Thanksgiving vs. Christmas: What season is it anyway?

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I got this comic as it cruised around Facebook. I just love the pie in the corner.

I have been meditating on this topic for some time. Pretty much since August when the first hints of merchandise hit the less visible store shelves, and my knee-jerk reaction was to throw ornaments at the stock-clerk. I’ve seen a social media post here or there about how it really doesn’t bother people.

“Commercialism has no effect on me!”

“Why not have one big holiday season that never really ends? It’s great!”

“It’s all the same, because all good things come from the same source.”

Perhaps it is because my natal day rests smack in the middle of the month of November that I feel a strange fidelity to Thanksgiving as a distinct entity. Or maybe I have a greater appreciation than many of my city dwelling friends for the blessing of the harvest. I am married to a farm boy. Perhaps I am just a Grinch at heart (you know, one that’s a few sizes too small). But the longer I ponder the more I believe it is my personal reverence for Christmas that leads me to shriek angry epithets at the giant candy canes that appear in the Target parking lot the day after Halloween.

You see I believe, whole heartedly, that familiarity breeds contempt, or at the very least, apathy. Human brains (especially adult brains) can only see the same stuff over and over again before they weed it out as white noise. Which means for me, all holiday decorations become white noise somewhere around November 20th. AND IT IS PISSING ME OFF BECAUSE I LOVE CHRISTMAS.

My adamance regarding the start of the season being solidly the day after Thanksgiving stems from a belief that the Christmas season is sacred. As the northern hemisphere darkens we look towards the light of Christ. We ponder the truth that like each of us he came into the world an innocent babe. Through miraculous and simultaneously humble circumstances he entered mortality. Yet unlike us, as he grew and learned he retained his innocence. He led a life of such goodness that all the universe became burdened with love for him. And that perfect love allowed him to break the bands of death, suffer for our transgressions, and then claim us as his own before the Father, that we might share in His glory.

The world cannot produce the preciousness of the Christ child. It cannot replicate the whisperings of the Holy Spirit that draw us nearer to our maker and teach us eternal truths. All the world can make is stuff that will eventually end up in a landfill. (Now envision Jim Carry’s green hairy face as he says, “You see what I’m saying here? In your garbage.”) And yet for some reason it is as if the corporate world thinks that they can copy/paste the trappings of a holy day enough times to make us think it is December 20th, and spend our dollars accordingly.

Yes we hang lights, we trim trees, we give gifts, but this should all be done with the meaning of each symbol in our minds and on our lips to our families and friends. That is not possible when “Grandma Got Run-over by a Reindeer” has been on the radio since November 1st. Keeping the season small forces us to keep it sacred. Minimizing the time we have for the trappings helps us prioritize.

By this point there are some (most) of you that are thinking that I am a total kill-joy. “What about Santa? What about Rudolph and Frosty cartoons? Can’t we at least sing Jingle Bells without you jumping down our throats?” I get it. I do. And I am all for children pouncing on their parents at 5am Christmas morning screaming Christmas carols and “look what Santa brought me!” But here’s the deal. Kids make their own magic, when the adults make meaning. When the grownups in their lives make things spiritual, their instinct is wide-eyed wonder. To me that is what Christmas is. It is viewing our Savior with the innocent astonishment of children who are understanding for the first time that angels, REAL ANGELS, appeared to shepherds who were just doing their jobs one night. Marveling that three men with the education and means to do and be whatever they wanted traveled hundreds of miles to lay extraordinary gifts at the feet of a toddler. To understand that the love of God was so powerful it called into existence a new star that shown so brightly it astonished the world.

Perhaps it is simply commentary on my own cynical nature. Maybe it is just me. But I want to be delighted when I hear the first crumby rendition of “Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart” come Black Friday on the radio, rather than roll my eyes in utter disgust when I stumble over it on Dia De Los Muertos. I want to step into the season of wonder deliberately. Not have it pushed at me by someone else’s retail schedule. And more than that I want my kids to know, this time, this month is different. This one is special. It’s not like the other times before. And that can’t happen if the season never really starts because for Walmart it never really ended.

I sincerely hope this rant hasn’t dampened anyone’s spirit. I only hope that it will cause you to pause and reflect on what having a season of Christmas means to you. Now you know what it means to me.

I wish all of you an excellent Thanksgiving: full of foods we tolerate for traditions sake (turkey is always dry, always. I will be roasting a chicken instead), awkward family conversations (“Indians should be glad we let them sell their jewelry on the side of the highway in AZ”- actual quote from a relative one year), and of course gratitude for the abundance that surrounds us in the USofA. And then I hope as I post about the holiday traditions and trimmings of my own life in the coming weeks you find them uplifting, fun, and full of Christmas magic in the heart of a very special season.

