Top 10 Good Things From 2020
10. Local Women-Owned Pasadena Businesses: Jenette Bras, Found Coffee, Little Flower Café, HöMAGE Pasadena and many more that have provided just what I needed when everything seems broken and out of step.
9. Interactive Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend (Netflix). I love this show and thought I’d hate interactive, but it turned out to be fun. I particularly liked when the writers were stumped and they just gave up. Sometimes you’d click and get a polite, “Wrong choice.” The series came out early in the pandemic when I needed to calm the F down.
8. Leslie Jones. She is something wonderful every day of this awful year. Do yourself a favor and watch her comedy special Time Machine.
7. Podcasts that kept me sane: Two from Crooked Media: Keep It! With co-hosts: the twitter monitored center of gravity — Ira Madison III; the guy who would agree that Édith Piaf needed a revival before that insurance commercial came along — Louis Virtel; and “did I tell you I was from Nebraska” — the flawless Aida Osman. The other podcast is the fabulous, funny and feminist Hysteria hosted by writer Erin Ryan and former President Obama’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco.
6. Jessie Ware whose retro disco music brings back only the fun memories of the disco era and none of the regrets. My favorite is Save a Kiss. Plus, her podcast Table Manners with Jessie Ware is hilarious. Jessie and her mum talk about food and music with guests that are all “gets.”
5. The Crown. Every season.
4. The Mirror & The Light, by Hilary Mantel. It was hard to concentrate to read anything but spending time with Thomas Cromwell during a pandemic was the way to go. (Please purchase from your local bookstore.)
3. Bridgerton. It’s porn-y in a good way. Dramatic. Fun. Sexy. Diverse. A much needed obsession. Shonda Rhimes is a Queen and her Thomas Cromwell, Chris Van Dusen, is, well Thomas Cromwell the knower of all and the man to get things done. Thank you for taking us home at the end of 2020. Alright, there’s another series I did love love love: Queen’s Gambit. What both these series have in common is women at the center of the story. Brava! It’s time to give Netflix props (thought I haven’t forgiven them for cancelling Tuca & Bertie) since every show I love is streaming on one site.
2. Multiple vaccines!
1. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris! No explanation needed.
It’s been a tough one. Good riddance 2020.
Welcome 2021 and Happy New Year!