This year has been one of the more interesting ones in recent memory. But despite some of the setbacks, I’ve grown a lot privately and it’s interesting to see with end of the year tallies.
I recently mentioned my media goals. At the start of this year I had so many travel goals. It seems like everyone had travel plans this year, and I guess that’s true of any year. It’s only that we were all denied this year that it seems we were on the same path of ‘getting it done in 2020’. I doubt that if this year had been as simple as the one before it, that we’d all feel the same.
But what was good about this year for me, is that I learned to really stick to things I can control. I can’t control that I don’t have the money to travel. I can control how many events I say yes to. I can’t control others. But I can control what takes up my time and what takes precedence. And so I’ve trudged through my media goals quite rapidly this year. It’s possible that having no commuting and in-office hours assisted in speeding up those goals. But also having no live events or friends to see gave back a lot of hours I would have spent elsewhere. And so, I present my favorites/best of for 2020.
Movies
The Farewell – I love Awkafina and I wouldn’t have really looked at this movie more in-depth if she wasn’t in it. But it was a nice turn from her, who I’m used to seeing only in comedies.
Klaus – This was a quiet family-friendly Christmas movie but enjoyable and stunningly animated.
Love Birds – I’m a big fan of Issa Rae and I loved The Big Sick so I was ready-eady-eady for this one.
Mucho Mucho Amor – Growing up, I wasn’t in touch with my roots very much and have never really gotten into astrology despite various attempts to seriously put my nose in some books. But Walter Mercado, despite not being able to understand them beyond reading the subtitles and vaguely translating the Spanish words I did know, was always intriguing. Of course now I understand why I connected to Mercado so fiercely, the androgyny and the glam rock styling… I just wish they’d been able to truly have the comeback they deserved.
The Color Purple – This is the ‘list of shame’ entry of the year. I have no idea why it’s taken me so long to finally watch this front to back but it was obviously a gem.
The Sleepover – I was under the assumption this was a remake of the 2004 movie Sleepover, but I was wrong and it was a delightful movie to watch after a long car drive and errands with my boyfriend.
Invisible Man – Not a lot of movies hit me in the trauma section of my life these days, especially as remakes but a movie like this hasn’t shaken me since Enough. It’s always great to see Elizabeth Moss do solid acting and as a Leverage fan I’ve been rooting for Aldis Hodge’s career for a while now.
Longshot – Another actor I am a fan of is Seth Rogen and this wasn’t as saccharine as the promo tour led me to believe. But surprisingly more politics than I expected this side of The Interview.
The Disaster Artist – I still haven’t SEEN The Room… and I guess this qualifies as a biopic, but this movie was hilarious to see before the real movie.
Dashing in December – Gay cowboys for Christmas! It’s TIME.
Television
The Eric Andre Show – Another one that I never got around to, but I knew so much through memes. A little too out there at times, but good to code along to. And my luck with shows like this, I finished just as the new season was premiering!
Future Man – This hilarious Hulu Original was just the sort of comedy I needed at the time I binged through it.
This Close – I’ve been focusing on watching more diverse shows and this Sundance show was a wonderful twist on the romcom genre with two Deaf actors as platonic buddies.
Easy – Netflix has not been great for me recently, it used to be my go-to for movie streaming but it’s so cluttered with original movies and series that it’s obviously going to promote over other content that I can’t figure out what’s quality anymore. This series was a hidden gem that apparently not a lot of people enjoyed, and premiered around the same time as Love, which everyone liked but I couldn’t get through.
Hell on Wheels – I’m not a big western person. But I have a vague interest to see where Anson Mount’s career goes ever since he was in that Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads. From what I see he stumbled a bit after this with Inhumans, which is on my list for next year, but he seems to be doing alright in Star Trek: Discovery. Anyway, this series really caught me despite not being into westerns. The Swede is probably my favorite villain this side of…well, The O.C.’s adults.
Never Have I Ever – One of the few places Netflix shines is highlighting content from new voices. Not all the time does it work, but I prefer to watch the same sort of thing I always do, with a new lens. This is every coming-of-age story but has the Indian-American experience.
Friends From College – Another Netflix gem, although not as fun to watch as Easy. But 2020 may be the year I can actually call myself a Billy Eichner fan. And the cast is just so great, even though the storylines are predictable and rote.
Games
Animal Crossing New Horizons – Throughout all of this series’ iterations I’ve had people tell me it’s a great game to pick up. But I never wanted to spend full price on a game that I may never pick up again if I don’t like it. So I picked up the mobile offering Pocket Camp a few years back and that gave me a small insight to the gameplay without giving me the full experience, as every review at the time said. And I was just finishing up Breath of the Wild when New Horizons came out and looking for a new game… well, here I am almost a year later still checking in every day with my villagers. I’ve even gone back a step and downloaded New Leaf for my 3DS (anyone still playing?).
Untitled Goose Game – The indie hit we all love, oh the fun with that chaotic fowl! I haven’t played co-op yet because I was hoping that I would do that with my friends in fall 2020. But the main game is so fun to puzzle your way through.
Donut Country – If you ever played a Katamari Damacy game, you know the kind of chaos this game lets you unlock. The story is also charming and funny.
Barbarous Tavern of Emyr & Welcome to Primrose Lake – I love time management sims and have played Diner Dash, Sally’s Salon, Cooking Town, Cooking Fever, Cooking Madness, Cooking Joy, Food Truck Chef, Overcooked 1 & 2, Cooking Tycoon, Happy Chef — you get the idea. So these are more of the same but with a surprisingly intricate storyline. If this developer makes yet another one, I will play that too, no questions asked.
Books
WTF Is Tarot? …And How Do I Do It? by Bakara Wintner – So a thing not a lot of people may know about me is I’m really into cartomancy. But tarot has always eluded me. This was the first book that really put the cards into words and terms I understood.
Witchery by Juliet Diaz – There’s a lot of spiritual and esoteric books out there for a lot of different traditions and cultures. This may be the best basic witchcraft book I’ve read that doesn’t rely too heavily on one tradition or aspect over another.
Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh – The surprise of 2020, I think most millennials who once frequented Tumblr were awaiting and had sort of given up on this book ever coming out. Brosh’s writing is real and honest and her artistic persona is fantastic.
