2022 in Review

A brief look at the year in entertainment and news

Posted: 1 January 2023
Stats: 1442 words / ~7 minutes

Hello out there, people of the World Wide Web!

It is now 2023 here is France. I am wide awake and ready to write about 2022.

2022 ripped by at warp speed, but my Millennial brain has managed to pick out a few titbits. This is a very unstructured flyover of those titbits.

I warn you in advance, though, I might swear a little.

Let’s get this show on the road!

Music

I listen to a lot of music. Most of the time on my DAP, but sometimes on my computer. You can get a better idea of my tastes over on ListenBrainz.

Despite my preference for all things electronic, IDM, Industrial, Metal, and such, my stand-out album of the year was from nerd-core hip-hop genius, Wordburglar. I, too, hail from Canada’s ocean playground, and when I saw that Burgie dropped some tunes I stopped what I was doing and got my headphones out.

First, check out that artwork. Gorgeous. Every track is a gem. Lyrically splendiferous songs about CDs and Sega and using the word “like.”

Films

I didn’t watch that many films this year, and I have a tendency to like everything I see. Whatever. Here are some films that I remember seeing.

Absolute surprise, glad I didn’t see the trailers

These are films that I either had low expectations for, or no idea about before pressing play. Nope was probably the most surprising.

Great, would watch again

Films that were not horrible and lived up to the hype.

Passable with caution

Meh.

TV

I watched a lot more TV that I did films. Way too much, in fact. I would say that I have a great year of TV. I was hooked on the January 6th Hearings. I was confused by Raised by Wolves (and then confused again when it was cancelled) and Undone. I laughed at the violence and vulgarity of Peacemaker, The Pentaverate, Human Resources, and The Boys. I was committed to Julia and her butter. House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power were both great shows. I even liked Wednesday. And, fuck the haters, Obi-Wan Kenobi was perfectly fine.

Every single Star Trek series was great. Every one. Brave New Worlds got off to a good start, Discovery hasn’t lost strength, Lower Decks developed story arks and characters, Prodigy found its place too. Obviously Picard had me breathless. Seeing John de Lancie on screen again with Sir Patrick Steward and Whoopie Goldberg, Brent Spiner killing it, and a cameo by Wil Wheaton. I was in tears at times and I cannot wait to see season three!

And then there was Better Call Saul. What can be said about that show? It was better than Breaking Bad. A true experience. I was all set to call it the best of 2022 until…

ANDOR

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

I mean. Fuck. What a triumph. Every scene, character, angle; the music; the actors; the plots, subplots, and intrigue. Touching, thrilling, loaded with emotion. I even said, out loud, to my partner, “I don’t know how they can make it better.” And what did they do? Do you know what they did? Andy Fucking Serkis is what they did! Barefoot and bearded, portraying Kino Loy, and stealing the show. And, then… “I can’t swim.”

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Gut-wrenching. Brutal. Beautiful.

Some tech notes

I bought a PineTime this year. Absolutely zero regrets. It does what it is supposed to do. I admit that I didn’t see the draw to having a smartwatch of any kind, but I get it now. And the PineTime works very well. It might not be as fancy as other watches, but it is a worthwhile investment.

I think the most useful tool in my tech box this year was Syncthing. I have been using it for quit awhile now (like, 2 or 3 years…), but this year it really came through. It came through for me professionally and personally. Lifesaver, easy, free, open. All good.

Finally, in the tech category, there is a video game series that I need to mention. There were no new releases in this series in 2022, but this series was my summer. Mega Man. I bought 4 collections and Mega Man 11 on PlayStation. I would recommend them to anyone, young or old, looking for a nice, worry-free, challenge. I don’t know if I would recommend all the X series, but definitely the first collection. The challenge is just right, the music is awesome, and it is a classic franchise that everyone should have a go at.

The News

I regularly read and collect news articles (using wallabag) to have on hand in class. I like to use them for debate, but also for reading (I am an ESL teacher) as students tend to have something to say about social networks and technology. Here are some of the articles I wallabag’d this year. You will notice a theme: social networks and abusive technology. You will also notice that 2022 started off with a bit of an oh my, is FB going to die? attitude. It did not.

Furthermore, you will see that many these articles tend to come from similar sources (The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, The Economist). This is not by design. I do not go hunting on sites for these articles. They are articles that come up on Mastodon, HN, Lobsters, et al. It makes me question just what kind of filter-bubble I am living in.

NOTE: I did not search for alternative sources for these articles. I know I should be sharing non-paywalled links.

Articles from blogs around the web

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