I don’t know that I believe in a Best Of Annual Review, but here’s a list of what I enjoyed in media during 2022.
Favorite Audio Book/Book Series:
Andy Serkis reading The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings
Tolkien writes that the whole point of LOTR was to tell a really long tale, and if you are reading it in print, it is all too easy to skip over some of the songs or poetry or history. But these are all part of telling a long tale in its fullness. And with Serkis reading/singing/reciting it, there is little temptation to bypass the slower portions (don’t say boring parts…)
Favorite Print Book:
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, by Kate Beaton
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is not only my favorite graphic novel of the year but my favorite print book. (I do most of my recreational reading with audiobooks.) Before Ducks, Nova Scotian Kate Beaton was best known for her long-running Hark a Vagrant webcomics and anthologies that skewer everything from super heroes to Victorian literature to Canadian history.
In Ducks, Beaton tells of the two years she spend back in the 2000s working in the Alberta oil sands as a way of paying off her school debt for a degree in the humanities. Working out west was a massive change for her – leaving behind the remote life in Cape Breton Nova Scotia where family and friends lived but there were few good-paying jobs. The oil fields were far from Nova Scotia, were full of men who were far from home, and was where women were massively outnumbered.
Beaton’s story is full of her characteristic humor and skewed observations, but it is also a painful narrative of sexual harassment and assault. The comics manage to capture the young men, barely out of boyhood, seeking some kind of adventure; the older men, trying to support themselves and their far-away families; and the young women, desperate for good-paying work.
The book has made a number of top book lists of 2022, most notably former President Barak Obama’s.
The pages from this graphic novel are not just traditional comic panels. Some are much larger scale that capture the remote, desolate, and sometimes beautiful settings of Beaton’s work in the oil fields, such as this one illustrating the northern lights.
Most Memorable Movie of the Year:
The Banshees of Inisherin
Please note that this is my most memorable movie, as in the movie I can’t stop thinking about, not my favorite movie of the year.
This little film, staring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan, tells the story of two old friends living on a remote Irish island in the 1920s when Gleeson’s character decides he doesn’t want to spend anymore of his limited life with Farrell’s character.
I was fortunate enough to see this at our gem of a community-run non-profit The World Theatre. And this is a movie that demands your full attention in a darkened room with no distractions from phones or other electronics. It is billed as a dark comedy, and I suppose it is that. But mostly it is a story of what a friendship can mean and how we decide to spend our time on earth.
I would urge you not to find out anything more about this odd little movie. And if you have access to subtitles while you watch it, you might avail yourself. The accents get a bit thick. Currently streaming on HBO Max.
Favorite Movie of the Year:
Tick, Tick … BOOM!
Actually a 2021 movie, but I saw it on the big screen at The World Theatre early in 2022 and twice more on streaming later on. Since this is the only movie I watched three times in 2022, it has to be my favorite, No?
Tick, Tick … BOOM! is Jonathan Larson’s (of RENT fame) first produced musical, and it tells the story of how he tried unsuccessfully to get a show based loosely on 1984 produced. Lin-Manuel Miranda directed and Andrew Garfield stars in this uplifting and tear-jerking story of Larson facing turning 30 without being as successful of a composer as Stephen Sondheim. So many great songs, such a talented cast, so many amazing cameos. This may be heresy, but I like the movie version of TTB! even better than RENT.
Only available on Netflix.
Favorite Old Movie of the Year:
In a Lonely Place
From 1950, In a Lonely Place is a top-notch film noir directed by Nicholas Ray that was new to my Dear Wife and me this year. It was featured on Turner Classic Movie’s Noir Alley series, hosted by Eddie Muller. It stars Humphrey Bogart as a failing Hollywood screenwriter and Gloria Grahame as a new love interest who has to come to terms with suspicions that Bogart’s character has murdered the last woman he was with.
A wonderfully complex story of existentialism, trust, and temper, it’s available in a variety of formats (see the link above) but will certainly show up sooner or later again on TCM. Don’t miss it when it does. Bogart is good in almost everything he does (even the silly The Return of Dr. X), but Lonely Place has to be one of his best dramatic performances.
Favorite Music of the Year
Bach’s Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites, performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Jan Vogler, and Pablo Casals.
Apple Music’s Replay statistics for 2022 suggest that I spent close to 5,000 minutes (83 hours) listening to the Bach Unaccompanied Cello suites from various recordings over 2022. The six suites combined run about two-and-a-half hours if played without interruption. I won’t pretend to be able to explain why they matter or are so important. I only know that every time I listen to them, there is something new to pull from them. My listening included three different complete recordings of the suites from Yo-Yo Ma, one from Austrian cellist Jan Vogler, and the original recordings of the suites by Spanish cellist Pablo Casals from the late 1930s that reintroduced the suites to the world after they had been largely ignored for nearly 200 years.
Here’s Ma performing the six suites for the BBC Proms 2015.
Favorite Video Game of the Year
Pure Mahjong
This was a tough one to decide on. But I suppose the measure of my favorite game was the one I spent the most time playing – and that would be Pure Mahjong for the Nintendo Switch. It is a simple Mahjong game that offers four boards each day, ranging from easy to challenging. All of them have the advantage of being doable if played correctly. I often finish the evening by working my way through three or all four boards before bed. They are an excellent way of clearing my head of whatever else has been afflicting it. I have had a version of Mahjong (or Shanghai) on almost every video game system I’ve owned over the years, and they have always been an enjoyable stress reliever. But this version with four new boards every day is the best. It is available for $2.99 (through 1/13/23) as a digital download from Nintendo.com.
Favorite TV Series:
Jeopardy!
In the spring of 2019, the year before the COVID19 pandemic really took hold, my family got in the habit of watching Jeopardy! every evening at dinnertime as professional gambler James Holzhauer began transforming the game with his aggressive play. (Spare me the judgey-ness on watching TV with dinner. You know you do it!)
Since then, whenever Jeopardy! is not in reruns, Dear Wife and I are regular viewers, shouting out our answers and competing fiercely with each other. We have watched our way through a number of “super champions” who are able to utilize Holzhauer’s strategies to build amazing winning streaks.
I think what attracts us most to Jeopardy is that it celebrates people who are smart and well read. What more could you ask for in a competition show?
Co-host Ken Jennings remembers Alex Trebek