Another year, another complete failure to blog.

That’s not entirely true. I occasionally write over on Medium, and have good intentions to copy the posts over here to my main blog sometime, but then forget. My micro-press Forest City Pulp also gets occasional updates. Oh and I’ve started writing at the group blog Across the Board, where a bunch of other writers write.

But this is my personal blog, so let’s get personal. This year was fine for me. The political and environmental turmoil in the world only highlights how incredibly lucky I am to have had a year to hold stead and stay comfortable.

Not that I accomplished nothing. Early in the year, I released Three Incidents at Foster Manor, which has been my most successful novel yet. I’m hoping to put something out in early 2020, but, you know, having a day job takes up a lot of time. That’s been going well too though, and the company I’ve been doing brain science for is almost growing beyond the “startup” label. Cool. Cool cool.

My personal highlight of the year was our trip to Calgary and the Pacific Northwest, visiting real friends and also Bigfoot.

Oh, and I got a nice bike! I’ve become one of those bike guys, semi-obsessed with getting around on two wheels and giving cars the stink-eye. It does feel so much better to go places on a bike though, both because it makes me healthier and because it’s just fun. More bike lanes in London please thanks bye.

Anyway, this is the time of year when I review all the stuff I liked in 2019. Here’s what I spent my time and money on; maybe you’ll find some stuff you missed, but probably not (I’m pretty much a normie).

Music

As usual, this is just an uncurated list of the top 20 albums I listened to most, courtesy of Last.FM.

20. Deerhunter – Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?
19. Silversun Pickups – Widow’s Weeds
18. Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell
17. Bring Me the Horizon – amo
16. Orville Peck – Pony

15. Hozier – Wasteland, Baby!
14. Cage the Elephant – Social Cues
13. Backstreet Boys – DNA
12. Taylor Swift – Lover
11. half•alive – Now, Not Yet

10. Tool – Fear Inoculum – I first listened to this on headphones riding the Amtrak between Seattle and Portland, and it was a transcendent experience.
9. The Black Keys – “Let’s Rock” – I cannot resist a David Lynch reference.
8. Mitski – Be the Cowboy – Ok I’ll be the cowboy sounds good.
7. Billie Eilish – WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – William Eyelash.
6. Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride – Did you know there was a character with a named pronounced like Phronk in the movie Father of the Bride? That’s not where I got it though.

5. Alice Merton – MINT – As you may have noticed, albums by solo women were sort of my thing this year.
4. Ed Sheeran – No. 6 Collaborations Project – I listened to and tracked a lot of pop playlists on Spotify this year, and I suspect this album is only high on this list because each individual song was played endlessly on pop stations.
3. Flying Lotus – Flamagra – I don’t actually remember much of this, but I guess I liked it? I think there is a track with David Lynch on this so maybe that’s why it’s here.
2. Puppy – The Goat – Sort of a metal Weezer, which I dig.
1. (Tie) Jade Bird – Jade Bird – omg I love her.
1. (Tie) Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated – If she comes out with an album, it’s a safe bet it’ll be high on this list.

Television

I liked these shows:

• The Boys
• Broad City
• Chernobyl
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
• Doom Patrol
• Explained
• Game of Thrones
• I Think You Should Leave
• The Mandalorian
• Our Planet
• Perfume
• Russian Doll
• Schitt’s Creek
• Silicon Valley
• Servant
• Stranger Things
• Succession
• The Umbrella Academy
• Unnatural Selection
• The Walking Dead
• Watchmen