My New Special Interest

I have a new special interest.

I've come to realize this is the first special interest I've had post Australia; and all the other things in-between that I believed were special interests were actually NOT special interests (see next post)

I'm not sure how to name it actually.

Technically we could say it's New Zealand.  But I don't want to, because it's very much not like my Australia obsession.

It's very different.

With Australia, it felt spiritual (and I still very often believe it is/was).  And I was obsessed with all of it—the land, the map of it, the history, the government, the people, the animals, etc.  I wanted to live there.  And "want" seems like an insufficient word for how I was feeling.  

With New Zealand, it's mostly the music and the language...and the Taika Waititi/Jemaine Clement filmmaking ventures.

It's kind of jumped around.

It started with us watching Legion and Tim and I both thinking that Jemaine Clement looked familar.  We IMDb'd and I saw/realized he was the singer of one of my favorite songs ("Shiny"); had major involvement in What We Do in the Shadows, and was part of Flight of the Conchords.  

We decided we should next watch Flight of the Conchords.  It was something we had both vaguely heard about though the years and had an ongoing sort of interest in watching it....someday.  Or at least that's how I felt about it. 

I had a very normal level of liking for the show during the first season and maybe for most of the second.  Then at some moment, somehow, I went from liking to obsessively loving.

After watching Flight of the Conchords, I had us rewatching What We Do in the Shadows, because A) Didn't realize Jemaine Clement was one of the stars since I hadn't been too aware of his existence prior to watching Legion  B) I couldn't remember what actually happened in the movie.

Then I had us re-watching the episodes of the TV show that had cameos of Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement.

We next watched Our Flag Means Death.  Or maybe we watched that before What We Do in the Shadows?  I'm not entirely sure.

I loved  OFMD. I think it's the most romantic show I've seen in a long time.  I don't often have intense shipping-feelings these days. But with that, I did.  

Through doing decent IMDb research, I learned about the existence of Wellington Paranormal.  I find it odd that as people who watch and love What We Do in the Shadows, we hadn't realized the show existed.  Is this mostly about our ignorance? Not enough marketing?  Or just the over-abundance of content out there?

Anyway, we watched that too and very much enjoyed it.  

Meanwhile and after, I started diving into the music side of things. And with that, one thing kept leading to another thing and then another thing.

For example, through reading a bit about Brett McKenzie, I learned about the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and started listening to their music on Spotify. Also I listened to the Flight of the Conchords charity song, "Feel Inside (And Stuff Like that)".   Both of these things led me to learning about Brooke Fraser.  

I listened to McKenzie's new not-funny album and loved that.  Plus, I was delightfully surprised to learn he wrote the Muppet songs.  I never had much of an interest in seeing The Muppets Most Wanted but now have been loving the music.

I especially love the demo songs and really want to know if Brett McKenzie is doing all the different voices on the song.  If anyone knows the answer to that, please share your knowledge with me.

I listened to Jemaine Clement sing on the Rio soundtrack and learned he played the Cockatoo.  I think MAYBE in the past I was a bit bigoted against him. Because during my very steep obsessed-with-Australia years, I vaguely remember feeling cheated that the Australian bird was played by someone not actually from Australia.  It's not that I was some kind of purist.  I watched many Aussie TV shows and movies with Kiwi actors.  But I think probably the one thing that made me feel motivated to watch Rio was the Australian character.

Also while going down the Jemaine Clement music rabbit hole,  I ended up listening to the albums from the children's TV show Kiri and Lou.

Shit. The songs from that are SO deep and relatable.  It's very cathartic but sometimes also painful.  

I learned that the writer of the songs from that is Don McGlashan.  I've listened to some of his other music.  

Okay...then on a separate branch.

Meanwhile....

I became quite obsessed with learning te reo Māori.

I think one of my signs that a special interest is going to be a major one is I have some sort of resistance to it.  This happened here.

