A few of my favorite things from 2023

The horrors persist but there was some good stuff on tv.

I love a good ol’ EOY review, so I figured I’d spend some time sharing thoughts on the books, music, movies and experiences that kept me going in 2023. If any of these pieces of media are new to you, I sincerely hope you’ll check them out and enjoy them!

But first, a quick note for folks reading this on Substack: I’m very likely going to be gradually migrating off of this platform. I’m waiting to see what the folks who are organizing against Substack’s decision to platform and monetize literal Nazis decide to do collectively (you can read more about that action, and also find a great newsletter you should definitely support, right here).

Why wait to leave? I know a lot of marginalized writers benefit from the robust network of content found here, and if better and wiser folks than I decide to push back in some way other than leaving, I’m going to follow their lead! But the general vibe is that this is unlikely to occur.

Here’s the best thing you can do to support me right now:

Option 1: Join a paid tier (or a free one! whatever!) on my Patreon, where I’ll soon be posting even more and special-er content than I cross-post here on Substack.

Option 2: Let me know in a comment whether there’s some other different newsletter format you would desperately prefer that I switch to.

Ok! That’s it! Let’s get to the stuff I consumed that made me feel less like a rat in a cage while I sent all my little emails and did all my little tasks this year!

Music

boygenius - the record

I for one am thrilled that Taylor Swift’s collab with Phoebe Bridgers introduced a whole new generation of sad bisexual women to Lucy Dacus. If by some chance you’ve managed to not listen to the latest boygenius album, I must humbly insist that you sit down and give it a spin from start to finish. I hear these women harmonizing with each other in my dreams. If I’d had the song Letter To An Old Poet to listen to back in 2016, I’d probably have been able to skip like 18 months of dancing around my PTSD in therapy. Probably!

Hozier - Swan Upon Leda

Hozier’s new album is fantastic, but the song of his that speaks to me the most at the moment is this single from last fall. Absolutely bizarre how this giant man manages to articulate the pain of oppression and capitalism and occupation while also being unrelentingly, profoundly, achingly and contagiously horny.

The Beaches - Blame Brett

I haven’t delved deep into this band’s discography, but this single really works for me. I find their vocal styling really fresh for a female group, and it takes me back to the post-punk revival I filled my iPod with in 2006.

Chappell Roan - Red Wine Supernova

The bridge of this song has permanently rewired my brain and made me slightly gayer.

Olivia Rodrigo - Can’t Catch Me Now

I’m not an Olivia hater by any means—I think her first two albums were both packed with bangers—but I was still caught off guard by how well this song spoke to the soft and bruised parts of me.

Here’s a playlist with some of these songs and a bunch of others I listened to a lot this year. It’s very random! It’s not good.

TV

Station Eleven

I waited literal years before watching this show because it’s “about a global pandemic” and we were “experiencing a global pandemic.” I finally watched it a few weeks ago, and it’s some of the best-crafted television I’ve ever seen. It also made me feel optimistic about humanity and our shared future. Also: I can’t stop thinking about the costume design!!! Watch it!!!

Strange New Worlds

While I loved the first seasons of Discovery and Picard, I have to admit I’d gotten kind of burned out on Star Trek spin-offs in 2022. I felt like every episode was a Very Special Episode about police violence or artificial intelligence or some other thing I spend a lot of my time worrying about already, and I just couldn’t make myself plug in. The latest season of Strange New Worlds completely rebooted my love of the entire franchise. This is the swashbuckling, emotionally intelligent, and radically optimistic sci-fi I’ve been missing.

Ted Lasso

I know some people thought this show got too high on its own supply of wholesomeness, or whatever, but I wish there was more TV like it. I love shows that take place in a slightly alternate universe where people take slightly better care of one another than you might expect. It totally stuck the landing, and I envy anyone who gets to watch it all for the first time now that it’s done!

The Fall of the House of Usher

During the first scene of this series, I turned to my husband and said “Succession is my favorite ghost story by Edgar Allen Poe.” This is a delightfully consumable, visually stunning, shockingly gory addition to the Mike Flanagan universe, of which I am unabashedly a big fan. If this was your first foray into his work and you’re looking for more, I recommend Midnight Mass!

The Great North

I’m literally always happier after watching this show.

Only Murders in the Building

I feel like not enough people are talking about how MERYL STREEP WAS IN THIS SEASON AND ALSO IT WAS A MUSICAL.

Letterkenny Season 11, Episode 1: Chips

Letterkenny is a show about rural Canada that reminds me, improbably and uncannily, of the weird part of rural South Jersey I grew up in. I guess that’s not actually all that improbable—given that the area I’m from is universally recognized to exist outside of the mutually agreed upon reality experienced by the rest of the state of New Jersey—but it was still a delightful surprise. Like Ted Lasso, Letterkenny is a show that refuses to presume that people have to be shitty to each other just because they’re all dicks. This year I finally caught up to the one where they debate chip flavors for an entire episode, and it’s the most perfect and loving satire of a black box community theater production I’ve ever seen. Exquisite television!

Episode 3 of The Last of Us (you know the one)

!!!

Movies

No One Will Save You

What a weird, vibe-y film. It made perfect sense to me.

Polite Society

Sometimes things can just be fun.

They Cloned Tyrone

Sometimes things can be weird, vibe-y, and extremely distressing while also making perfect sense to me.

Saltburn

I’m desperately glad I saw this in theaters before it landed on Prime and became ~widely discussed~. This is probably the most vulgar film I’ve ever seen on the big screen and I loved it. The script was maybe a little self-congratulatory, but the performances more than made up for it. Is 2023 the year a man will win an Oscar for slurping another man’s dirty bath water? We can only hope. Also: Rosamund Pike please step on my neck, etc.

Barbie

Yes, it was perfect.

Books

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

I delayed reading this experimental, genre-bending memoir for years because I knew it would hit too close to home. As a matter of fact, it hit so close to home that I could tell you why I have PTSD by handing you this book and saying “just replace her with a dude in Brooklyn who thinks he’s Patrick Bateman and only eats frozen chicken nuggets.” Anyway, this book is a revelation in creative non-fiction writing and might be my favorite forever. Reading it felt like participating in an arcane ritual.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Perfect for fans of: The Magicians, Shadow and Bone, The Magnus Archives, dark academia Pinterest boards.

Babel by R.F. Kuang

This book made me want to start a revolution (and also maybe go back to grad school).

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

A stunning, sexy little work of gothic horror from a fresh new voice. This book is also how I found out that “Shane East,” a narrator I really like in the erotica audiobook world, also narrates books that aren’t erotica under the name “Steve West.” What a twist!

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Calling this book “a rich text” is like calling a large cheese pizza a light snack. Also: sapphic, subversive, moody as hell. Nom nom nom.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

If, like me, you have somehow failed to read this seminal work of speculative fiction before, I have great news: It is the absolute perfect book to read during the times we’re living in.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Like many folks, I missed the release of this Hunger Games prequel (which happened during the height of the early pandemic) and only read it when I saw that the movie was coming out. I wasn’t particularly interested in reading what looked to be a romance that centered on the villain of the main series, tbqh, since I figured it would boil down to “hurt people hurt people.” Instead, this book surpassed all my expectations and might stand as my favorite piece of YA ever. Collins, imo, does a remarkable job with the incredibly meaty subject of how and why people decide to behave villainously—and how and why they might also, at times, choose to play at being “good.” I ultimately really enjoyed the film adaptation, too!

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I loved Circe when it came out, but didn’t get around to reading its predecessor until this year. Big mistake! Huge! I cried a lot of fat gay tears about this one.

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

There’s so much going on in this dark and gorgeous book—a dive into Argentina’s brutal political history, an unflinchingly grotesque occult storyline, sexual awakenings queer and otherwise, race and class and gender struggles, family trauma—so it’s not surprising that it’s 600 pages long. This was a tough read at times, but in the grand scheme of 600-page-long books, I absolutely devoured it.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

What a delightful surprise this book was for me! Chuck Tingle is best known for titles like Slammed in the Butt by My Hugo Award Nomination and Pounded in the Butt by My Book "Pounded in the Butt by My Book 'Pounded in the Butt by My Book "Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt"'". His debut horror novel is a deeply moving story about religious trauma, queerness, and found family. I adored it. I’m eagerly awaiting his next release that isn’t about being pounded in the butt (though I’m very happy that he’s happy writing so much weird erotica, too).

OUT for 2024

Talking about weight loss (please I beg of you cease and desist)

Coughing on strangers

Harry Potter and the Lady Who Won’t Stop Sharing Her Horrible Opinions

“Benevolent” billionaires

Fast Fashion (especially the stuff that pretends it isn’t)

Centralized social media

“Flattering” clothes

IN for 2024

Hydration

“Putting an outfit together”

Stews

Using red lentils in your smoothies instead of vegan protein powder (it’s really good!!)

Meme accounts

Eyebrow piercings

KN95s

Audiobooks

Hobbies you know you’re bad at