Best of 2012: Pop Culture Edition

And of course, we have my obligatory pop culture "Best Of" lists. It was actually harder than I thought to narrow these down, but Top 10 lists require ruthlessness. So here it is.

Best Albums of 2012

10. The Heavy, The Glorious Dead

9. Passion Pit, Gossamer

8. Japandroids, Celebration Rock

7. Two Door Cinema Club, Beacon

6. Frank Ocean, channel ORANGE

5. Of Monsters and Men, My Head Is An Animal

4. Fun., Some Nights

3. The Killers, Battle Born

2. Mumford and Sons, Babel

1. Imagine Dragons, Night Visions/Continued Silence EP
     - Imagine Dragons wins number one since they were my most played artist this year by far. Definitely my go-to band when I wanted to de-stress or needed a pick-me-up, which was like, all the time.

Best Films of 2012

10. Looper
9. The Hunger Games
8. Lincoln
7. The Queen of Versailles
6. Beasts of the Southern Wild
5. Life of Pi
4. Wreck-It Ralph
3. Silver Linings Playbook
2. The Avengers
1. Moonrise Kingdom

Best TV Shows of 2012

10. Bunheads
9. Louie
8. Breaking Bad
7. Revenge
6. New Girl
5. The Legend of Korra
4. Parenthood
3. Parks and Recreation
2. The Vampire Diaries
1. Community

Best Books I Read This Year

I didn't read that many books this year, but luckily the ones I did read were pretty good. 

7. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
6. The Chocolate Wars by Robert Cormier
5. Son by Lois Lowry
4. The Diviners by Libba Bray
3. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling
2. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
    - Deserves every award it will win this next year. It's a book about cancer, yet not overly sentimental. But it still had me in tears. Just a really real book about kids in a situation they can't control. Just stellar.

Best of 2012

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas - I've definitely enjoyed my break by spending time with family, holing up like a hobbit watching Netflix and reading from my new Kindle Fire, and attending awkward, impromptu high school reunions, where I have to explain what I've been doing for the past year to people I didn't think I'd ever see again.

I always love the end of another year because it's a time to reflect on everything that's happened and it gives me an excuse to do one of my favorite things - make "Best Of" lists! I love making lists in general, and "Best Of" lists are the best kind. So without further ado...

Chelsey's Top 10 Moments of 2012

10. Learned to surf. 

(Just to warn you, a lot of these will come from my time spent in warm, beautiful California this summer.) I was terrified at first because I'm the least coordinated person known to man, but I managed to stay up for a few seconds!! Hahaha. Definitely one of the cooler things I've gotten to do.

Also one of the last times I got to see this girl before she left me for the Lord in Pennsylvania.

 

9. Attended the Sundance Film Festival for the first time. 

As a movie buff, this is something I'd been wanting to do for a while but didn't get a chance to until this year. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any celebrities (I realllly wanted to see Aubrey Plaza and Jake Johnson, but alas) due to the Nightmarish Blizzard the first weekend, but I got to see some cool exhibits in Park City and of course, watch some great films. Check out Safety Not Guaranteed and The Queen of Versailles as soon as you can. Trust me.

8. Went to a bajillion theme parks.

Ok, only four. But I went to a couple of those more than once, so it pretty much adds up to a bajillion. I LOVE roller coasters, so Six Flags Magic Mountain was probably my favorite of the bunch. Knotts Berry Farm was great because there were practically no lines, and Disneyland was of course magical and twee. And it's always a source of nostalgia to come back to Kings Island, the place where I experienced my first case of ride-induced nausea. Even if that ride is no longer in operation (RIP Son of Beast).

7. Road tripped to Las Vegas for the WCC Basketball Tournament. 

Ok, so BYU didn't end up winning, but I had a great time nonetheless. I went with Jessica and Kristen (miss you both!), and we had a great time in Vegas. Although I still can't believe I paid like 10 bucks to ride a roller coaster at midnight. Definitely fun, but was money that could have been spent at Thunder Down Under. (I kid, I kid...)

6. Lot and lots of awesome concerts.

Foster the People. Imagine Dragons. Ingrid Michaelson. Lonestar. Neon Trees. Fictionist. AWOLNATION. Young the Giant. And of course, The Killers. I forgot I went to so many good concerts this year. I even got paid to go to one of them! And all with fabulous people. 

Lonestar at the State Fair

Rooftop Concert with Fictionist

Imagine Dragons

The Killers

5. Chelsey takes on Hollywood. Or rather, Burbank. 

This summer my entertainment geek flag got to fly free as I unashamedly became part of the studio audience on The Price is Right and Conan. That high five from Coco himself just might be the highlight of the year. And who can forget the Warner Brothers Studio Tour, where I basically shelled out $50 to touch the Bat Mobile, and it was totally worth it. Other Hollywood highlights include comedy shows at the UCB and movies in the El Capitan Theatre.

4. Adventures in San Francisco/PRSSA National Conference

I had the pleasure of visiting The City by the Bay not once, but twice, this year. For my internship we got to spend a weekend there and check out the sites, including a boat tour around Alcatraz. I also got to attend the Public Relations Student Society of America's National Conference there, which was a blast and a half. I got to hang with my BYU PR family and eat lots of delicious clam chowder. And see the Tanner family house, a definite highlight. There was also a big bridge someone told me was pretty important. I don't know, all I remember was all the running to catch transportation.

A major award!

3. A coupla job promotions

2012 was a good year for my bank account. I became a supervisor in the ticket office and an account director in the Bradley PR Agency. A great honor, but of course, that also meant more responsibility, and I'm not sure I stayed completely sane throughout the semester. Jury's still out on that one.

 

2. West Coast buddies

The people in my L.A. ward were surprisingly more friendly than I expected (let's be real, I was expecting 90210) and I met some really awesome people during my summer there. I miss them lots and lots but I'll always have great memories of dance parties, movie premieres, beach get-togethers, hikes, Dodgers games, and delicious chicken-and-waffles to remember them by. And who can forget those West Hollywood nights with my best tour guide.

1. Summer and internship in Los Angeles

I got to intern with an awesome agency, Edelman. I got to work with some pretty rad people. I lived in L.A. for basically free. And I learned a lot. It was a pretty swell summer.

These guys were ok.

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Check out my pop culture Best Of Lists here.