2015 ended up being the worst year and best year for me personally. I lost my Dad to pancreatic cancer on Memorial Day weekend but gained a Son in September. Things that got me through the tough times this year were the music, TV shows and movies of 2015. Hopefully 2016 is a much better year!

Music

My Top 20 Favorite Albums of 2015:
1. The Skints – FM
2. Protoje – Ancient Future
3. Pilfers – From Far
4. Chris Trapper – Symphonies of Dirt & Dust
5. White Buffalo – Love and the Death of Damnation
6. Stick Figure – Set In Stone
7. Midnight Mantics – Mixtape Vol. 1
8. Jr Thomas and the Volcanoes – Beware
9. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Chasing Yesterday
10. Mat Kearney – Just Kids
11. Cheerleader – The Sunshine of Your Youth
12. Tuxedo – Tuxedo
13. Greenland Whalefishers – The Thirsty Cave
14. Popes of Chilitown – To The Moon
15. Enya – Dark Sky Island (yes I like Enya)
16. Slightly Stoopid – Meanwhile Back at the Lab…
17. Chris Murray Combo – Buckle Up
18. The Mahones – The Hunger and the Fight Part 2
19. Good Riddance – Peace In Our Time
20. Family of the Year – Family of the Year

Albums I Should Have Included On Last Year’s Best-Of List:
Backbeat Soundsystem – Together Not Apart
Vic Ruggiero – This

I’m Looking Forward to Hearing New Music From:
Carbon Leaf
The Levellers
Tom Waits
Trapper Schoepp & The Shades
Buju Banton
The Pietasters
Ballyhoo!
Griffin House
Jordan Klassen
The Rifles
Willie Nile

Favorite Songs of the Year:
“Tazer Beams” – The Skints
“Answer to my Name” – Protoje
“Nothing’s Ever Good Enough” – Pilfers
“If You’re Still There” – Chris Trapper
“In This Love” – Stick Figure
“Home Is In Your Arms” – The White Buffalo
“City of Dreamers” – Midnight Mantics
“Billion” – Mat Kearney
“Better Man” – Leon Bridges
“Rescue” – The Movement
“The Master” – Jr Thomas and the Volcanoes
“The Prophet” – Slightly Stoopid
“The Sunshine of Your Youth” – Cheerleader
“Thief” – The Fratellis
“Make You Mine” – Family of the Year
“Wherever You Go” – Sublime with Rome
“Josephine” – Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls
“I Feel Amazing” – Richie Campbell
“Ride On” – Rocky Nti
“This Town” – The Skints
“Wisdom Teeth” – Popes of Chilitown
“White Lies” – Stereophonics
“Paralysed” – A Silent Film
“Number One” – Tuxedo
“It’s All Over But The Shouting” – JD McPherson

Top 10 Favorite Concerts of the 2015:

Fishbone/Easy Star All-Stars/The Skints @ Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY
Mighty Mighty Bosstones @ Webster Hall, NYC
Willie Nile @ City Winery Hudson Square, NYC
Fat Wreck 25th Anniversary Concert @ Stone Pony Summerstage, Asbury Park, NJ
Pilfers @ The Wick, Brooklyn, NY
Dropkick Murphys/The Mahones @ Irving Plaza, NYC
Rise Against/Killswitch Engage @ Central Park, NYC
The Slackers/The Pietasters @ Irving Plaza, NYC
Mustard Plug/Survay Says!/Rude Boy George @ Knitting Factory, Brooklyn NY
Reel Big Fish/Less Than Jake/Ballyhoo @ Best Buy Theater, NYC

Best Live Band of the Year:
The Skints

Old Band I Just Got Into This Year:
The Comsat Angels

Bands Need To Stop:
Removing letters from their names
Adding numbers to their names

Movies

My Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2015 (that I’ve seen):
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. The Martian
4. Ant-Man
5. Inside Out
6. Jurassic World
7. The Avengers: Age of Ultron
8. Trainwreck
9. Furious 7
10. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Movies I Wanted To See But Haven’t Seen Yet:

Bridge of Spies
The Hateful 8
The Peanuts Movie
Creed
Spectre
Black Mass
The Good Dinosaur
The Revenant

Top 10 Favorite Film/TV Scores:

