Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Miscellaneous 2016 Faves

I am going to try and write about some of the (excellent!) TV that came out in 2016, but before I do that I'm trying to finish Westworld, so that post might be a day or two away. Instead, this post is about the few things that don't quite fit into any other category.

Music
I don't listen to enough music, or enough new music, to really have a strong opinion or much to say about most of it. There are the obvious contenders, like Lemonade or the Hamilton cast album, but those have been novels worth of writing about those, by writers much more qualified and talented than me. Blackstar, too, was a great album that came out so early in 2016 I kind of keep forgetting that it was this year. And I never even really listened to Radiohead's newest, or Blonde, or A Tribe Called Quest's...

Basically, all of this to say 1. I'm kind of bad at music and 2. The only album I know was released in 2016 and that I listened to a lot was Phantogram's Three. And I loved that, so that's good! The single, "You Don't Get Me High Anymore", didn't stick out at first, but really grew on me and now makes me smile every time, and the album is front-loaded with strong beats just different enough to make it feel fresh and new. I even went to see them in concert at the Commodore and had a great time!

Websites
Joy the Baker posts a Sunday round up each week that I generally adore. There are a few articles, a few recipes, and a few miscellaneous links, and I always find something to entertain myself with for a bit.

Thrillist picked up Off the Menu after its multi-website tour and continues to host some pretty funny, bizarre kitchen and restaurant stories. It's a little hit and miss these days - seems like contributions must be drying up? - but when it's good, it's great.

Pajiba is my favourite pop culture website, and they're my go to for reviews and opinions on new media I want to find out more about. Plus, they have the rarest of all things - a comments section that's actually functional and entertaining, not just a cesspool!

Purchases
In a whirlwind of relief-buying, I bought myself a bullet journal the weekend after I wrote the CFE, and like so many hipsters before me, I freaking love it. I'm not great at keeping it perfectly up to date, but filling in different trackers and squares is so satisfying, and of course I love lists of all kinds. The original journal, with its point-graph pages, are great.

My kitchen has weird drawer-pulls, with an inch of metal sticking out of either end of the handle, to the end result that I broke two pairs of headphones within a year of moving in here. In the summer, I finally caved and bought a pair of wireless headphones, and I don't want to say they've changed my life, but they absolutely have improved it. I can put my phone on to charge and still listen to podcasts! I don't get tangled in wire when I'm getting things in and out of my kitchen cabinets! They're comfortable and slightly noise cancelling, so it's even easier to listen to all kinds of stuff. They're great.

After many years without a TV at all, and then the last year with a non-HD 32" TV with weird brightness settings, I celebrated finishing the CFE with a new 55" HDR 4K and it was 100% worth it. It's gorgeous, I can actually see what's happening, and even read text on the screen! I had forgotten that was a thing that was possible. It wasn't cheap, but I'm so so happy with it.

I let my exercise plan slide a bit while I spent all my time studying, so when I was done I wanted to get back to training more regularly. To do so, I picked up the Zombies, Run! 5K app, which has a built in training plan and a narrative about a little town making its way through the zombie apocalypse. The plan is easy to follow and definitely helped me run better and faster, and the story is interesting enough to keep me engaged. If increasing your running distance is your New Year's Resolution you might want to give it a try!

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