Previous lists: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
This is too long with the complete media consumption list. So I have posted that in a separate entry, that I spared you guys from emailing it to you.
The totals: 40 books. 530 albums. 11 live acts. 69 movies. 55 TV Series.
Changes from last year: +1 books. -69 albums. +3 live acts. +1 movies. +24 TV Series.
And, of course, I have a podcast where I go over my media consumption (along with other mundane aspects of being alive).
Thoughts:
Man I listened to a lot of music.
Holy hell I watched a lot of TV. That is kind of depressing.
I am so tired. I hate this. So tired.
I have been positive for so, so long. I can’t believe I have to go back to work tomorrow and I’m still positive.
Kinda shocked at how many books I read really thought I slacked off more than that.
I did not go to a single film in the theater this year. Am I okay with that? Do I miss the theater? I miss empty theaters. I miss popcorn. But mostly I feel okay with it. I have a nice TV.
Really thought live music was gonna rebound this year but it did not. This pandemic sucks. Apparently up to half of the advance ticket buyers to a show these days don’t show up? I am so that person. I bought so many tickets to shows I didn’t go to. At this point i just view it as a form of charity, but I’m realizing it kinda sucks for the artist to play to “sold out” venues that are only half full. I need to rethink this.
I wrote this last year: “Every year I say this exercise was tedious and I don’t want to do it anymore, but then I do it again, and I suspect that’ll be the same for next year.” I say it again this year. Quadrupally so.
Books
Research papers and government documents are included if they are over 100 pages. I include comic books if the typewritten text totals over 100 pages (I use a draft Sandman script published in the back of a Sandman anthology as a comic-page-to-typewritten-page conversion metric). I aim for 52 books a year — one a week. Didn’t make it this year. Books recommended for the layperson have an asterisk.
Here is my Goodreads profile, if you’d like to follow along next year.
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
Morning Star by Pierce Brown
The Great Indoors The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape our Behavior by Emily Enthes
Outbound Sales, No Fluff by Rex Biberston and Ryan Reisert
Several Short Sentences about Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg
We Are But Your Children: An Oral History of the Club ManRay by Shawn Driscoll
A Short History of Financial Eurphoria by John Kenneth Galbraith
Our Home is Wasilla by Dominic L Carney
Violet (Prevenas) and Gene Coghlan: A Family History (Draft) by Gerald “Skip" Coghlan
True North in Alaska: Memories of Indians, Eskimos, Bush Pilots and Us by Jack Webb, Susan Webb and Dick Webb Sr.
*Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy by Erich Schwartzel
*Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution by Elie Mystal
The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties by Paul Collier
*The Hours Before Dusk by Jenna Matecki
*Run Toward the Danger by Sarah Polley
*The Bond King: How Onbe Man Made a Market, Built an Empire and Lost it All by Mary Childs
*Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff
Exit Stage Left: The Curious Afterlife of Popstars by Nick Duerte
*How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future by Vaclav Smil
My Body by Emily Ratajkowski
*Freedom’s Laboratory: The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science by Audra J Wolfe
*The Club King: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife by Peter Gatien
*Rough Draft: A Memoir by Katy Tur
Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records by Jim Ruland
*The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Rdden Keefe
*Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Rdden Keefe
*Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein
*Nixonland: The Ride of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein
The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan by Rick Perlstein
*Reaganland: America’s Right Turn by Rick Perlstein
Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City by Lucy Sante
Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being by George A Akerlof and Rachel Kranton
Narrative Economics: How Stories go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events by Robert Shiller
Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O'Hagan
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King by JRR Tolkein (re-read)
Fast Forward: Confessions of a Post Rock Drummer vol 2 by Stephen Morris
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher
Bunnyman by Will Seargant
*Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller
*Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol Introductory Material to the final Report of the Select Committee
Recorded Music
Listened to roughly 530 new (to me) albums and EPs this year. Down a lot from last year, I think mainly cuz of my slow December and Covid. Here are my favorites, very quickly culled by running through the list once and pasting the ones here that stuck with me. Especially beloved ones are starred. There is a playlist of my favorite songs from 2022 on Spotify. It is very long. There was a lot of music this year. Music kept me sane. Thank you, musicians, for making awesome shit even as the world mostly abandoned you.
My vote for the top three new (ish) albums of the year: umm. I guess I gotta be a square and say Taylor, “Midnights,” I was unimpressed but it grew on me. Tears for Fears - “The Tipping Point,” picking a thid is hard but I guess I’ll go with Holy Fawn’s “Dimensional Bleed” since I listened to it so much.
