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Faves of 2022

Self explanatory end of the year list of my favourite everythings I consumed this year. That includes things that came out before 2022 but that I read/watched/played for the first time this year. For those of you who are only interested in what came in 2022 I will put them at the top of each list for visibility.

Other than that, the lists aren’t sorted by any order of preference, that’s just too much to ask.

Films

🩳 for short films, 🏳️‍🌈 for queer films (how queer they are vary immensely here so please don’t take this as me putting them all in the same basket, it’s just to highlight which could be of interest for someone looking for queer narratives and/or point of views), and finally 🌐 for films that are not a North American production.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) 🏳️‍🌈

Triangle of Sadness (2022) 🌐

Kimi (2022)

Barbarian (2022)

Starfuckers (2022) 🩳🏳️‍🌈

Prey (2022)

Turning Red (2022)

Love and Leashes (2022) 🌐

Rest of the list under the ‘read more’

Ringu (1998) 🌐

Keyboard Fantasies (2019) 🏳️‍🌈

Two Cars, One Night (2004) 🩳🌐

Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris (1970) 🩳🏳️‍🌈

Tama Tū (2004) 🩳🌐

Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (2016) 🏳️‍🌈🌐

Next Goal Wins (2014) 🏳️‍🌈🌐

Knife+Heart (2018) 🏳️‍🌈🌐

I Lost My Body (2019) 🌐

Towards Tenderness (2016) 🩳🏳️‍🌈🌐

Danton’s Death (2011) 🩳🌐

All the Crows In the World (2021) 🩳🏳️‍🌈🌐

Ex Machina (2014)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

The Samurai (2014) 🏳️‍🌈🌐

One Cut of the Dead (2017) 🌐

Prisoners (2013)

Rope (1948) 🏳️‍🌈

Frankenstein (1931) 🏳️‍🌈

The Old Dark House (1932) 🏳️‍🌈

Cat People (1942) 🏳️‍🌈

Happy Together (1997) 🏳️‍🌈🌐

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Chris Fleming: Showpig (2018)

Rashomon (1950) 🌐

La Cage aux Folles (1978) 🏳️‍🌈🌐

Books

I don’t have a lot in this list so I feel more inclined to give a lil explanation for each entry.

To Strip the Flesh by Oto Toda (2022 for the translation, 2020 in the original japanese): an anthology manga with a main story about a preop trans man who makes a living livestreaming himself cutting meat from animals that his father hunted (part of his success relying on how attractive he is to his audience who perceive him as a woman) and his struggle around coming out to his father and pursuing gender-affirming surgery.

It’s a beautiful and visceral (in every sense of the word) manga and I can’t recommend it enough. With a caveat that it contains, both in its main story and the short that make the anthology, a lot of body horror that might not be for everyone.

No Sleep Till Shengal by Zerocalcare (2022): don’t know that I have much to say about this one. People familiar with his work might understand why.

Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal by Terry Pratchett: continuing my exploration of the Discworld and enjoyed the two a great deal. Monstrous Regiment has become my favourite Discworld and maybe a favourite in general as well. It’s rare (at least to me, but maybe I’m not looking in the right places) to find satisfying trans representation in fiction, even more so in genre fiction, and even more so in stories that are overall a fun time. The final few pages make me emotional every time I read them.  “Around him, the kitchen worked.” and “‘A choice?’ said Rosemary.” forever.

My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame: just gonna copy the wiki summary “the series follows the relationship between single father Yaichi, his daughter Kana, and Mike Flanagan, the Canadian husband of Yaichi's estranged and recently deceased twin brother.” It’s a manga, it’s beautiful, glad I finally got around to reading it.

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo: took me ages to get to this despite having devoured Six of Crows but here we are. Since it’s a sequel I don’t feel like I can say much other than I had a great time with it and the ending got me. It helped me get out of a reading slump I was in.

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay: checked this one out because I saw the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation and it hooked me. It was such an easy read I finished it in 3 days (which is very fast for me nowadays). I still don’t really know what to think of it, still recovering from the ending and trying to make up my mind, but it did its job of keeping me invested and turning the pages fast. I’m very curious to see how they adapt it too.

Dracula by Bram Stoker: so thankful for dracula daily for getting me to read this, joined the squad of “why the hell adaptations do this to Mina and why do they omit my man Quincey?”.

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers: even less “plot” than the first book but I couldn’t give a shit. I love the Wayfarers universe and its characters and this was such a comfortable and satisfying read. It even made me reevaluate some of my stances on AIs.

Overall I only read 2 of the books I said were on my to-read for 2022 but I achieved my goal of reading at least 12 books this year (even beat it by 1!) and got out of a years long reading slump so it’s a win! Looking forward to my reading in 2023.

TV Shows

Faves new shows of 2022: Our Flag Means Death, Severance, The Bear, Murderville and Interview with the Vampire

Other than that I watch too many things and TV Time is awful to navigate but off the top of my head other shows that didn’t start this year that I feel the need to highlight: What We Do In The Shadows (this latest finale was a gut punch in the best of ways), Chucky (the most fun I’ve had consistently watching anything this year), The Night Of (took me a while to get to this miniseries but it didn’t disappoint to say the least), Taskmaster NZ (the superior version), Barry, Succession, The Casketeers, Los Espookys...

Oh and you should subscribe to Dropout

Everything Else

I don’t play that much video games but of the ones I played and finished (or that can’t be finished) I played and finished Spiritfarer this year and that didn’t disappoint. Also the new Just Dance (2023 Edition) is insane. Yes they sacrificed a lot in the process but if you only take the new songs and maps into account it’s the best they’ve ever done.

