Well folks, we did it. One more year has passed and things continue to move towards getting back to normal. Although the meaning of normal is still up for debate. For me, normal is a year full of movies that I got to enjoy in the theaters, and more than a few that I wished I had seen in a dark theater instead of my TV. 2021 was the year I hit 53 new movies watched, and I am happy to report that I doubled that in 2022, as I ended up with 112 new movies watched. And just for a quick reminder, any movie I see for the first time, no matter in theaters or on my TV, counts towards that total. If you follow my social media, you know locking in that #10 spot was a very tough decision. And as I was first writing this out, I ended up switching movies once more. Therefore, before we get to my Top 10 movies of 2022, I’d like to highlight a few honorable mentions that just missed making the main list.

We did it folks! We survived another crazy year, that had a few high moments as well as a few not so great moments. We were back in theaters (sort of), and then Omnicron variant hit, and we are still in theaters, although perhaps with a little hesitation. With my handy A-List status at my local AMC theater, I was able to increase the number of new movies I saw in 2021 to 53 (I hit 42 in 2020). What did I learn this year? Well, I missed the theater experience, thankfully I had a great experience with one of the movies in my top ten list. Streaming continues to be a dominant force; some movies don’t necessarily need to be seen on a big screen, but still plenty new releases were enhanced by going to the theaters again. For 2020, I got a little crazy and added a +1 to my Top Ten list, because I had a hard time with picking the movie to grab that #10 spot. It did happen again this year, so I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to my honorable mention, Mortal Kombat. It finally gave us the R-rated version with all of the violence and gore, with a story that was lacking at many angles, but not all movies need to be Oscar winners. So with no further delay, let’s get to my Top Ten Movies of 2021.

Welcome first day of Fall 2021…. and with it come lots of new books!

Last year, aka Pandemic Year 1, while self-isolating and staying indoors as much as possible, I threw myself into reading … print books, magazines, ebooks, and audiobooks. So while it was a stressful year on a whole (for all of us), I really enjoyed being able to prioritize reading. This year, what’s become Pandemic Year 2, I wanted to get outside a bit, but also continue to be on the safe side, which meant road-tripping and hiking the great outdoors. Therefore, I’ve leaned more towards audiobooks.

Below are some titles — with accompanying links to the print, ebooks, and audiobooks editions — that I personally am looking forward to this Fall, presented here in order of release date, starting with those releasing in September 2021. After this main list, I’ve included some titles that came out earlier this year that you might have missed, as well as some themed Cookbooks, Crafts, and Guidebooks, along with an Audiobook Spotlight. And with the Fall comes, of course, Halloween and some spookier picks!

Continue on to check out my Fall 2021 Book Recommendations…

By most metrics 2020 SUCKED. As someone who believes movie theaters are akin to religious institutions, 2020 was an especially rough year for me. Without blockbusters and theater crowds to keep us entertained, movie fans turned to streaming services and VOD. Perhaps the only silver lining was horror. Horror killed it in 2020 with some tremendous early hits I was actually able to see in theaters and then tons more from the comfort of my couch thanks to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and above all Shudder. Shudder was a shining beacon in the dark of plague halted year for horror fans and for only $5 a month it is worth every penny.

In 2020 we saw the return of the horror anthology, typically great foreign horror and the rise of young promising writers/directors who can dominate this genre for years to come. So let’s take a look at my Top Horror Films of 2020!

Well folks, we made it through the crazy year that was 2020. Everything is different, but thankfully we still had movies to give us a few distractions and some much-needed laughs at time. But even that was different, we spent less time in a dark theater with a crowd of folks, replacing that experience with our TVs and sound systems at home with numerous streaming services to offer up movies to entertain us. I think I usually average around 70 new movies a year, but sadly this year it was only 42, and that includes even older movies I saw for the first time. And the back catalog of stuff on the various streaming services, I missed out on a bunch of movies too.

And as you can see from the title, we are doing things a little different as well. I had my list down to 11 movies and even after about a week of trying to narrow it down, I couldn’t, so you are getting 10 (+1) this year.