The Fred's 2021
The Fred's 2021
I was going to do a little Brian dump about NFTs this month, but I want to end the year with some good things rather than give too much attention to the inevitable metaverse. So as NFTs don't seem to be going anywhere, I'm gonna save that rant for next year and instead talk about my favourite things of the year.
When I used to listen to RadioLab religiously, I heard Robert Krulwich on his last radio lab episode discuss "The Bobby’s". As he put it, these were his version of the Oscars, A chance to sum up his experience as an audience member that year. "And the difference between [The Bobby's] and the Oscars... is that I would award the creator of it whenever he or she did the act of creation was not important, it was when I consumed it." Another key caveat is that awards do not need to be won every year, some years no one deserves it.
The archivist in me loved this idea, as did the idler whose homebody lifestyle was about to get a bit more legitimate. So in 2019, I started "The Fred's" with 12 basic categories including Best Album, Best Gig, Best Tv Show, Best Film & Best Food. Over the intervening years, I have added new categories such as "Best First" won by Lockdown in 2020, and "Best Documentary" in 2021 as the film award was getting a little crowded.
With that in mind I want to share some 5 highlights from "The Fred's 2021":
Best Album
Vergangenheitsbewältigung (Crater Speak) by Slauson Malone
An album that gets me so excited about music. It's disorientating and impossible to sing along to but lives rent-free in my head.
Best Food
2hr Baked Potato with cheese and broccoli
The apparent scarcity of baking potatoes in Berlin has made this simple UK dish into a seasonal luxury I always appreciate.
Best App
Before installing I wouldn't have known it was not only possible but also effortless to have a phone free of insidious Google things.
Best Work [by me]
A project that stopped me from eating for a week, had 500,000 visits, made me quit Reddit, and taught me that I need to keep on doing to keep on improving.
Best YouTube
Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan
For something that could just be exploitive 'content', it has no right to be this compassionate, exploratory, and fun. I am so happy stuff like this exists.
That's it for this newsletter this year, and I just wanted to say thank you so much for the support, I have really enjoyed making these.
I hope you all have a great Christmas, New Year etc, and see you for Metaverse rants next year.
Fred
My Website: https://www.fredwordie.com
My Book: https://www.bigdatagirl.com
My VC: https://ventually.xyz