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.

The Shai-Hulud of Earworms

I join the rest of the internet in commanding you to watch this video, which Glen Weldon of Pop Culture Happy Hour called the Shai-Hulud of earworms.

Then you must read this Buzzfeed article. Then you must read Dune (which really goes without saying). At that point, we will have enough shared cultural references to have a conversation.

Serial

I am an avid podcast listener. One of these days, I will write a blog post about all of my favorite podcasts, but, for now, I am going to write about my new favorite podcast: Serial.

Serial is the new podcast from many of the same people behind This American Life. Instead of telling many stories within one episode, as This American Life does, Serial is the same story told over 12 episodes. The story is a dark one: in 1999, a high school student from Baltimore named Hae Min Lee was murdered. Her classmate and ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested, charged, and found guilty of her murder. He is currently serving a life sentence.

Serial is not the Innocence Project. The host of the podcast, Sarah Koenig, seems to sway between finding the evidence against Adnan strong and disbelieving that someone she finds personally charming could be a murderer. This is the tension that makes the show so interesting for me, but I also think it is what will ultimately make listening to Serial a frustrating experience. The podcast is still being produced--I doubt the producers are going to catch Adnan in a lie that proves he is guilty or will find evidence, 15 years after the fact, that proves his innocence.

It is almost impossible to listen to this podcast without coming up with your own theory about what happened. I have one, and I have been bothering Brett, who does not listen to the podcast, about it for weeks. Have you been listening? Do you have a theory? Or, likely more accurately, am I completely missing the point of the podcast by coming up with a theory of what actually happened?