The best of 2021

 Here are my best of lists for 2021.

I had a busy year with study so my intake of books, viewing, listening was limited but there was still great stuff.

READING

I only read 56 books in 2021. This was due to studying taking up my reading time, and COVID fog/lack of reading mojo. But still some good stuff within those 56. Only 11 were fiction. 27 non-fiction, and 18 biographies. 25 by males and 27 by females so a good split there. 10 by LGBTQIA, 16 Australian, 3 foreign writers, and 4 first nations writers. I can do better there. I like to read a wide range and do not specifically seek them out, but find I am drawn to a lot of these writers, but 2021 was a little different. I have much to catch up on this year. 

Books of 2021

1. How we live now by Bill Hayes - set in the first 100 days of the pandemic in NY. Stunning and poetic.

2. Son of the brush by Tim Olsen - about Tim's relationship with his father, John Olsen.

3. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery - a wonderful book about the Octopus and all their intellect.

4. A lonely girl is a dangerous thing by Jesse Tu - best fiction I read all year about a young girl who had been a child prodigy and decides to take the violin back up, gets asked to play in NY and heads over. A fabulous romp of sex, classical music and the search for love.

5. Soar by David McAllister - the story of his life in and managing The Australian Ballet

6. The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku - memoir of his life, almost 100 and a holocaust survivor, and advice on how to live a happy life.

7. Grandest bookshop in the world by Amelia Mellor - childrens fiction (for all ages) about the family living in Coles Arcade in Melbourne. 

8. Identity Crisis by Ben Elton - fiction, about the murder of a trans-woman, and the detective who is on the case.

9. My Rock N Roll Friend by Tracy Thorn - about her friendship with Lindy Morrison.

10. Old Seems to be other people by Lily Brett - essays about ageing in NY.

11. Shit Actually by Lindy West - hilarious essays, mostly about film

12. Midnight Library by Matt Haig - fiction about a library that lets you try on various lives to find the best suit.

13. Last Chance Texaco by Ricki Lee Jones - amazing autobiography about the early part of her life.

14. The Year of Living Vulnerably by Rick Morton - complex book about looking for love.

15. Right place, right time by Bob Gruen - autobiography about Bob's life as a rock photographer.

16. Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss - historical fiction about first nations people and the great flood of Gundagai in 1852.

17. Fathoms by Rebecca Giggs - a whale washes up dead, and Rebecca decides to research why we let this happen. A wonderful tale of whales, the environment, and oceans.

18. The Believer by Sarah Krasnonstein - Sarah meets with people who believe, in god, ghosts, ufos etc, and tells their stories.

19. In Pieces by Sally Field - deep and dark autobiography of Sally's life, in Hollywood and in life.

20. Best.Movie.Year.Ever: How 1999 blew up the big screen by Brian Raftery - fabulously entertaining book on the movies released in 1999.

WATCHING

One thing stood so far above everything I watched or consumed this year that is deserves to stand alone. In fact, this is so brilliant, I do not know that anything else will surpass it in my life.

Peter Jackson's GET BACK

An absolute masterpiece, I am yet to properly review it.
I just keep saying it is the gift of a lifetime, and it is.
Possibly only for fans, I don't know.

All I know is I loved it, unlike anything else I have ever seen.

The Best Television of 2021

1. Succession S3 - outstanding, bombastic, brilliant. A family, not unlike the Murdochs, and their empire, the infighting and manipulation!

2. Mr In Between S3 - Australian drama with heart and comedy, about a man for hire who happens to be a family man.

3. White Lotus - uptight black comedy about a range of awful holiday makers on  a resort in Hawaii.

4. The Newsreader -brilliant period drama set in 80s news in Melbourne.

5. Mare of Easttown - Kate Winslet is the sheriff of a small town where a horrific murder takes place.

6. The Flight Attendant - A young flight attendant gets caught up with a man who ends up murdered.

7. His Dark Materials- fantasy based on the trilogy of books, stunning.

8. Wakefield - drama about the patients and staff at a mental hospital in The Blue Mountains.

9. The Crown S4 - more of the royal family, in the early Diana years.

10. What we do in the Shadows S3 - hilarious dark comedy about vampires in a share house in Long Island.

Special mention: Fisk, Staged, War of the Worlds, After Life, Sandition

The Best of Documentary Television 2021

1. McCartney 321 - Paul and Rick Rubin unpack many of his songs.

2. The Books that Changed Me - Claudia Karvan investigates Australian literature and what we love to read.

3. 100 Years of The Archibald - Rachel Griffiths goes behind the scenes of the 100th year of The Archibald.

