Tag: lists
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2020 in review
See other year in review posts. Me and Little Man gathering snowballs, here at the end of all things 2020: A lot of bad things happened in the world this year, but in my own little world there was mostly just good. Chiefly because I’m blessed to have a COVID-proof job that has let me…
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Top 10 songs from Disney musicals
A friend of mine recently posted: “Let’s stir up some controversy: What are your thoughts on The Lion King?” I replied that a certain song on that soundtrack was a top-5 Disney song, and it wasn’t “Circle of Life” or “Hakuna Matata”. That inspired me to consider how I would actually rank the best Disney…
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Obi-What Can I Be
I took the Statistical “Which Character” Personality Quiz from the Open-Source Psychometrics Project, which they describe as a “slightly more scientific but still silly” version of those Buzzfeed “Which Character Are You?” tests I mostly avoid. Here are my top five results, with the percentage of overlap in perceived personality traits: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars…
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What practical lessons have you learned from movies?
A while back I started keeping a list of things I’ve learned from movies. Not grand philosophical lessons about life and love and all that, but practical, everyday stuff. Stuff I’ve integrated into my life specifically because I saw it in a movie. When I saw this tweet recently along the same lines, I thought…
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Favorite Films of 2019
Having already conquered my list of favorite films of the 2010s, I found this list much easier to assemble. I knew my movie watching would take a hit when my son was born last February, and it did, though not as much as I expected. My logbook tells me I watched 63 films in 2019, which…
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Favorite Books of 2019
Compared to 72 books in 2018, I read a relatively paltry 24 in 2019. Between work, a new house, and a new baby, I just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to stick with as many books for extended periods. This resulted in a little more fluff than usual, including several Queer Eye-adjacent memoirs and tons…
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2019 in review
See other year in review posts. This year in review is a little shorter than the last few, primarily because it consists of whatever I could do outside of work, having and raising a baby, and buying and managing a house—all of which took most of my time and energy. But here, roughly in chronological…
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Favorite Albums of the 2010s
See also: my favorite books, TV shows, and films of the 2010s. Listed alphabetically by artist, here are the albums from the last 10 years that sustained and entertained me: Abigail Washburn, City of Refuge. Favorite track: “City of Refuge” The Book of Mormon Original Broadway Cast Recording. Favorite track: “You And Me (But Mostly…
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Favorite TV Shows of the 2010s
See also: my favorite books, albums, and films of the 2010s. I spent a lot more time reading and watching movies over the last 10 years than watching TV, but here are the 10 series I enjoyed the most. 10. Catastrophe. For keeping it (brutally) real. 9. House of Cards. For the pulpy thrills of…
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Favorite Books of the 2010s
See also: my favorite films, TV shows, and albums of the 2010s. This list happens to coincide perfectly with the period of time I began (1) reading for fun once I graduated college, (2) tracking my reading, and (3) reading a lot more. This means I had tons of titles to consider. I forced myself…
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Favorite Films of the 2010s
See also: my favorite books, TV shows, and albums of the 2010s. My initial list for this endeavor had 77 movies. After I barely managed to winnow it down to 50, I just couldn’t figure out how I’d get to that arbitrary yet appealing round number of 10. But once I realized most of the…
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A list of movies
A friend tagged me in one of those Facebook chain-letter things, which I usually ignore but this one was about movies so why not. (Posting here to avoid giving Facebook free content to exploit.) Movie I hate: Slumdog Millionaire Movie I love: October Sky Movie I think is overrated: The Shape of Water Movie I…
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On endeavoring through Top 100 film lists
The primary function of my logbook is to document in a Google spreadsheet what I read and watch. But that’s not all it tracks. Among sheets dedicated to typewriters I own and words I like is one that charts my progress through several Top 100 film lists (see above). I’ve been slowly endeavoring through the…
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Favorite Films of 1999
In case you haven’t heard, 1999 was a great year for movies. I don’t remember seeing any of them in the theater at the time (I was 12), but I fondly remember watching and rewatching many on VHS and DVD later on. I really tried to rank them. But the exercise of ranking felt even…
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My favorite notetaking apps
C.J. Chilvers wrote about the pros and cons of popular notetaking tools. Out of the four he features—Apple Notes, Evernote, Ulysses, and Bear—I have used two previously, and none currently. So, having already examined my favored podcasts and newsletters, here’s a look at the tools I do use and why I use them. Paper The…
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Favorite Films of 2009
For some reason I can’t explain, I didn’t make a list of my top 10 films in 2009. My filmlog did get a little sparse that year, but I’m surprised I didn’t at least throw a list together, since I’ve been making best-of lists since 2007. Regardless, once I noticed the discrepancy, I figured now,…
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Favorite Films of 2018
My theme for last year’s movies was the strength of women. This year, it’s time for some manly love. (Archer voice: “Phrasing!”) Since June, when I found out I was going to be a father, I’ve been keenly aware of how fatherhood has been portrayed in this year’s crop of movies. What strikes me now,…
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Favorite Albums of 2018
Most of the music I encountered for the first time in 2018 wasn’t actually new. But here are a few new releases I did fancy this year, in no particular order. Winterland by The Okee Dokee Brothers One of my favorite bands released a full album about my favorite season, so yeah, it’s gonna make…
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Favorite Books of 2018
Goodreads tells me I read 72 books this year. Though I didn’t read as many as last year, with a baby on the way I’ve been trying to read abundantly while I can, for both quality and quantity. Here are the books published in 2018 that I enjoyed the most. (See previous best-of book lists.)…
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2018 in review
See other year in review posts. What am I doing New Year’s Eve? Looking back at my 2018 calendar and logbook to remember the notable happenings that made up my year. In roughly chronological order: Started a paper logbook (a la Austin Kleon) in a Moleskine notebook I got for Christmas. Have actually kept it…