Squeezing work around full-time parenting cut into my self-improvementindulgence time this year. I may not have read any long novels, but I did see the entirety of Peppa Pig several times over and learned all the names of multiple generations of plastic ponies.
Here's what I managed to scrape together for my out-of-calendar cultural year.
~ Best TV of 2022, Not from 2022 ~
Time-travel meisterwerk or convoluted colonoscopy? Either way, it was satisfyingly tight. Severance (2022) got off to a promising start, while Inside No. 9 and Taskmaster (2022) chugged dependably on and Better Call Saul (2022) bowed out in inevitable style. Old-school Pokémon (1997–99) was the most entertaining kids' show in the rotation, and self-styled best YouTuber in the universes Dad was a fun distraction for a while (2019–21).
~ Best Film of 2022, Not from 2022 ~
Stubbornly persevering through the J-horror canon, this demented haunted funhouse romp reigned supreme, while Onibaba (1964) and Occult (2009) were more blandly respectable picks. I recklessly bumped Spirited Away (2000) up the parenting schedule by a few years, but didn't like it as much as the toddler-friendly ones after all. Grave of the Fireflies (1988) was more impressive, but I probably won't be fast-tracking that one.
~ Best Book of 2022, Not from 2022 ~
An exquisite rustic tapestry extended by The Bitterwood Bible (2014), it'll be a while before I can share these bedtime stories. In more family-friendly literature, The Hutchinson Treasury of Stories to Read Aloud (2003) was a good value picture book album and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) and The BFG (1982) were the best Roald Dahls I hadn't read before, unless I had. Borges' The Book of Sand (1975) and Mark Samuels' The White Hands and Other Weird Tales (2003) were other good grown-up books, even if they didn't have pictures.
~ Best Album of 2022, Not from 2022 ~
These haunting sounds of decay proved a perfectly fitting soundtrack to my diminishing work. Popol Vuh's Hosianna Mantra (1972) and Hiroshi Yoshimura's Flora 1987 (2006) were other contemplative moods and The Frozen Autumn's Chirality (2011) was the best gothic revival. Solaris' Marsbéli Krónikák (1984), Jess and the Ancient Ones' altar-rocking debut (2012) and Droid Bishop's Rebirth of the Machine (2019) made do when things were somewhat more upbeat.
~ Best Spoken Word of 2022, Not from 2022 ~
"The city council would like to remind you about the tiered heavens and the hierarchy of angels. The reminder is that you should not know anything about this."
It's a shame I didn't know about these transmissions when they first came out to confuse my exotic wanderings. An increasingly self-indulgent cult, but a dependable stockpile to work through between audiobooks.
~ Best Game of 2022, Not from 2022 ~
I knew I was opening a can of weedles when introducing her to addictive video games (in moderation) at age three, but I would have felt mean holding out, and it made childcare more entertaining until she suddenly tired of it. It was really the worst time to get into time-consuming adult jigsaws, but the 1000-piece Garden of Earthly Delights (2019) satisfied a long-term craving and I enjoyed the cat one too. Back to the Future: The Card Game (2010) was a smart if clinical re-themed tie-in, but One Deck Dungeon (2016) turned out to be more themed Yahtzee than budget dungeon crawler.
Piccolo tomatoes
I would have singled out tomatoes as my worst food in the world during my childhood. Well, if you will hide the good shit.
As seen on
