Jean Snow [.net]

Favorite Media of 2022

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by

Jean Snow
in , , , , , ,

Oh how I love it so, taking time to think about all of the wonderful media I enjoyed over the past year, this time for the 12th consecutive year (following 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021). Yes, this is a highly subjective list of my favorite things I took in this year, and it’s not exhaustive, as it is only based on what I was able to consume throughout the year. The only strict rule is that it must have come out during 2022 (with a little wink to my annual movie marathons), which is why I don’t include board games or books, as I’m not as “of the year” for those. Each category is made up of a top five (in alphabetical order), followed by a few honorable mentions if warranted.

Here we go.

Favorite Games
What surprised me while making this list is that although I played tons of games over the past year (many via Game Pass or picked up on the Nintendo eShop on sale), I didn’t actually play that many proper 2022 releases — and I also saw myself embarking on an Assassin’s Creed kick by replaying both Origins and Odyssey a second time. If I were to pick an absolute favorite game for the year, it would be Vampire Survivors — even though it’s not a type of game I usually gravitate towards, I found myself absolutely obsessed with it, needing to complete all the achievements (which I did for the DLC as well). I also include Mario Kart 8 due to the track DLC released this year, and would have liked to include Cyberpunk 2077, which I finally played this past year following the latest patch, and it ended up being one of my favorite games played in recent years.

  • Grid Legends (Xbox Series S)
  • Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo Switch)
  • Marvel Snap (Mobile)
  • Pentiment (Xbox Series S)
  • Vampire Survivors (Xbox Series S)

Honorable Mentions: As Dusk Falls (Xbox Series S), Immortality (Xbox Series S), Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (Nintendo Switch)

Favorite Movies
This was certainly a great year for movies, and I got to see more new releases than I normally would due to the accelerated digital releases we get these days. And as with previous years, I include top 5s for some of the movie marathons I did (1982, 1992, Zhang Yimou), just for fun.

  • Carter
  • Decision to Leave
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once
  • RRR
  • Top Gun: Maverick

Honorable Mentions: Apollo 10 1/2, Barbarian, Jackass Forever/Jackass 4.5, Men, Metal Lords, Pearl, Prey, Studio 666, Terrifier 2, The Batman, Watcher

Favorite Movies of 1982

  • Blade Runner
  • E.T.
  • Fast Times at Ridgemont High
  • The Thing
  • Tron

Favorite Movies of 1992

  • A Few Good Men
  • Patriot Games
  • Reservoir Dogs
  • Strictly Ballroom
  • Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Favorite Films of Zhang Yimou

  • Hero
  • Ju Dou
  • Raise the Red Lantern
  • Red Sorghum
  • Shadow

Favorite TV
Every year I include the AEW pro wrestling shows Dynamite and Rampage in my top 5 because I love them so, although I sometimes feel like I shouldn’t include them since everything else are scripted shows. I think Irma Vep, Better Call Saul, and Severance were absolutely my other favorite shows this past year, and the last spot could have been taken up by any number of shows included in my honorable mentions — but She-Hulk was a fun surprise, and a joy to watch.

  • AEW Dynamite/AEW Rampage
  • Better Call Saul
  • Irma Vep
  • Severance
  • She-Hulk

Honorable Mentions: Andor, House of the Dragon, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Primal, Peacemaker, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Sandman, Tales From the Territories, That Dirty Black Bag, Tokyo Vice, We Own This City

Favorite Anime Series
This category comes and goes, as there are years where I don’t watch much anime, but this past year has been quite a strong year, and I’ve found myself watching many of these (everything in the top 5 except Cyberpunk) with my wife, who loves them as well.

  • Chainsaw Man
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury
  • Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
  • Pop Epic Team
  • SPY x FAMILY

Honorable Mentions: Ghost in the Shell, Summer Time Rendering, Uncle From Another World, Vampire in the Garden

Favorite Web Series/Channels
This category has pretty much turned into nothing but pro wrestling related content — the various AEW series, plus Being the Elite and KanaChanTV — except for Formula 1 racing, which I watch via a subscription to the F1 TV website/app.

Favorite Music
My list of honorable mentions is a bit extensive here, but hey, no music no life. Although I always just include albums, there are certainly songs I’ve specifically enjoyed a lot this year, but I’m not able to properly track them. And my most listened to album this past year is easily Maki Nomiya’s New Beautiful. And yes, three albums by Guided by Voices, so what.

  • Beatopia (Beabadoobee)
  • Household Name (Momma)
  • Mahal (Toro y Moi)
  • New Beautiful (Maki Nomiya)
  • Talk Talk Talk (The Paranoyds)

Honorable Mentions: Alpha Zulu (Phoenix), Back on the Music (Paul Cherry), Barbara (Barrie), Cheat Codes (Danger Mouse & Black Thought), Counterpoint (Tomggg), Crystal Nuns Cathedral (Guided by Voices), Domestic Fantasy (Hook-Ups), Du haut du 33e étage EP (Bertrand Burgalat), Dutronc & Dutronc (Thomas Dutronc & Jacques Dutronc), Get Back: The Rooftop Performance (The Beatles), Golden Apples (Golden Apples), Growing Up (The Linda Lindas), Happy Now (Thick), Hello (μ-Ziq), Hello, Hi (Ty Segall), Here with You (Tahiti 80), In Cinerama (April March), Laurel Hell (Mitski), Let England Shake – Demos (PJ Harvey), Multitude (Stromae), Plasma (Perfume), Pompeii (Cate Le Bon), Scalping the Guru (Guided by Voices), Sexy (Coco & Clair Clair), Slight Variations (Fujiya & Miyagi), Steady (Sloan), Strata Records: The Sound of Detroit (Jazzanova), Teatro Lucido (La Femme), Tremblers and Goggles by Rank (Guided by Voices), World Wide Pop (Superoganism)

Favorite Podcasts
The two new entries this year are also my current favorites: the TokyoScope spinoff series Pure TokyoScope, that brings together Patrick Macias and Matt Alt (the episodes they did together on the original TokyoScope podcast were always the best anyway), and Video Archives, the new movie discussion podcast with Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avery.

  • All Songs Considered
  • Pop Culture Happy Hour
  • Pure TokyoScope
  • Video Archives
  • Whatculture Wrestling

Favorite Comics
I feel like I slowed down a bit when it comes to comics this past year, and so no honorable mentions — and the Usagi Yojimbo mention includes both the ongoing new series, as well as the color reprints of old material.

  • Batman
  • Do a Powerbomb
  • Shaolin Cowboy: Cruel to be Kin
  • The Human Target
  • Usagi Yojimbo

Favorite BDs
Although I consistently read a lot of BDs (bandes-dessinées, or French language comics), in the past year or two I didn’t include the category because I wasn’t reading a lot of new releases, but this past year I was able to include a few choice titles that I quite enjoyed.

  • Cuba, où tout a commencé (XIII, Tome 28)
  • La mort de Spirou (Spirou et Fantasio, Tome 56)
  • Neptune – Épisode 1, 2
  • Scotland – Episode 1 (Kenya – Saison 4)
  • Tom & Lisa 1910 (La Fortune des Winczlav, Tome 2)

Favorite Magazines
The biggest change in the list this year is that I finally stopped buying/subscribing to the physical edition of Monocle, and switched over to a digital subscription (due to my move to China). Everything else I continue to read though my Apple News+ subscription.

  • Edge
  • Empire
  • Monocle
  • SFX
  • Total Film