I used to post a year end list summarizing some of my various favorite media that I consumed across the year. Since I no longer actively use Twitter or other social media, I’m posting them here.

TV Shows

1. Andor Season 2
   I'm still thinking about the Ghorman Massacre. The highs of this show were incredibly high. The entire buildup around Ghorman was legitimately exciting. This is both the best Star Wars content in years and the best war / conflict content that I have seen.
2. Adolescence
   Only four episodes, all one-shot masterpieces. I went back and forth on whether this, Andor, or The Pitt was my favorite of the year. This one is more memorable than the others. All four episdoes serve a different purpose. And I can recount all four with almost pinpoint memory and detail.
3. The Pitt
   Speaking of highs, possibly the single best episode of the year was the mass shooting event and how it played out in the emergency room. I never watched ER, but this was simple, effective, and interesting television.
4. Shoresy
   Yes, it's incredibly juvenile, but I don't remember laughing quite as much and as earnestly in a long time. I binged all four sesaons of this in just a few weeks. It's somehow both the the show with the most inappropriate and gross jokes and the show that was maybe the most heart warming in terms of developing its characters and making me root for them.
5. Department Q / Slow Horses Season 5 (tie)
   These two British crime / detective dramas are birds of a feather. I enjoyed both equally. Department Q is smaller in scope and ambition, but it arguably ended with a more emotional outcome. Slow Horses is as reliable as ever, and this season was funny and entertaining, while staying ever true to its characters.

Movies

1. KPop Demon Hunters
   I admit that it took me some time to fully appreciate this. The first time my kids watched it, I took one look at the animation, saw that there were K-Pop songs and demons, and pretty much noped out. Then when I finally actually sat down to watch it, I realized it was an incredibly effective story, with warm characters, amazing songs, and a beautiful animation style. This is probably my favorite animation move since Turning Red.
2. Conclave
   I watched this ahead of the Oscars. This is exactly the type of movie that seems to never get made anymore. It's a drama, for adults, about something relatively inconsequential (yes, they're selecting a new pope, but it's not exactly an alien invasion). I absolutely loved this, and Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci were excellent.
3. Top Gun: Maverick
   Yes, this movie has been out several years, but I never bothered to seek it out because it looked very formulaic and nostalgic of the original. Well, I ended up watching it on a plane (just as the director intended, I'm sure). It IS formulaic and nostalgic. But I still loved it.
4. Wake Up Dead Man
   This may be recency bias since I just saw the movie, but the third Knives Out is really good, most notably because Josh O'Connor is really good as the lead of the movie.
5. Lilo & Stitch
   I hate the whole Disney strategy of remaking their library of animated movies for live action. However, I really liked this, probably because I have slowly come to really love the animated film also.

Books

1. Apple in China by Patrick McGee
2. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
3. Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates

Topics: ListsYear end lists

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