2018 Year in review

I will be the one to say it, 2018 has definitely surpassed her ugly sisters, 2016 & 2017. I know some will disagree but 2018 wasn’t horrible for me, so I’m going to give a few highlights of the year from my own personal life, as well as others in pop culture (imho).

(And this is just a disclaimer that not every movie or album will be on this list obviously because I haven’t seen or heard them all. Also, they are in no particular order, so please no one get in your feelings over this.)

I want to start by saying that time is a construct and New Year’s resolutions are stupid. There’s no reason you should wait for a new year to start to change something you don’t like about yourself or your life. Procrastination is one of my biggest problems and it does have negative effects on me. But I am coming to terms with the phrase “why not today?”

What’s so wrong with today that you can’t take a step toward your passion?

Don’t wait another year, another week, or another day to take the chance that you’ve been dying to take. Our lives, no matter how hard we try to plan them, are based on chance. Sometimes being in the right place at the right time is all you need. So go to the party, go to the audition, network, you never know what will come from it.

Let’s get this shebang started.

Let’s start with some movies that I think really stole the show this year and deserve all the credit in the world.

1. So what if I’m biased, feel free to fight me but BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY was my all-time favorite movie of the year. No ifs, ands or butts about it! How can you not love this movie, people? You have the outstanding music of Queen, you have a cast that looks nearly identical to the original band members and you have the award winning Rami “Raw Me” Malek, playing Queen’s flamboyant front-man, Freddie Mercury. Critics had so many complaints about this movie, but truly, they can line up and I’ll go down the line and scissor kick them all, this movie was a masterpiece, thank you, next.

2. Avengers: Infinity War

Let me tell you something, I don’t know that anything has ever made me clench my butt harder than this movie did. Don’t get me wrong, it was incredible. The colors were stunning, the story broke my heart, and the villain, well, he was the villain I’ve always dreamed of. Josh Brolin was brilliant. I have been dying for a villain who sees himself as the hero of his own story. Someone who can’t imagine why anyone would try to stop his mission, because in his mind, he’s doing the only logical thing. He doesn’t think he’s power hungry or delusional, he only sees a vision of the future that no one else can see and since they can’t see it, they can’t see the looming destruction that will ensue if something isn’t done. This movie was everything and more. It moved me to tears to see Gamora thrown off that cliff and to see Peter Parker turn to dust and it broke me even more to see my idol, Tony Stark, alone on Titan, near death. Damn you Thanos, who is oddly attractive and equally insane.

p.s. fuck you Peter Quill

3. Venom

Yet another movie that critics unnecessarily shit on. How dare they? I loved Venom, and it’s not just because I stan Tom Hardy (he can literally play anything). I’ll admit maybe the story line was a little messy and rushed even, but to get such horrible ratings was ABSURD. The Eddie and Venom duo made up for anything else the movie might have done wrong. Oh, and showing us Carnage at the end of the movie, well that worked just fine for me.

4. Black Panther

A movie based on an all-black nation living off the grid with technology more advanced than the rest of the world? Yes please. Lupita, Chadwick, Sterling Brown, MBJ, and thick daddy M’Baku. Give me all the Black Panther, even if it means killing Michael B. Jordan, with those deep dimples and that horrible Killmonger attitude.

5. Ocean’s 8

I let out a scream of triumph when I typed that. An ALL STAR female cast out to rob the met ball of millions of dollars-worth of jewels. We get Mindy Khaling, our supreme, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Rihsus and Sandra Bullock, who I would steal jewels for.

6. Deadpool 2

Ryan Reynolds is a genius and thank God he harassed Fox for 10 years until Deadpool got green lit. Josh Brolin does it again as Cable. TJ Miller is possibly the funniest white man in Hollywood right now, oh and Zazie Beetz as Domino. Who can I thank for that? She is brilliant. Why did Hollywood wait so damn long to cast her in a superhero movie anyway? As a matter of fact, this is my request to give her some part of every super hero movie from now on.