A few months back I had bought a lifetime account to the Drops language App.  I was using it to learn French, Danish, and Hebrew.  My plan was to do little bits of French and Danish and a lot of Hebrew.

And then I had this sudden strong desire to learn te reo Māori.  I resisted, because I felt I was already learning enough languages. Plus, I think there was the whole special-interest resistance thing that I mentioned above.  (Also I had worries about cultural appropriation which I think was actually racist and ignorant of me...I might go into that in a future post)

I gave in a little and made a rule.  Along with the music people mentioned above, I had also added a few Māori songs to my Spotify playlist.  My rule was that if Spotify Shuffle chose to play a Māori song for me; then I could do a te reo Māori session on Drops.  

I soon dropped that rule and added te reo Māori to my list of daily languages.  And it soon went from: I will do one session a day to: I will try to do many many sessions a day; plus listen to lots of music; plus watch learning videos on YouTube, and download other te reo Māori apps.

I also ended up adding another language to my daily sessions.  Because at some point, Tim asked if Hawaiian was similar to te reo Māori.  I decided the best way to figure that out is to start learning Hawaiian as well.  

In awhile, I'm going to temporarily drop French or Danish and start learning Samoan too. Because I'd like to see the similarities and differences there as well.  

This post has taken much up much more space and time than I wanted.  But in the future, I might do a post listing the apps and YouTube channels I've been using.  It will mostly be about the channels, because although I have downloaded four or five apps, I'm only using one for now.  (I mean besides Drops).  

If you are a person who, like me, has no Māori background and isn't in or from New Zealand, but you're learning te reo Māori, I'd love to hear from you.  And if that doesn't apply to you, I'd still love to hear from you.  IF you're not a bot advertising something.  If you're a lonely bot just wanting to talk...I'm here for that.

I still have more to say, although this is getting long. Sorry.

I probably don't want to go to New Zealand.  Ironically, Tim brought up the idea a few weeks before we watched Flight of the Conchords.  He told me Jack had mentioned going. I probably said something like, I hope you guys have fun.  Meaning I shall stay happily back at home.

My OCD has gotten worse through the years.  That along with my fear of vomiting and general travel anxiety has made long-long-haul traveling a no for me.

I had told Tim and Jack that they're going to have to do the via-west-coast international traveling without me, including Oceania, East Asia, and South East Asia.

I feel Europe is the farthest I can manage.  And even with that, I made things difficult. I managed to get to Copenhagen but had us spending a night in Boston and stopping in Iceland.

If time was not an issue, I would have us spend time in California; time in Hawaii, and then fly to New Zealand.  But I would feel weird about not going to Australia.  I would feel like I'm committing a huge, huge awful betrayal of my past self.

I guess if time was very much not an issue, we could do this super long trip where we spend time in California, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia.  I'd also maybe add in various South Pacific Islands.  

For now, though, we're talking about using our DVC points to go to Hawaii.  

So though I can't point to a manu in Aotearoa, I can do so in Hawaii.

I also don't want the anxiety and pressure of trying out my teo reo Māori abilities on actual people.  During some of my Instagram Zionism adventures, I ended up talking to a Māori Zionist.  I was about to type Kia Ora to him and suddenly started to panic...worrying that I didn't know how to spell it right.  Even though I've seen it written out a zillion times.  

So I think I'm just going to go through life using the language to talk to apps and...mostly just to myself.

I talk to myself all the time. It's lovely doing it in a second language.  

The last thing I want to talk about is that I at first thought it was very funny that I ended up becoming obsessed with New Zealand. 

There has actually been worse bigotry than the Rio thing.  For example, there was a brief time that I had this intense but sadly short term friendship with a woman in Australia. Though I thought she was wonderful and imagined I loved her (in a platonic way), I was a bit disappointed that she was actually from New Zealand and not only that, loved her home country much more than Australia.  (It's not why our friendship faded away, though)

I also found it quite hilarious that I jumped from one Oceania country to another. Though if it had been a direct jump, it would have been much less funny.  It would have felt more like an extension rather than the universe playing a joke.  

