My Favorite Things of 2020
Listen, it’s no secret that 2020 has been a ride. I mean pretty much every marketing company has been lazily telling us that in every single line of copy written since April as if we’re not all actively surviving it. It’s also not a secret that all of us have been struggling through it one way or another. If you haven’t, you probably contributed to that Imagine singalong video back in March and, I gotta say, I’m a big fan of Wonder Woman, Gal. Thanks for reading my blog.
Anyways, I too have been going through it. Luckily, I’m in a position where I can cope with the loss of daily in-person social interactions and also “normal” life as I previously knew it by consuming a ton of media that distracts me from the never-ending solitude and nightmare that is 2020.
So here is my list of all of the favorite pieces of media I’ve consumed since quarantine started in March 2020 and will probably likely continue to consume until I get that sweet, sweet vaccine coursing through my veins (hashtag let me interact with other humans and friends again 2021).
You can also keep up with my thoughts on whatever media I’m consuming in real time on most of my social media:
Y’all already know I’m Animal Crossing trash, but boy did this game release at the perfect time. I bought a Nintendo Switch just to play this bad boy in its third week of release and immediately dumped 200+ hours into it over the course of three months. I loved the challenge and distraction of making my little island of Diggle into the perfect hotspot for my queen Isabelle and K.K. Slider while also making it into a cozy lil place to call my own. It was the perfect escape from everything. Have I played it since getting five stars in July? Not really. But the fact I did put 200+ hours into it in such a short time is pretty impressive for me and deserves recognition for single-handedly carrying me through the first quarter of quarantine.
My job requires a lot of brain power. So when I log off for the night and retreat into my living room to pretend I didn’t just spend eight+ hours straight sitting in my office staring at computer screens all day, the perfect way to turn off my brain is to become a lil bean and fall off stuff. Are the levels a little repetitive? Yes. Is it a dead game after only two months of life? Possibly. But I enjoy it. The bright colors and adorable lil costumes make me happy. Plus, again, some nights I just want to turn my brain off, jam to music, and lose myself in the world of falling bean guys. It’s an easy thrill when I actually survive Slime Climb for once too.
I can’t reasonably explain this one. I had to get PlayStation Pro for Fall Guys, this was a free game for October, and I liked Need for Speed: Underground (2003) for the PS2 as a kid so I was like “why not” and now I’m addicted. Much like Fall Guys, the gameplay is easy enough that I can just turn my brain off and throw myself into the fast-paced races featuring cars of my own design. I recently finished the main storyline races in all of their fast-paced glory which made me a little sad, but the open-world challenges are also fun to explore. However finishing the main storyline means I can no longer rightfully mock the main character who is a himbo with major Ricky Bobby vibes who keeps telling us he’s the best racer, but his races and dialogue are the worst in the game. A devastating loss for me, for sure.
Hey did you know I tried to be a gaming YouTuber at one point? Yeah I forget too. I might get back into it in the future, but in the meantime take a look at some of my gaming videos on my YouTube channel!
I am aware The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) and Carrie Underwood are two separate artists. I am also aware that I have an entire Spotify playlist titled “Carrie, The Chicks, and one (1) Fancy by Reba” that served as my never-ending soundtrack for the summer of 2020. There really is no better comfort in an emotionally exhausting global pandemic than angry country woman crooning about injustice in the world. If you’re fed up with the world, I highly recommend giving these women a spin for a couple of hours without pause. I’ll even make my highly specific Spotify playlist public for y’all. It’s very satisfying.
Have you heard of our lord and savior PVRIS? Of course you haven’t. No one has and it frustrates me to no end. Their music is a newer obsession of mine, but I’m so in love with this alt rock band that I’ve taken it upon myself to serve as their hark and I’m going to abuse this opportunity known as my blog to further promote them. Essentially I discovered them because they kept showing up on my typical pop punk Spotify radios and I always liked their songs so I decided to give them a listen for a day and then I didn’t stop for three weeks straight. Until I switched to Christmas music, basically. Which is ridiculous. Please listen to them so someone else can help me understand my obsession. Thank you.
It’s very funny to me that my Spotify Wrapped is all alt rock and pop, but two out of my three favorite quarantine listens are country artists. Anyways, Dolly is a queen but it took until lockdown for me to really get into her music. I first watched her Netflix documentary when I was going through my weird Netflix documentary phase of lockdown which led to me listening to all of her music and now I’m a big fan. Everything about her is a doll (ha) and there’s a reason why she’s such a timeless icon. I’m just sorry it took a global pandemic for me to interact with her stuff.
