Tom’s 2021 Favorites
3 Shows and a Song
My sense is that for many of us in 2021, moments of joy were hard fought efforts requiring extra effort. Our country on the brink, covid, on a personal note my Dad dying and a whole host of other crazy things left me fighting for anything that could make me feel good.
In that spirit, here are 3 things that brought me some joy in 2021 and 1 that made me think.
Ted Lasso Season 2
In its sophomore season, Ted Lasso again delivered on bringing joy to my house. Somehow they continue to strike the right balance of levity and humanness. My family and I curled up on the couch every Thursday after its release for 10 weeks to connect with a show that presents one of the most hopeful human perspectives I’ve seen in a long time. Ted dealing with his own demons with a physiatrist only to find out that she too needed healing. Unexpected relationships that you remind you that love does not always follow a prescribed path. And some of the best uses of the word F…ck ever. If you have seen it, you know what I’m talking about. If you have not, then take the advice of the 79 friends that have told you to watch this show and just do it. You won’t be disappointed.
The song “Toes” by the Zac Brown Band
This song came out in 2009, so for the past 12 years, I somehow missed hearing it. My family has gotten me slowly into country music over the last few years and while listening to one of the local country music stations I heard this song. I immediately recognized the similarity to “Chicken Fried Country” also by the Zac Brown Band, but “Toes” had a line in it that got me every time. The first stanza is: “Toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world a cold beer in my hand; life is good today.”
For those of you who know me well, you will say the line “a cold beer in my hand” is the one that attracts me most and it certainly is compelling. But the lyric “life is good today” struck me as a cool balm for a world that is almost constantly on fire. Zac and band are saying to me “the world is crazy — but right now, in this moment, in this time and place — life is good.”
Our more fancy word for it is mindfulness and boy have I needed that this year. Listening to this song drew me into a whole genre that I did not know much about — or worse: made fun of, with the likes of Jimmy Buffet and Phil Vassar leading the charge. But somehow listening to this cheesy music about good times on the beach has helped me through the year.
The End of the F****kin World
I love quirky shows and movies. Think anything by Wes Anderson, The Detectorists or JoJo Rabbit. This show delivered on all fronts for me this year. The show follows a teenage girl and boy as they attempt to find the girl’s long lost father who she idolizes. The boy believes he is a psychopath and has conflicted visions of both killing and kissing the girl. Isn’t that what every teenage boy is like? As the story unfolds, they are thrust into a teenage road trip for the ages. The action itself is hilariously painful, but it’s the moments of tenderness and hope that come in unexpected places that made me enjoy the show so much.
The White Lotus
I got the recommendation for this show from a colleague who I do not know very well but was adamant that it was good. As Katherine and I were between shows, we decided to give it a shot. What we witnessed over the next 6 episodes was at once repelling and wholly engaging.
The show follows a group of people from all walks of life who show up at a resort in Hawaii for vacation. They include some newlyweds, a single older woman, a family of 4 with teenage kids. The opening scene is the group of people meeting the hotel staff and getting placed in their various accommodations and from the get go you are taken on a wild ride when the manager of the hotel realizes one of his staff is pregnant (he thought she was just overweight). You soon learn that both the guests and the staff have, like all humans, deep back stories and current hangups that cause some painful-to-watch situations.
In the end the issues of class, race, mental health, happiness, family dynamics, addiction and wealth become front and center. I did not end the 6 episodes feeling good, but Katherine and I had some of the best conversations of our year talking about this show. Be prepared if you choose to watch it, it’s not an easy breezy show, but I’m confident that if you stick it out, you too will have some great conversations with family and friends.
