Documentaries 2016

Hmmm I watched a shit ton of documentaries in 2016. Netflix, eh? They got that "recommended for you" nonsense pretty well sorted. Word of the year: HARROWING. Also helping the cause was Documentary Storm and also there is so much stuff on Vimeo omg! Anyways a lot of these I watched weren't released in 2016, but you're not the boss of me. So here's my top bunch:

My Beautiful Broken Brain

Trophy Kids 

Jiro Dreams of Sushi 

Tig

Asperger's Are Us (2016!)

Jedi Junior High

The Central Park Five

Kids for Cash

The Hunting Ground

Audrie & Daisy (2016!)
Paradise Lost (Parts 1, 2 & 3)

Tony Robbins I am not your guru (2016!)

Supersonic (2016!)

Virunga

Tyke Elephant Outlaw

Under the sun 

Uh ok that'll do the rest aren't worth mentioning. So many seemed to just be unfocussed or were too long. 

Also the documentary series' which I also listed under Best TV were as good or better than all of the above also: Last Chance U, Making a Murderer & OJ Made in America. Goooood stuff.

Top 50 of 2016

Oof what a roller coaster year hey? MANY HIGHS. (See below.) And then so very many megalows. (In brief: Trump! Brexit! Australia just treating so many people so horribly! Horrendous wars continuing with no end in sight! Many important and/or famous people dying that upset a lot of people! All round worldwide mayhem really just WHAT IS GOING ON??? On a personal note, miscarriage is a sad and bad thing that happened to us and ruined my July (the best month fyi). And then Instagram killed off the maps function soooo.. Fuck hey. On a Thailand note, an entire country devastated by the loss of their King was/is pretty heartbreaking and incredible. Related: still a lot of uncertainty of what is to come. Hang in there Thailand, we love you.)

Anyway that is just too many big bad lows in everyone's opinion. Here are 50 great things that also happened to weigh things up a bit.

1. Honeymoooooooon (see everything with a * that follows)
2. 4 x killer weddings of true champions!
3. Actual real life friends in Bangkok
4. Learning to read Thai

   

   "When we meet my heart melts like coconut icecream"

5. McLarsons vs Bangkok
6. Knebworths vs Bangkok
7. Barcelona*
8. Catalonia countryside food tour*
9. Vermouth*
10. Bodegas*
11. Tiny snacks for every meal*

    

    PASS THE VERMOUTH

12. Electric bikes in San Sebastian*
13. Rob Delaney*
14. Farm hangouts with my olds
15. Manchester hangouts with the poms*
16. Kaobahn 
17. The greatest year of television
18. CHICAGO CUBS!
19. WESTERN BULLDOGS!
20. Babies Edie, Josie, Elsie & Theo
21. #tinynews 

    

    ridiculous

22. Gym and Swim
23. Maeklong Railway Market
24. 60s architecture tour in Phnom Penh
25. RAW FEELS <3333
26. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
27. The Pink Tiles & Swimteam
28. The Birder's Lodge & Khao Yai 

    

    luv u wood cabins

29. Surprise Beatrix treats from various excellent Melb visitors
30. Oggi 
31. The Arc
32. Elephanting in Kanchanaburi
33. Cheap trains to Ayutthaya
34. Boats boats boats boats boatssss

    

    boat

35. Parker Posey Fest w/ Jess & Leonie
36. Andy Warhol/Ai Wiewie at NGV
37. TWEEDY at MRC
38. Those letters of my grandparents' oooof <3
39. First Dog live in Subi 
40. Contis at the WAFL
41. Eurorailin*
42. Surprisingly great Paris*
43. Hardware Societe, Paris & Gerald's Bar, San Sebastian*
44. Election Profit Makers (miss u) & Our Debut Album (& a bunch of other podcasts)
45. Becky Lucas newsletter
46. Erin Cook's tinyletter - bloody sign up if u don't get enough ASEAN news (you don't, trust me)
47. James Urbaniak's nicknames for Julie Klausner in Difficult People
48. Discovering Tony Shalhoub (BrainDead) & Thomas Haden Church (Divorce) are GREAT.
49. The Nightingale Olympic
50. Blowing up balloons at CTM Christmas Carnival 

    

    Arg these cuties <3

OK BYE, 2016. YOU WERE ALL OVER THE PLACE BUT WE DID IT, WE SURVIVED. XOXO

Edit: omg I forgot the 1600 Pandas Tour! FIFTY ONE! TAKE THAT, 2016.

