolutely. Do I think it was good? No, no I don't. But it was fun, and addictive, and I definitely recommend it if you need a distraction from real life for several hours. Just...don't have any expectations about historical accuracy or anything (think The CW's Reign), or you will instantly hate it.

tvacute.com

The Spanish Princess - Season 1

I loved this. I have an absolute obsession with Tudor history, and a particular adoration of Elizabeth I and Catherine of Aragon. So, a show diving right in on Catherine and the tumultuous time between her journey to England and marriage to Henry VIII? I was excited, but also feeling very cautious. I think they did a brilliant job with it - keeping both to her character and Henry's, and also keeping it feeling historically accurate. I'm really looking forward to watching the next season.

TMST: Introvert or Extrovert

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the lovely Rainy Day Ramblings, and currently assisted by a team of bloggers, Roberta @ Offbeat YA, Karen @ For What It's Worth, Berls @ Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen @ That's What I'm Talking About, and Linda @ Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell.

This week's topic is: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Library Life: Holds Slips

When you request an item at a library, staff pull it off the shelf, check it in, and file it in a special location for pick-up. But, as masters of categorizing and putting items in order, you might be wondering just exactly how we file them. This brings up a few important issues in the library world:

• Ease of finding information - how easy is it for me to find your requested items when you come to collect them?
• Confidentiality - how can I protect your privacy so that other people don't know what you are taking out?
• Self-sufficiency - is there a method simple enough to allow the public to find their own items off the shelf, or must this always be done by staff?

In order to solve this dilemma, libraries have different methods for storing and sorting them, however they all follow similar principles.

Some libraries use slips of paper with a person's full name, sorting by their surname, and store them behind a counter for privacy. This is often done for smaller or more private libraries, as it requires a lot of space in a staff-only area.

Many, dare I say most, use specially coded "holds pick-up slips" that can be seen by the public. These involve some combination of a person's name as well as a number to help distinguish between similar names. So, a holds pick-up slip could have the first 3 or 4 letters of a person's last name, their first name, and perhaps, the last 4 numbers of their phone number. 

Most libraries I have been to, have it actually even more secretive than that, however. Most commonly, I have seen The first 3 or 4 letters of the last name, first initial, and a short sequence of numbers. The numbers usually correspond to either a barcode or a phone number, depending on the size of the library. This allows for privacy, as well as for people to be able to find their own items.

For example, mine would be something like ROGS1234

You might wonder, how private this really is though. Let me show you!

TMST: Blogging Challenges

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the lovely Rainy Day Ramblings, and currently assisted by a team of bloggers, Roberta @ Offbeat YA, Karen @ For What It's Worth, Berls @ Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen @ That's What I'm Talking About, and Linda @ Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell.

Blogging for the past year or so has been very difficult for me, and I'm working my way slowly back to it. But there have been other moments where I've wondered about the best way to continue. My biggest challenges have been:

Finding my reviewing style difficult to manage

Reading/watching things with no intent to review

So, what have I done to try and circumvent these?

I'm working on changing my reviewing style. I find it hard to accomplish, and it's kind of dry, and not very fun. Sure, it's trying to avoid too much bias...but, if you didn't want my opinion, why are you reading the blog, right? I can still provide some unbiased content, but it's much easier to just be myself and less structured!

I think that reviewing things in smaller chunks, and with the change to my reviewing style, this will sort itself out. But yes, I think about how I have to pay attention to something because it is something I will need to review later, and then lose interest in watching it. But, if I have a shorter, and less structured review, I think this will solve that. We'll see!

I have a lot to work on, and it's a bit of an uphill battle, but I think it will all be for the better in the long run.

All About Series

Book series are so popular, that many libraries and bookstores have sections devoted specifically to them, yet, not all series are created equal. Just because you like one type of series, doesn't mean you are guaranteed to like another style of them. There are three types of series I'm going to talk a bit about today:

Ordered Series

Unordered/Standalone Series

Companion Novels

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TTT: How About "Sea" You Never?

Thankfully for me, I'm pretty picky about what I read. And by that, I mean, I don't tend to pick up things that I am unlikely to enjoy or at least find okay. It's very rare that I actually hate a book. That brings me to the subject of this week's fun topic from That Artsy Reader Girl's Top Ten Tuesday, which is:

April 6: Books I’d Gladly Throw Into the Ocean (submitted by Beauty & Her Books)

So, that being said, even on this list there are only a handful that I actually hate. Here's what I came up with this week!

1) The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
No, I didn't have to read this for school, I read it voluntarily and still hate it with a passion. Top five most hated books I have read, and I legitimately couldn't find a single redeeming quality in it when I read it. I have heard some people say that it depends at what life stage you read it...but I don't think I ever hit the right one that would have let me appreciate this book.

2) Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
I'm sorry, but when you take out the woman's tampon for her to then have sex...I am so out. No, I have not made it the whole way through this one, but I've read enough of it to want to purge it from my memory.

3) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Perhaps one day I will try this book again, but I highly suspect that I will move on instead to other things that at least inspire some feelings other than extreme boredom and irritation. So frustrating, since some of her poems highly impacted me.

4) Losing Joe's Place by Gordon Korman
Perhaps I hate this book (and I do), or perhaps I just hate that it was read out loud to our class in eighth grade by a teacher I despised when I had a university reading level. Your call on that one ;)

5) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Do I hate this book? Yes and no. I love the idea of it so much, but I seriously despise Atwood's writing. And not just from this book - I have read some of her essays as well.

Binging T.V. Shows - Yay or Nay?

 In the past several years, with the popularity of streaming services such as Netflix, and the release of epic series like Game of Thrones, blasting through an entire season (or more) of a show in a short amount of time has become a normal phenomenon for many. Yet, where do you draw the line? When is too much?  That's what I'm going to talk about today.

Now, although I don't necessarily think binging a show is the healthiest thing on the planet (neither is necessarily reading for 12 hours straight either ;) ), I absolutely do it as well, and think that it's a great treat from time to time. And yet, I also experience some serious downfalls with it:

1) Physical symptoms - exhaustion, neck and shoulder strain, stiffness

2) Lack of recollection for details - I kind of remember what happened in the show, but what was that person's name? 

3) Less satisfaction - overall, the show isn't as good as if I had waited and watched it in stages

4) Stronger sense of loss - when it's over, if it's a short series, there is this strong sense of "nothingness" after. A longer duration between episodes gives you time to adjust to it not being there every moment, and you don't instantly go "yeah, but what do I do now?"

So, keeping those things in mind, is it really worth binging a show? Sometimes.

I think it's fun for short shows, or to binge an entire season and then watch things slowly for following seasons. I also love doing this when rewatching a season before the next one comes out as a refresher, but I definitely advise (at least for myself) against making it a habit.

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Do you like to binge watch shows? What are some of the positives to doing it for you? Do you find there to be any drawbacks?