7. And finally, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.

A young black Spiderman!!!!!! He does graffiti, he listens to Swae Lee and Post Malone and he saves the world while wearing Nikes. I’m so happy that so many young kids of color are going to have a super hero that looks like them. Into the Multiverse was such a good movie, Peter B. Parker and Miles Morales make an exquisite duo and I am so glad we got to experience them on screen together.

Music

1. The Weeknd – My Dear Melancholy

I just love this album. Please someone break Abel’s heart once a year so we can get more albums like this. Sorry, babe. But this album inspired me to become a stripper and break men’s hearts on a nightly basis. So you guys just wait on that.

2. Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy

Bickenhead is the bad bitch anthem of the century, not sorry. Even though the radio stations have overplayed Cardi’s music to death, she keeps bringing the bops in features and in singles (i.e. Money).

3. J. Cole – KOD

4. Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer

5. Post Malone – Beerbongs & Bentleys

6. Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

7. Charlie Puth – Voicenotes

8. Maluma – FAME

9. A$AP Rocky – Testing

10. Drake – Scorpion (I’ll give you this one, Aubrey)

11. Mac Miller – Swimming

12. Travis Scott – Astroworld

13. Twenty One Pilots – Trench

TV

1. Preacher Season 3 - thank the lort, please keep this show running until all the actors are old in grey.

2. Killing Eve - I stan a good female killer.

3. Atlanta Season 2 - Donald Glover deserves all the awards

4. The Haunting of Hill House - not as scary as everyone says, but still amazing.

5. Maniac - Netflix originals are so good, this one is no exception. It's just so good, it's a slow start but it's worth the wait.

6. Castle Rock - I'm not sure exactly what is going on in this show, but shit, I still like it. Bill Skarsgard scares the shit out of me, so give it a try.

7. The Little Drummer Girl - the other Skarsgard brother, Alex, get into some espionage, spy stuff, all the while looking like a whole snack.

8. American Horror Story: Apocalypse - This is the best season Ryan Murphy has given us in YEARS. Thank you Cody Fern for redeeming this season and helping Sarah Paulson carry this show on her shoulders. And thank you Jessica Lange for coming back and blessing our unworthy eyes with your talented presence.

9. American Dynasty: The Kennedys - This show, fully equipped with actual home movies shows a side of the family that most people have never seen. A family dragged through so much tragedy right in the public eye that has to hold itself together. They almost seemed cursed with the way death and scandal followed them around. You also see a side of JFK, that at least I, didn't know about beforehand. One part scummy and one part brilliant.

More news that shaped 2018:

1. Deaths of Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, Queen of soul, Aretha Franklin & rapper, Mac Miller. These losses devastated millions and while the culinary world lost a huge part of itself, so did the music and fashion world. Two of these were suicides which is a reminder of the importance of mental health. One of these was an accidental overdose, which is another reminder, this country has a huge drug problem.

2. Death of Kim Porter. Kim Porter was a model and mother who had been suffering with flu and pneumonia-like symptoms, she had made complaints to doctors, who didn't take these complaints seriously, proving that even upper class women of color are brushed off by doctors.

3. Death of Stan Lee. Let's face it, we knew it was coming one day, he was 95, he had a long life with an everlasting legacy. Thank you for sharing your imagination with us for so many years. Thank you for allowing us to see a little bit of ourselves somewhere in your universe.

4. A lot of women ran (and won) for office. God is a woman.

5. Meghan Markle, a biracial, American actress, married Prince Harry. How lucky is he?

6. Mariah Carey openly spoke about her Bipolar II diagnosis, hopefully this will push us one step closer toward ending the stigma on mental health.

7. Ireland ended their abortion ban, thanks to thousands of people who flew home to vote.

8. US starts a trade war with China, ofc.

9. A group of Central Americans head for the US/Mexico border, seeking asylum in the US.

10. NASA lands a probe on Mars after a 7-month trek.

11. This was one of the hottest years on record, with heat waves and wildfires in California.

12. 14 MILLION people in Yemen were on the brink of starvation. 14 million. That's more than the entire state of Illinois.

Here are some personal accomplishments that I made this year that I want to shout out.

