2023 sucked ass. I don’t think that’s just me, it seems to be the general vibe: this year was hell. As I have for most of my life, I spent the last 12 months attempting to fill the deep void of despair inside me with high art and mindless entertainment. It’s the season of listing things, so here are my favorites across several categories for 2023, presented in no particular order but narrowed down to five. Otherwise, I’d do seven for one category and three for another.
I go into consuming any type of media hoping to enjoy it. I’m a hater but I want to be proven wrong. Still, there’s probably a lot of stuff you thought was great that I did not vibe with. Share your own lists in the comments or on Twitter/Instagram and tag me!
Movies
I hated Barbie! This year I bought an Alamo Drafthouse season pass and kept a running list of films people had told me they thought I’d like, so there was a lot to choose from. By the way, you can follow me on Letterboxd, but I don’t use it frequently.
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Desert Hearts
Videodrome
May December
Honorable mention: Zombies 1-3 (very trans)
Books
This was a very good reading year, and maybe one of the first years in recent memory where I read more books than fanfiction. Over the summer I had a brief dalliance with gay monster erotica, but I’ll always come back to the codpiece ripper as my favorite gay romance genre.
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper
Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
Tampa by Alissa Nutting
Moth by Lily Mayne (the peak of my aforementioned monster porn phase)
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Honorable mention: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (audiobook)
TV
I had much less patience for TV this year and found that I prefer watching movies in the evening when I’m unwinding. However, if I’m bingeing a show I will watch multiple episodes a night and during every meal, which is how I sped through Mad Men in three weeks.
The Last of Us
Mad Men
Selling the OC
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (rewatch)
The Gilded Age
Honorable mention: Once Upon a Time (stopped at season six)
Music
Playlists are not my thing. Nor is shuffling. I am an album girl: I want to listen to a record from start to finish, as the artist intended. This is the only section that’s exclusively new material, but maybe I’ll do some kind of all-time favorites post at some point.
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek
Something to Give Each Other - Troye Sivan
Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) - Yves Tumor
Raven - Kelela
The Record - boygenius
Honorable mention: Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd - Lana Del Rey
Podcasts
My neighbors fight very loudly all the time, so I don’t feel bad about them hearing The Town through our shared wall during my morning shower.
Nymphowars
Every Outfit
Who Weekly
Slayerfest 98
Eating for Free
Honorable mention: The Official Gilded Age Podcast
Beauty
This was not a good skin year. Hormonal acne made me its bitch, and I’m still trying to figure out my pore situation.
Rhode Skin Peptide Lip Treatment
First Aid Beauty Pure Aid Skin Cleanser
Armani Beauty Eye-Tint Liquid Eyeshadow
Honorable mention: Father Figure by Phlur
YouTube Video Essays
If you’re at dinner with me and I share some type of interesting or obscure fact, the likelihood I learned it from a video essay is around 89%.
An appropriately unhinged recap of Gossip Girl (Season 1) - Mike’s Mic
Why Are There So Many Confederate Vampires? - Princess Weekes
The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling - ContraPoints
the rise and fall of America's Next Top Model - elle literacy
Celebrities Aren’t People. And Neither Are You. - Shanspeare
Honorable mention: Bad Cinderella: An Edgy Autopsy - Sarah Z
Share your favorites in the comments or tag me on Twitter/Instagram.
Highly on board with the Mike's Mic Gossip Girl recaps
I too feel that Mad Men was one of my shows of the year after feverishly rewatching it over 2 weeks when I had pneumonia. Can we start a campaign to get John Slattery on The Gilded Age? A rival railroad baron perhaps? Need him back on my TV regularly.