I really enjoyed watching this countdown of the 25 best films of 2016. It is so nicely put together, the footage from multiple movies and the music on top of it really add something to the author’s 2016 picks.

One of the things I like about the holiday season is consuming all these lists in textual or visual form.

There is some romantic nostalgia to it – taking a look at our experiences across 365 days and asking ourselves: “what happened? what stood out? what was bad? what was good? where do we go from here? what are we grateful for?”. There is a bit more introspection than usual, and that contemplation can span music, movies, world events, books, personal events.

I particularly like “best X of this year” kind of lists because I always tend to discover new things to listen, read and watch. This year, while looking at some of the lists I realised how few of those picks I had actually read/watched/listened before finding them in the list. I wondered how much of the things I consume fall within my comfort zone and how often I take a risk to challenge my assumption of what is good. It reminded me of this passage of a book I recently read:
“New art will violate what you think good art is and should be measured to by immediate pleasure but by the shock and challenge to your expectations”

So from an art POV, this might be one of my resolutions for 2017 – get outside of my comfort zone!