I had kind of a tough 2019 and did not have the will/energy to write about most of the things that happened or the things I did. It was a Soldier Through And Hopefully Come Out The Other Side kind of year.
I can at least come up with some end of year lists though, and mention some of the things I never got around to posting here. Unless stated otherwise these lists are in order of preference but I did not sweat that order very much, so left them unnumbered.
Movies from 2019 that I recommend: (This is without a doubt my worst list, I did not see many movies this year. When I get caught up this list will be probably entirely different)
Ten strongest albums from 2019
Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated
Tyler, the Creator - IGOR
Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy!
Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won’t Hold
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell
Ten songs I loved in 2019 (that were not on the above albums)
Big Thief - Not / Cattails (a tie)
Billie Ellish - Bury A Friend
The National - Light Years
Dua Lipa - Don’t Start Now
Ohmme - Give Me Back My Man
Ten TV Shows I loved in 2019
Watchmen (note: I am only on episode 2 but I am confidently placing it at Number 3 right now, to my UTTER SHOCK as I didnt even want this to exist)
Also: His Dark Materials, Stranger Things, Dark, One Day at a Time
Ten bands I saw live in 2019:
Spiritualized (Wilbur Theater)
The National (Agannis Arena)
James Blake (House of Blues)
Carly Rae Jepsen (House of Blues)
Mitski (Boston Calling Festival)
CHVRCHES (Boston Calling Festival)
King Princess (Boston Calling Festival)
Christine and the Queens (Boston Calling Festival)
also: Superorganism, Anderson Paak, Yaeji, Tame Impala, Hozier, Adia Victoria
Ten Amazing Sci-Fi/Fantasy authors I discovered in 2019 because I went on a rampage (not all of these books came out this year but they came out recently)
Martha Wells : The Murderbot Diaries (All Systems Red / Artificial Condition / Rogue Protocol / Exit Strategy)
Seanan McGuire : Wayward Children series (Every Heart a Doorway / Down Amongst the Sticks and Bones / Beneath the Sugar Sky / In an Absent Dream)
S. A Chakraborty : The Daevabad Triology (The City of Brass / The Kingdom of Copper)
Catherynne M. Valente: Space Opera / Radiance
Becky Chambers : A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet / A Closed and Common Orbit / Record of a Spaceborn Few
Liu Cixin : The Three-Body Problem / The Dark Forest / Death’s End
Mary Robinette Kowal : The Lady Astronaut Series (The Calculating Stars / The Fated Sky)
Ken Liu : The Grace of Kings / The Wall of Storms
(On deck for reading are Tender by Sofia Samatar, Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee, and The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolande so the rampage continues)
Comics Series I am Actually Following in 2019
The Wicked and The Divine (rip)
The Way of the House Husband
X-Men / House of X / Powers of X
Favorite Graphic Novels of 2019
Tillie Walden : Are You Listening?
Colleen AF Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw : Kiss Number 8
Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O'Connell: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
Jaime Hernandez : Is This How You See Me?
Brian McDonald and Les McClaine : Old Souls
Lucy Knisley : Kid Gloves
Jim Rugg : Street Angel - Deadliest Girl Alive
Podcasts I listen to regularly in 2019 but none of them are cool or anything
This Is Actually Happening
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Video Games I logged the most time playing in 2019 (in the order I played them. In order of preference, RDR2 is #1 followed closely by Sekiro)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
The fact that there are only 4 listed here should tell you how absorbed I was by all four of these. Next on deck: the Outer Worlds
And that was my year. I also traveled to Barcelona and Rome, got a big promotion, subsequently was left holding the bag when everything fell apart at work, a family member died fairly badly, was depressed, had a lot of writers block, also wrote more than I ever have, turned 40, and a whole lot of other stuff that is kind of a blur and other stuff too personal to get into, but it was A Lot. Here’s hoping 2020 is Not As Much, or at least I handle it better.
