The Best of 2024
movies, books, music, TV, all the other good things...
It’s Best Of season, and I wanted to get in on the fun with my own deeply unserious list of personal favorites from the very long year that was 2024. I’ll get into it more in a different end of year post, but this year I graduated college, turned 21, and have been floating in the abyss of adulthood. Things are shifting; I’m becoming a different person. I feel like looking back on the notes on media consumption I made in my journal, that’s very clear.
In 2024, I rededicated myself to writing with an energy I hadn’t employed in years, and part of that was also trying to become more aware of storytelling in all its various forms. One of my goals was to force myself to watch scripted movies/TV every month since I’m mostly a reality TV/YouTube girl. I’m glad I did that.
So here are my random favorites from this year. I make a serious set of Best Of lists for Reading, Writing, and Me that actually have thought and an editorial mind. This is more of a scrapbook, which I think can be interesting in its own right. I’m trying to be unfiltered here, all of this pulled out of my 2024 journal.
Movies
Total Movies Watched: 13
(Don’t Worry Darling, My Policeman, All of Us Strangers, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Aftersun, Inside Out 2, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, Martha, Wicked, Gladiator II, The Lost Daughter, and Twisters)
Even though I didn’t actually watch one movie a month, I’m pretty pleased with myself that the total number of new movies came out to just about that. In reality, I watched movies more times than this since I watched All of Us Strangers three times and Gladiator twice, but who’s counting. This was a super fun experiment, and I think that I can say I like movies now?
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Scott x Paul Mescal leading a movie? Basically guaranteed to be good. This movie has its flaws. The world building feels uneven and poorly considered at times, but the emotional core of the story as these two isolated men find solace in each other carries the film.
This movie also holds a special place in my heart because it landed me my first ever freelance article writing about the film’s relationship with death and some of these plot holes.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
This had been on my list for a long time because its influence is laced through Halsey’s album Manic, which is one of my all time favorites. It also sounded pretty made for me in the way I’ve heard Clementine’s character described. It really was a beautiful film, and weirdly, it made me nostalgic for a period of time I don’t even remember because I was a baby. Clementine’s character is so special, and I can see myself rewatching this movie and appreciating it even more in the future.
Martha
My singular documentary on the list. I didn’t know a ton about Martha Stewart before the documentary, and it succeeded in giving me a new appreciation for her. Her blunt way of discussing life in the confessionals was refreshing and surprisingly charming, and I thought it was interesting the way the film interrogated her perfectionism as both the engine that ran her empire and a flaw in how she interacted with the world. Also, being fascinated with magazines and media, the way that she managed to construct her empire was fascinating to watch.
Wicked
While I think the stage show is better, the story of Wicked is so incredible that I’d enjoy it in any rendering. I cried twice during the movie. I wrote extensively about Wicked and Gladiator in my Glicked post, so I won’t take up too much time on them here.
Gladiator II
There are plenty of flaws in this movie, but the cast is incredible and carries the film. Also, the set design and costuming—the way the world is brought to life—is quite breathtaking. So, for what the plot lacks, there are other aspects that offer plenty to mine.
TV
Scripted
The Bear
I rarely fall in love with a scripted television show (unless it’s Fleabag or Normal People, both of which I re-watched multiple times this year), but The Bear is an exception. Especially in the first season, this show is so well crafted that I went from skeptical to thoroughly on Carmy’s ride in a few episodes. While the last season felt like they were grasping to fill unexpected time since the show has taken off—a flaw of any series that isn’t limited from the outset—I see why it’s incredibly popular.
