Here’s the kindest thing we can say about 2022, or ourselves for that matter: we lived it. And as evidence of this, here are our customary End of Year lists. If you’re looking for something to watch, read, or listen to, consider our FINAL JUDGEMENT.
Perhaps your own lists would look a lot like ours, which might explain why you like us so much. Or maybe they’d be totally different, which explains why you need us. Or maybe you’re just humoring us, in which case: thank you, that’s more than we get from most people.
Happy New Year!
— JGMT
From ES:
Best Horror Movies of 2022
Prey
X
Nope
Bones And All
Men
Barbarian
Terrifier 2
Pearl
Crimes of the Future
Best Anime of 2022
Ghost In The Shell: SAC_2045 (Season 2)
Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Season 3: Dawn of a Shallow Dream
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury
My Hero Academia (Season 6)
Jujutsu Kaisen 0
Mob Psycho 100 III
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba: Entertainment District Arc
Chainsaw Man (Season 1)
Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun
Best Music Releases of 2022
From TB:
Best Music Releases of 2022
Fossora - Björk
age/sex/location - Ari Lennox
Ugly Season - Perfume Genius
Finally Enough Love - Madonna
Broken Gargoyles - Diamanda Galás
SOS - SZA
What an insane list. I didn’t listen to tons of “new” music! But the new Björk was a slam dunk for me, Ari Lennox’s latest of flotilla of slinky fuck jamz refused to disappoint, and the box set of Madonna’s club hits imparted some valuable perspective in terms of how we all (including her) ended up like this.
Normally I can’t stand Perfume Genius but he finally got me with this new album, so there. I’m still soaking in the SZA, but admittedly it’s gotten under my skin. And at the last minute I got my head all the way twisted around by Diamanda Galás’s latest sonic hellscape, which I find oddly soothing despite all the shrieking of the damned.
I guess that’s just the world we live in now!
Best Movies of 2022
Eric wrote his list of movies first, and mine overlapped with it quite a bit. Pearl, my gosh! Here’s what I’d add:
Tár
Whatever just watch it already!
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Sometimes the hype is justified and you just have to let yourself be part of it.
Fall
Not the best horror movie, but undeniably one I spent more time thinking and talking about than I ever expected. You’ve just got to admire a scrappy indie with a terrific hook that leaves you physically wrung out.
She Will
I liked this one better than Eric did. Maybe I liked it more than anyone else did? Anyway, if there was an Oscar for best title, this one would get my vote.
Watcher
A jangly thriller that reaps the benefits of keeping it simple.
Emily the Criminal
Probably belongs with Nightcrawler and Promising Young Woman on a list of films about broken strivers flourishing in the weird corners they’ve been forced into by the ugliness and hopelessness of 21st century America.
Favorite Music Discoveries of 2022
Kadhja Bonet
I’ll be keeping up with her releases from now on! Her “Delphine” played on a loop around here for months.
Kelsey Lu
Her knotty, moody 2019 album Blood kept me quite busy this fall. The fact that it contained a disco track was just the icing on the cake.
Eartheater
Is it fair to call someone a rising star when they’ve already released such an incredible body of work? I’m not exactly sure what the fuck Eartheater is doing, but undeniably she is doing it, and it’s been gratifying to see how many others also seem to be under her spell.
Aldous Harding
Another artist I still don’t fully understand, but consider me caught up in the drama of her mystique.
William Onyeabor
I spent a lot of time this year rummaging around in the Nigerian superstar’s back catalog and enjoying every minute of it.
Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes
What can I say? Sometimes this is the only way I can relax.
Ata Kak
Extreme Sophia Petrillo voice: “Picture it: Ghana, 1994…”
Notable reads
All The Women In My Brain - Betty Gilpin
Having only known Gilpin from GLOW, and then having read work she’d shared ahead of this release, I was primed to love it. This is an A+ Star Lady Memoir, full of weirdness and wonder and told in a distinctive literary voice that Gilpin acknowledges probably isn’t for everyone.
The Memory Librarian - Janelle Monáe
This is a collaborative sci-fi release that expands on ideas introduced in Monáe’s earlier albums. We’re in the future already, might as well read a bit so we know what will probably happen next!
I’m Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy
I wasn’t familiar with this actress’s work, but oooooh boyyyyy did this book earn its buzz. Written in a style that feels channeled directly from the author’s thoughts, complete with lacerating self-deprecation, which is perhaps the best way to write if you’re uncertain whether anyone will believe your story. (Looks like everyone does, Jennette!)
On Good Authority - Briana Una McGuckin
This is a really smutty, bondage-y historical romance that I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of, and it kind of made me wonder why this isn’t all I read. Authors like McGuckin pour so much thought over every lavish, rancid detail, in hopes of making your upper lip sweat ever so slightly as you keep robotically turning the pages. Well, it worked!
The Art of Darkness - S. Elizabeth
A gorgeous, sumptuous tome that catalogs numerous exquisite artworks, exploring their power to disturb, unnerve, and darkly inspire. Looks damn good on a shelf. What more could one possibly want?
Manhunt - Gretchen Felker-Martin
This book should have straight, cis male horror authors shaking in their boots: it just doesn’t get grosser, or cooler, or more inspiring than this. As a lovely futuristic touch, Manhunt includes an aside recounting the gruesomely dystopian death of J.K. Rowling.
Walking Through Clear Water In A Pool Painted Black - Cookie Mueller
This was a 2022 reprint of Cookie’s works as well as a collection of additional ones. Full of really upsetting reminders that nostalgia for the “simpler” pleasures of past decades is totally misplaced!
Top JUDGEMENT posts of 2022
'We're All Going To The World's Fair' Shows How The Internet Is Making Us All Insane
The algorithms are turning us schizo
Nothing Hurts Anymore: Kanye West and Manic Fantasy
What happens when reality is more manic than your dark, twisted fantasies?
Davis and Dean's "Hatred of Sex" Is A Scathing Anti-Identity Manifesto
Why does everyone suddenly hate sex?
In which the Terms of Service are only protecting us from ourselves