Well,
so that was that. Even after more than nine months of working from home
and living this muted life, every so often I am still caught off guard by the
strangeness of how we live now. I miss actual people SO much.
So
let’s see how a global pandemic affected my consumption of cultural products,
shall we.
The
year in music
Not
commuting to work really changed my listening habits. By year’s end I had
listened to dozens of albums more than five times through — some more than ten
times through. My top-played songs were played much less frequently than in
past years, but nearly 2,000 of the tracks in iTunes had been played at least
10 times, and for the first time ever, I ended the year with fewer than 1,000 songs
unplayed: only about 600 unplayed, in fact, of some 18,200 tracks in total. (That
tally includes all the tracks tagged “Holiday” — more than 1,300 —which exacted
quite a toll from the household at large.)
I
added almost 1,000 songs to my library this year. Much of that total came from
re-ripping CDs I own that had been only partially ripped; the balance came from new
purchases and free downloads.
Top
25 plays
Jorge
Luis Chacin, “Sueltala (J. Verner Total Dance RWK)”
Kate
Bush, “Burning Bridge”
The
Clash, “Know Your Rights”
Janelle
Monáe, “Dance Apocalyptic”
Janelle Monáe, “Turntables”
The
Dresden Dolls, “Girl Anachronism”
ABBA,
“Take a Chance on Me”
Sonic
Youth, “Superstar”
Air
Supply, “Sweet Dreams”
Rise
Against, “Savior”
Sheena
Easton, “You Could Have Been with Me”
Prince,
“17 Days”
Vopli Vidopliassova with
Amarilyo, “Golubka”
Meg
Myers, “Running Up That Hill”
Janelle
Monáe, “Come Alive (War of the Roses)”
Haiku
Hands, “Not About You”
The
Killers, “The Man”
Knife
Party, “Destroy Them with Lazers”
The
Mowglis, “San Francisco”
Queen,
“You’re My Best Friend”
Billie
Eilish, “everything i wanted”
ABBA,
“Summer Night City”
REO
Speedwagon, “Keep on Loving You”
Queen,
“Killer Queen”
Siouxsie
and the Banshees, “This Wheel’s on Fire”
This
year’s list certainly demonstrates some comfort listening, but also some
attention to newer artists and genres. Many of the songs that had at least 20
plays this year reflected intentional listening for one of my research/writing
projects and so perhaps will not be repeated. I guess we’ll see!
The
year in books
One
might think a pandemic would be an ideal time to catch up on one’s reading.
Turns out, no. Not only were my days unbelievably long from mid March through
Victoria Day; when my workload finally lessened, I found my brain broken and often
incapable of sustaining more than fragmentary attention. Not an ideal trait in
a scholar or an editor.
Still,
by the end of the year I had read 151 books. As in previous years, a
good proportion of these books were middle-grade or young-adult titles, as I
continue to teach and research in this genre.
Of
the books I read in 2020,
•
109 were written by women
•
33 were written by men
•
9 were edited collections or written by multiple authors.
And
I’ve adopted a new reading strategy, recommended by my pal Garry. Unless there
is something urgent (and come on, what is actually urgent these days?), I try
to spend about half an hour reading before I get out of bed in the morning. This
decision has definitely made my days better AND increased my overall reading —
so probably a habit to keep.
Oh, and television...
In
other kinds of textual consumption, we didn’t get into binging on Netflix
anymore than usual. We did bit by bit watch Schitt’s Creek, which, in
the end, I adored, as well as The Great Canadian Baking Show, which I liked
but didn’t love. We have started watching Letterkenny, Taskmaster,
and QI, as well as picking through various panel shows and YouTube
channels. Haven’t seen a movie in a theatre since December 2019, of course.
**
Well,
that’s it for now. How did you fare last year?
And happy new year! Here’s to something brighter and
safer in 2021.
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