Previously on Adam Riff™:
There was an idea… To bring together a group of disparate people… To see if we could create something more…than a year-end list.
12 people select 10 things they loved from 2021 without any overlap, creating a "best of 2021" list unlike any other.
The League
In randomly-generated snake draft order:
Russell
Umbrella / 2012 Loki / "Me Against the Music"
Ben
Triangle / Kid Loki / "Toxic"
Aaron
Circle / Classic Loki / "Stronger"
Devon
Triangle / Sylvie née Lady Loki / "Circus"
Adam
Triangle / President Loki / "Gimme More"
Molly
Star / Sylvie née Lady Loki / "Work Bitch"
Jeff
Triangle / Cyclist Loki / "I'm a Slave 4 U"
Drew
Umbrella / Alligator Loki / "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"
Jon Y [me]
Circle / President Loki / "You Drive Me Crazy (Stop! Remix)"
Jon B
Circle / Kid Loki / "Oops!… I Did It Again"
Stan
Circle / Classic Loki / "Lucky"
Noelle
Umbrella / Kid Loki / "Overprotected"
Alright.
With the first pick in the 2021 Draft, Russell selected…
R1 • Russell
1. Squid Game
Ben: Am I allowed to take "MCU TV shows" as a whole?
Jon: Let me check.
Drew: Would you let someone draft "every MCU movie that came out this year"?
Jon: League says no.
R1 • Ben
2. Loki
Ben: There are shows I liked more, but there's no way this is making it back to me.
R1 • Aaron
3. Deathloop
R1 • Devon
4. Inside Job
R1 • Adam
5. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson's "Karl Havoc" sketch
R1 • Molly
6. Hacks
Jeff: Damn, Deathloop already off the board.
R1 • Jeff
7. The back half of Succession S03
R1 • Drew
8. Dune: Part One
R1 • Jon Y
9. Bo Burnham: Inside
Jon Y: Y'all really let Inside slip to me.
R1 • Jon B
10. The Milk Carton Kids – "New York Lonely Boy" from Girls5eva
R1 • Stan
11. C'mon C'mon
R1 • Noelle
12. Nine Perfect Strangers
R2 • Noelle
13. The Harder They Fall
R2 • Stan
14. Reservation Dogs
Adam: Fuckin' Stan. I should have flipped my picks.
R2 • Jon B
15. The Nice House on the Lake
R2 • Jon Y
16. The Underground Railroad: "Chapter 9: Indiana Winter"
R2 • Drew
17. Fala Chen and Tony Leung's fight in the forest in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
R2 • Jeff
18. Lucy Dacus' album Home Video
R2 • Molly
19. "Were you silent, or were you silencedt?"
R2 • Adam
20. Pig
R2 • Devon
21. Boldy James and The Alchemist's album Bo Jackson
R2 • Aaron
22. Mare of Easttown
R2 • Ben
23. For All Mankind: "The Grey"
R2 • Russell
24. CM Punk and Bryan Danielson join AEW
R3 • Russell
25. It's a Sin
R3 • Ben
26. r/HermanCainAward, and anti-vax, COVID-denying talk radio hosts dying over and over
R3 • Aaron
27. WandaVision
R3 • Devon
28. The Suicide Squad
R3 • Adam
29. Taylor Swift, intellectual property law, and due dilligence [sic] disasters
R3 • Molly
30. We Are Lady Parts
R3 • Jeff
31. The Beatles: Get Back
R3 • Drew
32. Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend's swollen testicles
R3 • Jon Y
33. Psychonauts 2's level design
R3 • Jon B
34. Titane
R3 • Stan
35. Mythic Quest: "Backstory!"
R3 • Noelle
36. Ted Lasso: "Beard After Hours"
R4 • Noelle
37. All the beautiful Blackity Blackness of Love Life S02
R4 • Stan
38. Christina Ricci's manic energy in Yellowjackets
Stan: I know this is early, but there is no way this is getting back to me.