Anika Goes to the Movies: Interstellar

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Technically, the title should have been Intergalactic. But I suppose Interstellar is technically correct, too.

Quick rating: Somewhere between 3.25 and 4 stars/5 depending on the portion of the movie. It was long. REALLY long. But some of it was really good. So I’m glad I saw it on the big screen, but I’m not going back for seconds, either in the theater or at home.

In complete antithesis to the movie this one is quick. The movie is worth the long sit through. Really wonderful in terms of provoking thought and playing with science and realistic future hardships. And just conceptually wow. Really. Wow.

Execution is not terrible. I didn’t even hate Anne Hathaway one time (a first for me since Devil Wears Prada). Matthew McConaughey is great. That is almost always true, but this time it really is. I didn’t find Casey Affleck annoying. A pleasant surprise. And really the whole cast was pretty great.

I keep feeling like there had to be a way to condense the thing, though. I mean, three hours? It’s not that I regret it, and frankly I wish that more film makers would make films that warrant real length to accommodate their depth. But with this one, it just felt a little forced from time to time. Almost like if we shaved 20 minutes it would have been perfect. I’m just not 100% sure where those minutes would come from. Apparently neither was Christopher Nolan, cause he left it all in there.

And I’m sorry, but the score is just not great. Or least it isn’t well placed. The one bit that made me really happy because it was perfectly jarring was the cut to silence when MM is getting his 23 years worth of messages. Just gut wrenching enough to be awesome. The rest. . . whatevs.

There you have it. I could go deeper and divulge all kinds of stuff, but it would just take the fun out of it. No need to pick this one apart. Go see it in the theater, the big screen is where the impact is. The chances of me owning this one are slim to I-hope-it-comes-with-a-gift-reciept.

For anyone curious, I have read the Hunger Games series so I will not be reviewing the upcoming film. But I’m totally going to go see it! In all likelihood the next few posts will not be me at the movies *sigh* Too much else to do.

But I do have a great series and a giveaway coming up for the first week of December so stay tuned. Keep reading. Keep watching. And I’ll be back the next time Anika Goes to the Movies.

Anika Goes to the Movies: The Book of Life

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So last week I asked everyone what I should see and no one had an opinion so I went to see The Book of Life with my sister. It was fun-ish. I had buyers remorse. I was hoping for the Hispanic equivalent (in terms of greatness and setting the bar) of The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was not so.

Quick Rating: 3.25/5 It was cute. But wait until it comes to Redbox, and then you might even want to have a “free night” code.

*In sign-song neener-neener voice* Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.

*And again* Spoilers, Spoilers, Spoilers!!

*waves flashing sign* DETOUR! Spoilers ahead.

After the previous posts I am deciding to trust you now. . . let’s hope that’s a good choice.

The animation- was good-ish. Really cool in the “land of the remembered” Relatively lame everywhere else, especially in the town. Not much that felt original or authentic.

The characters- The guys were fairly two dimensional. The girls were absurd, but I think I will save a deeper discussion of that for a later post I am working on about female characters in storytelling. Just know that I have no interest in my girls becoming like any of the characters presented in this film. Everyone who was not a main character, with two exceptions, just sort of blends into the background. The priest, turned luchador(sp? my computer seems to hate all the spellings of this word since it’s Spanish) is amusing. Not original, but amusing. And the pink pig is pretty cute. Other than that and the nun choir that sings everything, it’s pretty much, meh. And it’s almost like the writers wanted it that way. They had dozens of characters or groups of characters that are obviously meant to be caricatures. It’s a style choice, I guess, but it was so not working for me. Also we learn that even when you don’t have to put up with his stupid facial expressions, Channing Tatum is not a good actor. And his accent did this stupendous disappearing act from time to time. Poof! Gone! And then back again! I was not amazed.

The story- Is not terrible. In fact, the merits of the story are pretty much what save the movie. The action is fast paced, but not so much so that you get to the middle or end and think, “Wait, how did we get here?” There are plenty of places where things slow down just enough for us to appreciate the few things that are done well in characterization. You get the epic quest feel without it being too campy, some fun surprises along the way, and a rather satisfying(though fairly hokey) last stand. I won’t give away too much, as that is the one thing you can look forward to, an interesting story. My one beef is that the female protagonist, Maria, is pressured into marrying Channing Tatum so that he will stay and protect the town. Why wouldn’t he stay anyway? It’s HIS home town, too. Is it because the town couldn’t pay him enough? Did other towns need him more? Why does she have to marry him to keep him there? No good explanation for this at all. Boo.

