okay, yes, 2020 was horrible. i had to move out of my downtown chicago apartment in march because of covid and have spent the rest of the year at home in new hampshire, learning and working online. but, i think there were plenty of positives, one of the biggest being that i had a lot more time to dedicate to media in all its forms. so, here are my favorites of this year in music, tv, movies and books! (* indicates top 3)
music
i don’t want to spend too much time on music, but one of my goals was to listen to more female artists, which i definitely accomplished. i also listened to almost 86,000 minutes, so how about some favorite albums?
folklore – taylor swift*
~how i’m feeling~ – lauv
cherry blossom – the vamps*
under my influence – the aces
future nostalgia – dua lipa
evermore – taylor swift
dawn & dusk – mxmtoon*
CALM – 5 seconds of summer
dear happy – gabrielle aplin
give me a minute – lizzy mcalpine
cape elizabeth (ep) – noah kahan
television
this was definitely the year that i watched a lot of animation and a lot of shows made more for kids, and i loved it. some favorites:
- anne with an e
- sex education
- avatar: the last airbender*
- the great british baking show
- julie and the phantoms*
- voltron: legendary defender*
movies
i watched so many movies this year—most of them were rewatches, though. i think i watched moana and tangled at least nine times each in the first half of the year when there was nothing else to do. but from the ones i watched for the first time this year, here are my favorites:
- spies in disguise*
- parasite
- miss americana
- the farewell
- moonrise kingdom*
- enola holmes*
books
disclaimer: my original goal for this year was to read 20 books. i also wanted to read a classic every month. neither of those happened. i read maybe three classics, and 63 books. there was a lot of good, a bit of bad, and a bunch of in between. my favorites of this year:
- “is everyone hanging out without me?” by mindy kaling
- “dear girls” by ali wong
- “the flatshare” by beth o’leary
- “six of crows” by leigh bardugo
- “red, white & royal blue” by casey mcquiston*
- “tweet cute” by emma lord*
- “the starless sea” by erin morgenstern
- “cemetery boys” by aiden thomas
- “heartstopper” by alice oseman
- “the house in the cerulean sea” by t.j. klune*
2021 goals
i’m honestly not sure what next year is going to look like. i’ll be learning from home in the spring and graduating from college in may, and then after that is a big ol’ question mark. i’m applying to grad schools to become a librarian, though, so hopefully there are more books in my future. my tentative goals are:
- read 50 books (and read more diverse ones!)
- take more photos on disposables and on polaroids
- watch a movie every week
- journal more
i got a subscription to the strand’s pick of the month for christmas (thanks, mom + dad) and do a weekly movie night with one of my best friends (did someone say “how to train your dragon”?), so i’m very excited to see what trouble i get into next year.
what media saved your year? let me know in the comments, and happy new year!
earth to julia 
One reply on “2020 in review”
Happy new Year
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