2020 edition ft Coronavirus and the longest lockdown on Earth.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, last year I started tracking and rating on a spreadsheet everything I watched. I also wrote some code to fetch more information about the movies and shows to end up with some statistics that I then share here. If you are interested, down below you can find last year’s post.

A movie and series year in review

However, this year I switched up things a little bit. This time I’m simplifying the statistics part and, to make up for it, I’ll add a selection of the movies and shows I enjoyed the most this year.

So, without further ado, let’s start.

My year in numbers

As always, here is the spreadsheet with the raw data. Just by looking at it, you can notice that I spent A LOT MORE TIME watching movies and series this year.

Me in front of the TV this year.

To be precise, I’ve watched 101 movies and 560 show’s episodes. That’s almost 1.81 movies/episodes a day, every day…

I was right with the prediction I made last year about watching more series than movies in 2020. I didn’t foresee a global pandemic helping with that, thought…

Time spent

I spent 10,988 minutes watching movies and 23,456 minutes watching shows. A whopping total of 34,444 minutes. If you consider that a working day has 8 hours and you work 22 days a month, I would have “worked” for 3 months and 1 week… So, where can I collect my paychecks?

This is how it was divided across every month:

• January: 1721
• February: 3267
• March: 2420
• April: 7061
• May: 5844
• June: 2310
• July: 2446
• August: 2297
• September: 1227
• October: 1235
• November: 1891
• December: 2725

And this is how it was divided by each day of the week:

• Sunday: 8317
• Monday: 4493
• Tuesday: 2882
• Wednesday: 4560
• Thursday: 3916
• Friday: 3619
• Saturday: 6657

COVID-19 hit really hard and in April, the first month of lockdown, I spent an unhealthy amount of time watching movies and series… Sundays being the most active weekday is nothing new, though. That is a lazy day for everyone. I’m no exception to that rule.

Genres

I’m happy to report that I’m still a Drama Queen

For this ranking I’m considering that a movie or show can have more than one genre, and I counting it for all of them. All the numbers are in minutes.

1. Drama: 23,001
2. Comedy: 12,096
3. Mystery & Thriller: 11,471
4. Sci-Fi & Fantasy: 6494
5. Action & Adventure: 6200
6. Crime: 4836
7. Documentary: 3322
8. Animation: 2742
9. Romance: 2056
10. History: 1360
11. Music: 689
12. War: 457
13. Horror: 457
14. Family: 99
15. Talk: 60

Platforms

Netflix is still the king. For a moment there Prime Video gave it a fight, but in the end it pulled away. Disney+, for only being available for one month and a half, did remarkable well. I think if next year they manage to release all the content they are planing, it will give Netflix a good fight for the top spot.

1. Netflix: 15595
2. Prime Video: 10003
3. Popcorn Time: 5283
4. Disney+: 2862
5. Cinema: 475
6. Kanopy: 116
7. YouTube: 50
8. Flow: 60

My top picks

As I said before, this time around I switched things up and not only I’m leaving down below the list of the movies and shows I enjoyed the most this year, but each of them has a link to a review I wrote as the year went by. You can click on every poster to access the post with my thoughts.

The end

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and writing the post for each of my top picks. However, I think this is the last year I’ll be doing this kind of post and I won’t be tracking everything I watch from now on. I’m proud I stuck with it for two years, and I really liked how everything came out. But it’s time to move on and start working on something new.

Have a happy New Year!

The post A movies and series year in review: 2020 edition appeared first on Nacho Sueiro.

The first season of The Mandalorian was awesome and it showed us the potential that a well made Star Wars live action show had. At the moment expectations were low, but Mando and Baby Yoda blew our minds. So season 2 had a pretty high bar to overcome, but boy did they deliver… The second season of the Mandalorian is the biggest fan service I’ve ever seen, but it was executed flawlessly. The introduction to the series of fan favorites such as Ahsoka Tano (yas queen!) and Boba Fett, along others (no spoilers here) was awesome, but they didn’t overshadow Din and Grogu‘s journey, which is a testament of how good the show is.

I enjoyed the show so much that it made want to watch The Clone Wars, the first Star Wars animated series which take place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The show has pretty good reviews, and I’ve got to say it lives up to the hype. What really surprised me is how well they managed to introduce new characters and make them lovable, and even turn them into many fans favorites (coff coff Ahsoka, anyone?) over our beloved classic protagonists, such as Anakin and Obi-Wan.

And there’s even more to come! In the latest Disney Investors Conference, they’ve announced a bunch of new shows, both live action (Obi-Wan Kenobi, which has Ewan McGregor reprising the general’s role, and even Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader; Ahsoka, and many more) and animated (The Bad Batch). It’s looking that Star Wars is finally getting the Marvel treatment and starting to build a cinematic universe, and I’m really here for it. The lengths you can go when you put two fans in charge who really love what they do…

It seems Dave and Jon were the chosen ones and they are the ones who will bring balance to the Force after all…

You can stream the entire Star Wars Universe on Disney+.

