I seem to know lots of folks who are expected to produce end of year “best” lists. They tend to be film and culture critics. No one expects me to produce an end of year list. Of anything.
Also, given that last year I started an MFA program, I’ve had much less time to consume non-school related content. (Which is not to say that I don’t consume non-school related content.) So, there’s a great deal of “important” film/music/tv/etc that I haven’t consumed that I might have consumed in previous years.
With all of that said, here’s my lists for 2014.
Poetry Books I Read for My Program That Most Moved/Stuck With Me
Bryan Dietrich, The Assumption 2011
Campbell McGrath, In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys 2012
Louise Erdrich, Jacklight 1984
Edward Hirsch, Earthly Measures 1994
Richard Wright, This Other World: Projections in the Haiku Manner 2012 (1960)
Worst Films I Watched All The Way Through
Axe Giant—The Wrath of Paul Bunyan
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
14 Blades
Best New Films I Saw This Year
The Babadook
Calvary
Fury
Get On Up
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Homesman
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Snowpiercer
Veronica Mars
Best Old Films I Saw This Year
I bought a three-pack of films by the Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara. I viewed them throughout the year, and I’m still thinking about them:
Pitfall
Woman in the Dunes
The Face of Another
Best Bad Film I Watched on Netflix
Saint (2010) “A horror film that depicts St. Nicholas as a murderous bishop who kidnaps and murders children when there is a full moon on December 5.”
TV Shows That Made Me Watch Them on Netflix
Arrow
Criminal Minds
Helix
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Supernatural
TV Show I Loved As A Child That, Having Now Watched A Few Episodes on Netflix, I Wish I Had Left Unsullied In My Memory Palace
Airwolf
Emergency!
Music
Thanks to Sherry, I hear a great deal of good new music. Unfortunately, I don’t listen to new music as often as I once did. Don’t know why. I still enjoy it. I still like going to live shows. So, really, this list is extremely short because I’m only listing the two albums that I listened to more than once on my own.
Goliath, Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil
Blood Oranges in the Snow, Over the Rhine
Best Concerts
Over the Rhine
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Bruce Springsteen
Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil
Wilco
Best Batches of Homebrew I Made This Year
#74 Kind Hearted Woman: Mosaic
#70 Ye Gentle Hobo (ESB)
#69 Bold Wren IPA
Spiritual Book of Which I Was Able To Read More Than The First Chapter
A Lever and a Place To Stand: The Contemplative Stance, The Active Prayer by Richard Rohr