The music- One thumb up, One thumb down. Most of the songs throughout the film are covers. Some are great, like the latinized version of Mumford and Sons’ “I Will Wait for You.” Others were sad grasps after a specific feeling that just came off cliche and painful. “Fools Rush In” should not be rerecorded. It’s done. Let it go. And in my opinion, even as a ridiculous joke, the lyrics, “If you think I’m sexy, and you want my body, come on baby, let me know,” don’t belong in a PG film. Yuck. Oddly, the few original pieces done for the movie were lovely or fun and upbeat. So. . .*shrug*

The cultural over tones: I’m pretty baffled as to how a hispanic writer/director could willingly pour so much obvious stereotype into a kids film. If it was meant to be ironic or sarcastic in someway, kids aren’t going to get that. Examples: The mariachi band of the town is three fat guys of sequential height with clothes that don’t fit who never prove to be decent musicians, the “men” of the town are four nearly identical super thin guys with mustaches who cower every time anything vaguely frightening happens; the young women of the town are also nearly identical, what most of us would call fairly pretty, hide behind their fans, and look down on the female protagonist because, “she reads books for fun;” the bandits also all look the same except for the big scary boss that must be defeated in the end. He gave the country of Mexico a mustache. Like you zoom in over the country, map style, and it has this massive mustache. So all valid hispanic men have mustaches or something? Again, if it is supposed to be a joke, I don’t get it. Going back to the animation, it is almost like the director/screen writer, Jorge R. Gutierrez, thought that it would be really cool to animate a movie in the style of the Dia De Los Muertos aesthetic, and needed a story to go with it. He found himself having to make stuff up for the living in order to animate the dead and fell back on his training from MAD TV where he animated for two years. *shrug*

Overall: It was cute. It was interesting. It was a little dumb and not something I want to own. *shrug* Which seems to be my reaction to just about all of it.

Well, enjoy whatever you are watching until the next time Anika Goes to the Movies. And by the way, I am always willing to entertain suggestions. That’s what the comment section is for.

Integrity in Every Industry

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There’s been quite a hullabaloo in literary circles of late about the love/hate relationship between reviewers and writers. I don’t like to make knee-jerk comments on issues that are this highly charged. Letting them stew tends to allow the language center and the limbic system of my brain time to mesh with each other.

And I think my opinion on the subject comes down to integrity.

Before I dive in too deep I want to make it explicitly clear that this post is in no way pointed at anyone specific. These are general observations and ideas for/about the industry as a whole. Moreover, REVIEWERS ARE AWESOME!! Also, AUTHORS ARE AWESOME!! We are, however, also people. And sometimes people just suck. No getting around it.

But integrity can help us be true to our awesome natures. In fact, I’m reasonably certain that might be a functional definition of the word. In a situation like the one The Guardian reported on in recent weeks, integrity on both sides of the story would have eliminated the bizarre circumstances and made the whole thing evaporate. And there were plenty of places along that journey that an act of honesty would have neutralized what became such a controversial and chilling story.

Since I am one, let’s start with authors.

When you write a book, you want to make sure it is successful. You have a vested interest in it performing well and in it being represented fairly. The first step to this is write a GOOD book. And then be honest with yourself about what you wrote. If you are putting a bunch of teenage sex on the page, you are inviting your reviewers into conversations about rape and slut-shaming and all kinds of other dicey topics. So don’t be shocked when they engage in such discussions. Even if you are thinking to yourself, that’s not how I meant it, that’s not how I see it, you work in a subjective industry where other people get to make up their own minds about what the author presents. You don’t want people to say that you are making light of a certain disease/group/social issue? Don’t write about it. HOWEVER, if you feel like you really need to write about that topic, then be realistic with yourself about the potential for others to take your words out of context. Their own experiences are going to color the way they see your story. Deal with it. Move on.

That, however, does not mean you role over and take abuse. There are channels and means available to authors to push back against unfair and inaccurate reviews. Report the bad in the way recommended by the site. Rally your troops to go review your book in positive terms with lots of stars!! Do the due diligence of marketing by getting your book into as many hands as possible so that you can (hopefully) drown out the haters with positivity. Do not engage in online debates about your book, let other readers who get your vision do that. And if there is no one standing up for you, then maybe it is time to admit that this book wasn’t a great offering. Maybe you need more study/practice/editing for the next time around.

