101 Things I Liked in 2023
Writing is okay, but list is more difficult
Here we go again, another year in the books. As is becoming an annual tradition around these parts, I gathered 101 things I enjoyed the most — and in many cases, flat-out loved —throughout 2023. This was probably the least I’d been plugged into new releases of anything in several years, which was liberating in its own way to not hear/watch/read something buzzy and potentially not-up-my-alley just to have an opinion on it. That said, any omissions you see down there might be things I forgot, things I probably will like but didn’t get around to (The Curse, How To With John Wilson season 3, Showing Up), or things I didn’t love (no comment). Feel free to email me the reliable “no ______?” about anything you’re surprised to see missing, I don’t mind. Here they are, in a pretty particular but non-hierarchical order:
Lana Del Rey — Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (towering, intimate, irreverent, wise. To my ears, a career-defining masterpiece that nothing this year really threatened to eclipse until…)
Golden Apples — Bananasugarfire (while we’re at it with hyperbole, this basically feels like my favorite indie rock band release in a number of years. If you’ve liked guitar music at any time from the last few decades, unrelenting hooks, the Beatles, Preoccupations before the name change, Girls (band), fuzzy power pop, Elephant 6, well, look no further. The most excited I’ve been after hearing a new record for the first time this year and my most enthusiastic/frequent recommendation.)
Succession — stuck the landing and then some, feels irreplaceable until the next classic show comes around
Starstruck — also stuck its landing, a (seemingly) underseen show that functions as one of the rare great modern rom-coms
May December — movie of the year
Coming to understand, appreciate, and really like (if not fully love) the Alex G experience at his show
Coming to understand and appreciate, and nearly love, the John Wick franchise after seeing chapters 3 and 4 (in this case, I think the movies just got better)
Scratch & Co.’s burger — went to this place on a Thursday, were the only two people there, and maybe had the best burger in town
Accidentally going to another local restaurant (Butterjoint) at the same time as two sets of our best friends and being seated very close to each other, without knowing anyone would be there ahead of time
Pounders baseball
Dock Ellis World Series
The Mets decisively cutting bait on a horrific season at the trade deadline
Sufjan Stevens’ “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”
Sufjan Stevens’ note on the release date of Javelin (not so much a “like,” but I think you get the idea)
Indigo De Souza’s “Younger and Dumber” — from a very good album that came with impossible expectations, as a follow-up to my favorite of the young decade so far. Song’s one of the most affecting things I’ve ever heard though.
Knock at the Cabin
Skinamarink (a polarizing pair these two)
Larder’s pastrami sandwich in Cleveland
Laughing uncontrollably about Daughtry’s “Artificial” and his grandparentage
Kennywood season pass
The emergence of Immaculate Grid and all its spinoffs
Starting to make one of those spinoffs with my friend (hopefully coming to a web browser near you in 2024)
Movie club(s)
Actually following Lights Camera Jackson instead of letting his moments of viral notoriety pop up on the feed
Getting into Prefab Sprout
“A&W” — fully understood the brilliance after seeing her do an abridged version live, sometimes the consensus fave is right
Comedy is okay, but clown is more difficult (from last year but I’m deeming it eligible anyway)
Avatar: The Way of Water (relatedly)
Using the water buffalo on my street for a few days
Rear Window on 35mm
50 First Dates on my phone in an airplane
Movies, popcorn (wish the movie he’s promoting here was a little better :/)
Iris DeMent — Workin’ on a World
Spikeball
Starting to enjoy seafood
Seeing Queens of the Stone Age open their set with “No One Knows” and “Sick Sick Sick” and thinking I might actually love that band, before they moved into the new material
Hotelier anniversary show, at their very best (specifically, this one, Eli did a great job chronicling it)
The 1975, still…at their very best, and growing into their shoes as arena rockstars
Securing tickets to see U2 at the Sphere for next year, before experiencing moderate regret watching upon videos of Bono’s voice from opening night
Feeling slightly better about the choice after seeing the videos of him sounding better with Lady Gaga
Seeing Sunny Day Real Estate live, cementing How It Feels To Be Something On as one of my favorite albums of all time
Ranking my favorite albums of all time in a Sight and Sound-style poll with friends
Giving DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ’s Destiny my first earnest effort on an airplane and instantly loving it
When ANOHNI and the Johnsons’ “Scapegoat” hits the big climax (gave up on her a bit after the last one, but this reeled me back in quick)
Talking about Wilco on a podcast with my buds
Getting into Superdrag like a bunch of other dudes
Extended Clip podcast
Finding out my parents were always right about Boz Scaggs being great (Silk Degrees at least)
Going to Dave & Buster’s and playing a probably impossible tower game on repeat
Dick Tracy Special: Tracy Zooms In
Watching a few more Tsai Ming Liang movies, cementing him as an all-time guy
Rose Foods bagel in Portland, ME (probably the best bagel I’ve had in my life outside of a major market, don’t ask me about the chopped liver though)
The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Portland, ME
Truly stumbling upon the John Ford statue in Portland, ME
Watching My Darling Clementine for the first time
Watching Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere and La Notte for the first time in the same day
Re-watching Stop Making Sense in theaters and Rachel Getting Married for the first time at home
The Mask (2023)
Seeing the Waterworld Stunt Show, prominently featured in The Mask
Universal Studios tour (featuring the Nope Jupiter’s Claim set, a 2022 101 things alumni)
Buying the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot box set for half price, in another 2022 callback
Tubing
Getting laid offReviving the MoviePass mindset for a few months (but I’m in the ready-to-be-hired mindset again, if you’ve got anything :))Seeing two of my all-time favorites in theaters in the same week (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Eyes Wide Shut)
Old guy next to me yelling TURN OFF YOUR PHONE at someone sitting in front of him, while Tom Cruise’s phone rang on screen during Eyes Wide Shut
Trying Better-Maid Donuts, at long last, and finding they more than exceed the hype
The Other Two (just the first two seasons and change so far, which is hilarious like nothing else even if its demise was too on-the-nose)
Eating a deli sandwich on the beach in Puerto Rico
El Yunque swimming hole
Going to Margaritaville weeks after Jimmy Buffett’s death
Trader Joe’s Aussie Style Chocolate Creme Sandwich cookies (before tiring of them)
Rob Lowe doing chest compressions on a frozen solid man on 9-1-1: Lone Star
The existence of Jeremy Renner’s Rennervations
Promise of new Jeremy Renner music called “Love and Titanium” in 2024
Basically not feeling compelled to tweet for months at a time while still longing for when it was more fun
The early 2023 Love Island champion Kai shouting KIM at a Casa Amor girl he thought he knew, but did not
Feeling something shift in the air vis-a-vis the band Creed
Hot pot
Crab boil
Bachan’s The Original Japanese BBQ Sauce on a regular basis
Seeing, but not using the bathroom at Sunbeam Vintage in LA
Chocolate cream pie from Bub and Grandma’s in LA
Aspinwall Dog Park (a must during the winter months if you’re local and have a dog)
Stuntman on PS2
Cracking open The Simpsons: Hit and Run again on PS2
Wednesday’s Rat Saw God — I didn’t quite get what they were up to before this one, and now I do
Superviolet’s Infinite Spring — ditto, but with the Sidekicks (for more music I enjoyed this year, here)
Discovering several people quietly dislike the same band you do
Acquiring a refurbished Dyson V11
This plate Hannah made for me
Being Paul and Prue for Halloween
Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” — sometimes the TikTok kids land on the right one
Marveling at the extremely wet-looking food a neighborhood pub posts to Instagram
No more Mayim Bialik Jeopardy!
The greatest photo of the year
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