For my birthday this year, I set out to write about twenty of my favorite albums, twenty of my favorite video games, and twenty of my favorite films. I did this partly because I could not decide what I wanted to do for my birthday this year. I also did this partly to kick myself in the ass and make myself put words into a text field. I’m hopeful getting into the daily habit of writing roughly 1500 words to finish this project will convince me that I should get to at least 500 each day rather than writing only four times a year.

Many of these works are consensus masterpieces, and many of them are more personal favorites. All of them are works I love very personally. I looked at my lists of favorites and picked some which I have not written about to satisfaction. I have vaguely given myself a lofty goal of writing about every work which I consider a personal favorite and what it means to me – where possible, I’ve given bias to works I’ve already revisited over the past year or two rather than giving myself additional homework in completing this project.

This also includes the first written music criticism I’ve done since I was in college. I find music criticism exceptionally challenging, and that’s precisely why I’m making myself do it. The format of these album write-ups is borrowed exactly from Tom Moon’s 1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die, a book I’ve treasured since I was thirteen or fourteen years old. Should you find yourself a copy, you’ll find a better music critic than I ever aspire to be.

If you decide to come along for this journey, I really appreciate your readership. If you want to talk to me about something I’ve written, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I don’t know if I’ll be doing this project again, but it feels good to be nose deep in a word processor. These pieces were largely written in one sitting as drafts and then edited once before publication – while they don’t make up the highest caliber of word-tinkering and scansion-smoothing in my writing history, I hope they are a pleasant enough read.

As these articles go up, I’ll have links posted on this master page and a preview of what’s coming tomorrow!

MUSIC:
1. In the Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson
2. The Soft Bulletin – The Flaming Lips
3. Life Will See You Now – Jens Lekman
4. Syro – Aphex Twin
5. Rumours – Fleetwood Mac
6. My Name Is My Name – Pusha T
7. Remain in Light – Angelique Kidjo
8. Emotion – Carly Rae Jepsen
9. Dopesmoker – Sleep
10. Weezer – Weezer
11. Dig Me Out – Sleater-Kinney
12. Low – David Bowie
13. Daydream Nation – Sonic Youth
14. Sound of Silver – LCD Soundsystem
15. Colter Wall – Colter Wall
16. Rubber Soul – The Beatles
17. Room25 – Noname
18. Reign in Blood – Slayer
19. Anti – Rihanna
20. Mack the Knife: Ella in Berlin – Ella Fitzgerald

FILM:
1. Kiki’s Delivery Service
2. Days of Heaven
3. Blue Velvet
4. Meshes of the Afternoon
5. Mind Game
6. One From The Heart
7. Catch Me If You Can
8. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
9. I Saw The TV Glow
10. Gemini Man
11. UFOs
12. Malcolm X
13. M
14. Skatetown U.S.A.
15. Dog Day Afternoon
16. Eyes Wide Shut
17. The End of Evangelion
18. Only Lovers Left Alive
19. In the Mood for Love
20. Zardoz
BONUS: The Only Son
BONUS: Bottle Rocket

GAMES:
1. Pentiment
2. Celeste
3. Mini Metro
4. Street Fighter III: Third Strike
5. Drugwars
6. NieR Replicant
7. Knotwords
8. Depression Quest
9. Fez
10. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
11. The Yawhg
12. Nidhogg
13. RollerCoaster Tycoon 2
14. Higurashi – When They Cry
15. Norco
16. Rhythm Heaven Fever
17. Outer Wilds
18. Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft
19. Signalis
20. Spelunky