4. Travels with my father - Jack Whitehall takes his very dry and particular elderly father on holidays to various continents.

5. Ms Represented - Annabel Crabb presents the history of females in politics in Australia.

6. This is a robbery - the story of the Gardiner Art Heist.

7. Write Around the World - Richard E Grant head off on a travel show around Europe with books from those areas.

8. Parisian Agency - Parisian family of real estate agents who look after high end places in Paris. Swoon.

9. Crikey, It's the Irwins - I love this behind the scenes at Australia Zoo so much. Plenty of animals, conservation, and the Irwin family.

10. Googlebox - my favourite on-going show. A cross section of society looking at television for that week. Trust me, go and check it out.

Special Mentions: Joanna Lumley travels, Palin: travels of a lifetime, The History of Swearing

The Best Films of 2021

1. The French Dispatch - utter perfection, Wes Anderson, Paris, and Faux French New Yorker style magazine. Huge amazing cast, funny.

2. The Father - Anthony Hopkins is devastating as a man losing his mind.

3. The Sound of Metal - great story about a heavy metal singer losing his hearing.

4. Eiffel - French film about the man behind The Eiffel Tower.

5. My Salinger Year - based on a memoir, this is about a young girl getting a job in a NY literary agency that looks after JD Salinger.

6. Soul - animated film about finding your soul, with a jazz and soul musical background.

7. Dune - new big screen film of the classic sci-fi book, stunning.

8. Promising Young Woman - a woman seeks revenge on her friends death.

9. Minari - a young Korean family tries to make it in America.

10. Supernova - Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci go on one last road trip before Tucci's character disappears into Alzheimers. 

The Best Documentaries of 2021

1. Jim and Andy - the story of Jim Carey becoming Andy Kaufman in The Man on The Moon. Outstanding and surreal.

2. The Centre will not hold: Joan Didion - Joan at the end of her life, formidable.

3. The Gogos - remarkable story of the 80s band, their punk foundation and where they are today.

4. Idiot Prayer - a live concert from Nick Cave by himself on a grand piano in Alexandra Palace, sublime.

5. Three Identical Strangers - spooky story of triplets separated at birth, how they found their way back to each other and how they became separated in the first place.

6. The Hope Documentary Jane Goodall - looking at Jane's work thorughout her life.

7. Firestarter - the story of Bangarra Dance Theatre

8. Happy BIrthday Mr Bean - the history and behind the scenes of Mr Bean. Genius!

9. Too Soon: comedy after 9/11 - how comedy got back on track after 9/11.

LISTENING

Top music of 2021

1. The Dee Gees - Dave Grohl and The Foo Fighters doing The Bee Gees!

2. Idiot prayer: alone at Alexander Palace by Nick Cave - album of the doco, Nick, a piano and solo, sublime,

3. Ok Human by Weezer - as always great and fun.

4. Letter to you by Bruce Springsteen - HIs best album in recent times. 

5. Hermitage by Ron Sexsmith - fabulous rock, very listenable.

6. Soul Soundtrack - overseen by Trent Reznor and excellent.

7. We Are - Jon Baptiste - bluesy fun.

8. Unfollow the rules - Rufus Wainwright - excellent

9. Harry Styles - such fun

10. Still woman enough by Loretta Lynn - she's still got it.

Best Podcasts of 2021

1. WTF - Marc Maron continues to get better and better and his guests are top notch

2. Bang On - Myf and Zan bring us the week in popular culture.

3. Clear and Vivid - Alan Alda, always great, really knocked it out the park this year with interestig guests in science we have never heard of but needed to and some famous people like Brian May, Bill Bryson, Mel AND Max Brooks etc.

4. Ms Represented - companion piece to the ABC show with Annabel Crabb.

5. Smartless - this show was initally hit and miss, but has really grown on me, great guest list this year too!

Special Mentions: 5Ws and Countdown

DECEMBER DIARY

December commenced with a work evening at The Gunyah to celebrate our lovely, newish team. I have been working at Belmont Library for a year now and just loving the experience. It is a busy medium sized library with a great collection of stock and plenty of space for our customers to sit and chill, research, read, and enjoy the space. Obviously COVID puts the breaks on some of this. The customers are wide and varied and mostly really nice. My team are a range of really interesting and lovely part-timers. We are working together well, all learning from each other and having fun. So after a hard year trying to do our best in a pandemic (!!??!!) it was nice to sit back and enjoy the views at The Gunyah and celebrate the festive season and our achievements and look towards a fruitful 2022.