1. I fucking graduated from college. I did. Me. The first person in my family to ever graduate with a four year degree. And yes, even though I have not found a job in my field yet, I still did something that no one else in my family has done. Graduating college is no small feat and education is a commodity that no one can take from you.

2. I saw Lana Del Rey live. What an otherworldly experience. We had nosebleed seats and I literally didn’t care. Last time I bought tickets to see Lana Del Rey, we drove to Dallas and the concert got cancelled. BOI. But we went back to Texas to see her. Luckily for us, a worker for the venue GAVE US tickets FOR FREE, to move up closer after the opening act. We were so close. It was probably the best night of my life thus far.

3. I bought a plane ticket and visited my best friend in California. Don’t let anyone tell you that you shouldn’t meet people off the internet, because sometimes that isn’t the case. I stayed with Alex for a week. I had the time of my life and I didn’t want to strangle her once, which is rare. I can’t wait to go back. We went to literally 5 different beaches, went to L.A. and got lost looking for the Hollywood sign.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0RiSK3UTsbtpT3U_sb3xBOsRg

4. I went to South Carolina. We drove there, which was a nightmare. But the actually destination was a dream. The resort we stayed in had everything you could ever imagine. The beach was mesmerizing and the boardwalk was amazing. South Carolina, you kind of have my heart.

5. I started acting class. At first, I was nervous. I didn’t want to be around people who were better and had been doing this longer than me. I didn’t want to embarrass myself. But the more I worked with Rachel (my teacher), the less I cared about what other people thought and the more I just wanted to be great at what I love doing. I cannot wait to further my career as an actress and I am so grateful that I allowed myself to step out of my comfort zone.

6. Voodoo Fest – my sister and I made the voyage to NOLA to see Arctic Monkeys headline the festival and it was everything. As per usual, we elbowed and finessed our way to the front of the crowd for a better view. I love Alex Turner and seeing him live was like a dream.

7. Arizona – My mom, sister, cousin & I flew out to Arizona for thanksgiving. I’ve gotta say I’ve never had Thanksgiving with 20 people but it was one for the books. Even though the altitude there made me sick literally the whole week, I still forced myself to have a blast. My aunt and uncle have a ton of animals, all with great personalities. We looked over the city from the top of South Mountain, we ate some bomb ass Mexican food, saw some Christmas lights, and had some nice family time with family I hadn’t seen in YEARS. All in all, it was a nice week. And Arizona has the best In n Out I’ve ever had, don’t @ me.

8. I am the maid of honor is my BFF's wedding. That's right, I get to plan the bridal shower and the bachelorette party. Y'all will never be the same after that.

9. I got this bomb ass new website, courtesy of the lovely Miss Tristen Rolling.

So now that I’ve talked about some high lights of the year, let’s get more into goals. But keep in mind what I said before. You shouldn’t wait for a new year to start chasing what you really want. But I would suggest a vision board just to help you visualize your goals. It does help. You better go make yourself a Pinterest right now and get to pinning. I hope to bring about a lot of new things in the coming months, I’ve made myself a list of goals so I can hold myself accountable for them. I’ve made moves to start my podcast, made accounts to look for acting jobs and branched out my job search.

I don't want to wait for new year for change. I want the world to be fair always. I want everyone to have a shot at a good life and get what they deserve for their hard work and good deeds, but sometimes they don't. I want people to be good, but sometimes they just aren't. So that's why I want to try to be a little better every day, and I am getting better in more ways than one, I hope you are too. I hope you choose to be a good guy, because there's way too many of the bad.

Don’t get frustrated with your current situation. Funny that I say that because I am very frustrated myself, so sometimes I feel like I’m writing these things more to convince myself than to help someone else. Maybe we should both take my advice in that case. It is not easy at all. But keep on pushing. You know those posts that say shit like “Oprah got fired from her first broadcasting job at 24” or whatever, maybe it just isn’t your time yet. I do believe in chance, I do believe in getting lucky, but I also believe that most of the time, we are right where we need to be to get that experience, to get that opportunity. So even when things get hard, find solace in the fact that everyone reaches their height at different times. You don’t want to peak too soon. Good luck and good bye.