Even though I grew up watching too much television in general, I never thought to do a year-end TV recap until the end of last year, when it suddenly became an obvious gap in my year-end recaps! Movies and books but no TV, when I know I spend a ton of time watching TV? (Maybe it was denial about how much of it I was watching…)
Below are the full seasons of shows released in 2021 that I watched this year! To see every show (and movie and book etc.) I watched this past year, including older seasons, you can check my 2021 Media Log.
Posters for 2021 seasons of TV I watched this year
In the wake of last year, this year felt very different for movie-lovers. For one thing, we were able to (kind of, almost) safely return to theaters. And many projects that had been delayed last year were released this year. It felt like a much more… hopeful? year for the movies. At the same time, streaming really had a strong year. Many of the movies I saw were streaming-exclusive, during a year when the IATSE nearly had to strike due poor work conditions and lower wages for the “disadvantaged” streaming companies, compared to traditional Hollywood studios.
This year, I also successfully used Letterboxd to log every movie I watched, so you can head over there to see every movie I watched this year beyond this year’s releases, and you can look at my 2021 Media Log to see everything I watched, read, and listened to this year.
Here are the 2021 releases I watched this year:
Movie posters from all the 2021 releases I watched this year
Another year, another reading challenge attempted. By lowering the bar for myself, I am back in the good graces of my Goodreads challenge! I actually got to start commuting to work for a few days this year, but unfortunately I was stuck on slower-paced non-fiction books so it didn’t help with my reading pace much.
Reading just always takes a backseat, so I’m going to think really hard about how I can set aside dedicated “hobbies” time and to make sure some of that time goes to reading for fun.
Inspired by my friend Ben Hong (no longer media-logging), who got the idea from Jen Myers, I am continuing the practice of tracking my media consumption this year.
Key: (B) = book | (F) = film | (T) = television series (completed season) | (L) = live performance (theater, music, comedy, etc.) | (A) = album (music) | (G) = video game | (C) = stand-up comedy special | [R] = reread/rewatch
Logged during the month I completed the unit. For example, I logged a full season of a TV show after watching the last episode of the season, whether I began the season that day or years earlier, I logged a game or album when I completed the entire thing, etc.
J A N U A R Y
Wonder Woman 1984 (F)
Ratatouille: The Musical (F?)
Ratatouille (F)[R]
King of Scars (B)
Promising Young Woman (F)
Luigi’s Mansion 3 (G)
Bridgerton (T)
Homegoing (B)
Bend It Like Beckham (F)[R]
Pride and Prejudice (2005) (F)[R]
F E B R U A R Y
Enter the Dragon (F)
The Mummy (F)[R]
The Mummy Returns (F)[R]
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (F)[R]
To All the Boys: Always and Forever (F)
Desperados (F)
History of Swear Words (T)
You’ve Got Mail (F)[R]
Coming to America (F)
Love Wedding Repeat (F)
Underworld (F)
Underworld: Evolution (F)
M A R C H
Je ne suis pas un homme facile (F)
WandaVision (T)
Moxie (F)
Two Weeks Notice (F)[R]
Raya and the Last Dragon (F)
Coming 2 America (F)
Blood of Elves (B)
Serendipity (F)[R]
A P R I L
Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex (B)
While You Were Sleeping (F)[R]
Warrior S1 (T)
Warrior S2 (T)
Captain America: The First Avenger (F)[R]
The Big Boss (F)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (T)
Castle Crashers (G)
Shadow and Bone S1 (T)
Life in Color with David Attenborough (T)
M A Y
When Harry Met Sally (F)
Loathe at First Sight (B)
Mortal Kombat (2021) (F)
David Attenborough’s The Great Barrier Reef (T)
Kingdom Hearts 2 (G)
Stardust (F)
Song of Achilles (B)
J U N E
Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet (F)
Inside (F? C?)
