(Posted three months late.)
Remember how I talked in my past post about starting a new job? The first six months of that job were incredibly stressful and challenging, though it’s starting to calm down now. That, plus wedding planning, plus <gestures at the general state of the world> kept me from feeling motivated to update this blog.
However, I had a spurt of energy and motivation this weekend to come back to this. There’s a particular post I’m drafting about how I want to use Meta tools going forward that I’d like to publish soon.
For now, though, I wanted to quickly jot down my favorite things of 2024 + an update on my goals. It’s an easy, fun, lighthearted thing to write about, and doing so tends to prompts conversations with friends who had the same favorite things. Without further adieu, let’s jump in!
Obligatory disclosure: This is a spoiler-free zone – you’ll only get plot summaries and my personal thoughts and feelings.
Movie: Flow
Whilst out of town for work, I randomly wandered into a movie theater and decided to see a film I’d never heard of based solely on the vibes of the poster. It wound up being my very favorite movie of 2024.
Without giving too much away, it’s a beautifully unfolded story of grief and chosen community told through the eyes of a black cat. There’s no dialogue, so you’re guided solely by the characters facial expressions, body language, and the environment and music.
I hold this movie in such high regard because of how much storytelling it packs in with such a singular, focused narrative. It also rewards a second rewatch – reading reddit comments on the official movie discussion, I learned about subtle background elements that painted a deeper picture of the world the story takes place in. I enjoyed it so much, I went back and watched it for a second time in theaters to take in these details and experience the journey once again. I rarely watch movies more than once, so that’s a testament unto itself.
OK, I won’t say any more than that. Go see it for yourself.
Honorable mentions:
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- The Boy and the Heron
Show: Agatha All Along
Though I’ve seen most of the Marvel shows and movies, because my nerd friend groups often want to go, I’m not actually a big Marvel person. Something about it has always been a little too stylized and formulaic for my tastes. I’m more into dark fantasy, which is (in part) why I think Agatha All Along resonated with me so, so much.
The witchy vibes were there, which I love – but more importantly, the character development was very, very good. I also appreciated that the majority of the main cast were older women, which is not something we see enough of in modern media. As I continue to age, I find myself keen on media that represents my current (and future) appearance in a positive, affirming light.
I can’t say more without getting too deep into Marvel lore and what the journey was for all of the specific characters, except to say I appreciated how morally grey area it all was vs. the formulaic infallable hero vs. archetypical villian arc of most Marvel stories. Episode 7 will stick with me forever (IYKYK) and might be my favorite episode of MCU TV of all time.
Honorable mentions:
- Star Trek: Discovery season 5
- Pachinko season 2
- Rings of Power season 2
Album: BRAT by Charli XCX
2024 was a banner year for pop girlie albums, and it felt near-impossible to pick my #1. I flip flopped on this choice throughout the year as I mentally drafted this post, with each of my honorable mentions taking the top spot at different times.
Now that the year is firmly behind us, for me personally, the songs on this album still hit the hardest. Not just because of the cultural impact (that neon green was everywhere) but because of how they so exquisitely captured many of the complicated feelings I’ve had about myself and my relationships in my thirties.
Charli’s openness about hating herself in Sympathy is a knife – her vulnerability about being forced to compete with other women in Girl, so confusing – her anxieties about whether she’s “too late” to make her pop stardom dreams come true in several songs – all hit so hard. I felt like I was in the booth with her experiencing these moments. It became cathartic for me; I was forced to reckon with my own complicated, tangled, uncomfortable feelings about myself, my relationships, and my dreams. Which is what good music should do.
Honorable mentions:
- Short N’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
- The Great Impersonator by Halsey
- Rosie by Rosé
Live performance: Dreamcatcher: [Luck Inside 7 Doors]
Note: This is a new category! I went to see lots of live shows this year, and I want to honor some of amazing performances by having a special category for it.
If you haven’t heard of them, Dreamcatcher is a nü metal-meets-kpop girl group with hits like MAISON, VISION, BOCA, and many more. They’ve been making music and touring for a decade, and I finally got to see them live at the Paramount Theatre this past fall.
