Listmas 2021: Movies

So Listmas always kind of ends with movies, since movies are so important to me. But very little will seem to have changed for longtime readers, so I wanted to spice things up. Read on to see how I did that.

Listmas 2021: The Disney Animated Canon

So during the long months in quarantine with small children, I managed to watch in order and rank every single Disney Animated Canon film. And I'm going to talk about it now.

Listmas 2021: Star Wars

Short, Sweet, and Nothing New. Let's goooooooooooooo

Listmas 2021: Pokémon

So during this latest period of being a bit stuck not at home, it oddly has been Pokémon that has been the main saving grace for me. I have two new Pokémon cartridges, I found some nice Let's Plays, and I finally bit the bullet on the wonderful world of emulation because 1. Paying exorbanent amounts for 15-year-old cartidges is bogus, 2. Pokémon having only one save file past Generation 1 is bogus, and 3. Not being able to fully evolve a Pokémon you want to use without trading - ESPECIALLY in Gen 3 - is bogus (If I can ever afford to get a streaming setup started we're going to have some laughs)

It has allowed me to take my oldest on her first Pokémon journey. While she's still a bit to young to really do the driving (or read thr dialogue), the team and major choices are all hers with no restrictions other than team diversity (We're playing FireRed and she enthusiastically chose Squirtle BTW)

With that giant preamble out of the way, it's time to get into these Pokémon lists

Listmas 2021: Final Fantasy

Another relarively short one, being a relatively last-minute replacement entry, and there are certain contenders I have to exclude as you will see. But I have enough that I feel I can at least make solid base lists. So without further ado, the world of Final Fantasy!

Listmas 2021: Video Games

 Just a quick entry today, not even giving a sentence or two for each number. Just two Top 11 lists. I am looking to eventually expand to 15 each but I need to play more first, and two franchises will get their own entries this week.

Listmas 2021: Television

TV has changed dramatically in the last decade. Hell, how we watch TV has changed dramatically in the last two years! As such, my feelings on the medium and the shows I love the most have changed dramatically since I last talked about them in this space. Many shows I used to love or watch religiously have either aged poorly, went into quality nosedives in later seasons, or both. As such, half of this entry will be an "Honorable Mentions" of sorts stating why certain shows I used to adore would no longer be put anywhere near my favorites list. Also, to preserve the surprise, I am not listing any of today's shows in the tags like I did with the first few Listmas entries this year.

Listmas 2021: Weird Albums

"Weird Al" Yankovic is my favorite musicsl artist of all time. I saw him live twice, shook the man's hand once (and totally choked), and he remains a big part of my entertainmrnt life. I had to devote a full Listmas entry to him.

Listmas 2021: Music

Welp, as long as I get twelve of these done by Christmas, I'll consider any schedule slippage a mulligan.

Anyway, this one is kind of a toughie since it's been so difficult for me to just stop and listen to music lately. Still, here is what I have for my Music Lists.

A * indicates a potential point of contention and/or future change 

Listmas 2021: Tabletop Gaming

Tabletop Gaming, while never quite going away, is certainly seeing something of a renaissance. It's been happening since the last half of the previous decade, but quarantines have seen it boost even higher through both family activities and online programs such as Tabletop Simulator.

Some readers may remember that I used to be involved with a community gaming day. This fell apart around the time other things in my life were, and after a falling out with that group in general I am looking for a new community to join. But I will always thank those people for helping me by either introducing me to or rekindling an old passion for many of the games on these lists. While it has been and continues to be difficult, I am eager to make new fond memories playing these games.

Listmas 2021: The Natural World

Let's...ah...let's pretend I got this out yesterday, hmm? Hey, I'm still trying to get my groove back. 

This entry is a short one too. Kindergarten level stuff. Just two lists of my Top 11 Favorite Animals in different categories of existence.

Listmas 2021: Top 5 Lists I'm NOT Doing This Year

 Welcome to Listmas 2021, my experiment to see if I can handle semi-regular updates. I plan on posting one of these every other day, then slowing back down to a couple a month if I have something to say. 

Here's how we do things here. My lists come in two flavors: Top 11 and Multiples of 5. I find Top 11 to be vastly superior to Top 10, the one and only worthwhile contribution Doug Walker ever gave society (told you some of my older posts would age like buttermilk). But sometimes I have far more or far less so I otherwise keep it to Multiples of 5.

Some lists will just be lists from top to bottom with no further explanation. Other times when I have more to say and want to indulge in some dramatic tension, I'll go for a more countdown-oriented model. Some posts will be several lists surrounding a topic and other posts will focus on just one.

Today's list will be a single short countdown: The Top 5 Lists I'm NOT Doing This Year

What The World Needs Now

Well that certainly was a crazy 23 months, wasn't it?

Of course having to shack up with my ex in order to protect our immunocompromised children from a deadly virus would kill pretty much the last bit of drive to be creative for quite a long time.

While things are still crazy, two things have happened recently that means I'm finally going to do what I said I'd be doing for the last 3-4 years and start posting more again

1. I got a loaner laptop to use until I can afford something better.

2. I started seeing a therapist.

I will be starting next month with an all-new Listmas starting from scratch and sharing what my favorite things are for the first time in almost a decade. Some things have not changed much, but others have changed very much. It's my way of both easing back into regular updates and reintroducing my new self to anyone who may still be reading this outdated self-indulgent space.

After that, probably around January, I will start delving more deeply into some of my new obsessions and maybe updating you on thoughts of some of my old ones.

IF there is enough interest in it shown by March, I will consider trying to get a version of Geekdom Madness back off the ground, though there's a lot of variables with that one and life likes to find ways make me break my more ambitious promises.

In April I will finally do what I have been avoiding and putting off for years and return to the subject that most long-time readers know me for. I will finally watch and give fair judgement to the rest of Disney's Star Wars Expanded Universe films after having only ever watched Force Awakens (well, and the first season of Rebels as well as The Mandalorian up to date, but I'm talking just the movies right now). Why April? Because May is Star Wars month and I want to have that buffer to detox with my first rewatch of the Lucas 6 in years in case my opinions of Disney's EU run resoundingly negative. That said I maintain my vow that no matter what my opinion ends up being, I will never be so vicious or cruel as to berate fans of the films and I will be as fair as possible to the work.

Beyond that, we'll see how things go. I don't blame anyone for being skeptical given the last four or five times I said I'd be back on track life happened. But I hope you'll all see me finally put my money where my mouth is in the coming weeks.

Until then, for what little it may be worth given its controversy, Happy Thanksgiving.