2022 :: Year In Review
Welcome to the 2022 Holiday at the Sea year in review. These are a few of my favorite things (from this year at least).
2021 Year In Review :: Favorite Television
As I mentioned in my movie roundup, I have a lot of kids, so a lot of my time is spent with kids. That doesn’t always leave a lot of time for other watchings, but here are three televisionings that really stuck out to me this year.
Like last year, my “favorite television” list includes Ted Lasso and Joe Pera. As I wrote last year, both shows were (for me), a shot of much-needed positivity.
But, to be honest, the show that stood out the most for me this year was a bit darker. Midnight Mass on Netflix captivated me on so levels. Regardless of what you think of vampire stories (SPOILER), this is a powerful allegory about spiritual abuse which is unfortunately quite timely.
Ted Lasso:
Midnight Mass:
Joe Pera Talks With You:
Browse my favorite albums of the year
Browse my “2021 Yearly Wrap-it-Up” which is really a ramble about seeing Phish
Browse my favorite books of 2021
Browse my favorite movies of 2021
Browse my favorite television of 2021
Listen to a nearly 5-hour very low quality mix of one song from each of my favorite albums of 2021 called “Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown”
2021 Year In Review :: Favorite Books
At the time of this writing, I read 41 books in 2021. Not quite a book a week, but still a good pace. This year I finished the novels of Haruki Murakami in chronological order and started re-reading Kurt Vonnegut’s novels in chronological order. I read a lot about grief and grieving but I only had a chance to read a couple of books published in 2021. But two of them really stood out to me.
One about chewing gum, the creative process and the fight for survival. The other about a father’s love for his son and the desire for connection and the fight for survival. I’m sensing a theme.
Nina Simone’s Gum by Warren Ellis
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Browse my favorite albums of the year
Browse my “2021 Yearly Wrap-it-Up” which is really a ramble about seeing Phish
Browse my favorite books of 2021
Browse my favorite movies of 2021
Browse my favorite television of 2021
Listen to a nearly 5-hour very low quality mix of one song from each of my favorite albums of 2021 called “Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown”
2021 Year In Review :: Favorite Movies
As you might imagine; for someone who has eight children, I don’t get to watch many movies for myself (and by that I don’t mean “by myself,” I just mean “Not Watching Movies With Kids.”). Most of the movies I have time for are somehow kid-centered.
But five movies really stuck out to me this year, and they run the gamut. 8 hours of the Beatles rehearsing and breaking up. Somehow it both normalizes and enchants the creative process. A movie about fish boy finding himself, and a great introduction to the Velvet Underground. Oh, and a super-fun Marvel movie which I thought was their best in years.
But one of the movies that stuck out above the others for me was Pig starring Nicolas Cage. It was recommended to me as a powerful meditation on grief and, as a Hospice Chaplain and Bereavement Counselor, I was hooked. It did not disappoint.
The Beatles: Get Back
Luca:
Pig:
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings:
The Velvet Underground:
Browse my favorite albums of the year
Browse my “2021 Yearly Wrap-it-Up” which is really a ramble about seeing Phish
Browse my favorite books of 2021
Browse my favorite movies of 2021
Browse my favorite television of 2021
Listen to a nearly 5-hour very low quality mix of one song from each of my favorite albums of 2021 called “Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown”
2020 Year In Review Wrap-Up
Thank you so much for reading this year. So much has happened this year and it’s crazy looking back on this rollercoaster of a year.
Scroll down and browse my year-end roundup.
2020 Year-End Television
With 8 kids, I don’t really get the chances to keep up with television the way that some of you do. That’s not a complaint, just an observation. Because, after all, I am a grown-ass adult and I will make time to watch what is important to me.
With that having been said, there were two television shows that really stood out to me this year. In a year as bleak as 2020, it does not go unnoticed on me that my two favorite television shows of the year both carried themes of positivity with them.
Joe Pera Talks With You, Season 02:
Joe’s awkward but calming presence was just what we needed going in to the final year of the white power president’s administration. And his child-like joy at “discovering” ‘Baba O'Riley’ by the Who is television at its best. No, really, the whole season is worth purchasing and that episode is a hightlight.
Visit Joe Pera’s page at Cartoon Network
Ted Lasso (Season 01):
Apple TV finds their breakout show with the disarmingly positive Ted Lasso. An American “football” coach is brought to England to coach European “football” and surprisingly heartwarming hilarity ensues.
Visit Ted Lasso’s page at Apple TV