2024: The Year In Movies

The return of my annual long December vacation helped push up a weak first eleven months of the year, giving me my lowest total since 2021.  I managed to watch 52 movies last year, my fourth consecutive year under 100, despite being home all day and not needing to bother with pesky things like a commute.  Or exercise.  Reading 62 books and watching game shows all day probably didn’t help either.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I watched last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. The films are listed in the order I saw them.

The Assistant (2019)
A day in the life of an assistant to a film producer, who quickly realizes that abuse is all around her.

The Holdovers (2023)
A tight-assed teacher and a troublesome student bond when they are left alone at their boarding school over winter break.

May December (2023)
An actress starts to come between a couple who, twenty years ago, had a notorious tabloid relationship.

The Equalizer 3 (2023)
The latest entry in the Denzel Washington series.

Wrong Turn (2021)
A group of friends hiking the Appalachian Trail come across a community none too happy to see them.

The Equalizer (2014)
When a young girl is kidnapped by Russian pimps, a former commando comes out of retirement to rescue her.

Plus One (2019)
Longtime friends agree to be each other’s plus one at the various weddings they get invited to.

Pearl (2022)
A young woman tries to become a star to escape from her overbearing parents and living on an isolated farm.

Thanksgiving (2023)
A killer attacks on Thanksgiving.

Upgraded (2024)
An intern at an auction house misrepresents herself to impress a man.

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2024: The Year In Books

As 2024 comes to a close, my fourth full year of remote working, I managed to once again surpass my previous records by completing a whopping 61 books, two books more than my previous high set last year and my fourth consecutive year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I completed the challenge in mid-November and surpassed last year’s total in mid-December.  I read 22,622 pages, by far my highest total of all time and just the second time I’ve managed to surpass 20.000 pages.

Of those books, only five were non-fiction and, of the remaining 56 novels, only five were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with two hard covers, two paperbacks, 53 e-books and no audiobooks.  I continued to take advantage of my library card, which helped me procure 46 of the books I consumed throughout the year.

Over 69% of the books I read this year were by authors I had read before. The 19 authors that I read for the first this year were:

Jessica Knoll Isabella Maldonado Kathleen McGurl Lisa Taddeo
Lisa Jewell Millie Bobby Brown J.M. Dillard Lee Goldberg
Avery Cunningham Margot Douaihy R.F. Kuang Jessica Simpson
Jeffrey Lang Dayton Ward Holly Wilson Karin Smirnoff
Walter Beede Michael Connelly Rob Harvilla

Karin Slaughter, Jeffery Deaver, Laura Lippman, Elin Hilderbrand, Jessica Knoll, Michael Connelly, Minka Kent, Lee Goldberg, Rebecca Forster, Stephen King, and Sarah Pekkanen were the authors that I read multiple titles from during 2024.

17 of the books I read were released this year, while only three of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1997.

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Book 37 (of 52) – Nineteen Steps

Nineteen Steps – Millie Bobby Brown

A young woman coming of age in war-torn London during World War II deals with both love and loss.  She loses an aunt and uncle in a bombing raid by the Germans before losing her father and baby sister in a tragic accident.  Eventually, she is reunited with her beloved, an American airman, and heads off for a life in America.

Nineteen Steps is attributed to Millie Bobby Brown but was ghostwritten by Kathleen McGurl.  The story is based on Brown’s family history and includes many true events, including the stampede that killed over a thousand people at the tube station used as a shelter during the air raids.  I ordinarily wouldn’t have read this type of novel, but a book signing with Brown at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.

Fitbit IX – Week 35

A successful week, garnering my highest step total since my trip to Seattle back in June.  Despite a trip out to Anderson’s Bookshop to meet Millie Bobby Brown, Sunday ended up a disappointment, needing 2 additional steps just to get to 2600.  Monday saw a nice improvement, coming 27 steps shy of 5400 thanks in part to a lunch trip to the mall.  A post-work trip to Wrigley Field, my final visit of the regular season, pushed me up over 8300 steps on Tuesday.  Wednesday fell back down to a now-normal 4000 steps.  Thursday also came in just over 4000 steps, despite a 2-hour drive to Lafayette after work.  Friday turned into my second 10,000 step day of the year, finishing just 15 steps shy of 11,700 thanks to a remote working day followed by Purdue football losing once again to Wisconsin.  A morning walk about campus followed by breakfast with Danny before heading home led to 4200 steps on Saturday.

Total steps: 40,262

Daily average: 5751.7

2017 Emmy Awards – Drama

Emmy_statueTonight’s the night for the Emmy Awards, so it’s time to finish off my predictions for the awards.  Today, we’re focusing on the awards for Dramas.  I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.

Outstanding Drama

Better Call Saul

The Crown

The Handmaid’s Tale

 

House of Cards

Stranger Things

This Is Us

Westworld

I watched two of these, but I don’t expect either of them to win.  With Westworld being HBO’s only entry, my guess is it will take home the prize.

Outstanding Actress In A Drama

Viola Davis, How To Get Away With Murder

Claire Foy, The Crown

Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale

Keri Russell, The Americans

Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld

Robin Wright, House of Cards

If it were up to me, I’d give the award to either Keri Russell, but I assume that Viola Davis will take home the prize.

Outstanding Actor In A Drama

Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us

Anthony Hopkins, Westworld

Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul

Matthew Rhys, The Americans

Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan

Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us

Some new blood in this category.  I’m assuming that Brown and Ventimiglia will split the vote and leave Sir Hopkins to claim victory.

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