Highlight Reel – Dec 8-14, 2024

I’m a couple of days late actually posting this, sorry. And given how this week has gone (not bad, just busy), I’m not sure if I’ll get another Highlight Reel out before Christmas. We’ll just have to see how everything goes, and how I feel after my upcoming doctor visit for a COVID booster.

Quote of the Week

Episode of the Week

Re-Watch of the Week

Song of the Week

“Shut Up and Drive,” by Rihanna (despite what it says at the top, this is NOT the “official” Disney video for use of this song in Wreck-It Ralph)

Other “Songs of the Day” this week:

• “What is This Feeling?“, by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, from Wicked
• “Fantasy,” by Mariah Carey (and I always think of the little girl singing it in Rush Hour)
• “Steal My Thunder,” by Conner Smith (feat. Tucker Wetmore), from Twisters
• “That Thing You Do,” by The One-ders, from That Thing You Do
• Christmas Song of the Week: “Carol of the Bells (Bass Version),” by Geoff Castellucci

Headlines, Highlights, and Lowlights

• I OFFICIALLY HIT 50 POUNDS LOST SINCE MAY!!! Yes, I’m shouting. And yes, I think I’ve earned the right to do so. A year ago, I wouldn’t have thought this was possible, much less in 7 months. Believe me, no one is more astonished than I am!
• Luke is finished with finals for Fall 2024, so he’s home until early January. Unless I’m really misunderstanding something, his grades should qualify him to keep his HOPE scholarship, so well done!!
• Got all sorts of new things started and a few things finished on my Countdown to 50 – 101 Things in 1001 Days, Version 5. The goal is to have a total of 50 items in progress or finished by the end of 2024, with at least 15 completed. I now have 17 complete, so that part is done, and another 23 in progress. That leaves an additional 10 to at least start (and maybe finish) by year end. I think I can do it!
• One of those newly completed items was visiting the Buford Farmer’s Market. I’m a long time fan of the DeKalb Farmer’s Market, but it is a lot more difficult to get to from this house than our old one, so I don’t go nearly as often as I used to. Buford Farmer’s Market is literally just one exit up from us. In fact, the on-ramp for me to get onto the interstate turns into the off-ramp for the Farmer’s Market exit, so it’s super simple. Not as large and the DeKalb one, but it is absolutely jam-packed with foods from all over the world, including more than a few things I had never seen before, like rambutan (photo above). Thanks to my friend Sandy for going with me!
• New Movies: No new movies this past week, and maybe not any this coming week, either. The next thing coming out for us is A Complete Unknown, which won’t release until Christmas Day.
• Re-Watches: Movie rewatches included Free Guy, Armageddon, and Spectre (James Bond), which I think we only saw one time in the theater and never watched again. The opening scene, which appears to be all a single long take, is really well done. We also saw some The Big Bang Theory this week, which is our current go-to “nothing is on and my brain isn’t working well enough to watch anything else” show.
• New Shows: We did start Star Wars: Skeleton Crew once L got home after finals. I’m not sure that it’s good per se, but it’s fun, and it is clearly aimed at children (think Goonies (with less language!!) in a galaxy far, far away), so don’t go into it expecting something more adult-oriented like Ahsoka or The Acolyte, or even The Mandalorian (Grogu notwithstanding).
• Still plenty of other TV shows going, which is odd for so late in the year, but I also know it was an odd year, thanks to the strike. NCIS: Origins, Matlock, Elsbeth, and Ghosts, plus LEGO Masters Holiday Bricktacular (which we haven’t seen yet; part 2 airs this week). Dune: Prophecy only has two episodes left. We finished season 1 of Only Murders in the Building (great cliffhanger ending, BTW!) but probably won’t start season 2 until after Christmas. And we should get back on The Penguin later this weekend, hopefully finishing before Christmas.
• I have NOT yet managed to get family Christmas gifts into the mail and on their way to Wyoming. Crossing my fingers that I can get those on their way tomorrow.
• I did get my 2025 journal all set up, I think, including special holiday stickers on those days and all birthdays and anniversaries marked.
• In World News: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris reopened to the public on Sunday, December 8, five years after a devastating fire. I remember watching it on television; it was so heartbreaking! But it also allowed them to completely close and do some much needed restoration work that never would have been possible otherwise. Wishing her another 700 years of beauty and long life!

Coming Soon

• The second episode of the 2-part Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular for 2024 airs this coming week on December 17.
• I’ll be getting my COVID booster next week. She didn’t want to give me a Tdap (a.k.a. tetanus) booster (which I get as much or more for the pertussis part than anything), a flu shot, *and* a COVID booster all on the same day, and she felt that the flu and pertussis protection were the more immediate need for me personally, so I waited on the COVID booster.
• Not sure when the next Highlight Reel will come out (before or after Christmas), so I did want to go on and mention that Marvel’s What If…? Season 3 will start on December 22 on Disney+ (no affiliation) and drop one episode per day through December 29. Last year (dang, was that just this past year, 2023?!), we waited and binged them on New Year’s Eve. I’m guessing this year will be similar. They have said this will be the final season of it. If you want to avoid spoilers, then I would advise you to NOT look up the episode titles on IMDb (thankfully, a friend warned me).