This time of year is always a time for reflecting and it takes on a slight sense of meaningful purpose at the end of a decade. For me, it is interesting to see that 2020 will signal 15 years of blogging in different shapes and forms. It is also 15 years since I made my piranha with Larry Smith and filmed Peppermint with Gabby Morton Jones. Hopefully 2020 will mean more music and more films.
Looking back at last December’s post, it was incredibly noncommittal about most things except the appearance of The Confusion of Tongues. Suffice to say, it has had endless tweaks this year and is further on, but I haven’t had a chance to share it with the world. It is now an albatross that I’d rather forget rather than celebrate.
I had set myself the target of reading 50 books and watching 100 movies this year. I’m happy to say that I achieved both. Not exactly a Herculean effort, but better than the frustration I was experiencing of reaching this time of year and having nothing to show for it.
I’m not really into favourite lists, because watching and reading things seem so subjective and contextual, but if I was to look back and give three memorable books and films I’d choose the following titles. Memorable books that I read this year: Born a Crime – Trevor Noah, Candide – Voltaire, Final Cut – Steven Bach. War & Peace gets an honourable mention because I’d wanted to read it for ages, and completing something so long creates a weird sense of achievement. Memorable films watched this year? Tokyo Story, Filmworker, Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse.
READ: War & Peace – Leo Tolstoy, Science-ish – Rick Edwards/Michael Brooks, How to be a Productivity Ninja – Graham Allcott, Man’s Search For Meaning – Viktor Frankl.
WATCHED: Faces Places, A Dog Called Money, Incendies, Rashomon, Taste Of Cherry, Insidious – Chapter 3, Insidious – The Last Key, Insidious – Chapter 2, Stagecoach, Like Stars On Earth, Cats, The Red Turtle, Klaus, Absolutely Anything, Come and See, Smallfoot, The Raid: Redemption, Love & Death, Trespassing Bergman, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Ghost Stories.
