Ah, what a dumpster fire of a year! I almost feel like I should censor the title of this post as 2*2* as it will be a triggering number for many for a long time.
There were a lot of terrible things this year, but we also had a lot of good. Working mostly from home since March was great. I spent a lot more time with family than expected since moving to a 10 hour work day in January (with Friday's off.) I moved to some different projects and teams with work that was interesting and much more fulfilling than before. I got outside a lot more and completed a Couch-to-5K running challenge with Jaden, plus we went on a lot of outdoor park adventures. Maria cut back on some of her editing to focus on homeschooling, so it was nice to see a bit more of her this year as well! The rest of the kids are doing well, and we had a nice COVID-safe family vacation to a remote cabin in the Smokey Mountains in July while Colin went up to Wyoming to help his Grandparents. He bought his first car there which he immediately lost running into a deer on the way home in Colorado. He was fine, but we had to do an emergency rescue over Memorial Day weekend to get him, and had to essentially abandon the vehicle. We now have two kids with cars and our driveway is overloaded.
So many things were affected by COVID this year, including many of the things in my media consumption list. Movie theaters were all closed and Hollywood mostly stopped releasing movies over the year. Since March I only saw two theatrical screenings via a local drive-in. I couldn't gather to play board games, so most of my playing was solo play and most of that was on TableTop Simulator on Steam. Otherwise, I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos and streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+, HBOMax, and Hulu. This was my first full year with Spotify, where I've been introduced to a lot of new music--much more than in the recent past. However, with no commute time, a lot of my listening time was limited this year.
Anyway, let's move on to the regular categories of favorites:
Music
As I mentioned above, Spotify was my main music consumption method this year. Coupled with a new unlimited phone data plan, the whole family was able to listen as much as they wanted and where we wanted. Every Monday Spotify puts a playlist together with recommended songs to discover, which is where I found some of the songs I liked this year and a few new bands. Others came from Spencer, Jeffrey, or just random encounters through the year. Spotify makes it easy to figure out your favorite songs by making a playlist of everything you listened to most, so it makes this section easy.
My favorite songs/bands/albums this year are:
- The Lickerish Quartet:Threesome Vol 1:"Lighthouse Spaceship" - A couple years ago my brother Jeffrey and I went to California to visit a shared musical hero, Roger Joseph Manning Jr. He had just released a solo EP and we visited his studio where he walked through several tracks and spent the evening answering questions (from us and a small group that had purchased this evening as a "reward" from his crowdfunding.) We learned that he was working on a new project with Eric Dover and Tim Smith (who had worked with Jellyfish and other related projects over the years.) Their debut EP finally came out this year and did not disappoint! Plus there are several more releases coming, with the next one in another week or two this January. "Lighthouse Spaceship" was easily one of my favorite tracks this year: an epic six-and-a-half minute rocking track with harmonies, guitar riffs, sci-fi themes, squiggly analog keyboards, and a catchy sing-along chorus. All the things I love.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p8tzd6UNA4k" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> - I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME:Razzmatazz: "Leave Me Alone" - After a promising EP release a little while ago, IDKHOW finally released their first full album and it was great. This was the first single and my favorite track from a fun album. Lots of great, quirky songs with a mix of funk, 80s synths, Boingo-esque macabre, and more. Highly recommended and definitely my favorite full album of the year. (Lickerish Quartet was just an EP.)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iwpnuaBoKPU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> - Joywave: Possession: "Half Your Age" - A song and then album discovered over Spotify. This particular song reminds me of the Shins if they were more synth oriented. Another of my favorite albums this year. Though oddly I haven't taken the chance to explore more of their work. (Warning: some slightly adult themes in this video.)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eXmy5gyELrc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> - The Explorers Club: s/t & To Sing and Be Born Again - This is a band I discovered this year who actually put out two albums: one of originals and one of covers. They are a modern band emulating late 60s sunshine-pop music mixing Beach Boys and Burt Bacharach among others. I spent more time listening to the self titled album, but I've enjoyed most everything I've heard from the band. Here's "Ruby" one of my favorite tracks.
- CRX : Peek : "New Obsession" - Another random album found and enjoyed later this year. I'm not linking to it, because I'm offended by the album cover. So feel free to look for the album/track on your own!
For 2021, I'm looking forward to more Lickerish Quartet. No idea what else will be in store this year.
