Holy shit 2017 is drawing to a close. I've had sort of a shit year personally and the world seems to as well, at least from my point of view. However, good things have happened. I'm sure of it. Focus: What have been your favorite things from 2017? Books, recipes, tools, tv shows, movies, moments--anything good deserves to be listed.
My favorite TV shows of the year have been GoT and Mr Robot. Favorite movie has to be Blade Runner 2049. Its the only one I saw twice. A meatball shop opened up in my neighborhood so thats been my favorite spot for comfort food. Overall my favorite thing is finding out my wife is pregnant. Thats been the focal point of the last few months. No alt focus for worse things. We have two threads already dedicated that. Keep it positive.
The movies "Baby Driver" and "Wonder." JJ Watt's unexpected viral fund raising campaign for Houston flooding victims.
I’d expand that to the entire citizen response to Harvey. The Cajun Navy. All the random dudes with trucks and boats. The donations. The people from all walks of life willing to help. Tim Duncan aid response to Irma in the Virgin Islands. Ariana Grande’s relief concert. On a personal note, my second son being born, my eldest son learning to fish.
I've heard really good things about Wheelman. http://m.imdb.com/title/tt5723286/?ref=m_nv_sr_1 If you enjoyed baby driver then it might be worth checking
Wheelman gets my vote for one of the best movies of the year, and it’s by Netflix. I liked it more than Dunkirk, its claustrophobic as hell and completely awesome. The best movie of the year is The Florida Project. If you’re going to see one movie, see this one. It will jerk your emotions around like a puppet and squeeze you dry.
Ignoring everything that’s happening in the country/world, I’ve had a pretty quiet year where there haven’t been any really big things that have happened or changes, but there have still been plenty of smaller things that have been making me happy. The year has mostly been defined by art. I’ve had a really fulfilling year at the gallery, gotten to see so many cool shows, interviewed a couple of my favorite artists, curated two exhibitions and have been enjoying putting an independent curatorial project into motion. I’ve also been having fun with my own writing and art projects. One of my goals for the year was to focus more on actually putting in the time to do all of these things that I have ideas for instead of accidentally wasting all my free time on the internet or binge watching shows, and I’ve more or less managed to be better at that. I’ve just been doing a lot of running around, immersing myself in the things I like to do. It was also a year of reunions. I had a big reunion with both sides of my family, one side that I’ve barely had any contact with in twenty years. I also had my high school reunion, which was fun and cozy. Going to the beach was also very important to me this year. I love to go every year, but this year it was especially valuable because there isn’t any reception there, and you can’t see your phone screen under the sun anyway, and that was really useful to me during a year where people were basically getting panic attacks from just the sound of their news push notifications. It’s a twenty minute bus ride for me to get to a beach that’s fairly uncrowded and mostly visited by gay people, and I ended up going there close to once a week all summer. Then it was just a good year for things that I like. A bunch of artists came out with long-awaited albums like St Vincent or Sylvan Esso or Haim or Lorde or Sza. Netflix continues to kill it with their programming like the second season of Master of None and American Vandal and The Keepers, plus I loved Handmaid’s Tale, The Good Place, and the latest seasons of Difficult People and Broad City. I read some really great books like Abandon Me and Get Well Soon and Insomniac City and Moonglow. And I got a MoviePass, so not only do I get to go to the movies so much more often, which I love to do, but I’ve been seeing a bunch of amazing films lately like Ladybird, Call Me By Your Name, and Three Billboards with a lot more to come. (I’m so excited to see The Disaster Artist this week.) I know I’m forgetting a ton of stuff (and am just deliberately leaving things out because they’re so far from being relevant to the general audience of this board) but it was a wonderful year for stuff for me. There were even issues of magazines that I have particularly fond memories of (like the 50th anniversary issue of NY Mag).
This year hasn't been great, but it's a far cry from some of the worst years I've ever had. Off the top of my head, I guess one of the things I liked most was that David Lynch made another season of "Twin Peaks." I've been a fan of Lynch's work for years, and when I heard about the new season, I got Jungle Julia to watch all the old episodes with me, and then we started on the new ones; those were fun evenings. Spoiler My only complaint about the new season was that I don't think they spent enough time on Evil Cooper. I mean, I know it wasn't really Agent Cooper, but I was always used to seeing Kyle MacLachlan acting like a quirky milquetoast on the series, and then he shows up as a stone-cold badass. That, and the fact that there wasn't any closure, and Lynch has no plans to continue the series. Another thing was that I did a high performance engine swap on my dad's Grand Marquis, and it's running great. I've been driving it more than my Firebird (mainly because I can't get my Firebird registered right now. It's a long story. )
I got to do a couple fun things this year so I'll start with those. I went to a football game at Jerry's World and that place was surprisingly cool. Also in the sports realm, it was cool to see the Astros win. And New Mexico State made their first bowl game in 57 years. I got to head back to New Mexico to officiate my buddy's wedding. Doing that was a minor bucket list item for me. This also involved eating some of the best food on the planet. New Mexico is really wonderful and I still think it's sort of a hidden gem. I took a trip to Larry McMurtry's Booked Up in Archer City, Texas. It's worth a visit if you're ever nearby (if you love books and/or Larry McMurtry anwyay.) I supposedly love books but I didn't do shit for reading this year. The only book I'd recommend anyone is A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. It was a good year for TV and movies though. Get Out is still the best movie I've seen this year. Dunkirk is worth a watch. American Vandal and The Good Place are sleeper hits. Or maybe ones that are surprisingly good. The Great British Baking Show is as good as everyone says and is just a fucking delight. I can't even explain why. Love me some Mary Berry. I've gotten a lot better in the kitchen this year. I perfected my grilled cheese technique. The secret is shredded cheese on the outside to help give a crispy texture. Also, chicken stir fry is my go to easy meal. However an easy way to switch it up it to use pasta instead of rice and make a sauce out of soy sauce, Sriracha, honey, and maybe brown sugar for the noodles. The dogs in my life are also good. Here is a pic of Hemmy just cause.
I'd write a list now, but last year sucked so bad the last thing I need is for the last couple weeks of 2017 to say, "Hold my beer..." One of the highlights was out family vacation to Cape May. 43 years old and I'd never seen the ocean before ( well, my parents said I did when I was 6 mo. old but that doesn' count ). We stayed right on the beach, and I immediately understood why everyone I know goes apeshit about the ocean.