My Top 3 of Everything in Pop Culture I Can Think of

A 2024 list - sorrynotsorry!

At the end of every year we get bombarded with lists. Here’s my bomb consisting of the top 3ish of what I listened to, read, and watched in 2024.

Music:

I’ve like pop music since I heard the first pop song on the radio. You know, the kind of music that music nerds make fun of - Top 40, Hot 100, whatever. Top 40 radio is where I first heard R&B and the Motown Sound via WKOR in Starkville, MS - a college town 30 miles away. I remember singing along with The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson Five, The Spinners, The Isley Brothers, Tammi Terrell, and so many others. (Check out this playlist on Spotify.) I remember getting teary listening to “Patches” by Clarence Carter on WKOR the summer I was 13 while shelling butterbeans and peas - lots and lots of butterbeans and peas, we had a big garden. I still get goosebumps when I hear it. I’m sure now some would call it corny, but not me. According to Wikipedia, “The record rose to No. 4 on the Hot 100,^[9] No. 2 on the R&B chart,^[10] and No. 2 on the UK singles chart.^{[11]” “}It won the 1971 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song” which I was pleased to discover while writing this post.

I don’t really keep up with pop music nowadays and rarely listen to commercial radio. Most days will find me streaming everything from Tom Petty Radio, Lithium Radio, or Smokey’s Soul Town on Sirius XM to one of my personal playlists on Spotify.

These days I more often discover new-to-me music through TV series I watch rather than the radio, which is how I discovered the three new-to-me artists below:

1. Waxahatchee

2. Adia Victoria

3. The Red Clay Strays

4. Lagniappe: Don’t miss these music documentaries: Above Us Only Sky about John and Yoko, Willie Nelson and Family about them.

Movies:

I watch way more TV series’ than movies, I think because the movies that are popular now don’t appeal to me. By that I mean super hero, fantasy, and animation which all seem to dominate the scene. I like drama. I like movies about humans in situations. None of the following were released this year but I watched them this year. The three I picked for this list are all about humans in situations, were totally absorbing, and all ended with me saying WOW! There’s no better validation of a movie than that.

1. Leave the World Behind (2023) starring Maheshala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon. I’m picky about apocalyptic films and series. There has to be an element of reality for me not to roll my eyes. The situation in this film could definitely happen. I was rattled for days (& a little paranoid) after watching it. It is so, so good. Just be aware it will freak you out.

2. The Irishman (2019) starring Robert De Nero, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci. A mind-blowing story based on the life of hit-man Frank Sheeran - how he got there and what he did. Great acting, as always, by the triple threat De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci.

3. Nyad (2023) starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster - Of course, I was aware of Diana Nyad having seen her epic swim attempts in the news over the years but that’s basically all I knew. (I should mention I’m not and never have been into competitions or competing.) I decided to watch this film because I think Bening and Foster are phenomenal actors. This movie is phenomenal. I was gobsmacked over what I learned about Nyad and her tenacity, her strength, her commitment. I didn’t always like the way she treated people (in this film, Idk if it commutes to real life) but I can see how her laser focus precluded sensitivity to others. This film held me captive for all of its 120 minutes.

4. Lagniappe: Jayne Mansfield’s Car (2012) starring Billy Bob Thornton, Kevin Bacon, John Hurt. I love a quirky, Southern Gothic film and this one did not disappoint. I had never heard of it before I ran across it on Tubi (I think) where it’s currently streaming. There are so many great one-liners in it, so many scenes that will make you laugh out loud for real. And I do love me some Billy Bob. I recently found out this film is based on actual facts from Billy Bob’s life. Do not miss this movie!

TV - Crime & Spy Dramas

Have I said how much I love crime drama? This was a stellar year with so many great series that I had to really discipline myself to only pick three and what a hard choice it was. I’m not providing links and only minimal comments to my TV picks because most people are familiar and this post is reaching gigantic proportions.

1. Slow Horses, Season 4 (Apple+) - I’m so invested in this series and its characters. Season 4 was dynamite and I can’t wait for season 5. Gary Oldman is a stinky, grumpy gem.

