Best of 2023, Not from 2023

Full-time work and full-time parenting left negative time for personal pissing about for most of this year, but hacks like passive audiobooks in work-prep time and secret subtitled anime when she's watching My Little Pony kept me sane.

Here are the things I enjoyed discovering (or sometimes revisiting) in 2023, some of which were even released in 2023, though mostly not.

~ Best TV of 2023, Not from 2023 ~

Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988–97)

Checking off another satisfying space saga, if you can make it through the Nazi stuff, even if dense subtitles and bare-minimum animation meant I might as well have read the books. Bloodthirsty chop-em-up Berserk (1997–98) was the condensed fantasy version. In live action, Unsolved Mysteries' (1987–93) unsimulated retro charm, insensitively-authentic reconstructions and whiplash-inducing variety made its vintage investigations into true crime and bollocks more compelling than any dreary modern equivalents. The Change (2023) was another welcome folk sitcom, Inside No. 9 (2022–23) was still good, obviously, re-re-re-rebooted Doctor Who (2023) was fun again, and Cosmos (1980) got an overdue rewatch.

~ Best Film of 2023, Not from 2023 ~

Persona (1966)

I was going to sum up Bergman's enigmatic two-hander monologue as a less explicit Mulholland Drive, then I remembered the cock. Other good oldies included feature-length Twilight Zone Carnival of Souls (1962), dark Lapland fairy tale The White Reindeer (1952), public information drama Gaslight (1944) and sombre silent L'inhumaine (1924). In anime, military sci-fi launchpad Legend of the Galactic Heroes: My Conquest is the Sea of Stars (1988) impressed me enough to commit to its 110-part sequel and Voices of a Distant Star (2002) was an adorably retrofuturistic short.

~ Best Book of 2023, Actually from 2023 ~

Oliver Gaywood, ...done with travel (2023)

Enough life has passed that my friend's vainly/insightfully self-published hardback blog was a joy to revisit, having been along for that ride as parallel observer, snarky commenter (see earlier this sentence) and occasional special guest star. It took longer for me to rejoin Tony Hawks on his trip Round Ireland with a Fridge (1998), which might be my longest gap between abandoning and finishing a book unless I ever pick up The Hobbit again. Playing the Moldovans at Tennis (2000) succeeded as an equally pointless sequel. Richard Littler's Discovering Scarfolk (2014) had some cracking gags, but is probably better as a website. In kid lit, Aleksandra Artymowska's Alice in Wonderland: A Puzzle Adventure (2019) was the best stocking filler I never had.

~ Best Album of 2023, Not from 2023 ~

Rudimentary Peni, Death Church (1983)

I purged my system of esoteric electronica by belatedly appreciating the lo-fi aggro of hardcore punk at 37. T.S.O.L.'s Dance With Me (1981), Charged G.B.H.'s City Baby Attacked By Rats (1982) and The Exploited's Horror Epics (1985) were old-school highlights, and Liquids' Life Is Pain Idiot (2021) an inexplicably appealing modern din, but the legitimate insanity of Rudimentary Peni's debut and Cacophony (1988) was the most compelling, especially when following along with the words and pictures for maximum multimedia madness. In a darker corner of the cosmos, Midnight Odyssey's Funerals from the Astral Sphere (2011) provided curiously versatile book backing.

~ Best Game of 2023, Not from 2023 ~

Carcassonne: Traders & Builders (2003)

Hopefully, my child beginning the misery of full-time school will mean Dad has more time and money for indulgent board/card games in the coming years. Besides treating myself to a solitary delayed expansion, this year was a washout of poor preschool fare, though she does request the "town" game more than most of those. Her formative video game nostalgia will confusingly be a few decades out of date, thanks to the emulation limits of Dad's rubbish computer, but we discovered some new-old classics like Kirby together, amid all the girly toy franchises.

~ Best Spoken Word of 2023, Partly from 2023 ~

From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast (2020–23)

Peak pod Partridge that I'll listen to again, which is fortunate, since this category hasn't had much going on for the last decade. Little Story Teller (1985) provided cosy nostalgia over Christmas bedtimes and might be a keeper, depending on the target audience's interest and whether I can be arsed to read.

As seen on

Best Things: 1985–2023