I’ve found keeping track of what I read and watch has made me much more motivated and deliberate about allocating my leisure time to watching great movies and reading great books instead of aimlessly scrolling through my phone or watching errant episodes of TV shows I actually should’ve given up on a few seasons back.
in 2019, my goal was a movie a week and a book a month. Last year, I stepped that up to two movies a week and a book a week and met both of those goals easily.
For 2021, I’m aiming for a 100 books read and 150 movies watched. If I don’t meet those goals because life returns to normal by the end of the year and I’m out on tour and watching gigs at a regular clip again, I’ll never have been more thrilled to fail at something in my life.
SEASONS OF TELEVISION I WATCHED IN 2020
Parks and Recreation - Season 7
Bojack Horseman - Season 6
Better Call Saul - Season 5
Russian Doll - Season 1
Jonathan Creek - Season 1
Jonathan Creek - Season 2
Jonathan Creek - Season 3
Billions - Season 5
Jonathan Creek - Season 4
Agent Carter - Season 2
Jonathan Creek - Season 5
Masters of Sex - season 1
Masters of Sex - season 2
Masters of Sex - season 3
A Nero Wolfe Mystery - season 2
BOOKS I READ IN 2020
Catch a Wave by Peter Ames Carlin
Paul McCartney: A Life by Peter Ames Carlin
Solid State: The Story of ‘Abbey Road’ by Kenneth Womack
Erato by Anita Lester
Untrumping America by Dan Pfeiffer
Sound Pictures by Kenneth Womack
A Royal Comission Into the Australian Economy by John Clarke and Ross Stevenson
Why We’re Polarised by Ezra Klein
Trouble Boys by Bob Mehr
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Wasson
The Invisible Man by HG Wells
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
The Curious Story of Malcolm Turnbull, the Incredible Shrinking Man in the Top Hat by Andrew P Street
Some Girls by Cyrus RK Patell
Brave by Rose McGowan
The Time Machine by HG Wells
On Directing Film by David Mamet
My Bass and Other Animals by Guy Pratt
Silence in the Age of Noise by Erling Kagge
The Short and Excruciatingly Embarrassing Reign of Captain Abbott by Andrew P Street
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Super Boys by Brad Ricca
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe
Brother Ray by Ray Charles and David Ritz
The Case of the Bigamous Spouse by Earle Stanley Gardener
The Case of the Crooked Candle by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Fenced-In Woman by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Grinning Gorilla by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Negligent Nymph by Erle Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Fan-Dancer’s Horse by Erle Stanley Gardner
Gambit by Rex Stout
The Case Of the Terrified Typist by Erle Stanley Gardner
A Family Affair by Rex Stout
All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
License to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films by James Chapman
Transformer: The Complete Lou Reed Story by Victor Bockris
Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan
Three Witnesses by Rex Stout
The Rubber Band by Rex Stout
The Red Box by Rex Stout
Death Times Three by Rex Sout
Black Orchids by Rex Stout
Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout
Paul Kelly by Stuart Coupe
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly
The Book of Paul by Russell Marks
Sinatra: The Chairman by James Kaplan
Masters of Sex by Thomas Maier
One Billion Americans by Matthew Yglesias
To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq by Robert Draper
Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas by Glenn Kenny
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch
This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s Kid A and the Beginning of the 21st Century by Steven Hyden
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Half A Million Strong: Crowds and Power from Woodstock to Coachella by Gina Arnold
The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey and Michaela Angela Davis
Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W Bush by Robert Draper
Some Kind of Hero: The James Bond Films by Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury
Fer-De-Lance by Rex Stout
The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout
FILMS I WATCHED IN 2020
I tried to keep track of where/how I was watching films (on the computer, in the cinema, on Netflix, on Blu-Ray, etc) as well as what I was watching. Since I’ve had the good fortune to be in Australia, where an effective suppression of COVID-19 has been achieved in much of the country since mid-year, aside from occasional outbreaks. This has meant that over the last four months or so, I’ve felt comfortable putting on my mask and returning to the cinema, where oodles of classic films are being revived in lieu of the 2020 release slate that has been mostly pushed to next year or diverted to streaming services. As a result, I’ve seen more films in the cinema in 2020 that any year of my life to date.
Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (computer - iTunes)
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (computer - iTunes)
Long Shot (computer - iTunes)
Ford vs Ferrari (cinema)
Bombshell (cinema)
Jojo Rabbit (cinema)
Mystify: Michael Hutchence (cinema)
Little Women (cinema)
Edge of Tomorrow (computer - iTunes)
Bad Day at Black Rock (TV - Amazon Prime)
Deathtrap (iTunes, airplane)
Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (Netflix, laptop)
Clue (iTunes, iPad, airplane)
Birds of Prey (cinema) - last pre-COVID cinema experience
Sleuth (TV - DVD)
The Firm (TV - Stan)
Inside Man (TV - Netflix)
Sleepless In Seattle (TV - iiNet rental)
Speed (TV - iTunes rental)
The Long Kiss Goodnight (TV - Prime)
Enemy of the State (TV - iTunes)
The Fugitive (TV - iTunes)
Air Force One (TV - prime)
Game Night (TV - prime)
Entrapment (TV - iTunes)
Double Jeopardy (TV - Netflix)
Cruel Intentions 3 (computer)
Sneakers (TV - iTunes)
Wild Things (computer)
Wild Things 2 (computer)
The Post (TV - Netflix)
Dolemite Is My Name (TV - Netflix)
What We Did On Our Holiday (TV - iTunes)
Stargate (TV - Stan)
F/X (TV - Stan)
Kate and Leopold (TV - Stan)
Star Trek (TV - Stan)
Catwoman (computer - YouTube)
The Mask (computer - Netflix)
The Bourne Identity (TV - Stan)
Face/Off (computer)
The Bourne Supremacy (TV - Stan)
The Bourne Ultimatum (TV - Stan)
Sliding Doors (computer/iPad - Stan)
Extraction (TV - Netflix)
Miss Congeniality (TV - Stan)
Jack Reacher (TV - Stan)
Morning Glory (TV - Stan)
Mission Impossible: Fallout (Blu-Ray)
Without A Clue (DVD)
Spy (TV - iTunes)
Valkyrie (computer - iTunes)
Two Weeks Notice (computer - Stan)
Hot Fuzz (TV - iiNet)
Avengers: Endgame (TV - iTunes)
Johnny English (TV - iiNet)
Tower Heist (TV - Netflix)
Paycheck (TV - iiNet)
National Treasure (TV - iTunes)
Batman Forever (Projector - Blu-Ray)
The Shadow (TV - iTunes)
Speechless (DVD)
21 Jump Street (TV - Stan)
Working Girl (TV - iTunes)
X-Men: Days of Future Part (TV - iTunes)
Regarding Henry (TV - iTunes)
Iron Man (TV - iTunes)
Charlie Wilson’s War (TV - iTunes)
Time After Time (TV - iTunes)
Match (TV - iTunes)
Notting Hill (TV - Netflix)
Back to the Future (cinema) - two applause breaks!
All the President’s Men (TV - iTunes)
Runaway Jury (TV - iTunes)
Beetlejuice (TV - iTunes)
X-Men (TV - iTunes)
Batman Begins (cinema)
Goodfellas (cinema)
Heartburn (TV - iTunes)
Inception (cinema)
Tenet (cinema - 70mm!)
Goldfinger (cinema)
You Only Live Twice (cinema)
Batman: Sub-Zero (TV)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (cinema)
Paul Kelly: Stories of Me (TV - iTunes)
Serendipity (TV - iTunes)
The Empire Strikes Back (cinema)
The Spy Who Loved Me (cinema)
Hustlers (TV - iTunes)
Source Code (TV - iTunes)
The Anderson Tapes (TV - iTunes)
Jagged Edge (TV - iTunes)
Into the Night (TV - iTunes)
An American Pickle (cinema)
High Crimes (TV - iTunes)
Return of the Jedi (cinema)
Octopussy (cinema)
The Invention of Lying (TV - iTunes)
Crazy Stupid Love (TV - iTunes)
The People vs Larry Flynt (TV - iTunes)
Licence to Kill (Cinema)
Shaft [2000] (TV - iTunes)
Duplicity (TV - iTunes)
Golden Eye (cinema)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (cinema)
Basic Instinct (TV - iTunes)
Scarface (cinema)
The World Is Not Enough (cinema)
The Living Daylights (cinema)
The Matrix (cinema)
Honest Thief (cinema)
Malice (TV - iTunes)
Absolute Power (TV - iTunes)
Tomorrow Never Dies (cinema)
The Girlfriend Experience (computer - iTunes)
The Exorcist (cinema)
The Social Network (cinema)
The Untouchables (cinema)
The Hunt for Red October (cinema)
Freaky (cinema)
CITIZEN KANE (cinema - 35mm)
Mank (cinema)
Total Recall (cinema)
The Departed (cinema)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (cinema)
The Commuter (TV - iTunes)
The Midnight Sky (cinema)
Practical Magic (cinema)
Rocky (cinema)
Non-Stop (TV - iTunes)
Limitless (TV - iTunes)
A Clockwork Orange (cinema)
Truth (iMac - iTunes)
Murder Mystery (iMac - Netflix)
Clear and Present Danger (TV - iTunes)
The Last of Sheila (TV - iTunes)
Love Actually (TV - iTunes)
Kiss the Girls (TV - iTunes)
Wonder Woman 1984 (cinema)
The Fantastic Mr Fox (TV - iTunes)
Palm Springs (TV - Amazon Prime)