Movies
This is an interesting section this year since my movie-going ability ended in March along with most Hollywood new releases. In total I watched around 211 movies this year. I saw only 9 movies in theaters this year (including 2 Drive-In movies.) In comparison, I saw 56 movies last year in theaters! Strangely, that's the exact same number (56) of other new movies I saw at home (25 in comparison to last year.) There were 55 older new-to-me movies (compared to 39 last year) many of which were for watching along with my bad movie podcasts. And 91 re-watches this year (compared to 41 last year.) A lot of that was comfort watching due to the pandemic, and some was introducing Jaden to some great classics that he was now old enough to enjoy.
This will probably be a bit shorter than previous years, but here's some of my favorite movies this year:
- 1917 - I'm not a fan of war movies and wasn't particularly excited to see this, but the concept got me to the theater which was that this film was made to look like it was shot in one single take. Even if some cuts were cheated, it still really held my attention and the novelty of the single-camera, single-take style made me enjoy it more than almost any other film this year.
- The Invisible Man - One of the last films most people saw this year in theaters. I really enjoyed how the film took the concept of the title but rather than following the monster, it followed the people who were being affected by the unseen menace. Some very creative decisions like that made this a great horror movie.
- Onward - Another film that I got to before theaters closed. I really enjoyed the completely insane and original story. Pixar movies can often find completely original situations putting me in places I've never been before with no idea where we will be going. Soul had a bit of that at the end of the year (also by Pixar) but somehow it's original situations lost and confused me. So while I ultimately enjoyed it, I feel like Onward worked much better.
- Bill and Ted Face The Music - Watched at home, and while I would have preferred to see it in theaters, this was still a fun return to an old franchise. I can't think of the story too much without seeing all the plot-holes and other logic problems, so I just focus on the silliness and fun of the movie and that it makes me happy.
- The Sleepover - A random Netflix film about some kids rescuing their parents Spy Kids-style. I started watching it and stopped so I could share with Jaden. We both really loved it.
- Witches - Another streamed film we watched together as a family and really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what they could do to improve or change over the 90's version, but it was enough to make this feel like its own movie.
- Love and Monsters - I randomly picked this to watch one night and discovered a really fun monster adventure movie. A young man in a post-apocalyptic monster-filled world takes a trip across the perilous outside world to find a girl he had a crush on as a younger teen. Take Shyamalan's After Earth, but mix it with Zombieland's sense of post-apocalyptic humor, and you get something a bit like this.
- Freaky - Mix Freaky Friday body swap with Scream. A body-swap horror movie. Should have been a bit better with that unique premise, but it was still a fun film. Part of it was I didn't think Vince Vaughan worked as a slasher, but did rather well as a teenage girl.
Some other notable films and watching experiences: I saw "Cats" just to say I did. (End of 2019 "Cats" comes out. Then in 2020 everything falls apart. Coincidence? <<Not my joke>>) I was looking forward to "Tenet" which I saw at the Drive In. The viewing experience was sub-optimal, and I spent the entire 2+ hours wondering what was going on. "Palm Springs" Groundhog's Day comedy with Andy Samburg had an interesting original angle to this new repeating-day genre. "WW84" (Wonder Woman 1984) was the only big superhero film to come out (ignoring "New Mutants") this year on Christmas. It didn't quite live up to the original. Not sure why it was even set in the 80's. I enjoyed sitting through it, but the story was ultimately unsatisfying, and it just didn't love up to the World War battle scenes of the first one.
Some older notable movies and series that I watched or re-watched this year: Pirates of the Carribean (completely forgot about the last one that came out a couple years ago); Underworld series; Bill & Ted series; Wishmaster 1-3; Tron/Tron Legacy; Scooby Doo 1 & 2 (live action), plus Scoob! (2020); Superman 1-4; The Fugitive/US Marshals (Jaden randomly picked the Fugitive to watch one movie night and really liked it. US Marshals still doesn't work anywhere near as good as its predecessor.)
Looking towards 2021, I have no idea what to expect. So many 2020 movies got pushed into 2021 that there won't be much room for the 2021 movies that were already there. Plus, theaters are still not open and we're not sure how long it will be. So here's just hoping we get our movies back sometime this year!
TV
I watched a lot more TV this year including streaming most of the movies mentioned in the previous section as well as YouTube videos. I'll focus mostly on series here and then other media next.
