It's a good thing this blog still exists. I was going to confine all my bullshitting about the year in whatever to Facebook, and that simply isn't good enough for my purposes. If I'm going to talk about the pop culture I digested this year, I need plenty of room for blathering (and the insertion of pictures).
I'm going to keep it pretty light and borderline obnoxious, as that is the personal brand I hope to cultivate in 2022. I mean, that seems to work for an awful lot of people.
I won't spend a lot of time on the things I did not enjoy. I have more fun babbling incoherently about the things I liked/loved. And please note: this is all about me and the things I liked. You don't have to like them, and you are under no obligation to inform me that you don't like them, nor elaborate at length why you didn't like them, and why I'm wrong for liking them. Take that to heart, and think about your life if you find you are one of those people who believes it's very important that you tell other people their taste isn't up to your standards.
First, let's talk about some MOVIES. I left my house a few times to see movies this year, though I'm not going to lie - being able to watch some of this shit without leaving home is not the worst thing in the world. Especially when some of that shit includes "Space Jam: A New Legacy". Goddammit, I said I wasn't going to be negative. There will be spoilers. I should also note that a) I have probably forgotten things I watched and liked and b) I digest far less "content" (ugh) than I did in my younger years, so there will be tons of stuff that I missed and I'm sure I'd probably like whatever movie or show but I've got things to do but ANYWAY
Let us begin with
DUNE
Timothee Chalamet gazes into the distance in a moment that made my innards vibrate and recognize I was watching one of my most favorite fucking movies this year
I fucking loved, loved, loved Denis Villeneuve's "Dune". Fucking loved it. Loved. I read the book probably 30-plus years ago and retained virtually nothing about it. I cannot claim any manner of "Dune"-spertise or deep abiding fandom for the books, but fuck, I dug this a bunch. I'm a sucker for a "reluctant chosen one" story, whether it's Aragorn being "meh" about his destiny to be king of Gondor to Neo being "eh" about his messianic potential, and that is "Dune" all day long. A lot of track had to be laid in this movie, and that track was laid sumptuously. Hans "BWOOOOOOOONG" Zimmer even doled out a kinda restrained soundtrack (though honestly, this girlwoman does not mind her some BWOOOOOONG). I'm glad I made the effort to see this at the movies so I could take it all in, and then watch it again on HBO Max a few days later. I could have watched it about a trillion more times before it vamoosed into the ether.
I thought Chalamet (CHALAMAAAAAY) was terrific as our reluctant fella, and as I am on public record as being, uh, very fond of, uh, Oscar Isaac, I liked the two of them as father and son. It was a nice dynamic. The bitch being that short of flashbacks, Dune: The Deuce will be lacking any appearances of Duke Leto because, you know, naked cyanide pill death. But this lives eternal:
 |
| here he is; here he remains - in my heart and in my *connection lost* |
Speaking of reluctant messiahs, the universe brought me a luscious surprise late this year in the form of The Matrix: Resurrections. I must once again report that I fucking loved something. I loved this movie so hard. I loved seeing two adults in their 50s kicking the living shit out of things. Admittedly, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss have been blessed in the looks department so it's not like either of them resemble crumbling shitbuckets, but still. It's nice to see. When Trinity finally wakes up and unleashes hell, I cried because you know what? Being a woman in this godforsaken universe is really hard a lot and when someone takes control of her life, I am going to cry. It was reminiscent of Rey picking up that goddamned lightsaber and firing it up in "The Force Awakens" and I'm going to take a moment to curl up in a ball and self-soothe.
also cried during this bit
No Time to Die, the final Daniel Craig outing in the James Bond series, made me regress a bit in the Personal Growth Department. When we left the theater, I wanted to run to the internet as fast as I could to pick fights about the ending. Look, I know I spent a paragraph up there about trying to be a bigger person and that I wasn't going to spend time on things that I didn't enjoy. And I did overall enjoy "No Time to Die", honest I did! But boy, that ending didn't work for me. So, 95% worked for me personally. That's positive! I think Daniel Craig was an amazing Bond on the whole, and I will forever appreciate "Casino Royale" for providing us with some borderline shameless objectifying of a male body.
