Shooflypie

I decided today that I did want to put some effort into more 2016 wrap-up posts after all. My music thoughts will be in two parts - this list of my 20 favorite albums and a post that accompanies my best-of playlist that will go up on Spotify. I normally do just a top ten list, but I've listened to so much good music this year that I wanted to expand the list. I love music and I want to share that love; hopefully, my few words on each might encourage you to check some of them out... 1. Drive-By Truckers/American Band - I've been a fan of the DBTs for over a decade, so a new album is a no-brainer. This one, however, is their strongest since Brighter Than Creation's Dark in 2008. I think they were energized by the political writing they did for this album, responding to the seemingly endless shootings of African Americans and other gun violence with some powerful songs like "What It Means" and "Ramon Casiano." Not every song is political; Mike Cooley gi...

My TV list comes with two caveats. One is that I haven't had as much time to devote to watching TV this year, thanks to my TTT courses (and is a main cause my being always behind on pop culture). The second is that this is the second year in a row that we didn't have cable, which means I'm watching mainly on Hulu, Netflix, and the CW app. So, I didn't see Game of Thrones , Atlanta , or many of the other highly-acclaimed shows from the year. That's okay, they are still there. Likewise, my list includes some TV that aired in 2015, but that I just got around to this summer or fall. That's fine too. Only TV critics are up on everything and even they can't really be up on everything. So, here's what I enjoyed this year... 1. DC TV (The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow) - No surprise here, right? The Flash is still my favorite super-hero and while the second season of the show wasn't as strong as the first, it was still good. The current th...

I love listening to podcasts, but I don't have a whole lot of time to listen to them. I listen when I stretch in the morning and at night, while I drive to school (3 minutes one way) or the Y (6 minutes) or out on errands, while doing the dishes, while cleaning the house and doing laundry, and for 10 minutes while I'm falling asleep. Maybe that seems like a lot, but it's not that much. I also like a wide variety of podcasts, which means I'm always behind. I'm listening to March episodes of one and August episodes of another and 2015 episodes of some others and I can never catch up. A friend suggests I should just cut my losses and jump to current episodes, but I know I'll get behind again, so what does it matter. I love the medium and don't want to miss out on episodes of shows I really like. Speaking of which, here's what I was into this year... 1. Comedy Bang Bang! - This is the third year I've been a listener of Comedy Bang Bang! and this is t...