It's probably much less funny to other people.

Anyway, now...it also brings me comfort and joy, because there are a lot of connections between Australia and New Zealand, including with music and TV/film.   

I've often very much missed being obsessed with Australia. And New Zealand is helping to reconnect me.  

Though besides the NZ path, I also frequently reconnect with Australia via Neighbours...which I watch religiously.  And I very much enjoy listening to the Weird Crap in Australia podcast.

Speaking of podcasts, I also listen to The Wellington Paranormal Podcast.  Which shit...gives more to ramble about.  

Going back to the traveling issue....

I did have a tiny bit of me opening up to the idea of traveling to New Zealand...maybe with the help of lots of therapy and meds.

But today I was listening to the WP podcast and Mike Minogue told a terrifying story of getting food poisoning in Shanghai and vomiting copiously on the airplane. Vomit on airplanes is one of my biggest fears in life. And it's the main reason I don't want to do long flights. I want to avoid using airplane bathrooms, because I'm afraid there's going to be vomit cooties in there.  

Okay if that wasn't bad enough...I'm reading Jannette McCurdy's beautiful, amazing, wonderful book.  And today I read the chapter with her doing bulimia on the airplane.  I think it was fourteen times?

I feel that all this today is the universe telling me my ass doesn't belong on an airplane heading to New Zealand.  

  

TV Shows and Movies I Watched in 2022

Here's a list of what I watched in 2022...well in terms of movies and scripted TV shows.  I'm not including all the YouTube and Instagram videos...or the many videos my family shares via text. I also don't count the shows that I get a glimpse of when I go into the kitchen and Tim is watching something.  Although if I sit down to watch; then I count it.

Shows and movies are divided by geography—settling location not necessarily the filming location. I put some shows in multiple places if applicable.  

Blue font means I especially loved the show or movie.  Though lack of blue doesn't mean a lack of love...at the time. Sometimes I will love a show when I see it but then later my enthusiasm fades. I'm going to try, though, to remember my initial love for a show.

Red font means I didn't like it.

Orange font is for shows that I watched a little bit of when I had control of the remote control during MY 50th Birthday Disney trip.  I was so excited to have control of the TV and do the old fashioned thing of flipping through channels.  I decided if I sat down to watch at least 5-10 minutes of something (before flipping to the next thing), I was going to count it.  

There are certain shows in which I sort of lie about location because of spoiler issues. I'm not going to specify which shows, because that in itself would be a spoiler.  It's kind of like when people tell you there's a twist at the end of the movie and just knowing there is a twist ends up being a sort of spoiler.  

Also....I started writing this a few weeks before posting.  It gets a bit confusing, because things are a bit out of order.  Most of the stuff I watched in the past throughout the year.  But other shows, I watched in the midst of working on the post.  Because this post is ordered by geography rather than time-of-watching, with the more recent watchings, there's a Doctor-River Song sort of vibe.       

For anyone interested: Here's my 2017, 2020, and 2021 list.  

CANADA

Turning Red

The Handmaid's Tale 

Trevor Noah-I Wish You Would

COLUMBIA

Encanto

EGYPT

Moon Knight 

GREECE

Glass Oven: A Knives out Mystery

IRELAND

Belfast-Didn't remember to add this until January 5.  I had forgotten to add it to my Google Docs where I write down everything I watch.  I can't remember how I thought of it.  But then I went through texts to find the conversation with my parents inviting me over to watch.  Hopefully, I didn't miss any other movies or TV shows    

ITALY

The White Lotus-What we're currently watching.  It will probably be our 2022-2023 bridge show.  

JAPAN

Mushishi-I was bored.

KOREA

Train to Busan-Koreans are very good at horror.

Dr. Brain

Miss Granny 

All of Us Are Dead-I loved this and was disappointed that we didn't see any trick or treaters dressed as the students.

