French New Wave Jean Seberg Dan welcomes you in, looking exceedingly bored.
TELEVISION
THE COSBY SHOW
I rewatched the Cosby Show and it was the best decision I have ever made in my life, hands down. As far as I'm concerned, we can do away with all television and just replay the Cosby Show. It has laughs, tears, lessons - and the most flawless human to ever grace anyone's television set, Clair Huxtable. SHE IS SO FLAWLESS. If I could ever even hope to have 1/100 of her class and backbone. PLUS, this just kills me, this sho never missed an opportunity to bring up feminism. At least once an episode, if not more, they make a point of addressing it in some way and that is amazing.
DON'T TRUST THE BITCH IN APARTMENT 23
This show is going to get cancelled, isn't it? It's going to get cancelled because I love it so very much. I love that it's zany and ridiculous and absurd and hilarious - and that the main characters are girls but they aren't locked into a lot of the gross gender stuff that's becoming more and more common lately. I love that they barely ever deal with romantic stuff, except in a passing and ultimately unimportant way. I love that it's more about the crazy bullshit they get into, and June having a career and all that jazz. I love that Chloe is insane in a way lady characters rarely get to be and, even though she is allegedly the straight man in the relationship, June is just as nuts. Also Dawson. And LUTHOR.
MAD MEN
This season of Mad Men was strange. There was a lot I liked and a lot I didn't like. I think this season had some of the best episodes of the entire series, but I would say overall it's not one of my favorite seasons. I loved Peggy and Joan's arcs, as well as Roger's and Lane's. I loved the LSD episod so much. I was firmly not a fan of Megan Draper, for various reasons. Sally is a flawless queen as per. Happy!Don didn't really sit well with me and I'm honestly glad he appeared to be going back to miserable bastarddom at the end there. The only thing I really genuinely di not like was Joan's indecent proposal storyline. I thought it was a very well-done episode from a technical standpoint - very well-written and jus gorgeously acted. I think it's a real crime Christina Hendricks has never won anything for this show, because she's just incredible. But I really don't like storylines like that in general, at all, and I would rather do without them. I don't like that we finally saw Joan get back some power (and I feel like specifically sexual power) by throwing over her husband and then just a few episodes later she had to compromise hersel yet again ecause of a man. I understand the realism in that and how much it sucks to be a woman, especially in 1966, but I would just rather it had not happened. I can only hope that now that she's a partner, Joanie is going to set everyone's heads on fire. Metaphorically-speaking.
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
Okay, so. I a loathe to watch anything with Ryan Murphy's name stamped on it. And I didn't watch season one of this show cause I'm a coward about scary things and also, again, Ryan Murphy. But I couldn't resist the 1960s and institutions and nuns and Satan and murder and lesbian reporters. I COULDN'T RESIST IT OKAY. And despite myself I have been seriously loving this season, ridiculousness and all (though I have serious issues with all the rape and pregnancy, especially since it seems to be a pattern for Murphy). SISTAH JUDE and Lana are giving me such life, and I wish we'd gotten more Kit/Alma, because I really liked them and I am not here for Grace in any way.
IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA
Lol, this show. I've loved it for a couple of years now, but this current season has bee insane. It gets crazier and crazier with each year and also more hilarious. I would say the season before this current one was maybe the best, with fat Mac and pregnant Dee, but this year was great. I fucking live for shows where all the characters are absolutely heinous human beings and man, are they the worst here. BUT IT IS AMAZING.
MOVIES
I watched a lot of movies! Just counting new stuff, 65 in total. But then add another 57 for things rewatched. Like. Damn, self. Rewatches are just as important imo? Because sometimes things reveal themselves to you over time. I definitely had seen most Wes Anderson movies before this year, but then I became crazy in love with him, Bey-style. I definitely watched too many things to talk about all of them, so here is a tasters platter of my year in film.
