Bests of 2019 – Entertainment

I am a huge list person. When I was younger and would go to the grocery with my mom, I’d scour the gum and candy shelves to try and find people’s discarded grocery lists. Maybe it’s because I’ve become a lazy reader and only have the attention span for bullet points and short paragraphs. Apparently a lot of other people enjoy lists too, otherwise these wouldn’t be so popular.

Here are a few of my faves for you to peruse.

1. 10 Essentials by GQ
2. What I Can’t Live Without by NY Mag’s The Strategist
3. The List by Cupcakes & Cashmere
4. Top 25 of the Decade by IntoTheGloss
5. Barack Obama’s Favourite Music, Movies and Books of 2019.

In an attempt to review my year, here are a few lists I’ve made in the realm of entertainment.

TV:

1. Can’t believe this is real life – Chernobyl, Unbelievable, When They See Us, Don’t Fuck with Cats
2. Drama – Big Little Lies, The Affair Season Finale,
3. Comedy (dark or otherwise) – Bonding, Barry, Killing Eve, Fleabag

Movies:

1. Free Solo is the definition of inspiring. I watched this three times in a span of 2 weeks. Every time I recommended it to someone I’d follow it up with ‘I’ll watch it with you!’  Every conversation I engaged in for a month after seeing this movie included this recommendation.
2. Parasite – do yourself a favour and don’t Google anything, just watch it. Trust me, it’s better that way.
3. Alone / Together – I really liked how different this storyline was compared to other Filipino rom-com’s. Also, Liza Soberano.
4. It 2 – braved my long-standing coulrophobia for the cast (which was truly impeccable).
5. Leaving Neverland – As a teenager in the aughts, I was surprised to come across a name I had heard of.
6. Beyonce: Homecoming –  I was blessed to be at Coachella for this show, but we didn’t finish it because we wanted to avoid the parking lot traffic. So to finally see the full thing was excellent. The opening scene still gives me goosebumps.

YouTube:

1. Hot Ones by First we Feast – Faves of the year include Theo Von, Paul Rudd, Steve Austin, Gordon Ramsey, Tom Segura & Burt Kreischer
2. The Exorcist Claiming to Cure the Sick of their Demons by BBC 3 – this made me sick to my stomach, how this guy who was a Catholic (!) priest (!!) was taking advantage of people’s faith.
3. For A Living Series by Refinery 29 – start with the exorcist one.
4. True Crime by Buzzfeed Unsolved Network – short enough that you don’t have to dedicate a lot of time but enough to fuck you up.
5. Exposing Jeffrey Epstein’s Internation Sex Ring by 60 Minutes Australia – another one that made me sick to my stomach.
6. How People Come To Believe They Were Abducted by Aliens by Microsoft Research – this one
7. Safiya Nygaard’s channel – I particularly enjoyed Bad Makeup Science experiments
8. Open Door: Inside Celebrity Homes by Architectural Digest – because damn, a girl can dream.

Podcasts

1. The Cut on Tuesdays – The ‘Your Driver is Here‘ episode made me delete my Lyft app.
2. Sexy Beasts – Imagine my delight when I discovered a podcast with episodes on the Tikbalang and the Aswang, and further learning that a guy I used to work with co-hosts the podcast?! Hilarious.
3. Where Should We Begin? by Esther Perel – Relationships are hard, and this podcast lets me eavesdrop on other couples’ issues while learning how to communicate efficiently. If you don’t know who Esther Perel is, read this first.

Music

1. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish – This album straddles the line between putting me to sleep and creeping me out. More often its the former.
2. Redux 003 – Kaskade – Sooo good. On Your Mind is my fave.

Reading

1. Jia Tolentino – I found this one funny because I too have seen a ton of Shen Yun posters around. Others I enjoyed talked about millenials and house plants (I feel seen) and Ottessa Moshfegh’s book. Oh ya! I didn’t mention Trick Mirror because I haven’t finished it. In the words of my friend Diana who lent me the book, “If you feel stupid reading that first essay, you’re doing fine.” And trust me, I did.
2. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh – First of all, what an incredible name, am I right? Second, while my only reference to New York in 2000/2001 was whatever I saw on Sex and the City, I found this surprisingly relatable. It’s not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.
3. So Sad Today by Melissa Broder – Of the infamous twitter account of the same name, her posts are hugot personified. She also has some articles on Vice if you want to see if her writing is up your alley.

What were some of your faves of 2019?