Phronk.com

2017 in Review

2017 is generally regarded as a bad year, but for me, it was fine. Time moved on from last year‘s celebrity death apocalypse to threats of actual apocalypse, but personally, I managed to avoid any direct effects. I can’t pretend that Canada is immune from the growing evil in the United States, yet it hasn’t manifested in ruining my life in any significant ways. My first full year as a science writer has been good fun, and I somehow managed to get a novel out too. None of my close family or friends died. I’m healthy.

It’s easy to focus on the negative things, especially when you’re searching the whole world for them, but the fundamental things that make my life unique have all been good in 2017.

Here’s a recap of stuff I liked this year. I’m not sure anyone cares, but I have an obsession with keeping track of things, because it’s nice to think that everything I do matters. Something’s gotta matter, right? Anyway, this list enables that craziness. Thanks for being an enabler. Thanks a lot. Maybe you’ll find something new here that you end up liking.


Music I Liked in 2017

I get these stats from Last.fm, which keeps track of everything I listen to. One negative thing in 2017 is that I started using Apple Music, but it’s difficult to integrate it with Last.fm, especially on mobile devices. Spotify integrates, but I ran into a ridiculous 10,000 song limit (even with a paid account), so it’s unusable. Anyway, I managed to find workarounds, so this captures most of what I listened to.
20. Halsey – hopeless fountain kingdom
19. Queens of the Stone Age – Villains
18. Whitehorse – Panther in the Dollhouse
17. Gorillaz – Humanz
16. Beck – Colors

15. Ed Sheeran – ÷. His appearance on Game of Thrones could qualify for worst thing of the year, but this album is actually pretty good.

14. Ke$ha – Rainbow
13. Serena Ryder – Utopia
12. Spoon – Hot Thoughts
11. deadmau5 – stuff I used to do
10. Lana Del Rey – Lust for Life
9. Lights – Skin & Earth
8. Portugal. The Man – Woodstock
7. The Killers – Wonderful Wonderful. I used to love The Killers, then I got bored with them for a few albums, but this one caught my attention again.
6. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Modern Ruin
5. Nothing More – The Stories We Tell Ourselves.
4. Thundercat – Drunk. Nothing else sounds like this.
3. Nothing But Thieves – Broken Machines. They were #1 last year, and while this album took longer to grow on me, grow it did.
2. Lorde – Melodrama. Pop music was mostly a disappointment in 2017, but not this. Not Lorde. Lorde Lorde Lorde, I am Lorde.
1. In This Moment – Ritual. I still can’t get enough of these guys, for whatever reason.
Pretty good list this year! If I’d consciously chosen a top 20, I’m not sure I would have done better.


Shows I Liked in 2017

Off the top of my head, in no order, here are the shows I’ve enjoyed recently:
  • Twin Peaks
  • The Handmaid’s Tale
  • Halt & Catch Fire
  • Stranger Things
  • The Punisher
  • Master of None
  • Game of Thrones
  • Black Mirror
  • Trailer Park Boys
  • Ozark
  • The Walking Dead
  • The Expanse


Movies I Liked in 2017

TV is so good that I don’t watch many movies any more. But, again with zero thought, here are the movies I did see that come to mind:
  • Get Out
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Logan
  • It
  • Guardians of the Galaxy 2
  • The Devil’s Candy
  • Better Watch Out
  • I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Any More
  • The Void


Books I Liked in 2017

These didn’t necessarily come out in 2017, but I read them this year, so just … just shut up and enjoy them. God.
  • Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell – The Disaster Artist. Nothing is more inspiring to me than books about unusual people finding success in their own unusual ways.
  • Cory Doctorow – Walkaway. I was lucky enough to be invited to an early look at this book, and wrote this blog post on Tor.com about it: Cory Doctorow’s Walkaway and the Power of Small Ideas.
  • Elizabeth Hand – Wylding Hall
  • Stephen Graham Jones – Mongrels
  • Stephen Kozeniewski – The Hematophages
  • Jeff VanderMeer – Acceptance

Video Games I Liked in 2017
That’s it. I haven’t blogged much lately, since pretty much everything else I do in life involves writing that people pay for, but I’ll at least see you at the end of 2018—as long as Nazis don’t make blogging illegal, and/or blow up the world. 

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