PADOSAN
LOOK HOW AWESOME SHE IS. LOOK AT HER FLASHING EYES. This is a Bollywood movie from 1968 and tbh, the fashion alone makes this film worth watching. I don't totally remember the plot but the female lead (Saira Banu) is SO AMAZING. Her clothes are phenom and she's sassy and bitchy and flawless. And she rides a bicycle with a pack of ladies while flipping her giant weave. So. That's really all you need in a film, amiright?
THE HEIRESS
Okay, this is one of my favoritest movie of all time. I could literally watch it over and over and over. It stars Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift. It's from...1949, I think? It's currently on Broadway but it's an absolutely awful production, so don't go see it. Just watch the movie! Olivia is fucking incredible (I'm pretty sure she got an Oscar for this, and she totally deserved it); she's able to play this sheltered, awkward character while simultaneously making her totally endearing and sweet. You really want her to be happy. And Monty. Oh, Monty. He is such a creepy hot fox. They have really amazing chemistry together, even though behind the scenes Monty was kind of a dick. They play off each other really well, and I think they both bring a complexity to the relationship and the text that would be lacking with any other actors.
Looking at you, Chastain and Stovens.
JOAN BAEZ: HOW SWEET THE SOUND
This is instant on Netflix, so I totally recommend everyone check it out if you have Netflix, even if you're not particularly a Joanie fan. She's really an incredible woman and has lived an incredible life. She is absolutely an idol of mine, and the documentary revealed a lot about her I didn't know before. I knew she was an activist, but never the extent of it - she was pretty much buddies with Martin Luther King Jr! It's really interesting to me how she took her music to this other place - for her, it was always about what the music could allow her to do, not quite as much about the music itself. She's just incredible.
Also, Bob Dylan is in it. And he calls her Joanie. And he talks about how much he loves her soprano. AND I DIE BECAUSE THEIR LOVE.
GONE WITH THE WIND
I had never seen this before this year, and then I somehow ended up seeing it like four times. It's one of those movies everyone has to see, I think, so I watched it and sort of liked it - I liked the first half? And the second didn't sit so well with me. Plus, you know, racism. But then it was on about a million times on Thanksgiving so I ended up watching it a million times and I think I came to appreciate it a little bit more. It's definitely some great acting and great costumes if nothing else. I think I'm going to try to read the novel this year, though I have serious doubts about my ability to get through that monster.
UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME
ANNA. LOOK AT HER BLUE EYESHADOW. I HAVE SPENT ALL MY YEAR TRYING TO FIND POWDER BLUE EYESHADOW BUT IT DOES NOT EXIST OUTSIDE OF THE SIXTIES.
ELVIS AND ANABELLE
Total unrepentant and unembarrassed adoration of this movie. Blake can really be a lovely little actress if she sets her mind to it and has the right material. The dude - I do not remember that actor's name, damn - was also majorly fine. I don't know, it was a really good little movie? They had a lot of chemistry and I liked their relationship, and the weirdness of the plot really appealed to me. I like casual surrealism in things. I also like movies about sad beauty queens and movies about funeral homes. So really it appealed to me in every way.
COUNTRY STRONG
I still can't decide if I liked this movie or not? I think I didn't like the movie, but Leighton was so fucking cute that it is confusing me. SHE WAS SO CUTE. Omg she was so cute I wanted to punch puppies. WHAT EVEN IS HER FACE. I was super into Chiles as a character, actually, even though her name was Chiles. Plus, as evidenced by several of the movies on this list, I have a real love for actors doing fake Southern accents. I don't know why. But I love it.
The plot aside from her was so pointless, though. All Gwyneth did was sob her mascara ALL OVER HER FACE. Actually, literally, truly, I have never seen that happen before, ALL OVER HER FACE. And she put everyone/herself through all that nonsense for the entire movie just to die right at the end? I don't know. I didn't get it. I do like music movies, though, and the songs were okay for the most part. I enjoyed that duet Leighton did with the beardy fellow a lot.
