Not my favourite year by any stretch of the imagination. Nonetheless, plenty of good things kept me going (along with the obvious - friends, booze, family, food.) Here are some of them:
On screen
Game of Thrones - funny, ludicrous, panto meets porno meets soap opera - relentlessly entertaining.
House of Cards - an unremitting exploration of power and cruelty. Sickeningly brilliant, classy TV.
Shia LaBeouf by Rob Cantor
I saw this retweeted on the marvellous Sam Binnie's twitter feed and it has given me much joy ever since. As life affirming as a Bread Ahead custard doughnut, less fattening.
Movies
Despicable Me
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Artist is Present
In A World
On stage
A Streetcar Named Desire, with Gillian "Girl Crush" Anderson
King Charles III
On the page
I read about 40 books this year and my favourite, hands down, was We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. Original and funny and moving and unexpected.
Also awesome were:
Emma Brockes - She Left Me The Gun
Bad Blood - Lorna Sage
Vacant Possession - Hilary Mantel
Good Behaviour - Molly Keane
Music
Most played, according to my computer:
Clean Bandit - Rather Be
Arcade Fire - Here Comes The Night Time
Go West - We Close Our Eyes. I wouldn't tell you this fact if I wasn't ok with sharing it.
Jeremih - Don't Tell 'Em. Strange, I actually thought this song was about anorexia for the first 10 listens - I thought he was singing 'you ain't eating' - instead of 'you ain't even'. I actually hated it when I first heard it, yet found myself repeatedly drawn back to it. Lorde's cover is interesting and sounds, to me, quite menacing.
The National - Pink Rabbits, Fireproof, Demons
Favourite lyrics
Every song on The National's Trouble Will Find Me is filled with gems, too bountiful to reference. So
I'll go in the other direction and just put down my favourite dumb, tautological, ridiculous lyric, again on Jeremih: On my late-night thirsty, because it was late-night and I was thirsty. I suspect it means something filthy, given the lines preceding it but whatever - for sheer dumbness, I applaud it.
Best gig
Arcade Fire in Hyde Park. On a perfect summer's night I cried, laughed, ate chips, danced like a pagan who thinks they're a really good dancer and then was nearly sick on the up-in-the-air merry-go-round - what more joy is there in this world?
Most over-rated
I don't like it when people write mean things about me online. I try not to do it either, so I'll just say that I SERIOUSLY don't know what all the fuss is about with this little list:
Kurobuta restaurant
Chiltern Firehouse
The Missing
The Fall, season 2
Serial - podcast
I mean I understand why people have frothed at the mouth in delight at the above - I just don't agree with them. I don't agree with them at all.
Here's hoping 2015 is more Tyrion Lannister and less Kim Kardashian's arse.
Happy New Year.
x
On screen
Game of Thrones - funny, ludicrous, panto meets porno meets soap opera - relentlessly entertaining.
House of Cards - an unremitting exploration of power and cruelty. Sickeningly brilliant, classy TV.
Shia LaBeouf by Rob Cantor
I saw this retweeted on the marvellous Sam Binnie's twitter feed and it has given me much joy ever since. As life affirming as a Bread Ahead custard doughnut, less fattening.
Movies
Despicable Me
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Artist is Present
In A World
On stage
A Streetcar Named Desire, with Gillian "Girl Crush" Anderson
King Charles III
On the page
I read about 40 books this year and my favourite, hands down, was We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. Original and funny and moving and unexpected.
Also awesome were:
Emma Brockes - She Left Me The Gun
Bad Blood - Lorna Sage
Vacant Possession - Hilary Mantel
Good Behaviour - Molly Keane
Music
Most played, according to my computer:
Clean Bandit - Rather Be
Arcade Fire - Here Comes The Night Time
Go West - We Close Our Eyes. I wouldn't tell you this fact if I wasn't ok with sharing it.
Jeremih - Don't Tell 'Em. Strange, I actually thought this song was about anorexia for the first 10 listens - I thought he was singing 'you ain't eating' - instead of 'you ain't even'. I actually hated it when I first heard it, yet found myself repeatedly drawn back to it. Lorde's cover is interesting and sounds, to me, quite menacing.
The National - Pink Rabbits, Fireproof, Demons
Favourite lyrics
Every song on The National's Trouble Will Find Me is filled with gems, too bountiful to reference. So
I'll go in the other direction and just put down my favourite dumb, tautological, ridiculous lyric, again on Jeremih: On my late-night thirsty, because it was late-night and I was thirsty. I suspect it means something filthy, given the lines preceding it but whatever - for sheer dumbness, I applaud it.
Best gig
Arcade Fire in Hyde Park. On a perfect summer's night I cried, laughed, ate chips, danced like a pagan who thinks they're a really good dancer and then was nearly sick on the up-in-the-air merry-go-round - what more joy is there in this world?
Most over-rated
I don't like it when people write mean things about me online. I try not to do it either, so I'll just say that I SERIOUSLY don't know what all the fuss is about with this little list:
Kurobuta restaurant
Chiltern Firehouse
The Missing
The Fall, season 2
Serial - podcast
I mean I understand why people have frothed at the mouth in delight at the above - I just don't agree with them. I don't agree with them at all.
Here's hoping 2015 is more Tyrion Lannister and less Kim Kardashian's arse.
Happy New Year.
x
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