Podcasts in 2016

These were all new or at least new to me, in 2016, and they were/are great stuff A+ recommended listening!

Election Profit Makers. Now completely over but I reckon would still be good listens even though they're outdated I suppose and we all know the sad ending. Love these guys. LOOOOOVE them.

Our Debut Album. These two also <333 My fave Canadians write a hit song in 1 hour and record it to make a full album after 12 episodes. PRETTY GOOD.

Mr Rabbit & The Bearded Lady. Good film/tv reviewing from the glorious state of Victoria! They do make me occasionally sad when their opinions don't match mine but what can ya do. Nobody is perfect apparently.

How to be Amazing with Michael Ian Black. This is old but I've got through so many episodes in the last few weeks. Surprisingly straight interviewing but real good. Ira Glass, Michael Showalter, Sharon Horgan, David Sedaris... they are a few of the ones I've most recently listened to and all A++

The Outer Sanctum. Bunch of women talking footy yay! Can't wait for this to be the norm and not have to hear most of the really dumb male commentary on tv and radio all season.

Clip Show. Peter Taggart of Bring A Plate kindof seriously interviewing someone and playing their favourite 5 youtube clips which somehow works as an audio thing. Good guests so far, I hope it continues!

Ok that is enough. All the regulars are still going strong obviously too. Biggest of hugs to Terry Gross & Jesse Thorn, my queen and king of radio.

2016: Movies, shawty.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Such an easy #1. Just look at this kid. I think about this film almost daily. Not like a crazy urge to rewatch it on repeat (although I would happily watch it again at any time) but I just think about it and feel human and nice and I want to hug it so hard. 

Blue Jay. Hoo boy. Mark Duplass & Sarah Paulson aka DREAM TEAM in a Duplass penned black and white talky talky emotional romantic drama.. got me real good, what a surprise <3

Everybody Wants Some!! I can understand why people might hate this (too many bros, waah waah) but I did not! Bonus points for the glorious lil cinema in London we saw it in.

Train To Busan. Was not expecting much from this Korean zombie thriller set on a train, but it was pretty fun! Plus the school girls next to me in the cinema did a lot of jumping and watched through their hands which was very cute.

10 Cloverfield Lane. I would probably love anything starring John Goodman to be honest. I like Elizabeth Mary Winstead too. This was good enough to even make me forget (but not forgive) The Newsroom for a while.

Tallulah. The description google offers of this makes it sound like all wacky hijinks: "A dissatisfied Beverly Hills housewife tired of caring for her toddler hires a stranger to baby-sit." which is so way off. This film was lovely and a great reminder that Allison Janney is the greatest.

Special mentions to films I liked released before 2016: The Diary of a Teenage Girl, American Ultra, The End of the Tour, Manson Family Vacation.

Finally the hugest thumbs down I can manage to Miss Peregrine's (ughhhhh) Home for (ughhhhh) Peculiar Children (ughhhhhgggggggggghhhh). And some very unfortunate thumbs down also to The Island Funeral & By The Time It Gets Dark - two Thai films which were just both so fkn slow and/or arty and aghhhhhh Thailand you get ONE more chance and then I'm only gonna see your teen horror or wackadoo sound effect heavy nonsense.

PS Documentaries aren't included in this list because they are the greatest and deserve their own thing. Here!

BOOKS! It is 2016 and I read some BOOKS!

I will not apologise for watching so much tv in 2016 because well it was mostly very very good and also it is probably what I like the most. I did also read some real life actual books though, and I can't remember a time I actually finished so many in a year and enjoyed a good proportion of them so here we go! The best 5 I read all of in 2016:

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. I wanted to read this again immediately as soon as I finished hey. I now have the lifegoal of being able to befriend or at least meet an octopus one day and look in their eyes and have it grab at my arms with its crazy lil suckers. Also I don't think I can eat them anymore which should be devastating because they are so delicious but so far I have really not found it so hard to say no. I love u, octopuses, pls spare me when you take over the earth.