Here are my favorite shows I watched this year:
- Taskmaster - I have watched a lot of British comedy panel shows (QI, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Would I Lie To You, etc.) and even though this has been on the air for quite a few years, this is the first year I'd heard of it. Missing it gave me the opportunity this year during lockdown to find and binge 9 seasons of the show plus the newest 10th season that just aired, as well as an American and New Zealand version (and I believe the show exists in several other foreign language versions I have yet to try to find). This over any other movie, music, or game, was my favorite thing this year. I absolutely adore this show. The basic premise is 5 comedy celebrities are given a series of ridiculous tasks to complete for points. They are always different and they have never repeated the exact same challenge for all 10 seasons. The tasks usually have a very strict set of rules but usually have enough ambiguity that creative lateral thinking can often win over pushing straight through. It's a bit hard to explain beyond that, but here's a clip of some of the greatest hits (oddly, most of these are songs which only occasionally occur as tasks in the regular show):
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dUQhADKoqv8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Aside from the tv show, there's a book that I got. There's a board game that I have yet to get. There's an official podcast that I listen to. And there was a series of "At Home" tasks that anyone could participate in during lock down earlier in the year on YouTube with some genuinely amazing entries. This show also introduced me to Alex Horne, the Taskmaster's assistant (and the real genius behind the show) who has his own podcast and TV specials with his comedy band "The Horne Section." - The Mandalorian Season 2 - I loved the first season, and the second season kept it going. Still the best Star Wars thing since the original trilogy. It's veering a little too close to all the expanded universe stuff that I barely understand since I've never watched Clone Wars or Rebels, but it gives me enough information that I can follow along. Anyway, this was the first thing I watched on my Friday morning every week when a new episode premiered. Very few shows had me excited to watch immediately upon being available.
- The Goes Wrong Show - After seeing the Peter Pan Goes Wrong special, and the Christmas Carol Goes Wrong special, I was excited to learn that there was a series. This was six episodes of six live original plays of a variety of genres from a fictional acting troupe and guess what? They all go wrong in increasingly unique ways! They also did a Christmas special again this year (an early Series 2 episode, I believe) of the Nativity. We also watched a live improv show online from the group (Mischief Theater) that we purchased a ticket for where they improvised a Sci-Fi Space Musical in real time. My dream is still one day going to see the original "Play that Goes Wrong" in a live theater, which is where this show started.
- Saturday Night Live - Not always great, but I'm always excited to watch a new episode. In the lead up to the election they did like six episodes in a row (normally they only do 2-3) which was crazy. It was also interesting when the last few episodes of the previous season took place during lock down so all the sketches were done mostly solo. A crazy experiment that didn't quite work, but was impressive due to having to pull it together when everyone was at home and isolated.
- Wellington Paranormal/What We Do In The Shadows S2 - Both of these shows are spin-offs from the Taika Waititi directed "What We Do In the Shadows" film. I didn't love S1 of WWDITS, but there was some enjoyable stuff. I really fell in line with it in S2, though. One specific episode about an e-mail chain letter was probably one of the funniest episodes of TV ever. Wellington Paranormal follows 2 cops that were only in the movie for one scene, and now have their own X-Files-meets-Cops spin-off where they investigate ghosts and zombies and many other paranormal matters. It's got that dry New Zealand comedy that I really enjoy.
- Penn & Teller Fool Us: They are still doing it and it's still my favorite magic-themed show on TV.
- The Boys S2/Umbrella Academy S1 & S2 - Both of these streaming shows had me following along but hating that I liked them and had to keep watching. Not sure why.
- Animaniacs - The cartoon was revived on Hulu and was just as good as the original. Even better in some ways because it was just the Animaniacs and Pinky & The Brain. No Goodfeathers or Slappy or Chicken Boo or other lesser shorts.
- Truthseekers - Another post modern X-Files. This was a collaboration with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg about a roving van of cell service technicians that are also paranormal investigators. It started a bit episodic, and sadly Simon Pegg has only a small part, but it turns into something pretty big and crazy by the end and sets itself up for more if gets another series.
- Life On Mars/Ashes to Ashes - I rewatched the UK version of "Life on Mars" and then discovered there was a follow-on series called "Ashes to Ashes" set in the 80s that I had totally missed. I spent a lot of my free time during lock down crawling back through these 5 series. I think Life on Mars is better, but there was a lot to like in Ashes to Ashes.
- The Floor is Lava - This was stupid. But it was fun anyway. If you can read the title you understand what this physical challenge inspired game show is about.
