Holiday Post 2019: What the heck happened? (lite edition)

To be honest, I was not going to do the news roundup/what the heck happened for this past year given the clusterfuck that 2019 was; 2020 is not looking better in the big picture. However, I had some good items in my RSS feed that I had put aside that are on the lighter side of things. I figured it would be a waste not to write the post and share them. Besides, as a good Puerto Rican, the holidays are still on for me, Three Kings Day (January 6) was this past Monday, and the octavitas are still going, so we are good to keep going. Let's see what the heck happened on in the lighter side of things, I will add some comments and thoughts here and there, and say goodbye to 2019 once and for all.

Film and television

• Via JoBlo, who had a few things to say on films: 
• "The Best Movies of 2019 (That You May Have Missed)." For me, it means that I DID miss them all since I do not go to movie theaters anymore. This list is mostly movies that were way under the radar anyhow, and most of them to me are not ones I would be interested in anyhow. However, there are some that are catching my eye and I will seek out: The Gangster, the Cop, and the Devil, The Report (which by the way features Adam Driver, who I hope looks and acts a hell of a lot better than in the new crappy Star Wars films), and Shadow.
• Jimmy O offers his Top Ten Movies of 2019. Again, I pretty much missed all these last year. Once I can get them on DVD or streaming (more likely DVD), I would be interested in 1917 and The Irishman. The Irishman is based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses, which I just checked out from the public library, so I hope to have read the book first by the time I can watch the film. I am also interested in Joker, though I am seeing mixed reviews about it. I am also curious about Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, but again, hearing mixed reviews, so we'll see.
• There are the Top 5 Overrated Films of 2019 and the Top 5 Underrated Films of 2019. From the underrated list, I can say I watch one of them: Brightburn, and I do recommend it for your consideration (I will be featuring it in my "Media Notes: Roundup for January 2020" coming up next month here on this blog). I am also curious about the Alita: Battle Angel film, which made it to the underrated list. 
• And since everyone and their grandmother has a decade retrospective compilation, they have their Top Ten in Science Fiction films for 2010-2019. From this list, I've seen Edge of Tomorrow, which I liked though I liked the manga adaptation better (both based on a novel by the way, All You Need Is Kill, the manga maintains the novel's title). The film is a pretty good action and science fiction film. 
• Via iHorror: 
• Brianna Spieldenner offers her Top 10 in horror films for 2019. She also has her picks for the  5 worst horror films of the year. 
• The OASG has a list of "Neomo's Best Anime of 2019."  

Books and Reading

I did do a Holiday Post on Books and Reading, so these are a few extra items that missed making it to the post or just some bonus items for your consideration.

• Literary Hub looks over the bestselling books of the decade. The fact that 50 Shades of Grey was the top bestseller is seriously depressing and enough to make serious readers despair. There is so much better real erotica out there; do yourself a favor and go find that instead. 
• CBR has an interesting list: Star Wars comics to read whether you liked or hated Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker.

Music and other media

This is an area I do not keep up with very well, so making this list now is as much for me as for my four readers.

Unfinished Symphony- 10 card, from Baron-Reid's Wisdom of the Oracle deck

•  Via Sounds and Colours. What I like about these lists is that they have an international focus you rarely find in the usual publications:
• Best Albums of 2019.
• Best compilations of 2019.
• Best reissues of 2019.
• And to get a sampling, here is Cal Jader's Best of 2019 Mixtape (link to video included as well as list of songs featured).

Some adult and risque things

As I usually warn, if this is not your thing, just skip to the next heading in the blog post. These links do have varying degrees of NSFW. This is mainly trivia related to the adult entertainment and porn world with an educational item or two.

• Kinkly looks at sex stories they loved in 2019.  
• Pornhub has their "2019 Year In Review." This is where they look at "hottest trends, terms, searches, and a recap of everything that happened this year." Article also includes some infographics with numbers and statistics. 
• XHamster also released their 2019 Year-End Report.  Hat tip to .AVN. 
• AVN highlights a report showing that online freedom of expression was the worst in the past decade.
• How bad was it? As an example, Bacchus at Eros Blog calls 2019 "the Year of the Twitter #Pornocalypse." 
• Also via AVN, the "War on Porn" tops 2019 in terms of porn news stories. The big deal? FTA: "The year 2019 was not an altogether encouraging one for the future of online freedom—especially the freedom to create and post adult content. A worldwide movement to ban or restrict online porn gained momentum, while efforts to revive net neutrality rules in the United States sputtered."

 Miscellaneous Trivia

 Stuff I found interesting that I did not have a specific category to place under.

• Oxford English Dictionary has revealed their word of the year. 
• In pagan news and topics, John Beckett of Under the Ancient Oaks offers the "best 4 posts of 2019 You Didn't Read."
• The Free Technology for Teachers blog has a list of "Favorite New and Updated Tools for 2019." A few of these may be free, so worth a look.
• Via Down the Rabbit Hole, a highlight of top 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia.