Patatoa
A small content warning
2020 has been terrible for (the) 99% of us. No one should want to live through this year again. I don't need or want to re-explain any of the awful things about this year. Nothing I could say would be new or illuminating. Also, "worst of the year" or negative reviews in general are counter-productive, cowardly, and uninteresting. Instead, I want to look at some good things. I understand you may have no appetite for anything "good" about 2020. I do recognize that it comes from a position of blessings to be grateful of the below. If that's you, feel free to skip this one.
The Queen's Gambit
Beth Harmon is the rock star story we needed. In years passed, the story's structure would be pasé: arose from ashes, flew close to the sun, nearly self-destructs, but straightens up and flies right. Happy ending. In the post-Breaking Bad world, we've rejected that arc in favor of "complex anti-heroes," good people turned bad, or the above but ending at the self-destruction part. I think we misunderstand anti-hero stories as deeper. Maybe because they're newer and novel in the public consciousness. Beth Harmon is equally complex and compelling as Walter White for being a character you still want to see triumph. In all honesty, at the end of Breaking Bad, becoming a meth dealer still looked like a viable career choice. Yet, at the end of Queen's Gambit, I definitely passed on a night-cap or two.
The early quarantine records
March to May saw a glut of powerful records drop. The first of which that caught my ears was Charli XCX's How I'm Feeling Now. Charli had an eventful 2019 that culminated with the amazing Pop 2. Instead of taking a well deserved vacation, she went to work in a restless early quarantine and put out a record that might even be better than her much lauded previous record.
Another artist with a big 2019 that didn't stop in 2020 — Taylor Swift. Lover was a fantastic return to form. Being quite a large album too, it is astounding to come out with two even better records within months. With Folklore and evermore Taylor Swift cemented herself as an institution. Now with a successful era of singer-songwriter records under her belt, it feels like Taylor is at that next level of musicianship where music is no longer the goal, it is her tool.
After years of build up, Rina Sawayama's first full-length dropped and lived up to some impossible expectations. Sawayama takes the pop-RnB sounds of the 90's and re-imagines them as what we thought these genres might have sounded like in 2020 back then. It's part tongue-in-cheek, but a true love letter to this sound. Rina single-handedly declares "This party ain't over."
Haim jumped back in the fray with their best record yet, Women in Music Part III. Phoebe Bridgers breakout record "The Punisher", Jesie Ware's funky and sexy "What's Your Pleasure?", and Fiona Apple's "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" are some of the standout records of the young decade, and served as the back drop for many of our early quarantines.
WAP is the song of the year
To briefly extend my earlier thought, no song came out after to supplant it. "WAP" is the best song this year. Apart from a few other nice standouts, there's not much to argue.
Lianne La Havas
Lianne La Havas' self-titled record is my album of the year. I will admit that my intake was not as wide as I would like, but I'm trying not to stress out too much over it. I don't think I needed to listen to 300 records just to confirm that this is fantastic. Lianne La Havas has a voice that feels like soft, warm hoodie. Lianne La Havas mixes soul, jazz, folk, pop sensibilities, and a youthful edge that I find impossible to turn off.
We don't want to go all the way back to normal, right?
In 2014, we rented Seth Rogen & Evan Goldgerg's The Interview as it premiered straight to streaming. This was the inevitable future and we supported it's arrival. 2020 came and shoved us forward yet again. Movies premiering at home looks to be a trend that continues in 2021. I'm hoping it takes. I enjoy the ritual of going to the theater, but watching new movies where and when I want? Why would I leave this on the table?
Education through the computer was teased throughout my life. And we're jolted with the reality that we really should have been working on this. Remote learning has been rough for many, and the technology has been here for 20 years now. This can't be a trial, this needs to be invested in. Be real, would you not have rather had the opportunity to do school from home? I sure as hell would. The failures and struggles we see stem from the same roots as any educational shortcomings — lack of institutional support. We give no resources, allow for no retrospection or improvement, and only now we're concerned? Anecdotally, we're pleased with remote learning. It has not been easy, as little has. We love our elementary school, and I acknowledge our results may not be typical, but our kids are able to learn and practice many more things that they probably wouldn't otherwise.
Back to more slovenly things. We were on board with the delivery groceries and food before the pandemic. Now, with even more curbside to go, why do I ever want to go in? I'll be glad for Covid to not be an omnipresence in day-to-day life, but some of these improvements should not be rolled back.