Some other shows of note that I watched: "Picard," an awful revival that ruins Star Trek and this amazing character. There was another "Red Dwarf" special that I watched that I can't remember. "Prank Encounters" puts two innocent people crossing paths in an orchestrated horror prank. Some of them were pretty amazing. "Emily in Paris" had me nodding my head saying, yup, that's what it's like in France and it appears to still be like that since I was there in 1993-94. "Aunty Donna's Big Ole House of Fun" on Netflix was surreal comedy the way I like, though with too much language. "Queen's Gambit" was interesting. Not sure why it was so huge. And I watched "Tiger King" like everyone else. Not sure if I hate-watched it or love-watched it.
Looking forward in 2021 to more Taskmaster, of course, with Season 11 on its way. Also more Mandalorian, with several other Star Wars shows and spin offs (like Boba Fett.) Also the various Marvel series on Disney Plus is set to start up with "Wandavision" scheduled for January.
Podcasts and Other Online Media
As always, there's a lot of other media that I consumed via podcasts and YouTube channels. Here are some of my favorites this year:
- RedLetterMedia - Their reviews slowed down a bit because of COVID, but their shows are always entertaining.
- Movie BS With Bayer and Snider - Life changes had these guys end their movie review podcast this year. A few weeks later, Hollywood decided to stop putting out movies. Coincidence? <<Not my joke>>
- We Hate Movies/How Did This Get Made - My two regular favorite bad movie podcasts. I watch a lot of bad movies because of these shows, and then enjoy the podcast afterwords. A few of them this year ("Under the Cherry Moon") were almost too painful for me to make it through, but I still survived. It's almost like a badge of honor to me. Partly why I watched "Cats."
- The Dragon's Tomb - Board game comedy channel. So niche, but yet very funny.
- Screenjunkies/Fandom/Dan Murrell - The Fandom daily show means I know there's at least something new for me to watch each day. I was very sad to see Dan Murrell leave. I'm happy he has his own channel, but it's not the same and I think he works better in a group than solo.
- Um, Actually - A game show for nerds.
- Cracking the Cryptic - I'm amazed at how interesting it is to watch someone solve super-difficult sudoku puzzles.
- Chris Ramsey - I'm amazed at how interesting it is to watch someone solve puzzle boxes. Mostly I'm just jealous that he gets to do them and I never will.
- Ryan George/Screen Rant Pitch Meetings - Very funny sketch shows.
- Ghost Town Living - I'm amazed at how interesting it is to watch someone live all alone in an abandoned town that they bought, especially during a global pandemic which makes them all the more isolated.
Video Games
I didn't play a lot of console games this year. Mostly because Maria got Animal Crossing and it was always being used. So most of my gaming was via phone, my computer, and on VR when Colin got his Valve Index VR set this year (and brought it home from his summer in Wyoming.) I also subscribed to Apple Arcade to try some of the games there. Here are some of the things I enjoyed playing:
- Tabletop Simulator (Steam) - This is actually more of a platform than a game. It provides a physics engine to emulate cards, dice, boards, and figures to allow people to recreate their board games virtually. This was something that I'd bought earlier, but found very intimidating to figure out. With the pandemic, it was finally time to learn it, and I've spent over 300 hours playing on it since. I've got just as large a board game library, if not larger, on this platform than at home. I'll talk a bit more about the games in the next section.
- Half Life: Alyx (Steam VR) - I was shocked that another Half Life game has finally come out--and the VR element is amazing! This game makes all the equipment and Colin's expensive gaming hardware worth it. Still working my way through this game.
- Legendary DXP (Legendary Digital Experience) (iOS) - Phone version of the Marvel Legendary game, but without the Marvel license so the cards are the same but re-skinned with fantasy characters. More on Legendary later.
- What the Golf (Apple Arcade) - A pretty inventive golf game where every level is completely unique. You never know what you are going to hit and how it's going to get to the hole.
- Idle Miner Tycoon (iOS) - A nothing game where you build a mine and upgrade your miners and stuff. I'm not sure why I play it, and yet I've spent dozens of hours and many dollars trying to see if I can see this through to the end.
- Cracking the Cryptic Sudoku (iOS) - This is actually a series of apps: Miracle Sudoku, Chess Sudoku, Sandwich Sudoku, Thermo Sudoku. They are all unique styles of Sudoku and the levels are all handcrafted with guides. A lot of fun and the variations are all quite interesting.