DIRTY GIRL
Actors doing fake Southern accents! Drink every time that shows up on this list.
I really, really love Juno Temple and this was a nice little film. It's about her being a teenage town tramp in the 70s and her best friend who is an awkward queer and their roadtrip to California (I think) to find her dad, with misadventures and fashion along the way. It's a good enough plot and I really enjoyed the acting and relationships. There's also a cute bit running through where they have a sack-of-flour baby. I would recommend it.
VAMPS
This movie was also kind of terrible but I liked it a lot anyway? I like eyeliner and curlers and girls who are best friends? I think that's where it got me, really.
BACHELORETTE
Again, I love things about horrible people. I know a lot of people were sort of on the fence about this movie, but I loved it. Isla Fischer was so precious and funny, I do not understand why she isn't EVERYWHERE (seriously, can we trade in Amy Adams for her? I hate Amy Adams). Kirsten continues to live a life of utter flawlessness and I wish she would play sick bitches more often. Lizzy Caplan is a national treasure.
GREGG ARAKI
Nowhere, The Doom Generation, Splendor, Kaboom
Technically I only saw Splendor and Kaboom this year, but I kind of have to talk about Araki a little bit. I've been needing to talk about Araki for a while. Because, okay. His movies, in theory, are absolutely perfect for me. They are really well-cast and everyone in them is gorgeous and bisexual. Guy-guy-girl threeways abound. The aesthetic is amazing, this kind of 1990s/early 2000s pop art technicolor trash wonderland. Look how gorgeous everything is! Look at Rose McGowan's amazing face! I should do a proper Araki picspam, just because I love his visuals so much. But all of his shit falls a-fucking-part in the last thirty minutes. I'm not just talking losing the thread a little at the end. SHIT GOES NUTS. Everything falls apart. I can tell it's on purpose, mostly, but it doesn't work and he does it every single movie of his I've seen. It's really jarring and I hate it; it's like he gets you invested in all these characters and then gives you a big FUCK YOU at the end. Which is probably the point, to be honest, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. It bothered me particularly wit Kaboom, because I had been really enjoying it up until that point. It had great characters, great ambiance, it really felt like it was building towards something. And then it just went nuts and ended and I was left sitting there like ...what did I even just watch. Not in a good way.
WES ANDERSON
Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,
Hotel Chevalier, The Darjeeling limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom
WES OWNED MY LIFE THIS YEAR. OWNED IT. I'd always like Tenenbaums an Darjeeling a lot, but hadn't seen his other movies. But for some reason this year they hit me in a really profound way. I mean, look at the username. I don't know what it is about Wes, really, that he has a knack for hitting all my film buttons. I can just watch his movies endlessly and not get tired of them at all. Though, of course, this isn't an across-the-board thing Bottle Rocket was very boring, and I lik Rushmore lot but I'm not obsessed with it. I'm not really a huge Bill Murray fan at all, so I wasn't head over heels fo The Life Aquatic, but I really really really loved Owen Wilson and Cate Blanchett's romance. IT WAS SO CUTE. OWEN WAS SO PRECIOUS. So. Yes. Wes is my main man. There should probably be a proper Wes picspam too, tbh.
MARILYN MONROE
Don't Bother to Knock, The Seven Year Itch, Gentleman Prefer Blondes,
How to Marry a Millionaire, Let's Make Love, The Prince and the Showgirl, Some Like It Hot
I saw most (but not all) of Marilyn's films this year, though onl The Seven Year Itch is pictured because it's my favorite. I think I was resistant to Marilyn for many years because I assumed she was overhyped - it's hard when someone ends up so iconic, because it becomes very easy to forge why they got that big in the first place. But MARILYN. She really is worth all the attention! Her comedy skills and charm are just as fresh now as they ever were, I think, and she was a very underrated serious actress too. Also makeup. Also clothes. THOSE TWO DRESSES RIGHT THERE HAUNT ME.