Books
for the sake of brevity, I’ll link out to my RWM reviews
Trespasses - almost made me cry
The Alternatives - sisters
Monsters - anyone who engages with the arts should read this
Service - one of the best multi-POV books I’ve read
The Wedding People - the best third person close I’ve ever read
The Anthropologists - beauty in the mundane
Mother Doll - perfectly intertwined story
Perfume and Pain - wild
A Swim in the Pond in the Rain - a must read if you’re a writer
Beautiful World Where Are You - Sally Rooney’s most under appreciated book
Martyr - more poets should write novels
Come and Get It - very internal
Music
Songs of the Month
“Make My Day” by Harry Styles *unreleased*
“Forever” by Noah Kahan
“Yours” by Alexander 23
“Guilty as Sin” by Taylor Swift
“The Black Dog” by Taylor Swift
“Blowing Smoke” by Gracie Abrams
“Mirrors” by Niall Horan
“Taste” by Sabrina Carpenter
“Pushing It Down & Praying” by Lizzy McAlpine
“I Told You Things” by Gracie Abrams
“Savior Complex” by Phoebe Bridgers
“So Much Wine” by Phoebe Bridgers
Top Albums
I’m sorry, because I grew up on stan twitter I have to say this is my favorite album of the year in the sense that I’ve been listening to Gracie since her first EP Minor and was first row at the Roxy when she played to 500 people right after the pandemic. That doesn’t make me a better or different fan or anything else, really, but after the TikTok hype and the Eras Tour explosion of Gracie’s career, it just feels like necessary context, especially in the interesting context that it seems like many longterm Gracie fans didn’t love the album.
I feel like Gracie has combined her great storytelling skills and refined the pop sensibilities she experimented with on her second EP. I can’t get enough of these songs, especially the new deluxe tracks, and the cohesive story arc of this album charting a break-up for-now that has a happy ending. If I want to put something on in the car, I tend to default to this album, and it’s really the only release I’ve latched on to in this somewhat dry music year. It’s managed to evolve and stay interesting through a number of listening lenses.
I thought this would stick with me more than it did. There are tracks I absolutely love that you’ll see in my monthly song breakdown, and I return to select songs often, but I don’t listen to this whole album much anymore. There’s just so much of it, and it often feels like an overwhelming choice to let play. I also think that I moved on from it faster because it didn’t really have its own era; it just got swept up in the Eras era. I’m hoping for Taylor’s next album she goes back to offering a more edited, curated body of work. But I do absolutely love the nod to the Tumblr aesthetic, and there’s some fantastic writing laced through (I mean, “The Black Dog” is unreal).
Sabrina Carpenter surprised me this year. I’ve liked a lot of her recent pop efforts, but Short ‘N Sweet feels like where all the effort, time, and polish came together to create peak Sabrina. Her wordiness is harnessed to fit the melodies instead of fight them, she has great producers—like Jack Antonoff—and writers—like Amy Allen—in her corner. She’s found a niche with a bit of shock factor, and she’s riding that rocket all the way to space. While I haven’t listened to this album a ton, there’s a lot of strong effort in these album tracks.
In Search of Antidote
While Fletcher’s latest album faded from my rotation by the second half of the year, I enjoyed these new songs when they were released. Nothing here captured me quite as much as her previous releases, but there’s plenty of good stuff.
Older (deluxe)
I go back and forth about how I feel about this album, but it outranks the other potential candidates on the list. The main album hits a high with “Drunk Running,” which truly captures Lizzy’s ability to document a feeling in a beautiful, poetic way at its best. I returned to this album with the deluxe, and while some of those additions felt somewhat unnecessary, it was worth it for “Pushing It Down and Praying” and the excellent music video, which happens to star Role Model.
Random Favorites
I write a section of “favorites” in my journal for each month. Here’s a random collection of things I wrote down in 2024.
My Senior Capstone Project (I wrote about Tumblr; it’s the most me project I’ve ever done, and I hope it sees the light of day sometime)
My Docs with the Pink Ribbon Laces (still the favorite thing I own a year later)
The Broad (where I spent most of my free time before I left LA)
giant library hauls
pancakes
Letting Go (turns out it’s a fundamental part of life)
Stupid Pickleball
Niall Horan live
Moose Bread
Jackson Drug Strawberry Milkshake
Josie’s
Ninja Creamy (it sounds like an airplane taking off, but it makes wildly good frozen yogurt)
New Critique Partner
S’mores Night
Running (never thought that would happen)
Huckleberry Wheat Beer (on the patio at The Bird)
Whiskey Sours (from Old Queen’s Head)
Hampstead Heath
Writing in Cafes
Dark Chocolate KitKats and Sprite Zero (why are these things not everywhere in the US?)
Glicked (my first double feature)
LARB Podcast
Ottessa Moshfeg’s substack
r/ Sally Rooney on Reddit (for some reason I can’t seem to join a book club, but this is pretty close)