Next week I’ll be releasing my favorite films and scenes of the year to finish up our 2014 roundups, but right now, I wanted to continue our 2014 recaps with a little look at some of my new loves in 2014. This has been a week that had a number of GTKY’s and personal advice columns, so I thought it would be a great capper for the year to investigate a few things that happened in the past year that don’t have to do with my Top Ten Movies of 2013. Here we go!
Best Film I Saw in 2013 (That Wasn’t Released in 2013)
Every year, in addition to the 50-60 movies I see from the calendar year (I know other critics hit more, but they are paid to watch movies and I am not, so this is it until I become richer), I also see dozens of movies for the first time on Netflix, Turner Classic, and random hangouts with friends. Though they don’t compete for my own personal honors, I do want to acknowledge a new love, and this year this honor goes to the first two installments of Richard Linklater’s Before series. We’ll find out next week if the third installment makes my Top 10, but I couldn’t have enjoyed Sunrise and Sunset more if I tried-I genuinely felt giddy after seeing Sunrise, and the unbridled love of youth, and then wept in amazement at the subtle complexities on display in Sunset, a film that hit so close to home I felt like the Adapted Screenplay aspect of it may be because they read my mind. Both movies are jewels, well worth seeing (in fact, I demand you go see them), and I’m simply stunned that such delicate, complicated character studies exist and aren’t worshiped as deities somewhere.
Best Television Series I Saw in 2013 for the First Time
I don’t try a lot of new television. Once I get into a series, I generally stick with it to the bitter end (I still watch new episodes of The Simpsons), but I don’t give new series or new-to-me series a try too often. I can, in fact, think of only four television series I watched for the first time this year: Suits, Graceland, House of Cards, and my personal favorite, Girls. Lena Dunham (and the show’s second season) have been the target of a lot of hate (most of it sexist, let’s be honest), but what she is is a truly remarkable filmmaker who has dared to make a feminine antihero who doesn’t look like a January Jones or a Jennifer Lawrence. Along with Zosia Mamet, Alison Williams, Adam Driver, Jemima Kirke, and Alex Karpovsky, she brings a slew of emotions and a lot of unpleasant truths about Generation Y to the screen.
Best Song I Heard for the First Time in 2013 (Not Released in 2013)
The only thing I’d ever known of the Zac Brown Band at the beginning of the year was that they enjoyed their chicken fried and their beer cold (preferably on a Friday night). So how was I supposed to know that they had a haunting, wrenching country ballad that would have made George Jones weep? “Colder Weather” sits with you so frequently, with the great harmonic backup singers and the pang at the end of the song that his behavior won’t end. In a year where almost every man in country music was singing about their truck, it was nice that I got to discover what I love about the genre: the openness and hopefulness that comes with love and life, all in one 4 minute and 33 second package.
Best Entertainment Discovery of the Year
If you’d asked me a year ago what my favorite thing about YouTube is, I would have told you the random Tony opening numbers that occasionally find themselves on the channel. At the end of the year, though, I know the real thing to love about the site: names like Lisa Schwartz, Shane Dawson, Tyler Oakley, Toby Turner, Jim Chapman, Tanya Burr, Marcus Butler, Jack and Finn Harries, Troye Sivan, Grace Helbig, Joe and Zoe Sugg, and Mamrie Hart. There is something so oddly appealing about the personal video diaries that they put out daily or weekly, sharing a bit of their lives with a combination of personality, charm, and humor, and I honestly feel like we’re seeing a new, better version of what reality television was supposed to be but then it got destroyed by the Kardashians.
Best Food Discovery of the Year
I lost 38 pounds (and counting) this year in the hopes of…well, you don’t need to know everything about my life. Suffice it to say, you don’t get that way by eating your favorite Hamburger Helpers every night of the week. I have become addicted to turkey tacos (SOOO good), but for me it was all about the Greek yogurt with a little bit of granola for crunch. Mmm-mmm good.
New Celebrity Crush of the Year
Adam Driver is a close runner-up. Darren Criss is still number one. Ronan Farrow is about to be in 2014. But for me, my heart (and loins) belonged to the handsome, sensitive, beautiful Michael B. Jordan, who charmed me off-screen and moved me onscreen in Fruitvale Station.
Those are my random thoughts of the year-what about yours? What are you hoping to see more of on the blog this year? Share in the comments!
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