When I baked up this newsletter during one of my infamous late-night anxiety attacks, I promised to make it a) short b) topical, and c) weekly. So far, I’ve managed to repeatedly fail at all three promises, which is good, because I like to keep expectations low.
That said, here we are at the end of the year, a time for reflection, resolutions and — my personal favorite — endless list-making. Even in these troubled times, it’s important to hold to tradition, and also to rank things. Here are my things:
Top 10 Books I Stopped Reading Halfway Through Because the Pandemic Broke My Brain, But I’ll Probably Tell You I Read Them Anyway
Catch and Kill, by Ronan Farrow
Persuasion, by Jane Austen
At least two books my mom recommended, one of which was probably about WW2.
Kindred, by Octavia Butler
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
Catch and Kill again.
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep— Love, by some pyschologists
Eileen, by Ottessa Mushfagh
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison (a reread, but still failed)
Will Catch and Kill stick this time? Nope.
Top 10 Songs I Cried to On My Roof From April to Mid-July While Drinking a White Claw
“Garden Song” — Phoebe Bridgers
“I Know the End” — Phoebe Bridgers
“Me and My Dog” — Phoebe Bridgers
“Teenage Dirtbag” — Phoebe Bridgers cover
“Iris” — Phoebe Bridgers/Maggie Rogers Cover
“Smoke Signal” — Phoebe Bridgers
“I See You” — Phoebe Bridgers
“Graceland, Too” — Phoebe Bridgers
“Scott Street” — Phoebe Bridgers
Taylor Swift full musical collection 2006-2020
Top 10 TV Shows I Finally Started Watching and Instantly Declared My Favorite Show Ever and Then Gave Up After Maximum 2.5 Seasons
The Wire
The Americans
The Sopranos
Designing Women
The X-Files
Twin Peaks (got through two episodes)
Sorry, there aren’t actually 10.
Top 10 Best Moments in 2020 Politics
This one.
This one.
Not this one.
Or this one.
But absolutely this one.
This one, baby!!!!
This was so good.
At least 2020 gave us this gift.
Top 10 Movies I Said I Was Finally Going To Watch Now That I Had Time
The Godfather
The Godfather Pt. II
The Shawshank Redemption
Citizen Kane
Taxi Driver
Raging Bull
Lawrence of Arabia
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Deer Hunter
Unforgiven
10 Movies I Watched Instead of Those Movies
Eurotrip
Road Trip
Old School
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Jurassic Park 3
Soul Plane
The New Guy
Jumanji: The Next Level
Hot Rod
All these guys!!!
6 Articles and/or Blogs I Wrote That You Should Click On So I Get to Write More Articles and/or Blogs (I wrote way more than six, but I’m not subjecting you to all of them)
“What to Do If You See a Ghost” — Lifehacker
“How to Figure Out If You’re Dating a Narcissist” — Lifehacker
“Cursed Murder Doll Tweeting, Possibly Escaped” — Jezebel
“A Collection of Headlines About Animal Crossing That Convince Me You Should All Find Another Game” — Jezebel
“How to Break Up With Your Family” — Lifehacker
And that’s it! Expect more important lists in 2021 a year that will happen, presumably, though really who could say.
Catching up on the news
The big news is that it’s SNOWING IN NEW YORK CITY, which means that we get (1) day of fun and (2) weeks of sludge. Love too live in the greatest city in America!!!!!! It does look pretty now:
Oh yes, also vaccine. VACCINE. Vaccine. VAC. CINE. Really can’t believe there’s a vaccine (or two, or three), but here we are. The tunnel is opening.
Other news:
Macron has COVID, after apparently licking every European leader this week. Oops!
Mitch McConnell having a good week, tragically.
TAYLOR SWIFT ALBUM VERY GOOD.
Mar-a-Lago residents not exactly clamoring for Trump to come back full time, oh well.
Here are some good blogs & features I am reading
“Let’s Laugh at Stephen Miller One Last Time” — Discourse Blog
“A Famed Anti-Sex Trafficking Group Has a Problem With the Truth” — Vice
“Climate Change Is Making Women’s Chores Deadlier” — Vice
“We’re All Adding Stuff to Our Online Shopping Carts and Never Buying It” — Vice (I read one website, apparently)
“Why Can’t the Hipster Music Snobs Move On?” — MEL Magazine
And now for some good tweets (rare!!!!)
BYE EVERYONE SEE YOU IN 2021!!!! Unless you unsubscribe, in which case, see you in hell.