Bill Callahan and Bonnie Prince Billy - "Blind Date Party,”
Nils Frahm - “Old Friends, New Friends,”
Turnstile - “Glow On,”
* Jesu / Eluvium - “Jesu / Eluvium,”
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - "This is a Mindfullness Drill,
Caetano Veloso - "Caetano Veloso (1969),”
Talking Violet - “Tell Your Friends You Love Them,”
* Diavol Stráin - “Elegía del Olvido - Elegía del Horror,”
* Anaïs Mitchell - “Anaïs Mitchell,”
* Mitski - “Laurel Hell,”
Animal Collective - “Time Skiffs,”
Cate Le Bon - “Pompeii,”
* Sonic Youth - “In out In,”
Andy Bell - “Flicker,”
Black Country, New Road - “Ants From Up Here,”
* Grivo - “Omit,”
Godspeed You Black Emperor - “all lights fucked on the hairy amp drooling,”
* Loretta Lynn - “Back to the Country,”
* Trentemøller - “Memoria,”
Sea Power - “Everything Was Forever,”
* Tears for Fears - “The Tipping Point,”
* Holy Fawn - “Death Spells,”
Midwive - “Luminol,”
Saint Etienne Presents “How We Used to Live Soundtrack by Pete Wiggs,”
* Wet Leg - “Wet Leg”
* Christian Lee Hutson - “Quitters,”
* Rosalia - “MOTOMAMI,”
* Spiritualized - “Everything is Beautiful,”
Fontaines DC - “Skinty Fia,”
Maren Morris - “Humble Quest,”
* Coil - “Love’s Secret Domain (Chaostrophy Edition),”
* Tombstones in their Eyes - “A Higher Place,”
* Tomberlin - “I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This,’
* Sharon Van Etton - "We’ve Been Going About this All Wrong,”
Florence and the Machine - “Dance Fever,”
Kevin Morby - “This is a Photograph,”
* Craig Finn - “A Legacy of Rentals,”
* Spice - “Viv,”
mxmtoon - “rising,”
Porridge Radio - “Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky,”
* Riki - “Gold,”
* Florist - “Florist,”
* Hercules and Love Affair - “In Amber,”
Muna - “Muna,”
Calexico = “El Mirador,”
Joan Shelley - “The Spur,”
The Brian Jonestown Masscre - “Fire Doesn’t Grow on Trees,”
Chat Pile - "Wicked Puppet Dance,”
Gia Margaret - “Mia Gargaret,”
Gia Margaret - “There’s Always Glimmer,”
Seedsmen to the World - “Seedsmen to the World,”
Panda Bear and Sonic Boom - “Reset,”
40 Watt Sun - “Perfect Light,”
Coil - “Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil,”
* Breathless - “See Those Colours Fly,”
* The Chats - “Get Fucked,”
* Holy Fawn - "Dimensional Bleed”
* Afghan Whigs - “How Do You Burn?”
* The Beths - “Expert in a Dying Field,”
Beth Orton - “Weather Alive,”
Maya Hawke - “Moss,”
Lambchop - “The Bible,”
* True Faith - “They Can Always Hurt You More,”
* The Stargzer Lillies - “Occabot,”
Bill Callahan - “YTI⅃AƎЯ,”
* Codeine - “Dessau,”
* Taylor Swift - “Midnights,”
93MillionMilesFromTheSun - “Echo Delay Fuzz Reverb,”
* Sault - “Earth,” (Really, all six albums)
Les Rallizes Denudes - “The Oz Tapes,”
* Skullcrusher - “Quiet the Room,”
Will Sheff - “Nothing Special,”
Leah Callahan - “Short Stories,”
Black Dresses - “WASTEISOLATION,”
Hedwig Mollestad and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - “Maternity Beast,”
Weyes Blood - “And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow,”
SoiSong – "qXn948s,”
* Jesu - “Pity / Piety,”
Rachika Nayar - “Our Hands Against the Dusk,”
Old Sea Brigade - “5am Paradise,”
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - “Bones and All (Original Score),”
Live Music
I suppose I should admit to myself I will never be much of a gig person anymore. I got a kid, I’m old, I still take the pandemic seriously. But I did go to a few this year. Nothing like the, you know, 400 acts I saw in a year in the old days, but not nothing:
Midwife, Holy Fawn and Deafheaven at Cat’s Cradle
James Xerxes Fuxell and the Magnetic Fields at the Fletcher Opera House
Garbage and Tears for Fears at the PNC Amphitheater Charlotte
Spiritualized at Cat’s Cradle
New Order and the Pet Shop Boys at Merriweather Post Pavillion
Stereolab at Cat’s Cradle
Movies
Movies with an asterisk are recommended. Movies listed here are only movies I saw for the first time, new or old. In addition I re-watched about 20 or so, listed in the master list below. Recommended films have an asterisk. The Dagger † are films I saw in the theater. All zero of them.
