2022 a Year in Review

We are well into the second month of 2023, but I still want to record what have caught my eyes and ears in the past year.

Music

My past year’s scrobbling history shows something clearly: the global pandemic took its toll on the amount of hours of music I listened in 2022. In my case, the amount shrank and I blame for it not being able to attend live gigs, and thus my appetite decreasing. I also found myself revisiting carefully, album by album things like Led Zeppelin, and more recently Pink Floyd. I suppose these are early signs of a middle age crisis of sorts.

But if I am to highlight a discovery, that would be Malamute and Ginebras (thanks @bertogg!).

Although not as visible in my Last.fm profile, I have listened to music genres I have not listened before before, people like Bejo a guy from Canary Islands whose use of Spanish language is mesmerizing.

Books

Last year was my first not reaching my goal of reading a certain amount of books within the year. Not sure why, to be honest, but likely the extended time I spent outdoors might be to blame.

One book and author rose above all: Adrienne Buller and her The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism. Reading it was a definitive eye-opening experience. Adrienne brings an engaging narrative and good combination of analysis and synthesis to dissect the global capitalist society we take part on and how we are confronting the climate crisis.

Series

Many people have cheered The White Lotus. Yes, the second season was definitely good, specially with regards to character development. But that aside, I took a dive back in time and revisited Parks & Recreation. What a good series it was!, and how full of details every episode is!.

Movies

I had the opportunity to watch As Bestas already back in September, and I liked how the story was told and the characters and cast, and it seems it got good praise. But for me, the best came one of the last days of the year: Triangle of Sadness is a masterpiece of satire that connects directly with the topic I have been interested in for the past few years. And what an act does Woody Harrelson put up.

This year, as the pandemic seems to be receding, I am hoping to experience plenty more of live gigs, movies and other such events. I’ll make a mental note and record those here.