Being with my family
Content warning: sap
I was lucky to be allowed to work remote since March 13. I've been grateful to be able to spend so much time with my family. My eldest son had a birthday weeks before quarantine, and was a kindergartner. My youngest was 1 and a half and recently mastered walking. I've gotten to see my eldest start to master multiplication and reading, pick back up Lego and learn to build robots with them. My littlest could breeze under our dining table at the start of quarantine. Now he can hoist himself up the side if he wanted. He was potty-trained, start-to-finish throughout that summer. He learned to yield one word, "stuck", at the start of lock down; now he drops entire sentences when we let our guards down. Because I don't have to spend an hour driving after work, I have energy to play with them, or at least referee.
More time with my wife has also been a blessing. Conversations with people this year's events has only highlighted that my wife is my best friend. To be trapped in a house with one other adult, and that person being her, has been no trap. I would do it again any time.
The Saturday after the US Presidential Election
The actual election day was like falling in to a newly recurring nightmare. Then we became tense, crinkled up chicharones for the rest of the week as we refreshed as many as four different news sites waiting as county's votes trickled in by the dozens. It was only natural then, when the likelihood became certainty that someone else was going to be president, that we shat.
People danced and honked, people in other countries celebrated too. God damn. If I didn't have kids, I would have gone honking downtown. (With the Spurs rebuilding, who knows when the opportunity will occur again.) Ecstasy was in the air. A rare collective celebration.
I watched Empire Records for the first time
I guess this never was on cable as I grew up. I can think of no other reason why I never saw this movie before this year. This is quickly becoming my go to comfort watch. It's essentially a Nickelodeon teen sitcom. The main characters are bullet points of traits that kids find cool. They're free to act as they please from assault, stealing, and starting orgies in public (?). Like a teen sitcom, the adults are either kids themselves, or stuffy, detached, and ineffectual. There's no real stakes, the drama doesn't create tension, but instead acts as a platform for the characters to bounce off each other. Which is the real treat of this movie.
Empty Country
Empty Country's self-titled album is one I am surprised to not see on enough year end lists. I found it and became enthralled how it is equal parts gorgeous and gritty. Empty Country is stuffed with an eclectic mix of guitar sounds of the 90's and Aughts. Grunge, Alt-rock, psychedelia, pop-punk, baroque pop. But all this focused through a classic/dad rock songwriting sensibilities. If this was five years ago, I could describe this as The Men by way of Real Estate (but better than that sounds.) Today that sentence probably means nothing. But what is meaningful is that every song here is either catchy, groovy, or get you crooning along. Plus the singer has a Gregg Alexander sound going on, which I dig.
Animal Crossing New Horizons is the Game of The Year
No game has captured everyone's attention, and relief, like Animal Crossing New Horizons did. Not just this year, but no game since Pokémon Go. Talk about synergy, it was released at the same time when we all were asked to go underground. When we couldn't (or shouldn't have) leave our houses, we got the opportunity to settle a new island, meet new villagers, vaguely remember characters and features from 15 years ago. (Right right, you're supposed to hit the rocks for money.) The only issue with Animal Crossing at launch was that we wanted even more to do. AC has always been a ten-to-twenty minute session a day kind of game. To keep us all from getting cabin fever too badly, we desperately tried to find ways to stretch out the time on our islands. It's not a terrible problem to have.
The seasonal updates to the game have been welcome and helped refresh the game for at least a week or two at a time with each update. The summer update was huge. I missed out on the Halloween event and I envy some of those crafts on my son's island. Almost a year later, our New Horizons islands remain a welcome and comfortable place to escape.
"New Horizons" is also song of the year
This is not debatable. "New Horizons" portrays every positive emotion and is a beautiful song. I have to stop and acknowledge it every time I boot the game up.
Mario 35 is the second-place Game of The Year
It's a little funny that as I lament how many derivative movies there are today, I write that my two favorite games are great examples of "the same, but different." Mario 35 was the game I didn't know I needed. I've played the original Super Mario bros for 31 of those 35 years, and I lapped up the opportunity to play it in this new competitive format. I grinded for a week or so before I got my first 1st place finish, which still feels like one of my favorite accomplishments this year. The added strategy of finding the maximum coins, clearing the maximum enemies, in the most efficient time breaths new life into a game that's still fresh generations later.
