THE KRIEGER LIST: I ON THE ARTS' TOP 2019

Hello everyone! It's time for my list of things I liked from the year 2019 (or at least that I enjoying consuming in 2019 that were from previous years)! (Hyperlinks mean I wrote about it, unless it's in the "Article" section!)

Derivative...

Favorite Television Show: 
Russian Doll (Netflix)

Runner-Up:
The Society (Netflix)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
Derry Girls season 2 (Netflix)
Fruits Basket reboot (TV Tokyo/Funimation)
Good Omens (Amazon Prime)
John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch (Netflix)
Sex Education (Netflix)
Succession season 2 (HBO)

Notable Television Shows I Watched in 2019 For the First Time (in alphabetical order):
Big Mouth (Netflix) (2017-)
Derry Girls season 1 (Netflix) (2018)
Game of Thrones seasons 1-5 (HBO) (2011-2015)
You (Lifetime/Netflix) (2018-)

Biggest Television Letdown:
His Dark Materials (HBO) (2019)

Favorite Movie:
Booksmart, dir. Olivia Wilde

Knives Out, dir. Rian Johnson

Runner-Up:
Parasite, dir. Bong Joon-ho

Honorable Mentions:
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, dir. Marielle Heller
Little Women, dir. Greta Gerwig
Ruben Brandt, Collector, dir. Milorad Krstić
The Art of Self-Defense, dir. Riley Stearns
The Farewell, dir. Lulu Wang

Notable Movies I Saw in 2019 For the First Time:
Never Look Away, dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (2018)
Rear Window, dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1954)
Roma, dir. Alfonso Cuarón (2018)

Movie That I Saw But Can't Decide Whether It's Actually Good, Bad, or Just Weird:
Under the Silver Lake, dir. David Robert Mitchell (2019)

Biggest Movie Letdown:
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, dir. J.J. Abrams

Favorite Book:
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow

Notable Books I Read in 2019 For the First Time:
City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles by Mike Davis (1990) (in-progress)
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs (1961)
The Jean Freeman Gallery Does Not Exist by Christopher Howard (2018)
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (2006)
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (2007)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (2015)
Ashcan Art, Whiteness, and the Unspectacular Man by Alexis L. Boylan (2017)
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (2018)

Favorite Performances:
Billie Lourd, Booksmart
Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas, Knives Out
Emma Thompson, Late Night (dir. Nisha Ganatra, 2019)
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Haley Lu Richardson, The Chaperone
Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Kristine Froseth, Kathryn Newton, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo, The Society 
Park So-dam, Parasite
Taron Egerton, Rocketman

Notable Performances I Saw in 2019 For the First Time:
Julian Atocani Sanchez, A Boy Called Sailboat (dir. Cameron Nugent, 2018)
Robin Lord Taylor, Gotham season 1 (2014-15)

Favorite Exhibitions/Art Experiences:
Long Light: Photographs by David Lebe, Philadelphia Museum of Art, February 9, 2019 - May 5, 2019

Contemporary Photography Exhibition VIII, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA, April 11 – May 18, 2019

118th Annual Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 10, 2019–June 2, 2019

Sara Cwynar: Gilded Age, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, June 9-November 10, 2019

Takahata Isao: A Legend in Japanese Animation, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, July 2–October 6, 2019

Narrative Painting in Los Angeles, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, July 20 - August 31, 2019

Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A., Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA, September 6 - December 9, 2019

What is Manga? Kyoto International Manga Museum, Kyoto, Japan

The Wedding Cake House, Providence, RI

Favorite Nonfiction Articles:

• Anne Helen Petersen, "How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation," Buzzfeed News, Junaury 5, 2019
• Laura Raicovich, "Museum Resolution: Dismantle the Myth of Neutrality," Walker Art Reader, January 8, 2019
• Ian Parker, "A Suspense Novelist's Trail of Deceptions," The New Yorker, February 4, 2019
• Ana Fota, "What's Wrong With This Diorama? You Can Read All About It," New York Times, March 20, 2019
• Nathan J. Robinson, "What is Freedom?" Current Affairs, April 13, 2019
• Wil S. Hylton, "My Cousin Was My Hero. Until the Day He Tried to Kill Me." New York Times, May 8, 2019.
• Drew Magary, "The Night the Lights Went Out," Deadspin, May 16, 2019
• Zeynep Tufekci, "The Real Reason Fans Hate the Last Season of Game of Thrones," Scientific American, May 19, 2019
• Nathan J. Robinson, "On Being Serious," Current Affairs, June 16, 2019
• Nikole Hannah-Jones, "America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It One," New York Times Magazine, August 14, 2019.
• Prachi Gupta, "Stories About My Brother," Jezebel, September 26, 2019.
• Wes Ferguson, "When ‘Angels in America’ Came to East Texas," Texas Monthly, October 14, 2019
• Matt Hershberger, "An Excessively Academic Reading of 'Okay Boomer'," Fellow Traveler, November 14, 2019
• Mira Fox, "We deserve a good ‘His Dark Materials’ adaptation," The Outline, November 18, 2019
• Marcos Gonsalez, "Recognizing the Enduring Whiteness of Jane Austen," December 11, 2019
• Peggy Orenstein, "The Miseducation of the American Boy," The Atlantic, December 17, 2019
• Adam Serwer, "Civility is Overrated," The Atlantic, December 2019 issue
• Tim Kreider, "We Can’t See ‘Star Wars’ Anymore," The New York Times, December 20, 2019

