That Holiday Cheer
Regardless of whether or not you like it, the simple fact of the matter is that the Holidays are here. We’ve just passed good ol’ Thanksgiving and the month of November and we’re now in December and we all know what that entails. Christmas being one such example. Another? Schools being out for holidays and that means extra time on one’s hands. And because of that extra time, you may be looking for something to occupy your time with outside of work (ew) and family happenings. Or in the event you can’t really go anywhere due to horrible weather. So here’s a few recommendations on how you can spend that extra free time.
The fact this can also double as a gift guide of sorts is completely coincidental.
TV Shows/Movies
With so many streaming services out there in the world today, in addition to Betamax/VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray, you might not have an idea of what it is you could spend your time on when it comes to watching something. Maybe its for the first time or the hundredth time but none the less, here’s a few suggestions:
The Blacklist: This show ran for 10 seasons from 2013 to 2023 and is currently on Netflix. I myself am somewhere in season 3 and if you like Master Criminals helping the FBI capture other Criminals and being unapologetically himself, this is for you. Good ol’ Peacock has tons of stuff to watch on there such as Chicago Med, Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, That 70’s Show, and WWE. Giving you hours of content to watch and keep yourself occupied in addition to other numerous material the streaming service has. Of course, the CW does have NXT on their channel so you can always tune into that when the time comes.
And there’s always the Arrowverse shows that are on Netflix and perhaps even the CW App itself to certainly keep yourself occupied with while perhaps developing an intense dislike for at least one particular blonde from that universe. And if you aren’t wanting to watch WWE, there’s always TNA, AEW, and other various Wrestling promotions out there in the world you can check out. Such as AIW, New Japan Pro Wrestling, 2KW, MLW, AAA, and numerous other Promotions. Tubi definitely has quite a few options to check out if you don’t mind your viewing pleasure being interrupted by the aggravation of commercials.
Disney Plus has Star Wars and Marvel so there’s plenty of hours of viewing time there! Paramount’s got Star Trek out the wormhole along with the new adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. Of course, if you’re looking for something outside of America, Netflix has some good South Korean and Japanese content on there that you’re sure to enjoy.
My personal favorites being Vincenzo, Rugal, and My Name. Oh, and I can’t forget the High&Low franchise on there either that’s also done some crossover stuff with the Crows franchise as well. Hotel Del Luna’s another to check out if you like Ghosts and want to see the inner workings of Hotel Management.
Of course you also have Apple, Amazon, Prime, and Hulu (Letterkenny anyone?) for hours of content to check out to keep yourself occupied. And to perhaps keep you sidetracked from doing that one thing you were supposed to be doing.
Tabletops have plenty for folks to enjoy, though usually you’ll need more than one person to play those with so if that’s not for you, Puzzles might be an option. But for Tabletops, there’s things like Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer, and a multitude of others out there. Some of which even have online versions to play! WHOO! Monopoly’s another in addition to Clue, Battleship, Sorry!, and Cards Against. Video Games, oh boy is there a lot to choose from there!
Games like Pokemon, Super Mario, any Final Fantasy game, Zelda, Mass Effect (Of which I’ve recently come to see why a lot of folks enjoy that series), Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, Metroid, WWE’s 2K series, Red Dead Redemption 2, No Man’s Sky, Stardew Valley, and so many others to enjoy for hours on end. And perhaps get a headache and achy fingers from way too many hours of game play. But that’s what pain killers are for!
If reading is your jam and without pictures included, Books/Novels are definitely the way to go. We’ve got Goosebumps, Animorphs, Stephen King books, Lord of the Rings, 3 Body Problem (Which has a couple of tv show adaptations), the Dune series (several movie/tv show adaptations included!), and there’s also Harry Potter, the Twilight saga if you’re into that kind of thing, I hear some lady named Ann Rice likes to cover Vampires so if that’s your thing, go all out! There’s also Manga, which has a monumental boatload of material for folks to enjoy. Some of which have Anime/Live Action adaptations that includes the likes of Yu Yu Hakusho, Trigun, Tokko, and High School Of The Dead.
Now I personally can’t give much in the way of recommendations when it comes to Manga since I’m more of a Comic Book guy but I do know my sister definitely enjoys the Fruits Basket Manga. Kaiju No. 8 is certainly a popular choice in addition to One Piece. Which not only has an Anime series but a live action adaptation as well! Now while I could recommend Music, I won’t. Mainly on account of how one’s taste in that area tends to vary and what I could recommend may be something someone won’t like unless it happens to be Taylor Swift or Beyonce and generally, those two are rather near universally liked by everyone and their grandmothers.
That, and let’s face it, unless you have an hours long playlist on hand or something like Pandora, a majority of albums will only keep you occupied for roughly an hour and then you’re back to wondering what you can listen too to keep yourself occupied enough to avoid Aunt Mayble’s habit of cheek pinching. Comic Books/Graphic Novels/Anthologies on the other hand…
That’s something I can recommend as there’s plenty of reading material with those like with the Books I discussed earlier on. There’s years of content to be found in DC/Marvel, which just recently re-released an Omnibus of their VS. Classics (Batman anyone?) from way back in the day. But outside of them there’s also the likes of BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse, IDW, Image, Oni Press, Mad Cave Studios, Vault, Band of Bards, Markosia, 2000 AD, A Wave Blue World, and so many others including Self-Published folks!
Band of Bards’ Sci-Fi/Romance Anthology!
Titles like S.I.R., Power Rangers, MEZO, Crash & Troy, Transformers, Barbaric, Spawn, Hell Boy, Magni The Mighty, Lycan, Copperhead, Knights of the Golden Sun, Afterlife INC, the works of Luke Cooper, the works of Frank Martin, Wasted Space, Don’t Spit In The Wind, Metalshark Bro, and Project Big Hype are just a few to name and recommend for hours of reading until your eyeballs wanna fall out. But you know, its for a good cause so its okay if that happens. Oh yes, there’s also Podcasts. So, so many of those that are out there and varied to boot!
Though the main two I will recommend are Comics & Chronic and The Cryptid Creator Corner. Two ‘Casts you can find on IHeartRadio AND Pandora! And probably other places too!
Of course, if none of that appeals, there’s hours of Tiktok, Facebook short vids, and Youtube short vids as well! But uhh… Keep a charger on hand so that phone of yours doesn’t die on ya. Anyhow…
Happy and most Merry Holidays, folks!