The Call-Very scary. I realized while watching that it was a scary version of The Lake House. And then with some Googling, I learned the Lake House is actually a remake of a Korean movie.

Seoul Station

Extraordinary Attorney Woo

SOUTH AFRICA

Chappie-I actually more-listened to this than watched.  I used the Netflix narration.  I enjoyed the experience.  

UNITED KINGDOM

Coronation Street

Ted Lasso-This is one of those shows where I also even liked the odd low-rated-on-IMDb episode.

Afterlife-I like this show.  BUT it could have done without the transphobic joke. I also found it annoying that the deceased wife was shown as being so overly perfect.   

Green Wing-It took quite awhile for this to grow on me.  But by the last episode of season one, I was okay with it. 

Cold Feet-The more seasons I watch of this, the more emotionally attached I get.  

Moon Knight-I think this was the first show we watched on our new big screen in the theater/media room.  

Doctor Who-Two years ago, I was very much into Jodie Whitaker as the doctor...like crush level.  Now as I plan to get back to the show I feel nothing.  I'm just eager for the 14th Doctor.  Though by the time I reach the end of the season, I'll probably be back in love with the 13th Doctor and heartbroken that she's leaving.  BUT...I'm excited for Millie Gibson as a companion. I had sat on our backyard bench crying with relief when I realized I misunderstood spoilers and that Kelly Neelan was not going to fall gruesomely to her death; she was just moving away from the street. Then to find out, the Tardis was picking her up? What wonderful news.  I'm eager to see her adventures with the Doctor.  I'm also hopeful that one day Kelly Neelan will return to Coronation Street.  

The Sandman - I love it but it took me several episodes to get to that point. 

I was confused and bothered by the show not seeming to be in the same universe as Lucifer. I wish they were more connected.  Or that we, at least, had answers to explain away the differences.  Why are Cain and Abel together in dream realm in The Sandman but in Lucifer Cain has supposedly been walking the earth for many many years?  Why does Lucifer have a human face in hell in The Sandman? Why wouldn't he be using his demonic face?

Thinking...From what I know, Lucifer is a spin-off of The Sandman.  And knowing that different realms have different timelines, maybe in The Sandman, Cain and Able are in a before-period.  And God punishing Cain comes after their time in the dreaming realms?  Or whatever realm they're in. I'm not 100% sure it's the dreaming realm.   

I personally would have preferred that they use the same cast, director, writers, mood as Lucifer.  I mean the casts would be different, because the central characters are different.  But I would have preferred the same Lucifer, the same Cain, the same Mazikeen, etc.  (Guest appearance kind of things  Or at least have Gwendolyn Christie-Lucifer mention or show that she/he has shift-shaping abilities.

Anyway....Although I never disliked the show, my like turned to love with the Rose Walker storyline.  

 UNITED STATES 

Nine Perfect Strangers

The Power of the Dog-We saw this with my parents.  My parents and I rarely agree on anything. But we were united in thinking this movie was quite awful. Well, I wouldn't say it was awful.  I think, as a piece of art, it's great.  But I found it very unenjoyable.

American Horror Story-I'm not sure which seasons we watched this year.  Maybe "Roanoke" and "Double Feature"?  I think most of my strong-liking comes from the settings.  

Criminal Minds

Cobra Kai-We watched two seasons this year

Empire-I watched one season of this in the beginning of the year and another towards the end of the year.

What We Do in the Shadows-I still love this show, but I loved the latest season a little bit less than the other seasons.

Ozark-I can't believe the priest that helped the family in Chicago and all those foster kids on that Island turned out to be such a violent shithead.  

Schitt's Creek-LOVED this show and was super into it.  And then suddenly I wasn't.  It's nothing about the show itself.  I think it's personal issues really.  I was going to tie my fading love to trauma.  But you know, I think what really happened is I got really into using headphones and am almost constantly listening to TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts.  Prior to that, while I did kitchen chores, I had this whole thing of re-watching Schitt's Creek.  But then I stopped.  And well, actually...part of that was because of climate-trauma and moving.  But mostly...I think it was the headphones. In my quest to re-watch...I left off at the second to last episode.  I think it's kind of this unfinished business for me. I feel uneasy about the whole thing.  