And music wise I already answered a lot of Spotify Wrapped questions and that’s probably that. I’m a filthy casual enjoyer of music, incapable of having any critical sense for it.

I made this list mostly for myself and also for those of you who might have similar taste as mine and looking for recs. If after reading this you think you might have recs for me, feel free to drop them in replies or DMs!

Happy new year!

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[monstermonstre]

for your consideration

#måneskin #maneskin #monstrueux blabla

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don mancini: they're gonna say fag and queer and genderfluid, all in the first two episodes 😘

tv execs: yes, sir. anything you want, sir.

#tbc I am totally supportive of him writing these words into the script #chucky #monstrueux blabla

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i just think it’s neat how the chucky puppeteers are credited as co-stars at the end of each episode

#chucky #chucky tv series #monstrueux blabla

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sometimes i remember how the rescue i got my cat from was like 'she probably will never be an affectionate cat' and i was like 'oh i don't mind' and fast forward three years later she's the neediest cat i've ever met, she never refuses a cuddle, she demands to sleep against me under the blanket, she purrs loudly every time i give her attention, she yells at me when i go out like

pot de colle💚

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#again this isnt the opression olympics and im not posting this to make it so #but if you seriously think trans men and trans masculine people don't face a unique brand of transphobia this book was #economist book of the year and made the list of the times best books of 2021 #transphobia #monstrueux blabla #i'm not a fan of the terms used atm by the community to refer to trans masc specific transphobia but at the same time #i certainly don't have a better word for it and we need to start making terms to define our experiences #otherwise you all are gonna continue saying they don't exist

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i interrupt my success*on brainrot just to say that today my dad called me his son for the first time and helped me pick a name for myself and i've still not really processed it or recovered and idk if there are any words to describe how i'm feeling but regardless it's a positive news i wanted to share even if i don't have the brain to do it eloquently or meaningfully at the moment

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i just think it's funny how don mancini was like 'im gonna put a stop to the people romanticizing charles lee ray real quick' and now they're acting like chucky's backstory doesn't make sense anymore

idk how to tell you that romanticizing a fictional serial killer that was always written to be an evil little asshole is a you problem

#not to mention the people using words like 'psychotic' interchangeably with 'evil' #and in the same breath acting like they're psych experts #fuck you and fuck off #monstrueux blabla #chucky

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anyway if you really want to analyse anything in chucky, how about when jake and devon get forced into "7 minutes in heaven' renamed '7 minutes in hell' because haha halloween but also because

how mortifying it is to be pressured into being alone with your crush when all your usual barriers are down and there's nothing you can use to deflect and everyone seems to know not only that you have a crush on him but that you're queer and how you never got to come out on your own terms because everyone just Knew (derogatory) and your crush never mocked you never exposed you so he should be safe but how could you risk it how could you risk confirming what everyone else has been saying about you (derogatory) and risk ending the only relationship in your life with someone who treats you kindly and how everything you do, every thing that you are is treated like a spectacle to every one else even when they can't physically see you they are judging you and consuming you like cheap entertainment

how hellish

#messy writing but I hope I got my point across #chucky #anyway sorry about the chucky spam that lil doll just makes me happy and the sudden influx of content is making me a bit insane #monstrueux blabla #chucky tv series

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not to anthropomorphize my cat but i feel like living in a house with two chronically ill/disabled people she's grown to have this very cute respect for The Bed

like as long as im in bed she seems to see it as a safe space she shouldn't breach, she'll come cuddle or go live her life but if she wants something and im in bed, she'll wait patiently and peacefully

the moment i step a foot out of bed tho😅

#lbc she always has food and water and a clean litterbox #what im talking about is when she wants to play or snacks or her special food #if im in bed she waits #if I step a foot out its signal to her that she can start pushing me around for what she wants😂 #monstrueux blabla

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too many people watch movies like the whole time they're thinking 'can't wait until this is over so i can go on letterboxd and write a shitpost review so maybe i'll get featured on a tumblr gifs+reviews compilation and get an internet funnyman badge'

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tumblr: so wild how that lil murder doll show is one of the gayest thing on tv rn

anyone who has kept on watching the franchise past 'bride': 🙂

#bride is gay too don't get me wrong but don really started going balls out with seed #chucky #monstrueux blabla #wait til they find out where chucky has been for the past few years

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no more songs in english

eurovision has progressed past the need for songs in english

#so far the first semi final is winning #esc 2021 #monstrueux blabla

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every week the chucky tv series is like 'let me give you some free serotonin' and im very grateful

#high camp best show of the year chucky #monstrueux blabla

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the next neck stretch will fix me

#you ever try a new neck stretch and feel as if you just finally found the reset button of your spine? #monstrueux blabla

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now that i seem to be out of my reading slump (thanks to the storygr*ph january pages challenge and terry pr*tchett) i realise that my to read list is almost entirely speculative fiction (i include horror in that) and as much as i love it, if i'm going to be reading every day, i need more diversity so

open to your book recs that are NOT fantasy/scifi/horror, aside from these genres i like a bit of every thing except for mysteries (i wouldn't say i dislike mysteries, i just don't tend to be interested enough to check them out or know what i'd like, so if you have an accessible fave i'm all ears) and i would love to read more romances (especially queer), i also try to stay away from YA (not because i think poorly of it, just that most recs i get are YA and I'm not a young adult anymore, i prefer reading about older characters who are done with school)

and of course if you have anything with a trans man protag/important character that is, again, not YA or children's lit, please do suggest it

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