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This episode is very different to everything else on Euphoria. It’s 50 minutes of a conversation between Rue and her sponsor, Ali. All talk. Nothing “happens”, but the conversation is so deep and covers such interesting topics about addiction, self-worth and dealing with one’s actions and consequences that it managed to be one of the highlights of movies and series I’ve watched this year.

If you are a fan of Euphoria and you’ve finished season one (don’t watch it until you’ve done so), I don’t know what you are waiting for. You can watch it on HBO.

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I think it might be interesting to let you get a glimpse of the people I’m currently admiring and inspire me to be a better version of myself, on one way or another. And I say “currently” because this list is ever-changing , as it should. New people come into the scene constantly, I learn about different figures as I dig deeper into different topics, and my opinions, thoughts, beliefs and interest change and develop over-time.

After making a list of the people I wanted to write about, I ended up deciding Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be the best place to start. I chose her because she is the one that I think made the most lasting impact on me. Also, I believe I will keep looking up to her as time goes by.

Who is AOC?

To give you a little bit of context, AOC is an American politician that came into the spotlight in 2018 after beating one of the top-ranking members of the Democratic party in New York’s primary elections. She later became the youngest congresswoman ever in U.S history. Finally, she made noise and stayed in the public eye for her intense personality, the constant attacks she received from the Republican party (including the President himself) and her “radical” views. I’ve put radical between quotes because once you know what these “radical” views and proposals are, you realize there’s nothing radical about them other than the challenges they pose to the powers that be.

With that out of the way, lets talk about why she inspires me.

Why does AOC inspire me?

Although I find her political views and mannerisms very interesting and are central to my opinions on her, those are not my main reasons. She inspires me because of what she represents.

The future of politics…

Lets start by listing a couple of things about her:

• She is young. So young that she is the youngest congresswoman ever elected, and one of the youngest congress members elected in modern history.
• AOC is a “working-class” politician. She was a bartender in New York until she won the election.
• She has a no-bullshit attitude and speaks her mind, regardless of the “political cost”.
• Ocasio-Cortez has become one of the most prominent figures of the Democratic party in under two years.

As you can see, all these things have something to do with American politics. So you may ask why do I care about that if I’m not American nor live in the US. The simple answers is: I’m looking at the big picture.

You can’t deny that the US is one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world (if not the most). So electing someone so young who had almost no political background over one of the most important figures of the party with over 20 years of experience could be the beginning of a shift in political representation around the world.

Her age might not seem important for you, but for me is huge. A lot of representatives are in their lates 60s, 70s and even 80s. So, why are we making them responsible for our futures, when they are not going to be around much longer to live through their decisions? Young people are the ones who will have to live with the benefits and consequences of the decisions our representatives make, so we should definitely have a seat on the table. And a voice. A loud one at that.

I know life experience and knowledge is very important, but times have changed, and so has society. Thanks to the influence of technology in everyday life, it will keep changing even more frequently. Older people are just more reluctant to understand those changes and adapt to them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t say that’s the case with everyone, but unfortunately it’s true to a vast majority. So, to add to the feeling many already had about career-politicians being out of touch with everyday life, now you’d have to add the fact that they are so set in their old ways that they don’t even understand how we live (if you want to cringe hard, go watch the hearings about Google, Facebook and see what some representatives asked)

… and MY future.

I think her influence goes beyond politics and US borders. She is spear-heading a movement that shaking up the status quo of one of the biggest and most powerful countries in the world. She is doing that as a first-term congresswoman who just 2 years ago was a bartender in Queens. She is doing that as a twenty-something woman “against” politicians with decades of experience. And she is doing all this because she got fed up with how thing were, so she took it upon herself to change it. So… if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can stand up in Congress and fight for what she believes in, become one of the most known politicians in the United States, garner the support of millions of people around the world and many more things and change the world one step at a time, why can’t I do the same in my field of work?

What I’m trying to say here is she inspires me because she helped me realize there’s no challenge to big for me to tackle. She made me realize me being young doesn’t mean I’m not at the same level as people who have been around for longer. I just have to give myself a chance and stand up for my ideas and for what I believe is the right thing to do. Along the way I will face challenges, I will have disagreements, there will be people that will try to dismiss me. But that doesn’t matter, because, after all my efforts, I just may succeed. And, however big or small, I will have made a difference and change my life and my world… or maybe THE world.

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Fake I.D. by Riton & Kah-Lo.

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This limited-series follows Elizabeth Harmon’s journey through life, from her early years as an orphan, to her rise to fame thanks to her extraordinary skills in chess.

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about the show. Let’s start with Anya Taylor-Joy‘s performance. Absolutely outstanding. Nothing else can be said about it.