Scandal-This show keeps getting better and better.  The more outrageous it gets, the more I like it.

Orange is the New Black-Watched the first season.  Hope Random.org picks more seasons for me...someday.

Succession-One of my ChatGPT adventures was asking the AI to write a pitch for a crossover TV show between this one and Empire.  

 Upload

West Side Story-I tried watching this with Tim, thinking I was being supportive.  Because the original is one of his favorite movies.  I didn't like it...and I don't think he was as into watching the remake as I expected. 

The Last Man on Earth-This is such a fun show. 

Greenleaf

Stranger Things-I greatly enjoyed this but then all the Holocaust stuff kind of put a damper on things.  Still. It's a fun show.

Outer Range-We watched the whole season.  By the end, I had sort of warmed to it.  But looking back, I feel cold towards it.   

Brooklyn 99

Flight Attendant 

The Shining Girls

Shameless-I was less into the 2nd season than the 1st.  But I still liked it.  

Community 

 The Handmaid's Tale-Well...it sort of (partly) takes place in the United States.  Location-wise.  

Complete Unknown-I had to Google this movie to remind myself what it was. I now can remember it. BUT I have no idea of whether I liked it, disliked it or loved it.  I should check to see if I rated it on IMDb.  That might help.

Severance- This show is SO SO SO good.

Nope-This was one of those things where I didn't like something UNTIL talking to other people and reading about it...and thinking about it.  My initial feeling was that I liked it much less than Get Out and Us.  But later...well, I still prefer Us and maybe Get Out,  But now, I also like Nope.

Heredity-Super creepy.  I didn't like the message the movie (intentionally/unintentionally) sends about mental health and people with neurological differences. Well, I want to say more but it would be total spoilers.  I think what I'll do is write something at the way bottom of this post...  I didn't like the movie, because I found it offensive.  But I did like the movie, because it was so creepy. Although the creepiness scared me which I find unpleasant.  At the same time, the fact that it scared me impressed me.  

Station Eleven-This miniseries is so beautiful.  Although not exactly in its entirety. Some of the episodes were amazing. Others were mediocre.  I think Tim and I both preferred the flashback episodes.  It's a great story about stories, and it replies to the assholes who think writers, artists, actors, filmmakers, musicians are not doing important work or were a waste of space during the pandemic. 

 I became obsessed with one of the trailers—watching it repeatedly and memorizing the lines.  I like to recite it sometimes.  ALSO...the miniseries is part of what inspired me to work on turning bits of my blog and my novel into a book-book instead of just an online thing. 

The whole miniseries revolves around a graphic novel written by a woman who makes only a few copies before a pandemic kills most of the population.  It made me think of how my writing is very unpopular now.  But there's a chance it could be super popular during the apocalypse when there's less reading material out there.  Or it might not be popular, but it might be special to one or two survivors.  And that would be nice.  I mean...so sad about the apocalypse.  Of course!

The Bear-I probably would have liked this more if I didn't watch it while addicted to the color-water sorting game.  My heart and mine were more into the game. That being said...I still liked the show.  

Chasing Life

The Lost City 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers-I'm pretty sure this was the first time I watched the entire movie.  I think we watched bits and pieces during my childhood. It was scarier than I expected. It makes me want to watch more horror movies of the 1960's, 1970's, and early 1980's.  

Poltergeist-Wrote a whole post about this one.

Bosch-It's nice to see a universe where Sophia survives and grows up...well reaches her teen years, at least. 

