And now for something a little bit different...For awhile I have been wanting to start a new feature on the blog analyzing advertisements, even though it doesn't exactly fit in with the other content on the site. My degree is in Communication Studies so I am always interested to see how advertisers try to reach their intended market, especially since I rarely see an ad that I find appealing. Since I watch all of my television on streaming services, it would seem plausible that the ads I see would be more tailored to my demographic than if I were to watch on cable. However, that does not seem to be the case. One peculiarity of watching online video is that there is less diversity in the advertisements so I may see the same three ads over and over for a week, giving me ample time to fixate on all the little idiosyncrasies that irritate me or (less often) to pinpoint why I am feeling positively towards a certain spot. This is not meant to be a critical analysis, but rather a personal look at how commercials can make us feel. I hope that you will watch the advertisements, read my thoughts, and share your own feelings in the comments. 

I was only able to find the shortened version of this commercial on YouTube, but if you are desperate to see the entire thing, just watch a couple shows on Hulu and I can almost guarantee that it will pop up. The (extended) ad opens up with the teenage daughter, Kim, talking animatedly about how she ran into a boy (who we can assume she had/has a crush on) but that he was with her friend, Jessica. Her parents and younger brother are all sitting down at the dinner table listening to her dissect the run-in and the voiceover lets us know that "this story had 30 minutes left." However, as soon as she takes a bite of the mac & cheese, she stops talking. Her dad prompts her to finish telling the story, but eating the (ostensibly) delicious food has taken precedent and the family is left to enjoy their meal in peace. 

I have a couple issues with this commercial. The first has to do with the purpose of a family dinner. The benefit that comes from gathering together to eat is not merely the consumption of food, but rather the opportunity for family members to share about their day and to discuss is going on in their lives and the world around them. According to an article from July in The Atlantic, "The dinner table can act as a unifier, a place of community. Sharing a meal is an excuse to catch up and talk, one of the few times people are happy to put aside their work and take time out of their day." Isn't that the type of environment that a parent of a teenager would want to create? The world of teenage drama can be difficult to break into and the gossip that Kim is discussing in the ad seems like exactly what her parents would be interested in hearing about. Sure, they don't really care if the boy their daughter has a crush on spilled soda on his shirt, but that open line of communication is too valuable for them to shut down. However, that is exactly what this meal did. Instead of bringing the family together, this mac & cheese separated them into their own worlds where the only thing that is important is how quickly the fork can get from the plate to the mouth. I can't believe that any parent of a teenager would want that to happen.

My second issue is rather petty, but after repeated viewings, it remains a sticking point for me. The names Jessica and Kim feel outdated on a young teenager. Jessica was a Top 2 name from 1981-1997 and then started a steep decline in popularity. It was still ranked 8th in 2000 (which would make the Jessica in this ad 14 years old), but it was definitely on its way out. In 2013, it had gone all the way down to 163 on the Social Security Administration's list of popular baby names. So although there are teenage girls named Jessica wandering around, it is a name that is more strongly associated with women 10-15 years older. The name Kimberly hasn't even reached the Top 10 since 1977. In the year 2000, new babies named Kimberly only made up up 0.1% of all babies born. Once again it is a name that, while not unheard of for the current crop of teenagers, brings to mind someone at least a decade older. 

So why is this a problem? For one thing, it taints the entire commercial as somewhat out of touch with what teenagers today actually are like which then calls into question whether or not they have the credibility to claim that your kids will like this meal. I realize that not everyone is as interested in naming trends as I am, but the parents of any kid has met enough classmates and friends to have a general idea of what names are in and what has become passé. This detail also indicates a lack of thoughtfulness on the part of the company. A quick search would have shown that while Kimberly and Jessica were both Top 100 names in 2000, they are long past their peaks. This might not be a huge deal to the general audience of the ad, but when it is combined with a conversation-ending entree it sets up a dinner that is not representative of either the reality or ideal of today's families.

What do you think about this commercial? Share your reactions in the comments!

The first two drinks both use Rehorst Citrus Honey Vodka from Great Lakes Distillery in Milwaukee. I have had a bottle sitting on my liquor shelf since my sister and I went on the distillery tour in September, but I haven't had an occasion to drink it until now. If you cannot find Rehorst vodka in your local liquor store, you can substitute another citrus or lemon vodka and add a spoonful of honey to the simple syrup for flavor.

My favorite gadget for making cocktails is a mini adjustable measuring cup that was a stocking stuffer a few Christmases ago. It is great because you adjust the volume before measuring your ingredients so you always just fill it up to the top. No more accidentally filling to the wrong line! It is especially useful for the small quantities required in making cocktails.

Do you have any favorite Thanksgiving drinks that you are planning on making this year? Share your recipe in the comments or tell me which of these three cocktails you would like to try!

Holidays often bring together large groups of family and friends who have an entire day (or more) to spend time together. While football may be the main focus on Thanksgiving, board games are my preferred form of entertainment. Not all board games are easy to learn and not everyone wants to commit to one that takes ten hours to finish, but these three games are easy to learn, quick to setup, and not too competitive:

Scotland Yard is the go-to game when my family gets together. The great part of this game is that it doesn't require all the players to have equal skills so kids or non-game savvy adults can still have fun. One player takes on the role of criminal mastermind Mr. X and the rest of the players are Scotland Yard detectives chasing him around London. As long as one or two people have read the rule book, everyone else can learn on the fly. Plus it only takes about an hour to play so it is the perfect interlude when you want a break from watching television.