Notable Nonfiction Articles I Read in 2019 For the First Time:

• Skip Hollandsworth, "Poisoning Daddy," Texas Monthly, June 30, 1996
• David Carr, "Goodbye to All That," Washington City Paper, April 9, 1999
• Buzz Bissinger, "My Gucci Addiction," GQ, March 26, 2013
• Robert Alpert, "'Skyfall': a mother and her twin boys," Jump Cut #55, Fall 2013
• Rachel Vorona Cote, "The Art of Loving and Losing Female Friends," Pacific Standard, originally published August 29, 2015, updated August 29, 2017
• Brianna Rennix and Nathan J. Robinson, "Why You Hate Contemporary Architecture," Current Affairs, October 31, 2017
• Jill Lepore, "When Barbie Went to War with Bratz," The New Yorker, January 15, 2018
• Jonas Staal, "Propaganda (Art) Struggle," e-flux #94, October 2018

Favorite Music From Either 2019 or that I Heard in 2019 for the First Time, in no particular order:
Oklahoma! (2019 Broadway Cast Recording)
Patrick Vaill, "Lonely Room," from Oklahoma! (2019 Broadway Cast Recording)
King Princess, "1950," (2018)
Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk (Original Motion Picture Score) (2018)
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (1977)
BØRNS, Blue Madonna (2018)
BØRNS, "Man," from Blue Madonna
Pictures at an Exhibition (Leopold Stokowski orchestration)
Lizzo, "Truth Hurts"

And for the first time: Everything I Wrote That Was Published in 2019, in chronological order (* means it's one of my personal favorites):

