See previous year in review posts.

My view from the end of all things 2024:

A red-tailed hawk plopped itself on our backyard power line this morning, making for a colorful breakfast companion on an otherwise gloomy New Year’s Eve. May we all seek to achieve its steady serenity in 2025.

A few highlights from the year:

• This blog turned 18 and I wrote some posts on:
  • the AI typewriter
  • the opposition of Saturn and backyard insects
  • seeing Back to the Future The Musical on stage
  • reading BoyMom as a BoyDad
  • going Insta-viral for my reading take
  • the masterpiece that is Titanic
  • how (not) to decide what movies to watch
• Did fun stuff as a family:
  • Went to our local zoo, arboretum, and forest preserves
  • Watched the solar eclipse
  • Spent Independence Day at the family’s beach cottage in Michigan
  • Did a staycation overnight in downtown Chicago for a friend’s wedding, exploring the River North neighborhood and trekking to The Bean
  • Stayed at Timber Ridge Lodge in Lake Geneva for the weekend with my family
  • Went trick-or-treating in Wild Kratts style: the boys were Chris and Martin, my wife was Aviva, and I was Zach
• Did fun stuff with the 5 year old:
  • Classes for soccer, gymnastics, track & field, and fishing
  • Went to a minor league baseball game
  • Spotted a coyote on a suburban street on our way home from the park
  • Went to a mini golf birthday party
• Did a bunch of stuff for Cinema Sugar, including:
  • Top 5 High Fidelity Top 5 Lists
  • In the Heights Sings of COVID-Era America
  • The A24 Enneagram
  • 4 Lessons on Creativity from Roger in 101 Dalmatians
  • Is your child texting about movies?
  • The Guy’s Guide to Watching Dirty Dancing
  • Recruited The Typewriter Revolution author Richard Polt for his Top 5 Movie Typewriters
  • 7 Types of Letterboxd Users
  • Interviewed Matthew Aldrich (Coco, Lightyear), Robin Swicord (Little Women), Antonio Sanchez (Birdman), Erin Moriarty (Catching Dust, The Boys), Michael Felker (Things Will Be Different)
  • Introduced a screening of Dazed and Confused at our local community college
• Noted some choice quotes from the 5 year old, including:
  • “This bonfire is like a waving hand. I could stare at it every day forever.”
  • “It smells like days I remember.”
  • [to his baby brother] “Don’t distract me, this is one yummy taco.”
  • [about the toilet he just flushed] “It was as dirty as a mud puddle but now it’s as clean as a diamond.”
• Acquired Criterion Blu-rays of Double Indemnity, Badlands, Days of Heaven, and Paper Moon
• Read 9 books and watched 87 movies
• Watched probably the least amount of TV in my life, sticking with just three excellent limited series (Masters of the Air, OJ: Made in America, and Midnight Mass) and one mediocre season (The Bear season 3)
• Held a garage sale and made $52
• Hosted my cousin’s daughter from New Zealand
• Got my first new winter boots in a long time