It’s “Year in Review” time, y’all.
Personally, it’s been a tempestuous one.
It hasn’t been all bad. I graduated from the only university I ever desired to attend, with two degrees — both in fields I’m passionate about. I moved from a city I love with all my heart, but I’m now in a situation where I’m able to work to regain financial security. I have a paying job. My friends still like me (presumably).
But, despite all that, I will not be sorry to say goodbye to 2015. I look forward to a year where I can try to be a little happier, work a lot harder and focus on my goals as well as my present. I also look forward to the mere possibility that next year might bring us more peace and less violence, worldwide. This year certainly didn’t.
Since I do actually work “in news” these days, there is no way for me to shield myself from the evil in this world, even if I wanted to duck my head and hide. It can be hard to be reminded that, for as many great people there are, there are also some awful ones. But optimism is key, supposedly.
To combat the potential gloom that can come from being a Human on Earth, I’ve continued doing what I always do: escaping into the worlds others have fashioned out of nothing for me to visit.
I’ve seen 70 movies for the first time so far this year and I imagine that may not be the final number (America’s Cool Aunts have a new movie coming out that I’m dying to see and there’s also…some other big one? Space Battles? Solar Fights? Something like that.) A few months back, I gabbed about 19 of them, but there’s a few more I think are worthy of a mention:
- In comedy: Everything Aziz Ansari does is great, including Aziz Ansari: Live at Madison Square Garden. Also worth watching? John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid. Mulaney’s delivery is so good — I could listen to him tell stories all day.
- I was pleasantly surprised by Halloween (2007). I've actively avoided Rob Zombie's movies, but he brought some great stuff to the table with this remake. The original is untouchable (one of the scariest movies ever), but Zombie took on some different story angles to make the the tale of Michael Myers his own and it worked. It is, of course, still quite gory -- but if you can stomach it, I recommend.
- I only made it to the movie theater twice since August, but I really enjoyed both The Martian and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2. Since literally everyone seems to love former, I can’t really add anything to that conversation, except to say they're right to. On the flip-side, I could probably talk about the Hunger Games series for a hundred years — but, suffice it to say, I’m really proud of how they did this one. It’s rare for me to see a book adaptation and have more compliments than complaints, but I couldn’t really find a flaw with this one. The tweaks they made seemed reasonable and/or necessary or, at times, even preferable.
- Finally, I watched Seeking a Friend for the End of the World a few weeks ago and it is so cute?? I didn’t go into it with a lot of expectation, but I was very pleasantly surprised. My favorite romcom I’ve seen this year.
On the literary end of things, rereads aside, I’ve finished 10 books this year! It's amazing what you can accomplish without classes hogging up your time. I wrote about five last time. Since, I’ve finished:
- Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling and Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. Both hilarious follow-ups to equally hilarious debut memoirs, from inspirational ladies.
- the Shades of London series (The Name of the Star, The Madness Underneath, The Shadow Cabinet) by Maureen Johnson. These are. So good. For fear of giving away anything, I’ll just say you should read them immediately. Join me in the agony of waiting for another one.
Finally, a few stray music finds:
- Carly Rae Jepsen’s E•MO•TION is the candy-coated pop of my wildest dreams. Here are some samples.
- Grace Potter’s Midnight. So good. Buy it immediately. Listen to it a million times.
- Really dig about half of Little Mix’s latest album, especially this song.
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