2014 in Review

2014 was a great year for Brett and me. Looking back over the highlights of the year made me look forward to 2015!

Highlights
-Starting a new job and moving to Chicago.
-Welcoming a new niece (Josie Louise).

My sister makes some cute babies.

Favorite TV
-Broad City. Can someone literally die laughing? I hope not.
-Jane the Virgin. Very sweet, funny show.

Favorite Movies
-Guardians of the Galaxy. Dad and I saw this movie in a theater with seats that move (is this the future?). Lots of fun.
-Gone Girl. Super creepy and I loved it.
-The Lego Movie. Funny, clever movie.

Favorite New (To Me) Podcasts
-Serial. Fun to be part of a zeitgeist.
-Ask Me Another. NPR quiz show = geek heaven.
-Pop Culture Happy Hour. This podcast is so entertaining, I can listen and enjoy it even when I have not seen/heard/read the pop culture they are discussing.

Favorite Books
-The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I read this beast of a novel for a bookclub. I am glad that it was for a bookclub, or else it would have taken me much longer than two weeks to read it.
-Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Please read it so that we can talk about it.

Favorite Jams
-Sylvan Esso. Super chill.
-Take Me to Church by Hozier. Earworm.
-Riptide by Vance Joy. Monster earworm.
-Girls Chase Boys by Ingrid Michaelson. Oh-oh-oh.

Fun Trips
-Family cruise in January. This is particularly meaningful now because my grandfather passed away in the fall.
-Visiting San Francisco. Brett had an internship and was there for many weeks. I came to visit him for our wedding anniversary.

Standing on a boat on the bay, watching the tide roll away.

-Memphis for the wedding of our good friends Adam and Hillary.

Yum.

-Labor Day in Seattle.
-Ann Arbor for Audrey and Adam's wedding.

Best Eats
-Last meals at Let's Take a Seat (silly name, delicious tofu) and Golden Harbor (better name, equally delicious tofu) in Champaign.
-Chicago Cut with my dad. I wanted to treat, but of course he did not let me.

Overall, in terms of media, this was the Year of the Podcast for me. I am ashamed at how little reading I did. If I can offer any excuse, it is that my job requires a lot of reading, and I often do not feel like reading more when I get home. But, like you, I am unmoved by that excuse, and hopefully in 2015 I can reclaim my status as a reader.

In terms of real life, this was a very real year. I transitioned into a job that I will (hopefully) be in for the foreseeable future. Brett accepted an equally grown up job. Our families and friends experienced many joys and some heartaches. All in all, I am entering 2015 excited for the future, but very pleased with the present.

Movies, Solo

Do you ever go to see movies by yourself? I do. When Brett and I were living separately, if I wanted to see a movie, I went alone. And even now that he is here, he does not want to see all of the movies I want to see (or, often, he is patient enough to wait until a movie comes out on digital format and I am not).

Over Christmas break, I went to see two movies by myself. First, I saw Wild. I read Cheryl Strayed's biography of the same name a few years ago, and although I enjoyed it, I was ambivalent about seeing the movie. For me, enjoyment of the book rested in the significance of small moments and Cheryl's internal conflicts, and I was not sure how that would translate into a movie. However, the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, so I went to see it.

I really enjoyed it. The movie was able to translate the subtle emotions of the book into film. I was only disappointed that one of my favorite encounters in the book--Cheryl meets a father and son hiking--did not make it to the film.

Second, a very different kind of movie--Big Hero 6. Again, I had not planned on seeing this movie, but the reviews were excellent and I had a free afternoon. 

It was so cute, but also had a surprising amount of emotional depth (I may have cried, although that is not a great barometer, as I can be brought to tears by commercials). 

The Fault in Our Stars

I first heard about John Green's The Fault in Our Stars a few years ago when my good friend Katie read it. I remember her telling me that she liked it, but that she would not see the movie that was being made of it because she did not want to cry in front of that many people (a sentiment I completely understand).

I was looking for an audiobook to listen to on my way to Ann Arbor for my friends' wedding last weekend, and I saw that The Fault in Our Stars audiobook is almost 8-hours long, which was the total length of my trip. Done and done.

The Fault in Our Stars is about two young people who meet at a cancer support group. Thematically, the book is about how society treats people who are sick, as well as the relationship between reader, book, and author. The book was narrated by Kate Rudd, and she did a spectacular job. She had to narrate the dialogue of men, women, teenagers, and adults. Once I got into the book, I could tell who was supposed to be speaking based on her slight and non-distracting inflections. As for the book--I liked it. I know that commentators have recently criticized the trend of adults reading YA fiction, but I generally fall under the camp of like what you like (a media libertarian?).

One of my favorite passages had to do with the relationship of readers to books. The author wrote:

Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books . . . which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like betrayal.

YES. And while this book does not qualify under either category for me, I did enjoy listening to it.

I rented the move adaptation when I got home on Sunday, but I did not enjoy the movie as much as the book. In a book, even an audiobook, it is possible to imagine young adults who are witty and end every conversation with a sly reference to the beginning of the conversation. On screen, however, when that quick dialogue is coming out of the mouth of a young adult, you are forced to remember that young people do not speak that way, and it took away some of the enjoyment for me.

Gone Girl

Have you read it? Have you seen it? I recommend doing both, and in that order.

I first read Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl two years ago for a book club club I was part of in Champaign. I don't typically read thrillers, but I loved this book. It was creepy and provocative. Also, Flynn was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lives in Chicago, so, in addition to feeling like I am following her around the country, I enjoy Flynn's depictions of Missouri river towns (even if they are not particularly favorable depictions). I read Flynn's other two books, Sharp Objects and Dark Places, shortly thereafter.

I have been looking forward to seeing David Fincher's adaptation of Gone Girl since I learned that Flynn was adapting the screenplay herself. Brett and I saw the movie last weekend in Champaign. We both thought it was excellent (even if it is an odd choice for a date night movie).