And then in no particular order and without explanations cos guess what I just can't be bothered:

The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story by Hyeonseo Lee
A Murder Without Motive by Martin McKenzie-Murray
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

TV in 2016: Very very good

Hoooooly smokes TV in 2016 was so good omg! Here is a list of tv shows made this year that I LOOOOOVED. It feels like there are so many! In a little bit of a particular order:

BASKETS. My god, I love this show. I love everything and everyone in this show. 4EVA.

BrainDead. This one too. Everyone was great. It was so much fun. RIP.

The Night Of. It made me so itchy but it was worth it. Vote #1 John Turturro to be in everything pls.

Stranger Things. Few things are better to me than adventures of kids riding bikes through the 'burbs.

Search Party. Feel like every show I've listed so far I wanna say how much I love the cast. This too.

Love. Oh man this was SO LONG AGO. 

Divorce. Who knew Thomas Haden Church was so great? Oh everyone? Ok.

The Good Place. This is on some dumb break & if it doesn't actually come back I will be MAD.

3%. This Brazilian dystopian thriller series was very enjoyable. How good is Netflix, guys, really.

OJ Made in America. Good and better than the dramatised version for sure.

American Crime Story. Feel like this got a bit TOO much hype? Luv u Sarah Paulson, tho.

Last Chance U. Ahh I forgot about this! Rude. Probably the best 2016 doco series I watched.

Making A Murderer. Ok here's another doco, technically Dec '15 but it deserves a big mention. Oof.

Noooo I didn't get around to Horace & Pete or Atlanta or the new season of Rectify, I am certain they'd be up there if I did.

Special mentions to shows in second+ seasons that were also still great: Catastrophe, Veep, Togetherness (RIP), UnREAL (although... pushing it, guys, pls take a breath and calm down), Another Period, Silicon Valley, Jane the Virgin, Orange Is The New Black (though I feel like most of that season could've been one episode and just get to the last couple of episodes?), Bojack Horseman, Transparent...

And things I just discovered and got all caught up on:

Difficult People & American Crime. Both of those were SO GREAT. They should get a ranking above those 2nd seasoners above. A++ for all their seasons.

Oh oh also Narcos! And Olive Kitteridge! Damnnnnn.

Thumbs down award goes to Westworld which I got through 5 minutes of, and In Treatment which I got through way too many episodes of before realising there was a billion still to go. 11.22.63 was duuuuumb. Oh and The Crown made me develop a napping habit like no other. Pitch started so promising but got disappointingly cheesy and not that great but maybe doesn't deserve a thumbs down I guess. File with Nashville and The Good Wife for easy viewing. There are so many other shows I got through not even a full episode of but there's no need to be so mean about them here.

In conclusion I probably spent too much of 2016 watching tv but what ya gonna do? Recommend some more? Yes please.

Top 5: Documentary Topics

I'd watch these topics all day every day.

Deep Sea Creatures

Cults/Extremo Religion/Scientology

True Crime Mystery

Elephants (happy ones pls)

Old People

Ok if anyone has specific recommendations on any of these please tell me.

TV Opinions: 2015

HI! I might as well keep going with these eh? I finally got around to listening to Fresh Air's best of 2015 episode and I kid you not I was yelling at my phone/the TV guy over his picks. I'm trying to try this mai pen rai attitude of Thailand but sometimes it is hard, you know. I mean.. Mr Robot? Gimme a break. In no particular order:

Togetherness was always going to rate pretty highly for me lets face it.

Another Period. Every person in this show was/is just the straight up greatest. This could have gone so wrong but they got it so right. I could listen to Armen Weitzman forever. Aw just looking at this picture now how tiny is Natasha Leggero?? So tiny!

Bloodline. I mean again this show had me from before it began. Coach Taylor and Lindsay Weir? Pretty winning combination. I enjoyed everything else about it too though. A+

UnREAL. This was a nice surprise! I don't remember how or why I started (TFids?) but it was a fun drama to get hooked on and hit just the right amount of bullshit reality tv that I can handle. Roswell girl and Constance Zimmer (which is a baseball name if ever I heard one) were both great!

Catastrophe. Yessss just great.

Master of None awwww shit I left this out and am sneakily adding it in 3 hours later. I will never forgive myself but please can you? This show was beyond excellent I am still so pleased just thinking about it.

Other Space was enjoyable too! I just saw it didn't get a second season (Yahoo TV haha woops) but I hope everyone in it shows up somewhere else soon.