awooooooooooooooooooogah
Annette, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, was a movie that while I watched it, my brain was saying "what in the high hell is this" and by the time it was done, I found that I really enjoyed watching a movie that was completely bonkers and dreamlike/nightmarish maybe because the filmmakers and cast weren't smugly telling us all what a weird and wild ride we were all on together. It all just...happened. With a puppet playing the titular Annette. A PUPPET. And it worked.
lamb chop did not portray Annette because they couldn't meet her quote
giant beasts kicking the shit out of each other = self-care
Other movies/documentaries I saw that I very much enjoyed:
Power of the Dog
Summer of Soul
Velvet Underground
Nobody
Spider-Man: No Way Home
When it comes to TELEVISION, I want to spend about 13 hours spurting forth about Succession and rolling around in the luxurious misery of it all. "Succession" is a show where being decent is a fatal flaw and any attempts at being decent will be mocked soundly by the members of the Roy family. I enjoy that it's a show where its creators don't seem all that concerned whether or not anyone is likeable to the audience. There are shows featuring "difficult" or "unlikable" characters that fall over themselves to try and convince the audience that the person in question really ain't so bad and aren't we all like (character name)? Well, no, we're not, and you trying to make me believe that is grating on my last goddamned nerve, Show I Won't Name.
The profile of Jeremy Strong that came out a few weeks ago was hilarious/transcendental and only reinforced my love for actors, you nutty fucks. That he's able to get me to yell at the TV week after week, "oh...oh, honey, Ken, don't do - don't do that - ohhhhhhhhhh, that's a bad choice" with true concern is remarkable because Kendall Roy is NOT A COOL GUY. Yet, I find myself falling into that "I CAN FIX HIM" trap. I could fanfic the shit out of it and Mary Sue my metaphorical balls off and be the weird fat chick that's a head taller than him (because you know I am) that will swoop in and MAKE KEN A REAL BOY.
all bangers, all the time LET ME LOVE YOU KENDALL
Desus and Mero on Showtime's only fault is that it isn't on five nights a week, but five nights would probably dilute the power that they wield. Sometimes the interviews can border on being Chris Farley's SNL interviewer ("Remember when you did that thing? It was cool.") but when they're commenting on current events or simply trying celebrity liquors until they're shitfaced, it's not unusual to find me literally slapping my knees as I giggle. The below link leads to the most recent taste test of celebrity liquors, and you'll be surprised at who the fuck has their own line of booze.
Two other TV shows that helped to keep me off the edge were The Great British Bake-Off (like 900 million other people) and Taskmaster with the very tall and alluring comedian Greg Davies. There's not much I can say about GBBO that 18 billion other people haven't said, but boy, it's very comforting (at least, for me) to watch people make things and make them well. No one's mean or snarky or trying to undermine anyone else. The opening skits do need to be shot into space, but that's what the fast-forward function is for.
As for Taskmaster, it's a British panel show/competition between comedians and performers and it's lorded over by Greg in such a delicious fashion. He was a schoolteacher at one point in his life and there are times when he breaks out that kind of authoritative schoolteacher air that I can only describe as scrumptious. It's just a funny show, and serves as a good introduction to some very talented comedians for us American viewers.
I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to reflect on Eurovision, because holy shit, it's majestic. Peacock (NBC's streaming platform) showed the competition in its entirety, and I was entranced. There's something so pure and almost uncynical about it - it's a bunch of theater kids on speed who get to put on a three-minute show with lights and pyrotechnics and a massive audience. One of my favorites was Go A, a Ukrainian band that specializes in "electro-folk" and are a prime example of what trips my trigger and twirls my skirt:
Go A - "Shum" - Yes, they shot the video near Chernobyl.
