The Bests of 2022

Albums of the Year

I only listened to 52 albums this year. I’m not sure why my total was so low this year. This list is probably the least settled of any that I’ve ever published here. For more detailed listening statistics from this year, see my 2022 Listening Stats post.

1. Blue Rev by Alvvays
2. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You by Big Thief
3. 11:11 by Pinegrove
4. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
5. Spark by Whitney
6. God Save the Animals by Alex G
7. (I Am) Origami Pt. 4 Marathon Daze by John Van Deusen
8. Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road
9. Barbara by Barrie
10. blueblue by Sam Gendel

Favourite Lyric:
“Light years away and you’ve got so much life to offer in you” – Many Mirrors by Alvvays

Favourite Album Art:
Pigments by Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn, cover photography by Monty Marsh

Podcasts of the Year

Based on episodes released in the year 2022.

1. Comedy Bang! Bang! by Scott Aukerman
2. Playdate Podcast by Panic
3. Threedom by Lauren Lapkus, Paul F Tompkins, and Scott Aukerman
4. Cinema of Meaning by Tom van der Linden and Thomas Flight
5. Front Burner by the CBC, hosted by Jayme Poisson
6. The Neighbourhood Listen by Paul F Tompkins and Nicole Parker
   

Movies of the Year

I watched 10 feature-length films from 2022 in 2022. Most of those were in the final week of the year, so this ranking was hastily assembled and very subject to change.

1. After Yang
2. Tár
3. Aftersun
4. Everything Everywhere All At Once
5. Decision to Leave
6. The Banshees of Inisherin
7. Glass Onion

TV of the Year

1. Severance (Apple TV+)

2. The Rehearsal (HBO)

3. Andor (Disney+)

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime)

Favourite TV Scores:
The Rings of Power by Bear McCready and Andor by Nicholas Britell

Favourite Title Sequence: Severance by extraweg

Favourite Theme Song: The White Lotus: Season 2 – Renaissance (Main Title Theme) by Cristobal Tapia de Veer (I didn’t watch this season in time, so that’s why it didn’t make the list)

Videos of the Year

• Action Button Reviews: Boku no Natsuyasumi by Tim Rogers
• Line Goes Up – The Problem with NFTs by Folding Ideas
• Did People Used To Look Older? by Vsauce
• How Real is The Rehearsal by Thomas Flight
• The Complete Philosophy of The Lord of the Rings by Like Stories of Old

Books Read this Year

I read 26 books this year. Here are a few of my favourites that I read this year, in no particular order.

• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (1974)
• Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristen du Mez (2020)
• The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (2021)
• Beren and Lúthien by JRR Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien (2017)
• H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (2014)

Video Games Played this Year

Started and/or completed in 2022.

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) – Nintendo Switch
• Disco Elysium (2019) - MacOS
• FAR: Lone Sails (2019) – Nintendo Switch
• A Short Hike (2019) – Nintendo Switch
• Olli Olli World (2022) – Nintendo Switch