Mike’s Favorite Pop Culture Discoveries Of 2020

So in past years on this site, I've done Best Of lists at the end of the year - my favorite movies, favorite albums, favorite concerts I got to see during year, etc. But as you probably know, 2020 is not any normal year. There were a lot less movies thanks to theaters being closed, I couldn't keep up with the amount of TV there was and mostly rewatched old comfort shows, and concerts pretty much shut down entirely and there's no clear way to know when exactly they'll be back.

So instead of doing my usual Best Of lists to round out the year, I'm going to do it all right here - these were my favorite things that got me through 2020 intact. Some new, some old that I discovered for the first time. All of the stuff I'm about to list off is great (obviously, because it's my list) and I recommend checking out some of it out if you haven't!

New Movies: Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Hamilton, David Byrne's American Utopia, Color Out of Space, Possessor, Da 5 Bloods, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Bill and Ted Face The Music, The Assistant, The Invisible Man

Old Movies: The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974), Stop Making Sense, Anatomy of a Murder, Le Samourai, California Split, In The Mouth of Madness, On The Town, Brain Damage, The Last Seduction, A Fish Called Wanda

Music: Fiona Apple's Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Anti-Flag's 20/20 Vision, The Bombpops' Death on Venice Beach, Worriers' You or Someone You Know, Bad Cop/Bad Cop's The Ride, Less Than Jake's Silver Linings, and I got really into The Talking Heads this year... more so than I already was.

Podcasts: Blank Check With Griffin and David, You Must Remember This, U Talkin' Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head?, The Slashfilmcast, Oh, Hello: The P'dcast

Video Games: The Last of Us Part II, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Crash Bandicoot N'Sane Trilogy, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, God of War (2018)

TV: The Sopranos, New Girl, Don't Trust The B--- in Apartment 23, Devs, The final seasons of Bojack Horseman and The Good Place

Concerts (For the first couple months of 2020, when they existed): Colin Hay at The Wilma, Magic City Hippies at The Top Hat, Chris Janson at the Butte Civic Center, Dr. Dog at The Wilma, Korn and Breaking Benjamin at the Adams Center.

Got any favorites that weren't on my lists? Maybe I didn't see it, listen to it, or play it yet! Text me some recommendations through the app!