I had a fabulous gals night out at Romberg's, the fancy bar at the top of the old Council Chambers which is know a fancy hotel called The Kingsley. We had a great night of cocktails, nibbles, chatter and splendorous views. 

Andrew and I had a date night and headed to Thai at the rooftops at Kotara and then see Dune. The Thai, the best I have ever had, was a great as always. Dune was epic and stunning. A visual masterpiece and compelling storytelling with a magnificent cast, bring on more!

We also had a lovely pizza lunch at Merewether Surfhouse on an overcast but warm Monday. The food was exceptional, and the views divine. After a walk along the boardwalk and some picture taking was a must.

We had a family dinner out for Dad's Birthday at our fave pub and I finished up work for the year by meeting C at Mawson's Cafe at Caves Beach. Mawson's is a huge cafe in the new complex behind Caves Beach Hotel, great menu and relaxed service and very quiet so you felt safe in these crazy times. It was the perfect start to my little break.

I also caught up with D at Honeysuckle, where we sat near the harbour and caught up after nearly a year apart due to covid and general busy.

Christmas was out usual traditions, spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at my sister's property with the family, and Andrew joined us for Christmas Night at my parents.

Being a Christmas Baby, born on Boxing Day, we had a late brunch on Beaumont and Dinner at The Gunyah with the family.

In between Christmas and New Year I finished my final assessment for the Cert IV course I have been doing all year. It was a great feeling to finally finish it!

I had a lovely New Years Eve breakfast with my gals and then went into isolation as a close contact. So my year ended solo and early, but that is ok.

As usual, the markets.

My reviews for the month.

And some photos!

DECEMBER REVIEWS

What I've Been Reading 

Soar: a life freed by dance by David McAllister - this was the wonderful autobiography of Australian Ballet's David McAllister. He wrote about his young life in WA and his dreams of being a dancer after seeing Nureyev dance on his television, and his hard work to be accepted into the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne and his time with the Australian Ballet. What a fabulous story, fascinating with many ups and downs but such a positive spirit, this man can do anything. Once he retired he took up the role of director of the Australian Ballet for 20 years and this was also equally as interesting. If you love ballet, theatre and behind the scenes of art you will love this. If you love a good autobiography, you will also love this. Definitely one of my top reads of the year.

Thirty Thousand Bottles of wine and a pig called Helga by Todd Alexander - this was a fabulous sea or tree change tale. Todd and his partner Jeff up sticks from the corporate world in Sydney and move to a farm with a vineyard on it in the Hunter Valley. The book is a snapshot of their journey, and it is hilarious. Whilst it was obviously a lot of hard work, there are many funny tales along the way. This was an absolute joy to read.

Thirsty by Joel Creasey - this came through work as a talking book, read by Joel and I thought this will be fine and it bloody was! It was also far more fascinating than I thought. Joel has achieved a lot in his young life and is very open and honest about his 'celebrity'. I loved this, and laughed a lot. 

What I've Been Watching

Get Back - I am going to review this properly in a separate blog, but it is easily the best thing I have seen this year and quite possibly the best thing I have ever seen in my life. I am obviously a fan, but Peter Jackson has simply gifted us with perfection, and insight into what being a Beatle is, their genius, their sense of fun, their concerns, and their music. I don't know I will ever be able to think about this without weeping.

McCartney 3, 2, 1 - this works well alongside Get Back. Rick Rubin and Paul McCartney chat over a soundboard looking at the musicality of random McCartney songs from The Beatles, Wings, collaborations, and his solo career. Shot beautifully in black and white, Rubin knows his stuff, and is comfortable enough not to go all fanboy, but you can also tell he is a fan. He pulls songs and gets McCartney to talk about writing and recording it, tidbits we have not heard before, some we have, but mostly new ground focused on musicality. This is for music fans only, and I bloody loved every minute of it. And the 6 episodes barely touch the surface. I love Rubin, sitting cross legged and barefoot on the floor at the feet of McCartney, like a student soaking up everything he is saying. I would be the same, hanging on his every word and just reveling in the music. This is a class act show!

Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace a beautiful and haunting performance. Nick at a grand piano alone. It was filmed for a streaming event due to tour cancellations because COVID. It was shot in one take with two cameras and is stunning. I love Nick pared back and it is such a gift to fans and indeed anyone who loves music.

