New Year's Resolutions
Happy 2019! It's time for weeks (or months?) of mis-writing the date on everything you have to sign. And also New Year's resolutions! Last year around this time I started this very newsletter, and I'm happy to say it's been an incredibly fun writing outlet that I'm looking forward to continuing in 2019. Before now, I've never had huge successes with resolutions, and I think part of the reason I stuck with Seen & Heard was because I forced myself to be accountable by telling people about it, even before it began. If I wasn't moving forward, I had plenty of people around to remind me to keep writing or to just decide on a format already! I missed some weeks when things got busy and sent some newsletters out in the evening instead of the afternoon, but I'm still glad I added this weekly writing routine to my repertoire. For the sake of accountability, I'm going to share some of my 2019 resolutions here:
1.) I want to start baking more in the new year, by making new types of foods that I've never done before, including pie! This is definitely been inspired by my love for the musical Waitress and this pie book that I discovered.
2.) Inspired by NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour resolution episode (a yearly tradition, that I describe below), I've decided to add a goal to help fuel future newsletters and expand my own arts horizons. Once a month, I'll watch one movie I've never seen before that is directed by a woman and one movie I've never seen before that was released before I was born. If you're keeping tally, that's 24 new movies to watch in 2019!
3.) And finally, I want to start work on a long-term writing project. It's a little vague and I don't have a numerical goal to measure my success, partially because I want to give myself the freedom to move at my own pace. For now, putting down in writing that I want to get started is a big enough step!
Do you have any resolutions? If you need to put some in writing to make them more concrete, feel free to reply and send them my way -- not for publishing in the newsletter, just for that feeling of putting something in writing and sending it out into the universe.
Bonus Pick: If you're looking for some fictional characters who are also struggling to keep their resolutions, check out The Office's Ultimatum episode, where Pam creates a New Year's resolution chart to help track goals for the co-workers. Things quickly turn sour when the rest of the staff doesn't take it quite as seriously as she does and Michael tries to force-feed Kevin broccoli in order to get him to follow-through with his goal. You can also re-watch the Friends episode, The One With All The Resolutions, which features one of my all-time favorite scenes: the one where Ross can't put his leather pants back on in the bathroom, after pledging to wear them in an effort to try new things every day of the year. Chandler tries not to make fun of anyone (it doesn't go well) and Rachel says she'll gossip less, which proves difficult once she discovers Chandler and Monica are secretly dating.
Haven't You Heard?
I'll be doing full write-ups about some of the highlights below in the coming weeks, but I wanted to give you a quick list of some of the pop culture that I've been enjoying over the holiday season.
Mary Poppins Returns: I know reviews for this sequel haven't been stellar, but despite some slow parts and a couple forgettable songs, I still enjoyed the nostalgia-filled Mary Poppins Returns. Emily Blunt strikes the perfect balance emulating Mary's strict, yet adventurous and loving, personality; Lin Manuel Miranda is having the time of his life; and Dick Van Dyke's return brought tears to my eyes. It's beautifully directed and full of fun.
Vice: Vice is intense, so please mentally prepare yourself before heading into the movie theater. The filming style is jarring and filled with sudden switches from the halls of the Pentagon to the battlefield. While the storytelling is a bit all over the place (not nearly as clean as The Big Short), Christian Bale and Amy Adams are absolutely incredible as Dick and Lynne Cheney, respectively.
Taylor Swift's reputation Stadium Tour: Since seeing Taylor Swift's tour in July, I've been eager to relive the excitement again. As I pushed play on Netflix to watch the tour special, the opening notes of Ready for It pounded and the anticipation began again. Taylor puts on quite a show, so even if you're only a "Top 40" Taylor fan, I encourage you to check out special to see how she's grown throughout the years!
The Beatles' cover of 'Till There Was You: One of my favorite things to do while in my hometown is to drive around and listen to the radio. After our local station abruptly stopped its holiday music on the 26th, I turned to an oldies station and came across The Beatles singing 'Till There Was You from The Music Man. I'd never heard this particular cover of the song but now I'm obsessed.
Pop Culture Happy Hour's Resolutions and Predictions episode: An annual tradition on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is this particular episode, where Linda Holmes and her cohorts go around and listen to their pop culture resolutions and predictions from last year, see how they did and declare new ones for the upcoming year. It's a fun way to take a look back at 2018 and think about what's to come in the future.
Required Reading
For last week's issue, I tried to find someone who had compiled a list of female-created movies and TV in 2018. Of course, the very next day, Kayleigh Donaldson tweeted a thread of women-directed films released over the past year. Highlights include some that I listed last week, including A Wrinkle in Time, RBG and To All the Boys I've Loved Before, as well as some other movies on my to-watch list like Dumplin', On the Basis of Sex and Can You Ever Forgive Me?. You can explore the full thread (as well as some additional suggestions that other followers have added) to start the new year off strong.