Modern Family-The last two seasons.  Our family enthusiastically watched the first three or four seasons; then the interest faded.  A few years ago, Tim and I got back into it and watched some of it...kind of jumped into where they were rather than going back to catch up with what we had missed.  We kind of forgot about it (or really it got buried underneath everyone else in our to-watch agenda.  Then a few months ago, Tim started watching the whole series from the beginning. I asked if he'd mind stopping at season 10, because that's where we left off.  So we watched 10 and 11 together...actually a few episodes at the end of episode 9 as well.   

Reboot

Enchanted 

Just Go With It 

The Conners-This was comforting in that I'm-not-the-only-one-aging kind of way. 

Family Guy

Charmed

Young Sheldon

Legends

The Sandman

Wednesday - I like it.  But I'm tired of seeing the dance everywhere.  In some ways, I like social media trends. It's cool seeing humanity come together to inspire and copy each other.  On the other hand, I'm realizing I much prefer original content.  I mean nothing is 100% original.  But I think I prefer the stuff that's vaguely inspired rather than seeing the same thing (with tiny variations) over and over.    

Lucifer-Just got back to watching this...I'm on season 4.  I usually love it, but it's probably going to take me a couple of episodes to get back into it.  

VARIOUS

Don't Look Up-Sometimes comedies have very sad moments.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness-This is one of those movies where I feel I should like it more, because of the subject matter.  But I don't. I didn't like Wanda turning evil.  I have a huge soft spot for bad characters turning good and find the opposite depressing.  I mean I know she also did bad things in WandaVision.  But I think all that was more understandable...and also fun.  

1899

Everything Everywhere All At Once-I liked this much more than Doctor Strange. 

NOT EARTH

Obi-Wan Kenobi For the stronger Star Wars fans like Tim and Jack...going on Rise of the Resistance was like, Oh, it's just like the movie!  For me, I watch this TV show and think Cool! I feel like I'm on the ride I love so much!  I'm really NOT into the Star Wars franchise...compared to Tim, Jack, and other people. At least when it comes to movies and shows.  Yet I've decided my favorite land of all the Disney parks is Galaxy's Edge. 

Mandalorian-I wanted to like this and expected to like this but was kind of bored.  I think we watched only one or two episodes. We would have probably watched more, so I could give it more of a chance.  But there were too many other shows we wanted to watch.  Just for the record: Tim had already watched it on his own and liked it. (I don't want inadvertently smear his Star Wars fan reputation) 

Rogue One-This one we watched recently.  I started to have certain questions about the Star Wars universe.  If this is a whole galaxy, why is there a Star Wars look?  Why does the design and landscape of so many different planets look similar?  Tim tried to explain it away with the imperialism, because I think he thought I was referring to the Vader stuff.  But no...I was referring more to the rebel and town/village sort of places.  It all very much looks like Galaxy's Edge.  However, then we saw the palm tree area...which I appreciated.  

ALSO...during the movie I started to think they should make a PRE-PRE prequel about one of the planets before they all became intergalactic. I think it would be cool to have a  (first) UFO/alien encounter movie in the Star Wars Universe. Does anyone know which planet initiated contact?  Or were there multiple planets having success simultaneously?  Googling....

And now giving up.  It looks like there is a very elaborate and long history...thousands of years.  I can't easily find anything pre-republic.

Added weeks later: I just asked ChatGPT, and it says the planet Coruscant was the first to travel through the galaxy.  Cool.  Unless they're wrong.  

Andor-Watching this now (at time of writing...this post).  I've now thought of justification for why there's a Star Wars look so prevalent throughout the entire galaxy.  It's just like how, with the Internet, on Earth we're probably starting to see and will continue to see more similarities between different countries whether it be in conspiracy theories, architecture, language, art, popular culture, etc.  

I didn't much like Andor except for the storyline involving Andy Serkis. That I loved. I told Tim that Disney should make an attraction based on these scenes. Disney guests can pay to have the chance to build equipment for the Imagineers. It would also provide more career placements for cast members who tend to be snarky/grumpy rather than cheerful and friendly.  

Lightyear- But maybe they were sometimes on Earth?  I forget.

