Hi All,
Iām so sorry this is a bit later than your usually scheduled lunchtime update however I think you can all appreciate that I was up late last night watching Dwayne Gretzky and celebrating the end of 2020ā¦
I woke up this morning feeling a bit more hopeful. I donāt think this year will be *amazing*; however, Iām hoping this is the year we turn things around and recover from that insane year. Recover is my word of the year.
recover / (rÉŖĖkŹvÉ) /
verb
(tr)Ā to find again or obtain the return of (something lost)
to regain (loss of money, position, time, etc); recoup
(of a person) to regain (health, spirits, composure, etc), as after illness, a setback, or a shock, etc
to regain (a former and usually better condition)
So thatās my goal for the year. For it not to be āthe bestā but to return to baseline.
Personally, that means returning to my regular scheduled programming of making and watching a lot of television for all of you, and today, Iāve got a lot of stuff for you š
This week on the blog:
Before we move along, Iām looking back. Iāve got two blog posts lists for you:
Something different from me, Iām looking back on all the books I read this year. You can read my full list here with some mini-reviews.
Iām looking back on all the TV I watched this year. Iām not sure if Iām embarrassed or proud of the list. Itās *a lot*. But if youāve watched any of the shows on the list get in touch. I always like talking about them :) Read the full list here.
Iāve also got a review up of Bridgerton. I was so excited for this showā¦ but the back half of the series lost me. Read all about that here.
Things to watch this week:
If you missed it last week - you need to go back and watch Death to 2020 on Netflix. It was brilliant. I honestly cannot say enough good things about it. Itās political satire at itās best. Highly recommend.
But today in 2021 weāve got some good things happening on screens too.
Today is the day you can watch Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical. Iāve talked about this before and I will 100% be buying tickets to this because itās incredible. Hereās the link. You can watch it over the next 72 hours.
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On Crave weāve got a bunch of movies streaming including The High Note and The King of Staten Island. Plus there is a new Doctor Who project - Revolution of the Daleks and a new season of RuPaulās Drag Race that launches today at 9:30pm EST.
Netflix also launched a bunch of new shows and seasons of shows today including History Of Swear Words (which looks fantastic), the final season of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the 3rd season of Cobra Kai. Personally, Iāll be watching the 2nd season of Dream Home Makeover. I loved the first season and Iām very excited about looking at all the pretty new houses.
If you missed Call The Midwife when it was on Netflix, itās starting to stream on CBC Gem today. Itās a great January show - all about new beginnings with babies and post-war Britain. I loved it.
On network TV weāve got a bunch of shows returning after covid hiatuses this week. Here are a few of my favs or ones that Iām curious about this year.
The 2nd season of Zoeyās Extraordinary Playlist comes out on Tuesday, Jan 5th. This show is brilliant and makes me cry nearly every episode. Catch up on the 1st season this weekend and then watch the 2nd this week. Also in āshows that make me cry on Tuesdaysā - This Is Us is also back. They were able to air three episodes in the fall but have had a long covid break. Iām really looking forward to have it back.
If you are a fan of the Chicago trifecta (Med/PD/Fire) those are all back on Wednesday. Expect your favourite first responders to deal with the Covid Crisis in Chicago. However, Iām more curious about Chicago PD plans on dealing with BLM and police brutality. Deadline reported in October that it would touch on it in S8 and Iām curious.
The Rookie, The Neighborhood, Bob Hearts Abishola, All Rise, Bull, Young Sheldon, Mom, Law & Order: SVU are all back too this week. Watch them while you can because there is a big delay in new shows coming out. A bunch of the networks have shut down production again because of a spike in Covid cases in LA.
On Wednesday on Crave, weāve got a movie premiere of Monkey Beach. Itās a movie adaptation of Eden Robinson's book. Itās getting good buzz and I hope it does well.
Lastly, on Thursday weāve got an Oscar buzzed movie starting to stream on Netflix. Pieces Of A Woman stars Vanessa Kirby and Shai LaBeouf. People are RAVING about Kirbyās performance in this and I might watch it just for her. Howeverā¦ I have no interest in watching something with LaBeouf in it. It also seems like heās impacting the awards campaign. Apparently, LaBeouf is now getting scrubbed from the for your consideration campaigns and there is a lot of *damage control* happening right now.
Other things to check out:
Starting off the top with Harry Stylesā new music video for Treat People With Kindness staring the incomparable Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It is guaranteed to make you smile.
Justin Bieber also released a new song and music video today that feels very 2021. Itās called Anyone and Iām into it. Watch it here.
I sometimes go down weird youtube rabbit holes... This week I really went down an Irish youtube hole and ended up finding out that while I think Emily Blunt can do no wrong - apparently, she canāt pull a pint of Guinness. I also went down a weird Taylor Swift fanvid hole. Two things came out of that one. 1) Willow - But it's John Mulaney saying, "That's my wife!". and 2) Iām on an embarrassing kick of watching fanvids of ātis the dam season set to clips of Jess and Rory. If you know, you know and youāll love it too. This one is my fav.
Moving alongā¦
I was at Kingās at the same time as Adam Scotti. If you donāt know the name, you know his work. Heās the official photographer for Justin Trudeau. I first became aware of Adam through some friends who went on a military journalism course in 3rd year. They all came back with these gorgeous photos of themselves and I was curious who took the picturesā¦ well āOne-Year Adamā did. Iāve been following his work ever since and this year he put together a fantastic collection of his photos. A year in review. It is truly phenomenal. View it here.
Finally - if you watch/read/click on any link in this whole letter make it be this one. The Big Fat Quiz of the Year is one of my favourite television events of the year and this yearās quiz was wonderful. Get a pint of beer and settle in with Jimmy Carr and the gang. Watch it here.
š„ to 2021
-Paua