Because I see most of the “best of” the year films in January, I’ll save my Best-of film list till right before the Oscars.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Return to Hogwarts
* Ghostbusters Afterlife
The Devil in Daniel Johnston
* Jandek on Corwood
West Side Story (2021)
The Adam Project
* Turning Red
Licorice Pizza
Bubble
* Who Killed the KLF
The Batman
Dinosaurs the Final Day
Fantastic Beasts Secrets of Dumbledore
* The Northman
Morbius
The Lost City
* Saint Etienne I’ve Been Trying To Tell You
* Everything Everywhere All At Once
Moonfall
Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
Step Brothers
Prey
Crimes of the Future
Limelight
Mehyô
Nick Cave I Know This Much To Be True
Lightyear
* Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
Jurassic Worldc Dominion
Spin Me Round
* Inside the Mind of a Cat
* Top Gun Maverick
* Nope
* Heat
Thor Love and Thunder
The Perils of Gwendolyn in the Land of the Yik Yak
Blonde
Bilitis
Dracula Sucks
Sex World
* Out of the Blue
Homicidal
Black Adam
* Lady Chatterly’s Lover
* Benedetta
* We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
* Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
* The Banshees of Inisherin
Triangle of Sadness
* TÀR
* The Fabelmens
Amsterdam
* Half-Cocked
Bullet Train
Aftersun
* Decision to leave
* The Woman King
After Yang
Confess, Fletch
* Kimi
* The Eternal Daughter
* Cha Cha Real Smooth
White Noise
* Bones and All
* Meet Me in the Bathroom
Troll
Television
The below are shows I completed at least a seasons’ worth. Recommended with an askterisk. I am still working on His Dark Materials, Bad Sisters and Slow Horses. I couldn’t finish White Lotus, Invening Anna, Raised by Wolves, and The Rehearsal.
Great British Bake Off
Star Trek Discovery
Rick and Morty
Book of Boba Fett
The Witcher
* Succession
The Expanse
* Station Eleven
* Peacemaker
* SNL
Adventure Time Distant Lands
* Cheer
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window
The Olympics
* Resident Alien
Star Trek Picard
* Our Flag Means Death
* Severnece
* Upload
Wellington Paranormal
Moon Knight
* The Morning Show
* Halo
* Outer Range
Russian Doll
* Old Enough
* Star Trek Strange New Worlds
* Kids in the Hall (2022)
Obi Wan Kenobi
Ms Marvel
The Orville New Horizons
* Stranger Things
The Boys
Umbrella Academy
God’s Favorite Idiot
Westworld
* The Bear
Only Murders in the Building
* Light and Magic
* What We Do in the Shadows
* The Sandman
She-Hulk
* The Vietnam War
House of the Dragon
* Star Trek Lower Decks
* The End is Nye
Junior Bake-Off
* Rings of Power
* Andor
* Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire
The Peripheral
Tales of the Jedi
The Crown
* Wednesday
The Full List
BOLD CAPS MOVIES, CAPS TV, Italics Books etc., “Plays Quotes”, “Italic Quotes Short Stories”, Bold LC Albums, BOLD ITALIC CAPS LIVE SHOWS, [comments in brackets], podcast bold all lower case underlined
1/1 - Polyrock - “Changing Hearts,” HARRY POTTER 20th ANNIVERSARY RETURN TO HOGWARTS, GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW (2)
1/2 - GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW, STAR TREK DISCOVERY
1/3 - Dehd - “Flower of Devotion Remixed,” GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW, RICK AND MORTY, Golden Son by Pierce Brown
1/4 - Lala Lala - “I want the Door to Open,” Jungle - “Loving in Stereo,”
1/5 - Bill Callahan and Bonnie Prince Billy - "Blind Date Party,” THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT, GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW, Morning Star by Pierce Brown