It's the dead of winter, but the days are getting longer. (Ooh - metaphor!) What better time to think back on the year gone by and make some plans for the one coming? Here's my list of enjoyable cultural products I encountered last year, with hopes that you can include some of them in your future.

Aaron Caplan

MOTION PICTURES

The Brand New Testament (2016)

It turns out that God, having created heaven and earth, is now living in a dingy apartment in Belgium, feeling grouchy and spending most of his time making sure that your toast falls butter-side down and that the other line in the supermarket moves faster than yours.  At least until his daughter rebels and spoils all his fun. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Favourite (2018)

Palace intrigue among the women and bewigged men of Queen Anne's court.  From director Yorgos Lanthimos, who gave us The Lobster (2016) (praised on this page when it came out) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017). In The Favourite, Queen Anne seems most like the characters in those other movies:  doing the best they can despite their befuddlement over the rules that seem to govern their world. Sort of like the rest of us.

Black Panther (2018)
Blindspotting (2018)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Oakland film festival!

Embrace of the Serpent (2016)

An Amazonian shaman has to deal with unwanted visits from white explorers, first as a young man and then as an old one.

Widows (2018)

A heist movie that makes heisting look hard...but necessary.

The Shape of Water (2017)

Forbidden romance between land and sea dwellers. Now you don't have to see Aquaman!

I, Tonya (2017)

The movie makes you wish Tonya Harding's talent could have saved her from her many humiliations, but it seems the American Dream requires good luck, too.

Marwencol (2010)

Documentary about an outsider artist who photographs WWII dioramas to help recover from trauma. Would make an excellent triple bill with The Dog (2014) and Ed Wood (1999). (I hear that this year's Welcome to Marwen (2018) would not make for a good double-bill, but if you saw it let me know.)

Tully (2018)

How to get over your post-partum depression.

Three Identical Strangers (2018)

Documentary about identical triplets separated at birth. Nature, nurture, and coincidence.

Honorable Mentions

22 July (2018)
About A Boy (2002)
Annihilation (2018)
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
First Reformed (2018)
Game Night (2018)
The Girl With All The Gifts (2017)
Homecoming (Amazon 2018)
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Lady Bird (2017)
Last King of Scotland (2006)
Love, Simon (2018)
Mustang (2015)
The Old Man and the Gun (2018)
A Quiet Place (2018)
Searching (2018)

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

Little Free Library

We installed a Little Free Library early last year, and it has been a real pleasure to see what people drop off and pick up. We're near an elementary school, so the kids' books go fast! Of all the things left in our library over the past year, I got the most pleasure from these two: Trevor Noah, Born A Crime (2016).  Autobiography about growing up mixed-race in South Africa as apartheid was ending. Perceptive and funny. Patti Rothberg, Between the One and the Nine (1996). I had never heard of this singer/songwriter before. Her terrific debut album (the subsequent ones are nothing special) appeared in the Little Free Library the very first day we set it up.

Kanopy

I just learned about this streaming service a week ago, and I am already a huge fan. Kanopy has a well-chosen collection of movies - available for free, for anyone with a library card at a participating library (and there are a lot of them, including LA, Seattle, and Iowa City). Can be accessed via apps for Roku, smart tv's, computers, and various other doodads. Try it out!

Meathead Goldwyn & Greg Blonder, Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling (2016)

Much of summer was devoted to improving my grilling game. I can smoke ribs now! This book is worth it for the Kansas City sauce recipe alone.

A Butter Bell

Spreadable butter = no more torn bread!

ONLINE FASCINATION

A Dancing Bulldog

Adriano Celentano - "Prisencolinensinainciusol"

In improbable hit in Italy in 1972, complete with a televised performance set in an ESL class.(The words mean nothing in Italian or any other language, but Celentano insists it what American English sounds like.) The song was reproduced in 2016 as an arty video with fancier production values but less entertaining choreography.

Self-Indulgent New Year Index