Best of 2024 — Dane C. Johns

Hey, here are my favorite movies, tv shows, music, books, and other things of 2024

My Favorite Fifteen Movies of 2024

1- Challengers

2- His Three Daughters

3- Civil War

4- Inside Out 2

5- Deadpool & Wolverine

6- Dune 2

7- Furiosa

8- Bikeriders

9- Alien: Romulus

10- Trap

11- A Complete Unknown

12- Saturday Night

13- Rebel Ridge

14- Y2K

15- I Saw the TV Glow

Honorable Mentions / Superlatives:

Best Title: My Old Ass

Best Space Spider Best Friend: Spaceman

Favorite Movie That Was Ezra’s Favorite Movie: Twisters

A Movie to Make You Cry When Your Battery Runs Dry: Wild Robot

Weird Movie I Saw Because Major Told Me It Would Be Good (It was Good): Rumours

They Don’t Make Them Like This Anymore, Except When They Do: Fall Guy

Zaniest Jim Carrey Dance Sequence: Sonic 3

Movie Where Eli Found a Cursed Minion Paw: Despicable Me 4

Better Than It Should Have Been, I Guess: Transformers One

Hey, Not a Bad Family Movie: IF

I Regret Making Stacy See This One For Several Reasons: Drive Away Dolls

The Two Worst Movies I Saw All Year Listed in Descending Order:

29- The Front Room

30- Garfield

Three Kinda Bad, Kinda Good, But Mostly Bad True Crime Docs on Netflix

1- American Nightmare

2- Lover Stalker Killer

3- Dancing with the Devil

Four Movies I Rewatched This Year That Held Up

1- Annihilation

2- Hustle

3- Happy Gilmore

4- Step Brothers

Five Family Movie Night Rankings

1- Spider-Man: No Way Home

2- School of Rock

3- E.T.

4- Turning Red

5- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Six Family Cartoon/TV Power Rankings

1- Bluey Reigns Supreme

2- X-Men ’97

3- Gravity Falls

4- Star Wars Rebels

5- Owl House

6- Inside Out Dream Creations

Weird Little Guy: Gudetama

My Top Ten Favorite Shows of the Year

1- X-Men ‘97

2- Fargo

3- Mr & Mrs Smith

4- Ripley

5- The Acolyte

6- Agatha All Along

7- Never Have I Ever (2023- s4)

8- True Detective: Night Country

9- Nobody Wants This

10- Black Doves

**Three Shows I Watched From Years Past* That Were Great**

1- White Lotus (S1, S2)

2- What We Do in the Shadows (S4, S5)

3- Over the Garden Wall

*"hey, didn't you have Never Have I Ever up there in your official rankings even though that came out in 2023?" oh...yeah, I guess so, but it's fine.

Four Shows I’m Still Watching, But Haven’t Finished Yet Otherwise They’d Probably Be Better Than Black Doves:

1- Shrinking

2- Skeleton Crew

3- Silo

4- The Bear S4

Best Talk Show: Everybody is in LA with John Mulaney

Three Shows I Started but DNF:

Echo

Three Body Problem

That Will Forte Netflix Podcast show that was actually pretty good, it just got away from us

Top Ten Favorite Albums

1- Touche Amore- Spiral in a Straight Line

2- Pedro the Lion - Santa Cruz

3- Kendrick Lamar - GNX

4- Christian Lee Hutson - Paradise Pop 10

5- IDLES - TANGK

6- Foxing (self titled)

7- Tyler, the Creator - Chromakopia

8- Balance & Composure- With You in Spirit

9- MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

10- Childish Gambino - Bando Stone & The New World

Honorable Mentions: Bright Eyes, Alkaline Trio, Doechii, Adrianne Lenker, Cursive, Carly Cosgrove, Vampire Weekend, Mannequin Pussy, Grandaddy

One Best Song

"Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar

Two Solid EPs

Wilco - Hot Sun Cool Shroud

Militarie Gun- Live Under the Sun

Three Great Live Albums:

Mewithoutyou- Live Vol 1

The National - Rome

Talking Heads Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Version - actually came out 2023)

Best Concerts I Saw All Year

1- AJR at the Bridgestone Arena on 7/31 with Stacy

2- Joyce Manor with Gaslight Anthem on 8/27 with Taylor in Cincy

3- Pedro the Lion in Nashville at Basement East with Major 7/8

4- Jason Isbell at the Victory Theatre with Brady & Isaiah 3/10

5- Alkaline Trio at the Pageant with Caraway, Gabe & Cale plus a lot of friends

Best Local Show(s):

Bad Taste, Bad Ghost & Trophy Shop at Hangar on 2/24/24

Stella, Hans Predator, Bad Taste at Booby’s 4/13

Favorite Podcast Episode: Andy Hull on You Made It Weird w/ Pete Holmes 3/13/24

Favorite Show I Played: 11/22 Daneyards for the Cedar Shakes album release show

Five More Favorites:

