One thing I’ve tried to do with a bit more of a concerted effort over the past couple years is try and keep track of the media I consume. As a result, it’s a little easier to go back and review what it is that I watched or read over the last year. So I figured maybe it might be interesting to share the highlights from 2021 from my perspective.

Television

TV is a big part of our relaxation time. I like to think we have a decent relationship with TV: we seldom binge watch anything, preferring to watch one or two episodes of TV in an evening in the daily routine. But given that the daily routine wasn’t often disrupted for social events (because this was the year that it was), we got through a lot of TV this year. Here are some highlights:

For All Mankind, Season 2 - This is fantastic alternate history show with excellent characters. It’s ostensibly a space show, but a lot of the action happens back on earth. Honestly, this is right up there with Ted Lasso as the best shows that the Apple TV+ streaming service has to offer, so if you happen to have a subscription and haven’t seen this yet, I think it is worth your time.
What We Do in the Shadows, Seasons 1-3 - This is a ridiculous mockumentary style show (kind of like The Office) which follows a group of vampires that live in Staten Island. The TV series is based on the movie of the same name that introduced the concept back in 2014. The show is hilarious, awkward and corny in all of the best ways.
Loki, Season 1 - We watched a few of the new marvel TV series this year, and for my money this was the best of the bunch. I loved the old tech (50s or 60s?) aesthetic of the “Time Variance Authority”. The characters, acting, and plot all meshed together really well.
Bojack Horseman, Seasons 1-5 - We worked our way slowly through this series throughout the year, and I’m still not entirely sure what to say about it. This star-studded show replete with guest stars is hard to describe. It has all kinds of silly nonsense, but it’s got some difficult subject matter that I think it does a good job with but make for some challenging watching. It makes it difficult to binge watch, but we’ve reliably worked our way through most of these old seasons all year and we’ll likely wrap up the last season early in the new year. So I’m not sure I can strongly recommend, but it seems worth mentioning.
Hacks, Season 1 - This HBO Max series about a young writer who gets a job writing for an extremely successful standup comedian at the end of her career is brilliantly smart and funny. Not a huge amount to say here except we quite enjoyed this show.
Ted Lasso Season 2 - I rate this season very close to the first season in enjoyability and will almost certainly go back to rewatch this delightful show again. We prepped for the new season this time around by rewatching the first season: something that we haven’t done in a very long time. A strong recommendation.

Movies

I’m not a big movie buff, and don’t tend to watch nearly as many movies as other media. But the highlights for us this year were:

Wolfwalkers - We also watched “Secret of Kells” and “Song of the Sea” which are also by the same studio that has a presence here in Ireland. These three movies were the first movies we watched in 2021, and we found all three delightful. A distinct animation style paired with good stories are a recipe for success.
Palm Springs - It’s a silly movie that has a bit of Groundhog Day vibe, but it’s an enjoyable bit of silliness.
Luca - I try and watch all the Pixar films when I remember to check if one is out. I remember enjoying this one similarly to other recent films, although I think I enjoyed Soul a bit more perhaps?
Dune - I’ve managed to not get into the Dune franchise up until now. I’m not familiar with the Dune franchise, but this movie got enough buzz this year to get me to watch it. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and am looking forward to part two!
Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - I was pretty surprised at how enjoyable this movie was.

Books

I read 21 books this year which is inline with the past couple years since I started keeping track. I’d like to raise this a little bit, although exactly how I’ll find the time I’ll have to figure out! Here are some highlights from this year:

The City of Brass, S.A. Chakraborty - This, as well as the sequels called “The Kingdom of Copper” and “The Empire of Gold” were an enjoyable start to my reading this year.
The Golem and the Jinni, Helen Wecker - This and the sequel called “The Hidden Palace” were incredibly good. The series covers a golem and a jinni and how they interact with New York City in the early 1900s. The author did a huge amount of research about that time period, and the books are tremendously charming and definitely some of the best reading I did this year.
Leviathan Falls, James SA Corey - The end of the Expanse series which has also been turned into a TV series in its final season right now. This series is a really imaginative science fiction series detailing man-kind’s interaction with alien technology and how it impacts the different factions of Earth, Mars, and “Belters”. The whole series is worth a read, and I really appreciate that the authors finished the series in a reasonable amount of time!

Podcasts

In a year where I got out to walk and run more frequently and for longer than ever before, I spent a lot of time listening to podcasts. The last time I highlighted anything in this area was this blog post reviewing 2014! Here’s what my regular podcast listening looks like these days:

Accidental Tech Podcast - this is still required listening for me every week. It’s a really good way to keep up to speed with what’s going on with Apple and technology in general throughout the year.
32 Thoughts the Podcast - It’s hard to follow NHL hockey in Ireland given that most of the games are not played at a Irish friendly time. But I’m tremendously impressed at how good these guys are at interviewing their guests and getting good stories to come out of them. As a case in point: their “Christmas party” episode at the end of this year was over three hours long and somehow they managed to get through a huge number of guests with many interesting stories. A really good listen for any hockey fan.
Connected - One of several Apple-focused tech podcasts I listen to every week. These guys are some fun nonsense each week and I really appreciated this show this year.
Dithering - this podcast is subscription only and releases (exactly) 15-minute episodes a couple times a week. An excellent listen to get a snapshot of the latest tech news.
Reconcilable Differences - This is a hard show to recommend in a weird way since I don’t know how to describe it. But for those familiar with either John Siracusa or Merlin Mann (or both), this is an enjoyable listen every couple of weeks.
Upgrade - Rounds out the slate of Relay.fm podcasts that I regularly listen to. Another technology podcast that is mostly Apple focused. Out of this show, ATP, and Connected, this might be the best of the three to listen to (although it’s not an easy call).