• ""The New Romantic": Jessica Barden Shines Despite A Slight Script." BUST Magazine, January 3, 2019.
• "Speculative collages of Saba Taj at Twelve Gates Arts re-imagine the future through a queer, brown perspective." Philly Artblog, January 3, 2019.
• "Negotiating History: Sally Mann’s "A Thousand Crossings" Exhibition and the Question of Photographic Privilege." Humble Arts Foundation blog, January 8, 2019.*
• "'The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle' Is a Stellar Mystery Yarn." PopMatters, January 10, 2019.
• "Yoga poses at Grizzly Grizzly, in William Downs’s surreal wall drawing." Philly Artblog, January 18, 2019.
• "Follow Me: The Teenage Wasteland Of Instagram In 'Social Animals'." Filthy Dreams, January 19, 2019.
• "Suzanne Bocanegra: Poorly Watched Girls." this is tomorrow, January 30, 2019.
• "[Review:] A Boy Called Sailboat." January 31, 2019.
• "“Little Ladies: Victorian Fashion Dolls and the Feminine Ideal” Needs More Than Just Beautiful Objects." Filthy Dreams, February 4, 2019.*
• "Zanele Muholi and The Women's Mobile Museum Exhibition Ask: Who is Art For?" Humble Arts Foundation blog, February 5, 2019.
• ""Nancy" Is A Haunting Take On A Scammer Story." BUST Magazine, February 11, 2019.
• "'The World Is a Narrow Bridge' is a Metaphysical Pilgrimage for the Social Media Era." PopMatters, February 15, 2019. 
• "Neighborhoods in conflict and the role of the artist, in Guadalupe Rosales’s solo show at Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery." Philly Artblog, February 22, 2019.
• "Dream Theater Balances Consistency and Excitement on 'Distance Over Time'." PopMatters, February 25, 2019.
• "[Review:] Ruben Brandt, Collector." Moviejawn, March 4, 2019.*
• "Cecilia Vicuña: About to Happen." this is tomorrow, March 13, 2019.
• "Chinn Wang Conceals and Reveals Her Family's Hidden History." Humble Arts Foundation blog, March 14, 2019.
• "[Review:] Woman at War." Moviejawn, March 20, 2019.
• "[Review:] The Invisibles." Moviejawn, March 26, 2019.
• "Within Temptation's 'Resist' Needs to Resist Against Something." PopMatters, March 26, 2019.
• "Patterns of Obsession, mesmerizing two-person exhibit at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens." Philly Artblog, April 2, 2019. 
• "Imagining the end of the city, ‘After Cities’ at Fjord Gallery." Philly Artblog, April 15, 2019.
• "Pick Just One: The Saw Doctors--'Live in Galway'." PopMatters, April 10, 2019.* 
• "Sarah McEneaney: Callowhill." this is tomorrow, April 11, 2019.
• "Hey, Rewind That! The Man From U.N.C.L.E." Moviejawn, April 16, 2019.
• "Grief, Aliens, And The Apocalypse Converge In “Starfish”." BUST Magazine,
•  April 19, 2019.
• "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out: David Lebe’s “Long Light”." April 19, 2019.
• "Claire A. Warden and Arielle Bobb-Willis: Two Photographers' Strikingly Different Approaches to Turmoil." Humble Arts Foundation blog, April 25, 2019.*
• "[Review:] The Chaperone." Moviejawn, May 1, 2019.
• "Mary Kay Place Breathes Life Into "Diane"." BUST Magazine, May 9, 2019.
• "Chains and flowers evoke beauty and togetherness in 'Recombinants’ at C. R. Ettinger Studio." Philly Artblog, May 13, 2019.
• "Lydia Rosenberg: The Complete Subject." this is tomorrow, May 16, 2019.
• "“The Hustle” Composer Anne Dudley On Her Creative Process And Storytelling Through Music: BUST Interview." BUST Magazine, May 31, 2019.
• "DVD Review: 'The Girl With All the Gifts'." Science Fiction Film and Television, volume 12, No. 2 (June 2019): pp. 279-282. In print. [Paywalled.]
• "A Whitney Biennial For An Institution And Country In Turmoil." Filthy Dreams, June 4, 2019.*
• "Investigating human observation in Mia Rosenthal’s “Earth, sky, past, present” at Gallery Land Collective." Philly Artblog, June 19, 2019.
• "[Review:] Us, Forever Ago." Moviejawn, June 20, 2019.
• "A New Exhibition of Second-Wave Feminist Photography Has Vulvas (and Chewing Gum) On The Mind." Humble Arts Foundation blog, June 27, 2019.
• "“Red Joan” Fails To Capture The Nuance Of Melita Norwood’s Life." BUST Magazine, June 28, 2019.
• "'The Psychology of Time Travel' Is Anything But Simple." PopMatters, July 17, 2019. 
• "[Review:] Pokémon: Detective Pikachu." Moviejawn, July 22, 2019.
• "How Do You Curate Stonewall At 50?" Filthy Dreams, July 24, 2019.
• "ABOLITION NOW! at Asian Arts Initiative examines racism and mass incarceration in America." Philly Artblog, July 28, 2019.
• "A New Exhibition Elevates Vision-Board Kitsch into Futuristic Prophecy." Humble Arts Foundation blog, August 15, 2019.
• "“The Art Of Self-Defense” Wants You To Think About Toxic Masculinity." BUST Magazine, August 15, 2019.
• "Narrative paintings at Craig Krull Gallery accentuate Los Angeles’s complicated history." Philly Artblog, August 18, 2019.
• "Taylor Swift's 'Lover' Finds Her at Peak Creativity in a State of Romantic Bliss." PopMatters, September 3, 2019.* 
• "Donna Huanca: Obsidian Ladder." this is tomorrow, September 26, 2019.
• "“Pause” Gets To The Heart Of A Loveless Marriage." BUST Magazine, September 27, 2019.
• "The Lives of Objects: On Maira and Alex Kalman’s “Sara Berman’s Closet”." Los Angeles Review of Books, October 2, 2019.
• "Spotlight: Llyn Foulkes' 'To Paul'." Re: Bell blog, October 10, 2019.
• "Spotlight: Sue Coe's 'Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die'." Re: Bell blog, November 14, 2019.
• "The ‘Emporium of Popular Culture,’ Providence’s vintage Americana time capsule." Philly Artblog, December 2, 2019.
• "Rosabel Rosalind Kurth-Sofer Is Fighting Jewish Stereotypes With Art." BUST Magazine, December 13, 2019.*