The best of 2015: movies, TV, music, and books

The final days of the year offer a chance to look back on everything that’s happened in our last revolution around the sun. We’ve looked at TV shows, books, and instances of faux-outrage; now here are some of the words and phrases that defined 2015. These aren’t all new terms, by any means, but all of them played a significant role in some of the biggest stories of the year.

“Anthropocene” is a term first coined in 2000 to describe what scientists believe is a completely new geological epoch caused by humans’ drastic alteration of the planet. While enough people still decry human-caused climate change that the Associated Press coined the new term “climate change doubter” to avoid displeasing them, the scientific consensus is that real action needs to be taken to address the warming of the planet.

The thing about “best of” lists is that there’s only so much you can do before your eyes start crossing and your opinions start blurring into one confusing mass of doubt. Did you see/hear/critique enough to know what was best? Do you remember it well enough? And what does “best” mean, anyway?

As far as 2015’s music goes, we decided to go in a slightly different direction. Rather than sussing out what was best, or best adjacent, or deserving even if we didn’t want to admit it, we decided to go with our instincts.

Back in 2014, a troubadour by the name of Lil Jon, along with hypnotic tunemaker DJ Snake, captured the heart of the nation. “Turn down for what? Turn down for what? Turn down for what? Turn down for what? Turn down for what?” their song proclaimed, a defiant, rhetorical battle cry against stopping a party for anything. Not for lentils. Not for morning yoga. Not for an early business meeting. Not for the police.

But Lil Jon and DJ Snake’s nonstop party is just a fantasy, for most of us anyway. In fact, I’m positive that tonight, on New Year’s Eve, there’s a high probability you’ll attend a party that’s much more terrible, one where you’ll wait 45 minutes for an open bar that you paid for, only to be served an aggressively mediocre vodka tonic. Or maybe you’ll be shuffling around a friend of a friend’s loft with a bunch of people you don’t know, trying to talk to complete strangers about how you met the host.

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of half-hour “dramedies.” While awards shows see these series — which include shows like Louie, Girls, and Transparent — as comedies, thanks to their half-hour run time, I think it’s more accurate to describe them as “dramas with a sense of humor” rather than laugh-out-loud comedies. But that’s the beauty of an ever-growing embarrassment of TV riches: Strict categories are quickly losing their relevance. TV Comedies might no longer be strictly sitcoms, but there are still plenty of shows whose primary objective is to make you laugh. As such, I’ve put together a list of what I found to be the funniest comedies of 2015.

Yes, “best” and “worst” are matters of opinion. But there’s arguably nothing more subjective — or specific to yourself — than what makes you laugh. Accordingly, this list is ordered in terms of my own personal preference, after watching countless hours of comedy this year. I’ve highlighted shows that made me laugh the most, jokes that landed the hardest, and sweet spots hit with freakish accuracy. You may not. In fact, you probably won’t. Senses of humor are tough to quantify, encompassing any combination of lifestyle, upbringing, age, and just plain personal preference.