- Beat Saber (Steam VR) - This is VR's version of DDR/Rock Band. Wave your arms to move Light Sabers to hit color-coded targets to the beat of the song. Very simple to pick up and understand, super difficult to master. You can download custom songs so there were lots of tracks ("Owner of a Lonely Heart" in particular) that I loved to play.
- Jackbox 7 (Steam) - Some great additions to the Jackbox library this year with one game that we never finished or played again because we just couldn't understand or get into it.
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - The one Switch game I've been playing since getting it for Christmas. Sometimes I have to fight Maria for the Switch, but I feel like she's had plenty of time with Animal Crossing! I love the prequel story line that this gives to the last Zelda game, as well as the fun of killing hundreds and thousands of monsters.
Looking to 2021, I have nothing I'm specifically looking forward to. The PS5 and new XBox just came out but I'm not particularly interested. With the Switch I'm looking forward to see if Nintendo does anything special with Zelda this year. They celebrated Mario's 35th anniversary last year and we suspect they may do something similar for Link this year. I'm also waiting for more detail about the next Metroid game. Not sure if it will be this year or not, we'll see.
Board Games
After falling hardcore into board games last year with conventions, weekly gaming gatherings, and more, the pandemic threw all of that out. I haven't met to play with anyone since March. We started out semi-promising with a kids day event at a nearby Braums where Jaden and I played all day long and had a blast. We had a second one scheduled but it fell victim to the lockdown in March. After that I was on my own. I played a bit online with people, but it never seemed like anyone was particularly interested, so eventually I just started mostly playing on my own. How do you play on your own? Well, mostly with games that are either built for solo play or games that are cooperative. Most cooperative games have you battle against the game rather than another player, so to play it solo, you just play one or two characters by yourself.
I kept track of all my games on an app called "Board Game Stats." It has some great tools to keep track of your playing habits, wins and losses, and much much more. For 2020, I played 346 times with 133 games. I played in 13 places (mostly home and online, a few hotels, and a few homes at the beginning of the year) and with 36+ players (the plus is for people I didn't name in my records.) 56% of my games were solo. 14% 2 player, 12% 3, and 11% 4. 48% plays were at home. 40% were on TableTop Simulator. My favorite game was played 56 times this year!
Several categories were also played quite a bit (similar games with multiple titles.) I played Legendary games (Marvel, James Bond, etc.) 115 times. I played Cryptozoic Deckbuilder games (DC, Lord of the Rings, etc.) about 20 times. I played one-off escape games (Exit, Unlock, etc.) 48 times. In fact I went all-in with my Escape room game collection and tried to fill in as many holes as I could. It's difficult to keep up with all the varieties, but I try to hold on to them when I complete them.
Here are a few of my favorite games of the year:
- Legendary James Bond - I played a *lot* of Legendary this year. It's a deck building game where you recruit better cards to use in fighting of villains and completing missions while ultimately trying to defeat the Mastermind. This base game came out last year, but they added an expansion this year so now it has a campaign for each Bond actor. The two new movies that came in the expansion ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "License to Kill") added some really interesting elements that make them my favorites of the game (and they are two of my least favorite Bond movies!)
- Other Legendary Games - Aside form James Bond, I have Marvel (the base set plus a couple small expansions--including my favorite, Guardians of the Galaxy), X-Files, Firefly, Big Trouble in Little China, Aliens, Predator, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of the list, Aliens is probably my favorite, but all of them are quite fun. I have the least connection to Marvel, but that's mostly because it goes deep into comics lore that I just don't know anything about.
- Unlock!/Exit: The Game/Escape Room the Game/Escape Room in a Box/Escape the Room - These make up the majority of the major escape room games. I was stacking up a significant collection but when it turned out I wasn't going to have anyone to play them with (the rest of my family aren't as interested in these and the pandemic meant not finding other players) I just decided to start playing them myself. I seldom figure any of them out without hints and having to look up answers, but I still enjoy the challenge. Unlock! is my favorite of the batch because it's such a simple system with just cards. Some of these others can get quite elaborate including one where we constructed a full size dollhouse, but the puzzles are what make it the most interesting, not necessarily the components.
- Machi Koro Legacy/Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle - These are two completely different games but both have a progression element and so I was able to play them with Colin, Maria, (and Jaden for Machi Koro) on a regular schedule. They were both a lot of fun. I got an expansion for Hogwarts Battle, but that was just as Colin left and we never quite back into it. I have a Toy Story game that's based on the same system waiting to play too. We were also getting ready to play "Betrayal Legacy" with a group of Colin's friends before the lock down. I'm still anxious to play that with a group someday.
