February 2022 Top Ten

1.

We watched Encanto and loved it. I love the emphasis on family, the imperfections, that the old people need forgiveness from the young, that there’s no real “villain.” Not to mention the songs are great.

2.

Speaking of Encanto songs, we’ve been listening to the soundtrack on repeat. Milo loves Surface Pressure. I found this rock version and it’s awesome.

3.

I read a book about sailing and ships called The Wreckers. I had picked it up for research on the book I’m writing right now, but never got around to it. It was okay. It ended really well, which saved it. My full review.

4.

I also read The Millionaire Next Door about the mindset and behavior of millionaires, and its not what is portrayed in the media. Really insightful book. Made me think about money differently. My full review.

5.

I found this band called Beta Radio and really enjoyed my first couple listens through their Ancient Transition album. The song below, “Sans Land,” was especially resonant. Still working through it.

6.

We read Amanda Gorman’s debut poetry collection Call Us What We Carry for book club. I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. A few poems were great, and the line, “The closest we get to time travel/Is our fears softening” has stuck with me. My full review.

7.

We watched the Ryan Reynolds movie Free Guy. It was fine. AI is interesting to me, so that was cool to see how it played out in the movie. Some funny bits. Some good social commentary.

8.

I started making a playlist where the songs are titled the names of people in my family. There are only four songs so far, but here’s the playlist. Ruby’s song is actually a jam.

9.

I read the book The Practice of Poetry, which is just a book of poetry exercises by a ton of great poets. I’d love to teach poetry someday, and there were quite a few exercises in this book that I think could be helpful in a writing workshop.

10.

I watched this video of a guy dropping a GoPro down a deep mystery pipe and it was better than I expected it would be.