Binge-Worthy Stories

Like a bear, I tend to hibernate in the winter. I curl up inside under blanks and in many layers of clothes. I pull the dog up onto the couch with me to increase the snuggling and warmth factor and allow myself to binge on a lot of things I wouldn’t normally allow when the weather is nicer and I have less excuses for being an inside hermit. So while I say I hate winter–I do, I’m totally a summer kind of person–I’ve also made the best of it. It’s the only time I really allow myself to watch TV without personal judgment. Hours spent in front of the TV, paging through blogs, reading obscure articles, reading for hours on end while I let the dishes pile up? TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR IN WINTER. Totally permissible choices for winter leisure activities.

Summer is for outside and for travel and for doing things and seeing things besides book pages (though book pages while laying out by the pool or beach is also totally acceptable!)

So I read a lot in the winter. But I also consume stories in other ways, usually in a binging sort of way. Netflix and podcasts and series totally accommodate that craving. Also, there is the associated binging sort of consumption of fresh-from-the-oven brownies and chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate and homemade soup (to balance it out).

Despite a big ‘ol snow storm on the first day of spring, we’re finally starting to get some nice-ish weather here in New Jersey. It’s time to pack away the Netflix and other things (though podcasts are all-seasons friendly! Won’t be giving those up!). Winter was pretty much a montage of the following:

First Draft Podcast with Sarah Enni. Interviews with awesome YA authors, many of them debuts, as they discuss their childhood, how they came to fall in love with writing, and their writing process. Love!

Broadchurch, Season 1. I’ll admit it. I watched all of this in one bleary-eyed evening on Netflix. I HAD TO KNOW WHO ‘DUN IT! It was fantastic. I am told that this was also Americanized, with the same main actor David Tennant, in the show Gracepoint, but…who in their right mind would prefer to watch the same story played out in an American setting when it could be set on the English coast with all the people speaking in ENGLISH ACCENTS? I question these sorts of life choices other people make. I really do.

Serial Podcast. I was probably the last person in the world who listened to this–you all already listened to this too, didn’t you?–so I didn’t understand why everyone was talking about it all the time at work. By the time I finally listened to it–barely pausing for breaks, listening to it while I walked the dog, drove to work, took my lunch hour, did the dishes–nobody wanted to talk about it with me anymore… I have complicated personal feelings on the American judicial system for reasons and this podast really made me critically think.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Season 1. I was also late to the game on this one. Funny, fluffy, different. Binged it in a week on Netflix.

Parks and Rec, All the Seasons. I watched all the seasons this winter, except the final one that just came out. I know. YEARS late to this fangirl party. But OMG. This show got me. And–many can attest to this–I rarely think anything is funny. I often watch comedy show standup and shows like The Office, totally open to laughing, but instead, while generally enjoying it, usually only cracking a few smiles total. But I cried happy tears so many times watching this show! Among other things, it had the best representation of best (girl) friends I’ve ever seen in a television show.

Agent Carter, Season 1. I have already spoken about this before on the blog, but this was SO GOOD it begs repeating. As a general rule, I love Marvel movies and Agent Carter was like an eight-hour long, kick-ass Marvel movie finally staring a smart lady AND IT WAS IN 1940s PERIOD NEW YORK CITY. It gave me superheros and supervillians and historical fiction and amazing costumes/shoes in one tidy package. Perfect.