- Cryptozoic Deck Builders - This company made the DC deck builder game which is a simpler system than Legendary. However, it mostly can only be played competitively rather than solo, which is why I didn't play it nearly as much. There are a bunch of games that use the system including The Hobbit which I physically own, plus one for each of the Lord of the Rings movies which I played on TableTop Simulator (TTS). There I also played several other versions including some custom versions such as Legend of Zelda, Smash Brothers, Universal Monsters, and more. There's one DC version called "Rebirth" that is cooperative, which I attempted to play (it also has a progression/legacy system with it) but it needs more than two players and managing multiple players solo gets very difficult.
- Quacks of Quedlinburg - This fun blind bag drafting game is a blast to play with its push-your-luck element. I also had a lot of fun with my new 3D printer I got this year, printing out special storage components for it. I also made crocheted bowls before I got the printer, which I'm now just using for general organizing. I got this and the expansion just before the lock down.
- Dungeon Drop - This was a fun little game that I Kickstarted (as well as an expansion that's coming in 2021). The gameplay is unique in that you drop a bunch of cubes from the box onto the play surface and it creates the dungeon that you loot.
- Zombie Teenz Evolution - This sequel to Zombie Kidz Evolution is a separate game (though there are some crossover elements.) It only took four days from getting it to land on my top ten played games for the year. Jaden and I have had a lot of fun with it. Like Zombie Kidz, there's a Legacy style progression system with stickers and new abilities that come out every so often in envelopes that change the game. The mystery is exciting and the game is very simple and fun but tense.
- Zorro the Dice Game - Another Kickstarted game that's fairly simple where you roll dice and try to win equipment and defeat villains. I'm a sucker for a good dice rolling game.
In 2021, I'm looking forward in a few weeks to get "Dice Throne Adventures" with an updated version of "Dice Throne Season 1" which adds to my second favorite game of last year. I've also got a few other outstanding kickstarter games that will hopefully be coming this year including "Hunted," "Mint Control," "The Shivers," and "Dungeon Drop: Dropped Too Deep expansion."
Books
I read a few books this year. Some of them I played.
- Ready Player One/Ready Player Two - With the sequel coming out this year, I re-read the first one and enjoyed it. It had been quite a few years and I welcomed reading it again because there were details I'd completely forgotten, plus the movie had changed quite a bit so I needed the reminder. Sadly, the sequel is not great. I had a hard time putting the first one down again, but I had to really push myself to get through Player Two. It takes 150 pages of 380 just to set things up. Then it goes back to the same pop-culture infused treasure hunt of the first book, but in a way that is much less interesting. It spends multiple chapters deep-diving into things that neither I (nor the protagonist) care about which made it really difficult to get through. (I'm looking at you, Prince.) It sets up some interesting ideas and new technologies, but I don't feel like it really used or explored them effectively.
- The Weird Accordion to Al - A track by track walkthrough of every single song on every single Weird Al album. I was hoping for lots of trivia and back story. Instead the author just explained why he thought the song was funny. Pretty terrible. Some of the information was just plain wrong (Author thought "Slime Creatures from Outer Space" was a B-52s style-parody, when it's quite obviously Thomas Dolby. This is well documented online if he bothered to look.)
- My Wife and I Bought a Ranch - Not technically a book, but my favorite new thing I read this year. This was published as a series of posts on the /r/Nosleep subreddit. A news article saying that this was going to be turned into a film caught my attention and led me to the story. It was quite a fascinating and creepy read. There were elements of Pet Semetary (house in the country) mixed with Gremlins (horror with a very specific set of rules.) I love how the story sets up the rules of the horror right off the bat and then the rest of the story is seeing how they play out over four seasons of the year. Looking forward to the potential eventual movie.
- Journal 29/Adventure Maze - These were two interactive books. The first was an "escape room" game where there's a puzzle on every page and the results helped you solve the other puzzles. The Adventure Maze books were a kickstarter I bought into where the puzzles cross other pages, requiring creative page folding to progress through the mazes and inventory objects to pick up and use in other places. Lots of fun and very tricky.
And that's 2020. While we wait for the COVID vaccine, no one is making that many plans. My parent's 50th wedding anniversary is this year and we hope to travel to Utah this summer to celebrate. Otherwise, we just hope that normalcy returns and remain curious to see what will change for good.
See you next year!
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