2020 has been a transformative year. Carol and I have both blended our families, supervised the ongoing renovation of the duplex into a single home, and managed setting up home offices for ourselves and the children… all within the context of the COVID 19 pandemic. I’m just thrilled that we’re all safe and happy together.
Instead of ranking what I’ve read/watched/played over the year, I’ll just list them for posterity.
====BOOKS====
- Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
- So You Want to Talk About Race – Ijeoma Oluo
- Comics Will Break Your Heart – Faith Erin Hicks
- Called Into Being: Essays on Frankenstein – Alison O’Toole, ed.
- Dark Run – Mike Books
Observations: When I packed up the bookshelves, I’m glad I put all the unread books in a single box… they’ll be the first to come out of the basement!
=====COMICS====
- Glow vs the Babyface
- Lois Lane
- Once & Future vol 1
- Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish
- Delver
- Afterlift
Observations: The stockpile of comics – both physical and digital – has only grown!
=====GAMES (Physical)====
- Wingspan
- Alien Frontier
- Isle of Skye
- Food Chain Magnate
- Firefly
- Sherrif of Nottingham
- King of Tokyo
- Draftosaurus
- Dice Throne
- Dungeon Mayhem: Monster Madness
Observations: In-person boardgaming started out strong in 2020. The final game was played at the office the week of the pandemic shutdown.
=====GAMES (Virtual)====
- Arboretum
- Cosmic Encounter
- Splendor
Observations: I was gifted a copy of Tabletop Simulator for my birthday, but time to play has been hard to find. That should change now that the home office is a better appointed.
====MOVIES (First-Run)====
- Jumanji: The Next Level
- Birds of Prey
- Wonder Woman 84 – I guess it counts for this list!
Observations: I really don’t know how I’m going to feel about going back to movie theatres, when such a thing is possible again.
====MOVIES (DVD/Stream)====
- Kiki’s Delivery Service
- Echo of the Canyon
- Memory: Origin of ALIEN
- All is True
- Secret World of Arriety
- The Cat REturns
- Lego Ninjago: The MOvie
- Glroy
- Grosse Pointe Blank
- Porco Rosso
- Princess Mononoke
- The Big Short
- Howl’s Moving Catle
- Castle in the Sky
- Juno
- Lupin III & the Castle of Cagliostro
- Into the Spiderverse
- Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wing
- Shaun of the Dead
- Commando
- Oh Hello! Broadway
- Evolution
- To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
- PS I Still Love You
- The Illusionist (animated)
- Godzilla: King of hte Monsters
- Lego Adventures of Clutch Powers
- Spirited Away
- Rush HOur
- Spaceballs
- Scream
- Spider-Man: Far from Home
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Infinity War
- Captain Marvel
- Endgame
- Ponyo
- Pirates: Band of Misfits
- Up on Poppy HIll
- Frankenstein Conquers the World
- Whispers of the Heart
- Shazam
- Black Panther
- Knives Out
- Pacific Rim
- Blades of Glory
- Talladega Nights
- Superbad
- John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid
- The Photograph
Observations: As much as I love family movie night, nothing is as funny as listening to the four kids discover comedies on their own.
====TV SHOWS ====
- Vanity Fair
- Slings & Arrows S2-S3
- Crisis on Infinite Earths
- Doctor Who S12
- Dear White People S3
- Picard
- Cheer
- I Am Not Okay With This
- Never Have I Ever
- The Baker and the Beauty
- Diggstown S2
- Good Place S4
- Queen’s Gambit
- Star Trek Discovery: S3
- Timeless
Observations: One interesting side effect of going all-in on streaming services is that I don’t really have the attention span for something longer than 12 episodes. I need to be able to finish something in a week, more or less.
====ANIME ====
- Cells At Work
- Inuyasha
- Saiki-K
- Ouran High School Host Club
- Bleach
- Devil is a Part-Timer
- Soul Eater
- RWBY
- Love Chunibyo and Other Delusions
- Ultraman
Observations: The kids are showing me anime shows! We haven’t finished anything except Cells at Work, but I’m having fun!