Transparent I thought was 2015 but turns out it was 2014? Buuuuut I didn't have a list last year so here is a big old mention to it here. Great enough to be counted as the best of the two years combined? Definitely.

Honorable mentions to non 2015 shows I watched for the first time: BoJack Horseman, Getting On, Review, Jane the Virgin.

Thumbs down to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Clipped & Mr Robot. Oh and maybe a half thumbs down to Better Call Saul. Bye!

A top 5 after 5 weeks in Bangkok (7 months later)

I just found this post that never got published, I assume because blogger is a goddamn piece of shit. So here it is, I stand by these 5 things though probably could add another 20. Thailand is still generally a great place to live, almost 8 months in.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
July 2, 2015:

I have lived in Bangkok for about 5 weeks now here are a few of my favourite things:

* Cute babies everywhere:

* Super efficient and refrigerated train system.

* Hailing a taxi by making a gentle palm down wave motion "like you are patting a dog on the head".

* All kinds of tiny, delicious & cheap as shit street foods:

* Seem to be pretty happy and kind people?

Seriously this "land of smiles" is no bullshit. I'm sure there's a decent amount of just saving face but they're at least trying. I can almost feel that Australian cynicism fading every day. I bristle when I read someone back home making a snarky comment about something out of habit. Something that I would usually find funny but now am like cool your jets whitney, they're just doing their thing who cares it is fine to like one sport more than the other one you know?

Movies in 2015

#1 with a bullet! The Lobster

What a weird, surprising delight <3 <3

Solid runners up: Inside Out, Mad Max: Fury Road, Amy.

Special mentions for great non-2015 stuff I watched: Boyhood, Transamerica, Birdman, Obvious Child, Whiplash, Still Alice, Away From Her, Shotgun Stories, Iris, Love and Mercy. Wow That is quite a lot of good stuff. Great movie catch up, me.

Double thumbs down to Attack on Titan and also The Beach lololollol

WOOPS 2015 WHERE'D U GO? (Top 50)

Oh man that year got away from me in a weird way. I feel guilty for having a mostly great year because I know a lot people didn't, and there were definitely very awful things. But. Well. I don't know how to end this bit.

1. I done had a pretty good wedding if u ask me
2. Bangkok is pretty good place to live if u ask me again

And then in no particular order but still numbered?

3. Walkerville minimoon
4. That sunset at the farm at Easter
5. Elephants <3 <3 <3

Luv u hello

6. Team Waffdog & Pattaya DreamHouse
7. BKK Visitors Extravanza 2015
8. Pad Pak Boong Fai Denggggg
9. TINY WAIS OMG THERE IS NOTHING BETTER
10. Tiny Gentle Asians
11. Billy C with Leonie B
12. Norway / Crombies / Norwaaaay
13. Katie & Al & Helsinki
14. Beer on ice
15. tiny cactus addiction
16. Chiang Mai treehouse holiday

Treehousin'

17. Chiang Mai cooking class
18. ERR
19. Boat Noodle Alley
20. Banana Roti
21. Summer St
22. Uhhhh every edible thing in Thailand tbh
23. Them Mighty West Coast Eagles omg
24. Cowgs footy tip emails
25. The Yard
26. Ko Samui & Krabi island holidays

Somewhere off Krabi

27. Erawan Falls
28. treerachin and all the other cute shit in Thailand
29. #icecreamnews
30. The Lobster.
31. SPONTANEANATION
32. Time Keeper on Comedy Bang Bang
33. Transparent
34. Togetherness
35. Review! Master of None! Fargo! Bojack! Another Period! Bloodline! Catastrophe! tv etc
36. New albums from Barnett / Gorman / Kelly / Beirut / FJM...
37. All them fancy wedding gift meals
38. What Rhymes With Cars & Girls
39. Melbiversary #5! Luv U Melbo <3
40. Cowgs' birthday cake:

probably my finest moment

41. Eagle Pies:

my other finest moment

42. The Worst Idea of All Time
43. NORA breakfasts
44. Rilakkuma Bangkok madness
45. Augie at Melbourne Recital Centre
46. backyard summah paradise:

47. top chef just desserts hens day cake party
48. Sleepover / colouring in fest with Hillevi
49. lil Gene emoji messages
50. Friends With You thing at Central Embassy

DONE ahhh blahhhh 50 is so many things to remember after a whole year, why do i do this.