R4 • Jon B
39. The story of Vader Johan from Big Mouth: "A Very Big Mouth Christmas"
R4 • Jon Y
40. Flatbush Misdemeanors
R4 • Drew
41. Celebrity-endorsed fast food
R4 • Jeff
42. Verstappen vs. Hamilton, and the 2021 F1 season
R4 • Molly
43. The intense feeling of dread created by The White Lotus
R4 • Adam
44. The return of over-the-top album rollouts
R4 • Devon
45. Westside Gunn's album Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B
R4 • Aaron
46. Halo Infinite
R4 • Ben
47. TOMPA BAY
R4 • Russell
48. Jamie Dornan's Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar and Belfast musical double-double
R5 • Russell
49. It Never Ends: A Memoir with Nice Memories by Tom Scharpling
R5 • Ben
50. The History of the Atlanta Falcons
R5 • Aaron
51. The Other Two S02
R5 • Devon
52. Invincible
R5 • Adam
53. The Ever Given getting stuck in the Suez Canal
R5 • Molly
54. Ben Affleck's 2021 redemption arc, peaking with the triumphant return of Bennifer
R5 • Jeff
55. Olivia Rodrigo
R5 • Drew
56. Ziwe
R5 • Jon Y
57. The voice cast for Illumination's Mario movie
R5 • Jon B
58. The Lady and the Dale
R5 • Stan
59. The Power of the Dog
R5 • Noelle
60. "Damn!" – Kevin Hart's reaction to Don Cheadle's age
R6 • Noelle
61. Joshua Bassett coming out of the closet a week before Olivia Rodrigo released Sour
Jon Y: Duplicate pick. Select again.
R6 • Noelle
61. "Double homicide…"
Jon Y: Do you want the meme or the curse? Because the meme is from 2020.
Stan: Shit, I wanted the meme. I saw it on the big board and didn't check.
R6 • Stan
62. Nick Castellanos home run
R6 • Stan
62. Jeopardy! fails to make one (1) hire
R6 • Jon B
63. Tricking Rick Mitchell into Kissing the Dog Across the Country!
R6 • Jon Y
64. The Twitter thread about dating inspired by Dell and Sonya Curry's divorce
R6 • Drew
65. Selling Sunset's Christine Quinn, the supervillain the streaming era deserves
R6 • Jeff
66. No Sudden Move
R6 • Molly
67. Anything for Selena
R6 • Adam
68. The hyper-capitalization of everything and questionable ethics of digital ownership via NFTs
Devon: My next pick is this ENTIRE THREAD lol.
Jon Y: Sorry…
Devon: NO WAY YOU TOOK THAT THREAD.
R6 • Devon
69. Guilty Gear Strive
R6 • Aaron
70. Metroid Dread (finally!)
R6 • Ben
71. AJR – "Way Less Sad"
R6 • Russell
72. The Jenkins and Jones Podcast: "The Wild Boy Power Rankings of Bishop Sycamore High School"
Russell: I was going to take the Dell Curry single life thread, but I was too late.
R7 • Russell
73. The Milk Crate Challenge, and the pursuit of viral infamy
R7 • Ben
74. Burna Boy – "Kilometre"
Ben: I would pick "Saweetie's 2021," but Drew swiped her at 41.
R7 • Aaron
75. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy being good
R7 • Devon
76. Batman going down on Catwoman
R7 • Adam
77. Ten Year Old Tom
Adam: Jon Bell was saving this for last. Ha. Fuck you, Jon Bell.
R7 • Molly
78. Rose Matafeo being insanely delightful in Starstruck
Molly: I was worried I was saving her for too late.
R7 • Jeff
79. The launch of Nextlander following Brad, Alex, and Vinny's departure from Giant Bomb
R7 • Drew
80. Jazmine Sullivan's album Heaux Tales
R7 • Jon Y
81. Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes
R7 • Jon B
82. Ultramega
Adam: God damn it. Jon Bell picked my next pick. He picked BOTH comics I wanted.
R7 • Stan
83.
R7 • Noelle
84. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
Drew: Damn, a steal of a pick. Right up there with Jen Shah's assistant sneaking that purse out of Meredith's boutique. Grand larceny!
R8 • Noelle
85. WizKid – "Essence (feat. Tems)"
R8 • Stan
86. Licorice Pizza
Jon Y: Fuck! I gambled on drafting this at 88 and lost.
