Happy Hanukkah!
It’s the fourth night of Hanukkah tonight!
My fourth night wishes for you: I hope you can see the world around you with optimism and move within it with practical determination to make it better a little bit each day.
It’s time for our fourth night giveaway!
For the fourth night of Hanukkah, we have a $50 gift card to The Ripped Bodice Bookstore in Culver City, CA. You could order signed books, swag, a Read Romance Repeat box – the options are endless.
We want to make sure you have enough to read in the coming year, so your warm and fuzzy fortress of contentment looks a little like this:
To enter, please comment and tell us what piece of media made you so very happy this year – a movie? TV show? Streaming series? Podcast? Tell us all about it!
Standard disclaimers apply: We are not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to add about nineteen-billion-thousand shows and episodes to your watch or listen lists. May cause the desire to order in and eat dinner under a stack of blankets.
Comments will close 22 December 2022 at or near 11:59pm ET, and winner will be announced shortly afterward.
Good luck, Happy Hanukkah, and thank you for being part of Smart Bitches!
Winner update: Congratulations to Jcp!
The Amazon Prime movie “Something from Tiffany’s” and the World Cup
A podcast that I (full disclosure!!) worked on starting, but don’t host: Pale Blue Pod, which is a show about space for people who are overwhelmed by the universe but want to be its friend!
I have small children, so adult entertainment doesn’t really happen in my house. So I will share a kids show that I’ve loved this year: Bluey. It’s the rare show for kids that is just as enjoyable for adults.
Heartstopper. Season three of Derry Girls. Everything Everywhere All at Once (I saw it three times at the cinema). Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Our Flag Means Death… meant everything to me
On the premise that listening to people talk about sewing would get me interested in sewing myself—hey, it worked for my knitting—I started listening to Love to Sew Podcast and it is delightful.
BBC Radio 1- stream and record 🙂
I loved “Wednesday”
The YouTube video of Cindy Lauper singing “If I could Turn Back Timefrom the 2018 Kennedy Centers Honors always makes me Smile
The manga version of Sasaki and Miyano is cute enough, but the anime is so darn sweet and swoony that I cried happy tears several times (partly because, though it’s not explicitly stated, Miyano is clearly demisexual and Sasaki is the perfectly patient and understanding love interest we yearn for). The OVA is a very cute mystery about a lost cat! The opening sequence of SPY x FAMILY was better than most entire shows (Anya forever!), and I had Sloan’s “Keep Your Name Alive” (hell, the whole Steady LP) on repeat…
For a not insignificant amount of time now, my brain has only really been able to handle the Antiques Roadtrip (different from the Roadshow) on PBS. I’ve become weirdly obsessed with it, and since they visit the same shops season after season now I’m starting to track objects that seem to have been in these stores for multiple years. It’s…very strange of me, but ok brain, lets go with it. (And thanks @DiscoDollyDeb, I’m going to go searching for those Roku Antiques Roadshow channels now.)
But when I try to think of a piece of media that really made me *happy* I keep coming back to two things — the kdrama Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and an absolutely adorable little Japanese BL called Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss!
Abbot Elementary and Leverage Redemption have been two of my favorite pieces of media this year!
K. Eason’s Thorne Consortium and Weep books just kind of took me out from the side in a completely unexpected manner that I thoroughly enjoyed and the audiobook narrator for them was amazing!
After years of not feeling like watching anything I have once again started streaming shows and movies. I feel like I am decades behind everyone else but I did watch all of Partner Track in one weekend.
I stumbled across the “Dungeons and Daddies” D&D podcast, which is 100% delightful and has a large back catalogue. It’s definitely for adults (don’t be put off by the “daddy” aspect if you usually aren’t a kid person…the kid characters appear in limited amounts and are often surprisingly entertaining)
Is it bad that I Pass out the second I try watching TV…so I can’t answer this. One of these days when I’m not working so much I may have time.
Ted Lasso and Bad Sisters on Apple TV.
It’s hard to pick the media that made me happiest this year, but I think it’s . All Creatures Great and Small (seasons 1 & 2.) I was nervous about it going in, because I love the older version, but it is so heartwarming, and despite its deviations from the books, it is very true to the characters and the heart of Herriot’s memoirs. Plus the countryside is so beautiful, and reminds me of my one visit to Yorkshire. I just love everything about the show.
I also enjoyed both Discovery and Strange New Worlds — perhaps especially SNW. (I love young Ensign Uhuru, and Anson Mount’s Pike is excellent. Ethan Peck is really growing into Spock, too.
Our Flag Means Death, Derry Girls, Taskmaster, The Great Pottery Throwdown, and The Closet Historian on YouTube who has the most amazing lookbook videos with storylines.
Three Pines
Another Heartstoppers and Derry Girls fan here!
Our Flag Means Death! Such a great comedy and romance! Just be aware that the season ends on a cliffhanger!
I finally got TikTok when I realized how much adorable dog content I could add to my life. I haven’t looked back.
the magnolia network! I love home design, but I love the quirky older, fussier, DIYer, types and this channel finally had shows with that!
I’ve really enjoyed watching “Rings of Power” and listening to the podcast “You’re Wrong About.”
“Wednesday” on Netflix – so good I’m going to watch it again asap
I finally watched Blown Away on Netflix and I love it! It’s so beautiful what they can make out of glass
Everything Everywhere All at Once was the best time I had at the movies this year, just completely engrossing and made me laugh and cry.
Olivia Dade’s newest book, “Ship Wrecked” is fierce and amazing and so hot. But even more than the book, the cover that came with the special pre-order edition is absolute perfection. Literally took my breath away with how gorgeous it is.
The History Guy, 10 to 15 min. Long snippets of history. Well research, well told History that deserves to be remembered !
Call me crazy, but the return of my favourite reality shows after being on hiatus due to Covid (Survivor, Amazing Race) made this year a lot more fun and normal
Extraordinary Attorney Woo. It is, like the titular character, extraordinary, forging new perspectives and insights for almost anyone, I think, who watches it. It is warm, smart, funny, perceptive, irresistible and a host of other praise-centered adjectives. And the actors are so very, very good. I am rewatching it now with a friend who is having some health issues and it is even better than the first (2) time(s).
I started watching The Zoo on Animal Planet (I think) about the Bronx Zoo. It makes me so happy to see all the animals and to see how much the people care about them.
Let’s hear it for the big girls – the Lizzo series on Prime. We laughed, we cried. It was amazing.
Started watching the past ten years of 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. It’s opened me to the vast world of crass, funny, smart British comedy game shows in general.
The YouTube streams of The Longest Johns, a British folk/ shanty band. They are delightful!
The season finale of the most recent season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the blue room!! *swoons but also cries*