The definite list of everything you missed this year

Want to be cultured this Christmas? From TV to podcasts to books, Ed Power has the definite list of everything you missed this year - so you can curl up on the couch and catch up

The tree twinkles in the corner of the room (focus on the seasonal joy, not the January ESB bill). Tinsel glitters from every nook. If you’re extra keen you’ll have already arranged over-sized red stockings around the fireplace. Can you believe it: Christmas… it’s almost here!

It hasn’t been all carols and fairy lights, if we’re being honest. There have been gifts to buy, children to placate, Santa letters to write, beloved family members to endure (don’t worry, they’ll be leaving soon).

But after the festive storm, comes the calm. So get ready to sit back, allow the hush wash over you and give yourself permission to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Oh and while you’re chilling – what better time to catch up on all those shows, albums, books etc you’ve been too exhausted to delve into through the year? Here then is your ultimate Christmas culture catch-up.

Streaming

Disney + isn’t yet with us, which means you’ll have to wait until March for new Star Wars spin-off the Mandalorian (an intergalactic bounty hunter of our acquaintance assures us it is very good). As of now, the only way to enjoy the series is via the Baby Yoda memes devouring the internet one adorable chunk at a time.

What you can sink your figurative teeth into, however, is the best of Netflix and Amazon Prime. The former requires no publicity. Amazon, by contrast, remains relatively underrated despite some excellent shows.

These include superhero parody The Boys, which is addictive but, be warned, quite gory. Plus there’s fantasy series Carnival Row, featuring Cara Delevingne as a renegade steampunk fairy from South County Dublin (it makes more sense in the context, believe us).

And you should carve out some Crimbo time for Amazon’s likeable if flawed retelling of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens (Michael Sheen and David Tennant are an angel and devil in cahoots).

Also recommended is Modern Love, an adaptation of a New York Times column and podcast about romance in its many shapes and sizes.

The series is brought to the screen by John Carney, the Dubliner behind Once and Sing Street. Where those films were valentines to city by the Liffey, Modern Love is an homage to New York. It may remind you of your favourite Woody Allen movies back when you were allowed watch Woody Allen movies (Irish Twitter will be conducting door-to-door searches to ensure you aren’t).

Anne Hathaway pops up as a bipolar woman in an episode that riffs on La-La-Land (but is many times less annoying); “hot priest” Andrew Scott plays one half of a gay couple looking to adopt and Sharon Horgan directs Tina Fey and Mad Men’s John Slattery in a wry look at a marriage coasting by on afterburners.

And if the treacle is slapped on at moments, what is Christmas for if not sinking into a warm bath of schmaltz?

Netflix for its part continues to roll out its heavy artillery. Season three of The Crown has been largely acclaimed (though some of us considered it a tad repetitive), and Olivia Colman has settled in instantly as the middle-aged version of Claire Foy (aka Queen Elizabeth).

But if romping royals don’t light your Christmas candle, how better to pass December 25 than negotiating all three plus hours of Scorsese’s The Irishman? Starring the hall of fame tag-team of De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci it starts in a flurry of excitement and then turns increasingly despairing. So just like a certain time of the year then.

Podcasts

We’re hurtling towards peak podcast — there really is one catering to every niche (how long you wonder until the Great Podcast Crash?). Everyone will have their favourites and it’s difficult to offer straight-up recommendations given how widely tastes vary.

Still, if you enjoyed Modern Love on Amazon you might enjoy the podcast from which it was partly adapted (as we say, both are spin-offs of a newspaper column).

Closer to home,with season two of the Sophie Toscan du Plantier true crime podcast West Cork currently in production now is a good time to delve into the extraordinary debut series (available via Amazon’s Audible App).

And you may get a kick out of Motherfoclóir which explores the Irish language with an enthusiasm which will come as a huge novelty to anyone who has had to endure the Irish education system. Peig, rest assured, receives barely a mention.

Music

Streaming has saved the music industry (though artists may quibble whether it has done much to help them pay the rent). And 2019 was a strong 12 months for pop. Again, picking the year’s best comes down to personal inclination.

Still, critics have narrowed it down to Norman F***ing Rockwell by Lana Del Rey, I Am Easy To Find by The National, Remind Me Tomorrow by Sharon Van Etten, Titanic Rising by Weyes Blood, UFOF by Big Thief, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish, When I Get Home by Solange, Igor by Tyler, The Creator. Ghosteen by Nick Cave and Western Stars by Bruce Springsteen.

Among the best Irish album, by general consensus, are When I Have Fears by Cork-Dublin quartet The Murder Capital, Dogrel by Fontaines DC and The Livelong Day by Lankum.

The last is a revisionist trad concept-piece built around a baroque 12 minute reinterpretation of the Wild Rover. You won’t want to slap it on at the Christmas disco but it certainly leaves a impression.

Board games

Forget the awful Monopoly, Ludo etc. For a proper board game experience you’ll need to visit a specialised gaming shop, such as Other Realms or the Tabletop board game cafe, both in Cork. For the family we recommend Throw, Throw Burrito — a high-octane food-themed cross between “snap” and Dodgeball.

You may also enjoy the brain-bending puzzle aspect of Azul or Splendour.

For something different, Fog Of Love simulates the ups- and-downs of a relationship. Or you might enjoy Zombicide: Invader, featuring zombies and spacebases. How can you go wrong with zombies and spacebases?

Books

No two readers have the same tastes. However, the consensus is Margaret Atwood’s joint-Booker winner The Testaments is a worthy follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale (plot twist: Aunt Lydia is the heroine).

Irish crime writer Tana French has for her part won mainstream literary acclaim — rare for a “genre” novelist — for The Wych Elm.

Worth perusing if the BBC/RTÉ adaptation of her Dublin Murders series left you hankering for more. With Brexit still looming, Max Porter’s Lanny, meanwhile is a creeping meditation on English identity that unfolds like a post-modern Wicker Man. And what says Christmas like a post-modern Wickerman?