On my Favorite Stuff in 2024

Not a 'top ten' or 'best' list, just a few things that lit my fire last year.

Léa Drucker and Samuel Kircher in Catherine Breillat’s new film, Last Summer.

I don’t read enough books, watch enough films, see enough plays, listen to enough albums, hear enough live music or attend enough art exhibitions to authoritatively identify the “best” of this or any year. And anyway, that wouldn’t be a list you could use; the plays and exhibitions referenced below have closed.

Instead, I offer this reflection on books, films, plays and basically experiences that particularly resonated with me: My personal favorites of 2024. These are organized loosely and appear in no particular order. Enjoy!

Beth Sobo Turk and Nehemiah Creel in Fly By Night.

FLY BY NIGHT, GALLERY THEATRE - It seems appropriate to begin with the live theater experience that literally moved me (and pretty much everyone else who saw it) to tears: Gallery Theater’s fall production of Fly By Night, a 2014 “rock fable” musical by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick and Kim Rosenstock, and directed by Seth Renne. There are good productions, and even great productions, but some go beyond all that and catch lightning in a bottle, and this was the rare play that did that. Also …

Macbeth, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland.
Born with Teeth, Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Lizard Boy, Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Gather Repertory, Newberg.

Excluding the many films I saw for the McMinnville Short Film Festival, I saw about 30 films last year, half a dozen of those in theaters. The most enjoyable of the bunch on the big screen:

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Dune, Part II
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
Civil War

Then, either on disc or streaming at home, favorites included:

Pina — This is the only film that I watched twice.
Knives Out
Evil Does Not Exist
Last Summer

The second floor of the Chehalem Cultural Center.

CHEHALEM CULTURAL CENTER - I shot the photo above in one of my favorite places, a sprawling art and culture non-profit in Newberg, Oregon. I’ve been going there regularly since 2018 to see visual art exhibitions, but this year, they literally took it to a new level: The second floor, which includes a gorgeous theater where I saw both Gather Repertory’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and a modern dance production by Portland’s Push/Fold. My aversion to and awkwardness with “peopling” notwithstanding, the opening night gala/reception was a highlight of the year for me.

Dennis Evans, no doubt thinking deep thoughts.

I took two very deep dives with artists in 2024. The first was Gary Westford, a conceptual painter over in Salem. The Hallie Ford Museum of Art asked me to write the booklet that accompanied a show of his there over the summer, so I spent the first couple months of the year working with Gary on that, talking to him about influences, studying his paintings, visiting his studio, etc. A fantastic experience.

Then, the HFMA brought in a retrospective exhibition for Seattle artist and polymath Dennis Evans, pictured above. I didn’t spend as much time talking to him as Gary, but I spent considerably more time reading about and studying his complex work, which is the sort that demands deep engagement through multiple viewings. You can read my conversation with him here.

Arnold Böcklin 1858 painting, Pan in the Reeds

I engaged more with poetry in 2024 than I have previously, one reason for which was an absorbing episode of the podcast Weird Studies back in July: By Heart: On Memory, Poetry and Form. In this episode, hosts J.F. Martel and Phil Ford used two poems (which they recited from memory) as a springboard for a fascinating discussion: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Kahn, and Elizabeth Browning’s A Musical Instrument, in which the great god Pan (illustrated above) is the star. Also, it was also stimulating engaging with the work of Portland poet Valerie Witte and having a great conversation with her about it. Her A Rupture in the Interiors and, particularly, her collaboration with Sarah Rosenthal, The Grass Is Greener When the Sun is Yellow, were among the highlights.

GREEN DAY - In September I took my 15-year-old son to see Green Day in Portland with a friend. Given the absurdly complicated adventure it took to even get there (the concert started at 7:30 p.m., and we arrived at our seats at 7:28 p.m.) and the fact that this was literally the first big rock concert I’ve ever attended, this is one experience I won’t soon forget. Great concert, Billie Joe Armstrong is an extraordinary artist and, I sense, a decent human being.

BOOKS — Here’s the category I’ve been putting off, because I am embarrassed by the simple fact that, despite the fact that I am always reading, it is tremendously difficult to summon the requisite attention and discipline to actually finish a book. Improving my reading practice really in 2025 is really my only New Year’s resolution. Happily, I am off to a good start, having already finished two: Zoë Bossiere’s marvelous Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir, and The Autobiography of Malcom X, which I listened to on Audible.

A (very few) highlights from 2024: I read (i.e., listened) for the first time Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. On Audible, I also dipped deeply into Werner Herzog’s Every Man For Himself and God Against All, Elizabeth Neumann’s Kingdom of Rage, and Jill Lepore’s These Truths: A History of the United States. I re-read most of Frankenstein and also the first volume of Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant fantasy series from the late 1970s, Lord Foul’s Bane. I’d eventually like to write about the entire thing, particularly in light of Me Too, but that’s a big ask: Six books.

Apocrypha: The Art of Dennis Evans by Seattle art critic Matthew Kangas was surely the best non-fiction book I read all the way through. Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are the plays I spent the most time with—the former because I performed in it at Gallery Theater, and the latter because I’ll direct it this year, also at Gallery. Best short story I read, or at least remember: Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds, which was the basis for the Hitchcock film.

PERIODICALS I DUG IN 2024

I am hopelessly and forever addicted to the print editions of magazines and newspapers, but increasingly I’ve been turning to my iPad daily to check the latest from The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, all of which have a nice interface on the page-sized screen. In print, I’ll check out The Nation, The New York Review, The Nation, Artforum and sometimes The Hedgehog Review and The Sun, the latter particularly for the long-form interviews. Of course, I subscribe to and read the local papers, The Oregonian and the News-Register. Local readers, please, please, please subscribe to the latter if you’re financially able. On Substack, I’d say my absolute, can’t-do-without favorite is Ted Gioia’s The Honest Broker.

EPILOGUE

This really isn’t the ‘Year in Review’ piece I’d imagined or wanted, and am sending it out in this form only because I just want it over and done with. I’d hoped to include much more, including a few thoughts about individual works and more links, but the days got away from me, distractions mounted, and my notes weren’t nearly as organized as I’d thought. I pledge to do better for 2025. Ideally, I’d like to do separate entries for books, plays, films, etc. We’ll see.

Finally, a tremendous thanks to all of you, my subscribers, who have signed up for this meandering ride, and a special thanks to those who are on board as paid subscribers. Every time I see a new one, I’m like … wow. Paying or not, subscribing or not, I’m grateful for all who take the time to read my stuff. If you like what you see here, please share with friends and family, and especially makers and creatives.