Media Diary (December 2021)

Some stuff I’ve experienced lately (and not necessarily only new releases):

Licorice Pizza (Movie): Really enjoyed this

Yellowjackets (TV): Unexpectedly gripping

Please Scream Inside Your Heart (Book): A year in review for what was quite a year

The Power of The Dog (Movie): Great sinister vibe

Landscapers (TV): Excellent lead performances from both

Spider-Man: No Way Home (Movie): Nailed it

The Line (TV): Compelling and disturbing

Don’t Look Up (Movie): Way too close to home, but definitely enjoyed it

Station Eleven (TV): Who doesn’t want to watch a show about a pandemic right now?

The United States of Insanity (Movie): Don’t mess with the Juggalos

Beanie Mania (Movie): These people weren’t messing around

The Book of Boba Fett (TV): Up in that Sarlacc!

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (TV): “Dee in a bog” alone justified the season

tick, tick…BOOM! (Movie): Andrew Garfield was fantastic in this

My Beautiful Broken Brain (Movie): David Lynch alert!

Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story (TV): I can’t believe they pumped out another series, but I was of course there for it

Listening To Kenny G (Movie): Watching the jazz critics try to be polite was solid gold

Voir (TV): Cool little visual essays

The Real Charlie Chaplin (Movie): A complicated guy, to say the least

Candyman (Movie): Enjoyed it, though now I need to re-watch the original

Power On: The Story of Xbox (TV): Had just enough corporate shenanigans to keep me interested

The Matrix Resurrections (Movie): Felt like a swing and a miss

Slugfest (TV): Love how weird they went with Dr. Strange in the ’70s

Being The Ricardos (Movie): Generally entertaining, though not mindblowing

Reno 911!: The Hunt For QAnon (Movie): Definitely had its moments

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Best of 2021

As usual, I haven’t been able to see/listen to everything I’d like (👀 Licorice Pizza), but here are my top picks this year across movies, TV and podcasts (TV getting double the amount due to the pandemic of it all)…

Movies:

TV:

Podcasts:

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Up In That Inbox

When not relentlessly hawking my own, I read a lot of email newsletters, both for content inspiration and because I really enjoy the format. If you’re in the market to expand your newsletter game, here are some recommended favorites:

NextDraft: All hail the king

Today in Tabs: Each new issue is like finding your favorite shirt back in rotation

Watching: Great media recommendations, though it’s now NYT subscribers-only

Garbage Day: So weird, so great

Techmeme: A fantastic daily tech news summary

Noticing: I’m a massive Kottke fan, and these roundups are solid

Laura Olin: Fascinating stuff

Evening Briefing: A quick hitlist that’s especially helpful on busy days

The Happy Hour: A great way to head into the weekend

Platformer: On the longer side, but great coverage

One other note: while you can obviously just have newsletters delivered to your main email account, I’m personally a fan of Stoop to help keep things organized.