Shae's Geeky Gift Ideas: Holiday Edition

Guys, did you know that the Holidays are happening? It is a complete shock to me. Seriously, I wasn’t expecting things to be moving so fast. Well, in just over a week we’ll be done with two major Holidays this year, and I do apologize on the slacking. But, I have to admit, I am a chronic late shopper. It doesn’t matter how early I pretend that I’ll start shopping. It. Never. Happens.

So, if you’re like me, and not done, that’s totally okay! I’ve got a list of creative, and fun, gifts that we can give others and ourselves, and I’m going to share a few of them with you. One of the many gift idea’s I’ve had this year around is something I’ve been actually applying to my family this year. There’s always an argument of which is better, the book or the movie, right? Why not do both? The book/movie combo will please, and it really is two gifts in one. My uncle is a huge book nerd, and recently a film adaptation came out on DVD of one of his favorite authors. I know he doesn’t have the movie, or the book, because he may have said as much, so guess what he’s getting? This can also be easily applied to anyone. Like, The Fault in our Stars would make a great book/DVD combo….if you really want that person to spend their whole day crying. But, you get my point. Now, before you give objections and say this doesn’t work for all films, you’re totally right. But it does work for a lot of them. The Princess Diaries is a great example of a movie I didn’t know was based on a book. Like, for real…it’s actually a series. I didn’t know this! I thought it was some cute Disney movie!

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Thankfully, in today's day and age, we’ve come to have some really amazing comic based movies. So for this, I suggest pairing a comic book with said movie. Which is really a nice way of trying to get non-geeks to be geeky! My dad didn’t know Guardians of the Galaxy was a comic series. Yes, that hurt my insides, but at the same time, it’s also going to be a great gift to give him. Then again, he is mildly nerdy and the reason I got into comic books. Seeing X-Men, both the cartoon series, and the movies, with him have always been fun. However, he didn’t get a chance to see Days of Future Past. Thankfully, he had that comic growing up and knows the storyline better than I do, but giving him that movie adaptation as well as a completion comic of the story are something I know he’ll enjoy.

Of course this doesn’t work for everyone. If I gave my mom a Batman comic along with a Batman movie, she’d still ask me why he wasn’t in the Avengers and my brain will explode. But, there are plenty of movies and books out there that go hand in hand with various tastes, genres, and geek states of being. They are, however, fun to debate. It’s always a that way in my house; the movie adaptations are sometimes better than the books and vise versa. Before you yell at me for saying that (and yes, I did just say movies being better than books) you should know, it’s not always true. There are exceptions to every rule, though. But, we won’t get into that. 

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Instead, let’s journey to the stranger side of things. Like book adaptations of television shows. Yes, those are a thing, and for hardcore fans, they’re a pretty amazing thing. Do you love Supernatural? You know what, don’t even answer, because yes, you do. Is someone you know or love a fan of Supernatural? Yes, yes they are as well. Why? Because it’s an amazing show. Did you know they have novels? I didn’t. I hadn’t a single idea that was a thing until Mattie found them in the bookstore. Guys, seriously, I had to buy every single one they had. Which ended up only being two, but the point is, they exist. Not just for Supernatural either! Doctor Who, Torchwood, Buffy, and so many more. Of course they have Star Wars and Star Trek novels as well, but it’s not as magical as Supernatural. (I might be biased).

On thing I also wasn’t expecting to see were novels based on games. Mass Effect, Halo, and to my utter delight Assassins' Creed are just a few of the titles I spotted. You can now give someone a book based off a videogame and have it not be all about how to beat the game itself. These novelizations of shows and games we all love are just a few of the fun things we’ve found at stores. Of course, you can buy True Blood and Game of Thrones, if you really wanted to, but hey, that’s not quite as fun as buying a video game and a novel about said video game, right? Or maybe it is!

Lastly, I know there are a lot of anime people out there. I, myself, used to be one! Well, there’s always the argument there of which is better, the manga or the anime. The truth is, both are amazingly awesome. And sometimes, they are just as different as books and movie adaptations. It all truly depends on which you like better, saw first, or maybe you just like bugging your friends by contradicting them. Whichever, various, ways you like it, or discuss it, books, movies, anime, manga, and even video games, all go hand in hand with one another, and we all have our favorite adaptations.

One thing we can agree on, though, is how utterly awesome POPs’ figures are. Happy Holidays everyone! 

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