The Midnight Club-Not bad, but I liked it less than the Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass.  It was fun seeing Heather Langenkamp.  

MYSTICAL PLACE

Schmigadoon-We watched only one episode.  I love musicals.  But I didn't like the songs. And since the songs were a big part of the show, I let Tim know I wasn't interested in continuing with it.  I don't think he was either.  Sometimes, one of us will like a show the other wants to quit; then we end up watching it alone.  OR, in my case, I put it in my long too-watch list and hope that Random.org comes through for me.    

Some shows that Tim has dropped out of that I'm waiting for Random.org to pick for me: Evil, The Walking Dead, and Doctor Who.  Good news is...my last Random.org pick was for Doctor Who.  I'm excited for that.  

Upload

Lost City-An island somewhere.  I was just trying to find out where it was supposed to take place and Google informed me it is similar to Romancing the Stone.  I vaguely remember liking that movie, but I guess I didn't remember the movie itself enough to recognize the similarities.

Westworld-I liked season four better than season three but much less than season one and two.  I was just thinking.  It's not just the loss of the main setting that bothered me. It's more Aaron Paul.  And I think Aaron Paul is wonderful.  I love him as Todd in BoJack Horseman.  I also loved him in The Path.  But in Westworld, he almost feels like a cousin Oliver. 

I think it would have been fine to add Paul to the cast. But they didn't just do that.  They made him the central character.  My heart wasn't with him.  It was almost like the creators were thinking...we can't have women robots or a Black man robot as our  main protagonist. We need a white man.    

Maleficent

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

My issue with Heredity: The daughter in the movie acts...strange, different.  She seemed kind of autistic. As an autistic person myself, I had that secret wish that in the end, it would turn out that despite her weirdness, creepiness...it would turn out she was a good person.  Instead...if you dig deep and read what the director intended, the daughter was possessed by a demon all along.  Also, with the title and other scenes, the movie seemed to imply that the whole family was believed to have mental health challenges and/or neurological differences.  Instead, it turns out...they were just involved with demonic stuff.  The movie could provide a pretty big contribution to negative mental health stigmas.    

What I Watched in 2020

I want to make a list of what I watched in 2020.

I've been wanting to do it for awhile. And I've actually started the post a few times only to soon delete it and vow to never try again.

But I'm trying again.

My problem is deciding how to organize it. Should I list it in chronological order?

In the past, I divided all my shows by geography.  

Well...actually.  Looking back at that post, it makes me want to do it that way again.

So I will.

I also colored shows that I loved in blue and shows I disliked in red. I think I shall do that again as well. Note: If a show is not colored blue, it doesn't mean I didn't like it a lot. I might have just liked it with less enthusiasm them the blue shows.  

I'm going to put shows in multiple categories if they take place (significantly) in multiple places. 

I really hope this ends up getting posted, and I'm not wasting my time writing a post that I'm going to end up deleting.

Well...if you're actually reading this, it means the story has a happy ending.

So...without much further rambling, here's the list.

UNITED STATES 

Knives Out

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - This movie totally made me cry.

The Good Doctor

Little Women -Bored by it, but I appreciate the feminist ideals. 

Succession 

Miss Sloane 

Sirens 

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 

American Horror Story Cult 

Beauty and the Beast - The TV show-remake of the 1980's show.  

Hunters - Tim liked this, but I quit after the first episode. I did like the set design, though.  

The Outsider - If it weren't for the last episode, I'd probably be marking this blue. 

The Handmaids Tale  

Mistresses 

The Plot Against America - It seems like, in 2020, I wasn't in the mood for fictionalized Nazi stories.  

It: Chapter Two 

Westworld- I loved season 1 and 2; was disappointed in season 3. 

Casual

Zombieland 2 - I made the mistake of doing things on my phone or laptop during this movie. I'm not good at multitasking while watching. It takes me away from the story.  So I feel I didn't give the movie the attention it deserved. I feel I lost out here. 

What We Do in the Shadows - The TV show. 

