Things I Loved in 2014

In no particular order:

• Being in Hong Kong for the birth of my exquisitely perfect niece
• My Aeropress and Porlex grinder. An absolutely life-saver for this world traveler.
• Matt Cronin's idea to do this.
• Boyhood.
• 99 percent invisible
• Serial
• My Slate Plus membership. It's not for everyone, but it's definitely for me.
• Coming home at midnight every night at the French Open only to rush upstairs and fire up the laptops to watch Orange Is the New Black. Poussey, you broke my heart.
• The Lego Movie.
• This scene from Inside Llewyn Davis:

• And this one:

• My X-Files rewatch.
• Gilmore Girls comes to Netflix.
• Lena Dunham and Amy Poehler's books.
• Germany winning the World Cup and America not making a fool of itself.
• Shanghai dumplings
• Lowa hiking boots.
• Madewell jeans.
• That fifth ring not lighting up at the Sochi Opening Ceremonies.
• Chelsea Perretti.
• "Bowls, bowls, all types of bowls..."

• Kate McKinnon
• Under the Skin. It's the one movie I watched this year that I can't stop thinking about.
• The cojones in the writer's room on The Good Wife.
• Aviation Gin. Just the best.
• Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel.
• Gone Home. First time I ever cried playing a video game.

• The Portland food cart scene. Bigs ups to the Schnitzelwich, YouCanHazCheeseburger, and Nong's Khao Man Gai.
• Portland.
• X-Men: Days of Future Past.
• The Americans
• Gillian Anderson's silk blouse game in The Fall
• Beijing craft brewerys.
• Everything about Bill Hader in this scene from The Skeleton Twins:

• Fargo the TV series.
• Hannibal
• Everything Mallory Ortberg wrote on The Toast. And The Toast, generally.
• My House Distilleries hoodie.
• Elena Ferrante novels.
• That "boyfriend" cut jeans became cool again.
• Everything Ga-In:

• Broad City
• Jenny Lewis' The Voyager.
• Love and Death, especially this episode.
• Getting a chance to be in China when Li Na announced her retirement.
• Sleater Kinney announces a reunion and new album in 2015 and the first single off it ROCKS:

• The Thrilling Adventure Hour, specifically the Beyond the Belief and Amelia Earhart Fearless Flyer episodes.
• Welcome to Night Vale
• That Ben (or anyone) puts up with my rambling on NCR.
• The Rosebuds' Sand + Silence, particularly "In My Teeth":

• Grown-up coloring books. Seriously, try it! It's a great stress reliever.
• Discovering these headphones. I actually listen to more things just for an excuse to use them.
• FaceTime. My family is usually spread out all over the globe. It brings us together just like those emotionally manipulative ads promised.
• Robyn and Royskopp.

• Seeing Arcade Fire at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
• Wimbledon's Middle Sunday.
• My American Whisky and scotch clubs at CASK.
• And seeing this sign in Hong Kong: