The Best of 2018

I decided to do a little "time capsule" style post to talk about my favourites of 2018 - in movies, TV, books & music!  These are the stand-outs in my mind when I think back on the past year.

Movies

A Quiet Place
A Star is Born
The Grinch
Bird Box
Mary Poppins Returns
Dumplin'
The Shawshank Redemption

I feel like I saw more kids movies in theatres this year than adult movies, so I'm struggling to think of many stand-outs.  Definitely A Quiet Place and A Star is Born were two that I was dying to see, and ended up loving.  The Grinch and Mary Poppins were two of the kids ones that stood out as being really good.  I didn't actually watch Bird Box and Dumplin' until New Year's Day, but I was still in serious holiday mode, so I'm counting them as "last year".  Bird Box was stressful in the same sense as A Quiet Place, yet I thought it was so well done. There was a lot of hype around Dumplin' but it was just meh in my books.  (Maybe because I've always been the big girl, and in my experience, there is no hot boy who falls in love with the big girl... it was unrealistic.) I did really enjoy the music, though.  And I know Shawshank Redemption is OLD, but 2018 was the year I finally saw it, and it was just as good as everyone said it was.

TV

Outlander
House of Cards
Downton Abbey
13 Reasons Why
Parks & Rec
The Haunting of Hill House
New Girl
Life In Pieces
Fuller House
Roseanne/The Conners
This Is Us

So. Much. TV.  So. Much. Netflix.  2018 will go down as the year I finally watched Outlander, House of Cards, Downton Abbey, Parks and Rec, and New Girl! Because of those shows, I fell in love with Jamie Fraser, spoke in a British accent for weeks, fell in love with Chris Pratt, and fell in love with Nick from New Girl.  (I did not, however, fall in love with Kevin Spacey).
I watched 13 Reasons Why (and read the book, but preferred the TV seriies), and was left feeling very upset and traumatized it, especially by an incident that happens towards the end of Season 2.  That's all I'm gonna say about that.
I was so excited when Roseanne returned to TV, as it felt like a little slice of nostalgia, a little piece of my childhood  (much the same how I feel about Fuller House). And I admit, after really enjoying the season, I was so disappointed in Roseanne for her racist and disparaging remarks on Twitter that ended up shutting the whole thing down.  I was glad for the rest of the cast that they removed her entirely from the project and re-launched it as The Conners, because that was old-school TV magic that I wasn't ready to let go of after getting just a small taste of it.
One of the only other shows that I watch on regular TV is This Is Us, and this was the year we found out "How Jack Died".  It put a black mark on the Crockpot, and left us with puffy eyes for days.
But you really want to know the biggest stand-out for me?  It was The Haunting of Hill House.  It shook me, it scared me, and I had to sleep with lights on for a long time.  Watching it in the weeks leading up to Halloween left me tapped out on the scary and thinking I might not watch anything scary again for the rest of my life.  The Bent-Neck Lady haunted me.  And yet... I thought it was SO well done, and I still think about it now, several months after watching it.  It was riveting and it hooked me so hard for those few weeks.  (I probably would have watched it in less time, except that I had to space out the episodes and make sure I watched them in daylight hours and not too close to bedtime).  It's probably the show I will think of most when I think of 2018.

Books

Christine by Stephen King
The Child Finder by Rene Denfield
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

I actually finished 15 books this year!  That's like a HUGE accomplishment for me.  I always set a goal of 15 books but I'm usually lucky if I get through 10.  (Despite my love of reading, I am actually quite a slow reader.)  Last year, I decided to read all of my book club books first and once I got through them, I could spend time reading things I really wanted to read yet always pushed aside because of book club selections taking precedence.  I liked that process and plan to continue it this year.  The list above were favourite 2018 books - some were for book club, others were not.  Because of Yes Please, I watched Parks and Rec.  I finally read Harry Potter.  I played along with Jimmy Fallon's book club with Children of Blood and Bone.  And Stephen King had me fearing my own car.  All in all - a great year of reading!

Music

 

Say Something - Justin Timberlake ft. Chris Stapleton
Girls Like You - Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B.
Mama - The Glorious Sons
Walking the Wire - Imagine Dragons
Want You Back - 5 Seconds of Summer
Alfie's Song (Not So Typical Love Song) - Bleachers
Parallel Line - Keith Urban
I Could Use a Love Song - Maren Morris
Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Backstreet Boys
Alone - Halsey
I Know - Jocelyne Alice
Get Along - Kenny Chesney
In My Feelings - Drake
Vintage Love/Time's Speeding Up/Bar Star/Up Sweet Baby/Civilianaires/Amen - The Trews
Shallow - Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
When I Get to Heaven - John Prine
Best Years of My Life - Pistol Annies
Look Up Child - Lauren Daigle

I started off the year listening to Justin Timberlake's Man of the Woods album non-stop for weeks, and burnt myself out on it.  I almost forgot about it because I am so OVER that album.  Lots of these songs take me to my back deck and summer.  I spent a LOT of time listening to The Trews this fall after falling in love with them at the Shawville Fair, and I'm still not tired of their Civilianaires album.  A late 2018 discovery was the Pistol Annies.  And of course, 2018 will forever be etched in my brain with A Star is Born, and finally understanding and appreciating both Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (I was not a fan of either of them before).

So how is 2019 starting out?

Movies - I'm anticipating the following coming out this year:
Glass (January)
Dumbo (March)
Pet Sematary (April)
Aladdin (May)
Toy Story 4 (June)
The Lion King (July)
It: Chapter Two (September)
Downton Abbey (September)

TV - I started the year by catching up with seasons added to several series' I'd previously watched on Netflix, including Life in Pieces and now Wentworth.  I'm hoping to subscribe to Crave (it says on their website that they will be coming to the Amazon Fire Stick soon) so I can get into shows like The Handmaid's Tale, Castle Rock, Letterkenney, Veep, Sharp Objects, Game of Thrones, Big Little Lies, etc.  And on Amazon Prime, I'm planning to check out The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Books - Just before Christmas, I started our first book club book of the year, 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  I'm a fan of Stephen King, and the book was one of my choices.  I've always had a bit of a fascination with the Kennedy family and what happened to JFK, so to find a book by SK surrounding those events intrigues me.  The book is a mammoth, though, and as a slow reader, I'm worried I won't be done in time for our first meeting on February 1st.  I'm not even half-way through yet.  I'm really enjoying the story, though, so hopefully I can plug through it and get done in time!