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams
2. Mad Max: Fury Road – Tom Holkenborg
3. Man from U.N.C.L.E. – Daniel Pemberton
4. Jurassic World – Michael Giacchino
5. Inside Out – Michael Giacchino
6. In The Heart of the Sea – Roque Baños
7. Bridge of Spies – Thomas Newman
8. Game of Thrones: Season 5 – Ramin Djawadi
9. Outlander Volume 2 – Bear McCreary
10. The Martian – Harry Gregson-Williams

Movie I Liked But Could Have Been Better:
Vacation

Best Documentaries of the Year (that I’ve seen):

Going Clear
All Things Must Pass

The Worst Movies of the Year (that I’ve seen):

Terminator Genisys
Fifty Shades of Grey
San Andreas

Annoying Characters In A Movie:
Sarah Connor – Terminator Genisys
The kids in Jurassic World

Funniest Cameo in a movie:
Jimmy Buffett as the 2 drinks guy falling down in Jurassic World

The Trailer That Gave Away Everything Award:
Terminator Genisys

Movies That Looked Bad Even Without Watching Them:
Jupiter Ascending
Pan
Pixels
Fantastic Four

Most Quotable Movies of the Year:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ant-Man
Trainwreck

Scene Stealers in 2015: 

BB-8 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Flame Guitar player – Mad Max: Fury Road
Anger – Inside Out

Best Blu-Ray of the Year:
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies: Extended Edition

Most Anticipated Movies of 2016:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
X-Men: Apocalypse
Deadpool
Suicide Squad
Independence Day: Resurgence
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Ghostbusters
Star Trek Beyond

TV

Favorite TV Series of the Year:

1. Game of Thrones

2. Marvel’s Jessica Jones
3. Marvel’s Daredevil
4. Mr Robot
5. Catastrophe
6. Veep
7. The Walking Dead
8. Justified
9. Better Call Saul
10. Life in Pieces
11. Silicon Valley
12. Marvel’s Agent Carter
13. Marvel’s Agents of Shield
14. Ballers
15. Ash Vs Evil Dead
16. The Last Man on Earth
17. @Midnight
18. Homeland
19. Jim Gaffigan Show
20. Mike Tyson Mysteries

Funniest Mini-series:
Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp

Favorite Political Shows of The Year:

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Daily Show
 with Jon Stewart / Trevor Noah

Favorite Documentary-Style Series:
The Jinx

Stupidest Cliffhangers:
Is Glenn dead or not – The Walking Dead
Is Jon Snow dead or not – Game of Thrones

New Shows I Hope Don’t Suck:
Preacher
Billions
Vinyl
Marvel’s Luke Cage
Westworld

Most Annoying TV Characters:
Ward – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Just die already!)
The Sand Snakes – Game of Thrones
Ron – The Walking Dead

Shows That Are Slipping:
Castle
Person of Interest
Homeland

A Good Show That Got Canceled:
The Brink

Best TV Show Intro of the Year:

Game of Thrones (still)

Best Episode of any TV series this season:
Hardhome – Game of Thrones

Stupidest Characters in a Series:
Fear The Walking Dead

TBS, Please Stop Airing:
Lame ‘90s 2 Broke Girls commercial, and also stop airing 2 Broke Girls too

I Would Like To Watch But Have No Time:
Fargo

Worst TV Series of the Year:
True Detective

Guilty Pleasure Shows to Watch on Weekends:
American Pickers
Rick Steve’s Europe
Rudy Maxa

Favorite Late Night Talk Series:

Conan
Jimmy Kimmel Live

Random Stuff

Favorite Podcasts of the Year:
Nerdist
WTF with Marc Maron
Seeing Red: New York Red Bulls podcast

Favorite Web Video Series:
Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee
The Screen Junkies show
Bad Lip Reading

The Only Thing Worth Watching on Twitch:
Bob Ross Mondays!

Favorite Comedians of the Year:

Bill Burr
Anthony Jeselnik
Todd Barry

Best Mobile Apps:

HBO Go

Netflix

Comedy Central App
Disney Movies Anywhere

Books I Read In 2015:
Alan Doyle – Where I Belong

Things I Learned in 2015:
Cancer really, really fucking sucks