If you want to read more of my thoughts about music, check out my blog post about how to develop the perfect writing playlist right here:
Everyone and their mom has been telling me to watch this TV show since its release but before lockdown I literally never watched TV. Like “the last TV show I actively watched from start to finish was Heroes (2006)” never watched TV. But then lockdown happened, I was bored and needed something to play in the background while I played Animal Crossing, and boom I fell in love with Brooklyn-99. I love the wholesome energy of everything, the earnest humor that had me dying laughing, and the honest love all of the characters had for each other. If every TV show was like Brooklyn-99, I’d watch more of it.
Listen...this show is an active nightmare. Betty’s rendition of ‘Mad World’ (YOU know the one) still haunts me to this day. That being said, it also might be one of my favorite TV shows of all time. Mainly because I’ve been watching it with my best friend/pandemic pod pal and we’ve had a fantastic time mocking it during our lockdown binge TV watching while also getting way too invested in the storylines. We actually haven’t watched season four yet because we’re scared Jughead is going to get eaten. I know it sounds far-fetched but this is a show that had Chad Michael Murray leading an organ-harvesting cult, Archie taking the SAT a week after getting eaten by a bear, and gangs/the mob are an encouraged extracurriculars for teenagers because ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ could get them killed by demons. Jughead being eaten in season four is not completely off the table here and I am Scared™.
Do you want to know how it feels to have your soul ripped out of your body? Watch The Boys. I literally stole/asked and then borrowed my bestie’s Amazon Prime information so I could continue watching it. This superhero drama is intense and the grown-up version of Heroes (2006) I had no idea I desired. Some scenes literally had me on the floor in emotional response and, again, I don’t normally like TV. One of the best pieces of superhero media in this day and age. Marvel-didn’t-release-a-new-movie-this-year who?
Circe by Madeline Miller
This book and I have been through a journey together. Starting with its release in 2018 and all of my book friends’ hype for it, I quickly became obsessed with the gold foil cover because c’mon it’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen and vowed to get my hands on a cheap copy of it. When Book of the Month offered a hardback version of it for only $5, I immediately snatched a copy. Then it arrived in the mail without the gold foil variant and, in protest, I left this book on my TBR shelf for a year and half. I finally read it when quarantine left me without access to my local library and oh my god it is an absolute gem of a novel. The prose is sheer poetry, the heart and soul of it is composed of the universe’s magic, and Circe’s journey made me want to become a witch in real life just so I could experience another taste of it. Well worth the hype and if Song of Achilles is anything like it, then I will be a very happy camper whenever I get my hands on that copy.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Every year, I spend the month of October reading spooky books. I’m a big fan of spooky books, if you can’t tell. It’s a great tradition for me and one I usually fuel with the use of my public library. However, with the pandemic, I didn’t have the opportunity that I usually do to browse through the library and pick up all of the weirdo spooky books I normally read. So I was thrilled when I discovered Mexican Gothic fulfilled all of my spooky read needs for this year and then more. It allowed me to celebrate my reading tradition while also providing a very emotionally compelling story that had me trading theories with my reading buddies for days afterwards.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Y’all…..this book messed me up. I am messed up because of this book. I knew there was a good reason for the hype, but I didn’t realize how good of a reason it was until it was two in the morning and I was contemplating re-reading Twilight because I needed something easy to read to calm my nerves. The narrative of this novel is so directly engaging and also enraging and also also absolutely terrifying. I’ve already got Sharp Objects on my TBR shelf and I’m actually a little terrified to start it if it’s even as half as thrilling as Gone Girl.
If you want to keep up on my reading in real time, you can follow my Goodreads for my sassy book updates and also caps lock reviews of my favorite novels.
HONORABLE MENTION
Buzzfeed’s ‘Worth It’
While this hit Buzzfeed YouTube show isn’t necessarily a traditional form of media, it is getting a special shout out because I’ve watched every single episode of this show in lockdown and loved every second of it. I made it a Saturday morning tradition to cook up some pancakes and then sit down to watch an episode of Worth It to alleviate my cabin fever and sustain my new obsession with cooking. Steven, Adam, and Andrew’s personalities were also so calm and so funny that they were very comforting to watch week after week. If you’re feeling a little stir crazy from sitting on the couch all day during lockdown, I recommend watching these boys visit the great local flavors of several cities outside of your own and tasting brilliant foods that I can only dream of cooking.