Goodbye 2024 - Movies, Books, Music & More
Or, How I Spent A Lot Of My Time This Year
It’s not the end of a year if there aren’t a lot of lists. What did I do this year, what do I want to do next year, what was the best, what was the worst, what am I excited for…
So, excuse me if I’m on a bit of a list binge right now.
Here’s some stuff I read/saw/heard/used that might be of interest to you:
Books
Non-fiction:
It’s about meditation and mindfulness for non-woo-woo people. I appreciated his very honest take about his initial feelings toward such things and his chronicling of how it all changed for him when his anxiety came to a head. It’s also an interesting little inside peak behind the scenes of network news and the competitiveness inherent in that career path. It also made me want to watch Broadcast News again, which if you haven’t seen, you SHOULD (he kind of reminds me of Albert Brooks’ character).
Joyful Recollections of Trauma
I’m a big fan of the How Did This Get Made podcast which is how I became a big fan of Paul Scheer. As an always simultaneously shocking and hilarious aside, Paul would share random tidbits of his childhood that always seemed… bizarre. Like, things that he clearly thought were normal but were NOT normal. It inspired him to eventually write a book about it all and I was on the waitlist the second it hit my local library. Like his stories on the show, the book is both sad and funny.
I love a good disaster tale. All the more if it’s based on something real (what does that say about me?). This is a fascinating chronicle of one of the crazy sea journeys people used to make back in the day. It’s hard to believe that it was a thing, considering how insanely grueling it was. It’s even harder to believe that people would go out and do it more than once. Also a really interesting look at leadership and how to get people to want to follow you even when they have no real reason to. If this kind of material is interesting to you, historical disasters and the lessons we can learn from them, I also recommend The Cautionary Tales podcast.
Fiction:
This is the second book in the Thursday Murder Club series and I found it just as delightful as the first, which surprised me. Usually followups never have the same magic as the debuts, but that was not the case with this. If you love fun mysteries with delightful characters and old British people, I couldn’t recommend anything better than these books.
Audiobook
Well, this was the year I discovered that I’m a Lord of the Rings nerd. I KNOW. I had no idea this was buried inside me. I’ve taken it so far now that I’m actually going beyond the movies and listening to the audiobooks. I mostly just wanted to see what was different and what had been cut or if certain things had been explained more. In some ways it’s the same and in others it’s very different!
Live Music
Dinosaur Jr played at the Terragram Ballroom here in L.A. for the 30th anniversary of their album Where You Been. This was significant to me because I loved that album when it came out and holy crap apparently that was THIRTY YEARS AGO. Anyway, hands down one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. J. Mascis is a goddamn legend.
Movies
This movie deserved all the accolades it got. The way it highlighted how strong / successful women tend to be negatively perceived in society was masterful. It made me hate the song P.I.M.P. and also be really glad I don’t have to contend with the French legal system.
The first one was stunning, this one was exciting. Nothing will ever top David Lynch’s Dune for me (because there are pugs, for starters) but the sheer scale Denis Villeneuve manages to achieve can’t be rivaled.
There is something about the high stakes and impossible-feelingness of a real world disaster that makes movies based on them catnip to me. This is one of the best. The famous soccer team whose plane crashed in the mountains and had to eat their dead to survive the months they were stranded in the snow. Everything about this film felt real. The way it was shot, written, performed. It was truly harrowing.
Probably my favorite Natalie Portman role in recent memory. The performances in this are mind-blowingly good.
The Notebook (!)
Okay. So I always wrote this movie off because… well you know why. Because it became a ridiculous cliche, the poster child for chick flicks. I finally watched it. Mostly because Ryan Gosling can do no wrong and I figured maybe that actually might be true for this movie too. I was right, dammit. This movie is cheesy as all hell, but it’s also really romantic.
Podcasts
All I’ll tell you is that it’s not scary, it’s more like a family mystery, and there are 7 episodes. Fascinating story.
There are some people in this world we will never be able to understand. This story is about a woman who faked having cancer for years. The lengths she went to, the people she lied to, it’s so extensive, it goes SO FAR, it’s hard to wrap your head around it.
A podcast for people who enjoy hearing about fraudsters, greedy corporations and con men having their misdeeds held to the light. Also, the narrator has a flat monotone delivery that I find exceptionally amusing.
Apps
My ADHD brain is really vibing with this app right now. It plays optimal ‘science-backed’ music for whatever activity you’re doing. It sounds like bullshit, I know, but I’m finding it really helps me with focus.
I tried every budget/finances app on the market this year and this is the one I ended up buying.
If you like to cook from recipes on the internet, I highly recommend this sucker. You can paste a link to the recipe in the app, it reformats it and stores it in its organizable/searchable database that you can than use to plan meals and make grocery lists. I’ve been using this for years now and it’s still awesome.
TV
This is my Xanax. If you’re stressed out, throw this on. It will make you happy. It might also make you go to the store for pastry.
The Great British Baking Show - Season 12