STALKING THE REVIEWER IS NOT COOL!! MAKING PEOPLE FEEL AFRAID FOR EXPRESSING AN OPINION (regardless of how idiotic or vulgar) IS NOT THE BEHAVIOR OF GOOD, CIVILIZED PEOPLE!!!

Writers need reviewers. They help our readers find us. They make us more visible. If the good ones start going to ground because we authors cross the line in terms of retaliation at the ones that just suck, then how will we build a following or expect anyone to give us the time of day? Part of having integrity as an author is knowing your own limits in terms of what you can handle reading about yourself and what you can’t. Maybe you need someone to check Goodreads and Amazon for you and present you with only the most glowing sentiments. Or maybe you just need someone to say, “Ok, brace yourself, this one’s a bit harsh.” Perhaps you should eschew all interaction with the outside world and just write the next book. (I know I’m seriously considering digital isolation).

Reviewers, however, are not off the hook. Posting a review for a book you have not read is dishonest, unethical behavior. Yeah, I said it. I don’t care how busy you are, I don’t care how much you hated the cover, if you are not giving the book a complete read-thru before offering a review then you are acting without integrity. And that includes a five star review.

Look, everyone likes seeing those shiny, five pointed shapes next to the title of their book, but if they aren’t earned then they are a lie to the reader. Giving someone a five star review if you haven’t read it is just as wrong as tossing one star out at a book whose title fonts rubbed you the wrong way. In a similar vein, remembering that you are telling other readers what to expect and what you (really) think, should be at the forefront of every serious reviewer, particularly those that build a blogging platform and internet presence on such. I would think, that in the interest of other people taking reviewers seriously, the integrity of the honest opinion would be a high priority. Too many bad reviews to books that were actually ok, or five stars on every book you ever review regardless of quality will eventually drive people away from you. They will know that you are not being forthright about what you are reading.

Moreover, for heavens sake, be honest about the content you encounter. If there is a legitimate issue with a book’s content, then rate it accordingly and describe the issue in fair and informative terms. Reviews are not merely an expression of opinion (or I suppose in my own opinion they shouldn’t be). You are informing other readers about what reading the book did or didn’t do for you, and vulgar, expletive laden reviews don’t make you more right. They just make you vulgar and covered in, well, you know.

GOING AFTER THE AUTHOR PERSONALLY IS NOT A REVIEW OF THE BOOK!!! AND IT IS NOT COOL!! SAYING THAT A WRITER IS DESERVING OF VIOLENCE OR CALLING THEM AWFUL NAMES FOR WRITING A BAD BOOK IS NOT THE BEHAVIOR OF GOOD, CIVILIZED PEOPLE!!!

Posting a troll of a review in an attempt to get the author or other reviewers to engage in a petty online debate is not ethical or polite. It is selfish, divisive, unproductive behavior that only serves to tell others you aren’t worth interacting with. And when you engage in any of the above behaviors you make writers afraid to post and put themselves out there. You make it harder for us to interact online with fans and reviewers alike because we have to be ever more cautious, lest we say something that will be taken out of context and used to ruin our careers, or at the least make us persona non grata in specific corners of the digital world.

On a personal note, my favorite review of The Accidental Apprentice so far was from Matt Ely. It was posted to Goodreads as 4 stars, but the original was posted at JC’s Book Haven as a 3.5 stars- Better than Good. It is my favorite because it is completely honest. It is the perfect example of integrity in reviewing. I get to feel great about the stuff I did well because I know he is being honest about them since he includes, in very clear terms, the things he struggled with. I now have some great input about how to improve in the future. And I hope Matt will grace future works with similar honesty.

I love all those that have given me a review. And I am so grateful for every review I get. It tells me that the book is getting out there. It tells me that I have made (a very tiny) impact. And it gives others who may be passing by a heads up, “Hey someone actually read this book, and thought something about it.” Sometimes that’s enough to make a fellow reader curious about picking it up.

So conclusion? Writing and publishing books is a subjective field. As a result, like every other industry, it only works if all those participating do so with integrity. Honesty about how well/poorly a book is written, how interesting/boring it is, and treating each other with dignity (as well as behaving with dignity) are the only way we can trust each other. It’s the only way this relationship works. And if that wonderful give and take breaks down, what is left will never be as true to our awesome natures as it could be. And the loss of that potential, rather than a ranking on some social media site, is the real casualty.