Film, TV, novels of 2017

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Last year my New Year’s Resolution was to keep a list of all the popular culture I consumed. It has been a very interesting exercise and one that I plan to continue. It is a good prompt to me to read more and watch less! Here is a list of some of my cultural highlights of the year:

Novels:
I re-read Lord of the Rings, and all of the Game of Thrones books, and CS Lewis’ space trilogy. All good.
I read some more horror again, after much time away – Clive Barker, James Herbert, now re-reading Stephen King (which may take some time!)
Best books read: Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; Xenocide by Orson Scott Card; Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
I read about 25 novels – so one a fortnight.

Movies (at home)
I watched more than 60 – so more than one a week. Some favourites: John Wick (1&2); Ex Machina; I, Daniel Blake; Nymphomaniac (both parts)
Worst film watched: The Circle

TV
Probably watch a bit more TV than movies now – influence of Netflix!
Kept up with Game of Thrones, Walking Dead and all the Marvel series – though I have now given up on that (Inhumans! erk).
Enjoyed the first few series of Downton. Loved Westworld, American Gods, Wolf Hall, Star Trek Discovery and The Crown.
Also: Strictly! for the first time.

Cinema – roughly one a month, they were all good. Basically I’ll see the main popcorn movies on a big screen. Best of these was probably Blade Runner, closely followed by Dunkirk

Lego Batman
Logan
Lion
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Spiderman: Homecoming
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
Kingsman: Golden Circle
Blade Runner 2049
Thor Ragnarok
Justice League
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

For next year? I just can’t wait for Infinity War…

6 thoughts on “Film, TV, novels of 2017”

  2. I would give up Netflix and movies before games! Let me tempt you by recommending “Stardew valley”. It was made by a single person as a coding exercise but become a surprise hit selling over 1 million copies within four months of it’s release.

    The plot is simple: Your character was left a letter by Granddad on his death bed along with instructions to open the letter when life become too much. Years later, you are working a cubicle job for a large corporation and decide the time is right to open the letter. Turns out you were left a plot of land in Stardew valley so you quit the corporate job and leave the city to become a farmer in a small rural village.

  3. Gameplay is very simple: plot crops, sell crops, explore, meet and befriend the locals, complete simple quests etc. Sounds boring but it’s actually very charming and smile inducing. The basic theme is more meaningful form of living as part of a small community vs bland corporate individualism.

    I think you will like the game because it ties in with your environmental interests, transition towns and ‘what it means to be fully human’. The fact that the game sold so many copies shows something about its concerns appeals to a lot of people. So you’ll get at least one blog post out of it ! 🙂

    https://www.format.com/magazine/news/design/stardew-valley-game

  4. I re-read Stephen King’s “It” — one of his longer books, and enjoyed it, though found it had flaws too.

    • IT is on my list; I want to re-read it before watching the film, which has had such good reviews. A re-read of the Stand was my most recent, several years back.

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