Black Lady Sketch Show S2 (T)
In the Heights (F)
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal part 1 (F)
Exhalation (B)
Ted Lasso S1 (T)
J U L Y
Ted Lasso S1 (T)[R]
The Time of Contempt (B)
Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth (F)
Black Widow (F)
Loki (T)
Space Jam: A New Legacy (F)
Never Have I Ever S1 (T)[R]
Rule of Wolves (B)
Never Have I Ever S2 (T)
Project Hail Mary (B)
Crying in H-Mart (B)
Red, White, and Royal Blue (B)
A U G U S T
Demon Slayer S1 (T)
The Year Earth Changed (F)
Transcendent Kingdom (B)
In the Moon for Love (F)
Solutions and Other Problems (B)
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (F)
The Ingenuity of the Househusband (T)
God of War (G)
Invincible S1 (T)
S E P T E M B E R
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (F)
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (F)
The Way of the Househusband S1 (T)
Over the Moon (F)[R]
Brittany Runs a Marathon (F)
O C T O B E R
Star Wars: Visions (T)
The Lightning Thief (B)
The Sea of Monsters (B)
The Titan’s Curse (B)
What If? S1 (T)
Ted Lasso S2 (T)
Star Wars: Visions (T)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (F)
Hocus Pocus (F)[R]
It Takes Two (G)
Casper (F)[R]
N O V E M B E R
Luca (F)
Coco (F)[R]
The Resistance (A)[R]
Eternals (F)
Closing Down the Pattern Department (A)[R]
Kingsman: The Secret Service (F)[R]
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (F)[R]
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Original Soundtrack (A)[R]
Paddington (F)
Arcane S1 (T)
Love Hard (F)
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (F)[R]
John Wick (F)
D E C E M B E R
John Wick: Chapter 2 (F)
The Art of Showing Up (B)
Wicked (L) (!!)
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love (B)
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker (L)
The Witcher S2 (T)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (F)
Hawkeye (T)
Die Hard (F)
Elf (F)[R]
Molly’s Game (F)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (F)[R]
Insecure S5 (T)
Spider-Man: Miles Morales (G)
That’s everything I read, watched, listened to, and played — in their entirety — this year!
Of note is that this year is the first that I actually played these video games to completion on my own. In past years, I marked a game as “complete” via backseat gaming, as in little to no actual controller-in-hands time for me. But this year, my partner encouraged me to try to play them all the way through on my own, with minimal help on some of the difficult boss fights for God of War (it was supposed to be “just give me the story” mode…) and then refusing to help me beat any of Miles Morales so that I could fully own beating AND 100%-ing that game. I have a long way to go as a gamer but I feel less like the Fake Gamer Girl™ label that I have embraced for the past several years. Not sure I’ll be able to start streaming like my partner thinks I can, but at least I can hold my own on these easier difficulties of games. (Plus, God of War taught me so much about being a father… I’ll never forget it.)
You can follow along with my 2022 media logging at sipofstarrshine.com/media-log, which is kept up to date throughout the year!
in the midst of everything going on, I don’t have any urge to buy anything that is on sale right now. But I do want to take some time to reflect on the plentitude I have and gratitude.
This year I am thankful for:
My brother moving to New York and being able to spend more time with him than I have since… I left for college, maybe? And being in the same city as him since the same time?
Having the means to both support a local restaurant for Thanksgiving for a second pandemic year and supplement that meal with more of our favorite sides and desserts that we always finish too soon and wish we had leftovers of
Showing off my new charcuterie board skills to my brother! Accompanied by a fresh apple cider take on a Moscow mule (but no vodka for me hehe)
The good health of myself and my loved ones
Modern medicine and public health measures that have helped make said good health possible
All of the well wishes from folks in the wake of my grandmother’s passing
Being able to attend 4 weddings over the past 3 months after not seeing anyone in person for a year and a half
Making new friends locally despite a global pandemic
… who let us enjoy cat-sitting and their fantastic view of the Thanksgiving parade
Technology allowing me to stay in touch with my parents (and my other long-distance friends and extended family), even after not seeing them for 2 years
Before I go on, I wanted to take a moment to gently remind myself and any readers here that the myth of the first Thanksgiving is, in fact, a myth. Here are a few things I’ve learned about the history of Thanksgiving:
Sip of Starrshine 