Stan: I was only able to see it because I'm on a last minute work trip to New York.
Jon Y: [shakes fist at Stan's employer]
R8 • Jon B
87. Stern's Godzilla pinball machine
R8 • Jon Y
88. "Death in the Family": Hitman III's murder mystery mission
R8 • Drew
89. Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop in Hawkeye, capping off a banner year for famous part-Filipinos
R8 • Jeff
90. Home Is Where's album I Became Birds
R8 • Molly
91. A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
R8 • Adam
92. The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton
Adam: Jon Bell was going to pick this. I'm glad I got it because that's too many comics for one man.
R8 • Devon
93. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
R8 • Aaron
94. And Just Like That…, and Peleton's ad in response
R8 • Ben
95. The Savannah Bananas making baseball fun again
R8 • Russell
96. Will Smith's mid-life crisis
R9 • Russell
97. Meet the Richardsons S02
R9 • Ben
98. Doom Patrol S03
R9 • Aaron
99. Search Party S04, and its gonzo finale
R9 • Devon
100. Marvel's M.O.D.O.K.
R9 • Adam
101. Trey Parker and Matt Stone's $935 million South Park deal with ViacomCBS
R9 • Molly
102. The Sex Lives of College Girls
R9 • Jeff
103. The NBA playoffs, and a new generation of superstars making the leap
Drew: Castellanos was more like 2020, right?
Jon: Yup.
R9 • Drew
104. The surreal, ever-evolving debacle that is Ben Simmons' standing with the Philadelphia 76ers
R9 • Jon Y
105. John Cena apologizing for calling Taiwan a country
Adam: Ah, you gotta be kidding. "Celebrities apologizing to Israel and China" was gonna be my next pick.
R9 • Jon B
106. What's the Furthest Place From Here?
R9 • Stan
107. Angel Olsen's 1980s cover EP Aisles
R9 • Noelle
108. Regé-Jean Page's meteoric rise to stardom off of Elizabethan mommy porn
Final Round Wild Card Pick
Along with your final pick, please select something from 2021 that you have yet to experience as of 15 December 2021 but are keen on.
R10 • Noelle
109. Zola
+ Don't Look Up
R10 • Stan
110. Courtney Barnett's album Things Take Time, Take Time
+ The Worst Person in the World
R10 • Jon B
111. Friend of the Devil: A Reckless Book
+ Red Rocket
R10 • Jon Y
112. It Takes Two
+ Spider-Man: No Way Home
Jon Y: Y'all really let No Way Home slip to me.
R10 • Drew
113. AITA for "perpetuating ethnic stereotypes" about Jorts?
+ The Witcher S02
R10 • Jeff
114. Wet Leg, and the "2005 blog buzz" atmosphere around their breakout
+ The Matrix Resurrections
R10 • Molly
115. "Father, son, and House of Gucci."
+ The Tragedy of Macbeth
R10 • Adam
116. Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994–2007) by Dan Ozzi
+ The Book of Boba Fett
R10 • Devon
117. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
+ Boldy James and The Alchemist's album Super Tecmo Bo
R10 • Aaron
118. Resident Evil Village, and its tall vampire lady who made the internet horny
+ Cobra Kai S04
R10 • Ben
119. Zoom Cat Lawyer
+ Midnight Mass
R10 • Russell
120. Cinnamon Toast Shrimp Tails
+ Chillin Island
Jon Y: Jensen Karp: Mr. Irrelevant. Milkshake Ducked into oblivion.
20 HBO/HBO Max series/films!
Jeff: Picking Matrix for my wild card over Station Eleven might be my biggest miss in the history of the draft.
Undrafted!
Arcane
Crying in H Mart
Doja Cat
Drive My Car
Eve Fartlow
Framing Britney Spears
Logan Paul vs. Floyd Mayweather
Lupin
The Many Saints of Newark
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
Omori
Only Murders in the Building
Pokémon Unite
Polo G
r/WallStreetBets and GameStop
SNL Hosts Introducing the Musical Guest
Star Wars: Visions
Steve Burns' Blue's Clues video
The Super League
Turnstile
Yassification
Zack Snyder's Justice League