What they lacked in budget (they toured without a a backing band and not very much in the way of audio visuals) they made up for with impressive live vocals, humor, and lots of sincere audience interaction. One highlight was when the audio cut out during their song Scream. After a momentary pause, they continued performing at full volume with the enthusiastic backing of the audience, getting all the way through to the end. After, they earnestly joked around with the audience until the tech team gave them the go-ahead to re-perform the song with the backing track played in full.
There was something about that moment that demonstrated their genuine stage presence to me. They also opted to perform the ending of Silent Night six times because of how into it the crowd was. I have a really embarassing video clip that I’m not going to upload that shows me screaming my head off to that song from the back of the crowd.
Though there were a lot of great tours last year, Dreamcatcher’s sincerity, swagger, and ability to bridge their kpop roots with their gothic, metal sound and vibes made them my favorite live performance of 2024.
Honorable mentions:
- XG: The First Howl
- BABYMETAL & DETHKLOK: THE BABYKLOK TOUR
- Le Sserafim (Coachella performance)
Other media: Cursed Princess Club (Webtoon)
After releasing weekly for five years, Cursed Princess Club finally wrapped up it’s finale in 2024. Without giving too much away, it’s one of the funniest, sweetest, most heart-wrenching, and empowering stories I’ve ever read.
Without giving too much away, this is a story about learning to love yourself amidst society’s beauty standards, co-creating community and inclusion, and what it means to be “cursed” (a metaphor for any type of “other”ed group in society). The ending had SUCH a perfect closure for ALL of the characters, none of which were the cliché fairytale ending you might expect from the genre.
Though the tone is funny and lighthearted, and is written for an all-ages audience, the material goes so much deeper than you expect it to. It will truly be a crime if it doesn’t get an animated or live adaptation of some sort (with the involvement of the original creators, of course).
Go read it today on Webtoon, or even better, buy the print versions from the creator’s shop.
Honorable mentions:
- Bluesky (app)
- The Bold Founder (podcast by Lucy Bedewi)
Local spot: Mission Blue Coffee House
Last but not least, my favorite “new” (founded in 2019, though I only visited for the first time recently) local spot is Mission Blue Coffee House, a community-focused neighborhood cafe and gift shop that focuses on items made by local artists.
I visited for the first time to try their lavender latte. While the latte itself was iced coffee perfection (see pic) it was the support for local creators and general community vibe that’s made me a regular. It’s one of the only spots in SF where I’ve noticed an actual diverse demographic of customers, not just the usual tech workers or wealthy patrons. Not just that, but the customers are actually talking to each other, and to the staff.
It’s clear they’re doing something special within the community here. I would like to see more establishments like this one in the future. This is how you create a true neighborhood vibe.
But don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself. Here’s a link to their Google Maps listing.
Honorable mentions: None this year since every place I went to was already established, I just wanted to use this spot to highlight this special cafe. Maybe next year!
But Renée, what about your 2024 goals?
This would normally be the part where I eagerly share out stats and victories related to my 2024 goals. Except that, thanks to <gestures at job loss, wedding planning, and the state of things> I didn’t end up achieving any of them.
But, honestly? I don’t care. Last year was a year of survival for me, and if the only thing I managed to do was that, it’s enough. If anything, learning to be less goal-oriented is probably good for me.
So, instead of celebrating my never-achieved 2024 goals – and setting unrealistic 2025 ones – I’m just going to celebrate the fact that I made it this far given life circumstances.
If there’s any “goal” for me to set this year, it’s to shift my mindset to allow myself to be less perfect and more messy/unfinished. I chronically struggle with being unwilling to create or share anything – blog posts, social media posts, music – until I feel it is “perfect” or “done”. This blog post itself is an example of that – I’m not fond of how some lines are written, and the overall structure feels wonky and messy. I keep having thoughts of just deleting this entire thing.
But I know how important it is to my soul to create – how it feels when I’ve gone weeks without doing so, except for work. Writing music, blog posts and creative stories are the things that make me feel alive.
My #1 focus right now, aside from activism (which I’ll blog about next time) is to re-ignite my creative spirit. This means putting aside perfection and standards, and allowing myself to be messy and to suck. Recording scrappy demos, drafting mid blog posts, and outlining cliche creative story ideas that make me feel good.
Anyway. I don’t know how to end this post, and maybe that’s the right ending for me as I work towards my “messiness” goal. So here’s to all the messy, unfinished, and imperfect creative projects, my friends.