Friday 5 for July 7: Midyear examination

More questions from Scrivener's Friday 5 page.

1. What has been a nice surprise in this first half of the year?

Nothing surprisingly nice has happened to me so far. Most of the time everything stays the same.

2. What’s the best new (new-to-you or brand-new) music, TV, or reading you consumed this year?

MUSIC

If I had to rate my top 20 "new" songs so far this year, this is what it would be (based on chart performance of my weekly Current Top 20 Hits that I post here and here  - click the links).

Rank	Title	Artist	Peak	WAP	Total Weeks
1	Ghost	Tom MacDonald	1	7	21
2	Anti-Hero	Taylor Swift	1	5	23
3	Love Again	The Kid LAROI	1	2	10
4	End of the World	Tom MacDonald featuring John Rich	1	2	10
5	Wish You The Best	Lewis Capaldi	1	2	11
6	Flowers	Miley Cyrus	1	2	13
7	I Feel Like Dancing	Jason Mraz	1	2	13
8	Pointless	Lewis Capaldi	1	2	16
9	Karma / Karma (featuring Ice Spice)	Taylor Swift	1	2	8
10	Lux Æterna	Metallica	1	2	9
11	Eyes Closed	Ed Sheeran	1	1	12
12	Lost	Linkin Park	1	1	14
13	Get Her Back	Michael Ray	1	1	9
14	Blind For Love	American Authors	2	3	14
15	I'll Be Seeing You	Iam Tongi	2	1	6
16	Evangeline	Stephen Sanchez	3	2	13
17	Lavendar Haze	Taylor Swift	3	1	11
18	I'm Feelin' Good (Steve Miller Band)	King Calaway	3	1	11
19	Trustfall	P!nk	3	1	11
20	Bejeweled	Taylor Swift	3	1	12

Key - Rank | Peak Position | Weeks at Peak (WAP) | Total Weeks on Top 20 

Rapper Tom MacDonald has held the #1 position on my Current Top 20 song longer than any other this year with his song "Ghost". It's an indie record (like all of his others) that most radio stations refused to play, even though this is just a simple love song to his significant other Nova Rockerfeller, who is the producer of most of his videos. MacDonald has amassed a large YouTube following and has sold many records / songs / digital downloads.

TV (My Top 10 TV Shows this year; old and new; I watch a lot of YouTube)

 

1. 1883 (Paramount+) Yellowstone prequel series

2. 1923 (Paramount+) Yellowstone prequel series

3. Star Trek Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)

4. The Expanse (Seasons 1 - 3 so far; 4 -6 to be watched soon; Amazon Prime)

5. Babylon 5 (Tubi TV - Classic scifi from 1993-1998 - rewatch)

6. Sleeperdude  / Sleeperdude 2 (YouTube - A family that fixes old cars)

7. The Flight Channel (YouTube - airline crash accounts / computer simulations)

8. Airline Videos (YouTube - live streaming from LAX, CA. take offs and landings)

9. Adventures Made From Scratch (YouTube - A guy who crushes cars at his junkyard)

10. Melinda (YouTube - Vinyl Record Reviews)

11. Kilauea Volcano Live (YouTube - USGS live feed of active volcano in Hawaii)

I take a long time going through books since I skip around from book to book. None listed right now.

3. What have you learned so far in 2023?

• Our high school in Honokaa will be celebrating their 135th anniversary in July 2024.
• I will likely not be going to see the total solar eclipse on the mainland on April 8, 2024.
• Cars that rely on computer tech are expensive to repair. Better to keep my old Toyota.
• The European Union will force smartphone makers to have removable batteries on their devices. I hate built in batteries.
• Electric car technology involves a lot of child labor in Africa mining for lithium and other metals that are required for manufacturing EV batteries.
• Hawaiian Airlines have become the carrier for Amazon Prime Air. Hopefully our Amazon orders get here faster than before. The airline has acquired Prime Air branded A330-300 freighters.
• My former boss State Senator Sam Slom died this year.
• There are more free streaming TV channels online this year than there were last year.
• My film cameras all need to have their corroding light baffles replaced.
• Can you believe in addition to having their call center in Manila, Philippines, that Hawaiian Air will now farm out their major aircraft maintenance to the Philippines.. and many do not speak English as their first language. I think the FAA requires English proficiency. Cutting corners?
• Southwest Airlines flies the Boeing 737-Max jets to and from Hawaii and inter-island.

4. What is the outlook for the rest of your 2023?

Uncertain and most likely more expensive.

5. What can you do this week to make someone else’s 2023 better?

Be a better listener.