George Fest: celebrating George Harrison a mix of musicians playing songs by George Harrison in celebration of his life. Filmed in LA in 2014 is starred Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Norah Jones, Wayne Coyne, Conan O'Brian, Weird Al, Perry Farrell, and Dhani Harrison amongst many more. And it was sheer joy.

Succession S3 - this show, this show! It is easily the best show on tele right now, each season outsmarts the previous and S3 is no exception. It takes up exactly where S2 ends and twists and turns until the magnificent ending. There is so much to say and yet I really do not want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't caught up. The writing is as magnificent as ever, the acting just a masterclass. There are some scenes in the final episode that made me shout just give them all the Emmys now. It truly is a stellar cast, right down to the bit players and the guest stars. There is more backstabbing and recoil than JR Ewing would ever be able to handle. The sets as always as expansive, but even this season ups the ante. The ending was truly shocking and unexpected but yet as you realised what had happened you realised it had been shown to you all along, you just were not looking when you were meant to. Utterly brilliant, bring on S4.

Ted Lasso - it didn't take long to get into the groove of Ted, I think it is a really likeable and enjoyable show, but possibly not as amazing as the hype. It IS well written, tight, rarely a dull or editable moment. And not just well written but cleverly written. The ensemble cast is layered and remarkable. I felt good watching it, and was genuinely entertained. I particularly love the female characters and their layers. Looking forward to S2.

Fires- this was utterly gut wrenching and I am unsure I can recommend it. Each episode pretty much broke me. The series features true stories from the awful fire season we had in Dec 19/Jan 20. The storytelling was tight and remarkable, the acting superb, but by god, it was difficult to watch. I went through a LOT of tissues. This does deserve a watch, but boy it was trying.

Escape to the Chateau S7 - this show is like snuggling under a warm blanket on a cold day with a beautiful cup of hot chocolate. I love the Strawbridges, and their stunning castle, I am certain we would be firm friends. There is nothing this couple cannot do in terms of renovations and decorations. With the world in lockdown, there are no events to prepare for, they get some well needed down-time and can get to some of the projects they keep putting off due to lack of time. simply magical!!!

Step into paradise - was a great documentary about designers, Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson. It retells their early years, their friendship and their fame. It was really good and fascinating.

The  Books that changed me - this was 3 episodes of magic, hosted by Claudia Karvan and about the great Australian novels. My only criticism is they only briefly touched on the books listed and there were even more books that could have been added. This series could have been 10 episodes. Totally worth watching.

The French Dispatch - I adore Wes Anderson films, I wait with anticipation for each and every one. Even his 'lesser' films are genius. And this one was a homage to The New Yorker, one of my favourite magazines, but not just The New Yorker but a French version of it. So as a Francophile, you can imagine how many boxes this film ticked before I even saw it. So it risked me being very disappointed, but I wasn't. Wes is a genius, in every way, not just his unique design. This was superb, divided into vignettes or magazine pieces from various writers (based on real-life New Yorker writers over the years).The cast, as always, diverse and amazing. Tilda Swinton has never been more amazing. The cinematography is stunning, using so many techniques, your mind starts to spin. Every inch of it is perfection. I cannot wait to see it again, as I know I missed so much, as so much was happening, it was difficult to take it all in in one sitting and really do it justice. If you have never watched a Wes Anderson film, shame on you, this may not be the one to start with, it is definitely niche Anderson, more than he ever have, but boy I love him so much for this!

Supernova - this was not as great as I expected and I was a bit disappointed. Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth play a long term couple and Tucci has dementia. So they take one last road trip across the UK. It has funny moments, but is mostly melancholy and is quite lovely, but it just didn't grab me as I thought it would. Still worth watching though.

What I've Been Listening to

Tomorrowland by Bob Evans - a very laid back but listenable album. 

Medicine at Midnight by Foo Fighters - I know a lot of people are bagging this one, but I don't mind mellow Foos. I thought it was a good solid album

0202 by The Rubens -  I really like these guys, but found this a little ho hum.

OK Human by Weezer - I love Weezer, with this they have moved from their pop sensibilities to more anthematic pop/rock but I quite enjoyed it.

My sister thanks you and I thank you: The White Stripes Greatest Hits - The White Stripes - what a grand collection of eclectic songs. I do enjoy The White Stripes, but prefer Jack solo.

Herald by Odette - I saw Odette at Womad last year and she was spectacular, what a divine voice and this album does not disappoint. A lovely soulful album.