5 Pop Culture Resolutions You Can Actually Pull Off In 2019

We’re almost 72 hours into the New Year. How are those resolutions going? Back on your bullshit yet? I was supposed to give up sugar, but I caved in the first hour of the year. That is not an exaggeration. I was also supposed to work out more, and, so far, the only exercise I’ve done is walk to my streetcar stop. If you haven’t already gathered this about me, I’m bad at sticking to fitness- or health-related New Year’s resolutions, but I AM really great at sitting on my couch and watching television and scrolling through my phone adding to my encyclopedic knowledge of useless celebrity information. So, every year, I make some pop culture resolutions to make myself feel better about skipping the gym to binge all the new shows on Netflix this month. Here are five things I pledge to myself, and to Beyoncé, to do better in 2019.

There was a time in my life when almost everything I watched was Canadian content. I was addicted to Degrassi, Breaker High, Student Bodies, and Ready or Not. Canadian television did not die when these shows did (even if a piece of my soul did), and right now, at the height of Peak TV, Canadian content has also stepped up its game to hang with the best of prestige television. If Twitter hadn’t yelled at me, I may have slept on Schitt’s Creek, one of the best comedy series of 2018. This show’s fourth season was SO GOOD. Twitter was right. I hate it when Twitter is right. Season five premieres next week. There’s also Kim’s Convenience, which I admit I’m only a few episodes into. I know, I know. This is why it’s a resolution. Watch More Kim’s Convenience in 2019. My final and biggest Canadian content resolution is to delve into Hip-Hop Evolution, a Canadian music docu-series starring hometown fave Shad Kabango.

You know the drill. You’re scrolling through Netflix and you can’t decide on the overwhelming amount of options at your fingertips, so you give up and re-watch season two of Grey’s Anatomy. Again. Just me? I can recite every teary-eyed monologue of that season by heart. At what cost? I’m missing out on SO MUCH CONTENT just so I can watch Denny and Izzie fall in love while Snow Patrol sings for the dozenth time. Enough. My resolution is to replace my Grey’s re-watch with another medical drama like New Amsterdam, which is supposedly pretty great! Ryan Eggold plays Dr. Mc …. OH HE’S HOT, OK I’M IN. I also re-watch Gossip Girl often (Chuck Bass as a whole ass character really doesn’t hold up in 2019) and instead of subjecting myself to more of Dan Humphrey’s insufferable personality traits, I’ve been watching You, which really leans into Penn Badgley’s gift of playing insufferable incels masquerading as nice guys. Resolutions are all about compromise.

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but I’m muting Kanye West on all of my social media feeds. I’ve decided — for my mental health and his — to stop paying attention to and subsequently getting riled up by Kanye's tweets/rants and the exhaustive coverage of them. I think we’ll all be better off if we give this man less attention in 2019.

Robert Kelly is still an employed musician who tours and has devoted fans. I haven’t been one of those fans for decades, but I think it’s time to move from boycotting his music (streaming services pledged to take him off their promoted playlists but his streaming numbers just went up) to holding this monster accountable for the multiple allegations of horrific sexual assault and abuse laid against him over the past 20 years. Lifetime is airing the six-part, three-night documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, and I’m calling on everyone — myself included — to watch it, support it, and never let people forget that R. Kelly is an abuser of Black women and girls. Their voices matter more than that song you listened to a lot in 2003.

I know I’m not the only one who has a hard stance on horror movies. Usually, I’d rather watch To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before for the 30th time (see resolution number two — I have a problem) than even entertain the idea of scaring myself for fun. Feel terrified on my spare time? Have nightmares for weeks? No thanks! Well, Jordan Peele is making it impossible for me to continue to ignore the genre. Get Out was one of the most brilliant cinematic achievements in the past decade. The trailer for his next film, Us, scarred me for life but I’m going to have to suck it up and pull through. Peele’s movies, along with The Quiet Place (which I watched through my hands) and Bird Box (which I still haven’t mustered up the courage to watch), are becoming some of the most talked-about and impressive films in Hollywood. My resolution: Be Braver at the Box Office 2019.