Us - Second time watching it. This is my favorite movie.

Doctor Sleep

The Big Bang Theory

Hart of Dixie 

Hamilton 

The Twilight Zone     

The Magicians 

The Last Ship - The vaccination scene in season 2 was a major tearjerker for me. A sharp juxtaposition to our real world social distancing.  

Blackish- I watched only one episode officially...the one that had originally been censored from airing. Sometimes I watch a bit here and there when Tim watches it. I do have it on my massive to-watch list. Hopefully someday I'll get to it. 

Fear the Walking Dead

Supernatural 

Ramy 

Chatter - I've actually forgotten where this horror movie took place. I think it might have been London and the United States? 

Broad City - I did NOT like this when I first started watching it; then it grew on me. 

American Housewife - This one is complicated. I was never bored by it. But it offended me too much. It was a like/hate kind of thing. 

Borat Subsequent Movie Film 

Evil 

Angie Tribeca 

The Comey Rule - I hope there are many more movies that illustrate the absolute awfulness of Donald Trump 

Scandal 

The Trial of the Chicago 7  

The Flight Attendant   

Doctor Who - the Rosa Parks episode

Please check out my online novel The Dead are Online!

CANADA 

Murdoch Mysteries

The Handmaid's Tale

Heartland 

Schitt's Creek - I love, love, love, love this show. I immediately started rewatching it as soon as we finished. Now I watch it on our Amazon Echo when I'm doing work at the kitchen.  

AUSTRALIA 

Secret City 

All Saints 

Wonderland - I obsessively loved this show back in 2015. But by the time I got back to it, it was hard to get into again. I did like it...just didn't love it again.  

UNITED KINGDOM

Coronation Street-This show is my constant. It's the one show I watch consistently through out the year/years. 

The Crown  

Life in Squares - I was bored by this 

Love is Thicker Than Water

Cold Feet-This is the show that has the infamous Emily from Friends. And, here,  ironically, her character's name is Rachel. 

The Railway Man

Denial 

Outnumbered - The middle kid in this...his voice (after puberty) reminds me of Boris Johnson.  

Doc Martin 

The Haunting of Bly Manor - I loved The Haunting of Hill House more. But this too was perfectly splendid. 

Doctor Who - We just started with the 13th doctor...liking it a lot so far.

GERMANY

Jo Jo Rabbit 

Dark

JAPAN

Sea of Trees

Death Note 

The Railway Man

NEW ZEALAND

What We Do in the Shadows - The movie. I loved this when I saw it but now I don't really remember it much. So I'm going to keep it not-blue. 

INDIA

Hotel Mumbai 

SOMALIA  

The Journey is the Destination 

KOREA

The Handmaiden - A bit too long and a bit too much sex for my taste. BUT since seeing the movie, I've read two of the author's (Sarah Waters) books and liked them a lot. I had the author on my list and she came up via Random.org. I hadn't realized the movie I disliked was based on one of her books. I was a bit hesitant to read something of hers, but decided to give it a chance. And I ended up liking it a lot. That was Tipping the Velvet. Then later I read The Little Stranger.   

The Host 

NOT EARTH 

The Twilight Zone - We watched a few episodes that took place outside of Earth. 

Doctor Who

NOT OUR UNIVERSE

Birds of Prey - Or is Gotham city supposed to be in the United States?  I'm confused about all that. 

The Magicians - 

THE GREAT BEYOND

Miracle Workers  

The Twilight Zone - At least one episode took place in the afterlife. 

The Good Place - 

Upload - This one has some strong similarities with my novel/now screenplays The Dead are Online, so I was sometimes uncomfortable watching it...just because originality was one of the major strongpoints of my novel. So...that's gone now.    

Soul 

 UH...WHO KNOWS

Lost - Rewatched season 2.  It was hard for me to get back into it. And I felt season 2 wasn't one of my favorites, but after awhile I was totally loving it and reaffirming my identity as a Lost fan.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online