my favourite things of the year

instead of doing top 10 whatever, this is just a list of things that have released/been discovered by me this year, and which i love

1. the beths- wonderful indie rock band from new zealand. i was vaguely aware of them before but this was the year i really got into them, with the release of their new album “expert in a dying field”. very obsessed with the album and their general sonic output.
2. what we do in the shadows- i had watched the movie a few years ago and enjoyed it well enough. i tried watching the tv show directly after, and wasn’t a huge fan of it. this was the year i decided to revisit it, and it is genuinely one of the funniest things i’ve seen in a long time. infact, i plan to ask matt berry for his hand in marriage expediently. season 4 was both a comfort and a depature from previous seasons in the show. despite the fact that it was messed up a bit by covid, there is a lot of heart (and a lot of raunchiness) in the season.
3. the weeknd’s dawn fm- absolutely great synthpop/r&b fusion. i wasn’t the biggest fan of this when it released, but the pacing and transitions are simply sublime.
4. everything everywhere all at once- i dont really know what to say that hasn’t been said so i will say that i felt like a brand new person after watching it.
5. decision to leave- one of the most romantic films i’ve seen, with the lead actors carrying the performance. also the film is somehow both methodical and fast-paced, which added to the overall experience of watching the film.
6. the bear- i loved the cinematography in this, and the fact that it sticks to a rigid pace and schedule, deviating at very specific points to add to its glory. jeremy allen white needs to be in more things, and ayo edebiri deserves an emmy.
7. reboot- i will love anything with rachel bloom in, and this tv show about making a tv show is an amazing satire and love letter to the industry. i hope to see many more seasons of it.
8. albums that are very very good but the only thing i could say about them is that they are extremely high quality and represents an artist at the apex of their career: renaissance (beyonce), motomami (rosalia), caprisongs (fka twigs), being funny in a foreign language (the 1975), midnights (taylor swift), beatopia (beabadoobee), muna (muna), dance fever (florence and the machine)
9. again, debut/breakthrough albums by very underappreciated artists that i also loved and found very high quality too: preacher’s daughter (ethel cain), i love you jennifer b (jockstrap), natural brown prom queen (sudan archives), melt my eyez see your future (denzel curry), wet leg (wet leg)
10. stray- you play as a cat. in an abandoned cityscape. you knock over paint cans and scratching is one of the main tools in your arsenal. need i say more?
11. other things i loved but dont warrant me writing a paragraph about them: nope (jordan peele), the minions rise of gru soundtrack, rrr(s. s. rajamouli), the only heartbreaker (mitski), that tiktok that goes ok why the frick did kiss ross just punch chris ross in the penis, bjork going reggaeton, i’m glad my mom died (jennette mccurdy), that jet lag show on youtube
12. austin butler’s accent in elvis, and the fact that he still talks like that. i hope to see him do the same in dune 2 (wont watch it)
13. liz truss being in office for 45 days, killing the queen, ruining the economy and then promptly being outlasted by a lettuce. very slay of her
14. anyone reading this ❤