We didn’t engage with much media this year as we spent over half of it biking Eastern Europe. However, the stuff we did watch/read/listen to was pretty awesome! There are a lot of talented and creative people out there!
MOVIES / SHOWS
Joel Haver's 12 Movies In 12 Months
Kyle: Joel Haver is my pick of “most inspirational person” right now.
Joel is a Youtuber who is trying to make 12 feature-length movies in 12 months, all starring his friends and for zero dollar budgets.
Why is this inspiring? Sure, it’s fun to watch someone push themselves, but even better is that he’s doing it to show that anyone can be creative. You don’t need a million bucks to make a movie… or to do any of the creative goals you’ve always wanted to achieve. Go out and start making stuff! It’s fun!
If you want to watch one of his films, The Text is really good and easy to watch. It’s the shortest one… but it’s still 45 minutes long. Technically a movie!
Avvai: I like Joel too! He’s a good guy.
Dan Da Dan
Kyle: Favorite anime of the year! Though I also read the entire manga. It was awesome.
The premise is simple: A girl who doesn’t believe in aliens meets a boy who doesn’t believe in ghosts. They dare each other to visit a haunted/alien-filled place and discover that both aliens AND ghosts are real.
Also, the main guy gets his penis stolen by a granny ghost and the girl has to help him steal it back.
If that doesn’t sound like fun to you… don’t watch it. This one is for a certain type of person — me!
Avvai: Best theme song ever.
Kyle: The first 10 seconds of the anime is what the inside of my brain feels like when I try to focus. I’m glad to finally be represented.
National Treasure
Avvai: I’ve never seen this before and it was SO FUN! How did Nicholas Cage connect all those random clues to lead him to the treasure?? Amazing!
Kyle: Avvai just told me that her favorite movie of the year was 2006’s National Treasure with Nicholas Cage. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about Nicholas Cage following American History themed clues to find treasure.
It’s a pretty fun movie. We watched it while biking through Bulgaria and I hate to say it, but it might have been the highlight of Bulgaria.
Solo Leveling
Kyle: It is rare that I find myself cheering out loud while watching a show… but Solo Leveling got me. I was literally jumping up and yelling at some of these scenes. It is awesome.
It’s got a typical anime story: this guy is the weakest and worst fighter in the whole world (literally). Then he finds a cheat where he becomes the best fighter in the whole world.
I don’t know why I loved it so much, but boy oh boy was it a blast.
Also, I know how ridiculous this trailer looks. Again, if this looks cool to you then you’ll love it. If not… maybe go watch National Treasure.
Avvai: Kyle fangirled over Sung Jinwoo for months. It was cute.
BOOKS
The Black Box Of Doom — Jason Pargin
Kyle: I almost read this in a single sitting. It’s a book ripped from the headlines and one of the best interpretations of Internet culture I’ve seen yet.
The story is about a socially awkward Lyft driver who picks up a young woman with a mysterious box. She offers him $200,000 to drive across the country… but he can’t look in the box, ask what it’s in it, or bring any tech.
Unfortunately, after missing a day online, his Reddit friends start tracking him… and things get out of control fast as people become convinced the box has a nuke.
I loved it… it also made me want to stop going on the Internet. Because maybe the real “black box of doom” is our PHONES!!!!
Avvai: The digital spaces I spend time in tend to be pretty positive and I’ve luckily avoided a lot of toxic internet culture, especially when there’s lots of dudes involved. Though I sort of knew about online incel communities and wild subreddits, this book sort of opened my eyes to this world that a lot of people inhabit. And it made me want to throw my phone into the ocean. I don’t think there’s anything new in here that I didn’t already know about how toxic internet culture can be, but it was fun to read it in a wild goose chase roadtrip book. Also was a bit of a wakeup call.
The Man Who Spoke Snakish — Andrus Kivrähk
Kyle: We tried to read a book from each country that we biked through, this was the first one for Estonia. It was also one of the best!
It combines all their folklore and myths into one big story that also serves as a rough early history of the country as the “forest people” begin to emerge and move into these newfangled things called “towns”.
I tried to speak snakish to a few snakes I saw along the trip, but most were sprinting out of the way of my tires, so I don’t know if they understood me or not.
Avvai: I didn’t read very much this year, but this was my favorite book that I read for the year. It’s very satirical and funny. Not a whole lot of plot, but I couldn’t stop reading it. It brings up lots of interesting ideas of progress and preserving tradition. Also going on walks through the forests has never been the same after reading this!
The Dark Tower Series — Stephen King
Kyle: This is Stephen King’s masterpiece. Seven books that range from fantasy to westerns to horror. I really enjoyed reading them and I’d recommend them to anyone who loves getting lost in giant series.
I mean, if Stephen King considers something his masterpiece, it’s probably worth checking out, right?
I’ll answer for you — right!
Dungeon Crawler Carl — Matt Dinniman
Kyle: Does Hunger Games meets World of Warcraft sound appealing to you?
