2017 Roundup

Here's a list of some cool stuff from 2017, starting with my favorite memories of the year and then continuing with my top lists for music, books, movies, etc. Also some photos.

Major Accomplishments

1. I turned 27 years old.
2. My dad came to visit for a week and we spent a few days hanging out in New York City, including a fun ride through Central Park.
3. Sarah's parents moved to Boston and we drove out for the weekend, including a stay in Scranton, PA.
4. Attended the Pittsburgh Irish Festival and saw Screaming Orphans play three separate times that weekend.
5. Mary came to visit and we went up the Incline and saw The Naked & Famous play and generally had a great time.
6. Spent Thanksgiving in Boston with the Allreds, during which I had the chance to walk around Walden Pond and write on the shore for about an hour on a Sunday.
7. Spent Christmas in Utah and had a great time reconnecting with friends and family.
8. We had a weekend getaway trip in Philadelphia replete with takeout, TV, sightseeing, and massages.
9. Josh came to visit for a week and we had a blast hanging out and having fun.
10. I finished the final draft of my first novel and am now ready to begin submitting it for publication.
11. Probably a lot of other things, but I can't remember them now, so here are some photos.

My hair keeps growing and sometimes Sarah braids it.

Stake conference, I think.

Laskiaispulla, which I've made several times since. I'm pretty into baking now.

After Sarah's trip to Japan.

My dad and me in NYC.

We fostered a dog for about a week as a birthday present to me. Banjo. I was a little allergic but he was a lot of fun.

In NYC we visited Hepburn Gardens and it was great.

During the move to Boston.

Ate a lot of sushi this year.

Oh yeah, I ran a half-marathon on an elliptical one night. Not a huge accomplishment, but I'm still proud.

We had a garden this year. Flower, tomatoes, peppers, dill, cilantro, onions.

The Liberty Bell.

Brunch in Philadelphia.

Also brunch in Philadelphia.

A photo with one of my favorite bands, Screaming Orphans.

Brotherly bonding time at Grandpa's funeral.

Some root beer in Philly.

Hanging out with Josh was a whole lot of fun.

It snows but I still ride my bike to work most days, so this happens.

Now for the lists.

Top 40 Albums

Top 10 are in order; after that they're just random.

1. The Corrs - Jupiter Calling
2. MUNA - About U
3. Xandria - Theater of Dimensions
4. Paramore - After Laughter
5. Hugh Jackman et al. - The Greatest Showman Soundtrack
6. Screaming Orphans - Taproom
7. Aeverium - Time
8. Lights - Skin & Earth
9. SYR - The Winter King
10. Tide Lines - Dreams We Never Lost
11. WALK THE MOON - What If Nothing
12. HAIM - Something to Tell You
13. Neverlight - Nova Red
14. Brand New - Science Fiction
15. Misterwives - Connect the Dots
16. Flor - come out. you're hiding
17. Serenity - Lionheart
18. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Echo of Pleasure
19. SAINTE - smile, and wave
20. All Time Low - Last Young Renegade
21. The Birthday Massacre - Under Your Spell
22. Silverstein - Dead Reflections
23. PVRIS - All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell
24. The Killers - Wonderful Wonderful
25. LEAVEARTH - A Perfect Disarray
26. Acceptance - Colliding By Design
27. Story of the Year - Wolves
28. Wild Ones - Mirror Touch
29. Meadowlark - Postcards
30. Knox Hamilton - The Heights
31. Ed Sheeran - ÷
32. Dreamcar - Dreamcar
33. Bleachers - Gone Now
34. BAND-MAID - Just Bring It
35. Kingslynn - Into the White Light
36. Ella Vos - Words I Never Said
37. Our Hollow, Our Home - Hartsick
38. Persona - Metamorphosis
39. Amberian Dawn - Darkness of Eternity
40. Courage My Love - Synesthesia

Honorable Mentions: The National Parks - Places, Secret Rule - The Key To The World, Eclipses for Eyes - Polaris, Allie X - CollXtion II, Anna of the North - Lovers, VÉRITÉ - Somewhere In Between, As It Is - okay., The Dark Element - The Dark Element, A Story Told - Good Looks, Betty Who - The Valley, Tigers Jaw - Spin, Angel Nation - Aeon, New Found Glory - Makes Me Sick, coldrain - FATELESS.

EPs

1. The Aces - I Don't Like Being Honest EP
2. Fickle Friends - Glue EP
3. Meadowlark - Nocturnes EP
4. Vallis Alps - Fable EP
5. Tigress - Like It Is EP
6. Echosmith - Inside a Dream EP
7. Blackbriar - Fractured Fairy Tales EP
8. Aly & AJ - Ten Years EP
9. Volunteer - The World Is Ours EP
10. Halflives - Empty Rooms EP

Songs

Some of my favorite songs from 2017 in random order.

1. "Feel Bad" - A Story Told
2. "One Foot" - WALK THE MOON
3. "Tiger Teeth" - WALK THE MOON
4. "Cut to the Feeling" - Carly Rae Jepsen
5. "The Sun and the Moon" - The Corrs
6. "I Know A Place" - MUNA
7. "Lionheart" - Serenity
8. "A Theater of Dimensions" - Xandria
9. "Hard Times" - Paramore
10. "Want You Back" - HAIM
11. "Nova Red" - Neverlight
12. "Far Side of the World" - Tide Lines
13. "The Greatest Show" - Hugh Jackman et al.
14. "From Now On" - Hugh Jackman et al.
15. "Time" - Aeverium
16. "Machine" - Misterwives
17. "overbehind" - Flor
18. "Violet Blue" - Kyla La Grange
19. "SGL" - Now, Now
20. "Circles on the Water" - Samantha Jade
21. "Eulalia" - SYR
22. "White Lies" - SAINTE
23. "Last Young Renegade" - All Time Low
24. "Counterpane" - The Birthday Massacre
25. "Run for Cover" - The Killers
26. "I Swear I'm Okay" - Story of the Year
27. "Places" - The National Parks
28. "Touch" - The Aces
29. "Nothing" - VÉRITÉ
30. "Stella" - FOURS
31. "Hello Hello" Fickle Friends
32. "18" - Echosmith
33. "Television Romance" - Pale Waves
34. "Eyes Wide" - Meadowlark
35. "Burn" - Halflives

Movies

These are in rough order, but frankly they're all really close.

1. Wonder Woman
2. The Greatest Showman
3. Star Wars, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
4. Coco
5. Thor: Ragnarok
6. Guardians of the Galaxy 2
7. Justice League
8. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
9. Murder on the Orient Express
10. The LEGO Batman Movie
11. Spider-man: Homecoming
12. Dunkirk
13. Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale
14. Leap!
15. King Arthur
16. The Mummy
17. Beauty & the Beast
18. War for the Planet of the Apes
19. Ghost In The Shell
20. Logan Lucky

Honorable Mentions: Marjorie Prime, Geostorm, Brian Regan: Nunchucks and Flamethrowers, Jim Gaffigan: Cinco, The Dark Tower.

For the rest of these categories, I didn't really have enough 2017 releases to make full-on lists, so I'm just highlighting some of my favorite discoveries/experiences from the past year.

TV Shows

A list of the TV shows I started/continued watching this year and really enjoyed.

1. The Good Place
2. March Comes In Like A Lion
3. Stranger Things
4. Game of Thrones
5. Gracepoint
6. Avatar: The Last Airbender
7. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
8. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
9. Timeless
10. The Batman
11. A Series of Unfortunate Events
12. Galavant
13. This Is Us
14. Salvation

Books

Just a list of my favorite books & comics I read this year.

1. Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Verse - Dan Slott. I read this comic run and all the tie-in issues. Definitely one of my favorites, and I'm really excited for the animated feature film coming out later this year.
2. The Slow Regard of Silent Things - Patrick Rothfuss. A novella set in the world of the Kingkiller Chronicles. Very fascinating and moving.
3. The Warlord of Mars and Thuvia, Maid of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs. The third and fourth novels in the Barsoom series, which is swiftly becoming one of my favorites. Perfect audiobooks for the gym too.
4. A Darker Shade of Magic - VE Schwab. The premise of this book was fascinating, and the book didn't disappoint. Looking forward to finishing the series this year.
5. The Bone Palace - Amanda Downum. The second book in her Necromancer Chronicles. The culture and geography of the world were really interesting and I enjoyed the cross of noir, dark fantasy, and romance.
6. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline. Absolutely loved this one, blew through it in just a couple days. Looking forward to the movie.
7. M is for Magic - Neil Gaiman. A collection of short stories from one of the seminal writers in fantasy. Lots of fun.
8. The Alloy of Law and Shadows of Self - Brandon Sanderson. Finally got back to the Mistborn series. Sanderson is one of my favorite authors and these books were a blast.
9. Spider-Woman - Dennis Hopeless. One of my favorite comic series ever. I'm sad it's over, but I'm hoping for a Jessica Drew cameo in the upcoming Captain Marvel movie.
10. A Void - Georges Perec. A book originally written in French without the use of the letter E, subsequently translated into English, also without using the letter E. The plot is a complex layered murder mystery with lots of in-jokes and meta-references. I can't praise this book enough.
11. If on a winter's night a traveler - Italo Calvino. A set of interlocking literary adventures interspersed with an ongoing meta-narrative directed at the reader. It's a fantastic accomplishment of writing and one of my favorite books of all time now.

Videogames

I played some pretty great games this year. I beat Shovel Knight and Bravely Default, which were both wonderful and engaging. I played lots of Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Brothers, Mario Kart 8, Pokémon X, and Twilight Princess. I've got a huge backlist of games to play through this coming year too.

Music from Previous Years

A list of albums I heard for the first time this year that I absolutely loved.

1. Jag Star - The Best Impression of Sanity
2. Giants at Large - Place & Time EP
3. Dark Sarah - The Puzzle
4. Grouplove - Big Mess
5. Sleeping Romance - Enlighten
6. Hailey, It Happens - Hailey, It Happens
7. Winter In Eden - Court of Conscience
8. Ravenia - Beyond the Walls of Death
9. Helion Prime - Helion Prime
10. Urban Cone - Polaroid Memories
11. Chase Atlantic - Nostalgia EP
12. Stars - The North
13. Night Riots - Love Gloom
14. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Days of Abandon
15. Bodyjar - How It Works
16. Stand Atlantic - A Place Apart EP
17. Oh Wonder - Oh Wonder
18. Annalisa - Se Avessi Un Cuore
19. Haerts - Haerts
20. Bump of Chicken - Butterflies
21. Within Temptation - The Silent Force
22. Liv Kristine - Vervain
23. Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas - Feeling of Unity
24. Allison Weiss - New Love
25. Vancouver Sleep Clinic - Revival
26. Donora - Ha Ha Heart
27. Mr Little Jeans - Pocketknife
28. Now, Now - Threads
29. A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Sea When Absent
30. Electric Youth - Innerworld
31. Persona - Elusive Reflections
32. Meden Agan - Lacrima Dei
33. Crimson Sun - Towards the Light
34. Florence & the Machine - Ceremonials
35. Mary's Blood - Fate

Final Thoughts

Overall, 2017 was pretty fantastic. I have good reason to believe that 2018 will be even better.