Eurorails, as you may have guessed from the name, is a rail-building game that takes place in Europe. It is part of a series from Mayfair Games that lets you build rail systems on maps from all corners of the world. Using crayons to draw your rail lines directly onto the board, you have to create a system that will allow your trains to transport cargo between cities. Long distances tend to give a larger monetary payoff, but the cost of track and the added travel time can make those trips less profitable. It is up to you to find the sweet spot that will help you connect the major cities while building up a cash reserve. This is a great game to play when other people in the house are taking naps because the players will spend most of their time quietly deep in thought as they weigh important business decisions.

Pandemic is a cooperative game where the players try to eradicate diseases which are spreading across the map. Each player has a distinct role complete with special abilities and the only way to succeed is if everyone listens and works together. This is not a competitive game since it is the group versus the board, but that doesn't mean that there won't be disagreements. The challenging part of this game is trying to use each individual's skills effectively so that you can find the cures and eradicate all four diseases before time runs out.

Does your family play board games when they gather for the holidays? Share your favorites in the comments!

When I heard that there was a prequel to Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series coming out I actually screamed in delight. I'm sure I startled my neighbors. My fingers tripped over themselves as I tried to simultaneously search for more information about the release and email my sister the news. This is one of my favorite series and I hadn't even considered that Garth Nix would be adding to the saga. The third book in the trilogy came out in 2003 and a companion collection of short stories in 2005 so it has been awhile. As much as I would love for authors to continuously add onto my favorite works, after nearly a decade I was not holding my breath. Now you might be thinking that there is no way that any new book in this series could meet my expectations. After all, I've read the series about twenty times. But Clariel is the perfect prequel. It brilliantly tells a story that had been hinted at through a handful of lines in Abhorsen, the third book in the trilogy, that I had always been curious to know more about. 

If you haven't read the series yet, head to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of Sabriel. I really do think that it is better to start with there than with the prequel, although Clariel could stand on its own. But what makes Clariel truly wonderful is how it expands the world that Nix has created and it will be best appreciated once you already have explored the Old Kingdom. This is a fantasy series and while I am partial to that genre, it is because of the strong female leads that I return to the books over and over. They may be trying to thwart Free Magic sorcerers who are raising armies of the dead, but Sabriel, Lirael, and Clariel are all struggling to find their place in the world and that is something anyone can relate to. 

Reading Clariel was a slightly different experience for me than reading the other books because I knew how it was going to end. When I first started it was really only wishful thinking that Nix would be telling the story I wanted to hear and I hadn't considered how that story would affect me as a reader. I knew (or rather thought I knew) that things were not going to end well, but the more I read and became attached the character of Clariel, the more I hoped I was wrong. It was a strange turnabout for me because I really wanted to understand this part of the Old Kingdom history, but it was devastating to see Clariel struggle and to know who she would eventually turn into. Especially in fantasy novels it is easy to get caught up in the dichotomy of good and evil, however in Clariel we are forced to come to terms with the grey area. Villains do not have to be born as such and even the best of intentions can send someone down a dangerous path. 

Sabriel introduces us to the Old Kingdom and the Abhorsens, Lirael shifts northward so we can learn about the Clayr, and Abhorsen furthers our knowledge about Charter Magic and the Beginning. Each subsequent book adds to our overall understanding, but still fits in seamlessly with what came before. Since Clariel is set six hundred years before Sabriel, it offers readers the chance to see what the Old Kingdom was like before the more recent crises that marred the landscape. This is a series that any fantasy enthusiast should have and the prequel is a wonderful addition to the collection. I would have posted a review right after I got the book (on release day!), but instead of writing the blog post I decided the read Clariel a second time through. According to the Author's Note, Garth Nix is working on another novel in the Old Kingdom series and I am absolutely thrilled. 

I am always looking for book recommendations, but sometimes it takes me awhile to actually get around to reading them. About fifteen months ago I met Lindsey from Reeder Reads who raved about Marisha Pessl's new-at-the-time book Night Film. I added it to my to-read list and them promptly forgot about it. This may be due to the fact that I have at least three to-read lists at any given time in various forms, saved to various devices, and none of them sync with the others. I stumbled upon Night Film while browsing at my local bookstore a couple weeks ago so it seemed like the perfect time to finally move it to the top of my reading list. After finishing it, I only wish that I had picked it up sooner--like, fifteen months ago when I was first told about it.

Night Film is both a delightful and a disorienting read. The novel follows a discredited journalist as he investigates the death of a cult filmmaker's daughter, but this is far from a straight forward mystery. The intrigue surrounding the death is coupled with a bitter history between the journalist and the filmmaker so the story soon spirals into layers of conspiracy that draw you in and hold on tight. The further I delved into this novel, the less I was able to distinguish truth (which the journalist was ostensibly seeking) from distraction (which the filmmaker was allegedly creating) because every clue could be interpreted with both an innocent explanation as well as a sinister motivation. Be prepared to question everything many times. 

Pessl intersperses newspaper articles and other primary sources relevant to the investigation into the text, and although I am generally skeptical of that gimmick, I really liked it in this context. The sources helped to expand the world beyond the biases of the main characters and made me feel that I was diving headfirst into the investigation. It was like combining a novel with a Google search about its characters. 

I first started reading Night Film over dinner and had planned to only read for a couple hours before going to bed early. That did not happen, partly because I was so caught up in the story and partly because stopping in the middle seemed like a recipe for nightmares. I highly recommend Night Film, but not as a bedtime story. Parts of it can be pretty unsettling so unless you are planning to finish it in one sitting as I did, I suggest reading it during daylight hours. 

I plan on rereading Night Film and hope that you'll pick up a copy so we can chat about it in the comments. It is fascinating, terrifying, and you never quite know what is the reality. So find a sunny chair, grab a cup of tea, and get ready to start questioning everything.