Do any of the previous animes look like your cup of tea? Except do you also wish they would just go even bigger and more ridiculous?
Well, I just finished the fourth book of this series where Carl had to cure a bunch of dinosaurs of vampirism.
Yeah. It’s awesome.
There is also a fully cast audiobook that blew me away. There are seven of these books so far and I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve read 5 in the last two weeks. They’re THAT good.
AUDIOBOOKS AND PODCASTS
The Golden Compass — Philip Pullman
Avvai: I read The Golden Compass series as a kid and it always stuck with me. I don’t think I understood half the themes in it, but the adventures of Lyra and talking polar bears and northern witches were so fun. Revisiting this series as an adult and also listening to it too, was super engaging. I was completely immersed in the audiobook — it’s read by the author and a full cast! This series has some really intense themes that I would consider adult, such as the role religion plays in politics and society, who/what is God, the concept of souls, corruption, etc. The language can also sometimes be advanced. But I love that it’s a kids book! I’m not sure how Pullman pulled that off with the publishers but I’m sure glad he did.
James — Percival Everett
Avvai: I think I listened to this whole book in a day. I loved it so much. James is a reimagining of The Tales of Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of the enslaved Jim, who is also Huck’s friend. You don’t have to read Huckleberry Finn (I haven’t!) to enjoy this book. James changes the way he speaks based on who he’s speaking too, and that’s very important to the story. I think the audio version of it really enhances that and brings it to light.
Lion Tracker's Guide To Life
Kyle: Boyd Varty is a tracker in South Africa. He is also an amazing storyteller who cares about living an authentic life.
This podcast shares a lot of his philosophies on how to live, while also highlighting the wild life of safari animal trackers. I’ve shared it to a bunch of people and it’s been a hit each time. I even went and bought his book after!
This is the video version. Here’s a link to the site where you can listen to it podcast style (the way it’s meant to be listened to).
Avvai: I’m always amazed by great oral storytellers. Boyd Vary’s stories of his childhood, growing up on the savannah is super fun!
REAL LIFE EXTRAS
Bike Fit
Kyle: A Bike Fit is when you go to a Bike Physiotherapist (yeah, that’s a real thing) and they hook you up to sensors and make sure your bike fits you.
Yeah, I was skeptical too.
However, it turned out to be an incredible decision. We had literally no pain our entire bike trip… which meant we were in high spirits when we read books and watched movies and stuff. See, I tied it into this top 10 list!
If you’re in Calgary, we recommend Spencer Pootz, the man who saved our backs and butts.
No Headphones
Kyle: The final entry is… to NOT listen or watch anything.
A month into our trip, a friend challenged me to STOP listening to all media while biking. It would be just me and my breath for eight hours a day. It sounded terrifying so I agreed.
And it was the best decision I’ve made all year (maybe even better than the bike fit).
Prior to this, I spent a lot of time engaging with media. My excuse was that I was learning. However, I now see that my brain was addicted to stimulus.
The first few days of “no headphones” were difficult. I was like an addict craving stimulation. But once that passed, my brain started to appreciate the world, entertain itself, and actually feel at peace.
Even coming back to Canada, I find I’m spending more time away from screens (when not working). I think our brains need to rest more than we know.
Avvai: I’m way more comfortable now going on long walks or spending large chunks of time in silence. I’m reading less books because of it (audiobooks are how I tend to read most books) but it’s been really nice to just let my mind wander. I’m not really having any profound thoughts (usually I’m thinking of what to eat next or how much longer I have in whatever I’m doing at the moment) but the silence is calm and peaceful.
And that’s it for another year of stuff we liked! If you ALSO like any of them let us know, we’d love to hear from you.
We are also open to recommendations. Please send all anime my way and all nerdy movies to Avvai 🙂
Love, Kyle & Avvai
4250. That’s how many pages the Dark Tower series has. Reading it is a monumental undertaking. I think you read it rather than listening to someone else read it, yes? Were you as disappointed as I in the shaggy dog ending? (I loved the journey, but the destination was meh)
I know I’m down on audiobooks (not really reading, except for the person recording it), BUT a fully cast one I will listen to. There was a series in the 80’s or 90’s called Alien Voices, where Star Trek stars voiced classic Sci-Fi and Horror books. If you can find it, listen.
I put Jim on my Kindle a couple days ago. It’s high on my list to read.
What’s a nerdy movie? I’m bingewatching Sherlock right now, and enjoying it. I also watched Black Doves which was excellent and am watching The Agency. Talk soon!
I loved the ending of Dark Tower! I thought it was the perfect ending for Roland — he’s an addict and it feels like this is Stephen King saying that all addictions eventually end in this exact same way.
And as for nerdy movies, I was referring to National Treasure haha.
All your recommendations sound awesome — maybe it’s time for you to do a round up post!
I love how you share this every year. Great stuff!