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Happy New Year!
As ever, despite utterly failing to get anything done in terms of personal projects over the past year, and not really keeping up with this blog at all, I find myself filled with optimism this January 1. Probably because the one resolution I did stick to from last January was to not feel guilty about (or bound by) any goals.
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.
—E. L. Pierce
At the beginning of last year, I lamented my lack of attention to this space and didn’t think I could possibly have a worse year of blogging ahead of me. Little did I know!
Not only did my Century+ project completely stall after I finished up with the 1910s and 1920s in early 2021, but I didn’t even attempt to continue my Women 101 series in March. However, I did watch an incredible number of films from the 1930s during the rest of the year and intend to get back to that decade this month. Fingers crossed.
My goal of getting more reading done didn’t really happen either and I completed my annual Goodreads challenge by the skin of my teeth, mostly because I had started a bunch of books I used in my annual first lines challenge and so felt compelled to finish them. Nevertheless, I decided to up my reading goal for the coming year (from thirty books to thirty-six) and maybe take on Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu. I know, I know. As always, we’ll see.
As the holiday season approached, I had thought I would at least do my usual round-ups of books, movies, and music, but, as I prepared to make my way across the country again for the first time in two years, I realized I just didn’t want to crunch through what I usually do to make those happen. Sorry, not sorry.
Of course, I couldn’t resist making a few lists to sum up the year.
Namely…
Top Ten 2021 Movies (Real talk—I only saw ten):
Pig
Plan B
Fear Street Part Three: 1666
No Sudden Move
I Care a Lot
The Matrix Resurrections
Black Widow
Fear Street Part One: 1994
Fear Street Part Two: 1978
Godzilla vs. Kong
Top Ten 2020 Movies (FINAL):
First Cow
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
La Nuit des rois (Night of the Kings)
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Minari
Palm Springs
Blow the Man Down
Kajillionaire
Top Ten New-to-Me Watches in 2021:
Bright Star (2009)
Les Misérables (2019)
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Rafiki (2018)
Love Me Tonight (1932)
Memories of Murder (2003)
The Insider (1999)
M (1931)
Margaret (2011)
The Big Parade (1925)
Favorite New-to-Me Watches in 2021:
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Blow the Man Down (2020)
Love Me Tonight (1932)
La Gomera (The Whistlers) (2019)
Seven Men from Now (1956)
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
Westward the Women (1951)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
Cat Ballou (1965)
Top Five New-to-Me Books Read in 2021:
The Thursday Murder Club (Osman)
The Glass Hotel (Mandel)
Girl, Woman, Other (Evaristo)
The Flight of the Falcon (du Maurier)
The Comedians (Greene)
Favorite Television Series of the Year: Only Murders in the Building
Favorite Discovery of the Year (Household Products division): my four-quart Staub cocotte. At some point early in the pandemic, someone tipped me off to an amazing Staub sale and, having grown very tired of hefting my six-quart Lodge (and trying to get it properly cleaned), I decided to upgrade. Even though I am thoroughly tired of cooking for two, I have not yet tired of my Staub.
Favorite Discovery of the Year (Food and Drink division): cannoli. Since visiting both a local coffee roaster and butcher in North Beach became a regular routine in the early days of the pandemic, I decided to also investigate the various Italian bakeries there and try to see who had the best cannoli. Investigation is ongoing but I think I have a winner.
Biggest Achievement of the Year: Crossing another national park off my list despite being confined to the city limits most of the year. Not only did I get to the incredibly remote Great Basin National Park (just outside of Baker, Nevada) but I also managed to visit Mono Lake on the way, something I had been wanting to do for years.
May the new year bring us all a few more achievements, both big and small, as well as a little more peace, love, and joy.