2021 Favourites

I heard someone refer to January as the ‘soft launch’ of the new year, with the year really starting on the first of February. It works around the black-and-white constructions of new years’ resolutions, giving you a month to test out which ones are worth sticking to. It also suspends belief for some time that it’s a new year at all — I’m sure all of us can hardly believe it isn’t still 2020.

In the spirit of this free-trial period of 2022, I’m continuing on with 2021 with some thoughts on my favourite things of the year. These are things that I loved, used, consumed, or appreciated throughout the year — they’re not necessarily from 2021 (though some are), and they go across all aspects of life.

So, these are a few of my favourite things ...


Books

I’ve already made a list of the best 10 books I read in 2021, but if I had to pick one fiction and one non-fiction it would be Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo and Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino. For a non-fiction read, Trick Mirror ticked every box for me — it had personal reflection weaved in with witty cultural critique relevant to millennial life. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 was an unexpected favourite however. It was lent to me from my best friend and I hadn’t even heard of it beforehand.

Movies

Okay...so I am not a movie person by any stretch. Between having limited spare time to watch movies in my usual schedule, the four-month lockdown in Sydney in 2021 got even further in the way of my movie-viewing. For me, watching movies is an event — it’s something I book tickets for, eat popcorn and (vegan) choc-tops, and debrief with friends over dinner and wine afterward. If I excluded the few movies I streamed in 2021, my favourite movie would be The Painter and the Thief. This Norwegian documentary follows an unlikely friendship between artist Barbora Kysilkova and Karl-Bertil Nordland, a thief who stole one of her artworks from a gallery. There was an incredible degree of trust and closeness captured in the documentary, which was gently kneaded out through art as the medium. The storytelling seamlessly takes a single-dimensional news story and consistently uncovers layers upon layers of human emotional and social complexity.


TV

Ted Lasso.

Were you expecting anything else? This show was like a warm hug during the longest winter, and made lockdown feel so much less lonely.


Skincare & Beauty

After spending all of my disposable income on skincare at the beginning of the pandemic, I tried to perfect my skincare routine and reduce the cost slightly. I switched my cleanser from the REN Evercalm Gentle Cleansing Milk to the CeraVe Hydrating Cream-to-Foam Cleanser which works just as good if not better and is less than half the price for twice as much product.

As we started going back to working in the office in 2021 (right before we went back into lockdown), the Weekend Skin Hydra Skin Tint from Mecca Cosmetica was a dream product. It’s a moisturising light coverage tint which made me look slightly awake and dewy.


Podcasts

I followed two podcast series which had me hooked:

  • The Sure Thing — Produced by the AFR, the series follows the story of two university friends who committed the biggest insider trading case in Australia. The episodes explore morality, ethical pressures, and workplace psychology in understanding how the crime was planned and ultimately pulled off.

  • The Dropout — ABC Podcasts follows the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes saga from its shaky beginnings to the recent verdict where Holmes was found guilty on four counts of defrauding investors.

An honourable mention goes to a regular favourite, Maintenance Phase, which brings humour and analysis to debunking horrendous diet culture BS.


Youtube

If you love bookish content: Jack Edwards (and his second channel, Jack In The Books) and Uncarley

If you love rants and analysis: Tiffany Ferg and Leena Norms

If you love sport and fitness: Keltie O’Connor and Taylor Woods

If you love vlogs and lifestyle content: Elena Taber, Eve Cornwell and (of course) Emma Chamberlain


Tech

Although I am slowly replacing all of my existing Apple products with Android and PC alternatives, after a few months of research and consideration, I bought an iPad Air. With university regularly online and more readings provided in PDF form rather than the traditional textbooks, it made sense to have something to read on that didn’t require being hunched over at desk. This has been my most valuable purchase! I’ve reduced the double-handling of my notes for uni by annotating my readings directly, and have saved some money by reading library ebooks on my iPad.


Lockdown faves

Some very lockdown specific faves:

LifestyleStephanie McCann2021, lockdown, COVID, favourites, wrap-upComment