Other 2014 favorites

I have already written about my favorite movies, books, and some beauty loves of 2014. Since I'm on a roll, I thought I'd wrap it up with some of my other favorites/recommendations. I know I'm forgetting some greats, but unfortunately I did not do a good job of recording my loves as the year progressed - this is all coming from the top of my head. Feel free to share your loves with me as well.

TV/Internet:

• Orphan Black - Folks, I am obsessed with this show. I am in awe of Tatiana Maslany's chameleon-like skills in portraying about half a dozen different characters on the regular - fully formed, unique women, who happen to be clones. Love the little bits of humor mixed in with the big mystery (that has to do with science!), and really appreciate Paul's abs. (I am very shallow.)
• Parks and Recreation - I love this little show, love the cast, am sad it is ending. It never fails to put me in a better mood. Three words: Treat Yo Self. 
• The Good Wife. I have been a fan of this show for years, but they really shook it up and knocked it out of the park in 2014. (And not just because they added Matthew Goode to the cast, which was a great move as far as I'm concerned.)
• Jane the Virgin: I did not expect to like this show. The title, the premise (about a virgin woman getting accidentally artificially inseminated), and the fact that it was on the CW did not add up to a winning formula for me. But then I watched it, and it turns out it's funny, smart, and sweet, as well as a clever send-up of telenovelas. I'm a fan.
• Mamrie Hart/You Deserve A Drink: This woman cracks me up on the regular. Love her quirky/weird improv-y Mametown videos, and her punny/funny You Deserve A Drink series, which besides a good laugh, provides some interesting cocktail recipes. Plus she wrote a movie, Camp Takota, and actually got it made, co-starring herself along with two of her best friends (who are also very funny ladies on YouTube.) I have much respect for a woman who will use just about any excuse to bust out a costume and a funny pop culture pun

Music:

• Betty Who - I've played her Slow Dancing EP countless times this year. Feeds my love of catchy pop music that is a pleasure to listen to, no guilt involved.
• Taylor Swift 1989 - I admit it, she got me. 
• Sia 1000 Forms of Fear - loved this album. Chandalier was the hit, but Elastic Heart was the one I kept listening to on repeat. 
• Sam Smith In The Lonely Hour - Had never heard of him until I saw his performance of Stay With Me on SNL, but after it I immediately pre-ordered this album. Happy with my decision.
• Tori Kelly's Dear No One is one my favorite songs of the past year - I perhaps related too well to this one. 

Food/drink/other

• Copperworks Distillery As I've said before, I'm a fan of booze tourism. Although I did get to visit some vineyards with much prettier views this year, my visit to this distillery in Seattle provided me with the most pleasant surprise: a gin I like! Their barrel aged gin was so good I had to buy a bottle despite the price tag, and I have been savoring it slowly since. 
• While talking about food/drink in Seattle, I have to say the crab and shrimp tator tots I had at the Steelhead Diner are one of the best things I've eaten this year. 
• Taco Bamba it took me awhile to finally try this excellent taqueria in my neighborhood, but now I'm a superfan. The "El Beso" taco is my crack.
• Tortilla soup in Phoenix. I've had it at several different places, including various hotels, and it has always been spicy deliciousness. 



View from WNYC Transmitter Park.

• Paulie Gee's really liked this pizza place in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and my culinary trip to NYC this summer in general. Enjoyed international cuisine in 3 boroughs in 2 days. I highly recommend it. :)
• Another great meal with a view I had this year was at Restaurant Montealegre in Valparaiso, Chile. The food and the view were both absolutely fantastic, and I just remember it being a super fun time with my parents. Highly recommend.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose

This is my first post of 2014, so let me wish everyone a happy new year!

The past two years I gave myself the goal of seeing 52 new movies over the course of the year, which is all well and dandy until you start getting towards the end of the year, and time is running out, so you end up watching crap you originally had zero interest in seeing. So this year, I have given myself a new goal. I will still watch movies, because I love them. I will try to get through the backlog of hundreds of movies currently in my Netflix queue. But for the once a week average yearly goal, I'm going to try to be better about posting on this blog. So I've given myself the goal of posting something at least once a week. I enjoy talking about and sharing things I love, so let me sit down and actually write about them.

For this first post of the year, I've decided to write about my love of the TV show, Friday Night Lights. Maybe it's because I keep seeing commercials for Devil's Due, starring FNL alumnus Zach Gilford (a movie I probably won't see, because horror is not in my wheelhouse), maybe it's because several of the movies I enjoyed last year starred or featured FNL alumni (Fruitvale Station, The Spectacular Now, The To Do List), maybe it's just because I came across some FNL posts on Tumblr. Whatever the reason, I hope that if you're reading this, you end up giving the show a chance. Or sharing what you love about it.

Friday Night Lights is one of my favorite television shows of all time. I own every season on DVD, often decide to do mini marathon viewing sessions, and will probably continue to refer to the actors from that show as their character names for years to come. I want to marry a man like Coach Taylor. I aspire to be as awesome as Tami Taylor, what with the constant great hair days and the fabulous advice (we already have a love of wine in common.) And Matt Saracen still breaks my heart.

It is a great mystery to me why so few of my friends have listened to me when I have recommended/pleaded/insisted they watch the show because it is awesome. I have to admit I was a bit slow to warm up to the show myself - I didn't tune in from week one. I thought it was a show about football, and that did not sound appealing to me, at all. (I'm not much into sports.) But a lot of the TV writers I love kept going on and on about how great it was, and somewhere in season one, I caught a mini marathon of the first couple of episodes. And from the first episode I watched, Matt Saracen broke my heart, and the Taylors warmed it, and....um, I had to IMDB Tim Riggins because he stirred up some possibly inappropriate feelings....and phew, Taylor Kitsch (the actor who portrays that character) is well within the +/-10 age window. I quickly grew to care for these characters - as well as Smash, Landry, Tyra, Jason, and the rest. The show was about various people living in a small town in Texas, it just so happened that football was what brought them together.

Perhaps what I love most about the show, and there is much about it I love, is that the relationships felt real. The Taylors seemed like a real couple who argued and made mistakes but also loved and supported each other. Actions had consequences. Yes, championships were won - but games were also lost. The relationships on the show, like in real life, had ups and downs - they were lovely and messy. Season two had a big miss with a plot that felt like it belonged on a daytime soap instead of this fabulous show, but it also had some gems. Like a the scene between Tami Taylor and her older daughter Julie, where they have a talk after Julie's parents have discovered that she is having sex with her boyfriend - Matt Saracen, the boy who breaks my heart. It's a lovely little scene in which Tami gives a speech I wish every teen girl heard from her mother.

Anyway - if you haven't watched the show, I recommend it. You can watch all five seasons (4 of which are shorter, cable-style seasons) on Netflix. They are also airing the show on some sport channel I came across one day on accident, but I don't know which one. One of the ESPNs? NBCSports? Not sure...I don't have that cluster of channels memorized. (As I mentioned, I'm not into sports.)  And if you do, let me know if Matt Saracen breaks your heart too.