Movies I rediscovered my love for:
WALK THE LINE
Fake Southern accents! This is just a great movie.
HEATHERS
I don't think I reall got this movie when I watched it as a tween. I remember sort of eyebrow-raising in confusion. BUT NOT ANYMORE. It is certainly one of the best teen movies of ever, and Wino reigns as queen in my heart. My faaaaaavorite part is after they kill the football players and Wino burns her hand with the car cigarette lighter and JD just sort of rolls his eyes and uses the burn to light his cigarette. INCREDIBLE.
DRIVE ME CRAZY
I HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN HOW PERFECT THIS MOVIE IS. Okay, no joke, it is actually an extremely quality film. IT'S SO WELL DONE. Remember when teen movies were so quality??? I miss those days.
BOOKS
Hahahaha I am illiterate. I read like nothing, and then mostly porn. But here are the highlights.
The Girl of Fire and Thorn | Rae Carson
This was such a great book! I am always on the lookout for great YA books because they are so close to my heart, and this is definitely the best I've read in years. It was a really fascinating world with a great heroine and really well-drawn characters. The arcs were great and the action was very well-done; I don't really have any complaints about any of it. I just wish the novel was more popular. It was also great to find a really good YA novel with a non-white protagonist and a fantasy world that took inspiration from a different place than what you usually get. There's a sequel out now that I have yet to read but am very excited for.
The Age of Innocence | Edith Wharton
I think my love of this novel is well-documented by this point. So if you'd like to read more of my rambles, you can peruse its tag.
Smut Peddler |various
Smut Peddler is a graphic novel with a ton of different stories by different artists that explore sexuality in a sex-positive and lady-positive way. It was really great, and the art was all so gorgeous.
The Story of O | Pauline Rèage
So. This book. 1950s French BDSM porn. It was...interesting. Beautifully written but also painfully sexist. Which is to be expected, I guess, from the time it was coming from. It also ended very abruptly, which I guess is because it wasn't written out like a proper novel but instead as a series of letters, I believe. I don't know. I think if you're interested in this sort of thing, it's one of those books you'll end up reading.
The Sleeping Beauty trilogy | Anne Rice
I didn't actually finish the last one yet, because these are getting exhausting. It's just more BDSM porn. Sorry, ~erotica. It's sort of vaguely based in Sleeping Beauty, as in the main character is named Beauty and was asleep at the beginning and there are princes and stuff, but it's lacking a fairy tale quality I was really hoping it would have, lol. Mostly reading these for the lols, though I did enjoy the second one much more than the first. Now it's just tiring.
MUSIC
Obviously I have listened to a lot more stuff than this this year, but these are kind of the major standouts, I think. But, for posterity, other stuff I listened to a lot but was too lazy to make graphics of: I went into a K-hole of 90s pop, plus some Fiona, Hole, lots of Marilyn, the soundtracks to Wes' films, Ida Maria, Elliott Smith, Céline baby, and, you know, all my usual shit.
BOB DYLAN
Bob is my everything.
LANA DEL REY
Lana's really got just about everything I look for in music, from her gangsta Nancy Sinatra sound to her retro-trashy aesthetic, it just works for me. I need my music to comes with a really good aesthetic.
JEFF BUCKLEY
JEFFREY MY SWEET PRINCE. I just got hi Live at Sin-é album and I really recommend it to everyone with an interest in Jeffrey. It's amazing for me because of all the little interludes where he chatters, because you get such a good sense of who he was, this strange and funny little fellow with an incredibly vast talent. Also he's pretty. Second only to Bobby in my heart.
MARINA & THE DIAMONDS
Electra Heart is the motherfucking shit.
Also, livejournal is doing this weirdo thing where it keeps cutting off letters randomly? I don't understand why. Just rest assured that I can type and am literate, LJ just wants you to believe otherwise.