2. True Detective: Night Country, Season 4 (HBO) - This one had a major creepy supernatural mood going on. Jodie Foster and Kali Reis gave masterful performances in a storyline that pulled me in like quicksand.

3. Bad Sisters, Seasons 1 & 2 (Apple+) - Death run amok. Love this dark comedy that’s a crime palate cleanser just when you need one. (Am obsessed with the playlist rn.)

4. Lagniappe: Monsieur Spade (Netflix) - A period piece in a stunning setting that worked really well and omg, Clive Owen. Sigh.

TV - Other than crime/spy

1. Baby Reindeer (Netflix). - the biggest shocker of the TV season for me. A creepy emotional roller coaster.

2. One Day (Netflix) Can I say how often I teared up watching this? Wonderful acting in a heartbreaking story of life and love.

3. Disclaimer (Apple+) Although a crime is committed in this series, it’s all about the why and the how. A sophisticated and twisty production starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline.

4. Lagniappe: Wolf Hall, Season 1 (PBS) - Thoroughly enjoyed watching this for the second time in prep for Season 2 in 2025 (March 23). Mark Rylance and Damien Lewis are fire in this historical series.

Online stories in litmags that wowed me for different reasons:

1. We Never Got to Watch Carol Brady Grow Older by Abby Alton Schwartz in HAD - Fiction. The title says it all. This story is so clever & who doesn’t love pop culture references from back in the day?

2. Blue Collar, Less-Educated, Rough Around the Edges: The Other Marginalized Writers by Mashaw McGuinnis in Brevity. - Essay. Mashaw reminds us that writers come from all walks of life and we should venture out of our tribe for some perspective. Loved this!

3. In the Garden of Gethsemane, a lamp by Jamie Etheridge in Porter House Review - Memoir. Among the most touching personal essays I’ve ever read. Beautiful, lyrical, devastating.

Books:

When I was a younger person I read books voraciously, mostly crime novels. Now I read mostly online litmags, following writers I like via their social media publishing posts. I got into that groove when I started volunteering to read for litmags and it’s stuck. I only finished 15 books this year (not counting books by my online writer friends) and didn’t finish quite a few. I decided a while ago that I don’t have to finish books I’m really not into. I plan to read more books for pleasure in 2025 so that probably means more crime fiction. (Recommendations welcome!)

These are my top 3 books out of the 15 I read. I loved them all. Links will take you to a review or synopsis of the book.

1. The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras (memoir)

2. What Comes Next and How to like It by Abigail Thomas (memoir)

3. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (fiction)

4. Lagniappe: Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri (fiction that reads like memoir) which I just finished.

Social Media

My favorite platform is Instagram because it’s all about the visual….and dogs and cats and gardens and interior design. Here are my top 3 favorites:

1. Picnic for Lunch - home interiors from around the world

2. Wolfgang2242 - A man and his senior dogs, Bikini the pig, Betty the chicken, and Cranberry the turkey

3. Monty Don - Yes, I bow to the potting shed of Monty Don. IYKYK.

4. Lagniappe: New Orleans Instas

   Marco Rasi - Stunning photos of the city

   Lentil “The Fruit Bat” Batiste - John Batiste’s rescue dog - “Mostly hairless. Missing 6 teeth.”

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Finally, I want to shout out a thanks to the lit journals that published my work this year:

Flash Fiction

”Distant Disaster,” Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine

”After Reading A Newspaper Clipping Of Emily Dickinson’s Obituary Online,” Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine (Nominated for the Best Small Fictions 2025 anthology. Thanks!)

“Twerking the Work,” Revolution John

”When You Reach the Breaking Point,” Punk Noir Magazine

”Ass-Whuppin Night,” BULL (anthology)

“The Variable Properties of Water,” Micro Madness

“When the Moon Hits Your Eye,” Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine

“The Solution,” Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine

Creative Nonfiction

“Untold Ways We Disappear,” Still: The Journal

”What Cool Girls Believe,” Emerge Literary Journal

And an extra big thank you to Diane Gottlieb and ELJ Editions for selecting my micro chapbook, Offset Melodies, to be published in 2025. My first!