Few things spark a twitter meltdown faster these days than bringing up Marvel movies versus any living or dead filmmaker. Opinions can be a difficult thing to have on social media, thanks to so many people lacking in chill and being very much in love with the aroma of their own assholes. But I'm not here to tell those filmmakers that are "meh" about Marvel to eat ALL the shit - I'll just tell you what I enjoyed from Marvel's television division this year - WandaVision and Loki. I was really, really not feeling the WandaVision thing when they first announced it. I couldn't get my head wrapped around what they could possibly do with them. Well, they sure took it places I didn't imagine and I thought they did a really interesting little series that finally gave Elizabeth Olsen space to demonstrate just how good an actor she is. As for Loki, so much of the appeal of that character is down to Tom Hiddleston having charm and charisma for miles. It wasn't hard to understand why they'd want to whip up a series all about Loki. But once again, I had a hard time trying to imagine what, exactly, to do with him since technically speaking, he's quite dead. (Because I fancy myself to be creative and marginally clever, I like to think about shit like that.) Naturally, they had a plan for that, and turned out another series that ably handled a complex character like Loki (he's very charming and is capable of doing courageous things for others! He's also, like, done some genocide!) and had some fun with alternate universes and timelines.
I appreciate that there appears to be some level of tolerance for weirdness in the Marvel TV division, and giving the folks behind the shows the opportunity to get a little funky with it. This isn't to say the pretty straightforward Hawkeye, which I recently watched and found festive, wasn't a quality show by being straightforward. They seem, thus far, to be cognizant of what chunks of their "content" (sigh) needs a weirder hand.
Other TV items worth a bit of a mention:
Most of my thoughts about HBO's Scenes From a Marriage starring Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac are ones that will die with me, but gracious, it was a genuine pleasure watching two very gifted actors putting on a fucking clinic.
I watched MacGruber. It's filthy and cartoonishly violent and I'm far too familiar with Will Forte's ass than I'm comfortable with, but I laughed really hard a lot. It's currently running on Peacock.
Peacock also has the most recent run of Making It, Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman's craft show. It falls into my bucket of loving watching people be creative, and one of the best moments of the year took place when Nick, an Illinois native, found out that contestant and eventual winner Adam Kingman was the son of Dave Kingman. Dave played for the Chicago Cubs back in the 70s and was Nick's favorite player. See below for Nick's reaction (also imagine giggling by Nick since finding a fucking video clip of this moment is IMPOSSIBLE):
Peacock also has a baking competition show hosted by Maya Rudolph and Adam Samberg called Baking It, a spinoff of Making It. It's not quite as relaxing as GBBO and I wasn't that keen on having teams of two competing versus solo competitors, but once again, people good at things = me happy. (And jealous sometimes. Very jealous. Maybe a little angry? Angry at myself, not others, but why can't I get my shit together, do something with myself, start a podcast or work on learning a new skill or - it's okay, I'm on medication.)
We'll wrap this mother up with some random JANESOBERVATIONS.
Jobservations? Janeservations? The brand is a work in progress, give me a break.
Bob Odenkirk, Naperville, Illinois's Very Own and a living fucking treasure, had a health scare earlier in the year. There was a 24-hour period where no one knew anything, and the outpouring of well wishes and worries from seemingly every corner of the earth was kind of amazing to see. When Bob's son Nate announced on Twitter that he was going to be okay, it was like finding out a family member was out of danger.
Podcasts. They're good, right? I can't say that I listen to a huge variety of podcasts, but the ones I do listen to are festive, including the ole standby Comedy Bang Bang. The new offshoot of CBB, CBB World, requires a subscription but it's putting content (hmmpf) out there that is funny, smart, and very, very silly. My other go-to is With Gourley and Rust, featuring Matt Gourley and Paul Rust talking about horror and horror-adjacent movies with the geek energy I enjoy. It doesn't require being a fan of horror (as I am not) for you to enjoy.
Spraining one's foot - I don't recommend it. It really fucking hurts. Also, benign essential tremors can eat my ass a bit, especially when I'm trying to do fiddly things like measure out teaspoons of stuff or threading a needle.
The year in general was, uh, not so great? I'm not a glass-half-full filly so I'm not your person for the old uplifting/inspiring thing. But keep on finding things that make you feel better, whether it's in pop culture or exercise or reading or chatting with people or creating something, and I will try to find things that make me feel better, too.