Secondly, I really liked how they developed and maintained a constant tension with her mild addiction issues and borderline social impairment, without making it a major plot point. I never felt like it was over the top or that it completely defined Beth’s character. Instead of being “an addict” or an “outcast”, she is a really complex character with a lot going on that also happens to be really socially awkward and have some substance abuse struggles.

Finally, the last thing I want to highlight is how the writers chose to develop her character. Despite being a woman, her development didn’t follow the classic paths movies and shows usually take. Her strength doesn’t come by overcoming a story of sexual abuse. Her love life doesn’t define her. It isn’t a story of a woman breaking the mold in a men’s world. Instead, the writers chose to build her character in a very gender-agnostic way, which is very refreshing and I think made the story all that much better.

If you haven’t watched it yet, I hope I convinced you. If I did, you can go to Netflix and watch it there!

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Sleeping With a Friend by Neon Trees.

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This is me once again recommending a political movie. What can I say? I find politics entertaining. Mix that with court room drama, great performances by Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen (side note: the acting range of this man is otherworldly), Jeremy Strong and company, alongside excellent dialogue, and you’ve got yourself one of the better films of 2020.

I will keep it short and simple this time. I think the trailer speaks for itself and makes a great job of representing how good a movie this one is. So, do yourself a favor and go watch it on Netflix. ’nuff said.

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Not Even The King by Alicia Keys.

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The book is a bit old. The first edition was published in 1998 and the one I have is from 2005. Therefore, it doesn’t include what I’m most interested in about him, which is his philanthropy.

Nonetheless, Bill Gates is one of the most prolific business man in the history of this planet. Not only he has amassed one of the biggest fortunes ever; but also his company has revolutionized technology and changed the world, whether you like it or not. So, there’s probably a lot to learn from him.

Here are the notes I took while reading the book. They are not in any particular order or connected in any particular way. This isn’t supposed to be a summary, review or essay. It may even have some key information or examples missing. They are just thoughts and direct quotes that caught my attention and I felt like marking or writing down to try to retain them in my memory. 

People.

Companies’ success is truly about the few highly talented people that are part of the team. As Gates said, in that regard, Microsoft follows the Pareto Principle: 80% of  its success is thanks to 20% of the people.

It seems obvious, but besides looking to work with highly intelligent people that can come up with great ideas, you should be teaming up with people that are open and eager to learn new things all the time.

Management style.

Microsoft follows a philosophy very similar to a famous quote by Peter Drucker: the best way to have access to strategic technology is to create it yourself.

It’s not surprise that Microsoft’s management style is kind of “darwinian”. The ability to adapt to change and react quickly is paramount to survive in the organization and even prosper. There are reports that state that they fire 5% of their worst performers in order to have on their team only the best of the best. As a results, employees know that their coworkers are as good as them and willing to put in the effort (or changes are made otherwise).

At the core of every important decision, there’s conflict. Microsoft is a company that is constantly at war, both with outside organizations and within itself. This is because Bill Gates built a culture where “yes-people” were not welcomed. Challenging ideas or decisions is expected, even the ones he makes. One of Gates’ qualities that his coworkers admire is his ability to accept his mistakes and his willingness to learn better methodologies or technologies if they are brought to his attention.

Business model.

You have to make sure that you are the one who replaces your product, instead of letting others do so. As a matter of fact, Microsoft invests billions of dollars in research and development, because they know the products they sell will become obsolete every couple of years.

According to Gates, these are the keys to manage product development:

• Hire smart people.
• If you want to create creative products, foster a creative environment.
• Work with small teams.
• Give people time to think.
• Don’t make a decision twice. Take the time you need (but not too long) to nail it on your first try.
• Establish a quick feedback-loop, specially if you are working with clients.
• Learn from your mistakes.

Another maxim at Microsoft is to always be aware of your competition or who might take a shot at theme. Therefore is imperative to always be thinking about what could missing in themselves that could take them to the top.

What others think about him.

Bill Gates is a revolutionary, but many think that he can’t be considered that because the ideas he popularized were not his own. However, as Bob Lewis wrote, Gates spent his career recognizing good ideas, transforming them into products and selling them with great success. Most revolutionary people have similar stories. They usually aren’t theorists, pioneers or investors. Those are other people. Important people, but not revolutionaries. Revolutionaries are the ones that change the world putting those ideas into practice.

The technology gap and its effect on society.

It’s obvious to everyone that younger generations are more adept to technology in general and in particular Internet. We grew up with it, or, in the cases of even younger people, were born with it. However, older generations, regardless of their education level, struggle a bit more and are not as exposed to  it. And with all the benefits and opportunities that technology and internet bring ti the table, it also comes with some drawbacks. It can create different perceptions of the world between different generations, and even parts of society, which causes confusion, dissent and widens the “gap” between people.

Final thoughts.

What matter is the future, so you shouldn’t look back so often to the past. Only to learn from mistakes, but not to dwell on decisions or shortcomings.

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