11- Hell is a World Without You by Jason Kirk (2024)

12- Lost: Back to the Island— The Critical Companion to the Classic TV Series (2024) by Emily St James & Noel Murray

13- Anxious People by Fredrick Backman (2019)

14- World Within A Song by Jeff Tweedy (2023)

15- I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Both Real and Imagined) by Chuck Klosterman (2013)

Favorite Self Motivation Type Book: Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

Favorite Surprise Tom Delonge Appearance: Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs by Luis Elizondo

Very Short Audio “Book”- Congratulations By the Way by George Saunders

Six Favorite Graphic Novels

1- The Nice House on the Lake Parts One & Two by James Tynion & Alvaro Martinez Bueno

2- Infinity Gauntlet by Jim Starlin & George Perez (1991)

3- Captain America: Winter Soldier Complete Collection (2004)

4- Luminous Beings by David Arnold & Jose P (9/14/24)

5- Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1: Married With Children by Jonathan Hickman (10/6)

6- New X-Men vol 6: Planet X by Grant Morrison and Phil Jimenez (12/26)

One Book I DNF (still, not a bad book though): The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley(45%)

Comics/Titles I Stayed Up With on the Marvel Comics App: X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man, X-Force, X-Factor, Excalibur, Wolverine, etc etc

Best Video Game: The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom

One Run On Rambling Sentence About (Some of) Everything Else:

Bought new shoes with Fantasy Football winnings, finally got the flex back so we can flex at other flexes, watched the Super Bowl with K Pop, went bowling with friends and my hair smelled like the bowling alley even after two washes, started rebuilding an old go kart with Ezra, had to cancel the long-planned LSU trip due to illness, went to Garden of the Gods on a solo hike, found someone else’s glasses on my solo hike, playing dodge ball in the house, the way Ewan says “bumpy,” Ezra complaining about Beta Club, playing basketball in the wind and everyone getting pissed, alkaline trio’s technical difficulties, Caitlin Clark, Slim Chickens in Clarksville is my new favorite chicken spot, Bowling Green, Eclipse Con and the Eclipse, Eli celebrated winning Mud the Non-Gold GoldFish at the Denning School Carnival, four hours later we mourned the passing of Mud the Fish, found $5 at Slim Chickens, Eli Fest, going to Rock City, potty training Ewan, Phantom Menace w/ K Pop, may 8th Storm part two, ran the Paducah Half Marathon and saw Weslyn perform Jolene, released new Sleeping Tapes song, sour patch kid oreos taste exactly as gross as they sound, allisweekend in Evansville— jamming new songs, Peephole Lounge which sounds creepier than what it is, rough recordings, grumpy old man, 4 new songs, losing my voice, awesome Indian Food from Yeti & Yak, High Score Saloon, the X-Men arcade game & playing Wes in the fighting games, Chris & I’s fake podcast, the cocktail bar, staying up at Chris’s house until 4am on spring ahead, summer of the Flesh Wolf had me driving repeatedly down Rains road, got a new tattoo, Fourth of July weekend with all the family, really shouldn't have let Eli wish on that cursed Minion paw, Matt Wedding Weekend in Oak Park, stayed at the Carlton with Stacy and most everyone else at the wedding, the Jewetts were across the hall just like it was college, met Matt’s friend Jeff and became good friends quickly, bowled over 100 for 2 games in a row like I had randomly figured out bowling, getting 135 one game which is maybe my highest ever, still potty training Ewan, c-town twist, 7/31-8/3, AJR concert with Stacy and being so lit up that she was so lit up, “oh, there you are,” Stacy’s birthday party, lemonade with Ethan, we all got covid, but made the most of it, staying at the hotel when our air conditioner blew out and Ewan thought we lived there, Ezra and Eli’s Black Market Fry Exchange, pulled my hamstring kicking field goals at the fantasy football combine, limped through the finish at a 5k, almost stepped on a cottonmouth on my solo hike through the Shawnee Forest after worrying forever about stepping on a venomous snake, me and another guy threw sticks at it (which was smart) but it didn't move, in fact it just got angrier, so we eventually went around it, the witches tree, Louisville Book Festival, running over the bridge several days in a row was incredible, Stacy with the sock on her head during a difficult convo, Ewan talking about Luigi’s night toots, the Cedar Shakes album release show, Daneyards, failed to pick a good karaoke song, stillllllll potty training Ewan, getting Nana up North for Thanksgiving felt like a win, coaching Eli’s basketball team, Christmas was awesome even though Ezra already broke his drone, think we might have to sell the Flex so no more flexing on ford flexes, the Rams are gonna make the playoffs, finally got Ewan (mostly) potty trained.