Best of 2020
I made a video (I’ll link it down below) which was basically an unprepared babble of my best 2020 experiences with entertainment. I read a lot less than I like to do and it was a strange year in general, but it’s good to look at the better parts and so here are some of the things that delighted me during 2020.
I need to make a point of read more next year. Spend more time with actual books in my hands and not just listening to audiobooks.
Favorite novel’s READ in 2020
ALL THE GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones
MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig
PRISONER OF HEAVEN by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
HALCYON by Rio Youers
REALER by David Hewson
Novella
DEMON IN THE GLASS by Matt Wildasin
Poetry
John the Revelatory by John Urbancik
Heimaslátrun by Davíð Hörgdal Stefánsson
Non-Fiction
The Occult by Colin Wilson
Memorable TV shows
For some reason I don’t watch a lot of tv (always watching Twitch instead). There were a few notable things however. LOVECRAFT COUNTRY and TALES FROM THE LOOP were definite top favorites, but heads up to Ewan McGregor and Charlie Bowman’s Long Way series which I watched this year (all of it) and absolutely LOVED.
Lovecraft Country
Tales from the Loop
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Long Way Up
Star Trek Discovery
Best Podcasts
I listen to podcasts when I walk the dog, or when I’m cleaning. These are my favorites for this year. Special Thank Yous to THE WELL that brought me out of my horror bubble a lot this year and put new thoughts into my head. I love that. And Grindcast! For all the laughs. Here’s the list:
The Horror Show with Brian Keene (honorable mention to The Ghost Writer’s Podcast!)
Grindcast
The Well
Cosmic Shenanigans
This is Horror
Top Games I Played in 2020
It’s notable that the games that stick with me are the ones I’ve played on stream. Partially it forces me to actually finish a game, and partially the playthroughs are more thorough and therefore more engaging. Having said that with the pandemic, Animal Crossing was just too good. LOVE hunting for new villagers with my kid. There is nothing like it.
Animal Crossing
Call of Cthulhu (Streamed on Twitch)
The Sinking City (same as above)
Hades
Fenyx Immortals Rising
Favorite Streamers (Twitch)
I watch a LOT of Twitch while I work. Often the streams are on in the background, sometimes without sound, sometimes with sound. I almost always have a stream on no matter what I’m doing. It’s a company of sort – and these are the ones that made me go “whoop-whoop” this year.
Excessive Profanity – thorough playthroughs, great showman ship and all the times I looked up from my writing and thought “Oh, he’s just executing someone”.
MANvsGAME – Personality and he makes the best sounds as he plays, excellent with my writing.
Flip_Switch – His Animal Crossing playthrough was a lot of fun
Dropped_Frames (CohnCarnage, Ezekiel_III, itmeJP)
Peeve – that voice!
MUSIC
It was a bit of a disappointing year when it came to music for me as I was planning to go to concerts that of course got canceled because of the pandemic. The SABATON concert in Gothenburg early in the year was epic and a godsend though – saved my music year entirely.
Top music experiences
Rammstein with Rammstein (Auslander especially!)
Sabaton – The Great War (The Attack of the Dead Men)
Kothbiro – Ayub Ogada
Riverside – Wasteland
Gladius – Bignic
Notable things:
Tad Williams live readings on Facebook
John Urbancik’s readings on Facebook
Corona Con on YouTube
Scares that Cares online on YouTube
Cool Worlds videos on YouTube
Movies
Metropolis (Can’t believe I haven’t seen that before, thoroughly enjoyed it!)
The Lighthouse (Not sure that was this year, but it is definitely worth the mention - LOVED it)
Doctor Sleep
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Gallow Walkers (it may be considered a b flick, but I absolutely loved the vibe of it and what they did with the immortals).
I wrote a LOT this year. Don’t think I’ve ever written as much as I did this year, so my future will involve a lot of editing. I am trying to decide what to do with the stream. I keep wanting to make an effort with it, but that requires time and energy which I haven’t had during the pandemic (or all went into writing) So we’ll see, but I definitely miss streaming, strangely, when I don’t do it.
Happy 2021 everyone!
And thank you for being here.
